The Sinfulness of Evil Thoughts, Treatise · Chapter 20
CHAP. XX. Of reaſonings and Irrationall thoughts.
VVEE ſhall joyne together ſome more kinds of thoughts in this chapter, whereof the firſt are a company of objecting, and diſputing thoughts and Reaſonings, as they are called, 2 Cor. 10. 5. Which foreign.ſeem to have much to ſay for themſelves to make a man wiſe above or againſt what is written. Theſe are ſtrong holds hardly thrown down. Do all things without murmuring Phil. 2. 14.and diſputing, eſpecially with God. Chriſt Jeſus loves the Curriſta better then the quariſta, or quaeriſta, as Luther ſaid wittily, he loves ſuch as can go and run, rather then ſuch as ask, why and wherefore. Where is the wiſe, and ſcribe, and diſputer of this world? Saith the Apoſtle, he may have Philoſophi haereticorum Patriarchae. Quid Athenis & Hieroſolimis? Quid Academiae & Eccleſiae; Tert. Cedat curioſitas fidei, cedat gloria ſaluti. Nihil ultra regulam ſcire eſt …mnia ſcire. Idem.the higheſt place in the Schooles and the loweſt in the Church. Too much learning and carnall reaſon makes …ad Chriſtians. Nothing endangers Divinity more then Philoſophy: where reaſon Ends, there Religion begins, and where ſenſe ſees leaſt, faith ſees moſt. We may diſpute away all our faith, all our hopes, all our comforts, and all our obedience too. It is not reaſon by which we ſtand but faith, 2 Cor. 1. 24. Had Abraham begun to reaſon he had renounced his faith, had he conſulted with fleſh and bloud he had renounced his obedience. His Logick was, God hath promiſed, therefore it muſt be true; And his Ethickes were, God hath commanded, therefore it muſt be good. And before this faith, mountaines became plains, impoſſibilities became eaſy. God is able to performe what he promiſed, and before this obedience the hardeſt command is as eaſy as the leaſt. An Implicit faith and blind obedience in this caſe, is the higheſt perfection of a Chriſtian. Who is blind as he that is perfect? Eſ. 42. 19. But on the other ſide, when we will exalt Num. 11.reaſon and put out our queſtions, How ſhall this be? As Moſes, when the Lord ſaid he would give a months proviſion of fleſh to ſo numerous an hoſt in the wilderneſſe, thought it was too much for omnipotency to undertake. Sarah, how ſhall a child be Gen 18. 13. Lu. 1. 18.borne of one that is ſo old? Zachary the like, when a child was promiſed him by the Angell Gabriell, their reaſon nonpluſt their faith, they diſhonoured and diſpleaſed God, and ſhew us how deſtructive to beleeving theſe reaſonings are. This the grand Anti-Chriſt in the ſoul, that oppoſeth and exalteth himſelf above all that is called God, or Gods revealed will. This the enemy of faith, obedience, ſecurity and confidence. This reaſon the mother of all the evils that peſter both the ſoules of men and the Church of God, mother of unbelief Scepticiſme, Irreſolution and ſinfull toleration, mother of pride, diſſenſions, diſobedience and violent impoſitions and perſecutions, mother of hereſies, ſchiſme, ſeperations, mother of Atheiſme, Arrianiſme, Antiſcripturiſm, Arminianiſm, and Socinianiſm. Certainly I ſhould never beleeve and worſhip the Trinity, beleeve the incarnation of the ſon of God, Juſtification by faith without Melius eſt Idiotas & parum ſcientes exiſtere, quam putare multum ſcire & multa expertos in Deum ſuum blaſphemos inveniri. Irenae. ad. Her.the works of the Law, nor the reſurrection of the dead, if I ſhould conſult with fleſh and bloud, and not hold that in divine myſteries, Ipſe dixit is above all arguments and authorities, and Scriptum eſt above Probatum eſt.
The higheſt point in all Chriſtianity is ſelf denyal, and the higheſt point of ſelf denyal, is to deny our own reaſon in the things of God, and in plain Engliſh, to learn to be fooles, that we may be wiſe, 1 Cor. 3. 18.
The great conqueror is he who hath overcome himſelfe, and the firſt conqueſt of ſelf is when Reaſon hath conquered ſenſe and bruitiſh Appetite, this is the Morall mans conqueſt, the higheſt that the Heathen could go. The ſecond is, when conſcience hath ſubdued reaſon, this the conqueſt of the Chriſtian. But there is a Third, which is the higheſt pitch of Chriſtianity, when the word and the knowledge of Chriſt have ſubdued ſenſe, reaſon, and conſcience; Then is ſoule, body, ſenſe, reaſon, will, conſcience all made an Holocauſt, and preſented to God to be an acceptable ſacrifice and a reaſonable ſervice. Reaſon unſanctified is a blind guide that leades the ſoule into a thouſand bywayes, among a thouſand Precipices. The Athenians reaſon diſputed away the Reſurrection; The Arminians diſputes away the Grace of God, The Socinian diſputes away the Deity of Chriſt, The Papiſt, the merits of Chriſt, Juſtification by faith, and the ſecond command of the Decalogue: In ſhort, let reaſon rule the matter, and we ſhall have never a command left in the Decalogue, and never an Article left in the Creed. Therefore the Goſpel hath ever been troubled more with Scollars, then with other men. And the Lord hath ever found more to do with the wiſe, then the babe and ſimple one. Mat. 11. 25.
It is the foreign, The wiſdome of the fleſh which is enmity to God. Ro. 8. 7. and it is not foreign, but foreign, not the fooliſhneſſe, but the wiſdome of the world 1. Cor: 3. 19.which is folly with God. Solomon ſaith, the fooliſhneſſe of fooles is folly; that is, with men. Pro. 14. 24. But the Apoſtle ſaith, the wiſdom of the wiſe is folly with God, foreign foreign. 1 Cor. 1. 19. Yea foreign, Ro. 1. 21.Their foreign, and their foreign. The wiſe, the ſcribe, the Sophy, the Prudent. The man who is foreign animalis, all ſoul and 1. Cor. 3. 19.reaſon, yea their underſtanding, ratiocinations, 1. Cor. 2. 14.craftineſſe, are all nothing but plain foolliſhneſſe, or enmity, and oppoſition to God. He cannot take things upon truſt by an Implicite faith from God, as the beleever doth, who beleeveth, not becauſe things promiſed are agreeable to reaſon, or probable, or poſſible, but becauſe the Lord hath ſaid it. Nor can he obey God with blind obedience, as Abraham did, who knew not whether God would call him, and faith and obedience would carry him, but he went when the Heb. 11. 8.Lord commanded, not knowing whither he went, but he was ſure he was in the way of faith and obedience.
2. And if reaſonings be ſo bad, what ſhall we ſay to ſuch thoughts as are without reaſon, Brutiſh, childiſh, fooliſh, irrational? Among the evils found in the heart, fooliſhneſſe is one mentioned by our Saviour, Mar. 7. 22. And the diſeaſe of the Gentiles, Rom. 1. 21. was a fooliſh heart, a darkened underſtanding, full of vain imaginations: If it be the weakneſſe of childhood to have much folly bound up in the heart, needing the rod of correction to drive it out, what a ſhame is it for thoſe who are paſt children to have folly and madneſſe bound up in the heart, which no rod of correction, or words of inſtruction can drive out? Bewaile thy vain, frivolous, fruitleſſe, childiſh and unſavoury thoughts, Domitian the Emperor would pretend to be ſerious ſometimes, and therefore muſt be private, but they who ſtood at the door, could peep in and ſpy him running after flies to catch them, which begat that anſwer, who is within with the Emperor in his private chamber? ne muſca quidem? no body, not ſo much as a fly. Oh if our hearts were looked into often, might not we be found as Idle in our imaginations, catching flies, weaving cobwebs, and if it were asked, who is within in our hearts? we might anſwer no body, not a thought worth a fly. The Scripture brands all the wiſe men of the world for a pack of fooles, and ſcores up their wiſdome for ſtark fooliſhneſſe, as I ſaid before, 1 Cor. 3. 19. and if the wiſdome of the wiſe be folly, what is the fooliſhneſſe of the fooles but folly in graine. Every man is brutiſh in his knowledge, Jer. 10. 14. and 51. 17. What is he then beneath a bruit in his Ignorance, or inconſiderateneſſe. Holy and wiſe Agur bewailes his own brutiſhneſſe, Pro. 30. 2, 3. Surely I am more brutiſh than a man, and have not the underſtanding of a man, I have neither learned wiſdome, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Oh what cauſe have moſt men with bluſhing and ſhame, to bewail the ſillineſs and unſavourineſſe of multitudes of our thoughts day after day?
3. What ſhall we do with a company of Wild, wandring, Impertinent thoughts.wild, wandering, impertinent thoughts, where ſhall we commit, and ſhut up thoſe vagabonds, or how ſhall we ſhut them out rather? The priſoners are too many for the keepers, as at the battle of Agincourt it was with the Engliſh: we have not bands nor fetters enough to hold them. Let them go, as they come, ſtay them not, what wild wandring thoughts have we in hearing, wanderings in meditation (when moſt ſerious) wanderings even in prayer, and while we are looking here and there, after this and that vain thought, the man is loſt (as it was in the Prophets parable) The heart which we are charged with to keep with all 1 King. 20. 40.keeping, is loſt in the croud, and we know not where to ſeek it.
Wee might adde to theſe vain thoughts (but of them we ſhall ſpeak under the third head hereafter) and of ſinfull, unadviſed paſſionate wiſhes, as that a Jonah: would I Jon. 4.were dead; or that of Iſrael, would God we had died in Egypt, would God we had died in the wilderneſſe. This was their old note upon any diſcontent and their raſh wiſhes Num. 14. 2. 28.came home to them to their coſt—Theſe were not like thoſe ſerious, and humble, and pious, and charitable wiſhes that you find in others of the Saints, as Num. 11. 29. Joſh. 7. 7. Pſal. 119. 5. Act. 26. 29.
But I ſhall onelyonly adde one ſhort chapter of the hypocritical thought, and ſo conclude this firſt head of evil thoughts relating to God.