I served men but God who hath enjoyned me to be faithful in my place and when I look on this fire in the Chimney and consider how intolerable the burning of it would be to my Flesh I am put in mind of the everlasting and much more unsufferable burning of Hell-fire due to all impenitent Sinners and the thought of that Torment doth cause me thus to shed tears for my Sins Thus as the Bee can suck Hony out of that Flower which the Fly cannot See B. B. Hall's Occas Med. Dr. Tayler's Med. from the Creature so a good Heart as we use to say of a good Wit can make use of every thing and bring forth out of the good Treasury of his Heart things both new and old upon any Occasion See we then to it that our Treasury be never empty of good matters that we may have to find our thoughts employment The mind is aptly resembled unto a Mill which is alwayes grinding and if it have not wherewith to feed it it will fire it self If it hath Wind or Water it will go whether the Miller will or no yet he may chuse what kind of Grain it shall grind whether Wheat or Darnel And as the Corn is so will the Floure be If the Floure be bad the fault is not in the Milstones but in thee Miller that fed them with no better a Grist So if thy Thoughts Words and Deeds be bad the Miller thy Heart is to bear the blame for minding no better matters when thou hast so many Sacks of good Corn round about thee to feed thy mind withall and wherewith thou mayest set thy Mill on work God's Titles and Attributes his Word and Works both of Mercy and Judgment the Vanity of Life Certainty of Death and thy final Account are necessary thoughts to be minded of thee daily Set thy Mill a work with these feed thy mind with such profitable and necessary matter and then Mercy and Truth will be the Floure that thy Mill will yield Prov. 14.22 Fourthly Turn away thine Eyes from sinful and carnal Objects at least suffer them not long to dwell upon them Cassian relates that to preserve the cleanness of the Heart the Aegyptian Fathers taught that men ought to be surdi coeci muti deaf blind and dumb that so the Gates being shut the safety of the Heart might be the surer kept And Epiphanius speaking of the Practice of the Israelitesunder the Law who used when any dead Corps was carried by any of their Houses to shut their Doors and Windows he gives this to be the Moral Reason of the Law We are to shut both our Eyes and Ears when any Sin is proposed for that Sense is accessary to the Sin that opens the Door and lets the Temptation come in It is incredible what a deal of Pollution the Devil conveighs into our minds through our Senses which some resemble to the five Cinque-Ports where all his lading is taken in especially by the Ears and Eyes the Doors and Windows by which the poysonous Air of Wickedness is let in to infect the Heart By the Ear is received the Poyson of scurrilous Songs obscene Jests lascivious Stories which infect the mind with thoughts of Unchastity or false Reports and Slanders which breed thoughts of Revenge and Cruelty and therefore Christ's warning should in this Case take place Take heed how you hear Luke 8.18 A good Christian as he will not speak filthy Language so he will not hear it as he will not slander with his Tongue so he will not receive in his Ears a false Report Psal 15.3 as he will not murther with his hands so he stops his Ears from hearing of Blood Isa 33.15 But a special care is to be had of the Eye for as God tells Israel Their Eyes would cause them to go a Whoring Numb 15.39 so it fell out Lusting was the Issue of their Looking Numb 25. Thus David was betrayed by his Eyes in casting an idle Glance on Bathsheba 2 Sam. 11.2 and Joseph's Mistress was ensnared by casting her Eyes upon Joseph Gen. 39.7 Lust is quick-sighted and many thousand Souls have dyed of the Wound in the Eye for the Eye is an occasion not only of this Sin of Adultery but of most others I saw a fine Babylonish Garment said Achan I coveted and I took it Josb 7.21 Ahaz seeâ— an Altar at Damascus and he liked it and caused another to be made like unto it 2 King 16.10 11. Thine Eyes and thâ—ne Heart are not but for thy Covetousness and for to shed innocent Blood and for Oppression and for Violence to do it saith God to Shallum the King of Judah Jeâ— 22.17 The Eye poysoned the Heart with all these Infections and allured the Heart to all that Wickedness Job said that he made a Covenant with his Eye Job 31.1 and comforted himself in this that his Heart had not walked after his Eyes Ver. 7. And Nazianzen gloried in this that he had learned to keep his Eyes from roving to wanton Prospects We cannot bâ— too wary of this Organ for if the Flies of Aegypt get into our Eyes the Froggs of Aegypt will soon get into the Chambers of our Hearts and then the Caterpillars of Aegypt will soon destroy the Fruit of our Land the Actions of our Lives as one speaketh well And because all our Care is too little for the keeping of so quick a Member desire the Lord with David that he would turn away your Eyes from beholding Vanity Psal 119.37 If thine Eye spy not Nets laid for thee in every Corner it is because it self is become a Net saith Ambrose Fifthly See that your Affections be rightly ordered and set upon good Objects and kept in a good Frame and holy Temper Colos 3.2 Set your Affections upon things above not upon things that are upon the Earth We must get not minds only or thoughts only but sound affections to things heavenly they must be set upon them and fixed on them As our Affections are such of necessity will our Thoughts be What we love or take delight in we cannot keep our minds from thinking on Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or the Bride her Attire Jer. 2.32 No they cannot for that they love them and take delight in them and therefore mind them We usually say to some that mind not their business What think you on sure you are in Love As if Love took up all their Thoughts So Love to God and Love to his Word would take off our Thoughts from the Love of the World and worldly Vanities The Godly and Blessed Man spoken of Psal 1. is said to have his Delight in the Law of God and delighting in it he could not but he must meditate therein Day and Night Ver. 2. Oh How love I thy Law saith David It is my Meditation continually Psal 119.97 His Heart was filled with the Love of God and his Word and that so filled his Soul with holy Thoughts
they slew Were Christ now living upon the Earth Do you not think that there are some so maliciously bent against the Gospel and the sincere Preaching of it as that they could find in their hearts to kill Christ himself You it may be will say as they did who heard Christ propounding that Parable unto them and fore-telling them of that Cruelty which they would shew in putting him to Death God forbid Luke 20.16 We cannot perswade men that their hearts are half so bad or their wayes so dangerous as Preachers would make them but when men will persecute the Ministers of the Gospel for their Fidelity in dispensing of the Word and murder the Servants they will never stick to murder the Master he that heareth you heareth me saith Christ Mat. 10.40 and he that despiseth you despiseth me c. So they who persecute them imprison them put them to death as Herod did John Baptist Jol. 13.20 will not spare Christ himself if they had Power Lastly If God have so honoured us that live in the time of the Gospel above them in the time of the Law Should it not be our care to honour him love him fear him and obey him above those who lived in those dayes He spake to them in old time in the eldest Age of the World he speaks to us in a new time when all things are made new by Christ It was said to them old but I say unto you saith our Saviour Math. 5.21 27. Oh how happy were it for us if we did not come far behind them in Faith Obedience c. They believe and had less means than we they obeyed yet had less Encouragements than we The Lord pardon our failings and quicken us to holy Duties But thus much of the Person speaking now of the Persons spoken unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Text. Unto them Not to the Disciples alone as Ver. 1. but to the whole Multitude One of the Company occasioned the Text Take heed and beware of Covetousness but all the rest heard the Sermon He said to them amplifying enlarging and applying his Doctrine to all and every one You may learn from hence Doct. A Sermon against Covetousness and Earthly-mindedness is of general Concernment It concerns the whole Auditory All as well as any that are within the hearing We need not spend time in the further Proof of this It was a very great Audience that Christ now spake unto as appears Ver. 1. and a mixt Company it was of all sorts and conditions rich and poor old and young men and women and he speaks to them all one as well as another and applies his Doctrine to every one as well as any one as we find in the Close of the Parable as hereafter you shall hear more fully Those Dehortations given in Scripture against Worldliness and Earthly-mindedness are of general Concernment they concern all professed Christians and are not to be restrained to any one Rank or Calling Eph. 5.3 Col. 3.5 Heb. 13.5 Jam. 4.4 1 Joh. 2.15 Reason Naturally every one is addicted in a special manner to be worldly and earthly-minded As we are prone to all Sins in general so more especially unto this we are of the Earth earthy Joh. 3.31 1 Cor. 15.47 Not only dusty and slimy but like Ducklings we have alwayes our Bills in the Mud and so soon as ever we can understand we begin to grovel in the Earth as we see it experimentally in little Children And in so doing we seem wilfully to draw on our selvs that Curse which God never laid upon us It was the Serpent's Doom to crawl on her Belly and eat Dust yet that we may have Earth for our Food we crawl on all four if not in Body yet in Desire Amb. Hexam l. 6. c. 3 as Ambrose speaks on this Subject Nor are we only addicted to it but generally infected with it Covetousness saith one is an Epidemical Disease an universal Plague from which no sort is free And Saith not the Scripture the same also From the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to Covetousness Jer. 6.13 Some Sins are peculiar to some Vocations and Callings as for the Judg to pervert Judgment for Fear Favour or Reward The Minister to sooth up men in their Sins and to forbear Reproof for fear of Man's Face c. Other to some Estates and Condition as for the Rich to oppress the Poor and the Poor to envy the Rich and to be discontented with their Estates And other-some to mens Complexions and natural Constitutions as to the Melancholy Cholerick c. But this Poyson hath infected all Callings and Conditions Sorts and Rancks of Persons Magistrates Ministers Gentlemen Yeomen Citizens and Countrymen Rich and Poor Old and Young Male and Female Therefore we may conclude It is a Doctrine of great concernment to dehort you from this Sin of Worldliness and Covetousness Object But good men have been free from it Mat. 19.27 Act. 20.33 We have forsaken all and followed thee said Peter I have coveted no man's Silver nor Gold nor Apparell saith Paul Luther sometimes said that he never found himself tempted to Covetousness and his very Adversaries Germana illa Bestia non curat Aurum who would have tempted him with Gold testified for him that he cared not for it Besides many Philosophers and Heathens Natural and Civil Persons have contemned Riches How then can it be said that all are infected with that Vice Answ Common Grace hath done much in repressing and restraining Man's greedy Appetite even for the common Good of Man-kind and the up-holding of humane Society Saving Grace hath done more in stubbing at the Root of this bitter Fruit this doth not only cover that sore as common Grace doth but it kills the Disease And yet neither common Grace nor sanctifying Grace doth so subdue and mortify it but that still some Relique and Remainder abides in the best and will some way or other discover it self in them And yet though it be in all yet it is not in the like manner nor in the like degree in all In the wicked Worldling it rules and reigns he is a Servant and Slave to it In some of the wicked it is the chief Lord and Soveraign bearing Rule and commanding for it self many other Vices are in them but that is the Capital Vice other Vices are subservient to it his Pride and his unjust Practices all are but Servants to this his Covetousness Thus this Rich Fool the Parable speaks of prided himself in his great Estate and made it his Glory His Pride issued from the great Crop that he had and this doth apparantly denominate a man to be a Worldling Sometimes it is subservient being under the Command and Service of some other Lust like an under-Officer and is as one terms it the Purveyor or Taker for Ambition Prodigality Idleness without the Service of which their Lusts could not be
Hebrews style Man sometimes Adam and sometimes Ishi and Ish is more than Adam Adam signifieth a Man of Earth but Ish importeth such a one as hath in him Fire Life and Spirit The Greeks style Man sometimes Anthropos and sometimes Anir and they differ much for Anthropos signifieth an ordinary man and one of no Account but Anir notes one of more than ordinary Place and Worth The Latines likewise have two words whereby they distinguish between one and another Vir and Homo and Vir is more than Homo it notes one of Vertue und Prowess but Homo a man of mean discent and Parentage one of low Condition Now the word here used in the Greek is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he were a man of the Vulgar sort and one of no esteem or account A Style 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 however it may be thought too far beneath him being so very Rich yet it is better than he deserved for his words and carriage discovered more of the Beast than Man in him as hereafter you may hear What other particular Name this man had is not discovered unto us nor yet his habitation and place of Dwelling A Worldling he was and the World is resembled to the Moon Revel 12.1 and Why may we not imagine him then to be the Man in the Moon Sure it is that he was over Head and Eats in Love with it Quest But Why is he not named and his Dwelling particularly mentioned Answ It is a Parable saith our Evangelist and in that sense it is a Story feigned by our Saviour As if he should say unto his Hearers Imagine that a man were very Rich and had great Crops so that he had not Room enough where to bellow that he had and he should do thus and thus c. And thus understanding it it would make little or nothing to our Saviour's drift and purpose to tell his Name of place of Dwelling If we take it as a Real Historical Parable as we safely may that such a one there was indeed a notable Worldling who did bless himself in the Multitude of his Riches and in the midst of his abundance whilest he cryed Peace Peace unto his Soul had that Soul taken from him by sudden Death then we may conceive he is not named for that being a wretched Worldling Christ holds him not worth the naming Putting all together that hath been said this will be the Result Doctr. A Worldling is a Man worthless and of no esteem with God There is an observable Passage to this purpose Ruth 4 2. Ruth had a very near Kinsman who was moved by Boaz concerning the Redemption of Elimelech's Land who was Naomi's deceased Husband and he according to the Law in redeeming of the Land was to take Ruth to Wife who was the Widdow of one of Naomi's Sons The Land indeed did belong to Naomi and whom the Kinsman by the Law of God should have married Deut. 25.6 7. to preserve the Name of the dead but Naomi being too old to marry and to bear Children Ruth her Daughter in Law being young was to supply the defect of Naomi and she when the Land was to be redeemed must also be married to the Kinsman The business is propounded by Boaz who was another of Naomi's Kinsman but farther off unto him but observe how the Holy Ghost expresseth it The Kinsman of Boaz came by as he was sitting at the Gate unto whom he said Hoc Such a one turn aside sit down here It cannot be thought but that Boaz gave him his Name and Title when he called him but whatever Boaz did the Spirit of God will not mention his Name for that he was a covetous Worldling and loved his own Inheritance better than God's Command refusing to redeem the Land which he was able enough to do yea and willing too so that he might not marry the young Woman lest his Charge should be encreased Therefore the Scripture onely makes this mention of him Hoe Such a one God would not that his Sacred Leavs should be blotted with the Name of such a Covetous Wretch And our Saviour in that Parable which he propounded of the rich Glutton and poor Beggar which was not a Parable only but a Narration or Story of a thing real albeit something therein is Parabolical in speaking of the Epicure he name him not home quidam is his style albeit he was cloathed in purple and fine linnen and fared sumptuously every day When the Beggar mentioned albeit he was full of Soares and Botches hath his Name recorded in words at length he is named Lazarus Luke 16.19 20. intimating thereby the high respect that God hath of a godly Beggar above a rich Worldling be he never so great Dedignation and Indignation Scorn and Anger we know will not give a man his Name The Son of Jemini saith David of Shemei in contempt and scorn The Son of Jesse said Saul of David 2 Sam. 16.11 1 Sam. 20.27 Gen. 37.19 Matth. 12.24 26 61. Joh. 7.11 Luke 6.22 Acts and Mon fol. 82◠in anger and indignation See this Dreamer cometh said Joeph's Brethren of him such was their spite and spleen towards him that they could not call him by his name The Pharisees termed Christ This Fellow And the Jews seeking Christ at the Feast ask Where is He they could not find in their hearts to say Where is Jesus So Christ tells his Disciples That men shall in hatred of them cast out their Names for evil for his sake Thus the Persecutors of Stephen Brune Martyr after his Death made Proclamation that none should make any mention of him under pain of Heresy And so do the Papists at this day deal with the Name of Calvin Now God doth abhorr and hate the Covetous Psal 10.3 And is angry with him every day he smites his hands at him Ezek 22.13 ubicunque invenitur nomen Calvini deleatur Index Expurg alluding to mens practice who use to smite their hands together when they are much incensed and provoked nay he smites him with his hands Esay 57.17 For the iniquity of his Covetousness I was wroth and smote him Thus God being angry with them and scorning of them it is no marvail if he vouchsafe not once to name them Vse 1 It is a great folly then in any to imagine that in being rich and wealthy they shall attain to repute and credit amongst men This is that which puts on many so eagerly and greedily to seek after the World for I am perswaded that few worldlings can propound to themselves any well grounded expectation of good to their Souls or help to their Bodies by their heaping up of earthly Treasures only in this Nomen potius quà m omen quaeritur saith one by their wealth and riches they think to advance their Names and heighthen their Reputation which is the greatest comfort and content that they can take in their superfluous
his Meat in his Bowels is turned it is the Gall of Asps within him He hath swallowed down Riches and he shall vomit them up again God shall cast them out of his Belly Mark this well all you who labour to fill your Houses with the Treasures of Wickedness or in whose Houses the Treasures of Wickedness yet are as Micha speaks Mich. 6.10 Wherein or how far any man hath couzened or deceived another his Conscience will tell him unless by the long habit of Couzenage he hath also learned to couzen his Conscience but let me tell that Conscience that a Patrimony of Riches gotten by fraudulent Courses will prove but like that Morsell which the Fox got from the Crow That crafty Creature hugged himself to think how he had couzened the poor Bird of her Break-fast but he had no sooner eaten it but he found himself poysoned therewith and then wished the Crow her own again What is gotten by deceipt and fraud is like a piece of but ered Spunge a Trick that the Italians use it goes down glib but it swells in the Stomach and will hardly if ever be gotten up again Yet God will fetch it up he shall vomit it up again saith Zophar and such a Vomiting shall be little to his Ease or Credit But as it is said of Moab He shall wallow in his Vomit and be had in Derision Jer. 48.26 God will discover to the World thy Extortions Oppressions and injurious Actions in getting other mens Goods and Possessions into thy hands under any pretence whatsoever As the Physitian doth by a Vomit in a Bason he sees and shews what raw Meat and what hard and indigestable Meat the sick Patient had eaten So will God when he brings thee so this Vomit shew thee and the World what thou hast devoured here appears that Neighbour's Land there that Widdow's House devoured under pretence of long Prayer and that is such an Orphan's Legacy whereof he was cheated And as many times it happens that Vomiting breaks a Vein within which is commonly-incurable Such a Vein broke Judas he vomited by confessing of his wicked restoring of the Silver for which he sold his Master but he bled within a Vein was broke that could not be stenched he ended his dayes in a desperation of God's Mercies If then thou beest such a one that hast any way encroached upon another's Right and made a Gap by treading down that Hedge which God hath made about another remember the Serpent's Sting If thou hast eaten the Bread of Deceipt or drunk of the Wine of Violence think of the Vomit which will follow put thy finger in thy own throat fetch up that buttered Spunge which thou hast swallowed before it swells too much and restore the Right unto the Owner It is a sweet thing 1 Sam 12.3 4. so to live as that a man may make Samuel's Challenge at his dying day Whose Ox or whose Ass have I taken To whom have I done wrong Nor were they his own Lips only that gave Testimony of his righteous dealing but the People likewise witnessed thereunto Thou hast done us no Wrong nor hast neither hurt us hast taken ought of any man's hand This Crown set upon Samuel's Silver haires was more honourable than Pompey's Monuments But if in Case Conscience doth smite any of you for unjust and injurious dealing make your peace betimes give your selves a Vomit restore that you have unjustly taken So did Zacheus presently and voluntarily Luke 19.8 and that brought Salvation with it Ver. 9. This day is Salvation come to this House said Christ Some restore Goods ill-gotten as the Stomach doth Meat for that they cannot hold it Such a kind of Restitution is thankless Bradford that holy Man and Martyr hearing a Sermon of Father Latimer's wherein Restitution was urged was so struck at heart for one dash of a Pen which he had made without the Knowledg of his Master that he could not be at quiet till by the Advice of Latimer Restitution was made for which he did willingly forgo all the private and certain Patrimony which he had on Earth Where shall we find his Fellow Yet the very Turks and Barbarians abhor the Neglect of Restitution to any though they judg them never so wicked I have read of a great Lady who being a Widdow sent for an English Merchant trafficking in those parts with whom she knew her Husband had Commerce and asked him if there were nothing owing to him from her deceased Lord He after much Importunity acknowledged there was and shewed the particulars She tendred him satisfaction he modestly refused it as having been greatly benefited by the dead Barbarian But she forced him to take from her hand the utmost Penny for said she I would not have my Husband's Soul go to seek your Soul in Hell there to pay his Debts Here saith one there was a great Fire in a dark Vault great Zeal in blind Ignorance they saw by the Candle-light of Nature that which Austin delivers for Doctrinal Truth Aug. Epist 54. Non remittitur Peccatum nisi restituatur Oblatum where is no Restitution of things unjustly gotten there Sins shall never be forgiven Turk Hist fol. 567. The like we read of the Turk Sultan Selymus who leaning his head in the lap of his Counsellor Pyrrhus being ready to dy Pyrrhus perswaded him to bestow the great Wealth that he had taken from Persian Merchants upon some Hospital for the Relief of the Poor but the dying Turk refused it and commanded that it should be restored to the right Owners which was done accordingly And indeed to spoil others and think by some charitable Work to make Recompence is no other than to play the Thief make God the Receiver Restitution is to be made to the Party wronged if he or any of his be alive if not then the Poor are God's Receivers Say a man be dead yet he is alive to thee if thou hast wronged him As one said of a Shoo-maker whom he had couzened of a Pair of Shooes The Maker dyes but the Wearer lives to wear that which he never paid for after some years the Conscience of this man is troubled he enquires for this Shoo-maker that he might make Restitution for what he had deceived him of he was told that he was dead Yea but said the Restorer He is alive to me I am sure So should the wronged Patty be to thee To conclude it in a word Let not thy Palate be pleased with that which thou knowest must either be vomited up again or thy Death if it be not for if you make no Restitution to whom you have wronged of that which you have unjustly defrauded them of you shall cough in Hell said Father Latimer And so much of the Rich man's Property now we are to take notice of the Fertility of the Soyl. Text. It brought forth plentifully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Uberes fructus attulit It brought forth even as a
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