The Saints Everlasting Rest, Treatise 4 · Chapter 12
CHAP. XII. How to manage and watch over the Heart, through the whole Work.
SECT. 1.§. 1.
SIxthly. The sixt and last part of this Directory, is, To guide you in the managing of your hearts through this work, and to shew you wherein you have need to be exceeding watchful. I have shewed before, what must be done with your hearts, in your preparations to the work, and in your setting upon it: I shall now shew it you, in respect of the time of performance. Our chief work will here be to discover to you the danger, and that will direct you to the fittest remedy. Let me therefore here acquaint you beforehand, That when ever you set upon this Heavenly employment, you shall finde your own hearts your greatest hinderer, and they will prove false to you in one or all of these four degrees. First, They will hold off, that you will hardly get them to the work; secondly, or else they will betray you by their idleness in the work; pretending to do it, when they do it not; or thirdly, they will interrupt the work by their frequent excursions, and turning aside to every object; or fourthly, they will spoil the work by cutting it short, and be gone before you have done any good on it. Therefore I here forewarn you, as you value the unvaluable comfort of this work, that you faithfully resist these four dangerous evils, or else all that I have said hitherto is in vain.
1. Thou shalt finde thy heart as backward to this, I think, as to any work in the world. O what excuses it will make! what evasions it will finde out! and what delays and demurs, when it is never so much convinced! Either it will question, whether it be a duty or not? or if it be so to others, yet whether it be so to thee? It will rake up any thing like reason to plead against it; it will tell thee, That this is a work for Ministers that have nothing else to study on; or for Cloysterers or persons that have more leisure then thou hast: If thou be a Minister, it will tell thee, This is the duty of the people; it is enough for thee to meditate for the instructing of them; and let them meditate on what they have heard, as if it were thy duty onelyonly to cook their meat, and serve it up, and perhaps a little to taste the sweetness, by licking thy fingers while thou art dressing it for others; but it is they onelyonly that must eat it, digest it, and live upon it. Indeed, the smell may a little refresh thee, but it must be digesting it, that must maintain thy strength and life. If all this will not serve, thy heart will tell thee of other business; thou hast this company stayes for thee, or that business must be done: It may be it will set thee upon some other duty, and so make one duty shut out another; for it had rather go to any duty then to this. Perhaps it will tell thee, that other duties are greater, and therefore this must give place to them, because thou hast not time for both: Publike business is of more concernment; to study, to preach for the saving of souls must be preferred before these private contemplations: As if thou hadst not time to see to the saving of thy own soul, for looking after others! or thy charity to others were so great, that it draws thee to neglect thy comfort and salvation! or, as if there were any better way to fit us to be useful to others, then to make this experience of our doctrine our selves! Certainly Heaven where is the Father of Lights, is the best fire to light our candle at, and the best book for a Preacher to study; and if they would be perswaded to study that more, the Church would be provided of more heavenly lights: And when their Studies are Divine, and their Spirits Divine, their preaching will then be also Divine; and they may be fitly called Divines indeed. Or, if thy heart have nothing to say against the work, then it will trifle away the time in delayes; and promise this day and the next, but still keep off from the doing of the business. Or lastly, If thou wilt not be so baffled with excuses or delayes, thy heart will give thee a flat denial, and oppose its own unwillingness to thy Reason: Thou shalt finde it come to the work, as a Bear to the stake, and draw back with all the strength it hath. I speak all this of the heart, so far as it is carnal, (which in too great a measure is in the best) for I know so far as the heart is Spiritual, it will judg this work the sweetest in the world.
Well then, what is to be done in the forementioned case? wilt thou do it, if I tell thee? Why, what wouldst thou do with a servant that were thus backward to his work? or to thy beast that should draw back when thou wouldst have him go forward? Wouldst thou not first perswade, and then chide, and then spur him, and force him on? and take no denial, nor let him alone, till thou hadst got him closely to fall to his work? Wouldst thou not say, Why, what should I do with a servant that will not work? or with an Ox or Horse that will not travel or labor? Shall I keep them to look on? Wilt thou then faithfully deal thus with thy heart? If thou be not a lazie self deluding Hypocrite, say, I will; by the help of God, I will: Set upon thy heart roundly; perswade it to the work; take no denial; chide it for its backwardness; use violence with it; bring it to the service, willing, or not willing: Art thou master of thy flesh or art thou a servant to it? hast thou no command of thy own thoughts? cannot thy will chuse the subject of thy Meditations, especially when thy judgment thus directeth thy will? I am sure God once gave thee mastery over thy flesh; and some power to govern thy own thoughts: Hast thou lost thy authority? art thou become a slave to thy depraved nature? Take up the authority again which God hath given thee▪ command thy heart; if it rebel, use violence with it, if thou be too weak, call in the Spirit of Christ to thine assistance: He is never backward to so good a work, nor will deny his help in so just a cause: God will be ready to help thee, if thou be not unwilling to help thy self. Say to him, Why Lord, thou gavest my Reason the command of my Thoughts and Affections; the authority I have received over them, is from thee, and now, behold they refuse to obey thine authority: Thou commandest me to set them to the work of Heavenly Meditation; but they rebel and stubbornly refuse the duty: Wilt thou not assist me to execute that authority which thou hast given me? O send me down thy Spirit and Power, that I may enforce thy commands, and effectually compel them to obey thy Will.
And thus doing, thou shalt see thy heart will submit; its resistance will be brought under; and its backwardness will be turned to a yielding compliance.
§. 2.SECT. II.
2. WHen thou hast got thy heart to the work, beware least it delude thee by a loitering formality: Least it say, I go, and go not; least it trifle out the time, while it should be effectually meditating. Certainly, the heart is as likely to betray thee in this, as in any one particular about the duty: When thou hast perhaps but an hours time for thy Meditation, the time will be spent before thy heart will be serious. This doing of duty, as if we did it not, doth undo as many as the flat omission of it. To rub out the hour in a bare lazie thinking of Heaven, is but to lose that hour, and delude thy self. Well, what is to be done in this case? why, do here also as you do by a loitering servant; keep thine eye always upon thy heart; look not so much to the time it spendeth in the duty, as to the quantity and quality of the work that is done: You can tell by his work, whether your servant hath been painful; ask, what affections have yet been acted? how much am I yet got neerer Heaven? Verily many a mans heart must be followed as close in this duty of Meditation, as a Horse in a Mill, or an Ox at the Plow, that will go no longer then you are calling or scourging: If you cease driving but a moment, the heart will stand still; and perhaps the best hearts have much of this temper.
I would not have thee of the judgment of those, who think that while they are so backward, it is better let it alone; and that if meer love will not bring them to the duty, but there must be all this violence used to compel it, that then the service is worse then the omission. These men understand not; first, That this Argument would certainly cashiere all Spiritual obedience, because the hearts of the best, being but partly sanctified, will still be resisting so far as they are carnal; Secondly, Nor do they understand well the corruptness of their own natures; Thirdly, Nor that their sinful undisposedness will not baffle or suspend the commands of God; Fourthly, Nor one sin excuse another; Fifthly, Especially they little know the way of God to excite their Affections; and that the love which should compel them, must it self be first compelled, in the same sense as it is said to compel: Love I know is a most precious grace, and should have the chief interest in all our duties: But there be means appointed by God to procure this love; and shall I not use those means, till I can use them from love? that were to neglect the means, till I have the end. Must I not seek to procure love, till I have it already? There are means also for the increasing of love where it is begun; and means for the exciting of it where it lieth dull: And must I not use these means, till it is increased and excited? Why, this reasoning considering-duty that we are in hand with, is the most singular means, both to stir up thy love, and to increase it; and therefore stay not from the duty, till thou feel thy love constrain thee, (that were to stay from the fire, till thou feel thy self warm) but fall upon the work, till thou art constrained to love; and then love will constrain thee to further duty.
My jealously, least thou shouldst miscarry by these sotish opinions, hath made me more tedious in the opening of its error. Let nothing therefore hinder thee while thou art upon the work, from plying thy heart with constant watchfulness and constraint; seeing thou hast such experience of its dulness and backwardness, let the spur be never out of its side; and when ever it slacks pace, be sure to give it a remembrance.
§. 3.SECT. III.
3. AS thy heart will be loitering, so will it be diverting. It will be turning aside like a carless servant, to talk with every one that passeth by: When there should be nothing in thy minde, but the work in hand, it will be thinking of thy calling, or thinking of thy afflictions, or of every bird, or tree, or place thou seest, or of any impertinency, rather then of Heaven. Thy heart in this also will be like the Husbandmans Ox or Horse; if he drive not, he will not go; and if he guide not, he will not keep the furrow; and it is as good stand still, as go out of the way. Experience will tell thee, thou wilt have much ado with thy heart in this point, to keep it one hour to the work without many extravagancies and idle cogitations. The cure here is the same with that before; to use watchfulness, and violence with your own imaginations, and as soon as they step out, to chide them in. Say to thy heart, What? did I come hither to think of my business in the world? to think of places, and persons, of news, or vanity, yea, or of any thing but Heaven, be it never so good? what? canst thou not watch one hour? wouldst thou leave this world, and dwell in Heaven with Christ for ever? and canst thou not leave it one hour out of thy thoughts, nor dwell with Christ in one hours close Meditation? Ask thy heart as Absalom did Hushai, Is this thy love to thy friend? Dost thou love Christ, and the place of thy Eternal, Blessed abode, no more then so? When Pharaohs Butler dreamed,Gen. 40.10, 11, &c. That he pressed the ripe Grapes into Pharaohs Cup, and delivered the Cup into the Kings hand, it was a happy dream, and signified his speedy access to the Kings presence: But the dream of the Baker, That the Birds did eat out of the Basket on his head, the baked meats prepared for Pharaoh, had an ill omen, and signified his hanging, and their eating of his flesh. So when the ripened Grapes of Heavenly Meditation are pressed by thee into the Cup of Affection, and this put into the hands of Christ by delightful praises (if thou take me for skilful) this is the interpretation, That thou shalt shortly be taken from this prison where thou liest, and be set before Christ in the Court of Heaven, and there serve up to him that Cup of praise (but much fuller, and much sweeter) for ever, and for ever. But if the ravenous fowls of wandring thoughts, do devour the Meditations intended for Heaven, I will not say flatly it signifieth thy death, but this I will say, That so far as these intrude, they will be the death of that service; and if thou ordinarily admit them, That they devour the life, and the joy of thy thoughts; and if thou continue in such a way of duty to the end, It signifies the death of thy soul, as well as of thy service. Drive away these birds of prey then from thy sacrifice, and strictly keep thy heart to the work thou art upon.
SECT. IV.§. 4.
4. LAstly, Be sure also to look to thy heart in this, That it cut not off the work before the time, and run not away through weariness, before it have leave. Thou shalt finde it will be exceeding prone to this; like the Ox that would unyoke, or the Horse that would be unburdened, and perhaps cast off his burden, and run away. Thou maist easily perceive this in other duties; If in secret thou set thy self to pray, is not thy heart urging thee still to cut it short? dost thou not frequently finde a motion to have done? art thou not ready to be up as soon almost as thou art down on thy knees? Why, so it will be also in thy contemplations of Heaven: As fast as thou gettest up thy heart, it will be down again; it will be weary of the work; it will be minding thee of other business to be done; and stop thy Heavenly walk, before thou art well warm. Well, what is to be done in this case also? why the same authority and resolution, which brought it to the work, and observed it in the work, must also hold it to it, till the work be done. Charge it in the Name of God to stay; do not so great a work by the halves; say to it, VVhy foolish heart! If thou beg a while, and go away before thou hast thy alms, dost thou not lose thy labor? if thou stop before thou art at the end of thy journey, is not very step of thy travel lost? Thou camest hither to fetch a walk to Heaven, in hope to have a sight of the glory which thou must inherit; and wilt thou stop when thou art almost at the top of the Hill? and turn again before thou hast taken thy survey? Thou camest hither in hope to speak with God, and wilt thou go before thou hast seen him? Thou camest to bathe thy self in the streams of Consolation, and to that end didst uncloath thy self of thy Earthly thoughts; and wilt thou put a foot in, and so be gone? Thou camest to spie out the Land of Promise; O go not back without the bunch of Grapes, which thou maist shew to thy Brethren, when thou comest home, for their Confirmation and Encouragement; till thou canst tell them by experience, That it is a Land flowing with Wine and Oyl, with Milk and Honey.Psal. 104.15. Let them see that thou hast tasted of the Wine, by the gladness of thy heart; and that thou hast been anointed with the Oyl, by the cheerfulness of thy countenance: Let them see that thou hast tasted of the Milk of the Land, by thy feeding, and by thy milde and gentle disposition; and of the Honey, by the sweetness of thy words and conversation. The views of Heaven would heal thee of thy sinfulness, and of thy sadness; but thou must hold on the Plaister, that it may have time to work: This Heavenly fire would melt thy frozen heart, and refine it from the dross, and take away the earthy part, and leave the rest more spiritual and pure; but then thou must not be presently gone, before it have time, either to burn or warm. Stick therefore to the work, till something be done; till thy graces be acted; thy affections raised, and thy soul refreshed with the delights above; or if thou canst not obtain these ends at once, ply it the closer the next time, and let it not go till thou feel the blessing. Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he comes, shall finde so doing, Matth. 24.46.