SERMON VIII. Of our SAVIOUR'S Temptation. [A Sermon preached in Lent.] MATT. iv. 1. Then was Jefus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness, to be tempted of the De vil. T : HE History of our Saviour's SERM. serve particular Explication; and upon which may be made several useful Obfervations, to direct us in our Own Practice. SERM. 1. In the first place, it may be inVIII. quired, why our Saviour, whom the Scrip ~ ture elsewhere declares to have been tempted in all points like as we are, only without Sin; is yet by the Evangelists recorded, as having been tempted only at This particular Time: Then was Jesus led up to be tempted. Then : That is, as soon as he had been baptized. So St Mark explains it, ch. i. 11, 12. At his Baptifm there came a Voice from Heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the Wilderness. The Reafon is, because he Then began to enter upon his Office, of preaching the Doctrine of Salvation; That Doctrine, by which the Works and Kingdom of the Devil, the Power and Dominion of Sin over Mankind, was to be destroyed. Before This, we do not read of his being Tempted; because his Life being private like that of other men, his Temptations - were fo likewise, Sin only always excepted. Neither, After This, is there any mention of his being Tempted any more; because the Tempter being at This Time thoroughly VIII. thoroughly vanquished, did not hereafter SERM. hope to prevail so much by Tempting, as by Opposing and Perfecuting him. The proper Time of Tryal, was just after his Baptifm, at the first entring into his Office. And as the Tempter might reafonably think This the likeliest Season, to afssault him with Success; so the Wifdom of God knew on the contrary, that it was the fittest Time for his repulfing and triumphing over the Tempter, For This reason the Text takes notice, that Jesus was led up of the Spirit, that is, not by the Evil Spirit, but by the Good Spirit of God, was he led up to his Temptation. So St Luke expressly, ch. iv. 1. Jefus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness. And indeed it is obfervable, that our Saviour, who before his Incarnation appeared to Mofes and the Patriarchs in the Form of God, that is, invested with the immediate Glory and Power of his Father; on the contrary, all the time of his residing here upon Earth, appeared [κενωθείς] divested of That Glory, being made in the Likeness of Man; SERM.and is accordingly represented through the VIII. whole Gospel, as acting and working un der the Conduct of the Holy Spirit; and having (as our Lord speaks concerning Himself, Job. iii. 34.) given the Spirit unto bim, not by Measure. 2. It may be enquired, why our Saviour continued so long in the folitary Retirement of a Desert place, and why he Fafted through all that Space of Forty Days. As to his Retirement in general, and his Fafting or Humiliation during that Retirement; the Reason of it seems to have been, that he might prepare himself beforehand by Meditation and Prayer, for the executing of that Great Office which he was about to undertake. Thus Mofes, the Giver of the Law. Thus Elijah, the Head of the Antient Prophets. Thus John Baptist, the Fore-runner of our Lord, before the day of his showing unto Ifrael; Luke i. 80. Thus the Apostles of our Lord, at the time of their sending for Paul and Barnabas to preach, fasted and prayed; Acts xiii. 3. And when they first ordained Elders in every Church, they prayed with Fafting, ch. xiv. 23. And our our Saviour, admonishing his Disciples SERM. concerning some extraordinary miraculous VIII. Gifts, with which they were to be indued; This kind, faith he, goeth not out, but by Prayer and Fafting; Matt. xvii. 21. In ordinary cases, it is to be understood by Us as a Rule and Example in proportion, that in undertaking any Office, and especially any Sacred Function, we be not rash and precipitate, careless, and full of worldly Thoughts and Designs; but that, withdrawing our Minds from the World, and attending serioufly to the promoting of God's Glory, or the Interest of Truth and Virtue among Men, we beg the Divine Assistance to enable us, and by Meditation and Study strengthen our own Resolutions of being Diligent, and improve our Qualifications towards being more Succefsful, in the Performance of our Duty. As to the particular Space of Time wherein our Saviour fasted, which was forty days; This was an Accomplishment of those Antient Types, when Mofes was with the Lord in the Mount forty days and forty nights, and did neither eat bread, nor drink water; (Exod. xxxiv. 28.) and Elijah, (1 Kings xix. 8.) went in the N 4 Strength |