The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1900-01-25

GOLDEN TEAT.-Inis - my ootovou
Bon. In whom am well pieassd'-Ma"'
LESSON roPIc.-The Endowment Of
Christ.
THE LESSON TEXT.
(Matt. Chilly
1. Then was Jesus led up Of the spirit |
into the wilderness to be tempted OF the
4 And when He hah tasted forty days
and forty nights. he was afterward an hum
gered. ~,
& And when the tempter came to Him.
he said: II Thou be the Son Of God. COM
mand that these stones be made bread.
4 But He answered and said: 1t is writ
ten. 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 pinnacle
of the temple. r., r.. ,hs
SON of God, cast thyself down: for 1t Is
written, He shah give His angels charge
concerning Thee; and in their hands they
shall bear Thee up, lest at any time lhou
dash Thy foot against a seone
Z. Jesus said unto him: 1t Is written
again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God. - ,,,u, rr ,r,o
Him the Kingdoms Of the world. and the
glory of them;
O. And saith unto Him. All these things
will l give Thee. II Thou wilt ran do"h
and worship me. -, ~. .,oo
TO- The saith Jesus unto MIN, uet tnI.
hence, Satan; for 1t is written Ih0u sna,.
worship the Lord thy God. and Him only
shalt thou serve. , ,,, a
IL Then the devil leaveth Him, ana
behold. angels came and ministered uhto
HILL NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS,
Jesus Baptism.-John had been
baptizing, probably for about SIX
months, when Jesus presented HIM
self as n candidate for the rite. lie
set out from Ills home in Nazareth to
be baptized-not to hear John preaeh
or to determine the nature OF johns
mission. 1t seems to be limited in
Luke 3:21 that Jesus presented Him.
self somewhat privately, at the close
of a days work. If SO, we may find
in the fact an explanation Of what ap-
pears to be the truth that the visible
coming of the Holy Spirit was evident
only to John and to Jesus, and that
only they heard the voice from the
sky. As to the reason for the baptism
it seemed necessary to Jesus in order
that He might fulfill all righteous
ness" The righteousness which He
wished to fulfill may well be under
stood as equivalent to the rites OF
initiation into the priesthood. Those
rites included baptism, amounting with
oil, and sacrifice. Jesus was baptized
by John rather than by priest, His
amounting was in the descent OF the
Spirit upon Him, and His sacrifice was
to come when He should offer Himself
upon the cross.
The Temptation.-The first evidence
of this presence Of the Spirit was
Jesus departure into the wilderness
| to be tempted. The temptation con-
sisted not merely in the three attacks
of which we have record, but doubt
| less In many an un.ecorded suggestion
to Jesus during the 40 days in which
He fasted. The purpose of the retire
ment to the wilderness was, OF course,
to give Jesus opportunity for concen'
trated thought upon the public work
to which He felt Himself called-its
purpose, its method, and it's results.
If we may insist upon the exact mean
ing of Matt. 4:2; Luke 4:2, the abb
straction of Jesus during the 40 days
was so great that He was not con-
scious of hunger. The pangs, OF
which the devil tried to take advan.
tage in the first temptation, must have
been very severe. The account of the
temptation must have been given by
Jesus to His disciples in the course OF
the private teaching which occupied
much of the last six months of His
life. The order given in Matthew is
the more logical one, though the
temptations probably framed them.
selves to Jesus less separately and
distinctly than they appear in the ac'
count. 1t IL not necessary to sup.
pose that Jesus was bodily transport
ed, nor yet that the temptation was
entirely within Himself. The truth
may lie between these two extremes
Note the plausibility of the tempta
tions. The first promised relief from
hunger and the other two assured
success in work by a manner much
easier than that which 1t was proper
to take. Observe that the quotation.
from Scripture with which Jesus re
pels the temptations are all from the
book of Deuteronomy. The first two
temptations enticed to misuse Of Di
vine power; the third to concession
that the devil holds the world rs by
right. The freedom from temptation
which followed the great conflict her,
described was only "for q season.
Luke 4:13.)
The Place of Temptation.-A tradi
tion, said to be no older than the tim,
Of the crusades, fixes the scene Of th,
temptation at mountain not far from
Jericho, which from this circumstance
has received the name Of Quarantania
Naked and arid like a mountain o.
malediction, it rises precipitously from
a scorched and desert plain, and look
over the sluggish, bituminous waters
of the Sodomitic sea-thus offering
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