and seem most exemplary in our conduct0
and yet have it all rendered vain and worthless by means of this accursed principle. What a painful thought is this, that we may be apprehending ourselves most holy and most exem- plary, and yet, after all, may be found to have deceived our own souls ! But so it is : "A man may think himself to be something, and yet in the sight of God be nothing but an hypocrite and self-deceiverp." Let us then spare no pains to purge out the old leaven, that we may be a new lump : and, as the Jews at their passover were indefatigable in their exertions to banish leaven from their houses, so let us, now that Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, labour to banish it from our hearts, and to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth q."]
3. Its fatal effects —
[Awful indeed are the denunciations of God's wrath against hypocrites, insomuch that to " have our portion with them" is to be exposed to his heaviest indignation1-. Nor is it gross hypocrisy only, such as is manifest to all, that so provokes his displeasure ; but that also which is the most secret and refined : " the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath," and that too whilst they are flattering themselves perhaps, and expecting an accu- mulated weight of glory s. And oh how fearful will be their disappointment ! How distressing too will it be to their more upright friends, to miss them in the regions of bliss, and to find that, after all their professions of godliness, they were not counted worthy of the kingdom of heaven*! Consider these things beforehand. Consider that your state will be fixed by Him, " whose eyes are as a flame of fire," who " searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins," and who will give to every man according to his works : and know assuredly, that whatever be now thought of your state, you will then stand or fall, accord- ing to your real character".
If you are disposed to ask, What shall I do to avoid this doom, I would suggest to you a few words of]
Advice —
1. Be not too confident of your own integrity —
[However unconscious we may be of our latent hypocrisy, it is well to be diffident of ourselves. Even Paul himself cul- tivated this kind of humility, choosing rather to cast himself on the mercy of his God, than to place too great a reliance on his own integrity x. We say not, that you may not rejoice in the
0 Isai. lviii. 2, 3.
p Gal. vi. 3.
1 1 Cor. v. 6—8.
r Matt. xxiv. 51.
s Job xxxvi. 13.
1 Job xx. 4 — 7.
« 1 Tim. v. 24, 25.
x 1 Cor. iv. 3—5.