How we Traffic With the Devil

There bee two ways whereby we may have traffic[1] with the Devil, either of both will serve his turn: first, homage: secondly, sevice of the body;[2] and both these doth God require, even when we are in the dark, or in our chamber, Ezech. cha. 8. vers. 12.[3]

Indeed might the Devil say,

This mountain is very open[4]: but how say you?[5] will you be content closely in a corner to worship me?[6] If you will not wear my cognizance on your forehead, yet ye may take my mark in your hand; then shutting your hand, nobody can perceive it[7]. If ye will not take the mark, yet take the number of the Beast.s name, that is, six hundred threescore and six, Apocalip. chapt. 13. vers. 17. 18[8]. Will you do none of these? What then? Will you serve me? Rom. chapt. 16. vers. 18[9]. Thus ye see how glorious terms he uses, but if one should seem to do one of these on courtesy, he will not be content till he do it of duty.[10]

What is it to Worship

Now let us see first what it is to worship. It is that which Cornelius did to Peter, he met him, fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. Act. 10. 25.[11] And that which John did to the Angell: that is, he fell down before his feet to worship him, Apocalips. 19. 10.[12] It is, when one on the knees doth a bodily worship. I will show it you in David’s words: for I cannot tell it ye better. When Michel scoffed at David, for being bare-headed before the ark, he said I will be more vile than thus, and will be low in mine owne sight, 2, Sa. 6. 22.[13]

A man can never be too reverent to God: we think it a great disgrace and debasing of ourselves, if we use any bodily worship to God. It may be said to then, as it was to him, that feared to do too much reverence to Caesar, Hic 〈…〉 Caesarem[14]. Our Religion & Cultus[15] must be uncovered, and a bare-faced religion: we would not use to come before a mean prince[16], as we do before the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, even the God of heaven and earth.

The four and twenty Elders fell down before him that sat on the Throne, and worshipped him that lives forever, and cast their crowns before his Throne[17].

The wandering eye must learn to be fastened on him, Luk. ch. 4. ver. 20,[18] and the work of justice and peace, Es. chapt. 32. vers. 17.[19] the worship of the knees to bow, Ephes. chapt. 3. ver. 14[20]. and kneel before the Lord their Maker, Psalme. 95. verse. 6.[21] Out feet are to come before his face: for the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all Gods, Psalm. 95. vers. 2. and 3[22]. Jacob, though he were not able to stand or kneel yet (because he would use some corporal service) leaned upon his staff, and worshipped God, as appears in the nine & fortieth chapter of Genesis the three and thirtieth verse, and the eleventh to the Hebrues, the one and twentieth verse.[23]

This must be done as duty due unto God, and in regard of those that be strangers.

What it is to Serve

Secondly, What it is to serve.

This is to bow the soul as the other is to bow the body. For[24] the King to serve and speak kindly to the people, that they may serve him forever after, 1. King. 12. 7[25]. is not the service he means, not to do all that the king commands, 2. Sam. chapt. 15. vers. 15.[26] For God must be above all: and of whomsoever a man is overcome, to him he is in bondage. 2. Pet. cha. 2. ver. 19.[27] We must serve God with our sacrifices, but not with our sins, nor wear him with our iniquities Es. chapt. 43▪ vers. 23[28]. We may not make a dung-cart of him, to load him with our sin and filth[29], Amos chapter second, verse thirteen[30]: and when he comes again, to have as much more for him.

[1] Traffic means business or interaction. We use this word at present only for negative or illegal commerce, drug trafficking, sex trafficking. That connotation is useful here.

[2] There are two forms of service to the Devil, homage: paying honor to the Devil. Service: performing actions which are of use to him. Our subjective existence, our internal life; and our objective existence, what can be seen are both of use to him.

[3]  “Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” Ezekiel 8:12 (ESV)  God knows what is done in private as well as public. Moreover, our private life is to be dedicated to God as is our public.

[4] There are many ways you can be of service to me.

[5] What do you say?

[6] Are you willing to worship me in private?

[7] If you don’t want to wear my mark on your forehead, where everyone will see it; I will be satisfied if you put on your hand where no one will notice.

[8] If you don’t want to wear my name, at least where my number, 666.  

¹⁶ Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, ¹⁷ so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. ¹⁸ This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

Revelation 13:16–18 (ESV)

[9]

¹⁷ I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. ¹⁸ For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

Romans 16:17–18 (ESV)

[10] The Devil will obtain his service from one willingly; but if not willingly, he will compel his service. The life of addiction may be seen as a vivid example. At first, the behavior is willingly. Then, when it becomes settled, it is compelled and demanded even while the addict wishes to stop.

[11]

²⁴ And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵ When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. ²⁶ But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”

Acts 10:24–26 (ESV)

[12]

⁹ And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” ¹⁰ Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Revelation 19:9–10 (ESV)

[13]

²⁰ And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” ²¹ And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. ²² I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” ²³ And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

2 Samuel 6:20–23 (ESV)

[14] Latin, the sentence is incomplete: This …. Caesar, here Caesar.

[15] The “cultus” refers to the activities which are particularly performed in worship in church: praying, singing, Lord’s Supper, baptism, preaching.

[16] Here “mean” does not mean cruel, it means lowly or unimportant.

[17]

⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, ⁶ and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷ the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. ⁸ And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

                                    “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!”

⁹ And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

                  ¹¹               “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

                                    for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created.”

Revelation 4:5–11 (ESV)

[18] He takes an illustration of Jesus preaching in the synagogue. When Jesus finished his words, the people in the room were transfixed upon him:

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

Luke 4:20 (ESV)

[19] The work of the Spirit is to create justice:

                  ¹⁴               For the palace is forsaken,

the populous city deserted;

                                    the hill and the watchtower

will become dens forever,

                                    a joy of wild donkeys,

a pasture of flocks;

                  ¹⁵               until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,

and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

                  ¹⁶               Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,

and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.

                  ¹⁷               And the effect of righteousness will be peace,

and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

                  ¹⁸               My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,

in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

Isaiah 32:14–18 (ESV)

[20]  “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father.” Ephesians 3:14 (ESV)

[21]

                  ⁶                 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

Psalm 95:6 (ESV)

[22]

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

                  ²                 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

                  ³                 For the Lord is a great God,

and a great King above all gods.

Psalm 95:1–3 (ESV)

²¹ By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.  Heb. 11:21. This is described in Genesis 49.

[24] Andrewes takes two illustration of the nature of the relationship between the king and his subjects. In one, the people demanded the King treat them well. In the second, the servants do whatever is commanded. The service the Devil seeks utter subservience.

[25] When Solomon’s son became King, the people asked for a reduction of the taxes and forced labor of Solomon.

⁵ He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷ And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”

1 Kings 12:5–7 (ESV)  He chose to threaten the people and so lost the kingdom.

[26]

13 And a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” 14 Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” 15 And the king’s servants said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides.” 16 So the king went out, and all his household after him. And the king left ten concubines to keep the house. 17 And the king went out, and all the people after him. And they halted at the last house.

2 Samuel 15:13–17 (ESV)

[27] Whatever controls your decisions controls you:  “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”  2 Peter 2:19 (ESV)

[28] Isaiah 43:23 (ESV)

                  ²³               You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

or honored me with your sacrifices.

                                    I have not burdened you with offerings,

or wearied you with frankincense.

[29] This is a remarkable image: you God, carry off my filth. As if God were a dumpster service.

[30]

“Behold, I will press you down in your place,

as a cart full of sheaves presses down.”

Amos 2:13 (ESV)

Worship is not Mere Words

The Scripture whereby Christ answers the Devil, is in the sixteenth of Deuteronomy, and thirteenth verse, Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God, and serue him.[1] If any fantastical spirit oppose itself against Moses, let it be accursed.[2]

There is in this answer two things set down, Worship and Service: both which are due to God only. Covetousness ends in idolatry[3], and fitly is so termed: if Christ had been covetously minded, then he must needs have fallen down, and worshipped the Devil for covetousness and idolatry being joined together, we would not have parted from so great a benefit.

Christ hath here changed a word, which the Septuaginta[4] translators has: which signifies, a service with an open testimony. So that, will you know if a man do believe? Hee beleeueth vnto righteousnes with the heart, that with the mouth confesseth to saluation, Roman. chapt. 10. vers. 10.[5] Such as glorify God as well in their members[6], as in their spirit, 1. Corinth. cha. 6. verse. 20[7]. As Saint James saith of Faith, Shew me thy faith by thy works[8]: so may it be said of fear[9]. You say you have fear, can you show me your fear? If it be not a dead fear, it is to be seen: as Dan. chapt. 3. verse 5[10]. it must be shewed by falling down, and worshipping.

The servant that feared, fell down and besought [begged] his master, Matth. chapt. 18. verse. 26[11]. Do you fear? then where is the outward reverence? The inward affection must appeareby the outward action: Religion is outward, as well as inward, 1. Kings 19. 18.[12]

[1]  ¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, ¹² then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³ It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.   Deuteronomy 6:10–13 (ESV)

[2] It seems that Andrewes here makes an aside condemnation of those persons who try to separate the Old Testament from Christianity, as Marcion did in the Second Century: “Marcion’s central thesis was that the Christian Gospel was wholly a Gospel of Love to the absolute exclusion of Law. This doctrine, which he expounded esp. in his ‘Antitheses’, led him to reject the OT completely. The Creator God or *Demiurge, revealed in the OT from Gen. I onwards as wholly a God of Law, had nothing in common with the God of Jesus Christ.” F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford;  New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 1040.

[3] “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5 (ESV)

[4] The Septuagint is a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. Greek was known by far more Jews than Hebrew by the time of Jesus. The text of the Septuagint differs in places from the Hebrew Bible. Here the Septuagint reads as follows: “¹You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him, and you shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name.” Deuteronomy 6:13 (LES) The difference between the Hebrew and Greek text of this verse is the verb κολλάω, which means to be joined to, or to cling to. The argument must be that by being joined to the Lord’s name, one makes an open profession. Jesus has the word “worship” in place of the Hebrew “fear,” which is an appropriate exchange.

[5]  “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Romans 10:10 (ESV)

[6] “Members” is a reference to part of the body. This word is used by Paul to refer to one’s own body (Col. 3:5), or individual Christians who are “members” of the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 6:15)

[7]

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:15–20 (ESV)

[8]

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 2:18–26 (ESV)

[9] The fear of the Lord is known by the manner of life, not by a mere verbal claim. It is easy to say something; but the truth is in how one lives.

[10] The King of Babylon created an enormous statute and required that everyone was to bow down to the statute when they heard the music played. The three devout Hebrews refused to worship the idol because they feared God. Their fear was shown in their worship. Since they feared God, they would not worship the false god. Likewise, Jesus feared God and thus would worship no other.

[11]  “So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’” Matthew 18:26 (ESV) Andrewes is using the parable of the unforgiving servant as an illustration as to who one who asks of a greater will make his request upon his knees. To be down on the ground in a submissive posture is a posture “worship.” The word in Matthew translated worship refers to this posture, “Freq. used to designate the custom of prostrating oneself before persons and kissing their feet or the hem of their garment, the ground, etc.; the Persians did this in the presence of their deified king, and the Greeks before a divinity or someth. holy.” William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 882.

[12] God speaking to Elijah uses the image of physical submission to demonstrate one’s worship: “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 1 Kings 19:18 (ESV)

The Glory of the Kingdoms

The Devil (we see) exacts more than the thing is worth, and restrains the benefit of his grant with unjust covenants.[1] But Christ goes not about to answer the Devil that way: but by flying to the Scriptures, as to his surest hold. Therefore, David prays, that his mind may be inclined to God’s law, and not to covetousness: Psalme 119. verse. 36.[2]

For there is a medicine for every disease, and power as well against this temptation of covetousness, as against the former: the Law of God can as well keep a man from covetousness, as from desperation[3]: Heauen and earth shall passe, but no one iote of this[4]. Let therefore Haec omnia give place to Scriptum est[5]: merry,[6] Omnia illa[7], which both we now enjoy, and which are laid up for us hereafter, are come too by Scriptum est[8]. So that Omnia haec[9] is not all we must care for: there be things to come (besides these which we lay hand on) far more precious[10]. Though here be all the kingdoms of the earth: yet they are said, to be showed in the twinkling of an eye, so cannot the other kingdom of exceeding glory.[11] All the power of all the princes on the earth, have not power over one silly [single] soul to destroy it, Mat. chapt. 10. vers. 28.[12] All the glory of them, is called but a great big fan, or pomp, Acts. 25. 23.[13]

Solomon was the most glorious Prince that ever was, yet he was not clothed like a lily Matthew chapt. 6. ver. 29.[14] Nor all the lilies in the field, nor stars in heaven, nor the sun and moon itself, are comparable to one soul.[15]

Worship is not Mere Words

The Scripture whereby Christ answers the Devil, is in the sixteenth of Deuteronomy, and thirteenth verse, Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God, and serue him.[16] If any fantastical spirit oppose itself against Moses, let it be accursed.[17]

There is in this answer two things set down, Worship and Service: both which are due to God only. Covetousness ends in idolatry[18], and fitly is so termed: if Christ had been covetously minded, then he must needs have fallen down, and worshipped the Devil for covetousness and idolatry being joined together, we would not have parted from so great a benefit.

Christ hath here changed a word, which the Septuaginta[19] translators has: which signifies, a service with an open testimony. So that, will you know if a man do believe? Hee beleeueth vnto righteousnes with the heart, that with the mouth confesseth to saluation, Roman. chapt. 10. vers. 10.[20] Such as glorify God as well in their members[21], as in their spirit, 1. Corinth. cha. 6. verse. 20[22]. As Saint James saith of Faith, Shew me thy faith by thy works[23]: so may it be said of fear[24]. You say you have fear, can you show me your fear? If it be not a dead fear, it is to be seen: as Dan. chapt. 3. verse 5[25]. it must be shewed by falling down, and worshipping.

The servant that feared, fell down and besought [begged] his master, Matth. chapt. 18. verse. 26[26]. Do you fear? then where is the outward reverence? The inward affection must appeareby the outward action: Religion is outward, as well as inward, 1. Kings 19. 18.[27]

[1] The Devil makes us an offer and enters into a contract (covenant). But the contract always contains a deception. We never receive what we truly hope to receive. It also ends up costing us something we did not expect.

[2]

Incline my heart to your testimonies,

and not to selfish gain!

Psalm 119:36 (ESV)

[3] Early Andrewes had described the first temptation (stones to bread) to be a temptation of despair. Here, he  further develops the idea of the temptation of the kingdoms as one of coveting.

[4]  ¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  Matthew 5:17–18 (ESV)

[5] Rather than the Devil’s “all these [kingdoms]”, let us give our hearts to “It is written.”

[6] The word “merry” is an injection to give special emphasis to the following words.

[7] All those, latin.

[8] All the good which we now enjoy and which we will enjoy come from God, as it promised in the “it is written”

[9] Andrewes is making a pun in Latin: instead of the “all these” offered by Satan, let us be content with the “all those” things which God has given us.

[10] ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18 (ESV)

[11] The kingdoms of this world can display all their glory in an instant. The glory of the kingdom of God will not be exhausted in an eternity.

[12]  “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 (ESV)

[13]  “So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.” Acts 25:23 (ESV) 

[14]  “²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Matthew 6:28–29 (ESV)

[15] Whatever the glory of these kingdoms, their glory is nothing compared to a human soul.

[16]  ¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, ¹² then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³ It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.   Deuteronomy 6:10–13 (ESV)

[17] It seems that Andrewes here makes an aside condemnation of those persons who try to separate the Old Testament from Christianity, as Marcion did in the Second Century: “Marcion’s central thesis was that the Christian Gospel was wholly a Gospel of Love to the absolute exclusion of Law. This doctrine, which he expounded esp. in his ‘Antitheses’, led him to reject the OT completely. The Creator God or *Demiurge, revealed in the OT from Gen. I onwards as wholly a God of Law, had nothing in common with the God of Jesus Christ.” F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford;  New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 1040.

[18] “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5 (ESV)

[19] The Septuagint is a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. Greek was known by far more Jews than Hebrew by the time of Jesus. The text of the Septuagint differs in places from the Hebrew Bible. Here the Septuagint reads as follows: “¹You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him, and you shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name.” Deuteronomy 6:13 (LES) The difference between the Hebrew and Greek text of this verse is the verb κολλάω, which means to be joined to, or to cling to. The argument must be that by being joined to the Lord’s name, one makes an open profession. Jesus has the word “worship” in place of the Hebrew “fear,” which is an appropriate exchange.

[20]  “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Romans 10:10 (ESV)

[21] “Members” is a reference to part of the body. This word is used by Paul to refer to one’s own body (Col. 3:5), or individual Christians who are “members” of the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 6:15)

[22]

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:15–20 (ESV)

[23]

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 2:18–26 (ESV)

[24] The fear of the Lord is known by the manner of life, not by a mere verbal claim. It is easy to say something; but the truth is in how one lives.

[25] The King of Babylon created an enormous statute and required that everyone was to bow down to the statute when they heard the music played. The three devout Hebrews refused to worship the idol because they feared God. Their fear was shown in their worship. Since they feared God, they would not worship the false god. Likewise, Jesus feared God and thus would worship no other.

[26]  “So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’” Matthew 18:26 (ESV) Andrewes is using the parable of the unforgiving servant as an illustration as to who one who asks of a greater will make his request upon his knees. To be down on the ground in a submissive posture is a posture “worship.” The word in Matthew translated worship refers to this posture, “Freq. used to designate the custom of prostrating oneself before persons and kissing their feet or the hem of their garment, the ground, etc.; the Persians did this in the presence of their deified king, and the Greeks before a divinity or someth. holy.” William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 882.

[27] God speaking to Elijah uses the image of physical submission to demonstrate one’s worship: “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” 1 Kings 19:18 (ESV)

The Devil’s Kingdoms?

Now to the answer: Scriptum est. [It is written]

The disputing or deciding of the Devil’s title:[1] that is, whether the kingdoms of the earth were his to give or no, Christ stands not upon; nor upon this, whether the Devil were a man of his word or no.[2] Indeed, it might well have been doubted, whether the Devil be as good as his word: his promises are not Yea and Amen, as the promises of God are.[3] We may take example by Eve, to whom  he promised, that if they did eat of the forbidden fruit that they should be like gods[4]: but were they so indeed, after they had eaten? No, but like the beasts that perish.[5]

And as true it is, that the kingdoms are his.[6]

If[7] the Kingdome of Israel had been at his disposition, we may be sure David should never have been King: as well appears by the troubles he raised against him[8]. No, nor Hezekiah[9] neither, of all other he would never choose such. We may see his good will in Job, chapter second verse 7. he could not only be content to spoil him of all that he had, but also he must afflict his body[10]: and so upon the Gergashites hogs in the 8. Chapter, and 30. verse of Saint Matthew[11].

The kingdoms are none of his, but they are committed to him in some sort to dispose, as he himself says in the fourth of Luke, the 6. vers. He hath (as it were) an advowson[12] of them, to present unto them: but yet, not as he there says, to give to whom he list [wish] but to whom he is permitted[13].

God must first put all the Job hath in his hands, or else he can do nothing. AbimelechJudges 9. and Herod[14]Matt. 2. came to their kingdoms by the Devil’s patent [grant] they bee the Devil’s officers. So, we see daikt in our days, that he bestows offices, and presents to Churches. So that as Brentius[15] says, Many have Panem quotidianum [Latin, daily bread] that cannot come by Da nobis[16]: they come not to it by God’s gift: yet all the interest that the Devil has, is but to present Pro hac vita tantum[17]. As therefore it may be true, that in some sort they may be given him: so yet, not to dispose as he will[18].

It is God only that can say so, for his only they are absolutely. The earth is the Lordes, and all the fulnesse thereof, the round world, and all that dwell therein, Psalm. 24. vers. 1[19]. It is he (the Most High God) that divided to the Nations their inheritance, Deuteron. chapt. 32. verse. 8.[20] By him Kings reigne, and Princes haue dominion, Prouerbes. chapt. 8. verse. 15.[21] He brought Nebuchadnezzar to know, That the most high God bare rule ouer the Kingdomes of men, Dan. chapt. 5. vers. 21[22]. He indeed may well say, Cui voluero, do ea[23]: and to whomsoever God gives, he gives liberally, and reproaches no man. Jam. chapt. 1. vers. 5.[24]

[1] On the question as to whether the Devil had legal title, whether he was the legal owner. To be “on title” is to own.

[2] One could debate whether the Devil actually had the right to dispose of the kingdoms of this world, or whether the Devil would keep his promise. These are both serious questions. Jesus, however, ignores both questions.

[3]

¹⁵ Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. ¹⁶ I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? ¹⁸ As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. ²⁰ For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

2 Corinthians 1:15–20 (ESV)

[4] The Devil’s statement that Eve would not “surely die” for eating the fruit is actually more to Andrewes’ purpose.

[5]

                  Man in his pomp will not remain;

he is like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 49:12 (ESV)

[6] The Devil was lying about having control of the kingdoms, just like he lied to Eve.

[7] To prove his point, that the Devil does not control the kingdoms of the world, Andrewes presents two lines of evidence. First, the Devil would not permit a good, godly king to rule. But David and Hezekiah were both kings in Israel. Therefore, the Devil did not make them king. Second, the Devil must ask permission from God to act. He gives the examples from Job and from the demons that the Devil has no personal authority.

[8] If the Devil really had control over the kingdoms to the extent he claimed to Jesus, the Devil would not have allowed David to become king of Israel.

[9] Another King of Israel: Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. 2 Chronicles 31:20 (ESV)

[10]

⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” ⁸ And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” ⁹ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? ¹⁰ Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹ But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” ¹² And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Job 1:6–12 (ESV)

[11]

²⁸ And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” ³⁰ Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. ³¹ And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” ³² And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.

Matthew 8:28–32 (ESV)

[12]

advowson /ədˈvaʊz(ə)n/

  ■ noun Brit. (in ecclesiastical law) the right to recommend a member of the Anglican clergy for a vacant benefice, or to make such an appointment.

Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, eds., Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

[13]  and [the Devil] said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. Luke 4:6 (ESV) The Devil has a limited authority. God does permit the Devil to make certain decisions. The Devil does not have independent authority. Andrewes will then provide examples of this sort of authority

[14] Abimelech and Herod were two particularly evil rulers.

[15] “Brenz, Johann (1499–1570), reformer of Württemberg.” F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford;  New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 236.

[16] Da nobis: Latin give to us. Andrewes is quoting the Lord’s Prayer in Latin. They have something to eat, but it did not come as God’s gift.

[17] Latin, For this life (and not the next).

[18] While the Devil has some power, his power limited to what God will permit. He might be mean dog, but he is always on a leash.

[19]

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein,

Psalm 24:1 (ESV)

[20]

                  ⁷                 Remember the days of old;

consider the years of many generations;

                                    ask your father, and he will show you,

your elders, and they will tell you.

                  ⁸                 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

when he divided mankind,

                                    he fixed the borders of the peoples

according to the number of the sons of God.

                  ⁹                 But the Lord’s portion is his people,

Jacob his allotted heritage.

Deuteronomy 32:7–9 (ESV)

[21]

                  ¹²               “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,

and I find knowledge and discretion.

                  ¹³               The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.

                                    Pride and arrogance and the way of evil

and perverted speech I hate.

                  ¹⁴               I have counsel and sound wisdom;

I have insight; I have strength.

                  ¹⁵               By me kings reign,

and rulers decree what is just;

                  ¹⁶               by me princes rule,

and nobles, all who govern justly.

Proverbs 8:12–16 (ESV)

[22] Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, boasted in his pride that he had made himself great and Babylon great. God struck him in his pride and left him to spend seven years thinking he was a cow, eating grass and living outside. As Daniel explains:

¹⁸ O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. ¹⁹ And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. ²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. ²² And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, ²³ but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.

Daniel 5:18–23 (ESV)

[23] Latin, I will give to whomever I wish to give.

[24] ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5 (ESV)

The Seventh Sermon.

Matt. 4. Ver. 10. 11.

Then Iesus saith vnto him; Get thee hence behinde me Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him onely shalt thou serue.

Then the diuel leaueth him, and beholde the Angels came, and ministred vnto him[1].

The answering of this temptation, if some[2] had had the answering of it, would have been facto, by the doing of the thing that the Devil required: and not in words, standing upon terms in disputation.[3] Insomuch, as they would never have cared for a cushion to kneel on: but have fallen down straight on their very faces, and have thanked him too.

If Balak should say unto any one of them[4], I will promote thee to great honour, Num. 22. 17[5], an angel standing in the way, should not hinder them from going. The manner of flesh & blood is, in cases of preferment to respect nothing, that may bring them out of their conceived hope or desire thereof: and therefore, whatsoever it is that stands in their way, be it never so holy, down it shall for haste, to make the way nearest.

The Sins We Will Commit to Gain a Kingdom

In regard of this, one brother respects not another. When Joseph had had a dream of his brethren, & told it them, all brotherly affection was laid aside, Gen. 37. 5.[6] The son and subject Absalom, forgets his duty as to his father, and allegiance as to his Prince, seeking his life, 2. Sam. 16. 11.[7]

The mother of Ahaziah, Athalia, when she saw her son dead, makes no more ado, but destroys all the Kings seed, 2. King. 11. 1.[8] Jehu makes no bones, nor is abashed at the sight of heaps of dead men’s heads, of King’s sons that he had caused to be slain, but adds more murders to them, 2. King. 10. 8.[9] What’s a basket full of heads to a kingdom? And Herod stack[10] not to kill all the male borne children in Bethlehem, Mat. 2. 16.[11]

So that Gregory might well say, Ambitio est vita, cui etiam innocentes nocent[12], such is the vehement desire of a kingdom.

So that a great many would have made no scruple at the matter, neither would they have counted it a temptation, but good counsel.[13] Neither would so have cut up Peter, as Christ did, to bid him go behind him, and turn their backs on him[14]: but they would rather have turned their backs to God, & their faces after Satan, Ie. 2. 27[15]. •. Ti. 15[16]. And indeed ,it must needs be, that either our Savior was unwise in refusing so good an offer, or else the world (in these days) is in a wrong bias.[17]

Our Savior (we see) doth not only refuse the thing: but also gives him hard [harsh] words, for making the offer and motion. For he doth not only confute him here, by saying, Scriptum est[18]: but he adds words of bitter reprehension, saying, Avoid Satan [Satan, go away!] He might have given fair words, as he did before: but here he seems to have left his patience. The reason why he was more hot in this, than in the former, is: for that this touches the glory of God, & the redemption of mankind: the former Temptations touched but himself in particular, as the turning of stones into bread, but for miracle: and the casting himself down, was but to try God, what care he had of him: But this so much touches the glory of God, as he can hold no longer. Also, his longing to redeem man, caused the same. Neither did he only answer the Devil so: but when his blessed Apostle, who meant friendly to him, moved him to the like matter, he rebuked him sharply.[19]

Two causes there are, wherein Christ is very earnest; one in counsel ministered to him, tending to the impairing of God’s glory: the other in practices, tending to the impairing of God’s Church, John 2. 15. There he was not only vehement in words; but made a whip to scourge them out[20].

And so, in the Old Testament, it is said of Moses[21], Num. 12. 3. that he was a meeke man, aboue all the men of the earth: yet when he came to a case of idolatry, Exod. 32. 19. it is said he threw the Tables out of his hands, and broke them. And so far did he loose his natural affection to his people and country men, that he caused a great number of them to be slain.[22]

And so in a case of the Church, when Korah rebelled, Num. 16. 15. then Moses waxed [grew] very angry[23]: for Glorie be to God on high, and peace on earth, is the Angel’s song and joy, and the Devil’s grief: as on the other side, the dishonor of God, and dissention of the Church, is the  Devil’s joy, and grief of the angels.

Now, besides that he does in words rebuke him sharply, he does no less in gesture also: as by turning his back upon him, (as it is most like he did in saying Avoid Satan) which is such a despiteful disgrace, as if that one should offer us the like, we would take it in very great disdain[24]. Which is to us an instruction that as there is a time, when we are to keep the Devil before us, and to have our eye still upon him, and his weapon or temptation, for fear least unawares he might do us some hurt: so is there a place, a time, and a sin that we are to turn our backs on, and not once to look at his temptation.[25]

In affliction[26], patience is to be tried: there resist the Devil, stand to him, and he will fly from you. James 4. 7.[27] Here we are to set the Devil before us. But in a case of lust, or filthy desire, then do ye [you should] fly from him, 1. Corinth. 6. 18.[28] So in the second Epistle to Timothy, second chapter, and two and twentieth verse, we are exhorted to fly from the lusts of youth, and to follow justice[29]: there is no standing to gaze back on the Devil and his temptations.[30]

[1] Matthew 4:10–11 (ESV)

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

                                    “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God

and him only shall you serve.’ ”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

[2] He is going to speak of a category of people “some” who would jump at the Devil’s temptation. They wouldn’t need a cushion for their knees, they would dive on their face. If Balak offered them honor to curse Israel, they wouldn’t be slowed down by an angel with a sword. These people will run after Satan’s deceitful offers.

[3] This temptation held no ambiguity. There was no misuse of Scripture as there had been when the Devil said to throw yourself down. The response to this temptation would be to act or not.  

[4] The “some” mentioned above.

[5] The Moabite king had offered the prophet for hire Balaam great honor if Balaam would curse Israel. “For I will surely do you great honor.” Num. 22:17

[6] Joseph, the oldest son of Rachel, but far younger than most of his brothers born to Jacob’s other wife and his wife’s maids [this was not a “healthy” family], tells of a dream in which his brothers will all bow down to him. Since Jacob so favored Joseph, it appeared that Joseph would become the patriarch at his father’s death. Joseph’s telling of dreams is problematic. His brothers did not take Joseph’s dream well: they kidnapped him and sold him as a slave. This family had problems.

[7] When David did not deal with Amnon’s abuse of Absalom’s full sister (all three had David as a father, but they had different mothers), Absalom took justice into his own hands and dispatched Amnon. Later, Absalom led a rebellion against his father David, who was his father and his king.

[8]

 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. ² But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. ³ And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the Lord, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

2 Kings 11:1–3 (ESV)

[9]

⁶ Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.” Now the king’s sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing them up. ⁷ And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. ⁸ When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons,” he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” ⁹ Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these? ¹⁰ Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.” ¹¹ So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his close friends and his priests, until he left him none remaining.

¹² Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, ¹³ Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they answered, “We are the relatives of Ahaziah, and we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.” ¹⁴ He said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons, and he spared none of them.

2 Kings 10:6–14 (ESV)

[10] “Stack” does not seem to be the correct word. Perhaps this was did not “stand,” that is, pause, before killing, etc.

[11] Herod the Great heard of the birth of the “King” from the Magi. While he pretended to wish to meet the child himself, he instead desired to murder the child. When the Magi did not give him the precise location of the child, he decided just to kill all of the boys in the area to make sure he killed the child.

[12] Latin: Ambition is life which will even harm the innocent. Ambition will drive us to harm even the innocent to achieve that ambition. I am not certain which “Gregory” is the source of this quotation.

[13] The perversion caused by sin is such that many would not consider the Devil’s temptation to be a temptation to sin. Instead, they would see the offer as a blessing. Thanks, Devil!

[14]

²¹ From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Matthew 16:21–23 (ESV)

[15]

                  ²⁶               “As a thief is shamed when caught,

so the house of Israel shall be shamed:

                                    they, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets,

                  ²⁷               who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’

and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

                                    For they have turned their back to me,

and not their face.

                                    But in the time of their trouble they say,

‘Arise and save us!’

Jeremiah 2:26–27 (ESV)

[16] ¹⁵ For some have already strayed after Satan. 1 Timothy 5:15 (ESV)

[17] There are some who rather than turn away from Satan’s offer (as Christ did with Peter, in a striking event), will turn away from Christ and after Satan. For either Christ was foolish to turn down a good offer, or our world is wrong to go after it.

[18] Latin, it is written.

[19] Jesus’ response to this temptation differs from the other two. On those occasions, the fault of the temptation fell on Jesus. But in this temptation sought to directly rob God of his glory: giving worship to someone other than God, himself. He gives a second reason, that Jesus had in mind his work of redemption. However, if Jesus had sinned in response to either of the other two temptations, Jesus would have been unfit as the mediator. Therefore, I think Andrewes is right on the first point, but wrong on the second.

[20] When Jesus saw the discretion of God’s glory and God’s worship, he made a whip to drive them from the Temple.

[21] Moses is here given as an example of the pattern Andrewes sees in Jesus. Moses was described as the most meek man upon the earth. But, when Moses came down the mountain with the first set of the ten commandments, he threw the tablets to the ground in his anger at the people having fallen into idolatry with the Golden Calf.

[22]

²⁵ And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), ²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. ²⁷ And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ” ²⁸ And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. ²⁹ And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

Exodus 32:25–29 (ESV)

[23] Korah led a rebellion against the order and authority established by God. For his rebellion, the ground opened up underneath the rebels and their family. Numbers 16.

[24] If someone treated us with this level of disgrace, we would be very indignant.

[25] Andrewes draws a lesson from Christ’s behavior toward the Devil. In two of the temptations, he answered the Devil: he kept his eye upon him, and paid attention to the trick being played. There are times where it is wisdom for us to keep our eye upon the temptation so that we are not surprised by temptation and fall into sin. But Jesus also turned his back on the Devil in this final temptation. So there are times where wisdom is to turn away from the temptation altogether. In the next paragraph, he explains how this works in practice.

[26] There are basic tactics to bring us to sin. One is affliction, a “trial”, where we are put under pressure. These are the various difficulties of this world, sorrow, pain, loss, death, et cetera. Affliction calls for patience. We cannot simply “flee” disease. The only means is to draw us to sin. We would call this a “temptation.” It is “temptation,” the seduction to sin that we are to flee.

[27] Andrewes here alludes to two separate passages in James:

⁶ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4:6–8 (ESV)

And:

⁷ Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. ⁸ You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. ⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. ¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

James 5:7–11 (ESV)

[28]

¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 (ESV)

[29]

²⁰ Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. ²¹ Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

²² So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. ²³ Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

2 Timothy 2:20–23 (ESV) Andrewes’ reference that we are to pursue “justice” comes from the Vulgate, “sectare vero justitiam” where the English translation all have “righteousness.”

[30] He seems here to be alluding again to Lot’s wife. Lot’s turning back to look upon Sodom has been a frequent image in this work.

(The conclusion of the sixth sermon)

In this temptation (as in the former) there is both fire to consume ourselves, and a dart to wound our consciences. The fire is the motion of discontent[1], that God is[2] either a poor God, not able sufficiently to reward those that serve him: or else an unkind God, that will not reward the duties that are performed by those that serve him.[3] By this wee come to say; Who is the Almightie, that wee shold serue him? Job. 21. 15.[4] The wicked are they that prosper and increase in riches. I haue cleansed my hart in vaine, for daylie haue I been punished. Psal. 73. 12.[5] Then this dart makes us weary of well doing: and then follows, that we will serve the Devil being discontent with God’s service, we undertake the service of his enemy: he requires nothing but a little falling down[6], and then if Simon shall come, and require any unlawful thing at our hands, we are ready (with Judas) to meet with him, and say; What wil ye giue me, and I will doo it, Mat. 26. 15[7]. though it bee to the betraying of Christ. The Devil here opens his meaning in this temptation plainly[8], (that he would have him fall down & worship him) with a bare and bold face: before, he came disguised, and spoke in parables. His meaning is not when he says Dabo[9], to give them: but to barter or exchange one thing for another. It is no gift, but a flat bargain: men use not to account it a gift, except it be without rendering back either money or service[10]. If he render here service back, he may well think I have sold my soul for Hoc aliquid[11], Mat. 16. 76[12]. He may think, as Esau sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage. Heb. 12. 16[13] so has he sold his soul, his birth right[14], and freedom: for we were all bought with a price, 1. Cor. 7. 23[15]. the same great high Priest redeemed us all with his blood. No sins are so carefully to be taken heed of, as these, that have annexed to adoration, donation: he has Malum[16] with a jointer[17]. If he should have cast himself down from the Pinnacle, here is all he should have had: they would have talked of it, and have wondered a while at it.[18]

Well, we must be thus persuaded, that God is as well able and willing to reward us for any service, as the Devil, and better too. It is he indeed that reigns over the kingdoms of men, Dan. 5. 21[19] and places in them whom pleases him: but when he gives or disposes, he gives indeed freely, exacting nothing back again, unless it be such things, as he were to have without any such gift, such things as are due of mere right, without any stipulation or hire.[20] James. 1. 5[21]. The Devil’s Dabo [I will give] is, as offices and parsonages are given among us; that is, as usually sold as horses in Smithfield[22]. But if we could be content to give indeed, let that heroical mind that was in Abraham be in us, Gen. 14. 23. that as he would not take anything of Melchisedech[23], so we will not be a shoe latchet the richer by the Devil[24]. If he offer to make us wealthy, let vs answer him; Pecunia tua tecum pereat.[25]

[1] All persuasion begins with discontentment, because persuasion requires us to change from one state to another. The discontentment can begin with either an allurement that you have at present is not good enough (just a moment before you may have thought you were happy, but let me show you something better); or it can begin with an attack upon your present circumstance: something to make you positively unhappy. Once discontentment is achieved, the next step is the offer. The Devil’s first move is thus discontentment: it is the beginning of a fire.

[2] Even if God is not explicitly stated, all temptations entail God: Behind all temptations is the implicit statement that God will not provide, you had better take care of this yourself.

[3] John Bunyan puts this point into Apollyon’s mouth in Pilgrim’s Progress as follows: “Consider again, when thou art in cool blood, what thou art like to meet with in the way that thou goest. Thou knowest that for the most part his servants come to an ill end, because they are transgressors against me and my ways. How many of them have been put to shameful deaths! And besides, thou countest his service better than mine; whereas he never yet came from the place where he is, to deliver any that served him out of their enemies’ hands: but as for me, how many times, as all the world very well knows, have I delivered, either by power or fraud, those that have faithfully served me, from him and his, though taken by them! And so will I deliver thee.”John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995).

[4]

                  ⁷                 Why do the wicked live,

reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

                  ⁸                 Their offspring are established in their presence,

and their descendants before their eyes.

                  ⁹                 Their houses are safe from fear,

and no rod of God is upon them.

                  ¹⁰               Their bull breeds without fail;

their cow calves and does not miscarry.

                  ¹¹               They send out their little boys like a flock,

and their children dance.

                  ¹²               They sing to the tambourine and the lyre

and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.

                  ¹³               They spend their days in prosperity,

and in peace they go down to Sheol.

                  ¹⁴               They say to God, ‘Depart from us!

We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

                  ¹⁵               What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’

Job 21:7–15 (ESV)

[5] In Psalm 73, the Psalmist looks at the wicked and sees the wicked’s life to be wholly better in all ways. He then looks at himself and thinks that he has received nothing for serving the Lord. Why should I have taken all this effort to deny temptations when I get nothing for my faithfulness?

                  ¹¹               And they say, “How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

                  ¹²               Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they increase in riches.

                  ¹³               All in vain have I kept my heart clean

and washed my hands in innocence.

Psalm 73:11–13 (ESV)

[6] The Devil’s service comes so easily. He requires only “a little falling down.” What could be easier?

[7]

¹⁴ Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵ and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Matthew 26:14–16 (ESV)

[8] He explains himself clearly.

[9] Latin, I will give.

[10] It is not a gift unless it comes without strings or obligations.

[11] Latin, “this thing” (where “thing” could be anything).

[12] ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16:26 (ESV)

[13] Hebrews 12:15–16 (ESV)

¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶ that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

[14]  ²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. ³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) ³¹ Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” ³² Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” ³³ Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Genesis 25:29–34 (ESV) As the oldest son, the promise made to Abraham and Issac that the land would go to their descendants was not worth persisting in hunger.

[15] 1 Corinthians 7:23 (ESV)

²³ You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.

[16] Latin, evil.

[17] Evil with an addition.

[18] The only pay-off for throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple would have been the discussion of those who saw it. He would have been paid in words.

[19] ¹⁷ Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. ¹⁸ O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. ¹⁹ And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. ²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. ²² And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, ²³ but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. Daniel 5:17–23 (ESV)

[20] All the kingdoms and honors of the world are disposed of by God. Yet when God gives one a kingdom, God is not seeking to manipulate the recipient. A king owes to God that which he would owe if he the king’s servant.

[21] ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:4 (ESV)

[22] Any “gift” of the Devil is a commercial transaction, it is given solely so that he may get back what he desires.

[23] The city of Sodom (among others) was sacked by an invading army. Among those taken captive was Abraham’s nephew Lot. Abraham organized a war party and managed to rescue everyone. The king of Sodom offered to allow Abraham to take some of what was captured as his spoil. Abraham refused to take anything from the king of Sodom. Abraham also meets Melchizedek. Abraham gives a tithe to Melchizedek.

¹⁷ After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ¹⁸ And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said,

                                    “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Possessor of heaven and earth;

                  ²⁰               and blessed be God Most High,

who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. ²¹ And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

Genesis 14:17–24 (ESV)

[24] We will never profit in making a deal with the Devil. He will always make the better bargain.

[25] Latin, may your money perish with you. It is close to the Vulgate translation of Peter’s answer to Simon Magus, “Pecunia tua tecum sit in perditionem.” Biblia Sacra Juxta Vulgatam Clementinam., Ed. electronica. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2005), Ac 8:20.

It’s Always the Devil

Now let us apply this to ourselves.

But we will peradventure say, the Devil never made us any such offer: and therefore what needs any admonishment in this behalf? But I answer, though the Devil come not in person to us, as he did to Christ, yet he comes by his instruments.

When Balak sent to Balaam, to come and curse the Israelites, and promised him great rewards, Num. 22. 17[1] it was not Balaak’s messengers that spoke, but the Devil used them as instruments to speak.

So, when Simon Magus would have bought the Holy Ghost with money: the Devil therein tempted the apostles with simony[2], Simon was but the trunk, through which the Devil spoke, Act. 8[3].

We will fall for less

Again, there be some that will say, they were never tempted with kingdoms: it may well be, for it needs not, when less will serve. It was Christ only, that was thus tempted: in him lay a heroical mind, that could not be allured with small matters.

But with us it is nothing so, we esteem far more basely of ourselves: we set our wares at a very easy price[4], he may buy us even dagger cheap, as we say: he need never carry us so high as the mount, the pinnacle is high enough, yea, the lowest steeple[5] in all the town would serve the turn. Or let him but carry us to the lead or gutters of our own houses, nay, let us but stand in our window, or in our doors: if he will give vs but so much as we can there see, he will tempt us thoroughly, we will accept it, and thank him too. He shall not need to come to us with kingdoms, one kingdom is too much, what say ye to half a one? Mar, 6. 23[6]. No, will the Devil say, I will give you half of one? If he would come to us but with thirty pence, Mat. 26. 15. I am afraid many of vs would play Judas.[7] Nay, less than so would buy a great sort, even handfuls of barley, and pieces of bread, Ezk 13. 19.[8] and Proverb. 28. 21[9]. Yea, some will not stick to buy and sell the poor for a pair of shoes[10], as Micah in his eight chapter and six verse speaks.[11]

When he comes then to tempt us, he may abate a great deal of this that he offers Christ: he may strike out Omnia [Latin, all, every], and Haec [Latin, these] too, and instead thereof put in Hoc [Latin, this] and say; Hold, you shall have this to worship me, I will give ye no more.[12] I fear me we will make short work, and take it, Hoc aliquid[13], a matter of half a crown or ten groats, a pair of shoes, or some such trifle, will bring us on our knees to the Devil.[14]

Is there a pretty commodity to be had? It makes no matter for breaking faith and promise.[15] This is that that makes the Devil so good a husband and thrifty[16], and to go near hand: what need he give more, when so little will serve? whereas, if we will stand hucking [haggling] with him, we might get a great deal more.

[1]

¹⁴ So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.”

¹⁵ Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. ¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, ¹⁷ for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’ ” ¹⁸ But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. ¹⁹ So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” ²⁰ And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” ²¹ So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.

Numbers 22:14–21 (ESV)

[2] “simony. The practice of buying or selling ecclesiastical favor or sacred prerogatives. The term is derived from Simon Magus, who attempted to purchase the ability to bestow the Holy Spirit through the act of laying on of hands, and thus sought to buy spiritual prerogatives or perhaps apostolic authority with money (Acts 8:9–13, 18–24).” Stanley J. Grenz and Jay T. Smith, Pocket Dictionary of Ethics, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 108.

[3]

¹⁸ Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹ saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰ But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! ²¹ You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. ²² Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” ²⁴ And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Acts 8:18–24 (ESV)

[4] We give up our soul for far less than kingdoms.

[5] A church steeple would be the highest point in any town at this time.

[6] Herod, in the place and as an instrument of the Devil, tempts his stepdaughter with half a kingdom. She asks for a murder.

²¹ But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²² For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” ²⁴ And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.”

Mark 6:21–24 (ESV)

[7] Judas betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. That would be more than enough to tempt us.

[8] We will sin for a handful of food:

¹⁷ “And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them ¹⁸ and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? ¹⁹ You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.

Ezekiel 13:17–19 (ESV)

[9]

To show partiality is not good,

but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.

Proverbs 28:21 (ESV)

[10] We will oppress the poor for a pair of shoes. We may wonder what the prophet would think about modern industrial practice.

[11]

                  ⁴                 Hear this, you who trample on the needy

and bring the poor of the land to an end,

                  ⁵                 saying, “When will the new moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

                                    And the Sabbath,

that we may offer wheat for sale,

                                    that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great

and deal deceitfully with false balances,

                  ⁶                 that we may buy the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

Amos 8:4–6 (ESV)

[12] The Devil would not not need to over us all these kingdoms, but a single “this” of just about anything is sufficient to get us to fall.

[13] Latin, this anything: any single trifle.

[14] We are so easily tempted, that anything at all is enough to get us to sin.

[15] We will lie and break our promise to obtain anything at all.

[16] To “husband” a resource is to protect it from waste, to care for it. The Devil can be careful with his resources. He will not overspend to obtain our compliance with his will.