o satisfy his human needs. If this
should have been his way of life, there would have been for him no hunger,
no pain, no sorrow, no cross. He would have defeated the very purpose for
which he came into the world; and anyone who makes the gratification of
appetite his supreme purpose is wasting his life. The essence of the
temptation, however, was to doubt the goodness of God, as Jesus showed by
his reply, "Man shall not live by bread alone." He was quoting from the
Old Testament; he was declaring that as by a miracle God preserved his
people of old, so now he would sustain the life of his Son. Jesus would
not be driven into a panic of fear. He believed that God would supply his
need and that, however strong the demand of appetite might be, the way and
the will of God are certain to secure satisfaction and the truest
enjoyment in life.

The second temptation was in the sphere of earthly ambition. It consisted
in an offer of unlimited human power. Satan would give to Jesus all the
kingdoms of the world on the condition that Jesus should bow down and
worship him. The force of the temptation consisted in the fact that Jesus
expected some day to rule the world. The Tempter suggested that he himself
possessed such power, and that if Jesus would submit to him he would
attain the desired goal of universal rule. It was a temptation to doubt
the power of God and to be disloyal to him, as is shown by the reply of
Jesus, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve."

This is a familiar form of temptation to-day. The Devil does not ask us to
give up our purposes of ultimate helpfulness to others and service to the
world; he only asks us to compromise with the evil to attain our goal; he
insists that the end will justify the means; he intimates that in the
world of commerce, or society, or politics, evil methods are so much in
vogue that success can be attained only by complicity with evil. He tells
us that this is his world and that we can rule only in so far as we make
terms with him. For Christ the issue was clearly drawn. It was submission
to Satan or loyalty to God. The latter would involve opposition to the
ruler of this world and therefore would mean conflict and toil and tears
and a cross; but the ultimate issue would be universal rule. The same
choice opens for the followers of Christ. Unswerving loyalty is the way of
the cross, but this is the way of the crown.

The last temptation was in the sphe