The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-09-03

ter, he is no less intense in His abhotrence
of the former The sorrows and msforr
tunes of life may come in the order of df.
vine providence to refine character. Yield
ing to sin because of allurements of evil
must be traced to some other origin. James
boldly declares that the fault lies IN the
corrupt human heart.
He will find DIRECTORS to his doctrine.
Some will lay the charge of mans tempta-
ton to evil upon God Himself, who made
men with disposition to love sin and to
pursue it. But that cannot be true, If God
is good Every good gift nd every per-
feet gift is from above and cometh down
from the Father of lights" 1t is absurd to
accuse God of enticing men to wickedness.
"God cannot be tempted of evil, neither
tempteth He any man.. He would not be
God If He could do this. He would be the
devil. It is illogical to call Him God-etsr-
nal soodness-and yet ascribe seduction to
Him.
James holds up the lustful human heart
and contends that no external circum-
stances constitute in themselves alone
seduction to sin. They may provide the
occasion for wrong doing. They may make
a powerful appeal to the passions and ap-
petites OF men. But they would be utterly
futile to influence conduct and choice but
for the corrupt longing of the heart. The
trouble 10 this, James explains: Every
man is tempted when he is drawn away of
his own lust and enticed. Then, when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and
sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
death"
But will you make no account of hered-
ity! Certainly, the children of the opium
eater, tie user of intoxican.s, the glutton-
Gus, the lascivious, will bear in their en-
feebled wills, impaired nerve centres and
scrofulous blood the foul faint OF sinful
parents. And may God pity the progeny
of the vicious But shall the victim of a
fathers sins yield weakly to the propensi-
ties he has inherited, and plunge deeper
into the turbid pool of ini1uity? VIII it
excuse mans bloodstained hand that he
received fiery temper from his ancestry,
and in moment of ungoverned fury muir
dered his fellow?
But will you make no account of envir-
onment! Certainly, the generations rising
from the slums of the great cities can
scarcely be expected to come naturally to
the virtues of your clean-faced, church
bred boys and girls. What, then-shall the
soul make no effort to rise superior to its
surroundings! Is there any environment
in which allurements to evil will not exist?
Do they not obtrude themselves upon the
scene OF public worship and private devo-
ton! Is there exemption for any one?
Surely not, but in the last analysis the
temptation Is not in the enticements of
ones environment, but in a heart that
lusts after evil, and which must be denied
its desires, if good character is to be made.
Temptation to evil, then, is matter in
which our personal moral fiber is in
volved, just as in trial through suffering
our powers of endurance are tested What
ls your attitude toward evil? Is it one of
apology and condonement? How perilous!
Is it one easy familiarity? God pity your
weakness! We have duty to ourselves.
Luther used to say: eve cannot keep the
birds from flying around our heads, but we
can prevent them from building their nests
IN our hair" We may not be able to keep
temptation away. but we need not let it
in the house. We should not expect God
to lock the door and keep His hand upon
IT. We are the doorkeepsr of our own
souls.
Naturalists tell us that the scorpion will
never use his sting, of which he is exceed
lngfy careful, unless he can find a spot on
the body of his desired victim sufficiently
soft TO admit its insertion without fear of
injury. Temptation never assails the soul
except at vulnerable points. Our own lusts
determine the spots which the enemy
strikes
But fortunately the whole burden of re-
sist,ng temptation to evil does not rest
with us. Divine help is promised. eff any
OF You lack wisdom, let him ask God"
Wisdom is called by a sound writer "the
art Of Christian conduct" That art can
" "oquhCu VI OIulSC hIIIlSSlI. lie was
tempted in all points as we are, yet with
out sin. He can and will imuart the power
OF successful resistance. Moreover. there
is specific promise in the premises '"There
hath no temptation taken you but such as
IS common to men, but God is faithful,
who will not suffer, you to be tempted
above that ye are able, but will also with
the temptation make way to escape, that
ye may be able to bear it,
For him that endures there is the blessed
recompense of the crown of life What the
sculptor has wrought is not to be shattered
by the hammer of judgment When the
she is not to sink in view of the harbor.
But after the struggles of this human life
will come the felcities and fitness of the
perfect life. May the victor's wreath be
ours.