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Ihonghts lodge within thee ? ' 1 Cor. iii. 20, * The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain ; ' Prov. xxii. 15, ' Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. (3.) Stupidity : Deut. xxix. 3, 4, * The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles ; yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear unto this day.' (4.) Obstinacy: Ezek. xi. 19, 'I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh.' There is wilfulness and hardness of heart. (5.) Enmity, both to the law, Rom. viii. 7, ' Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,' and also to the gospel : 2 Cor. x. 4, ' Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.'
[2.] As to inferior things. When the heart is turned off from God, it goeth after vain things : 1 Sam. xii. 21, ' And turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.' And so the heart groweth ' earthly, sensual, and devilish,' James iii. 15, wholly carried out to pleasures, profits, and honours. Now consider —
(1.) What is within such an heart : Gen. vi. 5, 'God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.' This is the mint that is always at work ; there is no respite by day nor by night. Sin worketh in the heart all day, and playeth in the fancy all night ; there is no truce in this warfare.
(2.) What Cometh out of the heart : Mark vii. 21, 22, ' For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasci- viousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness : all these things come from within, and defile the man.' This is the heart which is here considered.
3. In what sense it is little worth — (1.) As to acceptation with God ; (2.) As to the benefiting and profiting of others.
[1.] As to acceptation with God. That will appear by the expres- sions God useth about the contrary, that is, the renewed heart. It is that he longeth for : Deut. v. 29, ' Oh, that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always ! ' He delighteth in it, as the other is an abomination to him : Prov. xi. 20, 'They that are of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord ; but such as are upright in their way are his delight.' He commendeth and approveth it : Rom. ii. 29, ' But he is a Jew that is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God ; ' 1 Peter iii. 4, ' Whose adorning let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corniptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.' When the inner man is adorned with grace, then we are in very high esteem with the Lord. This is a beauty which always keeps fresh, and which God is pleased to esteem and reward. Yea, in such an heart God dwelleth : Eph. iii. 17, ' That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.' It is his chamber of
398 SERMONS UPON PROVERBS X. 20.
presence, or strong citadel, from whence he commandeth the other faculties and members : Isa. Ivii. 15, ' For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy : I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.* There God taketh up his lodgings ; as in the highest heavens, so in the lowest heart. Once more, this heart is so pleasing to him^ that he pardoneth many failings where the heart is upright : 2 Chron. XV. 17, ' But the high places were not taken away out of Israel ; never- theless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.' It is a comfort when dying : 2 Kings xx. 3, 'Kemember now, 0 Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.' And they are finally blessed : Ps. cxix. 2, ' Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with their whole heart.' Well, then, this is the heart which God accounteth of, and by this you may soon understand that the other is little worth.
[2.] As to the benefiting and profiting of others. Certainly an heart of so little esteem with God doth little promote his interest with the world. This is that which is asserted in the text ; where observe with me these six things —