The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1899-12-02
SPECIAL SERMON.
[Continued from Page IL

He would have resisted the devil, but He
does not say 81 must not live by bread
alone" but "Man" for all time and ages.
Our Lord involves the whole race from the
beginning to the end. His reply to the
tempter affects both you and me. In COM
batting His own temptation, He withholds
from all men the ordinary earthly means
by which our lives are sustained, Man
shall not live by bread alone" How often
do we find this imperfecton existing among
men! Thinkers from whom you would ex
pect more-men from whose lips are daily
dropping the eternal "Don't'-men who
give US the negative and rarely the positive.
Too often we hear "Thou shalt not steal
t'Thou shalt not swear;' "ThOu shalt not
be immoderatC in thy meats and drinks"
destructive advice, negative epithets, mans
philosophy. 1t is good-all good-and be-
fore Incarnation was the sole law Of God
but failure awaits any system that has not
strong meat for strong men, The construct
i've over destructive, the positive over the
negative, must predominant, where we
hope to establish progress in our human
lives. The father says Don't" to his son
can never expect equal results with him
that says do" Don't" means vacuity,
passiveness, inactivity. 1t OF all words
helps to build the devils workshop, for it
does not replace with healthy tissue the
space from whence the corroding ulcer was
removed
To the idle it is insufficient to say Don't
be idle, " or to the drunkard Don't drink
any more" or to the protrane man "Why
don't you stop that swearing or to the
quarrelsome man "Wby don't you cult
vate better disposition, - and SO on to all
unfortunate and unhappy people. The de-
structive process will never cure the
drunkard's thirst, or the swearer's habit,
or comhative nature, or an idle DISPOSE
tion. This is the earthly bread on which
they feed, and Satan will net be scared
away by simple declaration Of harmless
"Don ats lie recognizes the weakness of
human nature as well as we, and when his
victim simply says and does nothing more
than say, 81 won't drink any more, or 81
won't be bad any more" he knows nine
times out of ten that his victim is his vic
tim still. Had our Lord stopped here and
said, "Nlan shall not live by bread alone"
Satan would have conquered. But, my
dear friends, it was not you or I that was
thus tempted, for if we glance back over
our past lives, and note the number OF
times we have fallen victims to temptation,
we can well thank God that such respon-
sbility as Jesus had, never rested on our
shoulders. And yet we are not entirely
irresponsible, for whereso He bore the
tenn ptation to save the race, we should bear
it to save our souls for His dear sake.
No, Jesus stopped not here. He did tear
down the fabric of carnal desires, and
mans presumption of attempting to live
by natural means and his own self-sufli-
cheney, but in its stead he built system,
constructive and positive, that in words so
overwhelming in the ear of Satan, that
once and forever stopped his attempts to
make our Lord anything but dependent on
an ALLOWING Fathers will. For He says,
"Thou shalt live by every word that pro-
ceedeth out of the mouth Of God" Here
is the positive command to US, my brethren,
and note how, through all our Lords
r., tI'Tbn,, IL, ,lA g.,
"Thou shalt not" The Decalogue begins
almost every command, telling us what we
shall not do, while our Lord says, "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind. This is the first and great COM
mandment and the second is like unto it:
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself
On these two commandments hang all the
Law and the Prophets" Here is the posi-.
tive constructive law, that feeds the mind
OF man, not Cd we would have it by bread,
but by the word of God. Here is the
strong meat for strong men-positive COM
mand9 to act. Here is something to do in
the place Of committing sins resulting from
oar frailty. If we are about our Fathers
business there will be no time or occasion
or inclination for swearing and drinking or
evil speaking "r idleness or the other
thousand and one sins which are only in
creased by the worrying, nagging "Don't"
Men 20 delving about into metaphysics
and sociology and physchology trying to
invent system for mans improvement,
and the popular scheme OF today is the
ridicule Of the morrow. Men are trying to
live by bread alone, money, power, force,
standing armies and navies luxury, self
indulgence. They are trying to split the
wood across the grain, and to reverse the
inimitable laws of God. Bread is good
and useful in its place, but it did not create
itself. Had not the word of God pro-
nounced that it should be, then there were
no bread, hence man who is man only by
the breath OF God, should not seek to live
by that which was created, but by the word
and command OF Him that is his Creator
The watchwords Of your Order breathe
the very spirit of our Lords statement of