2. Consider, It is not probable that those false Apostles mention'd, 2 _Cor._ xi. 13. erred only in Ceremonies or Circumstances, or that their Errors, tho' great, did proceed rather from their Ignorance, than from the perverseness of their minds. 1 _Cor._ iii. 15. For, for such we may have charity and hope, that God will be merciful unto them, if they sincerely do the best they know, tho' they dissent in some, nay many things, from the practices and belief of the Christian Church; but those St. _Paul_ threatens with a heavy curse, that their end shall be according to their works; therefore it seems they immediately struck at the very root and being of the Christian Religion, and were the same with them spoken of, 2 _Tim._ iii. 6. but with this difference, that they did not resist, but beholding the Miracles and Signs which were done by the true Apostle of our Lord, wondered and believed also, and were Baptized; yet being Sorcerers they were unwilling to lose that great esteem they had obtained; as it is related of _Simon_, who had bewitched the People of _Samaria_, giving out that he himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, this Man is the great Power of God, therefore he could not brook that _Peter_ or _John_ should have a greater Power than himself; but offered them Money, that on whomsoever he laid hands, he (that person) should receive the Holy Ghost; which shews him, who thus designed to make Merchandize of the B. Spirit, tho' Baptized, to have been no true believer, but still a Sorcerer in the Gall of bitterness, and in the bond of Iniquity; such were those deceitful workers, who not being able barefaced to resist, did put on Christianity as a Mask, that they might undermine the truth, and introduce the Doctrines of Devils. _Samaria_ and _Paphos_, were not the only two places where the Devil had such Agents, there was no part of the Earth where his Kingdom was not Established, and where he had not his Emissaries before the preaching of the Gospel; and since the Text telleth us he hath his Ministers, who do imitate their Master, by being transformed into the Apostles of Christ, as he himself is transformed into an [73] Angel of light: whose design in being thus transformed, cannot be to impose upon the Almighty; for whatever shape he appears in, he cannot hide his ugliness from the Eyes of him who is Omniscent, therefore he appeareth thus in the shape of an Angel of light, either to tempt and seduce the blessed Spirits to rebel against God, or to ensnare wicked Men, who by their hainous crimes (being lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud blasphemers) were before disposed to be fit Instruments to serve him and to enter into league with him. Surely I, who am ignorant of the Laws by which the Intellectual World is govern'd, dare not affirm that it is impossible for Satan so to appear, as to hide his deformities