The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings.

§ Man shall not live by bread only, but, &c.

He doth most properly and divinely produce this place of Moses, Deut. 8. 3. it being a Lesson which the Lord had read to Israel, when they had fallen into, and in a temp∣tation, not much unlike to this that Satan would have tript Christ in at this time. Now the sense of the Text alledged is somewhat controverted; some take it to mean, that man hath not only a life of the body to look after, which is sustained by bread; but also, and rather a life of the soul, which is supported by the Word of God: And some again, by the Word of God, understand the Word of Doctrine; others, the Word of Gods power, provi∣dence, and decree, as meaning that mans life doth not depend upon bread only, but that God can support and sustain it by other means as he shall see fit. Any of which carry a most proper, and a most considerable truth along with them. But the most facil interpre∣tation of these words, and the most agreeable to the context in Moses, with which they lye, is, by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, to understand Gods command∣ments, by the observing of which a man shall live, prosper, and it shall go well with him: for to this sense the first verse of that Chapter in Deuteronomy speaketh, All the com∣mandments that I command thee this day, shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, &c. Now our Saviour retorteth this in this sense, against the Devils temptation, that incited him to have turned stones into bread; 1. To shew that it was his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work, as John 4. 34. And 2. that obedience of Gods commandments is more propely the way to live, than by the use of the Creature.

Matth. 4. ver. 5. Then the Devil taketh him up.

Here it is controverted, whether this were done really and truly, or only in vision and apparition. And there be that assert the latter, conceiving that Christ was brought no otherwise to the pinnacle of the Temple, or to the high mountain, than Jeremy went to Euphrates to hide his girdle, Jer. 13. or Ezekiel slept on his right, and left side, &c. Ezek. 4. or other things of this nature mentioned in Scripture, which it is past all denial, were done only in vision, vid. Jansen. in loc.

But that these transportings of our Saviour from place to place, were really and actual∣ly done, even in the body, and not in vision, may be strongly confirmed by these con∣siderations.

• 1. Otherwise they had been no temptations, which the Evangelists tell plainly that they were: For what had it been for Christ, to have seen a thousand of such things as these in a vision, and to have nothing more to do with them, but only see them; what tempta∣tion could this be to him?
• 2. The next place that we hear Christ was in after the temptations were finished, was beyond Jordan, as shall be shewed in the next Section: now it will be hard to find how he was got instantly after his temptations to the other side Jordan, if he were not carryed thither in the next temptation after this that is now in hand. For in the temptation be∣fore this, he is in the wilderness of Judea; in this temptation he is at Jerusalem on the top of the Temple; and in the next on the top of an high mountain; and the next ty∣dings of him after is, that he is beyond Jordan.

Now this taking him up, was bodily, and locally, and really, the Devil catching him up into the air, and carrying him in the air to the battlements of the Temple, and from thence in the next temptation to the high mountain: And here may the Reader fix his meditations upon four or five material things very pertinent and profitable to consider of upon this passage.

As

• 1. the horrid impudency of the Tempter, that cannot but suppose him the Son of God, and yet dare assail him as the basest of men.
• 2. The wonderful humiliation of the Redeemer, that was even now proclaimed the Son of God from heaven, and now is hurryed by the Devil in the face of heaven.
• 3. The power of evil Spirits over mens bodies, if they be permitted, and let loose to execise their power upon them.
• 4. The constant and continued providence shewed in our preservation, that we are not hurryed away bodily by Satan every moment, who is thus busie here even with our Redeemer, who was the Son of God.
• 5. That in all the Scripture there is no mention of the like story, that the Devil ever thus carryed any man in the air, unless he had first bodily possessed him: For having first done so, it is said of the poor wretch among the Gaderens, That he was driven of the De∣vil into the Wilderness. And so, we have observed elsewhere, that it is probable that the Devil took Judas into the air, and there strangled him, and threw him down to the earth, and burst out his bowels, for the Devil was bodily in him before: but for one not posses∣sed to be so transported from place to place, by the evil spirit, is a thing that hath no pa∣rallel in all the Scripture from end to end. Now whether it be not probable that the Devil would have possessed our Saviour bodily, if he could have done it, and when he could not do it betook himself to this violent Rapture of him, be it also referred to the Readers consideration.