priest in all things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." It was, no doubt, necessary likewise, to justify, by the victory of Jesus Christ, the condemnation of man, overcome in the same conflict; to fill the measure of the Messiah's expiatory sufferings; to begin to exhibit in him, before the face of heaven, of earth, of hell, that the Son of God was manifested, "that He might destroy the works of the devil;" perhaps, for aught we know, to reveal Him completely to himself, to make Him "perfect through trial," and to carry Him forward, "conquering and to conquer." Whatever the reason may be, it was necessary that Jesus should be tempted; that is enough. The temptation was no mere accident in His life; it was useful, essential to it; it entered into the plan of our redemption. All the images under which the prophets had described the coming Messiah, looked to a strife between himself and the spirit of darkness—a strife, of which the narrative supplied by the text is but the prelude. Having come to establish a kingdom, but to establish it upon the ruins of a usurper, the Messiah-that true Joshua-could obtain His dominion only by conquest; He could receive "the inheritance of the nations" only by wresting it from "the prince of this world." The Jews had understood it thus themselves, and it was an article in their belief that the Messiah should be tempted by Satan at the very outset of his career. Our text, in its turn, acknowledges in the temptation this kind of necessity. Everything is foreseen, arranged, willed by God. Jesus "is led," or, as Mark has it, "driven by the spirit" into the wilderness, where He is tempted by the devil.* Matthew expresses himself in terms still more positive: "He was led up of the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil." The devil tempts Him, and then departs from Him, "having ended all the temptation;" as having played his part, for we know that whilst

* Mark i. 12; the expression of the Evangelist has peculiar energy, it signifies cast, thrown.

tempting Jesus, as well as whilst crucifying Him, he could only do whatsoever "the hand and the counsel of God determined before to be done."

Let us learn from this, my dear friends, that the trials of which we complain are useful to us also, essential to perfect our holiness, and to fit us for the work which God hath given us to do in the world. "God," says James, "tempteth no man," because he never drives us to sin; but he may bring us into temptation, as he did in the case of his Son, in order to "prove us, and to know what is in our heart." If we resist temptation, we come forth from it stronger and more devoted, purified as gold in the fire. But if we yield, then, no doubt, we bear the punishment of our cowardice; although, even then, if repentance lifts us up again, we have, at least, learned to know our own weakness, and to seek our strength only in the Lord.

It is by this incessant battle while proceeding from victory to victory-or, alas! instead of constant victories alternate victories and defeats that the wholesome exercise, of our faith acquires its development. The tempest prostrates and uproots the tree slightly rooted in the soil; but, if it shakes the one whose grasp is firm, it is only for the purpose of driving deeper and deeper down those thousand hidden arms by which it penetrates and clings firmly to the earth. Tribulation," the Apostle writes, "worketh patience, patience experience, and experience hope." * What is here said of tribulation, that species of temptation most frequently dwelt upon in the Word of God, is also true of all other forms. And hence the Apostle James,

*Rom. v. 8, 4. In order to understand distinctly these deep truths, we must bear in mind that experience here means, the test which tribulation makes of our faith, and the tested (or tried) character it imparts to it. Hope, likewise, does not signify an expectation more or less uncertain, but the firm assurance of those good things to come which we as yet possess only by faith (Rom. viii. 22, 24). When we are afflicted, we are exercised to patience; when we have suffered with patience we know on trial our faith to be genuine; and when our faith has thus been tried, we have a firm and glorious assurance in the grace of the Lord.

in the energetic and paradoxical language so peculiar to him, exhorts us "to count it all joy when we fall into divers tempta tions; and calls "blessed," not the man who is not tempted, but him who “endureth temptation," that is to say, who undergoes it without yielding to it; for, "when he is tried," viz: when he has resisted in seasons of trial, " he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him."

If Jesus needed his temptation, we need ours also. Satan's work is necessary to complete that of the Holy Spirit; and in this world nothing comes to perfection except it has been helped on by the devil. In order to enlighten Job's faith, to strengthen his heart and perfect his joy, the cruel display of Satan's malice was necessary. The perfidious detractors who cast Daniel into the lion's den were necessary to him, in order that he might know during the peaceful night which he spent amidst those terrible animals, all the power, and all the faithfulness of his God. Paul needed that "thorn in his flesh," that 66 messenger of Satan sent to buffet him," that he might be kept humble, and not "exalted above measure through the abundance of his revelations ;" that he might feel the power of that word which comforted him, and which will comfort the saints to the end of time "When I am weak, then am I strong." Peter needed that court of the high priest, to show him his own weakness; so that after the confession and the forgiveness of his sin, he might reappear in the eyes of the church worthier than ever of the distinction which the Lord had bestowed upon him, and which he continued to him notwithstanding his fall. Chrysostom needed the anger of his master; Augustine, the perils of his youth; Luther, the mortal conflicts of his soul; Calvin, his weak health and his implacable enemies.

And you, my dear brother, whom Satan seems to have selected as the object of his most powerful attacks; you upon whose downfall his whole pride appears bent; you who are driven to the last extremity, and ready to succomb; you who join in the

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Messiah's cry of anguish in the Psalms: "I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. . . . my throat is dried; mine eyes fail while I wait for my God"-be assured, all this was necessary for you; it was the very thing you required to teach you to serve God, to confound the great adversary, and to fill you with "joy unspeakable, and full of glory!" You are a child of God, his beloved, his privileged child; and, in very truth, if we could rise above the flesh, and judge according to the word of God, we should be more inclined to envy than to pity you. "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward;" but rather resist, hold fast unto the end, give glory to God, and abound in thanksgiving!

Young servants of God, if temptation is necessary for all, it is doubly so for you. This fight which you are beginning to carry on against the opposition of the world, and especially against the natural unbelief of your own hearts, should not surprise you. It is the narrow path through which you must proceed, in order to reach a firmer faith; in order to learn, as your Saviour did, by the anguish of temptation, to sympathize one day with the infirmities of others, and to succor those that are tempted. Listen to what was said on this subject by a great master in the school of Christian experience-a hero who fought valiantly against the powers of the world and of hell. Luther, writing to a young theologian, makes him observe, in the 119th Psalm, three principal means by which the inspired writer strengthens himself in the divine life-prayer, meditation on the Scriptures, and temptation; and hear how he expresses himself on the last of these three points:

"Temptation is the touchstone which will make you not only know and understand, but feel, how correct the Word of God is, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how powerful, how consoling, how wise above all other wisdom. Without temptation there are no good preachers, but only mere babblers, who know not themselves of what they speak, nor why; as says Paul to Timothy, 'desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what

they say, nor whereof they affirm.' This is why you see David in our psalm often complaining of all sorts of enemies, oppressors, rebellious and obstinate spirits, whom he must endure, because he carries everywhere with him the Word of God. For as soon as you begin to give your witness to the Word of God, the devil will endeavor to tempt you, that you may become a good divine, and that through the trials by which he visits you, you may learn to explore and to love this Word of life. I am under the greatest obligations to the Papists myself, who, with the aid of all the din of Satan, have so ill-treated me, and driven me to such an extremity of anguish, that they have succeeded in making of me a tolerable theologian, which I never could have been but for their assistance; and as for what, on the other hand, they have gained from me, I willingly yield to them the honors, the victories, and the triumphs, which make up the whole object of their desires."

Lord Jesus! we would no more complain of temptation. We have this day found thee in the wilderness; thither we will not refuse to follow thee. We have glanced at what thou hast suffered, being tempted, and the sight has affected us to the very depth of our hearts. Thou didst endure temptation in order to be like unto us; shall we not consent to suffer that we also may be like unto thee? We distrust ourselves, Lord, and, as thou didst teach us, we say: "Lead us not into temptation !" But if into temptation we must be led, then, we confidently add, as thou hast further taught us: "Deliver us from the Evil One!" It is enough for us to remember that we have in thee "a merciful and faithful high priest, who, because he has himself suffered, being tempted, can also succor those who are tempted." How sweet is this thought to us, O Lord! Thus, whatever be our temptations, thou hast known them before us, thou hast beforehand overcome them for us! Therefore it is, Oh, our compassionate Saviour! that we pour out our hearts in thy presence with a holy freedom; and were it possible for us to be tried as thou wert thyself tried, still would we 'come boldly unto the throne of grace,