My friends, it seems to me that if our Lord had
fallen down and worshipped the evil spirit, He would have given way to
the spirit of pride utterly and boundlessly; and I will tell you why.
The devil wanted our Lord to do evil that good might come. It would have
been a blessing, that all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of man
should be our Lord's,--the very blessing for this poor earth which He
came to buy, and which He bought with His own precious blood. And here
the devil offered Him the very prize for which He came down on earth,
without struggle or difficulty, if He would but do, for one moment, one
wrong thing. What temptation that would be to our Lord as God, I dare
not say. But that to our Lord as Man, it must have been the most
terrible of all temptations, I can well believe: because history shews
us, and, alas! our own experience in modern times shews us, persons
yielding to that temptation perpetually; pious people, benevolent people,
people who long to spread the Bible, to convert sinners, to found
charities, to amend laws, to set the world right in some way or other,
and who fancy that therefore, in carrying out their fine projects, they
have a right to do evil that good may come.
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