§. The Second of our Lords Three Temptations, is related after this manner, in Mat. 4. 5, 6. Then the Devil taketh him up, into the Holy City, and setteth him upon a Pinacle of the Temple; and saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thy self down; for it is written, He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, and in their Hands, they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy Foot against a Stone.
From whence take these Remarks.
I. The places of the greatest Holiness will not secure us from Annoyance by the Temptations of the Devil, to the greatest wickedness. When our Lord was in the Holy City, the Devil fell upon him there. Indeed, there is now no proper Holiness of Places in our Days; the Signs and Means of Gods more special Presence are not under the Gospel, ty'd unto any certain places: Nevertheless there are places, where we use to enjoy much of God; and where, altho' God visit not the Persons for the sake of the Places, yet he visits the Places for the sake of the Persons. But, I am to tell you that the Devil will visit those Places and best Persons there. No Place, that I know of, has got such a Spell upon it, as will always keep the Devil out. The Meeting-House wherein we Assemble for the Worship of God, is fill'd with many Holy People, and many Holy Concerns continually; but if our Eyes were so refined as the Servant of the Prophet had his of old, I suppose we should now see a Throng of Devils in this very place. The Apostle has intimated, that Angels come in among us; there are Angels it seems that hark, how I Preach, and how you Hear, at this Hour. And our own sad Experience is enough to intimate, That the Devils are likewise Rendevouzing here. It is Reported, in Job 1. 5. When the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them. When we are in our Church-Assemblies, O how many Devils, do you imagine, [90] croud in among us! There is a Devil that rocques one to Sleep, there is a Devil that makes another to be thinking of, he scarce knows what himself; and there is a Devil, that makes another, to be pleasing himself with wanton and wicked Speculations. It is also possible, that we have our Closets, or our Studies, gloriously perfumed with Devotions every day; but alas, can we shut the Devil out of them? No, Let us go where we will, we shall still find a Devil nigh unto us. Onely, when we come to Heaven, we shall be out of his reach for ever; O thou foul Devil; we are going where thou canst not come! He was hissed out of Paradese, and shall never enter it any more. Yea, more than so, when the New Jerusalem comes down into the High Places of our Air, from whence the Devil shall then be banished, there shall be no Devil within the Walls of that Holy City. Amen. Even so Lord Jesus, Come quickly.
II. Any other acknowledgments of the Lord Jesus Christ, will be permitted by the Temptations of the Devil, provided those Acknowledgments of him, which are True and Full, may be thereby prevented. What was it, that the Devil hurried our Lord Jesus Christ unto the Top of the Temple for? Surely it could not meerly be to find Precipices; any part of the Wilderness would have afforded Them. No, it was rather to have Spectators. And why so, Why, the carnal Jews had an Expectation among them; that Elias was to fly from Heaven to the Temple; and the Devil seems willing, that our Lord should be cry'd up for Elias, among the giddy multitude; or any thing in the World, tho never so considerable otherwise, rather than to be received as the Christ of God. The Devil will allow his Followers to think very highly of the Lord Jesus Christ; O but he is very lothe to have them think, All. We read in Col. 1. 19. It has pleased the Father, that in him there should all Fullness dwell. But it is pleasing to the Devil that we deny something of the Immense Fullness, which is in our Lord. The Devil would confess to our Lord, Thou art the Holy one of God! but then he claps in, Thou art Jesus of Nazareth; which was to conceal our Lords being Jesus of Bethlehem, and so his being, The True Messiah. All the Heresies, and all the Persecutions, that ever plagued the Church of God, have still been, to strike at some Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. A Christ Entirely Acknowledged, will save the Souls of them that so Acknowledge Him; but, says the Devil, Whatever I must not give way to that. As they say, the Devil [91] makes Witches unable to utter all the Lords Prayer, or some such System of Religion, without some Deprevations of it; thus the Devil will consent that we may make a very large Confession of the Lord Jesus Christ; only he will have us to deprave it, at least in some one Important Article. Some one Honour, some one Office, and some one Ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ, must be always left unacknowledged, by those that will do as the Devil would have them.
III. High Stations in the Church of God, lay men open to violent and peculiar Temptations of the Devil. When our Lord was upon the Pinacle, that is not the Fane, or Spire, but the Battlements of the Temple, there did the Devil pester him, with singular Molestations, and he therein seems to intend an Entanglement for the Jews, as well as for our Lord. Believe me they that stand High, cannot stand safe. The Devil is a Nimrod, a mighty Hunter; and common or little Game, will not serve his Turn: he is a Leviathan, of whom we may say, as in Job. 41. 34. He beholds all high things. Men of high Attainments, and Men of high Employments, in the Church of God, must look, like Peter to be more Sifted, and like Paul, to be more Buffeted than other Men. Feriunt Summos Fulmina Montes.——The Devil can raise a Storm, when God permitteth it, but as for those Men that stand near Heaven, the Devil will attack them with his most cruel storms of Thunder and Lightening. It was said, let him that stands take heed; but we may say, They that stand most high, have cause to take most heed. The Devil is a Goliah; and when he finds a Champion, he'l be sure most fiercely to Combate such a Man. He is for, Killing many Birds with one stone; and he knows that he shall hinder a world of Good, and produce a world of Ill, if once he can bring a Man Eminently Stationed into his Toyls. Hence 'tis that the Ministers of God, are more dogg'd by the Devil, than other persons are. Especially such Ministers, as move in the highest Orb of Serviceableness; and most of all such Ministers as have spent many years in Laudable Endeavours to be serviceable; Those Ministers are the Stars of Heaven, at which the Tayl of the Dragon, will give the most sweeping and most stinging strokes; the Devil will find that for them, that shall make them Walk softly all their Days. These are the Men, that have creepled, and vexed the Devil more than other Men; for which the Devil has an old Quarrel with them. O Neighbours, little do you think, what black Days of Mourning, and Fasting, and Praying before the Lord, a Raging Devil does fill the lives of such Men of God withall.
[92] IV. The Devil will make a deceitful and unfaithful use of the Scriptures to make his Temptations forceable. When the Devil Solicited our Lord, unto an evil thing, he quoted the Ninty First Psalm unto him, tho' indeed he fallaciously clip'd it, and maim'd it, of one clause very material in it. O never does the Devil make such dangerous Passes at us, as when he does wrest our own Sword out of our Hands, and push That upon us. We have to defend us, that Weapon in Eph. 6. 16. The Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; but when the Devil has that very Weapon to fight us with, he makes terrible work of it. When the Devil would poyson men with false Doctrines, he'l quote Scriptures for them; a Quaker himself, will have the First Chapter of John always in his mouth. When the Devil would perswade men to vile Actions, he'l quote Scriptures for them; he'l encourage men to go on in Sin, by showing them, where 'tis said, The Lord is ready to Pardon. I say this, The one story of Davids Fall, in the Scripture, has been made by the Devil an Engine for the Damnation of many Millions. The Devil will fright men from doing those things, that are, the Things of their Peace; but How? He'l turn a Scripture into a Scarecrow for them. The Devil will fright them from all constant Prayer to God, by quoting that Scripture, The Sacrifice of the Wicked, is an Abomination to the Lord; the Devil will fright them from the Holy Supper of God, by quoting that Scripture, He that Eats and Drinks unworthily, Eats and Drinks damnation to himself. And thus the Devil will by some abused Scripture, Terrifie the Children of God; the Scripture is written as we are told, For our Comfort; but it is quoted by the Devil, for our terror. How many Godly Souls have been cast into sinful Doubts and Fears, by the Devils foolish glosses upon that Scripture, He that doubts is damned; and that, the fearful shall have their portion in the burning Lake: The Devil sometimes has play'd the Preacher, but I say, Beware all silly Souls when such a Fool is Preaching.
V. Grievous and Pulling Hurries to Self-Murder are none of the smallest outrages, which the Devil in his Temptations commits upon us. Why, did the Devil say to our Lord, Cast thy self down, but in hopes that our Lord would have broke his Bones, in the fall? The Devil is an Old Murtherer; and he loves to Murder men; but no Murder gives him so much satisfaction, as that which at his instigation, men perpetrate upon themselves. We [93] see that such as are Bewitched and Possessed by the Devil, do quickly lay violent hands upon themselves, if they be not watched continually, and we see that when persons have begun that Unnatural business of killing themselves, there is a Preternatural Stupendious Prodigious Assistance, by the Devil given thereunto. When people are going to Harm themselves, we call upon them, like those to the Jailor, in Acts 16. 28. Do thy self no harm! And we have this Argument for it, It is the Devil that is dragging of you to this mischief; but will you believe, will you obey such an one as the Devil is? What was it that made Judas to strangle himself? We read it was when the Devil was in him. I suppose there are few self-murderers, but what are first very strangely fallen into the Devils hands; and possibly, 'tis by some Extraordinary Discontent, against God, or back-sliding from him, that the Devil first entred into those disturbed Souls. Indeed, some very great Saints of God, have sometimes had hideous Royls raised by the Devil in their minds; untill they have e'en cry'd out with Job, I choose strangling rather than life; and sometimes the ill Humours or Vapours in the Bodies of such Good Men, do so harbour the Devil that they have this woful motion every day thence made unto them; You must kill your self! you must! you must! But it is rarely any other than a Saul, an Abimelek, an Achitophel, or a Judas; rarely any other, than a very Reprobate, whom the Devil can drive, while the man is Compos Mentis, to Consummate such a Villany. Yea, no Child of God, in his Right Senses can go so far in this impiety, as to be left without all Time and Room for true Repentance of the Crime; 'tis thus done, by none but those that go to the Devil. A self-murder, acted by one that is upon other accounts a Reasonable man, is but such an attempt of Revenge upon the God that made him, as none but one full of the Devil can be guilty of. If any of you are Dragoon'd by the Devil, unto the murdering of your selves, my Advice to you is, Disclose it, Reveal it, make it known immediately. One that Cut his own Throat among us, Expired crying out, O that I had told! O that I had told. You may spoil the Devil, if you'l Tell what he is a doing of.
VI. Presumptuous and Unwarrantable Trials of the Blessed God, are some of those things whereinto the Devil would fain hook us with his Temptations. This was that which the Devil would have brought our Lord unto, even, A tempting of the Lord our God. It is the charge of our God upon us, in Deut. 6. 16. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. But that which the Devil Tries, is, to put us upon Trying in a sinful way whether God be such a God as indeed he is. [94] 'Tis true as to the ways of Obedience, our God says unto us, Prove me, in those ways; Try, whether I won't be as good as my Word. But then there are ways of Presumption, wherein the Devil would have us to trie, what a God it is, With whom we have to do. The Devil would have us to trie the Purpose of God, about our selves or others; but how? By going to the Devil himself; by Consulting Astrologers, or Fortune Tellers; or perhaps by letting the Bible fall open, to see what is the first Sentence we light upon. The Devil would have us trie the Mercy of God, but how? By running into Dangers, which we have no call unto. He would have us trie the Power of God; but how? By looking for good things, without the use of Means for the getting of them. He would have us trie the Justice of God; but how? By venturing upon Sin in a Corner, with an Imagination that God will never bring us out. He would have us trie the Promise of God; but how? By Limiting the Lord, unto such or such a way of manifesting Himself, or else believing of nothing at all. He would have us trie the Threatning of God; but how? By going on impenitently in those things, for which the Wrath of God comes upon the Children of Disobedience. Thus would the Devil have us to affront the Majesty of Heaven every day.
VII. The Temptations of the Devil, aim at puffing and bloating of us up, with Pride; as much perhaps as any one iniquity. The Devil would have had Our Lord make a Vain glorious Discovery of himself unto the World, by Flying in the air, so as no mortal can. Hoc Ithacus velit—the Devil would have us to soar aloft, and not only to be above other men, but also to know that we are so, Pride is the Devils own sin; and he affects especially to be, The King over the Children of Pride, it is a caution in 1 Tim. 3. 6. A Pastor must not be A Novice; Lest being lifted up with Pride, He fall into the condemnation of the Devil. (Summo ac Pio cum Tremore Hunc Textum Legamus nos Ministri Juvenes!) Accordingly, the Devil would have us to be inordinately taken and moved with what Excellencies our God has bestowed upon us. If our Estates rise, he would have us rise in our Spirits too. If we have been blessed with Beauty, with Breeding, with Honour, with Success, with Attire, with Spiritual Priviledges, or with Praise-worthy Performances; Now says the Devil, Think thy self better than other Men. Yea, the Devil would have us arrogate unto our selves, those Excellencies which really we never were owners of; and Boast of a false Gift. He would have us moreover to Thirst after Applause among others that may see Our Excellencies! and be impatient if we are not accounted some-body. He would have us further[95]more, to aspire after such a Figure, as God has never yet seen fitting for us; and croud into some High Chair that becomes us not. Thus would the Devil Elevate us into the Air, above our Neighbours; and why so? 'Tis that we may be punished with such Falls, as may make us cry out with David, O my Bones are broken with my Falls! The Devil can't endure to see men lying in the Dust; because there is no falling thence. He is a Fallen Spirit himself, and it pleases him to see the Falls of men.
§. The Third of our Lords Three Temptations, is related in such Terms as these. Matth. 4. 8, 9. Again the Devil taketh him up, into an exceeding High Mountain, and sheweth him all the Kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them: and saith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and Worship me. From whence take these Remarks.