clination or Temptation thereto, to do all thofe things he thinks of with fo much Joy. Could the angry revengeful Perfon, whofe Mind boils and ferments with inward Spleen and Rage, by a With or Thought, with as little Danger, and as fecure from all knowledg of other Men, or the least fufpicion of being found out, kill or wound, or mischief his Enemy, as he can defign it in his Mind; do you believe he would fpare any of his Adverfaries? Could the greedy Wretch as fecretly get the poffeffion of his Neighbour's Goods, as he can covet them; could he actually cheat and over-reach, and it were no more poffible for him to be difcover'd, than it is for Men to know his Thoughts; I doubt not but every fuch Perfon would foon actually invade and ufurp all those things he now fwallows in his Imagination or greedy Appetite only. But farther:

(2.) As to what is past, there is reciting and repeating over those Sins in our Thoughts and Fancies, which we had long before committed, and perhaps, as to the external Acts, quite forfaken. When we revive our stolen unlawful Pleasures in our Memories, and run over in our Minds all the Paffages and Circumstances of our Sins long fince committed, with a new and fresh delight; this is much the fame as if we liv'd continually in them. As Men often think of their dead Friends, and reprefent to themselves their Features, their Converfations, and divert themselves with the Remembrance of that Pleafure they once enjoy'd in their good

Difcourfe and Company, tho they have lain many years rotting in their Graves: or as good Men with mighty fatisfaction reflect upon the Actions of a well-fpent Life, recalling to their Minds with great Joy and Transport, what at any time they have well done; after the fame manner do wicked Men as it were raise again, by the Witchcraft of their filthy Imaginations, their past Sins, renew their Acquaintance with them, and Approbation of them; when weak and impotent, difabled by Poverty, Age, want of Convenience or Opportunity for the repeated Commission of them, they poffefs the Sins of their Youth, and place them ever before them, chewing upon the Cud, recounting over to themselves their Merry-bouts, their mad Pranks, their wanton Dalliances, their leud Exceffes, their wicked Company, with the fame Contentment almost as they firft acted or enjoyed them. And thus their Souls fin ftill as much as ever, altho yet as to the outward Act they may be, thro Age, Poverty, want of Ability or Opportunity, chafte, temperate, and fober. This is certain, we cannot be truly faid to have forfaken or repented of thofe Sins, the remembrance of which is grateful to us. To think of our evil Ways with Grief and Shame, and to abhor them, is our Duty; but to relish them in our Thoughts, is ftill to approve of them: it is a fure fign that we have not really difowned or renounced the Sin in our Judgments, tho we may have left it for fome accidental Reafon; and that we are ftill very good Friends

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Friends with it, if we can allow our felves to think of it with Pleasure and Delight. (3.) If we confider evil Thoughts with refpect to the time to come. The fpeculative Wickedness of Mens Fancies and Imaginations fhews it self in the wild and extravagant Suppofitions they make to themselves, feigning themfelves to be what they would fain be, and then imagining in their Minds what in fuch Circumftances they would do, how they would manage and demean themselves. God only knows how much time Men fool away in fuch childish Conceits, of becoming, God knows when, great, and rich, and honourable; and how bravely they would then live, how they would please every Appetite and Humour, fulfil every Defire, have their Will in all things, and enjoy perfect Eafe and Content. Now this is the work of a mean idle Fancy, when we thus frame to our felves imaginary Models of Happiness, creating Fools Paradifes to our felves, building Castles in the Air, and then vainly strutting up and down, and sporting our felves in them. What Preferments and Advancements, what. Succefs and profperous Fortune do fome Men, efpecially young Men that know but little in the World, promise to themselves? What jolly Thoughts do fuch falfe Romantick Hopes often fill them with? How do they make their Spirits leap and caper within them, as if the Messenger were jult now at the Door to bring them tidings of it? How do their Thoughts go out to meet that Pleasure and Happiness they fo much

defire?

defire? How do they please themselves with the Fancies of those Mountains of Gold, with those strange chimerical Ideas of Blifs, which yet they are never like to be poffeffed of? like those Good-fellows the Prophet Ifaiah fpeaks of, Ifa.56.12. Come ye, fay they, I will fetch Wine, and we will fill our felves with ftrong Drink, and to-morrow fhall be as this day, and much more abundant. They feed and live upon the Promises of their own Hearts and Thoughts beforehand; and as one hath well expreffed this Vanity, They take up before-hand in their thoughts upon truft the Pleasures they hope to enjoy, as Spend-thrifts do their Rents, or Heirs their Revenues, before they come of full Age to enjoy them.

Very few Men are fatisfied with their prcfent Allotments, or like their prefent Fortune; and therefore they fet their Imaginations on work to mend it, and please and gratify themfelves with thefe filly Impostures of their teeming Fancies. "Well, fays the impatient Youth, "when my Parents are once dead and gone "to Heaven, and my time of being fubject "to Masters, Tutors and Guardians, fhall be "once happily expired, and I fhall be free from "the Restraint of the Grave and Wife, how "brisk and frolickfom fhall I then be? how

merry will the Days be, how short the "Nights, when I fhall fin without fear of an "angry Look, or a fevere Check, please only my felf, give no account to any ?" Thus his Heart and Mind is debauched long before

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his Body is entred: and fo the admirer of Honour and worldly Dignity cuts out for himself. that Place at Court, or that Office which he affects moft, and then fettles himself in all the Magnificence and Pomp imaginable, fanfying himself highly raised and exalted above other Men; all his Neighbours and former Acquaintance crouding to attend and wait on his Pleafure, and all their Sheaves bowing down to his Sheaf, as Jofeph dreamt, and the Sun, Moon and Stars making their humble Obeyfance to him. Thefe are the firft fort of evil Thoughts, leud or wicked, or trifling and uselefs Imaginations. I fhall but just mention fome other; as,

2. Unworthy, Atheistical, profane, defperate Thoughts of God Almighty, faying in our Hearts there is no God; either fecretly deny-. ing there is any, or too often wishing there were none; questioning his Power and Goodnefs, diftrufting his Truth or Faithfulness.. How Should God know? or is there Knowledg in the Moft High? can be judg thro the dark Cloud? bidding him depart from us, for we defire not the knowledg of his Ways. What is the Almighty that we should ferve him? and what Profit Should we have, if we pray to him? What can he do for us, to recompenfe the trouble of his Service? what Advantage will it be to me, if I be cleanfed from my Sin? "Here is a deal of doe and buftle made about "Confcience and Religion; I will e'en ven66 ture my felf, as I fec a thoufand others do