Tentations: Their Nature, Danger, Cure

p. 1TENTATIONS. Their

Nature.

Danger.

Cure.

But every man is tempted when hee is drawne aside of his owne lust, and entised.

IT appears that we all came out of Adams loynes, in that we smell of his disease, to father our sinnes on the Lord: a common thing it is, and not so common as wicked for a man to say that hee is tempted of God, and so to make God at least a co-authour of our sins, which S. Iames finding to p. 2be up and downe in his time, cleares God, [Diaboli hoc opus est ut faciat •• ultos potius & corpus, & D • um, & proximum, quam corruptum animum accusare, ne scîli • cet, inventa peccandi cousa a malorum radice liberentur.] and layes the fault on man, where the root of all tentation is. He would have man to learne, that hee carries the cause of all tentations within his owne bosome; which the Apostle findes out to be our Lust: This Lust doth worke our tentation by degrees.

1 By drawing the minde of man aside from thinking on God and goodnesse, [Chrys. in 1 Cor. 6. Hom. 17.] raising up sudden thoughts in us, of that which is not good without any consultation, giving a man no time to dispute the matter with himselfe, or with his God.

2 By inticing and baiting the hart of man, as men do for fishes; working on the will to bend towards such or such object represented by Lust, as in appearance good and pleasant; and here though we doe repell such thoughts as draw, and withdraw, and such wishes as intice and allure, p. 3even as fast as they come to our consideration: yet S. Iames tels us here, that they are the first fruits and effects of our concupiscence. By Lust is meant our naturall and originall corruption; the conclusion is, That all our tentations are long of our originall sin: I deny not but Satan tempts, and so doth the World; but yet neither Satan nor the World can now hurt us, if all be well within; they tempt, but it is by working on our own concupiscence, should they finde nothing in us, we needed not to care thus much for their tentations. Christ indeed was tempted, and had no Lust in him, and did not Satan lose his labour? And all because nothing was found in him: fire burns not where is no matter for it to work upon; no meere man is tempted and drawne aside, but he may thanke his owne concupiscence.

p. 3The greatest quaere is of Adam p. 4in Paradice, and of the Angels in heaven. The maine answer is, that Iames speakes of Man as he is now, not as he was then. The greatest matter then is, how sin came into Adam, which must be from the liberty of his will, hee was tempted from without, and so was Eve, but no motion of Lust within could draw him to his first sinne, for then there must needs have beene in him a sin before his first sinne, and then the first sin could not have beene his first sin; he was of such a condition, that he might fal if he would, and hee did fall, but not without any tentation simply, though without any from himselfe, for he was tempted by the Devill. Lust in Satan was the occasion of Adams fall, [Roff: art. 39.] but the cause was his owne will; [Contra.] his first sin was from Satans sin, [Luth. Sandf.] (sin, [De Dese: l. 3. Sect. 96.] I say,) for it is a weake conceit for any learned man to write that the divill hath no sin, because the Law was not p. 5given to him▪ which proves that in forme he is not such a sinner as man is, but a sinner hee was and is, being and doing that which was contrary to the will and Law of God, laid upon him in his Creation. The holy Page is for it, in the very termes, Io. 8. 44. Hee was a murtherer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, therefore a sinner: He is a Lier and the father of lies; therefore a sinner, and 1 Iohn 3. 8, The Devill sinneth from the beginning. His Lusts then that were in him, did draw him to worke upon Eves and Adams free-will to draw them aside. The Devill was an Angell, and then he had no Lust within him to draw him; no object without, being in heaven, where was nothing but all perfection: A Deepe it is then to conceive, how sinne came first into the Angels. That one great Angell (now Belzebub) did first fall, and then drew after him the p. 6rest, is like enough; but yet the question remaines, how the first sinne came into that Angell sith there was no defect within nor none without: I must first say that sin is a privation, an Obliquity, no effect but a defect, and therefore wee are not to trouble our selves to enquire after any proper and efficient cause;

p. 6God cannot bee a deficient cause, bee cause there can bee no defect in him, and therefore the defect must bee in the Angell, and wee must rest in the will of the Angel who without motion from with in, or any tentation from without, fell from his estate, abode not in the truth as Iudes Phrase is, [Iude v. 6.] left his habitation voluntarily and maliciously, left it because he would leave it. The first sin or Lust was a sinne then, whose cause was (such cause as a sinne could have) not sinne, for then the first sinne could not bee the first sinne, if there were a sinne p. 7the cause of that sin; and againe, we are where we were …