Sentence:  I esteem the modern error, That all goes by self-interest and the checking and balancing of greedy <WSD>knaveries</WSD>, and that, in short, there is nothing divine whatever in the association of men, a still more despicable error, natural as it is to an unbelieving century, than that of a ‘divine right' in people "called" Kings. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An unprincipled action; deceit.