784 Chap. 2i. An Expof;tiom:upon the Book of J o a. Verf. 2..7 fpeaks as ifhe had prevented hisfriends difcovery,and without their telling, could tell what they had been thinking. 'Behold, Iknowyour thoughts. Sa,'o Vol, Sept. The Seventy tranflate, Behold I knowyou ; as weak to fay to a man whole intentions and defigns we fuppofe are known tous ; We knowyou well enough. And that is as much as to fay, Iknowyour thoughts. But it ii- not the foie Priviledge of God to know the thoughts? Is not the heart his peculiar ? a Cabinet which none can unlock or.look into but the molt high ? Is not this his Rile ? Ifearch theheart. And what is the heart which God fearcheth? or what doth God fearch for in the heart? The heart is nothing elfebut the treafury ofour thoughts and God fearches for nothingelfe there but our thoughts, either limple, as they are inour meditations, or compounded as they are inour affe&ions. David afcribes this glory to theLord, (pfal.'139.1,2,3 .)0 Lord,thou haft [carcht rne,and knownme; Thou k.nowef# my downfittingandmine up rif:ng;That is,all my outward motions ; but is that all ? No (faith he) Thou under- ffandeff my thoughtsafar off.Our thoughts are evident to God, even before they are;our thoughts are laid to be afar off; when they are not thought,yet then they are as nigh to God as they are to us when we are thinking them, even a &wally prefent ; our thoughtsare as audible toGod as our words are tomen ; he heares the language of our fpirits, what our hearts fay when our tonguts are filent. When our tongues fpeake plaine £nglifh tomen,yer, as to our thoughts, we may beBarbarians to them. As the Apofile faith or him that fpeaketh in an un- known language, he is a 73ar6arian to them that underfiand not his language, (a Cor. 14. I r.) fo every man the mat un- learned man is a Barbarian to the mofi learned man in the world, in regard ofhis thoughts. Man knows nor the meaning ofmans thoughtswhile he is fpeaking, unleffe he fpeak(which fome doe not)his thoughts. But let the tongues of men be nes er focroffe to their hearts,and what t .ey fpeake not a light todifcover, but a íhadow to darken their thoughts, yet God knoweth them, and by this we know that he is God. 'Tis fail ofChriPt in theGofpel,That he knew their thoughts(Mat.9.4. Mat. s 2.
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