The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 126

the humble Christian who trusts not in his own knowledge or his own strength, but in the living God. 3. The Lord's answer. (1) Again the appeal to Scripture: "It is written again." Scripture is best interpreted by Scripture; one part of Holy Writ throws light upon another. The devil takes the text which seems to suit his purpose; he isolates it; he draws wrong conclusions from it. The Lord brings another passage to bear on the suggested act. He teaches us how to use God's Holy '..V ord. We must compare Sc1ipture with Scripture; we may not "so expound one place of Scrirture that it be repugnant to another." (2) "'l'hou aha.It not tempt the Lord thy God." It is tempting God to put ourselves into dangers to which he has not ea.lied us, to expect his help in self-chosen ways, to look for his miraculous interposition to save us from the consequences of our own folly. To trust God is faith, to tempt him is pre- sumption. We cannot trust him with too entire a confidence while we are walking in the path of obedience and duty, the path marked out for us by his providence; but to choose our own path, to thrust ourselves into perilous positions, to think of forcing, so to speak, a miracle from God, this is fanaticism, not faith. Christ's miracles were part of the great scheme of redemption; they were wrought to relieve distress or to •increase the faith of his followers; not needlessly, not to display his power or to satisfy curiosity; not at the bidding of Satan, or the Pharisees, or Herod. The Saviour would not work a miracle from any of these lower motives; it would have been incon- sistent with his high and holy character. Such a miracle, if it were possible, would be the work of a faith like that described by St. Paul-a faith which, though it might remove mountains, was destitute of the blessed grace of love, and therefore nothing worth in the sight of God. IV. 'fBE TBIBD TEMPTATION. 1. The suggestion. Sa.tan had long ago whispered to Eve that the tree was "pleasant to the eyes." He had tempted her through the lust of the eyes; now he raises before the eyes of the Lord a vision of unexampled grandeur. As the angel (Rev. :x..x:i. 10) carried a.way St. John in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed him that great city, the holy Jerusalem; so now the tempter showed our Lord all the kingdoms of the world, a dream of world-wide empire, majesty, and power beyond all that Alexander had once attained, or that Tiberius then possessed. Sa.tan had been twice defeated. He felt that be must put forth all his energies. A small bribe might lure weak men to their destruction; it does not need a kingdom to ensnare them. Satan offered to the Lord the empire of the world. It was a tempting prospect. The Lord knew that he was the Messiah, the Prince of the kings of the earth; all this glory was rightfully his; he was to rule over the nations, and his rule was for the happiness of mankind. It seemed now within his grasp. He would use it (so, perhaps, the tempter whispered; so he would whisper, we know, to a mere man in such a position)-he would use it for the best interests of the human race; he would put down the avarice, cruelty, lust, oppression, which reigned rampant in the world; he would improve the condition of the poor; he would put a. stop to war and violence and bloodsbeu; he would introduce universal peace, universal happiness; and that at once and with ease, without self-sacrifice, without labour, without the cross; at once, by one simple a.et (so a weak man might say)-an act which, perhaps, was not right, but which was only momentary, which could be soon repented of, the guilt of which would be as nothing compared with the great good that w11s to follow. So a man might reason with himself; so in smaller matters many men have reasoned with themselves, and have deceived themselves. The end, they ea.id, sanctified the means; they would do evil, so they thought, that good might come. But they deceived their own hearts; the temptation came from the wicked one. Men never do evil from good motives; the thing cannot be. They may say so; they may have said it so often to themselves that they have come almost to believe it by force of habitual self-deceit. But the motive was really selfish, their own interest, their own gratification, their own ease. The good end was only talk, mere pretence to gloss over their sin, to hide their real character from men, even, if it might be, from them- selves; if it were possible, from their God. It is Satan who suggests the sinful com- pliance; he conceals its wickedness; he uses it to destroy the soul. And his promisea are deceitful; he offers the k,ngdome of the world, and the glory of them; H •~ not his to give; he is a liar from the beginning; he promises, he does not give; bis deluded followers lose their own souls, but do not always gain the good things of this world.  llG THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MA.'l'THEW. [on. 1v. 1-25.