A Treatise on Keeping the Heart

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,

p. 21. 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 p. 3whole man upon the good or ill condition of the Soul.

p. 3And 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.

[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.] 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 our own Keepers, and yet Solomon speaks properly enough, when he saith, keep thy p. 4Heart, because the duty is ours, though the power be Gods. A Natural man hath no power, a gracious man hath some; though not sufficient, and that power he hath depends upon the exciting and assisting strength of Christ; Gratia gratiam postulat, Grace within us is beholding to Grace without us, Iohn 15. 5. Without me ve can do nothing. So much of the matter of the Duty.

2. The Minner of performing it, is With all diligence; the Hebrew is very Emphatical 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 cum omni custodia, keep with all keeping; q. d. keep, keep; set double Guards, your hearts will be gone else: And this vehemency of expression with which the duty is urged, plainly implies how difficult it is to keep our Hearts, and how dangerous to let them go.

2. The Reason or Motive quickning to this Duty is very forcible and weighty, For out of it are the issues of life. That is, it is the Source and Fountain of all vital actions and operations; Hinc Fons boni & peccandi or go, saith Ierom; it is the Spring and Original both of good and evil-as the spring in a Watch that sets all the Wheels in motion. The Heart is the Treasury, the Hand and Tongue but p. 5the Shops, what is in these came from thense; the hand and tongue alwaies begins where the heart ends. The heart contrives, and the members execute, Luke 6. 46. A good man out of the good treasury of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasury of his heart bringeth forth evil things; for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaketh. So then, if the heart erre in its work, these must needs miscarry in theirs; for heart-errors are like the errors of the first concoction which cannot be rectified afterwards: Or like the mis-placing and inverting of the stamps and letters in the Press, which must needs cause so many errata's in all the Copies that are printed off. O then! how important a Duty is that which is contained in the following Proposition?

p. 5Doct. That the keeping and right managing of the heart in every condition, is the great business of a Christians life.

What the Philosopher saith of waters is as properly applicable to hearts, suis terminis difficilé continentur; 'tis hard to keep them within any bounds: God hath set bounds and limits to them, yet how frequently do they transgress. …