Applic. 1. Let us then take heed of small temptations, or the smoother proceedings of Satan, as we would avoid the greater attempts that are to follow. Where he is admitted to beat out our lusts with a rod or a staff, he may be suspected to bring the wheel over them at last, [Isa. xxviii. 27, seq.]
Let us also after our assaults expect more and greater, because the greatest are last to be looked for. This holds true in three cases. [1.] In solemn temptations, where Satan fixeth his assaults, there the utmost rage is drawn out last. [2.] In the continuance and progress of profession, the further we go from him and the nearer to God, be sure of the highest measure of his spite. [3.] At the end of our race: for if he miss his prey then, it is escaped for ever, as a bird unto its hill.
Obj. But some may say, I am but a messenger of sad tidings; and that by bringing such a report of giants and walled cities, I may make the hearts of the people to faint.
Ans. I answer; This is bad news only to the sluggish, such as would go to heaven with ease, and in a fair and easy way; but to the laborious resolute soldiers of Christ this is no great discouragement: for, [1.] It doth but tell them of their work, which as they are persuaded of, so it is in some measure their delight, as well as their expectation. [2.] It doth but tell them, Satan’s malice and fury, which they are assured of, and are most afraid of it sometimes, when it seems to lie idle and as asleep. [3.] It doth tell them that Satan’s thoughts concerning them are despairing, he fears they are going, or gone from him. If they were his willing servants, there would be no hostility of this nature against them.
I have thus compared these special temptations with those wherewith our Lord Christ was exercised during the forty days. I shall,
Secondly, Compare these temptations of Christ with those that usually befall his members, in which there is so much suitableness and agreement both in matter and manner, that it cannot be unuseful to take notice of it, which will the better appear in instances. First, then, let us consider the first temptation of Eve: Gen. iii. 6, ‘And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,’ &c. Here are all the arguments and ways summed up by which Satan prevailed upon her. It was ‘good for food;’ here he wrought upon the desire of the natural appetite. It was ‘pleasant to the eyes;’ here he took the advantage of the external senses. It was ‘to be desired to make one wise;’ here he inflamed the affections. Let us again call to mind the general account of temptations in 1 John ii. 16, ‘All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life;’ where the apostle designedly calls all off from a love of the world, because of the hazard and danger that we lie open unto, from the things of the world, striking upon and stirring up our lusts; which he ranks into three general heads, according to the various ways whereby these outward things do work upon us, in exciting our natural powers and apprehensions to sinful lustings; and these are so fully agreeing with those three in Eve’s temptation, that I need not note the parallel. Let us now cast our eyes upon these temptations, and the suitableness of Satan’s ways and dealings will immediately appear. When he tempted Christ to turn stones into bread, there he endeavoured to take advantage of the ‘lust of the flesh,’ which in 1 John ii., I understand in a more restrained sense, not for the lustings of corrupt nature, but for the lustings of the body in its natural appetite, according to that expression of Christ, ‘The spirit is willing, but the flesh’—or body—‘is weak.’ And if we should not so restrain it in this place, the lust of the flesh would include the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, contrary to the clear scope of the text, for these are also the lustings of corrupt nature. When he further tempted him ‘to cast himself down,’ he pushed him upon ‘the pride of life;’ when he shewed him ‘the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,’ he attempted to gain upon him by the ‘lust of the eyes.’ From this proportion and suitableness of temptation to Christ and his members, observe,
Obs. 4. That Satan usually treads in a beaten path, using known and experienced methods of temptation. It is true, in regard of circumstances, he useth unspeakable varieties in tempting, and hath many more devices and juggles than can be reckoned up; yet in the general he hath digested them into method and order, and the things upon which he works in us are the same. Thus he walks his round, and keeps much-what the same track, not only in different persons, but also in the same men, using the same temptations over and over; and yet this argues no barrenness of invention or sluggishness in Satan; but he hath these reasons for it:—
[1.] First, Because the same temptations being suited to human nature in general, will, with a small variation of circumstance, suit all men: their inclinations generally answering to one another, as face answers to face in water.
[2.] Secondly, These standing methods are famous with him, as generally powerful and taking; and it can be no wonder if Satan practise most with these things that have the largest probatum est of experience to follow them.
[3.] Thirdly, The more experienced he is in any temptation, the more dexterously and successfully still he can manage it; so that we may expect him more cunning and able in what he most practiseth.