Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-04-07

all His deepest springs of feeling would be
touched by the sacred associations of the
Holy City. Beautiful. for. elevation, the
joy Of the whole earth, the city Of the
great king, whittier the tribes of the Lord
go up year by year for worship How
precious were its sights: CAS- the noun
tains lie around about Jerusalem, so en-
campeth the Lord about them that love
Him." "If I forget thee, O, Jerusa-
lem, let my right hand forget its cunning"
earth which warranted the most uncondi-
toned trust, 1T was the temple of Jeho-
vah in the first religious capital of the |
world. Here it was, while His soul was |
vibrating with triumphant sense of trust |
won by overcoming the first temptation, |
that the insidious attack is made whose !
effort was to betray Him into .presump.
ton. All the wonderful past dealing of
God with His covenant people would stand
out in memory; all the wealth Of tender
ness over hopes and promises sorely and
long deferred, and now on the eve of full
hllment-a tenderness which afterward
came out in words wet with tears. when
often would I have gathered thy children
together as hen gathereth her brood
under her wings. but We would not" It
was in the heart of His own Jerusalem,
and rom the summit of His Fathers house
that He was tempted by His cunning and
why adversary 10 COIulI1t tIt plduSlUlS
sin. Beside the influence of the sacred
place and associations, the voice of the
tempter appealed. to something not less
sacred-to the written word Of God-as
the guarantee Of truth and action. TIE
devil, too, can quote Scripture 10 his pul
pose. eff Thou be the Son of God, cast
| Thyseif down; for it is written, He shall
give His angels charge concerning Thee,
etc.
1t was SO written, and the words con-
tanned precious promise, but here they
only strengthened suggestion to do
again, said Jesus, " Thou shalt not tempt
or make trial of the Lord thy Cod"
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 blanched Cal
| vinism, or men who had become the RI
tualistic enthusiasts for one particular
mode of administering baptism, or with
one misit 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 il 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 y is Jesus for
muIa An isolated text does not settle the
matter. Every false teacher who has di-
vided the church has virtually done SO by
an 1t is written"
First, we must have recourse to the prln-
ciples of sanity and common sense; find
out if what we are tempted to do is in
sincere accord with what God has taught
sense, and. then decide. For Christ to
have cast Himself from the wing OF the
temple into the abyss that yawned below
would have been to tempt God I'VE do
not make experiments with those whom
we absolutely trust" When man be-
; gins by prayer test, or any like thing, to
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 ill God
not trihe with or put Him to the test
7 As long as Jesus remained within the
sphere of the revealed will OF His Father
or contravenc that will, then He should
, no longer feel He had a right to Code
care. In other words, Jesus Christ, in
His second temptation, flushed with q
victory which must have given an impulse
: to faith in the Fathers power and suf
fciency, declares to us that it is necessary
l to have care for ourselves as well a:
t commit ourselves into the keeping of God
: Because we are Gods children we may no
l break the laws of the world to which w
4 belong and expect Him to miraculousl,
Y interfere to prevent the consequences
Contempt for nature and practical reasol
is wretched policy to begin a religious
4 life. with. We live under physical law
:. under moral law, under spiritual law. II
}, fancy that because we have come to fee
the power Of the spiritual and even tn
supernatural. we are at liberty to fly i,
Il the face of known physical laws, or san
: and widely received moral laws, is fata
6 error, and for it men are always punishe,
: in the end God is the source of all thes
l. laws and we tempt the Lord our Go
e | when we break them. We are not to rely
q either, "too exclusively or presumptuous
n ly" upon the care of God. AS far as ou
l. practical reason serves US, we must ais
J. take counsel of that, recognizing that fait
l. and self help, action and patience "mee
e in equilibrium" and complete each other
u If Jesus, the exceptional and pre-em
q this 'Cast Thyself down" He would frs
l. have broken away from us, His brethrer
e who live under moral and physical Law
and second, He would have substitute
e for life environed by nature, guarded
Al guided, fed by it, participant in its forces
le from nature, hostile to it, refusing t
n tempt God or to break away from our b,
is man lot and world, showed us the SAINT
D. and strength of a genuine trust in Coz
st It is not nervous, fanatical or. presuml
n tuous :'It neither courts nor shur
n death" 1t is prudent, wary, will nj
IL overstep the limits of sober faith, an
lg yet, when the will of God clearly demane
to it in the path of duty, it bravely face
IN death and dares all hell!
lie My friends, the modern sin Of presuml
is ton turns up under many forms Now
K appears in the guise of religious prid
1e in the purblind assumption Of some e
ID clesiastical charlatan uttering with gre;
1g swelling words of vanity some oraculs
is opinion which he claims to be Of equal a
", thority with the teachings of the Son
as God. You have it in the Vaccinations
d. the mother of Christian Science wit
IL the systems slavish liberalism and prepo
ct ferrous overclaims. The contempt for Il
ur physical that the system breathes an
n breeds, the refusal to give medicines o.
|e, | of those stores which God has laid up f
u us in leaf and plant and flower and mi
to eral, and which millions Of educated MT
IL have given their lives to make availabl
Qe the willingness to cast themselves or
I'd child over the precipice, claiming the san
". ton of certain Scriptures as their warral
n, for escaping destruction is, in the eyes
n, most men and women to-day, sin of pr
| T1n 90 c4 {ho o<