SUNDAY COLUMN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 6, 16 December 1911, Page 2

SUNDAY COLUMN.

, FRETFULNESS. Sermon by Rev. John N. Norton, D.D. •‘Fret not thyself to do evil.”—Psa. 37 :8. “I dare no more fret,” said John Wesley, “than to curse and swear.” One wno knew him well bore testimony that ho never saw' him lowspirited or fretful in his life, and he could not endure the society of those who made themselves wretched in this way. Of such he once observed: “To have persons at my ears murmuring and fretting at everything is like tearing the flesh from my bones. By the grace of Clod 1 am discontented at nothing. I see God sitting on His throne and ruling all tilings.” Oh, that all Christians would cultivate such a spirit! The world would actually be revolutionised, so greatly would peace and happiness be promoted thereby. An eminent physician, speaking of his sinful infirmities, used to sum up all by saying: “I have to lament the irritability of my temper in my old age.” He found that the disposition to be fretful was one of the sorest trials of his declining years. I. The first reason for struggling against’ a fretful spirit is that it is a sin against God. It is an evil, and that continually. Caezar having prepared a sumptuous feast for his nobles and friends, the day appointed for it proved so inclement that all went wrong. He was so much out of temper on this account that he commanded all who had bows to shoot their arrows upwards towards Jupiter, their chief God, as being the cause of their disappointment. The silly order was oueyed, but the arrows instead of striking the mark aimed at fell bade with violence on their own heads. Thus also, the inconsiderate complaints of the fretful are, in fact, arrows shot in defiance against the majesty of God, but certain to hurt none but those who send them. Every murmurer is his own tormentor, and the greater extent to which his offence is carried, the more grievous his punishment. 11. It is well worth while to struggle against a disposition to be fretful, since it is sure to destroy affection and is the bane of domestic happiness. Husbands, wives, children, relatives or servants have little real love for the fault-fiinding. Many a man has been driven to hard drink by a peevish, complaining wife, and many a wife has been made wretched by such a husband. The disposition of the waspish and the crabbed will change the fairest earthly paradise into a place so full of horrors that even demons might be glad to escape from it. Things remarkable for nothing but their insignificance serve as perpetual fuel, keeping alive the secret fires in the bosom of the fretful. The noise of thoughtless children, the forgetfulness or carelessness of a servant, the spoiling of a favourite dish by an unskilful cook—these and a hundred other like causes are occasions when the direction of the Scripture should be kept in mind. Even the hallowed solemnities of family worship are sometimes preceded by snappish censures and ill-timed scolding. “I am wedded,” wrote the gentle, warm-hearted Charles Lamb to Coleridge, “to the fortunes of my sister and my poor old father. Oh, my friend, I think sometimes could I recall the days that are past, which among them should .1 choose? ;Nofc those merrier days, not the pleasant days of hope, but the days of a mother's fondness for her schoolboy. What would I give to call her back to earth for,one clay, on my knees to ask her pardon for all those little asperities of temper, which from time to time gave her gentle spirit pain.” 111. 1 hasten on, to remind you; that a fretful disposition oftentimes encourages a spirit of hypocrisy in those who are brought under its baneful influence. It is not only quite out of the question that a complaining, fault-finding person should; have much tender affection wasted on him, but no one likes to tell him disagreeable things, and thus run the risk of arousing a fresh tempest. It is wonderful that children and servants naturally fall into a habit of concealing all they possibly can from those who are as little disposed to make allowance and to forgive. They cannot get up their courage to be frank and open-hearted, and deceit and falsehood are the consequence. A fretful person certainly inspires fear, but fear is by no means the best motive to bo appealed to. While the possessor of this unfortunate disposition is doing so much to diturb the happiness of others, it is a comfort for us to know that at the same time he destroys his own peace of mind. Fretfulness is always foolish, always a thing to be sorry for and ashamed of. Bitterness and harshness are the offspring of it, and these are no agreeable inmates of the soul. Moreover, as we know that after all it is God that assigned our portion to us, it does not become those claiming to be Christians to impeach the propriety of His dispensations, and to be forgetful of his many mercies. One of Cromwell’s friends was a fretting Christian to whom everything went wrong and portended disaster. On a certain occasion when unusually irritable, his sensible servant said: “Master, don’t you think God Governed the world very well before you came into it?” Yes, but why do you ask?” “Well, then, can’t you trust Him to govern it for the little time you are in it?” That shot killed his fretfulness. If such be the nature of fretfulness—a sin against God, the bane of domestic happiness, an encouragement to hypocrisy in those who are obliged to bear the brunt of it, and robbing the fretful person himself of his own peace of mind—it is certainly a theme upon which much might profitably lie said. “Fret not thyself to do evil.” May He who alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, help us to mind this rule.

PRAYER BY ROBERT L STEVENSON.

Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Clive us grace and strength to forbear and persevere. Offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to forbear cheerfully the forgetfullness of others. (live us courage and gaiety and the riuiet mind. Spare us to our friends, soften us to our enemies. Uless us, if it may be in all our innocent endeavours. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another.

A wisp: counsel from VOLTAIRE. Build a little fence of trust Around to-day; Fill the space with loving work, And therein stay; Look not through the sheltering bars ' ' Upon to-morrow; God will help thee hoar what comes Of joy or sorrow.