3. In the actions of Satan (especially in elementary things, for we speak not of the acts of his will) the will, order and licence of God is chiefly to be considered, because his power (in respect of execution) is under the power of the Almighty, so that he can do nothing in this respect but what he is ordered and commanded to do. And therefore the end of the action is principally to be regarded; for if God should have given way that Christ should be carried by Satan in the air, it was for a glorious and good end, that the obedience of his will to the Father might be shown, and that his victory over the Devil might be made manifest: but in carrying the Bodies of Witches in the air, there can be no good, just or pious end wherefore the Devil should be licensed, or permitted to carry them in the air, except it were to promote filthiness and abominable wickedness, which were absurd and blasphemous to imagine. And therefore we may rationally and plainly conclude, that the carrying of the Bodies of Witches in the air, by the power of the Devil, is a false, wicked and impious opinion.
Reas. 4.
Ezek. 8. 3.
Beza in Luc. 4. 5.
Matth. 4. 1.
Mark 1. 12.
Luke 4. 1.
Caten. Aur. Tho. Aquin. in Luke 4.
4. Some are of opinion that this whole transaction was visible, sensible and corporeal, as Theophylact, and many others. Some are of opinion that it was wholly in a Vision. And some take a middle way that it was partly sensible and visible, and partly mental, and by way of vision. Of which opinion the great Cameron seems to be, who compares it with that of Ezekiel who saith: And the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem: And sheweth that the word Ἀνήχθη doth agree with the Hebrew word נשא, which is as applicable to lifting up or carrying in a vision, as to bodily transportation. And that it was either altogether, or partly in a vision, the learned Beza gives us this note: Hoc videtur satis ostendere hæc omnia per visionem quandam, non corporali transvectione & ostensione esse gesta, quomodo nempe humanitus videre potuisset omnia regna orbis, & gloriam eorum in momento? But though it be the more sound and rational opinion that the whole transaction was mental, and in a vision, yet we shall not altogether stand upon that, but if it be granted that it was corporeal and visible, yet it doth not appear that our Saviour was in his Body carried by the power of the Devil in the air, either to the top of an high mountain, nor set upon the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem, and that for these reasons. 1. Our Saviour did not go to undertake this combat with Satan unwillingly, that he need be constrained, or carried to try the utmost power and malice of the Devil, but readily and willingly by the conduct and leading of the holy Spirit, for the Text saith in Matthew; Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the Devil: And S. Mark saith; And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And S. Luke saith: He was led by the spirit into the wilderness. Beza saith, subductus fuit in desertum, and Tremellius saith, ductus fuit, upon the place in S. Matthews Gospel. And in S. Luke Tremellius saith; Et duxit eum spiritus in desertum, and Beza, actus est ab eodem spiritu in desertum. And in S. Mark Tremellius saith, deduxit eum spiritus in desertum, and Beza rendreth it, expellit eum spiritus in desertum. And because of the Greek word which is there ἐκβάλλει, he addeth this note, Non significatur expulsio violenta, sed vis divina, quæ Christum, (qui ad illud usq; tempus ut privatus vixerat) nova persona induit, ac luctæ proximæ & ministerio præparatur. Therefore saith Origen: Sequebatur planè quasi athleta ad tentationem sponte proficiscens, & quodammodo loquebatur: Duc quo vis, & invenies me in omnibus fortiorem. So that it is most plain that he was no otherwise led or carried by Satan, but as he was led by the Holy Ghost, so that he went whithersoever Satan would desire him of his own mind and accord, and needed not to be carried by the Devil, for S. Luke useth the same Greek word both for the Holy Spirit leading of him, and Satans leading of him, so that Satan did not carry his body in the air, as Men vainly conceive. 2. Though S. Matthew use the word παραλαμβάνει, which may signifie assumpsit, he took him, and set him upon a pinnacle of the Temple, and took him into an high mountain; yet it cannot be understood thereby that he took him, and carried his Body, but that he went before, and led Christ to those places, that he thought most fit for him to prevail in his temptations, to which places Christ went not by an unwilling constraint or hurried and carried in the air, but by a ready willingness, as one that certainly knew, and was assured, that he should win the Victory where ever, or how great soever the combat and temptations were. And therefore S. Luke useth the same word from ἄγω, duco, both for the Spirits, and Satans leading, as signifying no more, but to go before, and lead the way, or to draw one to such or such a place by persuasion and desire, and not to be carried in the air, which appeareth to be a vain and forged interpretation, and not the true meaning of the places.
Acts 8. 9.