93 Chap. I I. e_4n ï xpoftion upon the Book,of J O B. Verf. i 3. your houfe , and wafh away the dirt , fo you put up your Arras hangings, lay onyour `?erfian carpets, let upyour Ivorybeds, un- cover your rich Jloolr, bring out yourPlate nd ornaments, till then the houfe is not prepared. Thus to the point in hand , the preparation of the heart confifls in the aé.ings of grace in open- ing ofall your fpiritual flores , in putting on the richefl furnitures of the inward man, in being cloathedwith the Spirit, in (hewing forth the venues, of the Lord Jefus Chrifl:. If you benot thus beautified, as well as emptied, you are unprepared. It is Paid (Mat. ix. 44.) That the evil fpirit returning to his houle , whence he carne out when he is come, findeth it empty, [wept andgarnifhed. Nomarvel if it were empty ,. for who would dwell in a houfe, which path had the devil for its tenant ? But how came it fwept, and with what broom ? How came it to be garnifhed , and with what furniture ? Mull a houle be made clean to entertain an unclean fpirit ? Muff it be fwept to re- ceive him who bath fill'd the whole world with filth and ruh- bifh ? This emptying, fweeping and garnifhing is fit for fuch a guell. A heart emptied and fwept of goodnefle , a heart adorned and garnifhed with noifome tufts (fuch are the ornaments and garnifh there meant) is a heart prepared for the devil. In this manner, but with the moll contrary materials mutt the heart be prepared for God. It muff be emptied and fwept of finne, it mull be gar- nifhed with grace, before the King ofglory enters in. -. In there two ans , preparation of the heart confins, and with- out both it is imperfee'I: if the room be not cleanfed , he who is of purer eyes than to behold any unclean thing, will not lodge in it. God and fin cannot dwell together, What communion is there between light anddarloef , between Chrift andBelial ? Neither is it enough (if it were poffible) to call our fin, and put offthe old man , unleffe you put on the new. Some attempt to put the new man upon the old. They are willing (in this fenfe) to be cloathed upon, but cannot end...-ire to be uncloathed. Holineffe upon nnholineffe is the dzfguife , not the habit of a holy man. Others would be uncloathed, fo they might bö fpared this pains to be cloathed upon. It is caller with them not to do evil then to do good. Evil laid afide and goodnot admittedor affed make,s but half, (if fo much of) a good man. A due preparation of the heart confifls in putting off every evil, and in not doing any; in
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