The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-12-22
A FORGIvING SPIRIT.
"LET NOT THE SUN GO DOWN UPON
YOUR WRATH"
DIR. Ta1mage Recommends More of the
Saccharine and Less OF the Sour in
Human Dispositions PIacatfng the
Worlds Revenges.


Gates the worlds revenges and recon-
mends more Of the saccharine and less
of the sour in human dispositions;
text, Ephesians iv, rs, Let not the sun
go down upon your wrath"
What a pillow, embroidered Of all COL
ors. hath the dying day! The cradle OF
clouds from which the sun rises is
beautiful enough. but it is surpassed
by the many colored mausoleum in
which at evening it is buried.
Sunset among the mountains! 1t al
most takes ones breath AVA to recall
the scene. The long shadows stretch
ing over the plain make the glory OF
the departing light on the tiptop crags
and struck aslant through the foliage
the more conspicuous. Saffron n
gold. purple and crimson commingled.
All the castles Of cloud in
ton. Burning Moscows on the sky.
Hanging gardens Of roses at their
deepest blush, Banners of vapor. red
as il from arnag in the battle Of the
elements. The hunter among the Adj
rondacks and the Swiss villager among
the Alps know what is a sunset among
the mountains. After a storm at sea
the rolling grandeur into which the sun
goes down to battle at n1ghtrall IS
something tt make weird and splendid
dreams out Of for a lifetime. Alexan-
der Smith in his poems compares the
sunset to "the barren beach of hell,
but this wonderful spectacle of nature
makes me think of the FURNISHED wall
Of heaven. Paul in prison, writing my
text, remembers some of the gorgeous
sunsets among the mountains OF Asia
Minor and how he had often seen the
towers of Damascus blaze in the close
1f +ho orianfo1 dave and he flashes 0IIt
that memory in the text when he says,
"Let not the sun go down upo your
wrath"
Sublime, all suggestive duty for peo-
pie then and people now! Forgiveness
before shutdown! He who never feels
the thorb of Indignation is imbecile. He
who can walk among the injustices of
the world inflicted upon himself and
others without flush of cheek, or flash
of eye, or agitation of nature, is eth
err in sympathy with wrong or semi
idiotic. When Ananias, the high priest,
ordered the conStables of the courtroom
to smite Paul on the mouth, Pau fired
I'D and said, God shall smite thee,
thou whited WALL" In the sentence i'm
mediately before my text Paul COM
mands the Ephesians, BE we angry
and sin not" 1t all depends on what
you are made at and how long the
feeling lasts whether anger is right or
wrong. Life is full of exasperations.
Saul after David, Succoth after Gi@-
con, Korah after Moses, the
after Augustus, the Pharisees after
Christ, and every one has had his pur-
suers, and we are lind or belied
or misrepresented or prosecuted or in
some way wronged, and the danger is
that healthful indignation shall be-
come baleful spite and that u feel
ings settle down into a prolonged out
1.x~:.. 81 ~ 1icp1n n Gin fn God
and ruinous to ourselves, and hence
the important injunction of the text,
LET not the sun go down upon your
wrath"
REPRESSION OF ONES TEMPER.
Why that limitation to ones anger?
Why that period of flaming vapor set
to punctuate a flaming disposition?
What has the sunset got to do with
ones resentful emotions? Was it
a haphazard sentiment written by
Paul without special significance? No,
no.; I think of five reasons why we
should not let the sun set before our
temper.
First, because II hours is long enough
to be cross about any wrong inflicted
upon us. Nothing is so ~exhausting to
physical health or mental faculty as a
p~rotracted indulgence of i'll humor. 1t
racks the vol system. 1t hurts the
O1S6SilOu. II HtdlS Tie DIOOu III W 1
and heart until the whole body is first
overheated and then depressed. Be-
sides that, it sours the disposition,
turns one aside from his legislative
work, expends energies that ought to
be better employed and does us more
harm than it does our antagonist. Pau
gives us a good, wide allowance of time
for legitimate denunciation, from 6
o'clock to 6 o'clock, out says, Stop
there!" Watch the descending orb of
day, and when it reaches the horizon
take a reef in your disposition. Unloose
your collar and COG off. Chance the
subject to something delightfully."- pleas
ant. Unroll your tight fist and shake
hands with some one. Bank UP the
fires at the curfew bell. Drive the
growing dog Of enmity back to it's ken
mel. The hours of this morning will
pass by, and the afternoon will arrive.
and the sun will begin Ito set, and, /
beg you, on it's brazing hearth throw
all your feuds, invectives and satires.
Other things being equal, the man
preserves good temper will come
ahead. An old writer says that the
John Henderson, of Bristol,
England, was at a dining party where
political excitement ran high and the
debate got angry, n while Henderson
was speaking his opponent, unable to
answer his argument, dashed a glass
IL WluS lie LIS lace, WIlCH lHc SPEAKER
deliberately wiped the liquid from. his
face and said: This, sir, is a digres-
sion. Now, if you please, for the main
While worldly philosophy |
could help but very few to such equi- |
poise of spirit, the grace of God could |
help any man to such a triumph. I'm |
possible" you say. II woul a " eth
er left the table in anger or have
the man down." But / have
come to believe that pothing is impos-
sible If God help.
Aye, you will not postpone till sun
forgiveness. of enemies if you can
that their behavior toward you
may be put into the catalogue of the
''all things" that work together for
good to those that love God" I have
had multitudes of friends, but I have
in my own experience that God
10 arranged it Ia the greatest ppor-
Of usefulness that ave been
opened before me were opened by enc
So you nay harness your antag-
onists to your best interests and COM
pei them to draw you on to better work
Ind higher character. Suppose, instead
II waiting until 80 minutes after 4 this
evening, when the sun will set, you