p. 11 | Anger by JOS. CLARKE.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 26, 1871

Anger.

By JOS. CLARKE.

“Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.” Eccl. 7: 9. “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go; lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.” Prov. 22: 24, 25.

Some have erroneously imbibed the idea that anger is justifiable in some cases, and that it is necessary and proper to be angry when provoked; but the Bible and common sense teach that nothing is more improper and sinful than anger. It is the first step in the crime of Cain, and leads directly away from God.

Parents would do well, not only to avoid this sin themselves, but to forbid anger in their children. Had all parents done this, had they been as much shocked at the flushed face, and the angry word, as they would have been at disobedience or theft, how much trouble had been saved us.

In early life had this passion been nipped in the bud, how easily it might have been accomplished. Then a little care and watchfulness, and judicious instruction, would have set the embryo man to walk in the paths of evenness and moderation. Then had the waves of passion been thoroughly subdued, by firmness and love, and had the parent taught the child to walk smoothly along in the path of self-government and self-control, daily setting an example of unshaken calmness, and love, and firmness, avoiding the first symptoms of anger, as he would the plague, how would the child have followed on in a noble career of usefulness and prosperity!

But alas! few have been thus educated. So, to a greater or less extent, our superiors have disciplined us in anger, and we have caught the disease, and it clings like the leprosy of Naaman to us after our seniors have passed away; and with what reverence do we cherish the memory of the few who have given us perfect examples of calm, dignified, dispassionate discipline; perhaps a sainted mother, or a beloved teacher, or a kind father.

But we would not dwell upon this part of the picture. It would be far more pleasing to be silent upon the weaknesses of our forefathers; but there is a point that we wish to touch upon. It is this: we would have parents feel their responsibility in their influence upon their children. A parent cannot be too guarded against anger in discipline. Anger is contagious; and the more so when the parent, in impatient or angry tones, daily, or perhaps hourly, reproves his child.

But we turn from this picture with sorrow and regret, with this advice to people who are quick-tempered and excitable: Overcome this passion from this moment. Anger is evil, all evil. It is cruel to all parties concerned. It unfits us for business and for devotion, and for the social circle, and for Heaven. No angry, quick-tempered people will visit Heaven, or inherit the earth made new.

Visit the asylums for the insane, and you will find many if not most of the inmates are more or less hasty and ill-tempered, and have never learned that cardinal virtue, self-control, to overcome anger, bitterness, impatience, and to let virtue triumph in the soul. JOS. CLARKE.