The Hypocrite Discovered and Cured, Book 1 · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. A ſecond of thoſe Symptomes from the end of Hypocriſie. Religion pretended to ſerve other ends. A cover for Vndutifullneſſe. Vncharitableneſſe. Hatred of Godlineſse. Revenge. Ambition.
2. ANother Symptome of Hypocriſie is, Religion pretended to ſerve other ends.that hypocrites pretend Religion to cover other ends. Herod could make uſe of Religion to hide his cruell intentions, when he meant to ſlay Chriſt, he promiſeth devotion; Mat. 2.8.Goe (ſaith he) to the Wiſe-men and learch diligently for the young child, and when yee have found him, bring me word againe, that I may come and worſhip him alſo. But 'twas a cruell bloudy worſhip he meant; not to have acknowledged Chriſt to be his God, but to have made Chriſt the Sacrifice and his mothers lap the Altar. The Phariſces who endeavoured to bring the wealth of the people into their owne neſts, as the religious orders of Fryars in the Romiſh Church doe now, found out a way to teach their Diſciples to be uncharitable, even to the neceſſities of their owne Parents, pretending that what was once religiouſly conſecrated might not be converted to any other uſe, and ſo they were freed from any duty they ought to doe for their father or mother. See how directly our Saviour diſcovers this hypocriſie. Moſes ſaid, Mar. 7.10, 11, 12.Honour thy Father and thy Mother. Now one dutie included in that precept is, That we muſt relieve our aged Parents, if they want. See how they avoide this. But yee ſay, If a man ſhall ſay to his Father or Mother, it is Corban, that is to ſay, a gift, by whatſoever thou mighteſt be profited by me. He ſhall be free. And yee ſuffer him no more to doe ought for his Father or Mother. The Originall in this place is very conciſe, and hath troubled Expoſitors; but I have given the ſenſe which our laſt Tranſlation leades me unto, which Tranſlation and the ſupply that it makes to cleare the ſenſe of the Originall, Ʋide etian ludru. Capel. Diat. in …a. Mat. 15.5. ad fin Camer. Myrothec.ſtands now allowed and backed by the moſt excellent Criticks John Coch of Breme, Dan. Heinſius, Ludovicus de Deiu and others. That the Phariſees taught them this forme of speaking, for this is obſerved to be the expreſſe forme uſed by the Jewes, and to ſay, that what they now poſſeſſed being entered into the profeſſion of Phariſaiſme, vvas now no more their owne, but Corban, Gods proprietie, Gods gift, aſſigned over to God, and not at their diſpoſe.
And may we not find out ſome other hypocriticall pretences for uncharitableneſſe? Religion a cover for uncharitableneſſe.When a man ſhuts his hand againſt the cries of the poore, and ſaies, 'Tis not fit to encourage and maintaine wandring beggars in their lazie trade, and that it is a ſin to give to ſuch as eat the ſweat of the poore, is it not poſſible, I ſay, that here vvhere a caſe of conſcience is pretended, it may be but a cover, and the true reaſon be, becauſe he hath not an heart to give? It may be the Prieſt and the Levite that paſſed by the wounded man, had ſome ſuch thing to ſay for themſelves, but it may be alſo they were hypocrites in it, and I am ſure the good Samaritan deſerved the moſt commendation.
The very hatred of Religion is ſometimes ſhrouded under the cloake of Religion. Hatred of Religion under cover of Religion. Ezra 4.2.Such were thoſe hypocrites that we reade of in the booke of Ezra; they which delighted in the ruines of the Temple, and had indignation againſt Zerubbabels endeavours to re-build it, to that end that they might hinder the worke, they offer their ſervice to promote it: Let us build with you, for we ſeeke your God, as yee doe. We have a pertinent place to this purpoſe in the Prophet Iſaiah, Iſa. 66.5.Heare the word of the Lord, yee that tremble at his word, your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my names ſake, ſaid, let the Lord be glorified. When they execute their cenſure upon you out of malice and hatred, they pretend pure zeale for God, and the glorifying of his Juſtice.
I might be plentifull in other inſtances, but I will confine my ſelfe to foure others, upon which I will inſiſt; when Religion is pretended to cover Revenge, Ambition, Sedition, Covetouſneſſe.
1. Religion a cover to revenge.We ſometimes find that hypocrites have made uſe of Religion to cloake their Revenge. When Shechem the ſonne of Hamor had defiled Dinah the daughter of Jacob, her brethren, ſpecially two of them, her brothers of the ſame wombe, Simeon and Levi, whoſe hearts meditated revenge, contrive it this way, Gen. 34.14.To offer conditions of Religion to the young Prince and his City, that they ſhould receive the Sacrament of Circumciſion, and that Shechem ſhould receive the raviſhed Dina for his wife; but they meant it a deceitfull marriage and a bloody Sacrament: for when the men of the City were ſore, 1 Sam. 18.17.they and their complices came upon them and ſlew them. Saul had nothing in his mouth but fighting the Lords battels, but his deſigne was, that Davià might be made food for the Philistines ſword. Abner never thought of the word of the Lord, or of obſerving the will of the Lord, till his heart was full of revenge againſt weake and forſaken Iſhboſheth, for a ſorry word which that poore Prince had ſpoken, which the boyſterous Captain could not brooke; and then and not till then purpoſing to revolt to David, and to bring about the Army with him, he will needs have them think (forſooth) that it was only tenderneſſe of conſcience that wrought upon him; and then having communication with the Elders of Iſrael, he ſaid, 2 Sam. 3 18.Yee ſought for David in times past to be King over you, now then doe it; for the Lord hath ſpoken of David ſaying, By the hand of my ſervant David will I ſave my people Iſrael, &c. Which examples are true experiments of that obſervation made by the authour of Eccleſiaſticus; There is an exquiſite ſubtilty and the ſame is unjuſt, Eccluſ. 19.25, 26.and there is one that turneth aſide to make judgement appeare; There is a wicked man that hangeth down his head ſadly; but inwardly he is full of deceit. Such an one was Herod, who was vexed at the Baptiſts freedome, and tooke occaſion to make him pay his head for the liberty of his tongue: Mat. 14.5.He ſeem'd unwilling to give ſentence, but by no means muſt he breake ſo religious a thing as his Oath.
2. Ambition hath been as witty as revenge, Religion a cover to ambition.to make Religion a ſtep to mount by. Abſolom thought his father David kept the ſeate too long, he had a great mind to be graſping the Scepter; he makes himſelfe ſtrong by many popular inſinuations; and now there wants nothing but ſome fine contrivance of removall from Court, that he might at diſtance be better lookt upon as a fit head for the people made ready to his hand to joyn unto. He knows not how to make his actions looke better then with the face of devotion, He had made a Vow unto the Lord while he was a baniſhed man in Syria, 2 Sam. 15.8.to ſerve the Lord in Hebron, This beſt fitts his turne, and he deſires his fathers leave to goe thither to performe it. But t' was (it ſeems) a vow to get the Crown, and to ſerve his own high ends. Abſolom had a younger brother, that copied out right after him, Adonijah I meane, who aſpiring to the government, uſed much policie all along, He took the advantage of Davids indulgence towards him, and of his old age, He blazed his Title to the Crown, procured a guard of eſtate, made a popular ſhew of himſelfe being a comely man of perſon, Joyned himſelf in faction with Joab and Abiathar, both of them potent men in their ſeverall ways, and both diſcontent; entertained the Nobles with feaſting; drew into his party ſome principall Court-officers; procured Jonathan a Court-favourite to be his Intelligencer; And among the reſt Religion is alſo woven in, He hath a Vow too as well as Abſolom, to draw together his confederates, and a publike Sacrificing at the well Rogel. 1 King. 1 9. Vid. P. Mart. in loc.Cardinall Peter Caraffa (afterterwards Pope by the Name of Paul the fourth) is one of the moſt notable and pertinent examples that this latter age hath afforded of this kind of Hypocriſie. Rodolp. Hoſpin. de Monach-Ordo ſodalitatis Divini AmorisThere was a religious Order ſprung up, that cal'd themſelves, The Divine fellow…ip, or, The fellowſhip of Divine love, to them Caraffa joyns himſelf, and that ſo ſtrictly, that he not only refuſed the Biſhoprick of Brunduſium, which the Emperour Charles the fift offered to him, but of his own accord reſigned the Biſhoprick of Theatine, which he had under Pope Julius the ſecond. This fact of his, carrying ſo much ſhew of ſelf-deniall and mortification, took ſo much with the Order, that they changed their Name, and cal'd themſelves Theatines from him. And who would not have counted him a miracle of holineſſe? But the world afterward took notice, that he contemned leſſer preferments to procure greater; for he that refuſed Biſhopricks, yet gladly accepted a Cardinalſhip at the firſt offer from Pope Paul the third; ſo that his Title which was taken before for the gracing of an Order, was uſed afterward ordinarily for the denomination of an hypocrite. This path of Hypocriſie hath been ſo much trod and beaten by Clergy-men, that wiſe men who diſcerned it, long ſince gave notice of it in a fable of a Monk, who being a poore fiſhermans ſon, ſtill ſpread a Net over his Table, as a remembrance of his meane originall, till having by thoſe ſhews. Mr. H. Maſen of Hearing and doing. chap. 2. p. 27, &c.till having by thoſe ſhews of humility reached the higheſt preferments, he lay'd away the Net, becauſe then the fiſh was caught. Which the reader ſhall find well morallized and gravely applied by a late Divine. But becauſe as that author notes, it will pleaſe men the better, becauſe the Tale is framed of a Clergy-man; I will fit it with two other examples of men of another profeſſion. The one of the Prince of Eggenburg a potent man in the Court of the Emperour Ferdinand the ſecond, Stat. Cur. Ferd. 11. chap. 9.and who it ſeems could make Religion advance his potencie, for he put it to no other uſe in the opinion of the Relator, who calls him, A Bigot in Religion, diſſembling, and one that knew how to ſatisfie the Emperour in all things. The other of a Prince, whom for the honour of his worth, I will forbeare to name, who (if an Hiſtory written by a Jeſuite may be credited, Famian. Strada de Bello Belg. 7 Dec. 1. lib. 2.which for my part I profeſſe I ſcarcely credit) was of no Religion but that which would advance his ends, and though he wrote an Apologie for the Calviniſts, yet the Hiſtorian endeavours to make it good by a Letter under his own hand to the Duke of Alencon the King of France his brother, that he profeſſed with the Calviniſts only to curry favour with them, and becauſe he needed their help. To conclude, what elſe ſhall we call that pretenſe of ſome that they deſire preferment, only that they may be more inabled to doe more good; then plain hypocriſie? for he that doth not much good, to the extent of his power, in the eſtate wherein he is for the preſent though meane; doth but pretend he would be better, if he were preferred to an higher condition.