Page:Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse.pdf/99

 calmness and cheerfulness, is both important and laudable; important, because our duty and interest require it; and laudable, because it is obtained by a victory over ourselves. As the power of this passion lies in the suddenness of its impulse, overpowering reason, and prompting to rash words, or hasty deeds, so its most obvious and natural antidote is a habit of deliberation. If the heart, when its first risings are felt, would stay to enquire, why is this tumult? From whence proceeds this agitation? If it would then indulge but a moment of reflection, the danger would be past; for there are very few instances in the whole circuit of human life that require the aid of this passion, and none that justify its excess. Are we offended at those vexatious incidents that we cannot control? Then we are offended at Him who does control them, and in such anger there is wickedness. Are we opposed in a favourite argument? Let us not sacrifice that composure which might enable us to retrieve lost ground, or defend what remains, nor cast away the advantages of dispassionate investigation. Are we provoked or injured? Let us not add a more formidable injury of our own, the waste of spirits, the disturbance of present enjoyment, the destruction of the calm temperament of the soul.

Shall we, for any vexation, provocation, or in jury, tolerate within ourselves that baleful agent