our desires; and however unhallowed these suggestions may be, he so well knows how to disguise and recommend them, and secure them a plausible sanction from holy Scripture, that we think surely an angel of God has met us-yet it is none other but Satan himself in the form of an angel of light.

The unfathomable mystery of his iniquity has perhaps never manifested itself more fully than in the temptations with which he assaulted our Lord.

Can Christ then be tempted? Undoubtedly he can, for St. Paul says, He was, in all points, tempted like as we are. (Heb. iv. 15.) Luther translates it (allenthalben,) " on all sides." The hand of that venerated man might well have trembled, when he was about to write down the expression" in all points." With holy shame and sacred reverence he selected, in preference, the phrase on all sides."

Our Lord appeared" in the likeness of sinful flesh;" (Rom. viii. 3.) that is, in the nature of man. All the consequences of sin came upon him, but not sin itself. He was tempted, yet without sin.

The sinless propensities and weaknesses of our nature were also the portion of Christ. He hungered and thirsted; he was sensible of fatigue, of rest and refreshment, of joy, and of sorrow.

Of these sinless infirmities, therefore, Satan purposed to make use, in attempting to withdraw the Saviour from the path divinely marked out for him. He presented before him unlawful means of satisfying the desires of nature.

Had the Redeemer yielded even in thought to the base insinuations of the wicked one, then would success have crowned the turpitude and villany of Satan.

The Lamb would not have been without spot or blemish, the Priest would not have been undefiled, the sacrifice would have been unavailing, the whole plan of salvation for ever marred, and the entire race of man would have been irrecoverably lost.

How much, then, depended upon that single event which took place in the wilderness!

How immensely important, how intimately connected with our highest destiny, was the temptation of Jesus. Ought we not, therefore, with all the intensity of which our souls are capable, to watch the development and the issue of this wondrous scene!

VII.

THE FIRST TEMPTATION.

THE tempter awaited a favourable opportunity for his first attack. It was when Jesus hungered that he came to him, and said, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." (ver. 3.) This was the first assault by which Satan endeavoured partly to arrive at a certainty respecting the person of Jesus; partly, in the event of his really proving to be the Lord from heaven, to bring to nought the great work of the atonement.

He applied himself, in the first place, to defile the immaculate soul of the Redeemer, by infusing into it the sin of distrust.

As he opened his attack upon our first parents, by deceiving them with respect to the divine command, (Gen. iii. 1.) so also here, "If thou be the Son of God," was nothing else, in reality, than a covert suggestion of the doubt, "Yea, hath God said," a temptation to lead him to question the testimony which, at his baptism, he had received from heaven. And mark the monstrous and unexampled craftiness of the tempter. In these few words, "If thou be the

Son of God, command that these stones be made bread," under one temptation he concealed numberless

snares.

Jesus shall either, as the wicked one supposed, if he be the Son of God, be brought into perplexity respecting his Sonship and the divine testimony-(Matt. iii. 17.) It will appear to him improbable that God should suffer his Son to perish with hunger amidst the stones and barren thorns of the desert, and then his soul will be defiled with unbelief; or he will lay aside the veil, and, by a miracle, give proof, at once, of his Godhead, and then he will act in opposition to the counsels of heaven, which have assigned him poverty and suffering, and the hiding of his glory, that he may make atonement for Adam's guilt. (Isa. liii.)

But should this not take place, thought the tempter; should I fail in my endeavour to induce him to leave the path of humility and lowliness, and to make manifest to myself and others the dignity of his nature, yet his extreme sufferings from hunger will, perhaps, impel him to adopt my suggestion. It will seem to him allowable to save himself from starvation, through the power which God has given him. He will make the stones bread, by an act of his own, to satisfy his hunger, and thus put away from himself the cup of bitterness, without the drinking of which to the dregs a propitiation for sin cannot be made. (Rom. iii. 25.)

These were the thoughts of the prince of darkness. He hoped that if Jesus should haply escape one snare, yet he would be entangled in a second, or a third. And, indeed, no more subtle or skilful plan could have been imagined.

Without a miracle put forth in his behalf, the most holy of the children of men would, in such circumstances, have fallen.

Had there been the smallest vein of sin in Christ, it would have been apparent. But no; not one atom soils the purity of his holiness.

He stands alone in the field; no guards protect him.

Yet, behold, HE TRIUMPHS-Satan is defeated. The temptation to make stones into bread is one of frequent occurrence. Something of it has been experienced by all the children of God.

There are brethren among us, (I speak of brethren in the Lord,) to whom a fast also has at the same time been appointed. They have no work nor wages, and yet have need of daily bread.

Brethren, you sit down in the wilderness, amidst stones and thorns, and you are an hungered. It would, indeed, be surprising if the tempter did not present such an idea as this:-"Can you really be children of God, when He leaves you to starve ?" and then add, "Command that these stones be made bread." It would be a wonder if he did not furnish you with all sorts of counsels, such as "Be mean and flatter, and you shall find favour and gain employment;" or, "deceive and lie, that you may procure wealth;" or, "steal, and save yourselves from famine;" or, "unite yourselves with the enemies of the cross, and they will provide for you;" or, "have recourse to gambling," or whatever it may be.

This is, in fact, "Command that these stones be made bread."

But, my brethren, let the stones remain stones, and expect your bread from Him who has not only promised