slumbers and allows him to go on easily in the very sins which he condemns in others. This is a very prominent mark of the hypocrite, and I question whether all of us must not blame ourselves a little here.
12. II. And now we are going to TALLY UP THE HYPOCRITE’S ACCOUNT FOR HIM. Now, sir, bring us your ledger, and let us have a look at it. You are a hypocrite. Well, what is on the profit side? A good deal, I must confess. Here is, first of all, credit and honour. If you were to say outright, “You are a thief, you are a private drunkard, you can curse God as well as any man”; or if the world should hear as much, you would have no honour; but as it is you have joined the church, and the minister is very fond of you, the deacons and elders think a great deal of you, and you are a very honourable, respectable man. You go walking up to your pew with your Bible and your hymn book, and everyone says, “There is an exemplary character”; and they pat their little boys on the head, and say, “May you grow up to be a very good man like Mr. So-and-So.” The next advantage is the ease which you enjoy. The minister often preaches a solemn, thundering sermon against sin. You are exempt from all that; you are not a sinner, are you? not at all; who would suspect you? You are one of the brightest of the saints; it is almost a pity you were not one of the twelve; there was one among them almost as good as yourself, and his end will probably be yours. You escape every thunder of the law; your conscience rests easy, and the very thing which makes the child of God tremble, puffs you up; and the very marks and evidences which cast him down, help to exalt you. The sun of the gospel which melts wax, hardens the poor clay of your hearts, and you get more exalted in your self-conceit through everything you hear. And that is good too, is it not? very much in your favour, certainly. And then there is another thing. How nicely your shop has prospered through it; that, perhaps, is the part of the bargain which you like the best. Ever since you have made a profession of religion, have not those who go to your church and chapel done business with you? You would not have prospered half so well if you had been suspected to be what you really are, but because of that fine cloak of yours, that fine garment of hypocrisy, how nicely you have prospered! What a nice little round sum you have been able to save, have you not? All that is the bright side again. And besides that, what honours have you not received in the church! Are you not made a deacon, or an elder; indeed, perhaps a minister too: how pleasant that is! And you puff yourself up, and you feel satisfied. “Oh, what a good man I am, other people think I am, therefore I must be. It is true I devour the widow’s house; it is true I am not very particular about what I do; nevertheless the minister, the elders, the deacons think of me as good, the whole church applauds me; they cannot all be mistaken; surely I must be a special saint.” That is your profit side of the account, what about the other side? I think we shall be able to strike a balance that will not be very much in your favour, sir.
13. In the first place, I see a black item down here. Some of the people of the world do not think quite as much of you, as you imagine. The poor widow does not give you much of a character. You will have to be very careful sir, or your base deeds will come out. The very first item I see down here, is a fear that your hypocrisy will be discovered. It would take you only half as much trouble to be an honest man as it does to be a deceiver. A man who is in the habit of speaking truth, needs not be careful when he opens his mouth, nor where; but a man who lies, should be very careful, and have a very good memory, and remember all he has ever said before, lest he should trip himself up. So it is with you my friend, your religion is a Sunday religion, and you have to be very careful, so as to make Monday’s dealings hold their tongues and Sunday’s doings crow as loud as they can. Hard work! I would not stand in your place to have all the trepidation and fear of discovery, which so often comes upon you. No, I would sooner be a worldling, than I would have the fear that constantly haunts you, lest you should stand ashamed before the Church by your base iniquity being discovered. But I see something worse than this, here is constant turmoil of conscience; hypocrites may seem as if they were at ease, but they cannot really be. The Christian who is true to God, and is really his child, can sometimes say, “I know that Jesus has taken away my sin.” Assurance, bestowed to him by the Spirit, calms his fears and he can rest in Christ. But the highest presumption to which the hypocrite can attain, brings no such calm as what is breathed upon the Christian by the lips of assurance. He can go to his bed, no, he can go to his tomb in peace, but the hypocrite is afraid of a shadow, and flees when no man pursues.
14. And last of all, Mr. Hypocrite, I see an item here which you usually forget, it is this — that despite your profession God abhors you, and if there is one man more than another who stinks in the nostrils of Jehovah, it is such as you are — you miserable pretender. There shall be a special place reserved for you among the damned. Think man what shall be your misery when your secret deeds of iniquity are read before an assembled universe, and men and angels utter one unanimous hiss against you. What shall it be when the mask is torn off of you, when the masquerade of your hypocrisy is done and you are stripped naked to your shame, to be observed by all and to be despised by all? What do you say to this? Shall you go from your deaconship, or from your ministry, to be among the demons in hell? Shall you go from the sacramental table to drink the sulphurous cup of torment? Shall you descend from the song of the sanctuary and from the house of God to the abode of fiends and to the wailing of the damned? Yes, you shall as sure as this word is true, if you go on in your hypocrisy. Death shall catch up with you, and hell shall be your doom, for the hope of the hypocrite is as the spider’s web, soon swept away; and where is he when God takes away his hope?
15. This then is the tallying up of the hypocrite’s account, and there is a deficit of an infinite amount.
16. III. Now for the matter of the CURE FOR THE HYPOCRITE. What shall we say about it? Oh! my friends, I feel that in thus speaking of the hypocrite, I have tried to speak severely, but I have not been able to reach the heart as I could wish, because it is a mark of human nature that this is the last sin we would really suspect in ourselves, and yet the one most easily to fall into. Often I fall on my knees in an agony of doubt, and cry, “Lord, make me sincere; if I am deceived, undeceive me.” I do not think that any Christian will live long without some such seasons of anguishing self-examination. Let me ask you today, let no one exempt himself. You may have been professing Christians for many years, and yet you may have been hypocrites. Remember there was a hypocrite among the apostles, so may there be among the ministers of Christ. There have been deceivers among the apostolic churches, how much more may we expect them among us. Do not look around to discover them, it is God’s business, not yours, to expose hypocrites; but examine yourselves to see whether you are one. Driving along the other day in the wind I observed a great branch fall just in front of me. I remarked that it was rotten, and wondered within myself how long that might have been upon the tree, and yet have been rotten after all. Then I thought, “Oh! if the wind of persecution were to sweep through the church, should I fall off like a rotten branch?” Would not many of my hearers fall away? They profess to have been united to Christ for a long time, and have spoken for him, perhaps preached for him, but if the time of trial, which shall try the earth, should come upon us again, how many of us would stand? Oh! my hearers do not be content to take your religion second hand; do not let it be a superficial work. Do not think that because you have seen me and have seen my elders, and we have admitted you into the church, you are therefore all right. We have been deceived many times; it is not hard work to deceive a kind heart. I have looked into the eyes of some, and have tried to read their very soul, and yet I have misjudged; I have seen tears in their eyes while they have made a profession of Christ, and yet they have been deceivers after all, and I have been very grossly taken in. In fact, the more kind hearted a man is the more human nature will endeavour to impose upon him. I am certain I have used the utmost diligence to weed out of my church those whom I have suspected of hypocrisy, and greater diligence shall yet be used. But, oh, do deal with yourselves, I beseech you. I will not send you to hell blind folded if I can help it; I do not wish to be in error myself, and God forbid that I should allow you to be deceived. Oh! if you are not true Christians, away with your profession altogether. If it is not sound work, down with it. Better to see the house tumble now, than let it stand until the rain descends and the floods come, and the winds beat upon it in the dread eternity of the future. Oh, no, I would rather send every heart home uncomfortable
