A Christian Directory

Would they hate and scorn men for doing but that (and part of that) which they pray and profess to do themselves, if they were not hypocrites? Woe to the world, because of Hypocrisy! Woe to the carnal members of the Church! Woe to Idol Shepherds, and the seeming […] lifeless Christians, of what Sect soever: For God will not be mocked. They are Christians, but it is with a Mock-Christianity; while their souls are strange to the true esteem and use of Christ. They are Believers, but with a mock belief, described, James 2. They believe God should be loved above all, but they love him not. They believe that Holiness is better than all the pleasures of sin; yet they choose it not, but hate it: They are Religious, with a seeming vain Religion, which will not so much as humble them, nor bridle their tongues, Jam. 1. 26, They are wise, with a mock-wisdom: They are wise enough to prove their sins to be all lawful, or but venial sins: And wise enough to cast away the Medicine that would •eal them, and to confu•e the Physician, and to answer the learnedst Preacher of them all, and to scaped salvation, and to secure themselves a place in Hell, and keep themselves ignorant of it till they are there. They are converted, but with a mock-conversion, which leaveth them as carnal, and proud, and worldly as before; being born of Water, but not of the Spirit, and being sensual still, John 3. 5▪ 6. Jude 19. They Repent, but with a mock-repentance: They Repent, but they will not leave their sin, nor confess and bewail it, but hate reproof, and excuse their sin. They are Honest, but with a mock honesty: Though they swear, and curse, and rail, and slander, and backbite, and scorn at piety it self, yet they mean well, and have honest hearts: Though they receive not the Word with deep ro••ing in their hearts, but are abominable and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate, they are honest for all that, •u•e 8. 15.