Keeping the Heart
by John Flavel
"Keep your heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life."
Proverbs 4:23
The time of doubting and of spiritual darkness—constitutes another season
when it is very difficult to keep the heart.
When the light and
comfort of the divine presence is withdrawn; when the believer, from the
prevalence of indwelling sin in one form or other, is ready to renounce his
hopes, to infer desperate conclusions with respect to himself, to regard his
former comforts as vain delusions, and his professions as hypocrisy; at such
a time much diligence is necessary to keep the heart from despondency. The
Christian's distress arises from his apprehension of his spiritual state,
and in general he argues against his possessing true religion, either from
his having relapsed into the same sins from which he had formerly been
recovered with shame and sorrow; or from the sensible declining of his
affections from God; or from the strength of his affections toward creature
enjoyments; or from his enlargement in public, while he is often confined
and barren in private duties; or from some horrible suggestions of Satan,
with which his soul is greatly perplexed; or, lastly, from God's silence and
seeming denial of his long depending prayers. Now in order to the
establishment and support of the heart under these circumstances, it is
necessary that you be acquainted with some general truths which have a
tendency to calm the trembling and doubting soul; and that you be rightly
instructed with regard to the above-mentioned causes of disquiet. Let me
direct your attention to the following general truths:
1. Every appearance of hypocrisy does not prove the
person who manifests it, to be a hypocrite. You should carefully
distinguish between the appearance and the predominance of
hypocrisy. There are remains of deceitfulness in the best hearts; this was
exemplified in David and Peter—but the prevailing frame of their hearts
being upright, they were not denominated hypocrites for their conduct.
2. We ought to regard what can be said in our favor, as
well as what may be said against us. It is the sin of upright
people sometimes, to exercise an unreasonable severity against themselves.
They do not impartially consider the state of their souls. To make their
state appear better than it really is, indeed is the damning sin of
self-flattering hypocrites; and to make their state appear worse than it
really is, is the sin and folly of some good people. But why should you be
such an enemy to your own peace? Why read over the evidences of God's love
to your soul, as a man does a book which he intends to confute? Why do you
study evasions, and turn off those comforts which are due to you?
3. Everything which may be an occasion of grief to the
people of God, is not a sufficient ground for their questioning the reality
of their religion. Many things may trouble you—which ought
not to stumble you. If upon every occasion you should call in
question all that had ever been wrought upon you, your life would be made up
of doubting and fears, and you could never attain that settled inward peace,
and live that life of praise and thankfulness which the Gospel requires.
4. The soul is not at all times in a suitable state to
pass a right judgment upon itself. It is peculiarly unqualified
for this in the labor of desertion or temptation. Such seasons must be
improved rather for watching and resisting, than for judging and
determining.
5. Whatever be the ground of one's distress, it should
drive him to, not from God. Suppose you have sinned thus and so,
or that you have been thus long and sadly deserted—yet you have no right to
infer that you ought to be discouraged, as if there was no help for you in
God.
When you have well digested these truths, if your doubts
and distress remain, consider what is now to be offered:
1. Are you ready to conclude that you have no part in the
favor of God—because you are visited with some extraordinary affliction?
If so, do you then rightly conclude that great trials are tokens of God's
hatred? Does the Scripture teach this? And dare you infer the same with
respect to all who have been as much or more afflicted than yourself? If the
argument is good in your case, it is good in application to theirs, and more
conclusive with respect to them, in proportion as their trials were greater
than yours. Woe then to David, Job, Paul, and all who have been afflicted as
they were! But had you passed along in quietness and prosperity; had God
withheld those chastisements with which he ordinarily visits his people,
would you not have had far more reason for doubts and distress than you now
have?
2. Do you rashly infer that the Lord has no love to you,
because he has withdrawn the light of his countenance? Do you
imagine your state to be hopeless, because it is dark and uncomfortable? Be
not hasty in forming this conclusion. If any of the dispensations of God to
his people will bear a favorable as well as a harsh construction, why should
they not be construed in the best sense? And may not God have a design of
love rather than of hatred in the dispensation under which you mourn? May he
not depart for a season, without departing forever? You are
not the first who has mistaken the design of God in withdrawing himself.
"Zion says, the Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me." But was it
so? What says the answer of God? "Can a woman forget her nursing child?"
etc.
But do you sink down under the apprehension that the
evidences of a total and final desertion are discoverable in your
experience? Have you then lost your conscientious tenderness with regard to
sin? And are you inclined to forsake God? If so, you have reason indeed to
be alarmed! But if your conscience is tenderly alive; if you are resolved to
cleave to the Lord; if the language of your heart is, "I cannot forsake God,
I cannot live without his presence! Though he slays me—yet will I trust in
him!" Then you have reason to hope that he will visit you again. It is by
these exercises that he still maintains his interest in you.
Once more. Are sense and feelings suitable to judge of
the dispensations of God by? Can their testimony be safely relied on? Is it
safe to argue thus: 'If God had any love for my soul, I would feel it now as
well as in former times; but I cannot feel it, therefore it is gone?' May
you not as well conclude, when the sun is invisible to you, that it has
ceased to exist? Read Isaiah 1: 10.
Now if there is nothing in the divine dealings with you
which is a reasonable ground of your despondency and distress, let us
inquire what there is in your own conduct, for which you should be so cast
down:
1. Have you committed sins from which you were formerly
recovered with shame and sorrow? And do you thence conclude that
you sin allowedly and habitually, and that your oppositions to sin were
hypocritical? But do not too hastily give up all for lost. Is not your
repentance and care renewed as often as you commit sin? Is it not the sin
itself which troubles you, and is it not true, that the oftener you sin the
more you are distressed? It is not so in customary sinning; of which
Bernard excellently discourses thus: "When a man accustomed to restrain,
sins grievously, it seems insupportable to him, yes he seems to descend
alive into hell. In process of time it seems not insupportable—but heavy,
and between insupportable and heavy there is no small descent. Next, such
sinning becomes light, his conscience smites but faintly, and he regards not
her rebukes. Then he is not only insensible to his guilt—but that which was
bitter and displeasing has become in some degree sweet and pleasant. Now it
is made a custom, and not only pleases him—but pleases him habitually. At
length custom becomes habitual and natural; he cannot be dissuaded from
it—but defends and pleads for it." This is allowed and customary sinning,
this is the way of the wicked. But is not your way the contrary of this?
2. Do you apprehend a decline of your affections from God
and from spiritual subjects? This may be your case, and yet there
may be hope. But possibly you are mistaken with regard to this. There are
many things to be learned in Christian experience; it has relation to a
great variety of subjects. You may now be learning what it is very necessary
for you to know as a Christian. Now, what if you are not sensible of so
lively affections, of such ravishing views as you had at first; may not your
piety be growing more solid and consistent, and better adapted to practical
purposes? Does it follow from your not always being in the same frame of
mind, or from the fact that the same objects do not at all times excite the
same feelings—that you have no true religion? Perhaps you deceive yourself
by looking forward to what you should be—rather than contemplating
what you are, compared with what you once were.
3. If the strength of your love to creature-enjoyments is
the ground of desperate conclusions respecting yourself , perhaps
you argue thus: "I fear that I love the creature more than God; if so, I
have not true love to God. I sometimes feel stronger affections toward
earthly comforts than I do toward heavenly objects; therefore my soul is not
upright within me." If, indeed, you love the creature for itself, if you
make it your end, and religion but a means, then you conclude rightly; for
this is incompatible with supreme love to God. But may not a man love God
more ardently and unchangeably than he does anything, or all things else,
and yet, when God is not the direct object of his thoughts, may he not be
sensible of more violent affection for the creature than he has at that time
for God? As rooted malice indicates a stronger hatred than sudden though
more violent passion; so we must judge of our love, not by a violent motion
of it now and then—but by the depth of its root and the constancy of its
exercise. Perhaps your difficulty results from bringing your love to some
foreign and improper test. Many people have feared that when brought to some
eminent trial, they would renounce Christ and cleave to the creature; but
when the trial came, Christ was everything, and the world as nothing in
their esteem. Such were the fears of some martyrs whose victory was
complete. But you may expect divine assistance only at the time of, and in
proportion to your necessity. If you would test your love, see whether you
are willing to forsake Christ now.
4. Is the lack of that enlargement in private, which you
find in public exercises, an occasion of doubts and fears?
Consider then whether there are not some circumstances attending public
duties which are peculiarly calculated to excite your feelings and elevate
your mind, and which cannot affect you in private. If so, your exercises in
secret, if performed faithfully and in a suitable manner, may be profitable,
though they have not all the characteristics of those in public. If you
imagine that you have spiritual enlargement and enjoyment in public
exercises while you neglect private duties, doubtless you deceive yourself.
Indeed if you live in the neglect of secret duties, or are careless about
them, you have great reason to fear. But if you regularly and faithfully
perform them, it does not follow that they are vain and worthless, or that
they are not of great value, because they are not attended with so much
enlargement as you sometimes find in public. And what if the Spirit is
pleased more highly to favor you with his gracious influence in one place
and at one time than another; should this be a reason for murmuring and
unbelief, or for thankfulness?
5. The vile or blasphemous suggestions of Satan sometimes
occasion great perplexity and distress. They seem to lay open an
abyss of corruption in the heart, and to say there can be no grace here. But
there may be grace in the heart where such thoughts are injected, though not
in the heart which consents to and nourishes them. Do you then abhor and
oppose them? Do you utterly refuse to give up yourself to their influence,
and strive to keep holy and reverend thoughts of God, and of all pious
objects? If so, such suggestions are involuntary, and no evidence against
your piety.
6. Is the seeming denial of your prayers, an occasion of
despondency? Are you disposed to say, "If God had any regard for
my soul he would have heard my petitions before now; but I have no answer
from him, and therefore no saving interest in him?" But stop! Though God's
abhorring and finally rejecting prayer is an evidence that he rejects the
person who prays—yet, dare you conclude that he has rejected you, because an
answer to your prayers is delayed, or because you do not discover it if
granted? "May not God bear long with his own elect, who cry unto him day and
night?"
Others have stumbled upon the same ground with you: "I
said in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes: nevertheless you heard
the voice of my supplication." Now are there not some things in your
experience which indicate that your prayers are not rejected, though answer
to them is deferred? Are you not disposed to continue praying though you do
not discover an answer? Are you not disposed still to ascribe righteousness
to God, while you consider the cause of his silence as being in yourself?
Thus did David: "O my God, I cry in the day time, and you hear not; and in
the night, and am not silent: but you are holy," etc. Does not the delay of
an answer to your prayers excite you to examine your own heart and test your
ways, that you may find and remove the difficulty? If so, you may have
reason for humiliation—but not for despair.
Thus I have shown you how to keep your heart in dark and
doubting seasons. God forbid that any false heart should encourage itself
from these things. It is lamentable, that when we give saints and sinners
their proper portions—each is so prone to take up the other's portion!
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