The subject of this memoir was born at Malines in the year 1531; he was one of the first to join the new Society of Jesus, and at the age of twenty-one was received into it by the illustrious founder himself.
St. Ignatius soon discovered the remarkable talents and the deep spirituality of the young man, and he stationed him at Cologne, placing him in the van of the army of the Church, and in the thick of the fight then waging between Catholics and Protestants. He was admirably adapted for his position, and fully justified the confidence placed in him by Loyola. The Lutherans and Calvinists found in him an enemy of no ordinary power, and quite invulnerable to their blows. His knowledge of Scripture was as thorough as, and was sounder than, their own. Their arguments were dissected, and the fallacies exposed, by Coster, in a manner so clear and so conclusive that he stung them to madness.
Volume after volume passed through the press from his pen, many of them composed in the vernacular, so as to be read by the vulgar. He is said to have brought back multitudes to the Church who had fallen away at the first blush of Protestantism, and to have strengthened numerous souls which wavered in doubt.
He taught astronomy and lectured on the Holy Scriptures in Cologne. He was afterwards Rector of several Colleges, thrice Provincial, and present at three General Congregations of the Order.
After a life of controversy, yet with a soul full of peace and goodwill to men, Francis Coster entered into his rest in 1619, aged eighty-eight years; of which he had spent sixty-seven in the Society of Jesus. He died at Brussels.
His works are too numerous for me to give a list of them here. A complete catalogue will be found in the Bibliothèque des Écrivains dc la Compagnée de Jésus, par Aug. et Alois Backer, vol. i, pp. 218—224. I mention the sermons alone.
R. P. Costeri Conciones in Evangelia Dominicalia a Dom. Adventus usque ad initium Quadr.; Coloniæ, Ant. Hierat. 1608, 4to. Conciones ab initio Quadr. usque ad Domin. SS. Trinitates; ibid. id., 1608, 4to. Conciones a Domin. post Fest. SS. Trinit. usque ad Adventum; ibid. id., 1608, 4to.
R. P. Fr. Costeri Conciones in Evangelia; ibid. id., 1613, 4to.; 1626, 8vo., 3 part., 4 vol. This last the best edition.
Vyftien Catholiicke Sermoonen op t’Epistelen end Evangelien; Antwerp, 1617, fol., 4 vols.
Catholiicke Sermoonen op alle de heylichdaghen des jaers; Antwerp, 1616, fol., 2 vols.
Sermoonen op d’Epistelen van de Sendaghen,—met twee octaven; Antwerp, 1616, fol.
Francis Coster differs in style from all the other preachers whom I have quoted. He is neither eloquent nor impressive as a speaker, he is immensely long, and must have been desperately tedious in the pulpit; and yet I question whether a priest could possess a more valuable promptuarium for sermon composition or catechetical lecture than Coster’s volumes. Coster is rather an expositor of Scripture than a preacher; his insight into the significance of the sacred utterances is perfectly marvellous.
Coster relates numerous stories of different merit and point. He seldom indulges in simile. He says sharp and piquant things in a quiet unassuming manner; and unless the reader is quite on the alert, he may miss some very happy remark couched in a few pregnant words. For instance: he says on the subject of Profession not Practice, that Christ lived thirty-three years on earth, and He did many great works; but we know of only one sermon that He preached. The arms are long, the tongue is short; the hands are free, the tongue confined behind the prison bars of the teeth; to teach us that we should work freely, but talk little. Those who profess great things and practise little what they profess are in a bad spiritual condition; the clock whose hand stands at one whilst the clapper goes twelve, is wrong in the works.
The stories Coster tells are very unequal. There is one delightful mediæval tale reproduced by him which I shall venture to relate, as it is full of beauty, and inculcates a wholesome lesson. There is a ballad in German on the subject, to be found in Pocci and Göres’ Fest Kalender, which has been translated into English and published in some Roman children’s books.
The story was, I believe, originated by Anthony of Sienna, who relates it in his Chronicle of the Dominican Order; and it was from him that the preachers and writers of the Middle Ages drew the incident. With the reader’s permission I will tell the story in my own words, instead of giving the stiff and dry record found in Coster.
There was once a good priest who served a church in Lusitania; and he had two pupils, little boys, who came to him daily to learn their letters, and to be instructed in the Latin tongue.
Now these children were wont to come early from home, and to assist at mass, before ever they ate their breakfast or said their lessons. And thus was each day sanctified to them, and each day saw them grow in grace and in favour with God and man.
These little ones were taught to serve at the Holy Sacrifice, and they performed their parts with care and reverence. They knelt and responded, they raised the priest’s chasuble and kissed its hem, they rang the bell at the sanctus and the elevation; and all they did, they did right well.
And when mass was over, they extinguished the altar lights, and then taking their little loaf and can of milk, retired to a side chapel for their breakfast.
One day the elder lad said to his master—
“Good father, who is the strange child who visits us every morning when we break our fast?”
“I know not,” answered the priest. And when the children asked the same question day by day, the old man wondered, and said, “Of what sort is he?”
“He is dressed in a white robe without seam, and it reacheth from his neck to his feet.”
“Whence cometh he?”
“He steppeth down to us, suddenly, as it were from the altar. And we ask him to share our food with us: and that he doth right willingly every morning.”
Then the priest wondered yet more, and he asked, “Are there marks by which I should know him, were I to see him?”
“Yes, father; he hath wounds in his hands and feet; and as we give him of our food, the blood flows forth and moistens the bread in his hands, till it blushes like a rose.”
And when the master heard this, a great awe fell upon him, and he was silent awhile. But at last he said gravely, “Oh, my sons, know that the Holy Child Jesus hath been with you. Now when He cometh again, say to Him, ‘Thou, O Lord, hast breakfasted with us full often, grant that we brothers and our dear master may sup with Thee.’”
And the children did as the priest bade them. The Child Jesus smiled sweetly, m they made the request, and replied, “Be it so; on Thursday next, the day of My ascension, ye shall sup with Me.”
So when Ascension Day arrived, the little ones came very early as usual, but they brought not their loaf, nor the tin of milk. And they assisted at mass as usual; they vested the priest, they lighted the tapers, they chanted the responds, they rang the bell. But when the Pax vobiscum had been said they remained on their knees, kneeling behind the priest. And so they gently fell asleep in Christ, and they with their dear master sat down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
This story reminds me of another, to be found in one or two mediæval sermons.
A little boy once made an agreement with an aged priest that they should say Prime together.
So, on the first morning after the arrangement, the child rose, and descended to the church, where he lighted the candles. He waited long for the priest, and pulled the bell; but the old man turned in his bed and would not rise. Then the lad looked from the window, and the land was dumb with snow. He thought, I will run forth, and sport in the snow, for the father comes not to Prime. But he resisted the temptation, and he recited the office by himself in choir.
On the second morning he descended again, and rang the bell, and lighted the tapers; but the priest came not. Then the boy thought, I will go forth and slide on the frozen pond. But he overcame the temptation, and recited the office by himself in choir.
On the third morning he turned in his bed, and thought, It is so cold, I will not rise; the father will not leave his bed, nor will I. But he resisted the temptation to lie in bed, he dressed and came down to the church, he pulled the bell, he lighted the tapers; but the priest came not, so he sang the office by himself in choir.
And this continued for six mornings; each morning was the child tempted, each morning did he overcome the temptation. Each morning the priest lay in bed, and the little boy sang the office by himself in choir.
On the seventh morning the priest was roused by the bell, but he turned in bed and fell asleep again. Then he had a dream. He beheld in his dream the Lord Jesus standing by the treasury in Heaven; and in His hand He bare seven crowns of pure gold. “Oh, my Lord, are these for me?” exclaimed the sleeper. “Nay!” replied the Blessed One, “not for thee, but for thy little acolyte. Seven times has he been tried, and seven times has he overcome; therefore have I prepared for him seven crowns. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life.”
But leaving these stories, let us turn to a sermon of Coster’s, and analyze it thoroughly. It will be seen how pregnant it is with thought, how exhaustive it is as a commentary on a passage of Scripture, how suggestive it is of matter for a modern preacher.
I shall choose the sermon for the First Sunday in Lent, curtailing it in only a few points, where the conclusions drawn seem unwarranted, or where the doctrine enforced is distinctively Roman. These omissions I have made from no wish to misrepresent the preacher, but simply to reduce the bare skeleton of the sermon to moderate limits, the entire discourse filling forty-seven pages of quarto, close print, double columns, and occupying about 5000 lines. I tremble to think of the time it must have taken to deliver, if it ever were delivered.
First Sunday in Lent. Lessons from the Gospel.
Matt. iv. And Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
He was led. Here note—
1. That God is our leader into all good works.
2. That He leads, but does not constrain.
By the Spirit. Here note—
1. That in our Lent fast, we should follow the Spirit’s leading. Now the Spirit leads and guides—
α. By the voice of the Church.
β. By the voice of conscience.
2. That our works are alone acceptable to God, if done through the grace and impulsion of the Spirit.
Into the wilderness. Here note—
1. That Christ went into the wilderness to make expiation in His body for our excesses; to endure poverty for our luxury, want for our abundance.
2. That Christ went into the wilderness immediately after baptism, to teach us that, by baptism, we are called to renounce the world, and to lead a life of mortification.
3. That Christ sets us an example of retirement from the world and its turmoil, at seasons.
4. That Christ, by His example, has sanctioned and sanctified the life of the eremite.
To be tempted of the devil. Here note—
1. That, in order to be able to resist the devil, we must be furnished with the Holy Spirit.
2. That God suffers us to be tempted for wise purposes—
α. To bring out our hidden virtues; thus He brought out the virtue of faith in Abraham by tempting him to slay his son, and the virtue of patience in Job by suffering him to be afflicted with loss of substance, health, and friends.
β. To keep us vigilant. (1 Pet. v. 8.)
γ. To reward us finally for our merit in resisting temptation. (James i. 12.)
3. A. The word to ‘tempt’ has three significations in Holy Scripture. It signifies—
α. To bring out hidden graces; and thus is used of God tempting us. (Gen. xxii. 1.)
β. To lead into sin; and thus is used of the devil tempting us. (1 Cor. vii. 5.)
γ. To provoke to anger; and thus is used of our tempting God. (Ps. xcv. 9. Acts v. 9. Heb. i. 12)
B. God tempts us in Lent, drawing out of us a proof—
α. Whether we love ourselves better than Him.
β. Whether we love our souls better than our bodies.
γ. Whether we love our present corruptible bodies better than our future incorruptible bodies.
δ. Whether we love to obey the Church better than to follow our own wills.
4. Christ endured temptation from the devil—
α. That He might prove the force of every temptation by which we are assailed.
β. That He might show us how to meet temptation.
γ. That He might break the force of temptation.
δ. That He might teach us to expect temptation.
And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights.
Note that Christ fasted, though there was no need for Him to mortify His body, in that His body was free from sin.
Forty days and forty nights. Here note—
1. That forty represents the law as amplified by the Gospel, 10×4.
α. Forty days did the rain descend to flood the world. (Gen. vii. 4.)
β. Forty days were corpses dressed with aromatic herbs before consigning them to the grave. (Gen. l. 3.)
γ. Forty years did Israel wander in the wilderness.
δ. Forty days did Moses spend, on two occasions, in the mount. (Exod. xxiv. 18; xxxiv. 28.)
ε. Forty days did Goliath defy the armies of the living God. (1 Sam. xvii. 16.)
ζ. Forty days did Ezekiel bear the iniquities of the children of Israel. (Ezek. iv. 6.)
η. Forty days did Elijah fast in the desert. (1 Kings xix. 8)
θ. Forty days did Nineveh afflict itself in sackcloth and ashes. (Jonah iii. 4.)
ι. Forty days was Christ with His Apostles after the resurrection. (Acts i. 3.)
2. We keep forty days of Lenten fast—
α. That we may represent in the Christian year the fasting of our Lord, as we also represent His birth, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension.
β. That we may appease God’s wrath against us; making satisfaction to the best of our power for our fallings short during the rest of the year.
γ. That we may practise and test our strength, so as to be able to exert it when temptation arises.
δ. That we may fulfil Christ’s words, When the Bridegroom is taken away, then shall ye fast in those days.
ε. That we may worthily prepare for the great solemnity of Easter, suffering with Christ that we may also be glorified together.
3. The advantages of fasting are,—
α. It keeps the body under, and brings it into subjection; giving us the habit of obtaining a mastery over our appetites.
β. It disposes the soul for prayer, and the mind for meditation.
γ. It makes reparation for past offences. (Jonah iii. 5—10.)
δ. It is meritorious, being one of those three works of which Christ has said that it shall he openly rewarded. (Matt. vi. 18.)
And when the tempter came to Him, he said. Here note—
I. α. The devil is called tempter, as one who builds is called a builder, and one who paints is called a painter: from the work upon which he is constantly engaged.
β. The devil probably came in human form, as angels when appearing to men assumed human forms. It seems likely that Satan had not fathomed that mystery, which angels desired to look into, the mystery of the Incarnation, and that he did not know that Christ was Incarnate God: yet was he filled with vague alarm.
γ. Christ’s temptations came from without; they could not proceed from within, as His nature was sinless.
II. We also learn—
1. That solitude is not freedom from temptation, but rather a time for it.
2. That Satan expends the whole force of temptation on those who are leading a life of high vocation.
3. That Satan suits his temptation to the occasion.
4. That if Christ endured temptation, no man must expect to escape it.
5. That if Christ suffered Satan to approach Him with temptation, He will not reject us drawing nigh unto Him in prayer.
6. That temptations come to us in disguise: the evil one seldom presenting himself to us in his naked deformity.
If Thou art the Son of God. Here note—
Satan had heard the voice from Heaven, proclaiming Christ to be the beloved Son of God; but he may have considered Him as a son in some sense as Adam, who was called a son of God. That he could have grasped the mystery of the hypostatic union is impossible. Sin produces blindness, and Satan could not have seen and comprehended God’s purposes. Had he believed Christ to be very and eternal God, it is inconceivable that he should have thought it possible to tempt Him into sin, unless the eyes of his understanding were so obscured by his pride that he had lost belief in all good, that he actually could imagine the God-head to be peccable, just as a prostitute disbelieves in the purity of the most spotless virgin.
If Thou art. Note—
I. That Satan tempts even by that little word if; implying a doubt whether God had meant what He said when the voice came from Heaven; by this word if Satan endeavoured to drive Him into—
α. The sin of pride: by causing Him to perform a miracle, so as to prove Himself to be the Son of God, and thus to dispel the doubt of the querist.
β. The sin of doubt: by causing Him to question the declaration from Heaven; for Satan’s if implied that God, had He meant that Christ were His Son, would not have left Him to starve.
II. That it does not behove us to question the dealings of God’s providence, though He suffer us to want, nor if He refuse to hear our petitions. Perhaps we ask for what is wrong, unsafe, or contrary to His will.
Command that these stones be made bread. Here note—
1. God wills to draw us from temporal things to things spiritual, but the devil obtrudes carnal matters, to draw us from spiritual things to things temporal.
2. The temptation of Christ bears some analogy to that of our first parents. Eve was tempted by the sight of the fruit which was good for food, Christ by the cravings of natural hunger.
3. Satan tempts us through our need for the necessaries of life. Thus some steal, others cheat, others live unchaste lives, under the excuse that they do it for a livelihood.
4. If Christ by a word can change stones into bread, can He not change bread into His true and sacred Flesh?
5. Satan tempts Christ to make more than was necessary, these stones, so that He might fall into the sin of gluttony.
6. Satan tempts Christ to a false humility, by urging Him to make bread, the plainest food of the poor, instead of costly viands.
7. Satan never offers what can satisfy. The prodigal son was given but the husks, and here Satan presents nought but stones.
8. Christ left Satan still in doubt as to whether He were the Son of God or not: teaching us pious reserve on the subject of spiritual favours.
And He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proccedeth out of the mouth of God. Here note—
1. Christ implies that God’s power is not limited to the means prescribed by Satan. God can satisfy His own sons in ways of His own devising.
2. Christ passes over the challenge, If Thou art the Son of God, teaching us that our spiritual privileges are not to be proclaimed, but rather concealed, that pearls are not to be cast before swine, nor the children’s bread to be given to dogs.
3. Christ’s words imply the full inspiration of Scripture: He says, that man shall live by every word; not by the general sense.
4. Christ’s words are prophetic: they indicate the fact that He Himself was to be the true food of man, He being the Word of God, He to be present as man’s spiritual food and sustenance in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, until the end of time.
5. Christ answered in the words of Scripture, teaching us that in Scripture, as in an armoury, are the weapons of our spiritual warfare. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.
Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him. Here note—
1. In the first temptation we have Satan coming to our Blessed Lord as a man moved with compassion for His famished condition. In the second, he appears as an angel of light, bearing Him to the holy city, as the angel bore Habakkuk to Babylon, and the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip to Azotus. In the third, he presents himself as a god demanding worship.
2. Christ’s great love is noticeable here, in suffering Himself to be borne hither and thither, whithersoever the tempter listed. So did He afterwards suffer Himself to be dragged by the wicked Jews from the judgment hall to Gabbatha and to Calvary. So too now does He suffer His sacred body to be in the hands and mouths of unworthy priests and lay communicants, and to be offered in the meanest chapel, and to be carried to the filthiest hovel of the sick.
3. Temptation to spiritual pride is severe to those who are leading a high spiritual life; temptation to pride is common to all who are placed in high positions, whether in Church or State.
4. We must not be scandalized at the manner in which Episcopal appointments are made, whether by intrigue, or by State interference; Christ was exalted to a pinnacle of the temple by the devil, and many a holy man may be elevated to the dignity of the Episcopacy by the vilest of means.
Holy city, so called because—
1. In it was the temple of God.
2. Christ was present in the city to sanctify it.
3. It was a shadow of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down. Note—
This temptation followed the other as though deduced from it. Satan implied, “You have done well in showing your reliance on God; perfect your reliance, prove how complete it is.” Observe also that—
1. Christ’s temptation is not only to spiritual pride, but also to vain-glory, in that the prospect was before Him of being seen by men, supported by angelic hands, and thus of establishing His position as a prophet, at the outstart of His ministry.
2. Satan not only makes use of our natural wants, but even of our virtues, as means of temptation; urging us to carry them to excess. But virtue consists in moderation, in neither doing too much nor too little. Thus liberality lies between avarice and prodigality, and compunction is the mean betwixt assurance and despair.
3. Satan has no power to cast us down without the consent of our own free wills. He may urge to fall, but he cannot compel man to fall.
4. Satan endeavours to cast down to earth, whilst Christ is ever striving to draw man from earth, to lead man to seek those things which are above. (Col. iii. 2.)
5. We are guilty of casting ourselves down from the pinnacle upon which we are placed, whenever—
α. We presumptuously neglect the natural means of support with which God has supplied us.
β. We deliberately fall into sin, with the purpose of expiating it afterwards by confession.
γ. We undertake any unprofitable task. For a Christian should set before him nothing upon which to expend his time and energies but what is of utility.
δ. We do evil that good may come.
For it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.
I. Satan placed two dangers before our Lord: that of being dashed to pieces, and that of committing a sin.
1. To exhibit himself in a favourable light, as though he were the angel of God sent to bear Christ up.
2. To remove the fear of injury, on the authority of Scripture promises.
II. Satan endeavours to remove the prospect of danger, so as to make the thought of committing the sin less alarming. For many are deterred from crime by fear of its consequences; and if the fear be removed, then they are ready to commit the sin.
Eve was prevented from disobeying God by the fear of the consequences (Gen. iii. 3); Satan removed the fear when he said, Ye shall not surely die; and then at once the woman fell. So when Satan removes the fear of death, as something doleful to think upon, when we are in health, we are ready enough to sin. Whereas fear is salutary; as says Scripture, To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Ecclus. i. 14. 16. Matt. iii. 7. Luke xii. 5. Examples of the fear of the Lord deterring from sin in Gen. xxxix. 9. Hist. Susanna 23.
III. Satan quotes Scripture for his own vile purposes, to screen himself under the semblance of piety. We have a warning here against those renegade Catholic priests and monks who desert the Church and the authority of the Bishops, that they may give themselves up to heresy and to unclean living, sheltering themselves all the while under Scripture texts distorted to serve their own purposes.
IV. Satan garbles Scripture in quoting it.
1. He distorts the sense. Christ needed not angelic hands to sustain Him, and therefore the passage is not applicable to Him, but refers to His people. (Acts i. 9. Heb. i. 3.)
2. He omits passages which did not suit his purpose. The words are, They shall keep Thee in all Thy ways, i.e. in the ways of God’s commandments, not in breaking those commands. He also omits, Thou shalt go upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt Thou tread under Thy feet, because those words referred to himself as overcome by Christ.
V. Note also how great is the dignity of the true servant of God, upon whom, by God’s command, the angels wait. Hence we may learn:—
1. Not to regard ourselves as of no value, for we are so highly esteemed of God that He commissions His own ministers to attend on us.
2. To entrust ourselves altogether to their guidance, for they will keep us in perfect peace.
3. To lead such a life as will make the angels surround us, and be our constant attendants. As bees swarm about a bed of flowers, so will they gather around those who bloom with Christian graces. Thus, the Bride is spoken of as terrible as an army with banners, that army of the living God, the angelic hosts of chariots and horses of fire surrounding the faithful. Around the bed of Solomon were three-score valiant men. And angels are about our bed watching and protecting us.
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Note here that—
I. Christ does not enter into a long discussion with the devil, but at once silences him, knowing his obduracy. (Tit. iii. 10.) He teaches us thereby not to parley with diabolic suggestions, but at once to suppress them.
II. Christ answered in the words of Scripture, to show us how to meet the assaults of the evil one; not with weapons of our own devising, but with those taken from the armoury of God’s Word.
III. Christ met and overcame Satan with his own weapon. Thus did David slay Goliath with his own sword; thus was Haman hanged on his own gallows; thus did Christ triumph at the last over Satan by a tree, wherewith Satan had ruined man.
IV. We tempt the Lord our God, whenever—
1. Presumptuously we require Him to alter the course of nature on our behalf.
2. We rush needlessly into danger.
3. We thoughtlessly cast ourselves into prayer, without having prepared our minds as to what we shall ask. (Eccles. xviii. 23.)
4. We persevere in sin that grace may abound, postponing repentance, stopping our ears to the calls of God.
5. We tie God down to means, as the princes of Bethulia tempted God, when they said that they would give up the city in five days. (Judith viii. 11.)
6. We attempt to excogitate the meaning of Scripture, with regard to doctrine, for ourselves, without following the direction of our divinely-constituted and infallible guide, the Church.
7. We stifle the promptings of conscience.
8. We neglect the appointed means of grace for those of our own choosing.
I. Whereas St. John was shown the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ, in ecstatic vision, here in vision are the kingdoms of the world shown to Christ as bowing under the rule of Satan.
II. Note also, how that—
1. Satan exhibited all the kingdoms to tempt Christ, whilst to tempt us one jug of wine, one fair woman, one handful of gold, are deemed quite sufficient.
2. Satan showed the glory of the kingdoms of earth, but not their emptiness, their troubles, their fleetingness.
3. Satan spreads the net of ambition before those who are leading a life of high spirituality. Thus the Apostles, who had forsaken all for Christ, yet strove amongst themselves as to which of them should be the greatest. (Luke xxii. 24. 2 Kings xxiv. 2.)
4. Satan showed the glories of earth, not of Heaven, trying by this temptation also to withdraw Christ’s mind from things above to things below.
5. Satan did not show the real kingdoms, but only a semblance of them. So he offers us, not those things which will satisfy, but things which have no substance. (James iv. 14.)
Whatsoever there is in this world of glory, of beauty, of majesty, is but the shadow of good things to come. Satan tries to urge us to clasp the shadow, that we may lose the substance.
6. Satan showed all in a moment of time; we learn thereby
α. That his temptations come upon us with great suddenness.
β. That the things he offers us are fleeting and without stability. In this world nothing is enduring. (1 Cor. vii. 35.) If Satan gives us what we desire, he removes it from us speedily. (Ps. lxxvi. 5. Prov. xiii. 11.)
And saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me. Here note—
II. Note here also, that—
1. The devil’s motive in tempting man is still his unconquered pride. Still does he desire to be equal with God. But one of the three things which God hateth is, a poor man that is proud (Ecclus. xxv. 2); and who is poorer than the devil, yet who more proud?
2. All sin leads to the worship of Satan, and the breach of the First Commandment. For sin is a turning from the obedience of God to the bondage of corruption, a leaving the kingdom of grace for the slavery of sin, an electing of eternal death in the realm of outer darkness in place of resurrection to eternal life in the kingdom of Christ. All sin leads to this, for—
α. Sin must inherit death and damnation.
β. Sins lead to infidelity. (Ps. xiv. 1. Prov. xviii. 3.)
γ. They make gods of mammon or the belly. (Tobit iii. 3. Phil. iii. 19. Eph. v. 5.)
3. Satan is like a merchant offering wares in exchange for souls; like the king of Sodom who said, Give me the souls, and take the goods to thyself. (Gen. xiv. 21, Vulg.) But what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
4. Satan tells here three lies.
α. He claims the world and its kingdoms as his own, whereas they belong to God. The whole world is Mine, and all that therein is.
β. He says that he gives kingdoms to whom he will (St. Luke); whereas God says, By Me kings reign. (Prov. viii. 15. Dan. ii. 21. John xii. 31.)
γ. He says that he has power to bestow things, whereas he has no such power whatever.
5. Satan tempts Christ to fall down: and so—
α. His deceptions have all one object: the accomplishment of our fall.
β. No man can worship Satan, without falling first most grievously.
6. Satan begins with small temptations, and ends with great ones; begins with a matter of bread, and ends with an offer of kingdoms. This teaches us not to despise small temptations; they are the forerunners of greater ones, the little foxes which spoil the vines. (Cant. ii. 15.) Give an inch, and Satan will take an ell. St. Peter began his fall by mixing with bad company about a fire; he ended by denying his Master with oaths and curses.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
I. Hitherto Christ has answered with gentleness, as the shafts of the devil were aimed simply at Himself as man; but now that Satan casts the arrow of blasphemy against God, He is kindled with zeal: thereby teaching us to bear our own injuries with meekness, but to resent with the flame of indignation any affront offered to the majesty of God. So Christ endured patiently being called a gluttonous man and a winebibber, but He was fired with zeal when He saw His Father’s house made a house of merchandise.
II. Christ said not, Get thee behind Me, Satan; but, Get thee hence, Satan: for to Satan there was left no place for repentance, whilst to Peter, all that was needed was a following of Jesus in His humiliations and sufferings.
III. The weapons wielded by Christ in His temptation, were, pure trust in God, the Word of God, and hatred of the devil.
IV. It is of advantage that when we are tempted, we should recognize the tempter through his disguise. Temptation loses half its power when it is recognized as a temptation. When Christ showed Satan that He knew him, at once Satan took to flight (1 Cor. xi. 14. 2 Cor. ii. 11. 1 John iii. 4.)
V. Christ made no allusion to Satan’s offer, but passed at once to the condition, to show us that we should not suffer his allurements to find the smallest lodgment in our minds.
VI. Christ made use of the words, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, instead of Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, Deut. vi. 13, from which He quoted, to show that in Him we have passed from the bondage of fear to the liberty of love, from the fear of servants to the reverence of children, that we have come to the perfect love of the New Covenant, which casteth out fear of the Old Law.
VII. Christ teaches us that God demands worship and bodily reverence, that reverence of falling down on the knee which Satan asked for himself.
VIII. Christ says not only, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, but also, Him only shalt thou serve: to teach us that bodily and spiritual worship is insufficient, unless it is followed by obedient service; that acts of devotion must go hand in hand with observance of the commandments.
Then the devil leaveth Him, and behold angels came and ministered unto Him.
Leaveth Him, St. Luke adds, for a season; for Satan returned to Him with provocations throughout His life, and finally afflicted Him on the cross. It was of his coming to Him then that Christ spoke, when He said, The Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me. (John xiv. 30.) It was then on the cross that Christ endured the last assaults of Satan: then, when He made that offering of a sweet-smelling savour, which, when the evil spirit had smelled, he fled into the uttermost parts of Egypt, and the angel bound him. (Tobit viii. 3.)
Note here likewise that—
The devil leaveth Christ: thus does he also leave us, after having tempted us,—
α. In the hopes of returning with seven other spirits to take up a permanent abode in man’s heart, if found empty of the love of Jesus.
β. That he may plot some new form of temptation; retiring to gather strength. We must use this time of freedom for recruiting our forces and collecting additional arms of defence.
γ. That he may throw us off our guard, luring us into false security and spiritual sloth:—tempting us by his very absence.
Angels came and ministered unto Him, when the temptation was ended. In like manner will angels minister to us if we successfully resist.
Observe also that—
I. This brings great consolation to the religious, who have pledged themselves to the angelic life of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
1. Christ overcame the temptation of the flesh when He rejected the offered stones.
2. Christ overcame the temptation to disobedience and self-glorification when He remained on the pinnacle of the temple instead of showing a form of will-worship and voluntary humility by casting Himself down. And so should religious occupy any position to which their superior appoints them without seeking to desert it.
3. Christ overcame the temptation to avarice when He rejected the offered kingdoms of the world: electing rather, poverty.
II. Angelic consolation follows retirement: the angels ministered to Christ in the wilderness. It follows victory over temptation: the angels ministered to Christ when the temptation was ended.
III. Conflict with Satan does not lead to conquest: Christ took no spoils by His triumph. It is rather the victory of successful defence, of having lost nothing in the struggle, not of having gained aught.
Now I ask any candid person whether this is not a
marvellous sermon, abounding in thought, overflowing
with suggestions? Having read it, will he take up
Scott, or Matthew Henry, or D’Oyly and Mant, and see
what those luminaries have to say on the passage of
Scripture thus wrought out by the Jesuit preacher?
I have not the least doubt as to the opinion he will form on the contrast.
We may truly say of the majority of Protestant commentators, that—Their minds are blinded: for until this day remaineth the veil—upon their heart—in the reading of the Old, or New, Testament. This is more applicable, of course, to foreign reformed theologians—if I may use the term theologian of those who are ignorant of the first principles of theology—than to our own divines. The English Church has always studied the Fathers, and has loved them; there is no great gulf fixed between us and the Mediævals, as there is between the Church and Protestant sectaries, and gleams of patristic light are reflected in the pages of our great divines. But there are commentators among us, such as Scott, who, scorning the master-expositors of early and Mediæval days, go to the study of God’s Word with the veil of their self-sufficiency on their hearts, and become hopelessly involved in heresy.
Scott affords us a melancholy example of a mistaken vocation. A commentator on Holy Scripture should be a man of profound theological learning, and of great intellectual power. Scott, a most amiable and pious clergyman, was neither a well-read man, nor were his abilities at all above par. His voluminous Commentary is accordingly, though overflowing with pious sentiment, of small theological value.
Protestant clergy commenting on Scripture, amidst the bustle of their ministerial avocations and their connubial distractions, without referring to the great works of early and Mediæval theologians, whose whole lives were spent in prayer and Scriptural studies, stand the chance of blundering as grossly as would a farm labourer if he undertook to excogitate, for himself, a system of astronomy, without reference to any treatises on the science already existing, or qualifying himself for the study, by a mastery of the rule of three, but regarded with unmitigated contempt all the discoveries made by those who have spent their lives in the exclusive study of the stars, and rejected as useless all the appliances of art invented to facilitate this investigation.