careful, thou niayest easily pass a folse judgment on thyself; they who were sent to search the cellar under the |iarlianient, at first saAV nothing but coals and winter provision, but upon a review, when they came to throw away that stuff, they found all but provision for the devil's kitchen ; then the mystery of iniquity was uncased, and the ban-els of powder appeared. How many are there, that from some duties of piety they perform, some seeming zeal they express in profession, presently cry, Omnia bene, and are so kind to themselves as to vote themselves good Christians, who, did they but take the pains to throw these aside, they might find a foul hypocrite at the bottom of them all ; hypocrisy often takas up her lodging next door to sincerity, and so she passes unfound, the soul not suspecting hell can be so near heaven. And as hypocrisy, so sincerity is hard to be discovered ; this grace often lies low in the heart, like the sweet violet in some valley, or near some brook, hid with thorns and nettles, infirmities I mean : so that there requires both care and wisdom that we neither let the weed of hypocrisy stand, nor pluck up tlie herb of grace in its stead.
Thirdly, It is feasible; I do not set you about an endless work. The heart of man, I confess, is as a ruffled skein of silk, not easily unravelled, yet with a faithful use of the means, it may be disentangled, and wound up on the right bottom of sincerity or hypocrisy. Job, when Satan and his cruel friends laboured to roil his spirit most, and muddy the stream of his former course and condition, by tlirowing their objections as so many stones into it, yet he could .see this precious gem at the bottom, sparkling most brightly ; yea, Hezekiah, in the very brim of the grave, recreates his spirit with it. Indeed, friends, this is a soul's encom-agement, that it shall not want God's help in this search, if it goes about it with honest desires. A justice will not only give his warrant to search a suspicious house, but if need be, will command others to be aiding to him in the business : word, ministers. Spirit, all thou shalt have for thy assistance in this work ; only have a care thou dost not mock God in the busi- ness : that soul deserves to be damned to this sin, who in the search for hypo- crisy, plays the hypocrite ; like a naughty, dishonest constable, that willingly overlooks him whom he searches for, and then says he cannot find him.
Now, for the fuller satisfaction in this point, and help in the trial, because it is that which both good and bad are mistaken in ; the carnal wretch flattering himself his heart is good and honest ; the sincere soul kept under fear of being a hypocrite ; Satan abusing them both ; I shall therefore first lay down the groimds of a liypocrite, with which he shores up his rotten house, and shew the falsities of them. Secondly, I will lay down the grounds of the weak Christian's fear for his being a hypocrite, and the weakness of them. Thirdly, Some positive discoveries of sincerity, which no hypocrite ever did, or can reach to.
Section II. — First, For the hypocrite, he will stand upon his defence; his heart is sincere : well, how will he prove it ?
First, The hypocrite will say. Sure I am no hypocrite, for I cannot endure it in another.
yins. This is not enough to clear thee from being a hypocrite, except thou canst shew thou dost this from a holy ground. Jehu, that asked Jehonadab wliether his heart was right, carried at that same time a false one in his ov\n breast. It is very ordinary for a man to decry that in another, and smartly to declaim against it, which he all the while harbours himself. How severe was Judali against Tamar ! he commands in all haste to burn her. Gen. xxxviii. 24 ; who would not have thought this man to be chaste? yet he was the very person that had defiled her. There may be a great cheat in this piece of zeal ; sometimes the very place a man is in may carry him as the pr'imnm mobile does the stars, in a direction to which his own genius and liking would never lead him. Thus many that are magistrates give the law to drunkards and swearers, merely to keep the decorum of their place, and shun the clamour that would ai'ise from their neglect, who can possibly do both, when they meet with place and com- pany fit for their purpose. Some, their zeal against another's sin is kindled at the disgrace which reflects upon them l)y it, in the eye of the world ; and this falls out, when the sin is public, and the person that committed it stands related ; this is conceived to be Judali's case, who was willing his daughter should be
248 HAVING YO'Jil LOINS