The Tupelo journal., 1903-04-17

that the soul can pass from death in
sin to life in Christ Jesus. A faithful
God has done two things for the
saint: He has placed bounds to Sa-
tan's power over him, and has fitted
every temptation with a convenient
door of escape. Satan with fiendish
ingenuity devises manifold tempta-
tons which he places along the path
way of life to n unwary feet,
but God with skillful and omnipotent
hand fits into every one of the
temptations the door of escape.
TN THE heroic days Of old when
L might was right and every man
was a law unto himself, houses and
castles were fitted with secret stair
ways and secret chambers and clos
cts into which the persons whose
lives were threatened might with
draw and escape the enemy. The
doors of entrance to these hidden
recesses were so skillfully and in
geniously placed that the eye could
not detect their presence without the
closest and most careful scrutiny,
and then the door would not open I'M
til the hidden spring was pressed.
This may serve to illustrate the truth
in regard to temptation which is
presented to us in our text. Tempta-
ton may be likened unto a beautiful
palace which Satan with ready hand
rears and into which he may entice
{hn SOULS &c A. .4. C&z- -zo
long, long ago how to gild his wares
with tinsel and make them look like
real gold; he found out away back in
Eden that man would take his bitter
doses of sin if the pellets were sugar
coated. And so he embellishes his
temptations with an outside appear
ance of beauty and wholesomeness.
He depends altogether upon outside
appearances. The palace of tempta-
ton is a place that appears goodly
to h eye and gives every outward
token of being full of comfort and
1t is into this place hat Satan draws
the soul, and if he can prevent that
SOU from looking for the door of
escape and touching the spring which
will open it, he will trip hat soul
up every time.
1t is essential, then, that we know
that first of all every palace of temp
tation into which the soul may be
drawn is fitted with the door of es-
cape which will enable the tempsed
n to flee in safety from the terri
BILE place. And in the next place it
is important that we know where to
look for the door and how to touch
the spring which will make it fly
open to admit our slipping feet.
Every temptation known to man has,
according to the plain declaration of
our text, it's door of escape, SO let
us consider that point settled and de-
vote our effort to learning where to
look for the hidden door and how to
touch the spring which controls its
opening. God has so contrived that
the door of escape shall always be
on the side of hardest pressure. That
is, the direction from which the
temptation presses on the sou the
strongest will be found to be the
exact point at which God has skill
fully hung His little door. Take for
illustration of this point the tempta-
tions of Jesus in the wilderness,
which cover the whole possible
range of human temptation from the
lust of the flesh, through the lust of
the eye, to that of the pride of life.
JESUS tasted forty days and forty
q nights and was a~fterward an
hungered. Sata1 suggested that in
asmuch as He was furnishing for food
that He test His power as the Son
of God by making the stones at His
feet bread and eating thereof. And
it was right at that point that Jesus
found the door of escape, for He re-
piled: at is written, Man shall not
live by bread alone but by every word
which ~proceedeth out of the mouth
of God" Again the Devil taketh Him
up into the holy city and setteth Him
on a pinnacle of the temple and sug-
gested a miraculous way of His pre-
senting Himself to the Jews as their
Messiah. Surely if He cast Himself
into their midst from the dizzy
height where He stood they would be-
lieve on Him and receive Him. And
it was at this point hat the way of
escape was discovered, for He said:
sit is written again, thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God" for pre-
sumption is never faith. "Again the
Devil taketh Him up into an exceed
ing high mountain and showeth Him
all the kingdoms of the world and
the glory of them, and saith unto
Him, All of these will l give thee If
thou wilt fall down and worship me-"
And again Jesus found that His
Father had placed the door of escape
at exactly the place where the temp
tation pressed the hardest, and He
said: "Get thee hence, Satan: for 1t
is written, thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt
thou serve"
The soul that is tempted must look
straight ahead in faith. if he would
find the door of escape. The soul that
begins to wave to the right hand or
the left, or who turns his back to flee,
will find himself stretched at the feet
If Satan as he trips upon the tempta-
ton which has assailed him. Is it
some temptation which is appealing
to you through the varied emit OF
the lust of the flesh? Then do not try
to deny the fact that the senses and