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    fpight coayert those stones in to bread for the purpose . But no aooner did the thought present itself to his mind , than it was suec $ eded . by the recollection © f a sen . timent expressed in the Jewish scriptures , by which he was at once convinced , that had it been his heavenly Father ' s will that those stones should be turned into bread , and then used by him for his

    refreshment , he should have had some secret intimation of it ; that such he had not felt ; and that , there , fore , the thought must have been suggested by Satan to try the firmness of his reliance on God for

    continued support , and ought not to be harboured for a moment . -Ac cordingly , it is forthwith expelled as an impious one , with detestation .

    Finding himself , though greatly exhausted , to he-, ^ till mi raculously supported ^ and aware that the time was very nearly come for quitting his retirement ^ and going forth from God , who had been so long favouring him with communications of his will

    respecting the office , on which he was about to enter , his mind naturally adverted to the consideration of the place and manner in which the Messiah was first to

    introduce himself to the public notice of his countrymen . This it was understood he was to do on a sudden at the temple . ( Mai . iii . 1 . ) Perhaps too they might think ,

    that they should behold him descending through the air , as if fr < m heaven ^ ( Mat , xvi . -1 , Mark viii , , Luke xjj , 16 ) . The situation best adapted for uniting these circumstances ia the first

    exhibition of the long-looked-for IVJeesit ^ h to general noti ce , was obviously the top of the temple ,

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    from which he might he directed to throw himself down into i & g midst of a large assembly of people met to worship in the cofartbefov ^ with an assurance af his fcein ^

    preserved fpm fcarm ^ agtedabljf to a general premise ifcade to the righteous , ( Ps . xfci ; 1 lj 12 ); Ac-r cordingly , Jesus places Myself Stf thought in this situation , Wheif

    not being conscious bf enjdyitlg ; the divine direction or permission for undertaking so ha ^ rdotite an enterprise , he immediately tbndudes , that to precipitate him * self thence would be to incur th «

    guilt of presumption and impiety / and to tempt God , which the l ^ w expressly forbad , ( Deut *^ i . 16 )^ These thoughts are thereupon di ^ missed as suggestions of the gfeat enemy of God and mankind . "

    Although destitute of & diiia % licence for attempting aii ^ MeViationof his hunger , of for making his first entrance among the J & w¥ in the way and ^ l ace in Uvhiefc they expected their Messiah to dd

    it , by the performance of mfraclei for those purposes ; yet proceed - ing to ruminate on the benefits they hoped to derive from his ser ^ vices , Jesus cannot be supposed to have overlooked that which his

    countrymen seemed to be desirous of obtaining , in preference to every other—the emancipation of themselves from the Roman y *> ke , an <>

    the subjugation of all the kingdoms of the world with their glo ^» ry to their dominion aad tolifrol ; The object was the grandest to which human ambition Could

    aipile . It embmced e ?^ thing the world contained for the gratification of the senses , appetites * and passions * To form the brtter idea of . this object , v ^ c tnAy ttop ^ pow Je § ug to transport him $ df in

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    On the Temptation of Christ . —Letttr IV . 64 ^

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1810, page 643, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1708/page/23/