Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	adultery_n	evil_a	thought_n	2,838	5	6.9378	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62646	Two discourses The first, of evil-speaking: by His Grace, John, late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. The second, of the government of the thoughts: by His Grace, John, Lord Archbishop of York. Both preach'd before Their Majesties, 1694.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Sharp, John, 1645-1714. Sermon about the government of the thoughts. aut	1698 (1698)	Wing T1270B; ESTC R219325	32,275	64

himself impartially before the Sacrament or is put in mind upon a Death-bed to make reparation for Injuries done in this kind he will then certainly be of this mind and wish he had not done them For this certainly is one necessary qualification for the Blessed Sacrament that we be in love and charity with our neighbours with which temper of mind this quality is utterly inconsistent Thirdly There is yet a more specious Plea than either of the former that men will be encouraged to do ill if they can escape the tongues of men as they would do if this Doctrine did effectually take place Because by this means one great restraint from doing evil would be taken away which these good men who are so bent upon reforming the World think would be great pity For many who will venture upon the displeasure of God will yet abstain from doing bad things for fear of reproach from Men Besides that this seems the most proper punishment of many Faults which the Laws of Men can take no notice of Admitting all this to be true yet it does not seem so good and laudable a way to punish one Fault by another But let no man encourage himself in an evil way with this hope that he shall escape the censure of men When I have said all I can there will I fear be evil-speaking enough in the World to chastise them that do ill And tho we should hold our peace there will be bad tongues enow to reproach men with their evil-doings I wish we could but be persuaded to make the Experiment for a little while whether men would not be sufficiently lash'd for their Faults tho we sate by and said nothing So that there is no need at all that good Men should be concern'd in this odious Work There will always be Offenders and Malefactors enow to be the Executioners to inflict this punishment upon one another Therefore let no man presume upon Impunity on the one hand and on the other let no man despair but that this business will be sufficiently done one way or other I am very much mistaken if we may not safely trust an ill-natur'd World that there will be no failure of Justice in this kind And here if I durst I would fain have said a word or two concerning that more publick sort of Obloquy by Lampoons and Libels so much in fashion in this witty Age. But I have no mind to provoke a very terrible sort of men Yet thus much I hope may be said without offence that how much soever men are pleas'd to see others abused in this kind yet it is always grievous when it comes to their own turn However I cannot but hope that every man that impartially considers must own it to be a fault of a very high nature to revile those whom God hath placed in Authority over us and to slander the footsteps of the Lord 's Anointed Especially since it is so expresly written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Rulers of thy People Having represented the great evil of this Vice it might not now be improper to say something to those who suffer by it Are we guilty of the evil said of us Let us reform and cut off all occasions for the future and so turn the malice of our Enemies to our own advantage and defeat their ill intentions by making so good an use of it And then it will be well for us to have been evil spoken of Are we innocent We may so much the better bear it patiently imitating herein the Pattern of our Blessed Saviour Who when he was reviled reviled not again but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously We may consider likewise that tho it be a misfortune to be evil-spoken of it is their fault that do it and not ours and therefore should not put us into Passion because another man's being injurious to me is no good reason why I should be uneasy to my self We should not revenge the injuries done to us no not upon them that do them much less upon our selves Let no man's Provocation make thee to lose thy Patience Be not such a fool as to part with any one Virtue because some men are so malicious as to endeavour to rob thee of the Reputation of all the rest When men speak ill of thee do as Plato said he would do in that case Live so as that no body may believe them All that now remains is to reflect upon what hath been said and to urge you and my self to do accordingly For all is nothing if we do not practise what we so plainly see to be our Duty Many are so taken up with the deep Points and Mysteries of Religion that they never think of the common Duties and Offices of human Life But Faith and a good Life are so far from clashing with one another that the Christian Religion hath made them inseparable True Faith is necessary in order to a good Life and a good Life is the genuine product of a right Belief and therefore the one never ought to be press'd to the prejudice of the other I foresee what will be said because I have heard it so often said in the like case that there is not one word of Jesus Christ in all this No more is there in the Text. And yet I hope that Jesus Christ is truly preach'd whenever his Will and Laws and the Duties enjoin'd by the Christian Religion are inculcated upon us But some men are pleased to say that this is mere Morality I answer that this is Scripture-Morality and Christian-Morality and who hath any thing to say against that Nay I will go yet further that no man ought to pretend to believe the Christian Religion who lives in the neglect of so plain a Duty and in the practice of a Sin so clearly condemn'd by it as this of evil-speaking is But because the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged Sword yea sharper than Calumny itself and pierceth the very Hearts and Consciences of men laying us open to our selves and convincing us of our more secret as well as our more visible Faults I shall therefore at one view represent to you what is dispersedly said concerning this Sin in the Holy Word of God And I have purposely reserved this to the last because it is more persuasive and penetrating than any Humane Discourse And to this end be pleas'd to consider in what company the Holy Ghost doth usually mention this Sin There is scarce any black Catalogue of Sins in the Bible but we find this among them in the company of the very worst Actions and most irregular Passions of men Out of the heart says our Saviour Matt. 15. 19. proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications false witness evil speakings And the Apostle Rom. 1. 29. ranks backbiters with fornicators and murderers and haters of God and with those of whom it is expresly said 1 Cor. 6. 10. that they

shall not inherit the Kingdom of God And when he enumerates the Sins of the last times 2 Tim. 3. 2 3. Men says he shall be lovers of themselves covetous boasters evil-speakers without natural affection perfidious false accusers c. And which is the strangest of all they who are said to be guilty of these great Vices and Enormities are noted by the Apostle to be great pretenders to Religion for so it follows in the next words Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof So that it is no new thing for men to make a more than ordinary profession of Christianity and yet at the same time to live in a most palpable contradiction to the Precepts of that Holy Religion As if any pretence to Mystery and I know not what extraordinary attainments in the knowledge of Christ could exempt men from obedience to his Laws and set them above the Vertues of a good Life And now after all this do we hardly think that to be a Sin which is in Scripture so frequently rank'd with Murther and Adultery and the blackest Crimes such as are inconsistent with the life and power of Religion and will certainly shut men out of the Kingdom of God Do we believe the Bible to be the Word of God and can we allow our selves in the common practice of a Sin than which there is hardly any Fault of mens Lives more frequently mention'd more severely reprov'd and more odiously branded in that Holy Book Consider seriously these Texts Psal 15. 1. Who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy Hill He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour Have ye never heard what our Saviour says that of every idle word we must give an account in the day of Judgment that by thy words thou sbalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemn'd What can be more severe than that of St. James If any man among you seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue that man's Religion is vain To conclude The Sin which I have now warned men against is plainly condemn'd by the Word of God and the Duty which I have now been persuading you to is easy for every man to understand not hard for any man that can but resolve to keep a good guard upon himself for some time by the grace of God to practice and most reasonable for all Men but especially for all Christians to observe It is as easy as a resolute silence upon just occasion as reasonable as prudence and justice and charity and the preservation of peace and good-will among men can make it and of as necessary and indispensible an obligation as the Authority of God can render any thing Upon all which Considerations let us every one of us be persuaded to take up David's deliberate Resolution Psal 31. 1. I said I will take heed to my ways that I offend not with my tongue And I do verily believe that would we but heartily endeavour to amend this one Fault we should soon be better Men in our whole lives I mean that the correcting of this Vice together with those that are nearly allied to it and may at the same time and almost with the same resolution and care be corrected would make us Owners of a great many considerable Vertues and carry us on a good way towards perfection it being hardly to be imagin'd that a man that makes conscience of his Words should not take an equal or a greater care of his Actions And this I take to be both the true meaning and the true reason of that saying of St. James and with which I shall conclude If any man offend not in Word the same is a perfect man Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good word and work to do his will working in you always that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ To whom be glory for ever Amen THE Arch-Bishop of YORK's SERMON About the Government of the Thoughts Before the King and Queen At White-hall March iv 1693 4. A SERMON About the Government of the Thoughts Preach d before the KING and QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL The 4th of March being the 2d Sunday in LENT 1693 4. By the Most Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Arch-Bishop of York Published by Their Majesties Especial Command The Fourth Edition LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church Yard 1698. A SERMON About the Government of the Thoughts Preach'd before the King and Queen PROV iv 23. Keep thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life THE Argument with which this Audience was entertained the last Lord's Day being the Government of the Tongue I cannot think it improper or unseasonable for me who have the Honour to come next to treat about the Government of the Thoughts There being a near relation between these two and a necessary dependance of the one upon the other Our Words indeed are more easily governed than our Thoughts because they are more in our Power But it will be impossible either to govern our Words or our Actions as we should unless we first bring our Thoughts in some measure under Government I must confess this Argument of the Government of the Thoughts though it be a very useful yet it seems also a very nice and difficult one through the great variety of Cases arising from Mens different Tempers which will not come under the same Rules and yet ought to be provided for But however this shall not discourage me from undertaking this Argument it shall only make me more careful as to what I say about it That is to have respect as much as I can to all sorts of Tempers and to deliver what I have to say with so much Plainness that every body may go along with me The Words upon which I ground my Discourse are those of Solomon which I have read unto you and which contain one of those Precepts that he lays down 〈◊〉 the Religious Conduct of our Lives Keep saith he thy Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Not to trouble you with what others have said upon this Text I take the true Meaning of it to be this By the Heart here which we are exhorted to keep we are to understand the Inward Thoughts and Motions and Affections of our Souls or Spirits all which in the inspired Writings are constantly said to be seated in the Heart This undoubtedly is the Scripture Notion of the Heart And when we are here bid to keep our Hearts with all diligence I think there is no question to be made the Meaning is That we should diligently attend to the Thoughts and Motions and Affections of our Minds that we should watch them

narrowly lest at any time we should give our Consent to something we ought not This is the Meaning of keeping our Hearts with all diligence And then a Reason is added why it concerns us thus to keep them And that is this Because out of the heart are the issues of life What is the Meaning of that Phrase Plainly this The Issues the Fruits the Effects that are shewn in our Lives and Conversation do certainly proceed from the Heart and therefore accordingly as that is well or ill guarded or kept so will our Lives and Conversations be The Goodness or Badness of our Lives doth altogether depend upon the attending or not attending to the Thoughts and Motions and Inclinations of our Minds As our Caution and Watchfulness in this Point is greater or less so will our Course of Life be better or worse And therefore it concerns us all that mean to live well to be infinitely careful in this Matter This is a plain Account of the Advice that is here given us So that you see if I mean to discourse pertinently to my Text my Argument must be what I said the Care and Management and Government of our Thoughts as they fall under a Religious Consideration In treating of this Argument there seem to me Two Things needful to be done First To give an Account what Power a Man hath over his own Thoughts Secondly To shew wherein the Art of Governing of them doth consist It is indeed this second thing which my Text naturally leads me to speak to But I cannot speak to that to any purpose till I have made way for it by clearing the first It is in vain to give Rules about the Government of our Thoughts till we know how far we have Power over them how far they fall or do not fall under our Conduct and Management And I must needs say that most of those I have met with that have discours'd about the Government of Thoughts by not enquiring into and setling this Point have been so far from benefiting all their Hearers that desired to receive benefit by their good advices that to several of them they have done harm Because as to them their advices have been perfectly unpracticable Now those that by their own Experience found them to be so instead of considering that that Teacher might be in a mistake or that He did not sufficiently weigh and examine the Case of all Persons he gave his advice to have peremptorily concluded that they themselves were in the fault and therefore they were in an evil condition because they found themselves not able to live up to what was advised them The first Question then is How far a Man hath power over his own Thoughts There is not indeed any single Answer to be given to this Question that will fit all Men. For that is impossible It would be as unreasonable to demand it as it would be to require of a Workman to make a Garment that should fit all sorts and sizes of Men. Some Men by the very Principles of their Make and Constitution are much better able to govern their Thoughts than others Some that are naturally weaker have by long use and many tryals obtained a greater power over their Thoughts than others Again the same Persons that at some times have a greater power over the motions of their Minds may at other times have a less Command over them and this according as their Health or their Business or a hundred Contingencies of outward things do affect them So that all that can be done as to this matter is to lay down some general Propositions which every Body is to apply to himself as there is Occasion And Five of this kind I have to offer and which I think will take in all or the greatest part of what belongs to this Argument The first Proposition I lay down is this That the first Motions of our Minds are very little if at all in our power By the first Motions of our Minds I mean those sudden Thoughts or Apprehensions or Passions or Desires which are excited in our Minds by any Object that is at that time presented to our Imagination As to these I say we are not so much Masters of our selves as to be able to stop them nay though perhaps they be very irregular And the Reason is because they are produced so quick that there is not time enough given for Reason to interpose There is no necessity indeed that a Man should give Consent to these Motions but as for their coming into his Mind he can no more help it than he can help his present Temper or the present Circumstances he is ingaged in Thus for Instance Do you think it possible for a Man that is of a Fiery Passionate Temper to avoid the feeling a sudden Resentment of Anger arising in his Mind if he meets with any unexpected Affront or other great Provocation Or for a Man that desires to be well thought of not to entertain some Vanity of Imagination when he hears himself commended or flatterd Or for a Man that is addicted to Pleasures not to feel some irregular Inclinations in himself towards the gratifying his Appetites in those things when he hath all the Temptations before him And thus in all other Cases I grant indeed that a Man by long Consideration and a serious exercising himself in the ways of Vertue and Piety may bring himself to that Temper that he shall not have so many irregular undecent Motions in his own Mind upon any occasion whatsoever as he was wont to have and that those that were formerly Temptations to him will at last be none But still I say the first Motions and Workings of his Mind however they be occasioned are in a great measure out of his power he cannot stop them and therefore the Art of governing his Thoughts doth not lye there The second Proposition I lay down is this When a Man's Mind is vigorously affected and possessed either with the outward Objects of sense or with inward Passions of any kind in that Case he hath little or no Command of his Thoughts His Mind at that time will be in a manner wholly taken up with that it is then full of Nor will he be able till those Impressions be worn off to think freely of what he pleaseth Thus for Instance VVhen a Man is under a sharp tormenting Pain as he cannot avoid the feeling of that Pain so neither can he avoid the thinking of it VVhen one is full of Grief for the loss of a dear Relation or transported with Passion for some unworthy usage he hath met with It is in vain to say Pray think not of these Matters for these things must and will in a great measure imploy his Thoughts till his Passions do cool and the Impressions that caused them be vanished Thus for a Man to come from some Business in which he is more than ordinarily concerned or from the hearing some very good

Natures are of that Make that two things at once cannot well possess our Minds and therefore if we be intent about one thing we cannot have much room or leisure for Thoughts of another Nature But then Fifthly and lastly Though this that I have said be the true Nature of that power we have over our Thoughts as to the directing them to a particular Object Yet there is another power we have over them that ought here more especially to be considered because in it are laid the very Foundations of Vertue and Vice and upon account of it all our Thoughts become either morally good or evil That which I mean is this Though we cannot in many Cases think always of what we would nay though we cannot hinder abundance of Thoughts from coming into our Minds against our will Yet it is always in our power to assent to our Thoughts or to deny our Consent to them And here it is that the Morality of our Thoughts begins According as we Assent or Dissent to the Motions that are made in our Minds so will our Thoughts have the Notion of Vertuous or Sinful Thoughts VVhen any Temptations are presented to us from without we cannot perhaps as I said before avoid the feeling an irregular Passion or Motion or Inclination stirring within us upon occasion thereof But yet at that very-time it is in our power whether we will comply with those Passions and Inclinations or not whether we will consent to them or not whether we will pursue them further or not Now if we do not consent to them but endeavour to stop and stifle and resist them as soon as we are aware of them there is yet no harm done Our Thoughts how undecent or irregular soever they were are rather to be accounted the Infirmities of our Corrupt Nature than our Sins properly so called And thus it is likewise as to our Wandering Thoughts in our Prayers If we strive against them and endeavour to keep our Minds in a Devout Composed Temper and attend as well as we can to the Duty we are about I say if we do this I hope those Distractions and Wanderings will never rise up in Judgment against us And as for the frightful Blasphemous Fancies which as I told you some even Pious Persons are tormented with As to them I say they of all other irregular Thoughts have the least danger of Sin in them though they be not so solemnly and formally disputed with and contested against Because indeed they are so terrible in their own Nature that no Man in his Wits and that hath any sense of God or Goodness can be supposed to consent to them They are indeed great Infeticities but by no means any Sin any farther than we approve of them and to approve of them for any tolerably good Man is impossible But then on the other side If we consent to any wicked Motion or Inclination that we feel in our selves let it come in how it will never so suddenly never so unexpectedly if we close with any Thought that prompts us to Evil so as to be pleased with it to delight in it to think of pursuing it till it be brought into Action In that case we are no longer to plead our Original Corruption for in that very instant we become Actual Sinners Actual Transgressors of the Law of God the Obligation of which reaches to our very Hearts and Thoughts as well as our Actions Tho' yet we are not so great Transgressors so long as our Sin is only in Thought or Desire or Purpose as if it had proceeded to outward Action All this is taught us for true Divinity by no less an Author than St. James in the first Chapter of his Epistle v. 13 14 15. Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God tempteth no man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death Which passage of the Apostle doth plainly contain these three Propositions First That no Man is drawn to commit Sin by any State or Condition that God hath put him into no nor by any Temptation either outward or inward that is presented to him It is not a Sin to be tempted no nor to feel that we are tempted by some disorderly Inclination that arises in our Minds thereupon But second then our Sin begins when we yield to the Temptation when we are drawn away by our own Lusts and enticed when they get the Victory over us and we do consent to them Then Lust hath conceived and bringeth forth Sin But Thirdly Though the very consent of our Wills to a Temptation be a Sin in us yet that Sin is not so great as it will be afterwards if it be brought to Action Sin in the desire or purpose is but an Embryo it is but the first Rudiments of Sin but when it comes to be acted it is then a Sin in its full dimensions and the Consequents of it may be Fatal without Repentance Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death Having thus given some Account how far our Hearts or Thoughts do fall under Government I now come to my Second Point that is to treat of the Art of Governing them or to lay down the necessary Rules and Directions which are to be observed in order thereunto And we shall not need to go far for these Rules for they will all naturally flow from the Principles I have already laid down And I think they may conveniently enough be reduced likewise to these Five following First From what hath been said it appears that the First and great Point to be done by us if we would keep our Hearts in a good Frame and order our Thoughts to good purposes is that we rightly pitch our main Designs that we chuse that for the great business of our Lives that really ought to be so Now what that is can bear no dispute with any Man that will fairly use his Reason For certainly that which is our greatest Concernment in the World ought to be our greatest Business and Design in the World And it is evident to every one that believes he hath a Soul to save that his greatest Concernment of all is to approve himself to that God who made him and disposes of all his affairs and who accordingly as we sincerely endeavour or not endeavour to serve him will make us either very Happy or very Miserable both in this Life and the other So that there can as I said be no Dispute about what ought to be the great Business and Design of our whole Lives and to which all other Businesses must yield Now if we be so wise as really to propose this as our main End and resolve to mind it and follow it as such I say if we be so wise as to do this we have made a very great step towards the

obtaining a security to our selves that the greatest part of our Thoughts and Desires and Affections will be such as they should be such as will be acceptable to God and satisfactory to our selves For as I told you before whatever is our main Business be it what it will it will in a great measure draw all our Thoughts to it Our Natures are so contrived that we must always be thinking of some thing or other But then they are so contrived likewise that we think most of that which is most in our Eye most in our Esteem most in our Pursuit And this is that which our Saviour tells us Where your treasure is there will your heart be also Whatever it be that you place your Happiness in upon that will your Thoughts run upon that will your Desires your Inclinations your Affections be fixed We have a VVorld of Instances of the truth of this every day before our Eyes If a Man hath set his heart on Money and proposeth it to himself as the Business of his Life to be Rich VVhy I dare say such a one will own to you that most of his Thoughts are upon that Project and that he finds it so far from being difficult to keep his Mind close and steady to his Main Interest as he calls it that it is rather difficult to him to think of any other Matters If a Man be given up to Pleasure and thinks nothing worthy his living for but VVine and VVomen and good Eating and good Company Is it not natural to such an one to bend all his Thoughts that way Or doth he put any force or violence upon himself in thinking and contriving all the day long how to bring to pass the Gratification of his Lusts or his Appetites VVhy my Brethren if we did all of us in good earnest make the Service of God and the purchasing Heaven and Happiness to our selves as much our Business our End our Design as these Men make VVealth or Pleasure to be theirs we should certainly be thus affected The common Course of our Thoughts would naturally and easily without the least constraint run upon those Objects And we should take as great delight in Thinking of our Treasure and Contriving for the obtaining of it as they do in Thinking and Projecting for theirs I say Thus it would be with us For I cannot for my Life apprehend what Charms there can be in Worldly or Sensual Things to attract a Man's Mind what Fetters there can be in them to bind his Thoughts and tye them to themselves But that there are the fame or greater in Vertue and Goodness in the Love and Favour of God in a Pure Conscience here and Eternal Glory hereafter Always provided that they are as much made the Objects of our Choice and Pursuit as the other And therefore I cannot but suspect where we see Men so very cold and backward to Spiritual Things and so apt to spend all their Thoughts upon trifling vain or worldly Matters that it is with a great deal of Pains and Reluctancy that they can bring themselves to think of their Everlasting Concernments I say I cannot but suspect that these Persons have not yet laid up their Treasure in Heaven as our Saviour expresseth it they have not yet so wholly devoted themselves to the Service of God as to make it their Main Business When once they have done that I dare assure them they will find it so far from being a force upon them to think of good things that it will be very natural to them and they will find the greatest Pleasure in the World in so doing Secondly Whoever would keep his Heart always in a good Frame and be able to give a good Account of his Thoughts to God must have an especial care to avoid two things viz. Idleness and loose Company For both of these do strangely unhinge a Man's Mind and disarm it of that Severity which is its best guard and defence against Evil Thoughts and make it become an easie prey to every Temptation that will attacque it A wise Man should never be at such a pass as to say I have nothing to do I do not know how to spend my next Hour But should so order the Course of his Life that all the Portions of his Time as much as is possible may be filled with some useful or at least some innocent Imployment It is Idleness and having nothing to do that is the Mother of most of those vain and unprofitable and sinful Fancies in which some Men spend their days And whereas Temptations do now and then come in the way of other Men the Idle Man is forced to seek out Temptations for the shipwrack of his Vertue And therefore no wonder if he that seeks them finds abundance of them And truly Loose and Impertinent Conversation which was the other thing I named though it looks something with a better Grace yet is not much better than Idleness For where-ever it is much used it will so emasculate a Man's Mind and take off the edge and vigour of it as to serious things that he cannot easily get it into a good Frame again Evil Communication saith St. Paul doth corrupt good Manners And therefore those people a great part of whose Life is taken up in gadding up and down in Play in merry Meetings in telling or hearing idle Stories and the like It is impossible but their Thoughts and Inclinations and the whole Frame of their Hearts will be suitable that is to say very frothy very light and foolish not to say profane and wicked and Atheistical too if the Company they much converse with be of that strain Thirdly Another thing of great moment for the keeping our Hearts is to be as attentive as is possible to the first Motions of our Minds and whenever we find that they tend toward something that is forbidden to stop them as soon as we can We cannot as I told you before often prevent irregular Desires or Passions or Inclinations from arising in our Minds upon sundry occasions But this we can do As soon as we are aware of them we can refuse our Consent to them and in that cafe I hope they will not be imputed to us as Sins Nay not only so but we can refuse their breaking out or shewing themselves in our Words or our Actions For the Motions of our outward Members are all at our Command though the first Motions of our Minds be not Here therefore will lye a main Point in the Art of well governing our Minds and Thoughts You cannot perhaps for instance prevent a sudden Passion of Anger from rising in your Minds upon twenty Accidents But as soon as you feel this Passion you can thus far stifle it you can seal up your Mouth so that the Passion shall not vent it self in unseemly Words And if you will withdraw that Fuel from the new-kindled Fire it will soon be extinguished and die Whereas if you

suffer it to break out in bitter Speeches and Expressions it will flame beyond measure Thus again If any undecent impure Fancies or Desires should be excited in you upon any occasion It was not perhaps in your power to keep them from coming into your Minds But it is in your power to withdraw from the Temptation that caused them and to endeavour to direct your Thoughts to some other Object at least not to proceed one step in any outward Action towards the accomplishing of those Desires If you take this Course the Disturbance of your Mind will soon cease and you will return presently to your ordinary Temper And let me tell you this further That by your being thus careful to resist and smother the first beginnings of Sin you will not only preserve in a great measure the Innocency of your Minds under the present Temptation but you will also have this farther advantage that by this means you increase your Power over your Thoughts against the next time that the Temptation returns Every check you give to the first motions of Sin makes the next assault of them the less furious And if you do constantly use your selves thus to Guard and Watch over your Hearts you will in time obtain such a Command over them that you will not be troubled with a quarter of those irregular desires and passions which heretofore upon several Occasions used to be kindled in you By this Method you will strengthen your Faculties and enlarge your Powers and by degrees bring your selves to that happy Temper of Soul that there will be no great War between the Law of your Members and the Law of your Minds But the World and the Flesh will be Crucified to you as you are to them that I may use St. Paul's Expressions But then Fourthly That you may be able not only to keep bad Thoughts out of your Minds but also to have a constant spring of good ones there are some particular Exercises very proper for this purpose to be recommended Such I mean as these Converse with discreet and pious Persons Reading good Books especially the. Holy Scriptures taking times of Meditation and Recollection and above all Fervent and Constant Prayer to God It is not to be told how every one of these things doth help to inspire us with good Thoughts and Purposes A little passage now and then though but occasionally dropt in a Conversation that is to the business of Vertue and Goodness will supply us some times with matter for good Thoughts for a considerable while after What lasting Impressions then do you think would be left upon our Minds if we made it our constant Exercise every day to read or hear something out of the Bible or some other good Book with a design to grow Better thereby But above all things we must take care to be diligent and serious in our Applications to the Throne of Grace It is Hearty Prayer and Devotion that when all is done will prove the most Effectual Means for the keeping our Hearts steady to that which is Good and securing them from the pollutions of the sensible Earthly Objects that do surround us O therefore let us be constant in our Religious Offices Nay let us take every opportunity that our Affairs will allow us of raising our Minds to God and thanking him for his Infinite Love and Goodness to us and imploring the continual Influences of his Grace and Holy Spirit and re-inforcing our Vows and Purposes of persevering in his Service By this means we shall come to lead Spiritual Lives indeed Our Souls will be a perpetual Fountain of Good Thoughts And while we live here our Conversation will be in Heaven For God and Christ and the things above will have our Hearts though the World hath our Bodies But then in the Fifth and last place Notwithstanding what I have hitherto said concerning the Diligence with which we are to keep our Hearts yet this is always to be remembered That with our Diligence we must be careful to join Discretion My Meaning is this We must have a care not to intend our Thoughts immoderately and more than our Tempers will bear even to the best things But we must so keep our Hearts as at the same time to preserve our Healths and keep up the Vigour of our Minds And the way to do that is Not to put them too much or too long upon the stretch at any one time But to relax them when there is occasion and to let them run out and entertain themselves upon any thing that comes next to hand so long as it is Innocent It is a vain thing to imagine that we can always be thinking of our great Business or that we can always be a Praying or Reading or Meditating or that as our Condition is in this World even the greater part of our Thoughts should be such as we call Devout and Religious Thoughts God hath provided a great deal of other Business for us to apply our Minds to so long as we live in this World And by minding that diligently and conscientiously we do serve God as acceptably as if we were Reading or Praying Nay even then when we have no urgent Business upon our hands to take up our Minds it is not necessary that we should be always thinking of Religion Nor would I call every Thought a vain or an idle or a sinful Thought that hath not God or our Spiritual Concernments for its Object Even the most Spiritually-minded among us must oftentimes be content to be entertained with such Thoughts as our Company or our Temper or the present Circumstances we are in do suggest to us And provided those Thoughts be innocent and do not intrench upon the Laws of Piety and Purity and Charity be they otherwise very trifling and impertinent I say I would not look upon them as ill Thoughts nor have any one angry at himself upon account of them The truth of it is So long as we consist of Bodies and Souls we cannot always be thinking of serious things They indeed are the Wisest that think of them most but it is even dangerous to attempt to think of them always For as most Mens Constitutions are that is the ready way to spoil the Habit of our Bodies and by that means to render our Minds perfectly unfit for Thinking at all to any good Purposes Thus have I laid before you the Main Things wherein as I do believe the right Governing our Thoughts doth consist And I doubt not they are so safe and so effectual that whosoever will sincerely practise them as far as he can will so keep his Heart that the Issues from thence in his Life and Conversation will be Happy and Prosperous I conclude all with the Collect of this Day Almighty God who seest that we have no power of our selves to help our selves Keep us both outwardly in our Bodies and inwardly in our Souls that we may be defended from all Adversities which may happen to the Body and from all EVIL THOUGHTS which may assault and hurt the Soul through Jesus Christ our Lord. FINIS