THE TEMPTATION.

and all their glory, belong to God,
and He can give them, and take
them away, as He pleases. But
Satan often uses these things as
if they were his; and tempts people
with them, as he now tempted
Jesus. But what did Jesus say?
He told Satan, that it was written
in God’s word, “ Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve.”

Then Satan led Jesus to the top
of the temple, and placed Him on
the highest part of the building,
and said, “If Thou be the Son of
God, cast Thyself down; for it is
written, He shall command His
angels to keep Thee, and in their
hands they shall bear Thee up, that
Thou hurt not Thy foot against a
stone.” Satan now tried to deceive Je-
sus by speaking some of God’s word.

Satan had great knowledge, and

great cunning too; and he makes a
very wicked use of his powers: he
tries to lead people by them into
sin. God has promised to keep
those who trust in Him, when they
act in obedience to His commands ;
but He does not promise to keep
those who boldly put themselves
into danger without His command.
It is very wrong, very wicked, to do
this. Jesus would not cast Himself
down from the temple, because it

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was not God’s will; so He said to
Satan, “It is written, thou shalt
not tempt the Lord thy God.”
Then Satan left Jesus for a time; and
holy angels came down from Hea-
ven to comfort Him in His sorrows.

This same Satan who tempted
Jesus, tempts us now every day we
live. “The devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour.” 1 Peteryv. 8. Wher-
ever we go, whatever we do, Satan
is near, trying to make us sin. We
cannot see him with our eyes, nor
hear his voice speaking to us, as
Jesus could; but we can feel him
in our hearts, filling them with evil
passions, and sinful tempers, and
wicked thoughts. And how can
we conquer this great enemy Satan ?
Jesus Christ conquered him by His
own power; but we cannot. Our
hearts are so sinful, that, till they
are renewed by the Holy Spirit,
they love to attend to the tempt-
ations of Satan, and choose him for
their master, and not God. How
then can we resist him? Only in
the strength of Christ. He will help
us if we ask Him, and enable us to
conquer Satan through His power.
“For in that He himself hath
suffered, being tempted, He is able
to succor them that are tempted.”
Heb, ii, 18.