The Detroit times., 1915-03-02
BEAST IS IN
ALL OF US
Man a Walking Me.
nagerie, Says Pastor
at Lenten Service
-REy. q. LEsTER SMITH,.

MONDAY Lenten services under
the auspices OF the Methodists we're
begun in the Detroit opera house
Monday. The services Tor the FIRST
week will be conducted by the Rev.
II. Lester Smith. pastor OF the Cen
trail Methodist church. DR.. Smiths
Monday topic was Temptation He
said in part:
Temptation Is no accident. II Is
part OF life. Indeed, life itself
Is a temptation. In It's nature and
essence. II Is trial. To be alive
Is TO feel the terrible driving power
OF temptation surging against the
soul. We cannot outfiank the devil.
We cannot evade the conflict. IL
is inevitable. We must face IL and
conquer 1t.
Every man must face tempta-
tons from within and from with
out.
THE temptations from within arise
from the relations Of the soul and
the body. This connection is so in.
innate that In every life the pull OF
the body toward the carnal life Is
continuous and tremendously hard
to resist.
1.-THE temptations from without
come directly and continuously
from the devil--that. great dominant
evil personality who is continuously
seeking to seduce and destroy man
kind.
This combination OF internal
weakness and external solicitation
bring tremendous pressure TO bear
upon the soul.
There is first and most common
OF all the temptation OF the child
Not the child In years so much ar
the immature. There are multitudes
Of people who are peculiarly open
to temptation because they have the
bodily development OF adults with
the intellect, will and moral forces
OF child. These people are gov
erned by their passions entirely. Life
is all carnality with them. With
them the beast is supreme.
There is bowling menagerie OF
wild beasts In every human. There
Is the treachery OF the snake; tn,
gluttony of the swine; the fiercenese
Of the wolf; the cruelty OF the tiger.
the craftiness OF the fox; and a
greater and more disgusting lechery
than you can find in any beast.
"Now an appetite sinner is a man
In whom the cravings of the beast.
IL restrained at all. are only held
In check by the conscience and will
Of q child.
Other temptations come surging
In upon a man-temptations to ego
tism and self.assertion. ambition.
seliishness and pride; Of covetous-
ness and envy and idolatry. So
many and so various that we cannot
describe them.
I'VE Immediately ask, Why must
we be tempted in this way?
God could have made man pure
spirit where there would be no car.
nality, no conflict between soul and
body-but he didn't. He made us
body and soul.
God could have killed the devil
as the little girl prayed and so have
removed man from the danger OF his
solicitations, but he didn't. Why?
"The real reason is not hard 10
find. God has set the stage for a
great moral struggle. Character
and manhood are won as the prize
OF the conflict. Moral goodness must
be chosen. defended and kept
against the solicitation OF the world.
the flesh and the devil.
But can a ,man win the fight?
The first great moral conflict OF
the race In Eden was a defeat. In
that defeat man lost his moral pow.
er. He lost the power to keep from
sin. )and every man since then has
recognized that tragic weakness OF
humanity.
The message of the gospel OF
Christ. however, is that something
OF what humanity lost in Eden.
Christ wins back at Calvary.
The great gift OF Christ to hu.
manity is not only forgiveness from
sin-but greater even this this-the
power not to sin.
ANY man can conquer any temp.
tation. anywhere by the grace OF
God through Jesus Christ"