Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/397

 cent actions  appear  to  us  insulting  or  injurious. Then anger  fills  the  mind  and  clouds  the  reason;  then comes the  muttering  of  suppressed  passion;  then flashes out  the  vile  word  or  murderous  action — and then? Alas! one soul,  perhaps  two,  stripped  of  all their graces — blighted — dead. We must  be  on  our guard, I  repeat,  for  with  us  such  temptations  are very, very  common. Here we  are,  a  mixed  people, differing widely  in  national,  political,  and  religious prejudices, all  trying  to  better  our  own  condition  and each bent  on  getting  ahead  of  his  neighbor. The friction is  too  intense  not  to  strike  fire  occasionally. The child  at  school  has  his  competitors,  the  young man or  woman  in  the  world  finds  a  rival  at  every step, and  the  old  people — well  they,  too,  sometimes forget all  men  are  brothers. Poor fifth  commandment! Few of  us  ever  give  it  a  thought;  and  still fewer but  break  it  often  and  grievously. Look well to it,  my  friends,  for  if  we  are  at  variance  with  one another, we  are  as  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  old — murderers in  the  sight  of  God. " Whosoever  hateth his  brother,"  says  St.  John,  "  is  a  murderer,  and  a murderer,  you  know,  hath  not  eternal  life  abiding  in him." Uncontrolled anger,  therefore,  and  habitual hate and  any  venting  of  them  whatsoever  by  sign, word, or  deed — all  are  sins  of  murder  against  the fifth commandment. These are  the  sins  Christ  wants us to  avoid  or  correct. These are  the  sins  we  must correct if  we  would  keep  this  commandment  better than the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  so  enter  into  the kingdom of  heaven.