Jericho. It is one of the most lonely, dreary, desolate regions to be found in the world. We know not which part of this wilderness it was

where the temptation took place, but it was somewhere in that gloomy region.

We are told that Jesus was-"LED"-into this temptation. The Spirit

of God led him into the wilderness for this purpose. Matth. iv: 1. And it makes all the difference in the world, whether we are "led" into temptation, or whether we rush into it ourselves, without being led. Shadrack, Mesech and Abednego were led into the temptation, which required them either to bow down to the golden image, or to be cast into the burning fiery furnace. And when they came to be thrown into the furnace, they asked God to take care of them, and he did. But, suppose they had leaped into the furnace of their own accord, do you suppose God would have kept them from being burnt? Of course not. When God leads us into temptation, he will always help us, if we ask him to do so.

We are told that the DEVIL—was the tempter in this case. This has been his business since the world began. This was the business he was engaged in when we first find him mentioned in the Bible. When Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden of Eden, he was there to do it. And this is what he has been doing ever since. And he gets one of his many names from tempting men. He is called "the tempter." We read in St. Matth. iv: 3,-“And when the tempter came to him.”

And here the question meets us—How did Satan come to Jesus? A great deal has been written on this subject. Some people think that Satan did not appear in any visible, personal form to our Saviour, but that he came unseen, and whispered, or suggested his temptations to him, as he does to us. Nothing can be proved on this point, because nothing has been said on it.

My own opinion is that Satan came to Jesus in his own personal form, as a fallen angel. I think so, for two reasons. One reason for this is, that it agrees better with the scripture account of it. In this account we read of Satan, the tempter, coming to Jesus and having a conversation with him. Now, if we should read of any two persons meeting, and having a talk together, the most natural way of thinking of it, would be to suppose that they really met, face to face, and spoke to one another, just as you and I might do on meeting. This is what the scriptures tell us of Jesus and the tempter, and I see no reason why we should not take the account of the temptation exactly as it is given.

My other reason for thinking that Satan appeared to Jesus in his own person is, that he could not hide himself from him, however much he

might have wished to do it. When he comes to tempt us, we cannot see him, because we cannot see spirits. But Jesus could. We find it written, (John ii: 25), that Jesus-"needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man." He could read the thoughts, and hearts of men. Matth. ix: 4. And if this were so, then he could see spirits. And so it is clear that Satan could not hide himself from him. Whatever form he might have chosen to appear in, or if he came as a spirit without any bodily form, Jesus would have known him in a moment. Doubtless, Satan knew this, and so I think he would not be guilty of the folly of trying to hide himself from him-"to whom all hearts are open; all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid." And for these reasons, I believe, that when Satan came to tempt Jesus, he did it by appearing to him in his own proper person.

We are told again that Jesus was in the wilderness FORTY DAYS; and that he FASTED all this time. This does not mean, that he merely changed his articles of food and ate less than usual, as we do when we fast; for St. Luke iv: 2, tells us expressly that,—" in those days he did eat nothing.” But to go forty days without eating at all, and yet remain alive, could only be done by miracle. And, from what we read in Matth. iv: 2, it appears that he not only ate nothing during all those days, but that he never felt hungry, till they were over. We keep the solemn season of Lent every year, in memory of these days of temptation, that Jesus spent in the wilderness. And though we cannot fast as he did, and are not required to do so, yet we may, as the Collect for the First Sunday in Lent says ask God to give us grace—“to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may ever obey his godly motions."

We are told that at the close of these forty days Jesus felt HUNGRY, and then Satan came to him to take advantage of this feeling, and press him with some new temptations. We are not to suppose that the tempter did not come to Jesus till after the forty days were ended. St. Mark says(chapter i: 13),—“He was there, in the wilderness, forty days tempted of Satan." It is evident from this, that Satan was tempting him, more or less, all through those forty days. He would, probably tempt him in one way, then leave him for awhile, and come back, by and by, and tempt him in another way. The three temptations mentioned are not all that Jesus

passed through, but only specimens, of the different ways in which he was tempted.

When he felt hungry, we are told that Satan came, and wanted him to turn some of the stones of the wilderness into bread; that he might eat, and satisfy his hunger. This was a temptation to distrust his Father's care for him. If he had done this, it would have been a dishonor to his Father

in heaven. Jesus met this temptation by quoting a passage of scripture. He said, "It is written man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Deut. viii: 3.

Then we are told how Satan took Jesus to the holy city-i. e.—to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and asked him to throw himself down in the presence of the people. In the last temptation Satan tried to get Jesus to trust his Father too little; now he tries to get him to

trust his Father too much. We know not exactly what the pinnacle of the temple was. But it must have been one of the highest parts of the temple. From that to the bottom of the valley, at the foot of the hill on which the temple stood, was a depth that would make one dizzy to look at it.

Some people think that Satan only took Jesus to this pinnacle of the temple in a vision, or in thought. But this is not what the Bible tells us. It says, "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple." Matth. iv: 5. And when it says this, I believe it means just what it says. If it do not mean what it says here, how can we be sure that it means what it says, in other places? While they are on this pinnacle of the temple, Satan tempts Jesus to cast himself down. And he pretends to be very pious all at once, and quotes scripture to induce Jesus to yield to his temptation. The passage that he quotes is in Psalm xci: eleventh and twelfth verses. "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 does not quote the passage as it is found in the Psalms. He leaves out one very important part of the eleventh verse,-"To keep thee in all thy ways." This clause shows us that God only promises to take care of us when we are doing our duty, and are in the way in which he has led us. If we go out of the of duty, we cannot expect that God will take care of us.

way

For example, when Daniel was cast into the lion's den, he was doing his duty. He was in the way that God had appointed him to walk in. And so, when he prayed to God, he sent his angel, and shut the lions' mouths that they might not hurt him. But, suppose that Daniel had gone of his own accord, and jumped into the lions' den; would he have had any right to expect that God would protect him? None, whatever. There would have been no angel there to shut the lions' mouths; and they would soon have made an end of Daniel.

And so it was with Jesus, on the pinnacle of the temple. If he had cast himself down, as the tempter asked him to do, he would not have been in the path of duty. That was not one of the ways that his Father in heaven wished him to go in. And so, he answered this temptation as he had answered the previous one, by a text of scripture. He said, "It is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Deut. vi: 16.