SERMON VIII. Of our SAVIOUR's Temptation. [A Sermon preached in Lent.] MATT. iv. I.. Then was Jefus led up of the Spirit into vil. T HE Hiftory of our Saviour's SE RM. Temptation, is a portion of VIII. Scripture, in which there are feveral Difficulties, that deferve particular Explication; and upon which may be made feveral 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 tempt " ed in all points like as we are, only without Sin; is yet by the Evangelifts recorded, as having been tempted only at This particular Time: Then was Jefus led up to be tempted. Then: That is, as foon as he had been baptized. So St Mark explains it, ch. i. 11, 12. At his Baptism there came a Voice from Heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed: 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 deftroyed. 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 SER M. hope to prevail fo much by Tempting, as by Oppofing and Perfecuting him. The proper Time of Tryal, was juft after his Baptism, at the first entring into his Office. And as the Tempter might reafonably think This the likelieft Season, to affault him with Succefs; fo the Wifdom of God knew on the contrary, that it was the fittest Time for his repulfing and triumphing over the Tempter, For This reafon the Text takes notice, that " Jefus 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 expreffly, ch. iv. 1, Jefus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from fordan, and was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness. And indeed 1 it is obfervable, that our Saviour, who before his Incarnation appeared to Mofes and the Patriarchs in the Form of God, that e is, invested with the immediate Glory and Power of his Father; on the contrary, all the time of his refiding here upon Earth, appeared [xevabels] divefted of That Glory, being made in the Likeness of Man; N 3 S and 3 SER M.and is accordingly réprefented through the VIII. whole Gofpel, as acting and working under the Conduct of the Holy Spirit; and having (as our Lord fpeaks concerning Himself, Job. iii. 34.) given the Spirit unto him, not by Measure. " 2. IT may be enquired, why our Saviour continued fo long in the folitary Retirement of a Defert 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 feems to have been, that he might prépare 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 Baptift, the Fore-runner of our Lord, before the day of his showing unto Ifrael; Luke i. 8o. Thus the Apostles of our Lord, at the time of their fending 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 VIII. our Saviour, admonishing his Difciples SER M. concerning fome extraordinary miraculous 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 cafes, 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 rafh and precipitate, careless, and full of worldly Thoughts and Defigns; but that, withdrawing our Minds from the World, and attending seriously to the promoting of God's Glory, or the Intereft of Truth and Virtue among Men, we beg the Divine Affiftance to enable us, and by Meditation and Study ftrengthen our own Refolutions of being Diligent, and improve our Qualifications towards being more Successful, in the Performance of our Duty. As to the particular Space of Time wherein our Saviour fafted, 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 8 Strength |
