The Indianapolis journal., 1899-08-06

man understanding. The Father says my
son. but He points downward as He does
so, at any movement OF the child TO have
his own errant way. The angels are attend
ing you here. but II you cast yourself dowG
you win lie crushed and bleeding. The law
OK God Is just as clearly expressed I'm what
we call gravttation Is In what We believe 10
be loving kindness.
even thou. on, Christ. True. the power
of the highest Is in Thee; true, men Will
ever be thinking that TO apparently break
Thou canst not do it. Every so-called mir
acle is but the coming 10 the surface OF
law of God which Christ had grasped
and men had not. Healing the sick was not
reversing the order of nature. but getting
back 10 the law of the heavenly family,
that sickness and pain are not normal, and
one day VIII forever be done away with.
How can We tempt the Lord God?
Because We have something OF the
can for time frustrae the Working Shn of
His love upon our lives as for time We
can traverse the law Of gravitation by
tors in an ordered universe. where, natur-
ally, all things work together for good 10
those that love and obey the Lord of the
Into this field of human effort comes the
tempter some day, when the dawn of a
first struggle with the darkness has broad
ened into the large, clear splendor and the
warmth and color OF achievement.
Come! you are not getting out Of the
world what you csnxwhat you ought. The
heights. Another kind of fruit, il is true.
but one goodly to the eyes. sweet 10 the
taste, and desirable to make men rise"
How many young men have heard and lis
tened to that voicei Lot, a righteous man,
so righteous that his soul was vexed from
day to day by the evil of his surroundings,
yet listened. and pitched his tent not in, but
toward, Sodom.
We listen. the temptation is upon US. The
lust of life rises to our heart and BRAIN
down.
right act. but 10 try ourselves-to take risks
with ourselves. We are strong We are our
Fathers s. Why not cast ourselves fearlesSly
upon the fact. He will not suffer His own
TO fall-and We will taste of this forbidden
fruit. We Will take the risk. From the
moment men reach that point or pre-
sumptuousness. in which they think they
are exempt from the weaknesses of human
ity, or argue that If they fall, they may
So long as they are on the heights, so long
as they are surrounded by forces that keep
them up, Gods men in Gods universe doing
their appointed work have the universe at
their back. When they cast themselves down
from that they have the whole universe
gnS1 ags hr them ie down tSa
and open their veins. Hunger gnaws, thirst
dries them up.
INEVITABLE RESULTS.
You cannot cast yourself down from the
desire and struggle after the highest good
you know without being caught in the
meshes of evil. You cannot tempt the Lord
God in the violation of His loving will for
you without results that are natural and
inevitable.
Why, think! even His law of love work.
ing in US demands cost and penalty and
pain hard to endure. But how different
the paying of that penalty! When we
love - what count do we make Of cost
But In paying the penalty of God we have
beyond 1t the vision OF God. and under
lasting arms. But penalty without him at
the end, think of that!
pass from the tempting OF the Lord
God In SHINING against the higher life of
the soul. Men tempt God day by day,
when they try to live as though His laws
were little whimisies to be set aside, on
payment or a few prayers or a handful of
aims. We presume thus to sin against our
bodies. One day we will find, / believe, that
the body has been of as much Importance
In Its place as the soul, and the sinful way
we have treated them both will be found
in the eternal casting up of accounts. Yet
We believe, or think We believe. in what
We call special providelces, to redeem us
out Of the miserable results of thus tempt
ing God. Satan limited at a special provi-
dence in the case of Jesus. He will give
His angels charge over thee" Christ re-
Jected IL. Miracle was the bringing out of
the high and real potency of what man and
the world were capable of when living in
righteousness. Christ never looked upon
himself as manifesting His divine nature In
the proportion that He broke in upon the
divine order.
A man burning up with fever, weak
through dissipation, prays. thinking that
because he suffers God Will work magic
send an angel to arrest the fever in hi:
veins or bind up the wounds he has made
by casting himself down, and then curses
because God must be true to himself and
His law-though every man be found q
liar"
Through these earthly things, that YET
are touched with the divine, l point you
| once again to the Man who was tempted
| and who overcame, whose overcoming la!
| in the fact that He did not expect even Hi:
Heavenly Father to do what He himself
| could do. Whose final victory over sin. SataT
| and death-that victory we share with Hin
| was won by man for the sake of men
| Who saw clearly that the world was not z
| nursery where men played irresponsible!
| with toys, but a workshop where they
wrought for God and toward God always.