done with, as soon as offered. There must be earnest persevering prayer; we must resolve to sacrifice pride and self-will to duty, however dear it may cost us, and then wait for the answer to our prayers, and when the temptation comes, put up a short ejaculation at the moment, and fight manfully in the divine strength.'1

5. The great and good Mr. Toplady not only contended earnestly for the doctrines of grace, but also for the practical proofs of its reigning in the heart,—ever holding that He who had determined the end had also constituted the means,2 and insisted upon fruits. The following passage is very appropriate to the point in hand:-"O believer, if thou art by nature hasty, vehement, and easily inflammable, call in superior aid. He who, in the days of his flesh, rebuked the raging of the winds, and stilled the tossings of the sea, can, by the sweet compulsive influence of his gracious Spirit, restrain thee within the bounds of holiness, and speak the storm into a perfect calm. I have read of a heathen, who, when he found himself unduly fermented by the kindlings of inward wrath, would never utter a single word until he had first run over in his mind all the letters of the alphabet. I have read of a Christian, who, when endangered by similar temptations, would not suffer himself to speak a syllable until he had silently repeated the Lord's prayer. Reader, go, and do thou likewise. Repeat this prayer to God, in the spirit of supplication, and thy victory over passion will be more than probable.” 4

1 Cottage Magazine, volume 1.

2 Compare John x. 28, with Matt. xxvi. 41. In the former, Jesus says, "My sheep shall never perish; " in the latter, he commands them to "watch and pray."

3 See Matt. v. 16; John xv. 8.

4 Works, vol. iv., p. 220.

311

CONCLUSION.

1. I TRUST I shall not be thought tedious on a subject so manifestly important to the whole world. I have not written simply to please nor to offend, but rather with a sincere wish to do good. I have stated truth and facts without exaggeration or needless severity.

2. Many, particularly the young, in desiring to have their likeness taken, are induced principally by a vain conceit of personal beauty; or, if conscious that they possess none, they will yet have it taken as a set-off. If one profile be disfigured, they very naturally present the other. Considerable attention is likewise paid to the dress; and, withal, the very best look is assumed, though often with great difficulty, by reason of its not being worn in common. These preliminaries being settled, the artist, on his part, is equally anxious to set off his subject to the best possible advantage. He well knows that a strict adherence to truth would detract from his interest. The picture is at length brought home, and, after trying first one wall and then another, it is fixed in the conceived best situation. The owner affects to be pretty

well satisfied on the whole; and, perhaps, good manners laying a tax on her humility, she says, awkwardly enough, It's too pretty for me: albeit, had it been less so, her temper would have been less easy. Friends coming in are attracted by what was intended to attract; and not just thinking that the image before them was designed to resemble the party present, exclaim, 'O, how beautiful!-0, admirably done!-what a pretty mouth!' &c. It will not be difficult to conceive, that, while different visiters express one or other of these encomiums, the living original may possibly feel some very agreeable sensations; and we may also conceive, that if the picture had not really pleased, its owner would have assigned for its residence an obscurer apartment.

3. In the picture I have drawn of human temper, I have studiously avoided whatever is fastidious, unnatural, or flattering. If on some parts I have impressed a deeper gloom, I have gladly relieved others with more agreeable tints. But as there are some who can see no excellency in pictures of real merit,--who would admire the comicalities of Cruikshank more than the cartoons of Raphael, or thè vulgar caricatures in the shop windows more than the 'Line of beauty' of Hogarth,―so, it may be, the pretended connoisseurs will be too hoodwinked to discover any merit in mine. Be it so; I still have confidence in the opinion of the good and the thinking part of mankind.

4. I would again caution those who mistake their own tempers. Fancy not that because you are naturally still and quiet, you are therefore good tempered; for it may be only an indication

of constitutional inertion and apathy. Some of this class would have it supposed that, because they are more mild and still than others, therefore they are more religious, which, to say the least, is a woeful deception, and a species of ignorance of which the thinking part of the heathen were not guilty. It would be just as consistent to say, that a quiet, gentle horse-almost too stupid to moveis more religious than a restive one. No mere natural quietness or amiableness is to be substituted for those tempers which true religion alone produces. Mr. Roscoe, I fear, has no just perception of the nature of true religion, though he is, in his own estimation, a very religious man. He is so lovely in his temper, so kind in his disposition, and so benevolent in his spirit, that every one esteems him who knows him: but I fear he substitutes all his exterior amiability in place of the atonement of Jesus Christ, and thinks that nothing more is necessary for salvation than an occasional attendance at the parish church.'1

5. Others think they are good-tempered because they are generally cheerful and merry: they are ever giggling and laughing, cause or no cause, and often very untimely and indecently; yea, they can do it as freely at a death as at a wedding, and at church as in a theatre, and they will scarcely endure the company of solid, serious people; but, cross them in their wills or favourite diversions, and they will cry as loud as they langhed. Sally, on engaging a servant's place, included in the list of her own recommendations, a very good temper: nothing ever puts me out of tem

Evangelical Rambler, No. 5.

per, said she: but sure enough nothing could be more untrue, for it was soon discovered that she was good-tempered only when and so long as she was pleased, and allowed her own way. After a short stay, she was actually dismissed on account of her insubordinate temper! Not only may you mistake your own temper, but likewise that of other persons. Many, at first sight, appear very placid, free, and smiling, and you might suppose they were uniformly the same in their private and domestic character; but your conclusion might be most erroneous. You may sometimes hear a minister hold forth in most loving strains, and may hence be ready to extol him to the skies for his heavenly temper; but here also you may be extremely wide of the mark: yea, you may even fancy that the writer of this book, on the very subject of temper, must of course be possessed of a good temper; and yet it would be far more rational, yea, and far nearer the truth, to infer that he never could have produced a work of this nature, had he not himself a defective temper, and some experience of its exercise. Therefore judge not from outward appearances. On the

other hand, you are not to ascribe that to bad temper which is only the firm exercise of a rightful authority, as in a parent to his child, or a master to his servant in all proper cases.

6. From all I have advanced, this undeniable conclusion must obviously result, namely, that man-every man-is entirely fallen from God, and from original rightesouness; that he is, of his own nature, only inclined to evil, and is as unwilling as unable to return to God, and prepare himself for the kingdom of heaven,-which consideration