delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it:" else again, as on the supposition of an appeal to worldly ambition which had no place in our Lord, there would be here no temptation. But temptation, we may be assured, there was; and it consisted in this)—the offer of this kingdom and glory on other terms than those on which it was promised; by avoiding, namely, the Cross by which alone the title to it could be re-established, and putting from Him the cup which the Father had given Him to drink: and more,-the acknowledging, by acquiescing in his terms, of that power of Satan in the world which he obtained by the enslaving of Man; and thus, in fact, the service and worship of him as its God and Prince, and the abjuration of the service and worship of the only true God. Here the design of the Tempter and his wickedness is undisguised, and according is the answer of Jesus-"Then saith Jesus "unto him, Get thee hence Satan: for it is written, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him And "then" (it is added)

He withdraws

only shalt thou serve." "the Devil leaveth Him. discomfited and defeated, leaving complete the evidence of the righteousness of Jesus as Son of Man, and with it the evidence of our Justification in Him:-the proof that in the Second Adam One has been found able to stand where the First had fallen, and there

fore entitled to recover and to claim his forfeited blessings-the proof, in a word, that "JESUS" is that which His name imports and which His anointing proclaimed Him, "THE SAVIOUR."

But it was observed that in this Narrative we contemplate Jesus not only as our Saviour but our Example. On this part of the subject, however, time will not now suffice to enter, and therefore, reserving it for another opportunity, I will only in conclusion add a few words in the way of reflection on the Truth thus far developed.

(1) Let us then adore, while we wonder at, the great Love of Christ and the ineffable Mystery of His Humiliation here revealed: that He "who was in the beginning with God and was God" should lay aside His glory-" the glory which He had with the Father before the world was "-and, not only for us men and for our Salvation be made Man, but, submit thus to the assaults and temptation of that Wicked One whom with a word-" with the breath of His mouth "he could have destroyed! But the triumph on which our redemption was suspended was not to be the triumph of power but the triumph of righteousness; and therefore did our Surety thus humble Himself: so humble Himself that He who is the Lord of angels was "ministered to" by them;

that is to say stooped so low as to have His wants supplied by them! (as we read ver. 11.)—thus truly "made a little while lower than the angels" that He might be "crowned with honour and glory," and obtain that kingdom "the sceptre of which is a straight sceptre," and His title to it that " He loved righteousness and hated iniquity."

(2) Again—While rejoicing in the triumph of our Redeemer, let us learn the necessity, in order to our salvation, of an entire, a single, an exclusive dependence on Him: that, as no other has been appointed of God Saviour and Mediator, as no other foundation has been laid by Him, so no other can be safely depended on but that which has thus been "tried” and "proved:" at the same time that to those who believe on Him there is for this same reason everlasting security and peace; inasmuch as they inherit from One whose title can never fail, whose righteousness, (as demonstrated by this Narrative), with "the throne" that is based on it, is " FOR EVER AND EVER.'

THE LIFE OF CHRIST.

VIII. HIS TEMPTATION,

(Continued.)

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 66 nights, He was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came 66 to Him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these 66 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 66 Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him."

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RESUMING the subject of the Temptation of Christ entered on in the preceding Discourse, having there

contemplated Him in the first of the proposed aspects -tempted as our Saviour, we are now to contemplate Him in the second-as, in this same transaction, acting as our Example: where there are three distinct particulars to be noticed-three distinct points of analogy or identity between Christ and those who are Christ's-on which the example in this instance is grounded: First, In respect of the Capacity, Condition, or Character in which they are tempted: Second, Of the Temptation itself: and Third, Of the Means by which it is resisted.

I. First Jesus is our example here in respect of the Capacity in which He was tempted, else would He not be our example at all.

Now, we have seen that He was tempted-not in His Divine Capacity which were impossible, and, if possible, unavailing to those whom He came to redeem; nor yet as Man only, after the Adamic Nature which, in its best estate, had been proved unequal to stand; but-as The Spiritual Man; in the human nature endowed with a new element, even the Holy Spirit of His Anointing: to test which New-Man was therefore the object of the Tempter.

And this too is the definition of the Christian. He also is a new and spiritual man-baptized with the baptism, anointed with the anointing, regenerated