vour to undermine the power of godliness; and fome there are that nourish the root, and tend to clear and confirm, to prepare and apply the great truths of the gofpel, that they may be bread for fouls to live and feed on: Now, though I could with that those who had handled the pen of the fcribe, had better employed their time and pain, than to obtrude fuch useless discourses upon the world; yet for books of the latter rank, I fay, that when hufbandmen complain of too much corn, let Chriftians complain of too many fuch books.

2. And if you be fo highly conceited of your own furniture and ability, that fuch books are needlefs to you; if you let them alone, they will do you no hurt, and other poor hungry fouls will be glad of them, and bless God for what you defpife and leave.

Objection. If it be faid that feveral of the cafes here handled touch not your condition, I anfwer,

Solution 1. That which is not your condition may be another's condition. If you be placed in an eafy, full and profperous state, and fo have no need of the helps here offered to fupport your hearts under pinching wants, others are forced to live by faith for every day's provision: If you be dandled upon the knee of providence, fome of your brethren are under its feet: If you have inward peace and tranquillity of spirit, and so need not the counfels here given, to ward off thofe defperate conclufions that poor afflicted fouls are ready to draw upon themselves at fuch a time; yet it may be a word in feafon to them, and they may fay as David to Abigail," Bleffed be thou of the Ford, and bleffed be thy advice,"

2. That may be your condition fhortly, which is not your condition at prefent: fay not thy mountain stands strong, thou shalt never be moved: there are changes in the right-hand of the Moft High; and then those truths which are little more efteemed than hedge-fruits, will be as apples of gold in pictures of filver. In Jer. xxxiii. 10, 11. the prophet there teaches the Jews (who then dwelt in their own houses) how to defend their religion in Babylon, and what they should fay to the Chaldeans there, and therefore that verfe is written in Chaldee. So much for the reasons of its publication. Next, for the dedication of it to you, I was induced thereto by the confideration,

1. Of the relation I have to you above all the people in the world: I look upon my gifts as yours, my time as yours, and all the talents I am entrusted with, as yours: it is not with you as with a woman whofe hufband is dead, and fo is freed from the law of her husband, the relation still continues, and fo do all the mutual duties of it.

2. By the confideration of my neceffitated abfence from you, I would not that perfonal abfence fhould by infenfible degrees untwist (as ufually it doth) the cord of friendship; and therefore I have endeavoured (as abfent friends ufe to do) to preserve and strengthen it by this fmall remembrance. It was Vefpafian's anfwer to Apollonius, when he defired accefs for two philofophers, My doors (faid Vefpa

fian) are always open to philofophers, but my very breast is open to thee.' I cannot fay with him, my doors are open for the free access of friends, being by a fad providence shut against myself; but this I can fay, my very breast is still open to you; you are as dear

to me as ever.

3. Another inducement (and indeed the main) was the perpetual usefulness and neceffity of these truths for you, which you will have continual need of: And I know few of you have fuch happy memories to retain, and I cannot be always with you to inculcate these things, but litera fcripta manet. I was willing to leave this with you as a legacy, as a testimony of fincere love for, and care over you: this may counsel and direct you when I cannot: I may be rendered useless to you by a civil or natural death; but this will out-live me, and O that it may serve your fouls when I am filent in the dust.

To haften now to a conclufion, I have only these three requests to you, which I earnestly beseech you not to deny me; yea, I charge you, as ever you hope to appear with comfort before the great Shepherd, do not dare to flight these requests.

1. Above all other ftudies in the world, study your own hearts; waste not a minute more of your precious time about frivolous and fapless controverfies. It is reported even of Bellarmine (how truly I' examine not)* Quod a ftudiis fcholaftica theologia averteretur fere naufeabundus, quoniam fucco carebant liquidæ pietatis, i. è. he turned with loathing from the study of school-divinity, because it wanted the fweet juice of piety; I had rather it should be faid of you, as one faid of + Swinfeldius," He wanted a regular head, but not an honeft heart," than that you should have regular heads, and irregular hearts. My dear flock, I have, according to the grace given me, laboured in the course of my miniftry among you, to feed you with the heart-ftrengthening bread of practical doctrine; and I do affure you, it is far better you should have the fweet and faving impreffions of gofpel-truths feelingly and powerfully conveyed to your hearts, than only to underftand them by a bare ratiocination, or dry fyllogiftical inference. Leave trifling ftudies to fuch as have time lying on their hands, and know not how to employ it : remember you are at the door of eternity, and have other work to do; thofe hours you fpend upon heartwork in your closets, are the golden fpots of all your time, and will have the sweetest influence upon your last hour. Never forget thefe fermons I preached to you upon that fubject, from 2 Kings xx. 2,-3. Heart-work is weighty, and difficult work; an error there may coft you your fouls: I may fay of it as Augustine speaks of the doctrine of the Trinity, Nihilo facilius aut periculofius erratur; A man can err in nothing more eafily or more dangerously. O then study your

hearts.

Fuligattus in vita Bellarm.

t Caput regulatum illi defuit, cor bonum non defuit.

2. My next request is, That you will carefully look to your converfations, and be accurate in all your ways, hold forth the word of life: be fure by the strictness and holiness of your lives, to fettle your felves in the very confciences of your enemies. Remember that your lives must be produced in the great day to judge the world, 1 Cor. vi. 2. O then, what manner of perfons ought you to be! you have many eyes over you; the omnifcient eye of God that fearches heart and reins, Rev. ii. 23. the vigilant eye of Satan, Job i. 7, 8. the envious eyes of enemies, that curiously observe you, Pfal. v. 8. the quick and obfervant eye of confcience, which none of your actions escape, Rom. ix. 1.

O then be precife and accurate in all manner of converfation; keep up the power of godlinefs in your clofets and families, and then you will not let it fall in your more public employments and converies in the world: I have often told you, that it is the honour of the gofpel, that it makes the beft parents and children, the beft mafters and fervants, the best husbands and wives in the world.

My third and last request is, that you may pray for me: I hope I can say, and I am fure fome of you have acknowledged, that I came at first among you, as the return and answer of your prayers: and indeed fo it fhould be, fee Luke x. 2. I am perfuaded alfo, I have been carried on in my work by your prayers; it is fweet when it is so; fee Eph. vi. 18, 19. And I hope by your prayers to receive yet à farther benefit, even that which is mentioned, Heb. xiii. 18, 19. Philem. ver. 22. And truly it 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 fin against the Lord in ceafing to pray for you.

Yea, friends, your own intereft may perfuade to it: what mercies you obtain for me, redound to your own advantage; if God preferve me, it is for your ufe and fervice: the more gifts and graces a minifter hath, the better for them that shall wait on his miniftry; the more God gives in to me, the more I fhall be able to give out to you. I will detain you no longer, but to entreat you to accept this fmall teftification of my great love, and have recourfe to it, according as the exigencies of your condition fhall require : read it confideringly, and obediently; judge it not by the drefs and ftyle, but by the weight and favour of what you read. It is a good rule of Bernard, In legendis libris, non quæramus fcientium fed faporem, i. e. In reading books, regard not fo much the fcience as the favour. That it may prove the favour of life unto life to you, and all thofe in whofe hands it fhall come, is the hearty defire of

From my ftudy at Ley, in

Slapton, 02. 7, 1667.

Your loving and faithful Paftor,

JOHN FLAVEL.

Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.

TH

HE heart of man is his worst part before it be regenerate, and the best afterwards: it is the feat of principles, and the fountain of actions. The eye of God is, and the eye of the Chriftian ought to be, principally fixed upon it.

The greatest difficulty in converfion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after converfion is to keep the heart with God. Here lies the very pinch and ftrefs of religion; here is that which makes the way to life a narrow way, and the gate to heaven a ftrait gate. Direction and help in this great work are the scope and fum of this text: wherein we have,

1. An exhortation, "Keep thy heart with all diligence." 2. The reason, or motive enforcing it, "For out of it are the iffues ❝ of life."

In the exhortation I fhall confider,

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 philofophers call the primum vivens, et ultimum moriens; the first that lives, and the laft that dies; but by heart, in a metaphor, the fcripture fometimes understands fome particular noble faculty of the foul: in Rom. i. 21. it is put for the understanding part, their foolish heart, i. e. their foolith understanding was darkened." And Pfalm cxix. 11. it is put for the memory, "Thy word have I hid in my heart;" and 1 John iii. 10. it is put for the confcience, which hath in it both the light of the understanding and the recognitions of the memory: if our heart condemn us, i. e. if your confciences, whofe proper office it is to condemn. But here we are to take it more generally for the whole foul, or inner man; for look what the heart is to the body, that the foul is to the man; and what health is to the heart, that holinefs is to the foul: Quod fanitas in corpore, id fanclitas in corde. The state of the whole body depends upon the foundness and vigour of the heart, and the everlasting state of the whole man upon the good or ill condition of the foul.

And by keeping the heart, understand the diligent and conftant use and improvement of all holy means and duties, to preferve the foul from fin, and maintain its fweet and free communion with God.

* Lavater, on the place, will have the word taken from a befieged garrifon, begirt by many enemies without, and in danger of being betrayed by treacherous citizens within, in which danger the foldiers, upon pain of death, are commanded to watch; and whereas the expreffion (keep thine heart) feems to put it upon us as our work, yet it doth not imply a fufficiency or ability in us to do it; we are as able to stop the fun in its course, or make the rivers run backward, as by our own fkill and power to rule and order our hearts: we may as well be our own faviours, as our own keepers; and yet Solomon speaks properly enough, when he faith keep thy heart; becaufe the duty is ours, though the power be God's. A natural man hath no power, a gracious man hath fome, though not fufficient; and that power he hath, depends upon the exciting and affifting ftrength of Chrift; Gratia gratiam poftulat, grace within us is beholden to grace without us, John xv. 5. "Without me ye can do nothing. "So much of the matter of the duty.

2. The manner of performing it is, with all diligence; the Hebrew is very emphatical, † Cum omni cuftodia, keep with all keeping, q. d. keep, keep; fet double guards, your hearts will be gone elfe. And this vehemency of expreffion, with which the duty is urged, plainly implies how difficult it is to keep our hearts, and how dangerous to let them go.

3. The reafon, or motive quickening to this duty, is very forcible and weighty: For out of it are the iffues of life." That is, it is the fource and fountain of all vital actions and operations; Hinc fons boni et peccandi origo, faith Jerom; it is the spring and original both of good and evil, as the fpring in a watch that fets all the wheels in motion. The heart is the treafury, the hand and tongue but the fhops; what is in thefe, comes from thence; the hand and tongue always begin where the heart ends. The heart contrives, and the members execute; Luke vi. 45. "A good man out of the good "treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man "out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things; for "out of the abundance of his heart his mouth fpeaketh." So then, if the heart err in its work, thefe muft needs mifcarry in theirs; for heart-errors are like the errors of the first concoction, which cannot be rectified afterwards: Or like the mifplacing, and inverting of the ftamps and letters in the prefs, which muft needs cause so many errata in all the copies that are printed off. O then, how important a duty is that which is contained in the following propofition?

I fay conftant, for the reafon added in the text extends the duty to all the states and conditions of a Chriftian's life, and makes it bind ad femper: If the heart must be kept because out of it are the iffues of life; then as long as thefe illues of life do flow out of it, we are obliged to keep it.

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