Satan, with all powers, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they shall believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.-2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. 7-12. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, &c.-1 Tim. iv. 1-3. Perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their own selves, &c. having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, &c. for of this sort are they who creep into houses, and lead captive silly women, &c. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth, &c. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, &c.-2 Tim. iii. 1-8. 13, 14. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction: and many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of; and through covetousness shall they, with feigned words, make merchandise of you; whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not,&c.-2 Pet. ii. 1-3.10,&c. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us, but they were not of us, &c. Who is a liar, but he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, who denieth the Father and the Son, &c. These things have I written unto you, concerning them who deceive you.-1 John ii. 18, 19. 22. 26. Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world: hereby know ye the Spirit of God; every spirit who confesseth Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is in the world, &c.-1 John iv. 1, &c. Many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh; this is a deceiver and an antichrist: look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we wrought, &c.-2 John 7-12. Unclean spirits out of the mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet; the spirit of devils working miracles.-Rev. xvi. 13, 14. CHAP. LXXIV. NEITHER EXTERNAL PRIVILEGes, nor OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS ALONE, CAN WHAT nation so great, who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God, in all that we call upon him for? And what nation so great, that hath statutes, &c. so righteous as all this law? Only take heed, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things thine eyes have seen, &c. lest ye corrupt, and make you a graven image, &c. lest ye forget the covenant, &c. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, &c. When, &c. ye shall do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger, &c. ye shall 478 soon utterly perish from off the land, &c. be utterly destroyed, &c. Ask of the days past, &c. Did ever people hear the voice of God, speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God essayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of a nation, by temptations, by signs? &c. Because he loved thy fathers, he chose their seed after them, and brought them out in his sight, with his mighty power, &c. Thou shalt therefore keep his statutes.Deut. iv. 7-10. 16. 23-27. 33, 34. 36, 37.40. EXTERNAL PRIVILEGES, &c. Speak not thou in thine heart, after the Lord hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness, the Lord hath brought me in to possess this good land: but for the wickedness of these nations, &c. not for thy righteousness, nor for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness, &c. the Lord thy God doth drive them out, &c. And that he may perform the word which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, Abraham, &c. the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness: for a stiffnecked people, &c.-Deut. ix. 4, &c. To the wicked, God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant into thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee, &c.-Ps. 1. 16-18. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt-offerings, &c. who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? &c. bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with, &c. they are a trouble unto me: I am weary to bear them; when ye make many prayers, I will not hear, &c. your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make [CHAP. LXXIV. you clean, &c.-Isa. i. 11-18. Jer. vi. 19, 20. all our righteousness as filthy rags.— We are all as an unclean thing, and Isa. lxiv. 6. slew a man he that sacrificeth a He that killeth an ox, is as if he lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck, &c. ways, &c.-Isa. lvi. 3. They have chosen their own ing, The temple of the Lord, &c. If Trust ye not in lying words, sayye thoroughly amend your ways, &c. then will I cause you to dwell in this words, that cannot profit. Will ye place, &c. Behold, ye trust in lying steal, murder, &c. and come and stand before me in this house? &c. Therefore I will do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, &c. as I have done to Shiloh, &c.-Jer. vii. 4-10. 12. 14, 15. he shall surely live: if he trust to When I say to the righteous, that his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered, &c. he shall die. -Ezek. xxxiii. 13. 18. xxiii. 38, 39. and I will not smell in your solemn I hate, I despise your feast days; assemblies: though ye offer me burntofferings, and your meat-offerings, I judgment run down as waters, &c.— will not accept of them, &c. Let Amos v. 21-24. Jacob, and princes of the house of Hear this, ye heads of the house of Israel; that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity, &c. The heads priests thereof teach for hire, and the thereof judge for reward: and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us. shall Zion for your sakes be ploughed Therefore as a field.-Mic. iii. 9-13. for repentance: and think not to say Bring forth therefore fruits meet within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father, &c.-Matt. iii. 8-10. Luke iii. 8. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied our father. Jesus said unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham, &c. They said to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your father, ye would love me, &c. Ye are of your father, the devil; and the lusts of your father ye will do. John viii. 32, 33. 37. 39. 41, 42. 44. in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.-Matt. vii. 22, 23. Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.-Mark iii. 33. 35. I know ye not whence ye are. Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence; and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you I know you not, whence you are: depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, &c.-Luke xiii. 25-27. Jesus said to the Pharisees, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men ; but God knows your heart: for that which is highly esteemed amongst men, is abomination in the sight of God.-Luke xvi. 14, 15. When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do.-Luke xvii. 10. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself; God, I thank thee, I am not as other men are; extortioners, &c. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all I possess. And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven; but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner! I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other, &c.-Luke xviii. 10-15. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, &c. the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abram's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus said, &c. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, &c. I know ye are Abraham's seed: but ye seek to kill me, &c. They said, Abraham is If a man think himself to be some+ thing, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.-Gal. vi. 3. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised on the eighth day, &c. yet I count all things but loss, &c. that I may win Christ, and be found in him; not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, &c.-Phil. iii. 4—10. CHAP. LXXV. OF WORDS AND ACTIONS WHICH ARE OR UNDERTAKEN WITH THE POLI- DESIGNS, Or avoiding dangers. ABRAHAM said of his wife (when he was in fear), She is my sister.Gen. xx. 2. 11, 12. Isaac (in the like fear) said of his wife, She is my sister.-Gen. xxvi. 7.9. Rebeccah caused her son Jacob to go to Isaac for the blessing, clothed him with his brother's garments, and put skins upon his neck and hands, to make him feel rough to Isaac, that Isaac might think him to be Esau, and bless him: and Jacob said to his father (being asked who he was), I am Esau, thy first-born, &c. Isaac said, Art thou my very son Esau? and he said, I am, &c.-Gen. xxvii. 6.9-29. Rachel having hid her father's images under the camel's furniture, and sat upon them, when Laban searched for them, said unto her father, Let it not displease my lord, that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me, &c.-Gen. xxxi. 34, 35. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem, and Hamor his father, deceitfully, &c. They said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, &c. If every male of you will be circumcised, then will we give our daughters, &c. which when they had done, Jacob's sons fell on them, and slew them.-Gen. xxxiv. 12, &c. trespasses of thy brethren, and their sin for they did unto thee evil, &c. And Joseph wept when he heard it, &c.-Gen. 1. 15-17. When Pharaoh had charged the midwives with breaking his commands, and saving the men-children alive, they said unto him, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women: for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, &c.— Exod. i. 16-21. When Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will, peradventure, hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent messengers unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph: forgive, I pray thee now, the When Rahab had hid the spies, and the king had sent for them, she said, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were, &c. when it was dark, the men went out: whither the men went, I wot not; pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them, &c.-Josh. ii. 1-6. When the inhabitants of Gibeon came to Joshua, they took old sacks, and said to Joshua, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us, &c. from a very far country thy servants are come, because of the name of the Lord thy God; for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, &c. Wherefore our elders, and all the inhabitants of our country, spake to us, saying, Take victuals, &c. This our bread we took hot on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy, &c. by reason of the very long journey, &c. And Joshua made peace with them, &c. and smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them, &c.-Josh. ix. 3, &c. When the Moabites oppressed Israel, the Lord raised them up a deliverer; Ehud, &c. who going to Eglon, the king of Moab, with a present from Israel; after he had presented it, he said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him, went out. And Ehud came unto him, and he was sitting in a summer parlour, &c. and said unto him, I have a message from God unto thee: and he arose out of his seat. And Ehud took the dagger, and thrust it into his belly, &c.-Judges iii. 14-22. Samson said several times, That if they did bind him, &c. he should be weak, and be as another man: but it was not so.-Judges xvi. 6, &c. When God said to Samuel, that he would send him to anoint David, Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord: and call Jesse to the sacrifice, &c. Which Samuel did; and said, I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord. -1 Sam. xvi. 1-7. When Saul had sent for David, Michal his wife laid an image in the bed, &c. covered it with a cloth after she had sent him away; and she said, He is sick, &c. When Saul had said unto her, Why hast thou deceived me so? &c. she said, He said unto me, Let me go: why should I kill thee?1 Sam. xix. 11-19. When Saul had a design to have killed David, and had inquired for him, Jonathan answered (as David had directed him to do), and said, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem; and he said, Let me I go, pray thee: for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren: therefore he cometh not unto the king's table.1 Sam. xx. 6. 27—29. a place, &c. Is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste, &c.—1 Sam. xxi. 1—3. 8. 15. David, when he fled from Saul, and came to Ahimelech the priest, he asked him, Why art thou alone? David said unto Ahimelech, The king commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business, &c. And I have appointed my servants to such and such When David and his men had invaded the country near him, and slain all, Achish said to him, Whither have ye made a road to day? and David said, Against the south of Judah, &c. And Achish believed David; saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him, &c.-1 Sam. xxvii. 8-13. When Absalom designed to rebel, he said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord in Hebron: for thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria; saying, If the Lord shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.-2 Sam. xv. 6, &c. Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much: now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests: let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal, &c. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal, &c. which afterward he did.2 Kings x. 18-26. When Zedekiah had ordered Jeremiah to conceal the discourse that had passed between the king and him, from the princes, when they should come and ask him concerning it he also told him what answer to make, in the very words the king gave him, by which he concluded the true matter, Jer. xxxviii. 24-27, CHAP. LXXVI. OF WORDS OR SAYINGS EXPRESSING CHOICE, BUT NOT BINDING US TO THEIR OBSERVANCE. Lor said to the angels, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into |