The Sinfulness & Cure of Thoughts

By: Stephen Charnock

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In The Sinfulness and Cure of Evil Thoughts, Puritan theologian Stephen Charnock (1628–1680) offers a penetrating diagnosis of the human mind and heart before God. Far from treating sin as merely external behavior, Charnock exposes the inward corruption of thought itself—the hidden loves, rationalizations, and self-deceptions that shape belief, worship, and moral life.

Best known for The Existence and Attributes of God, Charnock here applies the same rigor to practical theology. He shows that evil thoughts are not morally neutral impulses but deliberate movements of the will, rooted in unbelief and disordered love. Left untreated, they corrupt worship, distort doctrine, and harden the soul against God’s clear revelation in creation and Scripture.

Yet Charnock does not stop at diagnosis. He sets forth the cure: repentance, mortification of sin, renewed affections, and union with Christ. True reform, he insists, must reach the thoughts themselves, restoring the mind to seek, love, and worship God as He has revealed Himself.

This classic essay remains strikingly relevant in an age that excuses inward corruption while obsessing over outward performance. It is essential reading for pastors, theologians, students of philosophy of religion, and all who wish to understand the spiritual roots of unbelief and hypocrisy.