So Paul, who had been caught up into the third heaven, and learned his divinity among the angels, as one speaks [Chrj'sostom], and had such glorious revelations as could not be uttered, yet he accounts him- self less than the least of all saints : Eph. iii. 8, ' Unto me who am less than the least of all saints.' The Greek is a comparative made of a superlative : less than the least of all saints is a double diminutive, and signifies lesser than the least, if lesser might be ; not that any thing caH be less than the least.* Paul's rhetoric doth not cross Aristotle's philo-
' Job was a nonsuch in regard of those perfections and degrees of grace, of integrity, of sanctity, that he had attained to beyond any other saints in the world iu hia time aud day. ' Vide Estium, Bezam, &c.
Chap. IV.] a cabinet of jewels. 453
sophy. The original word being a double diminutive, his meaning i.s that he was as little as could be ; therefore he put himself down so little as could not be less than the least. Here you have the greatest apostle descending down to the lowest step of humility : great Paul is least of saints, last of the apostles, and greatest of sinners, 1 Tim. i. 15.
So Peter, ' Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord,' Luke v. 8, or as the Greek runs, av/io ccfMa^ruXog, ' a man, a sinner,' a very mixture and compound of dirt and sin ; a mere bundle of vice and vanity, of folly and iniquity. So Luther, ' I have no other name than sirmer, sinner is my name, sinner is my surname ; this is the name by which I shall be always known. I have sinned,! do sin, I shall sin in infinitum,' saith Luther, speaking vilely and basely of itself. Lord, I am hell and thou art heaven, said blessed Hooper ; I am a most hypocritical wretch, not worthy that the earth should bear me, said blessed Bradford. Thus you see by these several instances that sincere Christians do as it were take a holy pleasure and delight to debase, humble, and vilify themselves. But this is a work hypocrites are mere strangers to. There is not an hypocrite under heaven that loves to debase himself, or that makes it his duty conscientiously to vilify and lessen himself that Christ may be set up above all. Humility is a grace hardly attained unto. ' Many,' saith one [Augustine], ' ca,n more easily give all they have to the poor, than themselves become poor in spirit.' But,
[9.] Ninthly, No hypocnte luill long hold out in the work and ways of the Lord, in the want of outward encouragements, and in the face of outivard discouragements. An hypocrite is an apostate cased, and an apostate is an hypocrite uncased : Job xxvii. 8, ' For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though^he hath gained, when God shall take away his soul ?' Ver. 10, ' Will he delight himself in the Almighty ? Will he always call upon God ?' Or, as the Hebrew runs, ' Will he in every time call upon God 1' It may be he may formally call on God in time of prosperity ; but can he seriously do it in time of adversity ? Sometimes when the rod is upon them, then they will pour out a prayer to God : ' In their affliction they will seek me early,' Isa. xxvi. 16, Hosea v. 15. ' When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired after God,' Ps. Ixxviii. 34. But this was not the standing frame of their hearts : Ver. 36, ' Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.' Ver, 37, ' For their heart was not right with him, neither were they sted- fast in his covenant.' When Pharaoh was upon the rack, he could roar a confession, and earnestly cry out for a prayer, Exod. x. IG, 17, 19, 20 ; but when the judgment was removed, Pharaoh was as proud, and hard, and blind as ever. When Adonijah was in danger of death, then he could hang on the horns of the altar, 1 Kings i. 50, 51. When Ahab was threat- ened with utter desolation, then he could fast and lie in sackcloth ; and so did the Ninevites. But all this was but like Ephraim and Judah's goodness, that as a morning cloud and as the early dew passeth away. Will the hypocrite always, or in every time, call upon God ? Will the hypocrite call upon God as often as providence calls him to call upon God ? Will he call upon God as often as judgments call him to call upon God ? Will he call upon God as often as conscience calls him to call upon God ? Will he call upon God as often as it his duty to call
454 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [GhAP. IV.