The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1909-11-26
PAULON SELF
DENIAL
Sunday School Lesson for Nov. Is, 1909
Specially Arranged for This Paper

eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any
thing whereby thy brother stumbleth."-
Rom. 14:2i.
Suggestion and Practical Thought.
One.-The School of Self-Control.
Temperance means the control of all
the lower parts of a mans being by
his reason, his conscience, and his
will. 1t is keeping the soul on top"
The all pervasive thought in the
verses of the lesson for to-day is this
self-control, the basis of temperance.
Why are we all, even the youngest
children, placed in the midst of SO
many temptations, to lie, to steal, to
gamble, to drink Intoxicating liquors,
to be selfish, and disobedient?
Because there is no other way of
opening the door to mans highest pos
sibilities, his fullest development, his
purest holiness, his greatest happi-
ness, his largest usefulness. All who
would become strong and useful must
gain their power largely through vic
tory over temptation. 1t is thus that
the soul builds itself larger man.
sions." 1t is a chief factor in educa-
ton. Men cultivate courage through
things that test courage. They grow
in faith through the things that try
their faith. They learn business by
taking the risks of business. People
without trials and temptations are al
ways failures.
Why are we so full of impulses and
passions, of faculties and powers that
may be used for good or for evil? Be-
cause the question of life with every
man is the question of self-control, of
temperance. Prof. Thomson in his
Brain and Personality says that "the
VIII creates the man" 1--WE make our
own brains" by repeated choices which
are acts of VIII. "The Will is the
ranking official of all in man."
Why then do we pray, Lead MS
not into temptation? Because there
are plenty of temptations for our edu-
cation without our seeking for more.
Because our only true attitude toward
temptation is that of fighter, con-
queror. Whosoever goes willingly,
with desire, into temptation is already
more than half fallen. The mad man,
described in the Greyson Letters, had
an illusion that he was acquainted
with the devil. "They say the dell
is very busy in tempting men; but he
maun haze an easy time OF, I'm think
ing. All of them meet him more than
half way. Xix ane seems to gang to
him and say, 'Haena we some dainty
temptation for me to-day, now, Daddy
| Co.
ing temptation
A learned professor wrote the other
day that people ought to drink little
wine moderately, in order to train
themselves in self-control. But that is
to throw open the castle of your life to
the enemy. 1t gives him every ad-
vantage. For the tempter is like those
people who go in large band to haze
simple freshman, or as was once
the custom in national military
school to make an unframed newcom-
er fight an athlete of an upper class.
Two.-Away with the Stumbling
Block of the Saloon. Hon. Neal Dow
was lecturing, one summer evening,
and the flies and gnats gathered in
|
him that he took his handkerchief and
waved them away. They went for a
time, but soon returned. He repeated
his movements with his handkerchief,
with the same results. Finally, he
turned around and blew out the light;
and henceforward the insects were no
longer attracted, and kept away. So
4
will not be enough; you must extin-
guish the saloons themselves.
Three.-The Only Safe Way. Don't
Begin.-A little couplet, written for
children, holds weighty wisdom:
From drink, with its sorrow and ruin and
| sin,
1 surely am safe IL never begin.
Said u young man to me once:
when / feel thirst coming on that
brings visions of the delight of it's
Stacking, drink all the water that l
cana great deal more than want
and then think of something else"
"But," one asks, must l not use
wine because others abuse it?"
Does every one who drinks wine be-
come a drunkard?
BY no means. But no one ever be-
comes a drunkard who refused to take
the first glass.
Several times men have tried to sail
across the Atlantic in a very small
boat. 1t was very dangerous and
some succeeded.
But If you cross in one of the great
liners, which can carry more than
1000 persons, and can laugh at and
sport with the waves that would over
whelm the little boat. you are as safe
as you are at home. When / cross the
Atlantic l take the great liner.
II some millionaire should offer me
100000 in gold on condition that
with it I should take n drunkard's
craving appetite for strong drink, and
run my own risk, would refuse 1t in
stantly, though / went to the poor
house the next day.
Don't begin. because II is easy to go
down into the depths. but very hard
to return. one of the hardest victories