Only, before I go off, observe that Satan did not ofier to cast him down ; that God did not suffer him to do, because he sought to bring Christ to sin. If Satan had cast him down, Christ had not sinned.
[2.] The reason by which he backeth the temptation. It is taken from scripture: 'For it is written. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee.' The scripture is in Ps. xci. 11, 12, where the words run thus : ' He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all tliy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.' Where,
First, Observe the devil's cunning in citing scripture. The apostle telleth us that Satan is sometimes transformed into an angel of light, 2 Cor, xi. 14. And we read that once he took the habit and guise of a prophet, 1 Sam. xxviii. 18 ; and indeed he deceiveth more by the voice of Samuel than by the voice of the dragon. We read of ra ^0.07] Tov ^arai'd, ' The depths of Satan,' Rev. ii. 24. Here he cometh like a divine, with a Bible in his hand, and turneth to the place ; here the enemy of God cometh with the word of God, and disguiseth the worst of actions with the best of words, opposeth God to God, and turneth his truth to countenance a lie. Being refuted by scripture, he will bring scripture too, and pretendeth to reverence that which he chiefly hateth. Christians, you have not to do with a foolish devil, who will appear in his own colours and ugly shape, but with a devout devil, who, for his own turn, can pretend to be godly.
Secondly, That he citetli such a scripture, which exceedingly con-
Mat. IY. 5, 6.] Christ's temptation. 279
duceth to commend the happiness of the godly ; for God will not only be the keeper and guardian of them that tear him, but hath also appointed the ministry of angels ; and the argument of the tempter seemeth to be taken from the less to the greater ; for if it be true of every one that trusts in God, and dwelleth in the shadow of the Almighty, that God will have such a care of him, much more will he have a care of his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. There- fore, you that are declared to be so from heaven, and having such an occasion to show yourself to be the Son of God with so much honour anil })rofit, why should you scruple to cast yourself down ?
But wherein was the devil faulty in citing the scripture ? Some say in leaving out those words, in all thy tuays. This was Bernard's gloss — in viis, non in prcccipiUis : will keep' you in your ways or duties, not in your headlong actions ; these were none of his ways, to throw himself down from the battlements of the temple. This is not to be altogether rejected, because it reaches the sense ; yet this omissiou was not the devil's fault in citing this scripture ; for, all iliy ways signifieth no more but in all thy actions and businesses, and that is sufficiently implied in the words cited by Satan. But the devil's error was in application. He applieth the word of God, not to in- struct, but deceive ; rather to breed a contempt, disdain, and hatred of scriptures, than a reverent esteem of them ; to make the word of God seem uncertain ; or if a reverence of them, to turn this reverence into an occasion of deceit ; more particularly to tempt God to a need- less proof of his power. We are not to cast ourselves into danger, that providence may fetch us off. God will protect us in the evils we suffer, not in the evils we commit — not in dangers we seek, but such as befall us besides our intention.
3. The soreness of this temptation, which appeareth in several things.
[1.] The change of place. For a new temptation, he maketh choice of a new place ; he could do no good on him in the wilderness, there- fore he taketli him aud carrieth him into the holy city. Here was a public place where Christ might discover himself with profit, and tha edification of many, if he would but submit to the devil's methods. In the temple the Messiah was as in his own house, where it was fit the Messiah should exhibit himself to his people. There was an old pro- phecy, Mai. iii. 1 , ' The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in.' And he was to send forth his rod out of Zion, even the law of his kingdom : Ps. ex. 2. If he would yield to this advice and vain- glorious ostentation of his power before that numerous multitude which continually resorted to the holy things performed in the temple, how soon should he be manifested to be the Son of God, or the power of the great God. The devil doth not persuade him to cast himself from a rock or top of a tree in the desert — that had been temerity and rashness — but from a pinnacle of the tem'ple, an holy place, aud a place of much resort. But the Son of God was not to be discovered to the world by the devil's methods. That had been such a piece of ostentation and vainglory as did not become the Son of God, who came to teach the world humility. But, however, the temptation is grievous :