TEMPTATION AND CARNALITY

     In his Plain Account of Christian Perfection, Wesley says, "However, what you call temptation, I call the corruption of my heart. And how will you distinguish one from the other? In some cases it is impossible to distinguish, without the direct witness of the Spirit. But in general one may distinguish thus: "One commends me. Here is a temptation to pride. But instantly my soul is humbled before God. And I feel no pride; of which I am sure as that pride is not humility.

     "A man strikes me. Here is a temptation to anger. My heart overflows with love. And I feel no auger at all, of which I can be as sure as that love and anger are not the same.

     "A woman solicits me. Here is a temptation to lust. But in the instant I shrink back. And I feel no desire or lust at all; of which I can be as sure as that my hand is cold or hot.

     "Thus it is, if I am tempted by a present object; and it is just the same, if, when it is absent, the devil recalls a commendation, an injury, or a wrong, to my mind. In the instant the soul repels the temptation, and remains filled with pure love.

     "And the difference is still plainer when I compare my present state with my past, wherein I felt temptation and corruption, too."

     While this is undeniable, and will answer as a general rule, yet the fact remains that at times general rules are hard to apply, and particular rules must be formulated for particular occasions. While it is true that the clean soul humbles itself when commended, yet it is also true that at times this process of humbling is not as distinct as would seem to be the case from the above quotation. So also with the other points mentioned, as well as on every other line. If this tendency which is contrary to sin was always as clear and distinct as it is at times there would scarcely be any opportunity for the enemy to suggest that the soul lacks sanctifying grace.

     This indefiniteness may arise from different sources and be manifested in different ways. It may be caused by a lack of prayer. The cares and duties of every-day life may crowd in with such force as to detain the soul from waiting before God in secret as much as it should. At such times, while grace is not lost, yet the keenness of its edge and clearness of its vision is liable not to be as manifest as when prayer is properly attended to; and, as a consequence, there may be a corresponding lack of definiteness in the heart movings in opposition to the suggestions of evil coming from without, and also a corresponding lack of ability to discern the fact that the temptations are without, as well as in drawing the line between legitimate or natural movings and what might be the movings of the carnal mind. It may be that such a condition of affairs is unnecessary, yet it is quite often the case. If the truth was fully known, what child of God has not passed through such seasons?

     God does not "play hide and seek with His children," yet He does allow them to be tried, and that to the utmost of their power to resist. We cannot see all things and often

     The Lord desires that His children should prove true amid the most fiery trials. Since this is the case it stands to reason that He may at times seem to withdraw and thus allow the fiercest onslaughts of the devil. It is reasonable to suppose that among other things God might allow a partial blindness, or it might be better to say a lack of power to discriminate between temptation and carnality, in order both to test the soul's powers of endurance as well as its fidelity amid uncertainties. If this position is true, as perhaps all will admit, the lack of power to quickly discern is not necessarily caused by a lack of grace, but, if the soul remains steady, such infirmities will be a means of increasing grace and strength.

     Another means that may cause this lack of discernment is a combination of many and severe trials. Since the reason for trials from the enemy's side is that the soul may lose its confidence and fall away from God, he will attempt to blur the soul's power to properly reckon its standing in God, knowing that this is his surest and easiest way of dealing with some.

     Another reason for this failure to discern may lie in the fact of a wrong education or a wrong application of general rules. Many persons aim too high. Such are liable to call everything carnality; while some aim too low and call everything temptation. Either class of persons should hold still before God until they find out the right line. If they would thus hold still much needless anxiety might be avoided.

     Another thing, somewhat akin to this, is that the facts concerning heart conditions may be clouded by the rash and extreme statements of those who should be teachers. The safe rule all around is for those who profess to be teachers to tell, as nearly as possible, the exact truth; neither softening it for fear of wounding, nor making it too strong in order to open people's eyes. Either method is misleading. Tell the truth and let God take care of the results.

     There is a great sense in which all are tempted alike. "No temptation has taken you but such as is common to man." One difference between the temptations of the merely justified and those of the entirely sanctified lies in the difference in the manner in which they are repulsed, which difference is generally caused by the fact that in the heart of the former there is a secret assent to or affinity for the temptation, while the latter quickly rejects it and has no leaning toward the wrong.

     There is also a difference in that the enemy always, or nearly always, attacks the highest state of grace to which the soul has attained. Thus it arises that justified souls are tempted to believe that they are not saved, while sanctified souls are told that their hearts are unclean. Every suggestion that the heart is unclean does not come from the devil. They may come from the Spirit in His attempts to let light on an unclean heart. Consequently, it is always safe to hold such suggestions before the white light of the Spirit. If they are of the devil they will disappear like darkness before sunshine, while if they are true that fact will be revealed. We should always be desirous of knowing the actual truth about our hearts.

     Let us briefly examine several methods which the enemy pursues in attacking a clean soul and compare them with the strivings of inbred sin:

     1. He endeavors to inject "the lust of the eyes." What should be the feeling when suggestive pictures or sinful objects are seen? The answer is easily -- a feeling of pure aversion. Carnality clings to such things; there is a tendency toward them or a desire to look again or to let the vision sink into the heart and stamp itself on the mind. With the pure in heart this tendency is gone, and the soul loathes the sight. But this is not all the truth, for along with the sight the enemy will inject thoughts, perhaps bring up former sins, or suggest sinful relations, and, having done this, he will declare that it was yourself and not the devil that originated those evil conceptions. If the heart is unclean it will feel a tendency to dwell with delight on these sights and attitudes, but if clean it will turn quickly away, and fix its attention on God.

     2. The enemy will attempt to inject a desire for hearing things which are unlawful, and especially will he attempt flattery. If there is in the heart a desire to be flattered and a secret glorying in it when given, accompanied by an almost unconscious exaltation of self, the soul is still unclean; but if, on the contrary, it turn away in loathing and sinks before God in self-abasement, with no tendency toward pride, the heart is clean. Under such circumstances, when the heart is unclean, this tendency toward self-exaltation is so universally seen that when the opposite principle of humility appears it can be taken as an almost infallible sign of purity.

     But it may be that instead of immediately sinking before God, the soul will remain for the time being in a passive condition, neither feeling exalted nor humbled. This is not necessarily a sign of a lack of grace although it may be so presented by the enemy. But in addition to the lack of perceptible humbling there may actually be sly suggestions that the heart is not humble, and that to such an extent as to cause much trouble and anxiety, but if you hold steady the sun will soon shine all these things away, or if impurity remains its presence will be revealed.

     3. Failing in these attempts the enemy will try to inject evil thoughts, working independent of any present outward evil. This manner of attack is called by the apostle "fiery darts." The general plan is to hurl quick, fiery, stinging suggestions, which very much resemble the sudden, vicious striking of a dart, or the driving of the fangs of a serpent. The clean soul realizes that "he has a shield which can quell their rage," and that they are quickly repulsed. It cannot be surprised in this way, for the "shield of faith" is always ready. The enemy may hurl his fiery darts in rapid succession, one so quickly following another that the victim is led to believe that instead of a single enemy he 'has run against an army of devils. If we hold our faith in God all these are easily "quenched."

     4. But the enemy does not always approach in such a bold way. He will come as an angel of light and slyly attempt to crowd in his suggestions, and then assuming the role of an informant piously state that these evils which he has suggested actually infest the heart. If the heart is clean there is never a favorable leaning toward the sinful suggestions of the enemy. Carnality causes a lack of quickness, both in discerning, and in "quenching the fiery darts of the wicked." But for fear that some might misunderstand this statement it must be qualified in two ways: (1) You will never get to a place where you will always discern evil as quickly as you may desire, owing in part to the sluggishness and infirmities of the mind. (2) You may not always succeed in quenching or getting rid of the fiery darts as quickly nor as easily as you think you should. This may come from a lack of strength. This lack, or it might be better to say inability, does not of necessity come from carnality, for inability is inherent in human nature and is absent from no being short of God.

     5. In his attempts on the clean soul the enemy is not confined to simple suggestions, but he has the power to cause strange feeling. which may at times resemble in some ways the feeling of the heart before it was cleansed. On this point, James Caughey says, "In consequence of being deficient in spiritual discernment, which unfitted me to distinguish between temptation and indwelling sin, I often imputed to the corruption of my nature that which arose from the effect of temptation upon my mind. Temptation is a subject of feeling, as well as indwelling sin. A temptation is not a temptation in reality, unless it is felt. How can we know that we are tempted, unless we feel it? How difficult is it, frequently, to discriminate! I could not distinguish the difference."

     Since all this is true, you ask how to draw the line between the feelings caused by temptation and the movings of uncleanness within. From the fact that these things lie so deep within it is manifestly impossible to lay down any positive rule by which the soul can be guided on every occasion, and there will arise occasions which will require the immediate light of the Holy Spirit to settle your whereabouts. Holiness is a life of faith, and you will find that you must often go to God for the witness of the Spirit. Without this you will get into the fog and lose your way.

     While temptation is a subject of feeling, yet it is so in a different sense than is carnality. To the clean soul temptation causes a feeling of aversion toward the thing offered. Here we must note again, that this same aversion arises in the soul of the justified; but there is this difference, along with the aversion, in the justified heart there arises a leaning toward the thing offered, that is, there is a mixed feeling -- the aversion predominating because of grace. But in the clean soul there is a pure feeling of aversion toward the evil, with no tendency toward acceptance.

     While the feelings of temptation often resemble the strivings of indwelling sin, yet where carnality is absent there is a lack of definiteness, an evasiveness, that shows their fraudulent character; while, on the contrary, where carnality is present, there is a definiteness, a lasting sting, an abiding conviction that stays and convinces of the presence of heart evil.

     6. To the clean soul temptation may assume the form of a pressure. As nearly as we can express this thought is to say that it is like something bearing against a closed door and attempting to force its way in. The source of such feelings is seldom concealed; the enemy is liable to acknowledge that he causes them, and attempt, by manifestations of his infernal strength, to overthrow the Christian's faith, and thus gain an entrance. He may take any line of temptation and lay siege to the soul, but the Bible instructs us to "resist, steadfast in the faith."

     Let it be enforced that there will come times when the direct present light of the Spirit will be necessary in order to properly fix the source of some evil suggestions. Hold your heart carefully and prayer. fully in the balance, and give God an opportunity to speak as He will. If you do so He will soon show you the character of the trials which have beset you, either letting light shine in order that you may press forward to greater attainments or else causing you to rejoice in the consciousness of present purity.