only forgive his sin, but the iniquity of liis sin ; and M'hat was that ? sin^ely the Avorst that can be said of that his complicated sin is, that tliere was so nuich hypocrisy in it, he wofully juggled with God and man in it; this I do not doubt to say, was the iniquity of his sin, and put a colour deeper on it than the blood which he shed. And the rather, I lay the accent tliere, because God himself, when he would set out the heinousness of this sin, seems to doit rather from the hypocrisy in the fact, than the fact itself, as appears by the testimony given this lioly man, 1 Kings xv. 5 : ' David did that which was right in the eves of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Ilittite.' Were there not other false steps that David took besides this? Doth the Spirit of God, by excepting this, declare his approbation of all tliat else he ever did? No, sure, the Spirit of God records other sins that escaped this eminent servant of the Lord : but all those are drowned here, and this mentioned as the only stain of his life. But why ? surely because there appeared less sincerity, yea, more hypocrisy in this one sin, than in all his other put together ; though David in them was wrong as to the matter of his actions, yet his heart was more right in the manner of committing them. But here his sincerity was sadly wounded, though not to the total destruction of tlie habit, yet to lay it in a long swoon, as to any actings thereof. And tiiily the wound went very deep, when that grace was stabbed, in which did run the life-blood of all the rest. We see then God hath reason, though his mercj' prompted him, yea his covenant obliged him, not to let his child die of this wound,— I mean, finally miscarry of this sin, either through want of repentance on the one hand, or pardoning mercy on the other, — so to heal it, that a scar might remain upon the place, a mark upon the sin, whereby others might know liow odious hypocrisy is to God.
Tliirdly, Those considerations which may seem at first to lessen and pare off sometliing from the heinousness of the hypocrite's sin, viz., that he walks in a religious habit, hath a form of piety which others want, performs duties that others neglect ; these and the like are so far from taking from, that thej;^ add a further weight of aggravation to it. Let us consider the hypocrite in a twofold respect, and this will appear either in tlie things he trades about ; or, secondly, in the things he lays claim to : these are both high and sacred ; and a sin in these can be no ordinary sin. The things he trades in, are duties of God's worship ; the things he lays claim to, are relation to God, interest in Christ, consolations of the Spirit, and the like ; these are things of high price ; a mis- carriage about these must be somewhat suitable to their high nature. As is the wool, so the thread and cloth, coarse or fine. The profane person pretends not to these ; he cannot spin so fine a thread, because tlie work he deals in is coarser ; all his impieties will not have so high price of wrath set upon them, which he hath, being ignorant of God, and a stranger to the ways of God, committed, as the hypocrite's.
Section L — First, The hypocrite trades in the duties of God's worship. Judas sits down with the rest of the apostles at the passover, and bids himself welcome, as confidently as if he were the best guest, the holiest of all the company. The proud Pliarisee gets to the temple as soon as tlie broken- hearted publican : but wliat work doth the hypocrite make with these things ? that would be known indeed. Sad work, the Lord knows, or else God would not so abominate them, as to think he hears a dog bark, or a wolf howl, all the while they are praying. We think David had a cm-ions hand at the harp, that could pacify the evil, raging spirit of melancholy Saul ; but what a harsh, unhappy stroke have they in the duties of God's worship, that are able to make the sweet, meek Spirit of God angry, yea, break out into fury against them ! And no wonder if we consider but tliese two things.
First, The hypocrite does no less tlian mock God in all his duties, and of all things God can least bear that; ' God will not be mocked.' Christ preached this doctrine when he cursed the fig-tree, wliicli did by her green leaves mock the passenger, making him come ibr fruit, and go away without any : liad it ' wanted leaves as well as fruit, it had escaped that curse. Every lie is a mocking of him to whom it is told; because such a one goes to cheat him, and thereby puts the fool upon him. ' Why hast thou mocked me,' said Delilah to Samson, ' and told me lies?' Judg. xvi. 10 : as if she had said, as is usual upon the like
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244 HAVING YOUR LOINS