Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-05-04

julio lU-AI ICDnum ana lIVStr9 Acts IL. I-lS
June l7-End of the First Mission
A. AIRY Quincy. 100000. Acts H:19-2S
June 25-Review.
TACT. In FIGHTING TEMPTATION.
There is lesson of tact in the old
world legend of. the saint who was
harassed in all his work by the hooking
face of the Devil. AT last it became un-
bearable; and, one day,as the saint was
busy at the forge, with his tongs thrust
into the glowing fire, and that hateful,
sneering face before him, he suddenly
snatched the white-hot tongs from the
glowing cinders, and in moment had
the Devil by the nose. That changed
the position of affairs in that forge: it
was no longer\ question whether the
saint would bS allowed to pursue his
work in peace, nut whether the bowling
lend at the other end of the tongs could
by any means get away from the saint.
Translate the legend into the Ian
guage of to-day and it expresses mighty
spiritual fact. Temptation is not con-
quered by whining about the weakness
OF the flesh and the willingness of the
spirit; and then-yielding Often the
surest way to win the victory is dexter
ously to flank the enemy; and to change
his position from that of the assaulting
party to that of the assaulted. That
North Country farmer whose two be-
setting sins were aVarice and hot
temper, knew how to flank the enemy
when he resolved that every time he
gave way to anger he would take from
his pocket Il bank-note, and burn it to
ashes; thus at one time cooling his
wrath and dealing a gratuitous stab to
his avarlce. ''Resist the Devil, and he
will flee from YOU is the command of
Holy Writ; and the best way to assure
the Devil that your resistance is sincere,
and not mere temporizing show of
resistance to make yielding seenr ex-
cusable, is to cease standing on the de-
fensive, and to take up some work for
Christ which the traitor in you would
tam persuade you to let alone.
This is the true Office of tact in fight
ing temptation-to change the base on
which the conflict is being waged; and,
metaphorically speaking, to take the
Devil by the nose. The ascetic saints
who fled to the desert to escape the
temptations of the world, and who at
tempted to quell the promptings of the
flesh by scourgings and HASTINGS, had
mind to show tact; but they lacked the
tact to show. They were content to
fight the battle out on Satan's lines;
and there was their error. With rs
good a spirit and with better Judgment
does he struggle who turns away from
the Tempter, and devotes himself to
untiring activity in another direction.
perhaps laboring for the Master among
those who are tempted, and who know
not how to resist. Over such n soul
Satan finds himself unable TO gain any
fatal advantages; his most artful fascina-
tions have no power to corrupt an imag-
nation which is already filled with the
Word and the work of God, or which is
determlnedly occupied in behalf of new
and absorbing activities.
And 80 1t comes that the highest tact
IN lighting temptation is something
which the world would not call tact at
all. The tact is not displayed in keep
ing the attention fixed upon the proba
bic point of attack. nor i'm erecting man.
made systems of Notifications about it:
but 1t often consists in leaving the weak
part IN our defenses and seeking battle
IN the open plain. Foolish as such
proceeding may seem TO the tyro in
spiritual warfare. it has the truest phil
osophy on its side. For in battle the
advantage is likely to lie with the at
lacking party; there is a force of move
ment, an enthusiasm of courage, in an
advance, which can more than make up
Tor the lack of protecting cover.
Are you melancholy and despairing:
are You tempted to believe that life is a
hopeless tragedy? YOU will not find re-
ilef from the temptation to despair by
brooding over it, nor will you get rid of
1t by seeking amusement and forgetful-
ness in the places where men 90 for
these. The laugh of the clown is hol-
low; you see the dark lines beneath the
eyes that feign gladness. But seek to
tighten the despair of others; carry the
message of hope and trust to the
neglected poor, in the slums of the CITY,
In the streets and lanes, in the wards of
the hospitals; and i'm the bearing of that
message, you will yourself find trust
and giadness. Overcome your dread of
the worlds evil by ASSEMBLING Satan in
his strongholds of sin and Indebtedness,
and you will find that the night is not
SO starless as you had thought: He that
goes out into Satan's night to rescue the
wandering will also see Gods stars.
And this is the principle which lies
at the bottom of all tact i'm fighting
temptation. We are never sure TO be
true TO ourselves; and if the enemy can
get us TO make self--Osr work, our
temptations, our sorrows-the main OBJ
ject of our thought, his work is more
than half accomplished Our only safe
~ is in getting outside of ourselves.
Whatever your peculiar temptation is,
you will not overcome it by clinging to
it; but rather by turning, away from it.
Forget it, in the work of helping 9TH
ers, and it ceases to be temptation.
Get out of YOURSELF you will never
find strength or peace there. Cease to
bewail the weakness of the flesh or the
smallness of the measure of
grace which has been given you. You
have strength and grace enough if only
you use them; and Christ has more to
give in your time of greater need Your
temptations come because self occupies
too large a place in your thoughts.
Would you know how to fight these |
temptations with tact?
Many wounded round thee moan;
Lavish on their wounds thy balsam. and that
balm shall heal thine own"
IS. s. Times.