man had them Prov. 23. 5. but to please themselves with suppositions is much worse Thirdly this argues the greatest incontentation of minde that may bee when men will in their owne thoughts put themselves into another condition than God ever ordained for them Vse 1. HAving discovered the vanity of your thoughts and your estates thereby bee humbled for them This I ground upon Proverbs 30. 21. where Agur teacheth us to humble our selves as well for thoughts as actions If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thy selfe or if thou hast thought evill lay thine hand upon thy mouth Now as smiting upon the thigh is put for repentance and shame and sorrow in Ephraim Ierem. 31. 19. so is laying the hand upon the mouth put for greater and deeper humiliation as arguing full conviction of ones guilt Rom. 3. 19. Every mouth must be stopped Having nothing to say not to plead and excuse that thoughts are free and it is impossible to bee rid of them c but as Ezechiel 16. 65. To remember and to bee confounded and never to open thy mouth more to bee vile and not to answer againe as Iob 39. 27 28. this is to lay thy hand on thy mouth that is to humble thy selfe And indeed there is much cause for your thoughts they are the first begotten and eldest sons of originall sin and therefore the strength of it as Iacob called Reuben the first-borne yea also and the Parents and begetters of all other sinnes their brethren The first plotters and contrivers and Achitophels in all the treasons and rebellions of our hearts and lives the bellows and incendiaries of all inordinate affections the Panders to all our lusts that take thought to provide for the satisfying of them the disturbers in all good duties that interrupt and spoile and fly-blow all our prayers that they stinke in the nostrills of God And if their hainousnesse will nothing move you consider their number for they are continually thus which makes our sinnes to be in number more than the sands the thoughts of Solomons heart were as the Sand and so ours not a minute but as many thoughts passe from us as in a minute sands doe in an Houre-glasse So that suppose that taken severally they be the smallest and least of your sinnes yet their multitude makes them more and heavier than all your other Nothing smaller than a graine of Sand but if there bee a heape of them there is nothing heavier Iob 6. 3. My griefe is heavier than the Sand. Suppose they be in themselves but as Farthing-tokens in comparison of grosse defilements yet because the Mint never lies still sleeping nor waking therefore they make up the greatest part of that treasure of wrath which wee are a laying up and know that God will reckon every Farthing and in thy punishment bate thee not one vaine thought And that God lookes upon our thoughts thus see but the inditement he brings in against the old world which stands still upon record Gen. 6. when he pronounced that heavy judgement of destroying the old world doth he alledge their murthers adulteries and grosse defilements chiefly as the cause Their thoughts rather which because so many and so continually evill provoked him more than all their other sinnes Goe downe therefore into thy heart and consider them well to humble thee to make thee vile and if in one roome such a treasure of wickednesse bee found laid up what in all those other Chambers of the belly as Solomon calls them consider them to humble thee but not for all this their multitude to discourage thee For God hath more thoughts of mercy in him than thou hast had of rebellion Psal 40. 5. Thy thoughts to us-ward speaking of thoughts of mercy are more than can bee numbred Thou begannest but as yesterday to thinke thoughts of rebellion against him but his thoughts of mercy have beene from everlasting and reach to everlasting and therefore in Esay 55. vers 7. having made mention of our thoughts let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts and hee will have mercy on him because this objection of the multitude might come in to discourage men from hopes of mercy therefore purposely hee addes hee will multiply to pardon and to assure us that hee hath thoughts of mercy to out-vie ours of sinne hee addes for my thoughts exceed yours as Heaven doth the earth Vse 2. LEt us make for ever conscience of them so Iob did Iob 31. 1. I made a convenant with mine eyes why should I thinke upon a Maide Solomon gives in especiall charge above all keeping keepe thy heart Prov. 4. 23. First thou art to keepe the Lords day holy thy selfe unspotted of the World To keepe thy brother to keepe all the Commandements but above all to keepe thy heart and in it thy thoughts for this is the Great Commandement because it extends it selfe as the foundation unto them all for as in the same Commandement where murther is forbidden a malicious thought is also and so of the rest So in keeping the thoghts thou virtually keepest all the Commandements as originall sinne is said to bee forbidden in all the Commandements so are thy thoughts taken order for in all Secondly out of it are issues of life thoughts and affections are the spring speeches and actions the streame as are our thoughts so are our affections for these are the bellows so also our prayers so all for they are in the soule as the spirits in the body they run through all move all act all Thirdly if you looke to God our thoughts are that spot of ground which he proclaimes himselfe sole Lord of and makes it one of his greatest titles that hee knows them and judgeth them Kings attempt to rule your tongues to binde your hands and rule your actions but God onely your thoughts By them wee chiefly sanctifie him in our hearts by them wee walke with God and shall we not make conscience of them Fourthly if you looke to the worke and power of grace wherein lies it But in bringing every thought into obedience 2 Cor. 11. 4. This is the glory of our religion above all other in the world wherein lies the difficulty of it the strictness of it what makes it so hard a taske but the observing and keeping the thoughts in boūds wherin lies the difference between sincere hearted Christians and others but the keeping of our thoughts without which all Religion is but bodily exercise Papists may mumble over their prayers hypocrits talke but this is godlinesse Fiftly if wee looke to things wee have a care of if wee have a care of speeches because Christ hath said wee shall answere for every idle word why not also for the same reason should wee have a care of thoughts which are the words of the minde onely they want a shape to bee audible to others which the tongue gives them for which you must answer as well as for words Heb. 4. 12. 1 Cor. 4. 5.
here specified the vanity of your thoughts for the discovery sake of which onely I chose this Text as my ground That is it therefore which I will chiefly insist upon A subject which I confesse would prove of all else the vastest To make an exact particular discovery of the vanities in our thoughts to travell over the whole Creation and to take a survey and give an account of all that vanity abounds in all the creatures was as you know the taske of the wisest of men Solomon the flowre of his studies and labours But the vanitie of our thoughts are as multiplied much in us this little world affoords more varieties of vanities than the Great Our thoughts made the creatures subject to vanitie Rom. 8. 20. therfore themselves are subject to vanity much more In handling of them I will shew you 1. What is meant by Thoughts 2. What by vanity 3. That our thoughts are vaine 4. Wherein that vanity doth consist both in the generall and some particulars First what is meant by thoughts especially as they are the intended subject of this discourse which in so vast an argument I must necessarily set limits unto 1. By thoughts the Scriptures do comprehend all the internall acts of the minde of man of what faculty soever all those reasonings consultations purposes resolutions intents ends desires and cares of the minde of man as opposed to our external words and actions so Isay 66. 18. All acts are divided into those two I know their workes and their thoughts what is transacted within the minde is called the thoughts what thereof do manifest themselves and breake out in actions are called workes And so Genes 6. 5. Every imagination of the thoughts omne figmentum all the creatures the minde frames within it selfe purposes desires c. as it is noted in the margin are evill where by thoughts are understood all that comes within the minde as Ezech. 11. 5. the phrase is and so indeed we vulgarly use it and understand it so To remember a man is to thinke of him Gen. 40. 14. to have purposed a thing we say I thought to doe it To take care about a businesse is to take thought 1 Sam. 9. 5. And the reason why all may thus bee called the thoughts is because indeed all affections desires purposes are stirred up by thoughts bred fomented and nourished by them no one thought passeth but it stirreth some affection of feare joy care grief c. No although they are thus largely taken here yet I intend not to handle the vanity of them in so large a sense at present I must confine my selfe as strictly as may be to the vanity of that which is more properly called the thinking meditating considering power of man which is in his understanding or spirit that being the subject I have in hand Thoughts not being in this sense opposed onely to your workes but unto purposes and intents so Hebr. 4. 12. as the soule and spirit so thoughts and intents seeme to bee opposed And Iob 20. 2 3. Thoughts are appropriated to the Spirit of understanding And againe yet more strictly for in the understanding I meane not to speake of generally all thoughts therein neither as not of the reasonings or deliberations in our actions but those musings onely in the Speculative part And so I can no otherwise expresse them to you than thus Those same first more simple conceits apprehensions that arise those fancies meditations which the understanding by the helpe of fancy frames within it selfe of things those whereon your mindes ponder and pore and muse upon things these I meane by thoughts I meane those talkings of our mindes with the things wee know as the Scripture calls it Prov. 6. 22. those same parleys enterviews chattings the minde hath with the things let into it with the things wee feare with the things wee love For all these things our mindes make their companions and our thoughts hold them discourse and have a thousand conceits about them this I meane by thoughts For besides that reasoning power deliberating power whereby wee aske our selves continually what shall wee doe and whereby wee reason and discusse things which is a more inward closet the Cabinet and privie councell of the heart there is a more outward lodging that presence chamber which entertaines all commers which is the thinking meditating musing power in man which suggesteth matter for deliberations and consultations and reasonings which holds the objects till we view them which entertaineth all that come to speake with any of our affections 2. I adde which the minde frames within it self so the Scripture expresseth their originall to us and their maner of rising Prov. 6. 14. Frowardnesse is in his heart fabricatur hee forgeth mischiefe as a Smith doth Iron hammers it out and the thoughts are the materialls of this frowardnesse in us upon all the things which are presented to us the minde begets some thoughts imaginations on them and as lusts so thoughts are conceived Iames 1. Isay 59. 4. They conceive mischiefe and bring forth iniquitie and hatch Cochatrice egges and weave Spiders webbes And verse 7. hee instanceth in thoughts of iniquity because our thoughts are spunne out of our owne hearts are egges of our owne laying though the things presented to us bee from without And this I adde to sever them from such thoughts as are injected and cast in onely from without which are children of anothers begetting and often laid out of doores such as are blasphemous thoughts cast in by Satan wherein if the soule bee meerely passive as the word Buffeting implies 2 Cor. 12. 7. they are none of your thoughts but his wherein a man is but as one in a roome with another where he heares another sweare and curse but cannot get out from him such thoughts if they bee onely from without defile not a man For nothing defiles a man but what comes from within Matth. 15. 18 19. or which the heart hath begotten upon it by the devil as thoughts of uncleannes c. Wherein though he be the father yet the heart is the mother and wombe and therfore accordingly they affect the heart as naturall children doe and by that wee may distinguish them from the other namely when we have a soft heart an inward love unto them so that our hearts doe kisse the childe then they are our thoughts or else when the heart broods upon these egges then they are our thoughts though they come from without Though this is to bee added that even those thoughts wherein the soule is passive and which Satan casts in which wee do no wayes owne wherein hee ravisheth the heart rather than begets them on us if there bee not any consent to them in us then it is but a Rape as in law it is not I yeeld those thoughts are punishments often of neglect of our thoughts and of our suffering them to wander as Dinah because she went cunningly out to view the
onely in imagination which many mens hearts take so much pleasure in the pleasing our selves in the bare thoughts and imaginations of them this is but a shadow of these shadows that the soul should Ixion-like embrace and commit adultery with clouds onely this is a vanitie beyond all other vanities that maketh us vainer than other creatures who though subject to vanity yet not to such as this Secondly it argues our desires to be impatient to bee detained from or interrupted of their pleasures When the soule shall bee found so greedy that when the heart is debarred or sequestred from those things it desires and wants meanes or opportunities to act its lusts as not being to stay it will at least enjoy them in imagination and in the interim set fancie to entertaine the minde with empty pictures of them drawne in its owne thoughts 3. Thus they appear also to bee exceeding sinfull and corrupt an outward act of sinne it is but as an act of whoredome with the creature when really enjoyed But this is Incest when we defile our soules and spirits with these imaginations and likenesses which are begotten in our own fancies being the children of our owne hearts And yet my brethren such speculative enjoying of pleasures and acting over of sinnes the minde of man is full of as will appeare in many particulars First looke what comforts men have at present in their possession and at command what excellencies or endowments men love to be alone to study and thinke of them and when they are sequestred from the present use of them yet they will then bee againe and againe recounting and casting of them up taking a survey of their happiness in them applauding their owne hearts in their conditions And as rich men that love money love to be looking on it and telling it over so do men to be summing up their comforts and priviledges they enjoy which others want as how rich they are how great how they excell others in parts and gifts c. Oh how much of that precious sand of our thoughts runne out this way Thus he in the Gospell hee keepes an audit in his heart Soule saith he thou hast goods laid up for many yeares So Haman Ester 5. 11. takes an Inventory of his honours and goods he talkes of all the glory of his riches and all the things wherein the King had promoted him So Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4. 30. as it may seeme hee was alone walking and talking to himselfe like a foole saying to himselfe Is not this the great Babell which I have built by the might of my power for the glory of my Majesty And as thus upon their comforts so also upon their excellencies as their learning wisdome parts c. Men love to stand looking upon these in the glasse of their owne speculation as faire faces love to looke often and long in Looking-glasses which as it ariseth from that selfe-flattery is in men so also that they might keepe their happinesse still fresh and continued in their eye which thoughts when they raise not up the heart to thankefulnesse to God and are not used to that end but are bellows of pride they are vaine and abominable in the eyes of God as appeares by Gods dealing with those fore-mentioned for to the one hee sayes Thou foole this night the other whilst the word was in his mouth giving him no longer warning hee strikes with madnesse and brutishnesse and Haman you know was like a Wall that doth swell before it breakes and falls to ruine and decay Secondly this speculative enjoying of pleasures and acting over sinnes thus in fancy doth appeare in regard of things to come which when wee have in view or any hopes of mens thoughts goe forth afore to meet them with how much contentment doe mens thoughts entertaine their desires with vaine promisings and expectations afore-hand of their pleasures that are in view and in possibility to bee enjoyed So they in Esay wind up their hearts to a higher pin of jollity in the midst of their cups in that their hearts thought and promised them To morrow shall bee as to day and much more abundant Isay 56. 12. So they Iames 4. 13. they say with themselves Wee will goe to such a City and continue there a yeare and get gaine And the promise of this and the thoughts of it afore-hand feeds them and keepes up their hearts in comfort When men rise in a morning they begin to forethinke with much pleasure what carnall pleasures they have the advousion and promise of that day or weeke as to goe to such company and there bee merry to goe such a pleasant journey enjoy satisfaction in such a lust heare such newes c. And thus as godly men live by faith in Gods promises Hab. 2. 4. Isay 38. 16. By these men live and this is the spirit of my life saith Hezechiah even what God hath spoken vers 15. So doe carnall men live much upon the promises of their owne hearts and thoughts afore-hand for to this head of vaine thoughts these vaine promisings are to be reduced Psalm 49. 11. Their inward thought is their houses shall continue for ever and this thought pleaseth them what pleasure almost is there which a man makes much account of but hee acts it first over in private in his owne thoughts and thus doe men foolishly take their owne words and promises and so befoole themselves in the end as Ieremy speakes Ierem. 17. They take up before-hand in their thoughts upon trust the pleasures they are to enjoy even as spend-thrifts doe their rents or Heires their revenews before they come of age to enjoy their lands that when they come indeed to enjoy the pleasures they expected either they prove but dreames as Isay 29. 6. they finde their soules empty or so much under their expectation and so stale as they have little in them that there still proves more in the imagination than in the thing which ariseth from the vastnesse and greediness of mens desires as the cause hereof for that makes them swallow up all at once So Hab. 2. Enlarging his desires as Hell hee heapes up all Nations swallowes them up in his thoughts So an ambitious Scholler doth all preferments that are in his view Thirdly this speculative wickednesse is exercised in like maner towards things past in recalling namely and reviving in our thoughts the pleasure of sinfull actions passed when the minde runnes over the passages and circumstances of the same sins long since committed with a new and fresh delight when men raise up their dead actions long since buried in the same likenesse they were transacted in and parley with them as the Witch Saul did with Satan in Samuels likenesse And whereas they should draw crosse lines over them and blot them out through faith in Christs blood they rather copy and write them over againe in their thoughts with the same contentment So an uncleane person can study and