Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1905-06-08
THE PULPIT,
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. JOHN c; AGAR.
Subject: The First Temptation.

Subject: The First Temptation.
Brooklyn, N. Y.-Sunday morning, in
the Church of the New Jerusalem
(Swedenborgian), 'le pastor, the Rev.
John G. Ager, preached on ''The First
Temptation" The text was from Mat
thew iv:1-4: "Then was Jesus led up
into the desert by he spirit, to be
tempted by the devil And having
tasted forty days and forty nights, He
after that was hungry. And the
tempter came to Him and said, If thou
art the Son of God speak, il order that
these stones may become loaves. But
He answering said, 1t has been writ
ten, Not by bread alone shall a man
live, but by every word that goeth
forth from the mouth of God" Mr..
Ager said:
The gospel o.. Matthew describes
specifically three temptations of the
Lord in the wilderness Immediately
after His baptism. The form Of
the narrative suggests at once that
these stories are not history. but are
parallels, which picture the three gen.
eral ways in which fallen humanity
is approached and enticed i :. internal
influences. And when so understood
they become in the fullest sense a
revelation of divine truth to men. And
so understood they suggest at once
that there is some sort of threefold-
ness in our spiritual experiences. And
when we examine our spiritual ex-
periences carefully we are able to dis
tinguish in our inner life three distinct
planes Of thought and feeling.
hn Gf~Sf or af
planes of life we are all familiar with.
1t includes all thoughts and feelings,
all motives and impulses and appetites
that have reference exclusively to our
life in this world. This we call the
natural man.
Distinctly above this lies what we
call ordinarily the religious life. Its
thoughts and feelings and motives
have primary reference to those inter-
ests that outlive our life in this world.
It's largest and dominant factors are
faith, conviction and duty. Faith
and conviction are beliefs, though be-
| liefs have been touched and quickened
by religious emotion. Duty is the con-
| duct that belief or faith or conviction
| imposes; that is, the dominion of truth
over the lower impulses and appetites.
| Consequently this realm of the life is
predominantly intellectual. It's dom
inant impulse is love of truth and 10y
atty to truth. It lies distinctly above
/ the natural man and is called the spir-
itual man.
These two realms of thought, feeling
and action we can easily distinguish.
They make up the twofold life of every
man who is honestly trying to live a
true life in the world. But they evil
dently do not include the highest spir-
itual possibilities of human life There
is another realm Of life clearly set be-
fore us in the divine word, although
| few Christians know practically much
about it, 1t is, in fact. the essence Of
all religious life. It is the life that is
defined and enjoined in the two great
commandments, to love the Lord our
God with all our heart and soul and
mind and strength, and to love our
neighbor as ourselves. This means
that the essence Of the heavenly life is
love and whenever that gains posses
sion of us, faith, conviction and duty
will all be swallowed up in love. We
shall see with the eyes of love and act
always from the impulse of love. Love
going upward to God and outward to
man will be the sole motive power Of
| tie lie. 1ulS Is Tie Highest Stdte VI
man, the highest attainment of human
nature, and may very properly be
termed distinctively the heavenly or
celestial life.
There are, then, three distinct re
gions of life in us. The complete man
is three-storied being. Consequently
there must be a corresponding three
foldness in all our spiritual expert
ences. And it is this distinction thai
is pictured in these three typical tempt
ations of our Lord. The first is type
of the tempta tons that belong to the
lower or natural degree of the mind
the second to spiritual and the third
to the celestial or heavenly.
The first temptation is pictured as al
appeal to a physical appetite. Aftel
the forty days and nights of fasting
Jesus was hungry and there was moth
. ing to satisfy His hunger. and it il
suggested by the tempter that He con
vert into loaves of bread some Of th'
stones that covered the ground.
This physical picture has very evi
, dently a spiritual meaning, whicl
; deals, not with the mere body and it