fighting with them as long as we live 'T is impossible I think that we should be totally free'd from them in this fluid Medium in this state of frailty and corruption that the Mind should be quite cleansed of these annoyances But yet we are to consider that our Life is a continual warfare and our condition here a state of imperfection and that therefore we are not to despair as if we had done no good because we have not attain'd to what this Life cannot afford But to comfort our selves with this viz. that if in Obedience to God's Commands we maintain the Combat and fight against them and use such Remedies as are prescrib'd God will accept of our Endeavours pass by our Infirmities and grant us at last a Compleat Victory in Heaven above which alone is CONSVMMATION Where we shall be free from bodily weaknesses which many times greatly administer to such and indeed I think to most other Evil thoughts and from all the feeblenesses and impotencies of the Mind From all vain and enticing Objects from without and from all the treachery of Corruption from within From every wanton Glance every vain Imagination and every idle Thought CHAP. IX WE are now come to the last kind of evil Thoughts which I shall more particularly handle in this Treatise viz. Sad melancholy or despairing Thoughts And in order to our taking a true observation of these and applying proper Remedies against them we are to take notice That the occasion of these Thoughts is partly in the habit and constitution of the Body This is undeniable to any Person that hath made but the least Observation in things of this nature For these Persons who are most of all troubled with this kind of Evil Thoughts for such they are to be reckon'd are hypochondriacal and hysterical People and whose Constitution is impaired by some bodily Disease and therefore the Remedies against them must be partly Natural and partly Spiritual But yet I hope I shall not be thought to trespass if I happen to speak a word or two of the former Dea bona valetudo Health is the greatest of Temporal Mercies and that without which we can but weakly prosecute our Spiritual concerns 'T is the Soul of Life and as we can never be too thankful to God for it so every act of Excess whereby it is impair'd is a greater sin than Men are aware Because 't is the great advantage of Health and Vigour of Body that it renders us capable of serving God and of duly preparing our selves for the eternal enjoyment of him Every Disease hath an influence upon the Soul and the indispositions of the Body do and will affect the Mind notwithstanding all the Dreams of the Stoicks But of all the diseases incident to Humane Bodies that of Melancholy deserves most to be pitied It should not be slighted with the reproachful names of Whimsey and mere Fancy 'T is a great injury done to Persons who are affected with it to disregard their complaints and laugh at their Miferies Tho' they should not indulge them yet some pity is due to them Did they but know the woe and anguish the terrour and amazement that they endure could they but be sensible of half their misery they could not chuse but pity them An Hypochondriacal or Hysterical Person that is deeply affected with the disease is an Object that as well deserves compassion as any other whatsoever And if I should endeavour to give you an adequate description of that Malady 't would fill a Volume What an infinite variety of evil Thoughts of all kinds are the effects of it which being in a great measure owing to the Disease the hurry of the Imaginations following that of the Animal Spirits There are some Natural Remedies to be made use of For which I must leave you to the Learned in Nature who will tell you that very much depends upon Observation and Exercise That to be morigerous and moderate in eating and drinking and to be much in bodily exercise but not violent is most proper advice If a Person hath but the vertue to be regular in his way of Living and the patience to continue bodily exercise he doth a great deal towards making his Life more easy and his thoughts more comfortable For every thing that tends to make the Blood and Spirits lively regular and vigorous tends to dispel the blackness and heaviness of the Thoughts Which therefore whoever is so unhappy as to be afflicted with Melancholy must study he must I say apply himself to the use of such things as tend to cherish his Blood and exalt his Spirits To which all vicious extremes are directly contrary The Learned Physicians will also tell you That none are more voracious of Medicines than melancholy Persons but that their desire in that is no more to be indulg'd than in many other things and that there may be too much as well as too little But I am gone too far this way I would only have it observ'd That sad melancholy and even despairing Thoughts are sometimes the consequences of this disease for such it is as much as a Fever or any other And therefore the Pysician must be consulted But altho' the Infirmities of the Body do very much conduce to such Thoughts as these yet we should be mindful that there is the hand of GOD in them too And not so to lay the blame upon Natural Indisposition as to have no other Thoughts about it We may not think that this case is purely Physical and that therefore there is no need of any Spiritual Remedies For there is The first of which that I conceive to be proper is a strict and faithful Ezamination of our own selves We must call Our-selves to an account search into our own Hearts and Lives and-see what we have been and done And perhaps we may find some great and wilful Sin that we have been guilty of or some wrong or injustice that we continue in which happens to be the cause of all our blackness and sadness And these dismall Thoughts which so affright us are no other than the checks of our own Conscience which is a faithful Monitor and Adviser and impartially censures and judges all our Actions The Good that we do it approves of commends and applauds in us But no wilful sin can escape its lashes and bitter reproaches It s authority is an Emblem of the Almighty's Power and Omniscience and its Sentence Praejudicium ultimi judicii It will in spight of the Sinner set his sins in order before him and fill him with horrour and trembling and fearful Thoughts which if they arise from hence there is no remedy but Repentance Nothing but the Tears of a Godly Sorrow can ease his heavy Heart And renewed resolutions of watchfulness and a more diligent Obedience for the time to come are the best expedient to remove the blackness and sadness that is upon his Soul And when the Sinner hath truly
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
purge and refine the drossy mass The divine Grace alone can restore health and vigour to the corrupt depraved degenerous heart of Man And that will never be wanting to our sincere endeavours It will operate with our Endeavours but not without them Something is in our power in order to it and let us do that and the rest the Grace of God will supply And one of the greatest incentives to make us use our utmost endeavours is the serious consideration of the sinfulness and corruption of our own heart 'T is necessary therefore that we do not take a slight and transient view only but be engaged in a deep and accurate investigation of our selves Search every corner of that cell every recess of that Labyrinth with as much earnestness as the Jews did for leven And upon an impartial view we shall find our Lord's words verified Out of the heart proceed all evil thoughts No good properly so called proceeds from thence but what is the Effect of the Operations of the Blessed Spirit of God 'T is not the Natural issue of the Soul but the Product of His Heavenly Inspirations who is continually striving with Man and endeavouring to Consecrate and Hallow all his Thoughts and Affections that so he may be acceptable to God Every good Thought every Religious Flight or Sacred Desire is stirred up by Him is His immediate Suggestion who is Wrestling with the stubborn and rebellious Powers of our souls and with our impure imaginations to reduce them into their proper order and condition Or else 't is the whisper of some good Angel commissioned by him who is willing to perform a Godlike act of charity to us that we may raise up our minds to their proper object and lends us wings to mount up to the highest Heaven withall For the heart of Man naturally is full of evil and out of it proceed all kind of wicked thoughts and vain imaginations It disembogues such impure steams and contagious exhalations as blast and infect the whole World 'T is an Asphalites a dead sea which sends up most noxious vapours 'T is from the heart that all the evil in the world originally proceeds and therefore 't is a most natural piece of Advice that whenever we behold any evil in any part or instance of the whole Creation we presently lay our hand upon our breast look into our selves and examine our own heart 'T is folly to lay the blame upon this and that and t'other thing when we should trace the evil to its Fountain-head 'T is most true that all the vile and sinful thoughts the basest and most abominable lusts proceed from the heart But when they are bred out of the corruption and putrefaction of the heart it self and when cast into it by the Devil 't is not so easy to determine The accursed Enemy of our souls doth no doubt lay hold on all opportunities to cast into our minds wicked thoughts and is very watchful of the times and seasons when to corrupt and debauch our souls and make them yet more vile than naturally they are And therefore these wicked thoughts which many timerous souls imagine to be their own may be rationally presumed to be his There are indeed some marks which probably may serve to distinguish the Devil's injections from our own cogitations As when they are monstrously prophane and blasphemous when they assault us all of a sudden with a tempestuous vehemence filling us with terrour and amazement Or else when they are such thoughts as contradict all the interests of Humane Nature as when a Man thinks of murdering and destroying himself Such a thought cannot well be supposed to be the issue of the heart it self tho very corrupt but rather thrown in by the Devil Who was a murderer from the beginning But I say as to the greater part of evil thoughts it is no easy matter to know which are our own or which are the Devil 's As for those that are the immediate result of the heart the Devil is very quick and ready to improve them And for these which are the Devil's injections our corrupt hearts are too willing to comply with them so that we must think our selves equally obliged to guard our selves against the one and the other And there is something unquestionably in our power in order to it We can do something towards it unless we will look upon our selves as Machines and so destroy both Reason and Religion at once I will agree that by an hypochondriack or some other disease or by a long series and habit of sinning which is a disease more inveterate and harder to be cured that the Oeconomy of the Soul and Spirits may be so broken and shattered that the power of thinking is become very weak and impaired and that the lassitudes of the Soul are as great almost as those of the Body But yet I think there are few cases but a man can do something in order to a regular thinking Few men are arrived to so great a degree of either as to be able to do nothing towards it tho it must be granted some can do much more than others Our blessed Lord when he was upon Earth did not give useless Descriptions of things and deal with Men otherwise than rational Creatures And therefore I cannot but suppose that when he shews them that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts 't was to this end that they should endeavour to govern and subdue them Now we may lay down this as a certain Truth viz. that evil Thoughts whatsoever they be do not endanger our Eternal Salvation further than we comply with them They are not our Sins further than we indulge them But totally to hinder them I think is a thing Impracticable It is impossible but that such offences will come And I believe the Holiest Men find it so so long as they are in a World where there are so many Objects and in a State where there are so many Imperfections But yet when wicked Thoughts arise in our Minds we may certainly choose whether we will harbour and embrace them or not This we may do as long as we have any Liberty of Will left so much is unquestionably in our power Though 't is confessed they will make frequent returns upon us and every now and then with great importunity present themselves to us tho but the last Moment we thrust them out Like an importunate Creditor or an Impertinent Guest they will obtrude themselves upon us do what we can and if we tell them we have never so great and weighty business they will still be troublesome and haunt us while we are actually ingaged in it Nay will pursue us even to the Sanctuary and assault us at the Altar of God Yet if we as often trust them out as they return they will never be charged upon us For 't is a giving them encouragement and a compliance with them that makes us Criminal Then alone Thoughts
will be imputed to us as our Sins when we are pleased with them or when we do not â—â—ominate and cast them out as soon as they come into our Minds as soon as we have Power to discover that they are sinful 'T is true the Devil may continue to disquiet and disturb the Peace and Tranquility of our Consciences by his wicked injections and putting into our Minds evil Thoughts But tho they are our grief and molestation yet they being resisted are his Sins and God will judge him for them and spare and pitty us God knows whereof we are made and Remembreth that we are but dust The Blessed Jesus Assum'd our Nature and therefore well knows how to compassionate us in such circumstances He was Himself Sollicited by the accursed Tempter but he did not yield to him but resisted him and if we follow our Lord's Example and do so too if he doth not presently flee from us yet 't is not our sin but unhappiness to be infested with him And this certainly we are able to do We may undoubtedly choose whether we will consent to wicked thoughts and aprove them or not If they do indeed meet with a kind entertainment at our hands no wonder that they grow bold and familiar but if we deny them admittance and shut them out we shall at length be rid of them or at least they will not be charged upon us Even the Devil is put to flight by resistance St. James tells us He remembers his Apostacy he trembles at the Name of Jesus and when a Christian behaves himself bravely against him he doth not care to abide the combat If we give the same reply to all his suggestions as our Blessed Lord did our trouble is greater than our danger If we would but be watchful over our selves and have as much care as we can of our thoughts I am apt to think we should not complain so much of them as we often do 'T is much for want of a due observation of our selves and keeping our hearts with all diligence that so many evil thoughts proceed from thence The malignity or folly of our Imaginations is much owing to our selves to our own sloth and carelessness to idleness or to an habit of sin or some such cause and when it is so we ought to repent of them and look on them as our sins Tho the corruption of our Nature and the malice of the Devil be many times the cause of them yet we our selves are often more chargeable with them than either of these and if we narrowly and truly examine our selves we shall find it so Upon the whole it is sufficiently plain that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts the Soul is the Soil where this Hemlock is sown There wicked thoughts are conceived they owe their original either to the corruption of the Soul it self or are thrown in by the instigations of the Devil From thence they proceed and therefore it must be acknowledg'd that there doth lie an obligation on us of well governing them That we are not altogether unable to do any thing in order to it but something is in our power We can chuse whether we will cherish them or not we can either bid them welcome or bid them be gone And besides we can use other helps and assistances and follow these Rules and Directions which are necessary to the well-governing our thoughts And what they are is the subject of the following Chapter CHAP. IV. THe Rules and Directions which we are to follow in order to the better performance of this great work viz. the vertuous and religious government of our thoughts are divided into General and Particular The General will have relation to all kinds of evil thoughts whatsoever they be The latter will concern chiefly these sorts of them hereafter mentioned The General Rules and Directions then are these following First Prayer Constant and fervent Prayer This is a Catholicon a sovereign Remedy for every Ail and Indisposition of the Soul It is very powerful with God and availeth much 'T is a preservative from the violence of Temptations and a defence against all kinds of evil thoughts Prayer as it engageth the Divine Favour and the Protection of Almighty God in all cases so it naturally cleanseth and purifieth the heart keeps it in a due frame and religious temper The Soul is thereby prompted and disposed to that which is good and ponderates towards God It gives a relish of Divine and Spiritual things and makes the Soul more and more averse to all evil vain or silly thoughts and imaginations And therefore if we desire to be preserved from wicked thoughts to keep our hearts in due temper and government we should be constant and earnest in our approaches to the Throne of Grace daily and fervent in our Prayers to God for his Grace to assist us in conquering the stubbornness and irregularity of our thoughts and imaginations That he would be pleas'd to take possession of our Souls by his holy Spirit and by him to govern subdue and sanctify all the motions powers and faculties of our Souls That no unclean Spirit may inhabit there but that they may be swept and garnished in the best sence and ever prepar'd to receive the visits of Heaven and the benign influences of the holy Ghost Be sure then that you omit not the observance of this first Rule in order to the well-governing your thoughts for without this all the rest will signify nothing Secondly the next Rule is that you avoid idleness That hateful vice which makes the Soul of a Man like the field of the sluggard all overgrown with thorns and briars full of all manner of wanton desires evil motions and impure thoughts When a Man is idle and loytering a thousand ill things come into his mind which an honest industry would prevent And the most desirable opportunity the Devil hath for injecting wicked thoughts or temptations successfully is when a Man hath nothing to do It is absolutely necessary therefore that we avoid being idle and so practice both parts of our Blessed Saviour's Advice Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation Idleness is the nurse of wickedness Sin 's procurer a vice most odious in its self and leading into all others It lays a Man open to all assaults and temptations and exposeth him to the dangerous sollicitations of a legion of the Infernal Spirits at once Whereas an industrious Man puts Satan to the toil of a long siege as it were the negligent and idle Person makes a present and voluntary surrender of himself to him Thus much is signify'd by that Parable of our Blessed Lord's Mat. 12. 43. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none he saith I will return into my house from whence I came out and when he is come he findeth it empty swept and garnished Then goeth he and
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
repented and there is an entire change wrought upon him then he may hope for the light of GOD's countenance to shine upon him and that he will comfort him now after the time that he hath plagued him and for the years wherein he hath suffered adversity But if upon a serious and deep Examination of himself he cannot find that these sad and frightful Thoughts which infest him proceed from any such cause as some wilful and notorious sin but that the sincere and earnest desire of his Soul is always to please God and to keep a true conformity to all his Laws and Commands Then Secondly The next Remedy against these black and despairing Thoughts is the consideration of the transcendent goodness of GOD. This is a proper means to fortify our Minds against them Why shall I think that I am cast off of GOD and forsaken of him what argument can there be for desperation why is my Heart so dismal my Thoughts so troubled my Fears so tempestuous Is it because I am a great Sinner Truly that is a sufficient cause for me to be sorrowful and humbled to the very dust and floods of tears are not enough to bewail the guilt of my sin But yet O consider the goodness of GOD He is the most loving and merciful Being a compassionate and forgiving Father He is more our Father than our Earthly Parents can be He is essentially good in Himself and good and gracious to his Creatures He is ready and willing to receive every penitent Sâ—nner be his sins never so great nay he lovingly invites him to come to him And this is a Consideration which should be a means to make thee grieve with such a Sorrow as will bring thee to him and not drive thee from him such a Sorrow as may prompt thee to the performance of all that thou knowest to be thy duty and not such a Sorrow as totally incapacitates thee for it and so is both a dishonour to GOD and a very great injury to thy own Soul And therefore thou hast all imaginable reason to thrust out all black dismal or despairing Thoughts Cast thine Eyes abroad into the World See! This noble Structure was the effect of God's goodness and all the Beauties and Riches of it bespeak his Kindness and Benignity Behold this ample Theatre of Praise wherein every thing shews forth his goodness And then look in upon thy self and thou wilt find thy own self another World of the Divine Goodness What instances of God's Goodness canst thou discover in thy self what particulars of his Patience and numerous Acts of his loving Kindness This therefore in the third place is also another Consideration which would be a proper Remedy against this kind of evil thoughts before us Consider then your own Experiences of God's Goodness When thou art at any time haunted with any dreadful killing despairing Thoughts as if thou wert reprobated of God and consign'd to eternal Damnation call to mind how much of the forbearance and Bounty and goodness of God thou hast experimented and then thou wilt see how little reason thou hast to yield to such Confounding Thoughts Nay he doth not only spare thee and extend his Patience towards thee but is multiplying his other Mercies upon thee and so gives thee all the convincing proofs that can be that he desireth not the death of any Sinner but is the great lover of Souls and Would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth How many dangers and evils hath he delivered thee from nay hath he not delivered thee from hurting thy own self and by some strange Providence or other baffl'd thy wicked Intentions In a word what large Experience hast thou had of the Goodness of God both to thy Soul and Body How then canst thou be tempted to think that God hath rejected thee when thou feelest irrefragable arguments to the contrary in thy self when thou tastest and seest and hast Demonstration how good and how gracious the Lord is No it is the Devil's Suggestion to torment and disquiet thee For he will not fail to persecute these whom he cannot kill and terrify those whom he is not able to destroy 'T is the Stratagem of the accursed Enemy of our peace who takes advantage perhaps of the weakness and tenderness of thy Spirits caus'd by some Bodily Indisposition or other to inject dreadful Thoughts representing Almighty GOD as an implacable Judge endeavouring to make him seem the same to us that he is to himself We are not ignorant of his Devices and of his restless malice If those poor Creatures who are afflicted with this kind of evil Thoughts could but be brought to entertain this Consideration viz. what Experience they have had of the Goodness of the Lord and argue as this particular teacheth them they would 't is hop'd find much ease and relief and be convinc'd that their desponding Thoughts are very absurd and unreasonable and moreover a Dishonour and a Reflection upon the Divine goodness Art thou at any time afflicted with any melancholy dismal or despairing Thoughts As a Remedy against them consider on the Mystery of Man's Redemption by Christ JESVS And there thou wilt find such arguments against Thoughts of this Nature as should one would think be able entirely to subdue and conquer them How great how incomprehensible is that Goodness that not only gave a being to the World and enrich'd all Creatures with his Beneficence but sent down the Eternal Son of God to redeem undone Man who can form a Thought worthy of such Goodness O Christians think with your utmost Intention how great the Dignity of that Person is who was our Saviour And then think seriously on what he did to redeem us What Tongue can express or Mind conceive the agonies that he endured when he became the Propitiation and Attonement The wrath that lay upon him when he interpos'd between an angry God and sinful Man Hâ—s sufferings were vastly above the reach of our Thoughts and our Ideas of his Sorrow are all faint and imperfect Good God! How can we chuse but stand amaz'd at the great Mystery of Man's Salvation admire the contrivance of the infinite Wisdom therein and adore the Divine Philanthropy Who can despair of Mercy from him who hath given us his Own Son How can we think he will reject us for ever when he spared not his Own Son for us In the circumstances that we are under the Gospel Presumption is an evil to which methinks we should be more probably tempted than despair tho' both of them are most unreasonable and abominable Because such Illustrious Goodness such unparalell'd Mercy is display'd in this Evangelical oeconomy such Peace on Earth and good will towards Men as is enough for ever to silence all the sad Complaints of desponding Sinners and to comfort and encourage the most guilty Soul to true and unfeigned Repentance When the Devil therefore at any
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