"I wish he had done that!" Nellie said, with shining eyes. "Then the people would all have believed that he was God."
"No, they wouldn't; for afterward he did just as wonderful things as that. He cured deaf people and blind people, and raised dead people to life, and they didn't believe in him; instead, some of them were angry with him about these very things. He told Satan that to put himself in danger, when there was nothing to be gained by it, was just tempting God. Dear me! How many boys and girls do that. Then Satan told him that he would give up the whole world to him if he would just fall down and worship him. I suppose Jesus thought then all about the weary way that he would have to travel—all the things he would have to bear."
"Did the world belong to Satan?" Nellie asked; at which question John was betrayed into a laugh.
"Well, yes, in a sense it did. Don't you see how much power Satan has over people in this world? They seem to like to work for him. Some of them are doing all they can to please him, and he is always at work coaxing them to give themselves entirely to him, promising them such great things if they only will. I suppose if he had kept that promise to Jesus, and given up leading the world in the wrong road, it would have been much easier for Jesus."
"But Jesus didn't do it."
"No, indeed. Jesus never would do anything wrong to save himself from trouble or sorrow. He said, 'Get thee hence.' What a pity that little boys and girls don't refuse, in that way, to listen to Satan, when he coaxes them and offers them rewards! Think of believing Satan! Why, the first we ever hear of him he was telling a lie to Eve in that garden, you know; and he has gone on cheating people ever since."
"He never cheated me," said Nellie positively.
"Didn't he? Are you sure? Did he never make you think that it would be so nice to do something that you knew mother wouldn't like? Hasn't he made you believe that you could have a really happy time if you could only do as you wanted to? And have you never tried it, and found out what an untrue thing it was?"
"Yes," said Nellie, drooping her head. "One time I ran away from school and went to the woods—I thought it would be splendid—and I got my feet wet, and was sick, and it wasn't nice a single bit."
"Of course not; and that is just the way Satan keeps treating people. Shouldn't you think, after he had deceived them a great many times, as they grew older they would decide that he was only trying to ruin them, and would have nothing more to do with him?"