Matthew's Gospel,-iii. 11.-The notes on St. Luke iii. 16, and St. John i. 27 may be also read.

And it came to pass in those days, that 9 JESUS came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

"Our LORD was baptized," (says an ancient bishop) "not that He might be cleansed by the waters, but to cleanse them: that, being purified by the flesh of CHRIST, who knew no sin, they might possess the power of Baptism."

In the words of a great living Writer,-"The sinless LORD underwent ceremonial rites, to which nothing but the defilement of human sin gave being or significancy,-because, as He Himself declared, it became Him even thus to fulfil all Righteousness, to discharge the debt of our sinful race, and thus commence His exemplar of perfect obedience as Man."

See the note on St. Matthew iii. 13: and read, if you please, the notes on verses 14 and 15 likewise. The statement that Our LORD came "from Nazareth" to be baptized, is peculiar to the present Gospel.

And straightway coming up out of the 10 water He saw the Heavens opened, and the SPIRIT like a Dove descending upon Him: and there came a Voice from Heaven, say- 11 ing, Thou art My beloved SoN, in whom I am well pleased.

12

A voice from Heaven is heard at the Baptism of CHRIST, When He was about to begin His Ministry: at the Transfiguration: and immediately before the last Passover, when our LORD's Ministry had come to its closed.

Concerning the Baptism of CHRIST, the Reader will do well to consult the notes on St. Matthew iii. 16 and 17; as well as those on St. Luke iii. See also on St. John i. 34.

22.

And immediately

Temptation follows, in the case of our LORD, " immediately." "Let none therefore of His followers, think to go free. If you mean to follow CHRIST, reckon to meet temptations even at first, and so in all the way. Unwise, to put to sea and expect no storms; nothing but fair weather!"— So far, Archbishop Leighton: whose words recal that saying in Ecclesiasticus,-"My Son, if thou come to serve the LORD, prepare thy soul for Temptation."

the SPIRIT driveth Him into the Wilder

ness.

This, then, is the first event recorded after the Baptism. That the Enemy of souls should desire to possess himself of the house "swept and garnished," is only what we are led, from other parts of Scripture, to expect. See the notes on St. Matthew iv. 1, and St. Luke iv. 1.

c St. Matt. xvii. 5. d St. John xii. 28.
St. Matt. xii. 43, St. Luke xi. 24.

Ecclus. ii. 1.

It has been excellently observed by one of our greatest Divines,-"The Sacraments and other institutions of Religion do not secure against the approach of Temptation; they are rather advances in the Enemy's Kingdom, which provoke His reprisal and attack; and the trials against which the faithful, thus prepared, have to strive, are no proof that they are without the HOLY SPIRIT, but the contrary." The SAVIOUR Himself is declared to have been actually "led" to the scene of His mysterious conflict "by the SPIRIT." Now "as many as are led by the SPIRIT of GOD," says St. Paul, "they are the sons of GODE."

“Driveth_Hıм,” here, implies no violence. The word does but describe the gentle guidance of a Shepherd,—as in St. John x. 4, where the same word is employed: a different word and a different expression altogether, from that which is found in St. Luke viii. 29.

And He was there in the Wilderness 13 forty days, tempted of Satan;

Our Blessed LORD was tempted for forty days: but the great encounter, wherein He vanquished His Adversary, belongs, (as St. Luke especially notices,) to the last of those days.

Goliath, in like manner, drew near to the Camp of Israel "morning and evening, and presented himself forty days" but the conflict with David

b 1 Sam. xvii. 16.

Rom. viii. 14.

was on the last day. Our LORD's great ancestor, who was also His most remarkable type, then took from His enemy "his armour wherein he trusted, and spoiled his goods."

Take notice that the Captain of our Salvation overcame the Enemy with three several texts of Scripture. Those places, therefore, are as "smooth stones" which He gathered out of this "brook in the way."-David "chose him five." It was because the Lords of the Philistines were so manyk. David's Son, chooses Him three; because so many are the great divisions of human Sin1;-so many were the assaults which He had to encounter.

and was with the wild beasts; and the Angels ministered unto Him.

This language might serve to describe the fate of the man greatly beloved,' in the den of lions. See the Book of the Prophet Daniel,-vi. 16 and 22.

St. Mark is the only Evangelist who notices that the scene of our SAVIOUR'S,-like the scene of Adam's-Temptation, caused Him to be "with the wild beasts."

The concluding heavenly notice corresponds, doubtless, with St. Matthew's account of what occurred when the Temptation was ended. "Then the Devil leaveth Him; and, behold, Angels came and ministered unto Himm❞

Thus briefly then, does St. Mark dismiss our

¡Compare St. Luke xi. 22, with 1 Sam. xvii. 54.

k 1 Samuel vi. 4, &c.

11 St. John ii. 16.

m iv. 11.

LORD'S Temptation in the Wilderness; in its nature, perhaps the most mysterious,-in its consequences, the most momentous,-transaction recorded in the Gospel of CHRIST. The reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew, ch. iv. 1 to 11, and on St. Luke, ch. iv. 1 to 13, (where the Temptation is recorded more fully,) for some remarks on the subject.

In this place it shall be only further pointed out that the most entire reality of Temptation does not imply, of necessity, the least degree of Sinfulness in him who is the subject of it. Adam was tempted while in a state of Grace: and the beloved Disciple says of the Second Adam, whose Temptation is here recorded,-"In Him is no Sin." The very instincts of that human nature which our LORD entirely assumed, make Pleasure, an object of desire; and Pain, an object of dread: and whenever the prospect of the former, to be earned as the price of disobedience to God's Will,

or of the latter, to be incurred as the penalty of submission to it,-is presented to the rational soul,-just so often does Man incur Temptation, in the strictest sense of the word.-Only then is he sinful, when he accepts the Pleasure or refuses the Pain.

And of the nature above described was the Temptation of our Blessed SAVIOUR. St. James has indeed said that " a man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed":" but

1 St. John iii. 5.

• St. James i. 13.