But while our Saviour's motives for submitting to the temptation were such as these, what were the devil's in making the attempt? Could he really hope to subdue the Son of God? Could he suppose, that he who came down from heaven, from the bosom of his Father, would yield to him? Was he ignorant that "the seed of the woman was to bruise his head1?" And must not his defeat end in the overthrow of that infernal kingdom which he had established in the hearts of men?

It does not appear, in the first place, that Satan knew certainly, that this was the only begotten Son of God. His overthrow had, indeed, been foretold in the Scriptures, but the mode of it, although now made sufficiently plain by the event, might at that time, even to the superior intelligence of the devil, have been somewhat obscure. Indeed, it seems totally inconsistent with the subtilty of the great enemy to suppose that he would have

entered into a contest in which he was certain of defeat. And although he must have known, from the various circumstances attending the birth of Jesus Christ, as well as from the voice just heard from heaven, what a difficult task he was about to undertake, yet, still, he might not have altogether despaired of success. The expression applied to our Saviour of "Son of God," might not, at that time, have been perfectly understood; and, indeed, our Lord himself, in one of his answers to his enemies, shews that it had, heretofore, been the not unfrequent appellation of holy men. "Is it not written in your law, I said ye are gods? If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God1?" There was nothing in the person or appearance of our Saviour in which he differed from

1 John x. 34.

the prophets or other holy men. He arrived, by the gradation of years, and by stated progress, at maturity; and the devil had succeeded in deceiving and in seducing to sin all who had preceded him. Even Moses', our Lord's great antitype, had been tempted to presumption; and Elijah 2 had been drawn into expressions of distrust and disappointment. He might therefore hope to succeed, in the same manner, with the present object of his fears, and thus, at least for a time, to prolong his tottering kingdom.

On the other hand, he must have known, from the voice of prophecy, that the time pointed out for Messiah's advent could not be far distant. An expectation that he was now about to come pervaded the whole Jewish nation; the preaching of John the Baptist had awakened investigation, and the voice from heaven had declared the person. All this could not but have excited torment and anxiety in

1 Numb. xx. 12.

21 Kings xix. 4.

Satan; torment unbearable, and anxiety desirous of being satisfied, and even of knowing the worst. For despair will often lead its victims to precipitancy, and make them suppose that they can endure the certainty with more patience than doubt and ignorance. And this will account for the expressions with which the devil commences his two first temptations,-expressions indicative at once of fear, and of painful uncertainty-" If thou be the Son of God."

From what has been now said respecting these motives, both in our Lord and in Satan, it will be seen that the temptation was a real event, and a personal trial of strength. It has been, perhaps, too much the custom for men, otherwise well disposed, to attempt to refine upon Scripture, and because there may appear to them some things in it, not exactly conformable to all their notions, to endeavour to explain it so as to suit their own ideas. And so it is with this history of the temptation, which they strive to represent as something visionary, and as

if we were not to receive the story plainly and literally. I see no reason there is for this. The Scriptures give us no intimation that it ought to be considered as other than real; and when we read how the first Adam was openly tempted, and, confessedly, fell, there appears no reason why the second Adam should not, also, be as openly tempted, that his triumph might be equally well known. And it will, perhaps, a little assist us in this conjecture if we observe, that the temptation to which the first man yielded was applied to his appetite for food, and that the very first with which our Saviour was assailed by Satan was of the same nature, viz. an insinuation that, in his hunger, he might procure himself bread without the intervention of his heavenly Father.

With these observations, we will now proceed to the account given us by the Evangelist of this remarkable transaction. Our Lord, after that he had been led by the Spirit into the wilderness, remained there forty days and forty nights without