NO SCOLDING by R. F. C.

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 8, 1860

NO SCOLDING

By R. F. C.

Will be in the kingdom that God has promised to them that love him. Then why spend our days in fretting and scolding here? It will not prepare us to enjoy that holy state of society. And we certainly should cultivate the same spirit here that will make the home of the redeemed so pleasant.

But we have so much provocation, who can help scolding? Says one, "If I had no more to try me than others have, I should be as calm as they." Perhaps you are mistaken. It may be that your fretful disposition creates your provocations. That it is, as the poet describes jealousy,

“That ghastly, green-eyed monster that doth make The meat it feeds on.”

This fretful disposition is the very thing that you have to overcome. You must get the victory over this foe. How easily you would overcome, if you had not these provocations—if you had nothing to overcome!

Scolding brother or sister, do you not look forward with longing desire to that peaceful rest, that calm and blissful state, where there will be no scolding? Here you have constant trials of mind. You have no rest or peace. There all will be happy and serene. What a blessed thought, that there is rest for the weary. Do you not ardently desire it? Then leave off fretting and enjoy a little foretaste of it here. Get as near as possible to that state of mind which you think you would enjoy so well. Prove yourself to be a son or a daughter of peace.

We must, by the help of the Lord, overcome our evil passions. While we indulge in fretfulness, and live in a storm of unsubdued passion, how illy prepared are we to be translated into a state of perfect peace. The bliss of heaven would be marred, and we should not feel at home. Let us leave off fretting, and the occasions of it will surely diminish; and thus we shall assure ourselves that we should like to live where there is no scolding.

R. F. C.