Chap. I .Se&.4 ' Looking fNJto Jefw. BooK IV· retirements his devotion received the advantage of convenient circumfiance!, efpecially of 0me .and place. And yet I dare not deny the fir fr er opinionJori fuppofe both Chrift and the Devil !:)ad their advancag~s of:this wi~derneffe, the one.to pray,._ a!lq the other to te~pt. . . ' 2 The caufeof Chrifrs going into the· wilderneif~, \l;{as t;he' {p i r~tS leading. 'J[huz 'WM Jefus fed. ~r the Spirit into the wi/de~ .: ncf[e , Chrifl: was led by the good Spmt, to be tempted by the evil fpirit; 0 wonder ! that _fame Spirit,. which was o~e with the fa the,r and the Sonne that fame Sptnt wh1=rebyChnfr was. conceived ' nowdrives him or leads him into the- wiidernefs 'to be tempt~d of the Devil; The manner ofChrifl:s·lead;ng ts a qu~llic-n; !orne think he was lt;d or catcht away from Jordan in fome vifible rapture to,wards the wilderneffe ; but to leave tha-t, and to come to truths inore neceffary ; Chrift taught us to pray unto. his Father, lead m not intoymptation, ·and yet he himfelfe is now led into the fame temptation which we rnuU pray againft; fiirely this was for our infrruction; we are not ro tbrufi bur 'felves upon temptation, Chrifr himfelte would not go into the combate un.., called, unwarranted ; how then fhould w~ poore weakling~ prefume upon any abilities ofour own? who dares grapple with the Devil in his own firength? 0 take heed ! if we are to pray, not to be led into temptation, much more are we 'ro p.ra~, not to run into temptation before we are led ; and yet for the comfort ofGods people, ifit be fo that we are led, ifby divine permillion, or by an infpiration of the holy Spirit we are engaged in an action, or in a courfe of life that is full of temptations, _'and . empty ofcomforts, let us look upoN. it as an iffl:te of divine pro~ vidence in which we mufr gl~nfie God ; but no argument of· disfavour, or diflove ofGod; and why? becaufe Ctirirtl1imfdf who could have driven the Devil away by the breath of his· mouth, yet was, by the Spirit of his Father, led to a .tryal by the · fpirits ofdar~nelf~. M; brethren, comz~ it t~!l joy (faith James) Jamcu ~~ -1/Jhenye enter mto diVerfe temptat ton!, kftowzng that the trya! of your. • · foith worktth patienc.e, 3· The end of the Spirits leading Chrifr into the wildernefs· it was either immediate, or remote, 1. For the immediate .end: it was to he tempted of the <Devil: to this purpof.:. was Chrifr. brought thither, that Sathan might teD?pt him. One would Cc c 3 think,
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