Thoughts and Their Fruit

“TUE FRUIT OP TITEIR THOUGHTS.” — Jer. vi. 19.

Do you observe here, my brethren, how God declares that he would not only punish Israel for gross, overt acts of sin, but that he would also bring upon the nation terrible chastisements for her thoughts? — a solemn warning, full of instruction to us.

It has almost passed into a proverb, that “thought is free.” Whether this is true or false, an axiom or a solecism, must depend on the sphere in which thought moves. It is true in the sense of thought being free before men, since none of us can judge our neighbor’s thoughts, nor have we any right to attempt the task. Religious opinion, for instance, is not a thing of which the law can justly take cognizance. As far as the civil government is concerned, whether a man’s sentiments be those of a Christian or an idolater, a Catholic, a Protestant, or a Mormonite, he is entitled to all civil rights. Be he who he may, he is oppressed if he be deprived of his liberty, or of any privilege, because of his opinions. Be he who he may, he is injured if any one sect be rendered dominant, or be supported by a forced taxation drawn from the whole. Thought must be free, and it shall be, by God’s help, perfectly free as between man and man: we will never cease to wage war until it is so. Whatever tyrants may decree, they have never yet been able to stop the progress of opinion. Though they have crowded all their prisons, and worn out their racks, they have never been able to turn a gracious man from a truth which he has embraced, nor, I may add, have they been able to confirm a wavering man in the frdsehood which they have tried to thrust upon him. Thought, in that s(!nse, is free by natural right.

Yet there is another side to the same question, bj’ reason of which we are bound to make this solemn protect — thought is not free from before God. I have no more authority to think of God as I please, than I have to act before him as I please; in either case the charge of licentiousness would lay against me; for the God who is supreme over fhe outward actions of my body, is likewise the only Lord and Governor of the inward motions of my spirit. All the provinces of the little isle of Man belong to God, the great Governor. Over body, soul and spirit, he is Legislator and Lord.

That thought in this sense is not free is to be proved very clearly, /“or some of the commandmeyits of God contained in the decalogue particxdarly relate to thought; such, for instance, as, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife,” and so on. That command is clearly, particularly, and peculiarly one relating to thought; God’s law, therefore, takes cognizance of thought. Moreover, we know that inspiration has taught us in the one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm, that the liord is constantly watching our thoughts. He knows them before they are known to us. “Thou understandest my thought afar off.” To what end, think ye, does God watch our thoughts, but ^Tth this view, to bring us into judgment at the last great day, for every idle word, and for every idle imagination and thought of our hearts? And, my brethren, we have it upon record that God not only puts the law to work upon our thoughts, and watches our thoughts, but that he is also angry on account of evil thoughts. Need I remind you of those remarkable words in the 6th chapter of Genesis: “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil contimiahy, And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved liiin at his heart.” Do not, tliere-Core, make light of evil thoughts. If your conscience be awaKen-d, truly awakened, you never will A steeled and scared c’>nscience may look i;pon them with indifference; those whose hearts are not right towards God, may sneer at the idea of any evil consequence coming from what they simply turn over in their minds; but if you have a tender heart, if God has been pleased to take the horniness and callousness from off your conscience, and to make it sensitive, you will say at once, “Oh, save my soul from base and wicked thoughts!” Then may your emotion be like that of David when he said, “Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”

That thoughts are of the utmost importance, may likewise be inferred from the fact that God makes them here the groutid of jyunishing his peojde. He speaks of the fruit ol their thoughts. That which bears fruit must need have some ulterior importance. The thought in itself may not be a very great thing, but what will it come to? It may be even a very little thing, but what will be the end thereof? Thoughts of evil are in themseloes evil thoughts. It is questionaVtle whether we can even read the report of our neighbor’s sin without producing some sinful thoughts in ourselves. It is debateable whether a person can have much to do with speaking or hearing of the offences of others, without in some degree defiling himself; for as pilcli sticks, and soot and things black and dirty, defile one by the slightest contact, so doth sin in any shape defile by passing over the mind. Touched by the hand it might scarcely leave any discernible mark behind; but there is a distinct impression left upon the mind; so that every picture of evil which passes through the soul, remains there to do that soul injury. The thought of evil is in itself sin.

And, what is more, the thought of evil paralyzes tM finer facxdties of the soul The more we think of sin and become familiar with it, the less tei’rible does it become to our apprehension. I am sure this is the result when men habituate their reveries to any form of evil. Could the minds of men who have become murderers be analyzed, I doubt not it would be found that they had been a long time in schooling themselves to the commission of the horrible crime. They have thought upon it, meditated and deliberatcl about it, until at last it has seemed to them but a mere trifle and then they have gone forth to do it without misgiving.

I do not believe that a man becomes a villain all at once. He puts his soul to school, his thoughts are his teachers, or rather they are the school-books in which his soul reads; and at last he becomes capable of transacting the deeds of a scoundrel. If you think long upon any sin, the chances are that, as soon as the temptation to that sin comes, you will commit it. I have known persons produce a monomania by constant brooding upon one object. I did once know a man who was constantly apprehensive that he was being poisoned by people; and I always stood in trepidation for that man, lest he should poison himself. If you will harbor the thought — if you will ruminate on any sin, turn it over, and advise with it on your pillow; your affability will disarm your fear; and the traitor you have harbored will betray you before your suspicions are aroused. Beware, then, of all thoughts of sin. If you show a thief all the locks and bolts and bars in your house, and tell him how the cellar-window could be opened, or the back-door lock be made to give way, do not be surprised if, one of these nights, you should find all your goods stolen. If you introduce these evil thoughts into your habitation, you cannot wonder at the consequence, however startled your friendi may be at the detection.

It IS certain that tlioxights are the eggs of sin. These are the embryos out of which sins spring — the spaw n from which every form of iniquity is developed. We hear sometimes of fever-hiirs and pest-dens. Evil thoughts are just hese. They are the jungles where the monsters of sin multiply and fatten. Thoughts of sin are dark woods harf/uring all kinds of evil; they are birds of prey destroying all sorts of good.

Therefore, as God takes cognizance of our thoughts, let as be mindful of the responsibility they entail upon us. Let us no longer despise them, but look into the nuilsery where they are reared, and begin to search our hearts, and to judge ourselves as in the sight of Ilim that searcheth the reins.

I. Bad thoughts and their fruit exhibit a very large variety. I shall, however, but refer you to the 20th chapter of the Book of Exodus, where the Ten Commandmenta will help us to a list of thoughts, all of which are horribly mischievous.

The first command which God gives to us is: — “Thou shalt have no other gods before J/ti.” That is, in fact, “Thou shalt have no other God but Me,” since God is everywhere. This precept is easily broken in the thoughts. If 1 say to myself, “This is God’s law, but the contrary action will be most to my profit,” then I make myself, or my money, my God. If on any occasion I say within myself, “I clearly perceive that I ought not to indulge in that sin, but then it will give me great pleasure;” should I still indulge in it, then I make pleasure ray God — that is to say, myself. I worship myself instead of God. This is a sin the essence of which must lie in the thoughts, in the judgment, in the afiections. You need not make an image of gold, or of wood, and bow down before it. You can become a thorough-paced idolater in the temple of your heart by ofibring homage to your own self-will.

The second commandment contains a further prohibi-Lion, “Thou shall not tnalxC to thyself any graven imaged nml so ou. That is, “Thou sliult not worship God under anjsymbol; thou shalt not worship God through any symbol;” or, in spirit, “Thou shalt not worship God in any way wliioJi God has not commanded;” “Thou shalt not invent to llivself methods and modes of worship, but thou shalt do as God commands thee.” Now, we can very easily, in owx thoughts, fabricate an image. This is what we most of us do. We say and think that God is altogether such a one as we are; and, having formed to ourselves an idea of God, we bow down before ?7, and say, “These be thy gods, O Israel!” Brethren, you may be as much an idolater by worshipping a god whom your fancy has made as by worshipping a bhpek of stone. That incomprehensible One, who has prochiiined himself in Scripture according to the mysterious attributes of his Being, and has further revealed himself in the person of the Lord Jesus so sweetly and gloriously — this is the God we must worship. We must not make a god but take the God whom the Scripture i-eveals. We are not to fashion in our thoughts a God such as we should like him to be — a God who is pure benevolence, but who has no justice; but we must take the God of Scripture — grandly stern, severely dreadful in his wrath, while he is unbounded in his compassion, and is ever gracious and full of mercy. We must acknowledge the God of the Bible, and not make a deity to ourselves, or else in our thoughts we have broken the divine law, and the fruit of that thought will be, thai we shall be idolaters, and sin will be laid at our door.

The third command, as you will clearly perceive, ca?i b broken without saying a word: —” Thou shalt not take th( name of the Lord thy God in vain Light thoughts of G;>d, irreverence of soul towards him, is a violation of ihis solemn interdict. You have but to think lightly of his name, and you have blasphemed it. Before your month has been opened to utter the rash expression, the rebelliouii thought is a jirofanation of the Most High.

As for the law of the Sabbath in the fourth command, which binds oui- race, that is readily enough violated by us all. Do not suppose that you are a keeper of the Sabbath because you do no work with your hands; you are just as guilty if you work with your brain. You are to rest on that day from all your own works. Do as much as you please for God on that day, but your mind should lay aside its care. You must not bring your shop here; you might almost as well stop at home and carry on trade. You must not bring your secular burdens into the house of God. Nay, my brethren, leave them at the door, and ask God’s grace that you may rise this day from all these things, and give your heart and mind entirely to the worship of hira who has sanctified the day unto himself. You see, then, that this command may readily be broken without any overt act, and the breach destroys the validity of the Sabbath to you. It yields you no comfortable rest while your mind is toiling, and tugging, and straining about a thousand troubles and difficulties; but if you kept the command in your spirit it would be a sweet and blessed rest to you.

We turn now to the second table, the commands which i-elate to men,” Honor thy father and thy mother’’ Ah! when we were children, and since then, unkind and unhallowed thoughts of our parents have been quite sufficient to convict us of ofience against this law. Without a disobedient action, without a rebellious word, the child in thought may be a rebel to his parents.

“Thou shall not kill;” but Christ tells us that “he that is angry with his brother without cause is a murderer already;” so that thought can slay and kill, and, indeed, it is the angry thought that lays the foundation of the deadly stroke. There would be no murdering and slaying if there were no enmity. Men would not march to slay each other, surely, or waylay their hapless victims, and do desperate deeds of violence, unless first of all their souls were set on fire of helL “Thou shall not commit adultery.’’^ Little will I say on this; but here is the Lord’s own exposition of it — “He that looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Fornication may thua abound in us to our defilement and our souls’ ruin, even though we may still be kept back by fear, mayhap, from the commission of the evil deed. Beware, then, thou who canstgloat upon evil; thou who canst suck the forbidden sweet behind the door; thou who canst roll the sweet morsel lw der thy tongue; beware lest thou have thy yportion with those who fall into the sin. I say not that the thought of the sin is as bad as the sin itself; it cannot be so, certainly, in its result to others, but still it is a sin, and a sin to be answered for in that tremendous day, when the Judge of all the earth shall allot their portions unto men.

“Thou shall not steaV^ Every envious thought of another man, every desire to possess myself of what is r.ot mine; every thing of this sort in which I would grasp that which does not belong to me, is a constructive theft. The thief does not so much steal when he puts out his hand to take his neighbor’s purse, as in the thought which led him to do it, for the hand may sometimes take the purse, without offence — it may be to protect the property of one who is disabled and incapable of guarding it himself. Such a thing is supposable that one man might take another’s purse legitimately, and have a right so to do. It is not the act, but the motive when he deliberately ventures to take that which is not his own, and would possess himself of his neighbor’s goods to his neighbor’s injury — this constitutes the very virus and soul of the theft.

“TJiou shall not hear false icitness against thy neighbor.^ If I think hardly of my neighbor without a cause; if I conceive an unjust prejudice against him; if I look coldly upon him when he really does not deserve it; if I make up my mind out of some whim or fancy that lie is a bad fellow, and shrug my shoulders, and I know not what besides, Ibongh I have never said a word, yet still in thoiiglil I liavo borne false witness against my neighbor. Above all things, brethren, do avoid that slioulder-shrugging. It is au abomination! We sometimes see it in company. Ah! they will not dare to say what it means — the cowards 1 You might suppose that a man against whom it is directed “ba.. killed his mother if you liked, for you are sure to suppose the worst. Do be brave enough, if the charge must be spoken, to speak it; and if it must not be spoken, well then do not say it in that mysterious language which may eftectu-Blly ruin a man in the estimation of others. Avoid any false witnessing in your thoughts, and you will not bear it in your words.

To the last precept of the catalogue I have already rC’ ferred: 16 is especially a thought-command.” Thou shalt not covet.’*’’ All greedy desires which make us wish to get our neighbors’ goods to the injury of others are sins, and the fruits of such thoughts are guilt, punishment, and the wrath to come.

Let me now conduct you a step further, to another set of evil thoughts, which could not be very easily comprised in my outline of the decalogue.

There are self-rujhteous thoughts — the supposition that we are not so sinful as God says we are, the conceit that we may, perhaps, work oxirselves out of our difficulties, and force our way to heaven. Now, the fruit of such a thought as this will be amazement in the day when God will strip us of our self-righteousness, and make us stand naked, to our eternal shame. Beware of self-righteous thoughts, my hearers! They are the Tarpeian rock from which Satan has hurled thousands of souls. It were better for you that a mill-stone were fastened about your neck, and that you were cast into the midst of the sea, than that you shoidd thank God that you are not as other men, when after all you are as corrupt as other men, and will perish as they did, Self-righteousness keeps you from coming to Christ, and certainly it excludes you from eternal life, and will close the gates of heaven against you. God deliver us from the fruit ol’ such thoughts!

Then, again, proud boastful vain-fflorwics, self-seeking thoughts are alike obnoxious. How highly some people think of themselves! You can see it in their gait, and their speech bewrayeth them. Yet their wine is all froth, and their gold is counterfeit. Their speech, when they begin to tell of what they have, and what they can do, and what they did do upon such and such occasions — all this is an abomination to honest men; but their thoughts must be very abominable to God. It is one of the things which he says he hates — “a proud look.” God grant us grace to be rid of every proud thought, for we have nothing to be proud of. A proud man is nothing but a wind-bag, and when either the ills of life or the crisis of death shall put a pin into it, what a collapse there will be, how the haughty one will discover himself to be nothing but emptiness and vanity! Get rid of proud thoughts, for, oh! what will they hot do? Pride dragged an angel from heaven, and made a devil of him, and pride would drag any of us down to the level of t’le devil if we fall into its snare.

Another set of thoughts, more common still and i ot much decried, are murmuring thoughts. Ah me! how i ill some people are of these! They can hardly sjoeak but v. hat they have something to grumble about. Trade with them is always bad. Ever since I have been in London trade lias been bad, but it is even worse now. It never was so bad as it is now, except that it was just as bad last year; and, as far a3 I know, has always been at the worst. Farmers never have, to the best of my recollection, had more than “an average crop,” and most years thei’e has been a failure. If the wheat has been good, the tuniii)s have always gone ba or something. I notice murmuring to be a very commoi. thing with many y)eople, and you no sooner sit down in tluir cottage than, instead of telling you that some one has b<jen ther to help them a little and give them some assistance, they snv they have only the parish allowance — a miserable pittaTice! So it is; but they forget the mercies that they have. Why should I be always telling how often I have rheumatic pains, and how many times I find that there is something wrong with my constitution? Why should I make it my constant habit to compel everybody to be miserable wherever 1 go? “Well,” says one, “but you know we cannot help it!” ‘My dear friend, then if you do not help it I will tell you what will be the fruit of it — you loill make yourselves incorriyihly miserable. You will bring yourselves into a desperate state, in which nothing will comfort you. I do believe that in this respect we are very much our own masters. Not all the bounties of Providence can make us happy, if we have a thanklessjungrateful heart. You may have all that the world can give you, and yet be wretched; or you may be very, very poor, and yet be cheerful. A thankful heart is essential, and, oh! may God be pleased to give ns that thankful heart! But what I want you to remember is that murmuring is a great sin. They murmured against God in the wilderness, and He sent fiery serpents among them. God thinks much of our complaints against his providential dealings with us; let us not think so little of the sin of provoking Him with our thoughts.

How prone we are likewise to cherish unbelieving tJwughts. Oh! that we were all rid of these, but I sup^ose if I went r.’und these galleries I should find in every pew somebody who has unbelieving thoughts. We fancy that God will forsake us; that Providence will turn against us. We get like old Jacob, when he said, “Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and now ye will take Benjamin away; all these tliirgs are against me;” whereas everything is working for us, only we cannot see it. Begone, unbelief, for the fruit of unbelieving thoughts is weakness, sorrow, rebellion agauist God, and I know not what else of rash* ness and presumption. God save us from these ilioufflits.

Procrastinating thoughts have been the fruitful source of mischief to full many of you. You have good tliougliLs and good iHisolves, but you always put these things oft”, and think that better times will come for leaving off your sins and seeking to Christ; albeit you are making a fearful wate of time, and running a perilous risk, and it is to be dreade<l that your souls will be lost at the last.

Others of us have to comjDlain of viandering thougJits when we are worshipping God, and the fruit of these is to spoil the golden seasons, which, well used, might yield great profit. Oftentimes when the service has been fitted enough to minister refrcslmient and instruction, and others have been nourished by the word, some poor soul goes out and says, “I have not enjoyed it at all.” Why, of course not, foi your thoughts have been elsewhere. These are the birds that come down upon the saciifice; if, like Abraham, wo drive them away, we shall be able to worship in peace; but if not, the fruit of wandering thoughts in the house of God is that the service is spoiled. So too in the clocot, whether ostensibly engaged in private devotion, or the reading of Scripture, unless the thoughts be centred upon the enbject in hand, there can be no spiritual gain in drawing near unto God.

II. For a few minutes nowletusthinkof])righter things, while I mention a fkw good thoughts and theik FKU^r,

“Of which,” says an apostle, “we cannot now sp pak particularly,” when he had a long list and a short s])ace: io 1 must say now. If you would have good fruit in your sovl, cultivate humble thoughts. No man was ever injuved by having too lowly a view of himself. The best definition of humility I ever heard was this — “To think rightly of our-Kelves.” To think of ourselves as below the standard is meanness; to think of ourselves above the standard is pride; but to form a right estimation of ourselves is true humility. Avoid the counterfeit which is in the world — that is mock humility. Be ^^’^^y humble. Have low thought of yourselves, especially Leforo God. Poiiitexit thoughts oV sin, humble views with regard to Divine grace, and a close account of your own responsibility are indispensable; so you ^’ill find that humility will sweep out the chamber of your soul, and prepare it for the incoming of the Great Prince.

Cultivate very much forgiving thoughts towards your fdlow-men. Never be hard to be persuaded to pardon an olVfcjice. He that taketh his brother by the throat will be sure to be taken by the throat himself. Evil for evil, it is said, is beast-like; good for good is man-like; evil for good is devil-like; but good for evil is God-like. Try to do it, and if any thing can make the bells ring in your heart, it will be to forgive one who has very greatly avd wantonly injured you. The worse the offence, if you can overlook it, the greater will be your own joy, and the better proof will you have that you are a child of God.

Go to bed each night, and wake up each morning w ith admiring thoughts of God’s goodness, and with adoring thoughts towards God’s greatness. You will find these thoughts to be like bees, that will come home to you laden with honey. Let your soul be a hive of them. Worship the Lord Think much of him. Let every blessing you receive make you think of him. Do not come to the table and hurriedly offer what we call “grace,” because it is the custom to do so, and then have done with thanks, but let your soul really see God’s hand in every thing that is on the table. Wa need not fear worldly thoughts if we were to sanctify these worldly blessings. Said one — “The road on which I tread makes me think of Christ — the way. The door through which I pass makes me think of Christ — the door. I cinnot handle money but what I think that I am not ray own, but bought with a price. I do not receipt a bill without recol Icctiug that he has blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against me. I cannot talk to my fellow-man, and receive my answer, without thinking how I talk wit! God, and how he answers me.” In such manner with man; s tl)()ughts of God, you will find the fruit of hfavcnly-mind* edness in your spirit. Angels will go to and fro between you and the courts of the Most High, if you have many of these admiring and adoring thoughts of God.

Tlianhfal thoughts are well deserving your high encouiagement. Get a cage full of these birds of paradise, autl let them fly about in the groves of your soul, and sing there at all times. There is no better companion than cheerful gratitude. If a man can but see the mercy of God in evei’y thing, instead of looking always at the black side of the picture, he will be happy indeed. The fruit of thankful thoughts will be summer in his soul, even when the winds of winter rage outside. Cultivate thankful thoughts as you cultivate sweet flowers in your garden.

Yet again dear friends, get many and abundant helieV’ ing thoughts. When thou canst not see thy way, still trust in thy Lord. Believe in him. Though every thing should give the lie to the promise, still believe the promise to be true.

Abound much in thoughts of submission to God. Every morning exercise such thoughts. Put thy soul into God’s hand that he may deal with thee according to his will all the day; and each night, when thou reviewest the day, thank God for it all, whatever it may have been, knowing that it must be good, nay, must be best if God has ordered it.

I will finally say — seek, believer, to have many longing thoughts after Christ. Have longing thoughts to be with hira where he is. Let Christ have thy best thoughts — the cream of them. Let hira have the first growth of your spirit. Be with him in waking and ask for “a morning without clouds.” Say to him in the evening — “Abide with us, for the day is far spent.” And if you lie awake at night, still seek to have some precious thought of Christ, like a wafer made with honey, to put under your tongue. Oh! we can bring heav- en down to earth if we can take our thoughts up to heaven.

If tliouglils be the wings, and the spirit be the win J, we will fly away to the celestial Paradise. We cannot climb to Pisgah’s top and stand on Nebo, and look to the promised land except in our thoughts, but our thoughts can take us to

“Jerusalem the golden.
With milk and honey blest.”

Tfiought can introduce us to the apostles and martyrs. Thought can wrap us in white robes, and put crowns upon our brow. Thought can learn the music of the spheres, and unite in the everlasting song. Thought can enter into fellowship with God, and make us lie in Jesus’ bosom.

Be much, then, in such thoughts as these, and may the fruit of your thoughts be such as God himself may delight in, to JesuB Christ’s praise. Amen.