Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1905-06-01


tees that are approved of and freely
INDUCED in by the world about us that
are sins we no longer tolerate, so our
clarified conscience now demands that
our life shall be purged of these con-
ventional and reputable evils. And in
this task we are not helped by the ap-
prevail of public opinion. But there is
another selfish satisfaction that does
help us. 1t is the sweet satisfaction
of feeling that we are good and are
deserving of all the happiness the Lord
has in store for all who are good. This
feeling takes many forms in the mind,
but in general it is the feeling that we
are as virtuous as most of those we
know and far more virtuous and kind
ly and self-denying than very many
whom we know This Is the sweetest
satisfaction our merely natural life Is
capable of, and In many wonderful
ways it holds us up to the work OF re-
pressing external evils and discarding
all lower satisfactions.
So. when the hunger for a better life
has been thus far quickencd in us, this
is the way in which we are always
tempted to satisfy 1t. 1t is described
here as temptation to make the
stones of the desert into bread. The
stones of the desert are the aspect that
spiritual truth takes on when 1t Is APP
pretended by the natural mind or the
self-life. This is the aspect that spirit
ual truth takes on in the letter of the
word, which is truth adapted to the
lowest spiritual needs Of men. There
reward and punishment are presented
as the motives for refrainlng from evil
and doing right 1t Is an appeal to
what is called enlightened selfishness,
. This aspect of the truth is necessary
to start us OH the way toward the
heavenly life. But to convert these
stones into bread is to be permanently
satisfied with these purely selfish as
poets of truth and with this selfish
stage of right living, this doing right
and refraining from wrong doing for
the sake of the approval of others, and
for the sake of the dissatisfaction 1t
affords. TO stop at this point, to be
content with this attainment which Is
temptation that confronts us all
again and again. is to appropriate to
ourselves the letter that kileth and to
shut our eyes to the spirit that maketh
alive. For it is making the letter of
the food into bread in this way that
makes it destructive of spiritual life.
The Lords answer to the tempter
teaches us how we must meet this
temptation. This answer is quoted
from His words of warning to the chill
drcn of Israel when they had just
passed through their forty years of
trial in the Wilderness TO them He
said, Thou shalt remember all the
ways which the Lord thy God hath led
thee these forty years in the desert.
And He suffered thee to hun
ger and fed thee with mamma. which
thou knewcst not: neither did thy faith.
ers know that He might make thee
know that man doth not live by bread
only. but by every word that proceed
eth out of the mouth of the Lord doth
man live"
These words. now quoted in part by
the Lord as His reply to the tempter.
contain the truth by which this tempta-
ton must always be met The temp
tation is to permit ourselves to rest in
the sense of our own goodness and to
go on multiplying our good works OF
all kinds and refraining from all out.
ward evils. that we may multiply our
spiritual riches and increase and deep.
en- our self satisfaction.
This is the besetting temptation in
the religious life of our time. AS the
old falsity Of faith alone has faded out
of religious belief. this more subtle and
attractive falsity has taken its place.
Goodness is everywhere being made
the test and measure of religious char
actcr with very little regard for the
quality Of the goodness.
TO this temptation the divine answer
is: Not by bread alone shall man live
Man can no more live by charity or
good works alone which are symbol
lied by bread than he can live by faith
alone What man must live ny is every
word that gocth forth from the mouth
of God. We live by getting our life
into its true relation to the divine life.
And that cannot be done by recogniZ-
ing this or that particular aspect of
truth and trying to live by that. 1T
can be done only by an earnest and
persistent effort to shape all our think
ing and all our willing and all our do
ing by every word that goeth forth
from the mouth of God.