can do if you are His Son. We trace here the same satanic attempt as before to damage the character of God, and to provoke an act of assumed independence. The reply of Jesus was the weapon, or rather the shield, which the first Adam should have employed"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This was "the shield of faith, whereby the fiery dart of the wicked was quenched," Eph. vi. 16, and which will prove all-sufficient in every similar case.

2. The lust of the eye. "The devil showed 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." The choice here appeared to lie between God's gift and Satan's gift. The eye alone should prefer the latter, for it saw immediate possession of kingdoms and glories on the one hand, and only immediate humiliation and suffering on the other; but the spiritual faculty of faith in the promises of God came in to correct the eye's testimony, and Jesus remembered that what Satan offered was His already, but that He must suffer these afflictions from which the evil one artfully proposed to exempt Him, and so "enter into His glory," Luke xxiv. 26. The force of the temptation lay in the immediate offer to the Son of God of that which was already His by Divine gift, Ps. ii. 8; Dan. vii. 13, 14, without the necessity, of which the tempter seems to have been aware, of previous humiliation, "unto death, even the death of the cross, "Phil. ii. 8, and he thought that, by presenting the prize of victory before the eyes of the great champion of the human race, He would be induced to decline the conflict to which He had devoted Himself, on condition of being at once allowed to reap its reward, and enter forthwith on the possession of a vassal empire, by performing a single act of homage to the great usurper. Blessed be God, the kingdoms of the world, however "pleasant to the eye," could not bribe our precious Redeemer into an act of dishonor to God and unfaithfulness to The sword of the Spirit was again unsheathed, and Jesus and His people came off victorious.

us.

3. The pride of life. The tempter now tried his last fiery dart. He set Jesus on a pinnacle of the

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temple, and said to 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." This time the devil quotes Scripture for his purpose; but he quotes it like himself, falsely and deceitfully, (compare Ps. xci. 11, 12). Christ's ways are lowliness and meekness; but Satan would have Him to exhibit Himself and His immunities as the Son of God to the vulgar gaze proudly and ostentatiously. He would suggest that by some manifest interposition of Divine protection in His behalf, He would at once silence all objections to His humble birth and mean appearance, and compel men to acknowledge Him as the Son of the Father who "should come into the world." Christ naturally yearned for man's confidence and love-to be recognised in His true character as an All-sufficient Friend and Saviour; but He would bide His Father's time, and submit to any measure of scorn and suspicion rather than tempt God by the use of an unbidden expedient. He knew Himself what He was, and His Father knew-this sufficed Him for the present.

The

hour was coming when the men by whom he was despised and rejected would be constrained to say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,” Mat. xxiii. 39.

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The arch-enemy having shot his last arrow without effect, retired from the field at length vanqnished by man, whom he had for thousands of years enslaved and afflicted. A new Adam had revived the combat in which the old Adam fell, and a new posterity was to be won by the victory of the former, as the old one had been lost by the latter's defeat. My friends, the history of the old posterity, in which we are included, is written in tears and blood-and it could not be otherwise. Man was made for God and consequent happiness; but being, by Divine appointment, left to himself, he chose the service of Satan, a liar and murderer, and, consequently, has become the victim of delusion and destruction. His eyes were, indeed, opened, and he truly learned to know good and evil; but instead of becoming equal with God, he sunk almost to a level with the beasts that perish. "Be

cause that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed. the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts," Rom. i. 21, 24. What wonder that' fallen man fled to hide himself from his Maker, or that his very presence cursed the ground on which he trod, Gen. iii. 8, 17. The same dread of encountering the Majesty of heaven still remains-still thorns and briars start up unbidden to mock man's labour, and remind him of a long-lost Eden-and still he must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. All this indicates that the curse is not yet repealed; for the earth is still occupied by the old Adam and his race.

A new Adam has come, and the children of the old one have fought against Him in Satan's behalf, whose dominion they still preferred. But in spite of all obstacles, "He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days-the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands," Is. liii. 10. Out of the ruins of the old world and the old race, He is forming a new earth and a new human family. The gospel message is inviting all that will to come and participate in this glorious enterprise. The First-born has already escaped from the grave, and lives for evermore, Rev. i. 18. His children shall also be rescued from the dust to which the old sentence consigns them. They shall be raised incorruptible, glorious, spiritual, 1 Cor. xv. 42—44, like their risen Head, verse 49. But who are they? Only such as now deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus, Mat. xvi. 24.

LECTURE III.

CAIN.

THE RELIGION OF THE NATURAL MAN.

"And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”—Gen. iv. 3—6. WE are told that at the contemplation of God's newborn creation, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," Job xxxviii. 7. The cause of this exultation evidently was the production of a new monument of Almighty wisdom, power, and love—an additional reflection of the Divine attributes, and another instrument of praise to be added to the grand orchestra of revolving worlds, that with ceaseless harmony proclaimed the glory of their Omnipotent Creator. But, alas! with what checked and solemnized feelings must the grand chorus have heard the first hoarse note of discord which man's fall flung amongst their heavenly harmonies! and how must they have stood appalled when sin sung its first dirge of human suffering and death! Had the human race then perished, and earth returned to chaos, the song of the starry worshippers would have flowed on as sweetly as before; but the birth of fallen Adam's firstborn indicated that the jarring note was to be prolonged, and must be made to harmonize for many ages to come with every hymn of praise addressed to Him who appeared thus to be defeated and defied.

I

From the sentence pronounced upon himself, will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel," Gen. iii. 15, Satan

seems to have discovered the germs of that gospel scheme by which the Omnipotent designed to turn man's fall to the account of His own holiness, wisdom, love, and omnipotence. To defeat that object, the religious character of Cain was formed-not on the principle of rejecting God altogether; but, while admitting His existence, to deny His most essential attributes; while confessing dependence on His bounty, to disregard the claims of His justice and holiness; and while doing homage to His providence, superciliously to decline the offices of His mercy and grace. In fact, Cain's religion was specially constructed to omit all reference to man's fall from his original estate, and the debasement of his nature, and, consequently, to all necessity for restoration and renewment. Such a religion the enemy well knew would be an insult to God, whom it would represent as indifferent to sin and untrue to Himself, and the most fatal obstruction to that system of recovery provided for the sinner. But such is the religion of the Pharisee, the Romanist, and the legalist of every creed, from that day down to the present. And O, how many are there content to stake their everlasting hopes on a religion which, denying man's loss, makes no provision for his recovery, and silencing God's sentence of condemnation, proposes no plan of pardoning love!

But let us examine more closely the religious character of fallen Adam's first-born, begotten in his own likeness. Let us observe

I. HE HAD A RELIGION. "In process of time (or, as the margin has it, "at the end of days," supposed to indicate the Sabbath, or last day of the week) it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord," that is, he brought a thank-offering in acknowledgement of God's providential bestowments, good in itself, but defective when standing alone, as the history of his brother Abel's offering testifies-" And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering." Abel's too was a thank-offering, but it was more. 66 By faith," says St. Paul, "Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," Heb. xi. 4, literally, a more comprehensive sacrifice, or one