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The next sin, which Satan tempts our Saviour to, is the sin of idolatry, even to worship the devil himself. O thou impudent and foul spirit! To desire thy Creator to adore thee, an apostate creature! Surely there can be no sin so black and foul, so gross and monstrous, but that the christian may be tempted to it, when Christ himself was tempted to worship the tempter.
St. Matthew reads the words, If thou wilt fall down and worship me: St. Luke, If thou wilt worship before me.
Whence we may gather, says Dr. Lightfoot, That if to worship before the devil be to worship the devil, then to worship before an image is to worship the image.
Observe, 2. The bait which Satan makes use of to allure our Saviour to the sin of idolatry; and that was, in representing to his eye and view all the glories of the world in the most inviting manner, and that in a moment of time; to the intent it might affect him the more and prevail the sooner.
Learn thence, That the pomp and greatness, the glory and grandeur, of this world, is made use of by Satan, as a dangerous snare to draw men to a compliance with him, in his temptations unto sin. When Satan sets thee upon a pinnacle, look to thyself.