[13.] Thirteenthly, and lastly. An hypocrite cannot endure to be tried, and searched, and laid open. An hypocrite hates the light, and had rather go to hell in the dark than come to be weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, John iii. 20. A soul-searching ministry is to an hypocrite a tormenting ministry. That is no man for his money that will never let his conscience alone ; he knows he is like a velvet saddle, velvet without and straw within ; he knows he is like a whited sepulchre, glorious without and dead bones within. Mat. xxiii. 27, 28 ; and therefore his heart rises and swells against such a man and such a * Confessions, Book v. xiii. 23 ; xiv. 24.
Chap. IV.] a cabinet of jewels. 465
ministr}', that is all for the anatomising and laying of him open to him- self and to the world. But now look, as pure gold fears neither fire nor furnace, neither test nor touchstone, neither ode balance nor another, so a sincere heart dares venture itself upon trial, yea, upon the very trial of God himself : Ps. cxxxix. 23, ' Search me, O God, and know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts.' A sincere Christian prays his friends to search him, and he prays soul-searching ministers to search him ; but above all, he begs hard of God to search him : ' Search me, O God.' The Hebrew word ^Jlpn, is imperat. kal; he commands God to search him. The original word signifies a strict, curious, diligent search : see Job xxxi. 5, 6. A sincere Christian is very willing and desirous that God should thoroughly search him, that God should search into every corner and cranny of his heart : Ps. xxvi. 2, ' Examine me, O Lord, and prove me ; try my reins and my heart.' Every word here has its weight : ' Examine me, O Lord.' The Hebrew word nsnv signifies to melt, and so to try which makes the most intrinsecal and exact dis- covery. O Lord, let my heart and reins be melted, that it may be known what metal they are made of, whether gold or tin ; ' prove me.' The Hebrew word ''jjna signifies to view, as when a man gets upon some high tower or hill to see all from thence. ' Mount aloft, O Lord,' take the high tower, take the hill, ' that thou mayest see what is in me ; try me, and know my thoughts.' The Hebrew word »iDi, is from riD:, nasah, which properly signifies to take away, and is applied to Abraham's taking away of his son, Gen. xxii. 1. Lord, saith the pro- phet, if, upon searching and examining of me, thou shalt find any sin, any creature, any comfort, any enjoyment that lies in thy room, take it away, that thou mayest be all in all to me. A sincere Christian knows that God never brings a pair of scales to weigh his graces, but only a touchstone to try the truth of his graces ; he knows if his gold, his grace, be true, though it be never so little, it will pass for current with God, and therefore he is free to venture upon the closest search of God, Mat. xii. 20. Now look, as bankrupts care not for casting up their accounts, because they know all is naught, very naught, yea, stark naught with them ; so hypocrites, they care not to come to the trial, to the test, because they know all is naught, yea, worse than naught with them. They have no mind to cast up their spiritual estates, because at the foot of the account they must be put to read their neck verse, ' Undone, undone.'^ And therefore, as old deformed women cannot endure to look into the looking-glass, lest their wrinkles and deformity should be discovered, so hypocrites cannot endure to look into the glass of the gospel, lest their deformities, impieties, and wickednesses should be discovered and detected. I have read of the elephant, how unwill- ing he is to go into the water, but when he is forced into it, he puddles it, lest by the clearness of the stream he should discern his own deformity ; so hypocrites they are very unwilling to look into their own hearts, or into the clear streams of scriptures, lest their soul's deformity and ugli- ness should appear, to their own terror and amazement. O sirs ! look, as it is a hopeful evidence that the client's cause is good when he is ready and willing to enter upon a trial, and as it is a hopeful sign that
' A false evidence is the fruit of a slight and superficial search. [See Glossary, s. v. for ' neck-verse.' — G.]
4G6 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. V.
a man's gold is tnie gold when he is willing to bring it to the touch- stone, and that a man thrives when he is williog to cast up his books, so it is a hopeful evidence that a Christian is sincere with God when he is ready and willing to venture upon the trial of God, when he is willing to cast up his books, his accounts, that he may see what he is worth for another world, Gal. vi. 4, 5. Augustine speaks of an acute person, who was wont to say that he prized that little time which he constantly set apart every day for the examination of his conscience, far more than all the other part of the day, which he spent in his voluminous contro- versies.^ Of all the duties of religion, an hypocrite dreads most that of self-examination, and that of venturing himself upon the search and trial of God. Well, for a close, though an h}^ocrite may deceive all the world, like that counterfeit Alexander in Josephus his story, yet Augustus will not be deceived, the great God will not be deceived ; for his eyes are quick and piercing into all things, persons, and places.^ Look, as the eyes of a well drawn picture are fastened on thee which way soever thou turnest, so are the eyes of the Lord fastened on thee, O hypocrite, which way soever thou turnest. It was a worthy saying of one, If thou canst not hide thyself from the sun, which is God's minister of light, how impossible will it be to hide thj^self from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun f The eye of God many times is very terrible to an hypocrite, which makes him very shy of venturing upon the trial of God. No hjrpocrite since the world stood, did ever love or delight to be searched and tried by God.
And thus I have shewed you the several rounds or steps in Jacob's ladder, which no hypocrite under heaven can, whilst he remains an hypocrite, climb up to. And so much for this chapter.
Now in this fifth and last chapter, I shall lay down some 'propositions and directions, that so you may see ivhat a sober use and improve- ment Christians ought to make of their evidences for heaven ; and how, in the use of gracious evidences, they ought to live above their gracious evidences, and hoiu to exalt and lift up Christ above all their graces, evidences, and performances.