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dust mourning before the Lord, 2 Chron. xxxii. 26. It was the fear of hypocrisy invading the heart, that made David cry, "Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed," Psalm cxix. 80. It was the sad experience he had of the divisions and distractions of his own heart, in the service of God, that made him pour out that prayer, "Unite my heart to fear thy name.' The method in which I shall improve the point, shall be this first, I shall enquire what the keeping of the heart supposes and imports; secondly, assign divers reasons, why Christians must make this the great work and business of their lives; thirdly, point at those special seasons which especially call for this diligence in keeping the heart; fourthly, apply the whole.

CHAPTER I.

What the keeping of the heart supposes and imports.

To keep the heart necessarily supposes a previous work of sanctification, which has set the heart right, by giving it a new spiritual bent and inclination; for as long as the heart is not set right by grace as to its habitual frame, no duties or means can keep it right with God. Self is the poise of the unsanctified heart; it biases and moves it in all its designs and actions; and as long as it is so, it is impossible that any external means should keep it with God.

Man, by creation was of one constant uniform frame and tenor of spirit; he held one straight and even course; not one thought or faculty revelled or was disordered; his mind had a perfect illumination to understand and know the will of God, his will a perfect compliance therewith; his sensitive appetite and other inferior powers, stood in a most obedient subordination.

Man, by degeneration, is become a most disordered and rebellious creature, contesting with and opposing his Maker, as the first cause, by self-dependence; as the chief good, by self-love; as the highest Lord, by self-will;

and as the last end, by self-seeking; and so he is quite disordered, and all his acts are irregular. His illuminated understanding is clouded with ignorance, his complying will full of rebellion and stubbornness, his subordinate powers, casting off the dominion and government of the superior faculties.

But by regeneration this disordered soul is set right again; sanctification being the rectifying and due framing, or as the scripture terms it, the renovation of the soul after the image of God, Eph. iv. 24; in which selfdependence is removed by faith, self-love by the love of God, self-will by subjection and obedience to the will of God, and self-seeking by self-denial. The darkened understanding is again illuminated, Eph. i. 18; the refractory will sweetly subdued, Psalm cx. 3; the rebellious appetite, or concupiscence, gradually conquered, Rom. v. 7. And thus the soul, which sin had universally depraved, is again by grace restored and rectified.

This being pre-supposed, it will not be difficult to apprehend what it is to keep the heart, which is nothing else than the constant care and diligence of such a renewed man, to preserve his soul in that holy frame to which grace has restored it and daily strives to hold it. For though grace has, in a great measure, rectified the soul, and given it an habitual and heavenly temper, yet sin often discomposes it again; so that even a gracious heart is like a musical instrument, which, though it be ever so exactly tuned, a small matter brings out of tune again; yea, hang it aside but a little, and it will need setting again before you can play another lesson on it; even so stands the case with gracious hearts; if they are in frame in one duty, yet how dull, dead, and disordered, sometimes are they when they come to another! And therefore every duty needs a particular preparation of the heart; "If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards him," Job xi. 13. To keep the heart then is carefully to preserve it from sin, which disorders it, and to maintain that spiritual and gracious frame which fits it for a life of communion with God. And this includes these six acts in it

1. Frequent observation of the frame of the heart, Div. No. XVIII.

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turning in and examining how the case stands with'it; this is one part of the work. Carnal and formal persons take no heed to this; they cannot be brought to confer with their own hearts. There are some men and women who have lived forty or fifty years in the world, and have scarcely had one hour's discourse with their own hearts all that while. It is a hard thing to bring a man and himself together on such a business. But the saints know these soliloquies and self-conferences to be of excellent use and advantage. The heathen could "The soul is made wise by sitting still in quietness." Though bankrupts wish not to look into their books of account, yet upright hearts will know whether they go backward or forward. "I commune with mine own heart." The heart can never be kept, until its case is examined and understood.

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2. It includes deep humiliation for heart-evils and disorders. Thus Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart; 2 Chron. xxxii. 26. Thus the people were ordered to spread forth their hands to God in prayer, in a sense of the plague of their own hearts; 1 Kings viii. 38. On this account many an upright heart has been laid low before God. O what a heart have I! They have in their confessions pointed at the heart, the pained place. Lord, here is the wound, here is the plague-sore. It is with the heart well kept, as it is with the eye, which is a fit emblem of it-if a small particle of dust gets into the eye, it will never leave twinkling and watering till it has wept it out; so the upright heart cannot be at rest till it has wept out its troubles, and poured out its complaints before the Lord.

3. It includes earnest supplications and instant prayer for heart-purifying and rectifying grace, when sin has defiled and disordered it. "Cleanse thou me from secret faults," Psalm xix. 12. "Unite my heart to fear thy name," Psalm lxxxvi. 11. Saints have always many such petitions depending before the throne of God's grace; this is the thing which is most pleaded by them with God. When they are praying for outward mercies, haply their spirits may be more remiss; but when it comes to the heart-case, then they extend their spirits to the utmost,

fill their mouths with arguments, weep and make suppli cation. O for a better heart! O for a heart to love God more; to hate sin more; to walk more evenly with God! Lord, deny not to me such a heart, whatever thou deny me. Give me a heart to fear thee, love and delight in thee, if I beg my bread in desolate places. It is observed of holy Mr. Bradford, that when he was confessing sin, he would never give over confessing until he had felt some brokenness of heart for that sin; and when praying for any spiritual mercy, would never give over that suit, until he had got some relish of that mercy.

4. It includes the imposing of strong engagements and bonds on ourselves to walk more accurately with God, and avoid the occasions whereby the heart may be induced to sin. Well-composed, advised, and deliberate vows, are, in some cases, of excellent use to guard the heart against some special sin; thus Job xxxi. 1, “I made a covenant with mine eyes." By this means, holy ones have overawed their souls, and preserved themselves from defilement by some special heart-corruptions.

5. It includes a constant holy jealousy over our own hearts. Quicksighted self-jealousy is an excellent preservative from sin. He who will keep his heart must have the eyes of his soul awake, and open to all the disorderly and tumultuous stirrings of his affections. If the affections break loose and the passions be stirred, the soul must discover and suppress them before they get to a height. O my soul, dost thou well in this? My tumultuous thoughts and passions, where is your commission?

"Happy is the man that thus feareth always," Prov. xxviii. 14. By this fear of the Lord it is that men depart from evil, shake off security, and preserve themselves from iniquity. He who will keep his heart, must feed withf ear, rejoice with fear, and pass the whole time of his sojourning here in fear; and all little enough to keep the heart from sin.

6. And, lastly, it includes the realizing of God's presence with us, and setting the Lord always before us. This the people of God have found an excellent means to keep their hearts upright, and awe them from sin. When

the eye of our faith is fixed on the eye of God's omniscience, we dare not let out our thoughts and affections to vanity. Holy Job durst not suffer his heart to yield to an impure, vain thought; and what was it that moved him to so great à circumspection? He tells you, Job xxxi. 4; "Ďoth he not see my ways, and count all my steps?" "Walk before me," said God to Abraham, “and be thou perfect," Gen. xvii. 1. Even as parents are accustomed to set their children before them, in the congregation, knowing that else they will be toying and playing; so would the heart of the best man too, were it not for his mindfulness of the eye of God.

Iu these and such like particulars, do gracious souls express the care they have of their hearts. They are as careful to prevent the breaking loose of their corruptions in times of temptation, as seamen are to bind fast the guns, that they break not loose in a storm; as careful to preserve the sweetness and comfort they have got from God in any duty, as one that comes out of a hot bath, is of taking cold, by going forth into the chill air. This is the work, and of all works in religion it is the most difficult, constant, and important work.

It is the hardest work. Heart-work is hard work indeed. To shuffle over religious duties with a loose and heedless spirit, will cost no great pains; but to set thyself before the Lord, and tie up thy loose and vain thoughts to a constant and serious attendance on him— this will cost thee something. To attain a facility and dexterity of language in prayer, and to put thy meaning into apt and decent expressions, is easy; but to get thy heart broken for sin whilst thou art confessing it, melted with free grace whilst thou art blessing God for it, to be really ashamed and humbled through the apprehensions of God's infinite holiness; and to keep thy heart in this frame, not only in but after duty, will surely cost thee some groans and travailing pain of soul. To repress the outward acts of sin, and compose the external part of thy life in a laudable and comely manner, is no great matter; even carnal persons by the force of common principles can do this; but to kill the root of corruption within, to set and keep up a holy government over thy