When the messenger of Satan buffeted Paul by wicked injections, as is supposed, he goes to God, and mourns over it before him, 2 Cor. xii. 8. never slight wandering thoughts in duty as small matters : follow every vain thought with a deep sigh, turning thee to God with such words as these : Lord, I came hither to speak with thee, and here a busy devil and a vain heart conspiring together have set upon me. O my God ! what an heart have I ? Shall I never wait upon thee without distraction ! when shall I enjoy an hour of free com- munion with thee ? Help me, my God, this once ; do but display thy glory before mine eye, and my heart shall quickly be recovered ; Thou knowest I came hither to enjoy thee, and shall I go away with- out thee .? See how the heart of thy poor child works towsp-ds thee ! strives to get near thee, but cannot : My heart is aground, " come " thou north-wind, blow south-wind," O for a fresh gale now from thy Spirit, to set ray affections a-float ! Couldst thou but thus affec- tionately bewail thy distractions to God, thou mightest obtain help and deliverance from them : He would say to Satan and thine im- perious lusts, as Ahasuerus said of Haman, What, will he force the queen before my face ? AVho are these that set upon my child in my work and presence .'
Help 8. Looli upon the success and sweetness of thy duties, as very much depending upon the heeping of thy heart close with God in them.
These two things, the success and sweetness of duty, are as dear io a Christian as his two eyes ; and both of these must necessarily be lost, if the heart be lost in duty. Job xxxv. 13. " Surely God hear- " eth not vanity, neither doth the Almighty regard it." The pro- mise is made to an heart engaged, Jer. xxix. 13. " Then shall ye seek " me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your hearts." Well then, when thou findest thy heart under the power of dead- ness and distraction, say to thy soul, O what do I lose by a careless heart now ! my praying times are the choicest parts, the golden spots Vol. V. G g
468 HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FllOM WANUERIXG IN DUTY;
of all my time: Could I but get up this heart with God, I might now obtain such mercies as would be matter for a song to all eter- nity.
Help 9. Lool'itpon it as a great discovery of the sincerity or hypo- crisy of your hearts^ according as you Jind ihem careful or careless in this matter.
Nothing will startle an upright heart more than this : What, shall I give way to a customary wandering of heart from God ? Shall the spot of the hypocrite appear upon my soul? They indeed can drudge on in the round of duty, never regarding the frames of their hearts, Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32. but shall I do so ? When men come into the presence-chamber, and the king is not there, they bow to the empty chair. O never let me be satisfied with empty duties ! never let me take my leave of a duty " until mine eyes have seen the King, the " Lord of hosts.*"
Help 10. Lastly, It idll he of special use tolvcepthine heartzcith God in duties, toconsiderzvhat injluenceall thy duties have into thy eternity.
These are your seed-times, and what you sow in your duties in this world, you must look to reap the fruits of it in another world, Gal. vi. 7, 8. If you sow to the flesh, of that you shall reap cor- ruption ; but if to the Spirit, life everlasting. O my soul, answer se- riously, wouldst thou be willing to reap the fruit of vanity in the world to come ? Darest thou say, when thy thoughts are roving to the ends of the earth in duty, when thou scarce mindest what thou sayest or hearest ; now. Lord, I am sowing to the Spirit ; now I am providing and laying up for eternity ; now I am seeking for glory, honour, and immortality ; now I am striving to enter in at the strait gate ; now 1 am taking the kingdom of heaven by an holy violence ? O such a consideration as this should make the multitudes of vain thoughts that press in upon the heart in duty, to fly seven ways before it. And thus I have shewn you how to keep your hearts in the times of duty.
Season 7. ' The seventh season calling for more than common dili- ' gence to keep the heart, is, when we receive injuries and abuses 5 from men. Such is the depravedness and corruption of man in his ' collapsed state, that homo homini lupus, one man is become a wolf a ' tyS^^^ ^^ another : They are, as the prophet complains, Hab. i. 14. ' " As the fishes of the sea, and as the creeping thhigs, that have no ' ruler over them C and as wicked men are cruel and oppressive one
* to another, so they conspire together to abuse and wrong the peo- ^ pie of God, as the same prophet complains, ver. 13. " The wicked
* devoureth the man that is more righteous than he.*" Now when ' we are thus abused and wronged, it is hard to keep the heart from
* revengeful motions : to make it meekly and quietly to commit the
* cause to him that judgeth righteously ; to exercise no other affec- ' tion but pity towards them that abuse us. Surely the spirit that is ' in us lusteth to revenge, but it must not be so ; you have choice ' helps in the gospel to keep down your hearts from such sinful mo-
HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FROM REVENGEFUL MOTIONS. 469
' tions against your enemies, and to sweeten your embittered spirits.' The seventh case then shall be this,
Case 7. How a Christian may keep his heart from revengeful motions, under the greatest injuries and abuses from men.
The gospel, indeed, allows a liberty to vindicate our innocencTj and assert our rights, but not to vent our corruptions, and invade God's right. Wlien therefore thou findest thy heart begin to be in- flamed by revengeful motions, presently apply the following reme- dies ; and the first is this,