Keeping the Heart
by John Flavel
"Keep your heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life."
Proverbs 4:23
WHY should we keep the heart?
The importance and necessity of making this our great
business will manifestly appear from several considerations:
1. The glory of God is much concerned.
Heart-evils are very provoking evils to the Lord. Outward sins are "sins of
great infamy," but that the heart-sins are "sins of deeper guilt." How
severely has the great God declared his wrath from heaven against
heart-wickedness!
The crime for which the old world stands indicted
is heart-wickedness! "God saw that every imagination of their hearts
was only evil, and that continually;" for which he sent the most dreadful
judgments that were ever inflicted since time began. We find not their
murders, adulteries, blasphemies, (though they were defiled with these)
particularly alleged against them—but the evils of their hearts!
That by which God was so provoked as to give up his
special inheritance into the enemy's hand, was the evil of their hearts.
"O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved;
how long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?" Of the wickedness and
vanity of their thoughts, God took particular notice; and because of this
the Chaldeans must come upon them, "as a lion from his thicket, and tear
them to pieces."
For the sin of thoughts it was that God threw down the
fallen angels from heaven, and still keeps them in "everlasting chains"
to the judgment of the great day; by which expression is not obscurely
intimated some extraordinary judgment to which they are reserved; as
prisoners that have most irons laid upon them may be supposed to be the
greatest malefactors. And what was their sin? Spiritual wickedness! Merely
heart-evils are so provoking to God, that for them he rejects with
indignation all the duties that some men perform. "Their offerings will not
be accepted. When such people sacrifice an ox, it is no more acceptable than
a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb or bring an offering of grain,
it is as bad as putting a dog or the blood of a pig on the altar! When they
burn incense, it is as if they had blessed an idol." In what words could the
abhorrence of a creature's actions be more fully expressed by the holy God?
Murder and idolatry are not more vile in his account, than their sacrifices,
though materially such as he himself has appointed. And what made their
sacrifices so vile? The following words inform us: "Their souls delight in
their abominations."
Such is the vileness of mere heart-sins, that the
Scriptures sometimes intimate the difficulty of pardon for them. The
heart of Simon Magus was not right, he had base thoughts of God, and of
the things of God: the apostle bade him "repent and pray, if perhaps the
thoughts of his heart might be forgiven him." O then never slight
heart evils! For by these, God is highly wronged and provoked. For this
reason let every Christian keep his heart with all diligence.
2. The sincerity of our profession much depends upon the
care we exercise in keeping our hearts.
Most certainly, that man
who is careless of the frame of his heart, is but a hypocrite in his
profession, however eminent he be in the externals of religion. We have a
striking instance of this in the history of Jehu. "But Jehu took no
heed to walk in the ways of the Lord God of Israel with his heart." The
context gives an account of the great service performed by Jehu against the
house of Ahab and Baal, and also of the great temporal reward given him by
God for that service, even that his children, to the fourth generation,
should sit upon the throne of Israel. Yet in these words Jehu is censured as
a hypocrite. Though God approved and rewarded the work, yet he abhorred and
rejected the person who did it, as hypocritical. Wherein lay the hypocrisy
of Jehu? In this; he took no heed to walk in the ways of the Lord with his
heart; that is, he did all insincerely and for selfish ends. And though the
work he did was materially good, yet he, not purging his heart from those
unworthy selfish designs in doing it, was a hypocrite.
And though Simon Magus appeared such a person that
the apostle could not obviously reject him, yet his hypocrisy was quickly
discovered. Though he professed piety and associated himself with the
saints, he was a stranger to the mortification of heart-sins. "Your heart
is not right with God."
It is true, there is great difference between Christians
themselves in their diligence and dexterity about heart work; some are more
conversant with, and more successful in it than others. But he who takes
no heed to his heart, who is not careful to order it aright before God,
is but a hypocrite. "My people come pretending to be sincere and sit before
you listening. But they have no intention of doing what I tell them. They
express love with their mouths, but their hearts seek only after
money. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs
with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your
words but do not put them into practice." Here was a company of formal
hypocrites, as is evident from that expression, my people; like them,
but not of them. And what made them so? Their outside was fair; here were
reverent postures, high professions, much seeming delight in ordinances.
Yes, but for all that, they kept not their hearts with God in those duties;
their hearts were commanded by their lusts, they went after their money. Had
they kept their hearts with God, all had been well: but not regarding which
way their hearts went in duty, there lay the essence of their hypocrisy.
If any upright soul should hence infer, 'I am a hypocrite
too, for many times my heart departs from God in duty; do what I can, yet I
cannot hold it close with God!' I answer, the very objection carries in it
its own solution. You say, 'Do what I can, yet I cannot keep my heart with
God.' Soul, if you do what you can, you have the blessing of an upright,
though God sees good to exercise you under the affliction of a discomposed
heart.
There still remains some wildness in the thoughts and
fancies of the best Christians, to humble them; but if you find a concern
before to prevent them, and opposition against them when they come, and
grief and sorrow afterward, you find enough to clear you from the charge of
reigning hypocrisy. This precaution is seen partly in laying up the word in
your heart to prevent them. "Your word have I hid in mine heart, that I
might not sin against you." Partly in your endeavors to engage your heart to
God; and partly in begging preventing grace from God in your commencement of
duty. It is a good sign to exercise such precaution. And it is an evidence
of uprightness, to oppose these sins in their first rise. "I hate vain
thoughts." "The spirit lusts against the flesh." Your grief also reveals the
uprightness of your heart. If with Hezekiah you are humbled for the evils of
your heart, you have no reason, from those disorders, to question the
integrity of it; but to allow sin to lodge quietly in the heart, to let your
heart habitually and without control wander from God—is a sad, a dangerous
symptom indeed!
3. The beauty of our lives arises from the heavenly frame
of our spirits.
There is a spiritual luster and beauty in the
lives of saints. "The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor;" saints
shine as the lights of the world; but whatever luster and beauty is in their
lives, comes from the excellency of their spirits; as the candle within puts
luster upon the lantern in which it shines. It is impossible that a
disordered and neglected heart should ever produce a well-ordered
conversation; and since (as the text observes) the issues or streams of life
flow out of the heart as their fountain, it must follow, that such as the
heart is—the life will be. Hence 1 Peter 2:11-12, "Abstain from fleshly
lusts—having your conversation honest," or beautiful, as the Greek word
imports. So Isaiah, 55:7. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts." His way, denotes the course of his life; his
thoughts, the frame of his heart: and therefore since the course of his life
flows from his thoughts, or the frame of his heart—neither will be forsaken.
The heart is the source of all actions; these actions are
virtually and radically contained in our thoughts; these thoughts being once
made up into affections, are quickly made out into suitable actions. If the
heart is wicked, then, as Christ says, "Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders," etc. Mark the order: first, wanton or revengeful
thoughts; then unclean, or murderous practices. And if the heart
is holy, then it is as with David: "My heart is stirred by a noble
theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful
writer." Here is a life richly beautified with good works. Put the heart in
frame and the life will quickly discover that it is so. It is not very
difficult to discern, by the lives and converse of Christians, what frames
their hearts are in. Take a Christian in a good frame of heart, and how
serious, heavenly and profitable will his life and pious exercises be! What
a lovely companion is he during the continuance of it! It would do any one's
heart good to be with him at such a time.
"The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue
talks of judgment; he law of his God is in his heart." When the heart
is up with God, and full of God, how dextrously will he insinuate spiritual
discourse, improving every occasion and advantage to some heavenly purpose!
Few words then run to waste. And what can be the reason that the discourses
and duties of many Christians are become so frothy and unprofitable, their
communion both with God and with one another becomes as a dry stalk, but
this—their hearts are neglected? Surely this must be the reason of it, and
it is an evil greatly to be bewailed.
Thus the attracting beauty which used to shine from the
lives of the saints, upon the faces and consciences of the world, (which, if
it did not allure and bring them in love with the ways of God, at least left
a testimony in their consciences of the excellency of those men and of their
ways,) is in a great measure lost, to the unspeakable detriment of religion.
Time was, when Christians conducted in such a holy manner, that the world
stood gazing at them. Their life and language were of a different strain
from those of others, their tongues manifested them to be Galileans wherever
they came. But now, since vain speculations and fruitless controversies have
so much gained; and heart-work, practical godliness is so much neglected
among professors, the case is sadly altered! Their discourse has become like
other men's; if they come among you now, they may "hear every man speak in
his own language." And I have little hope to see this evil redressed, and
the credit of piety repaired, until Christians do their first works, until
they apply again to heart-work! When the salt of heavenly-mindedness is cast
into the spring—the streams will run more clear and more sweet.
4. The comfort of our souls much depends upon the keeping
of our hearts.
He who is negligent in attending to his own heart,
is, ordinarily, a great stranger to assurance, and the comforts following
from it. Indeed if the Antinomian doctrine were true, which teaches you to
reject all marks and signs for the trial of your condition, telling you that
it is the Spirit who immediately assures you, by witnessing your adoption
directly, without them; then you might be careless of your hearts, yes,
strangers to them, and yet no strangers to comfort. But since both Scripture
and experience confute this, I hope you will never look for comfort in this
unscriptural way. I deny not that it is the work and office of the Spirit to
assure you; yet I confidently affirm, that if ever you attain assurance in
the ordinary way wherein God dispenses it, you must take pains with your own
hearts. You may expect your comforts upon easier terms, but I am
mistaken if ever you enjoy them upon any other terms but these: give
all diligence; prove yourselves; this is the scriptural method.
One person, being sweetly settled and assured, another
asked him how he attained it, he answered, "Not by any extraordinary
revelation, but by subjecting my understanding to the Scriptures, and
comparing my heart with them."
The Spirit, indeed, assures by witnessing our adoption;
and he witnesses in two ways. One way is, objectively, that is, by
producing those graces in our souls which are the conditions of the promise;
and so the Spirit, and his graces in us, are all one. The Spirit of God
dwelling in us, is a mark of our adoption. Now the Spirit can be discerned,
not in his essence, but in his operations; and to discern these, is
to discern the Spirit; and how these can be discerned without serious
searching and diligent watching of the heart, I cannot imagine. The other
way of the Spirit's witnessing is effectively, that is, by
irradiating the soul with a grace discovering light, shining upon his own
work; and this, in order of nature, follows the former work. He first
infuses the grace, and then opens the eye of the soul to see it. Now,
since the heart is the subject of that infused grace, even this way of the
Spirit's witnessing includes the necessity of carefully keeping our own
hearts. For,
1. A neglected heart is so confused and dark, that the
little grace which is in it, is not ordinarily discernible. The most
accurate and laborious Christians sometimes find it difficult to discover
the pure and genuine workings of the Spirit in their hearts. How then shall
the Christian who is comparatively negligent about heart-work, be ever able
to discover grace? Sincerity—which is the thing sought, lies in the heart
like a small piece of gold on the bottom of a river; he who would find it
must stay until the water is clear, and then he will see it sparkling at the
bottom. That the heart may be clear and settled, how much pains and
watching, care and diligence, are requisite!
2. God does not usually indulge negligent souls with the
comforts of assurance. He will not so much as seem to patronize sloth
and carelessness. He will give assurance, but it shall be in his own way;
his command has united our care and comfort together. Those
are mistaken who think that assurance may be obtained without labor. Ah! How
many solitary hours have the people of God spent in heart-examination! How
many times have they looked into the word—and then into their hearts!
Sometimes they thought they discovered sincerity, and were even ready to
draw forth the triumphant conclusion of assurance; then comes a doubt they
cannot resolve, and destroys it all: many hopes, and fears, doubtings and
reasonings, they have had in their own breasts before they arrived at a
comfortable settlement. But suppose it possible for a careless Christian to
attain assurance, yet it is impossible for him long to retain it; for it is
a thousand to one if those whose hearts are filled with the joys of
assurance, long retain those joys, unless extraordinary care be used. A
little pride, vanity, or carelessness will dash to pieces all that for which
they have been a long time laboring in many a weary duty. Since then, the
joy of our life, the comfort of our souls—rises and falls with our diligence
in this work—keep your heart with all diligence!
5. The improvement of our graces depends on the keeping
of our hearts.
I never knew grace to thrive in a careless soul.
The habits and roots of grace are planted in the heart; and the deeper they
are rooted there, the more flourishing grace is. In Eph. 3:17, we read of
being "rooted" in grace; grace in the heart is the root of every gracious
word in the mouth, and of every holy work in the hand. It is true, Christ is
the root of a Christian, But Christ is the originating root, and grace a
root planted and nourished by Christ. Accordingly, as this thrives under
divine influences, the acts of grace are more or less fruitful or vigorous.
Now, in a heart not kept with care and diligence, these fructifying
influences are stopped and cut off—multitudes of vanities break in upon it,
and devour its strength; the heart is, as it were, the enclosure, in which
multitudes of thoughts are fed every day; a gracious heart, diligently kept,
feeds many precious thoughts of God in a day. "How precious are your
thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I would count
them, they are more in number than the sand! When I awake, I am still with
you." And as the gracious heart nourishes them, so they refresh and feast
the heart. "My soul is filled as with marrow and fatness while I think upon
you," etc.
But in the disregarded heart, multitudes of vain and
foolish thoughts are perpetually working, and drive out those spiritual
thoughts of God by which the soul should be refreshed. Besides, the careless
heart profits nothing by any duty or ordinance it performs or attends upon,
and yet these are the conduits of heaven, whence grace is watered and made
fruitful. A man may go with a heedless spirit from ordinance to ordinance,
abide all his days under the choicest teaching, and yet never he improved by
them; for heart-neglect is a leak in the bottom—no heavenly influences,
however rich, abide in that soul. When the seed falls upon the heart which
lies open and common, like the highway, free for all passengers, the fowls
come and devour it. Alas! It is not enough to hear, unless we take heed
how we hear; a man may pray, and never be the better, unless he watches
unto prayer. In a word, all means are blessed to the improvement of grace,
according to the care and strictness we use in keeping our hearts in them.
6. The stability of our souls in the hour of TEMPTATION
depends upon the care we exercise in keeping our hearts.
The
careless heart is an easy prey to Satan in the hour of temptation. Satan's
principal batteries are raised against the heart; if he wins that—he wins
all, for the heart commands the whole man. Alas! how easy a conquest is a
neglected heart! It is not more difficult to surprise such a heart, than for
an enemy to enter that city whose gates are open and unguarded. It is the
watchful heart which discovers and suppresses the temptation before it comes
to its strength.
Divines observe this to be the method in which
temptations are ripened and brought to their full strength. There is the
power the temptation has to provoke our corrupt nature; which is either done
by the real presence of the object, or by speculation when the object
(though absent) is held out by the imagination before the soul. Then follows
the motion of the appetite, which is provoked by the imagination
representing it as a sensual good. Then there is a consultation in the mind
about the best means of accomplishing it. Next follows the choice of the
will. And lastly, the desire, or full engagement of the will to it. All this
may be done in a few minutes, for the debates of the soul are quick and soon
ended: when it comes thus far, the heart is won, Satan has entered
victoriously and displayed his colors upon the walls of that royal fort.
But, had the heart been well guarded at first, it would have never come to
this—the temptation would have been stopped in the first or second stage.
And indeed there it is stopped easily; for it is in the motion of a soul
tempted to sin, as in the motion of a stone falling from the brow of a
hill—it is easily stopped at first, but when once it is set in motion "it
acquires strength by descending." Therefore it is the greatest wisdom to
observe the first motions of the heart—to check and stop sin there. The
motions of sin are weakest at first; a little care and watchfulness may
prevent much mischief now. But the careless heart not heeding this, is
brought within the power of temptation, as the Syrians were brought
blindfold into the midst of Samaria, before they knew where they were.
I hope that these considerations satisfy my readers that
it is important to keep the heart with all diligence. I proceed—to point out
those special seasons in the life of a Christian which require our
utmost diligence in keeping the heart.