2. (1) We are to remember, that no kinds of spiritual temptations, melancholy thoughts, terrors of soul, and stings of conscience, can happen to us without the particular permission and gracious will of God our heavenly Father, notwithstanding all the malice and fury of the Evil Spirit. For God has expressly told us in his Word, that the devil has not the least power over any creature; nor can he hurt even a hair of our heads. Matt. 10:30. All creatures are in the hand of God, and not in the power of the devil. Heb. 1: 3. Much less has he any power over man, unless by the permission of God, for a certain season, as in the case of the Gergesenes (Matt. 8:32), and Job. Job 1:12.
3. Now, if he has no power of himself over a hair of our heads, or the least part of our bodies; much less can he of himself afflict, disquiet, or torment our souls. Hence David says, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” Ps. 34:7. And Zechariah, “I, the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about.” Zech. 2:5. So David prays, “Keep me as the apple of the eye.” Ps. 17:8. And he acknowledges God to be the author of all the heavy trials of his spirit: “Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.” Ps. 88:6, 7. So likewise, “Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” Ps. 71:20. Agreeable to which is the song of Hannah, “The Lord killeth, and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.” 1 Sam. 2:6. For as the Son of God [pg 356] himself descended first into hell, before he ascended up into heaven; so likewise must the true members of his body experience the same, in the following manner. When a man's conscience is so awakened and enlightened by the Lord, as to feel in himself the strength of sin, the sting of death, the curse of the law, and the fiery darts of the devil; then is his wretched soul so oppressed with grief and horror, that with David (Ps. 77:3), it refuses to be comforted, and looks upon itself as rejected and persecuted by every creature of God. The man who is in this state, does not enjoy the least glimpse of comfort, believing that he deserves it not; he struggles with despair, he contends with hell, and has already a taste of its agony. This is the sting of hell, yea, hell itself, full of terror and amazement, darkness and despair. He that suffers this, is not indeed corporeally, but spiritually, and in his soul, brought down into hell; so that with his blessed Saviour at the mount of Olives, he is in an agony, is very heavy and sorrowful, even unto death. Luke 22:44.
4. But you will say, Is it not strange, that God should suffer his believing children, who have been baptized into Christ, who through him obtained remission of their sins, being justified through faith, and redeemed to eternal life—to be thus miserably tempted and afflicted by the devil, oppressed with dreadful thoughts, and to undergo this spiritual martyrdom? In answer to this, we must consider, that it is not our business to inquire into the secret reasons of God's ways, but to rest satisfied with what he has told us, namely, that all these kinds of affliction proceed from him. Now we may rest assured, that whatsoever comes from him, promotes our spiritual welfare, according to what we are told, that “all things work together for good, to them that love God.” Rom. 8:28. There are, however, some reasons revealed, why God suffers his beloved children to fall into temptations so bitter.
5. The first may be to bring us to a true sense of the strength of sin, which is the sting of death (1 Cor. 15:56); of the curse of the law; of the wrath and justice of God; and of the cruel tyranny of Satan. These hang together, as it were, in a chain, as Hezekiah complains (Isaiah 38:14), when he chattered as a crane or a swallow, and mourned as a dove.
6. Secondly, That we may have worthy conceptions of the value and greatness of our blessed Saviour's passion, and of all the merits of our redemption; and hence learn that by the agony of his own soul, he has delivered us from the punishments of hell. Ps. 22:2.
7. Thirdly, That we may be conformed to the image of Christ. Rom. 8:29.
8. Fourthly, That we may learn to taste the efficacy of God's Holy Word, and the comforts that flow from it. Thus we are told, “by vexation (or temptation) only we shall understand the report” (or word). Isa. 28:19.
9. Fifthly, That we may learn to exercise faith, hope, charity, humility, and patience, that so “the trial of our faith may be found much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire.” 1 Pet. 1:7.
10. Sixthly, That we may afterwards have a more lively perception of the divine comforts, even as St. Paul says, “As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” 2 Cor. 1:5.
11. Seventhly, That we may obtain [pg 357] greater degrees of glory in the life to come, according to Rom. 8:17: “If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”