The Sinfulness of Evil Thoughts, Treatise · Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Ot the ſeverall kinds of Deliberate Thoughts.
BUT here beloved, before I begin, I muſt forewarn you not to expect any pleaſant ſight, I am not about to raiſe up a Samuel, but a more horrid Ghoſt, and if you come but to gaze and behold, I may ſay to you, as our Saviour concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderneſſe to ſee? A reed ſhaken with the wind? (ſuch is the thought) but would it were no worſe, But what come ye out to ſee, a man clothed in ſoft raiment? or come ye to ſee a Prophet? no but a man clothed with filthy raiment, as Joſua was, and no prophet neither, but an impoſtor. Yea I may ſay as David to Saul, What are we come into this wilderneſſe to look after, a 1 Sam. 24. 14. and 26. 20.Dead dog (or ſtinking carrion, yea that we are and worſe for its noiſomeneſſe) or a flea, or Partridge for their mobility, and nimbleneſſe? Yea I ſhall dig through the wall, and repreſent you with the uglieſt ſight of Ezek. 8. 12.fouleſt ſins in the chambers of imagery; and worſe then that. Turn again and you ſhall ſee the pale horſe, and he that ſat upon him, Rev. 6. 8.whoſe name is death, and Hell following after him: yea once more, turne again, and yea ſhall ſee yet worſe, The bottomeleſſe pit opened, and the ſmoak thereof aſcending as the ſmoak of a furnace, darkening the air, Rev. 9. 12.and ſwarmes of noiſom multiformed locuſts covering the earth.
Had we been to ſpeak of good thoughts, they had been a pleaſant ſubject of diſcourſe, a pleaſant object to behold, like Aſhers cup, or cupbord, affording royall dainties, Gen. 49. 20.A garden of Eden they had been for God to walk in, a fair upper Room furniſht for Chriſt to feaſt in, an heard of Deer of moſt Savoury meat. Theſe are the dry places where the unclean ſpirit can find no reſt. But I am leading you into an uncouth wilderneſſe, now I am to ſpeak of thoughts; yea among mooriſh places, and ſlime pits, now I am about to ſpeak of evil thoughts; yea I muſt bring you among a heard of filthy Swine, or to the mountains of Lyons, and dens of Leopardes, or into the Country of Savages, more cruell then Cannibals, more terrible then Anakims. It is not the pleaſant gate of the fountain that I am ſet to work at, or the wall of the healing poople of Siloam by the Kings garden, as they in Neh. 3. 15. But my charge and lot is, to work at the dung gate. Neh. 3. 14. and to ſet up the doores thereof, the lockes thereof, and the bars thereof. Good thoughts are not eaſily reduced into order; What ſhall we then do with bad? Which are ſo mutinous, numerous, various, intricate, reſtleſſe, violent, moveable, uncertain, and obſcure: So mutinous, as that not content to obey Moſes and Aaron, the captains the Lord hath ſet over them, the law and prophets, or the law and Goſpel, they riſe up in Armes, and ſay, let us break his bondes aſunder, and caſt away all cordes of ſubjection from us, and make us a Captain to bring us into Egypt. So numerous as that it may be ſaid Jud. 6. 5.of them as of the camp of the Midianites, which came up as Graſhoppers for multitude, they and their camells were without number, they devour all before them, and leave no green thing growing: Or like the army of Gog and Magog, whoſe number is as the fand of the ſea, Rev. 20. Their name may well be Legion they are ſo many, and Legio fulminatrix, a Thundring Legion, they are ſo dreadfull and irreſiſtible; And ſo various and divers, that thoſe creatures, Ezek. 1. with four faces a piece, are not ſo hard to deſcribe, and thoſe multiformed locuſts out of the Bottomleſſe pit, mentioned Revel. 9. 7, 8. are not ſo horrid and monſtrous as theſe, who have the ſame King ſet over them, the Angel of the bottomleſſe pit, whoſe name is Apollyon, Abaddon, or Deſtroyer. So Intricate, and inexplicable and ſo cloſe together, as the ſcales of Leviathan ſtick not cloſer, and thoſe wheeles within other wheeles, were not more impacted, involved, and undiſcernable. So reſtleſſe, as the water out of the Ezek. 1.fountain is not more continually flowing; and ſo violent withall, as the land-floud waters are not hurried down the ſteepeſt hills with like impetuouſneſſe and raging fury. And ſo ſwift and moveable, as Aſahels Roe-like ſwiftneſſe, and Jonathans Eaglelike 2 Sam. 2. 18. 2 Sam. 1. 23.fleetneſſe, are nothing to their motion, and velocity, yea the ſuns ſwiftneſſe, which in twelve hours courſeth from Eaſt to Weſt, and in one hours ſpace is ſaid to run 1038442 miles is, not ſo ſwift as the motion of the thought which in one moment paſſeth from Eaſt to Weſt, yea from Heaven to Hell.
It is hard charging at a galloping enemy, or aiming at a flying bird, yet I do not doubt ere I have done to tell you what is done in the King of Syrias bed-chamber, by certain conjecture out of the word, and as Jonathan with his Armor-bearer, by the Aſſiſtance of God, to diſcover our ſelves, and make an eſſay upon the Garriſon of theſe uncircumciſed; and my humble prayer is that it may be with like ſucceſſe of the Apoſtle, who did not beat the ayre, but by the mighty weapons of his ſpirituall and miniſterial warfare did batter down thoſe ſtrong holdes, and caſt down imaginations, till every thought be reduced to the obedience of Jeſus Chriſt, 2 Cor. 10. 4.
Again, they are ſo uncertain and fallacious, that to thoſe four things which the wiſe man confeſſed were too wonderfull for him, that he knew not what to ſay of them, the way of an Eagle in the air, of a ſhip in the ſea, Pro. 30. 19.a Serpent on a Rock, &c. we may adde this fifth, the motion and turning of this Serpent (the evil thought) in the Rocky heart.
And ſo obſcure they be, as thoſe armies which in Gideons time once for feare of the Midianites, and in Sauls again for fear of the Philiſtines, had hid themſelves and their proviſion, in holes, and pits and caves, lay not ſo much out of ſight, as do theſe evil thoughts, which harbor and ſecure themſelves in theſe deepes and caves of the heart. How hard a task then have I undertaken, yet I muſt go on, and ſhall firſt marſhall theſe into three Rankes; and give you to deſcry three flying bands of rovers like 1 Sam. 13. 17.thoſe of the Philiſtines, and they have three ſeverall colours or enſignes, referring to God, 2 man, 3 our ſelves.