92 OF TEMPTATION,
entreated them to tarry and watch with him, now he was dying, and that for them. In this condition, leaving them but a httle space, ]ihe men forsaken of all love towards him or care of themselves, they fall fast asleep ! Even the best of saints, being left to themselves, will qnickly appear to be less than men, — to be nothing. All our own strength is weakness, and all our wisdom folly. Peter being one of them, — who but a little before had with so much self-confidence af- firmed that though all men forsook him, yet he never would so do, — our Saviour expostulates the matter in particular with him : verse 40, " He saith unto Peter, Could you not watch with me one hour?" as if he should have said, "Art thou he, Peter, who but now boastedst of thy resolution never to forsake me? Is it likely that thou shouldst hold out therein, when thou canst not watch with me one hour? Is this thy dying for me, to be dead in security, when I am dying for thee?" And indeed it would be an amazing thing to consider that Peter should make so high a promise, and be immediately so careless and remiss in the pursuit of it, but that w^e find the root of the same treachery abiding and, working in our own hearts, and do see the fruit of it brought forth every day, the most noble engagements unto obedience quickly ending in deplorable negligence, Ptom. vii. 18.
In this estate our Saviour admonishes them of their condition, their ■weakness, their danger, and stirs them up to a prevention of that ruin wliich lay at the door : saith he, " Arise, watch and pray."
I shall not insist on the particular aimed at here by our Saviour, in this caution to them that were then present ^vith him ; the great temptation that was coming on them, from the scandal of the cross, was doubtless in his eye; — but I shall consider the words as contain- ing a general direction to all the disciples of Christ, in their following of him throughout all generations.
There are three things in the words: —
I. The evil cautioned against, — temjdation.
II. The means of its prevalency, — by our entering into it.
III. The way of preventing it, — watch and iDvay.
It is not in my thoughts to handle the common-place of tempta- tions, but only the danger of them in general, with the means of pre- venting that danger; yet, that we may know Avhat we affirm, and whereof we speak, some concernments of the general nature of temp- tation may be premised.
I. First, For i\\e general nature of tempting and temptation, it lies among things indifferent; to try, to experiment, to prove, to pierce a vessel, that the liquor that is in it may be known, is as much as is signified by it. Hence God is said sometime to tempt; and we are commanded as our duty to tempt, or try, or search ourselves, to know what is in us, and to pray that God Avould do so also. So tempta-
NATURE OF TEMPTATION. 93
tion is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction.
Secondly, Temptation in its special nature, as it denotes any evil, is considered either actively, as it leads to evil, or passively, as it hath an evil and suffering in it: so temptation is taken for affliction, James i. 2; for in that sense, we are to " count it all joy when we fall into temptation;" in the other, that we " enter not into it."
Again, actively considered, it either denotes in the tempter a de- sign for the bringing about of the special end of temptation, namely, a leading into evil; so it is said, that " God tempts no man,'' James i. 13, with a design for sin as such; — or the general nature and end-»of temptation, which is trial; so " God tempted Abraham," Gen. xxii. 1. And he proveth or tempteth by false prophets, Deut. xiii. 3.
Now, as to God's tempting of any, two things are to be consi- dered:— 1. The end why he doth it; 2. The way whereby he doth it.
1. For the first, his general ends are two: —
(1.) He doth it to shoiu unto man what is in huii, — that is, the man himself; and that either as to his grace or to his corruption. (I speak not now of it as it may have a place and bear a part in judiciary obduration.) Grace and cori'uption lie deep in the heart; men often- times deceive themselves in the search after the one or the other of them. When we give vent to the soul, to try what grace is there, corruption comes out; and when we search for corruption, grace ap- pears. So is the soul kept in uncertainty; we fail in our trials. God comes with a gauge that goes to the bottom. He sends his instni- ments of trial into the bowels and the inmost parts of the soul, and lets man see what is in him, of what metal he is constituted. Thus he tempted Abraham to show him his faith. Abraham knew not what faith he had (I mean, what power and vigour was in his faith) until God drew it out by that great trial and temptation.^ When God says he knew it, he made Abraham know it. So he tried Heze- kiah to discover his pride; God left him that he might see what was hi his heart, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. He knew not that he had such a proud heart, so apt to be lifted up, as he appeared to have, until God tried him, and so let out his filth, and poured it out before his face. Tlie issues of such discoveries to the saints, in thankfulness, humiliation, and treasuring up of experiences, I shall not treat of.