A96093:1886
The beatitudes
The beatitudes: or A discourse upon part of Christs famous Sermon on the Mount. Whereunto is added Christs various fullness. The preciousness of the soul. The souls malady and cure. The beauty of grace. The spiritual watch. The heavenly race. The sacred anchor. The trees of righteousness. The perfume of love. The good practitioner. By Thomas Watson, minister of the word at Stephens Walbrook in the city of London.The beatitudes: or A discourse upon part of Christs famous Sermon on the Mount. Wherunto is added Christs various fulnesse. The preciousnesse of the soul. The souls malady and cure. The beauty of grace. The spiritual watch. The heavenly race. The sacred anchor. The trees of righteousnesse. The perfume of love. The good practitioner. By Thomas Watson, minister of the word at Stephens Walbrook in the city of London.
London: printed for Ralph Smith, 1660
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Quest. Quest. But if my heart be evil, must I keep it?
Answ. Answ. No, Cast away the evil of it, and keep that which is good; as when we candy fruit, we pare off the skin, cut out the core and rotten, and preserve that which is best; so do with thy heart; what is evil in it cast away; what is good preserve; if thy heart be hard, cast away the stone, keep it soft; if hypocritical, cut out the rotten, keep that which is sound; separate between the precious and the vile. The sin in thy heart throw away, the grace keep and cherish; in a word, do with thy heart, as they in the Parable did with the Fish, Mat. 13.43. They gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
This is the great Exhortation, Heart-custody; sinners look to your hearts; let not your hearts be bewitched, and stolen away with the pleasures of the world. Hos. 4.11. Whoredom and wine take away the heart; many have drowned their hearts in wine. Clemens Alexandrinus reports ⟨p. 545⟩of a certain Fish that hath not an heart distinguished from the belly as other fishes, but hath the heart in the belly; an emblem of Epicures, their heart is in their belly.
This is the great Exhortation, Heart-custody; sinners look to your hearts; let not your hearts be bewitched, and stollen away with the pleasures of the world.