his spirit conquered unhesitatingly
after a long ecstasy which would naturally have induced a reaction and a
surrender for the moment to the demand of lower needs.

93. This firmness of trust opened the way for another evil suggestion. In
the work before him as God's Anointed many difficulties were on either
side and across his path. He knew his people, their prejudices, and their
hardness of heart; and he knew how far he was from their ideal of a
Messiah. He knew also the watchful jealousy of Rome. Others before him,
like Judas of Galilee, had tried the Messianic role and had failed. He,
however, was confident of his divine call: should he not, therefore, press
forward with his work, heedless of all danger and regardless of the
dictates of prudence,--as heedless as if, trusting God's promised care,
he should cast himself down from a pinnacle of the temple to the rocks in
Kidron below? A fanatic would have yielded to such a temptation. Many
another than Jesus did so,--Theudas (Acts v. 36), the Egyptian (Acts xxi.
38); and Bar Cochba (Dio Cassius, lxix. 12-14; Euseb. Ch. Hist. iv. 6).
Jesus, however, showed his perfect mental health, repudiating the
temptation by declaring that while man may trust God's care, he must not
presumptuously put it to the test (Matt. iv. 7). The after life of Jesus
was a clear commentary on this reply. He constantly sought to avoid
situations which would compromise his mission or cut short his work (see
John vi. 15), and when at the end he suffered the death prepared for him
by his people's hatred, it was because his hour had come and he could say,
"I lay down my life of myself" (John x. 18). His marvellous control of
enthusiasm and his self-mastery in all circumstances separate Jesus from
all ecstatics and fanatics. Yet presumption must have seemed the easier
course, and could readily wear the mask of trust. He was tempted, yet
without sin.

94. As the refusal to doubt led to the temptation to presume, so the
determination to be prudent opened the way for a third assault upon his
perfect loyalty to God. The world he was to seek to save was swayed by
passions; his own people were longing for a Messiah, but they must have
their kind of a Messiah. If he would acknowledge this actual supremacy of
evil and self-will in the world, the opposition of passion and prejudice
might be avoided. If he would own the evil inevitable for the time, and
accommodate his work to it, he might then be free to lead