A choice Bed of Spice's. 2 us lIfIdertiarldIng IS dark, and my gifts are tow, and my arleoli- Ions are fiat, and my temptations are flrong, and my corrup- tions are prevalent ; but tHou who art the great heart fearch- ;131.'39 12,2'3,4 er, thou knowell that I would fain have my heart in a better temper ; I had rather have my heart brought into a gracious i frame, and kept in ,a gracious frame, thin to have all the riches of the Indies, than to be an Emperor, yea than to be King over all the earth. If it he indeed thus with thee, thou art ble.ft, and Iiialt be, blefl for ever, z Cor. 8.12. For if there-te jit ft a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a mm bath, and not according to that he bath not (I know the ApofIle fpeaks this in point of alms, but 'tis applicable to the cafe in hand, and to a hundred other cafes.) God meafures his peo- ple not by their works, but by their wills ; if their wills be to be more holy, humhle, heavenly, and to have their hearts alivayes in a moil gracious frame, then they are accepted of God ; for every good 111a 21. is as good in the eye of God, in the judgment of God, End in the account of God, as he would be. Not long before famous Mr. Banes died, fome friends that were with him in his Library (which was . an ex- ' cellent one) fell a commending of it ; I, faith he, there ftand nvy books, tw the Lord knows that for many years lift paft, I have ftndied any heart more than Books. 0, no Minifter to him, no Scholar to him who fluclies his heart _more than his hooks ; nor no Chriflian to him who audies his heart more than his day-books, or more than his Shop-books, or that Italics his heart more than his counting-houfe, or that Ptadies his heart more than a good bargain, &c. That man is for heaven, and heaven is for that man, who makes it his greaten buanefs in this world to watch his heart, to guard his heart ; the hypo- pocrite looks moil to externals, bat the fIncere Chrilfian looks moil to internals ; the hypocrites main watch is about his lips, but a fincere CIL.iffians main watch is aboat his heart ; the hypocrites main work lyes without doors, but the fincere Chriftians main work lyes within doors. All know that know any thing, that both nature and grace begin at the heart, brit art begins at the face. A painter doth not begin a pi &are at the heart ; a piaure bath but a face, but an outfide. And
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=