CHAPTER VI A CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN AN old English poet has described the Lord Jesus Christ in these words: "The best of men That e'er wore earth about Him was a sufferer, It was from this "first true Gentleman " that St. Paul learned to write the best treatise on manners ever written that is to say, the thirteenth chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians. In this he says that charity or love "suffereth long, and is kind; envieth not; vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil," and so on, until every characteristic of a true gentleman is described. We remember how the same Apostle began the great speech which he delivered at Athens by endeavouring to conciliate his audience, and how all his letters are full of sympathy and consideration for the feelings of others. "It is a great comfort to me," remarked a Scotch lady, “when reading St. Paul's Epistles to remember that the writer was a gentleman." In one of his letters St. Paul writes, "I beseech you by the gentleness of Christ." It is only the God of patience who can make us patient, kind, and tolerant towards each other. One of the fruits of the Spirit is gentleness. "A rough Christian !” said a dog to a hedgehog; but if the dog had known more about the matter he would have been aware that a true Christian is never a rough, but a gentle man in thought, word, and deed. Rather more than sixty years ago there was a lawsuit in which Trinity College, Dublin, was concerned. On this occasion Rev. John Barrett, familiarly styled "Jacky Barrett," had to give evidence. The barrister who cross-examined him, thus records his experience: "I examined Dr. Barrett, a little, greasy, shabby, croaking, round-faced vice-provost, who knew nothing on earth save books and guineas. I worked at him unsuccessfully more than an hour; not one decisive sentence could I get him to pronounce. At length he grew tired of me, and I thought to conciliate him by telling him that his father had christened me. 'Indeed!' exclaimed he, X'I did not know you were a Christian,' -a repartee which caused great laughter." To some baptized and highly “respectable persons one is tempted to say, on hearing them make profession of religion, while they are unkind and unsympathetic in their everyday lives, "I didn't know you were Christians." Let us think a little of what is said by the Apostle about that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues. And first, it is longsuffering and kind. We have been forgiven, oh, how much, by God; ought we not to forgive the little debt owed to us? If God can tolerate some one whose opinions and practice we dislike, surely, we may do so. It has been said that the test of good manners is to be able to put up pleasantly with the bad manners of others. We cannot make ourselves to be as we like; why should we be impatient if we cannot make others as we like? Charity distinguishes between weakness and malice. In extenuation of faults, it puts down to education somewhat, and to natural temperament somewhat, and to unavoidable surroundings somewhat. It is always on the lookout for an opportunity of saying a helping word or doing a kind action. "Love envieth not." So long as a good thing is done, the charitable man cares little whether he does it or some one else. He knows that all gifts and superiority are from God, and if he observes that others are more talented than himself, he rejoices that Sparta has so many worthier sons. Love "vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." Snobs unduly depreciate others and unduly appreciate themselves. The man who makes himself great and others small has not in him the grace of love. If he had he would not be puffed up with a sense of his own importance, and be, like Herod, half eaten up with pride, before being entirely eaten by worms. 'Love does not behave itself unseemly." It avoids conduct that others think unseemly, with sympathetic consideration for their wishes. Charity seeketh not her own." That is, the charitable man is no unyielding stickler for rights and prescriptions, but would rather err on the side of claiming less than he is lawfully entitled to than he would endanger goodwill. He certainly will not allow himself to forget that others have rights too. The same Apostle says, in another place: "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." Only vulgarians are grasping. The next clause is altered in the Revised edition. The word The word "easily" is omitted. We read "is not provoked," instead of "easily provoked," and this gives better sense. A man even with little or no religion is not easily provoked if he be a sensible man who understands the world, and does not expect too much from human nature. The love of a Christian, however, is different from such prudential moderation. It can control anger and provocation altogether. The Christian gentleman turns a deaf ear to scandal, and puts the best construction possible upon people's actions. is not touchy and prone to take offence. He Love taketh no account of, or reckoneth not evil. The Authorised Version here, "thinketh no evil," is so beautiful that one cannot but wish it had been a correct translation. Yet to take no account of, or to reckon not evil, in the sense of to forgive, is much the same thing. Some one said to Socrates: "May I die unless I am avenged upon you 1" To which he answered: "May I die if I do not make a friend of you!" Charity" rejoiceth not in iniquity," because, rejoicing in the spread of truth and holiness, it sheds a tear on a brother's fall. "It beareth," or, rather, "covereth" all things-hiding a neighbour's fault under the best explanation truth will admit. "It believeth all things" in a brother's favour so long as rational evidence will allow, and will go on "hoping all things," |