A guide to godliness or a Treatise of a Christian life showing the dutiesA guide to godlynesse or a Treatise of a Christian life shewing the duties

And hereof it is that the Lord chiefly requireth the heart, according to that of Solomon, My son, give me thy heart. The which also David chiefly ¹required of him in the service of God; And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. It is, above all other parts, the sacrifice which is most acceptable unto God, according to that of the Psalmist, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. An ²upright heart is his chief delight, and though he requireth sincerity both in our words and works, yet above all, he desireth truth in the inward parts. ³And if the heart be sincere, and desireth to offer unto God perfect service, the Lord passeth by and pardoneth our imperfections, and accepteth as perfect, our weak and worthless endeavours; according to that of the Apostle, If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man ⁴hath, and not according to that he hath not. An example whereof we have in Jehoshaphat and Asa, who though their inward corruptions did break out into divers open sins, yet because they prepared their hearts to seek the