The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1904-03-23
THE ESSENTIAL OF LIFE.

Extract Of sermon by Loren NJ.
Reno in the Ringoes Baptist Church,
March 6, 1904.
"Man shall not live by bread alone"
Matt. A. A.
This is the reply of Christ to the
first of the three temptations placed
before him in the wilderness by the
devil. That temptation was broader
than loaf Of bread and sharper than
the appetite that could be satisfied by
eating. 1t was the temptation to
serve the physical side of life; to hold
as foremost the things that can be
seen by the eye and grasped bp the
hand; to be controlled by the material
things. Not that these things are
evil in themselves but that the ser
vice Of them is evil They are good
in their right place but are tempta-
ton or sin when they are allowed to
trespass. want this morning to
enter plea against Materiaism. The
unseen things are always the best and
a quiet heart is better than gold.
Notice will you that the text is true
of ourselves. The man who forgets
the esthetcal side of life and drops
out all music, all poetry; who never
looks at the beauty of the lindsdape,
or the delicacy of the flower, but
gives his attention to the physical and
the material side of life will in time
dwarf his nature and be miserable on
account of it Note the testimony OF
Chas. Darwin in his old age as a proc
of this Yet | would not ask that the
material and physical be forgotten.
They are good in their place. The
world would have been poorer if Chas.
Darwin had not used his microscope
| ask only that You carry the estheti-
cal with the physical.
This text is true when it touches
the family. How many husbands and
| wives are unconsciously drifting
| apart, sometimes even to separation
so often to little jars simply because
they forget the ethical, the esthetical,
the spiritual side of life and see only
dollars and bread. Dollars and bread
are necessary but they are not all.
| While they may not drift apart how
many parents and children loose that
intimacy and confidence which We
sometimes see and so much admire,
| love, .and almost coyet simply by the
pressure of bread.
This text is mark edly true when VT
| touch our fellow man. Better than
the reputation of being the richest
man in the county il the reputation
| of being the kindest and the mosi
| helpful one in the township. But
preemeniently does this apply to oul
relation to God. A man may be al
the above and yet be II failure because
he misses the root of the whole mat
| Ter. "Man shall not live by bread
alone" There is devine side to life
and mans relation to God is Mt the
| beginning of that devlne side. The
apostle tells us to do all to tho glory
of God and 80 we may make even the
material and the physical side of life
minister to the ethical and the spirit
ual. The Christ Himself told us tt
seek first the. kingdom of God and
all these things shall be added. ;
They are not evil in themselves and
in their place but they are not all Of
life nor are they the essential of life
However important it be experience
tells ne that "Man shall not live by
bread alone" Let ne learn that les
son easily that we wreck not our live,
or our souls in the whirl of the Ma
terialism of TO -day.