Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-19
Christian Endeavor Hour
Conducted by Grace Livingston Hill-Lutz.
For Sunday January % 1907

Conducted by Grace Livingston Hil-Lutz.
For Sunday, January 20. 1907
Topic; More Than Comprehensive Victory Over
Temptation Genesis, ii:4-6 Matthew, XVII
Al; Romans, vii:37.
Genesis, iii:4. And the serpent said unto
the woman. Ye shall not surely die:
5. For God doth know that in the day
We eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened. and We shall be gods, knowing
good and evil.
q. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food. and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and tree to be de-
sired to make one wise, she took of the
fruit thereof, and did eat. and gave also
unto her husband with her; and he did
eat.
Matthew. xviii. Watch ard pray, that
We enter not into Temptations: the spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Romans, vii:37 Nay, in 81 these things
we are more than oonquerors through
Him that loved us.
The Lesson.
The serpent, the spirit of evil, has
forced his way into the human drama.
He has compelled the man and woman
to admit him to their company. He cam
not now be cast out by one summary
act. lie has come. and he remains. All
that takes place in human history takes
place in his presence. Upon everything
he tries to exercise his influence. He is
everywhere and always, and always and
everywhere the ame'-Phillips Brooks.
The trial of mans obedience is imaged
in the tree Of the knowledge of good and
evil. From the childlike innocence in
which man originally was he was to pass
forward into the condition of moral man.
hood, which consists not in mere inno-
ceuce. but in innocence maintained in the
presence of temptation. The savage is
innocent of many of the crimes of civil
lied men because he has no opportunity
to commit them; the child is innocent of
some of the vices of manhood because he
has no temptation to them. To
carry him forward to a higher stage trial
is necessary, and this trial s indicated
by the tree OF knowledge. he fruit of
this tree is prohibited, to indicate that it
is only in presence OF what is forbidden
man can be morally tested. and that it is
only by self-command and obedience to
law, and not by the mere following of
instincts, that man can attain to moral
maturity. The prohibition is that which
makes him recognize "A distinction be-
tween good and evil He is put in a po-
sition in which good is not the only
thing he can do; an alternative is pres
ent to his mind, and the choice of good
III preference to evil is made possible to
him. In the presence of this tree child
The self determine ton of manhood was
constantly required. Conscience, hitherto
latent, was now evoked and took its
place as mans supreme faculty.
Temptation comes like a serpent; like the
most subtle beast of the field. 1t
does not need to hunt down its victims by
long-conuuucd pursuit, its victims come and
put themselves within its reach. Unseen
temptation lies by our path and before we
have time to think We are fascinated and
bewildered, its coils rapidly gather round
us, and its stroke flashes poison through
our blood 1t is a wise saving that
our great security against sin lies in being
shocked at IT. Eve gazed and reflected
when she should have fed | sup
pose If you trace back the mystery of
inlquity in your own life and seek to track
il to its source. you will find it to have
originated in this craving to taste evil. No
man originally meant to become the sinner
he has become. He only intended like Eve
TO taste 1t was a voyage of discovery he
meant to make; he did not think to get
nipped and frozen up and never more re-
turn from the outer cold and darkness. He
wished, before finally giving himself to viz
tue, to see the real value of the other al
tentative There is added to this in
young persons sense OF incompleteneSs
They wish to be grown up. They long for
the signs of manhood, and seek to possess
that knowledge of life and its ways which
they very much identify with manhood.
II is a fatal dclusion Only by
choosing the good in the presence of the
evil are true manhood and real maturity
gained. rue manlincss consists mainly in
sef-control When we find our
selves saying yes where God has said no:
when we see desirable things where God
has said there is death; when we allow dis
trust of Him to rankle in our mind wnen
we chafe against the restrictions under
which we live and seek liberty by breaking
down the fence instead of by deightng
In God, We are on the high ay to ali evil"
Marcus Dods, d. ID.
when 7 a NJ tl,o
used to avoid certain orchards, because
they were full of crab apples; and you
might know that the apples In those