TEMPERANCE.
Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.—I. Corinthians, ix. 25.
If all the world
Should, in a pet of Temperance, feed on pulse,
Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze,
Th’ All-Giver would be unthank’d, would be unprais’d,
Not half His riches known, and yet despis’d;
And we should serve Him as a grudging master,
And a penurious niggard of His wealth.
Milton.
Nature, good cateress,
Means her provision only to the good,
That live according to her sober laws,
And holy dictates of spare Temperance.
Milton.
Rarely shall that path be trod,
Which without horror leads to death’s abode.
Some few, by temperance taught, approaching slow,
To distant fate by easy journeys go;
Gently they lay them down, as evening sheep
On their own woolly fleeces softly sleep.
Dryden.
Grateful and salutary spring the plants
Which crown our numerous gardens, and
Invite to health and temperance, in the simple meal
Unpoisoned with rich sauces, to provoke
Th’ unwilling appetite to gluttony.
For this the bulbous esculents their roots
With sweetness fill; for this with cooling juice
The green herb spreads its leaves; and opening buds,
And flowers, and seeds, with various flavours.
Dodsley.
He who can guard ’gainst the low baits of sense,
Will find Temptation’s arrows hurtless strike
Against the brazen shield of Temperance.
For ’tis the inferior appetites enthral
The man, and quench the immortal light within him;
The senses take the soul an easy prey,
And sink the imprison’d spirit into brute.
H. More.