86 OF SPIRITUAL MINDEDNESS. disease, pain, or distemper, it will cause him to think much of it, whether he will or not ; at least if he be wise, he will do so; nor will he always be complaining of their smart, but inquire into their causes, and seek their removal. Yet are there some distempers, as lethargies, which in their own nature take away all sense and thoughts of themselves ; and some are of such a slow, secret progress, as hectic fevers, that they are not taken notice of. But both these are mortal. And shall men be more negligent about the spiritual distempers of their souls; so as to have . multiplied temptations, the cause of all spiritual diseases, and take, no thought about them l Is it not to be feared, that where it is so, they are such as either in their own nature have deprived them of spiritual sense, or by their deceitfulness are leading on insensibly to death eternal'? Not to have our minds exercised about these things, is to be stupidly secure. Prov. xxxiii. 34, 35. There is, I confess, some difficulty in this matter, how to exercise our thoughts aright about our tempta- -Lions ; for the great way of the prevalency of tempta- tion, is by stirring up multiplied thoughts about their objects, or what they lead to. And this is done or occasioned several ways, (1). From the previous power of lust in the affections. This will fill the mind with thoughts. The heart will coin imaginations, in compliance therewith. They are the way and means whereby lust draws away the heart from duty, and en- ticeth unto sin : Jam. i. 14, the means at least whereby men come to have eyes full of adultery, 2 Pet. 2, 14, or live in constant contemplation of the pleasures of sin. (2.) They arise and are occasioned by renewed . representations of the object of sin; and this is two-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=