NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
MANCHESTER, MASS., FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 1909. 
TEMPTATIONS. 
Subject of Theodore Lyman Frost's Sermon at 
the Baptist Church last Sunday Morning. 
At the Baptist church, Manchester, 
last Sunday morning, Rev. Theodore 
Lyman Frost, the pastor, preached on 
the above subject. His text was found 
in Matt. 6:13—‘‘Lead us not into 
temptation, but deliver us from evil.’’ 
Following are a few excerpts from his 
sermon: 
“Daily bread, both physical and 
spiritual, is necessary for your life and 
mine, but it cannot nourish us as it 
should. We must look out for the 
future. Sin is lurking along the pathway 
of our lives and we must guard against 
it. We are inclined to feel that we are 
above these ordinary temptations. 
While we feel most secure we must 
watch very carefully lest we fall. There 
are a great many Christians that have 
started out and almost at the end of the 
course have yielded to the temptations. 
“What do we mean by ‘lead?? ~The 
word comes from a word meaning to 
bear, to test. The word also comes 
from the Greek word meaning to try. 
The word ‘deliver’ needs no comment. 
The word ‘evil’ means not simply some 
impersonal evil, but it means the evil 
one. Jesus Christ recognized that evil 
was not a product of some personal 
force, but that it came from some evil 
being. Some people believe they have 
out-grown the personal evil, but Jesus 
Christ recognized that there was an evil - 
personality that was continually fighting 
against the good. 
*“ What are the lessons which this pe- 
tition teaches? Notice in the first place 
the difference between temptations and 
testings. God cannot tempt man. 
Man is tempted when led away by his 
own lusts. God cannot lead us into 
temptation. You may ask: ‘‘ Did not 
God tempt Job?’? No, God lead Job 
into a place where Satan could tempt 
him. When God is leading us we must 
expect to be tempted; yet he is strong 
enough to keep us from these tempta- 
tions of life. Goddid not tempt Abra- 
ham. He tested him. 
““ The conclusion we may come to is 
that we are tempted by the evil in our 
own lives, in the lives of others and by 
the evil one himself. The God who 
loves us, only tries and tests us that we 
may become stronger. 
‘* An opportunity not used aright may 
be atemptation. Men take these oppor- 
tunities and abuse them, and the result 
is they sink deeper and deeper into sin 
and degradation. They are steps down- 
ward because they will not use these 
opportunities to climb to the heights. 
Men are subjected to temptations to de- 
grade man. ‘They trample and scorn 
their opportunities. As an_ illustration, 
riches are temptations, or opportunities 
to squander life in drink and in foolish 
extravagance. All these riches which 
some men possess may simply be a 
means whereby they can scatter sunshine 
along their pathway. Poverty need not 
be a temptation but an opportunity to be 
free from vice and from selfishness. 
Sickness can be an opportunity or it can 
become a temptation. Health is either 
a temptation or an opportunity. It can 
be a wonderful opportunity. How many 
there are, even in Manchester, that are 
taking the vigor and manhood from their 
lives and prostituting these things in sin 
and vice, and the result is temptation. 
The very business a man occupies him- 
self may be a temptation. It may so 
absorb him that he forgets the opportu- 
nity to live nearer to God. ‘The occu- 
pation of a minister is either a tempta- 
tion or an opportunity. How many 
have lost spiritual life simply because 
they have become too familiar with 
divine things and handled them careless- 
ly. Some have shunned their honest 
debts. The Christian life may be a 
temptation or an opportunity unless we 
take the Christ that is in our hearts and 
use it and let the world see that we are 
sweeter and brighter. If it simply 
means to be sour and disagreeable then 
our Christian life has become to us a 
temptation rather than an opportunity. 
‘* Let us offer this petition ‘Lead us 
not into temptation but deliver us from 
evil.’ We need God’s care and pro- 
tection. 
“* People dread to look into the future. 
Some would rather die than meet temp- 
tation. 
““ We may have to pass through many 
temptations and trials and testings, and 
we can rejoice that we have the temp- 
tation because it gives us a chance to 
show what is in our life and prove the . 
real value of our religion. Then we 
can stand in the very presence of our 
King and Savior. 
“* Does not your statement show in- 
consistency when you pray to be deliy- 
ered from temptation and then say you 
have joy in temptation? I think not. 
It is natural that we should be delivered 
from temptation and to ask God not to 
lead us into the places of evil. We are 
conscious of our own weakness, so we 
North Shore Towns and Cities Bene- 
fited by Inheritance Tax. 
Personal property approximating $30, - 
000,000 in value which has hitherto es- 
caped taxation has been placed on the 
valuation lists of various towns and cities 
of the commonwealth by the state tax 
commissioner, working in conjunction 
with the local assessors throughout the 
commonwealth. 
The property, consisting largely in 
shares of stock in business corporations, 
has been discovered largely through the 
workings of the law passed at the last 
session of the Legislature, requiring the 
state tax Commissioner to place at the 
disposal of the local assessors such in- 
formation as he may secure through the 
inheritance tax law. The law creating 
supervisors of assessors has also proved 
very helpful, as these new officials have 
a roving commission under which they 
go all over the commonwealth assisting 
local assessors. They also have author- 
ity to examine records in registries of 
deeds, probate courts, etc., and such in- 
formation as they gather through these 
sources is also placed at the disposal of 
local assessors. 
-The law regarding the inheritance tax 
has affected Manchester materially, the 
total net tax valuation being increased by 
nearly $750,009. 
Most of the increase came from a 
source found through information fur- 
nished by the state tax commissioner’s 
office. ‘This information concerned one 
assessment only, however, that of Rob- 
ert C. Hooper, which is for $747,362 
entirely personal property, of which 
$67,000 had previously been assessed. 
The other amount is for $68,000, as- 
sessed under the will of Edward E. Rice 
for the benefit of Elizabeth Rice, which 
was reported to the Manchester board 
and assessed for the first time this year. 
Beverly gets $179,125 additional prop- 
erty, with a tax value this year of $3116.- 
77, and Gloucester gets $64,100, with a 
tax value of $1217.90. 
The town of Dover shows the enor- 
mous discovery of $6,152,000, with a 
tax value of $60,289.60. 
ask God to help us. We know that 
God knows best what is best for us. 
““ Ler us not be too sure of ourselves. 
Let us not feel that weare strong enough 
to keep from yielding to the temptations 
of life. Many have gone down into 
failure and even lost eternal life because 
they have trusted too much in themselves. 
Let us keep hold of Christ’s hand and 
trust fully in Him.”’ 
