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to
day with a
gloomy silence,
and
now
and then venting
itself
in
a
spiteful
word,
or a
sly
reproach,
is by
no
means becoming the
name
and spirit
of a
christian.
This
is
giving
place
to
the
devil,
and
making room for
him
to
Lodge
in
our
hearts. This
is
as
much
contrary
to
meek-
ness, as
a
short
and sudden fury
is,
and
perhaps
carries
ih
it a guilt
more aggravated
in
the
sight
of
God.
Yet
neither
should our
anger
indulge
itself
in
loud
and
noisy practices,
nor
fill
the house
with
a brawling
sound.
" It
is
better
to
dwell
in
a corner of
the
house-
top, than
to
cohabit
in
a palace: with
such
a
brawling
companion
of
life,
Prov.
xxi. 9.
And the
wise
man has
repeated it
again
in
the
xxv.
chapter,
as
a
matter
worthy
of
a double notice.
St.
Paul
forbids this
practice
to
the=
Ephesians;
Let
all
bitterness,
and wrath, and anger,
and
clamour,
and
evil-
speaking,
be
put
away
from
you,
with
all
malice,
Eph.
iv.
31.
Nor
should
our 'resentments carry
us
to any
cruet
practices. The word
of
God
spends its
curses
upon such
sort of anger;
Gen.
,xlix.
7.
"
Cursed be the wrath
of
Simeon,
for
it
was fierce,
and
the
anger
of
Levi, for
it
'was cruel." You
know
what
mischiefs
it hurried
them
into,
even
to
foul
treachery and murder, and the de-
struction
of
a whole
country.
The
grace
of
meekness is
an enemy
to
all these
practices, and
a
happy preservative
from them.
V.
Patience
is
a lovely
virtue.
I
am
not
now
speak-
ing
of that
religious exercise
of
it,
which consists
in
a
humble
submission
to the
providences
of
God, without
repining
at
his
hand, or sending up
our
murmurs against
heaven
;
but a
patient
conduct to our
fellow-
creatures,
is the thing
which
I
chiefly design
here
to recommend.
When
some
persons stand
in
need
of
any
of
the ne-
cessaries
or
conveniences
of
life,
they must
be
supplied
first,
they
ca.n
brook
no
delay; let
all
the world stand
by
waiting
till
they are
served
;
and their anger
is
quickly
kindled
if their
affairs
are not
dispatched
in
a moment.
They
make no
allowances for the necessities
or conveni-
ences'
of others; nor
for
the
various accidents
that attend
human
life,
which may
Stop
the speed
of
the most
dili-
gent
servant, and constrain
him unwillingly' to delay his
message or
his work.
But
the
patient
christian
considers
all
things
;
desires
but
his
share of
the
attendance of
his
cttRrSTtA*t
rroxAr.r7v,
ciz.
rSEttM.
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