TEMPTATION-TOPIC OF GREATESTMOMENT TOTHE YOUNG
By Prof. James Stalker United Free Church College, Aberdeen, Scotland
There hath no tem ptation taken you but such as is common to men; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above th at ye are able; but will with tem ptation also make a way to escape, th at ye may be able to bear it.—1 Corinthians 10:13.
before temptation; third, we may he tempt ing others; or, fourth, we may be success fully resistihg temptation; fifth, we may have outlived temptation; sixth, we may be assisting others to overcome their tempta tions. As I should like these six attitudes to be remembered, let me give them names; and these I will borrow from the politics of the continent of Europe. Any of you who may glance at times into the politics of France or Germany will be aware that in their legislative assemblies there prevails a more minute division into parties, or groups as they are called, than we are accustomed to. In your politics yob are content with two great historical ,parties—Republicans and Democrats. But, as I have said, in Continental parliaments the members are divided into groups. You read of the group of the left center, of the group of the left, and the group of the extreme left ; the group of the right center, the group of the right, and the group of the extreme right. I do not pretend that even these are all; but I will take these as the six
NCE, when I was going to address a gathering of young men, I asked a friend what I should speak to them about. His answer was : There is only one subject worth speaking to young men about, and that is temptation. Of course, he did not mean this literally; he only meant to emphasize the importance of this subject. Was he not right? You- remember, in the story of the Garden of Eden, where the tree which represented temptation stood? It stood in the midst of the- garden—just at the point where all the walks converged, where Adam and Eve had to pass it every day. This is a parable of human life. We are out of paradise now; but the tree of temptation still stands in our life where it stood then— in the midst; where all the roads meet; where we must pass it every day—and every man’s weal or woe depends on the attitude to it which he takes up. There are six attitudes in any of which we may stand to temptation—first, we may be tempted; second, we may have fallen
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