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 Lords day which by the practise 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 explayning rest as if such a day should be more onerous or burthensome then 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 likenesse 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 extreams Which together with the premises shews 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 lawfulnesse of their vilest practices is Successe in them Because their actions though never so monstrous and abominable do neverthelesse prosper and take effect according to their desires they conclude therefore 'T was Gods will and pleasure so to have them come to passe 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 Poets phrase That Prosperum Scelus Virtus Vocetur Wickednesse 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 't was called the Cause of God for the promotion whereof Religion it self deform'd by policy was fain to play the Hypocrite and mockt God with Thanksgivings for his blessing upon the Enterprise and his wonderfull mercy in the Successe and Prayer and Fasting too did take their turn to implore divine assistance for the further carrying on and maintenance of the Prodigie 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 Christendome for many hundred years and is yet successfull over a great part thereof Yea sin it self after it had once entred prevailed over al the World which I hope no man will be so wretched as to impute to God as the Author thereof howbeit it had successe enough as to it self as well as Mahometism and Popery He that rates the righteousnesse and lawfulnesse of actions by their coming to effect or their successe by mens prospering in them may very well allow the Atheists Argument in Martial Caelius by name 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 successe during the time of Wickednesse what strength hath it now that Monster of Iniquity which gave being to so much fatal successe is quite cut off Branch and Root head and tayl Carkasse and Rump and those Vermine that crawled out from her poysonons bowels are left to rot in their own stanch 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 Evant and a little temporary Successe to justifie 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 ah oventu facta notanda putet For arguing so wickedly and deceitfully from successe never to have successe more for what successe do they deserve who make voyd the Law of God which should be the rule of all actions and measure them by events or effects as results of God 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 nonsecundum decreta The will of Gods Commandements 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 words 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 phansies 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 evenlasting confusion albeit he was delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God Act 2.23 And as the Assyrian was the Rod of Gods indignation to punish a hypocritical Nation but afterwards thrown into fire Isa 10. And Pharaoh's obstinacy served for the magnification of Gods 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 fa'se imagination of lawfulness in his action because eventually 't is 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 Fathers death because it so falling out his wish concurr'd with the secret will of God who had determined the Fathers dayes So much for discovery of the fourth Deceit A fifth deceit in the practise 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 kill'd himself or taken Prisoner which necessity was only of his own making So the Patriarchs having sold their Brother Joseph into Egypt brought upon themselves a necessity of concealing their wickedness from Jacob with the
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 analogie inference and remote consequence that like backer houses shew 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 dayes 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 grosly misled into the soulest miscarriage imaginable as to their Politicks 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 mens 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 backt with a shew of Logick Contrariorum contraria sunt consequentia Of contraries there are contrary consequences And so in Physick Contraria contrariis curantur Evils in mens 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 deceitfull 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 extreams 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 Extreams and the Mean alias Virtue which I call Contraries being opposite as Good and Evill 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 Ethicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the extream 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 deceiv'd 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 Evill to Good from Sin to Righteousness is a ratitionall and wise practise otherwise false and deceitfull As for instance some men are lewd and vitious in their lives and conversations breaking all the rules of virtue others therefore presuming to themselves safety and lawfulnesse in their actions by running into an extream 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 evill man in manners may be a good Subject to his Prince as they are bad morally whence follows separations divisions and contentions betwixt them and thereupon occasionally civill dissentions and warr 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 extreams The Church of Rome maintaines good works as causall and meritorious in the point of Justification others therefore French and Germane Divines thinking truth on their side by a quite contrary judgment have gon so farre from them into the extream as not to allow any good work at all before Justification albeit so confessedly necessary for the qualification of Faith it self in her existence and operation Sic vitant stulti vitia This is the contrariety of extreams The Church of Rome setts 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 externall decentials and badges of Antiquity Sic vitant Stulti vitia This is the contrariety of Fools The Church of Rome establishes as many Holydaies almost as daies and therefore our wise Assemblers and Religionists of late would have no Holydaies 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 meer superfluity others therefore would have no form of Prayer at all no not so much as the Common Prayer it self though it be the very Characteristick of our Church of England to distinguish it from other Protestant Churches Sic vitant stulti vitia This is the contrariety of Extreams Some practise the Sabbath as not keeping it at all without any observation of duty all the day long others
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 Phanatical conceipts 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 Annimal part of Religion more than the Rational Passion Zeal and Humor more than Reason and mistaking Pharisaical niceness for Godliness and for Purity Singularity and preciseness and for hatred of Evill avoidance only of Indifference both Civil and Religious and true pious heavenly Affection for Phansie 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 Gods Election the only pecultar regenerate and spiritual above all others though of the same Church in Faith Baptism and Worship accompting the rest only mere Moral men of no more interest in Christ and his Graces than the mere civil Pagans Greeks and Barbarians that denyed 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 undervalued 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 evill 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 then 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 implyed 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 Vertues 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 nor 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 consequently Factions and Divisions Tumults and Seditions and lastly Rebellion it self 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 intrinsecal 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 our selves whether we have not in many things been very much deceived and thereupon suspect and jealous our selves 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 wayes 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 Occumanius 'T is 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 stept a monstrous Tyrant they looked for a free priviledg'd 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 generallity quite slighted the Word of God wrested and baffled the holy Law trampled Order Dec ncy Maintenance Government and every other property of a Regular Church quite outed and instead thereof crept in