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 diverse or contrary to it Instead of being led by the Spirit of God doubtlesse he is led by the Spirit of the Devill as I make no question those late wretched publick Murtherers were whom the Right Honourable the present Lord Maior had the Lot under Gods grace and providence to suppresse to his monumental honor the trophie whereof be his unto all posterity I say they were not led by the Spirit of God but by the Spirit of the Devill as indeed some said They fought like Divells Men had as good follow those spirits the Prophet Isa speaks of in the forementioned Chapter oppositely unto the Law and the Testimonie 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 Similie of a blind metled horse let loose which by reason of his metall will be ever prauncing and frisking up and down till at length he getts 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 eies against the light and direction of Gods 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 metcy 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 minde 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 blinde 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 Politicks but Morals also from the sense and spiritual meaning of the Word of God it self 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 diverse 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 destination 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 perswasion 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 easie 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 readyer believed by foolish admirers in their abusings and wrestings 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 quickneth or giveth life unto the Letter or Word spoken or written making it fruitfull and effectual opening the minde 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 weaknesse 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 Righteousnesse not by whispering or privately insinuating or infufing any other sense or meaning above or diverse from the literal but by seconding backing the same meaning of the words imported in the letter with power and efficacy whereupon I inferr that by Spirit here as opposite to Letter is not meant an Opposition of a Spiritual sense in the Gospell or any other part of Gods word different or above the sense of the Letter but only a lively concurrence of 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
shift of a lye the like did Gebezi 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 Peoples 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 dispairing also least 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 and trampling under foot all Laws both of God and Man and changeing the whole Fabrick of Government both Ecclesiastick 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 Logick Quod necesse est esse impossibile est non esse If it be necessary to sin by consequence 't is 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 wayes 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 stall 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 of his indignation to the world notwithstanding their pretended necessities for what they so impiously acted and therefore whosoever hereafter being warn'd by such examples shall embolden themselves under the same conceit or considence 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 hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.13 and so after their hardness and impenitency of hearts 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 four-fold or else for his covetousness he may gain Gehezi's advantage to boot a Leprosie 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 perswasion grounded only upon a conceipt of being led forth and forward in their actions by the Spirit which they phansy betwixt a good meaning perhaps and a pang of blind zeal and an abhorrence also of some external vices and a shew of outward austerity and a devotion of their own way that looks much like holinesse it self and whereby they conceit themselves to be the only beloved accepted and acquainted with God and consequently all the stirrings and imaginations of their vain deceitfull 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 expresse letter of Scripture and so commit the greatest enormities in the World Murder Treason Perjury Sacriledg Persecution of the Lords anointed his Princes and Nobles his Priests and Prophets and the most wise and righteous of his people and justifie themselves therein as doing God service and furthering his Glory by seconding the secret movings and impulses of his Spirit Counting it also their Calling extraordinary as the wretched Murderers reasoned for their fearfull execution of our late Lord and King deceiving their perverse minds by not distinguishing the motive and directive part of every morall and humane action There is the directive part of the actions of man aswell as the motive and impulsive otherwise meer 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 pathes and verse 130. The entrance of thy Word giveth light and Psal 19.8 The Commandements of the Lord are pure enlightening the eies 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 naturall and reveald and necessary for direction in all cases of action morall both naturall and supernatural either in terms analogie 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 then the Pen-man doth the hand of his Schollar contrary to his own Coppy but altogether according for else the Learner shal never write up to it And no more can any man whatsoever answer the form of Righteousnesse or Lawfulnesse in any of his actions that forsakes his coppy or rule he should be guided by That is the written word of truth which is the only tryall of every Spirit and of every