The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1909-03-08
MAN HIMSELF IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR
SIN He COMMITS
whence Comes Temptation"
the Subject of the Rev. John
McDowel!'s Sermon. ,
INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY
NOT A GOOD EXCUSE
individuals, Said the Preacher,
Cannot, Like Adam, Put the
Blame Upon Others.

LIN 1AOf. JOnn MCDOWcll QeilNeT6u
last night the eco sermon in the
series he is giving Sunday evenings in
Park Presbyterian Church on "Tempta-
tion-Everybody's Problem" The sub
ject last night was Whence Comes
temptation? Mr.. Mcdowell spoke in
part as follows:
The word temptation, we must keep
In mind, bears the three meanings
% of trials, (2) of evil suggestions
and () of seduction to sin. In our
question this evening we are using it
in the sense of evil suggestion and
seduction to sin. The question before
us then is this. Whence comes the
suggestion to evil and the seduction
to SIM? This is not a new question; it
Is as old as the human race. Men
have given many answers to it. Look
at some of these
First, men nave held God RESPONSE
BILE for their temptations. Adam was
the first to give this answer. He said
In reply to Gods inquiry regarding his
dlsobedience The woman Thou
gavest to be with me tempted me-
1.-THE woman gave the fruit to Adam,
but then God ave the woman This
was h beginning of the universal
habit of excusing self by throwing the
responsibility On someone else; in this
instance ON God. Men are doing the
same thing today. Instead of charging
God directly they charge their tempta-
lions to the order of nature holding
all the time that God Is responsible for
the order of nature. tut no real sane
man can consistently hold God re-
sponsible for temptation in the sense
of evil suggestion or seduction to sin,
first, because of the nature of God.
God cannot be tempted with evil, and
He Himself tempteth no man.
THE man who holds hat tempta-
ton has its origin in God is ignorant
of the nature Of God. The sovereignty
of God is the sovereignty of goodness.
In the stainless purity Of His charac-
ter lies our security. 1t. is sheer mad
ness to throw away this sheet anchor
of our hope.
Influence of Heredity.
Men have claimed that this tempta-
tion to evil has its origin in h%eredity.
No one will deny the influence OF
heredity in human life, but it will not
do to charge up all that is evil in our
life to our ancestors, and give credit
for all that is good to ourselves. If
our ancestors are responsible for our
sins, then in all fairness they ought to
be credited with all our virtues, which
means that we are mere nonentities-
void~of all personality n responsible
ity. No man is guilty because he has
inherited bad blood, but he is guilty
for any further increase of it's badness.
1t is a cowardly position for a man to
charge his ancestors with his weakness
mi his sin. 1t unmans the man who
does it.
"Still others have said and are say
ing today that temptation has it's ORR
gin in environment. This is the pop
ular theory of our day. Man we are
told is the creature of circumstance.
No one will question the influence Of
environment on life, but here again, if
we are going to charge environment
with all that is bad in a mans life, it
is only fair that environment should
receive credit for all that Is good. Man
again is reduced to a mere zero, a
plaything of circumstance. Such a
theory dishonors man and robs him of
his freedom.
Down deep in the heart of man he
knows that he is free n that he is
responsible for his environment. we
would say to men, Your environment
is a shame and a curse, a lie and an
infamy, and you are responsible for It.
You have made it and you allow it to
stand
ANY theory of the origin of tempta-
ton which lessons the sense of per-
sonal duty n personal responsibility
is a false theory.
Tap Root of EVIL.
"The Bible teaches hat tempta
ton has Its origin in the indi-
vidual a Every man is tempted
says James, when he is drawn away
of his own lust Not someone else's
lust, but his own not of God, nor his
ancestors, nor his environment; 1t Is
of the mans self and In the mans self.
Self is the tap-root of every SUCCESS
ton of evil and seduction to sin.
I'VE need to preach this doctrine to-
day, when men are loading personal
responsibility in SO many ways. No
sinner can ever be genuinely saved so
long as he makes some one. else re-
sponsible for his transgressions. Not
until men cry out with David, My
transgressions, my iniQuity, my sin,
can they find peace. Men will never
resist temptation as LHey OuSnL TO so
long as they hold God, or their hered-
ity, or their environment. responsible
for their sins.
There are many potential men in
every man, and which of them is to
emerge he chooses for himself by a
Thousand moral preferences. We need
to tell men today that, though much
has been determined for them by
causes beyond their control, their tai
ents, their faculties, their circum-
stances, one thing has not been deter
mined. Another is what they will do
with them. Much has been ordained
before their birth-their nationality
and their family-but one thing has
not been ordained. and that is whether
they are to move from their starting
point toward life or toward death.
Against the m~aterialistic philosophy
and the atheistic socialism of our times.
thst would reduce man to a mere d.
gestive tube, by robbing him Of Free
dom and responsibility, we need to
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