280 TEMPER AND PASSIONS. 



LESSON XXVII. 



THE TEMPER AND PASSIONS ADVANTAGES OP 



CHEERFULNESS AND CONTENT. 



IT is not enough for the preservation of health, 

 that our bodies are properly nourished, that we 

 are fitly clothed, that we take exercise, and enjoy 

 rest, that we are cleanly in our persons, and live in 

 open and airy situations. The good effects of these 

 are in danger of being quite done away with, if 

 our temper and passions be not properly regulated. 



It is useless to make a good meal of fit and nou- 

 rishing diet, unless the mind is quiet and composed 

 after it. A sally of passion, or a fit of sulkiness, 

 spoils the digestion, and we had better have gone 

 without food. 



But it is not after we have taken food alone, that 

 passions and bad temper may injure us ; we cannot 

 even eat if we yield to them. We lose our appe- 

 tite, the stomach gets disordered, and the most de- 

 licate meal is looked at with loathing and disgust. 

 So that unless the temper be serene and cheerful, 

 we eat without an appetite ; what we take we 

 cannot digest ; and food rather does us harm than 

 good. 



A happy-minded and amiable child is one of the 

 most beautiful and loveable things that God has 

 given to us, to soften our hearts, and to call into 



