CHAPTER XIX.
Satan’s ends in tempting Christ to fall down and worship him.—Of blasphemous injections.—What blasphemy is.—The ways of Satan in that temptation, with the advantages he takes therein, and the reason of urging blasphemies upon men.—Consolations to such as are concerned in such temptations.—Advice to such as are so afflicted.
These observations, which the preparation to the temptation hath afforded us, being despatched, the temptation itself follows, which is this, ‘fall down and worship me.’
This motion, from such a one as Satan, to such a one as Christ, who was holy and undefiled, God and man, seems to be an incredible piece of arrogancy, pride, and malice; for to propound himself as the object of divine worship, was certainly a desperate assault. It includes, [1.] the highest blasphemy; [2.] the grossest idolatry imaginable. Both these are frequently noted as the design of this temptation.[450] But [3.] the comprehension of this motion takes in the whole withdrawing of the mind from God and religion, or the care of the soul and eternal life; in which sense Satan doth frequently practise this temptation upon men by the motive of worldly pleasures. I shall consider the temptation first, as blasphemous, and so it will give us this observation:—
Obs. 6. That the best of God’s children may be troubled with most vile and hideous blasphemous injections.
Blasphemy, in the largest sense, is anything spoken or done, by which the honour and fame of God may be wounded or prejudiced; but the formality of blasphemy lies in the purpose or intendment of reproaching God. Such was the blasphemy of the Israelitish woman’s son, recorded in Lev. xxiv. 11, where blaspheming is explained by the addition of the word cursing, which in the original— קלל—comes from a word that signifies to ‘set light by one.’[451] So that hence, and from the circumstances of the story, we may safely conjecture that this man having an Egyptian to his father, which probably might in scorn be objected to him by his contending adversary, he more readily might be drawn out to vilify the true God; but, be it what it will, it was certainly more than that blasphemy which the Rabbins fancy to be in the repetition of naming the word Jehovah, which in reverence they either leave out, as when they say, ‘the arm of the Almighty,’ or change it into some other, as Adonai, or the like; and accordingly we may observe, that reproaching God and blaspheming God are joined together, as Ps. xliv. 16; Isa. xxxvii. 23.
In blasphemy, as the matter, there must be thoughts, words, or actions that may aptly express a contempt or reproach of God; so also, as to the form of it, there must be an intendment of reproaching. Now though this be a sin which the heart of a servant of God would most abhor, yet Satan doth sometimes trouble the best with it. We have an instance in Job. His design was to bring him to curse God, for so he professeth in express terms; chap. i. 11, ii. 5, ‘Lay thine hand upon him, and he will curse thee to thy face.’ And in prosecution of this his boast, he breaks the matter plainly to him by his wife, chap. ii. 9, ‘Curse God and die.’ Whatever may be spoken of the word as signifying blessing, though some affirm the word ברך, in the proper idiom of that language, and not by an antiphrasis or euphemismus, as some think,[452] signifies as properly to ‘curse’ as to ‘bless,’ and is determinable to its signification either way by the circumstances of the place, or whatever men endeavour to excuse his wife, it is plain, not only by Job’s answer, that it was evil counsel, but also by Satan’s avowed design, that it was directly for cursing God. Besides this instance, if we consider the expression of ‘fiery darts,’ Eph. vi. 16, we shall find that this temptation is more common to all sorts of Christians than we would imagine. It is plain that these words allude to the poisoned arrows which Scythians and others used. These not only wounded but poisoned, and the venom inflamed with a fiery heat the part or member pierced. By this similitude, it must be granted that not common temptations are hereby understood, but such as were more than ordinarily hurtful, vexing, and dangerous. It may be persecutions are one of these darts, but all reckon temptations of spiritual terrors, and blasphemy, to be undoubtedly pointed at.[453]
The ways of Satan in this temptation are three:—
(1.) First, He endeavours to bring men to blaspheme, by secret and subtle ways of ensnaring them; and this is most-what practised in consequential and covert blasphemies, when, though men do not directly intend an open outrage against God, yet Satan brings them to that which might be so interpreted. This seems to have been the case of Job’s sons, according to his jealousy of them; ‘It may be my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their heart,’ Job i. 5; not that they were open blasphemers, for they were surely better educated, neither doth Job express such a fear of them; but that in their mirth their hearts might have been so loosened from the fear of God, that they might be tempted to undue thoughts of God, slighting his threatenings or goodness. To this purpose Broughton translates, ‘They have little blessed God in their hearts.’[454] The same thing we may observe in Job himself. When the devil could not prevail with him to ‘charge God foolishly,’ chap. i. 22, yet he pressed him so hard by his miseries, that he hoped at last to bring him to utter the anguish of his mind in impatient and reflecting expressions, and so far prevailed, that he bitterly ‘Curseth the day wherein he was born,’ chap. ii. 3, and wisheth that he had ‘given up the ghost when he came out of the belly;’ which though it came far short of what Satan had boasted of in his achievement against him, yet it had such an unwarrantable tendency that way, that when his friend Eliphaz took notice of his expressions, as savouring of too much distrust, he is forced to make apology for himself, and to excuse it by the desperateness of his condition; chap. vi. 26, ‘Do you imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate?’ In such cases, the devil provokes men beyond their intentions, to speak in their haste so inconsiderately, that they know not or mind not, the just consequence of their speeches. It was a degree of blasphemy in David to say, though in his haste, that ‘all men were liars;’ it was an unbelieving reflection on the promise given him by Samuel. In Mal. iii. 13, the people did not believe that they had ‘spoken so much against God,’ when yet their words had been ‘stout against him.’
(2.) Secondly, Satan endeavours this by violent injections of blasphemous thoughts that are directly such. In this I shall note to you,
[1.] First, That the vilest thoughts of God, of his ways and providences, of Scripture, and of Christ, are frequently suggested. Things of greatest outrage against heaven, and contempt of the Almighty, as Bernard expresseth it, Terribilia de fide, horribilia de divinitate; as, there is no God, or that he is not just, or not faithful to his promises; or that Christ was but an impostor. He sticks at nothing in this kind, though never so contrary to the hope and persuasion of those whom he thus molests.
[2.] Secondly, These are frequently reiterated upon them, and their minds so troubled by them, that they cannot free themselves from such thoughts, but he follows on and clamours in their ears, as Gerson[455] observes, Nega Deum, maledic Deo—Deny God, curse God.
[3.] Thirdly, And this with so great a force and impetuosity, that they are compelled to form these thoughts in their minds, and to speak contrary to what they would, as if their thoughts and tongues were not under their own government, the devil not satisfying himself to bear in these thoughts upon them, but he endeavours, as it were, to make them say after him, and to cast his suggestions into their own mould, that so they might seem properly to be their own; and this they are forced to whether they will or no, even then when their minds are filled with horror, their heart with grief, and their body with trembling. I have discoursed with some who have bitterly complained that their tongues and their thoughts seemed not to be their own, but that Satan ruled them at his pleasure; and that when in opposition to the temptation they would have formed their tongues to speak blessing of God, they have spoken cursing instead of blessing; and that when a blasphemous thought had been cast into their mind, they could not be at rest till they had thought it again.
[4.] Fourthly, These troublesome temptations are oft of long continuance. Joannes Climacus tells us[456] of a monk that was troubled with blasphemous thoughts for twenty years together, and could not quit himself of them, though he had macerated his body with watchings and fastings. Some have them going away and returning again by fits, according as the prevalency and ferment of their melancholy gives Satan the advantage of dealing thus with them. For if we inquire why it is thus, especially with the children of God, we must partly resolve it into the ‘unsearchable wisdom of God,’ who for holy ends of teaching and disciplining his servants, permits Satan thus to molest them; and partly into those particular advantages which Satan hath against them according to the variety of their conditions, which usually are these:—
First, He takes advantage of such bodily distempers as do deprive men of the use of their reason, as fevers, frenzies, madness. In these he oft forms the tongues of men to horrid blasphemous speeches.
Secondly, A pressure of outward afflictions gives him his desired opportunity; and this he knows to be generally so successful, that he promised himself by this means a victory over Job. Ordinarily, straits and miseries do produce blaspheming. Isa. viii. 21, the prophet notes that when the people should be ‘hardly bestead and hungry,’ they should ‘fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward,’ as avouching what they had done.
Thirdly, Worldly plenty, fulness, and pleasure lay often foundations of this temptation. When their cups are full, and their hearts high, Satan can easily make them ‘set their mouth against heaven.’ A proud heart will readily say, ‘Our tongue is our own, or, Who is the Lord?’ [Ps. xii. 4.] This was the engine which the devil managed, if it were as Job suspected, against the sons and daughters of Job, to make them curse God in their hearts; and by this did he seek to prevail upon Christ in this blasphemous temptation.
Fourthly, A melancholy distemper doth usually invite Satan to give blasphemous suggestions. The disturbed and pliable fancies of such, are the advantages which he improves against them.
Fifthly, Inward terrors and distresses of conscience are also an occasion to Satan to move them, as by a desperate humour, to utter hard things of God and against themselves.
But there is yet a third way by which Satan tempts men to blaspheming, by sudden glances of blasphemous imaginations, which like lightnings do astonish the heart and then suddenly vanish. These are very common, and the best of men observe them frequently. Satan seems as it were rather to frolic and sport himself in these suggestions, than to intend a serious temptation. Their danger is not so much, yet are they not to be despised, lest these often visits, carelessly entertained, and not dismissed with just abhorrency, do secretly envenom the soul, and prepare it for stronger assaults.
I shall next inquire into the reasons of this trouble which Satan gives the children of God.
[1.] First, These temptations are very affrighting; though they prevail not, yet they are full of perplexing annoyance. Corrupt nature startles at them, and receives them not without dread and horror. It is sadly troublesome to hear others blaspheme God. ‘The reproaches of those that reproached thee,’ saith David, ‘fell upon me.’ It was as ‘a sword in his bones’ to hear the blasphemous scoffs of the wicked, when they said to him, ‘Where is thy God?’ And if it were confusion and shame to him to hear ‘the enemy reproach and blaspheme,’ as he professeth it was, Ps. xliv. 15, 16, how sadly afflicting would it be for any child of God to observe such things in his own imaginations! If there were no more in it than this, it is enough to put Satan upon that design, because it is a troublesome kind of martyrdom.[457]
[2.] Secondly, This is also a spiteful revenge against God. All he can do is to blaspheme and rage, and it is a kind of delight to put this force upon those that carry his own image. He would do all he can to make his own children to vilify and reproach their heavenly Father, and to render cursing for blessing.
[3.] Thirdly, This temptation, though it have not the consent or compliance of God’s children, yet it opens a way to many other sins, as murmuring, distrust, despair, weariness of God’s ways and services. When we find Satan thus to run upon us, it is apt to breed ‘strange thoughts of God,’ that thus permits Satan to take us by the throat, or to make us judge of ourselves as rejected of God, and given up to Satan’s power; and if it do this, his labour is not in vain; we are, as one observes,[458] more to fear his subtlety in bringing us by this into other snares, than the violence of the adversary in this suggestion.
[4.] Fourthly, This is a stratagem for laying the foundation of direful accusations. The devil in this doth as the Russians are[459] reported to do. They, when they have a spite against any of their neighbours, hide secretly some of their goods in their houses, and then accuse them of theft. When blasphemous thoughts are injected, and men refuse to consent, then Satan raiseth an accusation against them, as Joseph’s mistress did, as if they were guilty of all that blasphemy that he tempted them unto; and it is a difficult task to persuade them that these things should be in their minds, and that they should not be the proper issues of their own heart. And very often doth he from hence accuse them of sinning against the Holy Ghost, because of the hideous blasphemies which he had first suggested to them.
Applic. First, This will give us considerations of consolation, and that—(1.) In regard of others. We observe often our sick friends speak what we would not willingly hear, and it cannot choose but be sadly afflictive to hear their curses and blasphemous speeches; but when we consider the advantage that Satan takes of their distemper, if their lives heretofore have been pious and religious, we comfort ourselves in this, that it is more his malice than their own inclinations; neither should we suffer our hope or charity to be distressed on their behalf. (2.) It is the like ground of consolation for ourselves or others that are violently afflicted with blasphemous thoughts. For,
[1.] First, If we call to mind that our Lord and Master suffered such things, we that are of his household need not think we receive a strange or unusual measure in that we are molested as he was.
[2.] Secondly, If we consider that Christ was tempted without sin on his part, then may we fetch this conclusion from it, that it is possible that such thoughts should be cast upon us, and yet that we may not be chargeable with them as our iniquities.
Thirdly, We may hence see that such temptations are more frightful than hurtful. These, as one observes,[460] seldom take, they carry with them so much horror, to those that believe and love the true God, that it keeps them from a participation with Satan in the sin itself, nay, it fills them with fear and striving against it; they rather, as bugbears, scare and disquiet them, than produce the real effects of compliance with them.
Applic. Secondly, The consideration of this kind of temptation may fill the hearts and mouths of those of us as have not hitherto been troubled with it, with praise for so merciful a preservation. If we have not been under this kind of exercise, it is not from any good will that Satan hath to us, but because our God withholds a commission from him. A poor weak Christian wonders that Satan hath not made him a mark for this arrow, that he hath not broken him with this tempest. To answer that wonder, he may know that the same tenderness in God, that will not put ‘new wine into old crazy bottles,’ nor a ‘new stiff piece of cloth into an old tender garment,’ nor that will oppress the weak and infirm with strong exercise or burdens; that same tenderness of a compassionate Father doth keep off such trials, because he will not suffer them ‘to be tempted above what they are able.’
Applic. Thirdly, This temptation calls for advice to those that are under it, to whom I shall direct a few things.
[1.] First, When any are troubled with blasphemous thoughts, let it be considered in what state and temper their body is. If it be distempered with melancholy, as is most usual, then the prescription of an able physician is necessary in the first place, without which he that would spiritually advise or counsel shall but beat the air, and his words be so far from the fastness of nails that they shall be as wind. I have known many under great complaints and fears by reason hereof, that have been cured by physic alone; for when, in this case, the fuel is withdrawn, the fire goes out. Correct the melancholy temper that gives the devil this advantage, and the trouble will cease.
[2.] Secondly, It is of great consequence to understand the nature of these temptations. If the tempted could see these to be their sufferings rather than their sins, they would with greater ease bear it as an affliction. And to those that complain, abhor, resist, and pray against them, they are not sins, no more than when a harlot layeth her child at an honest woman’s door, that child is to be reckoned as the fruit of her wickedness. A giant may dash the son against his father, but so far will the father be from imputing it as rebellious insolence in his child, that he will pity him the more, as suffering by a double injury; for it is not only against his natural affection and reverence to his parent, but it is a bodily hurt beside. Thus will God much more pity his children under these sufferings.
[3.] Thirdly, We must not suffer such thoughts to lodge in us, but before they settle, if possible, we must repel them; as Abraham drove away the fowls that came down upon his sacrifice. I know the tempted will say this advice is not practicable; they find these thoughts swarm about them as bees, and when one is driven back another straight comes in its place. But to them I answer, that blasphemous thoughts are repelled two ways. (1.) By stout and resolute resistance. This, though it do not extinguish them, nor free us of the trouble, yet it keeps them from settling upon us, and us from the guilt of them. (2.) By diversion, which the work of a lawful employment, or good society, and other discourses may do. This may give some ease from the molestation, and the other preserves us innocent.
[4.] Fourthly, In temptations to blasphemy confident refusals do better than disputings.[461] Here we are to resist with courage and a holy contempt of Satan. If we be too timorous and fearful, he insults the more upon us; as dogs when they are observed follow the passenger with greater eagerness and noise. Abhorrences and positive discharges, like that of Christ in the same case, ‘Get thee hence, Satan,’ do more for us than to debate the matter with him.