The Grenada sentinel., 1903-04-11

gained the victory over man, to ut
terly destroy him, and He has made
way of escape in Christ Jesus SO
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 ensnare unwary feet,
but God with skillful and omnipotent
hand fits into every one of the
temptations the door of escape.
IN THE heroic days Of old when
might was right and every man
was law unto himself, houses and
castles were fitted with secret stair
ways and secret chambers and clos
ets 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 un-
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-
tion may be likened unto beautiful
palace which Satan with ready hand
rears and into which he may entice
the souls of the saints. Satan learned
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-
tion is place that appears goodly
to the eye and gives every outward
token of being full of comfort and
pleasure and unending satisfaction.
1t is into this place that Satan draws
the soul, and if he can prevent that
soul from looking for the door of
escape and touching the spring which
will open it, he will trip that soul
up every time.
Every temptation known to man has,
according to the plain declaration of
| our text, it's door of escape, so let
us consider that poi Mt 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 soul 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.
T ESUS tasted forty days and forty
J nights and was afterward an
hungered. Satan suggested that in
asmuch as He was famishing 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: ''It is written, Man shall not
live by bread alone but by every word
which proceedeth out of the mouth
of Cod" Again the Devil taketh Hin
up into the holy city and setteth Hin
on a pinnacle of the temple and sug
gested miraculous way of His pre-
senting Himself to the Jews as thei1
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. Ane
it was at this point that the way O.
escape was discovered, for He said
s'It is written again, thou shalt no
tempt the Lord thy God," for pre-
sumption is never faith. "Again th'
Devil taketh Him up into an exceed
ing high mountain and showeth Hin
all the kingdoms of the world ant
the glory of them, and saith unt'
Him. All of these will give thee
thou wilt fall down and worship me.
And again Jesus found that Hi
Father had placed the door of escap
at exactly the place where the temp
tation pressed the hardest, and II
said: "Get thee hence, satan: for !
is written, thou shalt worship tn
Lord thy God, and Him only shal
): thou serve"
The soul that is tempted must 1ool
!: straight ahead in faith. it he woult
find the door of escape. The soul tha
begins to waver to the right hand o
the left, or who turns his back to hee
will find himself stretched at the fee
If Satan as he trips upon the tempta
ton which has assailed him. L. !
|; some temptation which is appealin.
, to you through the varied avenues Q
the lust of the flesh? Then do not tr.