The Mystery of Self-Deceiving, Chapter 30
CHAP. XXX.
Motiues vntounto, and meanes of sincerity.
THe motiues to incite vsus vntounto sincerity, and singlenes of hart are many, & powerfull, throughout the whole booke of God, some whereof I will vrge at this time.
1. Sincerity is the girdle, whereby all other graces are tied close vntounto vsus, So the Apostle in rhe description of the spirituall armour, cals it the girdle of truth. And therefore heere also is true that wee say, vngirt, vnblest. He is but a loose man, that wants this girdle. Let his gifts and graces bee neuer so excellent, Ephes, 6, 14.yet they sit but loose about him, when a storme comes they will easily bee shaken off. From him that hath not shall be taken away that he hath. From Math, 13, 12.him that hath not the gift of sincere sanctification shall be taken away those common gifts of an ouerlie, and superficiary illumination, yea his showes also of true sanctification. Not onelyonly that hee hath shall be taken away, but that also which he seemes to hauehave. The figge tree that onelyonly made a show with leaues, Luk, 18, 18.hauing no fruit, in end, being cursed, lost the leaues to, wherewith it deceiued our Sauiour, and wholly withered. Gods gifts in an vnsound heart, contrary Mark, 11, 20.as it were to their owne nature, being peruerted to wrong ends, doe euen sigh vnderunder our abuse, & God hearing their groanes giues them the wings of the Eagle, to flye away from such vniust possessours. How fearfull are the examples of many vnsoūd professors, who notwithstanding all their goodly flourishes, hauehave yet vanished at last? they hauehave bin stript starke naked of all, their right hand hath forgot it skill, their right eye hath bene darkened, their arme Psal, 137, 5. Ezech, 11, 17.withered, they hauehave mouldred away, and become meere nothings, vnsauory salt fit for nothing but the dunghill. Christ hauing tolde the Church of Sardis that hir graces were ready to dye, giues this reason thereof. For I hauehave not found thy workes perfect Reuel, 3, 2.before God. Therefore they are ready to die, because tainted with the infection of hypocrisie. Had not Iudas many excellent graces of praier, preaching, miracles, &c? yet, forasmuch as they wanted the salt of sincerity to preserue them from putrefaction, both he and they miserably rotted, & came to fearefull desolation. His heart became a stye, and stable for Sathan to lodge in, & to beget that monstrous conception of barbarous and trecherous villanie. So that what the Psalmist speaketh concerning the wicked mans temporall estate, may truely bee spoken concerning the hypocrites spirituall estate. I saw him like the fresh lawrell, spreading himselfe, & Psal, 37, 35. 36flourishing: but lo the roote being corrupt with hypocrisie, he could not hold out. Inquire for him, and for his many graces, his great knowledge, his burning zeale, his forward alacrity, &c. and lo their place cannot be found. The body when the soule is once gone, may not long stay aboue ground. It must needs be buried. So the hypocrites graces wanting sincerity, which is the very soule, & life of all grace, they are but a stinking carrion, and what should an odious and ouglie loathsome carcase doe, but bee thrown into the pit? Standeth it not vsus then in hand to looke to our selues that we be vpright in heart, if we would enioy the sweet comfort of our finall perseuerance? For, as excellently Bradford, the way of In epist.Christ is the straight way, and so strait, that as fewe can find it, & few walk in it, so none can halt in it, but must needs goe vpright. For as the straitnesse will suffer no reeling to this side or that side, so if any mā halt, hee is like to fall off the bridge into the pit of eternall destruction. An vnsound horse that hath some secret fault, may carrie as good a shew as the soundest, and at the first for a mile, or two will trauell as freshly and cheerefully, as any, but at length he tires, and giues ouer. So is it with an vnsound, & deceitfull Christian. Notwithstanding all his faire beginnings, and hopefull entrances, yet hee continues not. Let an apple seeme neuer so beautifull if it be rotten at core, it wil quickly putrifie. The house built on the sand cannot stand alwaies. If a tempest arise, downe it goes, it falls, and the fall thereof is great, like that of Ierusalem, which though it were Math, 7.a most glorious and godly city, yet it was wholly ruined, and leuelled with the ground, not a stone left vponupon a stone. So great is the fall of these sandy Christians, Luc, 19. 44.that it euen astonisheth them that knew them before, when they stood flourishing in their pride, & beauty. So that heere also we may translate those words of the Prophet from the outward goods, and apply them to the inward graces of the wicked. Oh how horrible and suddenly are they consumed? Thou hast Psal, 73, 19.set them, and their graces too, in slippery ground, As a dreame they vanish &c. And as they in the Prophet Ezek, 28, 13.lament Tyrus and Sidon, with the like lamentation may wee bewaile the pittifull ruines of the vnsound Christian. Thou hast beene in Eden, the garden of God, as one of the fairest trees thereof, EueryEvery pretious stone Reuel. 18. 16.was in thy garment, the ruby, the topaze, the diamond, &c. But alas alas these great ones that were cloathed with purple and silke. For in one houre are all these riches come to desolation. Yesterday flourishing like one of the gallant lillies, putting downe Salomon in al his Math, 6, 30.glory, and alas to day cast into the fiery ouen of hel. The many gourds of excellent graces sprouted vp suddenly, and grew mightily, and vnderunder their shadow, ye sat reioycing: but alas with Ionas his ioy. Iona, 4, 6, 7, 8.For the worme of a deceitfull hart in one night hath as suddenly consumed them all. So that now ye are worse then euer before; as Ionah, after the perishing of his gourd, troubled not only with the sun, but also with the East-wind. The winds of the Diuels temptations shall be let loose more fiercely to inrage the skorching sunne of thine owne concupiscense, and corruption; free liberty shal be giuen to thy formerly restrained corruption; and forasmuch as thou wast alwaies a sowe, power of reentrance shall be graunted to the impure spirit with the company of seuen worse, that as once he did those Gadaren swine, he may carrie thee headlong into the filthy, and miry sea of thine owne fleshlinesse there to wallow and tumble as before thy cleansing. God hath threatned, and he will be as good as his word, to spue out the luke-warme out of his mouth. Thinke not now Reuel, 3, 16.that God will bee like thee, that as thou eatest vp thy vomit, so he will his, and suffer thee, after thou art once vomited, to come into his stomack againe. Nay, because hee saw, thou wast such a dogge that thou wouldst returne to thy sinne, which thou hadst vomited, therefore hath he spued thee out for euer; to teach thee by his example in spuing thee out, how thou shouldst hauehave spued thy sin out, namely without a desire of euer returning to it againe, as the Israelites to their forsaken Aegypt. Such Israelites, that after their departure from Aegypt, carry yet a disposition of returning, in the wildernes must they die, into Gods rest neuer must they enter. O miserable case of the hypocrite, which is so desperate, and irremediable! The fall of the sandy house, saith our Sauiour is great. Heerein great, because so quashed Math, 7, 27.in shiuers, that it cannot bee reared vp againe, and the curse of God is such vponupon it, beeing fallen that like Iericho, and Ierusalem it is irreedifiable. With Iosh, 6. …6. Psal, 119, 10.my whole heart hauehave I sought thee, saith Dauid, suffer me not to wander from thy commaundements. Insinuating thereby, that such as doe not seeke God with their whole hearts, that is in singlenesse of heart, vnfainedly, God will suffer them to wander in crooked blind waies, and that fearefully, and irreturneablie Psal. 119, 8….To the like purpose is that in the same Psalm, Let my heart be vpright in thy statutes, that I may neuer bee ashamed. Those then that are not vpright in heart God owes them a shame, and will assuredly pay it vntounto them. Is it not a shame for a man in good trade to prooue bankerupt, and turne begger? will he not be ashamed to looke any body in the face, that knew him before? so surely is it with the deceitfull Christian when he is thus fallen away; being now made a miserable spectacle, and as it were a monster to be pointed at with the finger, that as the true Israelite is noted out with a Behold, for imitation, Behold a true Israelite in whom no Ioh, 1. 47.guile, so he with a Behold, for detestation, behold the man that tooke not God for his strength. What a shame Psal. 52. 7,this, when it wilbe said, was not this the great professour, the earnest preacher? and lo now with Demas he hath imbraced the present world. Did not Adams apostasie fill his face with shame? Howsoeuer sometimes this kind of men hauehave faces of wainscotte, and foreheades of brasse, yet their conscience, I dare say, is ashamed, to see God discouer their filthy nakednesse, by taking away their very showes of grace, and bringing their secret wickednesse to light. I conclude then this first motiue with the wordes of our Sauiour whose it is. Take Luc. 12. 1. 2.heede of hypocrisie. For there is nothing hidde that shall not be reueiled, nor couered, that shall not bee knowen. How righteous, ó Lord, is this thy iudgement vponupon hypocrites? They are not that, they seeme, and are thought to be: Therefore at last they shall seeme, and be thought to be that, they are.
2 Sincerity is the highest perfection attainable in this life. That which is wanting in the measure of obedience, and holinesse is made vp in the truth, and soundnesse thereof. Therefore Peter, beeing asked of the measure of his louelove to Christ, louest thou me more then these? answereth only concerning the Ioh. 21 15.truth; being asked of the quantity, answeareth onelyonly concerning the quality, Lord thou knowest that I louelove thee. For the quantity, it matters not so much with thee: None loues thee so much as he ought: but for the sincere quality, which is all in all with thee, as for that, I appeale to thy selfe. Hence it is that wher the scripture speaketh of perfection it is to be vnderstood of sincerity, in the feeling of imperfection, and in an earnest desiring, and aspiring after perfection. Those that in one place are said to bee 1. Chron. 12. 33. afterward vers. 38.perfitte, in another, by way of exposition, are said to be vpright.
3. Where sincerity is, there God both couers and cures all other infirmities. As hypocrisie drowneth many excellent graces, and causeth God to take no notice of them; so contrarily sincerity many grosse infirmities, and by drawing the eye of God to it selfe, causeth it to winke at them. How many infirmities scaped from the good Prophet Dauid? his numbring the people, his counterfeiting madnesse, his collusion with Achish, his rash anger, and furious swearing, and vowing the death of Nabal, and his vniust dealing with good poore Mephibosheth. These things were sinnes, yet sincerity was a veyle vntounto them. Because sincerity was not so shaken in his other sinnes as in his murther, and adultery, God that tooke some speciall notice of this last, would take none at all of the other. The heart of Dauid, saith the scripture, was vpright in all thinges saue in the matter of Vriah. When at Hesekiahs passouer there had been some want in some of the people their preparation, yet Hezekiah charitably presuming of the sincerity, and honesty of their heartes, prayes thus for them, The good Lord 2. Chron. 30. 15. 19be mercifull to him that prepareth his whole heart to seeke the Lord God, though he be not clensed according to the purification of the sanctuarie. Lo how sincerity preuailed against the defect of legall purification, being more powerfull to drawe Gods blessing, then the other his curse. Some of Asaes infirmities hauing been mentioned by the holy Ghost, as that the high places were not taken away, yet the conclusion is, Yet his heart was vpright towards the Lord all his daies. Lo how all other his infirmities are couered 1. King. 15. 14.with the mantle of sincerity. Contrarily in Iehu, we may obserue, how the holy Ghost after a large description of many excellent things done by him, doeth at last as it were draw a crosse line, and blot out all spoken before with this conclusion; But Iehu regarded not to walke in the law of the Lord with all 2. King. 10. 31.his heart. Lo how all other his graces are buried in the graue of an vnsound heart, Great vertues, not sweetned with sincerity, are no ornament vntounto vsus: And great infirmities, not soured with hypocrisie, are no great deformities. Those God acknowledges not: these God imputes not.
4 Neither doth God couer onelyonly, but in time cure also sincerities imperfectiōs; giuing it strength and daily increase of grace to preuaile against them. For the eies of the Lord behold all the earth to shew him 2. Chro. 16. 9.selfe strong with them that are of vpright heart. Howsoeuer they may be weake in themselues, yet they shall feele Gods strength perfiting it selfe in their weaknesse. For as it is in the Psalme, with the vpright Psal. 18. 25.thou wilt bee vpright; thou wilt not faile him in his neede. No, The Lord is neere to them that call vponupon him, that call vponupon him in truth, he is neere with the powerfull Psal. 145. 18.presence of his spirit, to helpe them in all their needes, to relieue, & succour them against all their infirmities, and temptations. Whereupon the Psalmist praies, Do good ô Lord to them that are true Psal. 125. 4.in heart; yea and assures vsus out of his owne experience that God is good to Israel, euen in the middest of Psal 73. 1.affliction, and temptation, but to what Israel? to the pure in heart. And Paul promiseth such as are simple Rom. 16. 19. 20.to euill, that is sincere-hearted, that they shal not alwaies be held captiue vnderunder their infirmities, but at length Sathan shall be trod vnderunder their feete. It is the wont of the Lord to reward the sincerity of a litle grace with abundance of greater graces. Nathaniel, before his coming to Christ, could hauehave no great knowledge, yet being a true Israelite, void of guile, Christ further in lightens him, giues him the sight of the true Messiah, not only bodily, but spirituall, Iohn. 1. 49. 50.indues him with true faith, and promises him still greater matters. Alas the weake and dim knowledge that the poore Eunuch, and Cornelius had in the mystery of godlinesse: yet because according to that poore measure of knowledge they had, they worshipped God sincerely, an Euangelist Acts. 8. & 10.was sent to the one, and both an Angell, and an Apostle to the other, bringing the reward of their sincerity in their handes, the clearer light of the Gospell, and a fuller largesse of spirituall giftes. For as the curse of God is vponupon hypocrisie to decrease, and destroy a great deale, a great stocke of grace, so the blessing of God is vponupon sincerity to increase the little stocke, the two mites, the graine of musterd seede of sincerity. So that as in the outward estate, so also in the inward it is true which the Prophet speaketh of the true child of God. A little vntounto the righteous is better then great riches to the wicked For Psal. 37. 16.as Gods curse blowes vponupon the great reue…es of wicked men, so that they often fall into decay, and Vers. 21.are forced, as the Psalmist sayeth, to come, and borrow euen of the godly man, who is poorer, that is, hath not so much, as they, so also is it in the spiritual riches of the hypocrites graces compared with the vpright Christians. Their great giftes they hauehave prosper not, in the time of their trouble they are glad to borrow as it were of poorer men, to craue comfort, and reliefe of meaner Christians, not so richly gifted as themselues, like as the foolish virgins in the parable for all the great blaze of their lampes were faine to begge oyle of the wise. Hence Math. 25. 8.it is that the vpright mans little portion of grace is better then the greater share of the hypocrite; because it thriues in his handes, and by his good husbandry quickly rises, the secret curse of God, as a moath, eating vp, and wasting the other. Is not a little springe, better then a great pond? yes. For in summer, when the great ponde is dried vp, the little spring still holds out, and does vsus seruice. So is it with the graces of sincerity. Though they are but little as the oyle in the cruse, and the meale in the barrell of the Sareptan widdow, yet they hauehave such a springe, that as she held out in the famine, when many of better estate, in all likelihood, perished, so when the proude hypocrite that had ten talents, is broken and hath brought his ten talents to none, yet the humble sincere Christian, that had but two talents, continues still, and hath brought his two to foure, his fiue talents to ten. And whats the reason of this increase? Euen his sincerity. Because Luc. 19. 17.thou hast been faithfull saith our Sauiour, in a little, I will make thee ruler ouer much. Surely Dauid, as all other Christians, had no great stocke to beginne withall: for the kingdome of heauen, in the first beginnings is but as a graine of muster dseede: yet, in short Math. 13.space of time, that his little, faithfully imployed, & wisely husbanded, brought so admirable an increase, that the poore prentise got before the richest Merchantes in this kind, euen the teachers themselues, and the graue sages, and ancient fathers, that had of a long time knowne him that was from the beginning, Iohn. 2. 14.were of his old acquaintance, and were in Christ long before him. I the other day a poore puny, Rom. 16. 7. Psal. 119. 99 100.a freshman, hauehave now got more vnderstanding, then all my teachers for all their great reading, yea then all my auncients, for all their long experience. But how might this come to passe? Because I kept thy preceptes, namely in sincerity. This I had saith he, namely the Psal. 119. 56.grace to remember the name of God in the night, to make his statutes my songes in the house of my pilgrimage &c. because I kept thy precepts.
5 Sincerity as it lessens something our euill, so it amplifies and addes to the glory of our good actions, euen such as are but of the lower sort. There is not the meanest action whatsoeuer, which sinceritie, will not set a faire gloze vponupon, and procure it that grace in the eyes of God, that in some respects it shall be matchable euen to workes farre greater, in their owne nature. A poore labouring man that liues by his handes hauing beene faithfull in that place, and performing sincere obedience therin to God, may hauehave as much comfort on his deathbed, as the best minister, and magistrate, whose seruice yet is in it selfe farre more honorable. Yea if his sincerity in his calling bee greater then theirs is in theirs, his comfort also shall be greater. For God regardes not so much the matter, as the forme of our obedience, not so much the thing that wee do, as the affection wherewith we do it. Where sincerity is, there, in the meanest workes that are, together with them, the heart is giuen to God. And the more a man giues of his hart to God, the more acceptable is his worke. The widdowes mite could weigh but light: but her hart weighed heauy. And so her heart being put to her mite gaue it weight aboue the greater, but farre more hartlesse, largesse of the Pharise. Sincerity is to our workes, as spirit is to our bodies, maketh it farre better, then a greater, where there is more flesh, but lesse spirit. O rare and excellent vertue of sincerity which can make light drammes, and barly cornes as massie and ponderous, as the huge talents. Whereas contrarily the want of sincerity maketh talents as light as feathers. Hypocrisie, such is the filth of it, imbaseth the purest mettals, and turneth very gold, yea pretious stones into rustie iron; Contrarily, sincerity in an excellent kind of alchymie turneth iron into gold, and as once our Sauiour water into wine. Hypocrisie causeth the most glorious workes of almes, prayer, preaching, with great indignation to be reiected: sincerity the poorest workes, of keeping sheepe, sweeping the house, &c. with great fauour to be accepted. Sincerity then is all in all. A sincere Tutior est in corpere digitus sanus, quam lippiens oculus. Digitus exigua quaedam res est, oculus magnifice multum potest, & tamen melius est digitum esse, & san…m esse, quam oculum esse, & perturbari, lippire & ex…acari. In Psal. 130. Luc. 16.Rahab, is better then an vnsound Iudas. As in the naturall body to vse S. Austens comparison, the case of the sound finger is safer then of the blindish eye. The finger indeede is but a little small thing, and cannot do such seruice as the eye, it is not of that admirable nimblenesse, and quicknesse, nor cannot guide, and direct the whole body, as the eye doth. And yet it is better to be a finger, and to be sound, then to be an eye, & to be dimme, and darke, ready to fall out of the head. Better in gods familie to be a faithfull doore-keeper, and so to be sure to hold our place, then to be an vnfaithfull steward, and so with him in the Gospell, to bee thrust out, and come to the danger of begging. When we come to die, it is not the greatnesse, or the multitude of those good works which we hauehave done, but the good disposition of an honest, and sincere heart in the doing of them that must then stand vsus in steade. The Psalmist pronounces them blessed that are vpright in their way. Hee maketh no choise of the way, he doth not say, Blessed are they that are vpright in the way of the ministery, or the magistracie, but speaking indifferently of any way allow able by the word, be it neuer so simple, or meane, he saith blessed are the vpright in their Psal. 119. 1.way, whatsoeuer it be, be it but to be a drudge in a kitchin, yet he that is vpright in this way is blessed, as contrarily he that is not vpright in a fairer, and more glorious way, as the way of Apostleshyp, is cursed. God lookes not so much to the way, as to thy foote in walking in the way. Let the way be neuer so meane yet no discomfort, if thou walke in it vprightly: let it be neuer so glorious, yet no comfort, if thou walke in it haltingly. Therefore Esekiah being stroken with that thūderbolt of the sentence of death, what was his comfort? Euen this, the conscience of his sincerity. O Lord thou knowest I hauehave Esa. 38. 3.walked with an vpright heart. This was his only refuge. Though those good workes hee had done were in regard of his calling of the highest note, the restoring of the true worship of God, the purging of the defiled temple, and priesthood: yet he doth not comfort himselfe with these so worthy works; O Lord thou knowest I hauehave clensed thy sanctuarie, erected thy worship, repaired the decaied wals of Ierusalem, renued the glory, and beauty of thy Sion: no; but without instancing in any particulars, he had done, he mentions only the manner of doing, his sincerity of affection in all his doinges. I hauehave walked before thee with a perfect heart. So how many, and glorious were the workes of Paul, his miracles, his preaching, planting of Churches, conuersion of sinners, suffering of perfecutions. Yet reuiewing his life, what was his chiefest comfort? Let vsus heare himselfe speake. This is our reioycing, 2. Cor. 1. 12.not that we hauehave cast out the Diuels, healed the sicke, clensed the lepers, by the thunder of my preaching caused Sathan to fall downe from heauen like lightning; (no none of all these were his comfort:) but, that in simplicitie, and godly purenesse we hauehave had our conuersation in the world. Hence it Aug. in Psal. 130. Nō voluit Apostolos gaudere ex eo quod pr…prium habebant, sed ex eo quòd … m…aeteris salutem ten…bant. Inde voluit gaudere Apostolos vnde gaudes & tu. Quomodo distortum lignum si disponas in pauimento aequali non collocatur, non compaginatur nec adiungitur, sed semper agitatur & nutat, non quia inaequale est vbi posutsti, sed quia distertum est quod p…suisti: Ita cor tu…m quamdiu distortum non potest collineari rectitudini dei, & non potest in illo collocari, vt …aereat illi, & fiat rectum. Aug. in Ps. 31. Pro. 11. Iohn. 1. 47.was that the Apostles when they returned to Christ reioycing in their victorie ouer the Diuell were checked, and bidden to reioyce not in any other thing, then in that which eueryevery sincere Christian, though neuer so meane, and contemptible, may reioyce in as well as they, namely that their names were written in heauen.
6. The speciall hatred, and antipathie that is in God against deceitfulnesse should be a strong motiue vntounto sincerity. There can be no vnion betwixt God, and the hypocrite, in regard of the great dissimilitude of dispositions. God is single; And he is double: hauing a heart and a heart, and therefore cannot be as Dauid: a man according to Gods heart. The hypocrite is crooked, and God is straight: And how will you compact together, and make euen straight and crooked? How can there be friendship betwixt them that are eueryevery way of contrary dispositions? But where there is likenesse of manners there easily will hearts be glued, and rivveted together. Now the vpright in heart are according to Gods owne heart, and therfore, as Salomon saies, they are his delight. The Lord so loueth the truth in the inward partes, that hee himselfe with his owne mouth will commend, yea and admire the true Israelite. Behold a true Israelite, said our Lord of Nathaniel. Though sincerity lurke with Saul, and care not for being beheld, yet God bringes it forth to light, and biddes others behold it. So true is that of the Apostle, that the true Iewes praise is of God. Was it thought such a matter for Achilles to hauehave the Poet Homer describer of his vertues? O the glory then of the sincere Christian that shall hauehave God himselfe the trumpetter of his praises? But he loathes, and abhorres the hypocrite, euen as the stomacke doth lukewarme water, hee distates him as much as he doth the grosse and open offendours. Therefore it is that he …oakes them with such in their punishment. Do good ô Lord to the true in heart. But these that turne aside by their crooked waies, them (that is hipocrites) the Lord shal lead away with the workers of iniquity; yea and reprocheth them with their name, when hee inflictes the punishment, Depart ye workers of iniquity. Therefore it is also, that when he would threaten a man a grieuous punishment indeed, he saies hee will giuegive him his portion with hypocrites. And indeede the hypocrites punishment must needes bee very grieuous, since he must be spewed out of Gods mouth. Now the basest places that are, we thinke good enough to cast vp our gorge in. So odious is the lukewarme Reuel. 3. 16. Magis culpa digna est quae ad ostentationē et laudē lachrymas fundit, quā quae corporalis studio pulchri tudinis color… tur fucis, stibio{que} depingitur. hom. 6. in Math.hypocrite in the eyes of God, that in some regards he can better away with the starke cold Atheist, and openly prophane, and scandalous Epicure, as who would not rather hauehave an open, then a secret, and friend-like enemie. Chrysostome saies well, that she is a worse woman that in hypocrisie blurres her face with teares, that shee might bee iudged an humbled penitentiary, then she that beautifies it with painted colours, that she might be reputed a faire and louely creature. And in the same proportion of reason wee may say that God more hateth the popish pharisaicall pininge of the body by counterfeit fasting, then the Epicurish pampering of the body with gluttony, and bellicheare. So out of conceit is God with hypocrisie. And this he shewes most apparantly, in that hee will not indure he should come neere him in any seruice, or sacrifice of prayer, or praise. For his sharpe nose easily discerneth, and is offended with the stinking breath of his rotten lunges, though his wordes be neuer so sented, and perfumed with shewes of holinesse.
7 And as in other regardes God thinkes him vnfit to come neere him, so specially in the function of the ministery. Some such indeede hauehave come neere him, as Iudas among the Apostles. But often hath he cast them out with reproch, as vnsauory salt into the dunghill. Whatsoeuer their other sufficiences, and inablements may bee, yet their want of a sound heart makes God hold them vnworthy of this honorable calling. For this is the speciall thing required of the disposers of Gods secretes, 1. Cor. 4. 2.that eueryevery man bee found faithfull. Therefore when Simon Magus would hauehave been medling heere, Simon Peter thrust him away, & told him plainly, thou hast no part, or fellowship in this ministration. And Act. 8. …1.marke the reason, why; for thine heart is not right in the sight of God. But though all, with this Simon, are not thus kept out, yet God shewes his dislike of them some other waies, either cashiering them with great disgrace, or else making both them, and their ministery vile, & contemptible. For the Lord will be sanctified in them that come neere him, if not in Leuit 10. 3.the sincerity of their sanctification, yet certainely in the seuerity of their condemnation.
8 And as the hypocrite is thus vnfitte for God, so also for all good men, to hauehave any thing to doe with; such blemishes are they, and indeed the very botches of any Christian society. Lydia desired Paul and Silas vponupon no other condition to enter into Act 16. 15.her house, then this, if they had iudged her faithfull. And Dauid, hauing prayed for the sweet company, and communion of the godly, Let such as Ps. 119. 79. 80.feare thee turne vntounto me, and such as know thy testimonies, immediately addeth another praier, Let my heart be vpright in thy statutes, that I may neuer bee ashamed. Insinuating thereby that hee should be vnfit for the company of Gods children, vnlesse his heart were vpright. As therefore in the former speach he praied for the company of the godly, so in the latter for that which might make him meete for their company, so that he might hold out in that blessed fellowship, without being ashamed, when in the end for want of sincerity he should bee shaken off by his cōpanions. And again the same Prophet describing what kind of Court he would hauehave whē he came to the kingdom, banisheth from it the deceitful person, & maketh choise only of the faithfull. Mine eies shall be to the faithfull of the land, that they may dwell with me. Hee that walketh in a perfect way he shall Ps. 101. 6. 7.serue mee. There shall no deceitfull person dwell within my house.
9 Againe hypocrisie is so loathed by God, that he grudget it the least successe in any thing it goeth about. Iakobs sonnes hauing trecherously sold their brother would yet couer their sinne, as with a lie, so with a feined, hypocriticall consolation of their Gen. 37. 35.mournefull old father. But with all their wordes could not they in the least sort cheere him vppe. They were but miserable comforters, because feyned. Hence it is that the blessing of God is not so vsuall, nor so large vponupon the labours of hypocrites, though neuer so well qualified, as of sincere preachers though otherwise of meaner giftes. If thou wilt turn vntounto me thou shalt conuert, said God to Ieremy And this is giuen as the reason of Iohn the Baptists Ier. 15. 19. Luc. 1. 16.so great successe in conuersion of soules, because he shold hauehave the sound, & powerful spirit of Elias. He shall conuert, saith the Angell to Zecharie, many of the children of Israel to their Lord God. Why so? For he shall go before him, not in the spirit of hypocrisie, but in the spirit & power of Elias. So where the good hand of God is noted in the successe of Esraes iourny, this reason is giuen therof, euen Esraes faithfull, and honest heart to God ward. He came to Ierusalem according to the good hand of his God that was vponupon him. For Esra had prepared his hart to seeke the law of the Lord, and to doe it &c.Esra. 7. 9. 10.
10. Well, but this sometimes befals sincerity for it further triall to be denyed successe. God forbid yet that any one should be iudged an hypocrite for want of successe. This would argue want of charity & iudgment? but lo see the misery of an hypocrite in the want of successe, and the happines of the sincere professor in the same case. For the one hath comfort in the conscience of his sincerity: the other is vexed, and tormented with the guilt of his vnsoundnes, and taketh this punishment, as a iust rebuke thereof. The vnsound minister let his paines be neuer so great, his preaching neuer so profitable, yet, if it take not, hath iust cause to lay the blame not vp-his hearers, but himselfe. For well may hee thinke with himselfe. How should I looke that god should grace words comming from a corrupt, and impure heart with the attendance of his holy spirit? But such ministers, as in the want of successe, are priuy to themselues of their owne sincerity, they may say with Paul, 2. Corinthians 3. 4. 5. If our Gospell bce hid, it is hid to them that perish. Why so? For we preach not our selues, but Christ Iesus the Lord, and our selues your seruants for Iesus sake. Marke how the Apostle alleageth his sincerity in the discharge of his ministery as a reason of comfort, when it preuailed not; assuring himselfe vponupon this ground that the fault was in the hearers themselues, and not in him, or in his preaching. The hypocrites successe then is either none at all, or comfortlesse, and so as good as none. For all the ioy of his successe is dashed with the conscience of his own hypocrisy. Wheras the sincere Christian as he is vnderunder the promise of successe, and so often hath it: so when for iust causes God sees it not fitto accomplish this his promise, being onelyonly conditionall, yet then hath he more comfort in his successelesse sincerity, then the hypocrite for his life can hauehave in his most successefull and happiest hypocrisie. Yea the sincere Christian being a beholder of his successe oftens carries away al the comfort thereof, when the miserable hypocrite himselfe is left drye and destitute. The successe of a good work done in sincerity is specially comfortable to the worker himselfe, aboue that it is to others. Contrarily, that comfort which is in the successe of an hypocriticall good worke is wholly others, the workeman himself hath not the least iot. Hence S. Paul though Phil, 1, 18.the false Apostles were his aduersaries, and preached of enuy to vexe him, and thought little of prouiding matter of comfort for him, yet he reioyced in their preaching, and the fruit thereof. Whereas yet they themselues, preaching onelyonly of vaineglory and contention, could not hauehave the least comfort thereby.
11. Lastly; In all dangers, trialls, temptations, sincerity maketh vsus valiant and couragious, begetting in vsus the true manly, generous and heroicall spirits, euen that Lion-like boldnes spokē of in the Prouerbs. It is not put out of countenance with the false accusations Prou. 28, 1.of slanderous tongues. It throweth them off as Paul did the viper vnhurt, yea in a holie skorning, it laugheth at them; as the wild asse in Iob doth at the horse and the rider. No no. The brest-plate of righteousnes, the brazen wall of a good conscience feareth no such arrows. It saith with Paul, I passe not for mans iudgement. Though mine aduersary should write a booke against me, would I not take it vponupon my shoulder 1, Cor, 4, 3.and bind it as a crowne vntounto mee? saith Iob. Yea further Iob, 31. 35, 39.saith that holy man, I will tell him the number of my goings, I will acquaint him with my whole life, & let him picke what hee can thereout, so little doe I know by my selfe: O the confidence of sincerity: yea yet further, I will come vntounto him, not as a guilty trembling slaue, but as a prince, that being strongly guarded both with armed men and his subiects louelove; and imboldened with the might, & right of his own power, walkes securely, and without feare. O the noble spirits of sincerity! And indeed eueryevery true Christian, being a spirituall Prince, hath the spirits of the best Prince, as hauing that Princely priuiledge of a Phil, 4, 8. foreign.dubble guard, the guard of the Angels without, & of a good conscience within, the peace wherof; as the Apostle speaketh, is in stead of a guard against aduersary power. Shall now such a Prince, so guarded, regard the enmity of any? feare threatenings of any, though neuer so mighty? No. Well may others fear him, as Herod and Saul proud tyrants did, the one Iohn, his poore minister, knowing saith the Scripture, he was a iust man and holy, the other Dauid, his poore subiect for the same cause: but hee feares none but Mark, 6, 20. 1. Sam. 18, 14. 15. 2, Tim, 1. 7.God; neither yet him slauishly. God hath not giuen vsus th spirit of feare, but of power and louelove, & of a sound mind, saith the Apostle; opposing the spirit of feare to the spirit of soundnesse and sincerity. And indeed as there is nothing more bold then a sound conscience: so nothing more base, or sooner abashed, then an vnsound conscience, destitute of this sincerity: Eliah in his rags had the heart to go meete Ahab in his robes, and Dauid in the middest of all hs reproches, had the face to professe the name of God before Kings and Princes, without euer being blanked Psalm, 119.at their presence. For, let a man bee neuer so much deiected▪ this sinceritie will reuiue, and refresh his spirit, and put new life into him. Contrarily Peter, when he rushed, in the presumption of his deceitfull heart, into danger, without this fense and fortification, how dastardly a coward shewed hee himselfe? See how small a thing danted him; euen the words of a poore sillie wench. Who yet afterward, cloathed with this armour, was so stout, and manly, that not the high Priest himselfe, nor all his prisons, nor punishments whatsoeuer, could any thing appall him; so in the afflictions sent by God, ô the releefe that then sincerity yeelds within, when all other things faile vsus! This causeth vsus to lift vp our heads with ioy; when others are at their very wits end for feare. The hypocrite in peace, and security may seeme strong and valorous; but let God by some affliction dragge him out as it were by the eares from his lurking hole, and conuent him before his tribunall, and thou shalt not see any thing more abiect or hartlesse. Then is that of the Prophet verified, The sinners in Sion are afraid, a feare is come among the hypocrites. Who among vsus shall dwell with the deuouring Esa, 33, 14.fire? who among vsus shall dwell with the euerlasting burnings? But the sincere heart euen in this case holds out confident, and comfortable. When Christ seemed to set himselfe against Peter, and to call the truth of his profession into question, with that threefold pinching demand, Simon louest thou me? Peters faithfull heart still held it owne, and ouercame in Ioh, 21, 15, 16that wrestling, Lord thou knowest I louelove thee. O the boldnesse of sincerity, that dares make God the Iudge, when hee makes himselfe the accuser! When Iob had against him not onelyonly the diuell his enemy, pushing at him with his poysoned weapons, but euen his owne friends, scurging him with their tungs, yea his owne wife a thorne pricking him in the eye, yea his owne God, miserably lashing his naked soule with scorpions, what was it that releeued him against all these, but the remembrance of his owne vprightnesse in the course of his life by past? And therefore he said, Vntill I dye I will neuer take away my innocency from my selfe. My heart shall not reproue mee for my daies. Who now would want such a companion, Iob, 27, 5, 6.such a friend as sincerity is, and that stickes so close vntounto vsus, and yeeldeth such sweet comfort, euen in our sorest trials, and hardest streights?
Here then happily some, feeling the want of this Meanes to get sincerity.so necessary a grace, will inquire concerning the Meanes to attaine thereto.
The first meanes is for a man alwaies to possesse his heart with the apprehension of Gods presence, and so to keepe it in his feare continually, to walke as Enoch Gen, 5. Heb, 11. Gen, 17, 1.did, with God, as being in his eye, and with Moses seeing him that is inuisible. Walke before me▪ saith God to Abraham, and be vpright. First, Walke before me, set thy selfe in my presence, behold my all seeing eye, that seeth in the darke, euen in the darkest corners of the heart, and then bee vpright. This apprehension of Gods presence will quash, & crush euen the very first risings of hypocriticall thoughts. What? God sees me, and shall I dare to dallie with him? If but a man, nay if but a child could looke into my heart, I durst not deale dubbelie, and deceitfully. How then may I dare to do so, when the God of heauen is present, and beholds me? Hypocrisie ariseth from the secret Atheisme of the heart, whereby he saith. Tush none seeth. And in this regard Ananias Acts 5, 9.and Saphira, a paire of noble hypocrites are said to tempt God in their hypocrisie, that is to make triall of him, whether he were present eueryevery where or no, and so knowing all things were able to reueale their hypocrisie. And for the same cause did Peter tell them, that they lied not to men, but to the holie ghost, because they thought they were out of Gods hearing, and onelyonly Peter, and they with him, heard them. Therefore the Church in the Psalmes sheweth how they were kept in their sincerity, from dealing falsly in their couenant with God; because they Psalm, 44.remembred that God would search it, as beeing the searcher of the heart. And S. Paul notably ioynes these two together, Wee make not merchandise of the 2, Cor, 2, 17.word of God, We play not the hucksters with it: but as of sincerity, as of God in the sight of God speak wee in Christ. It is impossible for a man to speak as in Gods presence, and not to speake sincerely.
A second meanes is diligently to reuiew all our workes of obedience, as one God did his of creation and to obserue the peace and comfort of conscience which we finde, when we do good things with good hearts, as on the contrary the trouble and disquiet of mind, when we do otherwise. And withall, when we take our selues thus tardie, in a holy indignation to take reuenge of our selues, iudging and condemning our selues before the Lord. The very thinking of the after-reckonings we must come to, when wee hauehave done our worke, will make vsus take heede how we do it. For who is there that vseth for all his actions, at the daies end to call himselfe to a seuere examination, as the hard Master doth his seruants, that must not needes, in the very middest of his actions reason thus with himselfe? Anon all this which now I doe, must very narrowly be looked ouer, if it be not done faithfully and sincerely, I shall smart for it then; O the wrings and secret pinches which mine owne guilty heart will giuegive mee; yea the lashes which by mine owne couenant, I am tied to giuegive my selfe, in case my worke bee found blurred with hypocrisie? It stands me in hand therefore to looke to it, that though my worke by reason of my weake skill, be but meane, yet it may be cleane, though it be not fine, yet it may not be foule, being soyled, and slubbered with the slurre of a rotten heart.
A third meanes is true humiliation of spirit. For where this is, there must needes be the deniall of our And where there is true deniall of our selues, there is not hypocrisie; which testifieth a man euen in seeking God to seeke himselfe, and in preaching Christ to preach himselfe. And therefore the Apostle opposing his owne sincere, to others deceitfull preaching, saith, We preach not our selues, but the Lord Iesus. This is the ground of all vnsoundnes in religion, this want of humbling and denying our selues. For hence it comes to passe, that wee are so caried and swaied, euen in our best actions, with the respects of our owne praise, and profit. Therefore S. Luke notes that the wise builder, that▪ is the sincere Christian, digges deepe, namely in a deepe humiliation of his Luk, 6, 48.owne soule, whereas thee foolish builder, that is the hypocrite; builds without a foundation, that is, enters vponupon the profession of religion without euer being truely humbled, and cast downe for his sinnes. And hence the building comes to bee vnsound, because vnfounded. That the heart then may stand vpright Non est cor integrum nisi sit scissum.before God, it must first as it were make it selfe crooked instooping and bowing it selfe vnderunder his mightie hand in the exercises of humiliation. That the heart may be whole, it must first bee rent and broken. Corrupt and impure gold cannot be defecated and rid of the drosse, till it be molten, and dissolued. Vnsound bodies full of vitious humors cannot come to any good estate, till they be well emptied by purgation. Crooked things cannot be made strait without the wringing of the hand. Humiliation is that which melts vsus, purges vsus, wrings vsus, and so makes vsus of drossie pure, of foggie sound, of crooked straight Christians. Doest thou then desire to bee a sincere Christian indeede, a true disciple of Iesus Christ, to be freed of all vnsound mixtures? thou must first be broken and battered in peeces, by the humbling hand of God; thou must remember thy Masters rule, I any man will bee my disciple, let him denie himselfe.
Lastly; sincerity being opposed to mixture, as the Sincerum, sine certa. Donat.notation of the word teacheth, that which clenseth our hearts from the defilement of such mixtures, must needes make vsus sincere. Now it is faith which Acts, 15.purgeth, and purifieth the heart. Faith then apprehending the sincerity of Gods louelove in Christs death to vsus, and beholding there how Christ gaue his hart to be pierced for vsus, cannot hut make vsus returne the like sincerity of heart and affection to God. Thy louing kindnes, saith Dauid, is euer before mee, namelie Psalm, 26, 3.by the apprehension of my faith, therefore hauehave I walked in thy truth. So Paul sheweth that it was this louelove of Christ towards him, which by his faith hee apprehended, and applied to himselfe, that made him deale so sincerely, and seeke onelyonly Gods glory, euen then, when to the world, he might seeme to be madde of pride, and vaineglory in preferring himselfe before the false Apostles. Whether we be madde 2, Cor, 5. 13. 14 opened.saith hee, we are madde to God. That is, when I thus commend my selfe, and boast of mine owne ministery against others, and in so doing seeme madde to you, yet then I respect not my selfe in so doing, but onelyonly God and his glory; or whether wee are in our right mind, that is, vse such courses as to you seeme wiser, we are it to you. Wee doe it faithfully for your good. Now marke what it was which made him to doe so. For the louelove of Christ constraineth vsus, because we thus iudge, that if one be dead for al, then were al dead. And he died for all, that they which liue should not henceforth liue to themselues, but to him that died for them.