living child: so it is here, a little pride, vanity, carelessness, dashes all that for which thou hast been labouring a long time in many a were duty. Since then the joy of our life, the comfort of our S souls, rises and falls with our diligence in this work; keep your hearts with all diligence.

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5. The improvement of our graces pends on the keeping of our hearts. I by never knew grace thrive in a negligent and careless soul; the habits and roots of grace are planted in the heart; and if the dependency is radicated there, the ៥. more thriving and flourishing grace is: In Eph. iii. 17 we read of being rooted thin grace: grace in the heart is the root of every gracious word in the mouth, and of every holy work in the hand, Psal. cxvi. 10. 2 Cor. iv. 13. It is true, Christ is the root of a christian; but Christ is the originating root; and grace a root originated, planted and influenced by Christ; according as this thrives under divine influences, so the acts of grace more or less fruitful or vigorous: now, in a heart not kept with care and diligence, these fructifying influences are stopt and cut off, maltitudes of vanities break in upon it, and devour its strength; the heart is as it were the pasture in

are

which multitudes of thoughts are fed ev ery day a gracious heart, diligently kept, feeds many precious thoughts of God in a day, Psal. cxxxix. 17. How precious are thy thoughts to me, O God! how great is the sum of them! if I should count them, they are more in number than the sand; and when I awake, I am still with thee. And, as the gracious heart feeds and nourishes them, so they refresh and feast the heart, Psal. lxiii. 56. My soul is filled as with marrow and fatness whilst I think upon thee, &c. But in the disregarded heart, swarms ot vain and foolish thoughts are perpetually working, and justle out those spiritual ideas and thoughts of God, by which the soul should be refreshed.

Besides, the careless heart makes nothing out of any duty or ordinance it performs or attends on, and yet these are the conduits of heaven from whence grace is watered and made fruitful: a man may go with an heedless spirit from ordinance to ordinance, abide all his days under the choicest teaching, and yet never be improved by them; for heart neglect is a leak in the bottom; no heavenly influences, how rich soever, abide in that soul, Matth. xiii. 3 4. The heart that lies open and common, like the highway, free for

all

passengers, when the seed fell on it, the fowls came and devoured it. Alas it

is not enough to

heed how we hear

hear, unless we take a man may pray, and never be the better, unless he watch unto prayer. In a word, all ordinances, means and duties are blessed unto the improvement of grace, according to the care and strictness we use in keeping our hearts in them.

6. Lastly, The stability of our souls in the hour of temptation will be much according to the care and conscience we have of keeping our hearts: the careless heart is an easy prey to satan in the hour of temptation, his main batteries are raised against that fort-royal, the heart; if he wins that, he wins all, for it commands the whole man: and, alas, how easy a conquest is a neglected heart! it is no more difficult to surprise it, than for an enemy to enter that city, whose gates are open and unguarded; it is the watchful heart that discovers and suppresses the temptation before it comes to its strength. Divines observe this to be the method in which temptations are ri pened and brought to their full strength; There is, (1.) The irritation of the object, or that power it hath to to work upon and provoke our corrupt nature; which

is either done by the real presence of the object, or else by speculation, when the object (though absent) is held out to the phantasy before the soul.

(2.) Then follows the motion of the sensitive appetite, which is srirred and provoked by the phantasy representing it as a sensual good, as having profit or pleasure in it.

(3.) Then there is a consultation in the mind about it, deliberating about the likeliest means of accomplishing it.

(4.) Next follows the election or choice of the will.

(5.) And lastly, the desire or full engagement of the will to it. All this may be done in a few moments; for the debates of the soul are quick, and soon ended when it comes thus far, then the heart is won, satan hath entered victoriously, and displayed his colours upon the walls of that royal fort; but, had the heart been well guarded at first, it had never come to this height, the temptation had been stopt in the first or second act and indeed there it is stopt easily; for it is in the motions of a tempted soul to sin, as in the motion of a stone falling from the brow of an hill, it is easily stopt at first, but, when once it is set a going, its speed encreases and therefore

ཟླ༦༣ས།

it is the greatest wisdom in the world to observe the first motions of the heart, to check a stop them there. The motions of sin aie weakest at first; a little care and watchfulness may prevent much mischief now, which the careless heart not heeding, is brought within the power of temptation; as the Syrians were brought blindfold into the midst of Samaria, before they knew where they were.

By this time, reader, I hope thou art fully satisfied how consequential and necessary a work the keeping of the heart is, it being a duty that wraps up so many dear interests of the soul in it.

:

Thirdly, Next, according to the method propounded, I proceed to point out those special seasons in the life of a christian, which require and call for our utmost diligence in keeping the heart for though (as was observed before) the duty binds, and there be no time or condition of life in which we may be excused from this work; yet there are some signal seasons, critical hours, requiring more than a com mon vigilance over the heart.

And the first,

1. Season" is the time of prosperity, when providence smiles upon us, and dand'es us upon her knee. Now, chrisC