The Hypocrites Ladder, Treatise · Chapter 12
CHAP. XII. How far an Hypocrite may go, and yet miſcarry.
BUt our main Uſe whereon we intend to inſiſt and dilate, is to tell you how far a formal Profeſſor, or Hypocrite may go. I have ſometimes ſet down forty ſteps, whereby hee may advance fairly towards heaven, and I thought that fair; but I ſhall ſet you three Ladders of twenty rounds apeece, whereby an hypocrite may climb up to heaven, yet never come there, yet I perceive hee may go much further; for it is much eaſier to ſay where hee may begin, than where to end. Sins of ſcandal have been many times enumerated, but the paces and ſteps of an hypocrite, and artificial Chriſtian, are hardly to bee traced, and counted. Neither do I enter upon this Diſcourſe, to quench the coal of any true Iſraelite, or in any ſort to ſmother the leaſt ſteam of the ſmoaking flax. Far bee it from any Miniſter of the Goſpel to make ſad any whom God would not have made ſad, and to bee of the ſpirit of thoſe Diſciples Ezek. 13. 22.who would call for fire from heaven on Luke 9. 54.thoſe, whom wee are to ſave with fear, rather pulling them out of the fire of hell. Jude v. 23.But wee enter upon this unpleaſant task, with the like affection to that which was Fuller. Proph. ſtate.wont to bee ſhewed at the Degradation of a Knight for high miſdemeanour, the King, and twelve Knights more did put on mourning, as an emblem of ſorrow, for his miſcarriage whom they were now to deprive of all his former dignities and honour, and to leave an everlaſting blot of infamy upon.
I remember well when the Prophet Ezekiel was commanded to denounce the fatal downfal of Tyrus, a heathen City, hee was commanded alſo to take up a ſad Lamentation for Tyrus; and ſhall I not much more take up a lamentation for Chriſtians, whoſe riſe and fall are both far greater than hers? Tyrus her ſtate for the glory of it, is deſcribed thus by the Prophet, Thou haſt ſaid, I am of perfect beauty, Ezek. 27. 3. yea the Lord ſaid of her too, Ezek. 28. Thou ſealeſt up the Sum, full of wiſdome, and perfect in Ezek 28. 12, 13, 14.beauty, thou haſt been in Eden the Garden of God; every precious ſtone was thy covering, the Sardius, Topas, Diamond, Beril, Onyx, Jaſper, Saphir, Emerauld, Carbuncle, and Gold, &c. (almoſt all the precious Ex 28. 17, 18, 19. Rev. 21, 19, 20ſtones that were in the High Prieſts breaſt-plate, or in the wall of the New Jeruſalem) then hee goes on, Thou art the anointed Cherub, thou waſt upon the holy Mountain of God, &c. High expreſſions, and high priviledges. And Chap. 27. ſhee is deſcribed to bee the moſt famous Mart in the world, where there was a confluence of all the riches and beſt commodities that every Nation did afford; yet at length did this Anointed Cherub that was perfect in beauty, periſh with all her precious ſtones, and all is ſummed together, Thy Riches, thy Fayres, thy Merchandiſe, thy Mariners, thy Pilots, thy Calkers, the occupiers of thy Merchandiſe, Ez 27. 27.&c. ſhall all fall with thee into the midſt of the Seas in the day of thy ruine.
So mee thinks when all this may bee ſaid in a ſpiritual ſenſe of a Chriſtian (an unſound Profeſſor) glorious in his own, and others eyes too, as of perfect beauty, as ſealing up the ſumme (omnibus numeris perfectus) that hee is adorned with all the precious ſtones almoſt that are to bee found in the breaſt of the higheſt earthly Saint, and are the adorning of the Saint Triumphant, in the New Jeruſalem, Pſal. 15. 1.that hee hath been in the holy Mountain of God, is an anointed Cherub, being anointed with the oyle of heavenly gifts above his fellows, and made partaker of the Holy Ghoſt, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks, beſides that hee ſhould have a contribution of all the ſpiritual wealth and treaſure of the world to inrich him everlaſtingly, viz. the benefit of all the Writings, Sermons, Obſervations, Admonitions, Threats, Promiſes, Experiences of all the men of God from the beginning of the world to this preſent day, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apoſtles, Miniſters, all the benefit that Scriptures, Sermons, Sabbaths, Sacraments, Ordinances, Prayers, Tears, Intreaties, Threats, Promiſes, Hopes, Fears can do, all that Heaven, and Earth, and Hell can ſay, yea the blood of Chriſt, and the convictions, and other excitations and actings of the Spirit of grace (but rejected and reſiſted) to boot, that at length it ſhould bee ſaid, That thou, thy riches, precious ſtones, Anointings, thy Scriptures, Sermons, Ordinances, Hopes, Fears, Experiences, Parts, Duties, Convictions, Endowments, muſt all peri…h together, and thou ſhalt f…ll with them (not into the midſt of the Sea, but) into the midſt of Hell, in the day of thy ruine. The beholders cryed out Alas, Alas, what City was like Tyrus for glory before! And what City is like Tyrus, like the deſtroyed Ezek. 27. 32.in the midſt of the Sea! So may wee ſay Alas, how is the mighty fallen? the ſhield of the mighty as if hee had never been anointed with oyle, as that 2 Sam. 1.ſad ſinger of Iſrael in his Elegy upon Sauls Funerals.
If therefore any miſdeeming Iſraelite ſhould come to expoſtulate with mee, about my deſign in ſetting down ſo cloſe about the hypocrite, in the words of that wiſe woman of Abel to Joab, when hee had ſo cloſe begirt the Town where Sheba had taken Sanctuary, and was 2 Sam. 20. 19, 20.ready to ſtorm it. Thou ſeekeſt to deſtroy a City, and a mother in Iſrael, why wilt thou ſwallow up the inheritance of the Lord? I would reply in no other but his words, Far bee it, far bee it from mee, that I ſhould ſwallow up, or deſtroy. Deliver mee Sheba, (deliver mee the hypocrite I ſeek for) and I have done; onelyonly with this difference, hee would have Sheba's head, and I would have the hypocrites heart, hee would have his blood, I his ſpirit, hee his death, I his life, hee would have him wholly deſtroyed, I would have the fleſh deſtroyed, that the ſoul may bee ſaved in the day of the Lord, according to that power the Lord hath given to his Church, and the inſtructions left with his Miniſters, foreign to edification, 2 Cor. 10. 8. & 13. 12.not unto deſtruction.
Yet let mee here premiſe this withall, That a much ſhorter Ladder of but two ſteps, laid down, 2 Cor. 5. 17. to bee in Christ (this ſtep cometh from heaven) and to bee a new creature (this reacheth to heaven) would ſecure us more than thoſe three long Ladders of ſixty rounds. At leaſt as Noah was ſafer in his Ark of three ſtories high, than Nimrod, and his crew were in their Tower of Babel, raiſed to the height of five thouſand one hundred forty ſix paces (as is reported) ſo I Heylin, Coſm. 13.am bold to ſay that at moſt a ſhort Ladder of three ſteps.
1 Chriſt the foundation.
2 Faith the middle ſtep, joyning us to the foundation Chriſt, and leading us to the third ſtep, the new creature, which is our perfection, will bring thee certainly and ſafely to ſalvation, whereas thou mighteſt mount up to the top of the other three Ladders, and bee turned off unto thy deſtruction: of theſe three, it is ſaid each of them, that they are all in all, all nothing without them.
1 Chriſt Jeſus is ſaid to bee all in all, Col. 3. 11. hee is all in all to faith, and the new creature, Circumciſion and uncircumciſion, &c. all priviledges of Law and Goſpel, nothing without Chriſt.
2 In Chriſt Circumciſion and uncircumciſion nothing, but faith, all in all to the new creature, Gal. 5. 6.
3 In Jeſus Chriſt again, neither Circumciſion, nor uncircumciſion is any thing to faith, but the new creature is all in all for evidence, Gal. 6. 15. How happy are they where all theſe three meet? This threefold cord holds faſt the Anchor of ſalvation.