22

THE DESIGN OF OUR LORD'S TEMPTATION.

When the most wise and acute of all the spirits is constrained to admire the wisdom of God-is silent before his counsel-is compelled unwillingly to praise his mighty acts, then doth it redound not a little to the majesty and glory of the Eternal.

In the great day of judgment, and of the manifestation of God, that must be one of the most sacred and solemn moments in which Satan will be compelled openly to acknowledge that honour and praise are due to the Lamb; and when one God, if we may so express it, with trembling reverence shall bow the knee to another. It will be an utterance of praise to God of no less power and greatness than the Hallelujahs of the heavenly host.

V.

THE TEMPTER.

FORTY days and nights had the Lord spent in the lonely desert, fasting, and afterward he was an hungered.

Then came the devil to him openly, but clothed as an angel of light.

He had a two-fold object in view; first, clearly to ascertain whether Jesus were really the Son of God: and, if he should prove to be so, he meant, if possible, to hurl a rock upon him in the way, and for ever mar his work of saving souls.

I am greatly disposed to believe that which has already been advanced by others, that the tempter was as yet in doubt as to the identity of the Messiah.

Jesus had now passed thirty years in the deepest seclusion. The son of a carpenter, he had learned his father's trade; "in the sweat of his face did he eat bread;" (Gen. iii. 19.) he lived plainly, and did and said nothing beyond that which other children of men might have said or done. No one supposed that he was more than an amiable person; and, perhaps, Mary and Joseph were not a little tried in their expectations respecting him, and awaited a voice from heaven.

God veiled his Son so completely, that even the

piercing eyes of Satan might not recognize him in this plain carpenter. Yet the devil could not altogether overlook him.

Among men, no one thought that this simple workman at Joseph's bench could be the Messiah. But Satan was prudent enough not to trust too much to the external appearance of lowliness and poverty. He thought it possible that this carpenter, notwithstanding his outwardly low condition, might, nevertheless, be the Lord; and many things seemed to indicate that thus it was.

He found nothing inconsistent in the supposition that the Redeemer, in such a state of poverty, should commence his task; and many circumstances appeared plainly to indicate that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. Something of this kind he suspected. As yet he knew nothing certain. He longed for the time when all doubt would be removed.

Had Satan known that Jesus of Nazareth was in reality the Messiah, there would be many things inexplicable in his method of proceeding towards him, as we shall hereafter perceive.

Thoroughly to ascertain this point, whether Jesus were the Christ, was the first aim of the tempter. And so cunningly, at the same time, did the subtle spirit plan his temptation, that if Jesus should prove to be the Messiah, he hoped the redemption which he was about to effect should thereby, on the outset, receive such a shock that it might for ever be frustrated.

The second object of the prince of darkness was, as by the dextrous thrust of an experienced fencer, to push the Saviour from his mediatorial path, and establish his own dominion over mankind for ever.

To effect these purposes, he assumed the character of a well-wisher and friend. He professed that he desired nothing so much as that the work of redemption should be accomplished, and would only show a shorter way to its attainment, and he formed all his projects with as much skill as we might expect to find in one who fell from the greatest height of wisdom and knowledge to the lowest abyss of wickedness.

VI.

THE APTITUDE OF THE TEMPTATIONS.

ARMED with extreme craft and subtlety, the tempter drew near to Jesus. He hoped that the fearful solitude in which our Lord had been, in the dry and barren wilderness, would facilitate his victory.

The fact that Jesus hungered, served to direct his first assault-so well does this murderer of souls know how to turn his weapons against us.

When we are solitary, and apart from the intercourse of men; when no human eye is upon us, no dear brother near to warn and awaken us, no partaker of the same salvation to strengthen our souls; when our thoughts roam freely abroad-then doth the wicked one put forth his strength, and bend his bow with might to speed the poisoned barb to our hearts and when we hunger or thirst; when our mind is inwardly moving us towards earthly riches or honour, towards ease or enjoyment; then is he at hand, with friendly aspect and professions of devotedness: he respectfully submits one good counsel after another; he unfolds means without number of fulfilling