A Saint Indeed

Take heed Christian, least thy shop steal away thy heart from thy closet. God never intended earthly employments for a stop, but rather for a step to heavenly ones. O let not Aristippus the Heathen arise in judgement against thee, who said, he would rather neglect his means then his mind, his farm then his Soul. […] thy ship be overladen thou must cast some overboard: ⟨p. 212⟩more business then thou canst well manage, is like more meat then thou canst well digest, which will quickly make a sickly Soul.

Take heed Christian, least thy shop steal away thy heart from thy closet. God never intended earthly imployments for a stop, but rather for a step to heavenly ones. O let not Aristippus the Heathen arise in judgement against thee, who said, he would rather neglect his means then his mind, his farm then his Soul. 〈…〉 thy ship be overladen thou must cast some overbord: ⟨p. 212⟩more business then thou canst well mannage, is like more meat then thou canst well digest, which will quickly make a sickly Soul.

4. Mea. He that means to keep his heart must carefully observe its first declinings from God, and stop it there.

He that will keep his house in good repair, must stop every chink as soon as discovered, and he that will keep his heart must not let a vain thought be long neglected: the serpent of heart Apostasy is best killed in the egg of a small remission. O if many poor decayed Christians had looked to their hearts in time, they had never come to that sad pass they now are: we may say of heart neglects, as the Apostle doth of vain babblings, that they increase to more and more ungodliness: nemo repentè fit turpissimus, little sins neglected will quickly become great and masterless: the greatest Crocodile once lay in an egg, the greatest oak was once but an acorn: the firing of a small train of powder may blow up all by leading to a greater quantity: men little think what a proud, vain, wanton, or worldly thought may grow to: behold how great a matter a little fire kindles!