PROV. iv. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the iffues of life.

T

HE heart of man is his worst part before it be regene

rate, and the best afterwards: it is the feat of principles, and fountain of actions. The eye of God is, and the eye of the Chriftian ought to be, principally fixed

upon it.

The greateft difficulty in converfion, is, to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after converfion, is to keep the heart with God. Here lies the very pinch and stress of religion; here is that which makes the way to life a narrow way, and the gate to heaven a ftrait gate. Direction and help in this great work, are the scope and fum of this text: where in we have,

1. An exhortation, "Keep thy heart with all diligence." 2. The reafon, or motive enforcing it, "For out of it are "the iffues of life."

In the exhortation I fhall confider,

1. The matter of the duty.

2. The manner of performing it.

1. The matter of the duty, keep thy heart. Heart is not here taken properly for that noble part of the body which philofophers call the primum vivens, et ultimum moriens; the firft that lives, and the last that dies; but by heart, in a metaphor, the fcripture fometimes understands fome particular noble faculty of the foul: in Rom. i. 21. it is put for the underftanding part, their foolish heart, (i. e.) "their foolish under"ftanding was darkened." And Pfalm cxix. 11. it is put for the memory, "Thy word have I hid in my heart;" and i John iii. 10. it is put for the confcience, which hath in it both the light of the understanding and the recognitions of the memory: if our heart condemn us, (i. c.) if our confcience, whose proper office it is to condemn. But here we are to take it more generally for the whole foul, or inner man; for look what the heart is to the body, that the foul is to the man; and what health is to the heart, that holiness is to the foul: Quod

fanitas in corpore id fanctita's in corde. The state of the whole body depends upon the foundness and vigour of the heart, and the everlasting state of the whole man upon the good or ill. condition of the foul.

And by keeping the heart, understand the diligent and confant ufe and improvement of all holy means and duties, to preferve the foul from fin, and maintain its fweet and free communion with God. * Lavater, on the place, will have the word taken from a befieged garrison, begirt by many enemies without, and in danger of being betrayed by treacherous citi zens within, in which danger the foldiers, upon pain of death, are commanded to watch; and whereas the exprellion (keep thy heart seems to put it upon us as our work, yet it doth not imply a fufficiency or ability in us to do it; we are as able to ftop the fun in its courfe, or make the rivers run backward, as by our own skill and power to rule and order our hearts: we may as well be our own faviours, as our own keepers; and yet Solomon fpeaks properly enough, when he faith, keep thy heart; because the duty is ours, though the power be God's. A natural man hath no power, a gracious mani hath some, though not sufficient; and that power he hath, depends upon the exciting and affifting ftrength of Chrift; Gratia gratiam poftulat, grace within us is beholden to grace without us, John xv. 5. Without me ye can do nothing." So much of the matter of the duty.

2. The manner of performing it is, with all diligence ; the Hebrew is very emphatical, Cum omni cuftodia, keep with all keeping, q. d. keep, keep; fet double guards, your hearts will be gone elfe. And this vehemency of expreffis on, with which the duty is urged, plainly implies how difficult it is to keep our hearts, and how dangerous to let them go.

3. The reafon, or motive quickening to this duty, is very forcible and weighty: "For out of it are the iffues of life." That is, it is the fource and fountain of all vital actions and operations; Hinc fons boni et peccandi origo, faith Jerom; it is the spring and original both of good and evil, as the fpring in

*I fay conftant, for the reafon added in the text extends the duty to all the states and conditions of a Christian's life, and makes it bind ad femper: If the heart must be kept because out of it are the iffies of life; then as long as these iffues of life do flow out of it, we are obliged to keep it.

VOL VIL

כבל כשמר +

a watch that fets all the wheels in motion. The heart is the treafury, the hand and tongue but the fhops, what is in these, comes from thence; the hand and tongue always begin where the heart ends. The heart contrives, and the members execute; Luke vi. 45. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things; "for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaketh." So then, if the heart err in its work, these must needs miscarry in theirs; for heart-errors are like the errors of the first concoction, which cannot be rectified afterwards: Or like the misplacing, and inverting of the ftamps and letters in the prefs, which muft needs caufe fo many errata in all the copies that are printed off. O then, how important a duty is that which is contained in the following proposition ?

Doct. That the keeping, and right managing of the heart in every condition, is the great business of a Chriftian's life.

What the philofopher faith of waters, is as properly applicable to hearts; Suis terminis difficile continentur, it is hard to keep them within any bounds: God hath fet bounds and limits to them, yet how frequently do they tranfgrefs, not only the bounds of grace and religion, but even of reafon and common honesty? Hic labor hoc opus eft; this is that which affords the Christian matter of labour, fear and trembling to his dyingday. It is not the cleansing of the hand that makes the Chriftian, for many a hypocrite can fhew as fair a hand as he; but the purifying, watching, and right ordering of the heart; this is the thing that provokes fo many fad complaints, and cofts fo many deep groans and brinish tears. It was the pride of Hezekiah's heart that made him lie in the duft mourning before the Lord, 2 Chron. xxxii. 26. It was the fear of hypocrify invading the heart, that made David cry, "Let my heart be "found in thy ftatutes, that I be not afhamed," Pfalm cxix. 80. It was the fad experience he had of the divifions and distractions of his own heart, in the fervice of God, that made him pour out that prayer, Pfalm lxxxvi. 11. "Unite my heart

to fear thy name."

The method in which I fhall improve the point, fhall be *this,

.

First, I fhall enquire what the keeping of the heart fuppofes and imports.

Secondly, Affign divers reafons, why Chriftians must make this the great work and business of their lives.

Thirdly, Point at those special seasons which especially call for this diligence in keeping the heart.

Fourthly, and lastly, Apply the whole in feveral uses. 1. What the keeping of the heart fuppofes and imports. To keep the heart, neceffarily fuppofes a previous work of fanctification, which hath fet the heart right, by giving it a new spiritual bent and inclination; for as long as the heart is not fet right by grace, as to its habitual frame, no duties or means can keep it right with God. Self is the poife of the unfanc tified heart, which biaffes and moves it in all its designs and actions; and as long as it is fo, it is impoffible that any external means fhould keep it with God.

Man, by creation, was of one conftant, uniform frame and tenour of spirit, held one ftraight and even course; not one thought or faculty revelled or difordered; his mind had a perfect illumination to understand and know the will of God, his will a perfect compliance therewith; his fenfitive appetite, and o ther inferior powers, stood in a moft obedient fubordination.

Man, by degeneration, is become a moft difordered and rebellious creature, contefting with, and oppofing his Maker, as the first caufe, by felf-dependence; as the chiefeft good, by felf-love; as the higheft Lord, by felf-will, and as the laft end, by felf-feeking; and fo is quite difordered, and all his acts irregular: His illuminated understanding is clouded with ignorance, his complying will full of rebellion and ftubbornefs; his fubordinate powers, cafting off the dominion and government of the fuperior faculties.

But by regeneration this difordered foul is fet right again; fanctification being the rectifying and due framing, or, as the fcripture phrases it, the renovation of the foul after the image' of God, Eph. iv. 24. in which, felf-dependence is removed by faith; felf-love, by the love of God; felf-will, by fubjection and obedience to the will of God; and self-seeking by felf-denial. The darkened understanding is again illuminated, Eph. i. 18. the refractory will sweetly subdued, Pfalm cx. 3. the rebellious appetite, or concupifcence gradually conquered, Rom. vi. 7. per tot. And thus the foul which fin had univerfally depraved is again by grace reftored and rectified.

This being pre-fuppofed, it will not be difficult to apprehend, what it is to keep the heart, which is nothing else but the conftant care and diligence of fuch a renewed man, to preferve his foul in that holy frame to which grace hath reduced it, and daily ftrives to hold it.

For, though grace hath, in a great measure, rectified the foul, and given it an habitual and heavenly temper; yet fin often ac tually difcompofes it again: so that even a gracious heart is like a musical instrument, which, though it be never fo exactly tuned, a fmall matter brings it out of tune again; yea, hang it afide but a little, and it will need fetting again, before you can play another leffon on it; even fo ftands the cafe with gracious hearts; if they are in frame in one duty, yet how dull, dead, and difordered when they come to another? And there fore every duty needs a particular preparation of the heart, Job xi. 13. "If thou prepare thine heart, and ftretch out thine

hands towards him." Well then, to keep the heart, is care fully to preferve it from fin, which diforders it; and maintain that spiritual and gracious frame, which fits it for a life of communion with God. And this includes these fix acts in it:

1. Frequent obfervation of the frame of the heart, turning in and examining how the cafe ftands with it, this is one part of the work. Carnal and formal perfons take no heed to this, they cannot be brought to confer with their own hearts; there are fome men and women that have lived forty or fifty years in the world, and have fcarce had one hour's difcourfe with their own hearts all that while; It is a hard thing to bring a man and himself together upon fuch an account; but faints know thofe foliloquies and felf-conferences to be of excellent ufe and advantage. The heathen could fay, anima fedendo et quiefcendo fit fapiens, the foul is made wife by fitting ftill in quietnefs; though bankrupts care not to look into their books of accompt, yet upright hearts will know whether they go backward or forward, Pfalm lxxvii. 6. "I commune with mine own heart." The heart can never be kept, until its cafe be examined and understood.

2. It includes deep humiliation for heart-evils and diforders;. thus Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, 2 Chron, xxxii. 26. Thus the people were ordered to fpread forth their hands to God in prayer, in a sense of the plague of their own hearts, 1 Kings viii. 38. Upon this account many an upright heart hath been laid low before God: O what an heart have I? They have in their confeffions pointed at the heart, the pained place; Lord, here is the wound, bere is the plague-fore. It is with the heart well kept, as it is with the eye, which is a fit emblem of it, if a small duft get into the eye, it will never leave twinkling and watering till it have wept it out: So the upright heart cannot be at reft till it have wept out its troubles, and poured out its complaints before the Lord.