Works, Part 2 · Treatise 9
A TREATISE OF HYPOCRISIE.
THere are two things required in Religion, the substance and the ceremonieThere is more required in Religion than an outward sho…w. or visard, and we hauehave but one of them. The first is a marueilous hard thing to circumcise our hearts, to make them bleede; we thinke it enough to heare, for opinions carrie the common people: for they be like children, if they see a face in a glasse, they thinke it is a man, and begin to talke of it and to it. This ceremoniall hearing in times past it would now and then (as they say) doe good: but now as one saith, is nothing but to heare, eate, drinke, and talke. That a shew is sufficient to moue the multitude, it appeareth by Absolom, who although he were a beast; yet when he had made a vow, and Iesabel had proclaimed a fast, the people followed them, and said the Queene was become religious, & Absolom was worthie of a kingdome, and so the like hypocrites hauehave an opinion of iust men. The dutie of reprehending is the dutie of a good man, and vnderunder the law it was thus: the accuser was wont to throw the first stone: the theefe on the crosse said; Thou being in the same condemnation, darest thou reproue? Here is a case of premunire, which what it is on earth we know, and what it is in Heauen we shall know at that day: examples we hauehave in Aaron, N…dab, Ab…hu, Vzza, and Ahaziah.
Seeing there be such a sort of sore eyes, and so few Chirurgions, it is good to stay in reprehension,Why & how the Lord is sometime hot in speech. till we hauehave cast out our beames: and this is but reasonable, that a man should first cure himselfe. But because many will not stay for all this, Christ waxeth angrie as it were, and calleth them hypocrites: where saith Chrysostome, he sheweth himselfe very angrie: for this word when he vseth it or such like, as O cuill seruant ▪ O painted tombes ▪ generation of vipers, it is not any little offence that he speaketh against.
The name of an Hypocrite is abhorred of God and man. As it was said of Octauius andOf hypocrisie how it should be abhorred. Antonius, they hate a tyrant, but not tyrannie: so it may be said with vsus, we hate an Hypocrite, but not hypocrisie. Thus we may see first in reall hypocrisie, we cannot abide a course cloath with a fine list, nor fruite faire without, and rotten within; nor timber straight without and hollow within; nor light waights and false wares. In the Common-wealth he that poysoneth a man, and he that killeth him with the sword hath not the like punishment, because the first is greater, in that he killeth him hypocritically. In the Church the fathers appointing punishment and penance for diuers sinnes, set downe for hypocrisie, the greatest punishment, in prima quadragesima. Peter was first moued at this against Anani…s and Saphira, Act. 5. Paul among many dangers, setteth this down as a chiefe one, that he was in dāger among false brethren. S. Iohn the Euangelist in his Reuelation proph…cieth, that the Church should neuer be more grieued, than by such as had womens faces and haire, and Lions teeth. The complaints of the Prophets against them is manifest in their termes, Pots with scumme cakes bak…n on one side. Ostriches with great f…athers and of little flight. But Christ inueigheth specially against thē, for he threatneth seuen woes against them that be hypocrites, where he neuer is found to do the like against any sinners. To looke more cleerely into this sin, it is opposite to God the Father, he is a being, this a certaine shew; God is one, and hath made him one, but the hypocrite he maketh himselfe two, an heart, and an heart: the hypocrite leaueth a little place for religion, and the rest he leaueth for that which he loueth more than religion, and in this diuision hee giueth the worst to God, that is, that which is without; he opposeth himselfe against God in his heart. God is truth, and the hypocrite hath a lying profession, vnhallowing the name of a Christian, and seducing those that are simple, which is a common note of hypocrites; so they are deceiuers & deceiued, as Absolon and Ishmael. They are opposite to God in his goodnesse, hee is good, they are euill within, and that which is worse, they couer euill with good. We may see God his detestation of this sinne by his expostulation, Psal. 50. he abhorreth it so that hee forbad his people the very resemblance and representation of it, as a linsie woolsie coate, a hollow footed beast, and miscellen corne: he shall not come into my presence: and in the Psalme he saith, he could not abide the sight of him: and surely the surest punishment against any sinne is to hauehave our portion with the hypocrites.
That we may know an hypocrite, wee must iudge him by that which is within. A fatherSpecial kinds of hypocrisie. saith, we must look on him without, for example in admonishing, his outside is, brother cast out the mote, but lift vp his eye lid, and you shall see his eye not answerable to his tongue. The Syriak word signifieth, *Vultum assumens.a face taker, his visour may be admonition, but it is a broken visour, for a man may see the timber through it, and so hee is an impudent hypocrite. For the nature of hypocrisie, it may be described thus, *Est signum sine signato.it is a signe without a thing signified: as when one thrusteth an hood ouer his head, or his head out of an hood, & hath no learning, an hood being made to signifie much learning: and so there are more of these hypocritesSub splendido pallio latet nequitia. than we would thinke of. We hauehave Elias his mantle, but where is his spirit? This hypocrisie is a sin of many corners & degrees. In eueryevery sin there is a mysterie of wickednes, and a grosse substance of wickednes, a leauen and lumpe of iniquitie; so we may deuide hypocrisie into the mysterie and the lumpe: the mysterie taketh hold on vsus all; and thereNon videri volunt quod non sunt, sed quantum non sunt. be two kinds of it. The first and the best ouersay themselues, but they doe something; they commend more in word than in practise. The other are such as say & doe not, this is grosse hypocrisie. Againe, hypocrisie hath two ends. God his glorie should moue vsus sufficiently, but we must hauehave some other end with it, and this is in the best men. Augustine saith, that there are but few which be not spotted with hypocrisie, but because his step was too wide, he mends himselfe, & saith next, Surely not one. The lump or actual hypocrisie hath foure kinds. The first kinde is, when a man is delighted with faining any good, or intention ofThe first kind. any euill. The second kind is a perillous & close hypocrisie, wrapped vp round in a sheeps skin, that no man can spie him, but that eie that seeth al things, and, if any man calleth himThe second kind. an hypocrite, he bringeth himselfe into danger, because he is not able manifestly to proue him one. Of him Christ giueth a caueat; for this hypocrite he is exempted frō the Church discipline: the rule is plaine in Timothie: some mens sinnes goe before to iudgement, and some mens sinnes follow after. But with vsus, if peace continue long, wee shall wish with Athanasius, IVtinam omnes essent hypocritae. would all were hypocrites. The third kind is, an hypocrite vncased, he is called A Sunneburned hypocrite: who iudgeth all men to be as hee was before he was laid open: he commethThe third kind. to bee vncased by this meanes, Augustine saith, when that is withdrawne from him, which he hoped for, it soone appeares whether he be a woolfe in a sheeps skinne. We mayThe fourth kind. see it in the matters of the Church, when there is prefermēt looked for. The fourth kind is in a sheepes skin, but his eares hang out so long, that he is easily espied, these are the broken visourd hypocrites: to play the hypocrite, thus there needes no great wit: for an asse may be such an hypocrite, and any that can take him by the eares, may say, Thou hypocrite.
There are seuen notes to know an hypocrite by, in reprehending one, first they do foreign espieNotes to know an hypocrite. Matth. 7. 3. espie things, they doe not foreign, as Master Beza noteth. Hypocrites are narrow lookers, in Hebrue they are called spies, shifters, or sisters. The Christiā man would rather they should be cast out (if they be infirmities) and he neuer see them, as Sem and Iaphet couered their fathers nakednes, and saw it not; but Cham beheld and laughed at it: these are those whichThe first note proclaime mens imperfections: it was Iosephs commendations to doe the contrarie; hee would not make Marie a publike example, though he had great suspition.The second note.
The second note is foreign they neuer set vponupon themselues, they hauehave no leisure to do it, but they hauehave small delight in it: if one telleth them of any fault in their eye, they reply, why me thinkes your eyes are not well neither. First, he will say they aile nothing at all, or denie it in part, or if he graunt it, he saith it doth not hinder his sight, or it is not so well asOmne peccatum extenuari potest. it might be; and these hypocrites cast out no faults, but such as are extenuated, and it is a rule in Rhetorike, eueryevery sinne may be extenuated.
A third note is, that hee will say, my brother: the Chaldie paraphrast willeth vsus to obserue,The third note. he is an hypocrite, for behold his tongue. They salute their brother in the morning with an high voyce, so the Pharisees said to Christ, We know thou art a good man, and hast no Cypriāsaith, Decoratissimas habent orationes.respect of persons: but in their conceite, and among themselues they said, Tush, hee is a Galilean.
The fourth note is this, they come with a Sine, let him alone, they will doe nothing but asThe fourth note. you will suffer them, all is louelove and charitie. But if he hauehave authoritie, he must not say, Suffer me, I will cast him foorth: for saith one, Thou standest not to intreate thy beast, thou powrest in with a horne: so thou must admonish, whether he will or no. Nay they will say, Sine me, Suffer me, he must needes doe it.
A fist signe is of an hypocritical Ephramite. The Tribe of Ephraim said, Why were we notThe fist note. called? But good men care not who doe it, so it bee done: the other shew that they desire not the fact, but the glorie of the fact. Thus they espie, and cannot cast out any sinne: it is twentie to one, that such hypocrites cannot so much as espie sinnes aright, and yet they will promise a casting out too, they take vponupon them more than they can doe.
The sixt note is, they will be doing with motes: It may be asked, whether these fellowesThe sixt note hauehave no neighbours with beames in their eyes? Certainly they hauehave: why then doe they speake so to that brother, that hath the mo…e? This is an infallible note of an hypocrite: for as Chrysostome saith, It was rather to make a stop-game, or that he might seeme very iust: for which cause he spieth out the best to reprehend, that he may seeme as good as he.Note. For the way to make men euen, is either to grow higher, or because he could not doe that, he will pull the other lower: which indeede he cannot doe. But hypocrites thinking their tongues are their owne, will be bold to doe it to them which are good.
The last note is, Matth. 23. They lay great burthens on others, but touch them not themselues The seuenth note.with the least of their fingers. You doe well (say they) to leade such a strict life, they will hauehave other men liue like Angels, and they themselues like Deuils. Some more effectuall notes, and of more common vse than these are set downe, Matth. 23. But some may say and gather hereupon: If it be a grosse hypocrisie to reprehend, I will not deale with it at all: and these are either fearfull, or wickedly subtile, and they are worse than the other. Wee must not mislike the doing of an hypocrite further than God misliketh▪ his misliking must bee our rule: and hee blameth him not for the outside, but for the inside. A reprehension is good, but in him it is ill accidentally, as the best things in the Gospell may be. The Pharisies were reprehenders, and our righteousnesse must exceede theirs, that is, comprehend theirs and more. Augustine saith well: Sheepe may not therefore cast away their skinnes, because wolues sometimes are coated with them. EueryEvery outward thing in their hypocrisie was good, making of Proselytes, keeping Saints memories: and hee that hateth them for their abuse, shall prooue himselfe a foole in the end. Another kinde of men may conclude and thinke, that those that are such open offenders and riotous, not to be hypocrites, and it is all they can boast of, I am no hypocrite. But we know that he is a singular hypocrite, byOpen offenders. Matth. 7. Christs owne testimony, that hath a beame in his eye: Surely they are of the brotherhood of hypocrites. Esay, chap. 9. speaking of young men, of wilde youths, saith, they are all hypocrites. Iustine saith, EueryEvery euill man is an hypocrite, more or lesse: none is worse than such. And yet if a man should see him in a mantle, and heare him to pronounce Iehouah inOmnis malus plus minus hypocrita est. sixe lines, seuen times, hee would thinke well of him, he being darknesse turneth himselfe into an Angell of light; and as hee is an hypocrite himselfe, so is his crue. The flesh shee complaines she is very weake, and cannot rise, and the spirits are dull, they cannot studie. But Dauid omitting his spirituall watch, fell seuen times worse than hee did before.
The world is an hypocrite, you may see by the tares, which all good writers expoundMany kinds of hypocrites. hypocrites, that there be bundles of hypocrites, though few beare the name; Christ saith in the Gospell, Hypocrites, Esay prophecied well of you, you come neere me with your lips, &c. Of these there be many bundles: such are all they as will not goe one inch further in doing their duties, thā the precepts of men. A man might marueile at Saint Paul, that he called some the circumcised of God, and the Israel of God, as though there were any other Israel or circumcision: there are indeed the circumcised of Parliaments, and the Israelites of Princes. Many there are who, if Iosias his statutes were abrogated, would bee readie to take the statutes of Omry.
There is another kinde of hypocrites called Heretikes, as the Nouatians, Anabaptists,None readier to accuse mē of hypocrisie than hypocrites. Familists. The worst kind are those in the Church, which open well, vntil they hauehave a morsell cast into their mouthes. Diuers colour their hypocrisie vnderunder the cloake of affected popularitie, as Absolom. The cast of hypocrites is to ioyne to great men, that if they make a scape they may not bee medled withall. Secondly, they will ioyne themselues to good men, and if that cloake will not serue, they flie to statutes as in Daniel: and last of all to the cloake of religion, as Pilate to Christ, I adiure thee by the liuing God: and as the sonnes of Iacob did to the Sichemites, they gate them to circumcise them, that they might kill them.
There is a kinde of dissemblers, that thinke it but hypocrisie to take vponupon one the dutie of admonishing, and they say of themselues, that they are not cleane fingred, but cleane hearted, and that they are glorious within, for all that the world seeth. But Iames saith, they must be cleane fingred too. One saith to Augustine: It sufficeth mee that I hauehave a pure conscience: or that I hauehave a good conscience. Augustine answereth: Let not that content thee: but remember the words of Christ also: Let your light so shine before men, that they seeing your good workes, may glorifie your heauenly father, Matth. 5. This is certaine (saith hee) if there be a beame in thine eye, there is a whole stacke in thine heart. How comes it to passeSi trabes sit in oculo strues est in corde. then, that they that are more carefull than the rest, are called hypocrites? Christ indeede might call the Pharisies so, for hee knew their thoughts: but no Prophet euer called any hypocrite, that had not a beame in his eye. But this is the pestilent practise of the DiuellThe wicked terme the godly hypocrites, and godlines they call the hypocrisie. to vexe the children of God with that sinne, which they cannot with any outward witnesses or compurgators so wel discharge themselues of, being a sinne in the heart. If a man be accused of adulterie, hee might shew the contrarie by circumstance of time, and place, and so acquite himselfe: but for this sinne no oth will serue, for then hee is thought to be greater hypocrite. GiueGive me all the Saints (saith Augustine) and say to them, and see how they can discharge themselues. Then the matter is this: two things are required in a Christian, which God giueth Iob, that we be both straight without, and sound within.
FINIS.