The mischiefs of self-ignorance and the benefits of self-acquaintance opened in divers sermons at…

It is a plain and terrible passage, Prov. 24.24. He that saith to the wicked, Thou art Righteous, him shall the people curse; natives shall abhor him,] Such injustice in a Judge or witnesses is odious, that determine but in order to temporal rewards on punishments: (Lev: 19.15. Prov. 18.5. ⟨p. 408⟩& 28.21.) But in a messenger that professeth to speak to men in the name of God, and in the stead of Jesus Christ, when the determination hath respect to the consciences of men, and to their endless joy or torment, how odious and horrid a crime must it be esteemed to persuade the wicked that he is Righteous, or to speak that which tendeth to persuade him of it though not in open plain expressions! what perfidious dealing is this against the Holy God! what an abuse of our Redeemer, that his pretended messengers shall make him seem to judge clean contrary to his Holiness, and to his Law, and to the Judgement which indeed he passeth and will pass on all that live and die unsanctified! What vile deceit, and cruelty against the souls of men, are such Preachers guilty of, that would make them believe that all is well with them, or that their state is safe or tolerable, till they must find it otherwise to their woe! when diseased souls have but a short and limited time allowed them for their cure, that a man shall come to them, as in the name of their Physician, and tell them that they are pretty well, and need not make so much ado about the business, and thus keep them from their only help till it be too late! what ⟨p. 409⟩shame, what punishment can be too great for such a wretch? when the neglect and making light of Christ and his salvation, is the common road to Hell, Heb. 2.3. Matth. 22.5. and most men perish because they value not and use not the necessary means of their recovery; for a man in the name of a minister of the Gospel, to cheat them into such undervaluings and neglects, as are like to prove their condemnation: what is this but to play the Minister of Satan, and to do his work, in the name and garb of a minister of Christ? It is damnable treachery against Christ and against the peoples souls to hide their misery when it is your office to reveal it; and to let people deceive themselves in the matters of Salvation, and not to labour diligently to undeceive them;