The _Hypocrite_ is but the Devil in the Shape of an _Angel of Light_; and
as it is no easie Matter to Distinguish the One from the Other; so ’tis a
thing of a most Desperate Consequence to Mistake them; and the Question
will be this at last, How to Reconcile the Offices of _Charity_ and
_Prudence_. The One bids us believe and hope the _Best_; the Other bids
us provide against the _Worst_. Now it is not for Nothing that the Holy
Ghost it self has Denounc’d so many Woes against this sort of Impostors;
and Inculcated over and over so many Cautions how we have any thing to
do with them; which is no other then a Declaration of an _Abhorrence_
of these People, and a plain Intimation of the Danger of being Deluded
and Impos’d upon, under the Mask of _Religion_ both in One. There’s no
Cruelty, no Fraud, no Violence, no Oppression, that is not acted under a
Colour of Divine Authority, Impulse and Direction. Churches are Robb’d
and Prophan’d; Princes Depos’d and Murder’d; Religion and Morality,
with all the Principles of Virtue and Common Honesty, are overturn’d;
and the Name of God himself is made Use of, as a Principal and as a
Witness to the Impiety, in a Defiance to all the Dictates of Heaven and
Right Reason: And all this is but a Preachment upon the Text at last, of
_Fear God and Keep his Commandments_. When a King’s Head is to be struck
off by his own Rebellious Subjects, ’tis brought on commonly with the
Prologue of a Fast, which in the Style of the _Holy Intrigue_, is call’d
_a Seeking of the Lord. This Work and Judgment of God_ (_though it be
Secret_) _must be done with Great Gravity_, (says _James Melvil_, by way
of Preface to the Murder of _Cardinal Beaton_.) _Vive l’Evangile_, was
the Word to several of the Massacres in _France_. ’Twas often in the
Mouth of a Lady, Zealous in her way, with Deep Protestations, that _She
had rather lye with Forty Men then go to One Mass_: Nay, and I have heard
of Tenants too, that Refus’d to pay their Landlord his Rent, unless he
could shew a _Text_ for’t. Here’s enough said to set forth the Character
of an _Hypocrite_, so as to Answer the Morality that is Couch’d under
this Figure; but the great Difficulty will be the Steering of a Middle
Course, betwixt Believing too much, and too little: That is to say,
betwixt taking a _Good Man_ for an _Hypocrite_, and an _Hypocrite_ for
a _Good Man_. We are to have a Reverence for the very Appearances of
Piety; but whenever we find the _Holy Man to God-ward_, to be no better
than a _Juggling Knave among his Neighbours_, that’s the very _Hypocrite_
that we find Stigmatiz’d among the _Scribes_ and _Pharisees_ in the Holy
_Gospel_.