Doct. They that would sincerely and thoroughly obey God must have a heart inclined to his statutes.
Here I shall show —
1. What is this heart inclined.
2. The necessity of it.
First, What is this heart inclined. God expects the heart in all the service that we do him : Prov. xxiii. 26, ' My son, give me thy heart ;' not the ear or the eyes or the tongue, but the heart. The most considerable thing in man is his heart ; it is terminus actionum ad intra, and fons actionum ad extra — it is the bound of those actions that look inward. The senses report to the fancy, that to the mind, and the mind counsels the heart : Prov. ii. 10, ' If wisdom enter upon
150 SERMONS uroN PSALM cxix. [Ser. CXXIII.
thy heart.' It is also the well-sprhig of those actions tliat look out- ward to the life, Pro v. iv. 23 ; Mat, xv. 19. You have both these in one place : ' Let thy heart keep my precepts, let thine heart recei\'e my words,' Prov. iv. 4. In taking in we end with the heart ; the statutes of God they are never well lodged till they are laid up in the heart. In giving out duty and service, we begin with the heart ; we must go so deep, or else all that we do is of no worth. The heart is the spring of motion, that sets all the wheels a-working: Ps. xlv. 1, ' My heart inditeth a good matter, my tongue is as the pen of a ready writer,' ready to praise God and serve him. When the prophet would cure the brackishness of the water, he cast salt into the spring. Our heart is blind: 1 Chron. xxii. 19, 'Now set your heart to seek the Lord.' There is a setting and fixing the heart which is the fruit of grace and ground of obedience.
1. It is the fruit of grace. By nature the heart is averse from God, desireth not to serve or enjoy him. See what the scripture saith of man's heart : Prov. x. 20, ' The heart of the wicked is nothing worth,' a sty and nest of unclean birds ; Gen. vi. 5, ' Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually.' The scripture doth much set out the heart of man ; it is foolish, vain, deceitful, Jcr. xvii. 9, vain, earthly, unclean, proud. There is a strange bead-roll : Mark vii. 21-23, ' Out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, deceit, lasci- viousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.' It was in, or else it would never come out. If a man should vomit nothing but knives, daggers, pistols, and other instruments of destruction, of what a monstrous complexion would you judge that man to be! Oh, no such monster in the world as man's heart ! If let alone to its own bent, it would grow worse every day, as putrid flesh grows more noisome every day. But now God by his grace giveth ' a new heart,' that hath other dispositions and inclinations, a heart that lovetli God, and delights in God, tends to God. A new heart is the great blessing of the covenant, Ezek. xxxvi. 26 ; a new heart is a new placing of our desires and delights, for by these the heart is known.
2. It is the ground of obedience ; for the heart is the main wheel of the soul, that movetli other, things : a bowl is made round before it runneth round : Dent. v. 2, ' Oh, that there were such an heart iu them, that they would fear me ! ' There must be somewhat to bear up our resolutions. But more particularly, what is this bent and inclina- tion of heart r*
And first negatively.
1. It is not a simple approbation of the ways of God. Many go so far as to approve what is good, to condemn themselves for not doing it, to praise others that are holy, can be content that those that are under their power should take to the ways of God, as dissolute jjarents would have their children soberly brought up, video meliora iwohoque : Acts V. 13, ' The people magnified them,' yet durst not join them- selves with the disciples of Christ. Saul said unto David, 1 Sam, xxiv. 17, ' Thou art more righteous than I ,' yet David was fain to go to his hold ; as the woman, in Luke xi. 27, 28, cried out, ' Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that gave thee suck ;' but
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Christ said, ' Eatlier blessed, are they that hear the word of God and keep it.'
2. It is not a bare desire or wish. Many that live ill could wish to live well. Balaam had his Avishes, but went on in his course, Num. xxiii. 10. Some flashes they have ; a spark is not enough to set the heart on fire in holy things ; in carnal things it is enough. Many such languid motions carnal men have, yea, many cold prayers, that God would make them better, but ' the soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, for his hands refuse to labour ;' they do not set them- selves in good earnest to get that grace they wish for. Would I were at such a place ! but never stir a foot. Would I had written such a task ! and never put pen to paper.