The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-07-09
PULPIT UTTER.AN Noes,
CHRIST THE MODEL FOR CHRISTIANS
II Any Man HavesNOt thespirit OF Christ,
a iJQ He Is NoAe Of His. :.

II Any Man Have$NOt the Spirit Of Christ,
! lJq He Is None OF His. t.I
Rev. DIR. 7. Dewitt Talmage preached
Sunday morning in the Brooklyn Taber.
nacle on the ''Tbe Model, "a taking for his
text, a portion of the ninth verse of the
eighth chapter Of Romans: Snow, if any
man have not the spirit of Christ he is
none of His" He spoke as follows: There
is nothing more desirableIshan pleasant
disposition. Without it we can not be
happy ourselves, and we can not make
others happy. When we feel that we have
been vexed, and have lost our temper, or
have been impatient under some light
cross, we wake up to new appreciation of
proper equipoise of nature. We wish that
we had been born with self balance. We
envy the bearing Of that man who is never
thrown into perturbation. We live under
the feeling that as years pass along our
character will be mellowed and ripened,
and we will become more self-controlla-
BILE, forgetful of the fact that an evil left
in our nature uneradicated grows to more
offensive proportions, and that trans
gression not cast out may become the
grandfather of great generation of ini-
quities. 1t Is possible to have our DISPOSE
tions all made over again. Because we do
not believe that our dispositions do not inn
prove. A man says: 81 am irascible, and
] can't help it," or, ~ am revengeful, and
] can't help it," or, 81 am impulsive, and
! can't help it," You can help it. We may
have our dispositions made over again
evil uprooted, right implanted. If it is
ever done at all, my friends, it will be by
having the disposition Of Jesus Christ set
down in our nature, for ''if any man have
not the spirit Of Christ, he is none Of
His"
The spirit of Jesus was spirit Of gen.
tleness. know that sometimes He made
wrathful utterances against the hypocrite
and the Pharisee; but for the most part
His words and His demeanor were gentle,
and loving, and kind, and patient, and in
offensive, and pleasant. When you con.
slider the fact that He had an omntpotence
with which He might have torn to pieces
the assailers Of His character, it makes
His gentleness seem more remarkable
Little children, who always shy off from
rough man, rushed into His presence and
clambered on Him until the people had to
tell them to stand back. Invalids so sore
with disease that they shuddered to have
any one come near them asked Him to
put His hand on their wounds, it was so
very soothing. There was not a mother
with so sick and delicate a babe that she
was afraid to trust it in the Saviour's arms.
His footstep was so gentle it would not
wake up the faintest slumber. Some
rough people hustled bad woman into
His presence and said: ''Denounce her
now. Blast her. Kill her." Jesus looked
at her, and then looked at the assailants,
and said: "Let him that is without sin
cast the first stone." When q blind man
sat by the wayside making great ado be.
cause he had no vision, the people told
him to hush, that he was annoying the
Master; but Christ came where he wasand
said to Him: "What wilt thou that do
unto theeT Gentfeness Of voice. Gentle.
ness Of hand. Gentleness Of foot. We
all admire It, though we may not have It.
The most impulsive and precipitate ma
lures must be attracted by the gentleness
of Christ. The calmness of His look
shamed boisterous Gennesaret into pla.
cidity. How little Of that gentleness you
:; andiI hayel Let US confess it. It Is q
tendency Of outdoor life to stroke our dis.
positions the wrong way. The thunder Of
the worlds scorn sours the milk Of human
Kindness. The treachery, the extortion,
the ignobleness OF mean mon take the
smoothnessouto Of our nature, and we be.
come suspicious and hypocritical, and
stuck all over with nettles, and frowns
come to the brow and harshness to the
voice and bluntness to the manners. What
an utter and almost universal lack Of gen.
tteness, 30 that we do not know how to
talk to the sick, nor administer to the
troubled, nor care for the poor. We have
our words of sympathy pitched on a
wrong key. We go down to our Christian
= work with SO rough ahand and with SO tln.
kind and unsympathetic nature that we
piserably fail, while some gentle Chris.
tian soul comes along, and with one touch
the torn ligaments are healed end the dis
turbed bones are rejointed. oh, for some.
thihg Of the gentleness of Christi There
b moreypower in such gentleness than in q
lifetime of high pretensions. The dew Of
one summer night does more good than
Ten Caribbean whirlwinds.
Stin further; The spirit of Christ was a
spirft'of self-sacriHce. No young man ever
had opening before him brighter oppor.
tupitiss than opened before Christ. II he
hadsahosen to follow a worldly ambition
BE might have gained fortunes of wealth
In the time He spent tending the sick.
With His power to attract men and popu.
larize Himself, He might have gained any
official position. No orator ever won such
plaudits as He might have won from san.
hedrim and synagogue and vast assem-
blages on the seaside. No physician eve,
acquired such a reputation for healing
power as Christ might have acquired IL Ht
had performed His wonderful cures in the
presence Of the Roman aristocracy. | re
cite you these thingsRto show what Pau
meant when he said: "He pleased moi
Himself;" and to show you the splendol
of His self-sacriace, no human power could
have thrown Christ into the manger If Ht
had not chosen to go there; no satanic
: strength could have lifted Christ on th.
. cross II BE had not elected Himself to thu
torture. To save our race from the rasp
ings and tprmoils Of its guilt He faced ths
sorrows Of earth and the woes of hell, al
motherHE, fatherly, brotherlv. filial aeIf