have gone away from home or from men to be tempted at an exact time, when he was so tempted in all places and at all times. He was called to a new and awful conflict, one which, like his death, was not to be repeated, and which demanded intense preparation, and such a control of his own spirit as long days of prayer and fasting would only afford.

Our Lord came to dominion when he came into this world. The god of this world was to be destroyed: he was to be met at the beginning of His conquest: He met him at the close in the garden. If the transactions connected with the temptation are an allegory, then Gethsemane, Calvary, and the scenes of the ascension are allegories, and nothing remains to us the whole scheme of redemption is as hollow and empty as the sepulcher to Mary when her Lord was gone.

The three great temptations to which Jesus was subject on the mountain comprise the great temptations of life. The first was the unlawful use of power for personal ends. He was hungry. He had power to turn stones into bread, as he had power to turn the rocks of Jerusalem into living sons of Abraham. In later times, he fed the multitude with a morsel of bread, and had a large supply remaining. So he need not have wanted food while this power was at command. Nature called for its exercise, a noble excuse was at hand; why suffer, why starve, when one word could create bread? But so it was not to be. The path he was to tread, the cup he was to drink, all forbade its use for personal relief. Not by bread alone, but by obedience to God, man must be

sustained. Impatient at God's plans, an attempt to reach positions by improper ends, a passion for gain or bread that urges one from the honest path, success by unlawful means, all indicate the temptation through which the Saviour walked when Satan said: "Command that these stones be made bread."

Ambition and pride constituted the second temptation-that of the pinnacle. It was a temptation involving great craft. The Jews expected a king -one that should come, as Elijah went, in fire and splendor. Would our Lord accommodate himself to this expectation, meet the excited state of the nation, and dash himself from the pinnacle down to the pavement on which the daily sacrifice was smoking, appear unharmed in the midst of the crowd of worshipers, he would be hailed king by acclamation. In the first temptation, our Lord threw himself on the Word of God. To this the crafty tempter appeals, to show that in such a fall Jesus could meet no harm, as the "angels of God would bear him up, lest his foot should be dashed against a stone." In this temptation Satan puts on the garb of an angel of light. He quotes from the Word of God to make his success complete. The end promised by yielding on the part of the Messiah is his reception by the whole nation. So he would prove himself the Messiah, in that he was unharmed by his fall. The long and almost barren ministry of years unknown, the thorny and bloody pathway of Gethsemane and Calvary avoided, long ages of unbelief spared. "Had they known the Lord of glory," said Paul, "they would not have put him to death." By this descent they would know

and receive Christ. The shame and agony of the cross would be unknown. A subtle temptation, worthy of its author! The flesh was weak. But Jesus prevailed. We must do God's work in his way. All attempts to serve God by violating his word, reading the Bible to make it suit our faith or ends, all neglect of his commands, impatience under his yoke, lowering the standard and sinking the cross to hide or excuse its shame, come under the temptation on the pinnacle. Men want heaven, but not holiness; the crown of glory, but not the crown of thorns; the palm of the victor, but not the preparation and toil of the race. All that can turn us from duty repeats this trial.

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The pleasures and rewards of sin enter into the temptations on that great and exceedingly high mountain. "Bend the pliant knee, and acknowledge the lord of this world, and all the glory of kings and crowns and dominion below shall be thine." thee behind me, Satan," was the stern rebuke. Satan has many devices. None so fascinating and successful as the promises of good held out to his victims. No realm so fair as that his finger points out. No charm so alluring. His waters are sweet and bread pleasant. His wine is red, and his bed soft. The paths in which he leads seem broad and pleasant and fragrant. Wrecks of men and women in infamy, sons vile and daughters named only with tears, the chains of the prisoners, groans from the dungeons, men in high positions fleeing in the darkness to be exiles among strangers, the saloons of the gambler, the dens of infamy and chambers of the desolate, crowds of lost men and lost women in our streets, tell how success

ful this temptation is, and what the promise of Satan is worth. In the hour of bitter sorrow that comes to all such, these victims will tell of the hour when, on that giddy Mount of Temptation, the good of this world was pointed out to their excited gaze by the glittering finger of the tempter. How bright and broad the way seemed; how pleasant and exhilarating the secret conference; how as a pleasant dream the flattering story fell on their ear; how, one by one, the barriers fell, and the tempter came nearer the citadel; how promises flattered till the fatal consent was given and the knee bent in homage to the great destroyer; how gorgeous the hue the world wore; its dazzing glory that for a moment flashed before the eye; the hilarity of the new friends created: all seemed to fulfill that which was promised. How soon the dream ended! The sun darkened at noonday. Alone on the dark Mountain of Temptation, and no friend near. How the sin, the shame, and the ruin came suddenly as an armed man!—with no refuge but the grave, and that leading to the judgment and to hell.

The Bible is full of warnings against the wiles of Satan. If he assailed the spotless Son of God, he will all of our race. No man is safe, no home secure. He knows all too well-what weak points we have, what temptations will avail with us, what secret faults are concealed under a bland exterior—and the right book or companion will be placed near us at the right time. Even in the house of God, where divine seed is sown, he flings in the tares and goes on his way. Few realize how mighty for evil is this enemy of souls— how vast his resources-how powerful in his secret

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workings. His stealth, his godly aspect oft put on, his holy logic, his aptness in using the Word of God, his ability to cover up the bones in his path with roses, all aid him in his conquest. As in the temptation of our Lord, he passes rapidly from one seduction to another. Often, as in this instance, these follow great privileges or especial blessings. From the august announcement thundered in the ears of thousands at the waters of Jordan, "Thou art my Son," Jesus goes forth to be tempted of the devil! From the transfiguration Peter goes down to deny his Master. No one can stand alone. His aid alone can avail us who met and conquered the god of this world, and who, by his holy Apostle, has bid us put on the "whole armor of God, that we may withstand the wiles of the devil."