SELF-CONTROL
SELF-CONTROL
597
in action from the beginning. In the same group, though by no means on the same level, may be put all the animcB naturaliter Christiance, amongst whom the obligation of self-control, if rendered easier of discharge by their disposition, should be more quickly and actively met (Mt 13^* 25^**, Lk 12^"-).
(2) Control over instincts and the entire appetitive life, wherein the ethical rule is indulgence with restraint, is traceable in Christ both in the par- ticulars of His historical manifestation, and as sustained with completeness in times of special temptation. By ' instinct ' is meant the impulse and faculty of acting in such a way as to produce certain results, without deliberate or even con- scious foresight. Some of these impulses are rooted in the body and aroused into activity by its uneasiness and recurring needs. Christ, for instance, knew weariness and its massive appeals for physical rest, but was so completely master of Himself as to be able to postpone, if not to with- hold, the response (Mt 8'-^ Jn 4''"'-) ; and of slug- gishness on His part there is no record in the Gospels. During the week of the Passion the nights were spent at Bethany (the village or its neighbourhood: Mt 2P'', Mk IP^), in part pro- bably with a view to bodily rest after the busy days. So, too, with hunger and thirst, whose im- portunity was sometimes clamorous, yet easily silenced or put off (Mt 4^, Mk S'^" 6^1, Jn 19^8). In regard to the physical nature, Christ neither prac- tised nor enjoined its suppression, but only the maintenance of its proper relation amongst natural promptings and activities. To this rule there were no exceptions, the apparent ones proving on cToser examination to be designed each for a special didactic or ethical purpose. The cursing of the fig-tree was not done unthinkingly under the stimulus of a disappointed appetite (Mk IP^ff.^^ ^^^ \^ illus- tration of the doom awaiting Israel, emblem of all who abound in leaves but fail in fruitfulness (cf. Lk 13®"®), and of the power of faith in dealing with evil (Mt 2P*"-). ' A gluttonous man and a wine- bibber ' (Mt IP®, Lk 1^), on account of its very diffi- culty to some expositors, must not be rejected as an interi^olation. It is not meant to indicate Christ's real habit ; but it is an almost amused comment by Him on the equal readiness with which certain types of men protest against the severity of one teacher and the graciousness of another. A professed neutrality which is really childish and angry self-will deals of necessity in exaggeration ; and in this case its evidence proves no degree of self-indulgence on the part of Christ, but merely magnifies His geniality, and the gentle way in which He moved amongst all innocent forms of human life, into a charge against Him of excess.
Of the mastery exercised by Christ over His emotions the characteristics appear to be a recog- nition of the legitimacy of emotion, sometimes even of free and unrestrained emotion, with the avoidance of all such qualities and extremes as the world has learned to condemn. Sympathy was full at Bethany (Jn IP^) and on the approach to Jerusalem (Lk 19^'), but not allowed to become so sentimental or overwhelming as to interfere with service. The anger of just indignation finds expression and becomes even torrential in Mt 2313-36 . jjyj; there is nowhere any trace of personal rancour. In Gethsemane the sacred anguish tran- scends analysis, for the vicarious Passion was begun ; but if any influence of fear or regret or intolerable burden (Lk 22^*') is to be acknowledged, the shrinking is quickly mastered, and the Saviour goes fortli calmly to die (Mt 26*'5'-, Mk W^^-, He 5"''-). Similarly the cry on the cross (Mt 27'"', Mk \5^*) is no sign of a temporary loss of control, the collapse of the human spirit of Christ in the bitter-
ness of approaching death. It should be connected with His work of atonement rather than with His personal experience, and marks the culmination of the pressure of the world's sin (Gal 3'^). For man Christ passes through the deep valley of sin's doom, and at the supreme moment is compassed about by darkness unrelieved ; but He did not falter, nor was the ordered unity of His inner life in His oneness of purpose with the leather broken. At the other extreme of emotion are the .sense of relief after long strain, with its associated perils of ' letting oneself go,' and such an exultation of joy as is apt to cause a lapse in vigilance. The relief and the joy are traceable in Christ (Mt W^, Lk 10^^, Jn 17^" ^), who on the earlier occasion im- mediately proceeds, according to the one tradi- tion, to ofler rest to the weary, and, according to the other, to pronounce a benediction upon His disciples. Joy that becomes exuberant and beyond control, and wastes itself in moods of sheer ecstasy, is nowhere recorded of Him. He preserves con- sistently the wise mean, well removed from the ordinary dangers, on either side, of excess and of defect. His self-respect was complete, never de- generating into immodest vanity or giving place to servility (Jn G^^ 1212-15 i82i- 37) Yq&x could not be excited in Him by the antagonism of the people or by His apparent powerlessness in the hands of the authorities (Mt 12"'-, Lk 4'''9'-, Jn 18^3 1911). He was sociable yet free, interested but not absorbed in nature and in man, subject to every pure emotion but possessed and mastered by none. And the sensitive life of Christ is most correctly viewed as an organized comity of well -graded sentiments and feelings, amongst which due order was maintained without either difficult effort or occasional failure. (3) To this, the negative side of self-control, the subjection of the various instincts and sensibilities, must be added the positive introduction of some controlling end or purpose, without which the main factor in determining the merit of self- control and the moral quality of the life will be absent. Self-control by itself may be simply a tribute to strength of will, neutral in regard to quality, and capable of being turned to bad uses. As exhibited in Christ, it means not only steadi- ness and freedom from irritability, a calm temper unruffled by influences from without, but the inflexible direction of the spirit and Avill upon the accomplishment of purposes than which neither ethics nor religion can disclose any worthier. This superiority to disappointment, difficulty, apparent disaster, is shown in many lights ; and if there are times when it appears for a moment to be obscured, it is recovered in another moment, and unflinchingly held. The atmosphere in which Jesus lived was often impure, vitiated by the influence of successes that were won by insincerity as Avell as by the prosperity of many vices ; yet by men who are competent to judge, no moral fault or compromise with wrong has ever been charged against Him (Jn 8^*). There is no instance of His having been diverted from His purpose by the 'gainsaying of sinners' (He 12^), the blundering clamour of the people, or their unbelieving dis- avowal of His mission (Mk 14^**) ; and even wide- spread alienation amongst His followers was turned into an occasion for deepening the convictions and strengthening the loyalty of the others (Jn 6®'). Neither the bitter craft of the religious leaders with their emissaries dogging His footsteps (Mt22'5ff-, Lk lp3f-), nor the jealousy or fear of the petty overlords (Lk IS^'^-); could break tlie inward unity of His spirit or the stability of His will. In the select group of His disciples were dispositions to protest or interfere (Mt 16'--, Lk O'^^), sometimes ignorance and unwillingness to learn (Mt 2020ff-, Lk W"; cf. Ac 1«), tempers and views