04. CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

     Particular cases proposed for consideration — The first, its resolution in various particulars — Several discoveries of the state of a soul entering into temptation

These things being premised in general, I now proceed to the consideration of three particular cases arising from the truth proposed: the first of which relates to the thing itself; the second to its time or season; and the last to our deportment in reference to preventing the evil addressed.

First, then, it may be inquired —

1. How a man may know when he has entered into temptation.

2. What directions are to be given for preventing our entering into temptation. (Chap. 5) 3. What seasons there are in which a man may and ought to fear that an hour of temptation is at hand. (Chap. 6) 1. How a man will know whether he has entered into temptation or not, is our first inquiry. I say, then —

(1.) When a man is drawn into any sin, he may be sure that he has entered into temptation. All sin is from temptation, James 1:14. Sin is a fruit that comes only from that root. Though a man is ever so suddenly or violently surprised in or with any sin, it is from some temptation or other that he has been surprised: so the apostle says in Galatians 6:1. If a man is surprised, overtaken with a fault, he was tempted to it; for he says, “Consider yourself, lest you also be tempted,” — that is, when he was so surprised, unawares as it were. Men sometimes take no notice of this, to their great disadvantage. When they are overtaken with a sin, they set themselves to repent of that sin, but they do not consider the temptation that was the cause of it, and to set themselves against that also — to take care that they enter into it no more. Hence they are quickly entangled by it again, even though they have the greatest detestation of the sin itself that can be expressed. To indeed get the conquest over any sin, one must consider his temptations to it, and strike at that root; without deliverance from there, he will not be healed. This is a folly that possesses many who yet have a quick and living sense of sin. They are sensible of their sins, but not of their temptations — they are displeased with the bitter fruit, but they cherish the poisonous root. Hence, in the midst of their humiliation for sin, they will continue in those ways, in those societies, in the pursuit of those ends, which have occasioned that sin — more about this afterward.

(2.) Temptations have several degrees. Some rise to such a height, so press on the soul, so torment and disquiet it, so fight against all opposition that is made to it, that it must be past all doubt to the one who is so assaulted,50 that it is a peculiar51 power of temptation that he is to wrestle with. When a fever rages, a man knows he is sick, unless his distemper has made him mad. The lusts of men, as James tells us, “entice, draw away,” and seduce them to sin; but this they do by themselves, without peculiar instigation, in a more quiet, even, and sedate manner. If these lusts grow violent, if they hurry the soul up and down and give it no rest, the soul may know they have gotten the help of temptation to assist them.

Take an empty vessel and put it into some stream that is in its course to the sea, and it will infallibly be carried there according to the course and speed of the stream. But let strong winds arise upon it, and it will be driven with violence onto every bank and rock until, being broken in pieces, it is swallowed up by the ocean. Men’s lusts will infallibly (if not mortified in the death of Christ) carry them into eternal ruin; but often this is done without much noise, according to the course of the stream of their corruptions. But let the wind of strong temptations befall such men, and they are hurried into innumerable scandalous sins, and so, broken up on all accounts, they are swallowed up in eternity. As it is in general with men, so it is in particular.

Hezekiah had the root of pride in him always; yet it did not make him run up and down to show his treasure and his riches, until he fell into temptation by the ambassadors of the king of Babylon.2 Chronicles 32:31 So had David; yet he could keep from numbering the people until Satan stood up and provoked him, and solicited him to do it.1 Chronicles 21:1 Judas was covetous from the beginning; yet he did not contrive to satisfy this lust by selling his Master, until the devil entered into him, and he thereby he entered into temptation.Luke 22:3 The same may be said of Abraham, Jonah, Peter, and the rest. So that when any lust or corruption agitates and disquiets the soul, and forcefully pushes it to sin, let the soul know that the lust has gotten the advantage of some outward temptation, even though it does not yet perceive in what; or at least it has become itself a peculiar temptation by some incitement or provocation that has befallen it; and it is to be watched more than ordinarily.

(3.) Entering into temptation may be seen in lesser degrees; for instance, when the heart begins to secretly like the matter of the temptation, and it is content to feed it and increase it in any way it might, without downright sinning. In particular, a man begins to gain a repute for piety, wisdom, learning, or the like — he is spoken of much to that purpose; his heart is tickled to hear of it, and his pride and ambition are affected with it. If this man now, with all his strength, plies the things from which his repute, and esteem, and glory among men spring, with a secret eye to have his repute increased, he is entering into temptation. If he does not take heed, this will quickly render him a slave of lust. So was it with Jehu. He perceived that his repute for zeal began to grow abroad, and he got honour by it. Jonadab comes along, a good and holy man. “Now,” thinks Jehu, “I have an opportunity to grow in the honor of my zeal.” So he calls Jonadab to him, and he goes to work most seriously. The things he did were good in themselves, but he had entered into temptation, and served his lust in all that he did. So it is with many scholars. They find themselves esteemed and favoured for their learning. This takes hold of the pride and ambition of their hearts. Hence they set themselves to study with all diligence day and night — a thing good in itself; but they do it so that they may satisfy the thoughts and words of men, in which they delight: and so in all they do, they make provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.

It is true that God often brings light out of this darkness, and turns things to a better outcome. Maybe after a man has studied many years with an eye upon his lusts — upon his ambition, pride, and vain-glory — rising early and going to bed late to satisfy these lusts, God comes in with his grace, turns the soul to himself, robs those Egyptian lusts, and so He consecrates for the use of the tabernacle, what was provided for idols. 52 Men may thus be entangled in better things than learning, even in the profession of piety, in their labor in the ministry, and the like. For some men, their profession is a snare to them. They have a reputation, and are much honored because of their profession and strict walking. This often happens in the days in which we live, in which all things are conducted by parties. Some find themselves, on account of the things mentioned, perhaps to be the darlings and “ingentia decora,” or glory of their party. If thoughts of this secretly insinuate themselves into their hearts, and influence them into more than ordinary diligence and activity in their way and profession, they are entangled. And instead of aiming at more glory, they need to lie in the dust, in a sense of their own vileness. So close is this temptation, that oftentimes it requires no food to feed upon except that the one who is entangled with it, avoids all means and ways of honor and reputation — so that it can but whisper in the heart that such avoidance is honorable. The same may be the condition with men, as was said, in preaching the gospel, in the work of the ministry. Many things in that work may yield esteem for them — their ability, their plainness, their frequency, their success; and all in this sense may be fuel for temptations. Let a man know then, that when he likes what feeds his lust, and he keeps it up by ways that are either good in themselves, or not downright sinful, he has entered into temptation.

(4.) When it comes to pass, by a man’s state or condition of life, or by any means whatsoever, that his lust and any temptation meet with occasions and opportunities for the provocation and stirring up of that lust, let that man know that he has certainly entered into temptation, whether he perceives it or not. I told you before, that to enter into temptation is not merely to be tempted, but to be so under its power as to be entangled by it. Now, it is almost impossible for a man to have opportunities, occasions, and advantages suited to his lust and corruption, that he will not be entangled by it. If ambassadors come from the king of Babylon, Hezekiah’s pride will throw him into temptation. If Hazael is king of Syria, his cruelty and ambition will make him rage savagely against Israel. If the priests come with their pieces of silver, Judas’ covetousness will be instantly at work to sell his Master. Many instances of a similar kind may be given even in the days in which we live. Some men think they can play atop the hole of the asp and not be bitten by it, or touch pitch and not be defiled by it, or set their clothes on fire and not be burnt by it; but they would be mistaken. If your business, course of life, societies, or whatever else it may be of that kind, push you onto those things, ways, or persons which suit your lust or corruption, then know this: you have entered into temptation — how you will come out of it God only knows. Let us imagine a man who has any seeds of filthiness engaged in his heart — consider the course of his life in society, how light, vain, and foolish it is (whatever notice he takes of it himself, little, great, or none at all) — he has undoubtedly entered into temptation. So it is with ambition in high places; with passion in a multitude of perplexing affairs; with polluted, corrupt fancy in vain societies; and with the perusal of idle books, or treatises of vanity and folly. Fire and combustible things may more easily lie together without igniting, than may peculiar lusts and their suitable objects, or occasions for their exercise.

(5.) When a man is weakened, when he becomes negligent or formal in his duty, when he can omit duties or content himself with a careless and lifeless performance of them, without delight, joy, or satisfaction in his soul — and he had another frame of mind formerly — then let him know this: that even though he may not be acquainted with the particular distemper in which it consists, yet in something or other, he has entered into temptation, and at length he will find it evident that it is to his trouble and peril. How many have we seen and known in our own days, who have fallen from a warm profession, to be negligent, careless, and indifferent in praying, reading, hearing, and the like! Give an instance of one in such a state who has come off without a wound, and I dare say that you may discover a hundred for him who have shown themselves to have been asleep on top of the mast; who were in the jaws of some vile temptation or other, which afterward produced bitter fruit in their lives and ways. From those few who return from their folly, we hear every day these doleful complaints:

“Oh! I neglected private prayer; I did not meditate on the word, nor attend to hearing it, but rather despised these things: and yet I said I was rich and lacked nothing.Revelation 3:17 Little did I consider that this unclean lust was ripening in my heart; that this atheism, these abominations, were fomenting there.” This is a certain rule: — If his heart grows cold, negligent, or formal in its duties of the worship of God, and that is either as to the matter or manner of these duties, and he had another frame of mind before, then one temptation or another has laid hold of him. Worldliness, or pride, or uncleanness, or self-seeking, or malice and envy, or one thing or another has possessed his spirit; “gray hairs are here and there upon him, even though he does not perceive it”.53 And this is to be observed as to the manner of duties, as well as to the matter of them: men may, on many sinister accounts — especially to satisfy their consciences — keep up and frequent their duties of religion as to their substance and matter, when they have no heart for them, and there is no life in them, as to the spirituality required in their performance. Sardis kept up the performance of duties, and therefore had a name to live; but that church lacked spiritual life in their performances, and it was therefore “dead,”Revelation 3:1. In the distempers of the body, a man may find that his spirit is faint, his heart oppressed, his head heavy, and his whole person indisposed. Even though he does not yet actually burn nor rave, he will cry, “I fear I am entering into a fever — I am so out of order and indisposed.” A man may do the same in this sickness of the soul. If he finds that his spiritual pulse does not beat correctly and evenly towards his duties of worship and communion with God — if his spirit is low, and his is heart faint in them — let him conclude this: even though his lust does not yet burn or rage, he has entered into temptation, and it is high time for him to consider the particular causes of his distemper. If the head is heavy and slumbers in the things of grace, if the heart is cold in its duties, then evil lies at the door. And if such a soul does escape a great temptation to sin, yet it will not escape a great temptation to desert God. The spouse cries, “I sleep,” Song of Solomon 5:2; she had “put off her coat, and could not put it on;” — she had an indisposition to her duties and to communion with Christ. What is the next news you have of her? Verse 6, her “Beloved had withdrawn himself,” — Christ was gone; and she seeks him long and does not find him. There is such a suitableness between the new nature that is wrought and created in believers, and the duties of the worship of God, that they will not be parted nor kept asunder, unless it is by the interposition of some disturbing distemper. The new creature feeds upon these duties; it is strengthened and increased by them; it finds sweetness in them; indeed, it meets in them with its God and Father — so that it cannot help but delight in them, and desire to exercise them, unless it has been made sick by some temptation. This frame is described in the 119th Psalm throughout. The soul is not, I say, simply thrown out of this frame and temper, unless it is oppressed or disordered by one secret temptation54 or other.55 There are various other evidences of a soul’s entering into temptation, which may be discovered upon inquiry.56

I propose this in order to remove the false security that we are apt to fall into; and to make manifest the particular duty we are to apply ourselves to in special times of temptation. For the one who has already entered into temptation is to apply himself to means for disentanglement, and not labor to prevent his entering in. How this may be done, I will declare afterward.