Iesus the head of the Church was tempted by Satan in the highest degree so as the Angels came to minister comfort vnto him and yet he still remained the welbeloued sonne of God and so may any of Gods children remaine Gods deere elect euen then when the violence of Satan shall seem most to preuaile against them Secondly this teacheth vs to suppresse all rash iudgment in our selues of all such as shall bee exercised by Satan in extreame temptations for oft it will fall out that the conscience of Gods child shall bee so exceedingly tormented in temptation that hee shall cry out he is forsaken of God and shal be damned when as indeed he stil remains the deare child of God as Christ our Sauiour did Gods welbeloued in the deepest assaults of Satan And therefore the relation published of Francis Spira his desperation doth inconsiderately taxe him for a cast-away considering that nothing befel him in the time of his desperation but that which may befall the child of God yea our owne land can afford many examples which match Francis Spira whether we regard the matter of his temptation or the deepnesse of his desperation who yet through the mercy of God haue receiued comfort And therefore in this case Christian charity must euer bind vs to thinke and speake the best Lastly Satans departing vpon the ending of these three temptations giues vs to vnderstand that howsoeuer the Diuel abound with temptations of all sorts yet these three are the ground of all and the most principall temptations that Satan hath for in this combate he did his worst shewed the violence of his rage and wrath And therefore it wil needfull for vs to take special notice of them as also of Christs repulses giuen vnto them that so wee may be the better armed against them and the like Thus much for the time when Satan departed The second circumstance touching his departure is for how long the Diuel left him noted by Saint Luke not for euer but for a season Some may say we doe not find that Satan tempted Christ euer after this saue only vpon the crosse where he spotled principalities and powers Coloss. 2. 15. Answ. The Diuell tempts men two waies sometime by himselfe as he did our Sauior Christ in this place and vpon the crosse and our first mother Eue in the garden Gen. 3. 1. sometime by men whom hee vseth as his instruments thus he tempted Adam by Eue and Iob by the Chaldeans and Sabeans that robbed him and by his friends who sought to draw him from his integrity Iob. 27. 5. now though Christ were not often after this tempted immediately by the Diuel yet by Satans instruments he was many times sore assaulted to the greefe of his heart as by the Iewes the Scribes and Pharisies Herod and Pontius Pilate who required signes of him mocked and persecuted him Heere we may see a notable patterne of the state of Gods Church children in this world for looke as Christ their head is sore tempted and then let alone and yet but for a season being tempted againe by Satans Instruments so fareth it with them one while they are exercised with outward temptations and another while with inward assaults then through Gods mercy they haue freedome for a season but afterward Satan comes vpon them againe either by himselfe or by his instruments which must teach vs wisdome in regard of the state of our own Church in particular town that we must not dreame of a perpetuall freedome from trials and temptations howsoeuer through Gods mercie wee haue inioyed admirable peace and tranquillity for many yeares together for being a part of Christs mystical body we must looke for the same condition with our head Christ Iesus who being sore tempted of Satan was left but for a season and after tempted againe and therfore wee must resolue our selues vndoubtedly that trials will come what way God only knoweth but the winter of affliction will follow our haruest of ioy and peace and the yearely visitations by plagues famine are symptomes that is signes foretunners of more heauy iudgments vnlesse we prepare to meete our God in the practise of speedy and vnfained repentance And as this is the state of our Church in generall so is it the particular condition of euery Christian whose life is a continuall intercourse of trouble and peace and therefore euery child of God must be watchfull against security and with the end of one assault ioyne his preparation for a new This was the state of Christ and the seruant must not look to be aboue his master And thus much for the Diuels departure The second part of the Issue of this conflict is the ministery of the angels vnto Christ And behold the Angels come and ministred vnto him In saying Behold the Euangelist commends to our consideration the view of a great wonder to wit that that person whom the Diuel would haue had to haue worshipped him is here worshipped and serued of the holy Angels of God Let no man therefore iudge of himselfe by that which Satan would perswade him to in temptation Christs estate doth now appeare farre different from that which Satan would haue brought him to so shall all Gods children find it to bee with them after temptation if therein they fight manfully after the example of Christ. Touching the ministerie of these Angels here obserue three points First the bond that causeth the good Angels to minister vnto Christ. Secondly their number And thirdly the time of their ministery I. Point The bond of their Ministery is Christs soueraignety ouer the Angels not onely as hee is God their Creator but as hee is mediator God and man euen the man Christ I say not the manhood of Christ but Christ as I may say the man-God is Lord of all Angels and they doe him homage and seruice And though the man-hood of Christ be not Lord of Angels yet being receiued into the vnity of his God-head it is thereby exalted aboue all Angels by many degrees Wherin we may behold the endlesse goodnesse of God in aduancing our nature which by sinne was made more vile then al earthly creatures far aboue the Angels in degree by reason of this coniunction which it hath with the nature of God in the person of Christ. Now as by this bond the Angels are made ministers vnto Christ so by vertue of the same they become ministers to all his true members Iacobs ladder is thus expounded by our Sauiour Christ verily verily I say vnto you heereafter shall ye see heauen open and the Angels of God ascending and descending vpon the son of man This sonne of man is Christ who being God and man reacheth from heauen to earth and from earth to heauen to him the Angels minister and by him they descend to minister to all the saints of God heere on earth The vse 1. This teacheth vs to admire the endlesse goodnesse of God
2. 3. Therefore in the vision afterward shewed vnto him he is bid to waite for deliuerance for though it tary yet it shall surely come and shall not stay Cha. 2. 3. Thus Paul comforteth the Christian Corinthians God is faithfull and will not suffer you to be tempted aboue that which ye are able to beare but will giue an issue with the temptation that ye may be able to beare it 1. Cor. 10. 13. The bodies of the two Prophets who were slaine for the testimony of the Lord Iesus are suffered to lie in the streetes vnburied for three daies and an halfe that is for some short time which being expired the spirit of life comming from God shall enter into them and reuiue them then feare shall take their enimies but they shall ascend vp to heauen and their enemies shall see it All these doe plainly manifest Gods great mercie in giuing a gracious issue to the troubles of his childrē yea by good experience we may see the truth heereof in the happy issue that the Lord hath put to the most fearefull temptations of sundry in our time who haue beene exercised therein some for a yeare or two other for longer time euen many yeares together and yet in the end haue sung the song of ioyful deliuerance it may be some of Gods children beare the Crosse to their dying day yet the Lord sustains them in it by his grace and in the end shewes them mercy and peace Secondly in this departure of Satan from Christ we may obserue a notable difference between the first Adam and the second The first Adam was tempted and ouercome therein Satan preuailed in that conflict and brings him captiue into his kingdome hauing spiritually taken possession of him The second Adam is tempted also but the Diuell can find no meanes whereby to preuaile with him the prince of this world commeth but hath nought in mee saith Christ Iohn 14. 30. But after his assault is faine to flie away Further in this departure of Christ note two circumstances when Satan departed and for how long a time First when he departed is noted in this word then that is after the third temptation when Christ in indignation for his blasphemy against God had said Auoid Satan and withall had answered his temptation out of the written word then he departs Hence we learne First that the best way to vanquish satain is to giue him no ground but to withstand him manfully at the first Iam. 4. 7. resist the Diuell and he will flie Now Satan is resisted when from our hearts we cast our soules on the promises of God conteined in his word and in the whole course of our liues pray for strength of grace to stand against all his assaults whereby wee may see the great error and deceit of those who accompt of Satans temptations as of fits of melancholie and thinke they may bee remooued by musicke merrie company and such like but these are no weapons to driue away the Diuell Secondly this also shewes their dangerous course who yeeld to Satans temptations for a time taking their pleasure in their youth purposing to resist him when they are olde and then to repent too many take this course but it is fearefull for thus doing they set open al the doores of their heart to the Diuel and suffer him to take quiet possession little considering that it is beyond their power to dispossesse him at their pleasure For indeed heereby they become like to a man that is sick of the dropsie who the more he drinks the more he desires so hee that willingly giues place to Satans temptation the more he sinnes the more he may for the longer he is tempted the more by yeelding is he weakened the greater is the danger of his endlesse confusion therefore learne of Christ to resist betime Secondly in this circumstance note that when Christ rebuketh Satan and bids him auoid hee departs and is presently gone Was this any vertue in satan that hee doth thus readily depart at Christs command no verily though he obey it is not praise worthy for obedience is two fould voluntary and constrained voluntary when the creature doth Gods command without compulsion thus Adam did before his fail and all holy ones that are iustified and sanctified doe thus in part in this life Constrained obedience is when the creature is made to obey God wil he nil he This is like to the obedience of rebels who being attached and arreigned for their treasons in suffering are made to obey the Princes lawes And such was this obedience of Satan forced vpon him by the powerfull command of Christ who is Prince and Lord of all creatures And this is to be marked that when Christ giues foorth his powerfull command then Satan must obey whether he wil or not This is euident by his manifold dispossessions of vncleane spirits who came foorth at his command though they accompted him as their tormenter Now that which heere befals the Diuell shall one day bee verified of all wicked men if they will not now obey God willinglie while in the ministerie of the word he bids them repent and beleeue the Gospell they shall one day bee compelled euen at the dreadful day of Iudgement wil they nil they to obey that wofull voice of Christ Depart from mee yee cursed into euerlasting fire Mat. 25. 41. In regard whereof wee must euer be carefull now in the daie of grace to yeeld vnto Christ voluntary and cheerefull obedience vnto all his commandements both of the Law and Gospell lest one day wee be constrained to obey in going to our endlesse wo Satan who is a thousand-fold stronger then man could not resist his power how then shall wee that are but dust and ashes stand before so great a God This circumstance of time is more fully noted by S. Luke saying and when the Diuell had ended all the temptation he departed from him whereby thus much is signified that look what knowledge craft or power the Diuel had that did he imploy to the vttermost in these temptations before he left our Sauior Christ. Whereby it appeareth that Christ was tempted in the highest degree and measure that Satan possibly could attain vnto herein did the Diuell shew the extremity of his fraude and malice against Christ which further appeares by this that the Angels of heauen came and ministred vnto him for his comfort so as though Satan could not taint the sacred heart of our Sauior Christ with the least spot of sin yet in these temptations Christ was troubled with the same forrowes griefes vexations which Gods children vsually feele in their temptations The consideration whereof serues for speciall vse First to keepe all Gods children from despaire in the greatest extremity of their temptations euen when they shall feele their conscience as it were set on an Iron racke and the slashings of hell fire alreadie kindled in their soule for Christ
vnto his Church and children not onely in bestowing heauen and earth vpon them but euen giuing his glorious Angels to become ministring spirits for their protection defence comfort II. This their ministery must admonish vs to carry our selues reuerently and holily in all maner of conuersation If we were in the presence of an earthly Prince oh how carefull would we be to our behauiour both for words actions Much more then should the presence and attendance of Gods glorious angels who pitch their tents about vs if we be Gods children make vs circumspect to all our waies and the rather because their ministery is for our comfort and protection while wee keepe our selues in the straight waies of God II. point Their number It is not said one Angel but angels came and ministred vnto him Indeed when hee was in his Agonie in the garden a little before his passion one Angell came and ministred comfort vnto him so that sometime one sometime moe attended on him euen as the euill spirits come to tempt sometime one alone as Satan did heere to Christ and somtimes moe as they did when he was vpon the Crosse. And as it befell Christ so doth it to Gods children they haue somtime one good Angell to attend vpon them and sometime many so likewise haue they sometime one euill spirit to assault them and somtimes many as the man in whom the legion was And heereby falleth to the ground this common opinion that euery man hath one good Angell and one bad attending vpon him the one to protect him the other to tempt him But this opinion doth not wel stand with the tenour of the scripture which thus sets out the state of men in regard of his attendance by Angels that there are somtimes moe about him and somtime fewer whether we speake of good Angels or of euill spirits III Point The time when these good Angels came and ministred vnto Christ is noted in this word Then that is when the Diuel had done all he could against our Sauiour Christ they came not in the time of his assaults but when Satan had ended his temptations and was gone There is no doubt but the good Angels were alwaies about our Sauior Christ attending on his blessed person but at this time it is like they tooke vpon them some visible shape that so their ministery might be the more comfortable vnto him as it is like the diuel appeared in some shape for Christs greater terrour in his temptations In this circumstance of time we may obserue a worke of Gods prouidence which he pleaseth to exercise in the time of temptation vpon his owne children to wit for a time to hide his mercy from them withdrawing the sensible feeling of his fauour Thus he dealt with his beloued some Christ Iesus during the time of Satans violent temptations he concealed from him the sensible assistance of the ministerie of his Angels they shew not themselues till Satan is departed And so fareth it many times with Gods deere children vpon whom he bestowes the good graces of his spirit as a nourcing-mother to try the affection of her childe will sometime hid her selfe from it leaue it alone and suffer it to take a knocke or a fall so wil the Lord leaue his children to themselues conceale from them the signes of his fauour suffering them to be buffered in temptation for a time that they may find thereby what they are in themselues without Gods grace and by feeling the bitternesse of that estate the more to hunger and thirst after his grace and fauour the more ioifully and thankfully to embrace it when it is renued and the more carefully to keepe it all the daies of their life What made Dauid to accompt so highly of the courts of Gods house as that he esteemed the silly birds happy that might build their nests by Gods altar but his banishment thence by the persecution of Saul wherin hee was constrained to remaine in Meshech and to dwell in the tents of Kedar And so when the people of God were in Babell remembring Zion they wept oh then let my right hand forget to play if I forget thee O serusalem let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth if I prefer not Ierusalem to my chiefe ioy But vnto many this doctrine of temptations will seeme to small purpose nay altogether needlesse for that they neuer felt any such conflicts with the Diuell they defie him from their harts and they trust to God neuer to be troubled with him this is the common estate of most men those onlie excepted who haue felt how hard a thing it is truly to repent and beleeue thus to blesse themselues in a carnall peace but sillie soules they know not their owne hearts nor the fearfull case in which they stand for all the true members of Christ must be made conformable vnto their head now he was consecrated the prince of their saluation through afflictions Heb. 2. 10 his soule was heauie vnto the death before he could finish the worke of our life yea he is tempted by Satan before he is comforted by the Angels those therefore that were neuer tempted haue yet no fellowship in his afflictions they haue not begunne any conformitie with Christ so as it is like they are still bondslaues vnto Satan for if they had escaped out of his snare they should feele his assaults to get them in againe in regard heereof the childe of God is constrained to buckle hard with Satan in temptation and to pray many a time to be deliuered from his buffeting And indeed howsoeuer for the present this be not ioyous yet they may count it exceeding great gladnesse as the Apostle saith not onely for this triall of their faith which bringeth forth patience but also because herein they become like vnto Christ in his humiliation which may giue them assurance that they shall be like him in glorie for if we be dead with Christ we shall also liue with him and if we suffer we shall also raigne with him Adde further that these men that neuer felt the assault of Satan are as yet vnder a most fearfull iudgment of God in hardnesse of heart When Christ sedde fiue thousand men with fiue loaues and two fishes he distributed it by the hands of his disciples But after it is said they perceiued not this matter of the loaues and this reason is rendred because their harts were hardned vers 52. And so it is with them that neuer feele the temptations of Satan for he goeth about continually like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may deuoure as they whose hearts are not hardned do well perceiue To conclude therefore let these men who yet neuer felt in themselues these assaults of Satan vnfainedly endeuour to change the course of their liues by the practise of true repentance in eschewing euill and doing good let them giue themselues sincerely to the exercise