SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 262, 11 December 1909, Page 3

SUNDAY READING.

TEMPTAI'iON. By the Itev. J. ii. Jowett, 31.0. Luke iv., I*l3. "Jesus • • • 1 01 V d' l }'* tempted!" Then ih*. sentence seuies one matter: our iv mpi.uiuns do not* throw suspicion ui a ti.,- i\riiiiy of our kinship wim the i.',.. i. it u.'i|uentiy happens—nay, cojua happen.,--tuat when young people iii.e given iueir lives to the Lord, and l .ive received tiie baptism of the Holy

,-pirit, that tiie ioices of evil scent to imultiplied, and the battle fur goodit 'ss becomes more lierce. And the young vouvert is apt to interpret, the growing iiiiveness of the onslaught as indicative oi in® own growing weakness, and he is inclined to faint in the heavenly way. But temptations are rather compliments. We are becoming worthy to be noticed! They mean that we have been marked oui~ for distinction! 'it is' one thing to be tempted, it is another thing to fall. Thai tiie devil rings my bell, that he knocks at my door, that he whispers insidious enticements through the keyhole, all counts for nothing; everything dqtuu* ua tu whether 1 lift the latch and.let him in. It was an old Puritan who said, "1 an: nut always able to keep uueiu&n nivds iroui circling and screaming * round mv head. But, <jo«i helping nie, they shall "not alight ami looat, and breed, and bring forth their abominable young ones' under 'my hat." iSFFEUT OF TEMFI'AnUN. Every new endowment becomes the occasion oi a new temptation. The endowment would never really be oars ». we weie never tried. A power untested i.j i-euiij never my own. A virtue uniwwii is uevtr ivuiiy possessed. And a» it la.tiKii poaac.-ii.oii, so it is with progress'. v»c g:iju the strength oi the temptations ..c iesist. Every .time 1 conquer an' cncu v , tiie strengtii of that

enemy uiinia iu-.o my own resources, aud i l'atc uc ik.u battle witu the oiu euemy's ngm as an ally on the lield. 1 am my out plus my old enemy. 1 iu. v e uiuiiK iij» mood, and his vigor runa m liiv.vcma. .rind so we come to

new potencies, new abilities, through the uiiiuain ul Uie very tilings that auemed our iocs. uiicu we are tried we receive "ine cioivn of liie." Take these woros from Alartin Luther: "i dul not learu to preach Christ kli at once. It wae my temptations that beat prepared nit for the pulpit. The devii has been my Lest proiesaor of exegetical au,d experimental divinity." Before that great schoolmaster took me ill hand 1 was a sucking cuihi and not a grown man. It was' my combat with sin and with Satan that made me a true minister of the Now Testament. . . . Without in-

ccssant combat, and pain, and sweat., aud blood, uo ignorant stripling of a student ever became a powerful preacher." And therefore can we enter into the meaning of the apostle's words When he. said: "Count it all joy when ye fall into manifold temptations." Let us look at the temptations of the Lord. In the first 6i tneiu He was tempted to De uaspiritual; in the second He wjas tempted to be semi-spiritual; in the third He was .tempted to be stupidly spiritual, and to manifest a, piety which was impious, SPHERE OF -TEMPTATION. Our Lord was first tempted to Jje unspiritual. He was a young man barely

<tnirty jears ol age. A Dig sens* .o; vocation was upon Him. He was possessed by the awful consciousness that He was born to be the Saviour of His people. And along what line should the vocation he pursued? How should He set about the redemption of men? The question haunted His morning, noon, and night, and He withdrew into the wilderness, in order that He might brood on it free from the distractions of men: Now, it is wonderful how in such a

mood aoine immediate association ol circumstances gives the requisite touch to our uncertain thoughts, and contn-

butes a point of convergence tUrougn which the* pass to definite judgment. It was when John Bright was in the jold • loneliness of a great bereavement that Cobden came upon him, and through his own chilling sorrow 'he felt the hunger of a nation, and he consecrated himaelf as the apostle of reform. And while our. Lord was brooding in the wilderness He began to hunger, and it was this very hunger which became the medium of a temptation through which lie .passed to clear and definite vocation. While He hungered the devil came to Him, and reminded Him of the widespread hunger in the land, and of social inequalities, the difficulty with which some men found their bready and the oppression under which they groaned day by day. "Thy vocation }s to be j physical reformer: it ia TJiine to bi'iiig the people bread! Let that be Thy destiny! Choose that as Thy road! Set up the standard of social reform, and live, aifd labor, and die for social emancipation!" I think it /was a temptation to ignore the distinejfcive ly spiritual and ' to give Himself jto purely materialistic ends. HOW -W JIKKT TEitfiATION. And;'what was the Lord's answer? "Man shall not live by bread alone." Not that our Lord ignores the necessity of bread, but He refuses to give it exclusive emphasis'; He declines to be imprisoned within its narrow limits. "But by every word' that proccedcth out the mouth of God." Man can only live fully in the intellectual, and moral, and spiritual', in the realm of thought and ideal, in revelation and inspiration. "Not by bread alone," but by work. | . "Not by bread alone," but by service. "Not by bread alone," but by sacrifice. >,"Xot by bread alone/ but by communion with the living God. Now, this temptation is ever with us, ami never more powerful than it is today. There is always a temptation to make the Alpha the Omega as wril, to make the physical our ultimate concern. Jt is so in our daiJy life and ji. social service. We arc tempted to shut "out the heavenlies and to close all the • upper rooms in the temple of our life, to live entirely in the basement, to pile up money, to seek material concerns, and with these to be content. It is the temptation to ignore the spiritual, to shut it out of our life. SATAN'S COMPROMISE. In the second temptation the devil attempts a compromise, and seeks to entice our Lord to be semi-spiritual, liali one thing aud half another, lie led our J,"~d up an exceedingly high mountain, a.,. showed Ilim all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. "All these shall bo Thine if Thou wilt fall

down and worship me. :i Now, J .bje subtlety of the temptation h this, tliat it was our Lord's vocation to make those kingdoms His own. And how should He set about it'/ Well, how was He expected to do it? He was expected to appear as a literal king, robed i:i worldly pomp and magnificence, an imperial Caesar, before whom the reigning Caesar should be belittled and eclipsed, lie would appear in overwhelming power and sovereignty, and the peoples should fear Him and prostrate themselves at His feet. And the devil lays'hold of the popular .' expectation, and seductively '■whispers'it- in the ears of the Christ. "Would not that be the better way, and the best way? We are -both at one about the'end! And here is the short cut to dominion! Take the -worldly way to the unworldly end. It is only a matter of means, and by common admission this is t'he most- hopef-ii way to attain . the desired ends." Thai was the temptation: a temptation to compromi.se. The right end was allowed, but the enticement was to take the devil's way t< it. It was a temptation to lie sera,i- k . spiritual,"to give part to God and part , to mammon.

WORSHIP LINKED WITH fSfiRYICK. And what was tin? answer to it? "Thou sbalt worship tlic Lord thy Cod. and Him only Shalt tlhcm serve.'' It is not permissible to give worship lutte and Service there. Our worship and service must be indissoluble. Wo must nol "fear the Lord and serve our own Spiritual ends must be served by spiritual means. And the obi temptation i> -With us Still. Uow frc(]ii''iillv we are led to assume that the. end justifies the means, and that it 1s legitimate to sh-u spiritualities by paving li.n;i;tl" an adversary. We try to .s'trve the Lord i end by ministries of perseeii! imi; Mia I is to by invoking (lie b in I :i I leiiion.of the world. The Chureh is sometimes tempted, and never more km than now. to rwh spiritual ends by vulvar means to pursue tiie redemptive purpose hr worldly smartness and unhallowed skill •Hair and half we sire toirpt'd l«> -br The final word a! nil it. 's jusl Ib's•kingdoms won in this v.:i\ have been Spoiled in the winnin". and when '.ve filter w.r shall lind tile of tiie. devil flying over the field.. FOOL lIAI ll> IX "In'lite third temptation our 1.0 v.l was tempted to be unreasonably and stupidly

.spiritual. Uo was taken Lo a pinnacle •of the temple, He was surrounded by exUrnalisms, all oi which were f rug rant of religion. 'Wic temple, the scripture:!, si hoi}' promise, the spirit o! tjruat! The -devil now appi<ans as the minister spiritual culture, a tutor iu the art ot fittingly expiring the stiul's cuuiidence ; and love, lie is now engaged iu giving | a leason on now to become more religious. "Tlwne is a crowd below Thee! They are doubtful of Thy credentials. f They know Thee to be the Han of . Nazareth, thov cannot accept Thee as tiie Son of Hod. Here is a aim-pie way to decide it and to win their enthusiastic coniidence. Throw Thy.self from the height! Angel guards shall catch Thee in mid-air. They ahull not dash Jhy foot against a stone! And at once Tho'u alw.lt be acclaimed King by an enthusiastic peaple."

And what is the answer to the temptation. "TMion shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.'' Such an exhibition is not .trust, but presumption. It is not piety, but stupidity. It is spirituality devoid of reasonableness; it is piety bereft of common sense. It is faith perverted into presumption. It is the shutting ui the eyes, it is a criminally blind dependence upon the love of Cod. It is a temptation always near, and the answer of tiie Lord is our only response to it. If we wish to have; the redemption of tiod's holy promises, it -is imperative that we be reasonable, and that we exercise a sane and healthy judgment. No one conciliates' "the Lord by silly child* islmesus and by an abnegation of common sense. The condition of Divine help is the consecration of our own best to 1!h service. And in the seope of our consecration judgment is included,.and conscience, and enlightened affection. "Thou shalt not tempt the Li>rd thy God."