The heart delineated in its state by nature and as renewed by grace

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

THE HEART

Preface

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

In the following pages it is intended to illustrate the human heart. By this, I mean something widely different from that fleshly organ which performs the most important and the most vital functions in the body of man ; which has been so often laid bare by the knife of the anatomist, and technically described by the physiologist. I mean the seat and spring of

THE AFFECTIONS ; THE MORAL AND SPIRITUAL PART OF MAN ; IN DISTINCTION FROM THE INTELLECTUAL OR THINKING PART OF THE SOUL, AND SEPARATED BY A STILL BROADER AND DEEPER LINE OF DEMAR- CATION FROM THE MATERIAL BODY. That man

has A HEART, in this sense of the term, even wild and skeptical theorists allow, and the world at large/eeZ. The distinct nature of this spiritual organ is clearly recognised in many popular phrases daily used. What more com-

Vm PREFACE.

mon than the remark, that an individual " has much mindy hut little heart ?" and again, " a weak mindy but a good heart ?" To metaphysicians and physiologists I leave all subtle disquisitions on the subject. While some lose themselves amid abstract theories concerning the law^s and properties of mind and spirit, and while others busy themselves in reading the qualities of the heart in the external developments of the head, in tracing all moral sensations and acts to the influence of physical temperament consequent on corporeal organization^ I v^ould fain present some plain truths, in a plain way, to those who have minds to reflect and hearts to feely and who, leaving the philosophy of thought and feeling to others, are principally anxious to think and feel aright. To such I shall speak of the heart in a popular yet scriptural manner ; and I mistake if a familiar scriptural analysis and consideration of its several quahties will not do more towards the rectification of its many disorders than any speculations of " philosophy falsely so called."

The geographer, who would convey a just idea of any particular country, gives its outlines and prominent features, exhibits its state at dif-

PREFACE. tX

ferent seasons, notes its inhabitants, its culture, and its productions. The astronomer^ who would describe a planet, follows it through its wonted course, and depicts it in all its phases. The demonstrator in anatomy shows the joints, bones, nerves, and muscles of the animal man, both separately and in their mutual connexion and dependance. The accomplished physician, in descanting upon any viscus or organ, exhibits it in its healthful state and in its derangement ; in the regular discharge of its appropriate functions, and in its morbid action. My object is to give a graphic description, a faithful chart, of the spiritual region within ; to show the different phases of a spiritual but too erratic planet ; its darker and its brighter aspects, as it recedes from or approximates towards the sun and centre of light and life ; to lay open and exhibit the framework and texture of the inner man, so " fearfully and wonderfully made ;" to place before the reader the moral heart, in its soundness and its unsoundness ; as it now, with perfect regularity, sends the warm current of life and health through the system, or again as it labours under its occasional and fearful maladies.

X PREFACE.

The several states or conditions under which the heart will be presented are such as have been " noted in the Scripture of truth." These, it is trusted, will give a clear view of the subject, and, at the same time, be connected with sacred associations in the minds of the pious. It is a fair presumption, that " He who formed" the heart, who " knoweth what is in the heart of man, and needeth not that any should tell him," best knew what are its leading peculiarities, and by what terms they should be designated. In following, then, the divisions, and adopting the terms of Him " who spake by the prophets," we cannot greatly err.

Even a superficial reader of the sacred volume must be struck by one great distinction which there obtains — the distinction between

THE HEART AS IT IS BY NATURE and THE HEART

AS RENEWED BY DiviNE GRACE ; leading to an analogous arrangement of all mankind under TWO GREAT CLASSES, the UNRENEWED and the RENEWED. On this scriptural and stronglymarked distinction is based the main division of the present work.

In addition to this primary distinction, there will be recognised some of those minor peculi

PREFACE. XI

arities which the Spirit of God has deemed worthy of specification. Each heart has its own moral or spiritual peculiarites ; and even the same heart differs widely from itself at different periods. It is well, therefore, that these specific traits should be faithfully described, so that each reader may, in some portion of the work, as from a glass, see his own image clearly reflected.

It had been easy to have thrown this little work into the narrative form, or to have given to it the attraction of fictitious incident, the embellishment of a fancy dress ; but the author, from principle^ was unwilling to minister to what he has long deemed a vitiated public taste, or to swell the number of those sacred fictions which tend, he is persuaded, to enervate the youthful mind, to diminish the reverence of the youthful heart, and to clothe the hallowed form of religion in too light and loose attire. Having on other occasions publicly expressed his conviction of their injurious tendency, and awakened some attention to the necessity of a change in public taste and practice, he is disposed consistently to act upon his expressed opinions, and to hazard the experiment wheth-

XU PREFACE.

er truth may not be popularly and attractively presented, though it come in its own simple form, and rest only on its intrinsic merits.

Should the experiment succeed, and the present work be favourably received, it will probably be followed by others not unsuited to the Sunday-school Library, yet especially designed for the private reading of the Christian closet, and for the social reading of the Christian family circle, and intended to form a connected series, having reference to the discipline

of THE THOUGHTS, THE LIPS, AND THE LIFE of

the Christian, that he may be prepared for " THE dj:ath of the righteous" and " the resurrection of the just."

The work now offered has its origin in the strong promptings of duty ; in deep solicitude for the proper culture of hearts, whose sanctification is essential to present happiness, and whose affections and habits will go with them to the eternal world. May it be perused by you, reader, in that " honest and good heart," which " receives the truth in the love of it," under the solemn conviction that the eyes of " the Searcher of hearts" are upon you, and that all the secrets of your heart shall be made

PREFACE. Xm

known in the day of his account. Affectionately commended to your serious attention, it is also commended to the blessing of Him, " without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy," and " who alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful man."

B

PREFACE

TO

THE SECOND EDITION.

This work, at its first appearance, without the author's name, was favourably received, and an edition of one thousand copies was soon exhausted. Its repubhcation, then and subsequently contemplated, has, from various circumstances, been thus long deferred. At the present, when a growing tendency is manifested to the exaltation of that which is external and ceremonial, over that which is spiritual — to a religion of forms rather than the religion of the heart — the hope is . indulged that its presentation, after careful revision, and its wider circulation, will be found seasonable. A few slight alterations have been made, additional notes subjoined, and the closing chapter considerably enlarged.

St. Peter's Rectory, Dec. 2, 1843.

I

Chapter I. On The Knowledge Of The Heart

Can the Heart be known to itself? — Testimony of Scripture in the Case. — Precept of Heathen Antiquity.— How this Knowledge is to be attained. — Mason's Treatise. — Scripture the best Help. — To be consulted with Prayer for God's Spirit Page 21

CHAPTER H.

THE DECEITFUL HEART.

General Detestation of Peccz*.— Universal Deceitfulness of the Heart. — Paradox Reconciled. — Important Distinction. — Degree of Deceitfulness. — Its first Manifestation, reaction upon Self — Two Classes of the Self-deceived : their Description. — Influence of the deceitful Heart upon the Conduct. — Regard to Appearances not Hypocrisy. — Admirable Motto. — Attempt to impose upon God. — Not to be lightly charged upon the Unrenewed. — Danger to be apprehended . . .27

Chapter III. The Deceived Heart

Modem Liberalism. — Its Issue. — Based upon an Impossibility.— Isaiah's sarcastic Rebuke of Idolatry. — Sincerity of Idolaters. — Application of a fashionable Theory to their Case. — Their true State. — More common Cases in point. — Mental Error affecting the Heart. — Hopelessness of the consequent Self-deception.— Influence of a corrupt Life . . 48

Chapter IV. The General Depravity Of The Human Heart

The eidstence of Depravity certain. — Question actually involved. — Two prominent Theories. — Defectiveness of the Theory of Imitation. — Generic Corruption. —Doctrine of Transmission. —Positive Evidences of native Depravity. — Examination of Self. — Inference from human Conduct generally. — Testimony of Scripture. — Its explicit Declarations. — Its general Scope. — Importance of the Question discussed. — Difference between the two Theories illustrated 56

XVI CONTENTS.

Chapter V

THE DEGREE OF DEPRAVITY Danger of going beyond Scripture. — Assertion of Totality. — Term inapplicable. — The Inconsistencies it involves. — Opinions of Dr. Dwight. — Dr. Chalmers. — Bishop Sumner. — Other Testimonies. — Attempt at Reconciliation. — True Source of Danger. — Doctrine of Depravity to be inculcated Page 75

Chapter VI. The Evil Heart Of Unbelief

Natural Repugnance to the Appointment of Faith as the great Essential to Salvation. — This Appointment no unjust Assumption of Authority. — God farther vindicated by our Natural State. — Plea of Inability to believe. — Unbelief impeaches God's Veracity. — Consequences of Unbelief. — Exclusion of the unbelieving from Heaven not arbitrary. — Distinction between Intellectual Skepticism and the Unbelief of the Heart. — Evidences of Christianity. — How far valuable. — Rarely instrumental to Conversion. — Coleridge. — Insidiousness and latent Existence of Unbelief. — The Heart to be guarded against its Influence. — Danger which it involves .90

Chapter VII. The Divided Heart

The Term figurative. — Import of the Figure. — The whole Heart to be given to God. — Supreme Love to Him, how far exclusive of other Affections. — Human Affection the Dictate of Nature. — Taught in Scripture. — Want of natural Affection to whom ascribed.— Example of the Saviour.— Of his Disciples. — Inference.— Farther Illustrations. — Necessary Cautions.— Singular Coincidence, family Affliction.— By what the Heart is unworthily divided. — Evidences of this State.— Its Remedy. — Importance of Singleness of Heart. — A Motive . . . 108

Chapter VIII. The Hardened Heart— The Heart Of Adamant

Hardness, whether an invariable Attribute of the Heart or not. — Soon induced.— Induration is a personal Work. — The mode of Induration twofold. — Casual hardening, how effected. — Wilful hardening .-^Examples.— The Child.— The Youth. — The Man.— Bending of Principles. — Corruption of Practice. — ^Resistance against Appeals. — Degrees of Induration. — Preventive and remedial Discipline . . . .137

CHAPTER IX. Conclusion 160

CONTENTS. XVU

PART 11.

CHAPTER I. Introduction Page 167

CHAPTER n.

THE HONEST AND GOOD HEART.

The Idea of native Innocence not involved in the Term. — A Cause of Perplexity to those who reject this Idea. — Solution of the Difficulty.— Constituents of the honest and good Heart. — How far its Attainment is in the Power of Men themselves. — Necessary Indebtedness to Grace presupposed. — Human Effort. — Its bearing upon Prejudices, Indifference, and the general State of the Heart 177

Chapter III. Primary Influences— Spiritual Concern

First Influences of Grace not always obvious. — Inquietude and Self-dissatisfaction. — Illustrations of this State. — Different Exhibitions of it. — Next Stage, Religious Concern. — Derided by some, but natural and becoming. — Social Religious Concern. — Modem Perversions of it. — Revivals. — Its sober Statement. — Expedients of those under Concern. — Singular Case. — Treatment of those in this State. — Needless Notoriety to be avoided. — Anxious Class. — Anxious Seats . . . .189

Chapter IV

The Term figurative. — Figure analyzed. — Its Import. — Its Application.

— This State by some lightly regarded. — Indispensable to genuine Christian Experience. — Its Degree. — Distinction between it and the broken Heart popularly spoken of. — It will not be despised. — Relative Position of Repentance and Faith. — Mode in which the Heart becomes broken. — Its Evidences 201

Chapter V. The Broken Heart Bound Up

The spiritual breaking of the natural Heart was necessary. — Its binding up prevents the Charge of Severity against God. — It is a Divine Act.

— Vainly attempted by human Acts and Expedients. — Manner in which it is effected. — Illustrated by the Saviour's earthly Cures. — It is not a single and arbitrary Act. — There is no new and private Revelation. — Doctrine of Assurance. — Unscriptural. — Its injurious Tendency. — Explanation. — The Fact itself. — The proper Feelings of the healed Spirit 215

Chapter VI. The New Heart— The New Man

Spiritual Change.— Its Importance. — To be divested of all needless Mystery. — Reality of such Change. — How to be proved. — Illustrated by

B2

XVIU CONTENTS.

the future Change of the Body. — Argument from National Conversion. — Ancient Britain. — Southern Pacific. — Waste Places of Christendom. — Additional Illustrations. — The Change in the successive Stages of Life. — Reformation of particular Vices. — Inference. — An entire Change not incredible. — The Manner mysterious. — Its Nature.— Not of sudden Experience. — To what it amounts. — Opposition to the Doctrine of Spiritual Change. — Attempted Evasion on the Authority of St. John. — His Testimony fairly stated. — Testimony of the rest of Scripture. — The Doctrine held and taught by the Protestant Episcopal Church. — Authorities adduced. — Appeal to the Candour of the religious Public— Exception claimed in Favour of those religiously Disposed from Infancy. — The Claim examined. — Objection against the universal Necessity of renev^ral ansv^rered.— Appeal to the Reader.— Evidences of Conversion Page 231

Chapter VII. The New Man Maturing For Heaven

Distinction more fully stated between Change of Heart and Sanctification. — Case of St. Paul. — Importance of the Distinction. — Progressive maturing for Heaven. — Its Probability inferred from Analogy. — From Death, and the consequent Change. — This ripening for Glory not always exhibited. — Why ? — Description of the maturing Saint. — His probable secret Exercises and. Enjoyments. — Remembered Instances. — My venerable Neighbour. — Sketch of his Family. — The blind Daughter. — The Consumptive. — The young Convalescent. — A Word in Season,— Mrs. Graham.— Her Friend. — Ordinary Sanctification. — Causes of its Increase.— Influence of Age. — Reasonableness of this Influence. — Sickness a preparative for Heaven. — Examples. — The Widow's Son.

— H. M. of B .—My Sister. — My Mother.— Spirituality to be daily

sought and carefully preserved. — Conclusion . . , 276

Part First. The Heart In Its State By Nature

THE HEART, &c.

Chapter I. On The Knowledge Of The Heart

** Who can know it "

" Ye know not what spirit ye are of."

" Examine yourselves."

Can the heart he known by its possessor ? ty him whose spiritual being, whose identity and accountability it forms ? In other words, can it be known by itself? This is an important question. The interrogative exclamation of the prophet, prefixed to this chapter, seems to assert the negative in the strongest possible manner. The declaration of our Lord to his zealous but vindictive disciples shows that many do not know their own hearts, nor the motives under which they speak and act. The exhortation of the apostle to a careful examination of self proceeds upon the same presumption; and facts daily show that a vast majority of mankind know as little of their own heart as though it belonged not to them ; as little as they do of the unexplored and most remote regions of the earth, the mere names and positions of whick they have only heard. We often hear the expression, that such or such men "Aave no heart — no soulf^ and an ingenious and pious writer,* improving upon the hint, and drawing his inferences from the ordinary conduct of the mass of men, has presented us with " a world without souls J^ These men, to whom the very possession of a heart is popularly denied, feel, indeed, some of its more common natural affections ; they are moved at times by its fiercer passions, and they habitually obey its perverted tendencies. Yet they do all this, as it were, mechanically, just as the brute follows his instinct ; never asking themselves whence the prompting comes — whether it be right or wrong ; or what is the state of that exhaustless fund of thought, and spring of feeling and of action, from which they daily draw, and which sends its strong current through all the channels of the life. They ** care for none of these things" — they investigate them not — " these things they willingly are ignorant of" — as ignorant as they are of the deepest, the most inscrutable mysteries of God. Automaton-like, they move and act, but do not think ; moving and acting from impulse, not from principle. Such men (and, alas ! they are but too numerous), it is evident, cannot and will not know their own hearts, until their true state shall be revealed to them in the searching light, and amid the full developments of that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed.

"Know thyself" was one of the admired

♦ Rev. J. W. Cunningham.

precepts of ancient wisdom. This was no more than an exhortation to study and know the heart, for the heart constitutes the moral man. Yet heathen wisdom, while it gave the precept, could give neither counsel nor aid for its fulfilment. This was to be reserved for Revelation. In its fulness and perfection, indeed, this knowledge is not to be obtained on earth ; for the most exalted saint, through the imperfection of his discernment, and the deceitfulness of nature, will live and die in partial ignorance of self. After his best endeavours to know himself aright, he will have reason to be dissatisfied with the result, and to cry out with the Psalmist, " Search me, O God, and know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts ; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

To all who are anxious not to remain strangers to themselves, and to the busy little world of thought and feeling within them, we would earnestly recommend the careful and frequent perusal of Mason's admirable Treatise on Self-Knowledge, a work deservedly dear to the religious pubhc, and one which, it is believed, has produced as much of spiritual benefit as any other human production that has gone forth to the world. But infinitely above this and all other human aids is God's own Book. Let that be studied in an humble and believing spirit, and we shall soon ascertain what our hearts are by nature, and what they may and must be made, through grace, if we would escape condemnation. There, and there alone, we can learn the holiness of God — the nature, ofFensiveness, " exceeding sinfulness" of sin. There only we can learn what constitutes sin; how it lurks unsuspected under many a fair aspect and many a lauded action. Above all, there we learn to trace it in its connexion with ourselves — to see and to feel, not only that all men are sinners, but that " we have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." From general, careless admissions and assertions, we come to private and personal application — ^to home appeals — ^to humbling communings with our own hearts — to the tear of penitence — to the heart-prompted confession — ^to the prayer of faith and intensity. The mirror, not of falsehood and flattery, but of reality and truth, is held up before us. We behold our image clearly and faithfully reflected. Struck with our moral and spiritual deformity, pride and vanity being broken and dissipated as in a moment, we are constrained to say, " God be merciful to me a sinner !" " Lord Jesus, save me or I perish !"

And not less necessary are these Scriptures of truth to the confirmation of the believer than to the conversion of the sinner. Notwithstanding his faith, even he is in danger of " forgetting what manner of man he is," and ought to be. They who "knew not what spirit they were of," were disciples of our blessed Lord, in personal attendance upon hisT ministry. It was one of the most zealous of their number who merited and received the cutting rebuke, " Get thee behind me, Satan ; for thou art an offence to me : for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." So little did this same disciple know himself and his own weakness, that he averred to his Master, with all confidence, " Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended" — " Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." The sequel of this presumptuous confidence is known, and should be treasured up in memory by all Christian disciples as a solemn warning to themselves. Well, indeed, did the Psalmist express himself, when he exclaimed in prayer, " Who can understand his errors ? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins ; let them not have dominion over me." Now it is from his Bible that the Christian will best learn " to understand his errors." By it, " his secret sins will be set in the light of his countenance," and wo be unto him, if, neglecting that " Word of God," which " is quick and powerful, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," he suffers them to be for a time concealed from himself. They will not be concealed forever. Too large to be longer covered with the mantle of deceit, and too powerful for restraint, bursting all the C bonds of prudence and of decency, they will glare in the broad light of day, to his own shame and confusion of face, and to the astonishment and contempt of the world ; and, his own spirit being crushed and broken by the too late perception of their magnitude and power, and the finger of scorn pointed at him on every side, these secret offences will rapidly pass into those "presumptuous sins^^ which defy God, and cry from the earth for his terrible retribution.

But, that the Scriptures may thus enlighten our understandings, and give us sober and humbling views of self, they must be consulted with earnest supplications for the aids of God's Holy Spirit. Without this, the Bible may be to us " a sealed book and a dead letter." The lively oracles of God " will give no response to those who do but draw near," and stand and look upon them, but are too proud, or too negligent, to ask " an answer of peace." " The vail" may be upon our hearts, as it was upon the hearts of the Jews, when Moses and the Prophets are read to us ; yea, when the Evangelists and Apostles, and Christ himself, address us from these heavenly pages. To the Holy Spirit alone it appertains to " convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of a judgment to come." He only " can take of the things of God and show them unto us." With the Psalmist, then, let each of us pray, *'Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Give me the comfort of thy help, and stablish me with thy free Spirit." " Send out thy light and thy truth, and let them guide me and lead me to thy holy hill."

We have now seen it to be most difficult to know our own heart. Some never attempt the acquisition of this knowledge ; and even the most pious seekers attain it but measurably. A prominent cause of this difficulty and failure will be pointed out and discussed in the following chapter.

CHAPTER 11.

THE DECEITFUL HEART.

" The heart is deceitful above all things." " Let no man deceive himself."

" Lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." *' Cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacriiiceth unto the Lord a corrupt thing."

Perhaps no trait of human character elicits more general reprobation than deceit. The candid, the ingenuous, the single-hearted, turn in disgust from the man "whose words are softer than oil, while there is war in his heart ;" who speaks " with flattering lips and a double heart." And even this man, with all his guile, either ignorant of his true character, or anxious to conceal it from the world, is loud in his denunciations of his own characteristic vice, and in his professions of honest, uncompromising sincerity. And yet, while the whole human family profess to abominate deceit^ each member of it carries within him a deceitful heart. " The heart," says the Prophet Jeremiah, " is deceitful above all things" He speaks generally. " The heart," not of this man or of another ; not of the many or of the few; but the heart generally, as it is found in all living human possessors. Still, notwithstanding this sweeping declaration, which Scripture records, and which, as we shall see, facts corroborate, we would shrink from pronouncing deceit, as the term is understood, an inseparable attribute of human character. The common ingenuousness of childhood would put to scorn such an imputation. Its open countenance, its dauntless, upward-looking eye, its artless smile, all attest sincerity in the heart and speech. Should interest or fear prompt an attempt at evasion or deception, the yet unhackneyed spirit and untutored face betray the effort. The faltering tongue and stammering lips almost refuse to utter a falsehood, or, should the prompting motive be sufficiently strong to overcome this repugnance when it is uttered, indignant conscience writes its proof in the downcast, quailing eye, the tell-tale blush, the culprit look of the

THE DECEITFUL HEART. 3ft'

offender. This, then, would go far to prove that, although the tendency to deceit may be general, the quality of deceit is not a universal characteristic of our race ; that it belongs to the exceptions among us, rather than to all ; and this partial proof may be completed by remembering the universal odium in which it is held, the earnestness with which it is disavowed, and the rigour with which it is punished, when it breaks out into open artifice or fraud.

Here, then, appears a seeming paradox, that deceitful men are comparatively rare, and yet that all men have within them t "deceitful heart." This, however, is easily solved. The same term has different acceptations, and its meaning varies with its applications. Thus the deceitfulness of the heart, and deceitfulness, as applied to the peculiar disposition, to conduct, or to character, are essentially distinct. The one is of generic, the other of specific application. It would be deemed an insult to tell a man of mere ordinary worldly morality that he was deceitful ; but the holiest saint that lives would not demur to the charge that his heart is deceitful, yea, and " deceitful above all things." In the one case, the charge alleges peculiar moral guilt ; in the other, we only affirm an individual share in the universal frailty of poor fallen humanity. It is the vice of some men to be deceitful ; it is the misfortune C2 of all to come into the world with deceitful hearts.

The degree of this deceitfulness of the heart is confessedly great. The prophet uses no measured terms — " it is deceitful above all thingsJ^ When we trace it in its effects, this expression will not be considered extravagant, nor resolved into mere " Eastern hyperbole." That which deceives «//, and deceives all with ease, whether defective or acute in penetration, whether weak or strong in the faith, whether aware of its wiles, and armed against its assaults, or sitting in fancied security, whether with their will or against it, may surely be pronounced " deceitful above all things ;" and all this does the deceitful heart. It has put to naught the wisdom of the sage, and triumphed over the piety of the saint ; causing the wise man to become a fool, and the righteous man to " fall from his steadfastness." Over the ungodly it proves its power, by causing them to trust implicitly in its guidance, and then abusing the misplaced confidence to their ruin, by causing their evil way to "seem right unto" them, although " the end thereof is the chambers of death," and by crying to them " Peace, peace," and inducing them to believe the assurance, although the God of truth has declared from the heavens, and proclaimed over the wide earth, that " there is no peace to the wicked." And the righteous show their sense of it in their fears, their watchings, and, alas ! we must add, in their occasional discomfitures.