The Yale expositor., 1899-12-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
FORGIVENESS BEFORE SUM
DOWN SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
From Epheslans, Chapter Four, Verse
Twenty-six, as Follows; LET Not the
Sun Go Down Upon Your wrath
Plea to Mans Noblest Instincts.

colors, hath the dying day! The era
die of clouds from which the sun rises
is beautiful enough, but it is surpassed
by the many-colored mausoleum in
which, at evening, 1t is buried.
Sunset among the mountains! 1t
almost takes ones breath away to re-
call the scene. The long shadows
stretching over the plain make the
glory of the departing light. on the tip
top crags, and struck aslant, through
the foliage the more conspicuous. SAT-
from and gold, purple and crimson
commingled. All the castles of cloud
in conf1agration. Burning Moscows on
the sky. Hanging garden of roses at
their deepest blush. Banners of va
por, red as If from carnage, in the bat
tie of the elements The hunter
among the Adirondacks, and the Swiss
villager among the Alps, know what is
a sunset among the mountains. After
storm at sea, the rolling grandeur
into which the sun goes down to battle
at nightfall, is something to make
weird and splendid dreams out of for
lifetime. Alexander Smith, in his
poem, compares the sunset to 1.-The
barren beach of hell" but this wonder
full spectacle of nature makes me
think of the FURNISHED wall of heaven
Paul. in prison. writing my text, re-
members 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 of the
oriental days, and he flashes out that
memory in the text when he says, Let
not the sun go down upon your
wrath"
Sublime all-sugestive duty for peo-
pie then and people now! Forgiveness
before shutdown! He who never feels
the throb of indignation is imbectle.
He who can walk among the injus-
tees Of the world inflicted upon him
self and others, without flush OF
cheek, or fash OF eye, or agitation OF
nature, is either in sympathy with
wrong or semi-idiotic. When Ananias,
the high priest, ordered the constables
of the court room to smite Paul on the
shall smite thee, thou whited wall"
In the sentence Immediately before my
text, Paul commands the Ephesians:
BE We angry and sin not" 1t all de-
Ponds on what you are mad at and how
long the feeling lasts, whether anger is
right or wrong. Life is full OF exas-
perations. Saul after David. Succoth
of a
Pasquins after Augustus, the Pharisees
after Christ, and every one has had his
pursuers, and we are swindled, or be-
lied or misrepresented, or prosecuted,
or in some way wronged, and the
danger is that healthful indignation
shall become baleful spite, and that
our feelings settle down into a pro-
longed outpouring of temper displeas-
ing to God and ruinous to ourselves.
and hence the important injunction OF
the text: Let not the sun go down
upon your wrath"
Why that Limitation to ones anger?
What that period of flaming vapor set
to punctuate flaming disposition?
What has the sunset got to do with
ones resentful emotions? Was 1t
haphazard sentiment written by Paul
without special significance? No, no;
think of five reasons why we should
not let the sunset before our temper.
First: Because twelve hours is long
enough to be cross about any wrong
inflicted upon us. Nothing is so ex-
| hausting to physical health or mental
faculty as q protracted indulgence OF
ill-humor. 1t racks the nervous system.
| 1t hurts the digestion. 1t heats the
blood in braln and heart until the
whole body is first overheated and
then depressed. Beside that, it sours
the disposition, turns one aside from
his legitimate work. expends energies
that ought to be better employed. and
does us more harm than it does our
antagonist. Paul gives us a good. wide
allowance of time for legitimate de-
nunciation, from 6 o'clock to 6 o'clock,
but 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 cool off, Change the subject to
something delightfully."- pleasant. I'm
roll 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 its kennel. The
hours of this morning will pass by,
and the afternoon will arrive, and the
sun will begin to set, and, beg you,
on its blazing hearth throw all your
feuds. invectives and satires.
Other things being equal, the man
who preserves good temper will come
out ahead. An old writer says that the
celebrated John Henderson of Bristol,
, England, was at dinner party where
political excitement ran high and the
debate got angry, and while Hender-
son was speaking, his opponent, UNI
able to answer his argument, dashed
glass of wine in his face, when the
speaker deliberately wiped the liquid
from his face and said: This, sir, is
a digression; now, IL you please, for
the main argument" While worldly
philosophy could help but very few to
such equipoise of spirit, the grace OF