time coming, (which, ver. 24, is called, ' their month wherein they shall l)e found,') when God's hue and cry will overtake them, his terrors ransack their consciences, and bring forth what they so stiffly denied, making it appear to themselves and others also what juggling and deceit they have used to shift off their sin. It is easy to think what shame will cover their faces and weigh down their heads while this is doing. God loves to befool those who think they play their game so wisely, because with Ahab they fight against God in a disguise, and will not be known to be the man. But the sincei-e sold takes another course, and speeds better ; as a child when he hath committed a fault doth not stay till others go and tell his fsither what the matter is, nor till his father makes it appear by his frowning countenance that it is come to his ear, but freely, and of his own accord, goes presently to his father, (being prompted by no other thing than the love he bears to his dear father, and the sorrow which his heart grows every moment he stays bigger and bigger withal for his offence,) and easeth his aching heart, by a free and full confession of his fault at his father's foot ; and this with plain-heartedness, giving his offence the weight of every aggravating circumstance, s© that if the devil himself should come after hiin, to glean up what he hath left, he should hardly find where- withal to make it appear blacker ; thus doth the sincere soul to God, adding to his simplicity in confession of his sin such a flow of sorrow, that God seeing his dear child in such danger of being carried down too far towards despair, if good news from him come not speedily to stay him, cannot but tune his voice rather into a strain of comforting him in his mourning, than chiding him for his sin.
CHAPTER IX.
OF THE ODIOUS NATURE OF HYPOCRISY, AND HATEFULNESS OF IT TO GOD.
Use 1.— Doth sincerity cover all defects? Then hypocrisy uncovers the soul, and strips it naked to its shame before God, when set forth with the richest embroidery of other excellences. This is such a scab, that frets into the choicest perfections, and alters the complexion of the soul in God's eye, more than leprosy or ])ox can do to the fairest face in ours. It is observable, the different charac-ter that is given of those two kings of Judah, Asa and Amaziah. Of the first, see 1 Kings xv. 14: 'The high places were not removed; nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his day.' He passeth current for a gracious jierson, and that with a «o« obstante, ' nevertheless his heart was perfect;' sincerity, like true gold, hath grains allowed for its lightness ; his infirmities are not mentioned to stain his honour, and prejudice him in the opinion of any, but rather as the wart or mole, which the curious limner expresseth on purpose, the more to set forth the beauty of the other parts, so his failings are recorded to cast a greater lustre upon his sincerity ; which could, notwithstanding these sins, gain him such a testimony from God's own mouth. But of Amaziah, (see 2 Chron. xxv. 2,) ' He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.' The matter of his actions was good, but the scope and drift of his heart in them was naught ; and this but makes a foul blot upon all, and turns his right into wrong ; wherein his hypo- crisy appeared is expressed 2 Kings xiv. 3 : ' He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father : he did according to all things that Joash his father did.' He did for a while what David did, as to the matter, but imitated Joash as to the manner, whose goodness was calculated to please man rather than God, as appeared in the latter end of his reign, upon the death of his good uncle Jehoiada ; him did Amaziah write after, and not David in his uprightness : thus we see Asa's uprightness condemns him in the midst of many failings ; but hypocrisy condemns Amaziah doing that which is right. Sincerity, it is the life of all our graces, and puts life into all our duties; and as life makes beautiful, and keeps the body sweet, so sincerity the soul, and all it doth. A prayer breathed from a sincere heart, it is Heaven's delight: take away sincerity, and God saith of it, as Abraham of Sarah, (whom living, he loved dearly, and laid in his bosom,) ' Bury the dead out of my sight;' he hides his eye, stops his nostril, as when some poisonous carrion is before us. ' Bring no more vain oblations ; incense is abomination to me ; the calling of yoiu- assemblies I cannot away with ; your appointed feasts my soul hateth, they are
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