VER. 167.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 229
Christ,' 1 Thes. v. 23. Otherwise your souls cannot be joined to God in heaven, if they be divided from him on earth.
2. Because this is service suitable to his nature, when we serve him and obey him with our souls. God is an all-seeing spirit, and there- fore will be worshipped in spirit and in truth, John iv. 23, 24. It is agreeable to his spiritual nature, therefore shows and fashions have little respect with him, but reality and substance ; for he searcheth the heart and trieth the reins ; it is not the bowing the body, so much as the humble affectionate reverence and submission of the soul. God hath appointed service for the body, and so far as God hath appointed it we must submit to it ; but chiefly for the soul, our worship must be chiefly inward, flowing from grace engaging the heart in God's service. Bodily exercise is of little profit ; that worship which is most agreeable to God's nature is most pleasing to him : he ' hath not eyes of flesh, and seeth not as man seeth,' Job x. 4. Therefore external duties, without the inward exercise of the Spirit, is scarce worthy the name of worship to God. He is not taken with the pomp of ceremonies and external observances : 1 Sam. xvi. 7, ' For man looketh on the outward appear- ance, but the Lord looketh on the heart/ Men are taken with external pomp and formalities ; they suit with their fleshly natures ; but the more spiritual the more suitable to God. That which you do, be it in worship, it is not done unto God, but unto men, when the heart is not in it : Col. iii. 23, ' And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.' Without the heart, all that we do is but a mocking of God, giving him the shell without the kernel.
3. Because the soul is the principal thing that swayeth the body, and stirreth it up to all that it doth. It being of itself a senseless block, it followeth the disposition and inclination of the heart. I shall make it good in two considerations : — (1.) It is fons actionum ad extra ; (2.) It is terminus actionum ad intra. It is the fountain of all actions that go outward, from man towards God ; and the subduing the heart to God's will is the end of all operations inward, from God towards man.
[1.] Fons actionum ad extra, the fountain of all actions that go outward from man towards God. All natural actions proceed from the soul or heart. It is not the eye that seeth, nor the ear that heareth, nor the hand that toucheth, nor the feet that walketh ; it is the soul seeth by the eye, and heareth by the ears, and toucheth by the hands, and walketh by the feet. So in all moral actions the heart is all : Prov. iv. 23, ' Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.' All our actions proceed thence ; all the evil that we do come th from the heart : Mat. xv. 19, ' Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blas- phemies.'' All that we speak, and think, and do followeth the frame of the heart. This is the burning furnace from whence the sparks fly. The occasion of sin may be without, but the cause of it is ever from the heart. It is the heart that filleth the eyes with wantonness, pride, and fury, and the tongue with blasphemy, slander, and detraction, the hands with blood. So for good actions, thoughts ; they come out of the good treasury of the heart : Mat. xii. 35, ' A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things.' The tap run-
230 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SRrv. CLXXXIT.
neth according to the liquor wherewith the vessel is filled ; that a man hath laid up in his heart, that he layeth out in his thoughts, and speeches, and actions. It is the heart that enliveneth all our duties, and we act ever according to the constitution of our souls.
[2.] It is terminus actionum ad intra ; all actions inward, the aim of it is to come to the heart. The senses report things to the phantasy, the phantasy represents them to the mind, that counsels the heart ; so in God's operations upon us, his business is to come at the soul. Wherefore doth he speak, and reason, and plead, but that we may hear ? And wherefore do we hear, but that truth may be lodged in the heart or soul ? Prov. iv. 4, ' Let thy heart keep my precepts ; let thy heart receive my words.' Ay ! then God's word hath its effect upon us. We are never subdued to God till the heart be subdued. The word for a while may stay in the memory, and it is good when the memory is planted with the seeds of knowledge, as children receive the principles of religion in catechisms ; but the end is not there ; at length they exercise their understandings about them, when they begin to conceive of what they learned by rote, and afterwards they begin to have a judgment and a conscience. These truths begin to stir and awaken them, but it must not rest there neither; it soaketh further, and wisdom entereth upon the heart, Prov. ii. 10. Ay ! that was God's aim, to bring the work thither, and then the cure is wrought with man : Bom. vi. 17, ' Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doc- trine which was delivered to you.' So this is the end of all the opera- tions of grace, that the soul and heart may keep God's testimonies. So where is it that Christ would dwell when he taketh up his abode and residence in us ? The apostle will tell you : Eph. iii. 17, ' That he may dwell in your hearts by faith.' Till he get possession of the heart, all is as nothing. He will not dwell in the body only ; that is the temple of the Holy Ghost at large ; there is a holy of holies, a more inward place where he will dwell. He will not dwell in the tongue, or in the brain, memories, or understandings, unless by com- mon gifts. But the heart, the will, and affections of man are the chief place of his residence ; there he dwelleth as in his strong citadel, and from thence commandeth other faculties and members. So that the heart is the beginning and ending of the whole work of religion, from thence come all holy actions, and thither tend all holy gracious operations.