Ohs. 4. The last note is more general, from the whole ver.se: that man's anger is usually evil and uiu'ighteous. Anger and passion is a sin with which the people of God are many times surprised, and too often do they swallow it without grief and remorse, out of a conceit partly that their anger is such as is lawful and allowed ; partly that it is but a venial evil, and of sudden surreption, for which there is a pardon of course.
I shall therefore endeavour two things briefly : —
1. Show you what anger is sinful.
2. How sinful, and how great an evil it is.
First, To state the matter, that it. is necessary, for all anger is not sinfid ; one sort of it falleth under a concession, another under a com- mand, another under the just reproofs of tlic word.
[1.] There are some indeliberable motions, which Jerome calleth propassions,2 sudden and irresistible alterations, which are the infelici- ties of nature, not the sins y^ tolerable in themselves, if rightly stinted. A man is not to be stu])id and insensate : anger in itself is but a natural motion to that which is offensive; and (as all passions) is so long lawful as it doth not make us omit a duty, or dispose us to a sin, or exceed the value of its impulsive cause. So the apostle saith, ' Bo angry, and sin not,' Fjili. iv. 2G. He alloweth what is natural, for- bidduth what is sinful.
[2.J There is a necessary holy anger, which is the whet.stone of
^ ' C'tcdissem te nini iratus essein.' — I'htto.
• 'WpoirdOiiai, non vdOrj.^ — Ilicron. ICpist. nd Demet.
^ ' IiifirmiUtes, non iniquitatps.' — Amhros.
JaS. I. 20.] Ul^ON THE Ef'IbTLE OF JAMES. 141
fortitude and zeal. So it is said, ' Lot's righteous soul was vexed,' 2 Peter ii. 7. So Christ himself, Mark iii. 5. ' He looked about him with anger.' So Moses' wrath waxed hot, Exod. xi. 8. This is but an advised motion of the will, guided by the rules of leason. Cer- tainly they are angry and sin not who are angry at nothing but sin : it is well when every passion serveth tlie interests of religion. How- ever, let me tell you, this being a fierce and strong motion of the spirit, it must be used with great advice and caution. (1.) The prin- ciple must be right. God's interests and ours are often twisted, and many times self interposeth the more plausibly because it is varnished with a show of religion ; and we are more apt to storm at indignities and affronts offered to ourselves rather than to God. The Samaritans rejected Christ, and in the name of Christ the apostles, they presently called for fire from heaven; but our Lord saith, Luke ix. 55, 'Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.' It is good to look to the impulses upon which our spirits are acted ; pride and self-love is apt to rage at our own contempt and disgrace ; and the more securely when the main interest is God's. A river many times loseth its savour when it is mingled with other streams ; and zeal that boileth up upon an injury done to God may prove carnal, when it is fed with the accessions of our own contempt and interest. "^ It is observed of Moses, that he was most meek in his own cause. When Miriam and Aaron spoke against him, it is said, Num. xii. 3, ' The man Moses was meek above all men in the earth ;' but when the law w^as made void, he broke the tables, and his meek spirit was heightened into some excess of zeal. By that action you would have judged his temper hot and furious. Lot's spirit was vexed, but it was with Sodom's filthiness, not with Sodom's injuries. Zeal is too good an affection to be sacrificed to the idol of our own esteem and interests. (2.) It must have a right object : the heat of indignation must be against the crime, rather than against the person : good anger is always accompanied with grief ; it prompteth us to pity and pray for the party offending. Mark iii. 5, Christ ' looked about him with anger, and was grieved for the hardness of their hearts.' False zeal hath mischief and malice in it ; it would have the offender rooted out, and purposeth revenge rather than correction. (3.) The manner must be right. See that you be not tempted to any indecency and unhandsomeness of expression ; violent and troubled expressions argue some carnal commotion in the spirit. Moses was angry upon a good cause, but he ' spake unadvisedly with, his lips,' Ps. cvi. 33. In reli- gious contests men are more secure, as if the occasion would warrant their excesses ; and so often anger is vented the more freely, and lieth unmortified under a pretence of zeal.
[3.] There is a sinful anger when it is either — (1.) Hasty and inde- liberate. Piash and sudden motions are never without sin. Some pettish spirits are, as I said, like fine glasses, broken as soon as touched, and all of fire upon every slight and trifiing occasion ; when meek and grave spirits are like flints, that do not send out a spark but after violent and great collision. Feeble minds have a habit of wrath,