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SERMON VIII.

Of our SAVIOUR's Temptation.

[A Sermon preached in Lent.]

Then was Jefus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness, to be tempted of the De

and

vil.

T

HE Hiftory of our Saviour's SER M.
Temptation, is a portion of VIII.
Scripture, in which there are
feveral Difficulties, that de-
ferve particular Explication;

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 Scripture elsewhere declares to have been tempted 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, faying, 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 likewife, 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 Opposing and Perfecuting him. The
proper Time of Tryal, was juft after his
Baptifm, at the first entring into his Of-
fice. And as the Tempter might reaso-
nably think This the likelieft Season, to
affault him with Succefs ; fo the Wif-
dom of God knew on the contrary, that
it was the fitteft 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 Temp-
tation. So St Luke expreffly, ch. iv. 1,
Jefus, being full of the Holy Ghost, re-
turned from Jordan, and was led by the
Spirit into the Wilderness. And indeed
it is obfervable, that our Saviour, who be-
fore his Incarnation appeared to Mofes and
the Patriarchs in the Form of God, that
is, invefted with the immediate Glory and
Power of his Father; on the contrary, all
the time of his refiding here upon Earth,
appeared [xerais] divefted of That Glo-
ry, being made in the Likeness of Man
N 3

;

and

SER M.and is accordingly réprefented through the VIII. whole Gofpel, as acting and working un

der the Conduct of the Holy Spirit; and having (as our Lord fpeaks concerning Himself, Job. iii. 34.) given the Spirit unto him, not by Meafure.

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

f

In

VIII.

our Saviour, admonishing his Difciples SER M.
concerning fome extraordinary miraculous
Gifts, with which they were to be indu-
ed; This kind, faith he, goeth not out, but
by Prayer and Fafting; Matt. xvii. 21.
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, with-
drawing our Minds from the World, and
attending serioufly 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 strengthen our own Refolutions
of being Diligent, and improve our Quali-
fications 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 thofe 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