and hunger. He was in the midst of the wilderness-far distant from all the ordinary means of sustenance-he was without a vestige of cultivation to gladden the eye, and with a body so worn out with fasting and prayer, that the life and strength he did possess would have failed him before he could have reached a human dwelling. And surrounded as he was by the wild beasts of the forest, their terrors were sufficient to drive away every friendly footstep, and tear from him the last gleam of comfort, and deprive him of the possibility of any assistance which might have been afforded by any passing traveller. He was oppressed by hunger, his body was bending with weakness, he was destitute of God, and he was hopeless of relief. At this dangerous moment, and under these unfavourable circumstances, when the courage of the boldest might have shrunk, and the confidence of the most faithful might have been shaken; the tempter approached, and said, "If thou be the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread." The peculiar force of the temptation, lies in the application it makes to Jesus under the character of the Messiah, and the great and manifest advantages which would have been the result of so small and trivial a deviation from duty;-a deviation which to a mind less endowed with wisdom and rectitude, would scarcely have appeared a transgression at all. For a voice from heaven had declared this peasant of Galilee to be the beloved of God, and the contest within him bore testimony to the truth of the declaration. Prophecy had revealed that this beloved of God should come to preach the Gospel to the poor, and establish a kingdom of righteousness on earth. All these bounties, however, seem now about to be lost to the world by the death of him in whose person they were to be accomplished, who was in the extremity of want without the prospect of supply. "If thou be the Son of God," then said the devilwith an air of affected doubt, with a view to work on the feelings of our Lord-" if thou be the Christ, and dost indeed wish to fulfil those gra. cious purposes the Almighty intends to perform by thy ministry, exert that power committed to thee as Christ, That which is stated to us as the second temptation of our Lord, is founded upon the answer by which he resisted so triumphantly the first.— "Then the devil taketh him into the pinnacle holy city and setteth him on a of the temple, and saith to him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself that, unnecessarily to throw ourselves into a situation of danger, and presumptuously to demand a miracle in our favour, and put the power of God to the test, by rejecting the natural means of security, is an open violation of that law wherein it is also written, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." This is the universal principle, and no interpretation of any other passage of Scripture should be admitted in contradiction to it. So therefore, said our Saviour: he brought forth a general principle to bear down the false interpretation of one particular passage; and with this simple reply he became more than conqueror over that false and specious reasoning which the devil had founded on a wilful misapplication of the sacred text. down:"-if thou hast such a firm reliance on the word of God, that thou wilt not work a miracle for thy salvation when no human hope is present to thee if thou still maintainest a sense of thy danger, and of the dignity of Christ, and such entire reliance on the promises of God-think still further on those promises, trust your life entirely to his care; for it is written in that word on which you so strongly rely, "He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." Here," said the tempter, "is a promise unequivocal, the words are without obscurity, and the protection perfect and universal. He shall give his angels charge over you; nothing therefore can destroy you: he will give them charge not only once, but every where not only to snatch thee from destruction, but even to guard thee against the slightest injury, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." No artifice could have produced a passage more simple in its terms, more suitable to the purpose, or more admirably calculated to betray a common understanding, or a weaker faith. When he considered, too, that all the citizens of Jerusalem were worshipping in this temple from whence he was to cast himself down-that they were all looking, not only for the consolation of Israel, but expecting him to descend in visible glory with a host of holy angels in his train from heaven-throws aside at once the mask which and that Jesus might have actually fulfilled a miracle, and have made his first appearance among them with this strongest testimony of which any doctrine was capable, in the performance of a miracle, and the fulfilment of a promise; when he considered these things, and how easily he might have gained an acceptance of his doctrines by this glorious first appearance, we say, it is no wonder that the devil should have selected this as his second and severer trial. Upon the clear, yet humble mind of the purified spirit of the holy Jesus, all his artifices were without avail. The Lord remembered and so should we that upon every occasion, no passage of Scripture, however strong, can be rightly interpreted, if it be interpreted in contradiction to any other; Fraud and subtilty in our enemies are truly the first dangers we meet with in our spiritual course: when we have resisted fraud and subtilty, then comes the last refuge of our determined enemy, an open, undisguised attack, on all the appetites that can work on human nature. This also was the method pursued by the adversary of God and man in his fruitless endeavours to sully the purity of Christ. He had found himself unsuccessful in his attempts to betray him into error; the only remaining hope was to bribe him to transgress. He therefore no longer concealed the design he had in view; no longer even pretends to require a proof of his being the Son of God: he he had assumed, and directs the issue of the contest to ambition and avarice, which are the motives he proposes. He takes him up to an exceeding high mountain, and shows 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 unto thee, and the glory of these kingdoms. If thou, therefore, will 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. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence. For it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee. And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering, said unto him, it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season; and Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee." The certain or probable prospect of riches and dominion, is what few on earth have the temperance or the fortitude to resist. To the Saviour of the world we may not think it was so peculiarly tempting and desirable. Not only was he destitute and without where to lay his head-which was likely to give him as a man, and as a wanting man, a great desire to be raised above the state of poverty and the sorrows of distress; but he perceived also that a similar distinction would accompany him through life; and he foresaw that, by the supposed lowliness of his situation, and the humility of his station, it might become an insuperable barrier to the immediate reception of his doctrine. He was a man of no reputation; and he knew, that because he was of no reputation, he would on that very account be despised and rejected of men. This was an appeal, therefore, not merely to his natural feelings, but to the best wishes and hopes of his good and righteous mind, that whatever might con. tribute to facilitate the progress of religion, might be ranked among the most anxious and earnest wishes of his heart. But then to this there was annexed a condition against which his integrity revolted: "all things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Hitherto the meekness of Jesus had endured his adversary with patience; for insults which were offered to himself only, he felt and expressed but little but when the Majesty of the Almighty was insulted, and he was called on for the sake of perishable riches to renounce his allegiance to God, by worshipping the creature, and robbing God of the honor due to his name, he was animated with a zeal for the interests of truth, and he turned to rebuke the tempter with all the generous indignation of virtue :-"Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. " : With the event we are all acquainted. Despairing of success the devil leaveth him-but not to himself for "behold Angels came and ministered unto him." And whilst we thus conclude the history of our Saviour's temptations, let those who sometimes deceive their souls by think. ing that they desire the rank, the honor, and the riches of this world, only that they may hold them for a wider sphere of usefulness and power, be well aware, that there may be so much of temptation in that which they desire, that they are rather likely to give up the true service of God, than to employ their new acquisition to the honor of God and the welfare of mankind. Having thus laid before you a detail of this temptation, which it was necessary to understand before we could improve on it, I shall now point out those instructions which the subject seems calculated in general to afford. First, then, If the great Author of our salvation was tempted in this manner, it is a plain and satisfactory proof to us, that whatever may be the greatness or the goodness of our lives, we must never consider that the grent are placed beyond the reach of temptation. 'The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him :" if the Lord was tempted, the servant can never escape. Secondly, By considering that it was immediately after his baptism that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted by the devil, and that this great and most extraordinary trial of his integrity took place on his entrance into his public ministry—a period corresponding to the common entrance of man into active life-we are also taught, after his example, that we may expect to meet with more than ordinary trials, even in the midst of our religious exercises; and that when we return from the table of the Lord— the second sacrament of our religionwe may even then expect to have some more especial trial laid before us. We must expect, also, to be opposed to more than ordinary danger in every material change which happens in our circumstances. Novelty of situation will always present new objects to the body, and new ideas to the mind; and | these objects, and these ideas, will necessarily subject us to difficulties and temptations, until we have become familiarized to them by habit, and have learned the wisdom of government from experience. They, therefore, who are entering on their ministry, whether it be professional, or arising from the labours of life-all who ever come into the active pursuits of this world, should look on the trial of our Saviour as a solemn and special example of their obedience and faith to God. From the dictates of expediency? From that many will rise up in their places, and bring forth Scripture in an irreverent manner, and be lauded for their irreverence)—we say, that by the same phrase, judiciously and reverently applied, men will always be able to resist their spiritual enemies. Would they, on all trying occasions, recall the known and positive declarations of Christ, instead of entering into nice distinctions on the subject, it would be far better for their virtue here, and the salvation of their souls hereafter. Thirdly, From the careful examination of the nature of the various temptations by which our Saviour was assailed, we may learn, that there is instances, both in public and private, every rank and condition of men, a sin that doth must easily beset them; always some sin into which they are more liable to fall, and against which, therefore, they are more imperiously called on to guard. The accident of hunger, together with the dignity of Christ, and the humility and poverty of his situation on earth, were successively chosen by the tempter as the basis of his attempts against the integrity of the Son of God. We may be assured, that a similar method will be pursued towards the sons of men. Every casual variety in the prominent circumstances of our fate, will, in its turn, become a source of severe temptation. That in which we place our greatest security will often turn out to our disadvantage, even when, most of all, we fancy we stand in security; and then, most of all, it is necessary we should take heed lest we fall. So that they who pass from unmarried to married life-they who pass from poverty to riches, or riches to poverty, or are subject to any other of the mutabilities of this earthly state-must expect that the great enemy of man will make that mutability the foundation of his strong efforts against their religion and virtue. But the most useful lesson of religious instruction which the history of our Saviour's temptation affords, is to be drawn from reflection on the means which he took to resist them from the answers which he returned to the questions proposed. It has been said, and it has been truly said, that when in virtue we begin to deliberate, we are lost. Why? Not because the arguments for virtue, or in preference of virtue, are destroyed in their force; the reason is, because the evil passions of our nature, when we shew that we are not so firmly resolved to be virtuous that we begin to deliberate, will always be endeavouring, and will often succeed, in making" the worse appear the better reason." When corruption is on our side, even Satan himself will be transformed into an angel of light; and seeming to be wise in our own conceits, we shall be found in the end to have acted as fools and of no understanding. Thus, in all the dangers and temptations of life, let us study to keep-not the dubious, but the plain and the universal precepts and principles of the Bible always in our minds and memories. Let us arm ourselves against the lusts of the flesh and of the eye, and From what sources, then, were our against the pride of life, and the seducSaviour's answers drawn? From the tions of the world, not by human conceits of human learning? From reason, but by divine revelation, by the the conclusions of moral philosophy? | words and authority of Jesus Christ. This will eventually prevent us from being misled by our own corruptions, from being corrupted by the sophistry of our hearts. And if to the sincere endeavour to learn the duty, we add our prayer to God for his assistance in the performance of it, we shall be enabled to say with Christ, and in the confidence of Christ, "Get thee behind me, Satan." So may we feel enabled to resist the devil "with the whole armour of God," and by the word of God will the devil fly from us. So shall we ultimately be freed from his temptation; and perhaps angels may be sent from above, invisibly to assist our spiritual weaknesses, insensibly to minister to our spiritual wants. Still we must never expect, that the current of our life will be smooth and free from temptation throughout. Resisted and repelled by Jesus, the devil departed from him: so he will from us if we oppose him with all our strength. But he departed from Christ, only "for a season:" he never returned to tempt him in a visible shape, and in a similar manner; but he continued his temptations, under various forms, throughout the remainder of our Lord's ministry and life. He tempted him by the persecutions of the Jews-by the artifices of the Pharisees-by the injudicious zeal and admiration of the multitude, who would have taken him and made him a king-by the malice of his enemies-by the treachery and desertion of his friends—in his agonies in the garden, and his sufferings on the cross. So also will the tempter act towards us and however successful may be our first struggle against the allurements of sin, we must not flatter ourselves that we have driven the adversary defeated from the field; he will retire from us "for a season," from despair, and disappointment, and pride -but in part also from artifice and fraud -in order to throw us off our guard, and attack us in a new form; and with double advantage he will leave the house, and then come, when it is swept and garnished, ready prepared for his reception. For caution and vigilance, then, let us remember" It is written." This is the argument of most powerful weight; and there is no reason in it either for terror or despair. Jesus went up from his temptation in the fulness of the Spirit of God: his resistance wrought for him a more intimate union with the Holy Ghost than before. To us also, therefore, a similar resistance will always be rewarded by the gift of additional strength; and if we be careful not to yield to our spiritual seducer, every surrounding temptation will come weaker on the part of the tempter, and, through God's grace, will be more easily subdued on ours. To be victorious we must be vigilant. No man who knows the Scriptures can, for a moment, wish to encourage in any manner the thought, that vigilance and godly fear ought not to be continued to the very end of his life. The Sacred Spirit, retained by the holiness of our Saviour's life, and the frequency of his prayers to God, accompanied him, and supported him in every future trial; till at length, being perfect through suffering, he entered into glory. And into glory also may we enter, if we make a diligent use of the same blessed means. We too, if we be studious to maintain good works, and are zealous in our application to God, shall be comforted and assisted by the same Spirit; and having finished our appointed course, through faith in the merits and mercies of Christ shall be enabled to enter into everlasting rest. The author of the gospel successfully resisted the temptation of the devil, and then, we read, went up in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. The disciple of the gospel having successively resisted the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, will also be enabled to go up in the power of the same Spirit into the heights of holiness, and the happiness of heaven; to which that we may attain, may God, in his infinite mercy, grant, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |