two hands, the one to embrace, and the other to stab with, as Joab ; he hath two tongues, with Judas, the one to salute Christ, and another to betray Christ ; lie hath two faces, with Janus, one looks backward, and the other forward. A hypocrite hatli two hearts, with the Israelites, he can cry, 'Hail king Solomon, hail king Adonijah;' like A])uleius' parrot, 'Hail Augustus the emperor, hail Antony,' Ave AuijKsfc imperator, ave Anioni ; all which speaks them out to be the worst of sinners.
lieason 6. The sixth and last reason is this. Because hypocrites /(//^^ ayainst Christ with his own iveapons. They fight against God with his own gifts that he hath bestowed upon them, as David fought against Goliath with his own sword ; or as Jehu fought against Jehoram with his own men. Thus did the scribes and Pharisees, Spira and Judas, fight against Christ to their own eternal overthrow. The hypocrite will fight against God with that knowledge, wisdom, light, and under- standing which God hath given him, though he dies eternally for it. Julian the apostate fought against Christ with his own weapons ; and through the strength of his parts he prevailed more by persuading than by enforcing, and by enticements than by torments, to the ruin of Christians. Hypocrites fight against God with his own weapons, and dare heaven, and therefore God will cast them to hell.
2. The second thing that I am to do, is to discover to you ichat hypocrites are that God is so severe in his judgment against. The Greek word 'v7roKpLTr)<;, signifies stage-players. A hypocrite is a slave in king's robes; he is a devil in angel's apparel; he is a wolf in a sheep's skin. As Cicero saith of Epicurus, that he was no philosopher in truth, but put on the bare name of a philosopher ; so I may say, a hypocrite is no saint, no holy man in truth, but one tliat puts on the name of a saint, and outwardly appears to be a saint, though inwardly he is a devil incarnate. The Hebrew word ^Jn, that is rendered a hypo- crite, signifies to dissemble, and defile, or pollute. Hypocrites are the greatest dissemblers in the world ; they dissemble with God, with men, and with their own souls; and as they are the greatest dis- semblers, so they are the greatest defilers in the world ; they defile all places and com]>any where they come ; they defile all duties, mercies, and ordinances they touch. But I shall shew you more fully what he is in these six following things : —
[1.] First, Hypocritical hearts are proud, vain-glorious hearts. Every man's silver is but brass to theirs, and every man's light is but darkness to theirs ; and no men's duties and abilities are com- parable to theirs. The proud and vain-glorious hypocrite, Jehu-like, says, ' Come, see my zeal for the Lord of hosts,' 2 Kings x. 16. A sincere heart loves to do much for Christ, and not to be seen by any but Christ. Jehu's zeal is but the shadow of zeal, as all hypocrites' virtues are but the shadows of virtues, and yet tlie hypocrite, Narcissus- like, falls in love with his own shadow. The hyjiocrite loves to see the hat move, and the knee to bow, and men to cry, Rabbi, rabbi, in the market-place, Mat. xxiii. 5-7.^ Charis, a soldier, was so proud
' A sincere heart is like the rod rose, which thou.trli outwardly it be not so fragrant ,ns- tlie damask, yet inwardly it is far more cordial : a sincere heart is like the violet, which grows low, and hides itself and its own sweetness, as much as can be, with its own leaves.
IsA. X. 6.] DETECTED, ANATOMIZED, ETC. 375
because of the" wound he gave Cyrus, that shortly after he went mad, saith Phitarch ; and Menecrates was so proud because he cured many patients which others could not, that he called himself Jupiter ; so hypocrites are proud, and swell with the thoughts of their own worth and doings, that they cry up and set up themselves above others : Luke xviii. 11, 12, ' God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are,' &c. ' I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess;' Isa. Ixv. 5, which say, 'Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou.'
[2.] Secondly, Hypocrites, they do always cover their cruel and bloody intentions with specious and religious i^reteiices. Herod, a notorious hypocrite, covers his intentions of murdering Christ, with pretences of worshipping Christ ; and those in Ezra iv. cover their intentions of pull- ing down the temple, with pretences of help [in] building the temple. They pretend to build the temple, and yet they intended to pull down the temple; and so did Jezebel, in that 1 Kings xxi.; and so Ishmael covers his bloody intention of murdering, with weeping, Jer. xli. A hypocrite will draw a fair glove upon a foul hand ; he is like the serpent that stings without hissing ; they will kiss, and kill you ; they will kiss, and betray j^ou ; they will stroke you, and cut 3^our throat. There is nothing more evident in experience and Scripture than that hypocrites have all along covered their bloody and cruel designs with religious pretences. Parsons, when he had plotted that matchless villainy the Powder-plot, he sets out his book of resolutions as if he had been made up all of devotions. Hypocrites are like the Italians, that will hug and embrace you in those arms they intend to imbrue in your dearest blood.
[3.] A h)'pocritical heart is a subtle heart, a deceitful heart. What is said of Jonadab, 2 Sam. xiii. 2, that he was a very subtle man, that may I say of all hypocrites ; they are very subtle men ; by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple, drawing them unawares into the lion's paw, as Mohammed did. The hypocrite is a cloud without rain, a blossoming tree without fruit, a star without light, a shell without a kernel. The hypocrite is like the fruit of Sodom, that without is very fair, but within is nothing but dust. The hypocrite is like the images Lucian speaks of, that were bravely wrought over with silver and pearl, but within are filled up with the meanest and basest things, as pieces of wood, pitch, mortar, &c.; whereas a sincere heart is like Brutus his staff, thorn without and gold within ; or like that ark, gold within and goat's hair without.
[4.] Fourthly, again, Hypocrites never do good out of love to God, hut out of designs to advantage themselves, Mat. xxiii. 14, and vi. 1-3. The hypocrite very seldom follows Maximilian's counsel, Tcne mensuram et respice finem. Keep thyself within compass, and always have an eye to the end of thy life and actions. Jehu makes a great deal of stir ; he pretends to be very zealous for Cod ; he destroys idolaters, but not idolatry ; and all this was only that he might come to the crown. Mr Knoxi reports of some noblemen in Scotland who seemed very forward for Reformation, but their design was merely for spoil, and for their private commodity; but, saith he, they were ' Knox ' History of Scotland,' p. 503.
376 THE HYPUCUITK [IsA. X. G."