Fear or some Temporal consideration may keep a Man from executing his revenge but in order to the preserving himself from wicked uncharitable Thoughts which are hateful in the sight of God and highly punishable the consideration of our own Demerit is a proper expedient And here we cannot but fall down in adoration of the forbearance and longanimity of a provoked God towards us miserable offenders We cannot but with the deepest convictions acknowledge that we have offended GOD infinitely more than any have offended us The dignity of His Person is a transcendent aggravation of every sin be it what it will And this is a very perswasive motive for us to overlook all Injuries and Affronts which how great soever they may be in themselves are yet comparatively petty and inconsiderable ones 'T is a piece of great presumption for any Person to have Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us in his Mouth while he harbours envious malicious or uncharitable thoughts in his Heart And whosoever duly considers himself and what a sinful unworthy Creature he is And he would do well here to call to mind some of his greatest sins will not easily cherish any rancorous or invidious Thoughts long nay not suffer the sun to go down upon his wrath It may cool our incens'd or uncharitable thoughts if when they are apt to arise in our Heart we consider on that perfect love union and sincere affection that there is among all the Blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven and that if ever we would come to Heaven we must be like them One Heart and one Soul animates all the Inhabitants of Glory There is not the least opposition or variation in their desires or affections Every one of the Blessed is unspeakably dear to all the rest God is love St. John tells us and his radiant likeness is stamp'd upon every glorify'd Soul which makes it surpassingly fair and beautiful Love 't is the Epitome of happiness And as it is the cement of this Creation which keeps all the parts of it in an harmonious order so 't is the glory and beauty of Heaven And whosoever he be that retains the least Grudge or uncharitable Suspicion or revengeful Thought is unfit to live among these affectionate Spirits and to receive the transporting Illapses of the Divine and infinite Love Which consideration should effectually banish every malicious or uncharitable thought out of our Hearts And indeed this kind of evil thoughts is such as we must by no means esteem slight and inconsiderable They often produce very sad effects when encouraged they run Men into horrible extremes Besides that they greatly hinder us in doing our Duty acceptably and are so displeasing to God that they render all pretences to Religion vain and insignicant and blast the best of our Sacrifices and the choicest gift that we bring to the altar And therefore we cannot but think our selves oblig'd to mortify and subdue them and never suffer our selves to be at rest until we find in us a real and universal Reconciliation and an undissembled Love and Charity to all the World In order to which there are some other Rules to be observ'd As divesting our selves of an immoderate Self-love which is apt to stick to most Men avoiding Pride and Partiality Constant Prayer c. But I hope these that I have mentioned may put you upon enquiring after the rest CHAP. VIII THere is hardly any thing that is a greater occasion of affliction to us and that more deprives us of that Spiritual Comfort which we hope for from the Service of God than the Inconstancy and Wandring of our Thoughts while we are imploy'd about Holy things And therefore I shall in this Chapter endeavour to lay before you such Remedies against Wandring Thoughts as I hope may not be in vain This kind of evil thoughts doth in its compass take in all other kinds of them For sometimes our Wandring Thoughts are profane and blasphemous sometimes wanton and obscene and sometimes idle and foolish c. Now these Wandring Thoughts when we are imploy'd about Holy things are in a great measure owing to our selves and there is much in our power in order to their cure We will consider what are the principal occasions of them and that will direct us to the Remedies against them First then Wandring thoughts are oftentimes occasion'd by a want of Preparation to Holy duties We carelesly and temerariously rush on to the performance of them We think indeed that they must be done but yet consider not as we ought the manner of doing them We go to our Prayers as to our Secular affairs and make but little difference between the most solemn and ordinary actions of our Life Which is oftentimes the cause why our Thoughts wander and scatter and so we reap but little comfort or advantage from our best performances 'T is expedient then and our duty before ever we engage in any set performance of the Worship of God that we prepare our selves by some previous Thoughts and pious Dispositions that so we may come to our duty in a right manner That our Souls may be prepossess'd and fitted for the service of God We think it too bold and presuming to thrust our selves into the presence of an Earthly Prince without due consideration And therefore surely it cannot be thought less to approach the face of the Infinite GOD without a solemn composure of Spirit and a preparation of Thought But besides the evil of so doing the Natural consequence of it is to make our Thoughts loose and wandring And unless we set about holy Duties with a due preparation of Mind it can hardly be conceiv'd how it should be otherwise When therefore we draw nigh unto God in the way of his worship either in our Closets or Families or in the Publick Assemblies of the Church and especially in the last of these 't is our Duty to dispose our hearts before-hand and to settle them in a due frame of Devotion because our deportment when we are actually engag'd in it doth mâ—ghtily depend thereon Thus the Preacher Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few This Rule in order to the avoiding wandring Thoughts may be but little minded but it is nevertheless useful Secondly Want of Intention and settling the Mind on God in the actual performance of holy Duties is another great occasion of the wandring of our Thoughts therein What is the reason of our complaints that we do not hear the Word of God to our Spiritual comfort and advantage pray with that fervour of Devotion praise him with that enlargement of Soul and have
our Thoughts and Imaginations and of our Actions the Product of them That if the Heart be pure and Holy the Thoughts and then the Actions will be so too But if the Heart be foul and wicked the issues of it will be Correspondent When the Spirit of a Man is truely seasoned with Religion it will shew it self in all the Beautious and Lovely Fruits of Righteousness But when the Principle is vicious and Debauch'd the effects must and will be filthy and abominable That a Man is not defiled by any material thing that he either Eats or Drinks but by his own imaginations desires and affections the things which come out of him For out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witnesses Blasphemies these are the things which defile a Man But to eat with unwashen Hands defileth not a Man All the Ceremonious part of the Jewish Law aim'd at and terminated in this Their Ceremonies were Significations and Types of matters under the Gospel And their frequent Washings and Cleansings were to denote the Spiritual Purifying of the Heart and Soul 'T is true God injoyned them to be observed for a time the Ignorance and Non-age of the Jews requiring such a material and gross way of Instruction But these were all Abolished and done away at the coming of the Messiah When the Son of God himself became our Divine Instructor and Teacher and informed Mankind of the Nature of that Rational and Spiritual Worship which God did expect from us and would be acceptable to him That it was the Devotion of the Soul the Purity of the Heart the Spirituality of the Thoughts that Living Sacrifice alone that would please God who is an Infinite Spirit and prepare us for the Refined joys of Heaven and the Exalted pleasures of Seraphims And Consequently that the greatest and most Important Duty incumbent on Mankind was to Govern the Heart and subdue the Thoughts This then in short was the occasion of our Saviours speaking these Words which did effectually humble these proud Pharisees whose whole Religion was mere Pomp and outward Shew and Consisted meerly in broad Phylacteries an affected Garb and demure Looks while these Gaudy and Painted Sepulchres were within full of all manner of rottenness and uncleaness And at the same time lets us see a Description of true Religion and how excellent and noble an Institution that is which extends to the inmost recesses of the Soul and so tends to Refine the very thoughts of the Heart and to fit Men for the pure State of Angels And therefore is far above all other Institutions that ever were in the World before CHAP. II. THE next thing proposed to be Handled is the vast advantage of well governing of our Thoughts in order to the purposes of Religion in General Now this advantage is very great and obvious Every Person must be Convinced that the most proper and only way for a Man to live well is to begin at his Heart to put his thoughts into a true order and government For otherwise there can be no Uniformity in his Piety The good Actions that he doth are broken and imperfect and he is apt every now and then to make fresh Work for Repentance by returning to his old sins But this advantage of the well governing our Thoughts will be the better seen by some Particulars First then a care of our Thoughts is the greatest preservative against actual sins 'T is a most certain truth that the greatest sin that ever was committed was at first but a Thought The foulest Wickedness and most Monstrous Impiety arose from so small a speck as a first Thought may be resembled to The most horrid thing that ever was done as well as the most Noble and Vertuous action that ever was accomplished had no greater a beginning Of such a quick growth and spreading Nature is sin that it Rivals even the Kingdome of Heaven which our Lord teleth us is like to a Graine of Mustard-seed which a Man took and Sowed in his Field Which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it is grown up in these Countries it is the greatest among Herbs and becometh a Tree so that tbe Birds of the Air come and Lodge in the Branches of it But the Apostle St. James Represents it by a Simile of another Nature comparing the Original and growth of it to the Formation of an Embryo in the Womb. Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God For God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and inticed Then when his Lust hath Conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death It is Conceived Bred Lives and Grows in a Man till at last it domineers in him and Reigns in his Mortal Body And therefore it is absolutely necessary that we govern and manage our Thoughts without which it will be impossible that we should avoid falling into actual sins even the greatest That we resist the beginings the very first Emergencies of Evil if we hope to avoid the last Degrees of it It is manifest folly to Imagine that we can indulge evil Thoughts without being in danger of commtting actual sins or that speculation and practise are things so vastly distant from each other This is so far from being true that there can be nothing more certain than the contrary If we would preserve our selves from falling into actual sins we muft govern and suppress our Thoughts And if we would have our Life pure and unspotted the Heart must be kept in intire subjection If we would not be plunged into the guilt of presumptuous sins we must be sure to resist the first motions of evil all unlawful Thoughts For no man is always in the same temper his Resolution is not ever the same as it may be now or at another time His Passions are Fluctuating sometimes there is as it may be called a Spring-Tide of them And a Man at some seasons is more receptive of evil impressions more yielding and easy to be tempted than at others And though an evil Thought may not so strongly move him at one time yet it may at another And every encouragement of it adds to the falseness and treachery of his own deceitful and wicked heart which will betray him whenever an opportunity offers And therefore he is necessitated to be nicely careful over his thoughts if he would not fall into actual sins Let us think as boldly and confidently of our selves as we please let us rest never so much upon our own strength it is our weakness 'T is not our presuming thoughts of our selves that will make us invincible Nay there are none sooner overcome and thrown down than such as conceit great and mighty things of themselves The shameful denial of the warm and boasting Apostle should be sufficient to convince us that
an opportunity of serving God and performing Holy Duties Others want a due Temper and Disposition when they have an opportunity While the Thoughts of others are just fluttering above the Ground theirs are in the Third Heaven While they are tuning their Souls and putting them in Frame these are joyning in Hallelujahs with the Angels In a Word these who have attain'd to this happy Government of their Thoughts may be resembled to the Wise Virgins who had their Lamps burning and entred in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage whilest the Foolish Virgins were but trimming of theirs so great is the advantage which they have above other Christians Fourthly The advantage of this great Duty of well Governing our Thoughts is great upon this account also viz. Because nothing so much conduceth to quiet the Thoughts and Compose the Mind as this doth The greatest part of our trouble and perturbation proceeds from want of a due care of and Watchfulness over our Thoughts And many times our troubles are so great that they convince us of the absolute necessity of this Duty because then we find that nothing else can give us ease under them or quiet our Spirits Now Peace and tranquility of mind is a very considerable help to Religion When a man's Soul Thoughts are quiet he goes smoothly on seems to enjoy that glorious liberty of the Sons of God which the Apostle speaks of He hath a true relish of the Sweets of Religion his Soul is dilated and enlarged and he is able to run the ways of God's Commandments Whereas there is but a slender furtherance in good but small improvements when the thoughts are hurried the imaginations tumultuary and the Soul in an unhappy disorder by any domineering and contrary Lusts or any other cause The Soul of any Wicked Man is meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disorder and confusion and all the Powers and Faculties of his Mind are as it were up in Arms against each other There is no Peace there cannot be but all is mis-rule and uproar And could we but behold it with our Corporeal Eyes never such a confused Scene as that is represented it self to our View 'T is an Emblem of Hell it self He can scarcely enjoy the benefit of one Calm and Sedate Thought Lust Anger Revenge Ambition and a thousand more would every one of them be Kings and Usurp Supremacy and therefore War in and against the Soul Reason who is the Rightful Soveraign hath the least share in this Polity Rebellious Slaves Aspire to the Throne and boldly prescribe to their Prince the Fundamental Laws of Nature are Subverted and all become most deplorably Ruinous and Confused Whereas the Soul of a good Man and one that is diligent in the well Governing of his Thoughts is most quiet peaceable and Composed All his Thoughts and Faculties are in good order and then he is fit for any thing and can do his Duty with far more ease than others can The present Harmony and Peace of his Mind renders him capable of effectually minding the things which belong to his everlasting Peace In a Word the Advantage of this happy governing our Thoughts is so great that we can hardly perform any thing that is acceptable to God without it in some measures We cannot be easie to our selves or serviceable to others we can neither mind the business of our General nor Particular Callings as we ought without it But he that is so happy as to have attain'd a Command and dominion over his Thoughts does and suffers every thing well He Acts with Conscience suffers with Patience He Acts with Vigour suffers with Courage He does his Duty with half that difficulty and endures Afflictions with less disorder than others do or can And having approved himself to God by an Internal and Spiritual obedience by truth in his inward parts by the Subjection of his very thoughts to his most pure and holy Law He shall at the last and dreadful day of Judgment be able to look up with joy and comfort to the eternal Judge and Searcher of all hearts And when the Secrets of all Mankind shall be disclosed all the hidden things of darkness all the Mysteries of ungodliness when all the clandestine Impurities of the Hearts and Souls of the whole World shall be revealed and published then shall he glory in his Sincerity and the purity of his thoughts and the honesty of his Intentions Then shall he avoid that everlasting shame which shall confound the Minds and cover the faces of the wicked and ungodly the Pharisaical professors and the crafty Hypocrites when all the secret filth of their hearts thoughts and imaginations shall be exposed to the view of Angels and Men and thrown back in their Faces When the gaudy disguise shall be taken off and Sinners appear to be what they really are Which is a most astonishing consideration and such as should awaken us all to the utmost diligence and watchfulness in the well-governing our thoughts Having thus briefly shewn you the great benefit and advantage of well-governing our thoughts which deserv'd to be much more largely handled but that I would not burden your thoughts while I am attempting to instruct you how to govern them I proceed to discourse on the third thing laid down CHAP. III. I Come now in the next place to shew That evil thoughts arise out of the heart and proceed from thence which lays an Obligation on us of restraining and governing them and how far we are able so to do Our Saviour here assures us that Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts The heart i. e. the Soul of man is a sink of Corruption and Uncleanness 'T is desperately wicked 'T is Pandora's box which lets fly innumerable Plagues and Mischiefs 'T is naturally the Source of wickedness And let a Man but look into himself and survey his own Heart he will see the greatest cause to bewail his corruptions and find that there is nothing more deserves his complaints and tears than his own heart What a pest what an Enemy doth he always carry about with him 'T is not an open enemy but a familiar friend that doth him the greatest hurt and dishonour The snake is lurking in his own breast and while he is looking and gazing abroad this most perfidious and deadly foe is a domestick one His own heart is the worst of traytors to him and the most implacable enemy that he hath cannot do him half that mischief which he receives from himself 'T is upon this account Saint Paul exclaims O wretched man that I am And David Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Create in me 'T is a work of omnipotence and that God alone who made the Worlds and raised all things out of nothing can renew the heart and purify the Soul from its natural filth and corruption 'T is the holy Spirit is that Fire that must
and must by no means be encourag'd So also to think that God is a Liar or Vnmerciful or Vunjust c. is a blasphemous thought And indeed as I said every thought that is formed in our Minds which is unsuitable to his Eternity Authority Purity and Holiness or any other of his glorious Attributes is reducible to this first kind of evil thoughts Now tho' these are very dreadful thoughts yet they may sometimes come into our Minds thro' the Devil's subtilty and our own carelessness Nay 't is possible that they may infest the Minds of good Men and that too when they are about the Highest Imployments which may for the present serve to satisfy these poor Souls who are at any time terrify'd and affrighted with a Sence of them and take off from that horrour that they are apt to conceive in their Minds upon the account of them Now the Directions which I would recommend in order to our avoiding any profane and blaspemous thoughts are these following First That we be sure to avoid an habit of any known sin than which there is nothing more ministers to profane and blasphemous thoughts For an habit of any known sin will strangely degrade our thoughts and lessen our Ideas of GOD. It being an impossible thing for any Man to arrive at an habit of wilful and deliberate sinning without frequent grapplings with his own Conscience and iterated resistances of its checks and convictions without thinking falsly or meanly of GOD or else putting him quite out of his thoughts And his judgments far above out of his sight No wonder that by continuing so to do he comes at last to have profane or blasphemous thoughts of him GOD is an infinite and eternal Spirit and the most absolute Being and transcendency above the highest of our thoughts And if ever we would think rightly and worthily of him we must habituate our selves to think much upon him and let our thoughts of him be according to these representations and discoveries which he hath been pleas'd to make of himself in the Scriptures Our Natural Reason tho' it will yield us some knowledge of a God yet it is not a sufficient guide to direct our thoughts concerning him for it will many times lead us into false notions of him as appears beyond all dispute from the Worship of the Gentile World and also the Heterodox opinions of these who rely thereon And how is it possible for any habitual sinner who must and doth thrust God out of his thoughts on purpose that he may sin with the greater liberty and delight ever do this He cannot grow to an Habitual Sinner without he quite banisheth the thoughts of a God from his Heart and that such an one should be able to think of him after a due manner what is it less than a contradiction And then no wonder if by so frequently slighting God in his own mind he comes at length to think prophanely and blasphemously of him Irreverent Thoughts of God grow still more and more wicked and a continual disrespect of him ends at length in Atheism it self He then that is haunted and pestered with such Thoughts as these we are speaking of may perhaps upon a deep enquiry find cause to condemn himself of some Habit of sin and if so he must labour to mortify it and become a New Man if ever he would avoid this kind of evil Thoughts Secondly Too curious and bold Speculations into matters Mysterious prove frequently an occasion of profane and blasphemous Thoughts and therefore they must be carefully declin'd He that hath an honest and conscientious regard to his Duty as it is plainly set down and humbly desires to know and serve God above all is seldom so much troubled with this kind of Thoughts as those are who aspire to things vastly above them and place more of their Duty in Speculation than in Practise When Men will forsake the plain way and wander into unbeaten Paths no wonder that they fall into mischief When Men will instead of endeavouring to understand GOD's Commandments and do his Will aspire to comprehend his Essence his Decrees c. and find out the Almighty to perfection When they will not be contented to know the Saving Truths of the Gospel and practice their plain and legible Duty but nicely pry into the Secret things which belong neither to us nor our children When they will grasp at all and think to understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and remove Mountains Then they naturally as well as justly fall into profane imaginations and blasphemous Thoughts and sometimes into Errours and damnable Heresies This is the true case of the present Age and the main occasion of these blasphemous opinions concerning the Blessed Trinity which are now so daringly broach'd amongst us and indeed 't is that to which most of Men's profane and enormous Thoughts of God are owing And since it is so truly if they would avoid them they must learn to be more modest and humble and to have a more conscientious regard to their duty They must content themselves with these plain Discoveries which God hath made of his Mind and Will and labour to follow them and adore his unsearchable Wisdom in the rest An humble Obedience will much more promote the eternal Salvation of our Souls than such bold Speculations and the Love of God is far better than all such impious and fruitless Attempts to comprehend him For all such Attempts will in the end confound but never advantage the Minds of Men. These high-flyers when they are in their altitudes suddenly their waxen wings melt and down they fall headlong like Lucifer from Heaven When we reverently submit our Reason to Divine Revelation and the conduct and guidance of the Word of God when we make that with the Psalmist A lantern unto our feet and a light unto our paths then we are safe as well as free from these horrid Thoughts we are speaking of at least they are not occasion'd by our selves if they should chance to come into our Minds But I say when Reason will be its own Guide and Men will walk in the light of their own fire and the sparks which themselves have kindled they must needs err they must needs stumble as in the dark Or like a Ship without ballast be toss'd up and down and made the sport of every wind of Doctrine They will hereby be lyable to the worst Cogitations concerning the infinite Being Thirdly A Customary Formal and Indevout Worshipping of GOD is that which at length usually grows into profane and blasphemous Thoughts of him Which therefore must diligently be avoided if we desire to be without such Thoughts For if in our most Solemn Address to Almighty God we be not careful that our thoughts of him be reverent and compos'd our conceptions high and holy it is easy to imagine that at other times we shall be apt to have mean and low or profane Thoughts of him And why may
time tempts thee to despair of GOD's Mercy and to think that thou art eternally wretched or hast committed the unpardonable Sin shew him the Gospel oppose to his Temptations the Glorious Mystery of Man's Redemption by Jesus Christ. Set before him the Noble Design and the most generous overture of the Gospel And that will be a means to aggravate his Despair but to comfort and support thee who art within that Covenant which He is not Christ came into the World to save thee He died to satisfy the Justice of GOD for thee He rose again for our justification He is gone into Heaven to intercede with God continually in thy behalf and to procure all manner of good for thee He is God all powerful all-sufficient and most merciful What an affront then is it to such a Redeemer to yield to black and despairing Thoughts What a Reproach cast upon his Merit and Satisfaction and a cowardly and pusillanimous disowning of his power and goodness and a diffidence in his Veracity and the authentickness of his gracious Promises The Application of the Sweet and precious Promises containâ—d in the word of God is also a proper expedient against this kind of evil Thoughts As the Scripture contains terrible and severe Threatnings to deter secure and stubborn Sinners so it is a Treasure of most comfortable Promises for the support and stay of Mournful and Timerous Souls Without which indeed it would be sometimes an hard matter for poor Christians to bear up under the Thoughts of an approaching Eternity and to resist the furious assaults and the fiery darts of the Devil Almighty God hath therefore engag'd his Veracity that if we fear him and keep his Commandments live according to the plain Rules of the Gospel and believe we shall be assuredly happy and blessed In order to which he hath also liberally promised all such supplies of Grace and Assistance as we shall at any time need These Promises therefore we should firmly believe and lay hold on and apply to our selves when we are at any time haunted with such desperate injections as we are speaking of In vain have Christians this Spiritual Armory and Magazine if they let these Weapons of war lie unus'd Ah! but says the Disconsolate and Drooping Soul I am satisfy'd of the Goodness of God of the Infinite Merit of Jesus Christ that He was an Inestimable Oblation for Sin and a Sacrifice of transcendent value but oh I fear that the vertue of that great Sacrifice belongs not to me But hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all them that truly turn to him Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden with the burden of your sins and I will refresh you So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to the end that all that believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life I believe also saith the Desponding Soul the exceeding great and precious Promises I am fully persuaded that in Christ all the promises of God are Yea and Amen And that Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one tittle of God ' s word shall pass away But these Promises do not appertain to me I have forfeited all Title and Claim to them and therefore oh am certainly lost and undone for ever But let me beseech thee whoever thou art that art depress'd with such Thoughts as these to beware and consider That this is a bold and a peremptory Sentence which thou passest on thy self Such a Sentence as none of all the created Beings can affirm 'T is the suggestion of the most desperate Being the Enemy of our Souls and what finite Being can without the height of Presumption pass such a Sentence upon any Person which too is so far from being true that it is utterly false For the gracious Promises of the Gospel are offered to all whatsoever none are excepted And every one that will lay hold of them hath a title to them provided he comes up to the conditions on which they are establish'd And therefore in God's Name hearken no longer to such terrifying Thoughts but let this still the boistrous and troubled sea spread a calm over thy Mind and stir thee up to a devout Application of the Blessed Promises of God to thy own sinful Soul Constant and devout Prayer is here also absolutely necessary Pray we therefore that God would quiet and still our hurried and affrighted Spirits That he would in mercy be pleas'd to give us a right Understanding of our selves his Promises and Threatnings that we may not cast away our Confidence in him nor place it any where but in him That God would vouchsafe to deliver us from the terrours of Satan who is by St. Peter stil'd A roaring Lion walking about seeking whom he may devour That he would scatter these black Clouds and Mists which overspread our Souls with the light of his countenance and shine in upon our drooping sorrowful and sick Souls That the Sun of Righteousness may arise upon us with healing in his wings and that the Lord would grant us that inward joy and peace of Conscience which the World cannot give and which passeth all understanding That he would no longer hide his face from us but shew us some glimpse of his favour which is better than the life it self That he would heal all the diseases and infirmities both of our Souls and Bodies that the bones which he hath broken may rejoyce Is any among you afflicted saith St. James let him pray Then especially is a proper time to seek God's face Call upon me saith God in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me Ah! but I cannot pray I cannot perform any holy Duty or fix to any one part of Religion I no sooner retire into my Closet or kneel down upon my knees but a thousand terrours infest me so that I think 't were better to let Devotion alone then to perform it no better Ah! Lord But let me ask thee Dost thou do thy utmost dost thou sincerely desire to do thy duty and to please God and dost thou put a force upon thy self sometimes to perform the Duty of Prayer or any other holy Duty tho' it be with many interruptions and distractions Continue to do so for by so doing thou wilt approve thy self unto GOD who seeth thy Heart and in all probability thy fears and terrours will by degrees vanish these sad and dismal Thoughts will lessen and at length quite leave thee GOD is a God hearing Prayers He will be sought to in our distresses and implored in our afflictions Say then with the Psalmist Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou so disquieted within me hope thou in God pray to him for I shall yet praise him who is the help of my countenance and my God Again To prevent these sad dejected or despairing Thoughts we are speaking of we
forgiven unto the sons of men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that blasphemeth against the Holy-Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation And in Luke 12. 10 there is but little variation Whosoever shall speak a word against the son of man it shall be forgiven him but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy-Ghost it shall not be forgiven Now for the clearer understanding of these places which speak of the GREAT SIN You are to observe That the two former of these Evangelists St. Matthew and St. Mark in the Context give us an account of our Saviour's having heal'd a Demoniak and when he had expell'd the Devil by the power of the Holy-Ghost which he had without measure to the great amazement of all the People The Scribes and Pharisees whose hearts were sowr'd with the leven of Pride and Envy notwithstanding their own Convictions and in spight of the irresistable Evidence of that and other Miracles which our Saviour did they blasphemously ascribed the doing of them to the Devil representing our Lord as a Wizard or a Conjurer And as absurdly as impiously said He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the Prince of the devils The Obstinacy and Malice of this imputation our Saviour severely reflects upon and publickly declares That these that out of an invenomed Spirit and wilful spight and against the strongest Convictions thus blaspheme the Holy and Eternal Spirit by the oeconomy of whose Almighty Power these things were done and thus endeavour to subvert the whole structure of the Christian Religion and wilfully disown Christ the Saviour These have no other means of salvation left them no other Name under Heaven by which they can be saved There is no other Christ no other Gospel And therefore nothing shall be the portion of such Men but eternal damnation From all which it is sufficiently plain That the sin against the Holy-Ghost consisteth in Words 't is Blasphemy And not every Blasphemy against the Holy-Ghost neither Not every one that speaketh against the Holy-Ghost as some Hereticks have done and now do is guilty of this unpardonable sin which is a Blasphemy against the visible glorious operations the immediate effects and office of the Holy-Ghost and such too as is utter'd not out of Fear Infirmity or Cowardize but out of an hateful and malicious Heart not of rashness but of set-purpose to do despight unto Christ his known Doctrine and Works being accompany'd with an universal defection or falling away from the whole truth of God So that if this sin in its formality could be committed now from this short explanation of the nature of it I hope it doth appear that none of these who are scar'd and terrify'd with the apprehensions of it can have committed it And that therefore their fears and dismal Thoughts about it are groundless and unreasonable and stirred up by the common Enemy of our peace in order to disquiet and hinder them from doing their Duty or to bring them into Melancholy or Despair 'T is most certain that all Persons that wilfully run on in sin and persist in impenitency shall finally perish for ever as surely as if they had committed the the great Sin we are speaking of But 't is also certain that thousands do out of ignorance or inadvertence mistake the nature of this unpardonable Sin and are horribly afraid that they have committed it tho' they know not what it is The vilest action the greatest sin of Practise that can be committed doth not extend to the sin against the Holy-Ghost And therefore such a sin calls indeed for the deepest sorrow and humiliation and most unfeign'd repentance But the sin against the Holy-Ghost and Repentance are things very inconsisistent And this ariseth not from any defect of Mercy in God or want of Merit in the Blood of Christ but from an incapacity in the Offender Upon the whole then you see what this Concluding sin is and consequently how little reason many poor dejected Souls have to be affrighted with the thoughts of having committed it and to sink and despond upon mere Doubts Conjectures and Suspicions CHAP. X. NO Man can be a good Christian indeed that hath not a special regard to his Thoughts and doth not endeavour to have them pure holy and conformable to the Laws of the Gospel And the government of the Thoughts is an happiness never to be attained without the most deep and serious consideration and a ready and willing application of Our selves to proper means The which I have in the preceding Chapters endeavour'd to lay before you And we may not think that it is altogether impossible to put them in practise There is unquestionably a great deal in our own power in order to it as plainly appears from the whole series of this Treatise And 't is no more than what is the evident Design of the Christian Religion By which the great excellency of it not only above all other Arts and Sciences which in their perfection are only the riches and ornaments of the outward Man but beyond all other Religions whatsoever is manifest Christianity soars above all the tempting gayeties and little noisy vanities of this World It is not its business to seek after the silly applauses of the Age or popular admiration 'T is not be seen of Men or to inherit this Bubble 'T is not only to appear outwardly great or good but the design of it is an internal Purity and Holiness a conformity of our Thoughts to the Rules of the Gospel The Philosophy of the Gentile World tho' it went far yet came vastly short of it And all the excellent Rules delivered by the ancient Moralists for the government of Life are much below the Divine Oracles As for the Jewish Religion it consisted of meer Elements and first Rudiments The Law being as the Apostle tells us but as the Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ The Law was delivered in blackness and thick darkness on Mount Sinai and indeed 't was but Darkness in comparison of the more Bright discoveries of the Evangelical State which consisteth not in Types Figures and shadows and Parabolical and Mystical Rites but in plain and perfective Precepts In such admirable Rules and Directions as duly observ'd will wonderfully enrich and beautify the Soul and bring it near to perfection by a resemblance of GOD himself and dispose and prepare it for the Blissful enjoyment of Heaven and the Beatifick Vision The Rites of the Pagan Religions did consist in the vilest impurities And as for Mahomet as Ambition and Lust were the first Motives to his Imposture so Lewdness and Obscenity is his Heaven too And indeed other Religions too have taken care to propagate uncleanness under the specious pretences of a Recluse Life and the severest purity But true Religion indeed such as our Lord Jesus always preach'd and urg'd upon Men and is built upon the genuine design of the holy Scriptures