The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-08-22


able to deliver US from the burning fiery
furnace, and he will deliver us but if
not, be it known unto thee that we will
not worship the golden image which thou
hast set up" Did Daniel give all he had
for his life when, in order to keep "a
conscience void of offense toward God"
he went unfalteringly into the lions
den Did Peter and John selfishly con-
slider what would become of them when
before the council they so courageously
said, I'VE ought to obey God rather than
men? And where was this cold, calcu-
lating spirit of selfpreservation at any
price in Paul, when he exclaimed, None
of these things move me. Neither count
| my life dear unto myself, that may
finish my course with Joy, and the minis
try which l have received of the Lord ?"
But what need l more2 Is not the jubi-
liant shout Of praise raised by the noble
army of martyrs yonder the most conclu-
sive proof that Satan spoke the words of
calumny, and not of truth when he said
concerning the people of God: "Skin for
skin, yea, all that a man hath will he
give for his life" And now, having vim
dicated our common manhood from the
aspersion which the father of lies has
here attempted to put upon it, let me
conclude by making two practical infer
ences from the course of thought which
we have been prosecuting.
l. In the first place, then, let me say
that one of the greatest dangers which
beset the soul lies in the very region to
which this assertion of the Prince of
Darkness refers. In its broad and un-
qualified form, his affirmation is false;
yet we must not shut our eyes to the fact
that through that very selflove to which
q oil of l,
ious temptations come to US. With this
estimate of human nature in his mind,
he has kept continually appealing to
mems love of life; and it is astonishing
in how many instances he has at least
partially succeeded He tried it with
Abraham; and so prevailed for the time
even over the father OF the faithful that
he lied unto the king of Egypt He tried
1T with Isaac; and, calm and contempla-
tive as that patriarch was, he too lied
unto Abimelech, that he might save his
life. He tried it with Elijah and, daunt-
less as the Tishbite was, he fed from be-
fore the face of Jezebel. He trird it with
Peter; and the man of rock quailed for
the moment before the maid servant and
denied his Lord. He tried it with De.
mas; and in the hour of Paul's extremi-
ty he forsook his friend, having loved
ShAo plOoChu HOAl We may expect,
therefore, that, pursuing the same meth
cd. he will make similar approaches to
US. Many man has been kept from
giving himself wholly to Christ and
many of those who in the judgment of
charity are really his have been seriously
entangled by considerations suggested
by him or by his instruments bearing on
their personal safety or on their temporal
prosperity. 1t is thus he puts the case
"If you become Christian, you cannot
carry on the business in which you are
engaged or you will lose your situation
or you will forfeit the patronage of some
worldly friend, and so you will entail
great suffering on yourself or reduce your
self to penury and starvation. Or per- !
haps he puts it thus: "You must live;
therefore, you cannot give up this lucra-
tive work in which you are engaged |
however much your conscience may con-
demn it. You must live" Now, in an
story Of the First Napoleon, who, on |
being informed that an army contractor |
had cheated the government by supply |
ing the troops with very inferior and |
articles, sent for him, to in
quire into the affair. "How is this p said |
the Emperor, 81 understand you have
been violating your contract" "Sire,"
was the answer, II must live" NO"
replied the monarch, II do not see the I
mast 1t is not necessary that you should
live; but it is necessary that you should !
do right" And, though perhaps the
line which he used with the
contractor might in many things condemn
his own procedure, yet his words were
true Let them be ever memorable to
US. There is no absolute necessity that
we should live, hnt while we live it is an
absolute duty that we should do right
But the same truth will come to you with
more force from the lips Of Him who was
this his favorite theory of human nature,
came to our Lord Jesus in the wilder
ness, when he was an hungered, and said:
''If thou be the Son of God command
that these stones be made bread" But
no. The Lord repelled him with this
answer: MAN shall not live by bread
alone; but by every word of God" -
Which means that life consists not in eat
ing bread, but in obeying God. My breth-
rem, let US remember that principle and
act upon it evermore. There is life
higher, nobler, and moro delightful far
than that which is sustained by bread
1t is the life of communion with God
it is the lie of the service of God and if
II at can be maintained alone by the sac
rifice of the body, then let the body die
Its death does not affect the reality or
mar the blessedness of the life which is
hid with Christ in God That is indie
structible save by our own hand. No
one can take that from US, unless we
slavishly barter it away for some lower
object. Let US, then, be on our guard
against all enticements that have in view
the persuading of US to this unholy ex-
change. Let US not, however hardly we
may be bestead or however sorely we
NAV be tried, sell this birthright like
profame Esau, for mess of pottage-
Even if we should be ''at the point to
die" let US show the tempter that, in our
view, Christ and his salvation are of more
value in our eyes than all present COM
forts or physical necessities. Let US make
it evident to him that the Word of God,
the true, the right, are nobler things to
us than the continued existence Of our
bodily lives and let US be ready to sac
rifice the earthly and the physical for the
sake of Him who shed His blood for u.s.
Let no one bribe US, either with thirty
pieces of silver, or a Babylonish garment
or a wedge of gold, or peace, or ease, or
comfort, or security, to betray the Lord
or to desert from his service. In many
WAYS every day we live this temptation
is assailing US. 1t meets us in the home
and on the street, in the store and in the
exchange, in the social circle and in the
halls of legislature. Wherever we turn,
some appeal to our sel6shness is made;
but, wherever we confront it or in what
ever form it presents itself, let US spurn it
from US with dsdain, saying: "All these
things we count but loss for the excellen-
cy of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our
Lord Perish property, perish self, per-
ish life itself, if only he may be magni-
fed and his cause advanced"