556 CARIS'T1AN MCIRAL11'Y, .VdZ. [SEAM. X1GI. denounced against . hypocrites. You scarce find him preaching ,a sermon of any length, but he has one or more woes in it ready for those that practise hypocrisy. There is no sort ofsinners that he treats with such in- famous names and such killing reproaches as he does the hypocrite. They resemble the old serpent, the devil, in subtlety and falsehood, and therefore the language of Christ to them runs in this manner ; Ye` Jews, who are false to the inward conviction of your own consciences, ye are ofyourfather the devil, and the lusts ofyourfa- therye will do : Ilewas a murdererfrom the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a.lie, he speaketh ofhis own : for he is a liar, and thefather of it, John viii. 44. It is as if our Lord had said, The first lie that ever was made, was made by the devil ; and by his telling a lie, and our mother Eve's, believing it, he murdered mankind in Adam their head. And yet you false Jews would imi- tatehim; and make him your father." And again, Woe unto you scribes andpharisees, hypocrites,---ye serpents, yegeneration ofvipers, sons of the old serpent, how can ÿe escape the damnation of hell ? Mat. xxiii. 29, 33,. Your eternal punishment is mostjust andunavoidable. In another of his discourses he makes the punishment of hypocrites to be, as it were, the pattern of the punish - ment of the worst of wickedness. The servant who is intrusted with the household of his Lord, that shall beat his fellows, and shall eat and drink with the drunken,. his Lord shallcut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites ; there shall be weeping and gnash- ing of teeth, Mat. xxiv. 51. And when you read the black catalogue of sinners, who are doomed to everlast- ing destruction, Rev. xxi. 8. the name of liars is put in with a peculiar remark, the unbelievers, the murderers, the whoremongers, the sorcerers, idolators, and all liars, ,shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. As if he had ,said, whosoever escapes hell, no liarshall escape it, and it is repeated again in the next chapter, Without the gates of heaven are dogs and murderers, and idolaters, and '.whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Rev. xxii. 15. Whensoever therefore we find a temptation to false- hood, let us set ourselves under the immediate eye of
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