3. Envy. It is a sin that feeds upon the mind, 1 Sam. xviii. 9. Those songs of the women that Saul had slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands, they ran in Saul's mind, therefore he hated David. Envy is an evil disease, that dwclleth in the heart, and be- wrays itself mostly in thoughts.
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4. Pride. Either pride in the desires or pride in the mind, either vainglory or self-conceit ; this is entertaining our hearts with whispers of vanity : therefore it is said, Luke i. 51. 'He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.' Proud men are full of imagina- tions.
5. Covetousness, which is nothing but vain musings and exercises of their heart : 2 Peter ii. 14, ' A heart they have, exercised with covetous jiractices.' And it withdraws the heart in the very time of God's worship : Ezek. xxxiii. 31, ' Their heart goeth after their covet- ousness.'
6. Distrust is another thing which usually takes up our thoughts, distracting motions against God's providence.
Thirdly, Upon what grounds we are to make conscience of our thoughts ?
1. Because they are irregularities contrary to the law of God. It is said, Ps. xix. 7, ' The law of God is pure, converting the soul' The law of God differs herein from the laws of men. The commands of the greatest and most mighty potentates upon earth can go no further than the regulating of the conversation, for that is all they can take account of ; but the law of God reacheth to the motions of the inward man, and to the reducing of our thoughts to the obedience of God ; for God hath a tribunal in the heart and conscience, he searcheth and trieth the reins, knows all our thoughts afar off, and therefore it is proper to him to give laws to our thoughts.
2. God hath declared much of his displeasure against them. The devil's sin, for which he was cast out of heaven, was a sin of thought, an aspiring thought, possibly against the imperial dignity of God. And so great were his judgments upon men, that he doth not so much take notice of outward acts as of inward thoughts ; therefore, Gen. vi. 5, he threatened the old world for the imagination of the thoughts of their hearts. We look to the stream, but God looks to the fountain. Acts are hateful to men, because liable to their cognisance ; so Jer. vi. 19, ' I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.' Nay, in God's process at the last day, wdien God comes to judge the world, it is said, ' The secrets of their hearts shall be made manifest,' 1 Cor. iv. 5. Men's inward debates, counsels, reasonings, and thoughts, they shall be brought into the judgment.
3. Make conscience of thoughts, because among all sins thoughts are most considerable, and that in these respects : —
[1.] In respect of the subject. They are the sins of the highest part of man, the mind, which is the leading part of the soul. The errors and irregularities of the lower part of the soul are not so con- siderable as the counsels, debates, reasonings, principles that we are seasoned and guided by : Rom. viii. 7, ' The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God.' That which should be the guide to man, his wisdom, puts him upon opposition. If sensual appetite were only in the fault, it were not so much,
[2.] From their nature. They are the immediate issues of the soul, the first-born of original corruption. The free acts of the heart do discover more of the temper of -it than words and actions that are
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more remote. A man may be known by bis thoughts, but not so much known by his words and actions, for words and actions may be overruled by by-ends and restraints of fear and shame. Men may spealc not as they would, do not as they would, but think as they would. To curry favour with others, a man may refrain his tongue, and do some unpleasing actions, or may profess opinions contrary to his own mind ; but inward thoughts, being the immediate birtlis of the soul, very much discover the temper of the man. Hereby you may take the best measure of your spirits. A gracious man is full of gracious thoughts, and a wicked man full of wicked thoughts : Prov. xii. 5, ' The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.' Our thoughts we can best judge by, being the purest offspring of the mind, and the freest from restraint : Isa. xxxii. 8, ' The liberal man deviseth liberal things.' The unclean man is devising unclean things, the earthly man is always talking with himself about building, j^lanting, trading ; these things take up his mind. You cannot judge of a fountain by the current of water at a distance, six or seven miles off ; it may receive a tincture from the channel through wdiich it passeth ; but just at the fountain where it bubbles up, there you can judge of the quality, whether sweet or bitter water : so you cannot judge of the soul by things that are more remote, and where by-ends may interpose: Mat. xv. 19, ' Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,' &e. Evil thoughts come first ; other things come from the heart, but not so immediately ; therefore, thoughts being so considerable, we should make conscience of them.