Mans Imaginations, Treatise · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV.
Of mans naturall thoughts against his neighbour.
NOw wee come to the euill thoughtes of mans naturall heart against his neighbour. And to find them out wee must hauehave recourse to the second Table of the morall lawe, which was penned with respect to*Gal. 3. …9 the corrupt estate of man, forbidding that which mans corrupt heart thinketh naturally against his neighbour: for eueryevery commandement thereof is spirituall, forbidding not onelyonly the wicked actions, euill wordes, and gestures, but all corrupt affections, yea all euill Imaginations of man against man.
These thoughts of man against his neighbour be of two sorts; either without consent, or with consent. Thoughts without consent, are the very first euill motions of the minde which a man conceiueth against his neighbour, to which the will neuer giueth consent, and these are forbidden in the 10. commandement, Thou shalt not lust.
Thoughts with consent of will are such, as a man conceiuing in his minde doth withall desire, or purpose in his heart to practise: and these are forbidden in the fift, sixt, seauenth, eight, and ninth commandements; by reason whereof they may fittely be reduced to fiue heads. They are either thoughts of dishonour, against the fift commandement; or thoughts of murther, against the sixt; or thoughts of aduletrie, against the seuenth; or thoughts of theft, against the eight; or thoughts of disgrace, against the ninth commandement.
Sect. 1. Of thoughts of dishonour.
First, a thought of dishonour is any thought that tendeth to the contempt and abasing of the person of our neighbour, in respect of our selues. And it is then conceiued in our mindes, when we thinke thus of all other men beside our selues: such and such a man, is farre inferiour vntounto me, a base and contemptible fellow in regard of me. Example hereof we hauehave in the Pharisie, a man strict in profession, and zealous in his religion, who commeth to the Temple to pray with the Publican: now marke what he saith,aLuk. 18. 11. Oh God, I thanke thee, that I am not as other men are, or as this Publican. Which wordes proceede from such a proud thought as this; Lord I thanke thee, all other men are farre inferiour vntounto me: I doe farre surpasse the common sort: this Publican is a base fellowe, and no body to me. If any shall imagine that this thought is not in eueryevery mnn, but in some few proud persons; I answer, it is by nature in eueryevery person liuing without grace: and therefore S. Paul giueth this commandement, That bPhil. …. 3.eueryevery man in meekenesse should esteeme others better then himselfe; giuing vsus to vnderstand, that by nature all men thinke best of themselues, and esteeme others farre worse then themselues.
The Vse. If this thought of dishonour be in all mens hearts, then behold what a pallace of all Satanicall and damnable pride the heart of man is naturally:Iud. 1. 7. it is like vntounto the table of Adoni-bezek at which he sate in a chaire of estate, and made others, euen kings, to eate meate like dogs vnderunder his feete, with their thumbs cutte off: such an one is eueryevery man by nature, hee lifteth vp himselfe, saying, I am the man, and treadeth his brother vnderunder his feete, as no body vntounto him. And this is the cause of much strife and hurt in all humane societies: this causeth many iarres, much skorning, and great contempt among men in word and deede.
Now that we may reforme this thought in vsus, wee must learne to say as Iob did after he had beene afflicted, and came to see his sinnes:*Iob. 39. 37. behold, I am vile: and with Abraham, dGen. 18. 27.I am but dust and ashes: and with Dauid, I am a worme, and no man, Psalm. 22. 6. yea with Paul,eRom. 7. 24. we must labour to see our miserie by reason of sinne: and that will helpe to pull downe the pride of our hearts.
Sect. 2. Of murthering thoughts.
The second euill thought of man against his neighbour with consent, is a thought of Murther, or of any thing that tendeth thereto. Of this wee hauehave particular examples in Scripture. Deut. 15. 9. The Lord forbiddeth the Iewes to hauehave this murthering thought in their hearts: I will not releeue the poore, I will not doe good vntounto them; giuing vsus to vnderstand, that this was the common thought of the Iewes, or els he would not hauehave forbidden it: yea the Lord doth there set out this thought by two signes; first, an euill eye, when a man turnes his countenance from the poore, or looketh on them without compassion: secondly, vnmercifull dealing, when a man will not helpe the poore by gift, according to his abilitie. And because all actions proceede from thoughts, the heart beeing the fountaine of our deedes, hence it appeareth, that this murthering thought against the poore, is rife in this age: for where is the man that doth pitie the poore, and doth good to them according to his abilitie? nay, the Lords complaint against the Iewes may be fitly applied to our times, in regard of crueltie and oppression: The spoile of the poore is in your houses: what hauehave ye to doe, that ye beate my people to peeces, and grinde the faces of the poore. Isa. 3. 14. 15.
The second example of a murthering thought, is cō cerning Gods Church, and it is this. I will doe some spite or hurt to them that worship God. For proofe hereof, read Psal. 74. 8. Dauid bringeth in the Babilonians, Edomites, &c. saying thus one to another against gods people the Iewes: Let vsus destroy them all together; & Psal. 83. 4, Let vsus cut them off from beeing a people. And let the name of Israell be no more in remembrance. Now as this was their thought, so is it the thought of all men naturally: for that which was the disposition of Babel, Edom, Moab, and Amnon against Gods Church, is the disposition of all men naturally; for looke how generall the hatred of man is, so generall is the purpose of mischiefe against those that professe religion: for all men by nature are haters of Gods Church, & people; so Christ saith to his disciples, fMatth. 24. 9.yee shall be be hated of all nations for my names sake; Ioh. 16. 2.Yea, whosoeuer killeth you shall thinke that he doth God good seruice, and therefore this thought of doing mischiefe is as general, euen in the minde of eueryevery man by nature. This further appeareth by the continuall persecution, that hath euer beene raised agaiust Gods poore Church, since the beginning of the world: It began at Abell, soone after the giuing of the couenant of grace to our first parents, and hath continued to this day, & shall abide vntounto the end: so that if carnall men could look into their owne hearts, they should there behold this murdering thought against Gods people. This murdering thought commeth from another wicked imagination, set downe by S. Peter: who bringeth in the wicked of this world,h1. Pet. 4. 3. 4. thinking it a strange thing, that Gods children doe not, as they doe, and runne not with them vntounto all excesse of riot: liuing in drunkennes, fornication, and such other abhominations; for this cause doe they cōceiue hatred, and purpose mischeife against Gods people, and so will continue, till God giuegive them grace to repent. If any shall say this thought is not generall, for Nabuched-nezer iDanie. 2. 48.an heathen man shewed fauour to Daniell, and highly aduanced him. I answer, it is true he did so; but that was a worke of Gods speciall providence who procured him fauour, and disposed the kings heart to affect him, as he did also the heart of the chiefekDaniel. 1. 9. Eunuch; Otherwise Nabuchad-nezzer naturally did nothing but intend mischeife against Gods Church, as his rage against the three children did euidētly bewray, Dan. 3. 19.
A third example of this murthering thought I adde, which every minister of gods word may obserue by daily experience, and that is this; when mens faults are particularly rebuked in the ministery of the word, and the quicke, as it were touched by applying the word to the cōsciēce; then will the heart of a naturall man, thus conceiue of the minister that reprooueth sinn; This man meaneth me, he hath some spyte, and mallice against me, that he thus reprooveth my particular faults; when as the minister knew them not to be his personall sinnes: but it is the power of the word that ransaketh the sinfull heart: this is the fault of all carnall hearers, who will heare quietly till their faults be rebuked, but then they thinke maliciously of the preacher; Thus Herod dealt with Iohn Baptist, he heard him gladly for a while, Mark. 6. 20. but when he was rebuked for his brother Phillips wife then he cast Iohn in prison: Luk. 3. 19. 20. And if conscience might bee iudge, many an hearer would be found to hauehave an Herods heart towards Gods minister.
Sect. 3. Of thoughts of Adulterie; theft; & disgrace.
The third thought of man touching his neighbour, is the thought of Adulterie; which is the thought with consent to any vnchastitie. Such a thought had Iudah cōcerning Tamar his daughter-in lawe, whenaGen. 38. 15. 16. he iudged her an whore; and desired to lie with her. And with such thoughts was Ammons b2. Sam. 13. 2.heart so sore vexed that hee fell sicke for his sister Tamar: This makes a man an Adulterer in heart before God, though actually he commit not the fact: Mat. 5. 28.
The fourth is the thought of Theft, which is the thought with consent of beguyling or wronging another in his goods or substāce. This is that Imagining of iniquitie, and working of wickednes vponupon their beds, in coueting of fields—against which cMicah. 2. 1.Micah pronounceth a woe. And this thought also possesseth their hearts, that with the wicked Israelites wish the time were come, wherein theydAmos. 8. 5. might make the Epha small and the Shekell great, that is, lessen the measure, and inhance the pryce, and falsifie the weights by deceit.
The first euill thought is a thought of disgrace, which some way tendeth to the reproach, and debasing of our neighbours good name; as when a thing is well done, to thinke & iudge it to bee ill done, or when a thing is a misse to iudge it worse then it is: Thus Elie thought disgracefullie of Hannah deeming her to bee dronke, saying,q1. 8. am. 1. 13 14. put away thy dronkennes, when shee prayed deuoutly from arv. 15. troubled soule to the Lord; Thus Eliab Dauids eldest brother thought disgracefullie of Dauid, when he shewed himselfe willing to encounter with Golyah that reuiled the hoast of the liuing God saying; s1. Sam. 17. 28I know the pride and mallice of thine heart that thou art come to see the Battell, when as indeede the spirit of God put that motion into his heart to take away the shame from Israell, as the happie euent declared plainly. So when our sauiour Christ spake most comfortably to the sicke of the Palsie, saying,tMath. 9. 2 be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiuen thee; then the cursed hearts of the wicked Pharisies thought thus in themselues, u this man blasphemeth. v. 4.And when the gift of the holie Ghost, was sent vponupon the Apostles, causing them to speake strange tounges to the great admiration of men of diuers nations, then some of the malicious Iewes thought they were dronke, saying scoffingly, they were full of newe wine. vAct. 2. 13.And this thought of disgrace is in eueryevery man naturally bringing forth continually the fruits of disgrace, as Enuie, Strife, Emulations, Dissentions, and Debates: for louelove thinketh not euill; but naturally true louelove is wanting in all men: and therfore they cannot but thinke euill of others.
We see the fiue euill thoughts of mans naturall heart against his neighbour; touching which two things are yet further to bee skanned, to wit, when these euill thoughtes doe arise in the minde; and in whome they are. For the first: it is true, that they doe not at all times arise in mens mindes, but then onelyonly when occasion is giuen, at which time they arise so soone as it is giuen: for mans heart is like to tinder, or drie wood, which burneth not of it selfe, but so soone as fire is put to it, then presently it kindleth. When you come to talke with a naturall man, it may be for the present, hee thinketh not to lie; but giuegive him occasion to lie, and then hee soone bethinkes himselfe therof & will not spare to vtter it if it may make for his aduantage. And the like wee may say of malice, Adulterie, Theft, disgrace or any other sinne against our neighbour: Doe but minister occasion there about to the naturall heart of man, & he thinketh of them, and without Gods grace restraining, or renuing him, will bring forth the same in action.
The second point. In whom are all these euill thoughts? Answ. In all men naturallie without exception, till they be renewed by Gods speciall grace: Yea the truth is, these thoughts doe eueryevery where abound; for looke what men doe practise, that first of all they thinke, for the thought is the beginning of eueryevery action; But in the worlde all sins against the second Table, doe abound, as the practise of Dishonour, of Murther, Adulterie, Thefts, and Disgraces, and therefore these euill thoughts from whence these actions come, must needes be common.
Vse. By this wee may see what a huge masse of corruption the naturall heart of man is, without gods special grace; for thoughts of dishonour make a mans heart a pallace of prid like the table of Adoni-bezek: Also thoughts of crueltie make mans heart a slaughterhouse: Thoughts of Adulterie make it a most filthie stewes: Thoughts of theft make it to become a denne of theeues, wherein all manner of fraud, and bad dealing is plotted & devised: And lastly thoughts of Disgrace make… it a fountaine of backbyting, debate, slander, and reuiling: And therfore howsoeuer the outward life may be ordered ciuillie, yet without Gods grace mans heart is most vile: And those that pleade their good nature, and good meaning, are heere confuted, for naturally the heart, thinkes all euill against his neighbour.