The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-04-20

| IhySet down, lot IL is "TltteH' LIZ eHei,
give His angels charge concerning Thee,
| etc.
1t was so written, and the words con-
tanned a precious, promise, put mere they
or,ly strengthened suggestion to do
thing which was wrong. 1T is written
again" said Jesus. Thou shalt not tempt
or make trial OF the Lord thy God"
Oh, if in the history of the past, SO dis
| figured by bitter contests for half truths.
the wisdom of this, "It is written again.
of Jesus had only been realized! How Of
ten have the advocates of a blanched Cal
vinism, or men who had become the r.
tualistic enthusiasts for one particular
mode of administering baptism, or with
one misft theory of the inspiration OF the
Bible-a theory, for example, which put
tain the name of God, on an equal footing
with St. Johns Gospel, how often have
such misguided people cried out, 1T is
written" as ii that were the end of all
controversy. Never can the true balance
and proportion Of life be discovered in this
way. again it is written" is Jesus for.
mula. An isolated text does not settle the
matter Every false teacher who has d.
vided the church has virtually done SO by
an "it is written"
First, we must nave recourse to the prIn::
ciples of sanity and common sense; find
out if what we are tempted to. do IS IN
sincere accord with what God has taught
us generally in His word and in common
sense, and. then decide. Fors Christ to
have cast Himself from the wing of the
temple into the abyss that yawned below
would have been to tempt God. we do
not make experiments with those whom
we absolutely trust" When man be-
gins by prayer test. or any like thing. to
make experiments with God, he shows
that he lacks the subtle, spiritual quality
called faith which is the only means by
which he can reach God. Therefore, it is
the habit of trust to calmly abide in God
not trife with or put Him to the test.
As long as Jesus remained within the
sphere Of the revealed will of His Father,
He could trust Him. If He should break
or contravene that will, then He should
no longer feel He had a right to Gods
His second temptation, flushed with
victory which must have given an impulse
to faith in the Fathers power and SUI
ficiency, declares to us> that it is necessary
to have q care for ourselves as well as
commit ourselves into the keeping of God.
Because we are Gods children we may not
break the laws of the world to which we
belong and expect Him to miraculously
interfere to prevent the consequences.
Contempt for nature and practical reason
is a wretched policy to begin religious
life with. We live under physical law,
under moral law, under spiritual law. To
the power of the spiritual and even the
supernatural. we are at liberty to fly in
the face of known physical laws, or sane
and widely received moral laws, is fatal
error and for it men are always punished
in the end. God is the source Of all these
laws and we tempt the Lord our God
when we break them. We are not to rely.
either, "too exclusively or presumptuous'
ly" upon the care of God. As far as our
take counsel of that, recognizing that faith
and self help, action and patience meet
in equilibrium" and complete each other.
=. If Jesus, the exceptional and pre-emi
nent object of divine care, had yielded to
this Cast Thys'lf down" He would first
have broken away from US, His brethren,
who live under moral and physical law,
and second, lie would have Substituted
for a life environed by nature, guarded,
guided, fed by it, participant in its forces,
because subject to its laws, life divorced
tempt God or to break away from our hu.
man lot and world, showed US the sanity
and strength Of genuine trust in God
1t is not nervous, fanatical or presump
tuous. 1T neither courts nor shuns
death" 1t is prudent, wary, will not
overstep the limits of sober faith, and
yet. when the will of God clearly demands
it in the path of duty, it bravely faces
death and dares all hell!
My friends, the modern sin of presump-
tion turns up under many forms. Now it
appears in the guise of religious pride,
in the purblind assumption of some &C.
clesiastical charlatan uttering with great
swelling words of vanity some oracular
opinion which he claims to be of equal au.
thority with the teachings of the Son Of
the "mother" of Christian Science with
the SYSTEMS slavish liberalism and prepos.
ferrous overclaims. The contempt for the
physical that the system breathes and
breeds, the refusal to give medicines out
of those stores which God has laid up for
US in leaf and plant and flower and min.
eral, and which millions of educated men
have given their lives to make available,
the willingness to cast themselves or
child over the precipice, claiming the sane.
tion of certain Scriptures as their warrant
for escaping destruction is, in the eyes Of
most men and worsen to-day, sin of pre-.
sumption. The system is against the cor.
porate common sense of the race, against
the proportion of faith; it discards doc.
trines like the blessed truths of Christ's
deity and atonement, which have been
held by the overwhelming majority of the
members of the Christian church in every
age from the beginning. 1T is written"
they cry. Yes, Christ teaches US to an.
swer, and "again it is written: Thou shalt
not make the trial Of the Lord thy God"
Christian pulpit to the vulgar sect-in the
sacrosanct po!ygamy of the Mormon, Of
which such an informing expose has been
made by Congressional committee during
| the past week. Not that the Mormon is
the only adulterer; would God he were,
but he is the only man now before the
Christian public who claims a new revela.
ton of later and higher authority than
that made through ;he holy and sinless
Jesus, expressly sanctioning his lustful
creed
"I as the chosen of God nave had a vis-
ion which uproots and supersedes the NOR.
atty taught by the Lord Jesus Christ; I
like Mohammed's about the family better
than Chr;st's, therefore ! hear my pref
erence sanctioned by voice from heaven.
Henceforth my revelation shall put me
above the law Of the land. Outwardly I
may have to comply, but l secretly will
| ignore it." There rs not occurred in
modern times a more pestiterous example
of religious hypocrisy and delusion! And
when we remember that repeatedly in re-
cent years emissaries from Utah have pro-
claimed this accursed system here in the
East, chiefly among simple minded rustics
and mountainecrs, we realize the sin of
permitting it thus long.
This country can never endure part
po.ygamist and part monogamist.
But. my friends, the capital sin of pre-
sumption is committed nearer at home
| than this There is self satisfied creduity
! which makes men fancy that they can