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354 SEKMONS UPON PSALM cxix. [Ser. XXXVIII.
soberly, righteonsly, and godlily in this present world ; ' and Luke i. 75, ' That we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.' (3.) That he may spend his youth in pleasure, and safely put off repentance till age. But Eccles. xii. 1, we are bid to ' Kemember our Creator in the days of our youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them ; ' and Luke xii. 20, when the rich man said ta his soul, 'Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry;' God said unto him, ' Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ? ' Heb. iii. 7, ' Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,' &c. Men think it is a folly to be singular and precise ; that it was better when there was less preaching and less knowledge ; that small sins are not to be stood upon. But God, enlightening the soul, maketh us to see the vanity and sinfulness of such thoughts.
2. There is a brin^rins: the understandins: to attend and consider. There is much lieth upon it : Acts xvi. 14, ' The Lord opened the- heart of Lydia, so that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul ; ' that is, weighed them in her heart.
SEEMON XXXVIII
Yea, I shall observe it with my ivhole heart. — Ver. 34.
I COME now to the last clause, I shall observe it luith my ivhole heart The point is —
Doct. That it is not enough to keep God's law, but we must keep it with the whole heart.
Here I shall show you —
1. That God requireth the heart.
2. The whole heart.
First, God requireth the heart in his service. The heart is the Christian's sacrifice, the fountain of good and evil, and therefore should be mainly looked after. Without this—
1. External profession is nothing. Most Christians have nothing for Christ but a good opinion or some outward profession. Judas was a disciple, but ' Satan entered into his heart,' Luke xxii. 3. Ananias joined himself to the people of God, but ' Satan filled his heart,' Act& v. 3. Simon Magus was baptized, but ' his heart was not right with
. God,' Acts viii. 22. Here is the great defect.
2. External conformity is nothing worth. It is not enough tliat the life seem good, and many good actions be performed, unless the heart be purified ; otherwise we do, with the Pharisees, ' wasli the out- side of the platter,' Mat. xxiii. 25, 26, 'when the inside is full of ex- tortion and excess.' It is the heart God looketh after : 1 Sam. xvi. 7, ' For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart ; ' Pro v. iv. 2P>, ' Keep
VeR. 34.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 355
thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.' Cast salt into the spring. As Jehu said to Jonadab, so doth God say to us: 2 Kings X. 15, ' Is thy heart right, as ray heart is with thy heart ? ' We should answer. It is. Men are not for obsequious compliances if not with the heart, so neither is God. Though thou pray with the Pharisee, pay thy vows with the harlot, kiss Christ with Judas, offer sacrifice with Cain, fast with Jezebel, sell thine inheritance to give to the poor with Ananias and Sapphira, all is in vain without the heart, for it is the heart enliveneth all our duties.
3. It is the heart wherein God dwelleth, not in the tongue, the brain, unless by common gifts ; till he take possession of the heart all is as nothing : Eph. iii. 17, ' He dwelleth in our hearts by faith.' The bodies of believers are temples of the Holy Ghost ; yet the heart, will, and affections of man are the chief place of his habitation, wherein he resideth as in his strong citadel, and from whence he commandeth other faculties and members ; and without his presence there he cannot have any habitation in us. The tongue cannot receive him by speak- ing, nor the understanding by knowing, nor the hands by external working : Prov. iv. 23, ' Out of it are the issues of life.' It is the forge of spirits : ' He dwelleth not in temples made with hands,' Acts vii. 48 ; and Jer. xxiii. 24, ' Do not I fill heaven and earth ? saith the Lord.' He will dwell in thine heart and remain there, if thou wilt give thy heart to him.
4. If Christ have it not, Satan will have it. The heart of man is not a waste ; either God is there framing gracious operations, or the devil, who ' worketh in the children of disobedience,' Eph. ii. 2. Will you give them to God to be saved, or to the devil to be damned ? Whose they are now they are for ever.