who are approved of by men may be Abomination in the sight of God Men indeed judge of our Thoughts by our Words and Actions but God of our Words and Works by our Thoughts No outward Works so good and holy but Hypocrites have at some times done them And few outward Works or none so evil but some godly men at some times through Temptation have fallen into them But how like soever such Works whether good or bad have been in the face yet the difference is great in the heart of the Doer which is that God distinguisheth the one from the other by Of which anon we shall speak somewhat more These are the Grounds of this Conceipt which mens hearts are possessed with That Thoughts are free and they have liberty to think what they list which opens a dooâ— to all Impiety For if Thought be free all will be free in the end Such shew what their Actions would be if they dared to act them But Do they not err that imagine evill saith Solomon Prov. 14.22 Which Question is not put by way of Doubt as if it were uncertain whether such erred or not but that Interrogation is a confident Asseveration They do err out of the wayes of Life that think evil in their hearts Say not then That Thoughts are free you have heard the contrary proved and that upon good Grounds and undeniable Reasons and withall the weak Grounds that are brought so this wicked Conceipt which is in many mens minds which I hope may serve to convince any of their Error that are so minded The Truth is so far are Thoughts from being free as that they may in some Cases prove unpardonable as St Peter intimates in that Speech of his which he used to Simon Magus Acts 8.22 Pray God if perhaps the Thought of thine Heart may be forgiven thee There was but a Perhaps in it no Certainty As the Thoughts of the Heart have been more or less active to plot and contrive Sin the more or less difficultly is a pardon obtained of it But to proceed Use 3 If God be displeased as well with sinfull Thoughts as outward Actions then let us repent of them and be humbled before God for them even the best of us From many outward gross Sins I doubt not but many of us can clear our selves and say with the Pharisee Luke 18.11 God I thank thee we are not as other men Extortioners Unjust Adulterers c. Yet although we know nothing by our selvs wherewith to charge our selves in regard of outward demeanour we are not thereby justified 1 Cor. 4.4 For Who can understand his secret faults saith the Prophet Psal 19.12 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my Sin Prov. 20.9 There is no Man nor Woman so upright and holy living upon the Earth that can clear himself from evil Thoughts Let him live never so strictly or precisely so that no man can tax him for any outward Crime yet he shall find a Sea of Corruption and Filth in himself And if in Case any one should think himself perfect that very Thought would prove him perverse and that he knew not his own Soul Pro. 30.32 Job 9.20 21. If thou hast done foolishly as without question thou hast often done in lifting up thy self or it thou hast thought evil saith Agur lay thine hand upon thy mouth the meaning is If in case thou hast outwardly sinned through Pride in word or deed or if thou hast thought evil and conceived mischief in thy mind never so closely and secretly then Manum ad Os let thine hand be laid to thy mouth plead not chine own Innocency but be humbled before God and repent thee of thy Wickedness from the bottom of thy heart for in that sense the Phrase of laying the hand upon the mouth is used Job 40.4 In the Performance of this Duty whereto you are now exhorted See first That you take a diligent Survey of your hearts remembring That Thoughts of all sorts are in every man's mind by Nature We read that when God called his Prophet Ezekiel to the Door and willed him so digg through the Wall and enter in at the Door he was no sooner entred but he saw in the Chambers of the House every Form of creeping things and all sorts of abominable Beasts Ezek. 8.7 8 9. Look into thy heart that Chamber of thy Belly as Solomon phraseth it Prov. 18.8 and there thou shalt espy not onely creeping things in abundance such as are all idle foolish frothy earthly wanton and vain Thoughts which like Motes in the Sun fly up and down or like Ants in a Mole-hill run to and fro in thy mind hourly but many abominable Beasts such as are Thoughts of Atheism Blasphemy Murther Adultery Pride Revenge and such like thou mayest there discover which lodge and lye in thy polluted heart and there revell it day and night finding too friendly entertainment Unless these be discovered which is no hard matter to do they will never be dislodged and unroosted This is that which must be done that thou mayest be truly humbled as is required Lam. 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes that is both our hearts and lives and so turn again to the Lord. Secondly Lament and bewail the Vileness and Wickedness of thy heart in the sight of God So did the Church We have spoken Cruelty and Oppression conceiving and uttering out of the heart false matters Isa 59.13 And this is that which God required of his People Jer. 4.14 Jerusalem wash thy heart from Wickedness that thou mayest be saved which is in effect the same that is required by the Prophet Isa 1.16 Wash you make you clean c. and by St. James Cleanse your hands you Sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded men Jam. 4.8 where by hands the outward Actions and by hearts the inward Cogitations the one defiled by doing Evil the other by thinking Evil are to be understood And that we might not mistake his meaning in the words following he shews what a Washing and Cleansing both of the one and the other he intendeth Be afflicted and mourn and weep Ver. 9. Humble your selvs before God by godly Sorrow This Mourning for the Sinfulness of our hearts is termed Washing for that as the Filth of the Body is done away by Water so is the Filth of the Heart by true Remorse and godly Mourning for it It is true that the Blood of Christ and that only cleanseth the Soul from Sin both in regard of Guilt which is our Justification and in regard of Filth which is our Sanctification Zach. 12.1 1. John 1.7 But this Washing of Sanctification requires a double Act the one of God himself in the first Conversion and Renovation of a Sinner Ezek 36.25 and therein Man is meerly a Patient The other of Man cleansing himself yet more and more through the Power of God's blessed Spirit by Repentance and therein Man is
instrumentally an Agent 2 Cor. 7.1 Christ's Blood is the Cause of the one for without it there is no Remission and by our mourning and sorrowing for Sin the Soul is qualified and brought into such an Estate that it may be capable of the benefit of his Death That we may be cleansed then from our spiritual defilements contracted by our sinful Thoughts let us wash our hearts often sweeping the House is not enough the Devil with all his unclean Spirits likes well of the House that is swept Matth. 12.44 but he likes not the House that is throughly washed Nor is it enough to sprinkle our hearts with a little Water to send forth a Sigh or shed a Tear or two It must be a making clean with Washing Isa 1.16 a thorow-Washing is required We do as good as nothing in the business if we exceed not weeping bitterly with Peter Mat. 26.75 washing the very feet of Christ with Tears as did Mary Magdalen Luke 7.38 We use to pour most Water upon that which most defileth us and our Thoughts are if not the only yet the principal defilers of the inward man Mat. 15.18 19. Use 3 Thirdly After this Washing Reformation must follow Let the Wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his Thoughts saith the Prophet Isa 55.7 Unless there be a leaving and forsaking of them we deceive our selves in thinking that we have truly mourned and repented for them Now in this Work of Reformation we must begin where our Sin began and that is in the heart wherefore we are called upon to begin with that Jer. 4.14 That man saith a very judicious Doctor that takes no notice of his Sin till it come into Act Dr. Donn doth post-date his Sin and begins his Reckoning too late It is the first time say some when they are taken in the Act that I did it when indeed it was not the first by an hundred For when the first conceived that Sin in the heart then they did it and in every Discourse Wish or Dream that conduceth to that Sin or that riseth from the Thought of that Sin they sin it over again before they come to the actual Committing of it which is the Nativity of it out you must reckon from the Conception of it As David did Psal 51.5 so must you do in this Case and begin Reformation there Never think to have reformed Lives before you have reformed Hearts and Thoughts It was the Character of a Pharisee in Christ's time to make clean the out-side of the Cup and Platter and leave the in-side foul Mat. 23.25 Christ reproves them for that and gives them directions where to begin first Cleanse that which is within that the out-side may be clean also Ver. 26. Now That we may carry on this Work comfortably and succesfully I shall proceed in my Application of the Point with an Hortatory Direction commending unto you some Motives to stir up your care about your Thoughts and then prescribe unto you some Rules to be followed whereby you may be enabled to bring your Thoughts under subjection to the Government of Christ And first of the Motives Besides what hath been already said when I gave you the Grounds and Reasons of the Doctrine propounded I shall commend unto your most serious thoughts something in Reference to God and something in Reference to your selves and other some with respect to your sinful Thoughts that are to be repented of and reformed In Reference to God Let it be first remembred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God is the Searcher of the Heart and the Knower of your Thoughts as we read Isa 66.18 I knâ—w their Works and their Thoughts saith God So Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the Heart although no other know it neither Man nor Angel directly yet I know it and search it that is my Prerogative He understands our Thoughts very well without an Interpreter Luke 6.8 John 2.24 Thou understandest my Thoughts afar off saith David Psal 139.2 We may know our own Thoughts when they are in the Bud first conceived by us we may know at least guess at the Thoughts of others when they are in the Bloom and Blossom We read of one that had such an admirable Gift scarce credible that by the only Motion of the Lips without any Utterance he understood all men Ordinarily Dr. Gabriel Nele Bartâ—l lib. 1. de Ver. Oblig Aug. Conf. l. 10. c. 27. we know men's Thoughts by the fruit in Words and Actions Austin tells us of a Jester who undertook to tell the People what their Thoughts were and when they desired to hear he told them Vill vultis emere care vendere Your Thoughts are to sell dear and buy cheap and this their Practice discovered But God knows our Thoughts in the Seed or Root before either Bud or Blossom or Fruit appears The Gardiner that knows what Seed was sown in the Earth and what Roots were set in his Beds can tell what Herbs or Flowers he shall have in the Spring which another that is ignorant thereof cannot discover This appears by that Speech of God to Moses concerning the rebellious Israelites I know their Thoughts and Imaginations even now before I have brought them into the Land which I sware Deut. 31.21 He knew what Principles were within them and what they would do when occasion served and so knew their Thoughts afar off better than they themselves Intus tu eras ego foris said St. Augustine Thou wert within Aug. Trin. lib. 13. c. 3. and I was without God is within and knows our secret Thoughts and Hearts when we are without and know them not He made the Heart saith David And shall not he understand what is in it Artificers know the Nature and Property of their Works he that makes a Watch knows every pin that is in it and is well acquainted with every Joint of it and Can God be ignorant think you of his workmanship Hell and Destruction saith Solomon are before the Lord how much more then the Hearts of the Children of men Prov. 15.11 The condition of the dead and damned is of all other things most hidden from the Eyes of man seeing the dead never return and are in most secret and deep places we know not where Hell is nor what is done there but although these things are hid from us yet they are before the Eyes of God Job attributeth this Praise unto God as being peculiar to him alone That Hell is naked before him and Destruction uncovered in hit sight Job 26.6 How much more saith Solomon the Heart of the Children of men Which though it be as deep as Hell it self by devilish devices and he made a pit of Destruction by mischievous imaginations yet that is manifest to God If he look upon things and hath an exact knowledg of them although they be never so abstruse and hidden we may easily be perswaded that he is not unacquainted with
Doctrine of the Church of Rome is in this Point very unsound they have this Conceit of Thoughts that they are but Venial Inward Lust and Concupiscence is either no Sin with them or so small that it needs no Reproof and yet themselvs confess it is the Cause of mortal Sin St. Paul as Chemnitius in his Examen observs in that sixth Chapter to the Romans calls it five times Sin in the seventh six times in the eighth thrice Hierom in 1 Amos thus distinguisheth of Pin the first degree is in Thought to think it the second is to yield to it the third to perform it in Act the fourth not to repent of it And upon the fifth of Matthew he distinguisheth betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pathos is Passion with Consent Propatheia is a tickling of Lust without Consent Yet saith Tollet Bellarmin and others They all speak unproperly yet Tollet confesseth plainly that it is not only St. Austin's Word but his perpetual Doctrine albeit the Papists now wholly depart from it Vide Cade Serm. on Roman 7.24 p. 7. Nor doth St. Paul all it only Sin but deadly Sin the Body of Death All Sin with him was mortal he knew not these venial trivial peccadilia trivial Sins with Papists to mince and make sleight of But I shall spend no more time with these having none to spare Vse 2 We have amongst our selves very many who are possessed with this Atheistical Opinion That Thoughts are free and that they pay no Tribute and that we shall never be called to any Account for them and from hence it is That so many play the Hypocrites in the Worship and Service of God thinking it sufficient that their Bodies are present but their Thoughts are suffered to run after Covetousness Ezek. 33.32 And others who forbear to act Sin and speak lewdly yet they give Liberty to Imagination to play with the Devil at what Game he will at Murther Theft Adultery c. And when the Mark is out of their mouths I mean they are out of date in respect of the act of some Sin yet they have still an unsatiable desire to it and can please themselvs in contemplative Wickedness calling to mind their former brutish and lustful practices with great delight making their own hearts to be their Brothel-house a House of Bawdery and Uncleanness and all upon this Delusion that their Thoughts are free and what is not lawful to act nor fit to speak is lawful so think without Controul Which Atheistical and damnable Opinion ariseth from these Grounds First Ignorance of the Law of God and the Spiritualness thereof which commands the Soul with the motions of it as well as the Body with the Actions thereof Heb. 4.12 It pierceth even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the heart saith the Apostle Now they being carnall and the Law spiritual it is no marvel if they cannot understand it for it must be spiritually understood They have a Veil over their eyes 2 Cor. 3.15 and which is yet more the god of this World hath further blinded them 2 Cor. 4.4 that they shall not discern the Spirituality of if So were the Pharisees blinded in their time and St. Paul all the while he was a Pharisee Rom 7.7 They rested only in the outward Rinde or Bark of the Law but discerned not the pith and marrow of it Secondly From the Defectiveness and Imperfection of Man's Law which although it binds the Hands and stops the Mouth yet it punisheth not for Thoughts Cogitationis poenam nemo patiatur The Projects of the Heart lye not within the walk of Humane Justice they are not liable to earthly Courts they pay no Tribute to Man's Custom-House where they cannot be searched but as they bewray themselvs by some outward Sign either by Word or Deed forgetting that God seeth not as Man seeth He hath an eye into our most secret Thoughts Psal 139.12 He sets our Thoughts in the Light of his Countenance Psal 90.8 And if men call so account and punish Words and Deeds because they see and know them Why then shall not God call to account and punish too our Thoughts which he knows far better than any man can our Actions That Man's Law punisheth not for our Thoughts proves rather a Defectiveness in Man's Law than this Diabolical and Atheistical Opinion that Thoughts are free A third Ground for this graceless Opinion is That they do no hurt to any by their thinking Why then may they not think what they please But indeed they do the greatest mischief they fight against the Soul yea thy own Soul as St. Peter shews 1 Pet. 2.11 they tend to the Destruction of it And from the Motions of thy mind proceeds all other Mischiefs which are wrought if the Prophet Michah is worthy to be believed Mich. 2.1 or the Apostle St. James to be credited James 4.1 or if Christ himself may be believed of us Math. 15.16 17. Indeed alwayes the Lusts of the Heart are not actually prejudicial to our Neighbour for here a man may be an Adulteret and the Woman chaste with whom Adultery is committed a man may be a Murtherer and yet the man alive whom he is the Murtherer of c. But many times these Thoughts come into Act What Wickedness is committed in Act that was not first in the Thought A fourth Ground for this Devilish and Hellish conceipt ariseth from the suddenness and unexpectedness of their coming and impossibility to avoid them No Reason many times can be given of them Therefore there is no Reason say some and more think why they should be called to any Account for them But all the Thoughts that are in the hearts of Sinners are either Suggestions by Inspiration from Satan or Vapours that fume out of corrupt Nature and from our sinful hearts How can it be otherwise then but that they should be offensive unto God Besides their suddenness and exorbitancy proves them evil All Good is from knowledg deliberation and direction Did they come in God's Name they would come a slower pace as they find by sad experience who set their minds so think of matters serious and spiritual And what though we cannot avoid those wandring and sinful Thoughts altogether Must we therefore set open the door and give them free liberty of Ingress Egress and Regress No man can keep the Birds from flying over his head but I hope he may keep them from making their Nests on that Tuft of haire which he wears Lastly Men imagine Thoughts to be free because of the common Opinion of the World and general Estimate of Religion which is not by the Heart and Thoughts but by our outward Performances wherein if we approve our selves before men it is all that is sought after forgetting what our Saviour saith You are they which approve your selves to men Luke 1◠11 but they
that which is more conspicuous and appaâ—aâ—t Now suppose that there were an open window into thy Heart so that every one that passeth by might see all thy Thoughts as transparantly as thy Actions in an open Market would it not cause thee to be as careful of them as thou are of thy outward behaviour and carriage Why all things are naked and open before him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 This should move you to look to your Thoughts and have a care of your inward dispositions Secondly Remember that as God knows the thoughts so he ponders them Prov. 21.2 The Lord ponders the heart saith Solomon He weighs them and discovers what substance is in them And for this end he doth it that he may give to every one the Fruit of them as Solomon shews Prov. 24 12. Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and shall not he render to every man according to his Works Thy Thoughts he puts into one ballance and the Recompence into the other and gives weight for weight For good Thoughts a good Recompence as David found who had it in his heart so build a House unto the Lord 1 King 8.18 And albeit God in his Wisdom saw it not fit for him so do it yet for his good Thought God promised and performed what he had promised to build David a House and establish his Kingdom for ever 2 Sam. 16. But if our thoughts be vain and wicked he will recompense us accordingly and answer us according to the stumbling-block that is set up in our hearts Ezek 14.3 4. So Esay 65.2 6 7. If thou beest his Child and yet harbourest vain and sinful Thoughts within thee he will correct thee for them if thou beest not his Child he will then judge thee and condemn thee for them Jer. 6.19 This should make us careful of our thoughts as well as of our words and actions Thirdly It would be remembred that God expects to have his Glory shine in our Thoughts as well as in our outward Conversation It is from him that we have our Souls and all the powers of it as well as our Bodies with the members thereof He hath planted them in us and he looks to taste of the Fruit of those Trees that he hath planted It is he that hath redeemed the Soul as well as the Body and looks to be glorified both in Soul and Body by us He hath a Soveraignty over the whole man his Law binds both Soul and Body and both must be yielded up to be governed by him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the heart with all the Soul and with all the Mind is the Law Luke 10.27 Now in giving way to any evil thought we turn God out of our hearts at that time the heart is not then for God but taken up for the service of the World Flesh or Devil we bring not forth Fruit to God but to his Enemies and the Enemies of our Salvation Christ was angry with that Figg-Tree that grew by the way side when he being hungry coming to it found nothing but Leaves upon it insomuch that he cursed it Never fruit grow on thee any more Matth 21.18 19. So coming to the garden of thy Soul and finding little or nothing growing upon the best Tree there thy Mind and Understanding but empty and loose imaginations at the best thou mayst be assured he will be so provoked by thee as that he will pass some sore and severe Sentence against thee Let this prevail with thee to look unto thy thoughts that they be not sinful Fourthly God esteems himself highly honoured by us when care is had that we dishonour him not in Thought when we so regard his all-seeing Eye as that we will not offend him in taking liberty so much as to offend him in thinking any thing that may displease him albeit man can take no notice thereof this is to sanctify God in our hearts 1 Pet. 3.15 And such as do thus God esteems as his Jewels and hath promised to preserve them safe as his special Treasure Mal. 3.16 17. And thus you have heard how in reference to God we ought to make conscience of our Thoughts and Cogitations Next in reference to our selves the like care should be taken For First By admitting of sinful Thoughts into our hearts we become defiled and polluted and are made as loathsome Lepers in the Eyes of God Matth. 15.18 19. Those things which come from the heart as evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts c. they defile the man Where our Saviour doth not speak only of actual Murther and Adultery but of the sinful disposition of the Soul these are they that defile the Spirit of man in God's sight who looks upon them with a more hateful Eye than any mortal Creature can look upon any thing loathsome with the eye of his Body The Thoughts of the Wicked are an domination unto the Lord saith Solomon Prov. 15.26 Not only abominable and loathsome but abomination it self in the Abstract Nor are all our actual sins committed by us in the Body simply considered in themselves and committed by the Body so hateful unto God as the pollution of the Spirit is Hear the Judgment of a very judicious and â—arned Divine in the Point Dr. Prest on the Attrib 2.7 I dare be bold to say saith he that though the Act contracts the Guilt because the Lust is then grown up to a height so that it is come to an absolute will and execution yet the act of Adultery and Murther is not so abominable in God's Eyes as the filthinesse of the Spirit Indeed when Thoughts break forth into Words and Actions and command the outward man it argues that Lust hath a more full dominion and soveraignty over a man than when it rests in the Thoughts and Heart and in breaking out it doth more dishonour God and doth more hurt unto Men 1 Cor. 15.33 in which regard it is worse to speak and do evil than to think evil But actual Sins being simply considered in themselves as was said before are not so odious nor abominable in the Eyes of Almighty God as is the filthiness and defilement of the Spirit for that God is a Spirit and it is the Spirit that he mainly looks upon In which respect our care should be to keep our Spirit clean from these defilements by wicked Thoughts if we would not be nasty loathsome and abominable Creatures in the Eyes and Nostrils of the Lord God Almighty who is of purer Eyes than to take any content in the Heart and Spirit of such as are so defiled Secondly In entertaining sinful Thoughts we make our hearts a Lodge and Harbor for Rebels and Traytors which conspire against the Crown and Dignity of the King of Heaven For What Sin is committed against the most High God Rom. 7.23 that is not first plotted in the heart as anon shall be shewed more largely It is
sin infinitely in his Thoughts and never have done And thus you have heard wherein the strength of this first-born of Sathan lies in promoting of Evil. Now let me shew you the strength of it in hindring of us in the performance of what is Good St. James speaks of a man's being drawn aside by his own Lusts Jam. 1.14 that is they move the powers of the Soul out of their right place they draw them out of the right path of God's Precepts and entise them out of the way as Theevs do an honest Traveller that he may rob him of his money Thus are our Thoughts drawn away from God when we are about his Worship and Service or else so disturbed and distracted by them as that we have but little profit or comfort in the discharge thereof God complains of the Hypocritical Jews that they were a People that drew near to him with their mouths but their hearts were far from him Isa 29.13 Mat. 15.8 Their false and deceitful hearts were carried away with worldly and carnal thoughts as we read Ezek 33.31 Their hearts went after their Covetousness albeit their Bodies were present Now you know what God saith of such as should go about to draw our hearts from him If thy Brother the Son of thy Mother or thy Son or thy Daughter or the Wife of thy Bosom or thy Friend which is as thine own Soul entise thee secretly saying Let us go and serve other gods Thou shalt not consent nor hearken unto him neither shall thine eye pity him neither shalt thou spare him neither shalt thou conceal him but thou shalt surely kill him c. Deut. 13.6 8 9 10. The like may be said and applyed to the Point in hand Let our Thoughts and Cogitations be never so profitable and delightful yet if they go about to draw our hearts from God in his Worship and Service spare them not but endeavour the mortification of them even their utter ruine and destruction If in case the Heart be so over-powred by the Spirit of Grace as that it will not be wholly called off from the performance and discharge of Religious Duties by wicked Thoughts then they will endeavour to intermingle themselves with the motions of Grace dealing herein as the Adversaries of Judah and Benjamin did with Zerubbabel and the chief of the Fathers in offering their service towards the building of the Temple saying Let us build with you for we seek your God as you do Ezra 4.2 This they did not with any purpose to promote but to hinder the Building So whilst we are hearing of the Word some good meditation may come into the mind or some good thought and purpose of doing this or that good Work but such thoughts tend but to distract us and deprive us of the Blessings of a profitable Hearer At the time of Prayer they will be ready to fill the head with many holy instruction that at some other time we have read heard and learned Thoughts and Purposes in themselves Divine but the Spirit that suggests them at this time is not Divine but Diabolical for that it hinders devotion and draws away the mind from being intent upon the business in hand and so deforms the work as colour misplaced in the face doth the beauty for if the blewness that should be in the Veins be in the Lips and the redness that should be in the Checks be in the Nose we count it a deformity Or as Letters misplaced in Printing and not rightly composed be they never so fair marr and corrupt the sense So is it in this Case when good Thoughts but unseasonable and out of their due time interpose in holy actions be they never so pious seemingly if they be not proper and pertinent to the work in hand And sometimes we shall find our selves much troubled and annoyed with idle and vagrant Thoughts whilst we are about holy Duties which come about as like Bees as David speaketh of his Enemies and with their humming noise keep our minds from being intent upon the work we are about Gen. 15.11 Or like the Birds which Abraham drove away from lighting on his Sacrifice that it might not be peck't these must we by our best endeavour chase away Indeed we may sooner drive away the Devil himself then all wandring thoughts at such a time as we are Sacrificing there is no good Duties that we go about no place that we call upon God in but we shall meet with these impudent Disturbers of us When I would do good evil is present with me saith the Apostle Rom. 7.21 But this should not dishearten us from using the means that we may be rid of them but stir up your diligence the more Now what the means are that must be used whereby our Thoughts may be brought in subjection to the Government of Christ I shall in the next place shew First See that you be renewed in the Spirit of your minds wherein thoughts and imaginations are conceived and framed This direction the Apostle gives the Ephesians Who after he had with a most serious attestation or admiration dehorted them from walking as other Gentiles walked In the vanities of their minds Eph. 4.17 by which he understood the vain and impious imaginations thâ—t they had of God and of his Worship the mind being the subject in which they are begot and reside The Seat of Principles saith the Philosopher Arist Ethic. l. 6. the mansion-House or dwelling-place which Vanities hath chosen to dwell in He then comes to exhort them to the leading of a new life which that they may do he wills them to have a special care of renuing of the best and divinest faculty of the Soul of man Be ye renewed in the spirit of your Mind Ephes 4.23 that is in that spirit which is your mind In that the Apostle directs to begin the work of repairing that being the first mover the root and fountain of all our actions not by way of exclusion as if the mind only were to be renewed for it must be extended to the whole man but by way of Principality if that be renewed the rest will follow and if that Spring be not first cleansed in vain do we scoure the Channels This Renuing Chrysostom expresseth by the repairing of an old House as there is the same House the same Rooms only it is new hung or new whited so there is the same man the same mind only the old Corruption is takâ—n away and new Grace bestowed As in a poysoned River there is the Water the running and the poyson when it is healed the water and the running remain only the poyson is taken out of if So it is in the renewing of the mind the same substance the same faculties of knowing remembring c. abide only new qualities are effected and wrought by the power of God's Spirit Till this be done we cannot expect that our thoughts will be altered and changed or the other
corruption of Nature and from those spiritual evils they find in themselves as did the Apostle Rom. 7.24 Thus God leaves these vain and wandring motions these sinful Lusts in uâ— Aug. de bayt Parn. c. 39. as he left the Canaanites in the Land saith Augustine to teach and exercise his People withall which if they grew careless should be as pricks and goads in their sides and thorns in their Eyes and that they should not think they were come yet to their final rest but should still look for a better If we make this good use of them we need not doubt but although they be evil in themselves yet they are sanctified unto us For as good motions rejected become thereby unsanctified unto us so evil Thoughts repelled and resisted may be sanctified and occasion much good unto us through God's good Grace Let not any godly Soul then be too much perplexed for that they are not wholly rid of them It is humane to have them devilish only not to resist them but to be overcome of them by assent consent and liking It is half the conquest to bear them as a burthen Gregory and that through God's assistance Sathan and our own concupiscence are not able to bring sin farther then to the Thought and not into Act which is that they principally aim at Let me demand of thee and let me have a true answer from thy Conscience First Are not these thy wanderings of thy Spirit grievous unto thee and burthensome dost thou not go under them as under a heavy load which thou wouldst give a world were it in thy power to be rid of Secondly And do they not cause thee to draw near to the Throne of Grace and put up many a suit to God humbly in the Name of Christ that thou mayst be rid of them and they whipped out of the Temple of thy Soul that it may not become a den of Theeves Thirdly Dost thou not in obedience to God's Will still maintain the combate betwixt the Flesh and Spirit and fightest lawfully and albeit thou receivest many a foil yet thou are careful presently to ralley thy scattered forces again and again and wilt not give over thy attendance upon God's Ordinances but puttest on firmer Resolutions to be more watchful Fourthly Doth not this cause thee to cast away all confidence in thy self in respect of the work done confessing ingenuously that when thou hast done all that thou canst do thou art but an unprofitable Servant Luke 17.10 Fifthly And dost not thou learn from hence more and more to live the Life of Faith in the Son of God trusting and relying only on his Obedience for Life and Salvation Bless God that thy Conscience can give a comfortable answer in some measure to these Interrogatories and chear up thy drooping Soul let not thy imperfect Obedience dishearten thee For God will accept of us according to that which we have and not according to that which we have not Object 3 But say our Thoughts be of a higher Nature Alas may some poor and perplexed Spirit say I am buffetted many times with horrid and blasphemous Thoughts Such as call God's Beeing his Truth his Power and Providence into question with Thoughts unnatural and inhumane and can such Thoughts as these ever creep into the heart of a Child of God Resp And why not who can keep Sathan from tempting God permitting to the vilest sins that ever was committed And in that they are so horrid the more likely are they to be Sathans and that he did put them into you and so not your own Indeed it is somewhat hard and difficult to put an exact difference betwixt Sathans suggestions and those that arise from our own corrupt Nature and somewhat curious to enquire That there is a difference I know Bern. Cant. Ser. 32. Capel on Tempt saith one but where the indivisible point of that difference doth stand I know not Indeed we shall find that ordinarily they are so mixed that the same sinful thoughts are ascribed both to Sathan and to Man It is said as was noted before That Sathan moved David to number the People 1 Chron. 21.1 And yet afterwards David confessed it to be his sin that he numbred them ver 8. So Acts 5.3 Peter tells Ananias That Sathan had filled his heart to lye to the Holy Ghost and yet ver 4. he saith Thou hast lyed not to Man but to God Sathan begets but it is the Heart that conceiveth and brings forth Notwithstanding the suggestions of Satan may at some times be distinguished from those of our own Hearts by these apparant Differences First For matter Sathan's suggestions are oftentimes so outragiously wicked that even Nature it self though corrupted doth abhorr them when they are first suggested to the mind No Temptation doth arise from the Flesh but the Devil interposeth himself and speaks his good word for them And though commonly the Flesh to re-gratifie the Devil sets forward his Temptation yet it may sometimes so fall out that the Devil tempts alone and that so grosly saith a godly Divine that the very Flesh is a shamed of them those that come from the Flesh are more sutable to Nature and more delightful and pleasing to it Secondly For the manner of their injection Sathans suggestions are sudden like a flash of Lightening and with such unavoydable violence as that they cannot by any wit or strength of the party be prevented But those that come from our sinful and corrupt Nature are more deliberate it doth rather lead and entise than enforce unto sin Jam. 1.14 His temptations are sometimes so subtil and strange that before the instant that they are suggested we never thought of such a thing nor was it possible that they should be the thoughts of a simple ignorant man but the apparant suggestions of the old Serpent But the Flesh takes occasion of things present and subject to the senses to intise us unto evil Thirdly For the Effect A man's thoughts being natural work no extraordinary perturbation of mind But Satan's suggestions being blasphemous strikes the heart with horror the Understanding is astonished the Heart quaketh c. unless by long custom and continual sinning Dearnad the heart is become Diabolical And these are the chief differences that Divines give between those sinful thoughts that are the immediate suggestions of Satan and those that arise from our own hearts Otherwise they are so like the one to the other that they can hardly be discerned But if in case such horrid thoughts arising in your hearts be such as that not so much as the Affections do incline unto them but on the contrary thou dost wholly abhor them in the very first arising thereof you may conclude them to be rather the suggestions of Sathan then from your own concupiscence And that they shall be put on his Score and not on yours nor shall they ever be imputed unto us for that they leave no guilt upon