The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-07
os ANGELES, Cal, March s1.--That

temptation is the lot of all; that A@ not in being tempted, but in invit- ing and yielding to temptation is sin, and that if we trust in God and seek to do right we will always find a way out is the lesson of this sermon. The text is I Corinthians K 13, "There hath no temp tation taken you but such as is' common to man."
 The scientists teach us that in anthro- biology, or the science of man, is the crown of all the natural sciences, but subsidiary to it and contributory to It's proper comprehension are the other natu- ral sciences. Nature has the same method of working in all, and if we learn what shs does in the lower spheres we shall know what she does in the higher If we learn how the plants and the animals grow and thrive we may infer that in a similar way man will grow and thrive. No man is absolutely unique. lie IS one or a species the members of which prosper under like conditions or degenerate under the opposite conditions. Nature IS unlt in this. In other words, the same mex orable natural laws which cause rose or a lily or a heliotrope or a horse or a COW or asheep or d robin a blueblrd or a trout or a black bass to do and 10 be what it is under certain conditions are the same inxeorable biological laws which will compel man under certain conditions to do certains things. When We study the characteristics of a species We study in a broad sense the characteristics of all the individuals of that species, and there Is no exception to the rule.
 Now, Paul in the words of my text Is enunciating a great natural law He comes to Us and says: My brother, in your egotism you believe you are differ ent from the rest of mankind. You may think that no man ever faced Just the same trials and temptations and sorrows and bitter disappointments which you have But in your loves, your hates, your sorrows, and your temptations you are just like the generality of mankind. You are under the common law. You must eat as they eat. You will laugh as laugh. You sleep as they sleep. You suffer from the cold and the heat as they suffer You cry as they cry. You are tempted as they are tempted. You sin as they sin. Furthermore, you can be saved from your sins by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ as they can be saved You are part of a great species of living creatures which is called the human family" Then Paul seems to generaiize all his thoughts into these words of my text There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not suffer you 'N will with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
 Others Were Tempted.
 My friends, as there are thousands of men and women in the past who have been tempted just as we are tempted and God has found q way by which they may escape from their temptations, so if We let Jesus come into our lives and accept his offer of way of escape we may overcome our present temptations. We all have many temptations. There is no doubt about that. The next question is, Do we apply the gospel weapon against those temptations?
 There arc, in the first place. physical temptations. There are temptations of the blood, of the nerves, the muscles, of the stomach and of the heart There are the temptations which appeal to the physical organism, which we havo inher- tied from our ancestors and which may have been weakened by disease or abuse. These temptations of the physical organ ism are among the very fiercest of all temptations to battle against. Paul was speaking literally as well as Gguratively when he described himself an armed sentinel standing guard over his body or as an armed foe in mortal combat with the passions of his flesh. He knew as every true Christian ought to know, that unless he was continually warning against the evil desires of his flesh he would become their slave. He said, "l keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest by any means when l have preached to others l myself should be a castaway.' Oh, my brother, do you know that with the help of the Holy Spirit you may overcome your physical tempta tions?
 One of the most common of those physical temptations is the craving of the stomach and the nerves for stimu- lant or Il soothing narcotic. You are not a lazy, good for nothing drunken loafer. You are an iatense, ambitious. energetis man You perhaps started with nothing, and everything, to use a slang express sion, seems to be coming your way Your business has been going ahead by leaps and strides. The orders have been tumbling in on you an avalanche. If you had ten hands and ten feet and ten eyes and ten brains, you could work them all to their limit. The result is you, have been oVerworlling that body You cannot sleep at night. When you arise for breakfast in the morning you are more tired than when you went to bed. About two years ago you began to use stimu- 1ants. You did it to arouse your depict ed faculties. Then at night you com menced to take some sedative You said to yourself. l must Slcep. l must sleep or I shall die Then you did not like the liquor. You did not in the begin- ming crave that sedative But now ev- cry nerve and muscle and sinews of your body is crying: "Give me drink! Give me that sleeping portion | must have them or I shall go mad" Under these tempta- tions of the flesh you are going down and down. You are headed straight for a premature grave Do you not realize now what Paul means when he says, T keep under my body and bring it into sub jection lest by any means when l have preached to others l myself shall be d castaway."
 Like Powder Magazine.
 Or perhaps we have broken the moral code. Perhaps we have inherited the in- famed proclivities of some absolute an cestor. When We try to govern ourselves we find that we are like a mettlesome,
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