The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-22


 the spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.
 The mystery of iniquity, the problem of evil. the universal fact of temptation, the widespread degrading influence and taint of sin, the misery, wretchedness
 These questions are unsounded. and out of Christ they remain hopelessly and darkely unanswerable.
 And there is but one answer and one | solution-and that is not by way of ex- planation. but by simply stating a fact, and that fact is the temptation of Jesus | There at least. there alone shall we ever know the truth.
 Through the might of storm and stress comes the clear voice saying That all is well.'
 Through the clouds of heaven comes the voice from on High as Jesus went up to suffer This Is my Beloved Son. This is therefore our hope and our final word. That Jesus was led up by tho spirit to be tempted in the wilderness of the Devil and we cry back That all Is well.'
 ''Is there not something here practical for us all. and in keeping with this Lem ten season.
 Surely at times--to any observant man or woman, as you look out upon the world your heart grows sick at the sight of so much temptation, and so great sin. Have you never asked the reason for all this? have you never questioned the realty of goodness have you never been swept away by the thought. "Is there any such thing as good after all? and does 1t really matter | so much as I once thought 1t did?. Temp tation, evil and sin are everywhere. What is sin? What Is temptation. If this world be Gods. created In love. then why does not God arise and assert Him. self,'
 These questions, when left to yourself will bring you surely to a certain des- truction and absolute illusion. They have but one solution. and that is in the l fact that Jesus was led out by the spirit l to be tempted in the wilderness of the devil" And the other practical lesson | to learn from our words this morning is | a personal and individual one. That | smooth and untempted, no mans life can ever be. At some period even the most guarded and cared for, must go out as the Master did to meet temptation and to l stand face to face with the tempter.
 '"The mother fondly thinks that she can protect her child and help him in the in- nocence of ignorance. Oh! what an idle dream so soon to be dashed to pieces in the first conflict with life. | Best remember this: That temptation does not necessarily mean sin He was in ! all points tempted like as we are, yet | without sin.
 Let this, then, be your comfort and hope. That He was like us in our temp | tation, that we might be like Him in His sinlessness"' "'
 At the night service MT Cobbs preach ed from Matthew iv-4: Tt is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"
 MT. Cobbs spoke on the various per- sonal conceptions of life, some only the lowest and others the highest. The hours of service at St. Johns Church during the Lenten season will oe | 5 p. m. each week day with an addition | al short service for men Wednesdays and | Fridays at noon. The public is invited. Church of Holy Comforter. | Rev. Stewart Mcqueen, rector of the Church of the Holy Comforter on Gold | thwaite street, preached a strong ser- mon yesterday morning.
 MT. Mcqueen spoke on ''The Cross of | Our Lord, Jesus Christ" from Galatians viA: He said:
 "The Cross, as we know, is a symbol; that is, it represents something. It speaks if we may venture to use the paradox: in silent language. How suggestive is the almost universal presence of the sym bol in the history of the human race. es- pecially in connection with the things which man deems sacred and holy. It is confined to no country or people. It is seen under the old dispensation. It is seen even among the heather everywhere It is seen under the new dispensation, the gospel. 1 And this is just what we would ex- pect. for symbolism (the use of symboIs) answers to a need in human nature and human nature is the same whether in | heather, Jew or Christian Among Chris tians, the two which express the greatest | beauty and the deepest meaning are: the cradle and the cross.
 Consider the first, the cradle. In 1t our Lord sanctified the beginning of life, and made childhood a sacred thing. Around the cradle clusters all the joy and gladness of the great festival of Christmas, the children's day pre-emi- nently In the Christian year. In 1t we see the peace of innocence and purity | Furthermore, 1t Is only in Christian lands where the cradle is a symbol, that child hood is honored and reverenced and watched over and guarded as a sacred | thing.
 Consider next the cross as a symbol On 1t the Messiah sanctified life's end,
  i ming. In the cross He makes bright with resurrection hopes even the graves dark ness and sorrow. From the cross streams | over humanity the blessed light that tells of sins forgiven of God and man made one, of Heaven brought down to earth, of earth lifted up to Heaven. We rejoice, | therefore, that the cross rises upward | from church spires and towers, ever pointing our earth-bound vision to where Christ sitteth enthroned In glory and ] ever liveth to make intercession for us. | Around the cross, at the great central | fact of the Christian religion gather those | truths which constitute the very funda- mentals themselves of our faith those truths which serve as a guide to our path and a lantern to our feet, those truths which applied in daily life and conduct, mean sublimest devCkion to God, and unselfish service to Ialn. as well as the growing in grace on cur part, and so be- coming more and mo like Him who was crucifed upon the cross. Christ, the Divine exemplar, the Author and flnisher of our faith.
 "One of the great truths we learn from the teachings of the cross. and one we are apt to think least about but which is full of ever-present comfort, is the con secration of the common. The world, of course, cares chiefly about the un- common. It is the uncommon that at tracts attention. causes talk and com ment. Shallow people notice only the uncommon. Nevertheless, 1t is the com mon things that make up life, that are fullest of beauty and truth and help fitness. Look at Nature, for instance. See how her broad bosom is adorned with and ahruh and