TEMPTATION, to tempt, to prove. God tempted Abraham, and commanded him Gen. xxii. 1.to offer up his Son Isaac. By this he intended to prove his Obedience and his Faith, to confirm and strengthen him by this Trial, and to give to all succeeding Ages, in the Person of Abraham, an Example and Pattern of perfect Obedience. God does not tempt or try Men in order to know their Tempers and Dispositions, as if he were ignorant of them; but he proves them, to exercise their Virtue, to purify it, and make it conspicuous to others, and to give them an Opportunity of deserving Favours at his Hands. Thus, when we read in Scripture, that God proved his People, whether they would walk in his Law, or no; Exod. xvi. 4.that he permitted false Prophets to arise among them, who prophesy’d vain things to ‘em, to try them, whether they would seek the Lord with their whole Hearts; all these Expressions ought not to be understood literally, Deut. xiii. 3.but should be explained by that of St. James, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be James i. 13.tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. God forbid that we should say, that God tempts us to commit what he forbids, and what he will punish us for Fulgent. ad Monim. l. 1.committing. Deus non est autor eorum quorum est ultor.
The Devil indeed tempts us, to bring us to Evil, to Sin, to Distrust, to Contempt of God and his Laws, to Pride and Vanity. He lays Snares for us, even in our best Actions, to endeavour to make us lose the Benefit of them, by imputing the Merit of them to ourselves, and not to God. Satan tempted David, and prevail’d with him 1 Chron. xxi. 1.to number the People, out of Confidence and vain Curiosity. He tempted our Saviour in the Wilderness,1 and endeavour’d to infuse into him Sentiments of Pride and Ambition. He tempted Ananias and SapphiraActs v. 3., to make them lye to the Holy Ghost. St. Paul recommends to the 1 Cor. vii. 5.Corinthians, not to expose themselves to the Temptation of Incontinence, under pretence of affecting to live in Marriage to a greater degree of Perfection. Lastly, in the Prayer that Christ himself hath taught Matth. vi. 13.us, we pray God not to lead us into Temptation; and a little before his Death, our Saviour exhorts his Disciples to watch and Matth. xxvi. 41.pray, that they might not enter into Temptation. St. Paul tells us, that God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are 1 Cor. x. 13.able to bear.
Men are said to tempt the Lord when they unseasonably require of him sensible Proofs of his divine Presence, of his Power, or of his Goodness. Without doubt we are allowed to seek to the Lord for his Assistance, and to pray to him to give us what we have need of; but it is not allowed us to tempt him, nor (for Example) to desire Miracles of him, nor to expose ourselves to such Dangers from which we cannot escape but by the miraculous Interposition of his Providence. God is not obliged to work Miracles in our favour, and he requires of us only the Performance of such Actions as are within the ordinary Measures of our Strength. The Israelites in the Desart have often tempted the Lord,2 as if they had had reason to have doubted of his Presence among them, or of his Goodness, or of his Power, after all he had done in their favour. God forbids us to tempt him; Before thou prayest, prepare thy self, and be not as one that tempteth Ecclus. xviii. 23.the Lord.
Men tempt one another when they would know whether things are really so as they seem to be, whether Men are such as they are thought or desired to be. The Queen of Sheba came to prove the Wisdom 1 Kings x. 1. 2 Chron. ix. 1.of Solomon, by proposing Riddles to him, for him to explain. Daniel desired of him who had the care of feeding him and his Companions, to prove them for some Days, Dan. i. 12, 14.whether the abstaining from polluted Food would make them leaner. The Scribes and Pharisees have often tempted our Saviour in the Gospel,3 and endeavoured to make him fall into their Snares.
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