Christs temptation and transfiguration practically explained and improved in several sermons /

3. A word of Caution. Let not the Devil make an advantage of those troubles, which he bringeth upon our Bodies, or the interests of the bodily Life, yet let him not thereby draw you to sin. Here the devil may set Christ upon a precipice, but he can do him no further hurt; he may persuade us to cast down our selves, but he cannot cast us down, unless we cast down our selves, Nemo laeditur nisi a seipso. His main spite is at your souls, to involve you in sin. God may give him, and his Instruments a power over your bodily lives; but he doth not give him a power over the Graces of the Saints. The devil aimeth at the destruction of souls; he can let men enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, that he may deprive you of delight in God, and celestial pleasures; he can be content that you shall have Dignities and Honours, if they prove a snare to you. If the devil seek to bring you to Poverty, Trouble and Nakedness, it is to draw you from God. He careth not for the Body, but as it may be an occasion to ruin the Soul.

3. A word of Caution. Let not the Devil make an advantage of those troubles, which he bringeth upon our Bodies, or the interests of the bodily Life, yet let him not thereby draw you to sin. Here the devil may set Christ upon a precipice, but he can do him no further hurt; he may perswade us to cast down our selves, but he cannot cast us down, unless we cast down our selves, Nemo laeditur nisi a seipso. His main spight is at your souls, to involve you in sin. God may give him, and his Instruments a power over your bodily lives; but he doth not give him a power over the Graces of the Saints. The devil aimeth at the destruction of souls; he can let men enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, that he may deprive you of delight in God, and celestial pleasures; he can be content that you shall have Dignities and Honours, if they prove a snare to you. If the devil seek to bring you to Poverty, Trouble and Nakedness, it is to draw you from God. He careth not for the Body, but as it may be an occasion to ruine the Soul.

3. Observe, If Satan lead us up, it is to throw us down. He taketh up Christ to the Pinnacle of the Temple, and saith unto him, Cast thy self down. He bringeth up many by little and little to some high place, that by their aspiring they may at length break their necks. Thus he did Haman, and so he doth many others, whose climbing maketh way for their greater fall. The devil himself was an aspirer, and fell from Heaven like Lightning,