CHAP. L. Upon the words: The seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head. (Book 50)
THE New Testament affords a rich Commentary upon these words, in the Gospel of Saint Luke, who in his third Chapter, shews how through seventy five gene∣rations. Christ is this seed of the woman, and in the fourth Chapter, how through* 1.1 three temptations this seed began to bruise the head of the Serpent: where the Reader may observe, how the Devil tempts Christ, in the very same manner that he had tempted Eve, though not with the same success. All the sins of the world are brought by Saint John to these three heads, Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, 1 John 2. 15. By these three Eve falls in the garden: She sees the tree is good for meat, and the lust of the flesh inticeth her; she sees it fair to look on, and the lust of the eye pro∣vokes her; and she perceives it will make her wife, and the pride of life perswades her to take it. By these three the Devil tempts Christ; when he is hungry, he would have him turn stones into bread, and so tries him by the lusts of the flesh: He shews, and pro∣miseth him all the pomp of the World, and so tries him by the lust of the eyes, and he will have him to flie in the air, and so tempts him to pride of life. But as, by these three, the Serpent had broken the head of the woman, so against these three the seed of the woman breaks the head of the Serpent. David Prophecied of this conquest, Psal. 91. 13. The Dragon thou shalt tread under thy feet: The very next verse before this, the Devil useth to tempt Christ withal, but to this he dare not come, for it is to his sorrow.