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Anger is an affection inherent in our nature. It is, therefore, not wrong in itself; it is wrong only when it is directed to wrong objects, or to right objects in a wrong degree of amount and duration. Anger in itself is as holy a passion as love. Indeed, in its legitimate form it is but a development of love. Love indignant with that which is opposed to the cause of right and happiness. Albeit, like every affection of our nature, it is often sadly perverted, it not unfrequently becomes malignant and furious.

I. CONTROLLED. "The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression." The wise man is liable to the passion, and circumstances in his life occur to evoke it. Instead of acting under its impulse, he waits until its fires cool. It is said of Julius Caesar that when provoked he used to repeat the whole Roman alphabet before he suffered himself to speak; and once said to his servant, "I would beat thee but I am angry." It is noble to see a man holding a calm mastery over the billows of his own passions, bidding them to go so far and no farther. He who governs himself is a true king. We have anger here —

II. UNCONTROLLED. The text suggests two remarks in relation to uncontrolled anger.

1. It is sometimes terrible. "The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion." It is a lamentable fact that kings have shown less command over their evil tempers than have the ordinary run of mankind. Their temper, it is implied, affects the nation. Their anger terrifies the people like the "roar of a lion"; their favour is as refreshing and blessed as the "dew upon the grass."

2. It is always self-injurious. "A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment; for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again." Violent passions ever inflict their own punishment upon their unhappy subjects. They injure the body. It sets the blood flowing too quickly for its narrow channels. But it injures the soul in a variety of ways. Well does Pope say, "To be angry is to revenge others' faults upon ourselves." Anger is misery. Dr. Arnold, when at Laleham, once lost all patience with a dull scholar, when the pupil looked up in his face, and said, "Why do you speak angrily, sir? Indeed I am doing the best I can." Years after he used to tell the story to his children, and say, "I never felt so ashamed of myself in my life. That look and that speech I have never forgotten."

(Homilist.)

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KJV: The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

WEB: The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger. It is his glory to overlook an offense.