SERMON XXXI.

PRAYER OF SAINTS FOR THE CONSTANT EXERCISE OF HOLY AFFECTIONS.

UNITE my heart to fear thy name. - -PSALM 1xxxvi. 11.

THE name of God, in this, as in many other places of scripture, is expressive of the whole of the divine character and perfections. The fear of his name denotes that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, and which comprises all that love, esteem, veneration, homage and obedience, which are due from man to his Creator. David's petition, therefore, appears to be a request that God would prepare his heart to worship and serve him in a sincere and acceptable manner. But if this were his meaning, it may seem strange that he should conceive his prayer in such uncommon and unintelligible terms. For where is the propriety of praying for a united heart? Is not the heart always united? Is it not something simple, undivided, and incapable of being disunited, and consequently of being united? If he had prayed that God would give him a good heart, a pure heart, a clean heart, or a wise and understanding heart, his expressions would have been easy and familiar, and his meaning plain and obvious; but when he prays that God would unite his heart to fear his name, it is not so easy to apprehend the propriety of the phrase, or the meaning of the petition. To set this good man's prayer in a plain and profitable light, I shall endeavor to show,

I. That a good man has but one heart;

II. What his heart is;

III. That it needs to be united; and,

IV. That it is proper to pray that it may be united.

I. I am to show that a good man has not two hearts. Though none may have said, in so many words, that a good man has two hearts, yet many have said what implies it. They have often asserted that a saint has an old heart and a new heart; that he has an old sinful principle and a new gracious principle; that he has an old selfish disposition and a new benevolent disposition; and that he has an old bad taste and a new good taste. All these expressions convey the same idea, and imply that every one who has been born again, or has experienced a saving change, has both a holy and unholy heart, or both a holy and unholy principle, or both a holy and unholy disposition, or both a holy and unholy taste; which amounts to his having both a good and a bad heart at the same time. That this is their real meaning, appears from their denying that a new heart takes away any part of an old heart; or that a new principle takes away any part of an old principle; or that a new disposition takes away any part of an old disposition; or that a new taste takes away any part of an old taste. They suppose that the old heart, or the old principle, or the old disposition, or the old taste, remains entirely the same after, as before regeneration. This supposition plainly and necessarily implies that every real christian, or subject of grace, has two hearts. But David was not of this opinion. He did not suppose that he had two hearts. He does not pray that God would unite his old and new heart, or his old and new principle, or his old and new disposition, or his old and new taste; but his one, only heart. Nor do we find a single instance in the Bible, of any good man's asserting, pretending, or saying any thing which implied that he had two hearts. It is no less absurd to say my hearts, than to say my understandings, or my consciences; but there would be no absurdity in this mode of expression, if the old heart remains the same after a new heart is given in regeneration. The truth is, the new heart destroys the old heart; so that a person after regeneration as well as before, has but one heart. Accordingly, God says to his sinful people in Babylon, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Here the giving of a new heart is represented as the same thing as the taking away of the old heart. And the apostle tells christians that by putting on the new man, they had put off the old man; and that by walking in the Spirit, they did not walk in the flesh. In a word, the whole current of scripture represents a good heart as excluding a bad heart; so that a good heart and a bad heart never exist in the same mind, at the same time. It is, therefore, as con

trary to scripture, as to reason and common sense, that a good man ever has two hearts. I now proceed to show,

II. What his one heart is.

As the eye, by which we discover external objects, seldom discovers itself, so the soul, by which we discover other things, seldom turns its attention inward to survey its own powers or faculties. And this is one reason why we find it more difficult to distinguish and describe the properties of the soul, than the properties of the body. We know, however, that the soul has neither length, nor breadth, nor figure, nor visibility, nor any other property of matter; and consequently we know that it is not a material, but a spiritual substance. As the soul is all

spirit, so it is all activity. We can form no idea of a dormant, inactive spirit. Separate activity from the soul, and its existence is no longer conceivable. But though the soul be all spirit and activity, yet we are conscious of its distinct powers or properties. We are conscious of having perception, reason, conscience, memory and volition. These are the essential properties of the soul; and in these properties the essence of the soul consists. We can form no conception of the soul as distinct from these properties, or as the foundation of them. The essential properties of the soul constitute its essence, as much as the essential properties of matter constitute the essence of matter. This is true, and is acknowledged to be true by a late celebrated author. Now if perception be distinct from reason, and reason be distinct from conscience, and conscience be distinct from memory, and memory be distinct from volition, then the heart must consist in volition, or free voluntary moral exercise, and in nothing previous to it, or the foundation of it.

We never attach praise or blame to the exercise of percep tion, or reason, or conscience, or memory; but we do attach praise or blame to the free, voluntary exercise of loving or hating, of choosing or refusing. The heart, therefore, which is the seat of all moral exercises, consists in nothing but moral exercises. It certainly does not consist in perception, or reason, or conscience, or memory; for these are all natural faculties, which are totally destitute of every moral quality to which praise or blame can be attached; but it may and does consist in loving and hating, in choosing and refusing; for these are free, voluntary exercises, which are always right or wrong, and worthy of praise or blame. Neither reason nor scripture affords any ground to suppose that the heart consists in a principle, or disposition, or taste, which is the root, or source, or foundation of all free and voluntary exercises. We never approve or disapprove of any thing in ourselves or others, but free, voluntary exercises; and God requires and forbids nothing but free and vol

untary exercises, in his word. All that the divine law requires summarily consists in pure benevolence; and all it summarily forbids consists in pure selfishness. Benevolence is a free, voluntary exercise, and selfishness is a free, voluntary exercise; and every human heart consists in a train of free, voluntary, benevolent exercises, or in a train of free, voluntary, selfish exercises, or in a train of both benevolent and selfish exercises. A sinner's heart consists in a train of mere selfish affections; but a saint's heart consists in a train of both benevolent and selfish exercises. The best of saints are imperfectly holy in this life; and their imperfection in holiness consists in their sometimes having holy, and sometimes unholy affections. Their holy and unholy affections are always distinct, and never blended together. Their holy exercises are never partly holy and partly unholy, but perfectly holy; and their unholy exercises are never partly holy, but perfectly unholy. A train of holy and unholy affections forms the heart of a saint; but a train of constant, uninterrupted sinful affections forms the heart of a sinner. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is evil, only evil continually. The only proper notion of any human heart, as distinguished from all the powers or faculties of the mind, is a series of free, voluntary exercises or affections. And the only proper idea of a good man's heart, as distinguished from the heart of a sinner, is a train of both holy and unholy affections, or exercises. So that the heart of a saint essentially differs from the heart of a sinner in this one respect, that the heart of a saint has some holy, as well as unholy exercises, but the heart of a sinner has no holy exercises at all. The next thing to be shown is,

III. That the heart of the saint needs to be united.

This appears from the description which has been given of his heart. It is composed of a series of both good and evil exercises, which are distinct from and diametrically opposite to each other. His good exercises, therefore, may be disunited from one another by the intervention of evil exercises; and then his heart is divided. When his good exercises follow one another in a constant succession, without any interruption by evil exercises, then his heart may be said to be united; but when his good affections are interrupted by those of a directly opposite nature, then his heart is ununited, and discomposed. The constant succession of good exercises may be sometimes longer, and sometimes shorter. Good men may be in the fear of the Lord, or in the exercise of holy affections, from day to day, and from time to time, for a long period, with very few interruptions. Or their good exercises may be interrupted from day to day, and from hour to hour, by evil exercises, for an

indefinite time. A number of good affections may be followed by an equal or a smaller number of evil affections; or one good affection may be followed with one evil affection, in a rapid succession. In all these cases, the hearts of saints may be said to be disunited. Such interruption in the succession of their holy exercises, they all experience. They find their hearts divided, and first drawn one way, and then another; first fixed upon God, and then upon the world. This was evidently the case with David, when he prayed to God and said, "Unite my heart to fear thy name." It is owing to the contrariety of affections in the hearts of good men, that they are so often required to act with a perfect heart, with the whole heart, and with all the heart; and that they are so often blamed for acting not with a perfect heart. While Caleb, Hezekiah, Job, and other good men, persevered in obedience to the divine commands, they are said to serve God with a perfect heart; but when Amaziah sometimes did, and sometimes did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, he is said to serve him, but not with a perfect heart. When good men act from discordant motives, they act from a disunited and imperfect heart. And how often do they find, upon reflection, this mark of their moral imperfection! But if their good affections followed one another in a constant and uninterrupted succession, their hearts would be united; and being united, would be absolutely perfect. The perfect holiness of Adam, in his primitive state, wholly consisted in the constant and uninterrupted succession of his holy affections. The perfect holiness of just men in heaven, consists in the constant and uninterrupted succession of their holy affections. Nor could there be the least moral imperfection in the hearts of good men in this world, if their affections were constantly holy, without any interruption by affections of an opposite and sinful nature. The reason why the heart of a good man needs to be united, is, because it is disunited by a contrariety of affections; and not because his affections are too weak, or low, or languid. If this were the case, there could be no propriety in desiring, as David did, that his heart might be united; but only that his heart might be strengthened, or his gracious affections raised to a higher degree of ardor. But if every holy affection be perfectly holy, without any mixture of sin, then the only way to raise the ardor of a holy heart is, to make the succession of holy affections more constant and less interrupted; or, in other words, to unite one holy affection so intimately with another, that there should be no time, nor room, for any sinful affection to intervene, interrupt, or cool the ardor of divine love. Having shown that it is necessary that a good man's heart should be united, it only remains to show,