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to that he now, following our blessed Lord's example, with pretended deference, hypocritically refers, extracting from thence a reason which he hoped might induce our Lord to comply with his request; "Cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee;" though he hereby betrayed the real truth, his perfect knowledge that He with whom he now conversed was what He avowed himself-the blessed Son of God (such is the inconsistency of malign wickedness.) But Jesus, still utterly disregarding his pretended disbelief, mildly again replied from out the same inexhaustible source of wisdom which He before had done; " Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Thou shalt not madly and rashly rush into unnecessary dangers, and tempt the Lord thy God, for He will not miraculously deliver those from perils who have themselves presumptuously and wickedly plunged into them. Baffled and foiled in both these attempts, the evil spirit now no longer has recourse to subtle artifice, but throwing off the mask, he, in his own audacious character, impiously makes one final, daring, presumptuous attack, and boldly exhibits a proffer to be by him bestowed on the same conditions his other attempts had more slyly aimed to obtain, namely, disobedience to God, and obedience to him. Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, (St. Luke adds, in a moment of time,) and saith unto him, All these things will I give

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thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it; if thou therefore wilt fall down and worship me, all shall be thine." (Matt. iv. 8; Luke iv. 5-7.) A difficulty has been broached here which we conceive a moment's reflection will instantly remove: it has been asked, How could the devil in a moment of time show all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them? Why, had the second Adam, like unto the first, been merely man, it was impossible that he could have done so; but the omnipresent eye of the incarnate Deity was proved, by many instances, to pierce through the thin veil of mortal organization.* Not only the kingdoms of our world, but the kingdoms of all worlds were present to his view, and the vast faculties of the arch fiend fully empowered him to point out the great display. It is indeed said, that Christ was taken up by the devil into an exceeding high mountain; but should the foregoing observation be deemed just, the selection of this elevated spot could not have been made for the purpose of accelerating his view; a bleak and barren mountain was like as the wilderness (where Christ was driven amongst wild, ferocious beasts,) in the first instance, a situation calculated to augment the timid infirmity of his human nature, which it is observable, when left to its own selection, followed the natural dictates of a gentle, tranquil mind. A garden was the place to which Jesus ofttimes resorted with his disciples;† a

*Lazarus; Nathaniel.

Although our sight can behold, beyond a wilderness, a beautiful perspective, we prefer a garden for our immediate view.

gratifying to the evil one to be given up; for it was also said, that in the conflict with the second Adam, that he should bruise his heel; God thereby took the evil one in his own craftiness, (1 Cor. iii. 19,) and snared him in the work of his own hands. (Psalms ix. 16.) The contest did, indeed, essentially involve the high contestor in suffering and death; and had it not done so, no triumph had been gained.

Under the very propitious circumstances we have just surveyed, the wily foe advanced, and instantly assailed the blessed Redeemer by the following most artful, malicious, and insidious speech; "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread ;" and by this sly temptation assaulted at once the twofold nature of the great Messiah, both his divine and human. "If thou be the Son of God," -pretending to doubt or disbelieve the truth of Christ's pretensions, an insinuation the most irritating he could suggest unto the God of truth; impiously and artfully demanding at the same time a proof of Christ's divinity,* which applied in the most powerful manner to the distresses which, from hunger and exhaustion, the Lamb of God was suffering, as these would thereby have been instantly relieved ;-if thou be the Son of God, prove it by an exercise of thy Almighty

* We here find the same mode of attack which was afterwards employed, during the dismal scene of the Redeemer's crucifixion, by those who at that awful crisis acted under the controul of the infernal chieftain unto whose power that tremendous hour was wholly given up. "If thou be the Son of God, come now down from the cross, and we will believe thee.”

power, and relieve thine own distress-command that these stones be made bread. To his pretended disbelief Christ deigned not to reply; but to the insidious counsel to which, had He acceded, Christ's bodily sufferings would have been instantly relieved, our great Example answered from out that written Word which God hath given for man: Jesus answered and said, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down; for it is written, 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." Our blessed Lord, who at this distressing juncture appears, like as He was at his last trying hour, to have been delivered up by his Almighty Father unto the power of darkness, was, by the foul fiend conveyed into the holy city, and by him was set on a pinnacle, or wall, of the temple; and there, still continuing to tempt the Son of God by his pretended doubts, he renewed his demand of having these resolved, by proposing another proof of the truth of his pretensions: "If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down." But the sequel of this address materially differs from the former one; he seems to assume a character which we are informed he can, as occasion needeth, transform himself into,— namely, an angel of light. Our Lord had answered him from out God's written word, and

to that he now, following our blessed Lord's example, with pretended deference, hypocritically refers, extracting from thence a reason which he hoped might induce our Lord to comply with his request; "Cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee;" though he hereby betrayed the real truth, his perfect knowledge that He with whom he now conversed was what He avowed himself-the blessed Son of God (such is the inconsistency of malign wickedness.) But Jesus, still utterly disregarding his pretended disbelief, mildly again replied from out the same inexhaustible source of wisdom which He before had done; "Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Thou shalt not madly and rashly rush into unnecessary dangers, and tempt the Lord thy God, for He will not miraculously deliver those from perils who have themselves presumptuously and wickedly plunged into them. Baffled and foiled in both these attempts, the evil spirit now no longer has recourse to subtle artifice, but throwing off the mask, he, in his own audacious character, impiously makes one final, daring, presumptuous attack, and boldly exhibits a proffer to be by him bestowed on the same conditions his other attempts had more slyly aimed to obtain, namely, disobedience to God, and obedience to him. 'Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, (St. Luke adds, in a moment of time,) and saith unto him, All these things will I give

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