3. The reason, or motive quickening to this duty, is very forcible and weio-htv : " For out of it are the issues of life." That is, it is the source and fountain of all vital actions and operations ; Hincjbns honi et peccandi origo, saith Jerom ; it is the spring and original both of good and evil, as the spring in a watch that sets all the wheels in motion. The heart is the treasury, the hand and tongue but the shops ; what is in these comes from thence ; the hand and tongue always begin where the heart ends. The heart contrives, and the members execute; Luke vi. 45. "A good man out of the " good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil *' man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things ; " for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaketh.'' So then, if the heart err in its work, these must needs miscarry in theirs ; for heart-errors are like the errors of the first concoc- tion, which cannot be rectified afterwards : Or like the misplacing, and inverting of the stamps and letters in the press, which must needs cause so many errata in all the copies that are printed off. O then, how important a duty is that which is contained in the fol- lowing proposition ?
* I say constant, for the reason added in the text extends the duty ho all the states and conditions of a Christian's life, and makes it bind ad semper : If the heart must be kept because out of it are the issues of life ; then as long as the issues of life do flow out of it, \ve are obliged io keep it.
WHAT IT IS TO KEEP THE IIEATlT. 425
' Doct. That the keeping and riglLt managing' of the heart in every condition., is the great business of' a Christianas life.
What the philosopher saith of waters, is as properly applicable to hearts ; Snis terminis difficile continentur, it is hard to keep them within bounds : God hath set bounds and limits to them, yet how fre- quently do they transgress, not only the bounds of grace and religion, but even of reason and common honesty ? Hie labor., hoc opus est ; this is that which affords the Christian matter of labour, fear and trembUng to his dying-day. It is not the cleansing of the hand that makes the Christian, for many a hypocrite can shew as fair a hand as he ; but the purifying, watching, and right ordering of the heart ; this is the thing that provokes so many sad complaints, and costs so many deep groans and brinish tears. It was the pride of Hezekiah's heart that made him lie in the dust mourning before the Lord, 2 Chron. xxxii. 26. It was the fear of hypocrisy invading the heart, that made David cry, " Let my heart be found in thy statutes that I " be not ashamed,'"* Psalm cxix. 80. It was the sad experience he had of the divisions and distractions of his owti heart, in the service of God, that made him pour out that prayer. Psalm Ixxxvi. IL " Unite my heart to fear thy name.''
The method in which I shall improve the point, shall be this,
Firsts I shall enquire what the keeping of the heart supposes and imports.
Seoojidli/, Assign divers reasons, why Christians must make this the great work and business of their lives.
Thirdly, Point at those special seasons which especially call for this diligence in keeping the heart.
Fourthly, and lastly. Apply the whole in several uses.
1 . What the keeping of the heart supposes and imports.
To keep the heart, necessarily supposes a previous work of sancti- flcation, which hath set the heart right, by giving it a new spiritual bent and inclination ; for as long as the heart is not set right by grace, as to its habitual frame, no duties or means can Ivcep it right with God. Self is the poise of the unsanctified heart, which biasses and moves it in all its designs and actions ; and as long as it is so, it is impossible that any external means should keep it with God.
Man, by creation, was of one constant, uniform frame and tenour of spirit, held one straight and even course ; not one thought or fa- culty revelled or disordered ; his mind had a perfect illumination to understand and know the will of God, his will a perfect compliance therewith ; his sensitive appetite, and other inferior powers, stood in a most obedient subordination.
Man, by degeneration, is become a most disordered and rebellious creature, contesting with, and opposing his Maker, as the Jirst cause, by self-dependence ; as the chiefest good, by self-love ; as the highest Lordf by self-will, and as the last end, by self-seeking; and so is quite
4^6 WHAT IT IS TO KEEP THE HEART.
disordered, and all his acts irregular : His illuminated understanding]^ is clouded with ignorance, his complying will full of rebellion and stubbornness ; his subordinate powers, casting off the dominion and government of the superior faculties.
But by regeneration this disordered soul is set aright again : sanc- tification being the rectifying and due framing, or as the scripture phrases it, the renovation of the soul after the image of God, Eph. iv. 24. in which self-dependence is removed by faith ; self-love by the love of God ; self-will by subjection and obedience to the will of God ; and self-seekmg by self-denial. The darkened understanding is again illuminated, Eph. i. 18. the refractory will sweetly subdued, Psalm ex. 3. the rebellious appetite, or concupiscence gradually con- quered, Rom. V. 7. per tot. And thus the soul which sin had uni- versally depraved is again by grace restored and rectified.
This being pre-supposed, it will not be difficult to apprehend what it is to keep the heart, which is nothing else but the constant care and diUgence of such a renezccd man^ to preserve his soul in that holy frame to •which grace hath reduced it, and daily strives to hold it.
For though grace hath, in a great measure, rectified the soul, and given it an habitual and heavenly temper : yet sin often actually dis- composes it again : so that even a gracious heart is like a musical in- strument, which, though be it never so exactly tuned, a small matter brings it out of tune again ; yea, hang it aside but a little, and it will need setting again before you can play another lesson on it ; even sa stands the case with gracious hearts ; if they are in frame in one duty, yet how dull, dead, and disordered when they come to another ? And therefore every duty needs a particular preparation of the heart, Job xi. 13. " If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands " towards him." Well then, to keep the heart is carefully to pre- serve it from sin, which disorders it ; and maintain that spiritual and gracious frame, which fits it for a life of communion with God. And this includes these six acts in it :