The Hypocrite Discovered and Cured, Book 2 · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Of the Cure of Hypocriſie. The difficultie of the Cure.
I Have endeavoured according to my poore skill, Hypocriſie hardly cured.to reveale unto my patient what his diſeaſe is, and haply ſome things that he knew not by himſelf, Hypocrat. l. 1. Prognoſtic. n. 2. Ioh. Damaſcen. Aphoriſm. certe in medicina immenſa proſunditas eſt. Operari autem ſecundum libros abſ que perſecta ratione & ſo… lerti ingenio moleſtum eſt. Hoſ. 6.4, 5.and therefore by the rule of Hypocrates the father of Phyſitians, I ſhould be truſted with the cure: I'le promiſe faithfullneſſe in the undertaking, and to be carefull, and will call in others to aſſiſt and adviſe. And this is all I can promiſe; ſeeing he that ſaid, there is a great depth in this Art, and that it is not enough to worke by books, hath made me almoſt deſpaire. But moſt of all becauſe I find hypocriſie ſo hard to be cured, that God himſelfe is upon a conſultation what to doe in the caſe. O Ephraim what ſhall I doe unto thee? O Judah what ſhall I doe unto thee? we ſee the difficultie by the doubling of the words, what ſhall I doe? what ſhall I doe? the diſeaſe in them was hypocriſie, their goodnes was as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it went away. God had tryed many courſes with that people. He had applied forcible things, of ſtrong operation, and yet they would not prevaile. They were rough and uneven timber, hardly to be ſquared and brought ſtraite. I have hewed them by the Prophets. The originall word there ſignifies to dig as they doe in quarries, foreign Chatzabh, To Dig, Deut. 6.11. To Cut, Iſa. 51.9. To Hew, Pro. 9.1.to cut as they doe ſtones prepared for a building, to hew as they doe timber. The Lord had digged and cut them, but they would not be ſquare and poliſhed. Openly profane perſons are better wrought upon then hypocrites. Theſe gritty ſtones of a broken quarry are not ſmoothed ſo eaſily as the hard marble. They are timber full of knots and crooked, fit for ſhip-work it may be, to play with all weather upon a toſſing and beating ſea; but not eaſie to be made plain and handſome for Church-work which is Gods building.
The cure is alſo the harder for this reaſon, Joh. Fernel. de Abditaer. cauſ. l. 2. c. 17.becauſe as Phyſitians obſerve, ſome medicaments which they call benigna, kind and favourable medicaments, if they be any way hindred of their end which is to purge, they turne to the aliment of that humour which they ſhould cleanſe; ſo thoſe kind and gentle remedy's, the ſweet promiſes of mercy in the ſaving blood of Jeſus Christ, which are the moſt effectuall to worke upon the hardeſt and moſt ſtubborne ſinners, yet doe ordinarily loſe their effect upon hypocrites, and doe unhappily ſerve to the nouriſhment of their miſperſwaſions or worſe and tougher humours.
I will apply of both ſorts, ſome more mild, others more cutting; and after the giving of ſome preparative, I will fit the medicaments to the cauſes of the diſeaſe, according to the method which I conſidered in the diſcourſe we laſt parted from: Avicen L. Canonis, verſus ab Arabico, per Gerard. Cremonenſ. l. 1. Fen. 4. c. 31.for this I find to be a rule in Avicen, firſt to cure that which is the cauſe, without which the diſeaſe cannot be cured, as an oppilation muſt be remooved before the feaver. I will alſo obſerve another direction of the Phyſitians, which is, That …edicaments muſt be made pleaſant, ſo that the virtue of them be not hindred, Fernel. Meth. Cur. l. 4. c. 7.they muſt be pleaſant in their colour, ſmell and taſt, becauſe diſtaſtfull things are not eaſily taken or kept. I will make them pleaſant by inſerting here and there ſome hiſtories and ſimilitudes as I have done all along; but more ſparingly, becauſe the virtue of the former diſcourſes was heightned and ſtrengthned by histories and experiments, which were therefore neceſſary, Floſtuli medicinales, ex l. 1. Cornel. Celſi. Morbi non eloquentia ſed remedi…s curantur.but here they will ſerve but for taſt and colour, the virtue being in the wholſomeneſſe of the receipts, which I muſt not be curious in, but plaine, remembring that of Celſus a famous Phyſitian, That diſeaſes are not cured with cloquence but with remedies.