Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-09-27

nitn ohly Shalt thou serve" In plain
English, Satan wanted Jesus TO demand
visible manifestation of Gods DOW
er. He would have Christ do some
thing practical. He knew men. and
he knew that they would follow a man
who could turn stones into bread: who
could fling himself from a dizzy height
and alight unhurt; who could achieve
worldwide rule by compromising with
evil. But not by such means would
Jesus win the worlds faith and love.
Satan could not understand the spirit
uai, could not conceive of that ineRa-
BILE power by which il Christ was
lifted up he would draw all men unto
him.
Was it an Allesory?
Now, L always used to look upon
this story as an allegory. 1 never be-
heved that in truth this happened. But
the older / grow the more 1 believe 1t
is literally true. Satan always was
and always Will be OF carnaI mind.
He can never understand anything
which does not appeal to the carnaI
mind He Is a great deal like that
brutal man who one day asked Ben1a-
min Disraeli why he had married so
unattractiye u wife. Disraell was In
conspicuous until he married a widow
who was some years older than he.
but she lavished her wealth upon him
and gave him his first step in political
LIE. The prime minister answered:
MY friend, l cannot tell you because
1 do not think you could understand
my motive. You do not know what
gratitude means" So Satan was and
always will be Of carnal mind. If
Christ could not sit upon an earthly
throne and manacle Satan with chains,
he does not believe Christ has any
power. Thus with the Hebrews They
could not understand why Christ the
spiritual king would not become
Christ the temporal king. They could
not understand why Christ, who claim
ed to be a spiritual ruler, would not
re-establish the DaYidic throne In Je-
rusalem.
And yet Is 1t not always the men
who have willingly turned their backs
upon thrones of earthly power who
have established Kingdoms Of spiritual
power? Take the life of John Wesley.
with his marvellous organizing ability.
his wonderful literary gifts, his silver
tongue and his vc-cr Of polemlcs-
could he not T. en- the greatest
statesman or lawyer or ecclesiastic of
his time had he wished? Was not the
palace or the archbishop's chair with
in his grasp had he sought it? And
yet today do we not honor and love
Of
IL he had been an archbishop? Eng
land has produced many great men,
but seldom a greater than David Liy-
ingstone. But do we not honor him
today berause he gave up all for
Christ?
L do not care where you go IN his
tory, the men we honor most today
and whom God honors most have been
and are the men who have turned
their backs upon thrones OF temporal
power in order TO spread the higher
kingdom OF truth and purity and spir-
ituality. The carnal mind cannot grasp
this sacrifice, but the spiritual mind
can. In order TO truly appreciate the
divine sacrifice we must first have
the divine love In our own hearts.
Lastly, the Hebrews OF old could not
understand this new Teacher because
he was going to establish his spiritual
kingdom out Of the vilest of the yile
He was not like the architect who
goes to the purest and whitest quar-
ries TO get the stones for the walls OF
his marble palace. But he goes to the
dirt and mire of sin. lie collects the
most debased. And out Of the vilest
------
humanities he expects to build his pur.
est palaces. II there was sinner
about he always hunted him out IL he
could do that sinner any good. he
even went and lodged In his house. as
he did with Zaccheus. And yet
strange as II may seem, It is almost
impossible to do Gods work Alright
unless we are willing to associate with
those who are despised by their fel
low men, Now comes the practical
questions: Are we, for Christs sake
willing to become socially ostracizeo
by those who think 1t is not proper fol
us to go with those who have gone
astray? Are we willing to do this fol
Christ. as Christ did this for us?