therefore of the Spirit can purge it out The fire of afflictions will not purge out the impurities of the heart The fire of Hell will not fetch out the dross that is in the hearts of the damned Nothing but the blood of Christ nothing but the Spirit of Christ are able to do it The blood of Christ meritoriously the Spirit efficiently and efficaciously And then Thirdly The heart re-made pure is so made Instrumentally by the Word The Word of God is pure it is as Silver purified in the fire seven times And the Word of God is a purifier instrumentally and the usual way by which the heart is re-made pure is by the Word Christ saith John 15. 3. Ye are clean How Through the Word that I have spoken And in general the Apostle in Ephes 5. 22 26. saith That Jesus Christ doth sanctifie and cleanse his Church with the washing of water by the Word With the washing of water that is with the Spirit But what 's the instrument By the Word This way is purity of heart commonly and usually wrought by the Word And Fourthly The heart is made pure applicatorily by Faith Acts 15. 9. He put no difference between us and them saith the Apostle that is between Jews and Gentiles having purified their hearts by faith God works faith in the heart and then faith purifies the heart by applying the blood of Christ and by receiving the Spirit and by working the soul to a submission to the holy Word and Will of God So that thus in these wayes the heart is re-made pure and of this re-made pure heart it is that the Text speaks That 's the spring out of which holy and acceptable works to the Lord doth flow Obj. But some may say Is there any such thing as a pure heart We find those questions somewhat rife in the Book of Job What is man that he should be clean So in Chap. 15. 14. Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman Chap. 25. 4. And Solomon saith expresly in Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin It is plain then by these Scriptures that there is no such thing as a pure heart Answ I answer briefly in three things to these Scriptures and to all Scriptures of a like Import When the Scripture speaks thus It doth teach us either First that no man is born with a pure heart or it teaches us Secondly That no man by his own power hath made his heart pure or Thirdly it teaches us that no heart is made pure in this world with an absolutely perfect purity Indeed the best purity which the heart attains to in this world hath a mixture of much impurity in it so that thus indeed there is no heart pure That is there is no heart Legally pure strictly pure but there are thousands of hearts through Grace that are sincerely pure that are Evangelically pure and so esteemed in the thoughts of God and so exprest in his word If any shall say you tell us there is an Evangelical purity what mean you by it when may the heart be said to be Evangelically pure I answer thus the heart is Evangelically When the heart may be said to be Evangelically pure pure though there be sin dwelling in us or an in-dwelling sin and though sin is stirring hath strong motions in us makes war in our souls from day to day though sin doth some times prevail and give us that foil yet notwithstanding all this when First the soul iâ— free from the Command of every sin Secondly When the soul is freed from the customary practice of every sin and Thirdly When the soul is free from the love of any sin then the soul is Evangelically pure Indeed sin will hide sin will stirr and I cannot warrant any man in the world that is a man of the purest heart in the world but that his sin may possibly give him a foil But this is certain he that hath an Evangelical purity is free from the commanding power of sin and from that constant and customary practice of sin and from the love of sin A man of a pure heart may have a special sin that is a sin to which he is more inclined than to any other Sometimes through the constitution of his body sometimes through his occasions and in the way of his calling there are many things which do indanger men to some special sin now though I say a good man may have a special sin a sin that he finds his heart most running out after in which sense David call's some iniquities his Iniquity Psal 111. 23. I have kept my self saith he from mine Iniquity that is from the Iniquity that did most beset him A good man then may have a special sin which haunts him which dogs him and besets him but yet he hath not a beloved sin Evangelical purity and the love of sin cannot consist together he that hath a pure heart cannot play with his sin cannot sport with his sin cannot take content in thinking of sin either past or what may be to come As they in the Prophet this day is thus with us and to morrow shall be more abundant No he cannot please himself thus in reference to any sin So that I conclude it the pure heart is freed if he be Evangelically freed from sin in all these notions and so he is the Person here meant in the text from whom all holy actions may proceed acceptably to the Lord and that may serve for the opening of this point for I intend to dispatch it at this time I shall make some use of it Use First To stir up all to consider whether they have this pure heart yea or no. You see the importance of it it is one of the springs out of which every action that is pleasing to God according to his appointmemt must flow therefore it stands us much upon lest we loose all things that we work To have a good assurance in our own bosoms that we have a pure heart in our bosoms and we had need consider it For First 't is most sure that many think they have pure hearts and have them not Solomon hath an expression saith he there are a Generation that are pure in their own own eyes and yet are not cleansed from their wickedness Chap. 30. 12. It 's an easie matter to be pure in our own eyes and yet remain altogether unclean A Generation pure in their own eyes And St. Augustin speaks of a sort of people who would needs be called Cathorists and saith he they do call themselves so they most proudly and odiously call themselves the pure ones But according to his discovery of them they were not cleansed from their wickedness and how many are thus indeed clean in their own eyes and yet are unclean And Secondly There are many that are clean not only in their own eyes but in the eyes of other men
you will not only have many pure desires but you will have purposes pure resolves you will be full of good resolves and by resolves the heart is fixt fastened settled resolution is the stablishment of the soul now a pure heart is full of pure resolves and purposes The resolves and purposes are of two kinds First He purposes and resolves to adhere and cleave to that which is good Thus he doth resolve with himself fall back fall edge let the winds blow high or low this I am resolved this is my purpose to cleave to Christ and that which is good as that good man Barnabas is said to exhort the people Acts. 11. 23. He exhorted them that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart Holy purposes they are are as the Glew by which our hearts are fastened to the Lord Jesus Christ I exhort you with purpose of heart that you would cleave to Christ And then there is a purpose in a pure heart against all that is evil against all that is Impure Daniel 1. That holy man Daniel Verse 8. saith the Text Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the Kings meat he was resolved of that now he hath a pure heart indeed who purposes that he will never defile himself his heart nor his life neither And indeed such purposes have they that have pure hearts of one kind or of another Yea sometimes we find holy ones heigthening their purposes to vows yea to oaths I have sworn saith David that I will keep thy righteous Judgements here were strong purposes indeed And then Seventhly He that hath this pure heart certainly hath pure ends in all that he doth He hath a holy Aim he hath a single eye this is a great evidence of a pure heart when we have pure Aims Christ calls that the single eye Matth. 6. 23. If thine eye be single that is If thy ends and Aims that which thou lookest at If they are single sincere puâ—e the whole body shall be full of light A pure heart the ends that he proposes are not self not self profit not self-applause not pleasure But he purposes the profit of many that they may be saved of the good of all with whom he converses He proposes these great ends which he carries quite through all unto the end And that is that he may exalt the name of the Lord by all O look to your ends the purity of your hearts will appear in the purity of your Aims and of your ends and so much for that first thing for conviction and discovery about this purity of heart Use 2. Secondly Let it be a word of exhortation and that in two branches First If there be such a thing as a pure heart and that be of such importance then weigh it well whether you have this pure heart consider it by all that hath been forespoken concerning an Evangelical pure heart and the evidences thereof and I would say this for the urging of it that we all should look to this matter the purity of our hearts First The hardest thing that we have to do is the purifying of our hearts and the greatest kindness which God can do us is to cleanse our hearts The cleansing of the heart is the hardest piece of work it is comparatively an easie thing to cleanse the hand comparatively an easie thing to cleanse the Tongue and to have that pure but to have the heart purified there 's the great stick And then Secondly Look to the purity of your hearts for they have certainly need of purifying They whose hearts are still in their first natural state they have need indeed and they who are in a spiritual state have need of daily purifying look I say therefore to the purifying of your hearts for they have need to be purified they are the filthiest part of us If there be impurity in the hand there 's much more in the heart and then 'T is indeed a vain thing to go about to purify the hand or Tongue or life if the heart be Impure 'T were a vain thing for any one to go and cleanse a stream while he know's that there is a Fountain above that sends forth filthy and unclean and poysonous water 'T is just so in this case till the heart be made pure nothing can be pure And the great esteem which God hath of us is with respect to this purity of heart He is a friend indeed to those who have a pure heart he hath a great respect for them There is an expression in Prov. 22. 11. He that loveth pureness of heart for the grace of his lips the King shall be his friend mark there the pureness of heart and grace of lips By grace of lips he means not only graceful speech but gracious speech Now grace in the lips you see hath its dependance upon the pureness of the heart and saith he he that hath such a pureness of heart as that from it he hath aâ— graceful lip the King shall be his friend Doubtless Solomon spake this with reference to himself shewing what a friend he would be to those that appeared before him in pureness of heart and this graciousness of their lips But this is much more true in reference to the King of Heaven He that loveth pureness of heart for the grace of of his lips the King of Heaven shall be his friend he shall be accepted of God And what grace soever that is gracefulness of speech any one hath if there be not pureness of heart he shall have no favour with the King of Heaven what ever he may find among any of the Kings of the Earth O this therefore is the great thing my Son faith Solomon give me thy heart That 's it which the Lord doth so much delight in Prov. 23. 26. My Son give me thy heart What heart must it be Not an unclean heart not a filthly heart not a proud heart not a covetous heart not a malitious heart not an uncharitable heart but my Son give me thy heart give me thy heart purified purged cleansed Or thus give me thy heart resign it up to me to be purified to be purged to be cleansed to be made holy Indeed we may give our proud hearts up to God and beg of him that he would humble them But we must not think to keep our hearts proud and give them up to God proud and we may give our unclean hearts to God begging of him that he would cleanse them but we must not keep unclean hearts in our bosoms and then say we give up our hearts to God The heart in which God is pleased and in with he takes delight is the pure heart therefore upon all these Considerations let us be much looking after the purity of our hearts And then Secondly Do you find that according to Scripture rule you have a pure heart Then I have a second word to
themselves may be made better And that 's the third Use which I shall briefly make of this point and so I shall conclude Use 3. Is it so That those good works that flow from a good Principle are pleasing to God Why then we see the necessity of Regeneration Christ saith in 3 John 3. Verily verily There 's a strong and a double asseveration Verily verily I say unto you except a man be born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God We are not born with this pure heart with this good conscience with this faith unfeigned which are the requisites to a good work in the Text. We are not born with these for Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one Not one among the sons of men Job 14. 4. A pure heart a good conscience faith unfeigned are the issues of the new birth Education cannot make the heart pure It must be Revelation which makes the heart pure Good Education it may change the Life and the Conversation As they say To study Arts and Philosophy it takes off the roughness that is in mans nature didicisse fideliter artes Emollit mores and doth smooth them and frame them very much for excellent uses Good literature and education it may civilize but it cannot spiritualize It may change a mans course but it cannot change his nature that 's only done by Regeneration Now I say a mans state his nature must be changed he must have a pure heart which we never have till our natures are changed He must be good before he can do good spiritually Mark that word of the Apostle Ephes 2. 10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Mark it here are good works But how do we come to these good works Why we are his workmanship saith he we are his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God works us before we can work for him he makes us good before we can do good Saith he We are his workmanship And then created or so created in Christ Jesus to good works We by union to Jesus Christ come to have a spiritual principle to carry us out in the doing of all good works Here 's your way You must be Gods workmanship before you can do Gods work You must be new creatures created in Christ Jesus unto good works before you can do them A Crab-tree will never yield pleasant fruit untill you change the nature of it Take a Crab-tree and plant it in the best soil that you have and water it and dress it and prune it as much as you can yet this Crab-tree will bear nothing but Crabs sowre fruit till you come to graft it and then your grafting of it doth change the nature of the stock and it hath another principle and so then it brings forth good fruit So it is in this case Take the best natured man in the world plant him in the best soil in the best ground in Church-ground plant him in the house of God and there let him be watered by the rain of holy Doctrine and let him be drest and cultivated every day yet he will bring forth nothing but Crabs nothing but unsavoury fruit till he himself be changed Though he be under all those spiritual means yet till those means have wrought effectually in him his actions are all unsavoury 'T is only by our implantation into Jesus Christ that we become fit to do good so as is acceptable unto God 'T is this that makes the change For as in nature the graft doth change the stock so in grace the stock doth change the grafted branch As we are grafted into Christ he changes the branch being planted into Christ by the power of the Spirit we are then made like him and then we bring forth fruits of righteousness which are to the glory of God by him Mark the expression Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ That is by vertue of union with Christ of implantation and ingrafture into Christ When once it is thus then all your fruits are sweet fruit and pleasant fruit it is well tasted Why it is done First From a principle of life in Christ And Secondly It is done from a principle of Love unto Christ and then when your works whether respecting God or man are thus done then they are the fulfilling and the final end of the Commandment For then they come from the pure heart Of which hereafter if God will I may speak And so much at the present of the point in General That until there be a good Principle there cannot be a good work SERMON II. Jan. 6. 1672. 1 TIM 1. 5. Now the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned HAving shewed that every good work which is to answer to the Commandment of God must flow from a good spring I shall now come to speak of the springs from whence they flow Beginning with that which is first in the Text A pure heart The end of the Commandment is charity out of a pure heart A pure heart is the point I am now to speak to and the matter I am to make discovery about It being in order in this Text the first of those three most blessed springs out of which all duties well pleasing unto God must proceed A pure heart Two things are here to be spoken to First What is meant by heart And Secondly What by purity of heart And so put both together A pure heart For the first I need not stay to spend time to shew you what is meant by the heart It being that which you have so often heard By heart the Scripture often intends the whole inner man And sometimes it intends some special faculties of the inner man The understanding is noted by the heart the will by the heart the affections by the heart the conscience by the heart And in this large sense we are to take the word heart here only bating the reference of it unto Conscience which is spoken of as the second distinct spring from whence good actions flow The heart then here is the understanding the will the affections Indeed what ever lyes in the bosome of man you may call his heart Yet I shall not prosecute the point in this distinctness of these particular faculties of the soul shewing how the understanding is pure which is by its freedome from error and clear light in divine truths How the Will is pure which is by its freedom from the bondage from the obstinacy and rebellion which doth naturally wholly possess it and by having a freedome in choosing good and refusing that which is evil Nor shall I stay strictly to shew what the purity of the affections is namely their freedom from all inordinacy and irregularity either as to the object upon which they are fixt or as to the
measure and degree in which they are fixt upon those objects That which I shall do indeed shall be to speak to the Heart and so of the purity of it in a general notion as it concerns the whole inner man And the heart as to purity may be considered two wayes First As Made Secondly As Re-made The heart of man as made was pure I mean in its primitive Constitution So Adam had a pure heart his understanding pure his will pure his affections pure God made him upright but he lost his pure heart or the purity of his heart Sin did impure his whole inner man and he being our Representative lost purity of heart not only for himself but for us All mankind lost that made purity of heart when Adam fell And therefore the very first Complaint which the Lord made of the Fallen World was concerning the pravity and impurity of their hearts in Gen. 6. 5. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth that 's wickedness of Life and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually By this we see to purpose That the first made purity of the heart was lost Here are so many particulars setting forth the evil of mans heart as plainly shews that it is nothing but evil Here 's the evil of his Imaginations The Imagination of the Thoughts of his heart And not here and there one but every imagination of the thoughts of his heart it was evil And not evil with some mixture of good but purely evil It was evil without any goodness in it and therefore saith he only evil Nor was it in this impure state only for a fit or now and then but saith the Text Continually evil or as the Hebrew is every day Day by day which we render Continually So that now the made pure heart was lost and no man hath a pure heart by nature nor hath any man a heart less impure by nature than another man hath Our hearts in nature are all of a make and that 's stark naught So spake the Prophet Jeremy likewise in Jer. 17. 10. The heart of man is deceitful above all things The heart of man is the greatest cheat in the world and the greatest Impostor in the world and saith he 't is desperately wicked and 't is so wicked that the wickedness of it is beyond Humane Comprehension The wickedness of it is beyond the knowledge of man who knows it Neither he that hath the heart nor any other that seâ— him that hath it knows how wicked the heart of man is And pray take notice That the Prophet doth not speak there of some sort of vile base debauched wicked men whose hearts were so deceitful and wicked but he speaks of men in general as they are in nature And much of that deceitfulness and wickedness remains even when they are in Grace We may therefore conclude at least in this matter alluding to that of Solomon in the Proverbs Chap. 37. 19. As in water face answereth to face so the heart of man to man There are some that do trouble the water in that Text with various Interpretations I shall not stay upon them But all that I alledge the Text for is to shew That look what there is in one mans heart naturally the same is in anothers Just as he that looks into the water the face in the water upon which he looks answers his own face looking into it So doth the heart of man to man The hearts of all good men of persons regenerate do answer one another in the main Look what the heart of one godly man is the same is the heart of another godly man in the main though there may be particular differences And so take all men in their natural condition Look what the heart of one man is the same is the heart of another and all stark naught So then there 's now no pure heart in nature Seeing the made pure heart is lost we must then consider the heart as re-made pure Here is a pure heart in the Text 'T is a heart re-made pure A heart made pure by a gracious Restitution And mark it I say it is a heart re-made It is not a heart mended that will not serve the turn The heart of man received such a crack in the fall that there is no mending of it It must be new made Therefore I say the pure heart is a heart re-made new made As we commonly say of a Bell if a Bell receive a crack there is no mending of it You cannot mend a Bell as you may mend a Brass Pan by putting a piece to it There is no way to mend a crackt Bell but by new casting it it must to the Founder Truly thus it is with mans heart there is no mending it no putting a patch to it no repairing it as you may repair a house that is delapidated No it must be new made and therefore the pure heart which is here spoken of in the Text in other Texts is called a new heart Ezek. 36. 25 26. It is not a mended heart but it is a new heart I will take away the heart of stone The former heart is an heart of stone a heart that hath no more of remorse in it no more of softness or tenderness in it than a stone I will take away the heart of stone He doth not say I will mend the heart of stone but I will take it away That is I will take away the heart so far as it is stony And I will give you an heart of flesh that is a new heart an heart of flesh The re-made heart is a heart made wholly new It is made wholly new by the power of God and I may give it you in these four things This pure heart of which I am speaking is purified or made new First Meritoriously by the blood of Christ For it is by blood that things are purified and purged as the Author to the Hebrews doth discourse at large especially in the ninth Chapter of the Epistle Ver. 22. Almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no Remission The heart is made pure First By the blood of Christ that cleansing blood The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin Secondly It is purified or made pure by the Spirit of Christ therefore we find these two put together 1 Pet. 1. 2. Through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ As we are purified through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ so through the sanctification of the Spirit The Spirit is pure and the Spirit is a purifier The Spirit is compared to water the Spirit is compared to fire that purifies that fetches out the dross and the filth and makes all pure And indeed the impurity which is in the heart of man is such as nothing less than the blood of Christ and
sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded You are no wayes fit for Communion with God for drawing near to God unless your hearts are thus purified thus purged thus cleansed And then Fourthly Lastly The pure in heart are those that have that great promise the promise which concludes all good namely To see God Matth. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart Why Saith he They shall see God God is a Spirit God is Invisible How shall they see him Him no man hath seen nor can see How shall the pure in heart see him Why they shall see him that is they shall enjoy him they shall have sweet communion with him they shall ascend into the Holy Hill Psal 24. 3 4. Who shall ascend into the Holy Hill He that hath clean hands and a pure heart They shall be admitted nigh to God they shall see him they shall enjoy him I may conclude with that of the Prophet Hab. 1. 13. he saith that God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity And the truth is Impure eyes cannot behold God They cannot bear the Glory the Excellency of his presence They cannot enjoy God There is a stop in the very nature of the thing as well as there is a stop by a Divine Law Thus the Imposture shall not come into the presence of God that 's the Divine Law And there is a stop in the very nature of the thing they cannot abide in the presence of God As he is of purer eyes than to behold evil so evil ones have such impure eyes that they cannot behold him they cannot see God Now then let this be considered and lay it to heart what reason you have to look after this pure heart which is the first of those three springs out of which saith the Apostle all those holy actions which are the end and the fulfilling of the Commandment of God must flow and with which only it is that you may come to have acceptance And so much now of the first of the Springs The Pure Heart The second is a Good Conscience FINIS PSAL. 92. 12. The righteous shall flourish like the Palm-tree He shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon VVE see commonly that opposites either persons or things being laid together illustrate and set off one another To touch at no other things in this Psalm Here are two of the greatest opposites in this world laid together and they do wonderfully illustrate each other The opposites are the Wicked and the Righteous And indeed those two divide the whole world The state of the wicked is set down at the seventh Verse They may spring as the Grass they may flourish But what 's the issue of it It is that they shall be destroyed for ever They shall spring but they shall spring but like Grass which is Green for a while and quickly withers Now the Righteous at this twelfth Verse For I shall not enlarge further upon the state of the wicked but only to set off the state of the Righteous The Righteous shall flourish too But how Not like the Grass but like the Palm-tree And indeed they shall abide for ever whereas the wicked they shall be destroyed for ever Who the Righteous are I shall not stay to speak of at large They are such as are righteous in their state being in the righteousness of Jesus Christ And they are such as are righteous in their course and in their life walking answerably to such a state These Righteous ones shall flourish They shall not only Live and Continue but they shall have a flourishing life David saith Mine enemies live and are mighty 'T is true they do so for a time many times The Righteous live and they have a mightiness too For they flourish And how do they flourish Not as the Grass but as the Palm-tree I shall only open that a little and touch only upon one point from the Paralel They shall flourish as the Palm-tree The Palm-tree is an excellent tree and the praises of God are often resembled by it Nay they are said in the Revelation to have Palms in their hands And they are shadowed by the Palm-tree in the Prophecy of Ezekiel Chap. 40. 31. in the description of the New Jerusalem Now when it is said They shall flourish like a Palm-tree We must consider how the Palm-tree flourishes The Palm tree only to touch that is the Date-tree that 's the Palm-tree And so the Meeter or Singing Psalms expresses it There it is rendred thus The Just shall flourish up on high As Date-trees bud and blow Now there are five things which are observed in the Date-tree I shall name them all but speak only a little to one to carry on this point of the flourishing of the Righteous like the Palm-tree First The Date or the Palm-tree grows in the purest soil it will not grow in filthy places in dungy places but it loves a very pure soil And thus the Righteous flourish They flourish in a very pure soil for they are planted in that which is the purest soil of all They are planted in Christ They grow in Christ and they grow in the Church which is a pure soil They are planted in the house of God as it follows in the Psalm Not in the world the unclean and polluted world which lyes in wickedness and smells like a dunghill but in the Garden of God And Secondly The Palm-tree is a Tree whose branches do shoot all upwards there 's none grow out of the side as other Trees have And thus the Righteous flourish as the Palm-tree their affections are set upon things above they grow up Heaven-ward They do not shoot out their branches this way or that way to the world but all to Heaven So it is while they act according to their state Thirdly The Palm-trees are those Trees which are alwayes green Green in Winter as well as in Summer It doth not cast its leaf nor fade as the expression is in Psal 1. 3. The godly man is like a Tree planted by the Rivers of Water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season His leaf also shall not wither They hold up their profession they are green not only in the Summer of prospeâ—ity but in the very Winter of adversity and maintain their verdure and their beauty in the hardest times Fourthly The Palm-tree is a Tree that doth not only keep its greenness the beauty of its leaves but it is a Tree that is full of fruit and that good fruit pleasant fruit sweet fruit a kind of Cordial fruit which you know the Date is The Righteous have the greenness of a profession and besides that they have the fruitfulness of their Conversation and 't is pleasant fruit fruits of Righteousness fruits of Faith fruits of Love the fruits of the Spirit They are fruitful Trees such a one as the Palm Fifthly Which I shall a little insist upon They flourish like the Palm-tree It is so far noted that it is made
say Pray do what you can to keep your hearts pure For they who have pure hearts may quickly find their hearts very impure unless they look narrowly to it A heart that is made pure will be greatly impured unless we watch and keep it pure Solomon hath that expression in Prov. 4. 23. keep thy heart with all diligence saith he For out of it are the Issues of life keep thy heart keep it with all diligence with all manner of keeping you see then it is not enough to get a pure heart but we must keep our hearts and keep them clean As 't is in this case with your houses you do not only make them clean but you keep them clean and if a house be made never so clean yet it will contract defilement Dust will be upon it unless it be kept clean unless it be watcht that none throw dirt into it Indeed we had need in keeping our hearts to watch them continually and that 's the great business of keeping our hearts for the Devil if we do not watch our hearts he will do one of these two things He will either steal away our heart for the Devil comes a heart-stealing continually and especially when you are at a Sermon or a holy duty and if he can but steal away your hearts he cares not how many Bodies there are here Or he will be throwing dirt into your hearts suggesting wickedness He will throw dirt into the inner closet of your hearts by his Temptations by his Injections Therefore if you would keep your hearts clean you must watch them I and you must often wash your hearts if you would keep them clean for your hearts will contract filth do what you can unless they are daily washt and duly searcht As it is with a Garden let a Garden be drest and made very exact so that there is not any thing amiss not a Weed to be seen in it I but the Garden must be kept thus or else in a little time it will be over-run with Weeds again It is so in our hearts Suppose we have weeded out this and that and the other evil if we do not keep a continual care of our hearts the Weeds will grow again and therefore our hearts must be continually weeding and our hearts must be continually washt We must go daily to the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness We must wash our hearts by the renewed Acts of Repentance confessing our sins bewailing our sins mortifying our sins This is a great work for us If you have pure hearts look to it that you keep them pure you may quickly be defiled David a man that had a pure heart yet got so much defilement upon his heart that he could not tell what to make of it but begs of God to create him a new heart and all because he did not watch his heart but gave way to Temptation and so was overtaken then you will find if you do not daily sweep your houses they will defile and the cob-webs they will grow the Spiders will be at work and though your hearts be never so pure Spiders will creep into them this Lust and that Corruption and they will be weaving their Webs there O what sad Webs we have in the hearts of men and all because they look not after them You must sweep down the Cob-webs and throw out the dirt every day if you would keep your hearts clean And I would press all I have said by these four Considerations Look to it that you have pure hearts and that you keep your hearts pure First Upon this Consideration which you find in Psal 18. 26. With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure with the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful with an upright man thou wilt shew thy self upright With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure I but if a man be not pure Will God shew himself impure towards him No such thing Let us be what we will God is ever the same Nothing can turn him out of his purity But the meaning is If we are pure pure in heart God will shew himself pure to us that is he will perform all things he will be that to us which he hath promised He will be all that to us which we can desire With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure And he saith With the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward As God knows how to deal with men in wayes of evil to hit them according to what they are With the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward Not that there is any frowardness or passion in the Lord but men shall be dealt with according to their way They that will wrestle with God as the word there signifies he will pay them in their own coin And so with the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure And then Secondly Look to this purity for then all things are pure to you As God will shew himself pure to you So if you are pure all things will be pure to you Titus 1. 15. Unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure Here is a very strong Argument to press you to this purity of heart To the pure all things are pure To the impure nothing is pure Why is it that to the pure all things are pure What are evil actions pure to them Is sin pure to them No God forbid that any should have such a thought This liberty have some taken to themselves as if there were no difference to be made in actions But to the pure all things are pure They need not trouble themselves about sin or this or that No but to the pure all things are pure that is all things are blessed to them All their enjoyments all the Ordinances of God all their outward comforts all their relations all their duties all things are pure to them Whereas saith he To them that are defiled there is nothing pure The very holy Ordinances are not pure to them Their Callings though honest are not pure to them their riches their great possessions in the world are not pure to them They have not a pure nor a holy use of any of these things This is an awakening consideration to look after a pure heart To the pure all things are pure but to the undefiled there is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled And then Thirdly The pure in heart are only fit for Communion with God 2 Tim. 2. 22. saith he With them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart They only are fit to call upon God who have a pure heart The Apostle would have them lift up clean hands in 1 Tim. 2. 8. much more then pure hearts who call upon God out of a pure heart And when the Apostle James had exhorted them to draw nigh to God with this Promise of Assurance that he would draw nigh to them presently he adds Cleanse your hands ye
God the more we have of God and receive impressions from him as Moses when he was with God in the Mount his face did shine But in times of outward peace and when all is well O we are very ready to neglect communion with God Fifthly Lastly While the righteous are under weights and pressures like a Palm-tree they have a special promise of the presence of God with them and this is that which makes them flourish indeed It is not our being in affliction which will make us better and make us grow Heaven-ward but it is Christ being with us in affliction It is Gods manifesting himself to us in affliction which makes us grow and flourish like a Palm-tree Now I need not stay to tell you how many promises there are of the special presence of God to his people while they are under the Cross that in Isa 43. 2. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee I will be with thee And truly the presence of God with us it is not only for this end Though that be there exprest that we shall not be quite swallowed up that the water shall not drown us nor the fire consume us but that the fire and water shall not consume us as to our soul state That we shall not suffer loss or detriment in our spiritual state by being in the fire or water but that we shall increase there and grow there So in 1 Pet. 4. 14. If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth on you It doth not only come to you and visit you but it rests upon you Now when the Spirit of God is especially when the Spirit of God rests and doth abide there must needs be a growth and an increase in our spiritual state But so it is while we are under these afflicting dispensations when the weights are upon us we have promises of more of the presence of God and of the presence of his Spirit and of the resting of his Spirit and therefore we shall flourish flourish spiritually flourish in our inner man That may serve for the clearing of the Point That the Righteous flourish as the Palm-tree under weights and pressures Application First This may confirm us in a twofold Scripture-truth First That there is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord. That 's a Scripture assertion which receives a mighty confirmation by this point Prov. 21. 30. This point doth mightily confirm it Why what 's the Counsel what 's the purpose of the world when they hang their weights upon the Palm-trees upon the righteous what 's the meaning You shall understand their meaning when the first weights that we read of in the Scripture were ever hung upon these Palm-trees in the place before quoted Exod. 1. 10. Come on saith he Let us deal wisely with them The Wise man saith in the Proverbs There is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord. Well saith he here Let us deal wisely with them To what purpose Why saith he Lest they multiply We will keep them down keep them down that their persons multiply not and we will keep them down too that their Graces multiply not Truly this is the design of the Counsels of men in hanging their weights upon the Palm-trees and so it hath been all along in the sufferings of the Church What hath been their wisdoms They thought by their sufferings to keep down those truths which they profest which it may be they call'd Heresie As Paul saith After the way which you call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers Heresies they thought to suppress them as Errors and Heresies And they thought again to discourage the professors yea they thought not only to discourage them in matters of truth of faith and worship but they thought to turn them quite aside to make them renounce it to forsake it to apostatize to backslide to deny the faith This is the thing which they have had in their eye in all the pressures which they have laid upon the people of God from one time to another to strip them of their faith and to strip them of the truth to break them in the things of God Now I say this is their Counsel And mark what the Scripture saith There is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord. They thought to hinder them in all these things to suppress the truth to discourage the professors of the truth and to cause them to turn away and to deny the truth But they have fail'd in it for they multiplyed and the truth multiplyed and they flourisht more by the weights and burdens that were upon their backs So that we may say in this case as the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 44. 25. That the Lord turns the Counsels of the wicked backward Turneth wise men backward that is their wisdom which they have been exercising that hath produced a quite contrary effect to what they intended they thought to hinder the truth and they have been rather a furtherance to it as Pauls word is in the first of the Philippians These things have hapned to the furtherance of the Gospel which they thought should have ruined the Gospel And this indeed is so notorious that the enemies of the Gospel have been forced many times to acknowledge and to confess it with grief That the righteous have flourisht like Palm-trees In Exod. 1. 12. when it is said the more they afflicted them the more they multiplyed and grew And what follows And they that is the Aegyptians were grieved because of the children of Israel We see we cannot bring them down their Counsels went quite backward And you have the like in John 12. 19. The Pharisees when they had done all that they could to hinder the peoples receiving of Jesus Christ they said among themselves Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing Behold the world is gone after him You see they were fain to make an acknowledgement of this thing their own selves We have been labouring to stop the progress of this man but we find it quite otherwise we prevail nothing at all Not only not much but nothing And behold the world is gone after him He will get all the world shortly they multiply so fast So that we see from this the truth of the Scripture that there is no Counsel against the Lord. And it may give you a further confirmation by way of Instruction concerning that great truth in Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that serve God and are the called according to his purpose All things work together for good What things Troubles afflictions pressures burdens which are laid upon them they work for good Why this is one of the greatest goods that can be to have grace flourish and grow Faith
and Humility and Love to Jesus Christ if one increase in these things What is worthy the name of good in comparison of an increase of these things That 's one thing we may take notice of from it Secondly We should be hence raised up in our hearts to magnifie the power wisdom and goodness of God who doth thus over-rule these things for his people for certainly this doth declare the wonderful work of God In Isa 28. where he hath a notable Allegory and speaks of the troubles and sufferings of the faithful people of God For all that that is spoken of the Plowman and of the Thresher and of the bruising of the Corn with threshing Instruments they do respect affliction and troubles which come upon the people of God as is clear But now saith he in the close of that Chapter This also cometh from the Lord of Hosts which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working We may wonder at the counsel and wisdom of God who doth his people good by threshing them and bringing the wheel over them Here are several sorts of afflictions and sufferings some lesser and some greater Now all this is but to separate the good seed from the chaff and to make it more fit for use for while the Corn is in the ear it is not fit for use and we cannot make bread of it untill it be thresht Now the Lord hath several wayes to do it But saith he This cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working Truly we may say How wonderful is the counsel of the Lord How excellent is his working that he makes the Righteous to flourish like the Palm-tree to grow upwards by that which one would think should bring them down As when we fee the Corn laid at and thresht with a Flail one would think there were great hurt intended to the Corn but it is only to separate it from the chaff that it may appear in its own beauty and usefulness So the Lord hath a flail of tribulation to separate the Chaff from the Wheat Those acts of Providence towards Gods people which seem to be for their hurt and undoing when they are thresht as it were by the world it is only to make them appear what they are That which we find in Psal 69. 22. concerning the wicked by that we may observe the wonderful difference and dealings of God with the wicked who flourish as the Grass and the righteous David speaks there of such and saith he Let their table become a snare and that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap that is the Lord doth curse their Comforts By Table he means the good things upon their table when they have a full table a plentiful table And so all outward prosperity saith he it shall be a snare to them And that which should have been for their good that is that which in the nature of it is for their good It shall be an occasion for their falling they shall grow more hardned by it more proud by it and more impenitent by it and more strangers to God by it But now when the Lord speaks of a righteous man here the thing which was appointed for his snare as the troubles and persecutions which lye upon him in the world shall be a table to him his very snares shall be a table to his inner man where his Graces shall come and feed and grow fat and flourish and increase The things which the men of the world have devised for his falling they shall be to him an occasion of good This is wonderful and we are to bless the Lord for it when we find such effects of it when we see it so in others or have any experience of it in our selves that our afflictions do not snare us but are a table to our Graces That 's another thing to give God the glory of it for it is not in the nature of these things to do it No things would work quite otherwise but that God is wonderful in his Counsels and excellent in his workings towards his people they would rather drive us from God and destroy our graces Thirdly Seeing it is so that righteous ones do flourish as the Palm-tree then when any weights of affliction either personal or publick or persecution or whatsoever are upon any of us let us mind the purpose of God towards us Let us not think that he comes to hurt us but to make us grow and flourish like a Palm-tree Let us mind this and joyn with God in this Counsel in laying such things upon his people Let us joyn with God and promote the Counsel of God in our own hearts and lives and in the hearts and lives of others that they may be bettered by their sufferings and be encouraged by their sufferings to believe more in God and more for God than ever they were God doth not intend us hurt but good by it and so we should find it if we were wise to joyn with him in his Purposes Fourthly And then I would say yet further This may be matter of Tryal to us We may take a tryal of our selves both as to the state of our persons and as to the state of our graces First As to the state of our persons Why how is it with us under sufferings Do we improve by them Do we grow do we flourish though we have these weights upon us Why truly it is an argument and evidence that our state is good for a bad man is not made the better by the evils that are upon him I know God may use afflictions to change a man but unsound hearts they that have been unsound and false in the profession of the Gospel they do discover themselves in such a time shew their rottenness and their naughtiness And it is a very great question whether they that are not bettered by afflictions were ever good Though I would not speak it to lay a trouble upon any Our betterings sometimes under afflictions is not very discernable at least at present But I say it may put us much upon a doubt whether we or any were ever really good if we are not bettered by afflictions and by tryals and by the troubles that are upon us and by our fears and by our dangers And likewise we may hence have a great tryal as to the state of our graces whether our graces are in good plight yea or no. For indeed if faith be down and the like we shall make little improvement of all our afflictions and crosses If love to Christ be down we shall rather be upon the losing side But now if we find that we are increased and are growing and flourishing in spirituals when the weight and pressure is upon us it is an argument that our graces are in a good state and grace is in a good state when it thrives and thrives by such means as seem rather for the quenching of grace and the hinderance of grace and therefore truly we should consider our selves at this day for certainly the Palm-trees are now with their weights upon them and many have discovered themselves sadly as to their persons states and the state of their graces that they have very little love to and faith in Jesus Christ because they have not flourisht in such a day but rather have declined and withdrawn and been ashamed of what they have formerly been And therefore let us remember that which the Apostle speaks in Heb. 12. speaking of afflictions which are sufferings for Christ that 's taken in the Chapter not only those afflictions which are fatherly chastisements from the hand of God but those which are from men for righteousness sake Certainly that is the purpose of God it is all for our profit Therefore let us consider whether we profit yea or no. We have had Fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live Submit to the will of God if he will lay any tribulation upon us for his Name sake for he hath done all for our profit What profit For the profit of our purses and estates in this world No for a better profit than all that for our profit that we might be made partakers of his holiness And truly that is another thing with which I shall conclude We say this That we have no reason to be impatient under afflictions and persecutions under the troubles we meet with in this world for the Name of Christ Why for they are for our profit for our growing and that we may be made more partakers of the holiness of God That we may be better while we live and fitter to dye and to glorifie him both living and dying And thus I have only toucht these things That the Righteous do flourish like the Palm-tree with their weights and pressures upon them FINIS