Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/265

 himself, shall find vengeance from the Lord .... Man to man reserveth anger, and doth he seek remedy of God? .... He that is but flesh nourisheth anger; and doth he ask forgiveness of God? Who shall obtain pardon for his sins ?" (Eccl. xxviii. 1, 3, 5.) Man, a worm of flesh, reserves anger, and takes revenge on a brother: does he afterwards dare to ask mercy of God? And who, adds the sacred writer, can obtain pardon for the iniquities of so daring a sinner? “Qua ironte," says St. Augustine, ” indulgentiam peccatorem obtinere poterit, qui præcipienti dare veniam non acquiescit." How can he who will not obey the command of God to pardon his neighbour, expect to obtain from God the forgiveness of his own sins? 4. Let us implore the Lord to preserve us from yielding to any strong passion, and particularly to anger. "Give me not over to a shameful and foolish mind." (Eccl. xxiii. 6.) For, he that submits to such a passion is exposed to great danger of falling into a grievous sin against God or his neighbour. How many, in consequence of not restraining anger, break out into horrible blasphemies against God or his saints! But, at the very time we are in a flame of indignation, God is armed with scourges. The Lord said one day to the Prophet Jeremias: "What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said: I see a rod watching. ” (Jer. i. 11.) Lord, I behold a rod watching to inflict punishment. ” The Lord asked him again: "What seest thou? And I said: I see a boiling caldron." (Ibid., v. 13.). The boiling chaldron is the figure of a man inflamed with wrath, and threatened with a rod, that is, with the vengeance of God. Behold, then, the ruin which anger unrestrained brings on man. It deprives him, first, of the grace of God, and afterwards of corporal life. ” Envy and anger shortens a man‟s days." (Eccl. xxx. 26.) Job says: ” Anger indeed killeth the foolish." (Job v. 2.) All the days of their life, persons addicted to anger are unhappy, because they are always in a tempest. But let us pass to the second point, in which I have to say many things which will assist you to overcome this vice. Second Point. How we ought to restrain anger in the occasions of provocation which occur to us.