Common Places, Part 2 · Chapter 13 · Section 6
Of Diſſimulation.
In Iud. 3. at the end.26 But what ſhall we ſet downe as touching diſſimulation? Diſſimulation is of two ſorts.I ſaie, that the ſame is of two ſorts. One, which hath reſpect onelie to deceiue; the which, ſéeing it differeth not much from a lie, vndoubtedlie it is ſinne. If one, being wicked, doo faine himſelfe to be honeſt and godlie, the ſame man is an hypocrite; & in that he diſſembleth, he ſinneth gréeuouſlie. Whoſoeuer alſo, hauing a malicious and enuious heart againſt anie man, flattereth him, and feigneth to be his fréend, is not without ſinne; yea, he is infected with a deteſtable diſſimulation. But there is an other kind of diſſimulation, which tendeth not to the deceiuing of anie man; but ſerueth onelie to kéepe counſell ſecret, leaſt they ſhould be hindered: and this diſſimulation is not to be refuſed, or condemned as ſinne, ſéeing (as we hauehave alreadie declared) it is not alwaies required, that we ſhould open whatſoeuer truth we doo knowe. Socrates was praiſed, In the Commentaries vponupon Ariſtotles Ethiks.although he were a verie great diſſembler. Howbeit, he ſaid he knew nothing, [meaning] in compariſon of the knowledge of God. So dooth Plato excuſe him in his Apollogie. Alſo he compared thoſe things, which he knew, with thoſe things which he knew not; and being ſo compared, they might be accounted nothing. Beſides this, his mind was not to deceiue; but rather to ſhew vntounto others, which boaſted that they knew manie things, how verie little or nothing they knew.
So Chriſt, being moſt innocent, tooke vponupon him the fleſh of ſinne, After what maner Chriſt diſſembled. 1. Cor. 2, 8.and hid his innocencie and diuine nature: the which he did, not to deceiue mortall men, but that he might ſuffer for the ſaluation of men. For if he had béene knowne to be the Lord of glorie, they would neuer (as ſaith the apoſtle) hauehave crucified him. Moreouer, Chriſt feigned alſo before two of his diſciples, that he wold hauehave gone further: this he did not, Luke. 24, 28bicauſe he would deceiue them; but he therefore opened not himſelfe vntounto them for a time, bicauſe he would reprooue them of their incredulitie, and inſtruct them by teſtimonies of the ſcriptures. Therewithall alſo he ſignified, how far he was from their hearts: or (as Auguſtine interpreteth it) he ſhadowed vntounto them his departure into heauen. Wherefore it euidentlie appéereth, that in thoſe diſſimulations, there was no lie; ſéeing his words well agréed with the thing ſignified.
27 And Dauid, Of Dauids diſſimulation. Looke in 1. Sam. 21. at the end.when he fell into a moſt perillous danger, being with Achis the king of Geth, changed his countenance, and feigned himſelfe a foole: and by meanes that he ſéemed to be ſuch a one, he eſcaped. Héere ſome ſaie, that he diſſembled not; but that God, to deliuer him, ſtrake ſuch a feare into him: and that his ſenſes being taken from him, he might doo thoſe things which be ſpoken of him in the firſt booke of Samuel. 1. Sa. 21, 13.Wherefore, in his pſalme, which beginneth; I will alwaies giuegive thanks vntounto the Lord, Pſal. 34.he gaue God thanks for ſo great a benefit. Togither alſo with this his act, he, by the inſpiration of God, ſhewed what Chriſt ſhould ſuffer for our ſakes; namelie, to be counted as a foole and a mad man. Or elſe it may be anſwered, that Dauid is not wholie to be excuſed of ſinne; if he, as being a man, more afraid than was méet, ſought for this kind of helpe. But if he, by the motion of God, did it wittinglie and with knowledge, we will not accuſe him of ſinne, though we may not imitate his example.
Neither is it lawfull, that anie man ſhould feigne himſelfe to hauehave committed anie crime, which he hath not doone: Gregorie.though Gregorie ſaith; that It is the part of good minds, there to acknowledge a fault, where none is. Of this matter, Auguſtine.Auguſtine, in his 29. ſermon De verbis apoſtoli, hath taught more ſoundlie and trulie. For he writeth; By feigning on this wiſe, if thou waſt not a ſinner before, thou ſhalt become a ſinner; namelie, in ſaieng that thou haſt cōmitted that, which thou haſt not committed. Indéed it is lawfull for euerie man to confeſſe himſelfe generallie to be a ſinner, but this or that crime ſpeciallie (hauing not committed the ſame) no man ought to take vponupon him. Moreouer, we muſt note this to be true; to wit, that it is not required of vsus to open the truth at all times, and in all places to ſpeake all that we knowe. Howbeit, in iudgement, the caſe is otherwiſe: for there, while we be examined as witneſſes, we are bound to teſtifie that, which we knowe to ſerue vntounto the thing, whereof we be at that time demanded.