c THE GREAT IMP 0 S T 0 R, LAID OPEN OUT OF I ER. I7-9· Th< htart is dmitfi•O above all things: Know where I am; in one of the fomous Phromilleries of Law,andJullice:whcreforeferves Law llndJullice, but forthe prevention or punifhment of froud and wickedneue~ Give me leave therefore to bring before you, Stu· dents, Mallers, Fathers, Oracles of Law andJuf!ice, the greatdl: Cheatorand Malefadorin the world, our owne Heart. It is a great word that I have faid, in promifing to bring him.before you;forthis is one ofthegreatell advantages ofh1s fraud,that he cannot be feene: Trm as that old Jugler ApoU•niru Thyan~tu,when he was brought before the Ju8ge,vanifhed out of fight; fo this great Impallor, in his very prefenting before you, difpeareth and is gone; yea fo cunning1y,chac he dath it with our owne confenr, and we wouldbe lolth that hecould be feene: Therefore as •n Epiphonema ro this juft complaint ofdcceicfu1neife, is added, Who can know it~ It is eafie to know that it is deceitfoll, and in what it deceivts, choubh the deceits themfelvcs cannot be E knowne,till toolote1 As we may fee<he Chip, ami the fea, and the {hip g:.ing on the fea, yetthe way ofa Chip in the (ea (as Salomon obferves) ,·:;; know noc: God askes and God fhall anfwer; Whatheaskes by Immic, he fhall anfwer by S. l'aul, Who , eo,: '·"· kntraJts thehe~trtofman-: Evm tht(piritofm4nthAtiJ in him. lfchen the heart have but eyes enow to fee it felfc by the refledion ofrhoughts, it is enough : Yc /hall cafily fee and heare enough(out ofthe analogie and refembhnce of hearts) to make you both allonifhed and afl1amed. The hem ofman lies in a narrow roome, yet •ll the world cannot fill it; hut that which may be foid ofthe heart, would more than fill a world: Here is a double flile given it; ot decehfulneffe; ofwickedne1fe; dtht;r ofwhich knowes no end, wherher ofbeing, or of difcourfe. I fpend my houre, and might doe my life, in treating of thefirll. See then, I befeech you, the Tmpoftor, and the lmpojlrm; The Impollor himfel fe, Th, h"rt of man; The ImpQflure, Drctitfn/1abovt4/l things. As deceitfuUperfons are wont everrogoe unCer m3.ny names , and ambiguous, and mult beexprell with an [alias] lo doth the heart ofman; Neither man him!elfc nor R r 3 any
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