Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-05-27
Calnnase
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, d. d.


sermon the preacher makes Il strong
plea for the establishment of more
brotherly relations among men in pub
lie and private life and for the exercise
Of magnanimity I'm the forgiveness Of
our enemies. The text Is Ephesians
~. ~. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath"
righteous Indignation! An absurd
verbal term. that" says some one.
1.-Two such antithetical words should
never be yoked together. The first is
found In Gods lexicon Of honored
names. The second Is of Satanic ter
minology. Can the lightnings and the
sunbeams play together In garden
ut the same hour? Can the blacknesS
of midnight and the brightness of mid
noon he welded at the same altar? Is
not anger sin? is not anger's ebon
featured twin sister. wrath. condemned
again and again In sacred Scripture?
Wrath Is cruel. and anger Is out
rageous,' Is the Solomonic arraignment
Of hates evil companions. And yet
here today by this suggestive caption
you are going to talk about twilight
forgiveness as though 1t was right
sometimes to be angry until sunset.
Why. such a sermonic theme Is not
Biblical. 1t Is not according to Gods
WILL Once let the egg of anger be
incubated by the Satanic fires and the
germs be allowed TO live even for a
little while. and before shutdown those
minute particles of life will grow into
huge. kissing. venomous serpcnts that
will poison with spiritual death the
hand that nurtures them. Better make
a fire In n gunpowder magazine to cook
an evening meal than allow anger to
rest In your heart until the twilight"
Wherefore. my beloved brethren, let
every man be swift to hear, slow to
speak. slow to wrath. for the wrath Of
man worketh not the righteousness of
God"
Anger always a sin? Wrath always
under divine condemnation? Oh. no.
my brother. you are wrong. Righteous
indignation has a right TO live by d.
vine commandment. Surprising l go
down the street and see great. burly.
drunken loaser abusing and kicking
little. helpless cripple. II have the
heart Of man shall not my eyes flash
and my cheeks flush and my fists clinch
In the protection of that suffering child?
Did not Christ in anger drive the mon
ey changers out OF the temple? Sup
posing l should be called to my front
door by ring Of the bell and there /
should meet n man who, with cowhide
or club. should begin to beat me and
to knock me down. Must quietly sub
init to being knocked down? Oh. no.
That Is not the gospel. 1t Is not Chris
tan common sense. l should probably
do as that Sunday school scholar re-
solved whose teacher one day said to
him. Charley. what does the Bible
teach you to do II one Of your little
playmates slapped you on one cheek"
az would turn to him the other cheek"
said the boy. Then what would you
do II he hit you on the other cheek"
''Then." said Charley, IL would hit him
back as hard as l could" Paul says:
BE We angry and sin not. Let not the
sun go down upon your wrath" That
means that there are times when we
have a right to be indignant. There are
times when we have a right to strike
must stand up for our rights. We are
not doing justice to others when we al
low others to be unjust to us. But"
says my text, there comes a time
when your anger must cool and when
your striking back must cease. With
the setting sun you must bear no man
a hard. a bitter or an angry thought
or else that anger will do you more
spiritual damage than it can ever do
your adversary" I hope I have made
myself clear. I hope l have not dis
honored God by laying down the broad
premise-easy to be misunderstood
that it Is wrong to let others trample
upon your rights. as 1t is wrong for
you to trample upon the rights of 9TH
ers.
A Practical Question.
This fact. then. think we may take
for granted. Now comes practical
question. How are you and l going
to treat those people who have been
unjust to us In the past? There are
scores Of them who have done us
wrong. At the time we did all we
could to counteract this evil Shall we
continue to bear them a grudge? Shall
we continue to be unforgiving and to
bear malice toward them? Oh. no.
Having done our best to counteract the
evil deeds they have done to US. we
should forgive and forget Let each
day that is dead bury the injustices Of
the past. Twilight forgiveness" in
the store. in the home. I'm the church,
In our professional careers and on the
playground and in the schoolroom.
May God help me to show you that ev-
cry resentment harbored will curse you
as well as curse your fellow men. Per-
haps when we attempt to pluck the
notes out OF our brothers eyes we
overlook huge beams In our own
There Is so much bad in the best of us.
There Is 30 much good I'm the worst of us.
II hardly behooves any of us
To think III of the rest of us