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perverted and excessive action. It is too frequently the fact, that man is found wreaking his anger on those who, on a full and candid examination of all the circumstances of the case, would be found entitled to no such treatment.

One cause of the frequency of excessive and unjustifiable resentment is to be found in the fact, that, in consequence of the suffering or loss we endure, our thoughts are wholly taken up with our own situation, and we find it very difficult to estimate properly either the facts or the motives of our supposed adversary's conduct. If we could turn away our thoughts from ourselves, so far as fully to understand all the circumstances of a proceeding which, in itself considered, we have found so injurious to us, we should frequently be willing to check the vehemence of our anger, if we did not wholly extinguish it.

Nature, however, has herself instituted some checks on the undue exercise of this passion.-FIRST. The exercise of this passion is, in its very nature, painful. It is in this respect very different from the exercise of the benevolent affections, which is pleasant. So great is the pain attendant upon deliberate and protracted anger, that it is not uncommon to hear persons assert they have themselves endured more suffering in their own minds than the gratification of their passions has caused to their opponents. Nature seems to have attached this penalty to the exercise of this passion, in order to remind men, at the most appropriate moment, of the necessity of keeping it in due subjection.

SECOND. Whenever our resentment passes the proper bounds, the feelings of the community, which were before in our favour, immediately turn against us. We are so constituted, that we naturally desire the good opinion of others; and, consequently, the loss of their good opinion operates upon us as a punishment, and not unfrequently a severe one. Under the influence of the experience or the anticipation of this incidental retribution, it is not unfrequently the case,

that men restrict within proper bounds those angry feelings which, under other circumstances, they would probably have indulged to excess.

THIRD. The tendency of the indulgence of anger is to lower a man in his own estimation, and still more so in the estimation of others, who will be less ready to admit those mitigating circumstances that partially justify his feelings to himself. The mere outward signs of the angry passions give a shock to our sensibilities, and are hateful to us, while those of an opposite character beam upon the soul with the pleasantness of a tranquil morning's light. The smile of benevolence wins upon our affections; but the scowl of anger, whether it be directed against ourselves or others, fills us with pain and dread. And, moreover, while the indulgence of anger tends, as a general thing, to degrade the subject of it in our view, we look with increased respect and honour on those who successfully resist its approaches, and are calm and forbearing amid insult and injury.

§ 157. Other reasons for checking and subduing the angry passions. In addition to those checks to the angry passions which nature herself seems to have furnished, it may be proper to mention a few considerations, drawn from reason and the Scriptures, which, if they have the weight they are entitled to, will tend to the same desirable result.-(1.) We should always keep in recollection, in the first place, that, when the mind is much agitated by passion, it is rendered by that circumstance itself incapable, to a considerable degree, of correct judgment. "Actions, considered as the indications of feeling and character, do not at such times appear to us in their true light. They are seen through an unfavourable medium, and represented unnaturally, with distorted and discoloured features. It is said to have been a saying of Socrates to his servant on a certain occasion, that he would beat him if he were not angry; a remark which seems to indicate, that, in the opinion of the author of it, anger is a state of

mind unfavourable to a correct judgment of the merit or demerit of the person towards whom it is directed.

(2.) We should consider, in the second place, even if we have no particular reason to distrust our powers of judging, that we may, by possibility at least, have mistaken the motives of the person whom we imagine to have injured us. Perhaps the oversight or crime which we allege against him, instead of being premeditated or intentional, was mere inadvertence. It is even possible that his intentions were favourable to us, instead of being, as we suppose, of a contrary character. And if it were otherwise, if the wrong done us were an intentional wrong, it is still possible that this hostile disposition may have originated from serious misconceptions in regard to our own character and conduct. And obviously the easiest and best way would be to correct these misconceptions, and thus to secure safety for the future, and, in all probability, recompense for the past.

(3.) There is another consideration which ought to prevent the indulgence of this passion, and to allay its effects. It is, that all have offended against the Supreme Being, and stand in need of pardon from Him. If we ourselves were without sin, if we could boast of perfect purity of character, there might seem to be some degree of reasonableness in our exacting from others the full amount of what is due to perfect and inflexible rectitude. But the actual state of things is far different from this. Every one who knows his own heart must see and feel himself to be a transgressor. How unsuitably, therefore, to the circumstances of his own situation does that man conduct, who talks largely of satisfaction and revenge, when he is every moment dependent on the clemency and forgiveness of a Being whom he has himself so often sinned against.

In the fourth place, there are many passages of Scripture which expressly require us to subdue the malevolent passions, and to forgive the injuries which

have called them into action. And this, we may here take occasion to remark, is one of the great and striking characteristics of the Gospel revelation. The doctrine that we are to love and do good to our enemies, obviously distinguishes the Christian Code from every other, and gives to it, as compared with mere human systems, an inexpressible elevation. Its language is: "Ye have heard it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.

But

I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you."

We are aware that these precepts of Christ, and others of a like import, so different from the general thought and practice of the world, have sometimes been regarded as unreasonable in principle, and not calculated to produce good results. But it is to be remembered, that they are addressed to his own followers; those who are destined to be fashioned after his own pattern and image. In virtue of their discipleship, and as a necessary result of it, the true disciples of Christ are the recipients of a spiritual illumination, which establishes them, in many respects, on a different and higher plane of being. And then it is to be remembered further, that they and all others are to be judged according to the light which they have, and not according to the light which they have not; and that differences in position, involving differences in knowledge and power, always involve differences in responsibility, and imply and require differences in action. Now, on the supposition that we are Christians after the pattern of Christ, and that our life is a life of truth, and goodness, and love, such as Christianity requires, it is unreasonable and unphilosophical to suppose that we are or can be the subjects of attacks and injuries from others, certainly as a general thing, except on the ground of ignorance, of misapprehensions, of peculiar and heavy temptations such as sometimes arise from great want and great sorrow,

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or from a low and stolid brutishness, resulting from inherited evil tendencies, or from other involuntary causes, such as are fitted to call forth our deepest pity. Under these circumstances, while those who are on a lower plane may be expected to hold strongly to the LEX TALIONIS of the Mosaic code and to return blow for blow, the true Christian, in accordance with the spirit of Christ, feels that it is right and just, as well as a Christian precept, that it is a divine philosophy and not merely an imperative dogmatism, that he should be patient with such an adversary; that he should give him explanations calculated to enlighten his ignorance; that he should show acts of kindness likely to allay his ill feelings, and thus win him to truth and rectitude by the power of love.

Peevishness.

§ 158. Modifications of resentment. When, in all ordinary cases, the resentful feeling shows itself, we variously denominate it by the terms resentment, hostility, anger, hatred, indignation, and the like but there are some modifications of the feeling, distinguished either by excess or diminution, or in some other way, which may be regarded as possessing a distinctive character. One of these is PEEVISHNESS OF FRETFULNESS; a species of malevolent passion which, probably with more frequency than its decided manifestations, interrupts the peace and happiness of life.

Peevishness differs from ordinary anger in being excited by very trifling circumstances, and in a strange facility of inflicting its effects on everybody and everything within its reach. The peevish man has met with some trifling disappointment (it matters but little what it is), and the serenity of whole days is disturbed; no smiles are to be seen; everything, whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational, is out of place, and falls under the rebuke of this fretful being.-Anger, in its more marked and decided manifestations, may be compared to a thunder-shower, that comes dark and heavily, but leaves a clear sky after

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