_The rise of Christ’s first temptation.—Of Satan’s suiting his
temptations to the conditions of men.—Of tempting men upon the plea
of necessity.—The reasons and cheats of that plea.—His pretences of
friendship in tempting, with the danger thereof._
Having thus considered these temptations as they lie before us in their
general prospect, I shall now speak of this first special temptation in
particular, in which—(1.) The rise, or occasion; (2.) The temptation
itself; (3.) The argument by which Satan would enforce it, are to be
distinctly noted.
1. First, _As to the rise of it_, it is questioned by some why Satan
begins with this first. The cause they assign, in part at least, is
from his first success against Eve, in a temptation about eating, as if
this were the chief and most hopeful arrow in his quiver. But we need
not go so far, when the evangelist is so punctual in setting it down,
in the latter end of the former verse, ‘he was an hungered.’ This the
devil took notice of, and from hence took the rise of his temptation,
that by ‘turning stones to bread,’ for the satisfaction of his present
hunger, he might be induced to make way for the secret stratagems which
he had prepared against him on this occasion. Here I note,
_Obs._ 6. _That where Satan hath a design against any, he doth take the
advantage of their condition, and suits his temptation accordingly._
Thus, if men be in poverty, or in the enjoyments of plenty, in sickness
or health, if in afflictions, under wrongs, in discontents, or carried
to advancements and honours, or whatever else may be considerable
relating to them, he observes it, and orders his designs so as to take
in all the advantages that they will afford. That it is his concern and
interest so to do, we may imagine, upon these grounds:—
(1.) First, _Our consent must be gained_. This he cannot properly and
truly force, but must entice and deceive us to a compliance with him.
(2.) Secondly, _If our condition speak for him, and lie fair for the
furtherance of any device of his, our consent is upon the matter half
gained_. It is much, if so powerful an advocate, as is our present
state, do not influence us to an inclination.
(3.) Thirdly, _This doth his work easily and effectually_. He more
generally prevails by this course, and with less labour.
_Applic._ This policy of Satan should advantage us by _suggesting
fit memorials to us in our expectations of temptation_. Though we
know not all Satan’s thoughts, yet may we know where and how he
will usually make an onset. Our condition will tell us what to look
for. The distressed and afflicted may expect a temptation suited to
their condition, as of murmuring, repining, revenge, distrust, use of
indirect means, despairings, &c. They that have peace and plenty may be
sure they shall be tempted suitably, to pride, boasting, covetousness,
oppression, contempt of others, security, or whatever may be fit to be
ingrafted on that stock. The like may be said of any other different
condition. How fairly are we forewarned, by an observation made upon
Satan’s proceeding upon these advantages, where to expect him, and how
to provide against him.
Let us proceed to a further inquiry, _How the devil managed this
advantage of Christ’s hunger_. He plainly urgeth him with a necessity
of providing supplies for himself, spreading before him his desire
to eat, and the impossibility of help, in a barren and desolate
wilderness: as if he had said, ‘The want of the body is to be provided
for; nature and religion consents to this; the wilderness affords no
help, ordinary means fail; there is therefore a necessity that some
extraordinary course be taken, therefore turn stones to bread; this
is not unsuitable to the condition and power of him who is the Son of
God.’ At this rate he pleads.
_Obs._ 7. Observe then, _That Satan usually endeavours to run his
temptations upon the plea of necessity, and from thence to infer a
duty_.
When he cannot pretend a fair and direct way to irregular practices, he
would break a door and force a way by necessity.
Under this notion of necessity, the devil marshals all those
pretences that seem to be of more than ordinary force, in their usual
prevalencies. Thus he teacheth men to think they are necessitated, if
they be carried by a strong inclination of their own, or if there be
an urgency and provocation from others, or if they be in straits and
dangers; and sometime he goes so high as to teach men that a necessity
is included in the very fabric of their natural principles, by which
they presumptuously excuse themselves in being sinful, because by
nature they are so, and cannot be changed without special grace. Scarce
shall we meet any man with seasonable reproof for his iniquity, but he
will plead such kind of necessities for himself,—I could not help it;
I was strongly carried; or, I was compelled; I must do so, or else I
could not escape such a danger, &c.
The reasons of this policy are these:—
(1.) First, _He knows that necessity hath a compulsive force_, even
to things of otherwise greatest abhorrencies. A treasury of instances
is to be had in famines and besieged places, where it is usual to eat
unclean things, not only creatures that are vile, but even dung and
entrails; nay, so tyrannical is necessity, that it makes inroads into,
and conquests upon nature itself, causing ‘the tender and delicate
woman, which would not adventure the sole of her foot upon the ground
for delicateness and tenderness, to have an evil eye towards the
husband of her bosom, towards her son, and towards her daughter,’
Deut. xxviii. 56. A like force doth it exercise upon the minds and
consciences of men. It makes them rise up against their light, it
engageth men to lay violent hands upon their own convictions, to
stifle and extinguish them. How many mournful examples have we of this
kind! How many have apostatized from truth, being terrified by the
urging necessities of danger, contrary to the highest convictions of
conscience!
(2.) Secondly, _Necessity can do much to the darkening of the
understanding, and change of the judgment, by the strong influence it
hath upon the affections_. Men are apt to form their apprehensions
according to the dictates of necessity. What they see to be hazardous,
they are inclinable to judge to be evil. Men in straits not only
violate their reason, but sometime by insensible steps, unknown to
themselves, slide into a contrary judgment of things, directly cross to
what they have believed and professed. Which persuasion they owe not
to any further accession of light, or new discovery of argument; for
ofttimes the same arguments which, in the absence of trouble, they have
contemned as weak, by the appearance of danger, put on another face and
seem strong; but to the prevalency of their fears. And thus many in all
ages have altered their judgments and thoughts, not because they knew
more, but because they feared more.
The like necessities do men form to themselves from exorbitant and
greedy hopes and expectations of a better condition, compared to
that wherein they at present are; and the like influence it hath in
the alteration of their judgments. Let the bishop of Spalato be an
example of this, who loathed the Romish religion first, and in England,
whither he came for refuge, writ against it; but saw a necessity,
from the disappointment of expectation, to change his mind, returned
to Rome again, and persuaded himself that that was true which he had
formerly pronounced false; and so writ against the church of England,
as before he had done against the church of Rome. To him we may add
Ecebolius,[385] of whom Socrates reports, that, according to the
various appearings of hazards, he changed his religion several times.
Under Constantine, he was a Christian; under Julian, a pagan; and under
Jovinian, a Christian again.
(3.) Thirdly, _Necessity offer’s an excuse, if not a justification, of
the greatest miscarriages_.[386] Lot offered to expose his daughters
to the raging lust of the Sodomites for the preservation of his
angel-strangers, which surely he would in no wise have done, but that
he thought the present necessity might have excused him. Esau profanely
sells his birthright, but excuseth the matter so, ‘Behold, I am at the
point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?’ Gen.
xxv. 32. Aaron produceth a necessity, from the violent resolves of the
people, in justification of himself in the matter of the golden calf,
‘Thou knewest that this people are set on mischief,’ [Exod. xxxii. 22.]
(4.) Fourthly, _Necessity is a universal plea_, and fitted to the
conditions of all men in all callings, and under all extravagancies.
The tradesman, in his unlawful gains or overreachings, pleads a
necessity for it from the hardness of the buyer in other things; the
poor man pleads a necessity for stealing, and the rich pleads the same
necessity for revenge, and thus it serves all with a pretext.
These considerations, discovering this course so hopeful as to this
design of the devil, he will be sure to put us to this pinch where he
can. But, besides this, we may observe three cheats in this plea of
necessity:—
[1.] First, _Sometimes he puts men upon feigning a necessity where
there is none_. Saul sacrificed upon a needless supposal that, Samuel
not coming at the time appointed, there was a necessity for him to
do it. He spared also the cattle upon the like pretence, that it was
a necessary provision for sacrifice. And thus would the devil have
persuaded Christ, that there was an absolute necessity to turn stones
to bread, when in truth there was no such need.
[2.] Secondly, _Sometimes he puts men upon a necessity of their own
sinful procurement_. Herod sware to gratify the daughter of Herodias,
and this is presently pleaded as a necessity for the cutting off John
Baptist’s head. Saul forbade the tasting of meat, and sealed the
penalty by an oath and curse, and this is by and by made a necessity
for the taking away of Jonathan’s life,—who had tasted honey not
knowing his father’s curse,—had not the people rescued him, [1 Sam.
xiv. 24, _seq._]
[3.] Thirdly, _Sometime he stretcheth a necessity further than it
ought_. He knows that God hath such a regard to real necessities, that
upon that ground he will dispense with his Sabbath and the present
performance of duty. These instances he lays before men, and endeavours
to persuade them, that in like manner God will, upon a necessity,
dispense with sins, as well as with the present opportunity of service.
What a covering, in all ages, men have made of necessity for their
highest outrages and extravagancies, and with what confidence they have
managed such pleas, would be endless to relate.
_Applic._ This must warn us _not to suffer ourselves to be imposed upon
by the highest pretences of necessity_. Whatever it may dispense with,
as in some cases it will suspend a present service, and warrant the
performance of a duty, besides the common rule and way wherein it ought
ordinarily to be managed, it must never be pleaded to give warranty
to anything in its own nature sinful. Necessity will not justify
lying, stealing, covetousness, adulteries, &c., _Ferenda magis omnis
necessitas quam perpetranda aliqua iniquitas_.—Aug[ustine.]
Besides, we must be wary in judging what is a necessity. Men are
apt to plead a necessity where there is none; and if we give way
to a facile admittance of excuses of this kind, we shall presently
multiply necessities, and have them to serve us at every turn. Some
would warrant sin by necessity, others would turn off duty and rule by
pretending a necessity where none is; both are to be avoided as snares
of Satan.
Once more, before we dismiss this rise of the temptation of Christ in
hand, let us observe that, in persuading him to turn stones to bread,
he seems to express a great deal of care and tenderness to Christ,
with an invidious reflection upon the love and providence of God: as
if he should say, ‘I see thou art hungry, and this wilderness affords
nothing to eat, and God hath not taken care to spread a table for thee;
I therefore, pitying thy condition, as a friend, advise thee to turn
stones to bread.’
_Obs._ 8. Note, _That Satan manageth his most cruel designs under the
highest pretences of friendship_. He did so with Eve, ‘The Lord knoweth
that ye shall be as gods,’ [Gen. iii. 5;] as if he had a greater regard
to them than God himself. He tempted Christ in the mouth of Peter to
‘spare himself,’ under the show of great kindness, [Mat. xvi. 22;] and
no less are his common pretences to all men. This is a deep policy, for
by this means the mischief intended is the better concealed, and the
less care and provision made against it; and besides, the affections
and desires are stirred up to a hasty embracement of the motion, and an
eager swallowing of the bait.
So great a subtlety is in this manner of dealing, that those who affect
the name of great politicians in the world have learned from Satan
to shew greatest respects and a most friendly countenance to those
whom they most hate and intend to ruin. Thus our Richard the Third of
England constantly dealt with those for whose blood he lay in wait;
and the precepts of Machiavel are fitted to this, that it is wisdom
‘to hug those whom we desire to destroy.’ Ehud’s present made way for
his dagger, [Judges iii. 22.] Joab’s sword could not so well have
despatched its errand upon Abner, if he had not ushered it in with a
kiss, [2 Sam. xx. 9.]
_Applic._ This should make us most _suspect those temptations that
offer us most kindness and advantage, and such as are most gratifying
to our humours and desires_. For can it be imagined in good earnest
that Satan intends us a real good? Can the gifts of enemies pass for
courtesies and favours with any,[387] but such as are bewitched into a
blockish madness? Satan is more to be feared when he flatters than when
he rageth; and though such offers may be looked upon by some as more
benign, and less odious temptations, as some kind of familiar spirits
are more kindly treated by some, under the notion of white devils,
yet may we say of them, as Cornelius Agrippa speaks of some unlawful
arts and ways of Thurgia,[388] _Eò sunt pernitiosiora, qùo imperitis
diviniora_, They have the greatest danger that pretend the highest
friendship. Thus much for the rise of the temptation.