The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-06-21
christian Life Column.
Love ", In.Temper.

otton the one blot on an otherwise noble
C~L"-acter. You know men who are
III INIT perfect, and women who would
- entirely perfect, but for an easily
D0mad. quick tempered, or ''touchyn
S;gnosition. This compatibility Of IN
inner with high moral character is
"ne of the strangest and saddest prob
t"ros NJ ethics. The truth ia there are
30 great CLASSES of sins-sins OF the
Sodv, and sins OF the disposition. The
prodipal Son may be taken as O type
- tbe first, the Elder Brother Of the
socond. Now, society has no doubt
~batever as to which of these In the
worse. It's brand falls, without q
challenge upon the Prodigal. But are
wa right We have no balance 10
woiph q another's sins, and coarser
and finer are but human words; but
taults in the higher nature may be
less venial than those in the lower,
and to the eye Of Him who Ia Love, O
sin against Love may seem a hundred
times more base. No form of vice,
not w~orldliness, not greed Of gold, not
drunkenness itself, does more to UNI
OhristianiEe society than evil temper.
Fnr embittering life, for breaking up
communities, for destroying the most
sacred relationships. for devastating
homes. for whitening up men and
women. for taking the bloom Of child
hood. in short, for sheer gratuitous
miseary producing power, this tnhU-
ence stands alone. Look at the Elder
BROTHER. moral, hard-Working and pa
tient. dutitul-let him get all credit for
his virtues-Iook at this man, this
baby. sulking outside his own fathers
door. He was angry" we read.
sand would not go inI' Look at the
affect upon the father, upon the ser.
wants. upon the happiness OF the
guests. Judge Of the effect upon the
ProdigaI-and how many prodigals are
kept out of the Kingdom Of God by the
unIovely character Of those who pro-
Tess to be insidel Analyze, as @ study
in Temper, the thunder cloud itself as
it gathers upon the Elder Brothers
brow. What "a &c made off Jealousy,
anger, pride, unchaFity, cruelty, self
righteousness, loneliness, doggedness,
sullenness-these are the ingredients
of this dark and loveless soul In
varying proportions, also, these r
the ingredients Of all III temper. Judge
if such sins Of the disposition r not
worse to live i'm, and for others TO live
with, than sins Of the body. Did
Christ indeed not answer the question
Himself when He said, "I say unto
you, that the publicans and the har-
lots 20 into the Kingdom Of Heaven
before you" There is really no place
in Heaven for q disposition like this.
A man with such q mood could only
make Heaven miserable for all the
people in it. Except, therefore, such
man be born again, he cannot, he
simply cannot, enter the Kingdom Of
Heaven. For it liz perfectly certain
and you will not misunderstood me-
9u6b ~ CAGCG cav . HASA AJAX %@@0
it with him.
You will see then that Temperis sig
nifcant. It is not in what it is alone.
but in what it reveals. This Is why I
take the liberty now of speaking of it
with such unusual plainaees. It is q
test for love; a symptom, q revelation
Of IN unloving nature at bottom. It
is the intermittent fever which be
speaks unintermittent disease within;
the occasional bubble escaping &c the
surface which betrays some rotten
ness underneath; a sample OF the most
hidden products Of the soul dropped
involuntarily when of ones guard;
in a word, the lightning from q hum
dred hideous and un-Christian sins.
FOR a want Of patience, q want OF
kindness, a want of generosity, q want
OF courtesy, a want Of unsel6shness,
are all simultaneously symboEized in
one flash Of Temper.
Hence it is not enough to deal with
&ne Temper. We must 60 to the
source, and change the inmosE nature,
and the angry humors will die away Of
themselves. Souls are made sweet
not by taking the acid fluids out, but
out by putting something ina great
Love, a new Spirit, the Spirit Of Christ.
Christ, the Spirit Of Christ, interpene-
trating ours, sweetens, purifes, trans
forms all. This only can eradicate
what is wrong, work a chemical
Change, renovate and regenerate, and
fehsbilitate the inner man. Will
power does not change men. Time
does MT nhnnnn man Oh-inh Annn