that are naturally weaker, have by long Ufe, and many Trials, obtained a greater Power over their Thoughts than others. Again, the fame Perfons, that, at fone times, have a greater Power over the Motions of their Minds, may, at other times, have a lefs Command over them; and this according as their Health, or their Bufinefs, or a hundred Contingencies of outward Things do affect them. So that all that can be done, as to this Matter, is to lay down fome general Propofitions which every Body is to apply to himfelf, as there is Occafion. And Five of this kind I have to offer, and which, I think, will take in all, or the greatest Part of what belongs to this Argu

ment.

The First Propofition I lay down is this, That the firft Motions of our Minds are very little, if at all, in our Power.

By the First Motions of our Minds, I mean thofe fudden Thoughts, or Apprehenfions, or Paffions, or Defires, which are excited in our Minds, by any Object, that is at that Time. prefented to our Imagination: As to thefe, I fay, we are not fo much Mafters of ourfelves as to be able to ftop them; nay, though, perhaps, they be very irregular. And the Reafon is, because they are produced fo quick, that there is not Time enough given for Reafon to interpofe.

There is no neceffity, indeed, that a Man fhould give Confent to thefe Motions; but as for their coming into his Mind, he can no more help it, than he can help his prefent Temper, or the prefent Circumftances he is ingaged in.

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Thus for Inftance; Do you think it poffible for a Man that is of a Fiery Paffionate Temper, to avoid the feeling a fudden Resentment of Anger arifing in his Mind, if he meets with any unexpected Affront, or other great Provocation? Or for a Man that defires to be well thought of, not to entertain fome Vanity of Imagination, when he hears himself commended or flatter'd? Or for a Man that is addicted to Pleasures, not to feel fome irregular Inclinations in himself towards the gratifying his Appetites in thofe Things, when he hath all the Temptations before him? And thus in all other Cafes.

I grant, indeed, that a Man by long Confideration, and a ferious exercifing himself in the Ways of Vertue and Piety, may bring himself to that Temper, that he shall not have fo many irregular, undecent Motions in his own. Mind, upon any Occafion whatfoever, as he was wont to have; and that thofe that were formerly Temptations to him, will at last be none: But ftill I fay, the firft Motions and Workings of his Mind, however they be occafioned, are in a great Measure out of his Power; he cannot ftop them; and therefore the Art of governing his Thoughts, doth not lie there.

The Second Propofition I lay down is this, When a Man's Mind is vigorously affected and poffeffed, either with the outward Objects of Senfe, or with the inward Paffions of any kind, in that Cafe he hath little or no Command of his Thoughts; his Mind at that Time will be in a manner wholly taken up with that it is then full of: nor will be able, till those Im

preffions

preffions be worn off, to think freely of what he pleaseth.

Thus for Inftance, When a Man is under a fharp tormenting Pain; as he cannot avoid the feeling of that Pain, fo neither can he avoid the thinking of it. When one is full of Grief, for the Lofs of a dear Relation; or transported with Paffion, for fome unworthy Ufage he hath met with it is in vain to fay, Pray think not of thefe Matters; for thefe Things muft, and will, in a great measure, imploy his Thoughts, till his Paffions do cool, and the Impreffions that caused them be vanished.

Thus, for a Man to come from fome Bufinefs in which he is more than ordinarily concerned; or from the hearing fome very good or very bad News: I fay, to come fresh from this to the faying his Prayers; I do not, I cannot wonder, that in this Cafe his Mind will be much upon his Bufinefs, or his News, notwithftanding all his Endeavours to the contrary.

For the Nature of Man is fuch, that he cannot fo on a sudden, turn his Mind from one Buf ness to another; but that if he did closely and vigorously apply himself to the firft Business, his Thoughts will for fome Time run upon it, even after he hath applied his Mind to the other.

I do not deny, but that a Man may often fo order his Affairs, as to be able to keep his Mind clear and free from fuch Prepoffeffions as I am now speaking of, so as that when he comes to apply himself to any Bufinefs he hath a mind to, he may intend it with his whole Might. But this I fay, If our Minds be once engaged with warm Thoughts about any Thing; it is

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very hard, if not impoffible, to get them dif engaged on a fudden. So that the Art of Governing our Thoughts doth not much lie in that neither.

Thirdly, There are fome Cafes likewife, where a Man's Thoughts are in a manner forced upon him, from the prefent Temper and Indifpofition of his Body. So that though he be in no Paffion, though there be no unufual Objects of Senfe that excite thofe Thoughts in him; nay, tho' he never fo much refolve not to think upon thofe Things; yet fo long as that Habit of Body lafts, he cannot avoid thofe kind of Thoughts; So that in this Cafe alfo, there is little room left for the Government of Thoughts.

That which I now fay, happens frequently, not only in all Sorts of Diftempers where the Brain is vifibly difturbed, as in Fevers, and the like; which often caufe a Thoufand delirious. Fancies, and fometimes down-right Madness and Diftraction: but alfo in other Cafes where there feems to be no Fever, or other visible Diftemper; nor doth the Brain, as to other Matters, feem to be at all diforder'd; but the Perfons, in all appearance, are found both in Body and Mind.

And this is the Cafe of fome deeply Hypochondriac Perfons; many of which will be haunted with a Set of Thoughts and Fancies, that they can by no Means get rid of, though they defire it never fo earnestly.

Sometimes they cannot get it out of their Heads, but that they are Atheists and Infidels, they neither believe in God nor in Jefus Chrift, nor have any Senfe at all of Religion.

Some

Sometimes they are tormented with Blafphemous Thoughts, and they cannot set themfelves to the Performance of any Office of Devotion, but a Thousand impious Fancies will come in and fpoil all.

Sometimes they fancy they are guilty of fe veral grievous Crimes, which, it is to be hoped, it was hardly poffible they fhould be guilty of; nay, you cannot convince them, but that they do every Day commit fome of these Crimes, because they imagine they give confent to them.

And whilft thefe Sorts of Thoughts fill their Imaginations, there is not a Paffage in the Bible that they read, nor a Sermon that they hear, but they find something in it, which they do fo perverfly apply to their own Cafe, as thereby to increase their Trouble, but not to get any Relief.

I have known feveral well-difpofed Perfons, and some of them fincerely Pious, that have been in this Condition.

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What now is to be faid to this? Why, it is very certain that all these Thoughts and Fancies are thrust upon them, and are not the free, natural, voluntary Operations of their own Minds; but the Effects of Vapours or Hypochon driac Melancholy. Nor can the Perfons themfelves any more help their thus Thinking, or Fancying, than they can help the Disturbances of their Dreams, when they have a Mind to fleep quietly. Indeed, we may properly enough call thefe Fancies of theirs, their waking Dreams; as their Dreams are their fleeping Fancies.

Well, but now of all Perfons whatsoever, these People are most defirous to have Rules Dd 2 given