first for when Men grow acquainted with their Gifts their admiration decays and the success of their Labours is not so great many times The Devil also observing the prevalency of Curiosity and that Men are more pleased with new Notions than with old Truths he endeavours also to Plow with this Heifer and oft makes a great Harvest by it There is yet another advantage more that he sometimes useth and that is Fifthly Atheistical Debauchery when Men by long custome in Sinning have arrived to habitual Carelesness and Presumption then they become Practical Atheists their Vitious Habits work upon their Understandings to obliterate all Principles when Men are gone so far they are fit Engineers for Satan for while they dis-believe all things they can to serve a Design or to head a Party take up any Opinion and pretend the greatest seriousness in the propagating it though in the mean time they secretly laugh at the credulity of the Vulgar These Men let out themselves and all their parts to the Devil and he knows how to make use of them to bring on the delusion and deception of others Many Ages have given Examples of such those Seducers mentioned in the new Testament were some of them of this rank and therefore called deceitful Workers Such as were not really under those Perswasions which they thought to six upon others but upon design transformed themselves into the Apostles of Christ such as served not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies and yet by good words and fair speeches deceived the hearts of the simple Rom. 16. 18. Who through Covetousness with feigned words made Merchandize of Men 2 Pet. 2. 3. Balaam was such and the Woman Jezabel that called her self a Prophetess Rev. 2. 20. Such was the Arch-bishop of Spalato who for advantage could at pleasure take up and lay down his Religion Such an one was the false Jew not so long since discovered in this place who being a Romish Emissary pretended to be a Jew Converted and seeking a pure Church under that vizor designing to overthrow by private insinuations the Faith of the simple uncautious Admirers by such Instruments Satan works where he hath opportunity CHAP. III. Of Satan's improving these Advantages for Errour 1. By deluding the Understanding directly which he doth 1. by countenancing Errour from Scripture Of his cunning therein 2 By specious pretences of Mysteries and what these are Of personal flatteries 3. By affected Expressions Reason of their prevalency 4 By bold Assertions The Reasons of that Policy 5 By the excellency of the Persons appearing for it either for Gifts or Holiness His method if managing that design 6. By pretended Inspiration 7 By pretended Miracles His cunning herein 8 By peace and prosperity in ways of Errour 9 By lyes against Truth and the Professors of it WHat are the general Advantages which Satan hath to forward his design of Errour we have seen It now remains that we take an account of the various ways by which he improves those Advantages and those may be referred to two Heads 1 They are such Stratagems as more directy work upon the Understanding to delude and blind it Or 2 they are such as indirectly by the power of the Will and Affections do influence it First Those Stratagems that more immediatly concern the Understanding are the use of such Arguments which carry in them a probability to confirm an Errour though indeed they are but Fallacies Sophisms or Paralogisms of which the Apostle speaks Col. 2. 4. Lest any beguile you that is lest they impose upon you by false Reasonings His usual way of proceeding in this case is First when he hath to do with Men that are brought up with profession and belief of Scripture he is then careful to give an Errour some countenance or pretence from Scripture it is not his course to decry the Scriptures with such Men but to suppose their Truth and Authority as the most plausible way to his Design for by this means he doth not only prevent a great many startling objections which would otherwise rise up against him seeing Men brought up with Scripture cannot easily be brought to call them false but with considerable advantage he doth thereby authorize and justifie his Errour for nothing can give more boldness or confidence to a mistake then a belief that it is backed with Scripture That this is one of his grand Stratagems may be sufficiently evinced from the infinite number of Errours that pretend to Scripture warrant Those that are above or beyond Scripture which acknowledg no dependance upon it are but few and rare and indeed among Christians Errour cannot well thrives without a pretence of Scripture Men would have enough to do to perswade themselves to such Errours but it would be impossible to make a Party or perswade others such Errours would presently be hissed out of the World Upon this account is it that Atheism sculks and conceals it self except where generally tolerated Prophaneness gives it more than ordinary encouragement which is not to be ascribed to any shame-faced modesty that Atheisms can be supposed to nourish but to the generall dislike of others who so stick to the Authority of the Bible that they reject all direct contradictions to it with great abhorrency Hence also it is that some Erroneous persons are forced to contradictions in their practice against their professed Principles because they find it impossible to propagate their Errours without some pretence or other to Scripture They that would undermine those Sacred Records are forced to make use of their Authority for proof of what they would say The Papists have a quarrel at them and envy them the title of Perfection and Perspicuity upon design to intoduce Traditions and to set up the Popes Judicial Authority in matters of Faith and when they have said all they can to subject the Scriptures to the Popes Determination they are forced at last to be beholden to the Scriptures to prove the Popes Determination they would prove the Scriptures by the Church and then the Church by the Scriptures which is a Circle they have been often told of and of which some of the wiser sort among themselves are ashamed Others also that will not allow the Scriptures to be a general standing Rule are yet forced to make it in some cases a Rule to themselves and eagerly plead it to be so to others They that pretend to be above Ordinances and decry outward-Teachings as unnecessary or hurtful yet they Teach outwardly because they see they are not able to enlarge the Empire of Errour without such teaching Those very Errours that make it their chief business to render the Scriptures no better than an old Almanack they yet seek to Scripture to countenance their Blasphemous Assertions and if they get any scrap or shred of it that may by their unjust Torture be wrested to speak any such thing or any thing toward it they think all their follies are thereby
their own just consequences yet there are some choice principles of his which if he can but fasten upon the Mind they presently open the gap to all kind of Errours imaginable they are like the firing a Train of Gunpowder which in a Moment blows up the whole Fabrick of Truth such are the delusions of Enthusiasm Inspirations and Prophetick Raptures let these be once fixed and then there is nothing so Inhumane Irreligious Mad or Ridiculous but Satan can with ease perswade Men to it and also under the highest pretences of Religion and Certainty the experience of all Ages hath made any further proof of this altogether needless This is his way when he acts alone But if he use Instruments though he is also gradual in his procedure yet 't is in a different method for there he sometimes proceeds from the abuse of something innocent and lawful by the help of a long tract of time to introduce the grossest Falshood Thus may we conceive he brought Idolatry to its height first Men admired the wisdom or famous acts of their Progenitors or Benefactors next they erected Pillars or Images of such Persons to perpetuate the Names Honour and Memory of them and their Actions Another Age being at a greater distance from the things done and consequently greater Strangers to the true ends and reasons of such practices which being as it usually falls out in such cases abused by false reports or misrepresentations of things for Time covers things of this nature with so thick a Mist that 't is difficult to discover the true Metal of an original Constitution they in a devout ignorance gave the Images a greater respect than was at first intended then did they slide into a conceit they were not of the ordinary rank of Mortals or at least they were exalted to a condition which ordinary Mortals were not capable of thus they supposed them Deities and gave them worship of Prayers and Sacrifices hence they went further and multiplied Gods and that of several sorts according to the natures of things that were good or hurtful to them and then at last consulting how mean their offerings were and how unlikely to please their Godships they concluded Humane sacrifices most sutable especially to expiate greater provocations and in times of great calamity The burthensom heap of ceremonious Superstitions in Popery was the work of several Ages they were not brought in all at once One in a devotional heat fancied such a Ceremony as a fit testimony of Zeal or a proper incitement of his Affections Another deviseth a second and so all along as the minds of Men were best pleased with their own inventions and had so much credit or authority to recommend them to others they encreased the sum by new additions till at last they are become a burthen not to be born and still as they receeded from the primitive purity and became more careless and corrupt in their lives for from good Bishops they declined to but tollerable Arch-Bishops till at last they are become incurable Babylonians so they departed gradually from the simplicity of the Gospel and abounded in contrivances of Ceremonies Thirdly In corrupting established Truths Satan's proceedings are not by sudden and observable leaps but by lingring and slow motions as Flowers and Plants grow insensibly and as Men gradually wax old and feeble Violent and hasty alterations he knows would beget Observation Dislike and Opposition neither will he make such attempts but where he is sure of a strong prevalent Party which by force and power is able to carry all before it In this case he is willing to enforce Errour by Fire and Sword Thus he propagated Mahumetism at first and still continueth to do so by the conquering Arms of the Turks but where he hath not this advantage he betakes himself to another course and studieth to do his work so that he may not be observed The possibility of such a change with the manner of effecting it we may observe in many Churches that have declined from the Doctrine which they at first received but most of all in the Church at Rome which at first was a pure Church as the Apostle testifieth but now so changed from the Truths upon which they were bottomed in their first Constitution as if she had not been the same Church They boast indeed that as they were at first so they are now but nothing is more evident than the contrary and the possibility of their insensible corruption is as demonstrable as the alteration of Doctrine in any other Church The manifold ways that Satan takes in this matter in the abuse of Scripture by raising perverse Interpretations and unnatural Inferences and the advantages of a long succession in Authority of the negligence and ignorance of the common People of the crafty subtilty of the Teachers especially when Religion began to be abused to secular Interest is described by Acontius and others If we should single out any of their noted Errours and follow up the History of it to its first original we shall find that whatever strong current it hath now gotten it was very small and inconsiderable in the Fountain The Invocation of Saints though it be now an established Article among them yet its first rise was from the unwary Prosopopoea's of of the Ancients and the liberty of their Oratorical declamatory stile these gave occasion to some private Opinions these Opinions to some private devotional liberty in Practice and from private Opinions and Practices at last it obtained so strong a Party that it procured a publick Injunction The like method was used for the Doctrine of Transubstantiation whose beginning was from the abuse of such Sentences as this in ancient Writers That after Consecration it was no more Bread and Wine but the Body and Blood of Christ by which expression the Authors intended no more than this that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament were relatively altered and were more than ordinary Bread and Wine because they were representatives of the Body and Blood of Christ however this gave them courage to interprect literally and strictly these words of Christ This is my Body and thus by degrees from the Opinion of a few it became the judgment of many and from the toleration of a private Opinion of some Doctors and unimposed it obtained at last a Canon to make it Authentick Publick Doctrine Fourthly This insensible proceeding is in nothing more evident than in the power of Custom and Education Custom doth by degrees take off the startling of Conscience and those Opinions or Practices which at first look affright it are by a little familiarity made more smooth and tollerable The dissents of Men by frequent seeing and hearing become tame and gentle but the force of Education is incomparably great for this makes an Errour to become as it were natural they suck it in with their Milk and draw it in with their Air. This general advantage the Devil hath
it have but Body enough they never enquire whether it have Spirit or Life within a dead Carcass in Robes that may put them to the exercise of their Postures and ceremonious Complements doth make up a more grateful Religion for a carnal Man than a living spiritual Service that necessarily will put them upon inward care and watchfulness in the constant exercise of holy Spiritual Graces without affording any considerable gratification to the Senses Hence is it truly more difficult and yet inwardly more beautiful and glorious to pray in Faith and Humility even in short breathings after God than to say a thousand Ave Maria's or to perform a task of ordinary Penance But as those that have no Children of their own delight themselves in playing with a Monkey or Baboon so those that know not how to worship God in Spirit and Truth seek to satisfie themselves in the performance of external Gesture and Ceremony Secondly On the other hand he sometimes is willing that an Errour should affect an excess of plainness and simplicity In this he takes advantage of those expressions in Scripture wherein the Gospel is commended for its simplicity and the inventions of Men under the pretences of Wisdom Humility and neglecting of the Body are condemned Upon this ground he runs Men upon such an excess of dotage that they never think the things of God are rightly managed but when they are brought down to a contemptible silliness By this means he arms conceited ignorant Men with exceptions against Learning and the necessary decencies of languague in Preaching and with them they are the only Preachers and most likely to be inspired that use least study and preparation for their work 'T is indeed very true that the affected fooleries of a bombast Stile or startcht Discourse and needless citations of Sentences for ostentation without any true advantage to the matter in hand are things very pedantick and exceedingly unsuitable to the gravity of the Work of the Ministry and renders it very ungrateful to a pious Mind but this contrary folly makes the solemn Ordinances of God so nauseous and contemptible that it often makes way by Satan's cunning improvement of the Temptation to an Atheistical rejection of all Worship In the mean time 't is wonderful to observe how some Persons please themselves with this conceit that their way of Worship is plain and that they speak what immediately comes into their Mind and though it be Non-sense or Contradictions which sufficiently evidenceth that 't is nothing of kin to the Spirits Inspiration which they utter yet 't is argument enough to them that their opinions and ways are right because they proceed in a designed neglect of all necessary order and under pretence of the simplicity of the Gospel they reduce all they do to childish silliness Neither is this all the mischief which the Devil raiseth out of this conceit for the contempt and disuse of the Sacraments may in great part be ascribed to it Those erroneous ways of Worship that are most noted for decrying those Institutions of Christ have this for their Plea that the Worship which God is best pleased with is spiritual and that all bodily services and external observations are things that God stands not upon such as profit little and were no further in use but to recommend an internal spiritual communion with God so that the more they reject these things they perswade themselves they have a more true understanding of the design of God in Religion Either of these ways Satan makes use of for the befooling of Men into an humour of pleasing themselves with Errour But Thirdly He hath of old endeavoured to cloud and enervate the Doctrine of the Bible by traditionary Fables We meet with many passages to this purpose sometimes he sets up unwritten Traditions not only of equal authority to the written Word but as completions and perfections of it This he practised among the Jews with such success that the Traditions of the Elders were of greater force with them than the Commands of God as Christ himself noted of them Matth. 15. 13. Of these unwritten Traditions which they called the Law by the word of Mouth feigned by them to be given to Moses when he was in the Mount and so delivered from hand to hand the Apostles gave many warnings and signified the hazards that Truth stood in by them through the cunning of Satan as Col. 2. 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through the Traditions of Men. 1 Tim. 1. 4. Neither give heed to Fables and endless Genealogies Tit. 1. 14. Not giving heed to Jewish Fables and Commandments of Men. 2 Tim. 4. 4. And they shall turn away their Ears from the Truth and shall be turned unto Fables The Papists at this day give the same entertainment to this device that the Jews did of old they boast as high of their Traditions and are every whit as fabulous and foolish in them as they were Satan in his attempts upon the Gentiles to confirm them in their false Worship though he kept up the substance of this design yet he was necessitated to alter the scene a little that he might more handsomly accommodate it to their condition and therefore he set up amongst them fabulous imitations of the Truths and Ordinances of the Scripture insomuch that there is scarce any grand Mystery or remarkable History or Ordinance mentioned in the Scripture but we may find something among the Heathens in Tradition or Practice that doth allude to it What traditionary imitations had they of the Creation recorded in the Book of Genesis That of Ovid concerning the Chaos and first beginning of things is known to every School-Boy The Phoenicians in their Theology give an odd account of it from their Taautus to this purpose That the first beginnings of all things were a dark disordered Chaos and the spirit of the dark Air hence proceeded Moth that is Mire from thence issued the Seeds and Generation of all Creatures in Earth and Heaven c. The wickedness of Men before the Flood mentioned Gen. 6. 1 2. is fabulously related in an ancient Book falsly ascribed to Enoch wherein the Watchmen or Angels are reported to take them Wives of the Daughters of Men and that from thence was the race of Giants For the description of Paradise the Heathens had the Poetical Fiction of the Elyzian Fields as they had the Story of Deucalion instead of Noahs Ark and the Deluge The Story of Lots Wife was abused by the Fiction of Orpheus his Wife suddenly snatched from him for looking back The History of Sampson was turned into their Story of Hercules and his ten labours From the Sun standing still in Joshua and Hezekiahs time came that Fiction of Jupiters doubling the night that he might enjoy Alemena In some of these disguises of sacred Story they go so near in name and circumstances that 't is past doubt they imitated the true History which they
Mouths 't is he that teacheth and prompts them and therefore may they be called as Elymas was by Paul the Children of the Devil or as Cerinthus of old the first-born of Satan The Church of Corinth among other distempers laboured under dangerous Errours against which when the Apostle doth industriously set himself he doth chiefly take notice 1. Of the false-Teachers who had cunningly wrought them up to an aptitude of declining from the simplicity of the Gospel these he calls false-Apostles as having no commission from God and Satan's Ministers 2 Cor. 11. 13 15. thereby informing us who it is that sends them out and imploys them upon this errand 2. He especially accuseth Satan as the great Contriver of all this evil if any shut their Eyes against the Light he gives this for the principal cause that the God of the World blinded their Minds If any stumbled at the simplicity of the Gospel he presently blames the subtilty of the old Serpent for it 2 Cor. 11. 3. When false Doctrine was directly taught and varnished over with the glorious pretexts of Truth still he chargeth Satan with it Vers 14. No marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light where he doth not only give a reason of the corrupting or the adulterating the Word of God by false-Apostles as Vintners do their Wines by mixtures a Metaphor which he makes use of cap. 2. 17. that they learned it of Satan who abode not in the Truth but was a Lyar from the beginning But also he further points at Satan to furnish us with a true account of the ground of that cunning Craft which these deceitful Workers used while they metamorphosed themselves by an imitation of the way and manner zeal and diligence of the Apostles of Christ they were taught by one who had exactly learned the Art of Imitation and who could to all appearance act to the life the part of an Angel of Light And to take away all objection or wonder that so many with such seeming earnestness and zeal should give up themselves to deceive by false-Doctrine he tells us that this hath been the Devil's work from the first beguiling of Eve vers 3. and that as he then made use of a Serpent for his Instrument so ever since in all ages he hath made so often and so much use of Men as his Emissaries that it should now neither seem a marvel nor a great matter to see the Devil at this work by his Agents Thirdly That this is Satan's great design may be further cleared from the constant course of his endeavours The Parable of the Tares Matth. 13. 25. shews that Satan is as busie in sowing Tares as the Master of the Field is in sowing Wheat that by Tares not Errors in the abstract but Men are to be understood is evident from the Parable it self but that which makes Men to be Tares is Sin and Errour so that in a complex sense we are taught how diligent the Devil who is expressly signified by the Enemy vers 39. is in that imployment much of his time hath been taken up that way There were false Prophets saith Peter 2 Epist 2. 1. and there shall be false-Teachers that is so it was of old and so it will be to the end The shortest abstract of Satan's acts in this matter would be long and tedious judge of the rest by a few instances In the Apostles times how quickly had the Devil broached false Doctrine That it was necessary to be circumcised was early taught Acts 15. 1. In Col. 2. 8. the vain deceit of Philosophy Traditions and the Elements of the World which were the body of Mosaical Ceremonies are mentioned as dangerous Intrusions and in vers 18. the worshipping of Angels as it seems was pleaded for with no small hazard to the Church The denial of the Resurrection is expressly charged upon some of the Corinthian Church 1 Cor. 15. 12. and that the Resurrection is past already 2 Tim. 2. 18. is affirmed to have been the Doctrine of Hymeneus Philetus and others but these are comparatively little to that gross Errour of denying Christ Jud. v. 4. or that Jesus is the Christ 2 Joh. 2. 22. or Jesus Christ is come in the flesh 1 Joh. 4. 3. which are branded for Antichristian Errours and were boldly asserted by many false Prophets that were then gone out into the World and to such a height came they at last that they taught the lawfulness of committing Fornication and to eat things offered to Idols Rev. 2. 20. All these falsehoods took the boldness to appear before all the Apostles were laid in their Graves And if we will believe what Austin tells us from Epiphanius and Eusebius there were no less than ten sorts of Heretical Antichrists in the Apostle John's days the Simonians Menandrians Saturnilians c. This was an incredible increase of false Doctrine in so short a time and in the times and preachings of the Apostles themselves whose power and authority one would think might have made Satan fall before them as lightning What progress then in this work of delusion might be expected when they were all removed out of the World They left indeed behind them sad predictions of the power of delusion in after-times Of your selves shall Men arise speaking perverse things After my departing shall grievous Wolves enter c. Acts 20. 30. The Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith 1 Tim. 4. 1. and Paul 2 Thess 2. 3. prophesies of a general Apostacy upon the revealing of the Man of Sin and the Mystery of Iniquity and that these should be perilous times 2 Tim. 3. 1. To the same purpose John mentions the coming of the great Antichrist as a thing generally known and believed 1 Joh. 2. 18. But before all these Christ also had fully forewarned his Servants of false-Christs the power and danger of their delusion and of the sad revolt from the Faith which should be before his second coming Matth. 24. 24. And as we have heard so have we seen all ages since the Apostles can witness that Satan hath answered the Prophecies that were concerning him what a strange increase of Errours hath been in the World since that time Iraeneus and Tertullian made Catalogues long since after them Epiphanius and Eusebius reckoned about eighty Heresies Austin after them brings the number to eighty eight Now though there be just exceptions against the largeness of their Catalogues and that it is believed by many that there are several branded in their Rolls for Hereticks that meerly suffer upon the account of their Name and Nation for Barbarism Scythism Hellenism are mustered in the Front and others also stand there for very small matters as the quarto decimani c. and that some ought altogether to be crossed out of their Books yet still it will appear that the number of Errours is great and that
not only grace a false Doctrine with the authority of an eminent Person whose estimation might be a snare to some well-meaning Persons but weakens the Truth by bringing a faithful Assertor of it into suspition of holding at least in some points dangerous Opinions by which many are affrighted from entertaining any thing that they write or preach For though they may be confessedly sound in the most weighty Doctrines yet if it be once buzz'd abroad that they are in any thing unsound this dead Fly spoils all the precious Ointment and the matter were yet the less if there were any just cause for such a prejudice but such is Satans Art that if a Man explains the same Truth but in different words and forms of speech than those that others have been used unto or if he casts it into a more convenient Mould that by laying aside doubtful or flexible expressions it may be more safely guarded from the exceptions of the Adversaries especially if he carefully chuse his path betwixt the extreams on either hand this is enough for Satan to catch at and presently he bestows upon him the names of the very Errours which he most strenuously opposeth nay sometimes if he mention any thing above the reach or acquaintance of those that hear him 't is well if he escapes the charge of Heresie and that he meets not with the lot of Virgilius Bishop of Saltzbury who was judged no less than heretical for venting his opinion concerning the Antipodes I know Men do such things in their zeal but while they do so they are concerned to consider how Satan doth abuse their good meaning to the disservice of Truth As Satan's design in bespattering the Actions and Doctrines of good Men is to bring the Truth they profess into a suspition of falshood and to advance the contrary Errours to the place and credit of Truth so doth he use a skill proportionable to his design And though he be so impudent that he will not blush at the contrivance of the most gross and malicious lye yet withall he is so cunning that he studiously endeavours some probable rise for his slanders and commonly he takes this course First He doth all he can to corrupt the Professors of Truth if Riches or Honours will tempt them to be Proud High-minded Contentions or Extravagant he plyes them with these Weapons if the pleasures of the Flesh and World be more likely to besot them or to make them sensual earthly or loose he incessantly lays those Baits before them if Fears and Persecutions can affright them out of duty if Injuries and Provocations may prejudice them into a forward or wayward temper he will certainly urge them by such occasions and when he hath prevailed in any measure he is sure to aggravate every circumstance to its utmost height and upon that advantage to make additions of a great many things beyond what they can be justly accused of This old device Paul in Rom. 2. 24. takes notice of concerning the Jews whose breach of the Law so dishonoured God that the Name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles through them The Jews lived wickedly and their wicked lives was a currant argument among the Gentiles to confirm them in Paganism for they judged the Law of God could not approve it self to be better than their own when the Professors of it were so naught To prevent this mischief we are seriously warned to be carefully strict in all our stations that the Name of God and his Doctrine be not blasphemed Secondly Whatever miscarriages any Professor of Truth is guilty of Satan takes care that it be presently charged upon all the Profession If any one offend it is matter of publick blame much more if any Company or Party shall run into extravagancies or do actions strange and unjustifyable those that agree with them in the general name of their Profession though they differ as far from their wild Opinions and Practices as their enemies do shall still be upbraided with their Follies We see this practised daily by differing Parties according to what was foretold in 2 Pet. 2. 2. False Prophets seduce a great number of Christians to follow their pernicious ways and by reason of their wild ungodly behaviour the whole way of Truth was evil spoken of Thirdly The least slip or infirmity of the Children of Truth the Devil is ready to bring upon the Stage and they that will not charge themselves as offenders for very great evils will yet object to the disparagement of Truth the smallest mistakes of others a mote in the eye of the lovers of Truth shall be espyed when a beam in the eye of falshood shall pass for nothing Fourthly Slanderous Aspersions are sometimes raised from a simple mistake of Actions and their grounds or manner of performance and sometimes from a malicious Misrepresentation The Devil seldom acts from a simple mistake but he will either suborn the passionate Opposers to a wilful perverting of the true management of things or will by a false account of things take the advantage of their prejudice to make Men believe that such things have been said or done which indeed never were The Christians in the Primitive times were reported to be bloody Men and that they did kill Men in Sacrifice and did eat their Flesh and drink their Blood and this was only occasioned by their Doctrine and use of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ They were accused for promiscuous uncleanness with one another and this only because they taught that there was no distinction of Male and Female in respect of Justication and that they were all Brethren and Sisters in Christ This account Tertullian gives of the Calumnies of those times and others have noted the like occasions of other abuses of them They were reported to worship the Sun because they in times of persecution were forced to meet early in the Fields and were often seen undispersed at Sun-rising They were reported to worship Bacchus and Ceres because of the Elements of Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper If they met in private places and in the night it was enough to occasion surmises of Conspiracy and Rebellion so ready is Satan to take occasion where none is given Fifthly But if none of these are at hand then a downright Lye must do the turn according to that of Jer. 18. 18. Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah and when once the lye is coyned Satan hath officious Instruments to spread it Jer. 20. 10. Report say they and we will report it These were the Lyes raised against Truth but besides this endeavour he useth the same Art of lying to inhance the credit of Errour Lying Inspirations Lying Signs and Wonders we have spoken of I shall only mention another sort of Lying which is that of Forgery an Art which Errour hath commonly made use of Sometimes Books and Writings erroneous have been made to carry the names
may have Impulses from Satan upon pretences of Zeal as the Disciples had when they called for Fire from Heaven In these Impulses Satan doth not so act the Heart of Man as the Spirit of God doth whose Commands in this case are irresistible but he only works by altering the disposition of our Bodies in a Natural way and then having sitted us all he can for an Impression he endeavours to set it on by strong perswasions Some memorable instances of these Impulses might profitably illustrate this Math. Parisiensis takes notice of a Boy in Anno. 1213. of whom also Fuller makes mention who after some loss which the Christians had received in the War against the Turks went up and down Singing this Rithme Jesus Lord Redeem our Loss Restore to us thy Holy Cross And by this means he gathered a Multitude of Boys together who could not by the severest Menaces of their Parents be hindred from following him to their own ruine Another instance of a strange Impulse we have in Josephus one Jesus the Son of Ananus about four years before the Destruction of Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles begins to cry out Woe Woe to the East and West to Man and Woman c. And could by no means be restrained Night or Day and when his Flesh was beaten off his Bones he begged no pity nor ease but still continued his usual crying Seventhly God doth also by his Spirit teach his People in bringing things to their remembrance Satan also in imitation of this can put into the Minds of Men with great readiness and dexterity Promises or Sentences of Scripture insomuch that they conclude that all such actings are from the Spirit of God who as they conclude set such a Scripture upon their Heart thus dealt Satan with Christ he urgeth the Promise upon him wherein upon the matter he doth as much as when he secretly suggests such things to the Heart without an audible Voice In this way of craft Satan doth very much resemble the true work of the Spirit 1. In the readiness and quickness of suggesting 2. In seeming exact suiting Scripture suggested with the present occasion and 3. In the earnestness of his urging it upon the Fancies of Men. Yet when all this is done they that shall seriously consider all ends Matter and Circumstances will easily observe it is but the cunning work of a Tempter and not from the Holy Spirit Observe also That whatever be the various ways of Satans imitation yet the matter which he works and practiseth upon is still Scripture to this he confines himself First Because the Scriptures are generally among Christians received as the undoubted Oracles of God the Rule of our Lives and Duties and the Grounds of our hope It would be a vain and bootless labour to impose upon those that retain this belief the sayings of the Turkish Alcoran the Precepts of Heathen Philosophers or any other thing that may carry a visible estrangement from or contradiction to Scripture he could not then possibly pretend to a Divine Instruction nor could he so transform himself into an Angel of Light but by using this covert of Divine Command Promise or Discovery he can more easily beget a belief that God hath said it and that there is neither Sin nor Danger in the thing propounded but Duty and Advantage to be expected and this is the very thing that makes way for an easy entertainment of such delusions Poor Creatures believe that is all from God and that they are acted by his Spirit and that with such confidence that they contemn and decry those as ignorant of Divine Mysteries and of the Power of God who are not so besotted as themselves Secondly The Scriptures have a Glorious irresistible Majesty in them peculiar to themselves which cannot be found in all that Art or Eloquence can contribute to other Authors 'T is not Play-Book Language nor Scraps of Romances that Satan can effect these cheats withal and therefore we may observe that in the highest delusions Men have had pretences of Scripture and their strong perswasions of extraordinary discoveries have striken Men into a reverence of their profession because of the Scripture Words and Phrases with which their boldest follies are woven up for let but Men enquire into the reason of the prevalency of Familism of old upon so vast a number of People as were carried away with it and they shall find that the great Artifice lay in the Words they used a language abstracted from Scripture to signify such conceits as the Scripture never intended Hence were their expressions always high soaring and relating to a more excellent and mystical interpretation of those Divine Writings This may be observed in David George Hen. Nicholas and others who usually talk of being consubstantiated with God taken up into his Love of the Angelical Life and a great deal more of the same kind The Ranters at first had the like Language and the Quakers after them affected such a câ—nting Expression And we may be the more certain of the truth of this observation that such a kind of speaking which borrows its Majesty from the Stile of the Scripture is of moment to Satans design because we find the Scripture it self gives particular notice of it the false Teachers in 2 Pet. 2. 18. are discribed among other things by their swelling words of Vanity which the Syriack rendrs to be a proud and lofty way of speaking the original signifies no less they were words swelled like Bladders though being pricked they be found to be empty Sounds and no Substance There are indeed swelling words of Atheistical contempt of those who as the Psalmist speaks set their Mouths against Heaven but this passage of Peter as also the like in Jude ver 16. signify big Swoln words from high pretensions and fancies of knowing the mind of God more perfectly for they that use them pretend themselves Prophets of God ver 1. and as to their height in profession are compared to Clouds highly soaring and in 2 Cor. 11. 14. they are said to be transformed into the Apostles of Christ and to the Garb of the Ministers of Righteousness And that which is more this particular design of Satan is noted as the rise of all No marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light Having seen the reasons why Satan chuseth Scripture as his Tool to work by I shall next shew to what base designs he makes it subserve First He useth this Artifice to beget and propagate erronious Doctrines Hence no opinion is so vile but pretends to Scripture as its Patron The Arrians pretend Scripture against the Divinity of Christ The Socinians Pelagians Papists yea and those that pretend to Inspirations for their Rule and disclaim the binding force of those antiquated declarations of the Saints conditions as they call them yet conform all their sayings to the Scripture expression and endeavour to prove their mistakes
by its Authority Secondly He makes abused Scripture to encourage sinful Actions he can cite passages of God's Patience and long-suffering of his pardoning Grace and readiness to forgive and a thousand more upon no other design than the turning of the Grace of God into wantonness When Professors turn loose and negligent when they adventure too far upon sinful pleasures they lick themselves whole by an overforward grasping at such passages of Scripture which Satan will with great readiness set upon their hearts and then they pretend to themselves that their peace is made up with God and that they have no less than a sealed Pardon in their Bosomes which notwithstanding may be known to have only Satans Hand and Seal at it by their overly and formal sorrow for such miscarriages and their readiness to return to the same follies again Thirdly By this imitation of the Commands and Promises of God he doth strangely engage such as he can thus delude unto desperate undertakings The Familists of Germany were perswaded by this delusion to expose themselves unarmed to the greatest hazards upon vain pretences of Promises set home upon them as that God would fight for them that they must stand still and see the Salvation of God Some of later times have paid their lives for their bold misapplication of that Promise One shall chase a thousand Judas of Galilee and Theudas were prompted by Satan to gather Multitudes together though to their own ruine upon a vain perswasion that they were raised up of God and that God would be with them Fourthly He sometimes procures groundless Peace and Assurance in the hearts of careless ones by Scripture misapplyed Many you may meet with who will roundly tell you a long Story how they were cast down and comforted by such a Scritpure brought to their minds when it may be much feared they are but deceived and that as yet God hath not spoken peace to them Lastly This way of Satans setting home Scriptures proves sadly effectual to beget or heighten the inward distresses and fears of the Children of God 'T is a wonder to hear some dispute against themselves so nimble they be to object a Scripture against their Peace above their reading or ability that you would easily conclude there is one at hand that prompts them and suggests these things to their own prejudice And sometimes a Scripture will be set so Cross or edg-way to their Good and Comfort that many Pleadings much time Prayers and Discourses cannot remove it I have known some that have seriously professed Scriptures have been thrown into their Hearts like Arrows and have with such Violence fixed a false apprehension upon their Minds as that God had cut them off that they were reprobate damned c. that they have born the tedious restless affrightments of it for many days and yet the thing it self as well as the issue of it doth declare that this was not the Fruit of the Spirit of God which is a Spirit of Truth and cannot suggest a falseshood but of Satan who hath been a Lyer from the Beginning Observe lastly Though Satan useth Scripture in these deceitful workings yet he never doth it faithfully First Because it is against his Nature as 't is now corrupted by his Fall there is no truth in him When he speaketh a Lye he speaketh of his own for he is a Lyer not that he cannot spake a Truth but that he usually is a Lyar and that he never speaks Truth but with a purpose to deceive Secondly To deal faithfully in urging Scriptures upon the Consciences of Men is also contrary to his Interest he hath a Kingdom which he endeavours to uphold This Kingdom being directly contrary to that of Christ's which is a Kingdom of Light is therefore called a Kingdom of Darkness being maintained and propagated only by Lies and Deceits He cannot then be supposed to use Scripture faithfully because that is the true Scepter of Christ's Kingdom for then should Satan as Christ argues Mat. 12. 26. cast out Satan and be divided against himself This unfaithful dealing with Scripture is threefold First The unfaithfulness of his Design though he speaks what is true yet he doth it with an evil Mind aiming at one of these three things First To Deceive and Delude If he applies Promises or insists upon the Priviledges of God's Children it is to make them Proud or Presumptuous if he urge Threatnings or stir up the Conscience to accuse for Sin 't is to bring them to dispair if he object the Law 't is to enrage Lust and that Sin by the Commandment might become exceeding sinful Secondly His Design is sometime to bring the Scripture under Suspition or Contempt he puts some weak Christians upon unseasonable or Imprudent use of Scripture and then tempts others to laugh at them and to dispisen in their Hearts those ways of Religion which some Zealots with too much weakness do manage Men are apt enough to scoffat the most serious and weighty Duties of Holiness even when performed in a most serious manner If David put on Sackcloth and afflict himself with Fasting it is presently turned to his reproach and the Drunkards make a Song of it but much more advantage hath the Devil to raise up scorn and loathing in the Minds of debauched Persons by the affected and unskilful use of Scripture Some by a narrow confinement of the words Brother and Sister to those of their own Fellowship as if none else were to be owned by them have occasioned the scoff of Holy Brethren a Phrase notwithstanding used with a grave seriousness by the Apostle in the usual Discourses of those who wait all occasions to harden themselves against the Power of Religion The like Observations they make of other ways and forms of speaking which some have accustomed themselves unto in a conscientious conformity to Scripture phrase in all which the Devil observing the weakness and injudiciousness of some on the one hand and the scornful Pride of others on the other hand is willing to provide matter for their Atheistical jears by putting all the Obligations he can upon the Consciences of the weak to continue in the use of these Expressions For some proof of this matter we may note the secret Deceit of Satan in that liberal profession of Christ to be the Son of God Mark 1. 24. Luke 4. 34. I know thee who thou art the Holy One of God here was Truth spoken by him and one would have thought with great Ingenuity but yet he cunningly insinuated into the Minds of the Hearers a ground of Suspition that he was not the Son of God and for that end calls him Jesus of Nazareth as if Christ had been born there he knew well that the Jews expected no Messiah from Nazareth and therefore on set purpose used he that Expression that he might draw him into contempt And accordingly we find this very mistake that Christ was born at Nazareth