The Penn's Grove record., 1904-04-01

the Interests of the Spiritual and Eter-
nal to the Carnal and Temporal.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-Dr. Arthur 3. Kin
solving, rector Of Christ Church, preached
an excellent sermon Sunday morning, on
"Presumptuous Sins The two texts
were from Matthew iv: 5 and 6: "Then
the devil taketh him into the holy city
and he set Him on the pinnacle Of the
temple, and saith unto Him, if Thou art
the SoTf of God cast Thyself down, for it
is written, He shall give His angels charge
concerning Thee; and on their hands they
shall bear Tnee up, lest happy Thou dash
Thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto
him, again it is written, thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy Cod" and Psalms
xix: Is: keep back Thy servant also
from presumptuous sins; let them not
have dominion over me; then shall | be
upright and innocent from the great trans
gression." DR.. Kinsolving said:
In pursuing our purpose of trying to in
terpret the unfolding life of the Lord Je-
sus and to read its lessons for ourselves,
we preached last Sunday the tempted Je-
sus. We found in the narrative of the
temptation a record of just a mental and
spiritual struggle as we should have ex-
pected Him to go through at this stage of
His career. It is impossible to suppose
that He could have decided instantaneous
" and without long meditation and con-
fict upon the plan of His life as the slsent
OF God" Clearly He had a plan and adj
hered to it throughout life.
We remarked upon the deep interest
that each one of us has in the moral strug-
gle and victory Of Jesus, and how Just in
proportion as we are led by the Holy
Spirit to lofty and noble ideals of life, we
are conscious of these subtle earthly lures
which would defect us from our truest
paths.
We spoke Of the fatalistic non-resistance
to temptation so much in vogue nowadays
as something not worth while, because in
q world where the frailty of man is ex-
posed to such overwhelming allurements
Of world, flesh and devil, it is certain be-
forehand that a vast percentage of men
and women will fall. The Maker of men
n not the victims of sin is the most re-
s~ponsible, so this school teaches. and by
such doctrines the person assailed is in
duced to weld without a struggle. Jesus
conflict and victory teach us that this is
a libel upon Cod. Through a putting
forth OF such strength as. we have,
through a prayerful desire to be and do
what is right, our vision is cleared and our
wills grow strong, and while God can
never entirely shelter us from temptation
He can and does defend us in temptation,
and with every solicitation to ~wrongdoing
show us the way of escape.
Then we tried. to learn the lesson of
Christ's first temptation. The question
which first confronted Him as our repre-
sentative was the old and ever-pressing
question of daily bread. The tempter pro-
ceeds upon the assumption that all man
needs for his s~ustenance is food for the
physical life. You have a right to this,
he says, on any terms. and there is nothing
else to be considered by comparison with
this. So make provision for yourself and
the body's bread first. "You are to feed
the hungry; feed first yourself" eff Thou
art the son of God, command that these
stones be made loaves-and then You may
live to execute Your Fathers business"
The answer of Jesus came from a Mar
gaunt and weary by long fasting and days
of conflict. 'HThe physical life is not man.
only life, and | will not act as if it were
He says, "by exempting Myself from pri
vations which / nav come to share will
NY brethren. If l am hungry. that lies
within the will of God for Me, and
choose hunger in that will, rather thar
satisfaction outside of and against that
will. | will not hurt or kill My moral Of
spiritual life as the flial, dependent anC
obedient Child of God by providing OF
guilty terms for the feeding of My bodily
life. For if, through privation, the bodily
wrapping of life should perish there would
still be left My essential manhood anC
My eternal relationship with the Father
Therefore I choose the obedient and de
pendent lie, and will trust the care and
wisdom of My Father unto the end"
Jesus there enunciated a philosophy o.
life which is as sane as it is lofty and spir
itual. Perhaps the commonest sin among
- - IL A.,o.k- - u ->s-
itual and eternal to the carnal and tenn
poral. All about us they are prone to live
as if man did live by bread alone, anC
where this is true they viii have bread OF
any terms, and getting it becomes the con
Stunning passion of life. By choosing, in
stead, the hunger that resulted from dwell
ing in the will of God, rather than thu
passing qualification gotten at the price o
/. disobedience, our Master won for us tht
great initial victory over temptation, ant
by His spirit and example has been lead
ing millions to victory along the SAM
path ever since.
In the second temptation-I take th'
order given in st. Matthew as the natura
order-the point of attack has changed
The tempter had sought to overthrow thu
obedience of Christ by al assault upoI
His physical appetites and faith in Hi
Fathers care. He had overcome the temp
tation through the strength of His trus
in God. So now the attack is made upol
Him through that very trust. An un
swerving loyalty and confidence in the vii
of God has been discovered. That LOVING
trust it was which made Him choose t.
suffer the pangs of hunger, rather thar
arbitrarily terminate them by a miracl
wrought for Himself. All. then, here i
His strength, so near by there must lurl
His weaknessl "Then," we read, eth
devil taketh Him into the holy city anC
setteth Him upon that corner OF the win
of the temple which overlooks from it
dizzy height the priests court below
where the thousands of Jewish pilgrim
lave gathered from all over the world
If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thysel
down. That will be an ideal and perfec
test of your flial relation and you
Fathers care for You. Descend, heaven
borne, into the midst of priests and people
win instantly the reclamation and popu
lar welcome which You will else have t.
conquer by long years of suffering and fail
ure. What worship and honor and homag'
will be Yours! How quickly You will stanC
at the head of believing Israel! Surely
there is nothing to fear, for it is written
He shall give His angels charge concern
ing Thee; and on their hands they shat
bear Thee up, lest, haply, Thou dash ThI
foot against a stone"
The very choice of the location of tn,
temptation attests the subtlety of thu
tempter.. He is taken to the Holy Cit.
and to a pinnacle, or wing, of the temple
Think what must have been Jesus saereC
love for Jerusalem and how naturally ant
deeply His mind would have been infiu
enced by the surroundings. All the pas
sionate religious patriotism of His nature
all His deepest springs of feeling would b
touched by the sacred associations of tn
Holy City. Beautiful for elevation, tn,
Joy of the whole earth, the city of tn
great king, whittier the tribes of the Lor'
go UP year by year for worship" How
precious were its sights: "As the meun
tains lie around about Jerusalem, so en-
campeth the Lord about them that low
Him" IF / forget thee, o, Jerusa
lem, let my right hand forget its cunning.
If for a devout jew there was a spot OF
earth which warranted the most uncondi
toned trust, it was the temple of Jeho
yah in the first religious capital of thu
world. Here it was, while His soul wa
vibrating with a triumphant sense of trus
won by overcoming the first temptation
that the insidious attack is made WHOSE
effort was to betray Him into presnmp
ton. All the wonderful past dealing o.