Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-09-25

HOW TO CONQUER TEMPTATION.
By Rev. William C. Stinson.


There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man; but
God. who is faithful, will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are
able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, t1at ye
may be able to bear tt. Corinthians
10 :13.
Every man realizes that when he
would do good evil is present with
him. Sanctity is ever pursued by
haunting forms Of sin that Turk in am
bush, choose their moment for sur
prise and spring upon their victim
when he least suspects their presence.
Sometimes we divide persons into the
tempted and the interrupted There
are persons whose life flows along as
smoothly and quietly as a brook in a
sheltered meadow. They seem not to
be disturbed by any temptations with
In or without. Or they live on such
high attitudes of spiritual serenity as
TO escape the moral miasmas of the
valley Let us not be deceived by such
classification.
Weak, shallow natures are the only
ones exempt from temptation They
are below temptation, not above it.
Strong natures never escape tempta-
ton and usually the stronger the per-
sonality the stronger and fiercer the
temptation. Temptation itself is not
sin. Temptation is infection; sin is
disease. Whether one catches or re-
sists the disease depends upon. his
moral constitution. Malaria seizes the
man In whose body the disease finds
susceptible condition. Temptation
is an inducement to depart from the
path of rectitude and may spring from
without or from a mans own nature.
As an outward solicitation it comes to
one man, and he says, Yes 1t comes
to another man, and he says 'SNo" The
outward temptation arouses the person
atty within a man. The outward APP
peal to do wrong measures the tempt
able element within.
The reason why one man oyercomes
temptation and another does not is not
so much because of difference in cir
cumstances, but because of the differ
ence in personality. You may place
two men in the same environment. One
man succumbs to its temptation be-
cause he has In his moral constitution
the element Of defeat; the other over
comes because he has within him the
pledge of victory.
This Is not undertaking circum-
stances. Many mans security from
temptation lies in cutting himself
loose from the outward associations
OF wrong. Let MIN make solemn
compact with himself that he will
remain away from the place of tempta-
ton. The devil enters the soul of
many man through his mouth, his
eyes, bis ears. The man thus inhu-
enced should make n holy covenant
with his senses of taste, sight and hear
ing
But mans security lies not so
much In seclusion. He must go out
into the world. The greatest safe
guard against temptation is self-cul-
ture. A healthy body is the best re-
sistant against disease. Rules Of life
are good but frequently powerless
Better is it to have a strong soul, iron
in the blood. Let man build up his
moral constitution by thinking noble
thoughts, derived from the habitual
practice OF reading good books, per-
forming noble deeds, associating with
pure women aud honorable men. Let
a man walk in the spirit and he will
not fulfill the lusts of the flesh Good
literature, pure friendship and honor
able toll are among the methods which
God provides to enable a man to over
come temptation. OF all books the
Bible is the best, for its passes as iron
into the blood and gives vigor to the
will. OF all friendships, the sense of
the companionship of the Man of
Nazareth is the most invigorating. The
power and purity of his life may be
claimed and used in every hour cf
temptation. Devote yourself to God
and you will find God fights the battles
OF q will resigned