Part 4
if I did but value the name of Christ, as much as many awick edmanvalues his own name,I could never endure to fee itexposedtofuch contempt ! Willproudduft and ashes venture death, yea, hell, rather than ablot upon their names ? And shall I venture nothing to salvethe honourand reputation of Christ?
2. Dare I violate my conscience to fave my flesh? Who Shall comfort me when conscience wounds me ? What comfort is there in life, liberty, or friends, whenpeaceis takenawayfromthe inner man ? When Conftantius threatened to cutoff Samofatenus'sright-hand, if he would not subscribe somewhat that was against his conscience, heheldupbothhis hands to the messenger that was sent, saying, he shall cut off both, rather than I will do it: Farewel all peace, joy, and comfort, from that day forward. " Had Zimripeace, that flew his "master?" said Jezebel. So say I here, had Judaspeace ?Had Spira peace? And shall you have peace, ifyoutread in their
3. Is not the public interest of Christ and religion, infinitely more than any private interest of my own? It is a famous passage,'that of Terentius,captain to Adrian the emperor, he presentedapetitionto Adrian, that the Christians might have a temple by themselves, to worship God apart from the Arians : The emperor tore his petition, and threw it away, bidding him to ask something for himself, and it should be granted. But he modestly gathered up the pieces of his petition again, and told him, If he couldnotbeheard in God's cause, he would never ask anything for himself." Yea, even Tully, though an heathen, couldfay, Ne immortalitatemquidem contra rempublicam ; he would not accept even of immortality itself, against the commonwealth. O if we had more public, we should not have such cowardly spirits !
4. Did Jesus Chriftferve mesa, when,for my sake, he exposed himself to far greater sufferings than can be, before me? His sufferings were great indeed, he suffered from all hands, in all his offices, in every member, notonlyinhis body, but in his soul ; yea, the sufferings of his soul were the very foul of his sufferings : Witness the bloody sweat in the garden; witness that heart-melting, and heaven-rending outeryupon the cross, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And yet he flinched not, "he endured the "cross, despising the shame." Alas! what are my sufferings, compared with Christ's ? He hath drank up all that vinegar
How to keep the Heart from Backsliding. 85 andgallthatwould makemyfufferings bitter. When one of the martyrs was asked why he was so merry at his death ? O, faidhe, it is because the soul of Christ was soheavyathisdeath. Did Christ bear such a burden for me, with unbroken patience, andconftancy ; and shall I shrink back from momentary, and lightafflictions, for him ?
5. Is not eternal life worth the suffering of a moment's pain ? If I suffer with him, I shall reign with him. Ohow will men venture life and limb for a fading crown, swim through seas of blood to a throne! and will I venture nothing ? suffer nothing for the crown ofglorythatfadethnot away? Mydogwillfollow my horse'sheels from morning to night, takemanyaweary step through mireanddirt, rather than leave me, though at night all he gets by it is but bones, and blows: If my foul had any true greatness, any sparks of generofityinit, how would itdespisethefufferingsoftheway, for the glory of the end? how would it breakdown all difficulties before it? whilst, by an eye of faith, it fees the forerunner, who is already entered, standing, as it were, upon the walls of heaven, with the crown in his hand, saying, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." Come on, then, my foul, come on, there is eternal life laid up for them that, bypatientcontinuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality, Rom. ii. 7.
Question6. Can I so easily cast offthefocietyand company of the saints, and give the right-hand of fellowship to the wicked? How can I part with such lovely companions as these have been? How often have I been benefited by their counsels ? Ezrax. 3. how often refreshed, warmed, and quickened by their company ? Eccl. iv. 10, 11. how often have I fasted and prayed with them ? What sweet counsel have I taken with them, and gone to the house of Godincompany ? And shall I now shake hands with them, and say, Farewel all ye faints, for ever; I shall never be among you more: Come drunkards, swearers, blafphemers, perfecutors, you shall be my everlasting companions ? Or at her let mybody and foul be rent asunder, than that ever I should say thus to the excellent of the earth, in whom is all my delight. Quest. 7. Have Iferiously considered the terriblefcripturecomminations against backsliders ? O my heart ! darest thou turn thy back upon the very point of such threatenings as these? Jer. xvii. 5, 6. " Thus faith the Lord, cursed be the " man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm ; and "whose heartdeparteth from the Lord; for he shall be like
86 How to keep the Heart from Backsliding.
theheathinthedefart, and shall not fee whengoodcometh," (i. e.) The curse of God shall wither him root and branch. And Heb. x. 26, 27. " If we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more " sacrificeforfins,but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, " and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." And again, ver. 38. " If any man drawback, my soul shall " have no pleasure in him:" As if he should say, Take him world, take him, devil, for your own, I have no delight in • him .' O who dare drawback,when God has hedgedup the way with such terrible threats as these !
8. Can I look Christ in the face, at the day ofjudg ment, if Idefert him now ?
" He that is ashamed of me and of my words, in this adul- "terous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man " be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with " theholyangels," Mark viii. 38. Yet a little while, and you
the sign of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory; the last trumpshallfound, the dead, both small and great, even all that sleep in the dust
awake, andcomebeforethatgreatwhite throne, on which Christ shall fit in that day. And now do but imagine thou fawest the trembling knees, and quivering lips of guilty sinners ; imagine thou heardest the dreadful sentence of the Judge upon them, " Go, ye cursed," &c. and then a cry. Oh! the weeping, wailing, and wringing of hands, that there shall be. Wouldst thou desert Christ now, toprotract a poor, mise. rable life on earth? If the word of God be true, if the sayings of Christ be sealed and faithful, this shall be the portion of the apostate. It is an easy thing to stop the mouth of conscience now, but will it be easy to stop the mouth of the Judge then ? Thus keep thy heart, that it depart not from the living God.
Season 12. The twelfth season of looking diligently to our hearts, andkeepingthem with greatest care, is the timeoffickness : When a child of God draws nigh to eternity, when ⚫there are but a few sands more in the upper part of his glass to run down ; now Satan busily bestirs himself; of him it may be said, as of the natural serpent, nunquam nifi mori- < ensproducitur in longum ; he is never seen at his full length •till dying : And now his great design, since he cannot win the soul from God, is to discourage, and make it unwilling to go to God, though the gracious foul, with Jacob, should < thenrouseup itself upon a dying bed, and rejoice that the
How to encourage the Heart against Death. : 87 marriage-day of the Lamb is now almost come ; though it •should then say, with dying Austin, vivererenuo ut Chrifto *vivam ; I despise life to be with Christ. Or as dying Milius, 'when one asked him, whether hewerewillingto die ?Of aid
he, ill us eft nolle mori, qui no lit ire ad Chriftum ; let him be unwilling to die, who is unwilling to go to Christ. ButO! •what shrinking from death ? What loathness to depart, may •sometimes (indeed too frequently) be observed in the people •of God? How loath are some of them to take death by the •cold hand? Iffuch a liberty were indulged to us, not to be • dissolved till we dissolve ourselves; when should we say with St. Paul, " I desire to be dissolved ?" Well then,the lastcafe shall be this .
Case 12. How the people of God, in times offickness, may get their hearts loose from all earthly engagements, and persuade them into a willingness to die.
And there are seven arguments, which I shall urge upon the people of God at such a time as this, to make them chearfully entertain the messengers of death, and die, as well as live, like
saints . And the first is this :
Argument 1. First, The harmlesness of death to the people of God. Though it keeps its dart, it hath lost its sting : A faint (to allude to that, Ifa. xi. 8.) " May play upon the hole of the "afp, and put his hand into the cockatrice's den." Death is the cockatrice, or asp,the grave is his hole or den;afaintneed not fear to put his hand boldly into it : It hath left and loft its sting in the sides of Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 55. "O death! where " is thy sting ?" Why art thou afraid, O faint, that this ficknessmaybe thy death, as long as thou knowest that the death of Christ is the death of death ? Indeed, ifthoudidstdie in thy fins,as John viii. 21. if death, as a king, did reign over thee, Rom. v. 14. Ifitcouldfeedupon thee, as the lion doth upon the prey he hath taken, as Psalm xlix. 14. If" hell followed " thepalehorse," as it is, Rev. vi. 8. then thou mightest well
and shrink baekfrom it ;but when God hath put away thy fins from thee, " as far as the east is from the west," Psal. ciii. 12. as long as there is no other evil left in death, for thee to encounter with, but bodily pain ; as long as the scriptures represent it to thee undersuchharmless and easy notions, as the putting offthycloaths, 2 Cor. v. 2." And lying down to sleep "uponthybed," Ifa. Ivii. 2. Why shouldst thou be afraid?
There is as much difference betwixt death to the people of God, and others, as betwixt the unicorn's horn, when it is up-
88 How to encourage the Heart against Death. on the head of that fierce beast, and when it is in the a pot he cary's shops, where it is made falubrious and medicinal.
Ang. 2. Thy heart may be kept from shrinking back at such a time as this,by considering the necessity of death, in order to the fullfruition of God.
Whether thou art willing todieorno, Iaffure thee there is nootherway toobtainthefull satisfaction of thy soul, and complete its happiness; tillthehand of death do thee the kind officetodraw aside the curtain of the flesh, thy soul cannot fee God: This animal life stands betwixt him and thee, 2 Cor.v. 6. " Whilst we are athomeinthe body, we are absent from " the Lord." Thybody must be refined and cast into anew mould, else that new wine of heavenly glor, would break it. Paul in his highest rapture, 2Cor.xii. 4. whenheheard things unutterable, was then but as a stander-by, a looker on, notad mitted into the company as one of them ; but as the angels are in our assemblies, so was Paul in that glorious assembly above, and no otherwise ; and yet even for this he must, as it were,betakenoutofthebody, uncloathed for a little time, to have a glimpse of that glory, andthenput on his cloaths again. Othen ! who would not be willing to die for a full fight and enjoyment of God? Methinks thy soul should look and sigh like a prisoner, through thegrates of this mortality ; " O that " I had wings like adove, then would I fly away, and be at " reft:" Most men need patience to die, but a saint that understands what death admits him to,should ratherneedpatience to live; methinks he should often look out, and listen ona death-bed for his Lord's coming ; and when he receives the news of his approaching change, should say, " The voice " of my beloved! behold,he cometh leaping over the moun " tains, skipping over the hills," Cant. ii. 8. Arg. 3. Another argument persuading to this willingness, is the immediate succession of a more excellent and glorious life.
It is but awink, and you shall fee God: Your happiness shall not be deferred till the resurrection; but as soon as the body is dead, the gracious foul is fwallowedup in life, Rom. viii. 10, 11. When once you have loofedfrom this shore, in a few moments, your souls will be wafted over upon the wings ofangelstothe other shore ofa glorious eternity. Phil. i. 23. " I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ." Did the foul and body die together, as Berilius taught; or did they fleeptill the resurrection, as others have groundleflyfancied; it had been a madness for Paul to desire a dissolution for the
How to encourage the Heart against Death. 89 enjoyment of Christ : For if this were so,he enjoyed more of Chriftwhilst his fouldwelt in its fleshly tabernacle, than he
should out of it.
There are but two ways of the soul's living, known in scrip ture, viz. the life of faith, and the life of vision, 1 Cor. v. 5. Those two divide all time;both present and future; betwixt them, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. If when faith fails, fight should not im-' mediately succeed, what would become of the unbodiedfoul ? But blessed be God this great heart-establishing truth is evidently revealed in scripture, Lukexxiii. 43. You have Christ's promise, John xiv. 3. "I will come and receive you to myself." Owhat a change will a few moments make upon your condition? Rouse up, dying faint; when thy soul is come out à little further ; when it shall stand like Abraham at its tent door, the angels of God shall soon be with it: thefouls of the elect are, as it were, put out to the angels to nurse, and when they die, these angels carry them home again to their Father's house: if an angel were caused to fly swiftly to bring a faint the answer of his prayer, Dan. ix. 22. how much more will the angels come poftfromheavento receive and transfer the prayingfoulitself?
Arg. 4. Farther, It may much conduce to thy willingness to die, to confider, that by death,God oftentimes hides his people out of the way of all temptations and troubles upon earth,Rev. xiv. 13. Write,from henceforth,Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." It is God's usual way, when some extraordinary calamities are coming upon the world, to set his peopleoutofharms way before-hand, Ifa. lvii. 1. "Merciful "men are taken away from the evil to come:", So Mic. vii. 2. when such an evil time comes as is there described, " That theyallly inwaitforblood,andeveryman hunts his brother with a net:" God,by an act offavour; houses his people before-hand. Dost thou know what evil maybe in the earth, which thou art so loath to leave ? Thy God removes thee for thy great advantage ; thou artdisbandedbydeath,andcalledoff the field; other poor faints must stand to it, and endure a great fightofafflictions.
It is observed that Methuselahdiedthe very year before the flood; Augustine, a little before the sacking of Hippo ; Pareus, juftbefore the taking of Heidelburgh : Luther observes, that all the apostles died before the destruction of Jerusalem : and Lutherhimselfdied before the wars broke out in Germany. It maybe the Lord fees the tender heart cannot endure to seethe VOL. VII. M
How to encourage the Heart against Death. misery, or bear the temptations that are coming, and therefore will now gather thee to thy grave in peace; and yet wilt thou cry, O spare me a little longer ?
Arg. 5. If yet thy heart hang back, consider the great advantage you will have by death, above all that ever you enjoyed on earth ; and that, (1.) As to your communion with God : (2.) As to your communion with saints.
1. For your communion with God: the time of perfecting that is now come:thy soul shall shortly stand before the face of God, and have the immediate emanations andbeamings forth of his glory upon it; here thy soul is remote from God, the beams of his glory strike it but obliquely andfeebly, but shortly it will be under the line, and there the fun shall stand still, as it did in Gibeon; there shall be no cloudings, nor declinings of it. O how should this fill thy foul with desires of being uncloathed !
2. As for the enjoyment of saints, here indeed we have fellowship with them of the lower form; but that fellowship is sodissweetenedby remaining corruptions, that there is no satisfaction in it: as it is the greatest plague that canbefal an hypocrite to live in a pure church, so it is the greatestvexation to the spirit of a faint, to live in a corrupt and diforderedchurch; but when death hath admitted you into that glorious assembly of the spirits of just men made perfect, you shall have the desire of your hearts; here you cannot fully close with one another ; yea, you cannot fully close with your own souls. O what difcords, jar rings, censurings are here ? What perfect, blessed harmony there ! In heaven each faint loves another as himself, they are altogether lovely. O my soul, haste thee away from the lion'sdens, from the mountains of Bet her, from divided faints, to those mountains ofmyrrh,and hills offrankincense : thou art now going unto thine own people, as the apostle's phrase imports, 2 Cor. v. 8.
Arg. 6. I fall this will not do, Confider what heavy burdens death will ease thy shoulders of.
In this tabernacle we groan, being burdened, (1.) With bodily distempers ; how true do we find that of Theophraftus, The soul pays a dear rent for the tenement it now lives in ? But glorified bodies are clogged with no indifpofitions ; death is thebestphysician ; it will cure thee of all diseases at once. (2.) With the indwelling of fin; this makes us groan from the very bowels, Rom. vii. 24. "But he that is dead, is free " from fin," Rom. vi. 7. Hathjuftification destroyed its damningfower, andsanctification its reigning power ? Soglorifi-
How to encourage the Heart against Death. 91 cation destroys its very being and existence. (3.) We groan under temptations here, but as soon as we are out ofthebody, we are out of the reach of temptation : when once thou art got into heaven, thou mayest say, Now Satan, I am there where thou canst not come ; for as the damned in hell are malo obformati, so fixed in fin and misery, that their condition cannot be altered ; fo glorified saints are bono confirm at i, so fixed in holiness and glory, that theycannotbe shaken. (4.) Here we groan under various troubles, and afflictions, but thenthedays of our mourning are are ended. God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. O then let us haste away, that we may be at rest.
Argument 7. If still thou linger, like Lot in Sodom, then, lastly, examine all the pleas and pretences for a longer time on earth. Why art thou unwilling to die?
Objection 1. OIhavemanyrelations in the world, I know notwhatwillbecomeofthem when I am gone.
Solution. If thou art troubled about their bodies, and outward condition, why should not that word fatisfythee,Jer, xlix. 11. Leave thy fatherless children to me, I will keep them " alive, and let thy widows trust in me." Luther, in his last will and testament, hath this expression, Lord, thou haft givenmewife and children, I have nothing to leave them,but ' I commit them unto thee. O Father of the fatherless, and 'judge of widows,Nutri,ferva, doce ; nourish, keep, and teach ' them.' Or, art thou troubled for their souls ? Thou canst not convert them, if thou shouldst live, and God can make thy prayers and counsels to live, and take place upon them when thou art dead.
Objection 2. I would fain live to do God more service in the world.
Solution , Well, but if he have no more service for thee to do here, why shouldst thou not say with David, " If he have " no delight to use me any farther, here am I, lethimdowhat " seemeth him good." In this world thou hast no more to do, but he is calling thee to an higher service and employment in heaven; andwhatthou wouldst do for him here, he can do that byotherhands. : Objection 3. I am not yet fully ready, I am not as a bride, completely adorned for the bridegroom.
Solution . Thy justification is complete already, though thy fanctificationbe not so ; and the way to make it so, is to die ; fortillthen it will have its defects, and wants. M 2
92 Why Saints walk so unfruitfully. Objection 4. Obut I want assurance; if I had that, I could die presently.
Solution. Yea, there it sticks, indeed; but then confider, that an hearty willingness to leave all the world to be freed from fin, and be with God, is the next way to that desired assurance; no carnal person was ever willing to die upon this ground. And thus I have finished those cases which so nearly con cernthepeopleof God, in the several conditions of their life, and taught them how to keep their hearts in all. I shall next applythewhole.
I. Use, of information. FOU have heard, that the keeping of the heart is the great work of a Christian, in which the very foul and lite of religion consists, and without which all other duties are of no value with God: hence, then, I shall infer, to the con-
sternation of hypocrites, and formal professors,
1. That the pains and labours which many persons have taken in religion, are but lost labour and pains, to no purpose, Juch as will never turn to account.
Many great services have been performed, many glorious works are wrought by men, which yet are utterly rejected by God,and shall never stand upon record, in order to an eternal acceptation,because they tooknoheed tokeepthei hearts with Godinthoseduties : this is that fatal rock, upon which thou-
of vain professors have split themselves eternally : they are curious about the externals of religion, but regardless of their hearts . O how many hours have some professors spent in hearing, praying, reading, conferring ! and yet, as to the main endofreligion, as good they had fat still, anddonenothing; for all this signifies nothing, the great work, I mean heart-work, being all the while neglected. Tell me, thou vainprofeffor,when did it thou shed a tear for the deadness, hardness, unbelief, or earthliness of thy heart ? Thinkest thou such an easy religion can fave thee ? If so, we may invert Christ'swords, and say, " Wide is the gate, and broad is the "way, that leadeth to life, and many there be that go in " thereat." Hear me, thou self-deluding hypocrite, thou that haft put off God with heartless duties, thou that hast, acted in religion as ifthouhadstbeenblessingan idol, thatcouldstnot
and discover thy heart; thou that hast offered to God but the skin of the sacrifice,not the marrow, fatandinwards of
Why Saints walk so uncomfortably. 93 it; howwiltthou abide the coming of the Lord ? How wilt thou holdup thy head before him, when he shall fay, O thou dissembling, false-hearted man ! how couldst thou profess religion? With what face couldst thou fo often tell me that thou lovedft me,when thou knewest all the while, in thine own conscience, that thine heart was not with me ? O tremble to thinkwhata fearful judgment it is to be given over toa heedless, and careless heart ; and then to have religious duties, instead of a rattle, to quiet and still the conscience !
2. Hence, also infer, for the humiliation, even of upright hearts, That unless the people of GodSpendmore time and pains about their hearts, than generally and ordinarily they do, they are never like to do God muchfervice, or be owners of much comfort in this world.
is remiss and careless in keeping his heart,as JacobfaidofReuben, " Thou shaltnotexcel." It grieves me to see how many Christians there are that go up anddowndejected, and complaining, that live at a poor, low rate, both of service and comfort ; and how can they expect it should be otherwise, as long as they live at such a careless rate? Ohow little of their time is spent in the closet,in searching, humbling, andquickening their hearts ? You say your hearts are dead, anddoyouwonder they are so, as long as you keep them not with the fountain of life ? If your bodies had been dieted as your souls have been, they wouldhavebeendead too ; never expect better hearts, till you takemorepains with them: Quifugit molam,fugitfarinam; he that will not have the sweat, must not expect the sweet of religion. O Christians ! I fear your zeal and strength have run in the wrong channel ; I fear most of us may take up the Church's complaint, Cant. i. 6. " They have made me the keeper of the "vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept." Two things haveeatenupthetime and strength of the professors of this generation, and sadly diverted them from heart-work: (1.) Fruitless controverfies started by Satan, I doubt not, to this very purpose, to take us off from practical godliness, to make us puzzle our heads, when we should be searching our hearts. Ohow little have we minded that of the apostle, Heb. xiii. 9. " It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, and not with meats ;" (i. e.) with disputes and con. troverfies about meats, " which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." how much better is it to fee men live exactly, than to
94 Why Saints walk Jo uncomfortably. hear them dispute fubtlely ! These unfruitful questions, how have they rended the churches, wasted time and spirits, and called Christians off from their main business, from looking to their own vineyard ? What think ye, firs ? Had it not been better if the questions agitated among the people of God, of late days, had been such as these ? How shall a mandifcern the special,from thecommonoperations of the Spirit ? How may a soul discern its firstdeclinings from God ? How may a backsliding Christian recover his first love ? How may the heart be preserved from unseasonable thoughts in duty ? How may a bosom fin be discovered,and mortified, &c. Would not this have tendedmoreto the creditofreligion, and comfort of your souls ?O it is timetorepentandbeashamedofthis folly !When I read what Suarez, a Papist, said, who wrote many tomes of difputations, that he prizedthetime hefetapart for the fearchingand examining of his heart, in reference to God, above all the time that ever he spent in other studies ; I am ashamed to find the professors of this age yet yet infen insensible of their folly. Shall the conscience of a Suarez relenting pang for strength and time so ill employed, and shall not yours ? This is it your ministers long since warned you of; your spiritual nurses were afraid of the rickets, when they saw your heads only to grow, and your hearts to wither. O when will God beat our swords into plow-shares ! I mean, our disputes and contentions into practical godliness. (2.) Another cause of neglecting our hearts, hath been earthly incumbrances ; the heads and hearts of many have been filled with such a crowd and noise of worldly business, that they have sadly and sensibly declined and withered in their zeal, love, and delight in God; in their heavenly, serious, and profitable way ofconverfingwith man. Ohowhath this wilderness entangled us ! ourdiscoursesand conferences, nay, our very prayers and duties, have a tang of it : we have had so much work without doors, that we have been able to do but little within. It was the fad complaint of an holy one *, O (faith he) it is sad to think how manypre- • cious opportunities I have loft ; how many sweet motions ⚫andadmonitions of the Spirit I have paffedover unfruitfully, and made the Lord to speak in vain: in the secret illapses of • his Spirit the Lord hath called upon me, but my worldly thoughts did still lodge within me, and there was noplace *within my heart for such calls of God." Surely, there is a wayofenjoying God, even in our worldly employments ;God
* Mr. Strong.
Why Saints walk so uncomfortably. 95 would never have put us upon them to our loss; " Enoch " walked with God, and beg at sons and daughters," Gen. v.
19. He walked with God, but did not retire and separate him- •self from the things of this life : and the angels, that are employed by Christ in the things of this world, (for the spirit of the living creatures is in the wheels) they are finite creatures, and cannot be in a twofold ubi at onetime ; yet they lose nothing of the beatifical vision, all the time of their administrati. on; for Matth. xviii. 10. " Their angels (even whilst they " are employed for them) behold the face of their Father which " is in heaven." We need not lose our visions by our employments, if the fault were not our own. Alas! that ever Christians, who stand at the door of eternity, and have more work upon their hands than this poor moment of interpofing time is sufficient for, should yet be filling both their heads and hearts with trifles.
3. Hence also I infer, for the awakening of all, That if the keeping of the heart be the great work ofa Christian, then there are but few real Christiaus in the world.
Indeed if everyone that hath learned the dialect of Christianity, and can talk like a faint; if every one that hath gifts and parts, and by the common assisting presence of the Spirit can preach, pray, or discourse like a Christian ; in a word, if such as associate themselves with the people of God, and delight inordinances, may pass for Christians, the number then is great.
But, alas ! to what a small number will they shrink, if you judge them by this rule ! how few are there that make conscience of keeping their hearts, watching their thoughts, judging their ends, &c. O there be but few closet men among professors ! It is far easier for men to be reconciled to any duties in religion than to these : The profane part of the world will not so much as touch with the outside of religious duties, much less with this ; and for the hypocrite, though he be polite and curious about those externals, yet you can never persuade him to this inward work, this difficult work, to which there is no inducement by human applause ; this work, that would quickly discover what the hypocrite cares not to know; so that by a general consent, this heart-work is left to the hands of a few secret ones, and I tremble to think in how few hands it is.
II. Use, for exhortation. If the keeping of the heart be so important a business ; iffuch choice advantages accrue to you thereby if so many dear and
96 Why Saints walk fo uncomfortably 1 . precious interests be wrapt up in it, then let me call upon the people of God every where to fall close to this work. Ostudyyourhearts,watch your hearts, keep your hearts away with fruitless controverfies, and all idle questions ; away withemptynames and vain shews ; awaywithunprofitable difcourseandbold censures of others; turn in upon yourselves; get into your closets, and now resolve to dwell there. You havebeenstrangersto this work too long; youhavekept others vineyards too long; you have trified abouttheborders ofreligiontoo long; this worldhathdetainedyou from your great work too long; will you now resolve to look better to your hearts? Willyouhafte and come out of the crowds of business, and clamours of the world, and retireyourselves more than you have done ? Othat this day youwouldrefolve upon it !
Reader, methinks I should prevail with thee: All that I beg for is but this, that thou wouldst step aside a little oftener to talk with God, and thine own heart; that thou wouldst not suffer every trifle to divert thee; that thou wouldst keepamore true and faithful accountofthy thoughts and affections ; that thouwouldstbut seriouflydemandof this thy own heart, at leasteveryevening,Omy heart,where haftthoubeento-day? Whither haft thou made a road to-day ? If all that hath been faidbyway ofinducement be not enough,I have yet more motives to offer you. And the first is this :
1. Motive. The studying, observing, anddiligentkeepingof your own hearts, will marvellously help your understanding in the deep mysteries of religion. Anhonestwell-experienced heart, is a singular help to a weak head; such a heart will serve you instead ofa comment a ryuponagreat part of the scriptures: By this means you shall far better understand the things of God, thanthelearned Rabbiesandprofounddoctors (ifgraceless and unexperienced) ever did; you shall not only haveamoreclear,but a more sweet precept i on and gustofthem : Am an may discourse orthodoxlyandprofoundlyofthe nature and effects of faith, the troubles and comforts of conscience, the sweetness of communion with God, that never felt the efficacy and sweet impressions of these things upon his own spirit : but O how dark and dry are these notions, compared with his upon whose heart they have been acted! When such am an reads David's Psalms, or Paul's epistles, there he finds his own objections made and answered. O, faith he, theseholymen speak my very heart : Their doubts were mine, their troubles mine, and their experiences mine. I remember Chryfoftome,fpeakingto his peo
Why Saints walk fo unfruitfully. 97 pleof Antioch about some choice experiences, used this expression: Sciunt initiatiquid dico : Those that are initiated, know what I say: Experience is the bestschooimaster. Othen, study your hearts, keep your hearts! 2 Motive. The study and observation of your own hearts will antidote you against the dangerous and infecting errors of the timesandplacesyou live in.
Forwhatthinkyou is the reason, that so many professors in England have departed from the faith,giving heed to fables ; that so manythousandshave been ledawayby the error of the wicked; that Jesuits and Quakers, who have sown corrupt doctrine, have had such plentiful harvests among us, but because they have met with a company of empty notional professors, that never knew what belongs to practical godliness, and the study of their own hearts...
Ifprofeffors did but give diligence to study, search,and watch theirownhearts,they would have that ιδιον περιγμον, that steadfastnessoftheirown, that Peter speaks of, 1 Pet. iii. 17. and this would ballast and settle them, Heb. xiii. 9. Suppose a subtle Papist should talk to such, of the dignity and meritof good works; could he ever work the persuasion of it into that heart, thatisconfcious to itself of so much darkness, deadness , distraction, and unbelief, attending its best duties? It is a good rule, Non est disputandum de gustu : There is no disputing against taste. What a man hath felt and tasted, one cannot beat him off from that by argument.
3 Motive. Your care and diligence in keeping your hearts, will prove one of the best evidences of yourfincerity.
I know no external act of religion that differences the found Fromtheunfound professor : It is wonderful toconfider how far hypocrites go in all external duties ; how plausibly they canorderthe outward man, hiding all their indecenciesfrom the observations of the world.
But then, theytakenoheed to their hearts ; they are not in Tecretwhatthey appear to be in public : And before this trial no hypocrite can stand. It is confessed, theymayin a fit, un der a pang upon a death-bed, cry out of the wickedness of their hearts ; but alas ! there is no heed to be taken to these extorted complaints. In our law, no credit is to be given to the teftimonyofone upon the rack, because itmaybefuppofedthat the extremity of the torture may make him say any thing to be eased. But ifself-jealousy, care, and watchfulness, be the daily workings and frames ofthyheart, it strongly argues VOL . VII. N
98 Why Saints walk so unfruitfully. the fincerityof it: For what but the sense of a divine eye; what but the real hatred of fin as fin, could put thee upon those secret duties, which lie out of the observation of allcreaturės?
If then it be adesireable thing in thine eyes, to have a fair testimonyofthine integrity, and to know of a truth, that thou feareft God; then study thine heart, watch thy heart, keep thy heart. 4 Motive. How fruitful, sweet, and comfortable would all ordinances and duties be to us, if our hearts were better kept? Owhat precious communion might you have with God, e very time you approach him, if your hearts were but in frame! You might then say with David,Psal. civ. 35. "My medita- "tionofhim shall be sweet." That which loses all our com forts in ordinances and more secret duties,is the indisposedness of the heart : A Christian whose heart is in a good frame, gets the start of all others that come with him in that duty : They
to get up their hearts to God, now trying this argument upon them, and then that, to quicken and affect them, and sometimes go away as bad as they came : Sometimes the duty is almost ended before their hearts begin to stir or feel any warmth,quickening, or power from it : But all this while thepreparedheart is at its work ;this is he that ordinarily gets the first fight of Christ in a sermon, the first seal from Christ in a sacrament, the first kiss from Christ in secret prayer. I tell you, and I tellyoubut what I llave felt, that prayers and sermons would appear to you other manner of things than they do, did you but bring better ordered hearts unto them; youwouldnotgo away dejected and drooping. O this hath been a loft day, a loft duty to me ! if you had not lost your hearts, it had not been so. If then the comfort of ordinances be sweet, look to your hearts, keep your hearts.
5 Motive. Acquaintance with your own hearts would be a fountain of matter to you in prayer. Am an, that is diligent in heart-work, and knows the state of his own soul, will have a fountain-fulness of matter tofupplyhim richly in all his addresses to God ;his tongue shall not faulter and makepaufeforwantof matter ; Psal. xlv. 1. " My " heart is inditing a good matter:" Or, as Montanus renders the original, my heart is boiling up good matter, like a living spring, that is ftillbubbling up fresh water ; and then my tongue is as the pen ofa ready writer: Others muftpumptheir memories, rack their inventions, and are often at a loss, when theyhavedone all;but ifthouhavekept,and faithfully studied
A good Heart the best Mark of Sincerity. 99 thine own heart, it will be with thee (as Job speaks in another case) like bottles full of new wine,that want vent, which are ready to burst: As holy matter flows plentifully, so more feelingly and sweetly from such a heart. When a heart-experienced Christian is mourning before God over some special heart-corruption, wresthng with God for the supply of some secialp inward want, he speaks not as other men do, that have learned to pray by rote ; their confessions and petitions are squeezed out ; his drop freely, like pure honey from the comb: It is a happiness then to be with or near such a Christian. I remember Bernard, havinggivenrules to prepare the heart for prayer, concludes them thus, Et cum talis fueris, momento mei; and (faith he) When thy heart is in this frame, then remember me.
6Motive. By this thedecayedpower of religion will be recovered again among professors, which is the most defireable fight in this world.
Othat I might live to see that day, when professors shall not walk in a yain shew, when they shall please themselves no more with a name to live, being spiritually dead ! When they shall be no more (as many of them now are) a company offrothy, vain, and unferious persons, but the majestic beams of holiness shining from their heavenly and serious conversations, shall awe the world, and command reverence from all that are about them ; when they shall warm the hearts of those that come nighthem, so that men shall say,God is in these men of a truth .
Well, such a time mayagainbeexpected,according to that promise, Ifa. lx. 21. " The people shall be all righteous." But till we pursue closer to this great work of keeping our hearts, I am out of hopes to fee those blessed days ; I cannot expect better times, till God gives better hearts. Doth it not grieve you to fee what aseorn religion is made in the world ? what objects of contempt and scorn the professors of it are made in the world?
Professors, Would you recover your credit ? Would you againobtainanhonourable teftimonyinthe consciences of your very enemies ? Then, keep your hearts, watch your hearts : it is the looseness, frothiness, and earthliness of your hearts that hath made your lives fo; and this hathbroughtyou underthecontempt of the world ; you first lost your fights of God, and communion with him, then your heavenly and feriousdeportmentamongmen,and by that, your interest in their N2
100 A good Heart the best Mark of Sincerity. consciences : O then, for the credit of religion,forthehonour of your profession keep your hearts !
7 Motive. By diligence in keeping our hearts, weshouldpre vent, and remove the fatal scandals and stumbling-blocks out of the way of the world. " Woe to the world (faith Christ) because of offences !" Matth. xviii. 7. Doth not shame cover your faces ? Do not your hearts bleed within you, to hear of the scandalous miscarriages ofmanyloose professors ? Could you not, like Shem and Japhet, gobackward with a garment to cover the shame ofmanyprofeffors ? How is that worthy name blafphemed !
Jam. ii. 7. 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14. the hearts of the righteous fadened, Psal xxv. 3. Ezek. xxxvi. 20. bythistheworldis fear fully prejudiced against Christ and religion, the bonds of death made fast upon their souls ; those that have a general love and liking to the ways of God, startled and quite driven back, and thus foul-blood is shed : woe to the world!
Yea, how are the consciences of fallen professors plunged, andevenoverwhelmedinthe deeps of trouble ?God inwardly excommunicating their souls from all comfortable fellowship with himself, and the joys of his salvation; infinite are the mischiefs that come by the scandalous lives of professors.
And what is the true cause and reason of all this, but the neglecting of their hearts ? Were our hearts better kept, all this would be prevented. Had David kept his heart,he had not broken his bones : a negligent and careless heart mustofnecessity produce a disorderly and scandalous life. I thank God for the freedom and faithfulness of a * reverend brother, in shewing professors their manifold miscarriages ; and from my heart do wish, that when their wounds have been thoroughly searched by that probe,God would be pleafedtoheal them by this plaister. O professors ! i fever you will keep religion sweet; i fever you hope to recover the credit of it in the world,keep your hearts ; either keep your hearts, or lose your credit ; keep your hearts, or lose your comforts : keep your hearts,left yeshedfoul-blood. What words can express the deep concernments, the wonderful consequences of this work! Every thing puts a necessity, a solemnity, abeautyupon it. 8 Motive. An heart well kept will fityouforany condition God casts you into, or anyferuice he hath to use you in.
He that hath learnt how to keep his heart lowly, is fit for prosperity;andhethatknowshowtouseandapply it to scrip-
AgoodHeart the best Mark of Sincerity 101 ture-promises, and supports, is fit to pass through any adversity: he thatcandeny the pride and selfishness of his heart,is fit to be employed in any service for God. Suchamanwas Paul,he did not only spend his time in preaching to others, in keeping others vineyards, but he looked to himself, kept his own vineyard ; 1 Cor. ix. 27. " Lest when I have preached to "others, I myselfshouldbe a cast-away." And what an eminent instrument was he for God ? He could turn his hand to any work; he could dexterously manage both an adverse and prosperous condition : " I know how to abound, and how to " fufferwant. Let the people deifyhim it moves him not, un- "less to indignation. Let them stone him,hecanbear it; If "am an purge himself from these(faith he," 2Tim. ii. 21.) " he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the "master's use,andpreparedunto every good work."
First, The heart must be purgedandthen it is prepared for any service of God. When the heart of Ifaiah was purified, which was the thing signified by the touching of his lips with a coal from the altar, Ifa. vi. 7. then he was fit for God'swork: "Here am I, send me," ver. 8. A man that hath not learned to keep his heart, put him upon any service for God, and if it be attended with honour, it shall swell up and over-top his spirit; if with suffering, it will exanimate and finkhim .
had an instrumental fitness for his Father's work above all the servants that ever God employed: he was zealous in public work for God; so zealous, that sometimes he forgot to eat bread,yea, that his friends thought he had been befideshimself: but yet he so carried on his public work, as not to forget his own private communion with God: and therefore you read, Matth. xiii. 23. that when he had been labouring all day, yet, after that he went up to a mountain apart to pray, andwastherealone. O let the keepers of the vineyards look to their own vineyard: We shall never be so instrumental to the good of others,as when we are most diligent about our own souls.
9Motive. If the people of God would more diligently keep their hearts, how exceedingly would the communion of faints be thereby sweetened.
How goodly thenwouldbethytents,O Jacob! andthytabernacles,O Israel ! Then it isprophefied of the Jews, Zech . viii.23. "Menwouldsay, wewillgo with you ; for we have "heard that Godisamong you." It is the fellowship your souls have with the Father, and with the Son, that draws outthedefires of others afterfellowshipwith you, I John i. 3. I tell you,
102 AgoodHeart the best Mark of Sincerity if faints would be persuaded to take more pains, and spend more time abouttheirhearts, there would quickly be such a divine luftre upon the face of their conversations,thatmen would account it no small privilege to be with or near them.
It is the pride, passion, and earthliness of our hearts that have spoiled Christian fellowship. Whence is it, that when Christians meet,they are often jarring and contending ? but onlyfromtheirunmortifiedpaffions:whence aretheiruncharitable censures of their brethren ? but only from self-ignorance : Why are they sorigidand unmercifultowards those that are fallen? butbecausethey confider not themselves, as the apostle
Gal. vi. 1. Why is their discourse sofrothy andunprofitablewhentheymeet? is not this fromtheearthliness and vanity of their hearts ? My brethren,these be the things that have spoiled Christian fellowship, and made it become a dry and sapless thing ; so that many Christians are even weary of it, and are ready to say with the prophet, Jer. ix. 2. "O that I had a cottage in the " wilderness, &c. that I might leave my people and go from " them!" And with David, Psalm cxx. 6. " My soul hath " long dweltwith them thathatepeace." This hath made them long for the grave that they mightgofromthem that are not their own people, to them that are their own people, as the original of that text imports, 2 Cor. v. 8.
But now if profestors would study their own hearts more, watch andkeepthem better, all this would be prevented ; and the beauty and glory of communion again restored : they would divide no more, contend no more, censure rashly no more ; when their hearts are in tune, their tongues will not jar; how charitable, pitiful and tender will they be of one another, when every one is daily humbled under the evils of his own heart. Lord, hasten those much-desired days, and bless these counsels in order to them !
10 Motive, Lastly,By this the comforts of the Spirit, and precious influence ofallordinances, wouldbefixed, and much longer prefervedinyourfouls than now they are. Ah! what would I give, that my soul might be preserved in that frame I sometimes find it after an ordinance ? Aliquando intromittis me, Do mine, in affectum multum inusitatum, introrfus adquam nefcio dulcadinem, &c. Sometimes, O Lord, (faithoneofthe Fathers sweetly)thou admit test me into the most inward, unusual and sweet delights, to I know-not-what
Sweetness, which were it perfected in me, I know not what it
AgoodHeart is the best Mark of Sincerity would be, or rather, what it would not be. But, alas ! the heart grows careless again, and quickly returns, like water removed from the fire, to its native coldness. Could you but keep those things for ever in your hearts, what Christians would you be, what lives would you live ? and how is it that these things remainnolongerwith us? Doubtless it is because we suffer our hearts to take cold again; we should be as careful after an ordinance or duty, to prevent this, as one that comes out of ahotbath, or great sweat, is of going out into the chill air. We have our hot and cold fits by turns ; and what is the reason, but our unskilfulness and carelessness in keeping the heart ?
It is a thousand pities,that the ordinances of God, as to their quickeningandcomforting effects, should be like those humanordinancesthe apostlespeaksof, that perish in the using. Othen, let me say to you,as Job xv. 11. " Do the confolati- " ons of God seem smalltoyou ?" Look over these ten special benefits ; weighthemin ajustbalance;are they small matters ?
Is it a small matter to have thy weak understanding assisted ?
Thy endangered foul antidoted, thy sincerity cleared, thy communion with God sweetened, thy fails filled in prayer ? Is it as mall thing to have the decayed power of godliness again recovered, all fatal scandals removed, an instrumental fitness to serve Christ obtained, the communion of faints restored to its primitive glory, and the influences of ordinances abiding in the souls of faints ? Ifthesebenocommonblessings, no small benefits, then, surely, it is a great dutytokeepthe heart with all diligence.
The III. Use for direction . The next use shall be for direction to some special means for the keeping of the heart . And here, besides what hath beenhintedinthe explication of the duty at the beginning of this discourse, to which I refer the reader, and all those directions throughout the whole, appropriated to particular cases and seasons; I shall farther add several other general means of excellent use to this end. And the first is this : I Means. Would you thus keep your hearts as hathbeenperfuaded? Thenfurnishyour hearts richly with the word of God, which is their bestpreservative against fin.
Keep the word, and the word will keep you: as the first receiving of the word regenerated your hearts, so the keeping of the word within you will preserve your hearts : Col. iii. 16. " LetthewordofChriftdwell richly in you:" let it dwell, nottarrywithyou for a night, and let it dwell richlyorplen
104 Choice Means to keep the Heart. tifully; in all that is of it, initscommands,promises, threats; in all that is in you, in your understanding, memories, con-
affections, and then it will preserve your hearts ; Psalm cxix. 11. " Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not fin against thee." It is the flipperiness of our hearts in reference to the word,that causes so many flips in our lives. Conscience cannot be urged or awedwith forgotten truths ; but keep it in the heart, and it will keep both heart and lifeuprght; Psalm xxxvii. 31. " The law of his God is "in his heart: none of his steps shall slide;" or if he do, the word will recover the straying heart again; Matth. xxvi. 57. " Then Peter remembered the words of Jesus, and wept " bitterly." We never lose our hearts, till they have first loft the efficaciousand powerful impression of the word.
2 Means. Call your hearts frequently to an account, i fever you mean to keep them with God.
Those that put a stock into the hands of unfaithful or fufpiciousservants,will be sure to make short reckonings with them; " The heart is deceitful, above all things,anddefperatelywick- " ed," Jer. xvii. 9. O it is as necessary as sweer, that we and our reins, that is,we and our secret thoughts, should confer together every night,Plalm xvi. 7. We should call our hearts to account every evening, and say, O my heart! Where haft thoubeentoday ? Where have thy thoughts been wandering today? What an account canstthougiveofthem ? O naughty heart! vain heart! couldst thou not abide by the fountain of delights? Is there better entertainment with the creature than with God ? The oftner the heart meets with rebukes and checks for wandering, the less it will wander: If every vain thought were retracted with a sigh, every excursion of the heart from God with a severe check, it would not dare fo boldly and frequently to digress and step aside; those actions which are committed with reluctancy, are not committed with frequency. 3 Means. He that will keep his heart, must take heed of plunging himself intofuch a multiplicity of earthly business, as he cannot manage without neglecting his main business.
It cannot be imagined he should keep his heart with God, that hath loft himself in a wood ofearthlybusiness : Take heed you do not pinch your souls, by gratifying the immoderate desires of your flesh. I wish many Christians could trulyfay what an*heathenoncedid! Ido not give,but onlylendmy-: * Seneca.
Choice Means to keep the Heart. selftobusiness.' It is said GermanicusreignedintheRomans hearts ; Tiberius only in their provinces. Though the world beinyourhands, let it notjustle Christ out of your hearts...
Take heed, Christian, lestthy shop steal away thy heart from thy closet ; God never intended earthly employments for a stop,but rather for a step to heavenly ones. Olet not Aristippus the heathen, arise in judgment against thee, who said, He would rather neglect his means, than his mind , his farm, than his soul. If thy ship be overladen, thou must caftfome over-board : More business than thou canst well manage, is like more meat than thou canst well digest, which will quickly make a fickly foul. 4Means. He that means to keep his heart, must carefully observe itsfirstdecliningsfrom God, and stop it there.
He that will find his house ingoodrepair, must stop every chinkas soon as discoverd ; and he that will keep his heart, must not let a vain thought be long neglected ; the serpent of heart-apoftacy is best killed in the egg ofa small remission. Oh! ifmanypoor decayed Christians had looked to their hearts in time, theyhadnever come to that sad pass they now are ? We may say of heart-neglects, as the apostle doth ofvainbablings; that they increase to more and more ungodliness. Nemo repentefit turpissimus ; little fins neglected, will quickly become great and masterless : The greatest crocodile once lay in an egg ; the greatest oak was once but an acorn. The firing of a small train ofpowdermay blow up all, by leading to a greater quantity. Men little think what a proud, vain wanton, or worldly thought may grow to : Behold how great a matter a little fire kindles !
5Means. Take heed of losing the liveliness and sweetness of your communion with God, left thereby your hearts be loosed off from God.
The heart is an hungry and restlessthing; it will have something to feed upon; if it enjoy nothing from God, it will hunt for something among the creatures, and there it often loses it self, as well as its end. There is nothing more engages the heart to aconftancyandevenness in walking with God, than the sweetness which it tastes therein : As the Gauls, when once they tasted the sweet wine of Italy, could never be fatiffiedtilltheyconquered the country where it grew.
It is true, conscience of duty may keep the heart from neglecting it, but when there is no higher motive, it drives on deadly, and is filled with distractions ; that which we delight
VOL . VII,
-гоб Choice Means to keep the Heart. in, we are never weary of, as is evident in the motions of the heart to earthly things,where the wheels beingoiled with delight, run nimbly, and have often need oftrigging; the motions oftheheartupwardwouldbe as free, if its delight inheavenlythings were as great.
6 Means. Habituate thy heart to spiritual meditations, if thou wouldst have it free from those burdensome diversions.
By this means you will get a facility and dexterity in he artwork : It is pity those smaller portions of our time betwixt solemn duties should lie upon our hands, and be rendered useless to us. O learn to fave, and be good husbands upon your thoughts . To this purpose a neat author * speaks ; These parentheses, which happen tocomebetweenthe morefolemn passages (whether business or recreations) of human life, are wont to be lost by most men for want ofa due value for them, and even by good men, for want of skill to preserve them ; for though they do not properly despise them, yet they neglect, or lose them, for want ofknowinghowto rescue them, or what to do with them : But although grains •off and and askes be, apart, but of a despicable smallness, and liable to be scattered and blown away, yet the skilful artificer, by a vehement fire, brings numbers of those to afford ⚫him that noble substance, glass, by whose help we may both * see ourselves, and our blemishes lively represented (as in • looking-glasses) and discern celestial objects (as with the telescopes) and with the fun beams kindle disposed materials (as ⚫with burning-glasses) : So when these little fragments, or parcels of time,which if not carefully looked to, would be •dissipated and Ioft, come to be managed by a skilful con- •templator, and to be improved by the celestial fire of deve- '' tion, they may be so ordered as to afford us both looking
to dress our souls by, and prospectives to discover heavenlywondersand incentives to inflame our hearts with zeal: Thus far he, Something of that nature I have under hand, for a pub lie benefit, if God give life to finish, and opportunity to produce it: Certainly this is a great advantage for the keeping of the heart with God.
IV. Use of consolation. I shall now close the whole with a word or two of con folation to all diligent and serious Christians, that faithfully and closelyplyheart-work ; that are groaning and weeping in secret
* Boyle's occasional reflect. p. 9. 10.
Choice Means to keep the Heart. 107 over the hardness, pride, earthliness, and vanity of their hearts; that are fearing and trembling over the experienced deceitfulnefs and falseness of them, whilst other vain professors eyes are abroad, their time and strength eaten up by fruitless diputes and earthly employments, or, at best, by a cold and formal performance of some heartless andemptyduties. Poor Christian! I have three things to offer thee, in order to thy
and comfort; and, doubtless, either of them alone, mixed with faith, is sufficient to comfort thee over all the trouble thou hast with thine own heart .
I Comfort. This argues thy heart to be upright and honest, whatever thy gifts and abilites are.
It is uprightness of heart will comfort thee upon a deathbed; 2Kings xx. 2, 3. " Then he turned his face to the wall, " and prayed to the Lord, saying, remember now, O Lord, " how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect " heart," &c.
I am really of his mind, who said,fi mihi daretur optio, eligerem Chriftiani ruftici fordidissimum & max i me agreste opusprae omnibus victor i is & triumph is Alexandri aut Caefaris ; might I have my wish, I would prefer the most despicable and sordid work of a rustic Christian, before all the victories and triumphs of Alexander or Caesar ; yea, let me add, before alltheelaboratedduties and excellent gifts of vain professors; before the tongues of men and angels. It will signify more to my comfort, to spend onesolitaryhour in mourning before the Lord over heart-corruption, than many hours in a seeming zealous, but really dead performance of common duties with the greatest enlargements and richest embellishments of parts and gifts. By this verything Christdistinguishesthe formal and serious Christian,Matth. vi. 5. The one is for the street and synagogue, for the observation and applause of men,but the other is a closet-man . he drives on a home-trade a heart-trade. Never be troubled then for the want of those things that am an mayhaveandbe eternally damned; but rather bless God for that which none but the favourites and darlings of heaven have. Manyaone isnowinhell that had a better head than thine ; and manyaonenow in heaven that complained of as bad a heart as thine.
2 Comfort. Know further for thy comfort, that God would never leave thee under so many heart-troubles and burdens if he intend not thyrealbenefit thereby. 02
108. Choice Means to keep the Heart. Thou artoftencrying out, Lord! why is it thus ? Why go I mourning all the day, having sorrow in my heart? Thus long have I been exercised with hardness of heart, and to this day have not obtained a broken heart. Many years have I been praying and striving against vain thoughts, yet am still infested and perplexed with them. O when shall I get abetter heart ! I have been intravail, and brought forthbutwind; I have obtained, no deliverance, neither have the corruptions of my heart fallen. I have brought this heart many times to prayers, sermons and sacraments, expecting and hoping for a cure from them, and still my fore runneth, and ceaseth not.
foul! Let this comfort thee; thy God designs thy benefit, even by these occasions of thy fad complaints. For (1.) Hereby he would let thee feewhatthy heartbynature is and was, and therein take notice how much thou artbeholding to free grace. He leaves thee under these exercises of spirit, that thou mayst lie, as with thy face, upon the ground, admiring that ever the Lord of glory should take so vile a creature into his bosom. Thy base heart, if it be good for nothing else, yet serves to commend and set off the unsearchable riches of free grace, (2.) This serves to beat thee off continually from resting, yea, or but glancing upon thine own righteousness or excellency. The corruption of thy heart, working in all thy duties, makes thee sensibly to feel that the bed is too
and the covering too narrow. Were it not for those reflections thou hast after duties, upon the dulness and distractions of thine heart in them ; how apt wouldst thou be to fall in love with, and admire thine own performances and enlarge ments ? For if notwithstanding these, thou hast much to do with the pride of thy heart, how much more ; if such humbl ing and self-abafsing considerations were wanting. And, lastly, this tends to make thee the more compassionate and tender towards others: Perhaps thou wouldst have little pity for the distresses and foul-troubles of others, ifthouhadst less experience of thine own.
3 Comfort. To conclude ; God will shortly put a blessed end to all these troubles, cares andwatchings.
The time is coming, when thy heart shall be asthouwouldst have it ; when thou shalt be discharged of all these cares, fears, and sorrows, and never cry out, O my hard, my proud, my vain, my earthly heart any more ! When all darkness shall be banished from thine understanding ; and thou shalt clearlydif coverall truths in God, that crystal ocean of truth : When
The Epistle to the Reader. 109 all vanity shallbepurgedperfectlyout ofthythoughts, and they beeverlastingly, ravishingly, and delightfully entertained and exerciseduponthat supreme goodness, and infinite excellency of God, from whom they shall never start anymore like a broken bow. And as for thy pride, passion, earthliness, and all other the matters ofthycomplaint and trouble, it shall be said of them, as of the Egyptians to Israel, " Stand still, and fee "the falvationof God." These corruptionsthou seest today, henceforth thou shalt see them no more for ever! when thou
lay down thy weapons of prayers, tears, and groans, and put on the armour of light, not to fight, but triumph in.
Lord! when shall thisblessedday come ? How long! how long! holyandtrue ? My soul waiteth for thee! Come, my Beloved! and be thou like a roe, or a young hartupon the mountains of Bet her. Amen. 7
THE
TOUCHSTONE OF SINCERITY:
OR,
The signs of GRACE, and Symptoms of HYPOCRISY.
Opened in a practical Treatise upon Revelation iii,
17,18.
The Epistle to the Reader.
Reader, A
MONG the difficulties and severities of true religion, the faithful searching, and diligent keeping of our hearts are found in the first and highest rank of difficulties : These two take up the main work ofa Christian betwixt them, Hiclabor, hoc opus eft. I had hopes that these essays for the searching of the heart, might much sooner have followed my former for keeping the heart * . But providence hath reserved it for the fittest season .
Itcomestothyhand, Reader, in a day of straits and fears, dark andgloomyseason;when the nations about us are made
A Saint Indeed.
The Epistle to the Reader. drunk with their own blood, and filled with the wine of a stonishment? inadaywhen the cup is readytopass unto us,and a storm seems to be rising in the fearsofmany,and threatening the protestant interest in these reformed nations. Somemen, veryconfiderable for pietyand learning, from that scripture, Rev. xiii. 3. " The deadly wound," (viz. Thatgiventhebeaft by the reformation) was healed, have concluded, that Popery will once more over-run the reformed nations : And one of great renown inallthechurches of Christ, foretelling this furious, but short storm, comforts the people of God with this, That it is like to fall heaviest upon the worshippers in the outward court, namelytheformal professors of the times. Ohowmuch is everymannow concerned to have his estate and condition well cleared, and to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure!
It should both amaze and grieveapious mind, to fee how some ingenious persons can fit with unwearied patience and pleasure, racking their brains upon some dryschoolproblem, or some nice mathematical point ; whilst no reasons or perfuafions can prevail with them to spend one serious hour in the search and study of their own hearts !
It was the saying of the great Cicero, Libenter omnibus omnes opes concefferim, ut mihi liceat, vi nulla interpellante, is to modo literis vivere : I would give all the wealth in the world that Imightwholly liveinmystudies, and have nothing to hinder me. What a brave offer had that been, if heaven, and the clearing of a title to it, had been the subject-matter of those studies ! Crede mihi, extingui dulce effet, mathematicarum artiumftudio, faith another ; i. e. Believe me, it were asweetdeath to die in the study of the mathematical arts : And I should be apt to believe it too, did I not know that eternal judgment immediately follows death ; and that they who stand at the door of eternity have higher matters to mind than mathematical niceties. To discern the harmonies and proportions in nature is pleasant; but, to discern the harmonyandproportion of the signs of grace laid down in the word, with the works of grace wrought in our souls, is a far more pleasant and necessary employment; and, to be extinguished in suchawork as this, were a lovely death indeed; " Blessed " is that servant, whom his Lord,when he cometh, shall find " so doing !" My friends, a day of trouble is near, a dying hour approach ethus; and when onr eye-strings and heart-strings are breaking ; when we are taking the last grasp of Christ, and the pro
The Epistle to the Reader. mises, you will then know to what purpose those hours spent in such work as this were. Search yourselves, yea, search yourselves before the decree bring forth, as thattextmaybe read, Zeph. ii. 1, 2. "Enter into thy chamber, Christian, "and shut thy door;" ' fit close to this employment thou art < here directed to ; and however times shall govern, whether it be fair or foul weather abroad, thou shalt never repent ⚫such an expence of thy time. Nusquant requiem inveni, t nisi in libro, & clauftro, said a devout foul once; I am never betterthanwhenI am at my book, or on my knees.
This may seem but a dull, melancholy life to the brisk and airy spirits ofthesetimes; but let us be content with it as it is, and leave them(ifwecannothavetheircompany)to their sportiveness and frolics, never oncegrudging them their short and dear-bought pleasures. Assurance, That sin is pardoned, and Christ is ours, with the unspeakable joys that are inseparably connected therewith, is that "white stone, and new name, " which none knows but he that receives it;" for no words. can possibly signify to another what that foul tastes and feels in such an hour as that is..
And be not discouraged at the difficulty of obtaining it : This white stone is nophilofopher Stone, which nomancould ever say he had in his own hand; for many a Christian hath really found it in waiting upon the Lord by prayer, anddiligentlysearchingthe scriptures and his own heart.
Reader, the time will come when they that scoffat theferiousdiligenceofthe faints, andbreakmanya pleasantjest upon the most solemn and awful things in religion, will tremble when they shall hear the midnight-cry, " Behold the bride- " groom cometh !" and fee the lamps of all vain and formal professors expire,and none admitted into the marriage but such whose lamps are furnished with oil ; i. e. such whose professions and duties are enlivenedand maintained by vital springs and principles of real grace within them.
It is a very remarkable story that Melchior Adams records in the life of Gobelinus ; that a little before his time there •was a play set forth at Ifenach in Germany, of the wife and foolish virgins, wherein the virgin Mary, who was one of the five saints thatreprsentedthewise virgins, was brought in with the reft, tellingthefoolish virgins, that cried to her for oil, that it was too late : and then others representing thefoolisb virgins, fell a weeping, and making most bitter lamentations. 2 Hereat prince Frederic (who was one of the spectators) greatly amazed, cried out, Quid eft fides nostra Christian a, fi
112 The Epistle to the Reader. neque Maria, neque alia Sancta exorari poteft ! &c. What is our faith worth, and to what purpose are all our good works, if neither Mary, noranyothersaint can help us! And such was his consternation, that it threw him into a fore and violent di-
ended in an apoplex,whereof he died about four days after.
If the representation of these things in a play, ended the life of so great a man so tragically ; O think with thyself, Reader, and what will the effects of the Lord's real appearance in the clouds of heaven, and the mourning aud wailing of the tribes of the earthinthatdaybe ! Think I say, and think again, and again, what the dismal effects of such a fight and found willbeuponallthat neglect seriouspreparationthemselves, and coffat them that do prepare to meet the Lord!
The design of this manual is to bring every man's gold to the touchstone and fire; Imeanevery man's grace to the trial of the word; that therebywemayknow what we are, what we have, and what we must expect and trust to at the Lord's coming. I pretend not to any gift ofdifcerningspirits ; such an extraordinary gift there once was in the church, and very necessary for those times (wherein Sat an was so busy, and the canon of scripture not completed) which the apostle calls the gift of difcerningspirits, 1Cor. xii. 10. And some are of opinion, that by virtue of this gift, Peter difcernedthehypocrisy of Ananias and Saphira, but whatever that gift was, it is utterly ceased now; no man can pretend to it ; But the ordinary aids and assistances of the Spirit are with us
and the lively oracles are among us still; to them we may freely go for, resolution of all doubts, and decision of perplexed cases. And thus we maydifcern our own spirits, though we want the extraordinary gift of discerning othermen's spirits. I have little to say of this Treatise in thy hands, more than that it is well aimed and designed, however it be managed.
The ear tries words, as the mouth tasteth meat ; these things will relish according to the palates it meets with.
It is not the pleasing,but profiting of men, that I have herein laboured for. I know of nothing in it that is liketowound the upright, or slightly heal the hypocrite, by crying peace, peace, when there is no peace. Scripture light hathbeenmy Cynofura ; and with that thread in my hand, I have followed the search of hypocrisy through the labyrinths of the heart. Some assistance I hope I have had also from experience; for scripture and experience are such relatives, and the tie betwixt them sodifcernible, as nothing in nature canbemore fo. What
The Epistle to the Reader. 113 we feel in our hearts,we mighthaveread in the scriptures before ever we felt it.
That the blefling of God may go forth with it,and accompany it to thy soul, reader, is the heart's desire and prayer of,
Thine, and the Church's
Servant in CHRIST,
JOHN FLAVEL.
THE TOUCHSTONE OF SINCERITY:
The Signs of GRACE, and Symptoms of HYPOCRISY :
Opened ina Treatise upon Revelation iii. 17, 18.
Because thonfayeft I am rich, and increased with goods, and haveneedofnothing ; andknowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked : I counsel thee to buy of me GOLD TRIED in the FIRE, that thou mayestbe rich,&c.
CHAP. I.
Wherein the text is opened, and the doctrines are propounded.
A visions, and obscure prophecies, containing almost as many mysteries as words * ; yet that cloud overshadows the prophetical part only; which begins where this chapter (with thedoctrinal part) ends : here the waters are found no deeper than in other places of the Scripture; but if we go a little farther, they become an overflowing flood: Hitherto we touch
* Tot mysteria quot verba. Hieron. VOL. VIL P
114 The Doctrines propounded and opened. ground, but a step further delivers us into the deeps, which are above the heads of the tallest Christians : Here the Spirit speaks doctrinally, and perfpicuously; but in the following chapters mystically, and in great obseurity. Seven epiftles are found in this doctrinal part, immediately dictated from heaven, and sent by John to the seven churches of Asia, to instruct, correct, encourage, and confirm them, as their several cases required. My text falls in the last epistle, sent to the church of Laodicea; the worst and most degenerate of all the rest. The best had their defects and infirmities,but this laboured under the most dangerous disease of all. The fairest face of the seven had fomespots, but a dangerous disease seems to have invaded the very heart of this.
Not that allwereequallyguilty, but the greatest part (from which the whole is denominated) were lukewarm professors ; who had a name to live, but were dead ; who being never thoroughly engaged in religion, easilyembracedthat principle of the Gnostics, which made it αδιαφορον, a matter of indifferency to own or deny Christ in time of persecution ; the most saving doctrine that some professors are acquainted with. This lukewarm temper Christ hated ; he was sick of them, and loathed their indifferency ; " I with(faith he) ver. 16. thou wert ei " thercold or hot." An expression of the fame amount with that in 1 Kings xviii. 21. " How long haltyou between two " opinions ?" and is manifeftly translated from the qualities of water *, which is either cold or hot ; or lukewarm, a middle temper betwixt both, and more nauseous to the stomach than either of the former. Cold, is thecomplection and natural temper of those that are wholly alienated and estranged from Christ ' and religion: Hot, is the gracious temper of those that know and love Jesus Christ in an excelling degree ! lukewarm, or ' tepid, is the temper of those who have too much religion to • be esteemed carnal, and too little to be truly spiritual ; a generation that is too politic, to venture much, and yet so foolish as to lose all ; they areloath to forsake truth wholly, and more loath to follow ittooclosely the form ofreligionthey affect as an honour, the power ofittheyjudge a burden.
Frigidos vocat plane a Chrifto alienos. Fervidos, vera Chrifti cognitione in excellent i gradu præditos. Tepidos, qui cum Chriftiani dicivelint, nec caufam religionisferio agunt, nec vitam confeffioni conformem dignamque ducunt, Sol, Glass.Rhet. Sacra. par. 3 , p. 165.
The Doctrines propounded and opened. 115 This is that temper which the Lord hates, and this was the disease of Laodicea, which Christ,the great and only heart-anatomist and foul-physician, discovers in ver. 17. and prescribes a cure for it in ver. 18. So that the words resolve themselves into two parts ; viz.
First, A faithful discovery of the disease of Laodicea. Secondly,A proper remedy S
1. First, Their disease is faithfully discovered to them, both in its symptoms, cause and aggravations.
First, Its symptoms, an unconcerned, indifferent, regardless spirit in matters of religion, neither hot,nor cold; the true temper of formal-professors, who never engaged themselves thoroughly and heartily in the ways of God, but can take or leave as times govern,and worldly interest come to be concerned.
Secondly, Its cause and root,which is the defect and want of the truth, and power of inward grace, noted in these expressions, " Thou art wretched, and miserable, poor, blind, " and naked ;" i. e. thou art destitute of a real principle, a folidwork of grace. These five epithets do all point at one and the samething ; namely, the defective and rottenness of their foundation. The two first, ο ταλαίπωροςκαι ο ελεινος, wretched and miserable are more general, concluding them in a fad condition, a very sinful and lamentable estate; the three last, πλωχος, τυφλος, και γυμνος, viz. poor, blind, and naked, are more particular, pointing at those grand defects and flaws in the foundation, which made their condition so wretched and miserable.
First, Poor, that is, * void of righteousness andtrueholiness before God : These are the true riches of Christians ; and who-