The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1900-06-29


at last we be amid the foolish virgins
who cried: sour lamps have gone
out!"
Again I commend the behavior OF
the disciples to all who are tempted
| have heard men in midlife say they
had never been led into temptation
If you have not felt temptation, it is
because you have not tried to do
right. A man hoppled and handcuffed,
as long as he lies quietly, does not test
the power of the chain, but when he
/ rises up and with determination re-
solves to snap the handouts or break
the hopple, then he finds the power of
the iron. And there are men who have
been for ten and twenty and thirty
years bound hand and foot by evil
habits who have never felt the power
of the chain because they have never
tried to break it. 1t is very easy to
go on down with the stream and with
the wind lying on your oars, but just
turn around and try to go against the
wind and the tide, and you will find it
is different matter. AS long as we
we seem to get along quite smoothly,
but if after awhile we turn around
and head the other way, toward Christ
and pardon and Heaven, oh, then how
we have to lay to the oars! You will
have your temptation. You have one
kind, you another, you another, not
one person escaping.
1t is all folly for you to say to some
one: 81 could not be tempted as you
are" The lion thinks it is so strange
that the fish should be caught with
a hook. The fish thinks it is so
strange that the lion should be caught
with trap. You see some man with
cold, phlegmatic temperament, and
you say: 81 suppose that man has not
any temptation" Yes, as much as you
have. In his phlegmatic nature he
has a temptation to Incidence and
consciousness and overeating and
drinking, a temptation to ignore the
great work of life, temptation to lay
down an obstacle in the way of all
good enterprises. The temperament
decides the styles of temptation, but
sanguine or Emphatic, you will have
temptation. Satan has graphing
hook just fitted for your soul. A man
never lives beyond the reach of temp
tation. You say when a man gets to
be 10 or so years of age he is safe
from satanic assault. You are very
much mistaken. A man at IS years
of age has as many temptations as a
man of 25. They are only different
styles of temptation. Ask the aged
Christian whether he is never assault
ed of the powers of darkness. If you
think you have conquered the power
OF temptation, you are very much mis-
taken.
No man gets through life without |
having pommeling. Some Islander
comes after you, horned and husked |
and hoofed, to gore and trample you.
And what are you to do? l tell you
plainly that all who serve Christ must
suffer persecution. 1t is the worst |
sign in the world for you to be able
to say: 81 have not an enemy in the
world" A woe is pronounced in the
Bible against the one of whom every
body speaks we'll. If you are at peace
with all the world and everybody likes
you and approves your work. it is be-
cause you are an idler in the Lords
vineyard and are not doing your duty.
All those who have served Christ,
however eminent, all have been NAL
treated at some stage of their expe-
Renee. You know it was so in the
time of George Whitefeld, when he
stood and invited men into the king
lom of God. What did the learned
Dr.. johnson say of him? He pro-
him a miserable mountebank.
How was it when Robert Hall stood {
md spoke as scarcely any unin-
'pired man ever did speak of the
ylories of Heaven? And as he stood !
sabbath after Sabbath preaching on
hese themes his face kindled with ;
-lory. John Foster, a Christian man,
aid of this man: Robert Hall is {
My acting, and the smile on his face
S reflection of his own vanity" I
ohm Wesley turned all England up I
ide down with Christian reform, and
ct the punsters were after him, and
he meanest jokes in England were S
erpetrated about John Wesley. q
What is true of the pulpit is true of '
he pew; it is true of the street; it c
, true of the shop and the store. All I
tho will live godly in Christ Jesus v
iust suffer persecution. And set it i
own as the very worst sign in all '
our Christian experience if you are, e
ny of you, at peace with all the c
'orld. The religion of Christ is war. o
is challenge to 'the world, the V
Il. N