The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-01-17
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
PROFESSOR HUGH BLACK.
Subject: Esau's Temptation.

D1rtlrlSnE 90 TO Inc: TIOlSSSOl
Black said:
We cannot suppress natural SYM
pathy with Esau in this scene be-
tween the two brothers. He seems
as much sinned against as SHINING,
and in comparison with the cunning,
crafty character of Jacob he appears
the better of the two. His very faults
lean to virtues side, we think, as we
look at his bold, manly, impulsive
figure There is nothing of the cold,
calculating, selflshness, the astI1te
trickery, the determination to get
his pound of flesh, which make his
brother appear mean beside him.
With our swift and random and sur
face judgments we are inclined to
think it unjust that Esau should be
set aside in the great history of grace
for one who could be guilty of both
malice and fraud in advancing his
own interests. We are not at present
dealing with the character of Jacob
or we would see that this hasty judg-
ment, true so far as it goes, is some
thing less even than half the truth,
and that though hehere and elsewhere
sinned and was punished through all
his life for his subtlety and sel1shness,
yet he was not the monster of unbroth-
erly malice merely which this scene
might suggest, and that he had quail
tiles of heart and spirit which made
it inevitable that he, and not Esau,
should be chosen for the line of Gods
purpose. Our subject is Esau and his
weakness and fall in the presence of
his overmastering temptation.
Esau's good qualities are very evil
dent, being of the kind easily recog-
nized and easily popular among men,
the typical sportsman who is only a
sportsman, bold and frank and free
and generous, with no intricacies of
character, impulsive and capable of
magnanimity, the very opposite of
the prudent, deXterous, nimble man
of affairs, rather reckless indeed and
hot-blooded and passionate. His viz
tues are already, we see, dangerous
Iy near to being vices. Being largely
a creature of impulse, he was, in
crisis, the mere plaything OF animal
passion, ready to satisfy his desire
without thought of consequences.
Without self-control, without spir-
itual insight, without capacity even
to know what spiritual issues were,
judging things by immediate profit
and material advantage, there was
not in him depth of nature out OF
which a really noble character could
be cut This damning lack of self
control comes out in the passage of
our text, the transaction of the BIRTH
right. Coming from the hunt hungry
and faint, he finds Jacob cooking
pottage of Ientils and asks for it. The
sting of ungovernable appetite makes
him feel as if he would die if he did
not get it. Jacob takes advantage of
his brothers appetite and offers to
barter his dish of pottage for Esau's
birthright.
There would be more superstition
in the minds of both of them as to the
value Of the birthright. Both of
them valued it as vague advantage,
carrying with it religious worth,
but it meant nothing tangible; and
here was Esau's temptation, terribly
strong to man of his fiber. He was
hungry, and before his fierce desire
for the food actually before him such
a thing as prospective right of birth
seemed an ethereal thing of no real
value. If he thought of any spiritual
privilege the birthright might be sup
posed to confer, it was only to dis
miss the thought as not worth con-
siderirg. Spiritual values had not
high place in his standard of things.
He could not be unaware OF the ma
terial advantages the possession OF
the birthright would one day mean.
He must have known that it was
something to be recognized as the.
eldest son, with special rights of in
heritance and precedence and author
lty after his fathers death. These
things we're real enough to him, even
OH 10 a
deeper meaning in being the heir of
the promise. But in the grip of his
appetite even these temporal advan-
tages were too distant to weigh much.
N the presence of immediate satisfac-
lion the distant appeared shadowy
and unreal and not worth sacrificing
present enjoyment for. He feels he
Is going to die, as a man of his type
is always sure he will die if he does
not get what he wants when the
passion is on him; and supposing
ne does die, it will be poor con-
ISOLATION that he did not barter this
intangible and shadowy blessing of
his birthright. Behold l am at the
point to die; and what profit shall
this birthright do to me?"
The Bible writer's speak of Esau
always with certain contempt, and
with all our appreciation of his good
natural qualities, his courage and
frankness and good humor, we can
not help sharing in the contempt.
The man who has no self-control,
who is swept away by every passion
| Of the moment, whose life is bounded
| by sense, who has no appreciation of
the higher and larger things which
| call for self-control-that man is,
! after all, only a superior sort of ami
| NAL, and not always so very superior
| at that. The author of the Epistle tc
| the Hebrews calls Esau "a profane
| person, who for one morsel of meat
sold his birthright." "Profane"
means not blasphemous, but simply
| secular, man who is not touched to
| fine issues, Judging things by coarse
| earthly standards, without spiritual
aspiration or insight, feeling every
| sting of flesh keenly, but with 20
| sting of soul toward God. Bold and
manly and generous and with many
| splendid constitutional virtues he may
| be; but the man himself lacks sus-
ceptibility to the highest motives OF
| life He is easily bent by every wind
! of impulse, and is open without de-
| Tense to animal appetite. He is capa-
| BILE OF despising the intangible bless
| ing o. such thing as a birthright,
even though he feel it to be a holy
| thing, because he cannot withstand
present need. A profane, a secular
| person as Esau, is the judgment OF
| The New Testament.
This scene where he surrenders his
| birthright did not settle the destiny
| Of the two brothers; a compact like
| his could not stand good forever, and
in some magical way substitute Jacob
| for Esau in the line of Gods great
| religious purpose. But this scene,
! though it did not settle their destiny
In that sense, revealed their charac-
| ter, the one essential thing which
was necessary for the spiritual sue
/ cession to Abraham; and Esau failed
| here in this test as he would fail
anywhere. His question to reassure
himself, What profit shall this birth
right do to me?" reveals the bent OF
his life, and explains his failure. True
self-control means willingness to re-
sign the small for the sake OF the
tIn 1ire-ADt fOi. the Ga lSp of the