The Mystery of Self-Deceiving, Chapter 18
CHAP. XVIII.
Of another deceit in the same kind.
THere remaineth yet one deceit more in this kind, for which, it being somthing more large, VII. Deceit, inuention of false reasons or shifts.we hauehave reserued this chapter. And that is the inuenting of false reasons, to deteine our selues from performance of duetie. For euen in such dueties, whereto we hauehave bound our selues by vow, we will yet go about to slip the collar, & to vntie the knot: which Salomon intimateth in that Prouerbe, It is a Pro, 20. 25. explaned.snare after the vow to inquire, namely colourable reasons to elude our vow: Much more then will our deceitfull hearts do the like for those duties, whereto tyed only by Gods commandements. For if they hauehave sleights to loose a duble knot, both of a commandement, and vow too: much more then a single knot of a commandement alone. To exemplifie this in some particulars; Many, when called to the supper of the Lord, pretend their want of preparation, and vnfitnes, by reason they are not in charity with their brethren. A notable deceit! For why doe they not vponupon the same ground refuse to pray also, because louelove and vnity are as well required heere, as in the Sacrament, yea a sincere profession of it, forgiue vsus, as we forgiue, &c? When, in the publique reformation of religion, vnderunder Ezekiah, there was some backwardnesse in the Priests and Leuites, and they happely with the sluggard were readie to hold the hand in the bosome, and to crye, A Lion in the way, This innouation will bee dangerous, wee dare not be seene in it: Ezekiah (as after him Aemilius Paulus Consull, when no body else durst, himselfe ranne in the hatchet into the temple of Serapis, the demolishing whereof the Senate had decreed) began first himselfe, and awakeneth these sluggards with these words. O be not deceiued my sonnes. God hath chosen you, &c. As if he should say, I know your 2. Chr. 29. 11.hearts are cunning and deceitfull enough to suggest false reasons, to discourage you, but harken not vntounto them. Doe your dutie. So also in the maintenance of the ministerie, because of the manie vaine shifts which men hauehave for their base and illiberall dealing with vsus, saying: We liue idlie, and doe nothing but speake a few words, &c. Therefore S. Paul hauing exhorted the Galathians to this dutie, to take Gal. 6. 6.away all their wittie excuses, addes, Be not deceiued, God is not mocked. Thereby shewing, that as in diuerse other things, the deceitfulnesse of our hearts shewes it selfe, so in this, namely the forging of idle reasons, to satisfie, & bear out themselues in the neglect of duties, cōmanded by the word of God. And as this deceite is in the people, in denying the minister his dues, so also in the minister in denying the people theirs, the due namely of spiritual inspection, and instruction. For heere some pretend, that for a while they withdraw themselues, that they might follow their studies in the vniuersitie, and so bee the better fitted for their charge. When yet Timothy, for the Churches behoofe, forsooke Pauls company his deere Master, with whom if he had abode still, neglecting the Church, hee wanted not this pretence, that hee did it to furnish himselfe with greater store of knowledge. For Paul might hauehave beene in steed of many vniuersities to him. So in the matter of patience, this is an vsuall shift to excuse the want of it, oh if I had deserued it, I could hauehave borne it. Whereas Peter shewes that we ought so much the rather to be patient, when the euill wee suffer is vndeserued, because then patience is most praise-worthy, when it is most prouoked. And iniuries 1. Pet. 2. 19. 20doe more prouoke patience, then deserts. Besides that, in vndeserued euils, wee hauehave the conscience of our owne innocency to comfort vsus in that griefe, which the smart of the euill bringeth. All which comfort is wanting, when the euil is deserued. And lastly in the dutie of liberality, how witty, and crafty do men shew themselues, in deuising reasons to saue their purses, as that they hauehave charges of their owne, they know not what neede they may come to themselues, & diuers such like. And hence it is, the Greeke worde, which the Apostle setteth out liberalitie by, signifieth simplicitie, in opposition to that crafty and witty wilinesse, that is in the Couetous to defend themselues from the danger as 2. Cor. 8. 2.they thinke of liberality.
But, to omit these particular instances, which are infinite; there are fiue more generall, and common shifts, which men vse to auoid the practise of godlinesse.
1. Of those whose religion and diuinity is wholly 1. Shift, from not doing euill.negatiue. Who thinke it is enough they do no hurt, and that it greatly matters not for doing good, so they doe no euill. But these must remember, that eueryevery tree that bringeth not forth good fruit (for all it bringe foorth no bad) shall bee cut downe for the fire. That the seruant, that doth not imploy, and increase Mat. 3. 10.his talent, (for all he returnes it safe and sound to his Master) shall be bound hand and foot, and cast into vtter darkenesse. That many who neuer plucked Mat. 25 30.either meate from Christs mouth, or apparell from Mat. 25. 42.his backe, nor with the wicked persecutors imprisoned him, and made him sicke, shall yet be condemned, for that they gaue him no meat, being hungry, nor apparell, being naked, nor visited him, in his imprisonment and sicknesse. That they themselues would not like of the like excuse in their idle & negligent seruants, neither would they thinke it a sufficient plea for them to say, wee hauehave not set your house on fire, or plotted with theeues against you, &c. Besides that these deceiue themselues in thinking, they can absteine from euil, in doing no good. Whereas, in Christs account, not to gather, is to scatter, not to doe good, when wee ought, is to doe hurt, not to saue life, when we may, is to destroy it. And therefore, beeing chalenged by the Pharisees for curing a sicke man on the Sabaoth, his defence was, Whether is it better to doe good or euill on the Sabaoth, Mark. 3. 4.to saue the life, or to kill? And so in Salomons account, he that helps not his brother in his need, is Pro. 14. 20. 21a despiser, a hater, and so a murtherer of him.
Second shift is of delayers, and procrastinatours; 2. Shift, from purposes for the time▪ to come.who say the time is not yet come for them to bee so graue, and godly. Heereafter they will repent, and reforme their waies. So said the Iewes for the building of the material temple, The time is not yet come: and the like doe many of vsus say, for the building of the spirituall temple of Christ in our hearts. Deceitfully Hag. 1. 2. foreign.we, as well as they: for the season of repentance is not the time to come, but the very instant wherin we liue. Behold now the accepted time: behold now the day of saluation. To day, whilest it is called to Isai. 49. 2. 2. Cor. 6. 2. Hebr. 3. 15.day, harden not your hearts: For wee are certaine of this onelyonly, and not of any more, because our life is not in our owne hands, but in Gods; who in a moment can take it away. But say that, as once Ezekiah thou hadst a lease of thy life for some certaine space of yeeres: yet still the deceit should be the same; for thogh thy life may cōtinue longer, yet how knowest thou that Gods call also will still continue? or if that doe, whether he will giuegive thee his grace to answere vntounto it, who hast already so contemptuously reiected it? Assure thy selfe, hee that will not bee fit for God to day, will be lesse fit to morrow. For heerein specially is the deceitfulnesse of sinne to be seene, that still, the longer it cōtinueth with vsus, the greater strength, and interest it getteth in vsus, and so as the Apostle shewes, it hardens our hearts, and more disables vsus for good duties then before. Know it then Heb, 3. 13.for a truth, that when thy deceitfull heart thus procrastinates the practise of godlinesse, and puts it off to the time to come, by that time thou wilt bee so rooted, and setled in thy sinnes, through long custome and continuance, that thou shalt scarce bee capable so much, as of the motion of the spirit vntounto repentance. Such a fore-skinne will bee growne ouer thine heart so thicke and brawnie, that hardly will the most powerfull motions pierce through it. Doe wee not see how easily the crookednesse of a young twigge may be corrected? let it alone till it bee growne a confirmed tree, it is inflexible. Alas how many hauehave there beene, who deceiuing themselues with an opinion of repenting heereafter, as thinking the present time when God called them, vnseasonable, afterward, seeing their error, and how they had let slip the season, hauehave houled with Esau, and hauehave then cried out, they could not repent, because the season was now past, it was now too late. What a cunning trick of thine is this, O thou deceitfull hart? when thou shouldst do good, to say, It is to soone, the time is not yet come, Hereafter I will doe it? and yet when this thy heereafter is come, then to say, now it is too late, the time is past. Let vsus not then be thus deluded, suffring the time of grace to ouerpasse vsus to our destruction. Behold thy spirituall enemies are in a readines for thee, they hauehave their naked swords drawn, and already stabbe thee. And is it now a time for thee to talke of deferring thy preparation for them? If thou come not out and harnesse thy selfe for the battell in all the hast, thou wilt be vtterly ouerthrown, before thy heereafter be come. Why shouldest thou deale with Christ like the Diuels, who cried against him comming to dispossesse them, Why art thou come to torment vsus before our time? For so many account the practise of godlinesse a torment. Why shouldst thou doe worse with God, then thou oughtest to do with thy neighbour? Say not to thy neighbour goe and come againe to morrow, Pro. 3. 28.and I will giuegive thee if now thou hauehave it. I cannot say indeede, that when God to day calls for rhy repentance, thou hast it, of thy selfe, then to giuegive it him. Yet this I may say, say not to God, Come againe to morrow, and thou shalt hauehave my repentance, when to morrow thou shalt be lesse able to giuegive it, then to day. O that thou couldest be wise to know rhe time of thy visitation, and to apprehend the occasions & gracious opportunities of thy good, while they are offered; to obserue the time of the spirits mouing in thy heart, as once those sicke men did of the Angels mouing in the poole of Bethesda, and with like violence to take it for thy soules health, as they did that for their bodies. If with the Church in the canticles, when Christ knocketh at the doore of thy hart thou rise not vp in all the hast to let him in, he wil be gone and with her, thou maist seeke him long enough in great woe & greefe, as once Ioseph & Marie did bodily, ere thou art like to find him. Heare what Christ himselfe saith, Behold I stand at the doore and knocke, if any man heare my voice, and open, I will come in, else not. Thou seest the mariners and water-men, because Reuel. 3. 30.they hauehave not the wind and tide at command, take the benefit of it, whiles it serues. The good husband in the world, how greedily doth he apprehend the occasion of a good peniworth, and takes the aduantage of the market? O that we could be as wise spiritually, and take our penniworths of the Gospell, while it lasteth, and whiles it is yet day, ply our work before the twelfth houre be gone, and that fearefull night ouertake vsus wherein none can worke. O that in this our day, as Christ with teares wished for Ierusalem, wee could know the things belonging to our peace! Let vsus not deceiue our selues in thinking because we are young, we hauehave therfore time enough before vsus, we need not make such hast. Alas it is but a day, a short day al the time that we hauehave. O that Soles occidere et redire possunt, &c.in this thy day saith Christ. And then after it comes an eternall night. Other daies, though they hauehave their nights, yet those nights end, and day comes againe. But after this day is once gone, there neuer comes a new day, to worke the work of the Lord in againe. O but the day of the Gospell among vsus hath beene, and so still is like to be a long day. Well, bee it so. But then the day of thy life may bee short enough, and then the other is thine no longer then thou liuest. When thou art dead, what good wil the Gospell doe thee then? Yea, but then the day of my life may be a long day. For I am young and healthy. Well grant thee that too, yet the day of the Gospell, and the grace of God may bee out before the day of thy life. And then what good will thy life do thee? One of these two may easily bee, that if the day of the Gospel be long, the day of thy life should be short: or if the day of thy life be long, yet the day of the Gospell should be short. See then how dangerous & deceitfull delaies are. Seeke the Lord therfore, while he may be found, lest otherwise thou bee like those that Christ speakes of, who shall seeke to enter, and shall not be able, and Salomon, that shal seeke the Lord early, and shall not finde him. And all, because Luc. 13. Pro. 1. 28. 29.they hated knowledge, and did not choose the feare of the Lord, they would none of my counsell, I called, & Vers. 24.they refused, I stretched out my hand, and none would regard. The season then of seeking God is when hee seekes vsus, and inuites vsus to come vntounto him, when he cals and stretches out his hand, as hee doth now in the ministery of the worde. If now shou stoppest thine eare, through this deceit of answering heereafter, thou art wondrous wide. As now thou art deafe, so heereafter God will bee dumbe. Heereafter there shall bee nothing for thee to answer vntounto, no voyce of God to obey, saue that Goe ye cursed. Gods Gen. 6.spirit shall not alwaies striue with thee. Thou hast refused the good counsell of the Lord, and resisted his spirit in the worde. Thou maist sit long enough ere the like grace be offered thee againe. The time may come that thou maist desire to see one of the Luk 17. 22. Iohn. 7 34.daies of the Gospell, which now thou seest, & shalt not see it, when, as Christ saide of himselfe to the Iewes, thou maist seeke the powerfull ministery, and shalt not finde it, because thou wouldest not bee found by it, when it sought thee.
3. Shift is frō extraordinary occasions; as in those 3. Shift. Speciall occasions. Luc. 14. 18.in the parable; when inuited to the supper, excused themselues with the buying of farmes, oxen, &c. But this is meere deceit. The true cause indeede, why they would not come, was, because their farmes & oxen had bought them. Their affections had inthralled, and sould themselues to this worlde. And therefore our Sauiour, presently after the parable ended, addeth these words, He that hateth not his father, Vers. 26. expounded.mother, wife, children, yea & his owne life, much more his farme, his oxen, cannot bee my disciple. It was not then the farme, the oxen, but the inordinate affection to those things, that they loued them more then they did Christ, that detained them. This was the true impediment which Christ in these words toucheth. The things of this life are burdens indeed pressing our soules downe, but not in themselues. Al the waight they hauehave in this kinde, they receiue it from our owne corruption. Which the Apostle sheweth, ioyning these two things together, Casting away eueryevery thing that presseth down, that is, the things Heb. 12. 1. cleered.of this life, and sinne that so easily incompasseth vsus. It is this latter that makes the former burdensome to vsus. Therefore they in steed of saying, I hauehave bought a farme, I hauehave married a wife, should rather hauehave said, I hauehave sould my selfe to the inordinate louelove of my farme, and I hauehave married my selfe to the foolish and carnal louelove of my wife, as well as to my wife. Some cases indeed there are, wherein that rule of our Sauiour hath place, I will hauehave mercy, and not sacrifice. And then the occasion hindering the dutie is of greater consequence, then the dutie omitted. And the neglect of that occasion would hauehave left a deeper wound in our consciences, then of the dutie. As in Hannah, if, for the going to the sacrifice at Shiloh, shee had neglected to shew merciemercy to her poore infant, in giuing it sucke. But heere many deceiue themselues, to make eueryevery entertainment of a friend, eueryevery gossipping or marriage dinner, or some such like occasion, to be a sufficient cause to iustle out the seruice of God? And this was Marthaes deceit, rebuked seuerely by our Sauiour. Notwithstanding the meeting of friends in Zecharies house, the circumcision of the child on the eighth day was not neglected. The Israelites were but in an vnsetled tumultuarie estate, Luc. 1. 58. 59.in the wildernesse; and yet, for all that, they did not post off the duety of thankesgiuing, till they were peaceably possessed of Canaan. And for all their often remooues in the wildernesse, and the vncertainty of them, yet they seeme to bee chalenged by the Lord for the neglect of circumcision.
Fourth shift is that, which is rife in the mouthes 4. Shift. Praedestination.of the prophane, that it is vain and bootlesse to take any paines in godlinesse. For if they bee ordained to destruction, it will nothing aduantage them; they shall loose all their labour: if to saluation, though they liue neuer so wickedlie, it shall nothing preiudice, or disaduantage them. They must needs come to their appointed end. But these must know that it is impossible, either for a reprobate to liue godly, or an elect alwaies to liue lewdly and loosely. For the same God that ordeines the ende, ordaines the means. Those whom he hath ordained to saluation hee hath also ordained to good workes, that they Ephes 2. 10.should walke therein. Why then wilt thou deceiue thy selfe in this case, more then in the matters of this life? for there thou wilt not reason, God hath appointed how long I shall liue, therefore I will eate no meat, because Gods decree must needs stand, whether I eat or fast. Heere thou wilt hauehave the wit to answer. God indeed hath ordained how long I shall liue: but withall hee hath ordained that the time I shall liue, I shall liue by the vse of meanes. Much more shouldest thou vse this answere in this case. For thou knowest not but God may miraculously maintaine thy temporall life without meanes: but thou maist assure thy selfe; God will neuer worke such a miracle, as to bring a sinfull irrepentant soule into heauen.
The fifth shift is of those that complaine of the 5. Shift, Difficulty of godlinesse.difficulty of the practise of godlinesse, how painefull it is to our flesh, how impossible to be attained, and so by this meanes discourage themselues from making towards the heauenly, as once those spies did the Israelites from the earthly Canaan. Thus the foole puts off the studie of knowledge, pretending Pro, 24. 7. Nolle in causa est. Non posse praetenditur. Sen. ep. 116.the impossibility of reaching vntounto it. As Salomon implies, when he saies, as it were mockingly imitating of him, Wisedomes (in the plurall number) are too high for a foole. O there are so manie and sundry things to be learned. How can I cōprehend them al? But heere the truth is, that want of will is the true cause, though want of skill and power be pretended. For these men are like bankrupts, who though they be able to pay some part of their debts, yet refuse to pay any thing, because they cannot pay all. So these vponupon pretence of their vnability to doe all required, will not endeuour to doe any thing at all. Dauids practise was cleane contrary. For he proposing to himselfe that perfection of obedience required in the Law, farre aboue the reach of any man, Thou hast commaunded thy precepts to bee kept very much, Psal. 119. 4, 5.namely with all our hearts, soules, &c; dooth not thereupon giuegive ouer his desire, and endeauour of obedience, but rather prouokes and enkindles it therby. For thereupon hee infers presently, O that my waies were so directed that I might keepe thy statutes. Here to deliuer our selues from this deceit, we must remember that God accepts affecting for effecting, willing for working, desires for deeds, purposes for performances, pence for pounds, and vntounto such as do their endeuour, hath promised his grace inabling them eueryevery day to do more, and more. Which grace when once we hauehave, then shal we see how false it is which our hearts tells vsus, concerning the paine and tediousnes of godlinesse. For then we shall feele Christs yoake to bee easie and sweete, and his commaundements Mat. 11. 29. 1. Iohn. 5. Chrys. hom. 8. ad pop. Antioch. foreign, &c.will not be burdensome vntounto vsus. Nay it is sinne, that is so painfull; Gods workes are farre more easie, then are the Diuels. For whether thinke we is the easier burthen to carry malice, and enuie in our hearts, or the louelove of God, and our neighbour? To retaine the memorie of iniuries is troublesome, and vexes the mind; but what trouble, or paine is it, to let ones anger go, not to speake euill, not to reproach, or slander our neighbour? not to sweare? to aske good things of God that giueth them readily? It is troublesome to the minde to carke and care, and take thought: but to rest on God by faith, how sweete an ease is it to the hart? It is a slander then against godlinesse to say it is so full of paine and trouble. And of the deceitfulnesse of the heart in perswading, so much.