Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-07-01

rose had scattered its petals. Abstin-
F, ence from food had thrown him into
emaciation. A long abstinence from
food recorded IN profane history is that
of the crew : the ship Juno; for
twenty-three days they had nothing to
eat But this sufferer had tasted n
month and ten days before he broke
fast. Hunger must have ago
nized every dbre of the body,
and gnawed on the stomach
with teeth of death. The thought of
a morsel of bread or meat must have
thrilled the body with something like
ferocity. Turn out a pack of men hun.
CRY as Christ was a-hupgered, and if
! they had strength, with one yell they
| would devour you as a lion a kid. 1t
was in that pang of hunger that Jesus
was accosted, and Satan said: "Now
change these stones, which look like
bread, into an actual supply of bread"
Had the temptation come to you and
me, under those circumstances, we
would have cried: Dread it shall bel"
and been almost impatient at the time
taken for mastication; but Christ with
one hand beat back the hunger, and
with the other hand beat back the
monarch of darkness. o, We tempted
ones! Christ was tempted We are told
! that Napoleon ordered coat of mail
J maze; but he was not quite certain that
| it was impenetrable, so he said TO the
manurao tmer of the coat of mail:
PUT it on now yourself, and let us try
it," and with shot after shot from his
own pistol, the emperor found out that
it was just what it pretended
to be-a good coat of mail. Then
the man received large reward.
/ bless God that the same coat Of
mail that struck back the weapons of
! temptat ton from the head of Christ we
we may now all wear; for Jesus comes
and says: II have been tempted and
l know what it is to be tempted. Take
this robe that defended me, and wear
it for yourselves l shall see you
through all trials and l shall see you
TIN ough all temptation"
But" says Satan still further TO
! Jesus, "come and | will show you
something worth looking at; and after
half days journey they came 10
Jerusalem, and To the top of the tenn
! pie. just as one might go up in the
tower of Antwerp and look off upon
Belgium, so Satan brought Christ to
the top of the Temple. Some people
at great height feel dizzy, and u
strange disposition to jump; so Satan
comes TO Christ in that very crisis
! Standing there at the top of the temple
they looked off. A magnificent reach
| of country. Grain fields, vineyards,
olive groves, forests and streams
! cattle in the valley, focks
on the hills. and villagesa and cities and
realms. Now" says Satan. "Tll make
n bargain. Just jump off. l know it is
a great way from the top of the Tenn
pie TO the valley, but If you are divine
you can fly. Jump off. 1t won't hurt
you. Angels will catch you. Your
! Father will hold you. Besides I'll make
you large present if you will. I'll
give you Asia Minor, I'll give you
China, I'll give you Ethiopia, I'll give
you Italy, I'll give you Spain, I'll give
you Germany, I'll give you Britain, I'll
give you all the world" What n temp
tation it must.have been!
&C tomorrow morning and get in an
alteration with some wretch crawling
up from a gin cellar in the lowest part
of your city. NO" you say, II would
not bemean myself by getting into
such a contest" Then think of what
the King of heaven and earth endured
when he came down and fought the
great wretch of hell, and fought him
in the wilderness and on top of the
temple. But / bless God that IN
the triumph over temptation Christ
gives us the assurance that we
also shall triumph. Having himself
been tempted, he is able to succor all
those who are tempted. In n violent
storm at sea the mate told boy-for
the rigging had become entangled at
the mast-to go up and right it. A
gentleman standing on the deck said:
Don't send that boy up; he will be
dashed to death" The mate said: II
know what / am about" The boy
raised his hat in recognition of the
!, order and then rose hand over hand
and went to work; and as he swung in
the storm the passengers wrung
their hands and expected to
see hirE fall The work done he
came down in safety; and a
Christian man said to him, "Why did
you GO down in the forecastle before
you went up?" "Ah" said the boy.
81 went down to pray. My mother
Away taught me, before I undertook
anything great to pray What is
that you have in your vest?" said the
man. ''Oh! that is the New Tesla
ment," he said; 81 thought l would
carry it with me if really did go over
board" How we'll the boy was pro-
tectedl care not how great the height
or how vast the depth, with Chris