Note, 1. The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart, and judges them. We mistake if we imagine that thoughts are
free. No, they are under the divine cognizance, and therefore under the
divine command. 2. We ought to be observers of the thoughts and intents
of our own hearts, and to judge of ourselves by them; for they are the
first-born of the soul, that have most of its image undisguised. Right
thoughts are a righteous man's best evidences, as nothing more
certainly proves a man wicked than wicked contrivances and designs. A
good man may have in his mind bad suggestions, but he does not indulge
them and harbour them till they are ripened into bad projects and
resolutions. 3. It is a man's honour to mean honestly, and to have his
thoughts right, though a word or action may be misplaced, or mistimed,
or at least misinterpreted. But it is a man's shame to lie always at
catch, to act with deceit, with trick and design, not only with a long
reach, but with an overreach.