(2.) God doth not usually indulge lazy and negligent souls with the comforts of assurance ; he will not so much as seem to patronize sloth and carelessness ; he will give it, but it shall be in his own way : his command hath united our care and comfort together ; they are mistaken that think the beautiful child of assurance may be born ivithout pangs : ah, how many solitary hours have the people of God spent in heart-examination ! how many times have they looked into the word, and then into their hearts ? Sometimes they thought they discovered sinceritv, and were even ready to draw forth the triumphant conclusion of assurance; then comes a doubt they can- not resolve, and dashes all again ; many hopes and fears, doubtings and reasonings, they have had in their own breasts, before they arrived at a comfortable settlement.
To conclude, suppose it possible for a careless Christian to attain assurance, yet it is impossible he should long retain it : For, as for those whose hearts are filled with the joys of assurance, if extraor- dinary care be not used, it is a thousand to one if ever they long enjoy it : for a little pride, vanity, carelessness, will dash to pieces all that for which they have been labouring a long time, in many a weary duty. Since, then, the joy of our life, the comfort of our souls, rises and falls with our diligence in this work, keep your hearts with all dilicrence.
5. The improvement of our graces depends upon the keeping our hearts ; I never knew grace thrive in a negligent and careless soul : the habits and roots of grace are planted in the heart ; and the deeper they are radicated there, the more thriving and flourish- ing grace is. In Eph. iii. 17. we read of " being rooted in grace;'"* grace in the heart is the root of every gracious word in the mouth, and bf every holy work in the hand, Psal. cxvi. 10. 2 Cor. iv. IS. It is true, Christ is the root of a Christian ; but Christ is origo OJi^i nans, the originating root ; and grace 07^igo orighiata, a root origi- nated, planted, and influenced by Christ ; according as this thrives under divine influences, so the acts of grace are more or less fruitful, or vigorous. Now in a heart not kept with care and diligence, these fructifying influences are stopt and cut ofl", multitudes of vanities break in upon it, and devour its strength ; the heart is, as it were the pasture, in which multitudes of thoughts are fed every day ; a gracious heart diligently kept, feeds many precious thoughts of God in a day, Psal. cxxxix. 17. '* How precious are thy thoughts tome, " O God ! how great is the sum of them ? If I should count them, " they are m.ore in number than the sand ; and when I awake, I am ** still with thee."" And as the gracious heart feeds and nourishes them, so they refresh and feast the heart, Psal. Ixiii. 5, 6. " ^iv
4'36 ASSUllA^^CE DEPENDS UPON KEEPING THE HEART.
" soul is filled as with marrow and fatness whilst I think upon thee," SfC. But in the disregarded heart, swarms of vain and foolish thoughts are perpetually working, and justle out those spiritual ideas, and thoughts of God, l3y which the soul should be refreshed.
Besides, the careless heart makes nothing out of any duty or ordi- nance it performs or attends on, and yet these are the conduits of heaven, from whence grace is watered and made fruitful : a man may go with an heedless spirit from ordinance to ordinance, abide all his days under the choicest teaching, and yet never be improved by them ; for heart-neglect is a leak in the bottom, no heavenly in- fluences, how rich soever, abide in that soul. Mat. xiii. 3, 4. The heart that lies open and common, like the high-wav, free for all passengers ; when the seed fell on it, the fowls came and devoured it. Alas ! it is not enough to hear, unless we take heed how we hear ; a man may pray, and never be the better, unless he watch unto prayer. In a word, all oidinances, means, and duties, are blessed unto the improvement of grace, according to the care and strictness •we use in keeping our hearts in them.
6. Lastly, The stabihty of our souls in the hour of temptation, will be much according to the care and conscience we have of keep- ing our hearts ; the careless heart is an easy prey to Satan in the hour of temptation, his main batteries are raised against that fort- royal, the heart; if he wins that, he wins all; for it commands the whole man : and, alas ! how easy a conquest is a neglected heart ? It is no more difficult to surprize it, than for an enemy to enter that city whose gates are open and unguarded : it is the watchful heart that discovers and suppresses the temptation before it comes to its strength. Divines observe this to be the method in which tempta- tions are ripened and brought to their full strength.
There is, (1.) Og'£'r, The irritation of the object, or that power it hath to work upon, and provoke our corrupt nature; which is either done by the real presence of the object, or else by speculation, when the object (though absent) is held out by the phantasy before the soul.
(2.) Then follows Oe/x?;, tlie motion of the sensitive appetite, which is stirred and provoked by the phantasy, representing it as a sensual good, as having profit or pleasure in it.
(3.) Then there is B^X/^cr/c, a consultation in the mind about it, deliberating about the likeliest means of accomplishing it.
(4.) Next follows Ai^yicic, the election, or choice of the will.
(5.) And lastly Bii>^r,/j,a, The desire, or full engagement of the will to it ; all this may be done in a few moments, for the debates of the soul are quick, and soon ended : when it comes thus far, then the heart is won, Satan hath entered victoriously, and displayed his colours upon the walls of that royal fort ; but had the heart been well guarded at first, it had never come to this height : the tempta- tion had been stopped in the first or second act. And indeed there
ASSURANCE DEPENDS UPON KEEPING THE HEART. 437
it is Stopped easily : for it is the motions of a tempted soul to sin, as in the motion of a stone falling from the brow of a hill ; it is easily stopped at first, but when it is set agoing, Vires acquirit eundo : And therefore it is the greatest wisdom in the world to observe the first motions of the heart, to check and stop sin there. The motions of sin are weakest at first, a little care and watchfulness may prevent much mischief now, which the careless heart not heeding, is brought within the power of temptation ; as the Syrians were brought blind- fold into the midst of Samaria, before they knew where they were.
By this time, reader, I hope thou art fully satisfied how conse- quential and necessary a work the keeping of the heart is, it being a duty that wraps up so many dear interests of the soul in it.