Hypocrisy Discovered, Title page – To the reader
HYPOCRISIE DISCOVERED In its NATURE and WORKINGS.
Delivered in ſeveral Sermons, By That faithfull Miniſter of the Goſpell, Mr Cuthbert Sidenham, Late Teacher to a Church of Chriſt in Newcaſtle upon Tyne.
LONDON, Printed by W. H. for Rich. Tomlins, at the Sun and Bible in Pye-Corner, 1654.
For the Honourable, Sir Arthur Heſilrig, Knight and Baronet.
Sir,
YOu that have ſo long profeſſed the name of the Lord Jeſus, and have been honoured to ſuffer for him in no ordinary trials, and been drawn out to great employments, cannot but have met with various workings of your own heart in theſe times, eſpecially having gone both through good and evill report, all which will diſcover much of that which is within a man to himſelf; this being upon our ſpirits (with the more than ordinary reſpects you ſhewed to this precious ſervant of Chriſt, the Author of theſe Sermons) hath drawn us out to prefix your name to this worke, as being willing to beare witneſſe to the world (though he be in his grave) how much he reſented your favour and love towards him. Sir, the matter of this Book you will find very ſearching, but Gold loſeth nothing by the criticall examination of the fire but its droſſe, which no reall Saint but will rejoyce to part with. We queſtion not but in the reading of it you will find ſpeciall advantages for your ſpirituall intereſt for the teachings of the ſpirit of that God who hath hitherto helped you, who was with you in the field and covered your head in the day of battell, who made you a reall terrour to the enemies of his Son Ieſus in this Nation, and did by the good hand of his providence bring you among us when his enemies were very high and turbulent by your courage and faithfulneſs to calme and bring them under, who alſo drew out your heart to ſo ſignall a proofe of your reall deſire to ſerve Ieſus Chriſt every way, in being an Inſtrument to procure the three yeares Commiſsion for propagating the Goſpell in theſe foure Northerne Counties. Theſe things we mention as that which hath laid engagements upon our hearts towards you; Oh, that you may yet go on and proſper, and do more worthily for God and his people, that your enemies may be found lyars, that after your many trials God may cleare up your integrity, that you may be as the light of the morning, 2 Sam. 23.4. Sir, we have this only to beg of you, look wholly to God in all, and walke humbly and cloſe with him, and learne that of the Apoſtle, he is only approved whom God approveth, thus will you engage the Saints more and more, and us to be
Yours in the ſervice of the Goſpell.
Tho. Weld,
Sam. Hamond,
Tho. Trurin,
Wil. Durant.
To all that profeſſe the name of the Lord Ieſus.
THe Apoſtle, ſpeaking of the laſt daies, cals them perilous times, or as the word is, difficult times, not ſo much upon the account of perſecution, as the formality and hypocriſie of many that ſhall then profeſſe the Goſpell, and as in other propheſies the fullest opening of the book is the event of providences made out to Saints by the Spirit of God, ſo in this the ſad influences that the hypocriſie and formality of Profeſſours hath had upon the Saints in theſe laſt daies, make us to underſtand where the perill and difficulty lies; and the reaſon why the Apoſtle ſhould make it matter of prophecy and of imminent danger and difficulty to the Saints who ſhall converſe among them, how ſoon was Peter, that great Apoſtle, leavened with hypocriſie, and Barnabas alſo carried away with that diſſimulation, (Gal. 2.12, 13.) though men otherwiſe full of the Holy Ghoſt? And have not we ground to thinke that the ſleeping of the fooliſh virgins will be no ſmall temptation to the wiſe to ſlumber alſo, as Chriſt hath propheſied in that Parable, Mat 25. How hard is it to touch pitch and not be defiled? Oh that the danger of this, ſo clearely held out by Christ and his Apoſtles, might leave a more powerfull impreſſion upon the hearts of the Saints to be very circumſpect where they are neceſſitated, to have their converſation among the deceitfull ſpirits of theſe times, we meane, men having the forme of godlineſſe, but not the power of it; whoever of you are obſervers of your own hearts, ſurely you have ſometimes found with what inſinuating power the miſcarriages of ſome eminent profeſſors have crept into your hearts, and led you away into divers fooliſh luſts; Can you look back upon your walkings, for theſe ten yeares paſt, without regret of ſoule to review the many ſecret apoſtaſies of your hearts from Chriſt? Doth not ſo many of your unholy walkings, as you may find in the ſearchings of your ſoules, put you upon more thorow and ſtrict examination, whether this root of bitterneſſe do not ſpring up and trouble you? It would ſtagger a man to conſider what an aptneſſe there is in many profeſſors moſt ſinfully to comply with, if not fully to act the degenerate miſcarriages of this preſent evill world; ſhould holy Baynes, or Rogers, or Greenham ariſe from the dead, and take a view of ſome of the now-profeſſors of England, who pretend to far clearer diſcoveries of the Goſpell than they lived under; would not they bleſſe the Lord, that their portion was not caſt to live in thoſe wicked daies? ſhould they ſee the loathſome faſhions of many of you with powdered haire, painted faces, naked breaſts, and ſuch phantaſtick garbes, that yet would go for choice Saints and Chriſtians, would not they mourne in ſecret over theſe abominations, and cry out, oh the hypocriſie and deceitfulneſſe of your ſpirits, and tell you, your light is darkneſſe, and that you are thoſe which do hold the truth of God in unrighteouſneſſe? Hath not Satan hence taken his ground to oppoſe the truths of Chriſt, and to ſpeake evill of the good waies of God? Doth not the Quakers naturall conſcience (for that is his light and Chriſt within him) put him upon laying aſide the ordinances, and divers other principles of the Goſpell, becauſe he ſees ſo many of you living ſo much in pride, and luſts of the fleſh, and walking according to the vanity of your minds, yet pleading for them under a pretence of Gospell-liberty? Doth not the Arminian make that one of his great Arguments for the Apoſtacy of the Saints, becauſe ſo many of you pretending to be ſuch, grow ſo looſe and vaine at laſt, and after you have pretended by the knowledge of Chriſt to have eſcaped the pollutions of the world, are again intangled therein and overcome, 2 Pet. 2.20. may he not be hardened by this generation, in his opinion, if that no ſpecificall difference betwixt temporary and ſaving grace; becauſe many under the bare authority of reſtraining grace come up to as high conformity to the Goſpell as you do, who yet would be taken as the great profeſſors of it? Do not you obſerve how many, alledging to be ſcandalized by your walkings, are turned to embrace the groſs Abomination of Popery? And however the goodneſs of our God hath been abundantly held forth in continuing that glorious light of the Goſpell which hath, and doth yet ſhine among us, yet it is evident that the Lord hath given up very many to walke after their fooliſh hearts lusts, and to embrace deluſions through their not walking cloſe with God under theſe diſcoveries; Oh at what a high rate do you ſin, that are profeſsors, who live thus, and walke carnally under ſo holy a Goſpell as that of our glorious Lord Jeſus Chriſt. Brethren, though we thus ſpeake, yet we may not but faithfully witneſſe, to the praiſe of our bleſſed Lord, that our lines are fallen into better places, where our ſoules are not vexed with the beholding ſuch folly and abominable wickedneſſe in thoſe that do profeſſe the Goſpell; neither our Congregations peſtered with ſuch ſpots of vanity: yet our deare Brother, the Author of theſe Sermons, doubtleſſe not without a ſecret impulſe of the bleſſed Spirit, was moved to be ſo large in opening the nature and workings of Hypocriſie; for Hypocriſie hath its ſeverall formes, and dreſſes, and may lye for a while undiſcovered in the hearts and duties of the moſt reall Saints, but where it workes moſt ſecretly and ſubtilly there it requires a more quick eye, and faithfull hand to the anatomizing of it, which we can without flatery ſay, God had eminently beſtowed upon him, of whom, to you that know him not, we ſhall give this briefe teſtimony; He was trained up under Religious education from his Childhood, which made him often profeſs his jealouſie of Profeſsors, eſpecially ſuch who had the advantage of a godly education, through the many experiences of the deceits of his own heart, his ſpeciall inſight into the myſteries of Christ, as you may obſerve by his Sermons upon 1 Tim. 3. ult. publiſhed by himſelfe a little before his death; his judicious and drawing diſcoveries of the riches of grace, which if the Lord pleaſe we ſhall hereafter ſhew to you, where you may ſee his tender bowels toward the poorest ſoules under any of the workings of God, his unwearied paines, even to the viſible waſting of his owne bodily ſtrength in the work of the Miniſtery, and his great care over the Flock over which the Holy Ghoſt had made him overſeer, all of theſe did beſpeake him a veſsell fitted for his Maſters uſe, and it is not unknown to thoſe in chiefeſt places his otherwiſe uſefulneſs to the people of God in this Nation, thus did he ſerve his generation with theſe many talents his God had furniſhed him with, and for theſe few Sermons we can only ſay, you have them as they were taken from his mouth in his ordinary Miniſtery, without any alteration, which is enough to exciſe the often inculcated expreſſions you meet with in them, they were the laſt of his publike exerciſes among us, and now for the uſefulneſs of them we ſhall ſay:
Firſt, That here you ſhall find out the tracings of the ſubtilleſt hypocrite in all his formes and duties, even to his greateſt pretence of communion with God, for the devil hath not had a ſtronger hold in theſe daies for the carrying on the moſt terrible actings of profaneneſs, as lying, cheating, pride, and luſt, and the like, than by a pretence to communion with God in light and love: we do not without ſhame and griefe of heart mention thoſe things, but God will have them ſearched out.
Secondly, Here thou wilt find, if a true Saint, how much of the Leven of Hypocriſie is yet work…ng in thy own heart; and is not this a mercy indeed to have theſe ſpreading iniquities diſcovered, as Pſal. 139.23. Try me, O God, and know my heart: prove me, and examine my thoughts, and ſee if there be any way of wickedneſſe in me.
Thirdly, Here is a ground of eſtabliſhment to the moſt diſcouraged reall Saint againſt the feares of hypocriſie, and how neceſſary is this for poore weake ſoules who are (how ſincere ſoever, yet) often tempted to conclude themſelves but very hypocrites; we have but one word more, and that is to thoſe profeſſors that walke in the fellowſhip of the Goſpell, to put them in mind that the veſſels of the Tabernacle were of pure gold, Exod. 25.29, 31, &c. the diſhes, ſpoons, bowles, candleſticks, tonges, ſnuffers, were all by Gods command of pure gold; and then to read the proph…ſie of Church-members in the laſt daies, Zech. 14.20, 21. The pots in the Lords houſe ſhall be like the bowles before the Altar, yea, every pot in Jeruſalem, and in Judah ſhall be holineſſe to the Lord of Hoſts; ſo will the Lord be ſerved in the beauties of holineſſe, and his Churches will be the praiſe of the whole earth.
T. W.