lives. God caring for us, God working for u1, is for them the fa.et; angel-charge is for them the appearance. All join in recognizing that angel-charge is God with us as our Helper. II. THE LIMITS UNDER WRICH ANGEL-CHARGE 18 BET. "l being in the way, the Lord led me." It is always assumed that we are trying to go right and to do right. God helps those who mean to be obedient. The self-willed, those who, like Ephraim, arn "joined to their idols," God lets alone. The angels are removed if a man per- sistently resolves to "follow the devices and desires of his own heart." "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." There is, however, the gracious truth of the Divine overruling, even of man's infirmity and wilfulness, of which, in this connection, due account needs to be taken.-R. T. • Vere. 8, 9.-Temptation through the consciousness of power. Bushnell observes that the report of the temptation can only have come from Christ himself. "And he simply meant, I have no doubt, in the three temptations recited, to report what appeared to him visionally speaking, or how they stood before his fevered brain. 'l'o believe that he was taken up into a mountain so exceedingly high that be could see all the king- doms of the round world from the top, is fairly impossible. All temptations are but seemings. The devils bait their .hook never with truths, always with illusions." Before the mind of Christ a great procession of all the world-kingdoms seems to pass- kingdoms. of nations, of learning, of pleasure, of wealth; and the evil suggestion seems to say," That power you are conscious of possessing includes and involves the command of all these world-forces. Use them, then. Be the temporal Messiah tha:t you are expected to be, and that you can be, and then, when your position is gained, you can use it for higher spiritual ends." It is the most subtle form that temptation takes for man. Get a position, anyhow. Get power, anyhow. And then you can use the position and the power for noble ends. It is always Satanic temptation; for if a man gets pcsi- tiou and power unworthily, he is clamaged and cleteriorated in the getting, and so made unfit for the using when he has got. Christ would neither win his power nor use his power otherwise than as God's will should arrange. I.. WHAT THE LOBD JESUS COULD DO. Seeley says, "The mental struggle is still caused by the question how to use the supernatural power. Nothing more natural than that it should occur to Christ that his power was expressly given to him for the pur- pose of establishing, in defiance of all resistance, his everlasting kingdom." Clearly see that Christ's miraculous power placed all the world-forces at his command. He might have used them to found his Messianic kingdom. He would have used them if tha~ had been.God'~ will. It was not God's will, so for him to hnve used them would have been to serve the devil. This temptation comes to all who are born with genius, whe are conscious of power in any direction-Is that genius to be self-ordered or clivinely orclered.? II. WHAT THE LoBD JEsus WOULD Do. Worshipping the Lord God is no mere act of homage; it is the life of obedience to the Divine will; the ordering of conduct by the Divine rule. The powers Christ had could only be used for God's purposes, in God's way.-R. T. Ver. 12.-Jesus as John's successor. The events in our Lord's life i=edia.tely fol- lowing upon his tomptation are exceedingly difficult to trace. There seems to have been a first ministry in Juwea, but the length of it is much disputed. Then a ministry in Galilee, which soems to have been begun before the news came of John's imprison- ment. There is, therefore, a gap between vers. 11 and 12 of this chapter. Matthew's general statements can be filled in from the more precise details of the other Gospels, and more especially of John's Gospel. The point on which we fix attention is, that as soon as John's work ceased, Jesus took his work up and carried it on. • God never lets his work fail. He always keeps his witnesses witnessing. The removal of one is always the placing of another. The truth is kept alive in the world by a constant succession of truth-henrers; and there never was n time when the Church or the truth was in dancrer because God had left himself without a witness. I. A MAN'S S;CCESSOR CARRIES ON A MAN'S WORK. Work out three Scripture illus- trations. 1. Joshua, as Moses' successor, carried on Moses' work. That work was the l<J.4 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [ea, xv. 1-25.
removal of Israel from Egypt, and its settlement in the promised land, 2. Elisha, aa Elijah's successor, carried on Elijah's work, The confession of the lip at Carmel had to be me.de the confession of the life; and that meant quiet, persistent, family work throughout the land. 3. The Lord Jesus carried on the work of John the Baptist. Penitence is but a beginning, a preparation for righteousness. The Lord Jesus led peni- tent souls on to the joy of pardon and the power of holiness. II. A MAN'S SUOCESSOR CARRIES ON THE WORK IN HIS OWN WAY. True succession never destroys individuality. Joshua differed from Moses, Elisha differed from Elijah, the Lord Jesus differed from John. It is often noticed that successors in statesmanship, in offices, and in pulpits, are usually strongly contrasted men. Marked individuality is found to be quite consistent with continuity in aim and service. We best fit to our places, we are found even to fit in best with others, by being our own true selves. If we see clearly the relation of J oh.n to Jesus, let us be willing also to see clearly the relation of Jesus to John.-R. T.