The feet of the Harlot abide not within her house, neither will thy affections easily within the House of God; doth not experience tell thee that they love to be gadding, and therefore require a strong and vigilant guard. Parents set their Children before them at Church, and have their eyes much upon them, because otherwise they will be toying and playing; truly so will thy heart, if thine eye be not on it. Alas thy heart in duty is like one that looks through an Optic Glass on some small object, with a Palsy hand, its long before he can discern it, and as soon as he hath found it, so unsteady is his hand that he hath lost it again; therefore it behoves thee to keep it diligently, and to watch it narrowly: There is a bottomless depth of deceit in thine heart, how unwilling is it to a duty? how much wandering in a duty? how soon weary of a duty? The heart is ⟨p. 114⟩deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who knoweth it? Jer. 17.9•. Take notice of the centre of the poison, the heart is deceitful; a deceitful hand is nothing so dangerous as a deceitful heart, when poison gets to the very seat of life, in what danger is a •oul of death. Here is also the measure of the pollution; The heart is deceitful above all things, the best part is unspeakably poisoned. The Prophets expression hath a three fold gradation. First, there is deceit in mans heart, it is a word used of ways Isa. 40.5. which are full of windings and •urnings, and therefore are hard to be found; so is mans heart full of nooks, and corners, slights and craft, and so doth easily supplant us, it hath not only weakness and proneness to be deceived by others, but also an activeness and aptness to deceive it self. Secondly, there is the degree of its deceit, and indeed it is beyond all degrees. The heart is deceitful above all things; No creature so sly and subtle as mans heart; Nothing in this World can equal it for tricks and wiles; Nay as this deceit of mans heart is so great that none can match it, so also it is so deep that none can find it, none can fathom it, Who can know it? The largest, the longest line of mans understanding, can never search to the bottom of this Sea. Thirdly, Here is the danger of it, The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
The feet of the Harlot abide not within her house, neither will thy affections easily within the House of God; doth not experience tell thee that they love to be gadding, and therefore require a strong and vigilant guard. Parents set their Children before them at Church, and have their eyes much upon them, because otherwise they will be toying and playing; truly so will thy heart, if thine eye be not on it. Alass thy heart in duty is like one that looks through an Optick Glass on some small object, with a Palsie hand, its long before he can discern it, and as soon as he hath found it, so unsteady is his hand that he hath lost it again; therefore it behoves thee to keep it diligently, and to watch it narrowly: There is a bottomless depth of deceit in thine heart, how unwillling is it to a duty? how much wandring in a duty? how soon weary of a duty? The heart is ⟨p. 114⟩deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who knoweth it? Jer. 17.9•. Take notice of the center of the poison, the heart is deceitful; a deceitful hand is nothing so dangerous as a deceitful heart, when poyson gets to the very seat of life, in what danger is a •oul of death. Here is also the measure of the pollution; The heart is deceitful above all things, the best part is unspeakably poisoned. The Prophets expression hath a three fold gradation. First, there is deceit in mans heart, it is a word used of ways Isa. 40.5. which are full of windings and •urnings, and therefore are hard to be found; so is mans heart full of nooks, and corners, slights and craft, and so doth easily supplant us, it hath not onely weakness and proneness to be deceived by others, but also an activeness and aptness to deceive it self. Secondly, there is the degree of its deceit, and indeed it is beyond all degrees. The heart is deceitful above all things; No creature so sly and subtle as mans heart; Nothing in this World can equal it for tricks and wiles; Nay as this deceit of mans heart is so great that none can match it, so also it is so deep that none can find it, none can fadom it, Who can know it? The largest, the longest line of mans understanding, can never search to the bottom of this Sea. Thirdly, Here is the danger of it, The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
