wilb the arch-fiend, our Lord exclaimed, "Get thee behind me, So.to.n: for It 111 written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only eho.lt thou serve." The questio~ in the liri;t temptation WR.S that of ,·evelation, corresponding to the first of the bnptismal gifts; the question in this temptation is that of inspiration, the spirit of service, o.nd corresponding to the second 01 the baptismal gifts. Jesus will not render any bomo.,,ae to _the world's bet~ayer, b~t will ~crye G?d a.lone I Once more may we see the gra.nd spmt of self-sacnlice which this 1mphes. Jesus will seek a.nd obta.in a universe.I empire, but by making no truce with the world; rather would he himself suffer unto death and be followed by myriads of martyrs, than gratify a poor ambition in So.tan's suggested o.nd worldly wa.y. III. N?TICE THE TEMPTATION TO PBESUMl'TION AND OSTENTATION. (Vers. 9-12.) As Mess1a.h Jesus must consider what pla.n would be best for beginning his public work. This must have been with him a. distinct subject of thought. And now Satan i:ugg~ts that _if h~ preci_pitated himself from tl,e pinnacle of the temple into the court, and did 80 with 1mpumty as God's Son, the people could not but hail him as the promised Messiah. He should put his Sonship, the tempter suggests, to the test, He should test the promise about a.ngels bearing up the believer and preventing him from dashing his foot a.go.inst a stone. It wa.s a temptation to carry faith into pre- sumption, and becoming ostentatious in doing so. Our Lord, then, having resolved to live by faith, is a.s firmly resolved to avoid presumption, He will not tempt his Father by claiming support in ostentatious circumstances. And so be repels the insinuation, a.nd resolves not to presume upon his Sonsl.iip. Hence we find that, instead of entering in a.ny such spirit upon his work, he enters upon it publicly when he drives the traffickers from the temple. It was an amazing method of beginning Messianic work, a.nd yet it wa.s the best way.1 These temptations have their little counterparts in our own experience. We are tempted through appetite, through ambition, and through presumption. We must resist the enemy in the Master's spirit. The a.pt quotations from the Divine Word show where the sword of the Lord lies, and it is for us not to let it rust in a napkin, like Goliath's a.t the taberna.cle, but to ha.ve it in constant readiness for active service and faithful resistance. And now, in conclusion, we ha.ve to notice the fact tha.t angels came e.nd mini~tered unto Jesus when the crisis wns past. \Ve know not what they brought to him- a.mhrosia.l food, the corn of heaven, perhaps; a.t a.11 events the most delightful food of which he ever partook. Then, like Elijah, he went in the strength of the food received, not, indeed, to the mount of God and the wilderness, but from the wilderness to the busy haunts of men, a.nd in the power of the Spirit. Satan, meanwhile, having "completed" the temptation, ha.vin;?; done his worst to make him fall, leaves him for a sea.son free. It must have been a heaven of happiness to be consciously free from his incessant wiles and snares, and to ha.ve won the freedom. So may we in our little measure win some re~pite from the enemy, if we faithfully follow our Lord in resisting temptation !-R. M. E. Vers. 14--30.-Christ', sermon in Nazareth. The temptation of Christ strengthened all the graces within him, so that he felt Limself prepared, on ~etur_ning from the wilder- ness, fur public work. Luke does not take us, as John does ID his Gospel, back to the Jordan ; nor d0es he take us to the marriage in Cana of Galilee, where the wonderful works began (John ii 1-13). He prefers to sum up for us his early Galilman ministry in two verses, before proceeding to a detailed account of his visit to Na.zareth a.nd his rejection by his countrymen. Let us consider- !. THE EST.AllLISHME:ST OF H18 PUBLIC liEPUTATION BEFORE APPEARING IN NAZARETH, (Vers. H, 15.) • Ha.cl be gone to his own city first without a. reputation, he would not have received the attention he did. Jesus knew that a prophet has no honour in his own country; he knew that he need not go a.mong his old comp_anions_ without having achieved something remarkable; hence he m:i.de a name for himself 10 other parts of Galilee before advancing to the difficult task at hie old home. And the method he pun;ued wa.s significa.nt. He did 11ot cr~ate ri_val institutions to the ~x!sting Churches, He went into the synagogues and availed himself of the opportun1tle1:1 they offered, 1 Woolsey'• 'Religion of the Preseni and the Futwe,' pp. 24--U; cf. also IDlmo.W1'1
'Siule.s11nel!II of Jei11111,' pp. 123--U4, 264--291, eto, on. 1v. 1-44.] TIIE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE.