Jewish Hypocrisy, Chapter 19
CAP. XIX.
1. Of the love the Jews bare to Moſes. 2. When as they hated that which Moſes chiefly aimed at, and had only a fancy to him as a gallant perſon. 3. The ſame love now men think they have to Jeſus Chriſt. 4. But no better then the love men have to perſons of deſert, and that do them kindneſſes. 5. Such men therefore like the Phariſees. They love Chriſt now he is dead and never ſaw him, better then if they had lived with him.
1. BUT ſome may ſay to me; Can you think that ſuch people as you have deſcribed, have no love to Jeſus Chriſt, of whom they ſpeak ſo much? I will give an Anſwer to this, by deſcribing another piece of Jewiſh Hypocriſie, and that was their extraordinary love to Moſes. Moſes! What a great and ſacred name was that, and never out of their mouths! It was a wonder the Aegyptian charmers did not put it into their forms of incantation, as they did the name of Abraham and others,Epiphan. Haer. Melchiſid. ſeeing they boaſted no leſs of it. The Arabians who held him for a God, could not give him a greater veneration then his Countreymen did. They profeſſed themſelves Moſes his Diſciples, and ſay that they are ſure God ſpake by him; but eſteem our Saviour a ſorry fellow in compare with this great Maſter, John 9.28, 29. In Moſes they truſted, John 5.45. and blaſphemy againſt him they would proſecute with the ſame revenge that they did blaſphemy againſt God. Nay Moſes was firſt in their mouths when they accuſed St. Steven, and they ſaid that he had ſpoken blaſphemous words againſt Moſes and againſt God, Act. 6.11. There is no Queſtion to be made but that they would have ſpit in that mans face who ſhould have told them that they did not love Moſes. They would have defied his words, and given him the lye a thouſand times, and you might have as ſoon perſwaded them that there was never ſuch a man, as that they did not bear an affection to him. And for this very cauſe it was that they killed our Saviour, becauſe they thought he contradicted this grand Teacher of their Religion, and imagined they did God high ſervice in ſo doing.
2. And yet if you make a little farther ſearch into the buſineſs, you ſhall find that they loved Moſes no otherwiſe then as vulgar people love Queen Elizabeth; as a brave man, and one who did great things for that Nation, and in whoſe dayes there was a good world. If Moſes had lived in our Saviours time, and told them of their ſins as he did; they would have loved Moſes no more then thieves and traitors loved the Queen, who would not let them ſteal or betray their country. If Moſes ſhould have riſen from the dead, and told them that he allowed divorces only becauſe of the hardneſs of their hearts; they would have given him a bill of divorce, though ſo much wedded to him. If he had ſaid the Gentiles ſhould be fellow-heirs of their promiſes, they would have looked upon him as an heathen and a publicane: And he ſhould not have eſcaped to have been ranked among the ſinners, if he had dropped a word againſt their legal righteouſneſs. Nay, if he had ſaid to them but one of the Ten commandments, Thou ſhalt not covet, thoſe Phariſees would have been ready to caſt ſtones at him for not receiving their gloſſes whereby that command was evacuated. They had an high eſteem of him, and affection to him, as he had been a great Benefactor to their Nation; but the beſt of his Laws, his Spirit and qualities they perfectly hated. And therefore our Saviour tells them, that though they did beautifie the Sepulchres of ſuch righteous perſons as their Fathers had ſlain, and thought they ſhould not have done ſuch a thing for all the world; yet they had the ſame murderous affections againſt thoſe holy men and would have dipt their hands as ſoon in their blood, had they lived in thoſe times. For they hated ſuch men then, as their Fathers hated heretofore; and ſo all the blood that had been ſhed in former ages did light upon them, becauſe they inherited their Anceſtors ſins as well as their lands.
3. Even ſo it is now with many in the Chriſtian world. The name of Jeſus is ſo dear unto them, that they have it in their mouths as much as the Jews had the name of Moſes. It is ſo full of honey and ſweetneſs, and they are ſo fond of it, that it is on their tongues end before the name of God himſelf. This name makes up one quarter of their prayers, and fills up all the gaps and breaches that are in their diſcourſes: And if there be any expreſſions of love and court-ſhip wherewith to careſs him, he ſhall not want them. They commend him for the primeſt beauty; extol his pedegree; admire the riches of grace; and if one could tell how to believe them, they would willingly dye for the love of their beloved Jeſus. No Sermon pleaſes them that extolls not him; all diſcourſes are unprofitable in which his name is not often repeated, and the very ſound of it doth them more good then many wiſe ſentences.
4. But you muſt not think for all this that they are ſuch vowed ſervants of his as they ſeem. For they love him only as a Beggar doth his good Maſter, or as a ſouldier doth Alexander, Caeſar, or ſome ſuch famous Captains, of whoſe great worth and valour he hath heard. As the Spartans honoured Lycurgus, and the Romans Romulus, and all Countreys and Cities love thoſe that have been their founders, or procurers of great immunities and benefits unto them; ſo do theſe perſons love the Lord Jeſus. They look upon him as a noble Heroe, a brave man that hath done great wonders, and deſerved highly of man kind: and Eſpecially they are affected toward him as one that is gone to make room for them in a goodly Paradiſe, & will there entertain them with all dainty delights. Which is no more but what may proceed from education and breeding, from Pulpitdiſcourſes and good books, from a fancy of thoſe joyes that he hath promiſed, which are enough to make a ſenſual man love him as well as a Turk doth Mahomet: Eſpecially conſidering that ſome diſpoſitions are amorous, and others are apt to admire gallant acts and great exploits; and others are wonderfully taken with the kindneſſes that are done them, and the honours that are put upon them. If they ſhould have lived in our Saviours days, and he ſhould have told them, Not every one that ſaith Lord Lord, ſhall enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father; they would have ſaid as the Phariſees in another caſe, Are we blind alſo? do not we know who ſhall go to heaven? If he had ſaid, You are of your Father the Devil, for his works you do; they would have anſwered as the Jews did ſometimes: Thou art a Samaritan, and haſt a Devil. If he had told them that he had no bleſſings but for the humble, the meek, the mercifull, the peace-makers, and thoſe that took up their croſs patiently (of which number they were not,) they would have joyned with the high Prieſts to bring him to his execution.
5. What though they condemn the Phariſees for killing of our Saviour? It is no more then thoſe men ſaid of their forefathers that murdered the Prophets. And they are as full of hatred, malice and black zeal againſt Chriſts moſt faithfull Servants, as the Scribes and Phariſees were againſt Chriſt himſelf. They verily think that they have a love to Chriſt above all the world: but did not the Jews dream of as great an affection to Moſes? Either they do not love the world therefore, and their own luſts and deſires better then Chriſts words: or they are no better then thoſe Jews were who loved no more but the name of their Maſter Moſes.
They have a great zeal for the Worſhip of the Lord Jeſus: but who knows not that the perſons whom they judge as hypocrites, were very fierce for the Ceremonial Law, and loved to be at the Temple? We muſt ſee therefore a great care, diligence and curioſity uſed in all obedience, or elſe we cannot afford them any better language, notwithſtanding all their flattering addreſſes to our Saviour. And you muſt conſider what a vaſt difference there is between the opinion men are apt to have of thoſe who are dead, and of thoſe that are like them, but alive. All men love naturally … ſpeak well of the dead, eſpecially if they did no harm but good. And thoſe that they never ſaw, but hear of their excellent deeds, they have in greater admiration then thoſe that are before their eyes. And thoſe very perſons that they could not affect if they were with them, they commend at a diſtance, as they hear them commended by others. For they commonly hear of nothing but what pleaſes them when they are afar off: but they would ſee many actions, and hear many ſayings, if they converſed with them, that they could not brook. And juſt ſo it is in this caſe: our Saviour is dead, and he likewiſe died as they hear for them: and therefore they cannot but have many good words for him. He is one that they never ſaw, and ſo they admire him for the good they are told of him: while they deſpiſe his live images and thoſe that are like him. They read of his actions and his words at a diſtance; but they are not ſpoken from his mouth to their particular perſons: and therefore they are not ſo offended at him as they would have been, if they had received his reproofs in ſuch ſort as they did who then lived.