upon the ruins of his empire a new kingdom "which shall never be dissolved." That which Satan dares to claim here, that which he pretends to make over to the Son of God, really, then, belongs to that Son to whom the Father has promised "the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession."

However this may be, Satan offers to Jesus what he can give, and perhaps what he cannot give. He causes to pass before his eyes "all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;" the pride of power, the éclat of riches, the splendor of luxury, the vanity of honors, the intoxication of pleasures, and all those earthly pomps which excite so violently man's desires; then he tells Him: "All shall be thine," on the one condition, “that thou wilt worship me." The spirit of the second temptation consisted in inducing the Son, instead of waiting for and conquering the inheritance promised by the Father, to receive it at once and without a conflict from the hands of Satan, by rendering him the homage due to God alone. This temptation has something in it more revolting than the first; the condition to which the empire of the world is attached, is nothing short of a compact with the devil. Thus, Jesus no sooner hears the impious proposal, than He lays aside for a moment the calmness which characterized His resistance; and, for the first time calling Satan by his name, He repels him with a holy indignation: "Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."* This quotation arrests immediately the enemy's efforts, and sends him back a second time defeated.

Here things are so clear, Satan's proposition so detestable, and the reply of Jesus so simple, that any explanation would be superfluous. Not so, however, with the application of the subject. However detestable the temptation may be, God's children are all exposed to it; and however plain the answer, it is im

These words are borrowed from Deut. vi. 18, but according to the Septuagint version, which gives the thought of Moses, without confining itself to his very words.

portant that we should know always where to find it. There is not one among us to whom an alliance with Satan has not more than once been offered. I thus designate a tacit agreement, by which a man engages to serve the God of this world, in order to secure the world's favor; an agreement by which a Christian, perhaps, consents to do homage to Satan for the purpose of making sure in his impatience "of the glory which comes from men," instead of following by faith "the glory which is from God only." Let us give a few examples borrowed from the experience of youth.

The most common form under which Satan proposes to us his odious alliance is the lust of riches. A moral, pious young man has just entered upon business. The hope of making a brilliant fortune takes possession of his mind; how is this hope to be realized? Among other means some suggest themselves, which generally obtain in the world, but which are sinful: lics, deceit, injury to neighbors, lawsuits, family divisions, neglect of God's service, sabbath-breaking.

What is this but the devil saying: "If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine?" Alas and how few fortunes have been made without some concessions to Satan :-Answer him, my young brother, "Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Let Satan keep all his advantages, since he puts upon them such a price. Do not beg from the devil the deceitful semblance of a glory, the reality of which God will bestow upon you, if you are faithful. Besides, even here below, the blessing comes from God: "Godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

Sometimes Satan's alliance is concealed under a project of marriage. A young lady is treading faithfully in the paths of the Lord. By her fervent, and yet modest piety, she is an example to her companions, an honor to the church, a blessing to the world. Her hand is sought by a young man having every advantage-fortune, intelligence, rank-he is amiable, and, per

haps, beloved, but a stranger to piety, to whom she cannot be united without endangering her faith. This again is Satan saying, "If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine." "See what a prospect opens before thee what honor, what happiness, what love! wouldst thou be deprived of all this? and for what? for the sad pleasure of leading an austere and gloomy life? Keep thy faith, thou mayest only conceal it in thy heart, and be of the world whilst thou art in the world." How can artless youth resist a manoeuvre of the enemy so cunningly devised? By this simple word: "Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Yes, my young sister, answer him thus, and your victory is secure. "The grace of the Lord is sufficient for you." Go and lay down quietly at the foot of his cross all the dreams of happiness which your poor heart has entertained, and you will find in the love of God enough to repay, with interest, your greatest sacrifices.

The sanctuary is no shelter against the offers of an alliance with Satan. A young minister, enriched with the choicest of God's gifts, enters into the service of the church. He can aspire to the glory of the world, to the applause of man, to the most lucrative or influential offices; but to obtain these he must either preach the doctrines of the age, or accommodate truth to its fastidiousness, or join in the frivolity of its pleasures, or make common cause with it against God's children. This again, is Satan saying, "If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine." How many young ministers perhaps yield to this temptation! How many a Demas has forsaken his brethren, "having loved this present world!" How many have believed on Jesus, yet "do not confess him, because they love the praise of men more than the praise of God !" Oh, my young friends, be faithful, be unmovable! answer "Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." If you seek to please men, you will not be the servants of Christ. Confess Jesus Christ for your God, his

word for your rule, and his people for your people, and "when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive from his hands a crown of glory that fadeth not away."

Twice overcome, Satan makes a last attempt, for which we may presume that he will collect all his stratagems, all his resources. "He brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."

In order to understand well the spirit of this temptation, we must oppose it to the first, with which it forms an evident contrast. The tempter had endeavored in vain to make Jesus doubt his Father; this means, the first which he generally employs, and which succeeded but too well with Eve, had failed before the firm faith of Jesus in God's assistance. Then the tempter conceives the hope of seducing him, by that very confidence, although a perversion of that confidence.

He disguises himself as an angel of light; he surrounds himself with holy things; he conducts Jesus to the holy city, places him upon the pinnacle of the holy temple, and encourages him by the holy word of God, to throw himself fearlessly down, that he may give to the multitude, by the miracle of the promised protection, a striking proof of what he really is. Yes, but was the hazardous act proposed by Satan to Jesus, necessary? was it according to God's will? did it present the conditions required to make the promise of the ninety-first psalm applicable? Had Jesus yielded to the suggestions of the tempter, He would have presumptuously claimed his Father's fidelity; He would have used God's word more as an amusement than as a support; He would have created the danger for the frivolous satisfaction of obtaining the deliverance; and that deliverance failing, He would have risked the glory of God as much by his blind and presumptuous confidence, as he would have served him by humble and

obedient faith. Therefore He answers without hesitating, to his treacherous adviser: "It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

The only pledge He asks

What is "tempting God ?" Why would Jesus have "tempted God," by throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple? "To tempt," or to try God,* is, as the natural meaning of the words indicates, to put God upon trial, and thus to test his faithfulness; while faith simply trusts to God, and relies upon his fidelity as upon an immovable rock. Faith speaks thus: "God has said, and will He not perform it ?" of His promise, is the promise itself. He who tempts God, speaks altogether another language: Can God do it? Will He do it? Then, in his anxiety to solve his doubt, he takes upon himself to prescribe to God certain conditions, which he must see accomplished before he can rest upon his promise. The Israelites tempted the Lord at Rephidim, by asking water to drink, and asking in such a spirit, that they would judge, from the reception given to their request, "whether the Lord was amongst them or no." They tempted him again at Kibrath Hattaavah, by demanding a new species of nourishment, and by saying: "Behold, He smote the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can He give bread also can He provide flesh for his people?"

Under forms less gross, the same spirit reappears in the Christian church. The new disciples who opposed the Apostles in the council of Jerusalem, tempted God, by seeking to impose upon the converted Gentiles a yoke which they themselves had not been able to wear; whereby they seemed to impose upon God the necessity of an extraordinary outpouring of His grace, such as they had no right to expect. This conduct is the more reprehensible because, when the Lord is thus provoked, if it please Him to refuse the conditions which men have thus dared to pre

* "Your fathers have tempted me and proved me; they have also seen my works." The word to prove, which signifies properly to try, explains the word to tempt which precedes. The idea of the verse is this: As your fathers put my power to the proof, I made it known to them by displaying it against them.-See besides Is. vii. 12; Acts v. 9.