To conclude, such is the vileness of mere heart-sins, that the scrip- tures sometimes intimate the difficulty of pardon for them. So in the case of Simon Magus, Acts viii. SI. his heart was not right, he had vile thoughts of God, and the things of God ; the apostle bids him " repent and pray, if perhaps the thoughts of his heart might be " forgiven him." O then, never slight heart-evils ; for by these God is highly wronged and provoked ; and for this reason let every Christian make it his work to keep his heart with all diligence.
2. The sincerity of our profession much depends upon the care and conscience we have in keeping our hearts ; for it is most certain, that a man is but an hypocrite in his profession, how curious soever he be in the externals of religion, that is heedless and careless of the frame of his heart : You have a pregnant instance of this in the case of Jehu, 2 Kings X. 31. " But Jehu took no heed to walk in the ways of the " Lord God of Israel with his heart." That context gives us an ac-
WHAT IT IS TO KEEP THE HEAKT. 431
count of the great service performed by Jehu against the house of Ahab and Baal, as also of a great temporal reward given him by God for that service, even that his children to the fourth generation, should sit upon the throne of Israel. And yet, in these words, Jehu is censured for an hypocrite ; though God approved and rewarded the work, yet he abhorred and rejected the person that did it as hypocritical : And wherein lay his hypocrisy ? but in this, that he took no heed to walk in the ways of the Lord with his heart, i. e, he did all insincerely, and for self-ends ; and though the work he did was materially good, yet he, not purging his heart from those unworthy self-designs in doing it, was an hypocrite : And Simon, of whom we spake before, though he appeared such a person, that the apostle could not regularly refuse him ; yet his hypocrisy was quickly discovered : And what discovered it but this, that though lie professed and associated himself with the saints, yet he was a stranger to the mortification of heart sins ? " Thy heart is not right " with God," Acts viii. 21. It is true there is a great difference among Christians themselves, in their diligence and dexterity about heart- work; some are more conversant and successful in it than others are ; but he that takes no heed to his heart, that is not care- ful to order it aright before God, is but a hypocrite, Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32. " And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and sit *' before thee (as my people) and they hear thy words, but they '' will not do them ; for with their mouths they shew much love, but " their heart goeth after their covetousness." Here were a company of formal hypocrites, as is evident by that expression (as imj people) like them but not of them. And what made them so ? Their out- side was fair ; here were reverend postures, high professions, much seeming joy and delight in ordinances, " Thou art to them as a " lovely song :" yea, but for all that they kept not their hearts with God in those duties, their hearts were commanded by their lusts, they went after their covetousness : had they kept their hearts with God, all had been well ; ])ut not regarding which way their hearts went in duty, there lay the score of their hypocrisy.
Objection. If any upright soul should hence infer, that I am an h}^ocrite too, for many times my heart departs from God in duty ; do what I can, yet I cannot hold it close with God.
Solution. To this I answer. The very objection carries in it its own solution. Thou sayest, do what 1 can, yet I cannot keep my heart with God. Soul, if thou dost what thou canst, thou hast the blessing of an upright, though God sees good to exercise thee under the affliction of a discomposed heart. There remains still some wild- ness in the thoughts and fancies of the best to humble them ; but if you find a care before to prevent them, and opposition against them when they come, grief and sorrow afterwards ; you will find enough to clear you from reigning hypocrisy.
(1.) This fore-care is seen partly in laying up the word in thine
43j2 what it is to keep the heart.
heart to prevent them, Psal. cxix. 11. " Thy word have I hid in " mine heart, that I might not sin against thee :'' partly in our en- deavours to engage our hearts to God, Jer. xxx. 21. and partly in begging preventing grace from God in our onsets upon duty, Psal. cxix. 36, 37. it is a good sign where this care goes before a duty.
And, (2.) It is a sweet sign of uprightness to oppose them in their first rise, Psal. cxix. 113. " I hate vain thoiights,'' Gal. v. 17. " The spirit lusteth against the flesh."
And, (3.) Thy after-grief discovers thy upright heart. If, with Hezekiah, thou art huml3led for the evils of thy heart, thou hast no reason, from those disorders, to question the integrity of it ; but to suffer sin to lodge quietly in the heart, to let thy heart habitually and uncontrolledly wander from God, is a sad and dangerous symp- tom indeed.
3. The beauty of our conversation arises from the heavenly frame and holy order of our spirits ; there is a spiritual lustre and beauty in the conversation of saints : " The righteous is more excellent than " his neighbour," they shine as the lights of the world ; but what- ever lustre and beauty is in their lives, comes from the excellency of their spirits; as the candle within puts a lustre upon the lanthorn in which it shines. It is impossible that a disordered and neglected heart should ever produce well-ordered conversation ; and since (as the text observes) the issues or streams of life flow out of the heart as their fountain, it must needs follow, that such as the heart is, tlie life will be: hence 1 Pet. ii. 11, 12. " Abstain from fleshly lusts, — *' having your conversation honest," * or beaiitiful, as the G reek word imports. So Isa. Iv. 7. " Let the wicked forsake his way, *' and the unrighteous man his thoughts." His way notes the course of his life, his thoughts the frame of his heart ; and therefore since the way and course of his life flows from his thoughts, or the frame of his heart, both or neither will be forsaken : the heart is the womb of all actions, these actions are virtually and seminally contained in our thoughts, these thoughts being once made up into affections, are quickly made up into suitable actions and practices. If the heart be wicked, then, as Christ saith. Mat. xv. 19. " Out of the heart " proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries," &:c. Mark the order ; first, wanton, or revengeful thoughts, then unclean or murderous practices.