saints of God, with whom thou hast may be so much credit as to be admitted to join with them at present, know thee, they would make as much haste from thee as from him on whom they shouUl see the pLigue-tokens ; but should not thy disease be known till thou art dead, and so keep thy reputation with them, yea possibly by them be thought, when thou diest, a saint, will this give thee any content in hell, that they are speaking well of thee on earth? ' O poor Aris- totle,' said one, ' thou art praised where thou art not, and burnt w-here thou art!' he meant it was poor comfort to that great heathen philosopher to be admired by men of learning, that have kept up his fame from generation to generation, if he all the while be miserable in the other world. So here, O poor hypocrite, that art ranked among saints on earth, but punished among devils in hell !
Secondly, When thy heart is deeply affected with the sin and misery of thy hy- pocritical heart, thou must be convinced of thy insufficiency to make a cure of thyself. Hypocrisy is like a fistula sore, it may seem a little matter by the small oi-itice it hath, but' it is therefore one of the hardest among wounds to be cured, because it is so hard to find the bottom of it. O take heed thy heart doth not put a cheat upon thyself! It will be very forward to promise it will lie no more, be false and hypocritical no more, but take counsel of a wise man, vAw bids thee not rely on what it saith : 'He is a fool that trusts his own heart, ' Prov. xxviii. 26. O how many die because loth to be at pains and costs to go to a skilful physi- cian at first ! take heed of self -resolutions and self-reformations ; sin is like the king's evil, God, not ourselves, can cure it. He that will be tinkering with his own heart, and not seek out to heaven for help will in the end find, where he mends one hole he makes two worse ; where he reforms one sin, he will fall into the hands of many more dangerous.
Thirdly, Betake thyself to Christ as the physician, on whose skill and faith- fulness tiiou wilt rely entirely for cure. Si pereiindum, inter peritissimos ; if thou perish, resolve to perish at his door. But for thy comfort know, never any that he undertook miscarried under his hand, nor ever refused he to luidertake the cure of any that came to him on such an errand. He blamed those hypo- crites, John v. 40 — 13, because they were ready to throw away their lives by trusting an empiric who should come in his own name, without any approba- tion or authority from God for the work, but ' would not come to him that they might have life, though he came in his Father's name, and had his seal and license to practise his skill on poor souls for their recovery. And he that blamed those for not coming, will not, cannot be angry with thee who comest. It is his calling, and men do not use to thrust customers out, but invite them into their shops. When Christ was on earth he gave this reason why he conversed so much with publicans and sinners, and so little among the Pharisees, because there was more work for him. Matt. ix. 11, 12. Men set up where they think trade will be quickest. Christ came to be a physician to sick souls; Pharisees ■were so well in their own conceit, that Christ saw he should have little to do among them, and so be applied himself to those who were more sensible of their sickness. If thou, poor soul, art but come to thyself so far as to groan under thy cursed hypocrisy, and directest these thy groans in a prayer to heaven for Christ's help, thou shalt have thy physician soon with thee, never fear it. He hath not, since he ascended, laid down his calling, but still follows his practice as close as ever ; we find him sending his advice from heaven, in that excellent receipt. Rev. iii., to Laodicea, what she should do for her recovery out of this very disease of hypocrisy : ' I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,' &c. ; as if he had said, Laodicea, thou tradest in false wai-c, deceiving thyself and others with appearances for realities, counterfeit graces for true ; thy gold is dross, thy garments rotten rags, which do not hide, but discover thy shame ; come to me and thou shalt have that which is for thy turn, and better, cheap also ; for though here is mention of buying, no more is meant than to come with a buyer's spirit, valuing Christ and his grace so high, that if they were to be bought, though with all the money in thy purse, yea, blood in thy veins, thou wouldst have them, and not go home and say thou wert hardly used. It is the thirsty soul that shall be satisfied, only look thy thirst be right and deep.
First, Right ; a heart-thirst, and not simply a conscience-thirst. It is a very different heat that causetli the one and the other. Hell-fire may inflame the
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