heart of man. He pretended to doubt that Jesus was the Son of God, and while he seemed only to be anxious to provide food for him, he hoped to rouse the pride of his human nature by this doubt, and to persuade him by a miracle to give at once a proof that He was God, and at the same time, to satisfy his hunger as a man.

MATTHEW IV. 3. "If thou be the Son of God (said he) command that these stones be made bread."

Listen to the answer :

Verse 4. "Jesus answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

The Holy Jesus would not even answer Satan but in the words of that book, the very name of which must have been as gall and bitterness to him.

He was

This first temptation, and the way in which our Saviour met it, speaks to us, and is a holy lesson in the time of need. Many, alas, of the children of God, are sometimes faint with hunger; the world is to them a wilderness, and there seems no lawful means to find food. Oh let them think of Christ, when the whisper comes into their hearts God made me as well as others, it cannot be meant that I should starve, I will do that which shall find me food, whether it be right or wrong.' Remember that your Saviour did not reason so. fainting with hunger; He might, had He so chosen, have made the stones into bread; but He chose to wait the will of God his Father, and in such times of distress He reminds you "that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." He will find a way of helping you. Many are the promises that have proceeded from his mouth; trust to them, and try to feel that your soul shall live even though your body may sink from want. Dear to God

must be the faith of the poor and needy, who cry to him for bread, but take no unlawful means to find it. Yet He will find it for you. When the children of Israel were in the desert, hungry and thirsty, their souls fainted within them. There was no bread in the barren wilderness, no water in the sandy desert, yet God rained manna from the skies, and brought water from the flinty rock. So can He, so will He, supply your wants by means you little think of.

And are there no other wants than food?

Yes, our souls will faint within us when we lose all our earthly hopes, when we feel that the world has become to us a wilderness, when our spiritual strength is taken from us, and we are left alone with the tempter, who whispers to us, "God has forgotten you." O remember then, though all comfort from within, and from without, is taken from you, "Man shall not live by bread alone," not by evident support alone, "but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God;" by all his promises, and He has promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you, but will hold you by the right hand continually. He will make good to you every word that He has spoken.

Prayer.

O God our Saviour, let thy Holy Spirit be in our hearts, that we may meet every temptation by the remembrance of what is written in thy holy word. In every distress let us remember how thou, for our sakes, hast suffered more than we could bear and live. Let thy patience possess our souls, and let our faith be like thine, able to trust in God our Father when everything is lonely and miserable around us. We pray thee to grant us this for the sake of all thou hast done and suffered for us. Amen.

XXI.

Satan found that Jesus would not use his wonderful powers of working miracles for his own support, but that he chose rather to trust to God his Father, that as His Spirit kept him in the wilderness, He would support him there both body and soul.

This evil and cunning Spirit determined to make use of the Messiah's trust in God, and the better to hide his wicked purpose, he pretended himself to have this trust in every word that had come from the mouth of God; so we shall see that in his next temptation he reminds Christ of one of the promises of God, as a reason why He should do the Devil's will.

Verse 5, 6. "Then the Devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."

Satan still pretends to doubt that Jesus is the Son of God; so taking Him up to the top of one of the towers of the temple, which was built on the edge of a valley, so steep and precipitous, that no one could even bear to look down into it,* ' Here,' said he, ' give a proof to all Jerusalem that thou art the Son of God, the long-expected Messiah, by casting thyself down from this pinnacle, which no mere man could do and live; but thou mayest safely do so, for is it not written, that God shall give his angels charge concerning thee, that they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash even thy foot against a stone?' Cunning and evil Spirit! He repeated the words of one + Josephus, lib. xv. cap. 2.

of the many promises of Scripture to the child of God, of support and deliverance from danger, but he left out a few words, and these few words make a great difference in the promise, which is, "He will give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, they shall bear thee up," &c. Ps. xci. 11.

Satan knew well that this was a promise of protection in the way of duty, and that it could not be the way of duty for any one to throw himself into needless danger. Our Saviour entered into no dispute with Satan. He did not even point out his dishonesty in leaving out these words. He simply answered by a verse of Scripture, "It is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

We shall do well to follow the example of our Lord. In whatever way temptation comes to us. let us meet it with the armour of God, even with his own word * Let us never enter into a dispute with those who would tempt us to wrong. Never have we cause to be so much afraid, as when the word of God itself is twisted into a reason, or excuse, for acting contrary to the word of God.

Satan seems now to have been so provoked by our Lord's calm answers, as to have thrown off all disguise. He no longer brings forward Scripture, or pretends any anxiety for a proof as to whether Jesus were the Son of God of not.

He makes one trial more, and his hope seems to have been in his knowledge of the sufferings that lay before our Lord. As he knew what was written in one part of the Scriptures, he may have known the prophecies concerning the manner in which Christ, the second Adam, was to save the children of men from his power.

It was a desperate trial, and one most unlikely to succeed with the blessed Jesus, who, he had seen, chose rather to endure the pangs of hunger, after fasting for forty days, than to use for Himself those wonderful powers He possessed, but never used, except for the good of others.

Eph. vi. 13-17.

Boldly and insolently the fiend made his last trial.

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LUKE IV. 6-8. "Then the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

MATTHEW IV. 11. "Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him."

Satan was a liar from the beginning; and his lies from the beginning have always been of the same horrid, mocking kind. He promised to Adam and to Eve, that if they would disobey God, and take of the forbidden tree of knowledge, they should be as gods, knowing good and evil. They believed him, and they found that they indeed knew good and evil, for they lost the good, and gained the evil. They were driven out of Paradise; and instead of becoming as God, they lost his image in which they had been created, and became sad and suffering creatures; as sinners, children of the devil, instead of children of God.

And so he has continued to lie to whoever will listen to him, always promising good as the reward of evil. It is in this way he persuades to theft, to robbing, and even to murder. Every lie is told, every sinful thing is done, every false bargain made, all in the hope of some good that is to be gained, and this hope comes from the father of lies. But it is in vain, all such hope must be disappointed, for God, not Satan, is the ruler of this world, and none but those who serve him shall succeed.

For a time the sinner often seems to thrive, but wait awhile, and, even in this life, the end is always the same. Misery