, 1867-09-13
TEMPTING GOD.

L I
city on Sabbath, the 26th ult., by Rev. P. B.
Chamberlain, and is published at the earnest re-
guest of number of those who heard it:l
"Jesus said unto him, it is written again
thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy Goo" Matt.
Isl.
The connection in which this text Is found.
renders its true import very plain. The devil
had taken our Lord up into Jerusalem and placed
him upon a pinnacle of the temple. He then
tried to induce him TO cast himself down as q
Demonstration Of The sincerity of bis eiaims 70
be the Son of God, artfully assuming, and boldly
peryerting divine promise to support the as
suohpticn that if he was indeed the Sou of God A.,
God would Of course take care of him and pre-
vent his receiving any injury by the fall. Our
Lord replies to this temptation of the devil, in
the words of the text, clearly conveying the idea
that any such act of reckless presumption, on
the ground of promised divine favor and protec'
ton, would bel gross peryertion Of Gods good
ness. As the Son of God, be could rightfully
claim Gods protection only SO far as he r~-arded
Gods will. To presumptususly disregard Gods
will and still expect divine protection, was temp
ting God, and not trusting in Him.
The text thus understood, involves a principle
of very great importance, and susceptible of a
very wide application. Gods promises of divine
favor and protection, exceeding great and pre-
cious AS they are, are all of them conditional
promises, and their fair applications are deter,
mined aud limited by these conditions. As
Gods rational creatures, even as Gods spirit
ual children, We cannot consistently claim
Gods favor have no good ground on which to
expect Gods special protection only so far as we
are living in obedience to Gods will, and fol-
lowing the guidance of Gods spirit. To disre-
gard all the plain conditions of Gods promises,
expressed or implied, and go on presumptuously,
recklessy in any course, as our evil propensities
may prompt US, or the devil seek to ioduce us to
go, and yet pretend to be trusting in Gods
promises, and hoping in Gods mercy, to save US
from all the legitimate results of our own per-
verse doing, is palpable absurdily. Ii is in.
sulting, not honorng divine mercy. 1t is temp
ting God 10 become party TO our folly aud our
guilt, by protecting and blessing US in them
There are many ways in which mankind now
thus tempt God. Just as really tempt him,
though not always to the same degree OF reck-
essness, as the Savior would have tempted Him,
if in obedience to the devils temptation, he had
cast himself down from the pinnacle of the tenn
pie, expecting God to prevent all injury from his
fall.
We TEMPT GOD WHENEVER WE VIOLATE ANY OF THE
LAWS OF HEALTH.
| would not be understood in anything NAV
say under this head, as implying that God may
not, and does not sometimes send sickness suf-
fering and death upon individuals and families
as direct divine providence, where there has
been no special violation Of physical laws
Neither do | forget that there is very much he>
reditary weakness and disease, and eoBeeqaent-
suffering in the world, in which the sins OF the
parent are visited upon the children, often for
successive generations. But generally speak
ing, physical health or disease; strength or
weakness enjoyment or suffering; life or DEATH
are simply the inevitable result of the legitimate
operation of settled physical laws.
The laws Of physical lite and health are plain
and unchanging. If, as individuals and families
we heed these laws; it in all our physical habits;
in eating, drinking aud dressing; IN labor, ex
posure andrest in the character of our dwell
ing, and iu the CONTROL of tempers and our pas
sions, we are careful to obey the plain laws Of
health, we shall be healthy and have little sick
ness or suffering.
If, on the other hand, we carelessly or reck-
lessy disregard the laws Of health F; doing re-
peatedly what we but know, tends to sap
our physical vitality; exhaust our physical
strength or undermine our physical constitution.
the legitimate and inevitable results arc, debili.
ty, sickness, suffering, perhaps premature death.
Strictly speaking, there is no fatality, no mis-
fortune, no special providence about it. 1t is
simply and wholly the legitimate result of the
violation of fixed laws, by intelligent, response
BILE beings All God does in the matter, ordi-
narily, is to maintain the laws he has seen best
to establish, in steady, inhexIble operation, and
allow US to suffer the legitimate consequences of
our own doings. Reap what we have sown.
And for any one to go on in the repeated viola,
tion of any of these plain laws of health lead,
or by ones own evil inclinations, or the tempta.
tions of the devil, under the influence of some
vague presumptuous reliance upon Gods good
ness, or Gods promised protection, expecting to
escape all the legitimate results of such conduct,
is Just as unreasonable as it would be for one
to cast ones self down from some lofty church
spire, expecting God to prevent the legitimate
result of the fail. And yet what an amount of
just this kind of work is going on everywhere
among men not little of it among protesting
christians. individuals often whole families,
are living on in thoughtless, if not reckless, dis,
regard of the settled laws of that wonderful body
which God has given them as the temple of their
immortal soul indifferent as To whether ornot
their style of living; the dwellings they occupy,
the air they breathe, the food they eat the liquids
they drink. the clothes they wear, are healthy
or unhealthy. Many giving themselves up to
labors and exposures which no constitution can
long stand others, through sheer laziness, or
in obedience to the absurd conventionalisms of
society, dying for want of sufficient healthy ex>
ercise. Many indulge in disipations that turn
night into day and give themselves up to vices,
which either in kind or degree, must in a few
years, break down any physical organization.
And yet, when the legitimate result of such
cause of life begins to develop themselves in
waning health in settled disease in severe suf-
fering and Fastening DEATH they and their friends
wake up with surprise, and wonder why all this
is SO? What hard lot is theirs Why these
misfortunes have come upon them2 What mys-
terry in Gods gracious providence has now shown
itself?
The truth is, there is really no lot, no misfor>
tune, no providence about it. They have simply
been tempting God. They have cast themselves
from the pinacle of the temple, and God has not,
as they ought to have realized he would not,
prevented their being badly hurt, perhaps killed
by the fall. For individuals to go on thus, in
the violation of any Law of health, and yet pray
daily that God would bless them with continued
health, is impious folly. Faith without work is
dead. We must take care of our own habits if
We expect God to take care of our health. Any
other course is tempting God.
know of no sphere where there is a more
reckless tempting of God, or more of religious
cant over the legitimate results of human folly,
than among the females of our country and our
age. The wretched state of health now prevail
ing among American women, as compared with
that Of their mothers and their grandmothers, is
proVerbial. The number of females in our couu, |