The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-10-12
Christianity as / Taught BY Christ
Second Of the Series Of Sermons Delivered by Dr. H. s.
Bradley and Published by The Constitution. The
Third will be Printed Next EGonday.

| for a period given as forty days, with no
| companions save the wild beasts, lie
commended with and settled the great
| problem OF His life, namely, Conscious
| Power and How to Use 1t.
His long meditation, 10 doubt showed
! Him the difficulties or His task, He be-
came absorbed in contemplation that
! He forgot TO eat. The scripture account
| tells MS that at the end Of ,..- long fast
He became conscious Of hunger
/ We may ina CINE that during this period
of great thoughts about His work, the
! good He could do in relieving His broth
/ rem from the burdens Of the professional
religionsts the bringing t~ simple natur-
! alncss the communion with the Father
the spreading of brothcriness and love,
! on the one hand, and the bigotrg Of tho
! Scrihes and PhariSees, the suspicion OF
/ the Roman rulers. the slowness of men
! to break away from traditions the dam
! ger of starving or being stoned while
! trying to set up the invisible kingdom.
on the other hand--that all these and tho
| thousand other thoughts that ran through
His mind made ii almost chaos, and that
| il was only az the end of the forty days
that the conceptions took definite enough
shape for Him to picture them to Ills
disciples
l treat this temptation under the sub
ject. "Christianity as Taught by Christ.
for the reason that all We know about
it must have been told by Jesus, and lie
told this experience. not to crafty the
curiosity of His disciples but TO teach
them = great moral lesion
The account of the temptation must be
rcga rdcd Il parabolc, poetic or sym
bolic story Of a great fact No one to
day disputes the tact, but few coGld
bring themselves to think of the nara
tive as the historic description OF spoken
words ana literal situations on temple
and mountain top Taken literally, it
fails to harmonize with the character Of
Jesus and it loses its significance when
applied to our own lives
lie was tempted in all points as we
ere" and we have never had bodily
satan carry us TO temple or mountain
top. \ bodily satan appearing to Jesus
! would have been recognized, certainly al
ter the first temptation. and il is not to be
supposed that Jesus would have renamed
! 10 handy words with him. The idea that
Jesus could DE tempted to fall in an attn
tudc of worship before a literal satan
is shocking That Is to place Him below
an ordinarily good man
II it were necessary TO argue III Or
der to convince any one that the account
of the temptation is symbolic It Wop"
be sufficient 10 can attention 10 me
imposslbllty of sataus carrying Jesus
through the air to the pinnacle OF the
temple. or to the impossibillty OF finding
a mountain so high that from IFS summit
"all the nations OF the world and the
glory of them" could be seen. Jesus
spoke in n figure here as He did so Of
len In point of spiritual development,
His disciples were children and 1ie toId
them stories as one who speaks to chil-
dren
But to contend for tho parahohc inter-
probation of the story of the temptation
does not mean to deny the reality or me
temptation or to weaken It's force on tie
other hand it tends 10 intensity It's pow
or The temptation OF Jesus was fe4t
temptation 1t was not mochefN' -
is inconceivable that Jesus should nave
INDUCED in a stage play. Some AaEe
contended that because Jesus was the
son of God that, therefore. lie could not
sin and could not be tempt
ed to sin But Jesus here IN
telling His own experience, describes the
intense reality OF His own temptation
and the writer OF the letter to the lie
- .s...4;,,, 49, ,i,, e,,+ char "4jp
80 ,a e''' a. ~, notnts like as we
,..'+ ',.,tI,,,t et,, 1asus fronnentlv
@ - .ha af,or ,..,rs - rje fen,n-
1900, fo,' t,ts .,,.,.choloeicaI expericnce
$50, ,,.l,;c,, ne nasecd In the wilder
,.ess n.,i,e mo earorest ordeal through
,.hicb ~, .,o,. "a mo i'm The hour in Cieth-
se '- was hv M means he only temp
tatioD He encountered.
Iaqns il called the captain of our sal
va,ion We are nrlvate soldiers. If it
ie ,rna as some Ten us that by reason
~ IIls divino naInre # wae imnossible for
~, ~, t,,, ~ contain wont int0
,h W. .o,,etnt If 1lre r.,,rine an imn4pe-