Post by Admin on Oct 16, 2024 12:41:08 GMT -5
THE FOURTH SERMON
I sleep, but my heart wakes, &c.—CANT. 5:2.
THE words, as it hath been shewed, contain a confession, 'I sleep,' and a correction, 'my heart wakes.' The confession hath been handled, now something of the correction or exception.
'My heart wakes.' The word heart, you know, includes the whole soul, for the understanding is the heart, 'an understanding heart,' Job 38:36. To 'lay things up in our hearts,' Luke 2:51, there it is
memory; and to cleave in heart is to cleave in will, Acts 11:23. To rejoice in heart,' Isa. 30:29, that is in the affection. So that all the powers of the soul, the inward man, as Paul calleth it, 2 Cor. 4:16, is the heart.
'I sleep, but my heart wakes.' Indeed the church might have said, My heart sleeps, but my heart wakes. For it is the same faculty, the same power of the soul, both in the state of corruption, and of grace, in which the soul is; as in the twilight we cannot say, this is light and that is darkness, because there is such a mixture. In all the powers of the soul there is something good and something ill, something flesh and something spirit. The heart was asleep, and likewise was awake. 'I sleep, but my heart wakes.'
Obs. 1. You see here, then, first of all, in this correction, that a Christian hath two principles in him, that which is good, and that which is evil, whence issues the weakness of his actions and
affections. They are all mixed, as are the principles from which they come forth.
Obs. 2. We may observe, further, that a Christian man may know how it is with himself. Though he be mixed of flesh and spirit, he hath a distinguishing knowledge and judgment whereby he knows both the good and evil in himself. In a dungeon where is nothing but darkness, both on the eye that should see and on that which should be seen, he can see nothing; but where there is a supernatural principle, where there is this mixture, there the light of the Spirit searches the dark corners of the heart. A man that hath the Spirit knows both; he knows himself and his own heart. The Spirit hath a light of its own, even as reason hath. How doth reason know what it doth? By a reflect act inbred in the soul. Shall a man that is natural reflect upon his state, and know what he knows, what he thinks, what he doth, and may not the soul that is raised to an higher estate know as much? Undoubtedly it may. Besides, we have the Spirit of God, which is light, and self-evidencing. It shews unto us where it is, and what it is. The work of the Spirit may sometimes be hindered, as in times of temptation. Then I confess a man may look wholly upon corruption, and so mistake himself in judging by that which he sees present in himself, and not by the other principle which is concealed for a time from him. But a Christian, when he is not in such a temptation, he knows his own estate, and can distinguish between the principles in him of the flesh and spirit, grace and nature.
Again, we see here in that the church saith, 'but my heart wakes,' that she doth acknowledge there is good as well as evil. As the church is ingenious* to confess that which is amiss, 'I sleep,' so she is as true in confessing that which is good in herself, 'but my heart wakes,' which yields us another observation.
Obs. 3. We should as well acknowledge that which is good as that which is evil in our hearts.
Because we must not bear false witness, as not against others, much less against ourselves. Many help Satan, the accuser, and plead his cause against the Spirit, their comforter, in refusing to see what God sees in them. We must make conscience of this, to know the good as well as the evil, though it be never so little. To come in particular, what is that good the church here confesses, when she saith that 'her heart wakes?'
(1.) She in her sleepy estate, first, hath her judgment sound in that which is truth, of persons, things, and courses. Christians are not so benighted when they sleep, or given up to such a reprobate
judgment, as that they discern not differences. They can discern that such are in a good way, and such are not; that such means are good, and such are not. A Christian ofttimes is forced to do work out of judgment, in case his affections are asleep or distracted; and such works are approved of God, as they come from a right judgment and conviction, though the evil of them be chastised.
(2.) But all is not in the judgment. The child of God asleep hath a working in the will. Choosing the better part, which he will cleave to, he hath a general purpose 'to please God in all things,' and no settled purpose in particular for to sleep. Thus answerable to his judgment, therefore, he chooses the better part and side; he owns God and his cause, even in evil times, cleaving in resolution of heart to the best ways, though with weakness.
Take David in his sleepy time between his repentance and his foul sin. If one should have asked him what he thought of the ways of God and of the contrary, he would have given you an answer out of sound judgment thus and thus. If you should have asked him what course he would have followed in his choice, resolution, and purpose, he would have answered savourly.
(3.) Again, there remains affection answerable to their judgment, which, though they find, and feel it not for a time, it being perhaps scattered, yet there is a secret love to Christ, and to his cause and side, joined with joy in the welfare of the church and people of God; rejoicing in the prosperity of the righteous, with a secret grief for the contrary. The pulses will beat this way, and good affections will discover themselves. Take him in his sleepy estate, the judgment is sound in the main, the will, the affections, the joy, the delight, the sorrow. This is an evidence his heart is awake.
(4.) The conscience likewise is awake. The heart is taken ofttimes for the conscience in Scripture. A good conscience, called a merry heart, is 'a continual feast,' Prov. 15:15. Now, the conscience of God's children is never so sleepy but it awakes in some comfortable measure. Though perhaps it may be deaded* in a particular act, yet notwithstanding there is so much life in it, as upon speech or conference, &c., there will be an opening of it, and a yielding at the length to the strength of spiritual reason. His conscience is not seared. David was but a little roused by Nathan, yet you see how he presently confessed ingeniously† that he had sinned, 2 Sam. 12:13.
So, when he had numbered the people, his conscience presently smote him, 2 Sam. 24:10; and when he resolved to kill Nabal and all his family, which was a wicked and carnal passion, in which there was nothing but flesh; yet when he was stopped by the advice and discreet counsel of Abigail, we see how presently he yielded, 1 Sam.25:32, seq. There is a kind of perpetual tenderness of conscience in God's people. All the difference is of more or less.
5.) And answerable to these inward powers is the outward obedience of God's children. In their sleepy estate they go on in a course of obedience. Though deadly and coldly, and not with that glory that may give others good example or yield themselves comfort, yet there is a course of good duties. His ordinary way is good, howsoever he may step aside. His fits may be sleepy when his estate is waking. We must distinguish between a state and a fit. A man may have an aguish fit in a sound body. The state of a Christian is a but fits, out of which he recovers himself.
Use. 1. Whence, for use, let us magnify the goodness of God, that will remain by his Spirit, and let it stay to preserve life in such hearts as ours are, so prone to security and sleepiness. Let it put us in mind of other like merciful and gracious doings of our God for us, that he gave his Spirit to us when we had nothing good in us, when it met with nothing but enmity, rebellion, and indisposedness. Nay, consider how he debased himself and became man, in being united to our frail flesh, after an admirable nearness, and all out of mercy to save us.
Use. 2. If so be that Satan shall tempt us in such occasions, let us enter into our own souls, and search the truth of grace, our judgment, our wills, our constant course of obedience, and the inward principle whence it comes, that we may be able to stand in the time of temptation. What upheld the church but this reflect act,by the help of the Spirit, that she was able to judge of the good as well
as of the ill? Thus David, 'The desires of our souls are towards thee,' Ps. 38:9; and though all this have befallen us, yet have we not forgotten thy name, Ps. 44:20. This will enable us to appeal to God, as Peter, 'Lord, thou knowest I love thee,' John 21:15. It is an evidence of a good estate.
Obs. 1. 'My heart wakes.' God's children never totally fall from grace. Though they sleep, yet their heart is awake. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the church and children of God, Isa. 6:13, saith, 'It
shall be as a tree, as an oak whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves.' Though you see neither fruit nor leaves, yet there is life in the root, 'the seed remains in them.' There is always a seed remaining. It is an immortal seed that we are begotten by. Peter, when he denied his Master, was like an oak that was weather-beaten; yet there was life still in the root, 1 Pet. 1:3, Mat. 26:32, seq. For, questionless, Peter loved Christ from his heart. Sometimes a Christian may be in such a poor case, as the spiritual life runneth all to the heart, and the outward man is left destitute; as in wars, when the enemy hath conquered the field, the people run into the city, and if they be beaten out of the city, they run into the castle. The grace of God sometimes fails in the outward action, in the field, when yet it retires to the heart, in which fort it is impregnable. 'My heart wakes.' When the outward man sleeps, and there are weak, dull performances, and perhaps actions amiss, too, yet notwithstanding 'the heart wakes.' As we see in a swoon or great scars, the blood,
spirits, and life, though they leave the face and hands, &c., yet they are in the heart. It is said in the Scripture of Eutychus, 'His life is in him still,' though he seemed to be dead, Acts 20:9. As Christ said of Lazarus, John 11:4, so a man may say of a Christian in his worst state, His life is in him still; he is not dead, but sleeps; 'his heart wakes.'
Obs. 2. This is a sound doctrine and comfortable, agreeable to Scripture and the experience of God's people. We must not lose it, therefore, but make use of it against the time of temptation. There are some pulses that discover life in the sickest man, so are there some breathings and spiritual motions of heart that will comfort in such times. These two never fail on God's part, his love, which is
unchangeable, and his grace, a fruit of his love; and two on our part, the impression of that love, and the gracious work of the new creature. 'Christ never dies,' saith the apostle, Heb. 7:25. As he never dies in himself, after his resurrection, so he never dies in his children. There is always spiritual life. Use for comfort. 'The heart wakes.' This is a secret of God's sanctuary, only belonging to God's people. Others have nothing to do with it. They shall ever love God, and God will ever love them. The apostle, 1 Cor. 13:8, saith, 'Love never fails.' Gifts, you know, shall be
abolished, because the manner of knowing we now use shall cease. We see through a glass,' &c., 'but love abides,' 1 Cor. 13:12. Doth our love to God abide forever, and doth not his love to us, whence it cometh? Ours is but a reflection of God's love. Let us comfort ourselves, therefore, in this for the time to come, that in all the uncertainty of things in this life we have today and lose tomorrow,
as we see in Job, there is somewhat a saint may build on that is constant and unmovable. 'I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed,' Mal. 3:6. God should deny himself, as it were, which he cannot do, and his own constant nature, if he should vary this way.
Obs. 3. A Christian is what his heart and inward man is. It is a true speech of divines, God and nature begin there. Art begins with the face and outward lineaments, as hypocrisy, outward painting and expressions; but grace at the center, and from thence goes to the circumference. And therefore the church values herself here by the disposition and temper of her heart. Thus I am for my outward
carriage, &c. 'I sleep, but my heart, that wakes.' Therefore, let us enter into our consciences and souls, for the trial of our estates, how it is with our judgments. Do we allow of the ways of God and of the law of the inward man? How is it with our affection and bent to good things? how with our hatred, our zeal? Is it not more for outward things than for inward? We know what Jehu said to Jonadab, when he would have him into his chariot, 'Is thine heart as mine? Then come to me,' 2 Kings 10:15. So saith Christ, Is thine heart as mine? then give me thy hand. But first God must have our
hearts, and then our hands. A man otherwise is but a ghost in religion, which goes up and down, without a spirit of its own; but a picture that hath an outside, and is nothing within. Therefore, especially, let us look to our hearts. 'Oh, that there were such an heart in this people,' saith God to Moses, 'to fear me always, for their good,' Deut. 5:29. This is it that God's children desire, that their hearts may be aright set. 'Wash thy heart, O Jerusalem,' saith the prophet, 'from thy wickedness,' &c., Jer. 4:14. Indeed, all the outward man depends upon this. Therefore, Satan, if he can get this fort, he is safe, and so Satan's vicar, Prov. 4:23. It was a watchword that was in Gregory XIII. his time, in Queen Elizabeth's days,My son, give me thy heart. Dissemble, go to church, and do what you will; but, be in heart a papist, and go where you will' (e). God is not content with the heart alone. The devil knows if he have the heart he hath all; but God, as he made all, both soul and body, he will have all. But yet in times of temptation the chief trial is in the heart.
And from hence we may have a main difference between one Christian and another. A sound Christian doth what he doth from the heart; he begins the work there. What good he doth he loves in his heart first, judges it to be good, and then he doeth it.
An hypocrite doth what he doth outwardly, and allows not inwardly of that good he doth. He would do ill, and not good,if it were in his choice. The good that he doth is for by-ends, for correspondence, or dependence upon others, or conformity with the times, to cover his designs under formality of religion, that he may not be known outwardly, as he is inwardly, an atheist and an hypocrite. So he hath false aims; his heart is not directed to a right mark. But it is otherwise with God's child. Whatsoever good he doth, it is in his heart first; whatsoever ill he abstains from, he doth it from his heart, judging it to be naught; therefore he hates it, and will not do it. Here is a main difference of the church from all others. It wakes in the heart, though the outward man sleeps. But other men's hearts sleep when they wake, as you know some men will walk and do many things in their sleep.
An hypocrite is such a kind of man. He walks and goes up and down, but his heart is asleep. He knows not what he doth, nor doth he the thing out of judgment or love, but as one asleep, as it were. He hath no inward affection unto the things he doth. A Christian is the contrary; his heart is awake when he is asleep.
Another difference from the words you may have thus. A Christian, by the power of God's Spirit in him, is sensible of the contrarieties in him, complains, and is ashamed for the same. But an hypocrite is not so; he is not sensible of his sleepiness. 'I sleep,' saith the church. So much as the church saith she slept, so much she did not sleep; for a man that is asleep cannot say he is asleep, nor a dead man that he is dead. So far as he saith he is asleep, he is awake. Now, the church
confesses that she was asleep by that part that was awake in her.
Other men do not complain, are not sensible of their sleepiness and slumbering,but compose themselves to slumber, and seek darkness, which is a friend of sleep. They would willingly b ignorant, to keep
their conscience dull and dumb as much as they can, that it may not upbraid them. This is the disposition of a carnal man; he is not sensible of his estate as here the church is.
Obs. 4. A waking state is a blessed state. The church you see supports and comforts herself that she was waking in her inward man, that she was happy in that respect.
Quest. How shall we do to keep and preserve our souls in this waking condition, especially in these drowsy times?
Ans. 1. Propound unto them waking considerations. What causes our sleeps but want of matters of more serious observation? None will sleep when a thing is presented of excellency more than ordinary. To see, and know, and think of what a state we are now advanced unto in Christ; what we shall be ere long, yet the fearful estate we should be in, if God leave us to ourselves! a state of astonishment, miserable and wretched, beyond speech, nay, beyond conceit!* Thus did the blessed souls in former times exercise their thoughts, raise, and stir them up by meditation, that so they might hold their souls in a high esteem of the best things, and not suffer them to sleep. We never fall to sleep in earthly and carnal delights, till the soul let its hold go of the best things, and ceases to think of, and to wonder at them. What made Moses to fall from the delights of Egypt? He saw the basest things in religion were greater than the greatest things in the court, yea, in the world. 'He esteemed the reproach of Christ better than the greatest treasures of Egypt,' Heb.11:26.
2. Make the heart think of the shortness and vanity of this life, with the uncertainty of the time of our death; and of what wondrous consequent it is to be in the state of grace before we die. The
uncertainty of the gales of grace, that there may be a good hour which, if we pass, we may never have the like again, Luke 19:42, Mat. 23:37; as the angel descended at a certain hour into the pool of
Bethesda, John 5:4, when those that entered not immediately after, went away sick as they came. So there are certain good hours which let us not neglect. This will help to keep us waking.
3. The necessity of grace, and then the free dispensing of it in God's good time, and withal the terror of the Lord's-day, 'Remembering,' saith St Paul, 'the terror of the Lord, I labor to stir up all men,'2 Cor. 5:11. Indeed it should make us stir up our hearts when we consider the terror of the Lord;to think that ere long we shall be all drawn to an exact account,before a strict, precise judge. And shall our eyes then be sleeping and careless? These and such like considerations out of spiritual wisdom we should propound to ourselves, that so we might have waking souls, and preserve them in a right temper.
Ans. 2. To keep faith waking. The soul is as the object is that is presented to it, and as the certainty of the apprehension is of that object. It conduces much therefore to the awakening of the soul to keep faith awake. It is not the greatness alone, but the presence of great things that stirs us. Now it is the nature of faith to make things powerfully present to the soul; for it sets things before us in the word of Jehovah, that made all things of nothing, and is Lord of his word, to give a being to whatsoever he hath spoken, Heb. 11:1. Faith is an awakening grace. Keep that awake, and it will keep all other graces waking.
When a man believes, that all these things shall be on fire ere long; that heaven and earth shall fall in pieces; that we shall be called to give an account, [and that] before that time we may be taken away— is it not a wonder we stand so long, when cities, stone walls fall, and kingdoms come to sudden periods? When faith apprehends, and sets this to the eye of the soul, it affects the same marvelously. Therefore let faith set before the soul some present thoughts according to its temper. Sometimes terrible things to awaken it out of its dullness; sometimes glorious things, promises and mercies, to waken it out of its sadness, &c. When we are in a prosperous estate let faith make
present all the sins and temptations that usually accompany such an estate, as pride, security, self-applause, and the like. If in adversity, think also of what sins may beset us there. This will awaken up such graces in us, as are suitable to such an estate, for the preventing of such sins and temptations, and so keep our hearts in 'exercise to godliness,' 1 Tim. 4:7; than which, nothing will more prevent sleeping.
Ans. 3. And withal, labor for abundance of the Spirit of God. For what makes men sleepy, and drowsy? The want of spirits. We are dull, and overladen with gross humors, whereby the strength sinks and fails. Christians should know, that there is a necessity, if they will keep themselves waking, to keep themselves spiritual. Pray for the Spirit above all things. It is the life of our life, the soul of our soul.
What is the body without the soul, or the soul without the Spirit of God? Even a dead lump. And let us keep ourselves in such good ways, as we may expect the presence of the Spirit to be about us,
which will keep us awake.
Ans. 4. We must keep ourselves in as much light as may be. For all sleepiness comes with darkness. Let us keep our souls in a perpetual light. When any doubt or dark thought arises, upon yielding
thereunto comes a sleepy temper. Sleepiness in the affections arises from darkness of judgment. The more we labor to increase our knowledge, and the more the spiritual light and beams of it shine in
at our windows, the better it will be for us, and the more shall we be able to keep awake. What makes men in their corruptions to avoid the ministry of the word, or anything that may awake their consciences? It is the desire they have to sleep. They know, the more they know, the more they must practice, or else they must have a galled conscience. They see religion will not stand with their ends. Rich they must be, and great they will be; but if they suffer the light to grow upon them, that will tell them they must not rise, and be great, by these and such courses. A gracious heart will be desirous of spiritual knowledge especially, and not care how near the word comes; because they ingeniously* and freely desire to be spiritually better. They make all things in the world yield to the inward man.
They desire to know their own corruptions and evils more and more.
And therefore love the light 'as children of the light, and of the day,' 1 Thess. 5:5. Sleep is a work of darkness. Men therefore of dark and drowsy hearts desire darkness, for that very end that their consciences may sleep.
Ans. 5. Labour to preserve the soul in the fear of God: because fear is a waking affection, yea, one of the wakefullest. For, naturally we are more moved with dangers, than stirred with hopes. Therefore, that affection, that is most conversant about danger, is the most rousing and waking affection. Preserve therefore the fear of God by all means. It is one character of a Christian, who, when he hath lost almost all grace, to his feeling, yet the fear of God is always left with him. He fears sin, and the reward of it, and therefore God makes that awe the bond of the new covenant. 'I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall never depart from me,' Jer. 32:39. One Christian is better than another, by how much more he wakes, and fears more than another. Of all Christians, mark those are most gracious, spiritual, and heavenly, that are the most awful and careful of their speeches, courses, and demeanors; tender even of offending God in little things. You shall not have light and common oaths come from them, nor unsavory speeches. Sometimes a good Christian may in a state of sleepiness be faulty some way. But he grows in the knowledge of the greatness of God, and the experience of his own infirmities, as he grows in the sense of the love of God. He is afraid to
lose that sweet communion any way, or to grieve the Spirit of God.
Therefore, always as a man grows in grace, he grows in awfulness, and in jealousy of his own corruptions. Therefore let us preserve by all means this awful affection, the fear of God. Let us then often search the state of our own souls; our going backward or forward; how it is between God and our souls; how fit we are to die, and to suffer; how fit for the times that may befall us. Let us examine the state of our own souls, which will preserve us in a waking estate; especially examine ourselves in regard of the sins of the place, and the times where we live; of the sins of our own inclination, how we stand affected and biassed in all those respects, and see how jealous we are of dangers in this kind. Those that will keep waking souls, must consider the danger of the place where they live, and the times; what sins reign, what sins such a company as they converse with, are
subject unto, and their own weakness to be led away with such temptations. This jealousy is a branch of that fear that we spake of before, arising from the searching of our own hearts, and dispositions. It is a notable means to keep us awake, when we keep our hearts in fear of such sins as either by calling, custom, company, or the time we live in, or by our own disposition, we are most prone
to. There is no Christian, but he hath some special sin, to which he is more prone than to another, one way or other, either by course of life, or complexion. Here now is the care and watchfulness of a
Christian spirit, that knowing by examination, and trial of his own heart, his weakness, he doth especially fence against that, which he is most inclined to; and is able to speak most against that sin of all others, and to bring the strongest arguments to dishearten others from practice of it.
Ans. 6. In the last place it is a thing of no small consequence, that we keep company with waking and faithful Christians, such as neither sleep themselves or do willingly suffer any to sleep that are near them.
It is a report, and a true one, of the sweating sickness, that they that were kept awake by those that were with them, escaped; but the sickness was deadly if they were suffered to sleep. It is one of the best fruits of the communion of saints, and of our spiritual good acquaintance, to keep one another awake. It is an unpleasing work on both sides. But we shall one day cry out against all them that have pleased themselves and us, in rocking us asleep, and thank those that have pulled us 'with fear,' Jude 23, out of the fire, though against our wills.
Let us labor upon our own hearts in the conscionable* use of all these means, in their several times and seasons, that we may keep our hearts waking; and the more earnest ought we to be, from
consideration of the present age and season in which we live. Certainly a drowsy temper is the most ordinary temper in the world. For would men suffer idle words, yea, filthy and rotten talk to come from their mouths if they were awake? Would a waking man run into a pit? or upon a sword's point? A man that is asleep may do anything. What do men mean when they fear not to lie, dissemble, and rush
upon the pikes of God's displeasure? When they say one thing and do another, are they not dead? or take them at the best, are they not asleep? Were they awake, would they ever do thus? Will not a fowl
that hath wings, avoid the snare? or will a beast run into a pit when it sees it? There is a snare laid in your playhouses, gaming houses, common houses, that gentlemen frequent that generally profess religion, and take the communion. If the eye of their souls were awake, would they run into these snares, that their own conscience tells them are so? If there be any goodness in their souls, it is
wondrous sleepy. There is no man, even the best, but may complain something, that they are overtaken in the contagion of these infectious times. They catch drowsy tempers, as our Saviour saith, of those latter times. 'For the abundance of iniquity, the love of many shall wax cold,' Mat. 24:12. A chill temper grows ever from the coldness of the times that we live in, wherein the best may complain of coldness; but there is a great difference. The life of many, we see, is a continual sleep.
Let us especially watch over ourselves, in the use of liberty and such things as are in themselves lawful. It is a blessed state, when a Christian carries himself so in his liberty, that his heart condemns him not for the abuse of that which it allows, and justly in a moderate use. Recreations are lawful; who denies it? To refresh a man's self, is not only lawful, but necessary. God know it well
enough, therefore hath allotted time for sleep, and the like. But we must not turn recreation into a calling, to spend too much time in it.
Where there is least fear, there is most danger always. Now because in lawful things there is least fear, we are there in most danger. It is true for the most part,more men perish in the church of God by the abuse of lawful things, than by unlawful; more by meat, than by poison. Because every man takes heed of poison,being* he knows the venom of it, but how many men surfeit, and die by meat! So, many men die by lawful things. They eternally perish in the abuse of their liberties, more than in gross sins. Therefore let us keep awake, that we may carry ourselves so in our liberties, that we
condemn not ourselves in the use of them. We will conclude this point with the meditation of the excellency of a waking Christian.
When he is in his right temper, he is an excellent person, fit for all essays.† He is the
impregnable. Satan hath nothing to do with him, for he, as it is said, is then a wise man, and 'hath his eyes in his head,' Eccles. 3:4. He knows himself, his state, his enemies, and adversaries, the snares of prosperity and adversity, and of all conditions, &c. Therefore, he being awake, is not overcome of the evil of any condition, and is ready for the good of any estate. He that hath a waking soul, he sees all the advantages of good, and all the snares that might draw him to ill. Mark 13:37. What a blessed estate is this!
In all things therefore watch; in all estates, in all times, and in all actions. There is a danger in everything without watchfulness. There is a scorpion under every stone, as the proverb is, a snare under every blessing of God, and in every condition, which Satan uses as a weapon to hurt us; adversity to discourage us, prosperity to puff us up: when, if a Christian hath not a waking soul, Satan hath him in his snare, in prosperity to be proud and secure; in adversity to murmur, repine, be dejected, and call God's providence into question. When a Christian hath a heart and grace to awake, then his love, his patience, his faith is awake, as it should be. He is fit for all conditions, to do good in them, and to take good by them.
Let us therefore labor to preserve watchful and waking hearts continually, that so we may be fit to live, to die, and to appear before the judgment seat of God; to do what we should do, and suffer what
we should suffer, being squared for all estates whatsoever
I sleep, but my heart wakes, &c.—CANT. 5:2.
THE words, as it hath been shewed, contain a confession, 'I sleep,' and a correction, 'my heart wakes.' The confession hath been handled, now something of the correction or exception.
'My heart wakes.' The word heart, you know, includes the whole soul, for the understanding is the heart, 'an understanding heart,' Job 38:36. To 'lay things up in our hearts,' Luke 2:51, there it is
memory; and to cleave in heart is to cleave in will, Acts 11:23. To rejoice in heart,' Isa. 30:29, that is in the affection. So that all the powers of the soul, the inward man, as Paul calleth it, 2 Cor. 4:16, is the heart.
'I sleep, but my heart wakes.' Indeed the church might have said, My heart sleeps, but my heart wakes. For it is the same faculty, the same power of the soul, both in the state of corruption, and of grace, in which the soul is; as in the twilight we cannot say, this is light and that is darkness, because there is such a mixture. In all the powers of the soul there is something good and something ill, something flesh and something spirit. The heart was asleep, and likewise was awake. 'I sleep, but my heart wakes.'
Obs. 1. You see here, then, first of all, in this correction, that a Christian hath two principles in him, that which is good, and that which is evil, whence issues the weakness of his actions and
affections. They are all mixed, as are the principles from which they come forth.
Obs. 2. We may observe, further, that a Christian man may know how it is with himself. Though he be mixed of flesh and spirit, he hath a distinguishing knowledge and judgment whereby he knows both the good and evil in himself. In a dungeon where is nothing but darkness, both on the eye that should see and on that which should be seen, he can see nothing; but where there is a supernatural principle, where there is this mixture, there the light of the Spirit searches the dark corners of the heart. A man that hath the Spirit knows both; he knows himself and his own heart. The Spirit hath a light of its own, even as reason hath. How doth reason know what it doth? By a reflect act inbred in the soul. Shall a man that is natural reflect upon his state, and know what he knows, what he thinks, what he doth, and may not the soul that is raised to an higher estate know as much? Undoubtedly it may. Besides, we have the Spirit of God, which is light, and self-evidencing. It shews unto us where it is, and what it is. The work of the Spirit may sometimes be hindered, as in times of temptation. Then I confess a man may look wholly upon corruption, and so mistake himself in judging by that which he sees present in himself, and not by the other principle which is concealed for a time from him. But a Christian, when he is not in such a temptation, he knows his own estate, and can distinguish between the principles in him of the flesh and spirit, grace and nature.
Again, we see here in that the church saith, 'but my heart wakes,' that she doth acknowledge there is good as well as evil. As the church is ingenious* to confess that which is amiss, 'I sleep,' so she is as true in confessing that which is good in herself, 'but my heart wakes,' which yields us another observation.
Obs. 3. We should as well acknowledge that which is good as that which is evil in our hearts.
Because we must not bear false witness, as not against others, much less against ourselves. Many help Satan, the accuser, and plead his cause against the Spirit, their comforter, in refusing to see what God sees in them. We must make conscience of this, to know the good as well as the evil, though it be never so little. To come in particular, what is that good the church here confesses, when she saith that 'her heart wakes?'
(1.) She in her sleepy estate, first, hath her judgment sound in that which is truth, of persons, things, and courses. Christians are not so benighted when they sleep, or given up to such a reprobate
judgment, as that they discern not differences. They can discern that such are in a good way, and such are not; that such means are good, and such are not. A Christian ofttimes is forced to do work out of judgment, in case his affections are asleep or distracted; and such works are approved of God, as they come from a right judgment and conviction, though the evil of them be chastised.
(2.) But all is not in the judgment. The child of God asleep hath a working in the will. Choosing the better part, which he will cleave to, he hath a general purpose 'to please God in all things,' and no settled purpose in particular for to sleep. Thus answerable to his judgment, therefore, he chooses the better part and side; he owns God and his cause, even in evil times, cleaving in resolution of heart to the best ways, though with weakness.
Take David in his sleepy time between his repentance and his foul sin. If one should have asked him what he thought of the ways of God and of the contrary, he would have given you an answer out of sound judgment thus and thus. If you should have asked him what course he would have followed in his choice, resolution, and purpose, he would have answered savourly.
(3.) Again, there remains affection answerable to their judgment, which, though they find, and feel it not for a time, it being perhaps scattered, yet there is a secret love to Christ, and to his cause and side, joined with joy in the welfare of the church and people of God; rejoicing in the prosperity of the righteous, with a secret grief for the contrary. The pulses will beat this way, and good affections will discover themselves. Take him in his sleepy estate, the judgment is sound in the main, the will, the affections, the joy, the delight, the sorrow. This is an evidence his heart is awake.
(4.) The conscience likewise is awake. The heart is taken ofttimes for the conscience in Scripture. A good conscience, called a merry heart, is 'a continual feast,' Prov. 15:15. Now, the conscience of God's children is never so sleepy but it awakes in some comfortable measure. Though perhaps it may be deaded* in a particular act, yet notwithstanding there is so much life in it, as upon speech or conference, &c., there will be an opening of it, and a yielding at the length to the strength of spiritual reason. His conscience is not seared. David was but a little roused by Nathan, yet you see how he presently confessed ingeniously† that he had sinned, 2 Sam. 12:13.
So, when he had numbered the people, his conscience presently smote him, 2 Sam. 24:10; and when he resolved to kill Nabal and all his family, which was a wicked and carnal passion, in which there was nothing but flesh; yet when he was stopped by the advice and discreet counsel of Abigail, we see how presently he yielded, 1 Sam.25:32, seq. There is a kind of perpetual tenderness of conscience in God's people. All the difference is of more or less.
5.) And answerable to these inward powers is the outward obedience of God's children. In their sleepy estate they go on in a course of obedience. Though deadly and coldly, and not with that glory that may give others good example or yield themselves comfort, yet there is a course of good duties. His ordinary way is good, howsoever he may step aside. His fits may be sleepy when his estate is waking. We must distinguish between a state and a fit. A man may have an aguish fit in a sound body. The state of a Christian is a but fits, out of which he recovers himself.
Use. 1. Whence, for use, let us magnify the goodness of God, that will remain by his Spirit, and let it stay to preserve life in such hearts as ours are, so prone to security and sleepiness. Let it put us in mind of other like merciful and gracious doings of our God for us, that he gave his Spirit to us when we had nothing good in us, when it met with nothing but enmity, rebellion, and indisposedness. Nay, consider how he debased himself and became man, in being united to our frail flesh, after an admirable nearness, and all out of mercy to save us.
Use. 2. If so be that Satan shall tempt us in such occasions, let us enter into our own souls, and search the truth of grace, our judgment, our wills, our constant course of obedience, and the inward principle whence it comes, that we may be able to stand in the time of temptation. What upheld the church but this reflect act,by the help of the Spirit, that she was able to judge of the good as well
as of the ill? Thus David, 'The desires of our souls are towards thee,' Ps. 38:9; and though all this have befallen us, yet have we not forgotten thy name, Ps. 44:20. This will enable us to appeal to God, as Peter, 'Lord, thou knowest I love thee,' John 21:15. It is an evidence of a good estate.
Obs. 1. 'My heart wakes.' God's children never totally fall from grace. Though they sleep, yet their heart is awake. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the church and children of God, Isa. 6:13, saith, 'It
shall be as a tree, as an oak whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves.' Though you see neither fruit nor leaves, yet there is life in the root, 'the seed remains in them.' There is always a seed remaining. It is an immortal seed that we are begotten by. Peter, when he denied his Master, was like an oak that was weather-beaten; yet there was life still in the root, 1 Pet. 1:3, Mat. 26:32, seq. For, questionless, Peter loved Christ from his heart. Sometimes a Christian may be in such a poor case, as the spiritual life runneth all to the heart, and the outward man is left destitute; as in wars, when the enemy hath conquered the field, the people run into the city, and if they be beaten out of the city, they run into the castle. The grace of God sometimes fails in the outward action, in the field, when yet it retires to the heart, in which fort it is impregnable. 'My heart wakes.' When the outward man sleeps, and there are weak, dull performances, and perhaps actions amiss, too, yet notwithstanding 'the heart wakes.' As we see in a swoon or great scars, the blood,
spirits, and life, though they leave the face and hands, &c., yet they are in the heart. It is said in the Scripture of Eutychus, 'His life is in him still,' though he seemed to be dead, Acts 20:9. As Christ said of Lazarus, John 11:4, so a man may say of a Christian in his worst state, His life is in him still; he is not dead, but sleeps; 'his heart wakes.'
Obs. 2. This is a sound doctrine and comfortable, agreeable to Scripture and the experience of God's people. We must not lose it, therefore, but make use of it against the time of temptation. There are some pulses that discover life in the sickest man, so are there some breathings and spiritual motions of heart that will comfort in such times. These two never fail on God's part, his love, which is
unchangeable, and his grace, a fruit of his love; and two on our part, the impression of that love, and the gracious work of the new creature. 'Christ never dies,' saith the apostle, Heb. 7:25. As he never dies in himself, after his resurrection, so he never dies in his children. There is always spiritual life. Use for comfort. 'The heart wakes.' This is a secret of God's sanctuary, only belonging to God's people. Others have nothing to do with it. They shall ever love God, and God will ever love them. The apostle, 1 Cor. 13:8, saith, 'Love never fails.' Gifts, you know, shall be
abolished, because the manner of knowing we now use shall cease. We see through a glass,' &c., 'but love abides,' 1 Cor. 13:12. Doth our love to God abide forever, and doth not his love to us, whence it cometh? Ours is but a reflection of God's love. Let us comfort ourselves, therefore, in this for the time to come, that in all the uncertainty of things in this life we have today and lose tomorrow,
as we see in Job, there is somewhat a saint may build on that is constant and unmovable. 'I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed,' Mal. 3:6. God should deny himself, as it were, which he cannot do, and his own constant nature, if he should vary this way.
Obs. 3. A Christian is what his heart and inward man is. It is a true speech of divines, God and nature begin there. Art begins with the face and outward lineaments, as hypocrisy, outward painting and expressions; but grace at the center, and from thence goes to the circumference. And therefore the church values herself here by the disposition and temper of her heart. Thus I am for my outward
carriage, &c. 'I sleep, but my heart, that wakes.' Therefore, let us enter into our consciences and souls, for the trial of our estates, how it is with our judgments. Do we allow of the ways of God and of the law of the inward man? How is it with our affection and bent to good things? how with our hatred, our zeal? Is it not more for outward things than for inward? We know what Jehu said to Jonadab, when he would have him into his chariot, 'Is thine heart as mine? Then come to me,' 2 Kings 10:15. So saith Christ, Is thine heart as mine? then give me thy hand. But first God must have our
hearts, and then our hands. A man otherwise is but a ghost in religion, which goes up and down, without a spirit of its own; but a picture that hath an outside, and is nothing within. Therefore, especially, let us look to our hearts. 'Oh, that there were such an heart in this people,' saith God to Moses, 'to fear me always, for their good,' Deut. 5:29. This is it that God's children desire, that their hearts may be aright set. 'Wash thy heart, O Jerusalem,' saith the prophet, 'from thy wickedness,' &c., Jer. 4:14. Indeed, all the outward man depends upon this. Therefore, Satan, if he can get this fort, he is safe, and so Satan's vicar, Prov. 4:23. It was a watchword that was in Gregory XIII. his time, in Queen Elizabeth's days,My son, give me thy heart. Dissemble, go to church, and do what you will; but, be in heart a papist, and go where you will' (e). God is not content with the heart alone. The devil knows if he have the heart he hath all; but God, as he made all, both soul and body, he will have all. But yet in times of temptation the chief trial is in the heart.
And from hence we may have a main difference between one Christian and another. A sound Christian doth what he doth from the heart; he begins the work there. What good he doth he loves in his heart first, judges it to be good, and then he doeth it.
An hypocrite doth what he doth outwardly, and allows not inwardly of that good he doth. He would do ill, and not good,if it were in his choice. The good that he doth is for by-ends, for correspondence, or dependence upon others, or conformity with the times, to cover his designs under formality of religion, that he may not be known outwardly, as he is inwardly, an atheist and an hypocrite. So he hath false aims; his heart is not directed to a right mark. But it is otherwise with God's child. Whatsoever good he doth, it is in his heart first; whatsoever ill he abstains from, he doth it from his heart, judging it to be naught; therefore he hates it, and will not do it. Here is a main difference of the church from all others. It wakes in the heart, though the outward man sleeps. But other men's hearts sleep when they wake, as you know some men will walk and do many things in their sleep.
An hypocrite is such a kind of man. He walks and goes up and down, but his heart is asleep. He knows not what he doth, nor doth he the thing out of judgment or love, but as one asleep, as it were. He hath no inward affection unto the things he doth. A Christian is the contrary; his heart is awake when he is asleep.
Another difference from the words you may have thus. A Christian, by the power of God's Spirit in him, is sensible of the contrarieties in him, complains, and is ashamed for the same. But an hypocrite is not so; he is not sensible of his sleepiness. 'I sleep,' saith the church. So much as the church saith she slept, so much she did not sleep; for a man that is asleep cannot say he is asleep, nor a dead man that he is dead. So far as he saith he is asleep, he is awake. Now, the church
confesses that she was asleep by that part that was awake in her.
Other men do not complain, are not sensible of their sleepiness and slumbering,but compose themselves to slumber, and seek darkness, which is a friend of sleep. They would willingly b ignorant, to keep
their conscience dull and dumb as much as they can, that it may not upbraid them. This is the disposition of a carnal man; he is not sensible of his estate as here the church is.
Obs. 4. A waking state is a blessed state. The church you see supports and comforts herself that she was waking in her inward man, that she was happy in that respect.
Quest. How shall we do to keep and preserve our souls in this waking condition, especially in these drowsy times?
Ans. 1. Propound unto them waking considerations. What causes our sleeps but want of matters of more serious observation? None will sleep when a thing is presented of excellency more than ordinary. To see, and know, and think of what a state we are now advanced unto in Christ; what we shall be ere long, yet the fearful estate we should be in, if God leave us to ourselves! a state of astonishment, miserable and wretched, beyond speech, nay, beyond conceit!* Thus did the blessed souls in former times exercise their thoughts, raise, and stir them up by meditation, that so they might hold their souls in a high esteem of the best things, and not suffer them to sleep. We never fall to sleep in earthly and carnal delights, till the soul let its hold go of the best things, and ceases to think of, and to wonder at them. What made Moses to fall from the delights of Egypt? He saw the basest things in religion were greater than the greatest things in the court, yea, in the world. 'He esteemed the reproach of Christ better than the greatest treasures of Egypt,' Heb.11:26.
2. Make the heart think of the shortness and vanity of this life, with the uncertainty of the time of our death; and of what wondrous consequent it is to be in the state of grace before we die. The
uncertainty of the gales of grace, that there may be a good hour which, if we pass, we may never have the like again, Luke 19:42, Mat. 23:37; as the angel descended at a certain hour into the pool of
Bethesda, John 5:4, when those that entered not immediately after, went away sick as they came. So there are certain good hours which let us not neglect. This will help to keep us waking.
3. The necessity of grace, and then the free dispensing of it in God's good time, and withal the terror of the Lord's-day, 'Remembering,' saith St Paul, 'the terror of the Lord, I labor to stir up all men,'2 Cor. 5:11. Indeed it should make us stir up our hearts when we consider the terror of the Lord;to think that ere long we shall be all drawn to an exact account,before a strict, precise judge. And shall our eyes then be sleeping and careless? These and such like considerations out of spiritual wisdom we should propound to ourselves, that so we might have waking souls, and preserve them in a right temper.
Ans. 2. To keep faith waking. The soul is as the object is that is presented to it, and as the certainty of the apprehension is of that object. It conduces much therefore to the awakening of the soul to keep faith awake. It is not the greatness alone, but the presence of great things that stirs us. Now it is the nature of faith to make things powerfully present to the soul; for it sets things before us in the word of Jehovah, that made all things of nothing, and is Lord of his word, to give a being to whatsoever he hath spoken, Heb. 11:1. Faith is an awakening grace. Keep that awake, and it will keep all other graces waking.
When a man believes, that all these things shall be on fire ere long; that heaven and earth shall fall in pieces; that we shall be called to give an account, [and that] before that time we may be taken away— is it not a wonder we stand so long, when cities, stone walls fall, and kingdoms come to sudden periods? When faith apprehends, and sets this to the eye of the soul, it affects the same marvelously. Therefore let faith set before the soul some present thoughts according to its temper. Sometimes terrible things to awaken it out of its dullness; sometimes glorious things, promises and mercies, to waken it out of its sadness, &c. When we are in a prosperous estate let faith make
present all the sins and temptations that usually accompany such an estate, as pride, security, self-applause, and the like. If in adversity, think also of what sins may beset us there. This will awaken up such graces in us, as are suitable to such an estate, for the preventing of such sins and temptations, and so keep our hearts in 'exercise to godliness,' 1 Tim. 4:7; than which, nothing will more prevent sleeping.
Ans. 3. And withal, labor for abundance of the Spirit of God. For what makes men sleepy, and drowsy? The want of spirits. We are dull, and overladen with gross humors, whereby the strength sinks and fails. Christians should know, that there is a necessity, if they will keep themselves waking, to keep themselves spiritual. Pray for the Spirit above all things. It is the life of our life, the soul of our soul.
What is the body without the soul, or the soul without the Spirit of God? Even a dead lump. And let us keep ourselves in such good ways, as we may expect the presence of the Spirit to be about us,
which will keep us awake.
Ans. 4. We must keep ourselves in as much light as may be. For all sleepiness comes with darkness. Let us keep our souls in a perpetual light. When any doubt or dark thought arises, upon yielding
thereunto comes a sleepy temper. Sleepiness in the affections arises from darkness of judgment. The more we labor to increase our knowledge, and the more the spiritual light and beams of it shine in
at our windows, the better it will be for us, and the more shall we be able to keep awake. What makes men in their corruptions to avoid the ministry of the word, or anything that may awake their consciences? It is the desire they have to sleep. They know, the more they know, the more they must practice, or else they must have a galled conscience. They see religion will not stand with their ends. Rich they must be, and great they will be; but if they suffer the light to grow upon them, that will tell them they must not rise, and be great, by these and such courses. A gracious heart will be desirous of spiritual knowledge especially, and not care how near the word comes; because they ingeniously* and freely desire to be spiritually better. They make all things in the world yield to the inward man.
They desire to know their own corruptions and evils more and more.
And therefore love the light 'as children of the light, and of the day,' 1 Thess. 5:5. Sleep is a work of darkness. Men therefore of dark and drowsy hearts desire darkness, for that very end that their consciences may sleep.
Ans. 5. Labour to preserve the soul in the fear of God: because fear is a waking affection, yea, one of the wakefullest. For, naturally we are more moved with dangers, than stirred with hopes. Therefore, that affection, that is most conversant about danger, is the most rousing and waking affection. Preserve therefore the fear of God by all means. It is one character of a Christian, who, when he hath lost almost all grace, to his feeling, yet the fear of God is always left with him. He fears sin, and the reward of it, and therefore God makes that awe the bond of the new covenant. 'I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall never depart from me,' Jer. 32:39. One Christian is better than another, by how much more he wakes, and fears more than another. Of all Christians, mark those are most gracious, spiritual, and heavenly, that are the most awful and careful of their speeches, courses, and demeanors; tender even of offending God in little things. You shall not have light and common oaths come from them, nor unsavory speeches. Sometimes a good Christian may in a state of sleepiness be faulty some way. But he grows in the knowledge of the greatness of God, and the experience of his own infirmities, as he grows in the sense of the love of God. He is afraid to
lose that sweet communion any way, or to grieve the Spirit of God.
Therefore, always as a man grows in grace, he grows in awfulness, and in jealousy of his own corruptions. Therefore let us preserve by all means this awful affection, the fear of God. Let us then often search the state of our own souls; our going backward or forward; how it is between God and our souls; how fit we are to die, and to suffer; how fit for the times that may befall us. Let us examine the state of our own souls, which will preserve us in a waking estate; especially examine ourselves in regard of the sins of the place, and the times where we live; of the sins of our own inclination, how we stand affected and biassed in all those respects, and see how jealous we are of dangers in this kind. Those that will keep waking souls, must consider the danger of the place where they live, and the times; what sins reign, what sins such a company as they converse with, are
subject unto, and their own weakness to be led away with such temptations. This jealousy is a branch of that fear that we spake of before, arising from the searching of our own hearts, and dispositions. It is a notable means to keep us awake, when we keep our hearts in fear of such sins as either by calling, custom, company, or the time we live in, or by our own disposition, we are most prone
to. There is no Christian, but he hath some special sin, to which he is more prone than to another, one way or other, either by course of life, or complexion. Here now is the care and watchfulness of a
Christian spirit, that knowing by examination, and trial of his own heart, his weakness, he doth especially fence against that, which he is most inclined to; and is able to speak most against that sin of all others, and to bring the strongest arguments to dishearten others from practice of it.
Ans. 6. In the last place it is a thing of no small consequence, that we keep company with waking and faithful Christians, such as neither sleep themselves or do willingly suffer any to sleep that are near them.
It is a report, and a true one, of the sweating sickness, that they that were kept awake by those that were with them, escaped; but the sickness was deadly if they were suffered to sleep. It is one of the best fruits of the communion of saints, and of our spiritual good acquaintance, to keep one another awake. It is an unpleasing work on both sides. But we shall one day cry out against all them that have pleased themselves and us, in rocking us asleep, and thank those that have pulled us 'with fear,' Jude 23, out of the fire, though against our wills.
Let us labor upon our own hearts in the conscionable* use of all these means, in their several times and seasons, that we may keep our hearts waking; and the more earnest ought we to be, from
consideration of the present age and season in which we live. Certainly a drowsy temper is the most ordinary temper in the world. For would men suffer idle words, yea, filthy and rotten talk to come from their mouths if they were awake? Would a waking man run into a pit? or upon a sword's point? A man that is asleep may do anything. What do men mean when they fear not to lie, dissemble, and rush
upon the pikes of God's displeasure? When they say one thing and do another, are they not dead? or take them at the best, are they not asleep? Were they awake, would they ever do thus? Will not a fowl
that hath wings, avoid the snare? or will a beast run into a pit when it sees it? There is a snare laid in your playhouses, gaming houses, common houses, that gentlemen frequent that generally profess religion, and take the communion. If the eye of their souls were awake, would they run into these snares, that their own conscience tells them are so? If there be any goodness in their souls, it is
wondrous sleepy. There is no man, even the best, but may complain something, that they are overtaken in the contagion of these infectious times. They catch drowsy tempers, as our Saviour saith, of those latter times. 'For the abundance of iniquity, the love of many shall wax cold,' Mat. 24:12. A chill temper grows ever from the coldness of the times that we live in, wherein the best may complain of coldness; but there is a great difference. The life of many, we see, is a continual sleep.
Let us especially watch over ourselves, in the use of liberty and such things as are in themselves lawful. It is a blessed state, when a Christian carries himself so in his liberty, that his heart condemns him not for the abuse of that which it allows, and justly in a moderate use. Recreations are lawful; who denies it? To refresh a man's self, is not only lawful, but necessary. God know it well
enough, therefore hath allotted time for sleep, and the like. But we must not turn recreation into a calling, to spend too much time in it.
Where there is least fear, there is most danger always. Now because in lawful things there is least fear, we are there in most danger. It is true for the most part,more men perish in the church of God by the abuse of lawful things, than by unlawful; more by meat, than by poison. Because every man takes heed of poison,being* he knows the venom of it, but how many men surfeit, and die by meat! So, many men die by lawful things. They eternally perish in the abuse of their liberties, more than in gross sins. Therefore let us keep awake, that we may carry ourselves so in our liberties, that we
condemn not ourselves in the use of them. We will conclude this point with the meditation of the excellency of a waking Christian.
When he is in his right temper, he is an excellent person, fit for all essays.† He is the
impregnable. Satan hath nothing to do with him, for he, as it is said, is then a wise man, and 'hath his eyes in his head,' Eccles. 3:4. He knows himself, his state, his enemies, and adversaries, the snares of prosperity and adversity, and of all conditions, &c. Therefore, he being awake, is not overcome of the evil of any condition, and is ready for the good of any estate. He that hath a waking soul, he sees all the advantages of good, and all the snares that might draw him to ill. Mark 13:37. What a blessed estate is this!
In all things therefore watch; in all estates, in all times, and in all actions. There is a danger in everything without watchfulness. There is a scorpion under every stone, as the proverb is, a snare under every blessing of God, and in every condition, which Satan uses as a weapon to hurt us; adversity to discourage us, prosperity to puff us up: when, if a Christian hath not a waking soul, Satan hath him in his snare, in prosperity to be proud and secure; in adversity to murmur, repine, be dejected, and call God's providence into question. When a Christian hath a heart and grace to awake, then his love, his patience, his faith is awake, as it should be. He is fit for all conditions, to do good in them, and to take good by them.
Let us therefore labor to preserve watchful and waking hearts continually, that so we may be fit to live, to die, and to appear before the judgment seat of God; to do what we should do, and suffer what
we should suffer, being squared for all estates whatsoever