Commentaries, Commentary on Judges · Chapter 3 · Excursus 4
¶Of diſſimulation.
Diſſimulacion is of two kindes.BVt what ſhal we affirme of diſſimulatiō? I anſwer, that it is of two kindes. One is, which hath a reſpect onelyonly to deceaue. And that foraſmuch as it differeth not much from a lye, it is vndoubtedlye ſynne. If one being wicked, doo fayne himſelfe to be good and holy, the ſame man without doubt is an hipocrite: and in that he diſſembleth, he haynouſly ſinneth. Whoſoeuer alſo hauing a malitious and enuious hart againſt anye man, doth flatter the ſame man, and diſſembleth to be his friend, he is not without ſynne, yea he is infected with a deteſtable diſſimulation. But ther is an other kinde of diſſimulation, which tendeth not to deceaue any man, but ſerueth onelyonly to kepe counſels ſecrete that they bee not hindred. And this diſſimulation is not to be repudiated, or to be condemned as a ſyn, foraſmuch (as we hauehave alredy declared) that it is not alwaies required, that we ſhoulde open what ſoeuer truth wee knowe.What Chriſt mēt by his diſſimulation. So Chriſte being moſt innocent, tooke vponupon him the fleſh of ſyn, & hid his innocency & diuine nature. And that not to deceiue mortal men, but that he might ſuffer for the ſaluatiō of mēt For if he had bene knowen to hauehave bene the Lord of glory, thei would neuer (as ſaith the Apoſtle) hauehave crucified him. The ſame Chriſt fained alſo before two of his Diſciples that he would go farther. He did not that to deceiue them, but hee therfore a while opened not himſelf vntounto them, to reprooue them of their incredulity, and to inſtruct them by teſtimonies of the ſcriptures. Therewithall alſo he ſignified how farre he was from their hartes. Or as Auguſtine interprereth it, he ſhaddowed vntounto them his departure into heauen. Wherefore it manifeſtly appeareth, that in thoſe diſſimulations there was no lye, ſeing his woordes did well agree wyth the thyng ſignified.
And Dauid when hee fell into a moſt great daunger before Achin Kyng of Geth, chaunged his countenaunce and fained himſelfe a foole,Of the diſſimulatiō of Dauid. and for that hee ſeemed ſuche a one, he eſcaped. Here ſome ſay that he cōmitted no diſſimulation, but that God, to deliuer him, ſtrake ſuch a feare in him, that his ſenſes might be taken from him, and ſo did theſe thinges whych are rehearſed of him in the fyrſt booke of Samuel. Wherefore in his Pſalme which beginneth:Pſal. 34. I wyl alway geue thankes vntounto the Lorde, he gaue thankes vntounto God for ſo great a benefite. And therwithal in his act by the inſpiratiō of God, he ſhadowed what Chriſt ſhould ſuffer for our ſakes, namely that he ſhould be counted as a foole and a mad mā. Either els we anſwer, that Dauid is not altogether to be excuſed of ſynne, if as a man being more afeard than was mete, he ſought for this kinde of helpe. But if he by the mocion of God did it wittingly and with knowledge, we wil not accuſe him of ſynne, although we may not follow his example. Neither is it lawful, that any man ſhould fayne himſelfe to hauehave committed any crime, which he hath not perpetrated,Gregory. Auguſtine. although Gregory ſaith that good myndes wyll there acknowledge a fault wher none is. Auguſtine writeth more truly and ſoundly of that thing in his .29. Sermon de verbis Apoſtoli. For he writeth: In ſo faining, if before thou waſt not a ſinner, thou ſhalt be made a ſinner, namely in ſaying yt thou haſt cōmitted that yl which thou haſt not perpetrated. It is lawful in dede for eueryevery man to confeſſe himſelf to be a ſynner in vniuerſall. But this or that crime in ſpecial no man ought to receaue in himſelf, which he hath not in verye deede committed. Farther, we muſt note, that this is true, that it is not required of vsus, that we ſhould open the truth eueryevery where, and in all places to ſpeake al that we know: but yet in iudgement the ſame is not to bee permitted. For when two of vsus are examined as witneſſes, there we are bounde to teſtifye that whych we know ſerueth for the thing, whereof at that time we be demaunded.