The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1889-03-06

togeCner 10 redress tne wrong ana punlSn
the aggressor. Thus sinless anger is vim
dicsted, and thus it's legitimate exercise
becomes an element in the moral govern
ment of the world.
But in the injunction, "Be ye angry
and sin not, there is something signi6-
cant in the close connection between
anger and sin, an evident intimation
that the one may readily run into the
other. Then still more interesting and
more practical inquiry arises: When
does anger transcend its lawful boundaries
snI become culpablei? Ianswer:
lst. When it is inhamed by q triaing
cause, and when it does not stop to con-
slider whether the offence was intentional,
or even whether the offender was con-
scious that he had done anything to dis.
please. Time should always be given for
explanation. A generous minded man
will always be glad to hear anything
that can be said in extenuation of an
offence. He will always endeavor to put
the best construction on a doubtful ac-
ton, and if possible, ascribe it to accident,
to inadvertence, or to ignorance of what
propriety demanded or if 40 such ex-
ouse can be made for the offender, who
may possibly be an acquaintance long
esteemed, or an old friend, magnani-
nous man will ask if many remembered
kindnesses ought not to overbalance this
one indiscretion, and if pleasant init
macy should be broken for single provo
cation, committed, it may be, in a mo-
ment of irritation from some business
misfortune or some bodily indisposition,
or whether the offender himself may not
be sorry for the hasty word or act, and
ready to make the fullest apology for it;
or if this will not suffice, then let the
aggrieved party ask if he himself, in a
morose mood or In a moment of vexation,
has not sometimes been hasty with
others, and said and done things which
have caused him modification and regret
in the review. If anger cannot be moli-
! fed by considerations like these, then no
man is safe in forming friendships so
capricious and requiring so much anxious
nursing to keep them alive.
Isaiah warns US against those who
make others offenders for a word, and
sonable men.
I'd. Anger becomes sinful when it is
harbored In the heart and brooded over
until it ferments into wrath and then,
double distilled, cools into malice, more
deadly than the most turbulent ebullition
of temper. When one is smarting under
an injury the very irritation of the
wound keeps it in remembrance. The
offence is turned over and over in the
mind, every circumstance that can aggra-
vate it is reviewed, and every exaspe' a.
ting particular recalled, until, by and by
1T becomes inwrought, ingrained, incor-
porated, and defes dislodgment
Hence the cautionary injunction of the
text, "Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath, instead of allowing it, as in
the case just supposed, to rankle in the
bosom permanently, so that the sun not
only rises and Gets on it, but runs his
whole annual course around the wrath of
the implacable spirit. The meaning of
The command, Let not the sun 90 down
or your wrath " is evident. 1t is this:
e" The day of anger should be the day of
reconciliation" One need not wait for
sunset, let it come in the morning The
comment of old Thomas Fuller on this
text is very quaint and spicy. Says he
With all speed let as dispose of our
passion; if we have leave to be angry
until sunset then our wrath might
lengthen with the days, and men in.
Greenland, where the day lasts quarter
of year, would have plentiful scope
of revenge. AS the English, by com
mand of William the Conqueror, always
raked up their fire and put out their
candles when the Curfew bell was rung,
SO let us quench all sparks Of anger and
heat OF passion" o that with every set
ting sun we could dismiss all the irrita-
tions Of the day and lie down to rest at
night with peace for our pillow and
charity for all mankind comforting our
heart.
Sd. Anger becomes sinful when it
vents itself in opprobrious, insulting, ex
asperating words and still more when it
prompts to retaliation and revengeful
acts. That which was originally designed
for the protection of society becomes the
instrument Of wrong, and endangers the
safety of the community when the enraged
citizen takes the law into his own hands
and constitutes himself at once proseou-
tor, witness, jury, Judge, and exeoutioner.
The punishments which the exaspe-
rated man inficts will in all probability
be excessively disproportioned to the
offence and in that case the party origi-
nally injured changes places with his
sssailant and becomes the injurer, so that
reciprocal vengeance results, the end of
which is the Vendetta, if, indeed, an end