3dly, This temptation tried Abraham forely in this: it was in Abraham, and in his feed, that the nations of the earth were to be bleffed; in Ifaac the covenant was to be eftablished, and the feed of Ifaac was to be as innumerable as the stars of heaven. But how was this to come about if Ifaac was to be no more? Therefore fprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, fo many as the ftars of the Sky in multitude, and as the fand which is by the feapore innumerable. Heb. xi. 12.

And, laftly, this trial was to let Abraham know the power of grace in his own heart; for Abraham obeyed, and went at God's command, and was determined to flay his fon, rather than keep him as a rival to God. This proved to Abraham that grace reigned, and that God was fupreme in his affections: hence the great encomiums; By myself have I fworn, faith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and not withheld thy fon, thine only fon, that in bleffing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee: and in thy feed fhall all the nations of the earth be bleffed: because thou hast obeyed my voice. Gen. xxii. Now this is called a temptation.

Again. The very heavy trial of the children of Ifrael in Egypt is called the fame. Mofes and Aaron gather the elders of Ifrael together, and inform them of the appearance of God to them, and of their being fent to deliver them from their yoke of bondage: but, instead of a speedy deliverance, as they expected, a yoke ten times heavier comes on

them.

them. Tafk-mafters are appointed over them; a double tale of bricks is demanded, no ftraw is allowed, and the old men are beaten, becaufe they cannot perform impoffibilities. This embitters

their fouls, infomuch that they rebel against Mofes and Aaron. And they met Mofes and Aaron, who Stood in their way, as they came forth from Pharaoh; and they faid unto them, The Lord look upon you, and judge: because you have made our favour to be abborred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his fervants, to put a fword in their hands to flay us. Exod. v.

20, 21.

The fiery trial at the Red Sea, and the following one, of going three days in the wilderness without water, and that of the want of food till the manną fell; the judgments that befell the rebellious, which at times endangered the lives of the whole multitude, and the terrible majefty of God at the giving of the law, which was fuch as none before ever heard and faw, and yet lived; are all called temptations. Hath God ever affayed to go and take him a nation, from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by figns, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty band, and by a firetched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did before your eyes? Deut. iv. 34.

Moreover, thefe temptations fell upon Pharaoh and upon all the Egyptians; for Mofes was confronted by the magicians. Every time Pharaoh and his fervants hearkened to Mofes, and fubmitted

themselves,

1

themselves, there was refpite; and every time they hearkened to the magicians, and rebelled, then the judgments came on. When God fent hail and fire to deftroy all that were in the field, both man and beaft, all the Egyptians that feared the Lord took their cattle and fervants home, and saved them; but those who abode by the magicians, and feared not God, left them in the field, and they all perished.

Evil angels alfo were fent among them; these, by the magicians, influenced and pushed on Pharaoh and his people, till Egypt was deftroyed, the firstborn flain, and Pharaoh and all his hoft drowned in the Red Sea. All these were temptations upon the Egyptians; they rebelled against God, and God gave them up to believe lies, that they might justly be damned, for fhutting their eyes against all the displays of his almighty power, and for rebelling against the word and counfel of the Moft High. All these are called temptations. Ye have feen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, unto Pharaoh, and unto all his fervants, and unto all bis land. The great temptations which thine eyes have feen, the figns and thofe great miracles. Deut. xxix. 23.

The fubject now in hand was fimilar to this.. The first command is given to God's own profeffing people, which is, that the king of Babylon (fays God) is my fervant; and every Ifraelite that falls away to the Chaldeans fhall live, and have his life for a prey, and they fhall go forth into captivity for their good, and God promifed he would be a little fanctuary

fanctuary to them.

The next command is to all nations; and this command was to be fent to all foreign princes by their fervants, the ambaffadors that came to the court at Jerufalem. Thus faith the Lord to me, Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, and fend them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the band of the mesengers which come to Jerufalem, unto Zedekiah king of Judah. And command them to fay to their masters, Thus faith the Lord of bofts, the God of Ifrael, thus fhall ye fay to your masters, I have made the earth, the man and beast that are upon the ground, by my great power, and by my out-ftretched arm, and I have given it to whom it feemed meet unto me. And now I have given all thefe lands into the band of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my fervant;' and the beaft of the field have I given him alfo to ferve bim. And all nations shall ferve bim, and his son, and bis fon's fon, until the very time of his land come; and then many nations and great kingdoms fhall ferve themfelves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom that will not ferve the fame Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, faith the Lord, with the fword, and with famine, and with the peftilence, until I have confumed them by his band. Jer. xxvii. 2-8.

This is the command of God by his fervant Jere-miah, whom he had ordained a prophet to the na

tions and fuch times of trouble are God's temptations, trials, and touchftones, by which he puts men to the teft; and that which makes it fo is, the devil ftirring up rebellious finners to counteract and to try to refift the will of God, and lead men to rebel against it. This was the cafe in Egypt; Mofes and Aaron are fent to declare the will of God, and Satan fenc Jannes and Jambres to oppose them: and though the magicians and their folly were manifested, and they were obliged to acknowledge the finger of God; and although they could not ftand before Moses, for the plague of the boil was upon the magicians, yet they pushed Pharaoh on, till I (faith God) made the nations to shake at the found of his fall, when I caft him down to kell. Ezek. xxxi. 16.

In Jerufalem's trial the devil acted the fame part. Jeremiah declares the will of God to the children of Judah, that they fhould ferve the king of Babylon feventy years; many falfe prophets rife up against him, and Hananiah at the head of them; and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, took him, Jaying, Thou shalt furely die. Why haft thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, faying, This boufe fhall be like Shiloh, and this city fhall be defolate without inhabitants? And all the people were gathered together against Jeremiah in the houfe of the Lord. Ch. xxxvi. Whatever God faid by his prophet, thefe falfe prophets contradicted. Jeremiah prophefied that the fword of the king of Babylon and the famine fhall come; the falfe prophets declared, Ye shall not fee fword,

neither