on the Lord's Prayer. · againft: the very Fundaruemals andGround-wOJks of Religion ; and yet if we be watchfu l prc::fently to abhor and rejea rhefe lnje8:ions of Satan, and ro caft back inro hiS Face tbefe his Fi(ry Dartt, ~hich he fhoms into our Souls, they are not our Sins, though' rbey are our Troubles; bur they {hall ~e charged upon_ Satan, to wh?rtl of Right they do belor.g, we being but ~nly Pafhveand Su~erers 10 them . Bur_truly the moft of our Temptalion.r are Sins rhemfelyes, and r~_erefor~ we have great ~ea fan and Ne_ed ro pray a~tinlt them, for they are Sms unt? ~ms) Sms as they are nregular and mordinate Motions of our Palfions and Affethons, and unto Sm as they ~end to the bringing forth of farrher Evil ; and fuch are _all the Temptati~ns of our inbred L_uft:s znd Corruptions, when our Defires and _AffeEbons ftrong~y enchne us ~o thofe Ob;dl~ which God hy hisexprefs Law hath forbtdden us: Were It not for thefe finful Temptat ions, the others, which are immediately inje8:ed by the Devil, would nO[ have any great Advantage to prevail over us; for by reafon of our Lulls and Corruptions our Heans always fiand open to let in the Devil ; and were it not that thefe ha\7e feized on the Soul the D"il mull have ftood without; and though he hJd knock'd, yet would behave knock'd in vain ; and therefOre we fee in his Firfi Temptation he deals all without Doors; there was·no Natural Lull: in our firfi Parenu to befriend him, ono betray the Soul unto him: Helbuts up himfelftherefore in the Body ofa Serpent, queftioning with Eve about God's Commands, perfwades her of the Defirabknefs of the Forbidden Fi·uit, tells her that God' .r Tbrearn_ing was rather to Fright them, than to Hurt them : But in all thefe Methods of Tempting Satan had no adrniffion in- £0 -the Soul becaufe Luft as yet had taken no Poff'~flion of it, bur ever fince the Corru{nioo~four Narures, contraEted by the Commiffion of the firlt Offence, the Devil doth not ftand to tempt us without Doors, but he enters boldly, as into the fJoufe of his Old Friend Concupifctnce, nay, as inro his own Houfe; for rhe Souls of Wicked Men·are fo called, Matth. 12. 29. He is by Lull let into the inmofl Receffes and Retirements of the Heart, and can now propOund Objd!J immediately to our Fancies, and by our Fancies darken our Underflandingl and AffeClibns, and incline our Wills. . . Again, our Natural Corruption, as it admits; fo it enteftaihS aDd cherifheth, the Temptations ofrhe Devil. ASpark of .Fire, if there were no Fewel prepared for it to feize on, wou.ld prefently die and vanilh; and fo rruly would Satan's Temptatio,r, that are like fo many Sparks bf Hdl-jire llruck by the Devil into our Souls, were it not for the prepared Fewel, the catching Tinder of our Lulls and Corruptions, thefe Temptutionr would foon go out and expire, and be like a fiafh of Lighrning, that. might poffibly ftartle us, but could not burn us. And thus, though our Saviour Chri/l was grievoully tempted, yet it is faid, Job. 14. 30. The Prince ofthis World comerb, and barb n_otbing in me; that is, t~e Devil could find no Sin or Corruption· in him, and therefore could fafien none of his Temptations up_on him. ~ Thus we ft:e what abundant Reafan there is for us to pray earnectly againfi: Ttmptatiom, whether they proceed from Satan, or from our own Corruptions; the one Sort being always Sins oftliemfelves, and both Sorts inclining and inducing us unto Sin. . ~ ButfinceSaran and oar own Heans prove Tempurs unto us, fomemay poffibly ask how fhall we know when it is Satan that tempts us, and when the Temptation arifeth from our own Corruptions ~ The !P._ueflion is Nice and Difficult; yet becaufe it may tend to the SatisfaElion of fome who arc Curious in ohferving. the Workings of their own Souls I Anfwer, Firft, There is but one kind of Temptations roSin, which have n~t their Rife and Original ufually from Lull, aild thofe are Temptations to On again!! the Light and Law of Nature, as to the denying thofe Truths that are Clear and evident by _Natural Reafon and ftrong lmpreffions on the Minds of Men , a. the Being of ;j God, the-immortality of the Soul, future Rewards and Punifhments, and the like; or elfe the ~oing of thofe Things which are iepugriant to the DiElates of the Law of ~ature~ as f?r a Man to be tempted to offer .Violence to himfelf, and to defiroy btmfelf: It IS very probab_le that fuch Te~ptallons have not their Rife and Original fro~ our "Natur~L Corrupuons, but ~re tmmed1ately_darted into the Soul by the Devil ; _though mdeed our Corrupt~ons too o~ten catch at them, and brood u"pon them, t1ll they have from fuch bornd Temptatzons as thefe conceived fame borhJ and >nMjlrous Sin in t~e Soul ; fuch lnjeElions as thefe are Balls of Wild fire kmdled m Hdl, and cafi mto the Soul by the Devzl; and are not our Sins a:ny f.trtbt:r dtan they are entertained by us, and confented unto. 0 o o 2 Secondly,
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