Saviour of mankind. In a grand soliloquy we hear how since early youth
he has been urged onward by divine and philosophical influences, and
how, realizing he was born to further truth, he has diligently studied
the law of God. Thanks to these studies, our Lord at twelve could
measure his learning with that of the rabbis in the temple. Ever since
that time he has longed to rescue his people from the Roman yoke, to
end brutality, to further all that is good, and to win all hearts to
God. He recalls the stories his mother told him in regard to the
annunciation, to his virgin birth, and to the Star of Bethlehem, and
comments upon the fact that the precursor immediately recognized him
and that a voice from heaven hailed him as the Son of God!

Although Christ realizes he has been sent into the wilderness by
divine power, and that his future way lies "through many a hard assay"
and may lead even to death, he does not repine. Instead he spends the
forty days in the wilderness fasting, preparing himself for the great
work which he is called upon to accomplish, and paying no heed to the
wild beasts which prowl around him without doing him any harm.

It is only when weakness has reached its highest point and when Christ
begins to hunger, that Satan approaches him in the guise of an old
peasant, pathetically describing the difficulty of maintaining life in
the wilderness. Then he adds that, having seen Jesus baptized in the
Jordan he begs him to turn the stones around him into food, thereby
relieving himself and his wretched fellow-sufferer from the pangs of
hunger.

"But, if thou be the Son of God, command
That out of these hard stones be made thee bread;
So shalt thou save thyself and us relieve