Heart-Life

Eep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’* As good” housekeeping ‘* is essential to domestic comfort, so good heart-keeping is essential to healthful and happy piety.

The word of God represents the human heart as a dwelling. The unconverted heart is a habitation of the Evil one, with his brood of unholy thoughts and sinful tastes and passions. When Jesus Christ first enters this dwelling-place of the Evil one, he finds it fearfiiUy filthy and out of order. The first work of the Divine Spirit is to cleanse the house. Every room must be entered and purified. Into the stately and sumptuous drawing-room where Pride held court, the lowly Saviour enters, and expels the occupant. From the walls of Sensuality’s chamber many wanton pictures have to be taken down. The deserted and cobwebed closet of Conscience is entered by the. of Truth, and is thrown open to th

Memory is another apartment of the mind which the Holy Spirit renews for a higher and holier use. Ranged on its shelves he finds the stores which were brought in through the five doorways of the senses. Much of this accumulation is but rubbish. Christ does not destroy this faculty; He simply makes it henceforth a granary of truth. A sanctified memory is the soul’s store-room. We pity the man with whom this is but an empty garret or a confused lumber-room, heaped up with accumulated things, so hopelessly mingled that its owner can never lay hands on what he needs at the moment. With a devout believer the memory is a cabinet of curiosities of God’s love. In no apartment does Jesus abide oftener than in this; here the alabaster-box of gratitude is broken, and the room is filled with the sweet odour of the ointment.

There is also a chamber of Taste, from whose window the lover of beauty looks out on magnificent landscapes j and at midnight up into the starstudded vaults of Heaven. There is a lofty watch-tower where holy Vigilance keeps guard to espy the approaches of the- enemy. Woe unto the Christian when the sentinel falls asleep on the tower! Over the doorway to this turret the Spirit has written, “Watch unto prayer!” “Blessed is he whom his Lord when He cometh shall find watching.” From this tower Faith often looks out through the spyglass of the promises, and catches bright glimpses of the celestial city which lies at the end of the way.

Heart-Keeping.

For glimpses such as these
My willing soul will bear
All that in darkest hours it sees
Of toil and pain and care.**

We must not overlook one room in a converted heart, though it be ever so small or ever so secluded. It is the secret “closet*’ where faith holds sweet fellowship with God. It is fragrant with the presence of Jesus. Here stands the mercy-seat. To this inner sanctum Faith keeps a golden key, inscribed, “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; pray without ceasing.” Over the door she readeth the inviting words: “Enter into this closet, ‘and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.’” On the walls are inscriptions written in moments of devout intercourse with God, when the meditations of Him were like the droppings of the honeycomb.

This is Faith’s stronghold; here she equips herself for the daily conflict. Silence in that closet of prayer bespeaks death throughout all the house. When that door is suffered to rust on its hinges and that chamber is deserted, then the heart-house is soon retaken by Satan, and evil spirits come in and dwell there.

To keep this house with all diligence is the primal duty of every one who bears the name of Christ. The object of this little volume is to offer a few counsels for the right keeping of the heart and the right conduct ol the ChrisUati YA^. ^oTae. ^1 •^^’^’^ brief chapters have been written out of our own personal experience; and some have been gathered during many years of observation of the experiences of others. How to keep Jesus in the inner heart, and how to glorify Jesus in the outer life, is the twofold secret of spiritual success and of final salvation.

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