SER M. but no man knows what he fhall think to-morrow; CXXXIV. but this God knows, for he knows us more inti mately and thoroughly than we do ourselves; "GOD is greater than our hearts, and knows all "things," John iii. 20. And though the scripture had not revealed this fo plainly, yet we had not been wholly ignorant of it 5 it is a principle implanted in us, and born with us, as being part of that natural notion which men have of God; the reason of our minds tell us, that God knows our hearts; and the fears and jealoufies of our minds are an evidence of it. (ft.) The reafon of every man's mind tells him, that the fupreme being, whom we call Gon, is endowed with all perfection, and among his other perfections, that he excels in knowledge;" and to the perfection of knowledge it is required, that it extends itself to all objects, and that nothing be exempted from it. The knowledge of God in respect of all objects, is like the fun in refpect of this lower world, "nothing is hid from the light of it." We have naturally this apprehenfion of GoD, that he is an immense being, every where present, that he intimately penetrates all places and things, and confequently that he is prefent to our fpirits, and fees all the motions of our minds, and difcerns the very fecrets of our hearts; and there can be no fuch thing as fecrecy and retirement from an eye that is every where, and a knowledge that pierceth into all things. And to convince us that these are the dictates of natural reafon, without the help and assistance of divine revelation, we fhall find that the heathens, who had only the advantage of natural light, were firmly poffeft with this apprehenfion, that God knows the hearts of men. This may be fufficiently collected from CXXXIV. from the frequent fayings of the wifer heathens to SERM. Compofitum jus fafque animi, fan&tofque receffus be juft and honeft, and the plaineft facrifice "will please him." Now from hence, that they judged the purity of our hearts and thoughts, and an honeft difpofition of mind, to be most acceptable to their gods, we may certainly conclude, that they did most firmly believe that God knows the fecrets of mens hearts; otherwise there had been no need for men to endeavour to recommend themselves this way to the divine acceptance. But we need not argue this by confequence; there are many exprefs paffages in their writings, which do fufficiently fignify their belief of this principle. Thales, one of their moft ancient philofophers, being afked, "if any juft man could conceal himself from "GOD?" he answered," he cannot fo much as hide “from him the very thoughts and design of it." Socrates (as Xenophon tells us) was wont to inculcate this principle upon his fcholars, that "the gods "know all things, what we fay, and what we do, " and CXXXIV. SERM." and what we think in filence." To the same purpose Arrian in his differtations upon Epictetus, laying down the principles of a virtuous life, “first of all, "faith he, we must learn this, that there is a God who "takes care of the world, and that there is nothing "hid from him, not only what we do, but not fo "much as what we think and design." So likewise Tully in his book of laws, "let every man be firmly perfuaded of this, that the gods fee what every "man is, and with what mind and devotion they "ferve them :" I will add but one teftimony more, and that is of Seneca in his epiftles: Nihil Deo claufum eft, intereft animis noftris, & cogitationibus mediis intervenit, "we can keep nothing clofe from "God, for he is prefent to our minds, and intimate "to our thoughts;" fo that you fee this principle is deeply rooted in the minds of men, and that men do naturally reason themselves into it. (2.) The natural fears of men are likewise a fecret acknowledgment of this; and I take this to be a great truth, that a man's natural actions, and fuch as happen upon surprise and without deliberation, are a better argument of the intimate fenfe of our minds, and do more truly discover what lies at the bottom of our hearts, and what notions are natural to us, than our contrived and deliberate difcourfe. If I fee a man upon the fudden fight of a ferpent recoil and ftart back, though he tell me never fo often that he is not afraid, yet I am fufficiently convinced of the contrary, because I fee in his countenance and carriage a natural acknowledgment of fear and danger; fo if men find that upon the defigning of à fecret wickednefs, which never went further than their own hearts, their consciences do fting and lash them, that they have a sense of guilt, and feel inward frights and CXXXIV. and horrors, whatever they may fay to the contrary, SER M. Scelus intra fe tacitum qui cogitat ullum, "He that meditates any fecret wickedness in his 2. That to have a perfect and thorough knowledge of mens hearts, is the peculiar prerogative of GOD. This is implied in the answer to that queftion," who can know the heart of man? Jer. xvii. 10. "I the LORD fearch the heart, and try the "reins;" this is the prerogative of GOD, and one of his chief titles, that he is xapdioyvans, a knower of the heart, 1 Kings viii. 39. "Thou, even thou on ly knoweft the hearts of all the children of men.' Men may make a probable conjecture at the thoughts and defigns of others, from their words and actions; but God only knows them. Men are conscious to their own thoughts and purposes; "the spirit of a "man that is in him, knows the things of a man ;' but they cannot fee into the fecrets of another man's mind; 'tis GOD alone that knows the hearts of all men; the heart of a man is a privileged place, and the fecret and inward workings of it are not fubject The lito the cognizance of any but God alone. mits of human knowledge are the outward appearances of actions: 1 Sam. xvi. 1 Sam. xvi. 7. "The LORD feeth "not as man feeth; for man looketh on the out "ward CXXXIV. SERM. "ward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart;" our knowledge is but fuperficial, and glides upon the outfide and furface of things, but the divine knowledge pierceth to the very center of every thing. Now the darkest place, the most inward retirement, the privateft closet in the whole world; is the heart of man, and this GOD only is privy to; Deus auctor omnium & fpeculator omnium, à quo nihil fecretum effe poteft, tenebris intereft, intereft & cogitationibus noftris quafi alteris tenebris, faith Min. Fœlix, "GOD made all things, and fees all things, and therefore nothing can be fecret from " him; he is present in darkness, and he is present to the thoughts of men, which are as it were "another and a thicker darkness." The devil indeed pretends to this knowledge; he would take upon him to know the integrity of Job's heart better than God himself; and that notwithstanding the testimony which God gave of his integrity, yet if he were but foundly tried by affliction, he would renounce GoD, and curfe him to his face but the event proved how groundless and malicious this fuggeftion was. But there is a far greater difficulty in this matter, from the paffages of fome divines concerning the devil's immediate accefs to the minds of men, and his power to caft wicked thoughts into them; which feems by confequence to grant him fome knowledge of mens hearts; for by the fame reafon that he can imprint thoughts upon mens minds, he may fee those that are imprinted there. That the devil is a very fagacious fpirit, and can make very fhrewd conjectures at the bent and inclination of mens minds, and the probable workings of our thoughts, from a general knowledge and obfervation |