We are told in the first place that " Jefus was led up of the fpirit into the wilderness," that is, not by the evil spirit but by the fpirit of God, by the fuggestions and by the impulfe of the Holy Ghoft, of whofe divine influences he was then full.For the time when this happened was immediately after his baptifm, which is related in the conclufion of the preceding chapter. We are there informed that Jefus when he was baptized went up straightway out of the water, and lo the heavens were opened, and he saw the fpirit of God defcending like a dove, and lighting upon him. And lo a voice from heaven faying, This is my beloved fon, in whom I am well pleased.* Then (it immediately follows) was Jefus led up of the fpirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.In that moment of exaltation, when he was acknowledged by a voice from heaven to be the Son of God, and when the Spirit of God had taken full poffeffion of his foul, then it was that Jefus went forth under the guidance of that spirit in full confidence of his divine power into the wilderness, to incounter the prince of this world. A plain proof that this conteft was a preconcerted design, a measure approved by heaven, and fubfervient to the grand defign, in which our Saviour was engaged of refcuing mankind from the dominion of Satan.

The place into which our blessed Lord was thus led was the wilderness, probably the great wilderness near the river Jordan, in which Jefus was baptized, and foon afterwards tempted. This wilderness is thus difcribed by a traveller of great credit and varacity, who had himself feen it. "In a few hours ffays this writer) we arrived at the mountainous defert, in which our Saviour was led by the spirit to be tempted by the devil. It is a most miserable dry barren place, confisting of high rocky mountains, fo torn and difordered as if the earth had fuffered fome great convulfion, in which its very bowels had been turned outward. On the left hand, looking down into a deep valley, as we paffed along we faw

very fimilar to that of the first. The fecrets of the Moft High are unfathomable to fhort-fighted mortals; but it would appear from what may be humbly learnt and inferred from this transaction, that our bleffed Lord's temptation by Satan was a neceffary part in the divine economy towards accomplishing the redemption of mankind.

* Matth. iii, 16, 17,

fome ruins of small cells and cottages, which we were told were formerly the habitations of hermits retiring hither for penance and mortification; and certainly there could not be found in the whole earth a more comfortless and abandoned place for that purpose. On defcending from these hills of defolation into the plain, we foon came to the foot of Mount Quarrantania, which they fay is the mountain from whence the devil tempted our Saviour. with that visionary scene of all the kingdoms and glories of this world. It is, as St. Matthew calls it, an exceeding high mountain, and in its afcent difficult and dangerous. It has a fmall chappel at the top, and another about half way up, on a prominent part of a rock. Near this latter are several caves and holes in the fides of the mountain, made ufe of anciently by hermits, and by fome at this day for places to keep their Lent in, in imitation of that of our blessed Saviour."*

This was a theatre perfectly proper for the prince of the fallen angels to act his part upon, and perfectly well fuited to his dark malignant purposes.

Here then after our Saviour (as Mofes and Elijah had done before him) had endured a long abftinence from food, the devil abruptly and artfully affailed him with a temptation well calculated to produce a powerful effect on a person faint and worn out with fafting. "If thou be the Son of God, command that thefe ftones be made bread." But our Saviour repelled this infidious advice, by quoting the words of Mofes to the Ifraelites in the wilderness, “Man fhall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."+ That is, he that brought me into this wilderness, and fubjected me to these trials, can fupport me under the preffure of hunger, by a variety of means, befides the common one of bread, just as he fed the Ifraelites in the wildernefs with manna, with food from heaven. I will therefore rather choose to rely on his gracious providence for my fupport in this exigency. than work a miracle myself for the fupply of my wants.

This anfwer was perfectly conformable to the principle on which our Lord acted throughout the whole of his ministry. * Maundrell. † Deut. viii 3. Matth. iv. 4.

All his miracles were wrought for the benefit of others, not one for his own gratification. Though he endured hun ger and thirst, and indigence and fatigue, and all the other evils of a laborious and an itinerant life, yet he never once relieved himself from any of these inconveniences, or procured a fingle comfort to himself by the working of miracles. These were all appropriated to the grand object of proving the truth of his religion and the reality of his divine miffion, and he never applied them to any other purpose. And in this, as in all other cafes, he acted with the moft perfect wif dom; for had he always or often delivered himself from the fufferings and the diftreffes incident to human nature by the exertions of his miraculous powers, the benefit of his example would have been in a great measure loft to mankind, and it would have been of little ufe to us, that he was in all things tempted like as we are*, because he would have been fupported and fuccoured as we cannot expect to be.

Having thus failed to work upon one of the strongest of the fenfual appetites, hunger, the tempter's next application was to a different paffion, but one which, in fome minds, is extremely powerful, and often leads to great folly and guilt, I mean vanity and felf-importance. "He taketh our Lord into the holy city, and fetteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and faith unto him, if thou be the Son of God caft thy felf down; for it is written, he fhall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they will bear thee up, left at any time thou dafh thy foot against a ftonet.”

The place where our Saviour now stood was on a pinnacle, or rather on a wing of the magnificent temple of Jerufalem, from whence there was a view of the vast concourse of people who were worshipping in the area below. In this fituation the feducer flattered himself that our Saviour, indignant at the doubts which he artfully expreffed of his being the Son of God, would be eager to give him and all the multitudė that beheld them a moft convincing proof that he was fo, by cafting himself from the height on which he stood into the court below, accompanied all the way as he descended by an illuftrious hoft of angels, anxiously guarding his pers Matth, iv. 5, 6.

* Heb, iv. 15.

fon from all danger, and plainly manifefting by their foli citude to protect and to preferve him, that they had a most invaluable treasure committed to their care, and that he was in truth the beloved Son of God, the peculiar favorite of heaven.

To a vain-glorious mind nothing could have been more gratifying, more flattering, than fuch à propofal as this; more especially as fo magnificent a spectacle in the fight of all the Jews would probably have induced them to receive him as their Meffiah, whom it is well known they expected to defcend visibly from heaven in some such triumphant manner as this.

But on the humble mind of Jefus all this had no effect.To him who never affected parade or shew, who never courted admiration or applaufe, who kept himself as quiet and as retired as the nature of his miffion would allow, and fre quently withdrew from the multitudes that flocked around him, to deferts and to mountains, to him this temptation carried no force; his answer was, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God;" thou shalt not rush into unnecessary danger in order to tempt God, in order to try whether he will interpofe to fave thee in a miraculous manner; much lefs ought this to be done as now propofed for the purposes of vanity and oftentation.

The next temptation is thus described by St. Matthew:

Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and fheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and faith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."*

It has been thought an infuperable difficulty to conceive how Satan could from any mountain however elevated, fhew to our Saviour all the kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them. And even they who defend the literal fenfe of the transaction in general, yet have recourse to a vifionary reprefentation in this particular inftance. But there feems to me no neceffity for calling in the help of a vision

even here. The Evangelift defcribes the mountain of which Chrift was placed as an exceeding high one; and the traveller* to whom I before referred, describes it in the fame terms. From thence of course there must have been a very extenfive view; and accordingly another writer, the Abbè Mariti, in his travels through Cyprus, &c. fpeaking of this mountain, fays, "Here we enjoyed the most beautiful profpect imaginable. This part of the mountain over looks the mountains of Arabia, the country of Gilead, the country of the Ammonites, the plains of Moab, the plain of Jericho, the river Jordan, and the whole extent of the Dead fea." These various domains the tempter might fhew to our Lord diftinctly, and might also at the fame time point out (for fo the original word deiknumi fometimes fignifies) and direct our Lord's eye towards several other regions that lay beyond them, which might comprehend all the principal kingdoms of the eastern world. And he might then properly enough fay, "all these kingdoms which you now fee, or towards which I now point, will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." This explanation appears to me an eafy and a natural one. But if others think differ ently, it is fufficient to fay, that this particular incident is not more extraordinary than almost every other part of this very fingular tranfaction; throughout the whole of which the devil appears to have been permitted to exercise a power far beyond what naturally belonged to him.

But whatever we may decide on this point, the nature and magnitude of the temptation are evident. It is no lefs than an offer of kingdoms, with all their glory; all the honors, power, rank, wealth, grandeur, and magnificence, that this world has to give. But all these put together could not for one moment shake the firm mind of our divine Mafter, or feduce him from the duty he owed to God. He rejected with abhorrence the impious propofition made to him, and answered with a proper indignation, in the words of fcripture, "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, thou fhalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou ferve." Upon this we are told that the devil left him, and that angels came and ministered unto him.

* Maundrell.

+ Matth, iv. 10, II.