The Iola register., 1885-12-11

another. There b NOT . person In the
house but has been tempted, whether you
realize e or not. never like to hear .
man say: "Oh, couldn't be tempted the
way that man L." Hecould not be tempted
the way you arc. A lion can not UNDER
stand why flsh should be caught with .
hook, and the fish can not understand why
the lion should be caught with trap.
You may be FREQ from certain kinds Of
temptation, but there are other kinds after
you.
You see some men with phlegmatic
temperament. "Why," you say, "that
man hasn't any temptations at ALL" You
mistake him. He has temptations to in
dolence, to censoriousnsss, to sink down
into mere latitude and longitude of fatti-
ness; to lie down ON tho road of life,
to stop great enterprises. He has just
as many temptations in one direction as
you, being Of q nervous and cxcitable tenn
rection.
You win see some aged man arise in o
prayer meeting, and at eighty years Of age
he talks so sweetly of Christ and Heaven,
you say: "That man has lived without
temptation" Ask him. He has as many
temptations at eighty years of age as he
had at twenty. They arc only different
styles Of temptations. Ask that aged man
whether he has lived beyond the reach of
the powers of darkness in this world, and
he will say it has been a conflict all the way
through.
Sixtus was a cardinal, end he wanted
the pontifical chair, and history says he
pretended to be sick and crippled. He
said: "Now, if you elect me to that chair
shall occupy it, and shall not live long
anyhow, and then you will put some one
else in the chair" He was elected to that
position. He moved to it on crutches.
Getting to the chair, he threw aside the
crutches. He said: "While was hunting
for the keys Of st. Peter, it was appro-
pirate, stopped; but, having found the
keys of st. Peter, there is no reason why l
should stoop any longer" So his crutches
gestive of temptation! 1t seems at one
time to be wan and weak and crippled, but
give it n throne and it becomes tyrant to
grind your soul into ruin.
Well, now you say: "An persons being
tempted, what are We to do when wc arc
assailod Of temptation: When the wave
dashes against us is there nothing to hold
on to: Is q man to go into this war with
the world, tho flesh and the
devil, with no help" will tell
you, my friends: The wisest thing
for you to do in the day of temptation is,
like these disciples Of my text, to go and
tell Jesus. In the eyes that wept with the
Bethany sisters see shining hope. In that
voice that broke the silence of the tomb
until the widow Of Main got back her son
and stupendous sorrow made up in the
arms Of rapturc-aye in that vcice-I hear
the command and the promise: "Cast thy
burden ON the Lord, and he will sustain
thee" He knows oil about temptation.
Tempted in all points like AZ we ere. Go
and tell Jesus.
Again, commend this behavior of the
disciples in my text to all those who are
slandered and abused and prosecuted.
When these disciples saw that Herod had
taken the head OF John the Baptist, they
know their own heads were not safe. Every
John has his Herod. There are people that
do not think overmuch of you. Your mis-
fortunes would be honey comb to them.
They hiss at you through their teeth and
misinterpret your actions, and would be
glad to see you upset. They would be the
most submissive mourners at your funeral.
Every one comes, during the course of
life, to be pommeled. Some slander comes
<prps ov~I fol TO
tranple and gore you, and you think you
arc peculiar in that respect. No. "All
who live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer
II you are able this morn
ing to say: 81 haven't an enemy in all the
world" It is proof positive you have not
done your duty; for when q man does his
duty he challenges all earth and hell, and
that challenge will bring against him op-
position and scorn and persecution. It is
so in all circles of life.
One would have thought that if any man
ought to have been free from persecution,
it was George Whitfield, bringing great
masses Of the people into the kingdom of
God, wearing himself out for Christ's sake,
and yet the learned DIR. johnson called
him q mountebank. Robert Hall preached
about the glories of Heaven, his face hav-
ing shone lik: an angels, and yet good
Christian John Foster writes of Robert
Hall, saying: "Robert Hall is a mere
actor, and when he talks about Heaven the
smile on his face is the reflection of his
own vanity" John Wesley stirred all
England with reform, and yet he was Carl
catured by all the small lights of the day.
He was pictorialized, history says, on the
board fences Of London, and everywhere
he was the target for the punsters; yet
John Wesley stands to-day before all
Christendom, his name mightier than any
other name except "the name that is above
every other name," the name Of Christ.
And can you expect to escape hardship
and assault and abuse and slander? You
will not.
But what are you to do when you are
lied about and assaulted: Are you going
to hunt up the slander? WhileyOu are ex-
planning one falsehood there will be fifty
people who have just at that moment
heard of that particular falsehood. While
you are not to omi. every opportunity of
setting yourself right, want to tell you Of
One who had the hardest things said about
him, whose sobriety was disputed, whose
mission was scoffed, whose companionship
was denounced, who was pursued as a
babe, spat on as a man, and howled at af-
ter he was dead. Go to him with all the
wounds of your soul.
Do not go around trying to crush this
and to crush that slander; you
will only come out of the contest irritated
and exasperated; but take the counsel Of
the text Do as these disciples Of the text
did-go and tell Jesus. Go into his pres
ence and say: "Lord, see thy wounds,
the wounds of thv head the wounds of