with his profession ; there is no more difference betwixt a hypocrite and an apostate, than betwixt a green apple and a ripe one; come a while hence, and vou will see him foil rotten ripe from his profession. Judas, a close hypocrite, iiow soon an open traitor ! And as fruit ripens sooner or later, as the heat of the year proves, so doth hypocrisy, as the temptation is strong or weak ; some hypocrites go longer before they are discovered than others, because they meet not with such powerfid temptations to draw out their corruptions. It is ob- served, that the fruits of the earth ripen more in a week, when the sun is in conjunction with the dog-star, than in a month before: when the hypocrite hath a door opened by which he may enter into possession of that worldly prize he hath been projecting to obtain, now his lust within and the occasion without are in conjunction, and his day hastens wherein he will fall. The hook is baited, and he cannot but nibble at it. Now sincerity preserves the soul in this hour of temptation. David ])rays, Psa. xxvi. 9, that God woidd ' not gather his soul with sinners, whose right handisfidl of bribes;' such as, for advantage, would be bribed to sin, to which wicked gang he opposeth himself, ver. 1 1 : ' But as for me, I will walk in my integrity ;' where he tells us what kept him from being corrupted and enticed, as they were, from God — it was his integrity. A soul walking in its integrity will take bribes neither from men, nor sin itself; and therefore he saith, ver. 12, ' His foot stood in an even place;' or, as some read it, ' j\Iy foot standeth in righteousness.'
Thirdly, The hypocrite yields to the temptation, when he may sin without being controlled by man, which falls out in a double case : first, when he may embrace his lust in a secret corner, where the eye of man is not privy to it ; secondly, when the greatness of his j^lace and power lifts him above the stroke of justice from man's hand : in both these he discovers his baseness, but sincerity preserves the soul in both.
First, See how the hypocrite behaves himself when he thinks he is safe from man's sight. Ananias and Sapphira's care was to blind man's eye, by laying some of their estates at the apostles' feet; and having made sure of this, as they thought, by drawing this curtain of their seeming zeal between it and them, they pocket up the rest without trembling at, or thinking of God's revenging eye looking on them all the while ; and boldly, when they have done this, present themselves to Peter, as if they were as good saints as any in the com- pany. The hypocrite stands more of the saving of his credit in this world, than the saving of his soul in the other, and, therefore, when he can insure that, he will not stick to venture the putting of the other to the hazard; which shews lie is either a flat atheist, and doth not believe there is another world to save or damn his soul in; or, on purpose, stands aloof from the thoughts of it, knowing it is such a melancholy subject, and inconsistent with the way he is in, that he dares not suffer his own conscience to tell him what it thinks of it ; and so it comes to pass, that it hath no power to awe and sway him, because it cannot be heard to speak for itself. Now sincerity preserves the soul in this case. It was not enough that Joseph's master was abroad, so long as his Cxod was pre- sent: ' How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' Gen. xxxix. 8. Mark, not against his master, but ' against God.' Sincerity makes faithful to man, but for more than man's sake; Joseph served his master with eye- service — h#had God in his eye when Potiphar had not him in his : happy are those masters that have any that will serve them with this eye-service of sincerity.
Secondly, The hypocrite, if he cannot get out of man's sight, yet may he but stand out of the reach of his arm and power, it is as well for his turn, and doth often discover him. How unworthily and cruelly dealt Laban wi h Jacob, cheating him in his wife, oppressing him in his wages, by changing it ten times! Alas ! he knew Jacob was a poor, shiftless creature, in a strange place, unable to contest w^ith him, a great man in his country. Some princes, who before they have come to their power and greatness have seemed humble and cour- teous, kind and inercifid, just and upright, as soon as they have leaped into the saddle, got the reins of government into their hand, and begun to know what their power was, have even ridden their subjects ofi' their legs with oppression and cruelty, without all mercy, to their estates, liberties, and lives. Such in- stances the history of tlie world doth sadly abound with ; even Nero himself, that played the part of a devil at last, began so, that in the Roman hopes he
230 HAVING YOUR LOINS