can bear it? And certainly, it is altogether impossible for us, though it be not impossible to God, to enlarge our hearts to pursue it: for with him nothing is impossible. O! that once ye might be persuaded to set about the exercise of this precious and most excellent duty of prayer, which is to your eternal advantage, and everlasting soul concernment. I am afraid, O Christians! that if one from heaven, who has entered into the everlasting and blessed possessions of that excellent and blessed estate of life, would come down to earth, if so, with reverence we may speak and preach upon this text of ours, Pray without ceasing; and speak of those precious and unspeakable advantages which do accompany the man that is much in the exercise of prayer; there be many of us, I fear, who would scarcely be inclined to hear such an exhortation. And more than this, if one from the dead would arise, and come from the pit unto this city, and preach upon this text unto you, Pray without ceasing, having the chains of everlasting wrath hanging about his neck, and preach upon those sad and unspeakable disadvantages which are to be found in the neglect of the blessed exercise of this duty of prayer, and should desire you to flee from that wrath that is to come,-O! would there not be many of you, I am afraid, who would stop your ears, and would not listen unto the voice and language of such an exhortation? Oh! where are many of us going? Whither are we going? Certainly the apprehensions and thoughts of everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord, is not much engraven and deeply imprinted upon the spirits of the hypocritical Christians of this generation-we are not afraid of that wrath and eternal destruction which is approaching us.

But to you that are heirs of the promise, who are heirs of the grace of life, and who are begotten again unto a lively hope, I would say this unto you, Pray without ceasing, and once you shall sing without ceasing, and without all interruption. And to those that pray not, the day is coming, when they shall howl in that bottomless pit, amongst those everlasting flames of fire and brimstone, when they shall be brayed in the mortar of the wrath of God, by the pestil of his severe justice; when his Omnipotency shall uphold you, and his justice shall smite you eternally. Oh! it were many of your advantages, that you were, indeed, beasts without immortal souls; for to have souls doth capacitate you for an eternal being, and for an eternal punishment.

THREE SERMONS

CONCERNING THE WAY HOW

A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO KEEP HIS HEART.

SERMON I.

PROV. iv. 23.-Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

WE conceive, if there were a window opened in each of our bosoms, through which each one of us that are here might behold one another's hearts, we would become monsters and wonders one to another, and to ourselves likewise, and might cry out, O! where is the God of judgment, that takes not vengeance on such deceitful hearts? If our hearts were turned out of us (so to speak), and we saw the inside of our hearts, we would wonder at his patience. I think, such is the desperate deceitfulness of our hearts, that if all the saints since Adam's day, and who shall be to the end of the world, had but one heart to guide, they would misguide it. I would only say this to believers, that if your hearts were left one hour to yourselves to keep, ye would commit more iniquity than ye can imagine or dream of. There are only these four things that I would speak to, before I come to the words, and I would request you to take notice of them:

First, There are many of us that have two hearts in our bosom, -such a one is the hypocrite, James i. 8, A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways; that is, a man that hath two hearts,—a part of his heart goeth to God, and a part of his heart goeth to the devil. And I think, if we were all well searched, it is to be feared that many of us would be found two-hearted men.

Secondly, That although ye would give Christ all your members, yet, if you would not give him your heart, it would be nothing thought of; if you would give him your eyes, so that ye should not look to your idols pleasantly, nor yet look with delight upon any cursed or sinful object; and if you would give him your ears, so that you could or would not hearken to the voice of any of your temptations, but be as deaf as an adder unto them; and if you would give him your tongue, so that you should not speak any thing dishonourable to him; and if you would give him your feet, so that you should not walk in any way, but in an approven path of godliness; I say, though you would give him all these members of

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your body, yet if you give him not your heart, it is all to no purpose, Próv. xxiii. 26, My son, give me thy heart, &c.

Thirdly, There are many who give their hearts to their idols, and their tongues to Christ; but one day they shall be found to be but deceivers.

Lastly, It is a noble thing for a Christian to be taken up in the keeping of his heart. I may say this of the heart, which the apostle James said of the tongue, It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison, James iii. 8. The heart is taken up with whoring from God, and with contriving the way how to satisfy its lusts, and continually forsaking the living God. Our hearts are doing nothing in all the lifetime of many of us, but profaning his holy name, and blaspheming the God of Jacob.

Now, to come to the words; there are four things therein : First, The duty imposed upon a Christian, and that is, To keep his heart. Secondly, That the heart of man hath many seekers, which is imported in that word, keep. Thirdly, You have the qualification and way how a Christian ought to keep his heart, which are rendered in these words, with all diligence; or, as the words may be rendered, with all keeping. Lastly, The reasons why you should do so,-for out of it are the issues of life; for if you do so, you shall have life ; but if not, from thence are the issues of death. Now, from the first thing in the words, ye should consider these two things:

First, That it is a duty incumbent on every Christian to keep his heart; this is clear not only from our text, but likewise in Deut. iv. 9, Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, &c.; Prov. xxiii. 26, Guide thy heart in the way,-which is, study to keep it diligently in the way of godliness. And it is clear likewise that a Christian ought to keep his heart, for the great advantages that are held out in Scripture for so doing ;-only take one place, in Prov. xvi. 32, Better is he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.

The second thing that I would say, to point out the woeful disad vantages that wait upon him that rules not his own heart, but gives it leave to rove here and there, is, Prov. xxv. 28, He that hath not rule over his own spirit, is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. There are these two disadvantages that wait upon not keeping of the heart. 1. There is no temptation that assaults a heart that is not kept, but it becomes victorious: spiritual strength hath forsaken them that keep not their hearts. 2. There is no exercise nor duty that a Christian is employed in, who keeps not his heart; but he is like a ruinous city which hath no walls, and in which there is no order.

Now, the next thing that I would speak to is, to shew what it imports to keep the heart, and what are the directions and ways which a Christian ought to have before him in the exercise and duty of keeping his heart.

First, It imports this, that a Christian should observe the motions of his heart, and should not let his heart nor thoughts go astray, but should have a register of all their motions; as is clear in Luke xxi. 34, Take heed of yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

The second thing which keeping of the heart includes, is,-you must keep all the things that pertain to your hearts; and there are these five things which ye must keep :-First, Your thoughts; you must keep your thoughts so straitly, that you must not give them any sinful latitude in the least manner. Secondly, A Christian must keep his eyes, which are the windows through which much wickedness is conveyed to the soul, Prov. xxiii. 26, My son, give me thy heart, &c.; Prov. iv. 25, Let thine eye look right on, and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee; as if Solomon had said, It is but foolishness to keep your hearts, if ye keep not your eyes. Thirdly, Ye must keep your tongues, that they speak no evil of the ways of godliness; for so are the words following the text, Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee; which is, order thy tongue. Fourthly, You must keep your feet, that ye walk not in the paths of wickedness: if once ye give a latitude to your feet to go in the way to hell, it shall be but vain to keep your hearts; therefore, keep your feet from running to the murder of your souls. Lastly, Ye must keep your ears,-ye should delight to speak good of godliness, and should also delight to hear good spoken of it: ye should not be among those that savour of nothing but of sin, but ye should be amongst those that savour of good: therefore, as ye would not be accessary to the murder of your own souls, and as ye would not have the blood of them lying upon your heads, ye must needs keep all those parts that belong to the keeping of your hearts aright.

The third thing which the keeping of your hearts includes is, to eschew all unclean things that may defile your hearts, Prov. v. 8, Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house. When you see any evil thing approaching, you must depart from it, and eschew it. Deut. xii. 30, Take heed to thyself, that thou be not snared. There are many snares that may be accessary to destruction; and there is this that Moses marks as a chief evil, and likewise oftentimes forbids in this book, to have false weights and balances, Lev. xix. 36, Deut. xxv. 15. They are not only sinful of themselves, but because they are an appearance of evil, men should eschew them; therefore, he forbids them and the Apostle bids us likewise abstain from all appearance of evil, 1st Thessalonians

The fourth thing which keeping of the heart includes, is, to put restraints upon your hearts, that so you might not commit iniquity; ye ought first to lay the bond of Christ's love upon yourselves; ye should likewise lay the bond of judgment upon yourselves, knowing that God shall call you to a reckoning for all your wickedness which now most wickedly you commit; and you ought to lay the bond of God's omnisciency upon yourselves, to know and consider that all things are known to him, and that he seeth all things; and ye ought likewise to consider how grievous, and how displeasing a thing sin is to the majesty of God, that man, who is the workmanship of his hand, should rise up against him: we may say that of ourselves which is in Lam. iii. 22, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not; they are fresh

every morning, &c. All these things a Christian ought to lay to heart, and seriously to consider them.

The second thing which keeping of the heart includes is, a Christian ought not to slight the opportunities given unto him for the strengthening of his grace: for they who slight opportunities, keep not their own hearts.

The last thing which it imports is, that a Christian should be much in the diligent exercise of duties, that the heart may be kept and holden in a notable frame. And there are two exercises which a Christian ought to be diligent in: first, The exercise of prayer. Secondly, The exercise of watching. There is a five-fold frame which a Christian should be in, which would rightly keep his heart: first, In a frame of praying, that he should not be slack and coldrife to go about duties; the command thereof is holden out in that word, Watch and pray, and also in that word, Pray without ceasing. The second frame should be a believing frame; and it is to be feared there are not many such here; but that there are many walking in such a way and frame, which, alas! I fear, will lead them in the way to hell: if we were sincere, we would hold Christ fast, and would not let him go; and if our hearts were in a right frame, we would avoid any thing that might make him to depart from us. But alas! we have many clear evidences (now a-days) that we are not for Christ, we care not whether we have his presence or want it; the want of his presence is as lightsome and pleasant to us, and as well taken with by many, (I will not say all) as the enjoying of his presence: and this is a sure evidence of gross profaneness, ignorance, and estrangement from God-if there were no more to prove it but this, your stoutness of heart to meddle with sin, proves that you are unsound Christians. We would desire you by all the torments of hell, and all the terrors of that everlasting lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, for ever and ever; by all the joys of heaven, of that higher house, that ye would carry a circumspect walk before God. The third frame that we would desire you to walk in is, a tender frame; and if so ye were walking, ye would be loth to commit sin wilfully, and woe shall be to them eternally, who do so. We will not (many of us) believe this, although angels should preach it unto us, for our hearts are hard like an adamant-stone. I would only say this to you, "This book, this glorious book, is sealed with seven seals, and our hearts are sealed with fourteen seals." O! woe be to those hard hearts that many of us have, we will never know until they run us eternally into the bottomless pit.

The fourth frame that a Christian should walk in is, a loving frame; ye ought to have your hearts burning within you, with love towards that glorious, infinite, and mysterious object, Jesus Christ. We shall never be able to comprehend, nor recompence that love which he hath to us; for the furthest we can go, is to be sick of love to him. But O! he died with love for us, for he had so great love to us, that he laid down his life for us.

The fifth frame that a Christian should walk in is, a fearing frame; to walk under the fear of the hazard that you are in, if you