The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-10-19

thing for Him to bring His body and His
spirit to perfect poise and it has never
been easy thing for any of His fol-
lowers to maintain al equilibrium be-
tween the instincts of the human body
and Inherited common sense, on the one
hand and psychic aptitudes and spir
itual affinites on the other
This temptation, stripped of its fgura-
tive dress, presented this aspect to Jesus;
LAS the Messiah you can afford to neg
lect Judgment, prudence and caution and
trust to the supernatural Intervention of
Cod In setting up a heavenly kingdom
that Is different from popular concep-
| ton, you Will have to encounter oppoSI-
! ton and prejudice, but run rough shod
over that. Don't hesitate, if you are
| Gods appointed Messiah, to dare any sort
of danger"
There Is also q secondary aspect Of
this temptation that corresponds very
closely with the first in its relation to
doubt. Of" said the tempter, 'you are
Gods Son, prove it by turning stones
into bread" If said he in the Second
Temptation, you are Gods Son, prove
it by leaping from the temple rms
suggestion carried with it this Idea:
There is something Surer than your own
consciousness You can be more certain
sign that appeals to your eye or sound
that your ears can hear, or something
that your hands can feel. 1t is not sufff-
ciently convincing that God is, that He
speaks to you, and that you are in har-
mony with Him that you experience TINS
in YOUR consciousness. You ought to nave
some physical proof You cannot aforo
to rest this matter. upon which so much
depends upon simple conviction OF soul.
Jesus answered all these suggestions IN
one short sentence, Thou shalt MOI
tempt the Lord thy God In the hrst
place. the reply discloses Jesus atutude
toward the scripture. He taught us. by
His example, that we cannot afford 10
select some high poetic passage OF scrip
ture as q life motto and shut our eyes 10
all the rest. In dealing with scripture
we should be careful to get all the pas
sages that bear upon the point under
consideration and give each one its due
weight in the light of our own hlShcat
reason Jesus was not willing that the
tempter should use the Bible as a sort OF
text grab-bag with which to settle the
all-important matter of life Jesus tired
| passage with passage and then brought
His own highest reason to bear upon
them in deciding His course of conduct.
His answer to the tempter was pleuge
at once of conformity to law ana Oh
nodesty of conduct. The tempter had
suggested that He press forward with Ills
work regardless of danger and needless
of the call of prudence, as needless as IL
He should throw Himself from the pm
nacle of a temple. Theudas, the jewish
patriot sought to usher in the Messlanlc
kingdom by giving himself over to hlsh
fanaticism and not many years Iater
Bar Cochba yielded to the same tempta-
ton. Both failed Jesus showed HIS
perfect sanity, mental health and spirit
ual balance in answering the tempter, I
will not be a fanatic" Subsequent events
in Jesus life make clearer to us the
, meaning OF His refusal here to presume
upon God Time and again He withdrew
| Himself from the multitudes when tie
| found that His life was in danger, ana
| He never Welded Himself TO His enemies
| til He had completed His mission ana
was ready to say, My hour is come
His answer reveals again His concep-
| ton of His duty towards His feilo"-
men. lie said by His refusal, i have not
| come to astonish men. / do not care 10
! excite their surprise. I am here to save
! them. NV business is to seek the lost, and
! tighten the burdens of the heavy-laden
and bring happiness to the distressed
! II He had the power to do what the
tenpter suggested and had yielded to 1t,
/ He would have aHenated His brethren.
/ find that / must reckon with natural
laws. both physical and moral II jesus
had lived as one holding in contempt all
nhvsical and moral laws. He would at
once have placed Himself beyond the pale
! Of my sympathy.
Bv pursuing a course of fanatcal con-
duet illustrated by leaping from tenn
| pie. He would have won to Himself the
plaudits Of the idle and miracle loving
multitude. but He would not have wiped
the tears from sad human eyes. nor
have bound up the broken hearts of His
| nereave(i brethren.
Jesus said 10 the tempter. There Is
/ q vide difference between faith and pre-
sumption Faith IS sane and reasonable;
presumption is wild and foolish. can
not put Myself in a place of danger and
expect that God will rescue Me. The high
est faith in God depends upon My reason
able understanding Of what ! can do and
what God can DO for Me. The moment
NV trust presumes to break one of the
/ least of Gods laws it degenerates into
presumption. Such conduct does not hon
| or God
More than that. 7 do not need any
ocular demonstration of My Fathers
presence and power. The consciousness
within My soul outweighs all physical
| proofs With My moral purpose sincere
and my heart pure, I have the highest
possible test of My Fathers presence and
| My acceptance with Him. Jesus after
wards expressed the same idea when He
| said, Blessed are the pure in heart for
they shall see Cod"
Let us see if tie answer Of Jesus TO the
tempter has any application to our own
time Commit God to the spectacular
and wonderful" said the temptcr DO
not some of us yield to the tempter IN
| our effort to commit God to strange
| things? Do we not sometimes tell our
religious experience in such a way as to
| leave the impression that God had acted
very stra NICELY? Have we not thus pledged
Him TO Tie fantastic? Have not some Of US
as religious teachers left the same i'm
preston on men that tho devil sought TO
make upon Jesus? We discuss the Gal
weston food. the eruption of Mount Pelee
and the Gainesville tornado if God
revealed Himself only in such destructive
| phenomena.
I But these are not so characteristic OF
! God as the calm day. the soft sunlight,
! the terminating seeds the growing crops
| and ripening harvest and flaming ban
| ners OF the autumn forest, the fragrance
| OF the rose the song of the bird when
| the young are in the nest. the mother
crooni,lg over her babe and the father