of Mortification. Man; :md 'what fO great evil then can there be in this? 'Tis true indeed, were thou only to deal with Men, whom thy Thoug;hts touch not, there were .no fuch great evil in them; but when thou haft to do with Jll immaterial and fpiritual God, before whom thy Thoughts appear as fubfiantial and confiderablc as' thy outward aCts; then know that a Thought as flight and thin a Being as it is, is yet an hainous Provoc:~don of his Majcfty, a wretched Violation .of his Law, and will be (if not mortified) a fearful Damnation and Dcftrud ion to thine own Soul. This doth lie at the bottom of all that neglctl: that Men are generally guilty of in oppofing finfnl Thoughts, they think them (which indeed is as bad a Thought as any other) harmlefs and indifferent things. As we ufe to call little Infants innocent Babes, though indeed they are born into the World with an Hell of Sin in their Natures. Some Men are apt to think the finful Thoughts which they concdvc, and with which they travel, to be innocent infant things, though indeed every one of them be no other then a Firebrand of Hell. Some Thoughts we are wont to ufc aud condemn as being impertinent; the Truth is, 'tis a name too flight and favourable , there is no fuch thing as an impertinent Th011ght, no, there is not any thing in your whole lives of greate r concernment, and weight, and mo.. ment than what your thoughts arc; whatever they be, their Influence rcacheth no fhortc r th;rn unto what an Eternity of Life or Death extends to. Now if this q)crfuafion did indeed take hold of Men, were it poflible that they fhould thus in~ dulge thcm felves in a vain, frothy, idle, nay, let me call them finful and pernicious Thoughts, Thoughts fa effeB:ua\ly deftruCl:ive? Were it poffible that they IP.ould fa tlofely brood on thefe Cockacrice Eggs, which bring forth nothing but Serpents to fting them to eternal Death? Were it poffible that they fhould roJ.l and tofs a Sin to and fro in the fancy, and thereby rccompencc the Devi1 and their own Corruptions, for the fqucmifhnefs of Confcience in hinc.lring the Commiffion of it? Certainly herein. Men bewray great unacquaintednefs with Mortification, when ?-S thofe Sins that they dar~ not ~Cl, yet they dare with complacency and delight . contemplate and feed upon 111 then· own Thoughts. Turn therefore your Eyes inward; when the (warm of Lufts is up, and much noife and buzzing is made by Corruptions) by Temptations, which yet fome external Principles will not fuffer to break forth; where then do they flutter? Do they fettle in the Heart? Daft thou fire them there? DO thy Thoughts like fo many IntelleCtual Bees fly abroad and fuck fwee~nefs out of every finful Objea, to lay and board it up in the fancy ? Canft thou for the fatisfying of Confcience, reftrain the outward actings of Sin; and yet for the fatisfying of Corruption, tolerate and allow the inward workings of it? Certa in it i ~, tbou never yet kneweft what belongs to true and faving Mortification ; and it were l1appy for thee if fuch an im.aginary Sinner might fuffer only an imaginary Death. But now a truly mortified Chriftian, as he is watchful to keep Sin from breaking fort h into outward aa, fa is he efpecially careful eo rcfift and quel the Sins of the inward Man, the Sins of the Heart. And that, Firft, Becaufc he knows thefe arc the Sins that are moft of all contrary to G race, and do tnoft of all weaken and waft it. Heart Sins lie as fa many Worms beating and gnawing the very Root of -Grace, when as outward Sins, any otherwife than as they proceed from the Heart, are but as Caterpi\lers that devour only the verdure and ftourHhing of Grace. How can Grace breath or ftir in fnch a crowd of finful Thoughts, ·and finful Affetl:ions that opprefs it? How can it grow and thrive among fuch multitudes of Weeds that choak and fi:arvc it? There is po room for Grace to live, at lcaft not to aCt, till Mortification pt1lls up and throws ant of the Heart all that trafh which before filled ir. Aod then, Secondly, H e knows likewife that when the Heart is brimful of Corruption, rhe lea(t jog of a Temptation will make it run over. And therefore, '111irdty, He looks upon it as the moft eafy a·nd ~ compendious way of Morrifica~ tion to begin at the Heart. Thence it is that all the outwad Sins of a Man's Life and Converfation receive their fupply. What faith Chrift, M.-lfr. 1 S· 19. 'Out of the Htarr procud roil Thoughts, Murthers, Adulrerits, Fornicariom, 71Jt[V, falfc Wirnefs, Blafphtmies . Whence are the Streams fupplied but from the Fountain? And 1f thh be dried·.np, thofe muft of neceffity fail. Thofe Corrupt Streams that flow forth too apparently· in Mens ACtions, proceed all from that bitter Fountain that continually bubbles up in the Heart 1 and as the Exercifc of MonifiFfffff cation 777 ,, 2,
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