I know no external act of religion that differences the sound from the unsound professor : It is wonderful to consider how far hypocrites go in all external duties; how plausibly they can order the outward man, hiding all their indecencies from the observation of the world.
But then, they take no heed to their hearts ; they are not in secret what they appear to be in public : And before this trial no hypocrite can stand. It is confessed they may in a fit, under a pang upon a death-bed, cry out of the wickedness of their hearts ; but alas ! there is no heed to be taken to these extorted complaints. In our law, no credit is to be given to the testimony of one upon the rack, because it may be supposed that the extremity of the torture may make him say anything to be eased. But if self-jealousy, care, and watchfulness, be the daily workings and frames of thy heart, it strongly argues the sincerity of it : For what but the sense of a divine eye ; what but the real hatred of sin as sin, could put thee upon those secret duties, which lie out of the observation of all creatures ?
If then it be a desirable thing in thine eyes to have a fair testimony of thine integrity, and to know of a truth, that thou fearest Gcd ; then study thine heart, watch thy heart, keep thy heart.
4 Motive. How fruitful., sweet, and comjbrtable woidd all ordu nances and duties be to us, if our hearts were better kept 9
O what precious communion might you have with God every time you approach him, if your hearts were but in frame ! You might thejj say with David, Psal. civ. 35. "My meditation of him shall b^ " sweet.'" That which loses all our comforts in ordinances and mor^ secret duties, is the indisposedness of the heart : A Christian whose heart is in a good frame, gets the start pf all others that come witH
500 WHY SAINTS WALK UNCOMFORTABLY.
him in that duty : They strive hard to get up their hearts to God, now trying this argument upon them, and then that, to quicken and affect them, and sometimes go away as bad as they came : Sometimes the duty is almost ended before their hearts begin to stir or feel any warmth, quickening, or power from it :' But all this while the pre- pared heart is at its work ; this is he that ordinarily gets the first sight of Christ in a sermon, the first seal from Christ in a sacrament, the first kiss from Christ in secret prayer. I tell you, and tell you but what I have felt, that prayers and sermons would appear to you other manner of things than they do, did youbut bring better ordered hearts unto them ; you would not go away dejected and drooping. O this hath been a lost duty to me ! if you had not lost your hearts, it had not been sa If then the comfort of ordinances be sweet, look to your hearts, keep your hearts.
5 Motive. Acquaintance with your own hearts would he a foun- tain of matter to you in prayer.
A man that is diligent in heail-work, and knows the state of his own soul, will have a fountain-fulness of matter to supply him richly in all his addresses to God ; his tongue shall not faulter and make pause for want of matter ; Psal. xlv. 1. " My heart is inditing a good " matter i'"* Or, as Montanus renders the original, my heart is boiling up good matter, like a living spring, that is still bubbling up fresh water ; and then my tongue is as the pen of a ready writer : Others must pump their memories, rack their inventions, and are often at a loss, when they have done all : but if thou have kept, and faithfully studied thine own heart, it will be with thee (as Job speaks in another case) like bottles full of new wine that want vent, which are ready to burst : As holy matter flows plentifully, so more feel- ingly and sweetly from such a heart. When a heart-experienced Christian is mourning before God over some special heart-corruption, wrestling with God for the supply of some special inward want, he speaks not as other men do that have learned to pray by rote ; their confessions and petitions are squeezed out ; his drop freely, like pure honey from the comb : It is a happiness then to be with or near such a Christian. I remember Bernard, having given rules to pre- pare the heart for prayer, concludes them thus, Et cum talis Jiieris, momento mei ; and (saith he) When thy heart is in this frame, then remember me.
6 Motive. By this the decayed power of religion will be recovered again among professors, which is the most desirable state in this world. O that I might live to see that day, when professors shall not walk in a vain shew, when they shall please themselves no more with a name to live, being spiritually dead ! When they shall be no more (as many of them now are) a company of frothy, vain, and unserious per- sons, but the majestic beams of holiness shining from their heavenly and serious conversation, shall awe the world, and command reverence from all that are about them ; when they shall warm the hearts of
A GOOD HEAltT THE BEST MARK OF SINCERITY. 501
those that come nigh them, so that men shall say, God is in these men of a truth.
Well, such a time may again be expected, according to that pro- mise, Isa. Ix. 21. " The people shall be all righteous.'"* But till we pursue closer to this great work of keeping our hearts, I am out of nopes to see those blessed days ; I cannot expect better times till God gives better hearts. Doth it not grieve you to see what a scorn religion is made in the world ? what objects of contempt and scorn the profes- sors of it are made in the world ?
Professors, would you recover your credit .^^ Would you again obtain an honourable testimony in the consciences of your very enemies ? Then keep your hearts, w^atch your hearts : it is the looseness, frothiness, and earthhness of your hearts that have made your lives so ; and these have brought you under the contempt of the world ; you first lost your sights of God, and communion with him, then your heavenly and serious deportment among men, and by that your inte- rest in their consciences : O then, for the credit of religion, for the honour of your profession keep your hearts !
7 Motive. By diligence in keeping your hearts, we sliould pre- vent, and remove the fatal scandals and stumbling-blocks out of the way of the world.
" Woe to the world (saith Christ) because of offences !'' Matth. xviii. 7. Doth not shame cover your faces ? Do not your hearts bleed within you, to hear of the scandalous miscarriages of many loose professors ? Could you not, like Shem and Japhet, go backward with a garment to cover the shame of many professors ? How is that wor- thy name blasphemed ! Jam. ii. 7. 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14. the hearts of the righteous saddened, Psal. xxv. 3. Ezek. xxxvi. 20. by this the world is fearfully prejudiced against Christ and religion, the bonds of death made fast upon their souls ; those that have a general love and liking to the ways of God, startled and quite driven back, and thus soul-blood is shed : woe to the world !