Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-09-03
THE "MusT" or TEMPTATION.
IL 10 Hard to Overcome. Eut Harder -
a-# Be Oyercofne.

/ AZ - hnrd TO overcome, Eue Harder ~
Be Overcome.
| Among the excuses which persCaS
| give for not becoming Christians in tho
fear that they will not be able 10 hold
| out. The standard of Christian living
either seems to them too high and diff
cult, or confidence In their resolution To
measure UP TO it is too weak. They
| say they do not want to Inakc AL Mt
telnpt,, only to fail; TO begin, only to
give up. So fearful are they that temp
tation viii be too much for them, the
allurements of sin too strong. that they
think IL better to live on in sin.
| That Is certainly consistent; but It.
is not rational or manly. 1t is not ra-
| tiohal to refuse to battle against temp
tations because You feel that You viii
succumb to some of them; IL is not man
| ly to flee when duty says fight. Armies
have been Quito pieces when they might
have saved themselves by Night. Rut
honor was dearer than life, and they ac,
cepted death. They could not win; Sney
scorned to surrender they could and
would die. They did not have TO give
up, and they did not, s. ....t
| NO man OF WOIndH nus 10 yltlN tV
temptations; no matter how seductive
or how strong or how sudden ID may
be. A teacher who observed boy Sc
cretly breaking a rule OF the school
said to him; "It is great temptation.
I know; bnt you. don't have TO yield to
| it," There is no "must" attached to
| the choice OF sin. The must is on the
other side. The law Of God. which Is
the law of Right and the law of Life
Gays: Thou shalt not'' "My son, if
sinners cntice thee. consent thou not"
Yon must resist. There is no "must"
in surrender. That is wholly unneces-
sarg; ii is defiance OF authority and vio-
| )atiou of law. r. - .....r.., ... .s
God understands perfectly our per
yerted nature. Christ was In all points
tempted as we are, yet without sin. He
| knows how fcicely we are assaied and
how many OF us lose courage and sur
render. He does not command us to
resist without knowing that we can re-
sist. There is no such thing as being
driven into sim No man begins To
sin without consent Of his will. Tie
goes voluntarily into sin. let no man
| say, when he is tempted: 81 am tempted
of Cod" for God cannot be tempted
with evil. and He Himself tempteth no
man; hut each man Is tempted whcn
he is drawn away by his own lust and
| enticed. That is the way temptation
comes, through our own lust, and this
Is the way it, develops: Then the lust
when il hath conceived beareih sin, and
sin when it is full-grown bringcth forth
| death.
This Is the Scripture, and the
| Scripture gives abundant assurance
that no man VIII. puts his trust In God
is abandoned God is faithful. who will
not suffer you TO be tempted above that
We npe able: but will with the tcmpta-
ton make also the way of escape. that
| We may be able to endure it. The Lord
knoweth how to deliver the cody out
OF temptation. For in that He Himself
hath suffered being tempted, He is able
10 succor them that are tempted.
The Lord does not promise, it will be
noticed, to deliver the ungodiy I'm temp
tation. We are expressly told that He
will keep him under punishment. All
gin has its penalties; and those who sur
render to it must bear those penalties.
The way Of the transgressor Is hard.
II ID is hard to overcome temptation, 1t
Is harder TO be overcome 10y il. 1t is one
or the other, inevitably overcome, or be
overcome. The man who chooses to
| give full play to his wicked desires
abandons control at the outset and al
| lows his bark to be driven hither and
thither, with the certainty of ship
| wreck as the final outcome. He does
| not have to do so; there are sails and
rudder and chart. lie can keep off the
rocks and out of the maelstroIns il he
| will. The secret il in the will. Get the
will right and keep il right. and God
would send jegions OF angels, IL ncces-
sary, to make those who trust in Him
| victors over temptation.
Those who weakly surrender gain
nothing whatever by their excuse. tt
is just Ms much their duty to resist
temptation as though they had COM
mitted their way unto God. There is
ali the difference in the world between
them and the godly. The ungodIy be-
come workers Of iniquity, while the
| cody are workers of righteousness, be-
| loved OF God and heirs OF the Kingdom.
| Just as much is required OF the workers
Of iuiquity as of those who work right
eousness; and they do not escape any
Of the penalties pronounced on account
OF their flimsy excuses. All must watch
and pray lest they enter into tempta-
ton. That we must do. There is no
other must. There is no Scripture
which says some must obey and some
must yield. Nobody has to yield.-N. Y.
Independent.
AMI TLICTI