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 next season requiring this diligence in keeping the heart—is the season
of pious duties.
Our hearts must be closely watched and kept—when
we draw near to God in public, private, or secret duties; for the vanity of
the heart seldom reveals itself more than at such times. How often does the
poor soul cry out, 'O Lord, how gladly would I serve you—but vain thoughts
will not let me! I come to open my heart to you, to delight my soul in
communion with you—but my corruptions oppose me! Lord, cast off these vain
thoughts, and allow them not to estrange the soul that is espoused to you!'
The question then is this—How may the heart be kept from
distractions by vain thoughts in time of duty? There is a twofold
distraction, or wandering of the heart in duty:
First, voluntary and habitual, "They set
not their hearts aright, and their spirit was not steadfast with God." This
is the case of formalists, and it proceeds from the lack of a holy
inclination of the heart to God; their hearts are under the power of their
lusts, and therefore it is no wonder that they go after their lusts—even
when they are about holy things.
Secondly, involuntary and lamented
distractions: "I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present
with me! O wretched man that I am!" etc. This proceeds not from the lack of
a holy inclination or aim—but from the weakness of grace and the lack of
vigilance in opposing in-dwelling sin. But it is not my business to show you
how these distractions come into the heart—but rather how to get them out,
and prevent their future admission:
1. Sequester yourself from all earthly employments, and
set apart some time for solemn time to meet God in duty. You
cannot come directly from the world into God's presence without finding a
savor of the world in your duties. It is with the heart (a few minutes
since plunged in the world, now in the presence of God) as it is with the
sea after a storm, which still continues working, muddy and disquiet, though
the wind is quiet and the storm is over. Your heart must have some time to
settle. Few musicians can take an instrument and play upon it without some
time and labor to tune it. Few Christians can say with David, "My heart is
fixed, O God, my heart is fixed." When you go to God in any duty, take your
heart aside and say, 'O my soul, I am now engaged in the greatest work that
a creature was ever employed in; I am going into the solemn presence of God
upon business of everlasting consequence. O my soul, leave trifling now; be
composed, be watchful, be serious; this is no common work, it is soul-work;
it is work for eternity; it is work which will bring forth fruit to life or
death in the world to come.' Pause awhile and consider your sins, your
needs, your troubles; keep your thoughts awhile on these before you address
yourself to duty. David first mused—and then spoke with his tongue.
2. Having composed your heart by previous meditation,
immediately set a guard upon your senses. How often are
Christians in danger of losing the eyes of their mind by those of their
body! Against this David prayed, "Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity,
and quicken me in your way." It were well if you could say in the
commencement, as a holy man once said when he came from the performance of
duty: "Be shut, O my eyes, be shut; for it is impossible that you should
ever discern such beauty and glory in any creature as I have now seen in
God." You must avoid all occasions of distraction from without, and imbibe
that intenseness of spirit in the work of God which locks up the eye and ear
against vanity.
3. Beg of God a mortified imagination. A
fertile imagination, however much it is extolled among men, is a great snare
to the soul, except it work in fellowship with right reason and a sanctified
heart. The imagination is a power of the soul, placed between the senses and
the understanding; it is that which first stirs itself in the soul, and by
its motions the other powers of the soul are brought into exercise; it is
that in which thoughts are first formed, and as that is, so are they. If
imaginations are not first cast down, it is impossible that every thought of
the heart should be brought into obedience to Christ. The imagination is
naturally the wildest and most untamable power of the soul. Some Christians
have much to do with it; and the more spiritual the heart is, the more does
a wild and vain imagination disturb and perplex it. It is a sad thing that
one's imagination should call off the soul front attending on God, when it
is engaged in communion with him. Pray earnestly and perseveringly that your
imagination may be chastened and sanctified, and when this is accomplished
your thoughts will be regular and fixed.
4. If you would keep your heart from vain excursions when
engaged in pious duties, realize to yourself, by faith—the holy and solemn
presence of God. If the presence of a grave man would compose you
to seriousness, how much more should the presence of a holy God? Do you
think that you would dare to be mirthful and vain, if you realized the
presence and inspection of the Divine Being? Remember where you are when
engaged in religious duty, and act as if you believed in the omniscience of
God. "All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to
do." Realize his infinite holiness, his purity, his spirituality.
Strive to obtain such apprehensions of the greatness of
God as shall suitably affect your heart, and remember his jealousy over his
worship. "This is that the Lord spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in those
who come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified." "A man
that is praying (says Bernard) should behave himself as if he were entering
into the court of heaven, where he sees the Lord upon his throne, surrounded
with ten thousand of his angels and saints ministering unto him." When you
come from an exercise in which your heart has been wandering and listless,
what can you say? Suppose all the vanities and impertinences which have
passed through your mind during a devotional exercise were written down and
interlined with your petitions. Could you have the audacity to present them
to God? Should your tongue utter all the thoughts of your heart when
attending the worship of God, would not men abhor you? Yet your thoughts are
perfectly known to God! O think upon this scripture: "God is greatly to be
feared in the assemblies of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all
those who are round about him." Why did the Lord descend in thunderings and
lightnings and dark clouds upon Sinai? Why did the mountains smoke under
him, the people quake and tremble round about him? but to teach the people
this great truth. "Let us have grace, whereby we may serve Him acceptably,
with reverence and godly fear; for our God is a consuming fire." Such
apprehensions of the character and presence of God, will quickly reduce a
heart inclined to vanity to a more serious frame.
5. Maintain a prayerful frame of heart in the intervals
of duty. What reason can be assigned why our hearts are so dull, so
careless, so wandering, when we hear or pray—but that there have been long
intermissions in our communion with God? If that divine unction, that
spiritual fervor, and those holy impressions, which we obtain from God while
engaged in the performance of one duty, were preserved to enliven and engage
us in the performance of another, they would be of incalculable service to
keep our hearts serious and devout. For this purpose, frequent ejaculations
between stated and solemn duties are of most excellent use. They not only
preserve the mind in a composed and pious frame—but they connect one stated
duty, as it were, with another, and keep the attention of the soul alive to
all its interests and obligations.
6. If you would have the distraction of your thoughts
prevented, endeavor to raise your affections to God, and to engage them
warmly in your duty. When the soul is intent upon any work, it
gathers in its strength and bends all its thoughts to that work; and when it
is deeply affected, it will pursue its object with intenseness, the
affections will gain an ascendancy over the thoughts and guide them. But
deadness causes distraction, and distraction increases deadness. Could you
but regard your duties as the medium in which you might walk in communion
with God in which your soul might be filled with those ravishing and
matchless delights which his presence affords—you would have no inclination
to neglect them. But if you would prevent the recurrence of distracting
thoughts, if you would find your happiness in the performance of duty, you
must not only be careful that you engage in what is your duty—but labor with
patient and persevering exertion, to interest your affections in it. Why is
your heart so inconstant, especially in secret duties; why are you ready to
be gone, almost as soon as you are come into the presence of God—but because
your affections are not engaged?
7. When you are disturbed by vain thoughts, humble
yourself before God, and call in assistance from Heaven. When the
messenger of Satan buffeted Paul by wicked suggestions, (as is supposed) he
mourned before God on account of it. Never slight wandering thoughts in duty
as small matters; follow every such thought with a deep regret. Turn to God
with such words as these: 'Lord, I came here to commune with you, and here a
busy adversary and a vain heart, conspiring together, have opposed me. O my
God! What a vile heart have I! Shall I never wait upon you without
distraction? When shall I enjoy an hour of free communion with you? Grant me
your assistance at this you; reveal your glory to me, and my heart will
quickly be recovered. I came here to enjoy you, and shall I go away without
you? Behold my distress, and help me!' Could you but sufficiently bewail
your distractions, and repair to God for deliverance from them—you would
gain relief.
8. Look upon the success and the comfort of your duties,
as depending very much upon the keeping of your heart close with God in
them. These two things—the success of duty and the inward comfort
arising from the performance of it—are unspeakably dear to the Christian;
but both of these will be lost if the heart is in a listless state. "Surely
God hears not vanity, nor does the Almighty regard it." The promise is made
to a hearty engagement in duties: "Then shall you seek for me, and find me,
when you shall search for me with all your hearts." When you find your heart
under the power of deadness and distraction, say to yourself, 'O what do I
lose by a careless heart now! My praying seasons are the most valuable
portions of my life—could I but raise my heart to God, I might now obtain
such mercies as would be matter of praise to all eternity.'
9. Regard your carefulness or carelessness in this matter
as a great evidence of your sincerity—or of your hypocrisy.
Nothing will alarm an upright heart more than this. 'What! Shall I give way
to a customary wandering of the heart from God? Shall the spot of the
hypocrite appear upon my soul? Hypocrites, indeed, can drudge on in the
round of duty, never regarding the frame of their hearts; but shall I do so?
Never— never let me be satisfied with empty duties. Never let me take my
leave of a duty until my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!'
10. It will be of special use to keep your heart with God
in duty, to consider what influence all your duties will have upon your
eternity. Your pious seasons are your seed times, and in the
eternal world, you must reap the fruits of what you sow in your duties here.
If you sow to the flesh—you will reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit,
you will reap everlasting life. Answer seriously these questions: Are you
willing to reap the fruit of vanity in the world to come? Dare you say, when
your thoughts are roving to the ends of the earth in duty, when you scarcely
mind what you say or hear, 'Now, Lord, I am sowing to the Spirit; now I am
providing and laying up for eternity; now I am seeking for glory, honor and
immortality; now I am striving to enter in at the strait gate; now I am
taking the kingdom of heaven by holy violence!' Such reflections are well
calculated to dissipate vain thoughts.
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