The next ingredient is a very remarkable one : Good Temper. "Love is not easily provoked". Nothing could be more
striking than to find this here. We are inclined to look upon bad temper as a very harmless weakness. We speak of it
as a mere infirmity of nature, a family failing, a matter of temperament, not a thing to take into very serious account
in estimating a man's character. And yet here, right in the heart of this analysis of love, it finds a place; and the Bible
again and again returns to condemn it as one of the most destructive elements in human nature. The peculiarity of ill
temper is that it is the vice of the virtuous. It is often the one blot on an otherwise noble character. You know men
who are all but perfect, and women who would be entirely perfect, but for an easily ruffled quick-tempered or "touchy
disposition. This compatibility of ill temper with high moral character is one of the strangest and saddest problems
of ethics. The truth is there are two great classes of sins-sins of the Body, and sins of Disposition. The Prodigal son
may be taken as a type of the first, the Elder Brother of the second. Now society has no doubt whatever as to which
of these is the worse. Its brand falls, without a challenge, upon the Prodigal. But are we right? We have no balance
to weigh one another's sins, and coarser and finer are but human words; but faults in the higher nature may be less
venial than those in the lower, and to the eye of Him who is Love, a sin against Love may seem a hundred times more
base. No form of vice, not worldliness, not greed of gold, not drunkenness itself does more to un-christianise society
than evil temper. For embittering life, for breaking up communities, for destroying the most sacred relationships, for
devastating homes, for withering up men and women, for taking the bloom off childhood ; in short for sheer gratuitous
misery-producing power, this influence stands alone. Jealousy, anger, pride, uncharity, cruelty, self-righteousness,
touchiness, doggedness, sullenness-in varying proportions these are the ingredients of all ill temper. Judge if such sins
of the disposition are not worse to live in, and for others to live with than sins of the body. There is really no place in
Heaven for a disposition like this. A man with such a mood could only make Heaven miserable for all the people in it.
-Henry Drummond
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QUESTIONS
1. What is the popular notion about "bad temper"?
2. How is bad temper "the vice of the virtuous"?
3. Which class of sins is worse, and why-sins of the body, sins of the disposition?
4. Mention some evils of bad temper.
5. Why, according to the author, will there be no place in Heaven for bad-tempered folk?
6. Find words from the passage which mean: breaking up ; running ; scandalising ; souring; easily or quickly offended.
Answers
Answer:
Answer:
1. What is the popular notion about "bad temper"?
The popular notion of bad temper is that it is seen as a very harmless weakness. It is spoken of simply as a weakness in character, a hereditary flaw, or a temperament which should not be taken seriously as an estimation of a man's character.
2. How is bad temper "the vice of the virtuous"?
It is the "the vice of the virtuous" because in general, a person with a noble character can possess this one vice which is bad temper.
3. Which class of sins is worse, and why-sins of the body, sins of the disposition?
The class of sins that constitute the sins of the disposition is worse than the sins of the body. This is because these sins have3 the power to produce misery and harm to people. It can embitter life, break up communities, wither up men and women destroy the most sacred relationships and devastate homes, for withering up men and women and snatch the childhood from the young.
4. Mention some evils of bad temper.
Some of the evils of bad temper are jealousy, anger, pride, uncharity, cruelty, self-righteousness, touchiness, doggedness, sullenness and such other evils.
5. Why, according to the author, will there be no place in Heaven for bad-tempered folk?
There will be no place in Heaven for folk with a bad-tempered disposition as such people could only make Heaven miserable for all the people in it.
6. Find words from the passage which mean:
breaking up – withering
running – Is this word ruining? There is no word in the passage that I can find which means “running”
scandalizing - devastating
souring - embittering;
easily or quickly offended - touchiness