Chapter 12

The deceitful judgment of the heart in censuring our actions already done, and more specially the shifts it uses for excusing of sinful actions.

Now it is deceitful not only in the sentence it passes upon evil actions, but also upon good.

1. For good actions, two ways: first by condemning the innocent, and accusing us for them, as if we had sinned; as when an Anabaptist's conscience accuses him for swearing before a lawful magistrate, lawfully exacting it, when a Papist's for eating an egg in Lent. 2. By setting the good we have done at so high a rate, making a great deal of nothing.

2. For evil actions, the judgment of our hearts is deceitful two ways.

First, in justifying the guilty, acquitting us for them as if we had done well; as those our Savior speaks of, that should judge of the murder of the Apostles, as of good service performed to God. And this deceit is the stronger, if the sin be happy in success. Then vile wickedness shall be graced with the name of virtue itself. Dionisius after his spoil of an idol's temple, finding the winds favorable in his navigation: lo, says he, how the gods approve of sacrilege. He blessed himself in his supposed sacrilege, because of the good success that ensued. This was likely also to be Jeroboam's deceit, that his calves were not so evil, when he saw how the Prophet, which so thundered against them, was afterward slain of a Lion. This also was the deceit of those wives in Jeremiah, that justified their idolatrous incensing to the Queen of heaven, by the plenty and peace then enjoyed in regard of that scarceness, which followed the leaving of that idolatry. Like as many of the Israelites, when they were brought into the desert, where was want of all things, in regard of that which was in Egypt, they preferred Egypt; as now many, blinded with the same deceit, prefer popery in the same respect, before the Gospel. But for the delivering of ourselves from this deceit, we must know, that we must judge of the goodness of the success, by the goodness of the action, not contrarily of the goodness of the action, by the goodness of the success.

Neither is this deceit, of judging our sinful actions lawful and good, proper only to the blind worldlings, but incident also to those, that have some knowledge, and sense of religion, indeed often to the truly godly themselves. David cries out, who knows the errors of his ways? How many secret sins have the best, which they are so far from accounting sins, that they bear themselves out in them, as just and warrantable? Of this kind was the Polygamy of the Patriarchs, whose living and dying in that sin, without special repentance for it, is to be imputed to this deceitfulness of heart, we now speak of. And so no doubt is it still with us, that many sins go current with us, without the least check, in regard of the general sway of the times. But this deceit is far more grievous in some, who being something like true Christians (but indeed are not) are often foully deluded by Satan. So that as once Joseph took the conception of the Holy Ghost to be an adulterous seed; so these men contrarily take adulterous conceptions, that is some thoughts and affections which spring from pride, and vainglory, to be spiritual conceptions of the Holy Ghost, and to come from zeal, and piety; and as once Eli and those mockers (Acts 2) imputed the true work of the Spirit to drunkenness: so these through the deceitfulness of their hearts, father upon the Spirit certain motions and actions, that are indeed the fruit of a certain kind of drunkenness and giddiness of intoxicated minds.

The second thing, wherein the judgment of the heart touching our sins shows its deceitfulness, is this: That if the action be so gross, as that it cannot be excused in itself, yet to excuse it, as it was done by us. That though it cannot excuse it wholly, yet it will exceedingly extenuate it, making it to be in us, and as we did it, but a venial, a petty and pardonable sin. As the unjust steward in the Gospel for a hundred pounds set down fifty, so deal we, nay far worse, with our debts to God, that is our sins. Talents are made farthings: and farthings mere nothings. Great sins are made little sins: and little sins no sins. And here especially does the cunning deceitfulness of the heart excel. It does so strain and stretch its wits, even as it were on tenterhooks, to find out excuses, as it were fig-leaves to cover our nakedness, and thickets to lurk in, if it might be unseen by God himself. This is that deceit David meant when he said, blessed is that man in whose heart there is no guile, namely to mince or mitigate the grievousness of his sin, by the invention of witty and colorable excuses, and extenuations. And this, as it may seem, he spoke out of his own experience in that his grievous sin, in the matter of Uriah. For in this point the Scripture taxes him for want of uprightness of heart, and therefore also himself at length, in his repentance, taking notice of it in himself, cries out, O Lord you love the truth in the inward parts, thereby implying, that in that sin he had discovered much deceit and want of truth and uprightness; now in what more than in this, that he sewed cushions under his elbows, that he might sleep securely in his sin, and after he had built the wall, he daubed it with the untempered mortar of his own vain and frivolous excuses; as that a King had equal authority over all his subjects, and therefore, since some must needs be exposed to more peril in the wars than others, he might as well put Uriah to that hard lot, as another; that as long as Uriah was not slain with his own hands, but in the wars, he was not guilty of his death, and various such like inventions. And who shall not in some measure discern this deceit? How busily will our hearts lay about them to find some pretense or other for the lessening of our sins, to make them seem less odious and ugly than indeed they are? So that, though, when we come to give judgment, we cannot wholly free ourselves, but must needs give in the verdict against ourselves, yet we will do it as favorably, and with as great respect as may be. Like David that when he could not but send his subjects against Absalom, yet willed them to have special care of not hurting him. But when our deceitful hearts would urge us to show this favor to our Absaloms, to our darling sins, we should no more regard them than Joab did David's charge concerning Absalom, but with stomach and courage run them through with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and not as usually we do, only give them a little pinch with our finger, or prick with a pin. But let us see the particulars of these deceitful excuses.

The first is, to plead the corruption of nature. O say some, when they are justly challenged, we are but flesh and blood, born in sin, our corrupt nature as a mighty stream carries us away violently. We are but weak, frail men; no Saints, no Angels. These see not that this is so far from lessening, that it rather aggravates their sin. For as the Philosopher says of those that excuse their sin by drunkenness, that they deserve double punishment, first for the drunkenness, then for the sin committed in, and by their drunkenness: so likewise is it here. We deserve double damnation, first for this corruption of our nature, and then for the fruits of it, in our actual transgressions; because as the drunkard is the cause of his own drunkenness, so we likewise of our own corruption of nature, for God made us holy and righteous, after his own image, but we ourselves in our first parents defiled and corrupted this holy nature. And therefore David when in that penitential Psalm his repenting heart even studied with itself, how to make his sin out of measure sinful, and to raise it up to the highest degree of rebellion, he brings in the mention of his corrupt nature, as an amplification thereof, In sin was I conceived, and in iniquity brought forth. And lest it might be thought that he did cunningly allege it to lessen his sin, he adds, You love the truth, no such deceitful cloaking.

The second cloak are the examples of the faults of holy and godly men, specially those in the Scripture; as David's adultery, Peter's denial, Lot's incest, Noah's drunkenness, etc. How many are there that upon these examples, do bear and bolster themselves out in the same or the like sins? But what a strange deceit is this, that that which increases sin, should be used as a diminution thereof? For by how much the person that sins is greater, by so much also is the sin itself. Adultery by David's example was made so much the viler, by how much David's holiness exceeded others. Again what a gross delusion is this, that that which indeed is an argument of fear, should be made an argument of boldness in sinning: for who in his right mind would not reason thus with himself? Did David, Peter, and other such worthies fall so dangerously, that had so excellent a measure of the spirit? Oh then it stands me in hand to look to myself, whose feet are far more feeble, and stand in far more slippery ground. Surely, if the saints were alive again, and here with us on earth, as there would be diverse other matters of grief to them, so I think nothing more, than to see the horrible abuse, as of their virtues, so of their imperfections; of their virtues, when in that regard, they are defiled, by the superstitious idolater: of their infirmities and imperfections, when for them, they are made the patrons of hateful and shameful deformities by the loose libertine. As it would grieve them to see those virtues, the weakness whereof made them to fall down before God, in humiliation, to be raised up to such a height, as to make others fall down to them in adoration: so also to see their sins, which worked shame in themselves, to work impudence in others. If David had committed adultery, as thinking it no such great matter, because of the example of some prophet before him, there had been some more color in this excuse. But David fell, only through his own concupiscence, not upon any patronage of holy men's examples: a prophet with his words rebuked him for his sin. No prophet with his deeds fleshed him in his sin: why do you love in yourself that which David hated in himself?

To conclude this point; the examples of holy men in things imitable are compared by the Holy Spirit to the Israelites' cloud, that led them in the wilderness. But their unwarrantable examples are like the black part of the cloud, which whoever shall follow, with these Egyptians, together with them he is likely to be drowned in the sea of eternal destruction.

The third shift is their ignorance, and want of learning. They say they are no scholars, nor book-learned. And therefore, however these things they are accused of, would be scarce tolerable in others, yet in them they are very excusable. For the discovery of this deceit, we must understand, that there is a twofold ignorance. A plain and simple ignorance, and also a willful and affected. The plain and simple ignorance, though it may extenuate, yet it cannot altogether excuse. The ignorance of your prince's laws will not excuse you in his court, and do you think that in God's court, who is far severer than any mortal person, the plea of ignorance shall be heard? For as the prince's laws are printed and published, and therefore may be known, unless we be either careless or willful; so also are God's. Are you then ignorant? The fault is your own, it cannot therefore save you harmless. No, the servant not knowing his master's will must be beaten with some stripes, if he does it not, though not with so many, as he, that knowing it, does it not. But yet, if his ignorance, be the second kind of ignorance, willful, and affected, then he shall be beaten with as many, if not more: for this kind of ignorance increases the sin rather, than any bit lessens it, and here, as in the case of drunkenness, double punishment is worthily deserved; because they do willingly shut their own eyes that they might not see, and do of set purpose, nuzzle themselves in ignorance, though the light on every side encompasses them, thinking thereby to procure to themselves a liberty of sinning, without guiltiness. But they are deceived: here truly has place that saying, The ignorance of the truth can be no excuse to save their condemnation, who had they had a will to seek the truth, might easily have had the skill to find it. They double their guiltiness, they twist the bonds of their iniquities stronger, and add further weight to their sin, when they think to make it lighter. To this purpose Thomas the schoolman speaks very judiciously, thus. Sometimes it happens that ignorance is directly, and in itself, voluntary, as when one is willingly ignorant, that he might sin the more freely. And such ignorance seems to increase our voluntariness, and so our sin: for it proceeds altogether from the intention of the will set upon sinning, that a man will willingly suffer the damage of ignorance, to enjoy the freedom of sinning.