"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you."
Two letters recently reached me, one from Oregon, and one from
Massachusetts, inquiring if I thought it possible to have temper
destroyed. The comrade from Oregon wrote: "I have been wondering
if the statement is correct when one says, 'My temper is all
taken away.' Do you think the temper is destroyed or sanctified?
It seems to me that if one's temper were actually gone he would
not be good for anything."
The comrade from Massachusetts wrote: "Two of our Corps Cadets
have had the question put to them: 'Is it possible to have all
temper taken out of our hearts?' One claims it is possible. The
other holds that the temper is not taken out, but God gives power
to overcome it."
Evidently these are questions that perplex many people, and yet
the answer seems to me simple.
Temper, _as usually spoken of_, is not a faculty or power of
the soul, but is rather an irregular, passionate, violent
expression of selfishness. When selfishness is destroyed by love,
by the incoming of the Holy Spirit, revealing Jesus to us as an
uttermost Saviour, and creating within us a clean heart, of
course such evil temper is gone, just as the friction and
consequent wear and heat of two wheels is gone when the cogs are
perfectly adjusted to each other. The wheels are far better off
without friction, and just so man is far better off without such
temper.
We do not destroy the wheels to get rid of the friction, but we
readjust them; that is, we put them into just or right relations
to each other, and then noiselessly and perfectly they do their
work. So, strictly speaking, sanctification does not destroy
self, but it destroys selfishness--the abnormal and mean and
disordered manifestation and assertion of self. I myself am to be
sanctified, rectified, purified, brought into harmony with God's
will as revealed in His word, and united to Him in Jesus, so that
His life of holiness and love flows continually through all the
avenues of my being, as the sap of the vine flows through all
parts of the branch. "I am the Vine, ye are the branches," said
Jesus.
When a man is thus filled with the Holy Spirit he is not made
into a putty man, a jelly fish, with all powers of resistance
taken out of him; he does not have any less force and "push" and
"go" than before, but rather more, for all his natural energy is
now reinforced by the Holy Spirit, and turned into channels of
love and peace instead of hate and strife.
He may still feel indignation in the presence of wrong, but it
will not be rash, violent, explosive, and selfish, as before he
was sanctified, but calm and orderly, and holy, and determined,
like that of God. It will be the wholesome, natural antagonism of
holiness and righteousness to all unrighteousness and evil.
Such a man will feel it when he is wronged, but it will be much
in the same way that he feels when others are wronged. The
personal, selfish element will be absent. At the same time there
will be pity and compassion and yearning love for the wrong-doer
and a greater desire to see him saved than to see him punished.
A sanctified man was walking down the street the other day with
his wife, when a filthy fellow on a passing wagon insulted her
with foul words. Instantly the temptation came to the man to want
to get hold of him and punish him, but as instantly the
indwelling Comforter whispered, "If ye will forgive men their
trespasses;" and instantly the clean heart of the man responded,
"I will, I do forgive him, Lord;" and instead of anger a great
love filled his soul, and instead of hurling a brick or hot words
at the poor Devil-deceived sinner, he sent a prayer to God in
Heaven for him. There was no friction in his soul. He was
perfectly adjusted to his Lord; his heart was perfectly
responsive to his Master's word, and he could rightly say, "My
temper is gone."
A man must have his spiritual eyes wide open to discern the
difference between sinful temper and righteous indignation.
Many a man wrongs and robs himself by calling his fits of temper
"righteous indignation;" while, on the other hand, there is here
and there a timid soul who is so afraid of sinning through temper
as to suppress the wholesome antagonism that righteousness, to be
healthy and perfect, must express towards all unrighteousness and
sin.
It takes the keen-edged word of God, applied by the Holy Spirit,
to cut away unholy temper without destroying righteous antagonism;
to enable a man to hate and fight sin with spiritual weapons
(2 Cor. x. 3-5), while pitying and loving the sinner; to so fill
him with the mind of Jesus that he will feel as badly over a wrong
done to a stranger as though it were done to himself; to help him
to put away the personal feeling and be as calm and unselfish and
judicial in opposing wrong as is the judge upon the bench. Into
this state of heart and mind is one brought who is entirely
sanctified by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!
Dr. Asa Mahan, the friend and co-worker of Finney, had a quick
and violent temper in his youth and young manhood; but one day he
believed, and God sanctified him, and for fifty years he said he
never felt but one uprising of temper, and that was but for an
instant, about five years after he received the blessing. For the
following forty-five years, though subjected to many trials and
provocations, he felt only love and peace and patience and good-will
in his heart.
A Christian woman was confined to her bed for years with nervous
and other troubles, and was very cross and touchy and petulant.
At last she became convinced that the Lord had a better
experience for her, and she began to pray for a clean heart full
of patient, holy, humble love; and she prayed so earnestly, so
violently, that her family became alarmed lest she should wear
her poor, frail body out in her struggle for spiritual freedom.
But she told them she was determined to have the blessing, if it
cost her her life, and so she continued to pray, until one glad,
sweet day the Comforter came; her heart was purified, and from
that day forth, in spite of the fact that she was still a nervous
invalid, suffering constant pain, she never showed the least sign
of temper or impatience, but was full of meekness, and patient,
joyous thankfulness.
"Love took up the harp of life, and smote on all
the chords with might--
Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, passed in
music out of sight."
Such is the experience of one in whom Jesus lives without a
rival, and in whom grace has wrought its perfect work.
"No form of vice, not worldliness, not greed of gold, not
drunkenness itself, does more to un-Christianise society than
evil temper," says a distinguished and thoughtful writer.
If this be true, it must be God's will that we be saved from it.
And it is provided for in the uttermost salvation that Jesus
offers.
Do you want this blessing, my brother, my sister? If so, be sure
of this: God has not begotten such a desire in your heart to mock
you; you may have it. God is able to do even this for you. With
man it is impossible, but not with God. Look at Him just now for
it. It is His work, His gift. Look at your past failures, and
acknowledge them; look at your present and future difficulties,
count them up and face them every one, and admit that they are
more than you can hope to conquer; but then look at the dying Son
of God, your Saviour--the Man with the seamless robe, the crown
of thorns, and the nail-prints; look at the fountain of His
Blood; look at His word; look at the Almighty Holy Ghost, who
will dwell within you, if you but trust and obey, and cry out:
"It shall be done! The mountain shall become a plain; the
impossible shall become possible. Hallelujah!" Quietly,
intelligently, abandon yourself to the Holy Spirit just now in
simple, glad, obedient faith, and the blessing shall be yours.
Glory to God!
"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"