GAL. V. 22, 23 403
(1) LoTigsuj^ering. — How striking that this should come next ! After dwelling upon the great dispositions of love in God, joy in God, peace in God, it is almost startling to be encountered by this sober grace, longsuffering. It is as though, when we turn to the Word, the first great necessity is the power of bearing up and holding out. It is something more than magnanimity ; it is rather longanimity. It is not breadth of temper so much as length of temper. It is the capacity to present the same calm surface to men to-day, and to-morrow, and morrow after morrow, in spite of anything and everything. It is the power to bear irritating people without becoming irritated. It is the ability to tolerate even the intolerant. It is long temper as contrasted with short temper ; the power of " bearing all things."
•jl Some of us meet injustice, wrong treatment, harshness, rudeness, unkindness, from those among whom we live and work. It is not easy to keep our hearts sweet and loving all the while in such experiences. It is easier for us to do as the world does — harden ourselves against the injustice or rudeness, or grow bitter, resentful, soured. That is what too many do in the midst of the selfishness, harshness, and wrong they meet in their condition. But this is not the transforming that is toward Christ-likeness. The struggle between the good and the evil in us goes on continu- ally ; but when the world is getting the better of us, when the good in us is being smothered, when the lamp within our bosom is being quenched, when its flame is growing dimmer, we are losing in the struggle. Instead of being transformed, our life is being darkened.^
(2) Gentleness. — How exquisite the addition! We are not merely to bear the impatience and the intolerableness of the world; we are to be delicate in our approaches to it. The literal significance is just this: we are to "graze" people, to touch them slightly, but the touch has to be one of healing. If we want to know the meaning of the gentle touch, we must read Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians, and mark the exquisite gentleness of his reproofs. " He touched upon it so tenderly ! " Ah, that is a rare fruit, and it comes in the life that is united by love and joy to God.
^ Writing to Southey, whom he urged to undertake a " life " of John Wesley, Sir Walter Scott says : When I was twelve years
» J. R. Miller.
404 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
old, I heard him preach more than once, standing on a chair, in Kelso churchyard. He was a most venerable figure, but his sermons were vastly too colloquial for the taste of Saunders. He told many excellent stories. One I remember, which he said had happened to him at Edinburgh. " A drunken dragoon," said Wesley, " was commencing an assertion in military fashion, G — d eternally d — n me, just as I was passing. I touched the poor man on the shoulder, and when he turned round fiercely, said calmly, ' You mean God bless you.' " In the mode of telling the story he failed not to make us sensible how much his patriarchal appearance, and mild yet bold rebuke, overawed the soldier, who touched his hat, thanked him, and, I think, came to chapel that evening.^
(3) Goodness. — More positive still is the grace ! All the wealth accumulated in love and joy and peace in God is to be poured out in active, influential ministry upon our fellowmen. If we would realize the full wealthy content of this word "goodness" in all its reach and ranges, we must call to our aid that fascinating list of words beginning with the syllable " bene." In goodness, we find benediction, benevolence, beneficence, benefits. It is a thoroughly ripe fruit, and its juices allay the pains and fears of men, and help to keep souls pure and sweet.
^ From what has been said, it is easy to see how genuinely good my father was. The goodness which St. Paul mentions as a component part of " the fruit of the Spirit " (Gal. v. 22, 23), and which, difficult as it is to dissect and define, we instinctively recognize when we see it, characterized him in a very high degree. Yes, he was good — thoroughly, genuinely, unaffectedly, trans- parently good. This was the clear-cut, ineffaceable impression he left upon the minds of all who knew him, however partial and imperfect their knowledge of him might be. Those who knew him best were most sensible of his goodness ; in the intimacies of private life, it showed itself even more fully and winsomely than in his public relations and activities. When once my elder sister was travelling with him in America, their kind host in one city gathered a party of friends for a picnic at Niagara Falls. Power- fully moved by the majesty of the scene, my father suggested that they should turn aside to a secluded spot for a few moments of prayer. The prayer over, the party were again moving on, when my sister suddenly clasped the arm of the gentleman at her side, and earnestly exclaimed, " Oh, isn't my father good ? " " Yes, indeed he is," said he. " Ah," she rejoined, " but it is only we who