Sin and Its Consequences by Cardinal Henry Edward Manning

Author:Cardinal Henry Edward Manning [Manning, Cardinal Henry Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TAN Books
Published: 2015-08-17T05:00:00+00:00

Sermon VI

TEMPTATION

"Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil."

—Matt. 4:1

The Son of God, who is Incarnate Sanctity and Eternal Life, when He came into the world to redeem mankind, placed Himself in the most intimate contact, possible to His perfections, with sin in the desert, and with death upon the Cross. In the temptation in the desert, Jesus tasted of all the bitterness of sin, except only of its guilt: in His death upon the Cross, the immortal God tasted death for every man. Now I have taken the temptation of our Divine Saviour as the outset of our present thoughts, because in itself it is sufficient proof of what I affirmed some time ago, namely, that to be tempted is not to sin, and that many who are the most tempted are innocent. You will remember I was speaking about the distinctions of sin, when I touched upon the subject of temptation. It was necessary to guard what I was saying, lest those who are tempted, and perhaps sorely and habitually, should lose heart, and begin to fear lest their temptations are personal sins.

Now the example of our Divine Lord shows us that One who is sinless may be the subject of temptation. He suffered temptation for our sakes, just as He suffered death for our sakes. He suffered temptation, in order, as St. Paul says, "that we may have such a high priest, not one who cannot have compassion or be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but one who was tempted in all things like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15); and again, that "He suffered, being tempted, that he might know how to succor or give help to those that are tempted." (Heb. 2:18). It was that, out of His own personal experience, the Son of God, incarnate in our humanity, might taste of sin in all its bitterness, in all its penalties, save only that which to Him is impossible, the guilt of sin, that so He might be a Saviour full of sympathy with sinners.

And now it is necessary to observe the distinction, which I have drawn with all possible care and precision. Though it is true that temptation is not sin, nevertheless temptation and sin are very nearly allied—they are very like each other, and they may be easily mistaken; secondly, temptations are the occasions of sin; and thirdly, temptations with great rapidity and with great facility pass into sins. For this cause it is necessary with all accuracy to distinguish between them. Perhaps someone will say: "I can quite understand that the Son of God, being man, was capable of being tempted; but that gives me little encouragement, because every temptation presented to His sinless soul was instantly quenched, like as sparks falling upon the face of pure water are immediately extinguished; but when temptations come to me, the sparks are struck upon the touchwood, they fall upon the flax, and upon the dry leaves which are ready to kindle.

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