you could say in your on-sets upon duty as an holy one once did when he came off from duty Claudimini oculi mei claudimini c. be shut O my eyes be shut for it is impossible you should ever see such beauty and glory in any Creature as I have now seen in God You had need avoid all occasions of distraction from without for be sure you will meet enough from within intention of spirit in the work of God locks up the eve and eare against vanity When Marcellus entred the gates of Syracuse Archimides was so intent about his Mathematical Scheame that he took no notice of the Souldiers when they entred his very study with drawn swords a fervent cannot be a vagrant heart 3. Help Beg of God a mortisied fancy a working fancy saith one how much soever it be extold among men is a great snare to the Soul except it work in fellowship with right reason and a sanctified heart the phantasie is a power of the Soul placed between the senses and the understanding 't is that which first stirrs it self in the Soul and by iâ—s motion the other powers are stirred 't is the common shop where thoughts are first forged and framed and as this is so are they if imaginations be not first cast down 't is impossible that every thought of the heart should be brought into obedience to Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. this fancy is naturally the wildest and most untameable power in the Soul Some Christians especially such as are of hot and dry constitutions have much to doe with it And truly the more spiritual the heart is the more 't is troubled about the vanity and wildness of it O what a sad thing it is that thy nobler Soul must lackey up and down after a vain roving fancy that such a begger should ride on horseback and such a Prince run after it on foot that it should call off the Soul from attendance upon God when it is most sweetly ingaged in Communion with him to prosecute such vanities as it will start at such times before it beg earnestly of God that the power of sanctâ—fication may once come upon it Some Christians have attained such a degree of Sanctification of their fancies that they have had mâ—ch sweetness left upon their hearts by the spiritual workings of it in the night season when thy fancy is more mortified thy thoughts will be more orderly and fixed 4. Help If thou wouldst keep thy heart from those vain excursions realize to thy self by faith the holy and awful presence of God in duties If the presence of a grave man will compose us to seriousness how much more the presence of an holy God thinkst thou thy Soul durst be so garish and light if the fence of a divine eye were upon it remember the place where thou art is the place of his feet Isai. 60 13. act faith upon the Omnisciency of God All the Churches shall know that I am hee that searcheth the heart and tryeth the reins and will give to every one of you according to your works Rev. 2. 23. all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to doe Heb. 4. 12. realize his infinite holiness into what a serious composed frame did the sight of God in his holiness put the spirit of the Prophet Isai 6. 5. labour to get also upthy heart due apprehensions of the greatness of God such as Abraham had Gen. 18. 27. I that am but dust and ashes have taken upon me to speak to God And lastly remember the jealousie of God how tender he is over his worship Lev. 10. 3. And Moses said unto Aaron this is that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come high me and before all the people I will be glorified A man that is praying saith Bernard should behave himself as if he were entring into the Court of Heaven where he sees the Lord upon his throne surrounded with ten thousand of his Angels and Saints ministring unto him When thou comest from a duty in which thy heart hath been toying and wandring thou mayest say verily God was in this place and I knew it not Suppose all the impertinencies and vaâ—ities which have past through thine heart in a duty were written out and interlined with thy petitions couldst thou have the face to present it to God should thy tongue but utter all the thoughts of thy heart in prayer would not men abhor thee why thy thoughts are vocal to God Psal. 139. 2. If thou wert petitioning the King for thy life would it not provoke him to see thee playing with thy bâ—ndstrings or catching every fly that lights upon thy cloaths whilst thou art speaking to him about such serious matters O think sadly upon that Scripture Psal. 87. 7. God is greatly to be feared in the assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him Why did God descend in thundrings and lightnings and dark clouds upon Sinai Exo. 19. 16 18. Why did the mountains smoke under him the people quake and tremble round about him yea Moses himself not exempted but to teach the people that great truth Heb. 12. 28. 29. Let us have grace whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire present God thus before thee and thy vain heart will quikly be reduced to a more serious frame 5. Help Maintain a praying frame of heart in the intervals of duty What is the reason our hearts are so dull careless and wandring when we come to hear or pray but because there have been such long intermissions in our communion with God by reason whereof the heart is out of a praying frame if that spiritual warmth those holy impressions we carry from God in one duty were but preserved to kindle another duty it would be of marvellous advantage to keep the heart intent and serious with God To this purpose those intermediate ejaculations betwixt stated and solemn duties are of most sweet and excellent use by these one duty is as it were linked to another and so the Soul as it were wraps up it self in a chain of duties That Christian seldome misses his mark in solemn duty that shoots up many of these darts in the intervals of duty 't is an excellent commendation Christ bestows upon the spouse Cant. 4. 11. Thy lips O my spouse drop as the hony combe upon which text one gives this sweet note the hony comb drops actually but sometimes but it always hangs full of sweet drops ready to fall if our ejaculations were more our lamentations upon this account would be fewer 6. Help Endeavour to ingage and raise thy affections to God in duty if thou wouldst have thy distractions cured A dropping eye and a melting heart are seldom troubled as others upon this account When the Soul is intent about any work it gathers in its strength and
have the sweet and saving impressions of Gospel-Truths feelingly and powerfully conveighed to your hearts then only to understand them by a bare ratiocination or a dry syllogistical inference Leavetrifling studies to such as have time lying on their hands and know not how to imploy it Remember you are at the door of Eternity and have other work to do those hours you spend upon heart-work in your closets are the golden spots of all your time and will have the sweetest influence into your last hour Never forget those Sermons I preached to you upon that subject from 2. Kings 20. 2. 3. Heart work is weighty and difficult work an error there may cost you your souls I may say of it as Augustine speaks of the Doctrine of the Trinity Nihilo facilius aut periculosius erratur a man can erre in nothing more easily or more dangerously O then study your hearts 2. My next request is that you will carefully look to your Conversations and be accurate in all your waies hold forth the Word of life be sure by the strictness and holiness of your lives to settle your selves in the very consciences of your enemies Remember that your lives must be produced in the great day to judge the world 1 Cor. 6. 2. Oh then what manner of persons ought you to be You have many eyes over you the Omniscient eye of God that searches the heart and reins Rev. 2. 23. The vigilant eye of Satan Job 1. 7 8. The envious eyes of enemies that curiously observe you Psal. 5. 8. The quick and observant eye of Conscience which none of your actions escape Rom. 9. 1. Oh then be precise and accurate in all manner of conversation keep up the power of godliness in your Closets and Families and then you will not let it fall in your more publick imployments and converses in the world I have often told you that it is the honour of the Gospel that it makes the best Parents and Children the best Masters and Servants the best Husbands and Wives in the world My third and last request is that you pray for me I hope I can say and I am sure some of you have acknowledged that I came at first among you as the return and answer of your Prayers And indeed so it should be see Luke 10. 2. I am perswaded also I have been carried on in my work by your prayers 't is sweet when 't is so see Ephes. 6. 18 19. And I hope by your prayers to receive yet a farther benefit even that which is mentioned Heb. 13. 18 19. Philem. 22. And truely 't is but equal you should pray for me I have often prayed for you Let the Pulpit Family and Closet witness for me and God forbid I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you Yea Friends your own interest may perswade to it what mercies you obtain for me redound to your own advantage if God preserve me it is for your use and service the more gifts and graces a Minister hath the better for them that shall wait on his Ministry the more God gives in to me the more I shall be able to give out to you I will detain you no longer but to entreat you to accept this smal testification of my great love and have recourse to it according as the exigencies of your condition shall require Read it consideringly and obediently Iudge it not by the dress and stile but by the weight and savour of what you read 'T is a good rule of Bernard in legendis libris non quaeramus scientiam sed saporem i. e. in reading Books regard not so much the science as the savour That it may prove the savour of life unto life to you and all those into whose hands it shall come is the hearty desire of Your loving and faithful Pastor JOHN FLAVELL From my Study at Ley in Slapton Octob. 7. 1667. Prov. 4. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life THe Heart of man is his worst part before it be regenerate and the best afterwards It is the seat of Principles and fountain of Actions The eye of God is and the eye of the Christian ought to be principally fixed upon it The greatest difficulty in Conversion is to win the heart to God and the greatest difficulty after Conversion is to keep the heart with God Here lies the very pinch and stress of Religion here 's that that makes the way to life a narrow way and the Gate of Heaven a straight Gate Direction and help in this great work is the scope and summe of this Text wherein we have 1. An Exhortation Keep thy he are with all diligence 2. The Reason or Motive inforcing it For out of it are the issues of Life In the Exhortation I shall Consider 1. The Matter of the Duty 2. The manner of performing it 1. The Matter of the Duty Keep thy Heart Heart is not here taken properly for that noble part of the Body which Philosophers call the primum vivens ultimum moriens the first that lives and the last that dies but by Heart in a Metaphor the Scripture sometimes understands some particular noble facultie of the Soul in Rom. 1. 21. it is put for the understanding part their foolish Heart i. e. their foolish understanding was darkened And Psal. 119. 11. It is put for the Memory Thy Word have I hid in my Heart And Iohn 1. 3. 20 It is put for the Conscience which hath in it both the light of the Understanding and the recognitions of the Memory If our heart Condemn us i. e. if our Conscience whose proper Office it is to condemn But here we are to take it more generally for the whole Soul or inner Man for look what the Heart is to the Body that the Soul is to the Man and what Health is to the Heart that Holiness is to the Soul Quod sanit as in corport id sanct it as in corde The state of the whole Body depends upon the soundness and vigour of the Heart and the everlasting state of the whole man upon the good or ill condition of the Soul And by keeping the Heart understand the diligent and constant use and improvement of all holy Means and Duties to preserve the Soul from sin and maintain its sweet and free communion with God Lavater in loc will have the word taken from a besieged Garrison begirt by many Enemies without and in danger of being betrayed by treacherous Citizens within in which danger the Souldiers upon pain of death are commanded to watch and whereas the expression keep thy heart seems to put it upon us as ourwork yet it doth not imply a sufficiency or ability in us to do it we are as able to stop the Sun in its course or make the Rivers run backward as by our own skill and power to rule and order our hearts we may as well be our own Saviours as
man he drives on a home trade a heart trade never be troubled then for the want of those things that a man may have and be eternally damned but rather bless God for that which none but the favorites and darlings of heaven have many a one is now in hell that had a better head then thine and many a one now in Heaven that complained of as bad an heart as thine 2. Com. Know farther for thy comfort that God would never leave thee under so many heart troubles and burdens if he intended not thy real benefit thereby Thou art often crying out Lord why is it thus why goe I mourning all the day having sorrow in my heart thus long I have been exercised with hardness of heart and to this day have not obtained a broken heart many years have I been praying and striving against vain thoughts yet am still infested and perplexed with them O when shall I get a better heart I have been in travel and brought forth but wind I have obtained no deliverance neither have the corruptions of my heart fallen I have brought this heart many times to prayers sermons Sacraments expecting and hoping for a cure from them and still my sore runneth and ceaseth not Pensive Soul let this comfort thee thy God designs thy benefit even by these occasions of thy sad complaints For 1. Hereby he would let thee see what thy heart by Nature is and was and therein take notice how much thou art beholding to free-Grace He leaves thee under these exercises of Spirit that thou mayest lye as with thy face upon the ground admiring that ever the Lord of Glory should take such a Toad so vile a Creature into his bosome thy base heart if it be good for nothing else yet serves to commend and set off the unsearchable riches of Free-Grace 2. This serves to beat thee off continually from resting yea or but glancing upon thine own righteousness or excellency the corruption of thy heart working in all thy duties makes thee sensible to feel that the bed is too short and the covering too narrow Were it not for those reflections thou hast after duties upon the dulness and distractions of thine heart in them how apt wouldst thou be to fall in love with and admire thy own Performances and Inlargements For if notwithstanding these thou hast much to do with the pride of thy heart how much more if such humbling and self-abasing considerations were wanting And lastly this tends to make thee the more compassionate and tender towards others Perhaps thou wouldst have little pity for the distresses and soul troubles of others if thou hadst less experience of thine own Com. 3. To conclude God will shortly put a blessed end to all these troubles cares and watchings The time is coming when thy heart shall be as thou wouldst have it when thou shalt be discharged of these cares fears and sorrows and never cry out Oh my hard my proud my vain my earthly heart any more when all darkness shall be banished from thine understanding and thou shalt clearly discover all truths in God that chrystal Ocean of truth when all vanity shall be purged perfectly out of thy thoughts and they be everlastingly ravishingly and delightfully entertained and exercised upon that supream Goodness and infinite excellency of God from whom they shall never start any more like a broken Bâ—w And as for thy pride passion earthliness and all other the matters of thy complaint and trouble it shall be said of them as of the Egyptians to Israel Stand still and see the salvation of God these corruptions thou seest to day henceforth thou shalt see them no morâ— for ever when thou shalt lay down thy weapons of prayers tears and groans and put on the Armour of light not to fight but to triumph in Lord when shall this blessed day come How long How long Holy and True My soul waiteth for thee Come my Beloved and be thou like a Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether Amen FINIS Courteous Reader these books following are printed for and sold by Robert Boulter at the Turks head in Bishâ—psgate Street near the Great James AN exposition with practical notes and observations on the five last Chapters of the Book of Iob By Ioseph Caryl in quarto An expoâ—ition upon the first eighteen verses of the first Chapter of the Gospel of S. Iohn by Iohn Arrowsmith D. D. in quarto Schola Wintoniâ—nsiâ— phrases Latinae the Latine phrases of Winchester School corrected and much augmented in this fifth edition by H. Robinson D. D. A Cloud of Witnessâ—s or the Sufferers Mirrour made up of the Swan like songs and other choice passages of several Martyrs and Confessors to the end of the sixteenth Cenâ—uâ—y in their Treatises Speeches Letters Prayers by T. M. M. A. in Octavo Judicious and select essays and observations upon â—he first invention of Shipping Invasive War the Navy Royal and sea service by Sir Walter Rawleigh Sips of Sweetness or Consolation for weak believers A Treatise discoursing of the sweetness of Christs carriage toward all his weak members by Iohn Durant A Treatise of death the lâ—st enemy to be destroyed shewing wherein its enmity consisteth and how it is destroyed by Râ—â—hard Baxter See Gospel Glasse Fuligattus in vita Bellarm. Caput regulatum illi defuit cor bonum non defuit * I say constant for the reason added in the Text extends the duty to all the states and conditions of a Christians life and makes it bind ad semper If the heart must be kept because out of it are the issues of life then as long as these issues of life do flow out of it we are obliged to keep it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great Exemp p. 310. Char. of Wisdom p. 358. Bez. in Vit. Cal. p. 109. Icon. Cameronis Gospel Glass p. 3. Caution Mr. Strong Gospel glass Seneca Boyles occasional reflect pag. 9. 10.