SERMON VII.

KEEPING THE HEART.

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

THE heart is dangerous, and in danger: there is evil in it, and it is beset with evil. All the evils of hell are in the heart, and it is exposed to all hell's assaults; and yet out of it are "the issues of life." Every thing in life is out of it: its impress is upon all that pertains to the man. The streams of purity, observed in the conversation, and the conduct of the believer, they proceed from the heart; and so do the overflowings of corruption in the impenitent. Every act is the progeny of the heart; and all virtues, and all vices, may

join in the exclamation, "She is the mother of us all!"

The heart must be known and understood in order to its effectual keeping. Nothing is more difficult than this knowledge, and nothing more necessary. The man that knows not his own heart aright, knows nothing aright. It is necessary to know what the heart ought to have been, before it can be understood what it is: and here recourse must be had to the teaching of the word and the Spirit of God, where it will be found that it ought to be, in all its powers, continually and perfectly in harmony with the nature, the attributes, and the judgments of God. The man that contemplates his heart, as it is seen in the divine word, can alone know its evil, and its "plague;" he will not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but, smiting upon his breast, will say, God be merciful unto me a sinner; and he will cry with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." The gospel will show him that his heart may be changed, that

there is a medicine, and a cure, suitable even for the heart. "The Lord healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." "He maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hand maketh whole." The man that knows much, and has neglected his heart, is but a fool at best. He boasts of having studied one thing and another, but his heart, the knowledge of which alone can make him wise, has been neglected.

God calls upon man to keep his heart, although he cannot do it. He has no power either to keep his heart, or to improve it, and yet it is demanded of him in order to show him the necessity of it, and to bring him to God to have it done for him, in God's way, and to use God's means to do it. God calls upon man to do that which, by the law, he ought to have, and which, by the gospel, he will have the power of accomplishing. If you lack wisdom, ask

of God, and he will give it.

"You ought

to do this, says the law," "I gave thee power, and if thou hast lost it, it is thy fault." "If thou art without strength,"

says the gospel, "I am ready to help thee; I have the means of making the poor rich, and the weak accomplish all things." Sinner, what objection hast thou to this?

He that has a heart to be kept, should keep it the duty is incumbent upon all. It is to be kept from outward assault, and from its own inherent evil. It must be kept from its natural alienation from God: and to do this, it is necessary to understand these two conditions: that from which the heart is to be reclaimed, and that to which it must be restored. It must be known and felt that it is an evil and a bitter thing to live apart from God, to have the heart estranged and alienated from him, even when he calls upon us to return. His call is, "Return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously." "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." The heart must be brought, and kept under the influence of the revelation contained in these texts;

that we have turned from the Lord, and fallen; and that he calls upon us to return.

The heart must be kept from all oppo

sition to God-the testimony as to the departure, and the justice of the penalty attached to it, as well as the grace of the command to return, must be approved. We must no longer love what God hates. Who are we to resist his wisdom, his holiness, and his power? Worms before God! Stubble before the consuming fire! Shall we resist Him? Keep thy heart with all diligence from this madness.

We must keep our hearts in a state of obedience and docility to do all things he has commanded us to do. He has commanded that we should receive his Son, repent, and believe the gospel. When he says, Seek ye my face, our heart must say unto him, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. We must wait upon the Lord, and be of good courage, and he will strengthen our heart.

We must keep the heart in the exercise of prayer to God, "Praying always," being 'diligent in prayer." There is no life