Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-09-27
CHR1Sr"SCE ARACTER
Or. TALMAeE URGES CHRISTIANS TO
EMULATE 1T.
his Earthly Life Repiete with Beau
ttf"i Examples-Practice Self Sac
rihce and Humility and Help Bear
Burdens OF Others


Burdens of Others.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23.-In this ser
mon, which Or. Talmage sends from
Paris, he analyses the character of the
Saviour and urges all Christians 10 ex.
ercise the qualities which were con-
spicuous In Christs earthly life. The
text Is Romans viii. o, "Now, If any
man has not the spirit of Christ he is
none OF his"
There Is nothing more desirable than
pleasant disposition. Without II we
cannot be happy ourselves or make
others happy. When we have lost our
temper or become impatient under
some light cross, we suddenly awaken
TO new appreciation Of proper equi-
poise OF nature. We wish we had been
born with self balance, we envy those
people who bear themselves through
life without any perturbation. and we
Halter ourselves that, however little
self control we may now have, the time
Will come, under the process of years,
when we Will be meIlowed and soften
ed and the wrong things which are i'm
us now will then he all right. forgetful
of the fact that an evil habit i'm our ma
ture. will grow into larger proportions
and that an iniquity not corrected will
become the grandfather Of whole gen
Grafton Of iniquities. So that people
without the grace of God in the strug-
gle and amid the annoyances and ex-
ASPIRATIONS of life are apt TO become
worse instead OF better
Now, the trouble is that we have a
theory abroad in the world that n
mans disposition cannot be changed.
y man says. Il am irasciblc lin temper.
aud can't help it," Another man SAYS.
Il am revenGeful naturally. and |
can't help it." A man says. IL am i'm
pulsive. and I can't help it," And he
tells the truth No man can correct
his disposition. never knew n man
by force OF resolution to change his
temperament. but by his grace Gcd
can take away that which is wrong
and put in that which is right. and
Know and you know people who. since
their conversion. are Just the opposite
or what they used TO be. In other
words. we may. by the spirit of God.
have the disposition of Jesus Christ
implanted in our disposition. and we
must have ii done or we will never see
heaven. ''If any man have not the dis
position OF Jesus Christ, lie is none Of
his"
Christ'S Gentle Spirit.
In the first place. the spirit Of Christ
was spirit OF gentleness. Sometimes
lac made wrathful utterance against
Pharisees and hypocrites. but the most
OF his words were kind and gentle and
loving ana inon1ensive and attractive.
When we consider the fact that he
was omnipoteut and could have torn
10 pieces his ASSISTANTS. the wonder il
greater. We often bear the persecu-
ton and abuse OF the world because
we cannot help il. Christ endured II
when he could have helped ii. Little
children who always shy Off ut rough
man rushed into his presence and clam
Dered on him until the people begged
the mothers to take them away. In
raiids SO sore with wounds that they
could not bear TO have any one come
near them begged Christ Just 10 put
his hand upon the wound AMI soothe II.
The mother with the sickcst child
was willing TO put the little one I'm
Chrisrs arms. Self righteous people
rushed into his presence with n woman
OF debased character and said. "Now,
nnnIhilate her. blast her, kill her" Je-
sus looked at her and saw she was
sorry and repentant. and he looked at
them and he saw they were proud and
arrogant and malignant. and he said.
Let him that is without sin cast the
first stone ut her" A blind man sat
10y tho wayslde making n great ado
about his lack OF vision. They told
him TO hush up ana not bother the
Master. Christ stopped TO him and
said, what wilt thou that I do unto
thee:' Gentleness OF voice, geptleness
or manner. gentleness OF life.
We all admire &c whether we have
any OF IL or NOT. Just us the rough
mountain blum and the SCARED crag
dove 10 look down into the calm lake at
their feet and as the stormiest winter
loves to merge into the sunshiny spring.
so the most precipitate and impulsive
and irascible nature loves to think OF
the gentleness OF Christ How little
we have Of 1t! How little patience I'm
treating with enemies, We have SO !
little of the gentleness OF Christ we are |
not fit for Christian work half the time. |
We do not know how TO comfort the |
Dereft or to encourage the diSheartened |
or to take care of the poor Even our |
voice OF sympathy is on the wrong
pitch.
My sister had her arm put out OF |
Joint, and we were in the country. and |
the neighbors came in. and they were |
all sympathetic, and they laid hold OF |
the arm and pulled and pulled might |
lily until the anguish was intolerable.
but the arm did not go TO its place. |
Then the old country doctor was sent |
for. and he came in. and with one |
touch IL was all right. He knew lust |
where 10 put his finger and just how to |
touch the bone. We go ont TO our
christian work with too rough a hand
and too unsynpathetic a manner. and |
we fail In orr work. while some Chris
fian. in the Sentieness OF Christ, comes
along. puts mis- hand OF sympathy on
the sore spot. and the torn ligaments
are healed. and the disturbed bones
are rejoined. oh. for this gentleness
of Christ.
Act Like ChrissIanx.
The dew OF one summer night will
accomplish more good than 90 Carib-
bean whiriwinds. How important 1t is
that In going forth to serve Christ we
have something OF his gentlenesSl Is
that the Way we bear ourselves when
we are assaulted? The rule is an ego
FOR an eye, tooth for tooth, retorr
FOR retort. sarcasm for sarcasm. Give
him as much as he sendsl After awhile
you look up into the face of Christ, and
you see his gentleness, and you say.
well, now, L must do differently"
Then your proud heart says: Now YOU
have your enemy in n corner. You will
never get him in n corner again. Chas-
tise him and then let him CO." So We
postpone the gentleness of Christ.
Did you ever know any difficulty To
he healed by acerbity or hypercriti-
clsN? About 40 years ago the prnShr