Obs. 7. That it is Satan’s policy in tempting, to run from one extreme to another. The Corinthians were first tempted to a sinful compliance with the adulterous person, and were averse to his excommunication; afterwards they were tempted to the contrary severity, and were as backward to receive him again. The same men that have been overcome by prodigality and excess, when they begin to see the evil of that, are oft tempted to worldliness or covetousness, the contrary disposition. Reasons of this policy are:—
(1.) First, The avoiding of one extreme gives the soul such a swing, if care be not used to prevent it, that they are cast more than half way upon the other. Peter, in an extreme of modesty, refused the washing of his feet by Christ; but when he understood the danger, then he runs as far wrong another way—‘Not my feet only, but my hands and my head,’ John xiii. 9. Thus some are so for purity of churches, that they exclude the weak; others so for unity, that they admit the open scandalous and profane.
(2.) Secondly, While men avoid one extreme by running into another, they carry with them such strong impressions of the evil they would avoid, and such fierce prejudices, that it is not an ordinary conviction will bring them right, but they are apt to be confident of the goodness of the way they take, and so are the more bold and fixed in their miscarriage.
Presumption being the great design of Satan in this temptation, we may further observe:—
Obs. 8. That as distrust on the one hand, so presumption on the other, is one of his grand designs. Of these two, we may say as it was said of the sword of Hazael and Jehu, that of all those that are slain by the devil, whosoever hath escaped the sword of distrust and despair, the sword of presumption hath slain. To explain this I shall,
1. First, Shew what presumption is. It is in the general a confidence without a ground. [1.] First, It is made up of audacity—which is a bold and daring undertaking of a thing—and security. [2.] Secondly, The ground of it is an error of judgment. A blind or a misled judgment doth always nourish it; and this is either a mistake of the nature of such means on which we rely for assistance, as when a man lays as much stress upon a thread as upon a cable, or expects as much nourishment from a stone as from bread;[410] or a mistake of the will of others, from whom we expect aid and help, without a warrant for such a confidence. [3.] Thirdly, In its way of working it is directly opposite to distrust, and is a kind of excessive though irregular hope; not that in this case a man believes or hopes overmuch, for there can be no excess properly in the exercise of divine graces, but that he hopes too rashly or lightly, without a solid foundation or reason.[411] Hope hath for its object that which is good under the considerations of futurity, possibility, and difficulty. On the one side, desperation looks upon that good as future, but under so great a difficulty that it forgets the possibility of it, and thereupon surceaseth all endeavours. Presumption, on the other hand, is so keenly apprehensive of the possibility, that it never regards the difficulty, and so thrusts forward into irregular endeavours or expectations. The nature of this will be better understood when the particular instances of presumption are before us.
(1.) First, Then it is presumption, when from external or subordinate means men expect that for which they were never designed nor appointed of God. To expect ‘grapes of thorns or figs of thistles,’ would be a presumption, because God never designed them for such fruits; and no less is it when in any other case men look for high and extraordinary things from any created good above what God hath put into it by the law of creation.
(2.) Secondly, When men do expect those fruits and effects from anything unto which it is appointed, in neglect or opposition to the supreme cause, without whose concurrent influence they cannot reach their proper ends—that is, our hopes are wholly centred upon means, when in the meantime our eye is not upon God. Thus ‘to make gold our hope,’ Job xxxi. 24, ‘to make flesh our arm,’ Jer. xvii. 5, ‘to make Ashur a saviour,’ Hosea xiv. 3, or to trust to any creatures whatsoever, is in Scripture condemned as a presumptuous reliance, and, in regard of the necessary disappointment, ‘a trusting in a lie;’ in which sense it is said that ‘every man is a liar,’ Ps. lxii. 9. The like presumption it is when we boast great things of ourselves, and, as Peter, make confident engagements, in our own strength, that we will avoid such a sin or perform such a duty; for we are but frail, and all our sufficiency is from the Lord, so that it can be no less than intolerable arrogance to promise anything of ourselves without him; neither can men promise to themselves the continuance of that good or advantage which they have already received from second causes, if their confidence builds itself upon that sole consideration, without a just blame. Job had said he should ‘die in his nest,’ [chap. xxix. 18,] and David that ‘he should never be moved,’ [Ps. xvi. 8,] but both of them afterward noted these confidences to have been no other than deceitful presumptions.
(3.) Thirdly, It is a presumption to expect things above the reach of our present state and condition; as for a mean man to beg of God authority and rule, or to expect to be set with princes; or for ordinary Christians to look for miracles, signs from heaven, visions, revelations, extraordinary answers to prayers, and the like, all which expectations are groundless, and the issue of a presumptuous pride: sperare non speranda.
(4.) Fourthly, When men expect things contrary to the rules that God hath set for his dispensations of mercy, they boldly presume upon his will. God hath promised preservation to his children while they are in God’s way, but if any shall go out of that way, and sinfully put himself into dangers and hazards, it would be presumption in him to expect a preservation. It is the same in spiritual things. God promiseth eternal life and the blessings of his covenant to such as give up themselves to him and his laws; will it not be intolerable presumption for men ‘to bless themselves in their heart’ with expectations of reigning with him in glory, while in the meantime they contradict his own rule and neglect his order, walking in profaneness and living to themselves? This is a high presumption of mercy against his express will. Hence are such courses called ‘presumptuous sins,’ Ps. xix. 13, and such sinners transgress ‘with a high hand.’