Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-01
WE'RE WHAT WE ARE
The Willingness of the Spirit and the
Weakness of the Flesh.
NEED OF PERFECT SELF-MASTERY.
Subtle Differences Which Shade the Human
Character.
PEOPLE WHOM WE MEET EVERY DAT
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH


Among the subtle differences which sbad.
on human qualities Is that which divides
intellect from character, and divorces
thought from action. Superficial reasoners
wonderland blame-when the two do not
harmonic together-when the character
bellies the intellect, and intellectual eoncep-
tions have no force over the actions spring.
ing from temperament and character. They
say that one who sees such and such a course
to be the Wisest ought to follow it; as if
theory and practice, intellect and tempera.
ment were identical. They forget that
pathetic cry, ''The spirit truly is willing.
but the flesh is weak" They forget that
other mournful, but 50 intensely human
admission, 'For that which 1 do. I
allow not; for that I would, that do
not; but what L hate, that 1 do"
They hold that knowing should be the same
as doing, and that spiritu al insight should
ever control temperamental action. So il
would if we were all under the sway of rea-
son, and had attained perfect self-mastery;
but however clearly we may see the better
thing to do-the wiser way of restraint
with most of US the temperament eonquers
the intellect, and character is more potent
than theory, as the shaper of our lives and
the director of our actions.
We often say we wish we could return to
life with our present xperienees-what a
much better thing we should make of It'll
Yes, in certain specific actions Of which we
now know the practical ultimate. But just
as we repeat the same class of action with
different protagonists, so long as the i'm
pelling temperament remains unchanged,
so, in spite of experience. should We repeat
our lives in their main directions, if we mad
the same character as now.
THE sANGUINE MAN.
Take. as an example, the eYil Of that un-
easy trust which belongs to a sanguine tenn
perament and character made up Of affec-
tlon, unselhshness, sincerity and imagina-
tion. Such a character is foredOomed to
such and such a course of action, as q bird
is made for flying in the air, or a crab for
walking sideways. The burnt child may
dread the fire, but the person with whom af-
fectionateness and imagination, impulse and
sincerity act and react on each other, never
learns caution-is never taught distrust or
the wisdom of waiting and proving before
giving, and never will be while the exciting
causes remain. Past experience is like
those waves which
Ever mark, though they never impress
The light sand which paYes them, conscious
ness.
One idol after another is shattered; but
there is always that other standing in the
place OF the one which has fallen.
Conversely the suspicious temperament is
never taught trust. All past experience in
the truth and fidelity of one has no influence
in teaching belief in another. That crooked
line can never be ruled straight in the mind
which is always looking round corners-the
suspicious by temperament can never act
like the trustful and afectionate. The higher
law of nobleness and love whispers to the
suspicious sweet words of human trust, far
more sublime than its rasping, narrow-eyed
doubt; but it is in vain.
Take, too, person temp peramentally timid
and given up to superstitious faneies. How
much does reason help here in the victory of
mind over character, intellect over phantasy?
The wind which howls through the trees at
night appals the listener with its terrifying
sounds something as ghostly, weird and fore
telling coming disaster. The hooting of the
owls IN the ivy presages sorrow, illness.
death. The scampering of the mice behind
the Wainscot shake those quivering nerves
more than the roar Of o lion shakes the
nerves of an ordinarily brave man, watch
ing over his sleeping companions by the
camp fire in an African forest. The burglar
is always under the bed; the Unknown
Terror is always in the cupboard.
JEALOUSY AND ANGER.
What amount of intellectual reasoning
touches our selfmade tortures Of jealousy?
The passion is temperamental, and the evil
denceS are as thick as notes in the sunbeam.
All temperamental evidences are whatever
names we give them. The mind is inhu-
eneed and happiness is destroyed by this
passion, over which reason and common
sense have no more control than a couple Of
children over a runaway horse
So of that easily excited anger Of pas
sionate temperament. In cool moments the
wrong and the folly of these outbursts are as
patent as the whirling of the dead leaves
caught by the autumn gale. But when the
conflict comes-the hot blood mounts in
boiling floods, the eyes are darkened, the
fire is kindled and the furious flames burst
forth. Those big words are flung abroad
like the stones which an avalanche brings
down. The rebukes which the reason utters
are no more heard than would be the voice
OF preacher in the roar and din of battle.
One Of the most potent hindrances to our
spiritual advancement is this overwhelming
mastery Of the temperament over the intel
lect. 1t is thing with which we have to
deal rigidly in ourselves, but gently and
tendeIly in our judgment of others.
What's done, we partly may compute, but
not what is resisted" How true that is with
al ofus! We are conscious of it in our
selves, but we do not give it sufficient weight
when dealing with others. We all know
what we resist and how much we conquer,
and when we basely give way without re-
'istance at all, But we can never measure
his last with others; and it is safer ground to
suppose that they have fought 10 the last inch
before letting themselves go, than that they
nave struck the flag of their self-eontrol be-
ore the first rush Of passion. Justice and
Judgment demand this wide consideration
or others-this large allowance for tempera-
nent. Spiritual selfculture, on the other
land, demands the restriction of this consid-
'ration for ourselves to the narrowest pos
1ble limits. Where we failed to-day, we
must do our '1svel best" to succeed to-mor-
ow; and as weak muscles can be strength
ned by judicious exercise, so can tempera-
nent be restrained by endeavor, and in
ellectual self-mastery increased by the
fort. No battle is lost till it is won; and
elt-control-the victory of reason over i'm
'ulse-is battle that is never lost, but is
'lWays being won by those who wish to try.