Part 18
3. Next it becomes light, his conscience smites but f feels not the stripes of it. 4. Then there is not only i bleness of it, but that which was bitter and displeasi come sweet and pleasing, in some degree. 5. Then it custom, and not only pleases, but daily pleases. Last turned into nature; he cannot be pulled away from it and pleads for it : This is customary sinning, this is t wicked ; but the quite contrary is your condition.
Query 3. Are you sure, from scripture-grounds, t may not relapse again and again into the same sin ?
for gross sins, they do not use to relapse into them : mitted adultery no more: Paul persecuted the chui Peter denied Christ no more : But I speak of ordina
Job's friends were good men, yet (saith he) chap, xi: " ten times have ye reproached me." So then, no su( follow from this first ground of doubting.
2. The second ground is the declining aiid zoitherin^ tions to spiritual things ? O ! (saith the upright soul] been planted a right seed, I should have been as a gr in the house of my God; but my branches wither, root is naught. 13 ut stay,
Query 1. May you not he mistaken about the decay fading of your affections ? What if they are not so q ishing as at first, may not that be recompensed in t and solidity of them now ? Phil. i. 9. " I pray God ^
" abound more and more in all judgment :" It may though not so fervent ; or do not you mistake by lot to what you would bp, rather than backward to what o
It is a good note of Ames, we discern the growth of growth of plants, which we perceive rather Crcvisse ^ to have grown, thari to grow.
Query 2. But grant it be so indeed, as you affirm, follou:, that the root of the matter is not in you ? Dvc are distinguished from his first, 2 Chron. xvii. 3. anc and last a holy man. The church of Ephesus is chai
— I sow TO KEEf THE HEAKT FKOM DESPKKATE COKCLUSIOKS. I feel stxmiger, and more soosible motions of my heaxt to earthJj co forts, than I do to beavenly objects, dioreftMre my soul is Dot iipri| in me. Bat stay, O soul.
Query 1. May not a man lave God mare soRdfyj and strong Hum tike creature, and ^ ki* a^K&oms to Ae creature be tometin moved more riotent^, and sensiify, tkan Umards Godf As root malice argues a stronger hatred, than a sudden, though more v lent passion : So we must measure our love, notfajaTH^entmoti <^it, now and then, but by the depth c^ the roc^ and constancy its actings Because David was so passioaatdy moved fw Absalo Joab concludes, that if he had hved, and «U the people died, **
would have ideased him well," 2 Sam. xix. T But that was aigu more like a smdier, than a lo^cian.
Query 3. If yon indeed love the creature Jor its^, jfyou nu it yoitr end, and reSgion but a masns, then the condhmon is righ drawn upon you. Bat if you love the creature in refezence to Gt and see nothing in it separated irom him, thbu^ acxnetimes yc affections offend in the excess ; tliis is consastoat with sincere love God. To love the creature inordinately, (i. e.) to put it in Go room, and make it a man^s end ; this is the love of a caornal heai to love it immodefately, that is, to let out mc»e affection to it tfa we ought, is sometimes the an of the best hearts^
Query 3. Have not many soulsjeared^ as you do, thai iiAen Chr and creatures shall stand as compettiors in some eminent trial, tA thouldjbrmke Chrisi riUher than the creature ; and yet when brou^ to that dilemma, heax been able to casi aU the world at their he for Christ f Many of the martyrs had such fears, and they woe : tisfied ; the prevalency of love is best seen at parting ; there may more love to Christ in thy soul, than thou art now aware of; a if God bring thee to such a pnch, thou mayest see iL » *
4. A fourth ground of these sad conclusions, is from hence, tt we find our hearts sometimes mtxe stiaitmed in |Hivate^ than in pu lie duties. 'O ! if my soul xe&e sinc»e, its actings in duty wou be uniform. I fear I am but a Pharisee upiM^ this ground. It sad, indeed, we should at any time iSad our hearts straitened in p jjirate. But, • ' 'nt Query 1. Do not cdl thine enlargements in duty, whether puhli or private, depend upon lA« Spirit^ mho is the Lord of infiuenee, and aceordtng as he gives out, or holds back those influences, so a thou enlarged, or strtnfened ? And what if sometimes he i^eaaes give that in a public, which he withhtdds in a private duty, as loi
486 HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FROM DESPERATE CONTC about public, and careless about private duties, that W( sign : but when you have conscientiously performed, a with God in them, it will not follow that you are insin that communion is sometimes interrupted. Besides,
Query 3. May there not he somethifig, at sometimes which is wanting in a private duty, to raise and adt affections? God may sometimes make use of the melti of them with whom thou hearest, or prayest, as pett^i to move thy affections ; this advantage is wanting in pr fore from hence (the case so standing) no such inference (
5. Another ground is from those horrid injections c which the soul is greatly perplexed ; by these I may heart I have : Can grace be where those are ?
Yes, grace may be where such thoughts are, thoug they are lodged, and consented to. Dost thou cry oi burden ? Enter thy protest in heaven against them, s up holy and reverend thoughts of God ; then it is vi yoXnni-Ai'y prostitution.
6. The last ground of these sad conclusions, is the silence, and seeming denial of our long depending suits, O if God had any regard to my soul, he would have hi before now ! But I have no answer from him, therefoi in him. But stay, doubting soul.
Query 1. Have not many saints stumbled upon this thee ? Psal. xxxi. 22. " I said in my haste, I am cut of
" thine eyes : nevertheless thou heardest the voice of
*' tion." So the church, Lam. iii. 44. " Thou coveresi
a cloud, that our pi'ayers should not pass through." *' Then said I, I am cast out of thy sight." And ma mistaken in this matter, as well as they ^
Query 2. Though God's abhorring, and final rejec he an argument of' his ablior ring the person that prm •we conclude so from a mere suspension of the answei hear long with his oxen elect, that cry unto him day and xviii. 7.
Query 3. Can you deny but that there are some sigi in your souls, even whilst God suspends his answer, tha prayers are not rejected by him ? As, (1.) Though no i yet you are still resolved to wait : You dare not say as wretch did, 2 Kings vi. 33. " This evil is of the Lord " I wait for him any longer .?" (2.) You can clear and
HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FBOM BACKSL1DIN9. 4J
prayer :" And how doth this work ? You may see, ver. 40. L *' us search and try our ways.^ Well, then, neither from hence m, you conclude that God hath no love for your souls.
And thus I have shewn you how to keep your hearts, in a da and doubting season, from those desperate conclusions of uubeU God forbid any false heait should encourage itself from these things; it is our unhappiness that when we give Cautio saints and sinners their proper portions, that each of them are so prone to take up the other's part. Season 11. The eleventh special season calling for this diligen
' to keep your hearts, is, when sufferings for religion come to j ' height, then look to your hearts, Matth. xxiv. 8, 9, 10. " All the * are the beginning of sorrows, and they shall deliver you up to ' afflicted, and shall kill you ; and ye shall be hated of all natio * for my name's sake; and then shall many be offended." Whi * sufferings for religion grow hot, then blessed is he that is not ( * fended in Christ, troubles are then at an height. (1) When a mai * nearest friends and relations forsake and leave him, Mic. vii. 5, ' 2 Tim. iv. 16. When a man is engaged alone. (2.) When it com * to resisting to blood, Heb. xii. 4. (3.)When temptations are pr * sented to us in our sufferings, Heb. xi. 37. (4.) When emine * persons for profession turn aside, and desert the cause, of Chris * 2 Tim. ii, 19. (5.) When God hides his face in a suffering hou * Jer. xvii. 17. (6.) When Satan falls upon us with strong tempt * tions, to question the grounds of our sufferings, or the soul's int ' rest in Christ : Now it is hard to keep the heart from turning bac * and the steps from declining God's ways." The eleventh questio * then, shall be this:
Case 11. Haul the heart may he liept J'rom relapsing under ti greatest sufferings Jbr religion ? If the bitterness of sufferings \ any time cause thy soul to distaste the way of God, and take i; thoughts of forsaking it ; stay thine heart under that temptation, I propounding these eight questions solemnly to it.
Question 1. What reproach and dishonour shall I pour upc Christ, and religion, by deserting him at such a time as this ^ Th
11 proclaim to all the world, that how much soever I have boastc
"of the promises, yet, when it comes to the trial, I dare hazard m thing ujx)n the credit of them : And how will this open the moutl of Christ's enemies to blaspheme ? O better had I never been bori than that worthy name should be blasphemed through me ! Shall furnish the triumphs of the uncircumcised ? Shall I make mirth i
488 HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FKOM BACKSLIDl^ shall comfort me when conscience wounds me ? What co in life, liberty, or friends, when peace is taken away f man ? When Constantius threatened to cut off Samos hand, if he would not subscribe somewhat that was ag science, he held up both his hands to the messenger that ing, he shall cut off both, rather than I will do it : Fare joy, and comfort, from that day forward. « Had Zim
" slew his master ?" said Jezebel. So say I here, had , Had Spira peace ? And shall you have peace, if you 1 steps ? O consider what you do !
Quest. 3. Is not the public interest of Christ and relig more than any private interest of my own ? It is a far that of Terentius, captain to Adrian the emperor, he pn tion to Adrian, that the Christians might have a temple b to worship God apart from the Arians : The emperor tion, and threw it away, bidding him to ask somethin and it should be granted. But he modestly gathered of his petition again, and told him, ' If he could not be h
cause, he would never ask any thing for himself ."• Yea though an heathen could say, Ne immortalitatem q^ rempuhlicam ; he would not accept even of immortality the common-wealth. O if we had more public, we sh( such cowardly spirits !
Quest, 4. Did Jesus Christ serve me so, when, for m\ posed himself to far greater sufferings than can he, be) sufferings were great indeed, he suffered from all hands fices, in every member, not only in his body, but in his si sufferings of his soul were the very soul of his sufferings : bloody sweat in the garden ; Avitness that heart-melting rending out-cry upon the cross, " My God, my God, v
" forsaken me r And yet he flinched not, "he endured t " pising the shame." Alas ! what are my sufferings cc Chrisf s.P He hath drank up all that vinegar and gall tha my sufferings bitter. When one of the martyrs was aske so merry at his death .? O, said he, it is because the soul i so heavy at his death. Did Christ bear such a burden for broken patience, and constancy ; and shall I shrink hi mentary, and light afflictions, for him ?
Quest. 5. Is not eternal life worth the suffering of a mc If I suffer with him, I shall reign with him. O how will life and limb fora fadingcrown, swim through seasof bloc
I» HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FROM BACKSLIDING. i
F the forerunner, who is already entered, standing, as it were, upon walls of heaven, with the crown in his hand, saying, '• He that ov Cometh shall inherit all things.'' Come on, then, ray soul, come there is eternal life laid up for them that, by patient continuance well-doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality, Rom. ii. 7. ■^ Quest 6. Can I so easily cast off the society and company of ■ flints, and g^ive the right-hand ofjelloxcship to the zcicked ? H can I part with such lovely companions as these have been ? H often have I been benefited by their counsels ? Ezra x. S. how of refreshed, warmed, and quickened by their company ? Eccl. iv.
11. how often have I fasted and prayed with theni.^ What sw counsel have I taken with them, and gone to the house of God company .'* And shall I now shake hands with them, and say. Fa well all ye saints for ever ; I shall never be among you more : Co drunkards, swearers, blasphemers, persecutors, you shall be my ev lasting companions 1: O ratlier let my body and soul be rent a*uuc tlian that ever I should say thus to the excellent of the earth, whom is all my delight.
Quest. 7. Have I seriously considered the terrible scripture-cc viinations against backsliders f Omy heart! darest thou turn thy b; upon the very point of such threatenings as these .'* Jer. xvii. 5, " Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man, a " maketh flesh his arm ; and whose heart departeth from the Loi *' for he shall be hke the heath in the desert, and shall not see wl
" good Cometh,"" i. e. The curse of God shall wither him root £ branch. And Heb. x. 26, 27. " If we sin wilfully, after we have " ceived the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sai
flee for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fi(
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." And again, \ 38. " If anv man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in hiu As if he should say, ' Take him, world, take him, devil, for yt
' own, I have no delight in him.' O who dare draw back when G has hedged up the way with such terrible threats as these !
Quest. 8. Can I look Christ in the face at the day ofjudn-mem I desert him nOiC ?
" He that is ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterc *' and sinful generation, of hira shall the Son of man be asham " when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angel Mark \-iii. 38. Yet a httle while, and you shall see the sign of i Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and gr« glory ; the last trump shall sound, the dead, both small and ere
490 HOW TO KEEP THE HEAllT FROM BACKSLID!
Wouldst thou desert Christ now, to protract a poor on earth ? If the word of God be true, if the sayin'-f seaJed and faithful, this shall be the portion of the ap an easy thing to stop the mouth of conscience now, easy to stop the mouth of the Judge then ? Thus k that it depart not from the living God.
Season 12. The twelfth season of looking diligently and keeping them with greatest care, is the time of sicki
a child of God draws nigh to eternity, when there ; * sands more in the upper part of his glass to run dowi ' busily bestirs himself; of him it may be said, as of th * Yient, nunguam 7iisi moj'iens producitur inhngum ; Ik * at his full length till dying : And now his great design. * not win the soul from God, is to discourage, and nfak * to go to God, though the gracious soul, with Jacob ' rouse up itself upon a dying bed, and rejoice that the * of the Lamb is now almost come ; though it should t * dying Austin, vivere renuo ut Christo vivam ; I desi * with Christ. Or as dying Milius, when one asked hin
were willing to die ? O said he, illus est nolle mori, qi ' Christum ; let him be unwilling to die who is unwil * Christ. But O .' what shrinking from death ? Wha ' depart, may sometimes (indeed too frequently) be ol ' people of God ? How loth are some of them to take * cold hand ? If such a hberty were indulged to us, r * solved till we dissolve ourselves ; when should we say ^ ' " I desire to be dissolved .?'' Well then, the last case
Case 12. How the people of God, In times of sickn their hearts loose from all earthly engagements, and p into a xoillingness to die.
And there are seven arguments, which I shall ui people of God at such a time as this, to make them c tertam the messengers of death, and die as well as well saints. And the first is this :
Argument 1. First, The harmlessness of death to thep Though It keep its dart, it hath lost its sting : A saint that, Isa. xi. 8.) « May play upon the hole of the asp, " hand into the cockatrice's den." Death is the cockat the grave is his hole or den ; a saint need not fear to i boldly into it : It hath left and lost its sting in the sid« 1 Cor. XV. 55. " O death ! where is thv stino- ?" W
HOW TO ENCOURAGE THE HEART AGAINST DEATH. 4
Startle and shrink back from it ; but when God hath put away t sins from thee, " as far as the east is from the west,'' Psal. ciii. 12. lonf as there is no other evil left in death for thee to encounter wi but bodily pain ; as long as the scriptures represent it to thee unc such harmless and easy notions, as the putting off thy clothes, 2 C
V. 2. " And lying down to sleep upon thy bed," Isa. Ivii. 2. W shouldst thou be afraid ? There is as much difference betwixt dej to the people of God, and others, as betwixt the unicorn's horn, wt it is upon die head of that fierce beast, and when it is in the apot carv's shops, where it is made salubrious and medicinal.
Arg. 2. T/iT/ heart may he kept from slirink'ing bach at such time as this^ by co7isidering the necessity of death, in order to full fruition of God.
Whether thou art willing to die or no, I assure thee there is other way to obtain the full satisfaction of thy soul, and complete happiness ; till the hand of death do thee the kind office to draw as the curtain of the flesh, thy soul cannot see God : This animal stands betw ixt him and thee, 2 Cor. v. 6. " Whilst we are at ho
" in the body, we are absent from the Lord." Thy body must refined and cast into a new mould, else that new wine of heave gJory would break it. Paul, in his highest rapture, 2 Cor. xii when he heard thingrs unutterable, was then but as a stander-bv looker-on, not admitted into the company as one of them ; but as angels are in our assemblies, so was Paul in that glorious assem above, and no otherwise ; and yet even for this he must, as it were taken out of the body, unclothed for a little time, to have a glim of that glory, and then put on his clothes again. O then ! \ would not be willing to die for a full sight and enjojaiient of G(
Methinks thy soul should look and sigh, like a prisoner, through grates of this mortality : "• O that I had wings like a dove, then wo
" I fly away, and be at rest :" Most men need patience to die, bi saint that understands what death admits him to, should rather n patience to live ; methinks he should often look out, and listen c death-bed for his Lord's coming ; and when he receives the new his approaching change, should say, " The voice of my beloved !
" hold, he Cometh leaping over the mountains, skipping upon
" hills," Cant. ii. 8.
Arg. 3. Another argument pen'suading to this xoiUingness, is immediate succession of a more excellent and glorious life.
It is but a wink, and you shall see God : Your happiness shall be deferred till the resurrection ; but as soon as the bodv is dead.
492 HOW TO ENCOURAGE THE HEART AGAINST DEi< sleep till the resurrection, as others have groundlessly fai been a madness for Paul to desire a dissolution for the Christ : For if this were so, he enjoyed more of Chri soul dwelt in its fleshly tabernacle, than he should out
There are but two ways of the souPs living, known viz. the life of faith, and 'the life of vision, 1 Cor. v. 5. divideth all time, both present and future, betwixt then
13. If when faith fails, sight should not immediately si would become of the unbodied soul .? But blessed be Go heart-establishing truth is evidently revealed in scripture 43. You have Christ's promise, John xiv. 3. " I will ( " ceive you to myself" Owhat a change will a few nu upon your condition .? Rouse up, dying saint ; when thy out a little further ; when it shall stand like Abraham at i the angels of God shall soon be with it : the souls of the it were, put out to the angels to nurse, and when the angels carry them home again to their Father's house : were caused to fly swiftly to bring a saint the answer o Dan. ix. 22. how much more will the angels come post to receive and transfer the praying soul itself.?
Arg. 4. Farther, It may much conduce to thy willingn conside?; that by death, God oftentimes hides hi^ people oi of all temptations and troubles upon earth. Rev. xiv. 1 " from henceforth, Blessed are the dead which die in th is God's usual way, when some extraordinary calamities upon the world, to set his people out of harm's way befor Ivii. 1. "Merciful men are taken away from the evil to Mic. vii. 2. when such an evil time comes as is there
" That they all lie in wait for blood, and every man hunts *' with a net :" God, by an act of favour, houses his pe hand. Dost thou know what evil may be in the earth, art so loth to leave ? Thy God removes thee for thy g tage ; thou art disbanded by death, and called off' the poor saints must stand to it, and endure a great fight of
It is observed that Methuselah died the very yearbefoi Augustine, a little before the sacking of Hippo ; Parens, the taking of Heidelburgh : Luther observes, that all t died before the destruction of Jerusalem : and Luther 1 before the wars broke out in Germany. It may be thi thy tender heart cannot endure to see the misery, or bes tations that are coming, and therefore will now gather
HOW TO ENCOURAGE THE HEART AGAINST DEATH.
1. For your communion with God : the time of perfecting thi now come : thy soul shall shortly stand before the face of God, have the immediate emanations and beamings forth of his glory u it : here thv soul is remote from God, the beams of his glory st it but obliquely and feebly, but shortly it will be under the line, there the sun shall stand still, as it did in Gibeon ; there shall b( cloudings, nor declinings of it. O how should this fill thy soul ' desires of being unclothed !
2. As for the enjoyment of saints, here indeed we have fellow with them of the lower form ; but that fellowship is so dissweete by remaining corruptions, that there is no satisfaction in it ; as the greatest plague that can befal an hypocrite to live in a ] church, so it is the greatest vexation to the spirit of a saint, to in a corrupt and disordered church ; but when death hath admi you into that glorious assembly of the spirits of just men made per you shall have the desire of your hearts ; here you cannot fully < with another; yea, you cannot fully close with your own souls, what discords, jarrings, censurings are here ? What perfect, ble harmony there ! In heaven each saint loves another as himself, 1 are altogether lovely. O my soul, haste thee away from the li dens, from the mountains of Bether, from divided saints, to t mountains of myrrh, and hills of frankincense : thou art now gi unto thine own people, as the apostle's phrase imports. Cor. v. Arg. 6. If this will not do. Consider what heavy burdens d KiH ease thy shoulders of.
In this tabernacle we groan, being burdened, (1.) With bodily tempers ; how true do we find that of Theophrastus. The soul ] a dear rent for tiie tenement it now lives in .'* But glorified bodie; clogged with no indispositions ; death is the best physician ; it cure thee of all diseases at once. (2.) With the indwelling of this makes us groan from the very bowels, Rom. vii. 24. " Bui
" that is dead, is free from sin," Rom. vi. 7. Hath justificatior stroyed ns damningpozoer, and sanctification \i% reigning power . glorification destroys its very being and existence. (3.) We gi under temptations here, but as soon as we are out of the body, wt out of the reach of temptation : when once thou art got into hea thou mayest say, Now Satan, I am there where thou canst not co for as the damned in hell are mah ohformati, so fixed in sin misery, that their condition cannot be altered ; so glorified saintj bono conjinnati, so fixed in holiness and glory, that they canno shaken. (4.) Here we groan under various troubles, and afflicti
494 WHY SAINTS WALK SO UNFRUITFULLT.
Objection 1 . 0 I have many relations in the world, I kn will become of them when I am gone.
Solution. If thou art troubled about their bodies, and o dition, why should not that word satisfy thee, Jer. xlix.
thy fatherless children to me, I will keep them alive, " widows trust in me." Luther, in his last will and test this expression, ' Lord, thou hast given me wife and chih
nothing to leave them, but I commit them unto thee. * of the fatherless, and judge of widows, Nuti% serva, do
keep, and teach them.' Or, art thou troubled for 1 Thou canst not convert them, if thou should st live, ai make thy prayers and counsels to live, and take place when thou art dead.
Objection 2. I would fain live to do God more service i Solution. Well, but if he have no more service for thee why shouldst thou not say with David, "If he have no d( *' me any farther, here am I, let him do what seemeth In this world thou hast no more to do, but he is callinj higher service and employment in heaven ; and what tl do for him here, he can do that by other hands.
Objection 3. I am not yet fully ready, I am not as a pletely adorned for the bridegroom.
Solution. Thy justification is complete already, thougl fication be not so ; and the way to make it so, is to die ; it will have its defects, and wants.
Objection 4. O but I want assurance ; if I had that, presently.
Solution. Yea, there it sticks, indeed ; but then consi hearty willingness to leave all the world to be freed from with God, is the next way to that desired assurance ; nc son was ever willing to die upon this ground.
And thus I have finished those cases which so nearly people of God, in the several conditions of their life, and I how to keep their hearts in all. I shall next apply the
I. Use, of Information.
Jl OU have heard, that the keeping of the heart is the of a Christian, in which the very soul and life of religi and without which all other duties are of no value with (
WHY SAINTS WALK SO UNCOMFORTABLY.
are wrought by men, which yet are utterly rejected by God, shall never stand upon record, in order to an eternal accepta because they took no heed to keep their hearts with God in t duties : this is that fatal rock, upon which thousands of vain pr sors have split themselves eternally : they are curious about th( ternals of religion, but regardless of their hearts. O how n hours have some professors spent in hearing, praying, reading, ferring ! and yet, as to the main end of religion, as good they sat still, and done nothing ; for all this signifies nothing, the j work, 1 mean heart work, being all the while neglected. Tell thou vain professor, when didst thou shed a tear for the dead hardness, unbelief, or earthliness of thy heart ? Thinkest thou an easy religion can save thee ? If so, we may invert Christ's wi and say, " Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadel
life, and many there be that go in thereat." Hear me, thou deluding hypocrite, thou that hast put off God with heartless di thou that hast acted in religion, as if thou hadst been blessing an that couldst not search and discover thy heart; thou that offered to God but the skin of the sacrifice, not the marrow, fat inwards of it : how wilt thou abide the coming of the Lord .'' ' wilt thou hold up thy head before him, when he shall say, O dissembling, false-hearted man ! how couldst thou profess relig With what face couldst thou so often tell me that thou lovedst when thou knew all the while, in thine own conscience, that 1 heart was not with me ? O tremble to think what a fearful judgi it is to be given over to a heedless, and careless heart ; and thf have religious duties, instead of a rattle, to quiet and still the science !
2. Hence also infer for the humiliation^ even of upright he That unless the people of God spend more time ajul pains about i hearts, than generally and ordinarily they do, they are never lit do God much service, or be orcners of much cornfbrt in this 7cor
I may say of that Christian that is remiss and careless in kee his heart, as Jacob said of Reuben, " Thou shalt not excel." grieves me to see how many Christians there are that go up and d dejected, and complaining, that Uve at a jxwr low rate, both of vice and comfort ; and how can they expect it should be others as long as they live at such a careless rate ? O how little of i time is spent in the closet in searching, hurabhng, and quicke their hearts ? «i
You say your hearts are dead, and do you wonder they are s
496 "WHY SAINTS -vrALK SO UXCOMFORTABLY.
channel ; I fear most of us may take up the Church's
Cant. i. 6. " Thej have made me the keeper of the vir
" mine own vineyard have I not kept.'"" Two things ha the time and strength of the professors of this generatio diverted them from heart-work : (1.) Fruitless controve by Satan, I doubt not, to this very purpose, to take us of tical godliness, to make us puzzle our heads when w« searching our hearts. O how little have we minded that tie, Heb. xiii. 9. " It is a good thing that the heart be
with grace, and not with meats ;"" i. e. with disputes versies about meats, " which have not profited them tha
occupied therein." O how much better is it to see men live exactly, than t dispute suhtlely ! These unfruitful questions, how hav the churches, wasted time and spirits, and called Christi their main business, from looking to their own vineyard ? ye, sirs ? Had it not been better if the questions agitated people of God of late days had been such as these ? t man discern the special, from the common operations of How may a soul observe its first declinings from God ? backsliding Christian recover his first love ? How may t preserved from unseasonable thoughts in duty ? How m sin be discovered, and mortified, &c. Avould not this 1 more to the credit of religion and comfort of your soi time to repent and be ashamed of this folly ! When I Suarez, a Papist, said, who wiote many tomes of disput he prized the time he set apart for the searching and e:; his heart, in reference to God, above all the time that ev in other studies : I am ashamed to find the professors of insensible of their folly. Shall the conscience of a Su relenting pang for strength and time so ill employed, ar yours ? This is it your ministers long since warned yc spiritual nurses were afraid of the rickets, when they sa\ only to grow, and our hearts to Avhither. O when will G swords into plow-shares ! I mean, our disputes and cont practical godliness. (2.) Another cause of neglecting hath been earthly incumbrances ; the heads and heart have been filled with such a croud and noise of world] that they have sadly and sensibly declined and wither zeal, love, and delight in God ; in their heavily, seriou fitable way of conversing with men. ■
WHY SAIXTS WALK SO UXCOMFORTABLY.
it is sad to think how many precious opportunities I have 1( * how many sweet motions and admonitions of the Spirit I have ]
sed over iuifruitfuUy, and made the Lord to speak in vain : in
secret illapses of his Spirit, the Lord hath called ujxjn me, but
worldly thoughts did still lodge within me, and there was no p
' within my heart for such calls of God."^ Surely there is a wa; enjoying God, even in our worldly employments; God would n( have put us upon them to our loss; " Enoch walked with God,
" begat sons and daughters,"" Gen. v. 19. He walked with God, did not retire and separate himself from the things of this life : the angels that are employed by Christ in the things of this wc (for the spirit of the living creatures is in the wheels) they are fi creatures, and cannot be in a twofold ubi at one time ; yet they nothing of the beatifical vision all the time of their administrati for Mat. xviii. 10. " Their angels (even whilst they are emplo
" for them) behold the face of their Father which is in heav We need not lose our visions by our employments, if the fault v not our own. Alas ! that ever Christians, who stand at the doc eternity, and have more work upon their hands than this poor ment of interposing time is sufficient for, should yet be filling 1 their heads and hearts with trifles.
3. Hence I infer for the axcakemng of all, That if the Keepin, the heart be the great zvork of a Chj-istiau, then there are but real Christians in the xcorld.
Indeed if every one that hath learned the dialect of Christiai and can talk like a saint : if every one that hath gifts and parts, by the common assisting presence of the Spirit can preach, praj discourse like a Christian ; in a word, if such as associate themse with the people of God, and delight in ordinances, may pass Christians, the number then is great.
But, alas ! to what a small number will they shrink, if you jt them bv this rule ! how few are there that make conscience of k ing their hearts, watching their thoughts, judging their ends, O there be but few closet men among professors ! It is far easiei men to be reconciled to any duties in religion than to these: ' profane part of the world will not so much as touch with tlie out of religious duties, much less with this; and for the hypocrite, tho he be polite and curious about those externals, yet you can ni persuade him to this inward work, this difficult work, to which tl is no inducement by human applause ; this work, that would qui( discover what the hypocrite cares not to know ; so that by a gen
I I I
4j98 why saints walk so unfkuitfitlly.
interests he wrapt up in it^ then let me call upon the p every ivhere to Jail close to this work.
O study your hearts, watch your hearts, keep your I with fruitless controversies, and all idle questions ; awa^ names and vain shews ; away with unprofitable discou^ censures of others ; turn in upon yourselves ; get into and now resolve to dwell there. You have been stra work too long ; you have kept others vineyards too lon< trifled about the borders of religion too long ; this world ed you from your great work too long ; will you now re better to your hearts ? Will you haste and come out o of business, and clamours of the world, and retire you than you have done ? O that this day you would resoh
Reader, methinks I should prevail with thee : All tl is but this, that thou wouldst step aside a little oftener God, and thine own heart ; that thou wouldst not suffei to divert thee ; that thou vrouldst keep a more true and count of thy thoughts and affections ; that thou wouldst 1 demand of this thy own heart, at least every evening, ( where hast thou been to-day ? Whither hast thou made day ? If all that hath been said by way of inducement be I have yet more motives to offer you. And the first is
1 Motive. TJie studying, observing, and diligent Tieej o-wn hearts, will marvellously help your understanding mysteries of religion.
An honest well-experienced heart, is a singular helj head ; such a heart will serve you instead of a cornmen great part of the scriptures : By this means you shall fa derstand the things of God, than the learned rabbles an doctors (if graceless and unexperienced) ever did ; you si have a more clear, but a more sweet perception and gui A man may discourse orthodoxly and profoundly of the effects of faith, the troubles and comforts of conscience ness of communion with God, that never felt the efficac impressions of these things upon his own spirit : but O hf dry are these notions, compared with his upon whose heai been acted.'' When such a man reads David's Psalms epistles, there he finds his own objections made and ans .saith he, these holy men speak my very heart : Their d mine, their troubles mine, and their experiences mine. ] Ghrysostom, speaking to his people of Antioch about s
WHY SAIXTS Walk tXCOMFOllTABLV.
For what think you is the reason that so many professors in El iand have departed from the fr.ith, giving heed to fables ; that many thousands have been led away by the error of the w icked ; t Jesuits and Quakers, who have sown corrupt doctrine, have 1 such plentiful harvests among us, but because they have met \\'it company of empty notional professors, that never knew what belgi to practical godliness, and the study of their own hearts.
If professors did but give diligence to study, search and watch tl: own hearts, thev would have that ibiov fjg/yaoy, that stedfastness their own, that Peter speaks of, 1 Pet. iii. 17. and this would I last and settle them, Heb. xiii. 9. Suppose a subtle Papist shoi talk to such of the dignity and merit of good works ; could he e work the persuasion of it into that heart that is conscious to itself so much darkness, deadness, distraction and unbehef, attending best duties ? It is a good rule, Xon est disputaiidum de gusiu : Th is no disputing against taste. What a man hath felt and tasted. < cannot beat him off iVom that by argument.
3 Motive. Your care and dU'igeTicc in keeping your hearts : prove one of the best evidences of' your sincerity. I know no external act of religion that differences the sound fr the unsound professor : It is wonderful to consider how far hypocri go in all external duties; how plausibly they can order the outw£ man, hiding all their indecencies from the obser%-ation of the wor
But then, thev take no heed to their hearts ; they are not in sec what thev appear to be in public : And before this trial no hypocr can stand. It is confessed they may in a fit, under a pang upoi death-bed, cry out of the wickedness of their hearts ; but alas ! thi is no heed to be taken to these extorted complaints. In our law, credit is to be given to the testimony of one upon the rack, because may be supposed that the extremity of the torture may make him s any thing to be eased. But if self-jealousy, cave, and watchfulne be the daily workings and frames of thy heart, it strongly argues t sincerity of it : For what but the sense of a divine eye ; what but t real hatred of sin as sin, could put thee upon those secret duti which lie out of the observation of all creatures ?
If then it be a desirable thing m thine eyes to have a fair testimo of thine integritv, and to know of a truth, that thou fearest G'^ then studv thine heart, watch thy heart, keep thy heart.
4 Motive. Hoxff fruitful, sxveet, and comfortable icmdd all or^ nances and duties be to us, if our hearts wcrt better keptf
O what precious communion might vou have with God every tit
SAINTS WALK UNCOMFORTABLY.
him in that duty : They strive hard to get up their h now trying this argument upon them, and then that, t aftect them, and sometimes go away as bad as they cam the duty is almost ended before their hearts begin to s warmth, quickening, or power from it : But all this pared heart is at its work; this is he that ordinarily sight of Christ m a sermon, the first seal from Christ i the first kiss from Christ in secret prayer. I tell you but what I have felt, that prayers and sermons would other manner of things than they do, did you but bring hearts unto them ; you would 'not go away dejected ; O this hath been a lost duty to me ! if you had'not los It had not been so. If then the comfort of ordinances to your hearts, keep your hearts.
,5 Motive. Acquaintance with your oxtm hearts won tain of matter to -you in 'prayer.
A man that is diligent in 'heart-work, and knows tl own soul, wdl have a fountain-fulness of matter to supi m all his addresses to God ; his tongue shall not faiili pause for want of matter ; Psal. xlv. 1. " My heart is in
" matter :" Or, as Montanus renders the original, boiling up^ood matter, like a living spring, that is still fresh water ; and then my tongue is as the pen of a ]
Others must pump their memories, rack their inventi often at a loss, when they have done all : but if thou h, faithfully studied thine own heart, it will be with thee ( m another case) like bottles full of new wine that wani are ready to burst: As holy matter.flows plentifully, mgly and sweetly from such a heart. When a hear Christian is mourning before God over some special heai wrestling with God for tlie supply of some special in\s speaks not as other men do that have learned to pray b conliDssions and petitions are squeezed out ; his dro pure honey from the comb : It is a happiness then to b( such a Christian. I remember Bernard, having given pare the heart for prayer, concludes them thus, Et cwn momento mei ; and (saith he) When thy heart is in thii remember me.
6 Motive. By this the decayed power of religion wil agmnaonong professors, whichisthe niost desirable state
O that I might live to see that day, when professors s
A GOOD HEART THE BEST MABK OF SlXCERITY. £ those that come nigh therti, so that men shall say, God is in th( men ota truth.
Well, such a time may again be expected, according to that p: mise, Isa. Ix. 21. " Thepeople shall be all righteous." But till pursue closer to this great work of keeping our hearts, I am out hopes to see those blessetl days ; I cannot expect better times till G gives better hearts. Doth it not grieve you to see what a scorn religi is made in the world .'* w hat objects of contempt and scorn the prof sors of it are made in the world ?
Professors, would you recover vour credit.' Would you again obt. an honourable testimony in the consciences of your very enemi( Then keep your hearts, watch your hearts : it is the loosens frothiness, and earthliness of your hearts that have made your li so ; and these have brought you under the contempt of the world ; \ first lost your sights of God, and communion with him, then y( heavenly and serious deportment among men, and by that your ir rest in their consciences : O then, for the credit of religion, for honour of your profession keep your hearts !
7 Motive. By diligence in keeping' your hearts^ we ahcndd p vent, and remove thejdtal scandals and stumbling-blocks oitt of Tvay of the xcorld. ■
" Woe to the world (saith Christ) because of ofFenceS I* Mai xviii. 7. Doth not shame cover your faces } Do not your hes bleed within you, to hear of the scandalous miscarriages of many lo professors .'* Could you not, like Shem and Japhet, go backward w a garment to cover the shame of many professors? How is that w thy name blasphemed ! Jam. ii. 7. 2 Sam. xii. 13, H'- the hearts the righteous saddened, Psal. xxv. 3. Ezek. xrcxvi. 20. bv this world is fearfully prejudiced against Christ and religion, the Ikw of death made fast upon their souls ; those that have a general L and liking to the ways of God, startled and quite driven back, i thus soul-blood is shed : woe to the world !
Yea, how are the consciences of fallen professors plunged, and c overwhelmed hi the deeps of trouble .'' God inwardly excommuni ting their souls from all comfortable fellowship with hiinseli', and joys of his salvation : infinite are the mischiefs that come by scandalous lives of professors.
And what is the true cause and reason of all this, but the negh ing of their hearts.^ AVere our hearts better kept, all this would prevented. Had David kept his heart, he had not broken his bon a negligent and caVelesS heart must of necessity oroduce a disordc
502 A GOOD HEAKT THE BEST MARK OF SHsCElJI-] religion sweet ; if ever you hope to recover the cred world, keep your hearts; either keep your hearts, credit ; keep your hearts, or lose your comforts ; kee] lest ye shed soul-blood. What words can express the i ments, the wonderful consequences of this work ! Eve: a necessity, a solemnity, a beauty upon it.
8 Motive. An Jieart ivell hept will Jit you for any c cants you into, or any service he hath to use you in.
He that hath learnt how to keep his heart lowly, is ] rity : and he that knows how to use and apply it to i noises and supports, is fit to pass through any adversity deny the pride and selfishness of his heart is fit to be any service for God. Such a man was Paul, he did m his time in preaching to others, in keeping others vine looked to himself, kept his own vineyard ; 1 Cor. i)
" when I have preached to others, I myself should be And what an eminent instrument was he for God.? t his hand to any work ; he could dexterously manage bo and prosperous condition : " I know how to abound, ar
fer want. Let the people deify him, it moves him i " indignation. Let them stone him, he can bear it ; If " himself from these (saith he, 2 Tim. ii. 21.) he sha *' unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master'
" prepared unto every good work."
First the heart must be purged, and then it is prep service of God. When the heart of Isaiah was purifie the thing signified by the touching of his lips with a < altar, Isa. vi. 7. then he was fit for God's work : " Hei
" me," ver. 8. A man that hath not learned to keep \ him upon any service for God, and if it be attended wi shall swell up and over-top his spirit ; if with sufFerii animate and sink him.
Jesus Christ had an instrumental fitness for his Father' all the servants that ever God employed: he was zeak •work for God ; so zealous, that sometimes he forgot yea, that his friends thought he had been besides him; he so carried on his public work, as not to forget his communion with God : and therefore you read. Mat. •when he had been labouring all day, yet, after that he mountain apart to pray, and was there alone. O let t the vineyards look to their own vineyard : We shall ne
A GOOD HBIVRT THE BEST MARK O? SIXCEHITY. ;
Men would say, we will go with you ; for we have heard that (
" is among you." It is the fellowship your souls have with Father, and with the Son, that draws out the desires of others a fellowship with you, 1 John i. 3. I tell you, if saints would ho ] suaded to take more pains, and spend more time about their hea there would quickly be such a divine lustre upon the face of tl conversations, that men would account it no small privilege to with or near them.
It is the pride, passion, and earthliness of our hearts that h spoiled Christian fellowship. Whence is it, that when Christ! meet, they are often jarring and contending? but only from t] unmortified passions : whence are their uncharitable censures. of tl brethren : but only from self-ignorance : Why are they so rigid unmerciful towards those that are fallen ? but because they consi not themselves as the a}X)stle speaks, Gal. vi. 1. W^hy is their course so frothy and unprofitable when they meet ? is not this fi the earthliness and vanity of their hearts ?
My brethren, these be the things that have spoiled Christian lowship, and made it become a dry and sapless thing ; so that ni Christians are even weary of it, and are ready to say with the prop!
Jer. ix. 2. " O that I had a cottage in the wilderness, Sec. tha
might leave my people, and go from them !" And with Da Psal. cxx. 6. " My soul hath long dwelt ^nth them that hate pea This hath made them long for the grave that they might go fi them that are not their own people, to them that are their own | pie, as the original of that text imports, 2 Cor. v. 8.
But now if professors would study their own hearts more, ws and keep them better, all this would be prevented ; and the bea and glory of communion again restored : they would divide no m( contend no more, censure rashly no more ; when their hearts ar( tune, their tongues ^vill not jar ; how charitable, pitiful, and ten will they be of one another, when every one is daily humbled un the evils of his own heart. Lord, hasten those much-desired dc and bless these counsels in order to them !
10 Motive. Lastly, By this the comjbrts of the Spirit, andpreci influence of' all ordinances ivould hejijced, and much longer preser in your souls than nozo they are.
A.h ! what would I give, that my soul might be preserved in t frame I sometimes find it in after an ordinance.^ AUquando intromi me, Domine, in affectum mnlttim inusitniim, introrsus ad qu
504 CHOICE MEAICS TO KEEI* THE HEAllT.
would you be ? what lives would jou live? and how i; things remain no longer with us ? Doubtless it is becai our hearts to take cold again ; we should be as careful nance or duty to prevent this, as one that comes out o or great sweat, is of going out into the chill air. We and cold fits by turns : and what is the reason but our and carelessness in keeping the heart ?
It is a thousand pities, that the ordinances of Go quickening and comforting effects, should be like tho dinances the apostle speaks of, that perish in the usi let me say to you, as Job xv. 11. " Do the consola
" seem small to you ?'^ Look over these ten special bei them in a just balance : are they small matters ? Is it a to have thy we^ understanding assisted ? Thy endang tidoted, thy sincerity cleared, thy communion with Go thy sails filled in prayer .? Is it a small thing to have power of godliness again recovered, all fatal scandals instrumental fitness to serve Christ obtained, the commu restored to its primitive glory, and the influences of ord ing in the souls of saints ? If these be no common blessi benefits, then, surelj^, it is a great duty to keep the 1 diligence.
The III. Use, for Direction.
The next use shall be for direction to some special i keeping of the heart. And here, besides what hath b the explication of the duty at the beginning of this which I refer the reader, 'and all those directions thr whole, appropriated to particular cases and seasons ; I add several other general means of excellent use to thi the first is this :
1 Mean. Would you thus Jceep your hearts as hath beei
Then Jitrnish your hearts richly xvith the word of' God, ' best preservation against sin.
Keep the word, and the word will keep you : as th ing of the word regenerated your hearts, so the keepin< within you will preserve your hearts : Col. iii. 16. " J
" of Christ dwell richly in you :" let it dwell, not tai for a night, and let it dwell richly or plentifully ; in al in its comniands, promises, threats ; in all that is in understanding, memories, consciences, affections, and preserve your hearts; Psalm cxix. 11. " Thy word \
CHOK E MEAX5 TO KEF.P TKK HEART. O
Clic Straying heart again; Mat. xxvi. 57. " Then Peter reme " bered the word of Jesus, and we|3t bitterly." We never lose c hearts, till they have first lost the efficacious and powerful impressi of the word.
2 IMean. Call your hearts frequently to an account, if ever ^ ■ynean to keep them with 6o(L
Those that put a stock into the hands of unfaithful or suspici( servants, will be sure to make short reckonings >vith them ; " 1
" heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately wicked," J :svii. 9O it is as necessary as sweet, that we and GUI' reins, thai we and our secret thoughts, should confer together every nig Psalm xvi. 7. We should call our hearts to accouirt every eveni and say, O mv heart ! Where hast thou been to-day? AVhere h; thv thoughts been wandering to-day ? What an acd)unt canst tl give of them .'' O naughty heart ! vain heart ! ccRildst thou not ab bv the fountain of delights? Is there better entertainment with creature than with God ? The oftener the heart meets with rebu and checks for wandering, the less it will wander : If every v thought \¥ere retracted vnth a sigh, every excursion of the heart fr God with a severe check, it would not dare so boldly and frequer to digress and step aside : those actions which are committed w reluctancv, are not committed with frequencv-
3 Mean. He that icill keep his heart, must take heed afplung himself' into such a multiplicity of earthly business, as he can manage zcithout neglecting' his main business.
It cannot be imagined he should keep his heart with God t hath lost himself in a wood of earthly business : Take heed vou not pinch your souls, by gratifying the immoderate desires of y( flesh. I wish many Christians could truly say what an *heat] once did ! * I do not give, but only lend myself to business.' I said Germanicus reigned in the heai'ts of the Romans ; Tiber only in their provinces. Though the world be in your hands, le not justle Christ out of your hearts.
Take heed, Christian, lest thy shop steal away thy heart from \ closet; God never intended earthly employments for a stop, 1 rather for a step to heavenly ones. O let not Aristippus the heath arise in judgment against thee, who said, ' He would rather negl
' his means, than his mind ; his farm, than his soul.' If thv ship overloaden, thou must cast some overboard : More business tl thou canst well manage, is like more meat than thou canst well gest, which will quickly make a sickly soul.
506 CHOICE MEANS TO KEEP THE HEART.
a vain thought be long neglected ; the serpent of heart-ap killed in the egg of a small remission of care. Oh ! if mj cayed Christians had looked to their hearts in time, the come to that sad pass they now are in ? We may say of iie as the apostle doth of vain babblings ; that they increase more ungodliness. Nemo repente^fit twpissinms ; little ed, will quickly become great and masterless : The gn dile once lay in an egg ; the greatest oak was once bi
The firing of a small train of powder may blow up all to a greater quantity. Men little think what a proud, \ or worldly thought may grow to : Behold how great little fire kindles !
5 Mean, l^ake heed of losing the liveliness and sweet communioii xvith God, lest thereby your hearts be loosed a
The heart is an hungry and restless thing ; it will hav to feed upon ; if it enjoy nothing from God, it will hu thing among the creatures, and there it often loses itse its end. There is nothing more engages the heart to and evenness in walking with God, than the sweetr tastes therein : As the Gauls, when once they tasted th of Italy, could never be satisfied till they conquered where it grew.
It is true, conscience of duty may keep the heart froi it; but when thci*e is no higher motive, it drives on d( filled with distractions ; that which we delight in, we are of, as is evident in the motions of the heart to earthly tl the wheels being oiled with delight, run nimbly, and need of trigging ; the motions of the heart upwards free, if its delight in heavenly things were as great.
6 Mean. Habituate thy heart to spiritual meditati wouldst have itjreejrom those burdensome diversions.
By this mean you will get a facility and dexterity in It is pity those smaller portions of our time betwixt s should lie upon our hands, and be rendered useless to us save, and be good husbands upon your thoughts. To a neat author * speaks ; ' These parentheses, which haj ' between the more solemn passages (whether business oi * of human life, are wont to be lost by most men for w * value for them, and even by good men, for want of * serve them ; for though they do not properly despis ' they neglect, or lose them, for want of knowing ho
CHOICE MEANS TO KEEP THE HEART. I
represented (as in looking-glasses) and discern celestial objects * with the telescopes) and witli the sun beams kindle disposed m: " rials (as with burning glasses :) So when these little fragments.
' parcels of time, which if not carefully looked to, would be (
sipated and lost, come to be managed by a skilful contemplator, i * to be improved by the celestial tire of devotion, they may be * ordered as to afford us both looking-glasses to dress our souls
' and prospectives to discover heavenly wonders and incentives to
flame our hearts with zeal ;"" Thus far he. Something of tliat nature I have under hand, for a pubHc b€ fit, if God give life to finish, and opportunity to produce it : C tainly this is a great advantage for the keeping of the heart with G
IV. Use of Consolation. I shall now close the whole with a word or two of consolatior all diligent and serious Christians, that faithfully and closely heart-work ; that are groaning and weeping in secret over the ha ness, pride, earthliness, and vanity of their hearts ; that are fear and trembling over the experienced deceitfulness and falseness of thi whilst other \'ain professors eyes are abroad, their time and stren eaten up by fruitless disputes and earthly employments, or, at b by a cold and formal performance of some heartless and empty dut Poor Christian 1 I have three things to offer thee, in order to support and comfort ; and, doubtless, either of them alone, n ed with faith, is sufficient to comfort thee over all the trouble tl hast with thine own heart.
1. Comfort. This argues thy heart to he upright and hon
- whatever thy gi/ls and abilities are.
It is uprightness of heart will comfort thee upon a death-bed Kings XX. 2, B. '* Then he turned his face to the wall, and pra^
' to the Lord, saying, remember now, O Loj-d, how I have wall
" before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart,*^ S:c. I am really of his mind, who said, si mihi daretur optio, eligei
Christiani rtistici sordidissimum 4" maximc agrest*: opus pros om bus tictoriis Sf triumphis Alexandriaut Coesaris ; might I have wish, I would prefer the most despicable and sordid work of a ru;
Christian, before all the victories and triumphs of Alexander Caesar ; yea, let me add, before all the elaborated duties and ex( lent gifts of vain professors ; before the tongues of men and ang
It will signify more to my comfort, to spend one solitary houi mourning before the Lord over heart-corruption, than many ho in a seeming zealous, but really dead performance of common du1
508 CHOICE MEANS TO KEEP THE HEART, then for the want of those things that a man may have i hally damned ; but rather bless God for that which ni favourites and darlings of heaven have. Many a one is that had a better head than mine ; and many a one no' that complained of as bad a heart as thine.
2 Comfort. Know further for thy comfort^ that God i leave thee tinder so many heart-troubles and burdens if not thy real benejit thereby.
Thou art often crying out, Lord ! why is it thus ?
mourning all the day, having sorrow in my heart "? Thv I been exercised with hardness of heart, and to this day 1 tained a broken heart. Many years have I been prayin ing against vain thoughts, yet am still infested and per them, O when shall I get a better heart ! I have bee and brought forth but wind ; I have obtained no deli) ther have the corruptions of my heart fallen. I have 1 heart many times to prayers, sermons and sacraments, ej hoping for a cure from them, and stillmy sore runneth, ant
Pensive soul ! Let this comfort thee ; thy God desigi fit, even by these occasions of thy sad complaints. For he would let thee see what thy heart by nature is and wa: in take notice how much thou art beholden to free grace, thee under these exercises of spirit, that thou mayest lie. face upon the ground, admiring that ever the Lord of ^ take so vile a creature into his bosom. Thy base heart, for nothing else, yet serves to commend and set off the i riches of free grace. (2.) This serves to beat thee off' from resting, yea, or but glancing upon thine own righ excellency. The corruption of thy heart, working in al makes thee sensible to feel that the bed is too short, an ing too narrow. Were it not for those reflections the duties, upon the dulness and distractions of thine heai how apt wouldst thou be to fall in love with, and admii performances and enlargements ? For if notwithstanding hast much to do with the pride of thy heart, how mu such humbling and self-abasing considerations were wai lastly, this tends to make thee the more compassionate towards others : Perhaps thou wouldst have little pity tresses and soul-troubles of others, if thou hadst less e: thine own.
3 Comfort. To conclude ; God will shortly put a blesi
THE EPlbTLE TO THE READER. 5 ly out of thy thoughts, and they be everlastingly, ravishingly, a delightfully entertained and exercised upon that supreme goodne and infinite excellency of God, from whom they shall never start a more like a broken bow. And as for thy pride, passion, earthlinc and all other the matters of thy complaint and trouble, it shall said of them, as of the Egyptians to Israel, " Stand still, and see I
" salvation of God." These corruptions thou seest to day, hen foi'th thou shalt see them no more for ever I when thou shalt down thy weapons of prayers, tears, and groans, and put on i armour of light, not to fight, but triumph in.
Lord ! when shall this blessed day come ? How long ! how lor holy and true .'' My soul waiteth for thee ! Come, my Beloved ! a be thou like a roe, or a young hart upon the mountains of Beth
Amen.
THE
OR,
TOUCHSTONE OF SINCERITY:
THE SIGNS OF GRACE, AND SYMPTOMS OF HYPOCRIS
Opened iu a practical Treatise upon Revelatioa iiL 17, 18.
The Epistle to the Reader. Reader^
Among the difficulties and severities of true religion, the fa: ful searching, and diligent keeping of our hearts are found in first and highest rank of difficulties : These two take up the m work of a Christian betwixt them, Hlc labor, hoc opus est. I 1 hopes that these essaj/s for the search inoof the heart, might mi sooner have followed my former for keepingthe heart.* But pre dence hath reserved it for the fittest season.
It conies to thy hand. Reader, in a day of straits avA fears, a d and ffloomv season : whpn thp nnfir»na oK«.,f ,,c ^-^ w,™^^ J ^. „
510 THE EPISTLE TO THE IIEADEIC.
ing from that scripture, Rev. xiii. 3. " The de (viz. That given the beast by the reformation) wqa concluded, that popery will once more over-run the lions : And one of great renown in all the churches o telhng this furious, but short storm, comforts the r with this, That it is hke to fall heaviest upon the wors outzvard court, namely the formal professors of the tir
O how much is every man now concerned to hi and condition well cleared, and to give all dilio-ence calling and election sure ! ^
It should both amaze and grieve a pious mind, to ; ingenious persons can sit with unwearied patience and p ing their brains upon some dry school problem, or some i tical point ; whilst no reasons or persuasions can prevail spend one serious hour in the search and study of theii
It was the saying of the great Cicero, Libenter omnib concesserim, ut mihi liceat, vi nulla interpellante, isto m yere: I would give all the wealth in the world that I mig in my studies, and have nothing to hinder me. Wliat had that been, if heaven, and the clearing of a title to the subject-matter of those studies! Crede mihi, exthigi muthematicarumartium studio, saith another; i. e. Belie a sweet death to die in the study of the mathematical , should be apt to believe it too, did I not know that eterr immediately follows death ; and that they who stand a eternity have higher matters to mind than mathematical discern the harmonies and proportions in nature is pleaf discern the harmony and proportion of the sig-ns of gra in the word, with the works of grace wrought in our s more pleasant and necessary employment : and, to be < in such a work as this, were a lovely death indeed : " Bl