John Trapp on Matthew 4:1

CHAP. IIII.

Verse 1. Then was [illegible: 1 word] led up] LEst haply the people, hearing that testimony from Heaven should come and take him by force to make him a King, as Ioh. 6. 15. to try their loves also to him, who was thus overclouded, as the Sun in his first rising. Led up of the Spirit] The better to fit him thereby for the ministry. [illegible: 1 word] in [illegible: 5 words] est, valetudine [illegible: 2 words], & [illegible: 1 word] non [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word]: [illegible: 2 words] accidere semper, cum [illegible: 1 word] quippiam [illegible: 1 word] dixit. Melchior Alam de Ger. Theol. pag. 154. Act. and Mon. fol. [illegible: 1 word]. Luther observed of himself, that when God was about to set him upon any speciall service, he either laid some fit of sicknesse [illegible: 1 word] him before-hand, or turned Satan loose upon him; who so [illegible: 1 word] him (eft-soones) by his temptations, ut [illegible: 2 words], [illegible: 2 words], nec sensus, nec vox superesset, that neither heat, nor blood, [illegible: 1 word] sense, nor voice remained: The very venome of the temptations drank up his spirit, and his body seemed dead, as [illegible: 1 word] Ionas, that was by, and saw it, reported [illegible: 1 word] him in his Epistle to Melanchton. Hence also it was that in his Sermons, God gave him such a grace (saith M. Fox) that when he [illegible: 1 word], they that heard him thought, [illegible: 1 word] one, his own temptations to be severally touched and noted. Whereof when signification was given unto him by his friends, and he demanded how that could be? Mine own manifold temptation (saith he) and [illegible: 1 word] are the cause [illegible: 1 word]: For from his tender years he was much [illegible: 1 word] and exercised with spirituall conflicts, as Melanchton in his life testifieth. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] Wellerus, scholar to the said, M. Luther recordeth, that [illegible: 1 word] oftentimes heard Luther his Master report of himself, that he had been assaulted and vexed with all kinde of temptations ([illegible: 1 word] onlyIt appeareth by S. [illegible: 1 word], that no men [illegible: 1 word] in this [illegible: 1 word], but [illegible: 2 words]. with that of covetousnesse,) and was thereby fitted for the work of the Lord, Whence also he was wont to say, that [illegible: 1 word] things make a Preacher, [illegible: 1 word], Prayer and Temptation. Into the wildernesse] Likely the wildernesse of [illegible: 1 word], where Moses and Elias had [illegible: 1 word] before. These three great fasters, met afterwards in mount [illegible: 1 word]: God [illegible: 1 word] to turn his peoplesMar. 1. 13. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] into feasting, Zech. 8. 19. The devil took advantage of [illegible: 1 word] Mat. 17. 2. [illegible: 1 word] here, to [illegible: 1 word] our Saviour in the desert, but was beaten on [illegible: 1 word] own dunghill; that we might overcome through him that [illegible: 1 word] us, Rom. 8. the [illegible: 1 word]-being already foiled by Christ. To be tempted of the devil] No sooner was Christ out of [illegible: 1 word] water of Baptisme, then in the fire of Temptation. So David, [illegible: 1 word] his anointing, was hunted as a partridge upon the mountains. [illegible: 1 word] is no sooner out of Egypt, then Pharaoh pursues them: [illegible: 1 word] no sooner had kept that solemn [illegible: 1 word], then Sennacherib comes up against him. St Paul is assaulted with [illegible: 1 word] temptations after the [illegible: 1 word] of his revelations: And Christ teacheth us, after forgivenesse2 Cor. 12. of sins obtained, to look for temptations, and to pray againstMat. 6. 13. them. Whiles Iacob would be Labans drudge and packhorse, all was well; but when once he began to flee, he makes after him with all his might. All was jolly quiet at Ephesus beforeActs 19. 23. S. Paul came [illegible: 1 word], but then, there arose no small stir about [illegible: 2 words]. All the while our Saviour lay in his fathers shop, and medled only with Carpenters chipps, the devil troubled him not. But now, that he is to enter more publikely upon his office of Mediatourship, [non-Latin text not transcribed] of [non-Latin text not transcribed], [illegible: 1 word] pierce thorow. the tempter pierceth his tender soul with many sorrows, by [illegible: 1 word] to sin. And dealt he so with the green tree, what will [illegible: 1 word] do with the dry? Temptations (besides those that come from God, which are only probationis, not perditionis, as the other) are [illegible: 1 word] two sorts: for either they are of seducement, Iam. 1. 15. or of [illegible: 1 word], vel [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word] and grievance, 2 Cor. 12. 7. either of allurement or affrightment. In the former we are pressed with some darling corruption, whereto our appetites by nature or most propense: In the later, we are dogged with foulest lusts of [illegible: 1 word], Idolatry, [illegible: 1 word], murther, &c. that Nature startles at: In these the [illegible: 1 word] tempts alone, and that so grossely, that the very flesh is ashamed [illegible: 1 word] it. But in the former, that came more immediatly from the flesh, the devil only interposeth himself, and speaks his good word for them: whence they are called [illegible: 1 word] of Satan, 2 Cor. 12. and Eph. 4. 26. we are said in anger to give place to the devil: and in resisting of lusts, we resist the devil, Jam. 4. 7.