Deceivers Deceived: OR, The Mistakes of Wickedness In Sundry Erroneous and Deceitful Principles, practised in our late fatal Times, and suspected still in the Reasonings of unquiet Spirits.  
Delivered in a SERMON At St. PAVL'S, October 20th 1661.  
Before the Right Honourable ●ir Richard Brown Knight and Baronet, Lord Mayor of the City of London; and the Aldermen his Brethren.  
Being the Initial also of the Reverend Dr. John Berwick Dean of the said Church: At the first Celebrity of Divine Service with the Organ and Choristers, which the Lord Maior himself Solemnised with his Personal presence from the very beginning.  2 Tim. 3. 13. 〈◊〉 evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 
LONDON: ●rinted for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane, 1661.   

To the Right Honourable Sir Richard Browne Kt. and Baronet, Lord Mayor of the City of London: with the Right Worshipful the Aldermen his Brethren. Grace, Honour, and Peace, be multiplied.  
Right Honourable and Worshipful,  
THe nature of your Order for the pnblication in Print of this imperfect Piece following, puts your subscribed in mind of a passage from Augustus to the Poet Ausonius, Scribere me Augustus jubet & mea carmina poscit, Poenè rogans. Your Order might have been as well a Postulation or Demand, as a Desire; but you seem therein like the most excellent Augustus, who expressed, in a like case, more humanity and condescension, than Power towards his Poet, as you have done unto your small Prophet or Preacher; he shall therefore humbly take leave to presume (as the Emperor took the Poet and his Poem into Protection, it being a product of his own favour and importunity) that your Lordship and Brethren also will do the like unto your Preacher, and his Sermon, unto which your Honours have given this Publick-being. Eadem est causa producens & conservans, is a true rule of the great Mistress of Reason, Logic, That which gives Being, conserveses it; not but that the work of itself, as the Author humbly conceives, is very much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or self-potestative, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or self-sufficient to warrant is self, in the whole import thereof; it aiming at the preservation of our far more excellent Augustus, and this his Royal City, and your Honourable persons, and his and your dearest interests, Civil, Sacred, and Natural, together with the whole Church and Nation, as it lays open (how weakly soever) those wicked deceits of ungodly Godly men, which have and may again, by the same slights and advantages of delusion, ruin all: but for that there can be no such natural reciprocation of interest, as when a grateful issue in its dependence of existence throws itself upon the principal Cause for patronage and countenance.  
Your Preacher hath observed the Order of your Hororable Court punctually in the substance of the whole Discourse, and every part thereof, though not in every word possibly, having not written it in order, form, or method; in which respect, as he was fain to vary expression often in the delivery, so it must be excusable in the Copy, but he is sure nevertheless this draught in Print answers almost adequately the main exemplar in your memory, except, as afore said, and a word or two sometimes of Transition perhaps, or Apology, or the like; with an addition of one false Position, or deceitful Principle of sin more, to complete the number of seven, that he might give you a perfect number, at least of Particulars, though a number of Imperfections; and an Appendix moreover unto the sixth. Which as to him it was not grievous, as St. Paul's language is in another case, Phil. 3. 1. so to You and the Reader, he hopes, it shall be both safe and profitable; the Deceit therein mentioned, communicating to the advantages of Sin in all the seven, and may be a furtherance to any fallacious imagination or deceitful practice proceeding from the corrupt heart of men, viz. Spiritual senses and meanings of Scripture▪ contrary unto or divers from the Letter; whereby the Law of God itself therein written, which is only transgressed, is wrested to justify transgression.  
Both which Additionals had been spoken in the Solemn Audience, had not the Preachers civility to your Honourable selves, and pity to the laborious crowd below, time being spent, prevented him, and therefore he doth not scruple your acceptance thereof now, it being frequently exemplated in impressions of other Sermons; Hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim: and 'tis but like some afterbirth or superfoetation that intellective Nature would be discharged of.  
If any man shall scruple peradventure, that some passages of the Discourse were too smart, he may remember that St. Paul was once upon the question, Whether to come with a rod or no, 1 Cor. 4. v. last; and St. Judas adviseth a way of saving some men by pulling them out of the fire, ver. 23. with terrors or denunciations, or otherwise, as you may conceive, exprobrations, And I know not what sons of thunder should serve for in the Church, but to shoot thunderbolts: and 'tis the barking dog, and that sometimes pincheth a little, which drives straying sheep into their fold, and worries the Dogs of the concision, i. e. evil workers of Schisms and Divisions.  
Neither is any part of the style so severe and pungent, except against the most monstrous and prodigious abominations and such actors thereof as we have, to the affrightment of our memories, so deeply smarted by; or, such who are still obdurate and impenitent in their disobedience, whom the Indemnity itself favours not, and one passage of the Sermon hath distinctly marked out, making a difference of others according to St. Jude's counsel loco dicto. And of the former sort, either there remain some, or not; if not, Who should complain? if so, Who shall be displeased at the Authority of the Ministry, which is, to rebuke sin before all, that others may fear, 1 Tim. 5. 20?  
The drift of he whole endeavour in short was only this, Whereas many Deceivers are entered into the World, 2 Joh. 7. and many Delusions and Deceptions with them, to the experimental woe of this Church and Nation, King and People; and the same perilous principles of Deceive, are by strong observation discovered or much suspected amongst persons still disaffected, so as abundant caution scarce sufficeth against them; but, according to the Drammatist in Aulularia, Qui cavet ne decipiatur, vix cavet cum etiam cavet, He that takes heed that he be not deceived, scarce takes heed enough when he takes the most; That therefore, by a loyal Subject, and dutiful Son of the Church, the fallacies might be retexed, and the people undeceived, the guilt of their former horrible commissons lying still upon their souls before God without Repentance, and by fresh actings will be more aggravate and accumulate even to the endangering of their salvation which no temporal pardon or oblivion can help them in.  
'Tis confessed much hath been spoken by many worthy Pens and Preachers, to this purpose before; but interspersly only and occasionally from mixtures of other discourses, not in one method together as this, and therefore, you Right Honourable especially have the greatest challenge of this Dedication for your uncessant diligence and pains to your great peril also often, in discovering and suppressing the practices and actors of these pernicious Deceits, as your Epistler hath done them in their Principles, who therefore makes bold to conjecture that your Lordship had a Noble and Honourable ambition of enmity against such deceitful wickedness, in taking an advantage even at the expiration of your Government to check it for future, by making public to posterity this draught of Arguments against it; as if you had a mind to combat it by any kind of opposition though ne're so weak as doubtless this little Pamphlet must needs prove) when you can no longer rebuke it with the sword of your Office which you now lay down.  
Ever Honourable, to cease your further trouble by prolixity, as your Lordship is remarkable by your unwearyed vigilance and prospection acted for the safety of our King & Laws, Church and Nation, your humbly obliged shall leave you and your Honourable Brethren with this only passage of Miltiades and Themistocles in Plutarch: Miltiades had done excellenly for the good of his City and Common-weath, for which he was rewarded with so many trephies of Honour, as Themistocles afterwards his successor could not sleep or rest perfectly for dreaming, and continual incumbency of his thoughts and fancy, upon the glorious Achievements of Miltiades, which at last he matched with his own, May it so fall out 'twixt your Honourable self and Brethren, both your present and your future successors, that they may never rest without thoughts, and noble emulations of your famous acting for our King and Nation, and at last add another parallel to Plutarch's, in becoming every one of them successively as glorious in the people's observation as your Noble self. And so may Wisdoms blessing, Prov. 3. 16, 17. rest upon you all, Length of days be on your right hands, and on your left hands Riches and Honour; your ways be ways of Pleasantness, and all your paths be Peace. Which is the prayer of  
Your Lordships and Honourable Assistants humble Servant in Jesus Christ, Sam. Stone▪   

Deceivers Deceived: OR, The Mistakes of Wickedness.  PROV. XIV. the latter part of the 8th Verse. — But the folly of Fools is Deceit. 
THis particle [But] being discretive and so conjunctive, might occasion me to take some notice of the connection; but, because that is not very usual in the Proverbs, and the words themselves will afford us matter enough for our present Exercise, I shall therefore consider them only absolutely without relation, The folly of Fools is Deceit.  
Folly and Fools are denominatives re & voce, the name and quality of the one, derived from the other; every fool so called by his folly, and all folly the quality of fools, and the meaning of this quality, wickedness; the Wiseman's fool here is a wicked man; he that knows not this, may very well be both. So 'twas in his Father David's language too, Psa. 14. 1. The fool that said in his heart, There was no God, is presently expressed by corrupt and abominable works. And in St. Paul's likewise, Tit. 3. 3. the disobedient and slaves to lust and malicious, etc. are all preface by [fools]; We ourselves were also foolish and disobedient, etc.  
Now if folly be sin, and fools sinners, the words afford us these two parts, a Supposition, and a Proposition.  
First, A Supposition in the denomination of the subject, Sin is folly, and sinners are fools.  
Secondly, A Proposition, by an attribution of a predicate to this subject, that is, Deceit; Sin or folly is deceit.  
The Supposition, that sin is folly, and sinners fools, would afford us ample meditation for this time: but because Deceit is a causal attribute unto sin, and antecedent to folly; our first Parents being first deceived themselves, before they became fools or sinners, and conveyed that appellation to posterity; Deceit therefore shall first step forth, leading Sin in her hand: Sin is deceit, and sinners are deceived, that's our Observation.  Sin is deceit, and sinners are deceived. 
So speaks Divine Wisdom here, and 'tis seconded with Humane: Wisd. 4. 11. Lest wickedness should alier his understanding, and deceit beguile his soul. Wickedness and Deceit are so intrinsical and complicate one with another, as they serve mutually to express each other: or, if you would rather that the Divine voice should echo to its self again, ye may have it in the forementioned of Titus 3. 3. where the foolish and disobedient are rendered also deceived; We ourselves were sometimes foolish and disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts, etc. the service of lusts set off with deceit.  
I shall proceed upon it for this present occasion only in two steps or degrees of method.  
1. In the manner of sins acting.  
2. In the principles or reasonings of sin, whereby the slaves or servants thereof are deceived.  
First, that in the manner of sins acting, it is deceit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, said Clemens Alexandrinus, The shadow or likeness is one thing, the reality and substance is another. Now sin takes the shadow for the substance, the likeness for the reality, and so commits her deceit.  
Mendacique diu pietatis imagine fallor, Said the wanton Sister in the Poet. She complained that she was deceived a long time under the lying likeness of Piety. Thus doth the Prodigal deceive himself under the show of Liberality, and the Covetous man of Thrift, and the Intemperate in the free use of the Creature, and the Proud man under a colour of Magnanimity, and the foolish Dueller in a mistake of Valour: and thus through this nearness of likeness in appearance betwixt good and evil, Christian Liberty is turned into Licentiousness; Christian Affability and Courtesy, into base prostitute Flattery; Laudable Ceremony, into Superstition; Love into Lust, Recreation into Voluptuousness, Feasting into Luxury, Decency of Apparel into Gaudery, Dominion into Tyranny, Subjection into Slavery, Faith into Fancy, Hope into Presumption, Zeal into Fury, Godly sorrow into worldly, and necessary Humility into voluntary; thus saith Clemens again, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, speaking of Virtue and Goodness; They are deprived, saith he, (meaning Erroneous sinners) thereof, being robbed, or gulled, and cheated, as if bewitched, and so deceived. If I have walked with vanity, or my feet have hasted after deceit, Job 31. 5. Deceit and Vanity so near together, that the same Stride gathers them both. And so much for the manner of the deceit of sin.  
Secondly, Sin is deceit in the Principles, or Reasonings, or Imaginations in the hearts of sinners, which the power of the spiritual Militia casteth down, 2 Cor. 10. 5. That such deceitful reasonings were always in the thoughts and communications of the sons of men, appears not only by the Prophet Jeremiah, Chap. 17. 9 The heart of man is deceitful above all things: but, by the many caveats St. Paul gives in sundry places, Be not deceived; and particularly in the 2d Chap. of the Colossians, ver. 4. Let no man beguile you with enticing words, which is expressed, ver. 8. by Philosophy or vatn deceit. Philosophy, you know, is a form of reasoning; but, whereas 'tis expressed by deceit, we are not to understand thereby (by the way) those good habits of the mind, which serve as Handmaids to dress up their Mistress Divinity, and set her off with a more comely and affecting beauty, but as Clemens again, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. The Apostle, saith he, means not all Philosophy, in that place, but only the Epicurean, that destroyed Providence, and deified Pleasure, making that a God; denying the Resurrection, and any future state of Being, etc. Which divination of the Fathers, I am the more inclinable unto, as most probable, by comparing with 1 Cor. 15. 32, 33. ver. where giving the same Caveat, Be not deceived, he presently infers, Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die; which being a Principle once brought to communication, was evil and deceitful, and corrupted good manners. But this Principle being not, as I hope, familiar in the thoughts and practices of men of our times, I shall not insist upon, nor yet others leading unto sin more generally; my whole business therefore shall be at this time, to evince the deceit of such Principles or Reasonings only as have deceived the Foolish and Disobedient of our late dismal Times, when as wickedness broke out like fire, in the Prophet Isaiahs' phrase, Ch. 9 18. and devoured not only the shrubs and Cedars of our Lebanon, but even the Royal Oak himself. For prevention of which, and the like mischiefs hereafter, occasionable possibly by the same deceitfulness of men's thoughts through such dangerous Principles, which are shrewdly suspected to lie latent in the hearts of discontented parties, as may seem by the daily jealousies of plots and rumours of plots: how true though I leave to Authority to find out, yet not knowing how to conceal my fears, have made it my work for the remainder of my hour to retexe the fallacies, or mistakes of most of their destructive reasonings, lest wickedness should afresh conceive, and pregnate, and break forth, and bring forth more swords, and firebrands amongst us. Wherein, howbeit, I cannot but preface this serious protestation that I mean not any upbraidment or insulting over men's weaknesses, or ignorances'; but to convince their Consciences and tender the good of their Souls, as well as the safety of our dear and precious King and Nation. To proceed then,  
1. The first false position, or principle of deceit whereby Wickedness hath been much heightened, and improved, and may be again, is good Meanings, or good Intentions, as you may remember that scandal of the Law, who prepared for the King's Trial 
Cook.  and Murder: said at his Execution, he had good Intentions; And so may we believe of those last vile, ignorant, and public Murderers, who pretended that their business was to prepare the way for the coming of Christ in his Kingdom; Thus if men have caught but a good Meaning by the end, as, for the Glory of God, the reformation of Religion and Laws, the suppression of Vice and Tyranny, or the like, they think that then their actions are lawful and righteous though never so cross to the Laws both of God and Man.  
But such men I desire to take notice of that good meaning, John 16. 2. Where Christ foretold, That some should murder his Apostles with a thought of doing God service. See what a fair meaning here was in a most ugly hellish Sin! Could that meaning think you excuse them? Let them observe also the meaning of St. Peter, Matth. 16. 22. Where ye may read, That Peter would by no means consent that his Master should die: this was seemingly as fair a good meaning as can be imagined, for an honest loving Servant to wish the life, and well-being of his dear good Master; But, mark ye, the Devil himself could not have wished us a greater mischief than that Christ should not have died, for than we and all the World besides had been damned in Hell. What a monstrous wicked good meaning was this; Christ calling his chief Disciple Devil-fored? And let them consider one good Meaning more, to wit, of the Jews, who crucified the Lord of Life, under a good meaning of zeal for the Law of Moses, and their ancient customs, Sub zelo legis odium latebat Legislatoris, Here was the greatest wickedness that ever was acted in the World, carried on, under a good meaning for the Law.  
Now this being well remarked, I would ask of all those who were guilty of the late Defection, or rather Rebellion indeed (for howsoever policy covers it with a term of indulgence, and calls it only inconvenience, yet the Pulpit may not so, we are bid Cry aloud and spare not, and lift up our voices like Trumpets, and tell the House of Juda their transgressions, and Israel their sins: Which we cannot do unless we call every thing by its own distinctive name, a spade a spade, Rebellion Rebellion, a Rebel a Rebel; except those in whom the Grace of Repentance is visible by their contrary actings and retractations (for all whom there is both joy in Heaven, and that, and honour also upon earth): but as for others who retain their old guilt before God, having never repented their abominations, but nourish their old principles of impiety under fancied good meaning so as to be ready to act over the same wickedness again; of those I say I would demand; Suppose they had lived in the time of the Jews, and had concurred with them to the murdering of Christ, and his Apostles with the same good meanings also that the Jews had, whether they could think themselves any whit excusable by those good meanings more than the Jews? if not (as we are sure, they can not, they having equally concurred in the sin, by the supposition, and therefore are equally liable in guilt, for which the Jews are punished in their posterity to this day) the question than will be, How; or why, they should conceive themselves excusable, or justifiable by their good meanings now, in or after the commission of such horrible iniquities as Heaven and Earth blush at, being in their whole latitude of circumstantial aggravations of as great, or rather greater criminableness than the crucifixion of Christ himself (setting aside the disproportion of the Object as Christ was God, and therein infinite) and more intensely, and accumulately wronged? What? Can it enter the heart of any knowing Christian to believe, that so slight a thing as good meanings should justify such abominations, as all the Miseries and Impieties of a voluntary; unnatural, and rebellious War, which swept away Myriad of innocent Christians, and good Subjects, and afterwards One, like David, worth ten or a 100000 thousand of them, the dear and precious anointed of the Lord himself?  
No, beloved, good meanings avail nothing, in such prodigious Wickedness at least: Though a bad meaning may make a good action bad; yet, good meanings can never make a bad action, good Quid, furemur divitibus ut demus pauperibus? saith St. Augustine, Shall we steal from the Rich to give unto the Poor? There's a Meaning good enough, but a Means every whit as bad. St. Bernard therefore teacheth us better, As there must be Charitas in intention; so there must be Veritas in electione, saith he, A choice of true and proper means, for every true and genuine end. Because we creatures are not immediate and complicate with our end, as God is, who himself is his own End; but we are at a distance from our end, and therefore must consult and deliberate upon the choice of our means in order thereunto, which are most proper, suitable, and lawful for attainment: He that thinks, in the use of unlawful means or actions, with them to attain the scope of righteousness, and happiness therewith, is like one, as a late Writer wittily similizeth, That rowles himself upon a bed of thorns to sleep easily; or, that sets his face to the East to go to bed with the Sun in the West; which are mere impossibilities and repugnances. Beloved, Good works will be in heaven, to the eternal glory of their Author; when as evil works, for all their good meanings, will be in hell, without Repentance, to the eternal shame of their Actors. To conclude this, as he cannot well be thought to mean ill, who doth well; so, nor he likely so much as to mean well, who resolves and continues to do ill.  
And therefore, my brethren, since good meanings are so slight an excuse for wicked actions, no better than the ignorance of the Law, whence they proceed, and justifies no man; let all those that have followed the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, not only in the calves of Bethel, but also in dividing from the Crown of Juda; let them all seriously bethink themselves, and repent betwixt God and their souls, and strive to become pricked in their hearts with remorse, as were the Jews, notwithstanding all their good meanings, lest, under the security they have by the indemnity temporal of their Lives and Estates, they hazard the salvation of their souls, being no power temporary can indemnify a soul.  
And let all such beware further, who are still feeding upon the old leaven of Malice and Wickedness, whereby they nourish unto themselves discontents and murmurings in their Tents against Moses and Aaron because they are whipped a little while longer with the rods of their own making, and stung with the tails of those Scorpions hatched by their own Cockatrice Eggs: Let them, I say, beware how they adventure upon such odious and perilous actions again, under a conceit of doing lawfully by their good Meanings; for, believe it, they will prove no better than that in Daniel, Mene mean tekel upharzin: being weighed, they'll be found too light, when the hand-writing of judgement is upon the wall against them.  
A second deceitful Principle is, Following a godly party; whereof I take occasion to speak, from a passage of mine own experience; for being consulted once in point of conscience, by a person of a considerable quality, a little after the beginning of the late Miseries, Whether he might lawfully and with a safe conscience, take one of the Rebellious Oaths or Protestations? And I having answered him in the Negative, that he might not do it with a safe conscience; He replied, That he would hold with the godly and praying Party; and so took it. And indeed this was the vulgar Error of England, at that time, to follow those who had the most plausible shows of godliness in outward appearance beyond others, and by advantage thereof, gave the Conduct and Clarigation to the fatal War.  
Now to this I shall discourse, that however Religion be indeed the best practice in the world, and to follow a Godly or Religious party, be the best also for a man's imitation, caeteris paribus, all things equally considered, Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ, saith St. Paul; but nevertheless, without much heedfulness and circumspection, there may be great deceit in it.  
For first, I would know of such people, who are apt to be taken with this reasoning, What Godly party it is they would fain follow? If they mean, by the Godly party, such as place their Religion in Whimsies, and Humours, and Singularities, and Curiosities, and Fancies, and Affectarions, in Mimic mouths, and Antic faces, in Canting phrases, and Affected Graces, in Twinkling of the eyes, and Ronching of the nose, in long Prayer, and short hair, which ye know was the guise before the Troubles; though now, 'tis but the character of a Quaker, or scarce that; in flashes of Zeal, and mazes of the Spirit, in length and quantity, rather than in quality and perfection of Duty, in rude anhelous pant, and interrupt breathe at Devotion, in passionate interjections, and extempore imperfections, and as many Lords, as the Papists have Lady's at their Ave mary's; in outside austerity and abstinence from Indifferencies; as, from the Lot in Recreation, and from Ceremony in Religion; in taking down a stone-bason, and setting up a pewter-bason; or, taking it from the Church door, and setting it at the Ministers Pew door; in taking down a Saint-holyday, and setting up a Parliament-holyday; in ceasing to feast for the Birth of Christ, and feasting rather for the day h of Christians, and many such like. If such be the Godly Party, whom any people would follow, we all know that this is the Party who have deceived this poor Church and Nation, into all the mischief and ruin it hath suffered: this is a Godly Party with an amusement, enough to make Religion and Godliness itself ridiculous and contemptible, in the observation of wise and indifferent men, even Pagan's themselves; and therefore, to follow such a Godly Party must needs be deceit.  
Secondly, Put case the Godly Party, to be followed, were the most wise and regular Church-Society; yet, to follow them so, as to make a total resignation unto them of our Faith and Reason, Consciences and Affections, as the Community of the people did unto the Long-Parliament, this also must needs be a deceit; because the spirit of Error is apt to insinuate and creep into the best Societies of men in the World. Fas ergo est aliquà, Coelestia pectora fatli. There was folly found in the Angels, and chaff in the first floor Christ ever laid, which if he with his fan inhis hand, had not purged out of their hearts, Satan himself would have winnowed them as wheat. So shall you see the clearest streams, stained with a vein of puddle; the purest pupil moated; the most radiant Stars dimmed with the steams of Terrene vapours; so the most eminent in place of action found of Error; the very Pillars of the Church sometimes chinckt in with some stones of offence. Errare p●ssum, saith St. Augustine, he might Err, he confessed; only would not be an Heretic. The Highpriest may have the Urim and Thummim on his breast, but neither the one in his head, nor the other in his heart. I know no promise of Infallibility universal, except to the Church-universal, as comprehending all Persons, Times, and Places, as Chillingworth gives it; or, unless to the Apostles themselves, and that too, as they acted their Supreme Apostolic Commission, not otherwise; for St. Peter and St. Paul were at a contradiction, and both parties could not have the right; and Paul and Barnabas were at a contention. The Spirit of truth shall guide you into all truth, was the Promise of Christ; He that said it, is as true as his Word, but well understood, not in the whole circumference of the Terms, but in the limitation of the Sense; All truths fundamental, the essential constituents of a Church, the Spirit of Christ hath promised to lead his Church into. And so he doth, for the Church is the Pillar of Truth, and the foundation of God standeth sure; but as for other truth's of analogy, inference and remote consequence, that like backer houses, show not at first sight, in the building of faith; into such truth's as these, the Spirit of Truth, hath not promised to lead us: but sometimes leaves us to the spirit of Error, who does his best to do his worst, and deceive those that believe. Instance whereof you may take in the most glorious Church of Christendom, this of England, whom the old Dragon, according to his use of persecuting the Woman into the Wilderness, hath endeavoured to bring (in our late days of Tribulation) into contempt and disgrace, in the view of the whole World; and to that end had insinuated such mischievous Delusions, into the two chief Parties of her most considerable interest, after once divided, as the most remarkable in their own thoughts, and their Disciples admiration; for strictness and severity of life, were grossly misled into the foulest miscarriage imaginable, as to their Politics in the case of Subjection & Government. On the other side, they which were most regular and best principled in understanding of Government and Learning, were not altogether, some of them, in men's observation, so perfect in their Morals as they should have been; and therefore, to conclude, in both respects aforesaid, to follow a Godly Party may be deceitful, although caeteris paribas, all things equally considered, A Godly party, especially truly godly, is best imitable with Wisdom and Circumspection, but not simply and absolutely. So much for the second deceitful Reasoning whereby Wickedness hath been much improved.  
A third Principle of deceit, whereby wickedness doth much impregnate, is a reasoning from contraries; as in case some person or persons do act wickedly in their way, that therefore others acting the quite contrary, shall be allowed and warranted as righteous in what they do, because contrary. Which seems indeed to carry some reasonableness and probability with it, it being backed with a show of Logic, Contrariorum contraria sunt consequentia, Of contraries there are contrary consequences. And so in Physic, Contraria contrariis curantur, Evils in men's bodies are remedied by their contraries. And in Philosophy likewise, Contraria mutuò se pellunt, Contraries expel one the other. But nevertheless, this kind of Reasoning is most deceitful without wary distinguishing.  
To which purpose we must distinguish; there is a contrariety natural, and contrariety moral.  
The contrariety natural, is first betwixt the Elements, as Fire and Water, which are mutually destructive one of the other; and much like are the extremes of Virtue, as Avarice and Prodigality, to instance in no more, which are as inconsistent and expellent of each other, as Fire and Water, and therefore I call them Contraries natural; for though as they stand in opposition to the mean which is Virtue, they are morally contrary; yet as in contra-distinction of one to the other, they are but natural Contraries.  
There is also another contrariety called moral, as before; that is, betwixt the Extremes and the Mean, alias Virtue, which I call Contraries being opposite, as Good and Evil moral, they differing as much as Wisdom and Folly, which we all know to be contrary; the mean, which is Virtue, being acted by Wisdom, according to Aristotle in his his Ethics, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and the extreme by Folly.  
Now to apply this Distinction.  
If men shall reason the lawfulness of their actions, by practising the sense of Contraries natural or exteme, or running from one extreme to another, they are foully deceived.  In vitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret Arte: 
(saith the Poet) The declining of one Vice incurs another, if done without Prudence, which governs all virtuous actions; howbeit to decline one Contrariy in a moral sense, and turn to the other; that is, from Vice to Virture, from Evil to Good, from Sin to Righteousness, is a rational and wise practice, otherwise false and deceitful; As for instance: some men are lewd and vicious in their lives and conversations, breaking all the rules of virtue; others therefore presuming to themselves safety and lawfulness in their actions by running into an extreme distance from them, desire to avoid them in whatsoever they do, although they are as good politically as to the government and laws of a Nation (according to Aristotle that Malus vir, may be Bonus Civis, an evil man in manners may be a good Subject o his Prince) as they are bad morally; whence follows separations, divisions, and contentions betwixt them, and thereupon occasionally civil dissensions and war too even against the Prince himself, because the contrary in vice is for the Prince in Loyalty, Sic vitant stulti vitia; This is the contrariety of fools, and practisers of extremes.  
The Church of Rome maintains good works as causal and meritorious in the point of Justification, others therefore French, and German Divines, thinking truth on their side, by a quite contrary judgement, have gone so far from them into the extreme, as not to allow any good work at all before Justification, albeit so confessedly necessary for the qualification of Faith itself, in her existence and operation. Sic vitant stulti vitia. This is the contrariety of extremes.  
The Church of Rome sets forth so many Ceremonies, as amount to Superstition: some therefore of our side, to avoid that, would have no Ceremony at all; and so dis-robe the Church of all her external decentials, and badges of Antiquity. Sic vitant Stulti vitia; This is the contrariety of Fools.  
The Church of Rome establishes as many Holidays almost as days, and therefore our wise Assemblers and Religionists of late would have no Holidays besides the Sabbath at all; not so much as for the Celebration of the Nativity of Christ himself. Sic vitant stulti vitia. This is the contrariety of Fools.  
The Church of Rome patter over their forms, of Pater Noster, and Ave-maries', and so many empty slight Collects, as a wise Christian can sense it no better then mere superfluity: others therefore would have no form of Prayer at all, no not so much as the Common Prayer itself, though it be the very Characteristic of our Church of England, to distinguish it from other Protestant Churches. Sic vitant stul●i vitia; This is the contrariety of Extremes.  
Some practice the Sabbath as not keeping it at all, without any observation of duty all the day long; others therefore would be seem in declining this extremity to keep it without any intermission of duty from morning, until deep at night: as if the Lord's day which by the practice of all the Churches is a festival, a day of joy, & to be called our delight, saith the prophet Isai, c. 58. 13. Exod. 31. 17. and a refreshment saith Moses, explaining rest as if such a day should be more onerous or burdensome than a Fast, or as if the perfection of holiness should consist in length, and quantity, which is a known property of imperfection; or as if purity of reformation (whereof this of the sabbath they most ostentate) should be seen chiefly in a likeness unto Jews in their Devotion, as they were too much like them in the late Kings, The Lords anointed, decollation, Sic vitant stulti vitia; This is the contrariety of extremes. Which together with the premises shows, the Principle of reasoning from contraries, to be foolish, and deceitful.  
A fourth deceitful Principle of wickedness, whence vain workers of iniquity reason to themselves the lawfulness of their vilest practices, is, Success in them. Because their actions though never so monstrous, and abominable, do nevertheless prosper, and take effect according to their desires; they conclude therefore, 'Twas God's will and pleasure so to have them come to pass, and thereby they warrant and applaud themselves as instruments of effecting Gods purposes, and giving issue to his providential Decrees forsooth, as the only servants of the most High. Whereupon it follows in the Poet's phrase, That Prosperum Scelus Virtus Vocetur. Wickedness must be new Christened, and called a Virtue; As the late Rebellion was called the Good old Cause; nay God himself was invited to be the Godfather to't and 'twas called the Cause of God: for the promotion whereof, Religion itself deformed by policy was fain to play the Hypocrite and mocked God with Thanksgivings for his blessing upon the Enterprise, and his wonderful mercy in the Success; and Prayer, and Fasting too, did take their turn to implore divine assistance for the further carrying on, and maintenance of the Prodigy. God himself being thus entitled both Father & Author thereof. The deceitfulness of which reasoning appears sufficiently in this, That the very Turks themselves from the same Argument may plead the cause of Mahomet, and justify their Tyranny, and Usurpation over half the World almost; and so ye know had Popery spread over all Christendom for many hundred years, and is yet successful over a great part thereof: Yea sin itself after it had once entered, prevailed over all the World; which I hope no man will be so wretched as to impute to God as the Author thereof, howbeit it had success enough as to itself as well as Mahometism and Popery. He that rates the righteousness and lawfulness of actions by their coming to effect, or their success by men's prospering in them, may very well allow the Atheists Argument in Martial, Calius byname, who would prove there was neither God, nor Heaven, Quòd se videt, dum negat haec, beatum, because he prospered in that opinion. But what virtue soever there might supposedly have been in this Argument of success during the time of Wickedness, what strength hath it, now that Monster of Iniquity, which gave being to so much fatal success is quite cut off, Branch, and Root, head and tail, Carcase and Rump, and those Vermin that crawled out from her poysonons' bowels are left to rot in their own staunch and contagion? The memory of the wicked shall rot, saith Solomon; I and their members too, say I. And may they rot and repent in misery, and shame if they could the impudence, and ignorance of such lewd reasoning, as from the Event and a little temporary Success to justify the greatest abominations that ever were done (one only excepted) upon the face of the earth: the Poet's curse therefore is now upon them; Careat successibus opto, Quisquis ab eventu fact● notanda putet, For arguing so wickedly, and deceitfully from success, never to have success more; for what success do they deserve who make void the Law of God, which should be the rule of all actions, and measure them by events or effects, as results of God's Will in Decree, in the bringing whereof to pass, their hands and counsels chiefly being instrumental, they think they have done well, and are the only Servants of the Almighty; not considering that men slighting the revealed Will of God in his written Word, which they are only bound to observe; for, Vivendum secundum Precepta, non secundum decreta; The will of God's Commandments must be our rule, not of his Decrees, which are unknown, Things revealed belong to us and our children, that we may do all the wards of the Law, Deut. 29. ult. whereas secret things belong unto the Lord only, verse the same; not considering this, I say, but presuming into the secrets of the Almighty, to unravel and measure out the mysteries of his Decrees, and resolve them by their own fancies, they little think, that whereas good men do the known will of God to their Salvation, wicked men, such as themselves, may perform the secret will of God to their Damnation, as the wretched Jews crucified the Lord of Life to their everlasting confusion, albeit he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, Act 2. 23. And as the Assyrian was the Rod of God's indignation to punish a hypocritical Nation, but afterwards thrown into fire, Isa. 10. And Pharaoh's obstinacy served for the magnification of God's Name and Power over all the Earth, Rom. 9 17. whiles himself was therefore drowned in the Red-Sea, and became a Type of Reprobates in Hell: Let no man therefore hereafter deceive himself with this false imagination of lawfulness in his action, because eventually 'tis or may be successful, and being brought to pass, may seem to answer unto the Purpose and Decree of God, that God would so have it. For there is no more warrant of lawfulness from such a plea, than for a Sons wishing his Father's death, because, it so falling out, his wish concurred with the secret will of God who had determined the Father's days.  
So much for discovery of the fourth Deceit.  
A fifth deceit in the practice of sin, is a Plea of Necessity: Some ugly sin or sins being once palliated and allowed, and the poor Conscience baffled with some pretext of the lawfulness thereof, gives allowance afterward to any thing that shall appear necessary for the maintenance or carrying on of the former; as a Thief assaulting a Traveller for his Purse, in case of being stoutly resisted, even to the hazard of captivation, or life; will think it lawful, because necessary, rather to kill the Defendant if he can, than to be killed himself, or taken Prisoner; which necessity was only of his own making. So the Patriarches having sold their Brother Joseph into Egypt, brought upon themselves a necessity of concealing their wickedness from Jacob, with the shift of a lie; the like did Gehezi to his Master Elisha; so when the conspiracy of Achitophel and Absolom had broken out into open rebellion, their counsel found it no less than necessary to make short work on't, and murder good King David; and not long afterwards, Jeroboam to make good the defection of the ten Tribes of Juda, saw a necessity of changing the true Worship of God into Idolatry, setting up a new mode of Worship and Priesthood at Bethel for the People's resort thereunto, lest holding the same uniformity of Religion, they might return again to the same unity of Government and affection at their anniversary meetings in their Royal City Jerusalem: Such was that Doctrine of Devils taught by our English Regicides, who conscious to themselves of that inexpiable wrong they had done unto their good King, and that his displeasure therefore might be implacable, despairing also lest every one of his friends where they met them should fall upon and kill them, concluded to make a short work of it, with the Mode necesse to cut off his head, and for their better security in this dismal wickedness, they found it further necessary to destroy the very foundations of the Righteous, turning all things topsie turvie turvy, and trampling under foot all Laws both of God and Man, and changing the whole Fabric of Government both Ecclesiastic and Civil.  
But now what a pitiful and wretched deception is this, as if there were any necessity of sinning; belike then according to the Modal Aequipollence in Logic, Quod necesse est esse, impossibile est non esse, If it be necessary to sin, by consequence 'tis impossible not to sin; and so God should command his creatures impossibilities in commanding them to abstain from sin, which grossly imposeth upon his infinite Wisdom, Justice, and Holiness; for we all know, and are well assured of, a necessity of repentance in case of sin committed; Go thy ways, sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee, was the counsel of Christ himself: and David's likewise, God shall wound the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their wickedness, as he hath wounded the hairy scalp of many of them to your knowledge already, and mounted them aloft to be spectacles ofhi indignation to the world, notwithstanding their pretended necessities for what they so impiously acted; and therefore whosoever hereafter being warned by such examples, shall embolden themselves under the same conceit or confidence of necessitate-lawfulness in their wicked proceedings, I shall leave them under the Apostles curse, 2 Tim. 3. 13. They shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, from one degree of vileness they shall grow to another, sin being of a progressive and propagating nature, till at last they come to induration and occaecation, their hearts will be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, Heb. 3. 13. and so after their hardness and impenitency of heart's treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. 2. 5. And therefore again, Let not the man of violence that hath oppressed and taken away a house which he builded not, Job 20. 19 deceive his soul with a pretence of lawfulness, under conceited necessity of keeping what he hath extortingly gotten for his necessary maintenance; for, in such a case, Non minus est vitium, quám quaerere, parta tueri, he sins as much in keeping, as in getting unjustly, or rather more: Zachaeus his practice would better become him, to restore fourfold; or else for his covetousness he may gain Gehezi's advantage to boot, a Leprosy both upon Body and Soul: and what a sad cozenage and deceit doth he therein put upon himself in gaining the World to lose his Soul?  
A Sixth deceitful principle or erroneous reasoning and vain imagination of wicked men is a persuasion grounded only upon a conceit of being led forth and forward in their actions by the Spirit, which they fancy betwixt a good meaning perhaps and a pang ofblind zeal, and an abhorrence also of some external vices, and a show of outward austerity, and a devotion of their own way, that looks much like holiness itself, and whereby they conceit themselves to be the only beloved, accepted, and acquainted with God, and consequently all the stir and imaginations of their vain deceitful hearts, to be the very motions and impulses of Gods holy Spirit himself, the conduct whereof they do and will follow, not only without the warrant but contrary unto the express letter of Scripture, and so commit the greatest enormities in the World, Murder, Treason, Perjury, Sacrilege, Persecution of the Lords anointed, his Princes and Nobles, his Priests and Prophets, and the most wise and righteous of his people; and justify themselves therein, as doing God service, and furthering his Glory, by seeonding the secret movings and impulses of his Spirit; Counting it also their Calling extraordinary, as the wretched Murderers reasoned for their fearful execution of our late Lord and King, deceiving their perverse minds, by not distinguishing the motive and directive part of every moral and humane action; There is the directive part of the actions of man aswell as the motive and impulsive, otherwise mere motion and impulse might serve the turn, but not as direction is also required; Now for the direction of a man in any action of his life to be accounted for, there is no other Rule but the Word of God, Psal▪ 119. 195. Thy Word is as a Lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my paths, and verse 130. The entrance of thy Word giveth light, and Psal. 19 8. The Commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes, and by them is thy Servant warned, verse 11. So Isa. 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them; no light, no direction, no instruction, no warrant, measure, or rule for what they do or speak if done or said contrary to this written Word, which is the abstract or summary of the whole Law of God both natural and revealed, and necessary for direction in all cases of action moral, both natural, and supernatural; either in terms, analogy, or inference: and therefore for any man to pretend an impulse, or motion, from some spirit only, however fancied, or conceited to be of God himself, yet without allowance of this his word, he acts but by half a principle, to wit without the guiding and directive part, and so hath no help or conduct at all of the good Spirit; Who moves no man contrary to the rule of his own word, more than the Penman doth the hand of his Scholar contrary to his own Copy, but altogether according, for else the Learner shall never write up to it. And no more can any man whatsoever answer the form of Righteousness, or Lawfulness, in any of his actions that forsakes his copy, or rule, he should be guided by; That is, the written word of truth, which is the only trial of every Spirit, and of every motion, and impulse, whether of God or no. He that knoweth God heareth us, saith St. John, 1 Epist. 4. 6. And he that is not of God heareth not us; and hereby know we the Spirit of truth, and the Spirit of error; That is, by their agreement, or disagreement unto the words preached by St. John and the rest of the Apostles, which were spoken and written for our instructions, and delivered down unto us, and now with the other books of Holy Oracle are called Scripture or the written Word of God; The light and guidance whereof whosoever refuseth, to follow the conduct of some pretended Spirit only divers or contrary to it; Instead of being led by the Spirit of God, doubtless he is led by the Spirit of the Devil, as I make no question those late wretched public Murderers were (whom the Right Honourable the present Lord Maior had the Lot under God's grace and providence to suppress, to his monumental honour; the trophy whereof be his unto all posterity), I say, they were not led by the Spirit of God, but by the Spirit of the Devil, as indeed some said, They fought like Devils, Men had as good follow those spirits the Prophet Isa. speaks of in the forementioned Chapter, oppositely unto the Law, and the Testimony: Spirits that peep and mutter, that is, spirits of witches, and wizards, with whom it may be doubted that these spirit-people are too familiar. I shall superadd to this particular but one plain Simile of a blind mettled horse let loose, which by reason of his metal will be ever prancing, and frisking up and down, till at length he gets upon the top of a steep bank or precipice, and from thence for want of his sight, down he tumbles and breaks his neck; And such verily will be the end of all blind zealots who shut their eyes against the light, and direction of God's word, and right Reason, to follow, in the heat and metal of their zeal, bare motions and impulses as pretended from some Spirit; However in their conceits and imaginations divine, they will certainly, before they are aware, fall at last upon some lewd unreasonable wicked practice or other, that will break the neck of all their reputation both in Christianity, and Civility, and without mercy upon their repentance, throw them down headlong the precipice of Hell; St. Paul therefore shall conclude, Let no man hereafter deceive you neither by Word, nor Letter, nor Spirit, 2 Thes. 2. 2.  
Which two words of the Apostle [Letter and Spirit] mind me of the Appendix mentioned in the Dedication; Letter and Spirit having in the terms, a very fair connection with the literal and spiritual sense of Scripture; whereby, notwithstanding what hath been said against the blind motion and impulse of a Spirit, some Mistakers conceiving themselves wiser and more defensible than the former, do warrant themselves in their wicked actions, not only in Politics, but Morals also, from the sense and spiritual meaning of the Word of God itself; as if upon conviction, by the former Reasoning, what they may not do by a bare impulse or motion, they may nevertheless do in their thoughts by a spiritual meaning of the written Word, the rule whereof they seem not to refuse. But this also, Beloved, is a very fallacious imagination, which I shall desire to Discourse by way of reduciblenesse as an Appendix unto the great deceit of Conduct by the Spirit last confuted; and to that purpose do observe that a spiritual Meaning or sense of Scripture opposite unto, or divers from, the sense of the Letter, is very destructive, and deceptive of foolish sinners, such as St. Peter calls unstable and unlearned, such as are apt to wrest the Scriptures, not only to their own, but others destruction also, even whole Churches, Nations, and Kingdoms, as well Kings as their People; may whereof there are, who taking upon them a boldness, through this persuasion, to wave the sense of the Letter of the written Word, where the Commands of God agree not to their humours, engagements, and inclinations, they adventure to sense the text only to their own thoughts and purposes, though never so contrary to the most righteous laws both of God and Man; and, in a policy of avoiding discovery herein (it sounding harsh unto the most ingenuous sort of Christians, that the plain meaning of the World should be slighted and baffled) they boast most of all in their Spiritual Light, of an easy and clear understanding, and thereafter expound it of the most mysterious hidden and intricate places of the whole book of God, as the Revelation, and other the dark Prophetical passages, which neither Time nor Learning hath yet sufficiently unridled or unclasped; and in these they ostentate a familiar, though wonderful, Knowledge; because they would be the readier believed by foolish admirers in their abusings and wrest of the plainer letter of other Scriptures.  
Now, beloved, this fallacious Reasoning grounds upon a mistaken understanding of some texts of Scripture, where you shall read an opposition betwixt the Letter and the Spirit. As  
First, 2 Cor. 3. 6. Who hath made us able Ministers, not of the Letter only, but also of the Spirit. Therefore say they, There is a Litteral and a Spiritual sense of the New Testament. But how false that consequence is, may appear by observing, that the word Sense or Meaning, is not in the text read, nor in the whole context; but only Letter and Spirit in the Ministry or Ministration of the New Testament or Gospel, there is the Letter or bare Word spoken, and the Spirit of Grace that quickeneth or giveth life unto the Letter or Word spoken or written, making it fruitful and effectual, opening the mind to receive it, and working the heart and affections to submit unto it; which puts the great difference betwixt the Gospel and the Law, the Law being only a bare or dead Letter engraven in stony tables, without any assistance of the Spirit of Grace to quicken it, and so the ministration thereof is of death and condemnation unto all mankind that hear it, there being no promise or concurrence of spirit with it to work it upon the heart unto obedience: man under the Covenant of the Law being left to his own self, and strength, which was become utter weakness through the corruption of the flesh, and unable to perform; whereas the Covenant of Grace, or the Gospel hath the promise or assistance of the Holy Spirit, to work the Heavenly words of life upon the Soul or Spirit of the hearers unto Life and Righteousness; not by whispering or privately insinuating, or insufing any other sense or meaning above or divers from the literal: but by seconding, & backing the same meaning of the words imported in the letter with power and efficacy, whereupon I infer that by Spirit here as opposite to Letter is not meant an opposition of a Spiritual sense in the Gospel, or any other part of God's word different or above the sense of the Letter, but only a lively concurrence of the Spirit of Grace with the ordinance of God's word, in the Letter of the words clauses, and propositions of it, to make it effectual in the hearts of the hearers for their Salvation, without which work of the Spirit, the Gospel itself would be as dead and killing a letter as the very Law.  
Secondly, Another opposition of Letter and Spirit is, Rom. 2. the three last verses, about the Jew and one of his Marks, and Cognisances; viz. Circumsion which the Apostle distinguisheth into outward and inward, or in the flesh, or in the heart and spirit verse the last, resembling the outward circumcision in opposition to circumcision that is inward and spiritual, of the heart, by the term or simile of a Letter which whether one or more in the composition of a word pronounced or written, is but the mere outside of that word compared with its sense and signification, and so it may well be put to resemble the outward circumcision of the flesh, as contrary to the inward or spiritual circumcision of the heart; or as the bare empty Letter of the Law is contrary to the quickening spirit of the Gospel, as dead to living, or old to new. Rom. 7. 6. But from thence to reason a double and contrary sense or signification, the one Literal the other spiritual, either of the words of institution of Circumcision itself, which expressly declares both Mystery and Ceremony, or outward and inward of that Ordinance, or of any other text of Scripture, is a most fallacious and pitiful non concludence; Circumcision is outward and inward expressed by the opposition of Letter and Spirit, therefore there are two different senses in Scriptures, Literal, and Spiritual of the same words or sentence, is a most absurd consequence.  
The third Text, occasioning this deception, is, John 6. 63. My words, saith Christ, are spirit, the words that I speak they are Spirit, and they are life, therefore, say the mistakers, Christ's words must be understood spiritually, or in a spiritual sense not literal. Nay, but my Brethren what an inconsequence is this? For what were the words that Christ then spoke, they were verse 53, 54, 56. of eating his flesh, and drinking his blood in order to eternal life▪ the mystery whereof they not understanding because he spoke in a figure, he explains himself in the verse mentioned by a distinction of flesh and spirit, the flesh profiteth nothing, saith he, but the spirit quickeneth, and my words are spirit; as if he had said, think not therefore, that I mean you should eat my flesh, and drink my blood, after a carnal or corporal manner, for that would not profit you, The flesh profiteth not; but feed upon me in communion with my spirit by faith, and so shall ye be quickened unto eternal life. 'Tis a spiritual eating of my flesh that my words mean, my words are spirit. But nevertheless beloved) not to be understood of a divers or contrary meaning from the Letter, for the Letter, as of all Scripture, so of this, is twofold, Proper and Tropical.  
First Proper, which expresseth the thing by a word signifying, a meaning plainly answering the nature of the thing.  
Secondly Tropical, which expresseth the thing by way of allusion, or similitude, or types and parables, conversively putting a word of similitude or parable, for a word proper to the nature of the thing itself; Now the eating Christ speaks of here, is not proper of fleshly eating, but in the Trope and Similitude, that is, spiritual eating; for as Corporal eating nourifheth the body unto life Natural, so doth Spiritual feeding upon Christ by faith, nourish and quicken the soul unto life eternal; and so though Christ's words here are spirit, as he faith [my words are Spirit] that is, import a spiritual eating, yet the sense of them is never the more spiritual, as if different from the Letter, for the Letter of this word [Spirit] gives the sense of the Trope, denoting Spiritual eating; yet with the help of a little Logic too, the Abstract put for the Concrete, Spirit for Spiritual; and in the Concretion, the adject Spiritual, connoting its subject Eating, is as much as Spiritual eating; and so the sense being Tropical, is, in that respect, nevertheless, Literal; the sense of Scripture, with this amongst the rest, being of two kinds, Proper and Tropical, as aforesaid, and both Literal.  
You will wonder, it may be, I should say, There is no sense of Scripture but only Literal; and thereupon Object, What Divines should mean, by observing a distinction of the Letter from some other thing differing in the meaning of the words besides it?  
To which I answer, 'Tis true, as I said at the first of this passage, many wise and good Christians generally mistaking these oppositions of Letter and Spirit; which I have but now opened, and are the only to that purpose, throughout the whole book of God, and all professing a Literal sense. That for want of a term contra-distinct unto Literal, have in that necessity allowed a sense Spiritual; but, unsatisfied therewith, I conceive, upon further disquisition, have been found to understand themselves only in a sense of a Rhetorism or a Trope; which, not knowing what to oppose unto the Letter, under the said mistakes they have called Spiritual, though indeed it be in true understanding only Literal, according to the common manner of speaking by Tropes and Figures, which bear their part in expression of the mind in all Languages, and together with Grammar make up the whole business of Utterance, or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the word discovering the sense of the mind, bearing a signification either plain and proper, and so hath been taken for the Letter; or Tropical, and more mysterious, and so hath been taken for Spiritual; but in true judgement, the literal word is common to both, Proper and Tropical: the Trope and Rhetorism both in word and sense, being in the letter of the Scripture also, as well as the Proper, though not so frequent as the Proper and Grammatical; yet so, of a meaning literal as well as the other, and in that respect all senses of words Typical, Parabolical, or otherwise Tropological (as I humbly conceive with submission to better judgements) can be thought no more than Literal, and the mystery of them to be understood, by endeavouring to find the extent of the Letter only.  
Away therefore with that deception of a Spiritual sense of Scripture, whereby the safety of Divine Truths, hath been, and may be still, much in hazard. And let us conceive of God's meaning in his Word, speaking to us, as we speak to one another, according to the use of sensing the words in the practice of Nations, without which we can never be supposed to understand him; and if we cannot yet teach the mystery of every letter, let us be content till God in the seasons of his Grace and Wisdom, shall afford us helps of a further discovery, by his blessing upon the labours of Pious and Learned men, whom God hath set forth hitherto, and doubtless will hereafter, during the being of his Church upon Earth, as lights in his Candlestick for the further manifestation of the hidden Truths of his Word every day; and let us beware of our own Fanatical conceits of Spiritual meanings through Revelation and Infusion, which will vary the rule and standard of Truth, and make Gods own Word no better than a Leaden Rule and a Nose of Wax.  
A Seventh deceitful Principle, is, That of a mere Moral man in the Church of Christ, and allowed indeed by the profound mistakes of wise and learned Christians of many ages and professions, especially of late, but of a dangerous and destructive use in the practice thereof by the weaker sort of deceivable and factious people; who acting the Animal part of Religion, more than the Rational; Passion, Zeal, and Humour, more than Reason; and mistaking Pharisaical niceness, for Godliness; and for Purity, Singularity and preciseness▪ and for hatred of Evil, avoidance only of Indifferences both Civil and Religious; and true pious heavenly Affection, for Fancy and Affectation; they presume themselves in their erroneous and proud conceits, to be the only true sraelites of God, the only holy and separate from the rest of men in the love of God's Election, the only pecultar, regenerate, and spiritual above all others, though of the same Church in Faith, Baptism, and Worship, accounting the rest only mere Moral men, of no more interest in Christ and his Graces, than the mere civil Pagans, Greeks, and Barbarians, that denied him as a point of foolishness: whereupon follows a proud contempt of all but those of their own Society, and consequently Separations, Schisms, and Divisions in the Church, and thereafter Seditions and Commotions in the State civil, even Rebellions against Kings and Princes; all Persons whatsoever, in comparison with the Sect, being slighted and undervalved as mere Moral men; like empty Chaff or fruitless trees, fit fuel for the fire of unruly furious Zeal; though in impartial and right understanding, the despised prove in plain terms, no other than the most wise, and regular, and righteous of a whole Church and Nation. This Divinity hath been a long time Oracular, both in Press and Pulpit, though so pernicious in the use of it, as an occasion of so much evil, but yet most false and deceitful.  
For either the person supposed for a mere Moral man in the Church, professeth Christ in Communion of Faith and Worship with the rest of the Church, or not; if not, than he is no Christian, and no member of a Church; for no Church allows any such as profess not Christ, and so no subject of the question, which was of a mere Moral man in the Church: If he doth profess Christ with belief and duty, he goes beyond a mere Moral man; for a mere Moral man that practiseth nothing but civil Virtue, as the wise Grecians that disputed St. Paul against Christ, he goes not so far as to acknowledge him, but denyeth him, and so is of no Church, he's no Christian, no subject of the question. The enquiry would rather be, Whether the man professing Christ, doth it really, inwardly from his heart, or not? if not, he is in right speaking, a mere Formallist, a Hypocrite in his proper and distinctive denomination; not a mere Moral man properly, he's a Hypocrite, I say, whom God only can discover and pronounce absolutely, not we, who see no further than by fruits and effects, which are Moral and Civil Virtues, duties only of the Second Table; those of the First Table being employed by the supposition of the persons profession of Christ: whereupon the question will further be, Whether the supposed mere Moral man professing Christ doth practise these Virtues, or not? if he doth practise them, either he doth practise them in such a degree as becomes a perfect sound Christian, and so he is no Moral man, nor subject of the question; or else, not so perfectly, but with often recidivations and backslidings, failings and weaknesses, but not quite relinquishing his Profession, and so he is not yet a mere Moral man, but only a weak Christian, needing Church Discipline to restore and strengthen him, and so yet, no subject of the question. Or if he doth not practise the said Virtues or Duties of the Second Table at all, but lives altogether lewdly, wickedly, and incorrigibly; so he's not so good as a Moral man, nor therefore a mere one, but a scandal, a leaven of Wickedness to be purged out, and not to be suffered in the Church, and so still no subject of the question, but a repugnance in the Adjection. Whereupon I conclude, that there is no mere Moral man in Christian Society, but a gross fallacy tending only to deceive you of your Peace, Order, Unity, and Charity, and to encourage distances and distinctions of some men, who conceit themselves in their Spirituals more excellent than their Brethren, and thereupon proud oppositions and contentions in assertion of each Parties respective Excellencies above others, and consequent'y Factions and Divisions, Tumults and Seditions, and lastly, Rebellion itself.  
Thus we have reasoned so many fallacious Principles of sin, whereby it deceiveth the foolish and ignorant into their wicked mistakes: Let us now come to one word of Application, and so to an end.  
If Sin and Deceit be so intrinsical and complicate one with the other, we should all then seriously consider and examine, the great passages and chief moments of all the Actions of our lives, and by a true reflection and inquiry, if possible, make a discovery unto ourselves, whether we have not in many things been very much deceived, and thereupon suspect and jealous ourselves, lest we we have very much sinned also, and consequently to prepare for sound Repentance.  
That the greatest part of our Israel have been pityfully deceived, and erred in the ways of their own Inventions, may easily appear by observing the sad Passages of our late troublesome Times; Men looked for Judgement, but behold Oppression; for Righteousness, but behold a Cry: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Oecumenius, 'Tis the very proper and genuine quality of deceit, that men looking for one thing should find another; They looked for Judgement, but behold Oppression; for Righteousness, but behold a Cry; They looked for a blessed Reformation, but behold an ugly Deformation; they looked for a glorious King, but behold up stepped a monstrous Tyrant; they looked for a free privileged Parliament, but behold a pack of insolent Theives and Murderers, who turned the Sons of Justice out of her Temple, and shut her Gates against them; they looked for a pure Religion and undefiled, but behold the Widows and Fatherless devoured, the Levite despised, the Temples profaned, demollished, some in part, some whole; Unity, Charity, Verity, exiled; the Sacraments by some suspended, by others neglected, and by the generality quite slighted; the Word of God wrested, and baffled, the holy Law trampled, Order, Dec neigh, Maintenance, Government, and every other property of a Regular Church, quite outed; and instead thereof, crept in Schism, Heresy, Perjury, Blasphemy, Sacrilege, Ataxy, and every other quality of Disformity; in a word, our whole Church and Nation were so strangely disfigured and metamorphosed, as we became both a shame to ourselves, and an obloquy to the world.  
And thus have we found Deceit enough, and in all likelihood as much Sin. What remains then, but that every man gulity as aforesaid, should betake himself to Repentance, and in Repentance to confess, there being no one act in the work of Repentance, doth so much glorify God as Confession; in regard that the Creature in assuming shame to himself, transfers all the glory to his Creator: accordingly St. John speaks in 1 Joh. 1. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive; and this was the counsel of Joshua to Achan, Confess my son, and give glory to God; and this was the practice of the Penitentiaries in Ezra's time, who confessed publicly the very particular sin they were Nationally guilty of, their strange wives▪ and St. Paul also comes to particulars, confessing, 1 Tim. 1. 13. I was a Persecutor, a Blasphemer, and Injurious; and so indeed should all the offending and deceived Party in England, confess their sins one unto another, and say, Oh my beloved Brother, or Brethren, it hath pleased God to give you his Grace of conduct in the ways of Truth and Peace, and Loyalty; ●ut we have sadly erred and been deceived, Oh favour us with your Christian Indulgence. But how long shall I endeavour to persuade this, and obtain nothing; Disloalty, as they say, being impudent and brazen faced as ever, and like the Whore in the Prophet Jeremy, refuseth to be ashamed: Instance not only in the case of the first and last executed, who instead of satisfying Justice by their blood, for so much Innocent and Precious Blood shed by them, seemed rather to justify themselves in what they had done, as if they would have sealed to it with their blood, and died Martyrs for wickedness; but also the survivers of that Confederacy, who are still chewing upon the Leeks and Garlick of Egypt, and their breath stinks so much thereof, as the very words they speak, smell strong of a Captain to conduct them thither again; and not only those, but some of another Interest who led the Van of the late armed wickedness, and yet instead of Confessions, Deprecations, and Submissions, they seem to justify themselves in what they have done, by insisting their Covenant, that Engine of Wickedness, and so wipe their mouths, as if they had neither done nor spoke any thing amiss, and fall to Expostulations and Complain, and would fain insimulate, as if very much wrong were done them, whilst they detain other men's rights, (whom I speak of with a reserve, nevertheless, of Christian respect unto those of that Denomination in general, who we hope are better thewed, for their own particular, as considerable worth hath manifested them by some contrary actions) which they defend and assert with much eagerness and mordacity, though they are no other than the wages of unrighteousness, given them by the late Rebellious Power, as a reward of their faithfulness to the Good Old Gause; for which they might as well have perished in the gainsaying of Corah, as those that did. Beloved, This is not the way to obtain Peace with God or Men; I could wish rather that I might hear them, and all others of their Engagement, say, with Saul to David, Behold I have played the Fool and erred exceedingly, but blessed be then my Son David; Behold my good Brother or Brethren, we have played the Fools and erred exceedingly against our King, Church and Laws, whereas you by the grace of God, have been led in Peace and Loyal Righteousness, blessed be you therein, and impact the comfort thereof unto us also, by favouring us with your Christian compassion; or that I might hear them say, with David himself, I have gone astray like a sheep, O seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy Commandments; then should we receive them into the Arms of our Christian and Brotherly embraces, and pray for them in the Language of our holy Litany, That it may please thee, O Lord, to bring into the way of Truth, all such as have erred and are deceived.  
FINIS.   

If, through haste, any faults have happened, in letters or syllables of words, the Readers favour is desired in excusing them, as this one particular, World, pag. 29. line the last, for Word.   

A Catalogue of some Books Printed for Henry Brome, at the Gun in Ivy-lane.  
〈◊〉 on the Major prophets, in folio.  
The History of Portugal.  
Cases of Conscience in the late Rebellion, by Mr. Lyford.  
Mr. Grenfields' Loyal Sermon before the Parliament.  
Dr. Brown's Sepulchal Urns and Garden of Cyrus, in 8.  
The Royal Exchange, a Comedy, in 4. by R. Brome.  
Poems by the Wits of both Universities, in 8.  
A Treatise of Moderation, by Mr. Gaul, in 8.  
St. Bonaventure's Soliloquies, in 24.  
Mr. Baxter's Treatise of Conversion, in 4.  
The Common Law Epiromized with Directions how to prosecute and defend persenal actions very useful for all Gentlemen, to which is annexed the nature of a Writ of Error and the General proceedings there▪ upon, in 8.  
Golden Remains in the most Learned R. Stuart D. D. Dean of Westminster and Clerk of the Closet to King Charles the first, being the last and best Monuments that are likely to made public, in 12.  
Mr. Sprat's Plague of Athens, in 4.  
Jews in America, by Mr. Thorowgood, in 4  
The Royal Buckler or a Lecture for Traitors, in 8.  
The Pourtracture of his sacred Majesty King Charles the Second, from his Birth 1630. till this present year 1661. being the whole story 〈◊〉 escape at Worcester, his travels and troubles.  
The Covenant discharged, by John Russell, in 4.  
The Comple●t Art of Water-drawing, in 4.  
Mr. Boys his translation of the Sixth Book of Virgil, in 4.  
Mr. Walwin's Sermon on the happy return of King Charles the Second.  
A perfect Discovery of Witchcraft, very profitable to be read of all 〈◊〉 of people, especially Judges of Assize before they pass sentence on condemned persons for Witches, in 4.  
A short view of the lives of the Illustrious Princes, Henry Duke of Gloucester, and Mary Princes of Orange deceased, by T. M. Esq in 8.  
Aeneas his Voyage from Troy to Italy, an Essay upon the third Book 〈◊〉 Virgil, by J. Boys Esq in 8.  
The alliance of Divine Offices, exhibiting all the Litergies of the Church of Engl. since the Reformation, by Hamon L'estrange Esq in fol.  

Books written by R. L'estrange Esq  
A view of some late Remarkable Transactions, leading to the happy Government under our gracious Sovereign King Charles II. in 4.  
The Holy Cheat, proving from the undeniable practices of the Presby●●rians, that the whole design of that party is to enslave both King 〈◊〉 People under the colour of Religion.  
A Caveat to the Cavaliers.  
A Modest Plea both for the Author and Caveat.