and what says
the Devil? E'en the same that was mutter'd in the Ear of the Afflicted
_Job_, _Is not this the Uprightness of thy Ways? Remember, I pray thee,
who ever perished, being Innocent? If thou wert a Child of God, He would
never follow thee, with such Testimonies of his Indignation._ This is
the _Logic_ of the Devil; and he thus interrupts that patience, and that
Chearfulness wherewith we should _suffer the will of God_.
VII. To dispute the Divine Original and Authority of _Gods Word_, is not
the least of those _Temptations_ with which the Devil troubles us. God
from Heaven, had newly said unto our Lord, _this is my Beloved Son_; but
now the Devil would have him to make a dispute of it, _If thou be the
son of God._ The Devil durst not be so Impudent, and Brasen fac'd, as to
bid men use _Pharaohs_ Language, _Who is the Lord, that I should obey
his voice?_ But he will whisper into our Ears, what he did unto our
Mother _Eve_ of old, _It is not the Lord that hath spoken what you call
his Word._ The Devil would have men say unto the _Scripture_, what they
said unto the _Prophet_, in _Jer. 43.2._ _Thou speakest falsely; the Lord
our God hath not sent thee to speak what thou sayst unto us;_ & he would
fain have secret & cursed Misgivings in our hearts, _that things are not
altogether so as the Scripture has represented them._ The Devil would
with all his heart make one huge Bonefire of all the Bibles in the
world; & he has got Millions of persecutors to _assist him in the
suppression of that miraculous book_. _It was the +devil+ once in the
tongue of a Papist_, that cry'd out, _A plague on this bible; this 'tis
that does all our mischief._ But because he can't _Suppress_ this Book,
he sets himself, to _Disgrace_ it all that he can. Altho' the Scripture
carries its _own Evidence_ with it, and be all over, so pure, so great,
so true, and so powerful, that it is impossible it should proceed from
any but God alone; yet the Devil would gladly bring some Discredit upon
it, as if it were but some _Humane Contrivance_; Of nothing, is the
Devil more desirous, than this; That we should not count, _Christ_ so
precious, _Heaven_ so Glorious, _Hell_ so Dreadful, and _Sin_ so odious,
as the Scripture has declared it.
S. The Second of our Lords Three Temptations, is related after this
manner, in _Mat. 4.5, 6._ _Then the Devil taketh him up, into the Holy
City, and setteth him upon a Pinacle of the Temple; and saith unto him,
if
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