appear as religious as any ; but no sooner he makes discovery of any hazard it may put him to, but he tacks about, and shapes another course, making no bones of juggling with God and man ; he counts that his right road, which leads to his temporal safety; but quite contrary the upright, Prov. xvi. 17: ' The highway of the upright is to depart from evil.' This is the road that this true traveller jogs on in; and if he be at any time seen out of it, it is upon no other account, than a man that hath unwillingly lost his way, never quiet till he strike into it again.
Section III. — Thirdly, The sincere true-hearted Christian is uniform. As truth in the doctrine differs in this from its opposite, that it is one error diverse ; there is no harmony among errors as among truths ; so truth of heart, or sincerity, is known from hypocrisy by the same character. Indeed truth in the heart is but the copy and transcript of the other ; they agree, as the face in the glass doth with the face in the man that looks in it, or as the image in the wax with the sculpture in the seal, from which it is derived ; therefore if truth in the word be uniform and harmonious, then truth in the heart, which is nothing but the impression of that tliere, must also be so. A sincere Christian in the tenor of his course is like himself, vir unius coloris, of one colour, not like your changeable stufis, so woven that you may by turning them divers ways see divers colours- There is a threefold uniformity in the sincere Christian's obedience ; he is uniform quoad objeclicm, subjectum, et circumstantias ohedientia ; as to the object, subject, and several circumstances that accompany his obedience.
First, As to the object; the hypocrite indeed is in with one duty, and out with another : like a glojjous body, he toucheth the law of God in one point, some particular command he seems zealous for, but meets not in the rest; whereas the sincere heart lies close to the whole law of God in his desire and endeavoiu'. The upright man's foot is said to ' stand in an even place,' Psa. xxvi. 11 : he walks not haltingly and uncomely, as those who go in unequal ways, which are hobbling, and up and down ; or those whose feet and legs are not even, (as Solomon saith,) ' the legs of the lame are not even,' and so cannot stand in an even place, because one is long, and the other short ; the sincere man's feet are even, and legs of a length, as I may say ; his care alike conscien- tious to the whole will of God. The hypocrite, like the badger, hath one foot shorter than another ; or, like a foundered horse, he doth not stand, as we sa}', right of all four ; one foot at least you shall perceive he favours, loth to put it down. The Pharisees pretended much zeal to the first table, they prayed and fasted in an extraordinary manner ; but they prayed for their prey ; and when they had fasted all day, they sup at the poor widow's cost, her hoiise they mean to devour. A sad fast that ends in oppression, and only serves to get them a ravenous appetite, to swallow others' estates under a pretence of devotion. The moralist is very punctual in his dealings with men, but very thievish in his carriage to God ; though he will not wrong his neighbour of a farthin.g, he sticks not to rob God of greater matters ; his love, fear, faith, are due debts to God, but he makes no conscience of paying them. It is ordinary in Scripture to describe a saint, a godly person, by a particular dut}', a single grace ; sometimes his character is, 'one that feareth an oath,' Eccles. ix. 2; sometimes 'one that loves the brethren,' 1 John iii. 14 ; and so of the rest ; and why ? but because wherever one duty is conscientiously performed, the heart stands ready for another. As God hath enacted all his commands with the same authority, wherefore it is said, ' God spake all these words,' Exod. xx. 1 ; one as well as the other. So God infuscth all grace together, and writes not one particular law in the heart of his children, but the whole law, which is an universal principle, inclining the soul impartially to all ; so that if thou likest not all, thou art sincere in none.
Secondly, The sincere Christian is uniform, quoad subjectum ; the whole man, so far as renewed, moves one way; all the powers and faculties of the soul join forces, and have a sweet accord together ; when the understanding makes dis- covery of a truth, then conscience improves her utmost authority on the will, commanding it, in the name of (Jod, whose officer it is, to entertain it ; the will, so soon as conscience knocks, opens herself, and lets it in : the affections, like dutiful handmaids, seeing it a guest welcome to the will, their mistress, express their readiness to wait on it as becomes them in their places. But in the
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