unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." Job was both a godly and a prosperous man. Satan maintained that, while his prosperity was the reward of his godliness, his godliness was practised with a view to his prosperity; and, as well to prove the service which Job rendered to God to be selfish, as actually to suspend that service, he brought him into the greatest depths of adversity.

The next instance is that of Ahab. By becoming a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets, he induced Ahab to engage in an iniquitous war, where he perished in his wickedness. 1 Kings xxii.

The next instance is that of Joshua the high priest, which is recorded in the third chapter of the prophecies of Zechariah. "Then he showed me," says the prophet, "Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him," or to be his adversary perhaps he was accusing him of some sin which he had indeed committed, but aggravating it, that, by means of despondency on account of it, he might induce him to commit other sins.

The next instance of temptation we have on record is that of our blessed Lord. A very particular account of this we have in the fourth chapter of the gospel of Matthew; and it is the following: "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou

be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him."

Here is an attempt to seduce our Lord from his allegiance to his heavenly Father, perseveringly

superior to it.

made, varied in its character, and pursued in circumstances in which he is ill qualified to rise When foiled in one point, the tempter attacks him in another; he employs as auxiliaries the cravings of appetite, and what he assumes to be the constitutional passions of the object of his attack; and, till he is completely defeated, he does not depart from the contest. So well adapted were the means in this temptation to accomplish their object, so skilfully were those means employed, and so anxiously and continuously was the success of them expected, that superiority to them cannot fail, through all succeeding ages, to be an example of a most influential character.

The next instance of temptation is that of Peter. The object of this temptation is the denial of his Lord. Of the approach of it, together with the means by which its success was in part prevented, or its consequences in part averted, our Lord apprized Peter in the following impressive language: "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Luke xxii.

31, 32. The success that would attend it is predicted in the connexion of this passage :-" And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. Verse 34. The success that did attend it is recorded in Matt. xxvi. 69 : "Now Peter sat without in the palace and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man.

And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly."

The next instance of temptation is that of Judas.

The sin of Judas was that of betraying