our thoughts the better when we have more liberty for the World How inconsiderable soever this Rule may seem to any yet I doubt not but a great part of the vanity and evil of our Thoughts and Imaginations is owing to a careless and remiss observation of the Lords-day Neither can I think that that glorious Promise any more than the Morality of the fourth Commandment is stinted to the Jewish oeconomy alone tho' it may primarily concern that Isa 58. 13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine owne ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy Father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Being watchful over our selves when we are alone is another Rule which we are to observe in order to the well governing of our Thoughts in general Solitude is a season when our Thoughts are very apt to rove and then to light upon ill objects When a Man is by himself he is not secure from his spiritual enemies and with respect to the multitude of vain and evil Thoughts that Then are apt to come into his Mind it may be truly said of him Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus Upon which account it was that the Devil chose that opportunity to tempt our Saviour when he was in the wilderness alone Because he well knew that at such a time as that the Mind of Man being at leisure his Thoughts will be more relaxed and wandring and so more easy to be won by his suggestions and to comply with his Temptations A Monastick Life doth not secure a Man from evil Thoughts but in some sort makes him the more obnoxious to them The Devil will pay his unwelcome visits to us in our Privacy as well as in Conversation And the Hermite in his Cell hath as much reason to look well to his thoughts as he that is in the Croud of this World And Therefore I take it to be very advisable that at any time when we are alone we suffer not our thoughts to scatter and flie at random for unhappy conjunctions oftentimes prove the consequence of such erratical motions but to confine them to some certain bounds and determinate subjects Such as the Power or Goodness of Almighty God or the like which will sweetly imploy our thoughts and refresh our minds And the more profitably to think on any such subject we may when we are alone likewise think on our own sinfulness be judging our selves confessing our sins and laying open our hearts before God which will make the goodness of God more illustrious and admirable and also keep us from being assaulted with any dreadful and terrifying thoughts with any filthy and profligate thoughts and our hearts from being deadn'd and stupify'd with Mopishness and drowsiness c. which at such a time we are more especially prone to Again In the next place let us be very careful to entertain the good motions of God's Holy Spirit to obey his Heavenly Inspirations to bowe to his sacred suggestions when at any time we are blessed therewith Every good thought should be made well-come and cherish'd and improv'd by us and by that means we shall not only avoid evil thoughts but in time arrive at an happy temper and habit of good thoughts which is one of the most desirable things in the world and most of all prepares the Soul for the purity and ravishment of the Contemplation of God and the Joys of Heaven Let us therefore always improve every good thought or motion that comes into our Minds and entertain it as an Embassy from God as a spark of the Celestial fire And let us diligently attend and listen to the counsels and monitions of our own Consciences by no means resist their checks or stifle their Advertisments To draw to a Conclusion of this Chapter If we would attain to this great Thing viz. the due government of our Thoughts let us be careful to preserve our selves innocent and harmless to do no hurt or evil at any time willingly Let us make Religion and the Fear of God our Business Let us make use of God's wonderful Works both of Mercy and Judgment which at any time occur in the World seasoning our Hearts with an Holy Meditation of them There are a great many more excellent Rules in order to the Well-governing our Thoughts As applying our selves to our proper Teachers and Spiritual Guides for comfort and Assistance when our Hearts are oppressed with wicked Thoughts or prevailing corruptions Avoiding unwarrantable Curiosities and prying into hidden Mysteries and unnecessary Speculations Contentment Temperance Humility Trust and Affiance in God and abundance more which are in that large field of Discourse which such a subject as this affords and which if I should enlarge upon as I have done on the former Heads would swell this Treatise into a much bigger Book than I design'd it I shall therefore content my self and the Reader with these Principal Rules and Directions for the well-governing of the Thoughts in general which have been treated of in the fore-going Pages Which well put in practice will I doubt not by the blessing of Almighty God prove in a great measure effectual to the end design'd And that if we not slightly and indifferently but closely and in earnest apply our selves to them we shall thereby prevent Evil Thoughts and attain that happy and desirable Government over our selves which either sloth or ignorance makes some Men think to be Eutopian and impossible Only adding this one particular more which must by no means be pass'd over and that is The deep and serious consideration of the last Dreadful Judgment Consider seriously with your selves then That there is a day a coming when not only all the Actions and more known passages of our Lives but even our most Private and Retired Thoughts shall be accounted for When God shall judge the Secrets of Men by Christ Jesus Tho' Men cannot see our Thoughts yet an All-knowing God can and doth and will assuredly judge us for them In that day when these that have labour'd to approve themselves unto God by an Internal purity and sincere Obedience not regarding the eye of the World or the silly applauses of mortal Men but the favour of God and Conscience of their duty shall be crown'd with eternal honours and all their secret Piety be rewarded openly And these that have hypocritically carried a fair outside and pass'd for civil honest moral Men whilst their inward parts were very wickedness and their Hearts full of all uncleanness shall be laid open and expos'd to the shame of all the World and they banish'd from the presence of
our Thoughts and Imaginations and of our Actions the Product of them That if the Heart be pure and Holy the Thoughts and then the Actions will be so too But if the Heart be foul and wicked the issues of it will be Correspondent When the Spirit of a Man is truely seasoned with Religion it will shew it self in all the Beautious and Lovely Fruits of Righteousness But when the Principle is vicious and Debauch'd the effects must and will be filthy and abominable That a Man is not defiled by any material thing that he either Eats or Drinks but by his own imaginations desires and affections the things which come out of him For out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witnesses Blasphemies these are the things which defile a Man But to eat with unwashen Hands defileth not a Man All the Ceremonious part of the Jewish Law aim'd at and terminated in this Their Ceremonies were Significations and Types of matters under the Gospel And their frequent Washings and Cleansings were to denote the Spiritual Purifying of the Heart and Soul 'T is true God injoyned them to be observed for a time the Ignorance and Non-age of the Jews requiring such a material and gross way of Instruction But these were all Abolished and done away at the coming of the Messiah When the Son of God himself became our Divine Instructor and Teacher and informed Mankind of the Nature of that Rational and Spiritual Worship which God did expect from us and would be acceptable to him That it was the Devotion of the Soul the Purity of the Heart the Spirituality of the Thoughts that Living Sacrifice alone that would please God who is an Infinite Spirit and prepare us for the Refined joys of Heaven and the Exalted pleasures of Seraphims And Consequently that the greatest and most Important Duty incumbent on Mankind was to Govern the Heart and subdue the Thoughts This then in short was the occasion of our Saviours speaking these Words which did effectually humble these proud Pharisees whose whole Religion was mere Pomp and outward Shew and Consisted meerly in broad Phylacteries an affected Garb and demure Looks while these Gaudy and Painted Sepulchres were within full of all manner of rottenness and uncleaness And at the same time lets us see a Description of true Religion and how excellent and noble an Institution that is which extends to the inmost recesses of the Soul and so tends to Refine the very thoughts of the Heart and to fit Men for the pure State of Angels And therefore is far above all other Institutions that ever were in the World before CHAP. II. THE next thing proposed to be Handled is the vast advantage of well governing of our Thoughts in order to the purposes of Religion in General Now this advantage is very great and obvious Every Person must be Convinced that the most proper and only way for a Man to live well is to begin at his Heart to put his thoughts into a true order and government For otherwise there can be no Uniformity in his Piety The good Actions that he doth are broken and imperfect and he is apt every now and then to make fresh Work for Repentance by returning to his old sins But this advantage of the well governing our Thoughts will be the better seen by some Particulars First then a care of our Thoughts is the greatest preservative against actual sins 'T is a most certain truth that the greatest sin that ever was committed was at first but a Thought The foulest Wickedness and most Monstrous Impiety arose from so small a speck as a first Thought may be resembled to The most horrid thing that ever was done as well as the most Noble and Vertuous action that ever was accomplished had no greater a beginning Of such a quick growth and spreading Nature is sin that it Rivals even the Kingdome of Heaven which our Lord teleth us is like to a Graine of Mustard-seed which a Man took and Sowed in his Field Which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it is grown up in these Countries it is the greatest among Herbs and becometh a Tree so that tbe Birds of the Air come and Lodge in the Branches of it But the Apostle St. James Represents it by a Simile of another Nature comparing the Original and growth of it to the Formation of an Embryo in the Womb. Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God For God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and inticed Then when his Lust hath Conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death It is Conceived Bred Lives and Grows in a Man till at last it domineers in him and Reigns in his Mortal Body And therefore it is absolutely necessary that we govern and manage our Thoughts without which it will be impossible that we should avoid falling into actual sins even the greatest That we resist the beginings the very first Emergencies of Evil if we hope to avoid the last Degrees of it It is manifest folly to Imagine that we can indulge evil Thoughts without being in danger of commtting actual sins or that speculation and practise are things so vastly distant from each other This is so far from being true that there can be nothing more certain than the contrary If we would preserve our selves from falling into actual sins we muft govern and suppress our Thoughts And if we would have our Life pure and unspotted the Heart must be kept in intire subjection If we would not be plunged into the guilt of presumptuous sins we must be sure to resist the first motions of evil all unlawful Thoughts For no man is always in the same temper his Resolution is not ever the same as it may be now or at another time His Passions are Fluctuating sometimes there is as it may be called a Spring-Tide of them And a Man at some seasons is more receptive of evil impressions more yielding and easy to be tempted than at others And though an evil Thought may not so strongly move him at one time yet it may at another And every encouragement of it adds to the falseness and treachery of his own deceitful and wicked heart which will betray him whenever an opportunity offers And therefore he is necessitated to be nicely careful over his thoughts if he would not fall into actual sins Let us think as boldly and confidently of our selves as we please let us rest never so much upon our own strength it is our weakness 'T is not our presuming thoughts of our selves that will make us invincible Nay there are none sooner overcome and thrown down than such as conceit great and mighty things of themselves The shameful denial of the warm and boasting Apostle should be sufficient to convince us that
an opportunity of serving God and performing Holy Duties Others want a due Temper and Disposition when they have an opportunity While the Thoughts of others are just fluttering above the Ground theirs are in the Third Heaven While they are tuning their Souls and putting them in Frame these are joyning in Hallelujahs with the Angels In a Word these who have attain'd to this happy Government of their Thoughts may be resembled to the Wise Virgins who had their Lamps burning and entred in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage whilest the Foolish Virgins were but trimming of theirs so great is the advantage which they have above other Christians Fourthly The advantage of this great Duty of well Governing our Thoughts is great upon this account also viz. Because nothing so much conduceth to quiet the Thoughts and Compose the Mind as this doth The greatest part of our trouble and perturbation proceeds from want of a due care of and Watchfulness over our Thoughts And many times our troubles are so great that they convince us of the absolute necessity of this Duty because then we find that nothing else can give us ease under them or quiet our Spirits Now Peace and tranquility of mind is a very considerable help to Religion When a man's Soul Thoughts are quiet he goes smoothly on seems to enjoy that glorious liberty of the Sons of God which the Apostle speaks of He hath a true relish of the Sweets of Religion his Soul is dilated and enlarged and he is able to run the ways of God's Commandments Whereas there is but a slender furtherance in good but small improvements when the thoughts are hurried the imaginations tumultuary and the Soul in an unhappy disorder by any domineering and contrary Lusts or any other cause The Soul of any Wicked Man is meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disorder and confusion and all the Powers and Faculties of his Mind are as it were up in Arms against each other There is no Peace there cannot be but all is mis-rule and uproar And could we but behold it with our Corporeal Eyes never such a confused Scene as that is represented it self to our View 'T is an Emblem of Hell it self He can scarcely enjoy the benefit of one Calm and Sedate Thought Lust Anger Revenge Ambition and a thousand more would every one of them be Kings and Usurp Supremacy and therefore War in and against the Soul Reason who is the Rightful Soveraign hath the least share in this Polity Rebellious Slaves Aspire to the Throne and boldly prescribe to their Prince the Fundamental Laws of Nature are Subverted and all become most deplorably Ruinous and Confused Whereas the Soul of a good Man and one that is diligent in the well Governing of his Thoughts is most quiet peaceable and Composed All his Thoughts and Faculties are in good order and then he is fit for any thing and can do his Duty with far more ease than others can The present Harmony and Peace of his Mind renders him capable of effectually minding the things which belong to his everlasting Peace In a Word the Advantage of this happy governing our Thoughts is so great that we can hardly perform any thing that is acceptable to God without it in some measures We cannot be easie to our selves or serviceable to others we can neither mind the business of our General nor Particular Callings as we ought without it But he that is so happy as to have attain'd a Command and dominion over his Thoughts does and suffers every thing well He Acts with Conscience suffers with Patience He Acts with Vigour suffers with Courage He does his Duty with half that difficulty and endures Afflictions with less disorder than others do or can And having approved himself to God by an Internal and Spiritual obedience by truth in his inward parts by the Subjection of his very thoughts to his most pure and holy Law He shall at the last and dreadful day of Judgment be able to look up with joy and comfort to the eternal Judge and Searcher of all hearts And when the Secrets of all Mankind shall be disclosed all the hidden things of darkness all the Mysteries of ungodliness when all the clandestine Impurities of the Hearts and Souls of the whole World shall be revealed and published then shall he glory in his Sincerity and the purity of his thoughts and the honesty of his Intentions Then shall he avoid that everlasting shame which shall confound the Minds and cover the faces of the wicked and ungodly the Pharisaical professors and the crafty Hypocrites when all the secret filth of their hearts thoughts and imaginations shall be exposed to the view of Angels and Men and thrown back in their Faces When the gaudy disguise shall be taken off and Sinners appear to be what they really are Which is a most astonishing consideration and such as should awaken us all to the utmost diligence and watchfulness in the well-governing our thoughts Having thus briefly shewn you the great benefit and advantage of well-governing our thoughts which deserv'd to be much more largely handled but that I would not burden your thoughts while I am attempting to instruct you how to govern them I proceed to discourse on the third thing laid down CHAP. III. I Come now in the next place to shew That evil thoughts arise out of the heart and proceed from thence which lays an Obligation on us of restraining and governing them and how far we are able so to do Our Saviour here assures us that Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts The heart i. e. the Soul of man is a sink of Corruption and Uncleanness 'T is desperately wicked 'T is Pandora's box which lets fly innumerable Plagues and Mischiefs 'T is naturally the Source of wickedness And let a Man but look into himself and survey his own Heart he will see the greatest cause to bewail his corruptions and find that there is nothing more deserves his complaints and tears than his own heart What a pest what an Enemy doth he always carry about with him 'T is not an open enemy but a familiar friend that doth him the greatest hurt and dishonour The snake is lurking in his own breast and while he is looking and gazing abroad this most perfidious and deadly foe is a domestick one His own heart is the worst of traytors to him and the most implacable enemy that he hath cannot do him half that mischief which he receives from himself 'T is upon this account Saint Paul exclaims O wretched man that I am And David Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Create in me 'T is a work of omnipotence and that God alone who made the Worlds and raised all things out of nothing can renew the heart and purify the Soul from its natural filth and corruption 'T is the holy Spirit is that Fire that must
to make our Thoughts of God vile and blasphemous The truth of this abundantly appears from the various and monstrous Idolatries of the Gentile World and the gross and horrid Conceptions they had of their Deities And also from the Idolatries of the Church of Rome and that gross and Carnal way of Worship amongst them used especially in the darkest Ages of Popery When 't is almost incredible to tell what absurdities and profanenesses were the consequences of their Ignorance Nay it must be acknowledg'd that even amongst our selves some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to your shame And until they have until they do attain to know him in some measure It cannot be imagined that their Thoughts of him should be rectify'd The more we know God the more we come to love him to be transported with him and to have the most high and noble Thoughts of him Now this excellent and useful and desirable knowledge of God is to be obtain'd these two ways By his Works and By his Word First From our own Observation of the stupendous frame of the Creation and the mighty acts of his Providence The admirable Order of all Beings their usefulness and subserviency to Man The establishment of Kingdoms and Empires The preservation and government of his Church both his Judgments and his Mercies c. These things if seriously observ'd and considered are a great means to make us to know God and consequently to excite in us high and holy thoughts of him and so to preserve us from all profane or blasphemous or unworthy Thoughts of him And as we may come to know God by our own Attentive observation of the great Works of his Creation and Providence so we may by his most Holy Word And indeed thence alone we can fetch our truest Ideas and most proper Thoughts of God The Scriptures are the best helps to our attaining the knowledge of him wherein in a Majestick style his glorious Attributes are represented to us His Goodness Purity Power Justice Truth are wonderfully display'd in a various manner by descriptions historical Relations amazing Acts Prophecies and Predictions Precepts and Admonitions and surprizing Revelations which no Man can consider as he ought but he must needs be inspired with holy and awful Thoughts of the Great God and admirably preserv'd from all vain wicked or profane Thoughts which prove a great terrour and affliction to many To draw to a Conclusion of this Chapter A careful and humble Reading and Hearing the holy Word of God together with a Conscientious attendance upon his Sacraments and other Ordinances is a very excellent way to be rid of all profane or blasphemous thoughts For our Hearts by this means are happily seasoned with good things and God's holy Spirit convey'd to our Souls and lasting inclinations to Holiness are apt to remain in us But because I would not leave these poor Souls who are apt to be disquieted and terrify'd with such thoughts as these without some further security comfort and satisfaction in this matter Be pleas'd further to consider that tho' it be our Duty to hate and abhor and tremble at the very first motion of such profane impious or blasphemous Thoughts yet we have no reason to be so terribly affrighted at them or confounded with them as many and these good Christians are For the All-wise God doth frequently suffer us to be tempted with such profane Thoughts for ends excellent and beneficial to our own immortal Souls As to humble us and make us more strict in the Examination of our own Hearts more sensible of the Deceitfulness of them which is in nothing more discernable than in an extravagant Liberty of Thoughts Or else it may be to make us more sober in our Understandings to avoid nice inquiries into cases Mysterious and shun all Enthusiastick expectations or to rouse up the dull and decay'd Powers of our Souls Or it may be to try our Faith and other Graces and to see whether we will love him when he thinks fit to with-hold his Divine and Spiritual Comforts from our Souls as well as when he bestows them upon us Or else to cause us perhaps to make the Glory of God our highest end in all our Performances that our hearts run not upon any mean and low designs but the Pleasing the Almighty be as it is the end of our Being Or else it may be to stir us up to the greater Diligence in making our calling and election sure and not to let our eternal happiness rest upon such uncertainties as the generality of Men do theirs But strive to get as much assurance of our endless welfare as possibly we are able and consistent with Faith Hope and other Christian Vertues These then being doubtless some of the gracious ends for which God is pleas'd to suffer us to labour under such Thoughts as I have been speaking of and it being oftentimes the case of good Christians to be afflicted with them These poor Souls who happen at any time to be disquieted with them have great reason to take courage and to be comforted under them And let them be assur'd of this That that which is a man's Burden will not be reckon'd as his Sin And that if they hate these thoughts more because they are dishonourable to God than because they are grievous and troublesom to themselves and are by means of them made more watchful circumspect and devout than they before were then Satan shall answer for them and not they The Devil shall be judg'd for all these profane and blasphemous thoughts which they dejected Souls were so much afflicted with the apprehension of as their own And so I have dispatched this first Species of evil Thoughts viz. profane and blasphemous Thoughts CHAP. VI. THe next kind of evil Thoughts which deserves our distinct Consideration is that of Vnclean Thoughts And there seems to be more danger in these than the former because there is something in corrupt Nature more agreeable to them than to the other And therefore it is apt more to be pleas'd with them But to a Good Man to a True Christian these Thoughts are no less disquieting and hateful than the former And therefore I shall endeavour to prescribe some proper Remedies against them The first of which is Prayer Which tho' it must be acknowledg'd to be an Vniversal Remedy and must in no case of trial be pretermitted for if any Man lack Wisdom or Grace of any particular kind whatsoever Let him ask it of God saith St. James who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not Yet I take it to be more especially needful here And therefore we must be much in Prayer If we find our selves to be assaulted with this kind of Thoughts we must make it a part of our constant Petitions that God would be pleas'd to cleanse and purify the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of his holy Spirit That he would mortify our lustful desires
refines and purifies the Soul to the utmost will not allow Men in a loose or an Evil Thought much less grant them Indulgences for all manner of Lewdness and dispence with such things as are not fit to be named among Christians But it 's only Design and Intention is to make Men like Angels and the pure Celestial Spirits and qualify them for their Society and Happiness to everlasting Ages This plainly shews us the excellency of the Christian Religion above any other Institution in the World powerfully recommends it to our choice and convinceth us of the necessity of being good and holy if we would be eternally happy and of the great importance of our serious and Religious Application and Improvement of these words of the eternal Son of GOD For out of the Heart proceed Evil Thoughts I conclude with that apposite Advice of the holy Apostle St. Paul Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things FINIS THE PRAYER FOR A Melancholy Person O Eternal most gracious most holy Lord God! Thou Father of Lights and Fountain of Good Thou art infinitely and essentially happy and blessed in thy self and diffusest the beams of thy Favour and Goodness throughout the whole World I am a Monument of thy Mercy and Forbearance and when I consider what I have been and done I cannot but wonder at thy loving Kindness O Lord I lye prostrate at the Throne of Grace in an humble sence and acknowledgment of my own vileness and in a sorrowful confession of my Sins which have been exceeding many and grievously provoking I have deserved Eternal punishment and horrour and therefore do not repine at my present Affliction Why should a living man complain a Man for the punishment of his sin But O Lord thou art our FATHER and to whom should we lay open our wants but to a Father Look therefore upon my affliction and misery and forgive me all my sins Thy hand is heavy upon me day and night and my moisture is like the drought in summer My heart also in the midst of my Body is even like melting wax I am cast down O Lord I am beset with fears and terrours encompassed about with thick clouds of sadness But yet I hope to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living Lord sanctify this great affliction to me And let not any of the Devil's temptations prevail with me to let go my hope in Christ. Grant me I beseech thee trust and affiance in thy Mercy and let me not make Sin my refuge or seek comfort and redress from any indirect means But patiently wait on thee O GOD who alone bringest down and raisest up who killest and makest alive O Lord be pleas'd to pardon and forgive me all my sins and to heal all my Bodily weaknesses and infirmities and to quiet and compose my Spirits O Lord speak peace unto me thy servant give thy servant the Blessing of peace Thou searchest me out and knowest me Thou understandest my thoughts long before Thou art about my path and about my bed and seest in what sadness I pass the day and the night O Lord send down the Holy-ghost the Comforter to enlighten and comfort my poor Soul and to sanctify and hallow all the faculties and powers thereof Cleanse it of all prophane impure revengeful wandring or desponding Thoughts and all other evil Imaginations and let not my Heart be inclined to any evil thine Vouchsafe I beseech thee O Lord to direct sanctify and govern both my Heart and Body in the ways of thy Laws and in the Works of thy Commandments that among all the changes and chances of this mortal Life I may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help And O Lord God Almighty unto whom all Hearts be open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hid cleanse the Thoughts of my Heart by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit that I may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy Name Thou seest O Lord that I have no power of my self to help my self keep me therefore both outwardly in my body and inwardly in my Soul that I may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the Body and from all Evil Thoughts which may assault and hurt the Soul And at last bring me to that blessed state where I shall serve love and worship thee without fear or distraction and be out of the reach of all my Spiritual Enemies and enjoy consummate tranquillity and bliss And all I most humbly and earnestly beg in and through the meritorious Agonies and Death of Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen Our Father c. Books printed for and sold by Charles Yeo John Pearce and Philip Bishop Booksellers in Exon. A Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exon April 4. 1697. being Easter-day and Assize Sunday By William Chilcot M. A. Select Hymns each fitted to two Tunes to be sung in Churches The Beauty of Holiness or A short Defence and Vindication of the pious Decency Regularity and Order of Reading the Communion-Service at the Communion-Table offered to a dissatify'd Neighbour from his Minister A Form of Prayer for Married Persons for the most part taken out of the Liturgy In the PRESS DAnmonii Orientales Illustres or The Worthies of Devon Printed by way of Subscription price in Sheets Sixteen Shillings and Six pence the first Payment eight Shillings All Gentlemen that are willing to take the Advantage by Subscribing are desired to send in their first payment with all speed to the Undertakers Charles Yeo John Pearce and Philip Bishop Prov. 16. 32. V. 2. Mark 7. 11 12. Mat. 13. 31. Jam. 1. 13 14 15. Rom. 6. 12. Mat. 26. 70 72 74. Isa 1. 11. Psal 139. Psal 108. 1. Mat. 25. 1. Rom. 8. 21. Isa 48. â— 1 Pet. 2. 11. Psal 51. 6. Rom. 7. 24. Psal 51. 10. Acts 2. 3. Exod. 12. Mat. 4. James 4. 7. Gen. 32. 24. James 5. 16. Prov. 24. 30 30. Mat. 26. 41. Psal 19. 1. 1 Cor. 11. 33. Ephes 4. 29. Psal 119. Mat. 18. 8. Jer. 4. 14. 2 Pet. 3. 12. Acts 2. 20. Mat. 24. 29. Mat. 4. â— Rom. 2. 16. * A Crest is a Dagger Psal 119. 105. 1 Joh. 2. 15. Job 2. 9. Mat. 4. 10. Ver. 11. Phil. 2. 10. Mat. 11. 28. James 1. 5. Mat. 8. 2. Mat. 17. 21. Mat. 16. 24. 1 Cor. 9. 25 c. Gen. 34. 1 2. 1 Sam. 11. 2. Gen. 39. 9. Mat. 12. 44. 1 Joh. 3. 3. Psal 24. 4. Mat. 5. 8. Mat. 5. 44. 1 Pet. 5. 5. 1 Joh. 8. v. 16. Mat. 5. 23. Eccles 5. 1 2. 1 Sam. 2. 30. Exod. 3. 5. Gen. 28. 12 16. Col. 3. 5. Matth. 6. 31 c. Matt. 21. 12 13 c. Luke 10. 40. Matth. 6. 5. Matt. 13. Luke 15. Matt. 11. 28. 1 Tim. 2. 4. 2 Cor. 2. 11. Luke 2. 14. Rom. 4. 25. Matt. 11. John 3. 16. 1 Pet. 5. 8. James 5. 13. Psal 50. 15. Psal 42. ult Psal 73. 1 Tim. 6. 9 10. 1 Sam. 16. 23. Eccles 12. 11. Hos 6. 6. Jam. 1. 25. Ephes 4. 30. Gal. 4. 9. Gal. 3. 24. Deut. 4. 11. Phil. 4. 8. c.
purge and refine the drossy mass The divine Grace alone can restore health and vigour to the corrupt depraved degenerous heart of Man And that will never be wanting to our sincere endeavours It will operate with our Endeavours but not without them Something is in our power in order to it and let us do that and the rest the Grace of God will supply And one of the greatest incentives to make us use our utmost endeavours is the serious consideration of the sinfulness and corruption of our own heart 'T is necessary therefore that we do not take a slight and transient view only but be engaged in a deep and accurate investigation of our selves Search every corner of that cell every recess of that Labyrinth with as much earnestness as the Jews did for leven And upon an impartial view we shall find our Lord's words verified Out of the heart proceed all evil thoughts No good properly so called proceeds from thence but what is the Effect of the Operations of the Blessed Spirit of God 'T is not the Natural issue of the Soul but the Product of His Heavenly Inspirations who is continually striving with Man and endeavouring to Consecrate and Hallow all his Thoughts and Affections that so he may be acceptable to God Every good Thought every Religious Flight or Sacred Desire is stirred up by Him is His immediate Suggestion who is Wrestling with the stubborn and rebellious Powers of our souls and with our impure imaginations to reduce them into their proper order and condition Or else 't is the whisper of some good Angel commissioned by him who is willing to perform a Godlike act of charity to us that we may raise up our minds to their proper object and lends us wings to mount up to the highest Heaven withall For the heart of Man naturally is full of evil and out of it proceed all kind of wicked thoughts and vain imaginations It disembogues such impure steams and contagious exhalations as blast and infect the whole World 'T is an Asphalites a dead sea which sends up most noxious vapours 'T is from the heart that all the evil in the world originally proceeds and therefore 't is a most natural piece of Advice that whenever we behold any evil in any part or instance of the whole Creation we presently lay our hand upon our breast look into our selves and examine our own heart 'T is folly to lay the blame upon this and that and t'other thing when we should trace the evil to its Fountain-head 'T is most true that all the vile and sinful thoughts the basest and most abominable lusts proceed from the heart But when they are bred out of the corruption and putrefaction of the heart it self and when cast into it by the Devil 't is not so easy to determine The accursed Enemy of our souls doth no doubt lay hold on all opportunities to cast into our minds wicked thoughts and is very watchful of the times and seasons when to corrupt and debauch our souls and make them yet more vile than naturally they are And therefore these wicked thoughts which many timerous souls imagine to be their own may be rationally presumed to be his There are indeed some marks which probably may serve to distinguish the Devil's injections from our own cogitations As when they are monstrously prophane and blasphemous when they assault us all of a sudden with a tempestuous vehemence filling us with terrour and amazement Or else when they are such thoughts as contradict all the interests of Humane Nature as when a Man thinks of murdering and destroying himself Such a thought cannot well be supposed to be the issue of the heart it self tho very corrupt but rather thrown in by the Devil Who was a murderer from the beginning But I say as to the greater part of evil thoughts it is no easy matter to know which are our own or which are the Devil 's As for those that are the immediate result of the heart the Devil is very quick and ready to improve them And for these which are the Devil's injections our corrupt hearts are too willing to comply with them so that we must think our selves equally obliged to guard our selves against the one and the other And there is something unquestionably in our power in order to it We can do something towards it unless we will look upon our selves as Machines and so destroy both Reason and Religion at once I will agree that by an hypochondriack or some other disease or by a long series and habit of sinning which is a disease more inveterate and harder to be cured that the Oeconomy of the Soul and Spirits may be so broken and shattered that the power of thinking is become very weak and impaired and that the lassitudes of the Soul are as great almost as those of the Body But yet I think there are few cases but a man can do something in order to a regular thinking Few men are arrived to so great a degree of either as to be able to do nothing towards it tho it must be granted some can do much more than others Our blessed Lord when he was upon Earth did not give useless Descriptions of things and deal with Men otherwise than rational Creatures And therefore I cannot but suppose that when he shews them that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts 't was to this end that they should endeavour to govern and subdue them Now we may lay down this as a certain Truth viz. that evil Thoughts whatsoever they be do not endanger our Eternal Salvation further than we comply with them They are not our Sins further than we indulge them But totally to hinder them I think is a thing Impracticable It is impossible but that such offences will come And I believe the Holiest Men find it so so long as they are in a World where there are so many Objects and in a State where there are so many Imperfections But yet when wicked Thoughts arise in our Minds we may certainly choose whether we will harbour and embrace them or not This we may do as long as we have any Liberty of Will left so much is unquestionably in our power Though 't is confessed they will make frequent returns upon us and every now and then with great importunity present themselves to us tho but the last Moment we thrust them out Like an importunate Creditor or an Impertinent Guest they will obtrude themselves upon us do what we can and if we tell them we have never so great and weighty business they will still be troublesome and haunt us while we are actually ingaged in it Nay will pursue us even to the Sanctuary and assault us at the Altar of God Yet if we as often trust them out as they return they will never be charged upon us For 't is a giving them encouragement and a compliance with them that makes us Criminal Then alone Thoughts
and must by no means be encourag'd So also to think that God is a Liar or Vnmerciful or Vunjust c. is a blasphemous thought And indeed as I said every thought that is formed in our Minds which is unsuitable to his Eternity Authority Purity and Holiness or any other of his glorious Attributes is reducible to this first kind of evil thoughts Now tho' these are very dreadful thoughts yet they may sometimes come into our Minds thro' the Devil's subtilty and our own carelessness Nay 't is possible that they may infest the Minds of good Men and that too when they are about the Highest Imployments which may for the present serve to satisfy these poor Souls who are at any time terrify'd and affrighted with a Sence of them and take off from that horrour that they are apt to conceive in their Minds upon the account of them Now the Directions which I would recommend in order to our avoiding any profane and blaspemous thoughts are these following First That we be sure to avoid an habit of any known sin than which there is nothing more ministers to profane and blasphemous thoughts For an habit of any known sin will strangely degrade our thoughts and lessen our Ideas of GOD. It being an impossible thing for any Man to arrive at an habit of wilful and deliberate sinning without frequent grapplings with his own Conscience and iterated resistances of its checks and convictions without thinking falsly or meanly of GOD or else putting him quite out of his thoughts And his judgments far above out of his sight No wonder that by continuing so to do he comes at last to have profane or blasphemous thoughts of him GOD is an infinite and eternal Spirit and the most absolute Being and transcendency above the highest of our thoughts And if ever we would think rightly and worthily of him we must habituate our selves to think much upon him and let our thoughts of him be according to these representations and discoveries which he hath been pleas'd to make of himself in the Scriptures Our Natural Reason tho' it will yield us some knowledge of a God yet it is not a sufficient guide to direct our thoughts concerning him for it will many times lead us into false notions of him as appears beyond all dispute from the Worship of the Gentile World and also the Heterodox opinions of these who rely thereon And how is it possible for any habitual sinner who must and doth thrust God out of his thoughts on purpose that he may sin with the greater liberty and delight ever do this He cannot grow to an Habitual Sinner without he quite banisheth the thoughts of a God from his Heart and that such an one should be able to think of him after a due manner what is it less than a contradiction And then no wonder if by so frequently slighting God in his own mind he comes at length to think prophanely and blasphemously of him Irreverent Thoughts of God grow still more and more wicked and a continual disrespect of him ends at length in Atheism it self He then that is haunted and pestered with such Thoughts as these we are speaking of may perhaps upon a deep enquiry find cause to condemn himself of some Habit of sin and if so he must labour to mortify it and become a New Man if ever he would avoid this kind of evil Thoughts Secondly Too curious and bold Speculations into matters Mysterious prove frequently an occasion of profane and blasphemous Thoughts and therefore they must be carefully declin'd He that hath an honest and conscientious regard to his Duty as it is plainly set down and humbly desires to know and serve God above all is seldom so much troubled with this kind of Thoughts as those are who aspire to things vastly above them and place more of their Duty in Speculation than in Practise When Men will forsake the plain way and wander into unbeaten Paths no wonder that they fall into mischief When Men will instead of endeavouring to understand GOD's Commandments and do his Will aspire to comprehend his Essence his Decrees c. and find out the Almighty to perfection When they will not be contented to know the Saving Truths of the Gospel and practice their plain and legible Duty but nicely pry into the Secret things which belong neither to us nor our children When they will grasp at all and think to understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and remove Mountains Then they naturally as well as justly fall into profane imaginations and blasphemous Thoughts and sometimes into Errours and damnable Heresies This is the true case of the present Age and the main occasion of these blasphemous opinions concerning the Blessed Trinity which are now so daringly broach'd amongst us and indeed 't is that to which most of Men's profane and enormous Thoughts of God are owing And since it is so truly if they would avoid them they must learn to be more modest and humble and to have a more conscientious regard to their duty They must content themselves with these plain Discoveries which God hath made of his Mind and Will and labour to follow them and adore his unsearchable Wisdom in the rest An humble Obedience will much more promote the eternal Salvation of our Souls than such bold Speculations and the Love of God is far better than all such impious and fruitless Attempts to comprehend him For all such Attempts will in the end confound but never advantage the Minds of Men. These high-flyers when they are in their altitudes suddenly their waxen wings melt and down they fall headlong like Lucifer from Heaven When we reverently submit our Reason to Divine Revelation and the conduct and guidance of the Word of God when we make that with the Psalmist A lantern unto our feet and a light unto our paths then we are safe as well as free from these horrid Thoughts we are speaking of at least they are not occasion'd by our selves if they should chance to come into our Minds But I say when Reason will be its own Guide and Men will walk in the light of their own fire and the sparks which themselves have kindled they must needs err they must needs stumble as in the dark Or like a Ship without ballast be toss'd up and down and made the sport of every wind of Doctrine They will hereby be lyable to the worst Cogitations concerning the infinite Being Thirdly A Customary Formal and Indevout Worshipping of GOD is that which at length usually grows into profane and blasphemous Thoughts of him Which therefore must diligently be avoided if we desire to be without such Thoughts For if in our most Solemn Address to Almighty God we be not careful that our thoughts of him be reverent and compos'd our conceptions high and holy it is easy to imagine that at other times we shall be apt to have mean and low or profane Thoughts of him And why may
we not think that this is a too common occasion of profane and blasphemous Thoughts If I am not sollicitous to form my heart aright and bring my Thoughts of the Great GOD into a due frame and temper of Devotion while I am worshipping him and in his more solemn and immediate presence It naturally leads me as well provokes GOD to leave me to gross profane and impious Thought of him When a Man therefore is about to perform his Duty of Devotion to God either in publick or private let him endeavour to fix in his Heart such Thoughts of him as may exceedingly awe and compose him and not be indevout and formal in his addresses to Heaven and I verily think this may be a very proper means to preserve him from profane or blasphemous Thoughts which otherwise 't is reasonable to expect will grow upon him Fourthly Discontent and a worldly anxiety is that which how far soever it may at first seem from it very much conduceth to profane and blasphemous Thoughts of God And there is a great deal in that expression of the Apostle If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him There are no persons more apt to arraign the Wisdom and Goodness of God in the distributions of his Providence than such to conceive not only indecent angry and false but profane and blasphemous Notions of him None more apt to follow the desperate advice of Job's Wife Curse God and die than such wordly repining discontented wretches as place all their Heaven here And that this is true I think is a matter sufficiently plain by our own experience and 't is easy to produce instances not a few And therefore to be humble contented and blessing God not charging him foolishly or thinking of him unworthily in every state and condition I look upon to be part of the means in order to the avoiding profane and blasphemous thoughts Another Rule which may be observ'd to this end is That when at any time we are assaulted with such profane Thoughts we immediately with a Sacred fear cast them out of our Minds For profane or blasphemous Thoughts are especially such as we should not stay to argue or dispute with And therefore we find that tho' our Blessed Lord thought fit to argue with the Devil in other Temptations yet when he suggesteth profane Thoughts of God to him our Saviour seems to vary in his defence and immediately bids him be gone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Get thee hence Satan c. And then 't is said The Devil left him and behold Angels came and ministred unto him Whenever therefore this happens to be your case that you are troubled with such horrid profane or blasphemous Thoughts of God immediately cast them out do not let your Mind dwell upon them one moment But do with this kind of evil Thoughts in particular as you were taught to do in the VII Direction for the Well-governing our Thoughts in general In the next place it is advisable that at that time when we are assaulted with them we send up an Ejaculation to Heaven and lift up our Hearts to God in a short Prayer that he would be pleas'd to cleanse our Hearts of them and preserve us from them When any such abominable Thought presents it self to thee cry out O Lord keep me O Lord save me O Lord let not the Devil have advantage over me Lord I desire to love and adore thee with all my heart with all my soul and with all my might O Lord thou knowest that I am grieved at such Thoughts as these and earnestly desire to have my Thoughts of thee to be such as these Blessed Spirits entertain who are continually in thy blissful presence c. And not only in ejaculatory but in our set Prayers and constant Devotions should we offer them up to God purge and acquit our selves of them in his sight and lay open the sincere and vehement desires of our Souls to be rid of them And by this means it is hop'd that we shall at length be free'd from them Tho' they may not presently depart from us but continue to molest us even in our very Prayers and most Solemn Duties as they often will Tho' Almighty God may suffer them to be injected into our Mind for wise and beneficial ends which are unseen as no doubt he frequently doth yet I think this is what very well becomes one that is afflicted with profane or blasphemous Thoughts and a proper way to ease his Mind of them Again In order to the remedying profane and blasphemous Thoughts have a special reverence of the Name of GOD. Never hear it mentioned without a Sacred Veneration and Awe upon thy Soul Let thy Heart bow down at the mention of him Never let his Name be in thy mouth but with Devotion nor ever hear others pronounce it rashly or profanely in common swearing or cursing without an holy dread and if it may be done effectually a sober Reproof A customary and heedless naming the Name of GOD leads to profaneness and encourageth blasphemous Thoughts of him And therefore 't is a dangerous evil to have the Name of GOD or CHRIST in our mouths slightly or jestingly or upon any frivolous occasion or in the repetition of a Story c. The Apostle saith That at the name of JESVS every knee should bowe of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth All the Heavenly Host pay a most profound Reverence to that Name which Men prostitute and make so vile And until we endeavour to imitate their adorations we shall not easily be preserved from such Thoughts as are horridly profane It is hard to imagine how that Person can be kept from thinking unworthily of God who makes nothing of using his Name in his common Discourse or upon the most petty occasions One Rule more which I would recommend to the purpose in hand is this Labour to know GOD if thou wouldst think highly and worthily of him The Knowledge of God is a proper Remedy against profane Thoughts Now there is a Knowledge of God which we may not seek after as to know his Essence his Decrees c. To endeavour so to know him is a vain as well as a presumptuous thing as was hinted before in this Chapter But there is a Knowledge of God which we may and ought to make our Search and Study viz. The Knowledge of his glorious Attributes his Will and Commandments and these things that in his Word he hath revealed on purpose to be known in order to Man 's present happiness and future perfection Such a Knowledge of him as this every good Man will earnestly endeavour after and use all means of attaining and the rather because it is indeed an expedient of avoiding such profane Thoughts of God as many are grievously troubled with Ignorance is here so far from being the mother of Devotion that nothing more tends