The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-09-28
Ill Temper.

SES
Love is not easily provoked" We
are inclined to look upon bad temper
as a very harmless weakness. We
speak OF i5 as a mere intirmIty Of ma
ture, familiar falling, q matter Of TEN
permanent, not a thing to take into very
serious account in estimeting a mans
character. The popularity Of i'll TEN
per is that it is the vice of the virtuous.
1t 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 bus for an
easily ruff ID, quick tempered, or
''touchy" disposition. This compati-
bility OF i'll temper with high moral
character ia one OF the straDgest and
saddest problems Of ethics. The truth
is, there are two great classes of sins
sins OF the body and sins OF the dis
position. 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. It's brand falls
without a challenge upon the prodigal.
But are we rights We have no bal
auce to weigh one a9other's sins, and
coarser and fner 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 hun
dred times more base. No form of
vice, not Worldiiaess, not greed Of gold,
not drunkenness itself, does more to
unchristianiz society than evil temper.
For embItteriDg life, for breaking up
communities, for destroying the most
sacred relationships, for whitening up
men and women, for taking the bloom
of childhood, In short, for sheer gratui-
U0us misery producing power, this in
hlence stands alone Lick at the elder
brother, moral, hard working, patient,
~dutitul-let him get all credit for mis-
vIrtues-loOk at this man sllking out
side his own fathers door. He was
angry" we read, and would not go
IN" Look al the effect upon the
father, upon the servants, upon the
happiness of the guests.
Judge of the eff CT upon the prodi-
gal, and how many prodigalR are kept
out of the kingdom of God by the I'm
lovely character OF those who profess
TO be insidel AnaIyz6, as a study in
temper, the thunder-cloud itself as it
gathers upon the elder brothers brow.
What is il made Off Jealousy, anger,
pride, uncharity, cruelty. self right
eousness, LONELINESS, d~oggedness, sui
lenness-these are the ingredients of
this dark and loveless soul. In varying
proportions, also, these are the ingre
dents of all ill temper. Judge if such
Gins of the disposition are not worse to
live in, and for others olive 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. Except, therefore, such
a man be born again, he cannot-he
SIMPLY cannot-enter the kingdom of
heaven; forit is perfectly cartain-and
you will not misunderstood me-that to
enter heaven a man must take it with
him.
You will see, then, why temper is
signicant. 1t is not in what it is alone,
but in what it reveals. This is why 1
take the liberty,noW of speaking Of it
with such unusual plainness. 1t is q
test for love, a symptom, a revelation
o. an %unloving nature at bottom. It is
the intermittent fever which bespeaks
the unintermittent disease within; a
sample of the most hidden products of
the soul dropped involuntarily when
off ones guard; in a word, the light
ming form of a hundred hideous and
unchristian sins.
Hence, it is not enough to deal with
the temper. We must go to the source
and change the Utmost nature, and
angry numors will die away of them
selves. Souls are made sweet, not by
taking the acid fluids out, but by put
ting something ina great love, q new
| Spirit, the Spirit OF Christ. Christ,
the Spirit of Christ, interpenetrating
! GUS, sweetens, purIfies, transforms all.
Professor Henry Drummond.