only justification and acceptance through the blood of Christ, but, the Spirit of the Son making us sons? Then, How does the exhortation of the Apostle appeal to us in reference to this same grace—“Having "therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us "cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh, perfecting the holiness of the Spirit in the fear of "God." (2 Cor. vii. 1, Gr.)

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May it be so with us! May we be enabled to walk worthy of this our high vocation of God in Christ Jesus! And to this end let us pray-often and fervently for that gift which He has specially promised to them that ask it, as though comprising all gifts in one: that, in the words of our Church, God, 'who has given us His only-begotten Son to take

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our nature upon Him and to be born of a pure virgin, would grant that we, being' (in Baptism and by the power of that Spirit by which His humanity was conceived holy and without sin) regenerate and 'made His children by adoption and grace, may daily 'be renewed by His Holy Spirit; through our Lord 'Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with the ‘Father and the same Spirit, ever One God, world 'without end. Amen.

THE LIFE OF CHRIST.

VII. HIS TEMPTATION.

ST. MATT. iv. 1–11.

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"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be "tempted of the Devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty 'nights, He was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came "to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But He 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 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. "Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the "Lord thy God. 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; and saith unto Him, All these things will I give "Thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto "him, Get thee hence, 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.”

IN the last Discourse the connection was noticed between the Event which is the subject of this Section

and that then considered-The Baptism of Christ recorded in the verses immediately preceding: a connexion most material to a right apprehension of this His Temptation and its results, inasmuch as it tells us what was the character in which He entered on this conflict, and what the power by which He triumphed that it was as "The Christ of God," or "The Lord's Anointed" sent on the great Mission of Man's Redemption, as proclaimed at His Baptism; and in the power of the Spirit which was then seen to descend on Him: confirmed (as then remarked) by the opening words of the Narrative here—“ Then was "Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted " and the parallel place in St. Luke (chap. iv. ver. 1,)-" And Jesus, being full of "the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led "by the Spirit into the wilderness:"-by which He not only overcame for us but provided for our overcoming in and through Him, by participation of the same power.

In this twofold aspect, then, we are to contemplate Jesus tempted-First, as our REDEEMER; and Secondly, as our EXAMPLE.

First-It was needful, in the purpose of our Redemption,-in order to declare the justice and righteousness of God in it-that He, who

as the second

Adam" undertook to be the New Head and Restorer of our race should be "tried" as was the first, (for this is the meaning of the word "tempted "); should be "proved" to show that He was without sin, and that Satan, who by man's fall had obtained a rightful power over man and the world, "had nothing in Him" who was now manifested to establish anew man's title and so to wrest from the Enemy both his right and power; whence it was that the Son of God, having first condescended to be made man, next submitted to be thus assailed by the Evil One. The most momentous conflict ever witnessed on the theatre of this world, whether we regard the parties engaged or the result: the parties,-on the one hand, "the Son of God" come down from heaven to espouse Man's cause and interpose for his deliverance; and, on the other, that great Enemy of Man whose dread eminence has acquired for him in Scripture the titles of "Prince of the power of the air" and "the Ruler of the darkness of this age:" and the result-not as in earthly conflicts, where at most this mortal life is at stake; but, far more momentous, involving as it did the destinies the eternal destinies of all mankind!

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The Temptation is threefold, presenting (as we shall see) three distinct modes of assault, each displaying in an eminent degree the subtilty of the Tempter :-and,

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I. First, "When the Tempter came to Him he "said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these "stones be made bread."

The preceding verse had stated that "when He "had fasted forty days and forty nights he was after"ward an hungered:" illustrating a remark also made in the last Discourse-that the Second Adam entered on this conflict at a disadvantage as compared with the First; for Adam was tempted in the strength of the flesh, in the perfection of the human nature as created; but Christ in the weakness of the fleshhaving taken its "infirmities" (a word strictly denoting the weakness of the body reduced by sickness after the disease has left) with "the feeling" of which, we are told, He "was touched" or "sympathized," though "without," or "apart from, sin.” (Heb. iv. 15). Over and above which He here renders Himself yet weaker by fasting, that it might be the more evident that His strength was not in the flesh but in the Spirit.

The power of Satan, however, is only over or through the flesh; and therefore, knowing there was in Him who then stood before him no sin or sinful propensity to work on, (else it is certain that he would have availed himself of it), he avails himself of the "infirmity" then especially pressing; and, recalling to Him the testimony to His Divine nature but just