glorious collection of impassioned poetry and gorgeous imagery which the world ever heard, looked for the traditionary preparation of the prophet. And as the promised Messiah was to be like unto Moses, so like Moses he was led of the Spirit to fast forty days. As the minister of the old dispensation was forty days with God in the mountain of Sinai, the Prophet, Priest and King of the new covenant, was for the like term in the wilderness. Sinai and Mount Sion represent the two covenants; and we are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and blackness, and darkness, and tempest; but unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the First Born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel.

The Mediator of the new covenant, says the apostle, verily took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sons of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.

The minister of the old covenant was the herald of God's wrath against sin; the Mediator of the new took upon him our nature, that he might be a merciful and faith

ful High Priest. In the solitude of the desert he suffered all the temptations which ensnare man; and as he resisted them, he hath left us an example. The first approach of temptation was through the weakness and hunger which the Son of Man suffered, after his long fast. Sustained through the forty days and forty nights, as were Moses and Elias, he was afterward an hungered. Then came Satan unto him, and said, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." This ever is the specious mode in which Satan presents evil thoughts. Show, he said, that thou art the Son of God. Display the power that is given thee, for the necessary and laudable purpose of sustaining the body. Minister to the necessities of the flesh, and vindicate the declaration "of the Father, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Often thus, is the Christian tempted, to make lucre of his profession: to strive to serve God and Mammon together-or rather to make God's service bend to the things of this world, and convert his house into a den of thieves.

The Saviour answered: "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The place in which this is written is in the book of Deuteronomy: "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knowest not, neither did thy fathers know: that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live." As God led the people of

Israel forty years in the wilderness to humble them and to prove them; as he made them, so far as apparent natural and human agencies were considered, helpless and miserable, that he might send them deliverance in a mode they knew not, so are we to resist temptation in our adversity, with the word of God, which is power unto salvation. And as the Redeemer triumphed, so will his followers.

The next temptation consisted in taking Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple, and saying unto him, "If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down." One of the wings or pinnacles of the Temple was elevated from the valley at its base nearly seven hundred feet; and it is thought that this was the pinnacle referred to. To cast himself thence, or indeed from any portion of the Temple roof, would have been to terrify the multitudes in the courts below, with the sight of a man falling into the arms of a terrible death. Satan presented the picture of the horror-stricken crowd, rushing to the spot, and counting to find the mangled remains of the self-destroyer. He represented them as retreating from the Saviour's presence, awe-struck at the miraculous preservation of the Son of God, and applying to him the promise: "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."

To any but the Son of God, this would have been such a miracle as would most readily have been embraced, to serve the purpose of ostentation-to obtain the praise and

worship of men, by an useless exhibition of miraculous power. It was such a miracle as pretenders, at Satan's instigation, have often imposed upon credulous men. But it was not such a miracle as Jesus came to do, among the works of his Father. He taught humility-not ostentation. All the instances of the exercise of his divinity, were marked as much by wisdom, as by power and mercy. He gratified no vain and wonder-seeking crowds. God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways. "It is written again, Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God." These words are taken from the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, in which Moses impresses upon the children of Israel the command: "Thou shalt have no other Gods but me." And this command is broken when we seek the praise and glory of men, rather than the approval of Him who seeth in secret. The injunction is also disregarded when we heedlessly or presumptuously throw ourselves in the way of danger, from no good motive, or for no sufficient cause. It is broken when Christians expose themselves to the contamination of profane and godless men; when they linger around the seats of the scornful, or countenance vice by their unreproving presence. And God is tempted, when he who has named the name of Christ assumes that in so doing he has done all-when he follows the suggestion of the adversary who is ever on the watch, and casts himself down from the pinnacle of spiritual pride, into the abyss of spiritual sloth.

The last temptation was to show the kingdoms of this

world, and the glory of them; and to promise all these things, as the reward for the worship of Satan. The others, though powerful, are lesser temptations. This, offering the lying promise, and the delusive prospect of all the world and its glory, has for its condition an open and avowed rebellion against God. "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. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold angels came and ministered unto him."

He who was a liar from the beginning cannot keep his specious promises, but he can deceive the unwatchful Christian into a desertion of him who bought us with a price. The lust of the heart after forbidden pleasures; the pride of the eye in false glories, can betray those from their allegiance, who suffer themselves to forget the injunction: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." All our acts and all our thoughts, continually, though Satan tempt us aside, must be made subservient to this great and sole object of worship: and then, strong in the might of him who was tempted as we are, we shall say: "get thee hence, Satan!" And God, even our own God, will give us his blessing: and his angels shall come and minister unto us, as unto Jesus, when the devil left him. As he referred to what is written, and wielded the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, against the adversary, let us thank God that the defence of the same weapon is our privilege. Faithfully used, it renders man invincible.