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
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
this great Evil under the Sun in dreaming of a kind of Eternity ibid. Vse 2. To perswade us to amend this Folly and reckon not upon many dayes but upon few 240 Doct. 7. Worldly prosperity breeds Sloath and carnal Security 244 Reas It happens through the Abuse of man ibid. Use Of Caution that Rich men would beware of being rocked a-sleep in this Cradle of Security ibid. Doct. 8. A carnal Man delights in a voluptuous Life 248 Reas 1. The Soul is made a Slave to Sense 252 Reas 2. They have no hope of a better Life ibid. Use 1. To condemn the Ryot and Luxury of this Age. 254 Marks to know a voluptuous person by 257 Use 2. Not so suffer the delights and pleasures of the World to prevail over us 259 Motives to stir up this Care in us 260 Rules to direct us in the Use of God's Blessings 275 Vers 20. But God said unto him Thou Fool this Night thy Soul shall be required of thee then Whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Doct. 1. Purposes of Sinners are oftentimes disappointed by God 283 Reas The way of Man is not in himself 285 Vse 1. To shew the Presumption of those who open their Mouths against Heaven 287 Vse 2. To convince the Practical Atheist 287 Vse 3. To take God with us in all our purposes ibid. Vse 4. To encourage the Godly against the rage of men 289 Doct. 2. They that place their Happiness in Riches are egregious Fools 291 Use 1. To convince the Worldling of his Folly 297 Use 2. To take heed of befooling our selves 298 Doct. 3. God will have a saying to Sinners 299 Doct. 4. God's Rods are speaking Rods. 300 Reas God's Works are a manifestation of his Will as well as his Word 301 Use 1. To discover unto us our stupidity ibid. Use 2. To perswade us to hear God speaking in his Judgments 302 Doct. 5. A Night of Sorrow succeeds the Day of Pleasure to a Sinner 305 Reas 1. In respect of the Cause of Night 306 Reas 2. In regard of the effects that are produced by Night viz. Error and Terror ibid. Use 1. Of consideration for voluptuous Livers 309 Use 2. To pray God that our flight be not in the Night 310 Use 3. To comfort the Godly 311 Doct. 6. Night comes suddenly upon a Sinner 312 Reas 1. God hath called and Man hath refused 314 Reas 2. He gives Evidence thereby of his implacable Wrath against impenitent Sinners ibid. Reas 3. God hath respect herein to the good of others ibid. Use 1. To inform our Judgments how far sudden Death may lawfully be deprecated 317 Use 2. To reprove those who run into ill Courses in their Health and allow unto themselvs a time of lingring Sickness 318 Use 3. Instruction to the Good 320 Doct. 7 The Loss of the Soul is the greatest Loss 322 Reas 1. In regard of the Worth of it which is unmatchable 323 Reas 2. The losing of it is an universal Loss 324 Reas 3. It is irrecoverable 325 Use 1. To reprove those who do little regard it ibid. Use 2. To endeavour the safety and preservation of it 336 Doct. 8. The Soul of a Sinner is a due Debt and must be paid 340 Use 1. To discover unto us the Carelessnesse of impenitent Sinners 341 Use 2. To advise us to make our Peace before we are arrested by Death 341 Doct. 9. Sinners part with their Souls unwillingly 342 Reas When a Wicked man dyeth his Expectations perish 344 Use 1. Information how the Godly and Wicked differ in Point of Dying 345 Use 2. As God hath made us unlike in the Issues of Death let us be careful that we be unlike them in the way to it 351 Means to be used 352 c. Doct. 10. The Soul of Man remaineth still in Being after its departure out of the Body 358 Reas 1. Because God is just 360 Reas 2. If the Soul dyed Religion were of no Effect ibid. Use 1. The Knowledg of this Point and Belief of it is a means to make a man a good Christian 361 Use 2. The Assurance of this will comfort us at the hour of Death 364 Use 3. Be we exhorted hence to be most careful of our Souls ibid. Doct. 11. Worldly things are Moveables 365 Reas The World it self is no other than a flitting Island 370 Use 1. Not to be deluded by Names and Titles ibid. Use 2. To set our hearts upon things truly immovable 371 Doct. 12. The things of this life are ours but during life 372 Reas Poverty is the Porter of a man's Life ibid. Use 1. To discover their blindness who deprive themselves of the comfortable Use of the things of this Life 373 Use 2. To advise us rightly to use those things which are truely Ours 374 Doct. 13. None knowes who shall enjoy what the Worldling provides 376 Reas It is not ours to dispose of ibid. Use To reprove the Worldly Miser ibid. Vers 21. So is he that layeth up Treasure for himself and is not Rich towards God Doct. 1. Doctrine and Use is the best Method of Preaching 378 Use 1. Why then should any be offended at this Method 379 Use 2. Ministers should be faithful in this part of their Ministeriall Function ibid. Use 3. To bless God for this plain and profitable Method 380 Doct. 2. We must not be Personall in applying of our Doctrines to our Auditory 382 Vse 1. To blame are those who turn their Sermons into Philippicks and so rather act the part of a Betrayer than of a Rebuker 384 Vse 2. To blame are those Auditors who do not apply or mis-apply because they are not named ibid. Doct. 3. Ministers are to reprove Sin impartially 385 Use To blame them who can see Sin in one and over-look it in another ibid. Doct. 4. The Worlding is a Treasurer and the World is his Treasure 387 Doct. 5. The Covetous are for themselvs altogether 390 Reas They are full of Self-Love ibid. Vse 1. To take heed how we trust a Worldling too far ibid. Vse 2. To admonish all to mind the Well-fare and good of others as well as they do their own 391 Doct. 6. A good man is a Rich man 392 Use 1. It makes against them who are of Opinion that Christianity is the way to Beggary 393 Use 2. Of Tryal whether we are truly Rich or no. 394 Use 3. To learn to know where are true Riches 396 Means to obtain true Riches 400 Use 4. Comfort to the Godly though they have not a Ragg to their back 401 Doct. 7. Folly may be argued by Worldliness 402 Reas Such have rejected the Word of God and cast off his fear 403 Use 1. Not to be offended if the whole World may be drawn within the Compass of a Fool 's Cap. 403 Use 2. Take heed how we hearken to their Counsel or regard their Censure 406 Use 3. To receive Instruction rather than Silver and to get Knowledge rather than
and put a man upon the practise of those Evils which would hardly enter into the heart of man that ever they should be practised by us They wound the Soul with many noysom Lusts as the Apostle sheweth and pierce us thorow with many Sorrows 1 Tim. 6.9 10. Who shall separate us from the Love of God saith the Apostle Shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution c So saith the worldly covetous man saith Austin They say in their hearts albeit they say it not in their mouths Quis nos separabit cupiditate Auri Who shall separate us from the love of Gold shall Tribulation or Anguish or Persecution Rom. 8.35 36. or Life or Death Nay they say likewise to their Gold which they make their god Propter te occidimur quotidie For thy sake we are killed all the day long for the love of Riches they stick not to endanger daily both Soul and Body In which respect it is so far from wonder that a rich man should be wicked as that it is to be admired how a rich man should be good Seeing as Clemens Alexandrinus saith Clem. Alex. Padag l. 3. c. 6. It is a matter of as great difficulty to abound with Riches and not abuse them as to float upon the Water and not be ducked Let us now make some useful Application of this Point Vse 1 From what hath been delivered our Judgments may be informed that man's happiness doth not ly in the enjoyment of these nor any such like earthly things as the Heathens held and the World imagines David indeed in one place seemeth to place happiness in worldly prosperity as when our Garners are full affoarding all manner of store and our Sheep brings forth thousands and ten thousands in our Streets when our Oxen are strong to labour and there is no breaking in nor going out nor complaining nor shrieking at the violence of an Enemy Happy is that People saith he that is in such a case Bellar in loc Psal 144.15 But that Speech say some the Psalmist utters in the person of a worldly man who usually saies so therefore the Greek turneth it They count that People blessed which are so and is much like that of Solomon Eccles 2.24 There is nothing better for a man then to eat and drink and to make his Soul enjoy good in his Labour Therefo e he corrects that saying delivering his own judgment therein and opposeth true Happiness unto it yea happy is that People whose God is the Lord. Others take the words as spoken by David in his own person and in reference to the People that live under a peaceable and happy Government who are in some respect happy in the peace of the Kingdom and immunity from the misery of Wars by a Forraign or Domestick Enemy Such a People are happy but that happiness is but a deficient happiness a happiness that is defective albeit in some respect a man may call it happiness but it comes far short of true happiness and therefore David adds yea happy is that People which words are spoken by way of Retractation he seemeth to retract what went before lest worldly men should wrest it to a mis-interpretation 'T is as if he should say Did I say that those were happy who are in such a case Mistake me not for those that are only in such a case are nor compleatly happy whatever the World conceives for true Happiness lies not in outward things but in God no blessedness no happiness can be had without God who is essential Happiness That man's happiness doth not consist in any earthly thing as Riches Honor Pleasures c. might be confirmed by sundry Arguments The glorious Angels of Heaven have not them yet they are happy The end of man is better then man himself but these are worse then man for a man for his Life would give the whole World therefore his happiness does not ly in them Riches are not able to make a man good how then are they able to make a man happy They may denominate a man to be Great and Worshipful but not to be a vertuous or a godly man They are so far from making a man good that they often make him evil and possess the heart with vile affections and fill it full of carnal and sinful desires But I cannot stay upon these things only I desire you to rectify your judgments in this Point think not your selves nor any other ever a whit the more happy simply for Riches Happiness is the end you are to aym at but if all your ayms are at Wealth and think to be happy in the enjoying that you take your aym amiss Our blessed Saviour in his Sermon upon the Mount treates of true Happiness Dr. Harris on the Beat. and he sets the Crown of true blessedness upon many things as there you read Matth. 5. he begins with Poverty Blessed are the poor in spirit and so proceeds But you read not there no nor any where else That he saith Blessed are the Rich Blessed are the Wealthy Blessed are the Mighty Blessed are the Witty c. Could you read that in any of his Sermons or in the whole Book of God you might have somewhat to confirm yourselvs in your opinion that you are Happy because Wealthy but that you do not If Gold and Silver be your happiness then your happiness lies in the Earth and so your happiness is nearer Hell then Heaven for Hell is placed in the Deep and Heaven is aloft as we all know and so happiness should be nearer to the Devil than to God Vse 2 From hence likewise the Error of those is to be reproved who think themselves any whit the more beloved of God for these worldly things Contrary to that of Solomon Eccles 9.1 No man can know God's love or hatred by these things Yet such there are who hold themselvs to be only Darlings of Heaven because they are Rich and increased in worldly Wealth Such was the folly of Ephraim as we read Hos 12.8 Yet said Ephraim I am become rich I have found me out substance in all my Labours they shall find none iniquity in me And they prospered wonderously in the increase of these worldly things and carried the matter so closely like crafty and deceitful Merchants as they are said to be ver 7. that in all their Contracts no man could accuse them of any unjust dealing whereupon they blessed themselves in their Estates as if they were the higher in God's favour for that But in so doing Ephraim fed himself with Wind as God saith ver 1. and pleased themselves with vain and idle imaginations of their own for they might get substance and by warrantable means too which they did not and yet be never the more in God's love and favour for that King John What a King of this Realm sometimes said of a Buck which he opened See how fat it is yet it never heard Mass So it
up your Reckonings They that cast up their Accounts daily have the easier work to do at the years end So it will be with you you shall find it so at the day of your Death Vse 2 Secondly Seeing Worldlings are so frequent in casting up their Reckonings and making up their Accounts I could wish and I would I could perswade them to do it seriously and in good earnest as this man in the Text is said to do nay somewhat better than he for he seems to take the Visus in gross Soul thou hast Goods layd up for many years Eat Drink and be Merry but we do not read that he did exactly look over his Bill of Parcels nor do it orderly The things that you must account for are your Receipts and Expences which are brought by some to three Heads Evil committed Good omitted Time pretermitted or mis-pent Mâ—li commissi â—oni omissi Temporis amissi I cannot stand to inlarge upon these only I desire that these worldly Accomptants would spend a little more time then they do about their Accompts for they might then find strange Items Item received Riches and laid out Oppression received Plenty and layd out Riot Received Speech and layd out Swearing Lying c Received Sight and layd out Lusting c. Of my Goods expended so much in fulfilling the Lust of the Flesh so much in a year for the Lust of my Eyes so much for the pride of Life But what for Works of Piety Charity Surely very little it may be not one penny And to what will all this amount to what is the summa totalis Surely the Curse of God on Body Soul Name State O goodly Gains But we come nearer to the Text. Text. He thought within himself And for this thinking thus within himself as he did he is reproved by our Saviour and branded for a Fool Hence we may inferr Doct. Sinful thoughts are as well displeasing unto God as sinful actions The Lord is as well displeased with the sinful cogitations of the mind as with the wicked actions of the Body For the clearing and confirming of this Point take notice First In that God straitly warneth us to take heed of suffering an evil Thought to be in us as Deut. 15.9 Beware look to it there is danger in it Secondly That Sinners are frequently blamed and reproved for their thoughts as well as for their words and actions So Psal 36.4 Esay 29.24 59 7. Ezek 11.2 Hos 7.15 Matth. 9.4 1 Cor. 14.24 Thirdly They are not only blamed and reproved for them but likewise severely threatned God calls the Earth to wâ—tness even all the World to take notice of his Resolution to punish the thoughts of evil men Jer. 6.19 So he threatned to punish the King of Assyria for that it was in his heart to kill and destroy Esay 10.7 God denounceth a Woe against such Mich. 2. and Esay 65.2 6. So are Hypocrites threatned for what they think Psal 50.21 And upon this ground Solomon disswadeth all treacherous and false-hearted persons to beware of cursing the King even in thought Eccles 10.20 For God will discover it and revenge it God will judge men for their thoughts both here Gen. 6.5 2 King 19.35 36 c. Fourthly Nor hath God only threatned to punish for sinful thoughts but he hath likewise punished them severely This is assigned as the cause of the drowning of the Old World The maginations of the thoughts of mans heart were only evil continually Gen. 6.5 And as he threatned the King of Assyria for his stout thoughts so accordingly he punished him 2 Kings 19.35 36 37. Fifthly Lastly However thoughts may escape unpunished here yet at the last day Sinners shall be called to an account for them and hereafter Eccles 3.17 12 ult Rom. 2.16 1 Cor. 4.5 and punished accordingly Eccles 3.17 12 ult Rom. 2.16 1 Cor. 4.5 The inward thoughts conceived in the heart as well as outward deeds closely carried from the knowledg of the World and drove in dark and remote places shall be judged and sentenced The Reasons why the Lord is offended with thoughts as well as with words or actions are many Reas 1 First His holy Law and Precepts are violated and broken by them Exod. 20.17 Thou shalt not covet which must needs be understood of Concupiscence and lusts of the Heart and so St. Paul understands it Rom. 7.7 Where by Lust is to be understood the very first motions that arise from our rebellious Nature whereby we are stirred up to do evil and do wiâ—h delight think on any thing contrary to the Will of God albeit Consent of heart do not follow And our Saviour in expounding of the Law sheweth that the very Thoughts Purposes and Affections are retrained by it Mat. 5.22 28. Now the least Aberration or Swerving from the Rule of the Law is a Transgression of it and so a Sin for Sin is a Transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 And this is the Conclusion of the Wise Man Prov. 24.9 The Thoughts of Foolishness is Sin Sinners are Fools in Solomon's Language and all their Thoughts are Folly and Foolishness therefore sinfull and so displeasing unto God yea abominable to Him aâ— Prov. 15.26 Reas 2 Secondly He is as well displeased with them as with outward Actions for that they were the first Evils that ever were committed against God either by Angels or Men. The first Sin of Angelâ— did not consist in any bodily Act for they are noâ— capable of external Acts of Corporeal Agents but in the inward miscarriage and deviation of their Understandings and Wills And Man's Sin first began in the actual Aversion of his Thoughts from his Creator Eccl. 7. ult All Man's Actions that are voluntary as Man's Fall was have their first Rise from the heart and Thought is the first Motion of the Heart thereunto from which voluntary Act and Choice of his own Will not before corrupted but by that Act in consenting becoming corrupt he transgressed his Maker's Command Therefore it cannot otherwise be but that Thoughts must be highly displeasing Reas 3 Thirdly From the Thoughts of the Heart Prov. 6. and Motions of mens Minds proceeds all the mischief that men work there is no evill in the mouth or hand which was not in the heart first nor can the Flesh be corrupted unless the mind was corrupted before saith Ambrose For albeit at the first Man's Sin proceeded not from any previous Corruption that was in his Nature but from the voluntary choice and act of his own Will yet since his Fall all the evill of his Thoughts and Actions spring from the Corruption of his Nature whereof Thoughts are the first-born And from that corrupâ— Fountain they do spring as our Saviour shews Mat. 15.19 so St. James cap. 1.15 So that it is no wonder if God be therewith highly displeased And so much for the Confirmation of the Point Now let us apply it Vse 1 The
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