A COURT OF GVARD FOR THE HEART.  
LONDON, Printed by Aug: Mathewes 1626.   

TO THE NOBLE AND FERVENT Lover of Religion, Sir GEORGE HASTINGS, Knight.  
SIR,  
MEEting with this Copy by accident, & per using it with observation and delight, I found it too worthy to be buried in obscurity, or confined to one private study. And though the reverend Author, (who is to me, after much inquiry, still unknown) for what cause I cannot guess, did omit to bless the World with so happy a fruit of his Labours; I presumed to bring it forth to that light, which otherwise it was likely never to have seen. Upon the hope to make that, which was at first good, so much the better, by being more public and general Not that it shall lie exposed to sale on every Booksellers stall, but only be commended into the hands of some few noble and worthy Persons. Among whom, I am principally encouraged by the certain knowledge of your Zealous affection to such holy Pieces, and Divine meditations, to Dedicate it and myself to the Patronage of your Worship not doubting of your gracious respect to so grave a Guest, and free pardon to  
Your Worship's unworthy Servant JOSEPH TAYLOR.   

A COURT OF GVARD.  PROV. 4.23. Keep thy Heart with all diligence, for out of it come issues of Life. 
NOne speaks more feelingly of a storm, than he that hath suffered Shipwreck; none, of the loss of innocence, more punctually, than the broken, the decayed, the bankrupt sinner: for as some men that have undone themselves by suits of Law, have yet got the knowledge thereby to be good Lawyers; or as other by their many diseases have out of their Apothecary's bills, made up a book of Medicines: so doth the dear experiment of our sins prove us good Counsellors for others, (though by a strange argument) because we have been ill ones to ourselves. There was a time when none kept his heart with less diligence than Solomon did, when if his wives had been made out of his side, as Eve was out of adam's, he had been a monster of seven hundred ribs at least; 
1. King. 11.3.  for so many wives he had beside his Concubines. There was a time when every wanton eye had a flame for him to sing himself by, every temptation had a picklock to his breast to enter in at pleasure; when his heart was like a shivered glass, reflecting so many several sins as there was pieces of it; his Cinque ports of senses, under an ill guardian, so many inlets for treason; himself a Captive, though a King, a slave in sin, though a Royal one: So that Tertullian durst say, Solomon quite lost that glory which God gave him. And Saint Ambrose with as much sharpness, but mingling with it a wish of pity, saith of him, He built God a Temple, but I could wish, he had not let the Temple of his heart to fall to ruin. There were not more workmen about the building of the one, than there were foul sins busy in destroying of the other: his heart went down fare faster than the Temple rose, as if God had meant successively in one pattern to have drawn to the life, the best of his graces, the worst of our sins; showing Solomon to the world, like the same picture with two resemblances; look on him on that side where God portrayed him, with his Intellectuals sublimed above his fellows, you shall find an Angel: step on the other side, where he drew himself in his own colours of Idolatry, you shall see a devil; For a sinner is no better, St. Peter himself having had that name (the only title of his, which the Pope leaves out) get thee behind me Satan. Let this therefore be the discovery of the Speaker, that he that knew what the loss of a heart was, gives you counsel cheap, which he dear bought. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it come issues of life.  
But I must not do Solomon that wrong as to gaze on him in his falling, not to cast a glance on him in his rising; beside, it may be my Text may suffer in it; the counsel may be less welcome if it be thought a condemned Sinner gave it: Yet we shall find, 
1 King. 17.6.  Elias refused not his meat, because a Raven (an unclean Creature) brought it to him: 
Gal, 1, 8.  Should an Angel preach any other Gospel than this (saith Saint Paul) let him be accursed; But, he saith not, should the Devil preach no other than this, Let this Gospel be accursed? Had Solomon at that time when he bended his knees to the Idol Asteroth (which by many of the Learned is thought to have been the statue of Venus, a fit Gods for his turn) had he then, I say, pronounced, that the true God were only to be honoured, should we retire our Faith from it because an Idolater spoke it? But to what end is it that Solomon's sins are shown in such a Scarlet, as if the whole sea of Christ's Passion could not wash it out? Why it needs be thought that he is damned, whose words, no doubt, have sent more souls to heaven, than there are letters in them; who was an immediate Secretary to God, nay, a Royal type of Christ: he sinned indeed, in that he was no type of Christ, no more was jonas in his flying away from God, or Samson in being deceived by Dalilah: yet both types of Christ. But it troubles them, that they find it registered, he sinned; but they find it no were that he repent. But their Divinity might teach them that in matters of fact, arguments of authority drawn from negatives are but weak; it is not written that he repent, therefore he did not repent, is but a lose ungrounded consequence: Where do they find that Adam repent of his sin in Paradise, Noah of his Drunkenness, or Lot of his Incest; are these therefore in the black-booke of the damned? But suppose it be written, what action shall Solomon have against them for so high an Injury? I am sure S. Jerome, whose credit may weigh down a whole College of Cardinals, though weighty Bellarmin makes one against him, cities a place for it out of solomon's himself, where the Septuagint translate it out of the original (though otherwise rendered in our English) at last I repent. 
Pro. 24.32  If this move not, yet let Gods promise be of some credit, which was made so firm for Solomon, 
2 Sam. 7, 15.  I will be his Father, he shall be my Son: if he commit iviquitie, I will chasten him with the rod of men, But my mercy shall not departed away from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. Mark the words, If he commit iniquity, he would chasten him, but how? with the rod of Men, But where in the Scripture, is the Rod of men taken for damnation? He would take his mercy from him; but how? not as he did from Saul that was a Reprobate; why therefore Solomon a reprobate?  
I confess the Fathers are not very tender handed in searching the faults of Solomon; but he that reads them, may soon find the reason was because the vulgar jews took Solomon to be Christ, for the noysing of him to be the Messiah was the cause (as some imagine) the Queen of Sheba took so long a journey to visit him; Therefore S. Ambrose well conjectures. God it may be suffered him to sin so foully, lest others should (induced with the rariety of his wisdom) sin more foully in believing him to be God; But shall we therefore infer God sufsuffered him to be damned? I would not pronounce it of the greatest sinner that I should see dye, though I should visibly perceive his sins to cover him like a cloud, as if they would keep God from looking on him, the devil waiting for him, as for a certain prey, yet I would not pronounce it? The ways of thy mercies O God, are past finding out, more unknown than the way of a Ship in the sea, or of an Eagle in the air. Let them show me how a flash of Lightning melts the Sword without making any impression in the Scabbard: I will show them as well, how at the instant of our death, 〈◊〉 mercy more sudden, and more penetrating than the Lightning, may melt our hearts into repentance, though outwardly the eyes of the standers by perceive it not. Of the two then, I dare say, the Pope offends the less, because more charitably in Canonising them for Saints, who for aught he knows are damned, than these do in damning them, who for aught they know are Saints. But I will no longer tract the uncharitable footsteps of Solamons' censurers; more I might say, to secure him from their malice, less I could not. I will leave them only with this advice, To bestow more time in saving their own souls; less, in damning of the souls of others! For Solomon saith not here, Damn another man's heart with all diligence, but Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it come issues of life.  
The best counsel that ever was from the most able Counsellor that ever was; for we have already discovered him to be no less than Solomon; one that leaveled the uneven ways of knowledge from the Cedar of Libanus to the Hisop that groweth on the wall; that had traced the Labyrinth of all secrets without a thread, and left never a knot in nature to untie; to whom God himself had said, There was none like thee before thee, nor shall any arise after thee that is like thee. Preferred therefore for his Wisdom by Abulensis, before Adam in his Original perfection: nay (that which toucheth us more ne'er) one that exactly known the true value of a heart, aswell by the loss, as by the enjoying. He it is gives you the advice, as a short exact drawn out of the large copy of his experience, Keep thy heart with all diligence: nor only so, he prescribs not as ignorant Empirics give Physic, take this, but ask me not why; or as Tyrants give Laws, obey this, my will is my reason: For he hath a quia for you, as well as a quid, a why, aswell as a what, For out of it come issues of life. Thy Heart therefore is a jewel, thy Body the Cabinet, the Guardian thyself; the Watch, all diligence; the motive of all, Life Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it come issues of life.  
The first survey shall be of the jewel, a jewel of Gods own cutting; he that only Lapidary, if you mark the fashion of it; you may easily find it, large and open towards heaven, but angular and narrow, and shut up towards the earth. Ask the Philosopher what the Heart is, he will tell you, It is the fountain of life, the furnace of heat, and centre of the blood: But ask the Divine, and you shall hear, It is a Ray, a Spark an Image of the Divinity; It is the soul itself in St. Paul's language, 
Rom. 10.10.  With the heart man beleeus unto righteousness. Make the heart of this thy people fat (saith the Prophet Esaiah) but why? 
Esay 6.10  Lest they understand with the heart. So that as St. Basil observes, The Court hath got the attribute of the Queen that dwells in it, the Queen the name of her Court, the Heart, the attributes of the Soul; the Soul in exchange, the name, the title of the Heart. To keep therefore thy Heart, is as much, as to keep thy Soul,: Nay, Saint Bernard will tell you, That to keep your Heart is as much as to keep thy God. For do but open thy several Closet there, and there you shall find a nest of jewels involued and shut up one within another. Open thy Heart, thou shalt find thy Soul there; open thy Soul, thou shalt meet thy Spirit there 〈◊〉 unfold thy Spirit, thou shal● see thy Faith; unlock thy Faith, and thy God will show himself. St. Basil therefore justly cryeth out unto us, Contemn not O man, this miracle within thee, do not undervalue the heart which God hath so enriched. What madness is it to think meanly of your Souls, which the Devil esteems so precious. He wageth war against God himself, he observes, he watcheth, he compasseth the world to gain one heart. If thou wilt not take some care to keep, what the devil bestows so much to gain, must it not follow that thou thinkest far 〈◊〉 of thyself then the devil doth?  
If nothing else will teach thee the value of they heart, know it is the only glass that God delights to look● in, it is a letter written by himself to himself, as well directed to God, as sent from him; the Inscription his, the Superscription his: It is 〈◊〉 Sacrifice, his Altar, and his Temple, it is a Sterling piece of Gods own Coin, a Medal on which he stamp his Image, and in that stamp thou mayst read thy value.  
I have said enough, but no● all, yet did ever any affirm the shadow to be worth the substance, or the Picture worth the face of him it representeth. Yet St. Augustin● hath a strain above this, with so exact completeness was our Redemption accomplished, God laying down at stake his soul, for the soul of man that was forfeited, as if the soul of a sinner were worth the soul of his God. Bold words, holy Father, the soul of a sinner worth the life of his God: worth those stripes, those buffet, those rivers of blood, that Passion, nay that Death? Had not the least drop, or the easiest groan of Christ, been ransom enough for more worlds, than there were ever men from Adam to this hour. Had not the very act of descending from his Glory into the bosom of the Virgin merited as much. Yet such was the will of our blessed Saviour, that could it be supposed there were but one lost soul in all the world, imagine it were only thine, yet he would have come into the world, & would have suffered all those torments, to have saved that one Soul of thine, for Christ died as much for one as for all; in the share of his Passion as in the enjoying of the Sunshine; All hath all, every one hath all. I can go no higher in the valuing of this jewel; it shall be my wish that none here ever go lower in the esteem of it. St. Cyprian was of the mind, That if the meanest or the poorest man amongst us did but know how noble his heart were, what honours, dignities, and privileges it had, he would scorn as much to dishonour it with sin, as a great Prince would do to pilfer for his dinner. For do but think with yourselves, what have your dear, your familiar sins in them, worth a heart that God hath died for: before you part with it, look upon it; a Prodigal will do so much for his money, though he throw it away afterward: see what you change, see for what, observe from whom you take it, to whom you give it, remember what sorrows it must suffer, if you part wath it. When you have done this, St. Austin lets you lose, Sin if thou canst whoere thou art, for either thou art already an incarnate Devil, or by this thou shalt overcome the Devil. Thus let me leave this jewel a while in trust with your ears, till I have found a Cabinet for it, which is my next Search, thy heart.  
Souls once separated needs no looking too, but while they are here united, they are neither without their Prisons, nor their Guardians: Seneca saith, These pillars of bones that we see covered with flesh, spread over with Nerves and veins, the Face, the Breast and Hands, make up but one Fabric of a Prison, to keep the unruly Heart in: Prison and Prisoner both at a time; For saith Tertullian, As soon as the prison is made, the prisoner is in. But Epictetus will not grant the body a name of so much strength as a Prison, with him it goes for no more than a China dish, an artificial dirt, or Clay neatly made up. Plautus the Comedian hath an other strain for it, he calls man the Saltseller of his own soul. But as it is a defence which women use, when it is urged to them, why there should be left in Story, more arguments of the malice of their Sex then of men: to answer that, the reason is, Because men are the writers of those Stories, not women: So we may use the like in these titles, of disparagement of the body, That the Soul was the Inventor of them, not the Body. But whether a Prison, or a Chinadish, or a Saltseller, or what else they please to call this outward frame of ours, it must needs be the only Casket of this jewel which we have so highly prised: nor shall we less in a proportion esteem the Caskee the the jewel Teroul saith, Far be it that God should for ever forsake that Body which was the Divine work of his own hand, the Masterpiece of his Art, the Vial of his breath, the Heir of his bounty, the Priest of his religion, 
1 Cor. 8.16.17.  the Soldier of his testimony the Sister of his Christ: If Tertullian weigh to lieghly Saint Paul's Words in the Scales: Know ye not that year the Teple of God, that the Spirit of God dweleth in you? If any Man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the Temple of God is holy, which Temple you are. It was scoffe● put upon Galba, a Roman of better wit than face, that Galbas' neat wit had a foul dwelling; But the Christian needs not fear any such byword, for Saint Cyprian saith, That the Flesh of a Leper is as fair to God, as his that is bathed in Milk and Spices; Nor can a good Soul ever complain justly of an ill lodging for though the walls of this thy House of Flesh totter with a Palsay, though they flame about thee with a Fever, or fall to ruin with old Age, though thou art become an entire Hospital of all Diseases within thyself, yet as long as thou hast not parted with this jewel of solomon's, if neither thy eyes have pauned it to Lust, nor thy ears mortgaged it to Vanity, nor thy will sold it our right to presumptuous & to reigning Sins: If it be thine own Heart in thine own Body (for to alienate one, is to make away both, for let none think he can give away his Body to his Sins, and keep his Soul for his God) but if both be thine, be assured God will keep both of them thine, & will make up the defects of both If both be not thine, pour out thy prayers, that it would please thy angry God to give thee thyself again, that Christ's wounded heart may send thee back thy heart vnwounded, with this, with this warning revited through the midst of it, Hereafter, keep thy Heart.  
The Soul is so insinuated into the Body, with so ne'er so close a combination, that it posed Tertullian (as himself confesseth) to distinguish, Whether the Body Carried about the Soul, or the Soul the Body. On the same hinges we may hang another doubt, which may be said to keep the other; For look on the Soul discussing, deciding, & commanding all, you will say, she is the Guardian: Look again on the Body, see in it the several stations of the Senses; the Eyes watching, the Ears listening, all standing Sentinels, & the whole frame of it like a well built Castle, it might tempt you to believe, that the Body had the charge given of keeping the Heart. But since the Guard may as well be said to keep the King, as the King the Guard, we will leave the care between them, wishing them, that neither of them answer as Kain, did, 
Gen. 4.9.  Am I my Brother's keeper. For the Heart will one day give account for the lustful wand'ring of the Eye, the Eye shall give account for betraying of the Heart. Tertullian saith, The same fire shall then hold them, that normally in the same flame; colleague fellows they have been in sin, and God will not part them in the punishment.  
The best resolution then of these words willbe, Heart keep thyself. But it is a high way saying, That he that learns of none but himself, hath a fool to his teacher. How then shall the heart that is kept by none but itself, have no wiset a Guardian? I fear no wiser. David hath therefore found out another for the custody; For (saith he) unless God keeps, 
Psal. 127.2  the watchman waketh but in vain. He that keeps the Spheres in their motions, the Sun with a whole army of jesser lights in their courses, he that sets the Sea his bounds, Thus far shalt thou pass, but no farther; He that hangs the whole World upon the Hinges, is as careful of thee as of the whole world; nor doth he leave thee only to his general Influence, as Pelagius (too proud of the strength of his own Heart) would have it; He doth not wind thee up as a Watch, then give thee up to thine own motion, but saith Saint Austin, When he hath sent his Graces as Harbingers to prepare thy heart, he continues them there to guard thy Heart: Do but recount to yourselves the Stories of your own lives. Remember how often your hearts have been resolutely set on such, or such a sin, yet God hath diverted them: How often have your tongues been ready to blaspheme, or slander, yet God hath stopped them; and your hands prepared for a mischief, yet God hath stayed them. How this affects you I know not, but St. Augustin was so taken with it, when he thought on't, that it made him speak those words 〈◊〉 which nothing but such a zeal, such a devotion, as St. Augustine had, could make warrantable? Such are the mercies of God (saith he) to my soule● that I can scarce imagine God doth any thing else, but study how to save me; as if he had forgot all the rest of his creatures, to have the more time to look to me alone.  
Nor is this all; but as great Princes will have their Servants attend on him whom they honour: so God command's the glorious Angels to wait on their Hearts, on whom he casts a gracious eye, nay, They are no longer Angels, (as St. Gregory well observes) than they are so employed: For according to S. Austin, An Angel is a name of Office, not of Nature. They are always Spirits, but not always Angels, for no longer messengers from God to man, no longer Angels; since only to be a Messenger, implies to be an Angel.  
That every one of us hath a several Angel deputed for his guard from his nativity, is the judgement of some of the learned Fathers: Saint Hierome proves the dignity of the soul by that argument, St. Basil as confidently says That every true believer hath his Angel: the like says Origen of every one that is baptised. Others of later times, have gone so far, as to affirm, our Saviour Christ while he lived on earth, had his tutela●● Angel: because it is said that when he was in that bloudyagony in the Garden, 
Luke 22.  there appeared an Angel from heaven comforting him. But the bold forehead of the jesuite Maldonat, blusheth at this, rejecting it for a Paradox, That he that was the true God should want the guard of one single Angel. Beauties' Meditations have elevated him to so high a fancy, as to find out, that in every Kingdom there are two Kings, a Man and an Angel; in ever Diocese two Bishops, a Man and an Angel; nay, in the Catholic Church two Popes without a Schism, the one a visible Man, the other an invisible Angel. But we knowledge is bounded o● the one side with the Scripture, on the other side, by ou● own modesty, do willingly forbear to give you dreams instead of Revelations, Fancies, instead of Truth. Whether every Soul of us hath a several Angel for a Tutor● Let it rest with those Fathers that thought so: But whether each of us hath a bad Angel to oppose, as a good to assist, as Maldonat thinks probable? or whether at the resurrection, every man's good Angel shall gather together the bones of him he guarded, as Suarez teacheth: Or as Bellarmine will have it, In the Chair of Rome there be seated an invisible Pope, as well as a visible; Let the jesuits only determine, that have made themselves a false Key to the Cabinet of God's secrets. It shall suffice us to whom the Foolishness of the revealed Gospel is sufficient, That he that makes his Angel's ministering spirits, 
Heb. 1.7.  & his Ministers a flame of Fire, hath given his Angel's charge over us, 
Psai 91.11  to keep us in all our ways. 
Daniel 10  In Daniel we find but one Angel to guard a whole Kingdom, all Persia. 
Genes. 32.  In Genesis two Armies of Angels to keep one jacob. Of their protection we are certain, of their number whether one or more, we may be with religion evough uncertain. That which concerns us nearest, is to make such use of it, which St. Bernard doth on those words already cited; He gave his Angel's charge over thee. O what reverence should these words strike in thee, what devotion should they stir up, what confidence to hear that thy Angels are thy guides, to hear that they are not only present with thee, but present for thee: they are the conjuring words of that devout Father, Let me beseech you Brethren, that ye would not commit those foul sins in the sight of the Angels that keep you in the eyes of God himself, which you would not do if no more than I were by? If you will needs sin (saith St. Basil) choose out some place where neither God nor his Angels are; but if their be no corner so dark, so solitary, so secret, but they are there, let there as well be no place for you to dare to sin.  
I have shown you the attendance of the Angels under God the great Keeper of all hearts; That there is a heavenly watch daily set about us. I will only add this out of St. Basil, That God, nor his Angels never part with us, till we make them go, that only our sins dismiss this Watch. For as smoke drives away Bees (saith that Father) or as ill smells chase Pigeons from their Dovecoats, so doth the smoke, the stench of sin drive God from us with all his Angels. Let not therefore the unregenerate Sinner complain that his Heart is not in Gods keeping: For had he not thrown dirt on it himself, nay, had he not razed out of it the Image of the Deity, as a Thief doth the mark of stolen Plate, that the owner should not know it, God had still kept it. But he keeps no defaced Hearts, nor yet no counterfeit; he keeps no careless, unregarded, throwne-away hearts. Heart keep thyself, must be the watchword; that passion that meets thee without that word, let it not live a minute longer; for there is no greater Treason than self-treason, when the betrayer, and the betrayed, spell but one man.  
But it troubled St. Austin much, how the heart should keep the heart, when the heart would so seldom obey the heart. It makes him begin with admiration; The mind commands the body, it is obeyed; the mind commands itself, it is resisted; bid thy feet stir, or thy hands move, or thy eyes turn, in a moment it is done, with such ease and suddenness, that you can scarce distinguish the performance from the command: but the Heart commands the Heart, to will this, or that good; which it had not commanded had it not willed, yet doth it not will what is commanded. He ends with the admiration he began, What Prodigy is this, what Oedipus shall unriddle it? But the good Father finds it out at last, For (saith he) the Heart turns but half a fide on good actions, it looks on them but with one eye; if it chance to bid farewell to sin, it is as foolish friends part, with many lookings back, many excuses, still one farewell more. When Saint Austin himself in his younger days, prayed to God for Chastity, he confesseth he could not keep his rebellious heart from adding, give me chastity, but not yet O God, let me have some pleasure more. No wonder then if the heart be not obeyed, that would not be obeyed: if sin depart not, when the heart will not let it go. To close up this, if we banish sin, it must be withal the heart; if we entertain God, it must be into all the heart. If we keep our hearts it must be withal diligence: So shall we be able to bear a part in the Prophet's song, My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready, for I have kept my heart with all diligence.  
Thus have we seen the jewel that is guarded, the watch set, the watchword given; we are now to walk the round to see the Discipline: For St. Bernard will have Solomon here mean a Military watch, that is, keep thy heart through all the watches of the night: So that we all lie perdue under Martial law, he that sleeps dies for it. The Original word Samarah (as it is observed by Scalager) will well bear it: for it not only signifieth the place, the station of the watch: as it is said in Baruch, the Stars shined in their watches. But the action of the Watch itself, as David useth it, 
Psal. 130.6  My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they that watch unto the morning, I say, then they that watch unto the morning. The Ancients divided the night into four Watches; two from the Evening to the first crowing of the Cock; two from the crowing of the Cock to the rising of the morning. These night watches Origen seconded by St. Austin, compared to the four ages of man, his Infancy, his Youth, his Manhood, & his Old Age: So that you may now perceive what it is to keep your hearts all the Watches of the night; it is no less than from thy Cradle to thy deathbed; from the first moment that God kindled a light of knowledge in thy heart, till the last when he shall put it out: a light indeed so dim, that the Fathers doubted not to compare it to the night; yet by that light, by that weak light, that glimmering, we are all to watch; Nor did our Saviour blush to be likened to a Thief that should come in such a night; for he that took on him our Nature, shames not at the name of our vices; so that he by that name may keep us waking? But whether he come as a Thief, or as the Master of the house in the second or third watches, 
Luke 12.38.  blessed are the servants whom he finds thus watching. But why in the second or third only, St. Gregory makes question of? why names he neither the first watch nor the last? He answers, the first is implied in the second, but the last is left out as desperate. He that dreams out the first watch, may awake in the second, he that shuts his eyes in the second, may open them in the third: But he that drinks down sin like Opium to sleep with it, till the convulsions of old age, or the last cramp of death awake him, 
1 Sam. 25.  shall be like wretched Nabal who when he had slept, found that his hart was dead within him. But let me beseech you brethren to awake before that hour awakes you; to remember how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of an angry God, whom ye have so often mocked with delays, as you meant to cozen yourselves to hell in spite of heaven. Yet make a stand, look back on the time, which you have rather thrown away then spent 〈◊〉 flatter not yourselves, that the last Watch is fare from you, for none is truly young that is old enough to dye: To shut up all, use but that wit, that study, that diligence to save your souls, which you have done to damn them. For God requires no more of you, than his enemy; you have spared neither time, nor cost, nor trouble in the Devil's service, You have lost your hearts with all diligence; In God's service do but so much, Keep your hearts with all diligence.  
Neither Love, a Kingdom, or the Deity endures a sharer, neither a divided diligence or a divided heart can serve God's turn. Though the Translators therefore differ, whether it be Custodia, Cura, or Munitio, whether ex or prae be affixed, yet in the entireness, in the word of latitude, they all agree; For, whether we look upon the watch we set about our hearts, it must be no slumbering, no supine, nor intermitted watch; or on the care with which we watch, it must be no lose, scattered, distracted, or aguish care that comes by fits; or on the places, from whence we watch the Forts or Block houses, the inward or outward senses, all must be man'd. Since therefore sin assails every where, we must be armed every where. If we do but observe nature, we shall find by her placing of the Heart, how we should keep it: First, it is seated with all advantage of intelligence, almost in the centre of man, with a curious net of veins, spread from it over all the body; like the Spider in the midst of her web, which feeling the least touch that shakes her work, retires instantly from the danger: So should the Soul shrink at the least noise, whispering, or murmur of sin, it should avoid the very compliment, the first address of it, and to be sensible of danger at the very sight, the glimpse of a Temptation. But this is not all that Nature hath blest the Heart with; for besides this situation of advantage, it hath a double natural fence, the one more inward, a tender, though firm skin, to enwrap the heart with; the other, an outward strong wall of ribs. St. Cyril in his book of Adoration, bids us note it as remarkable, That the first ruin of this wall was in Paradise, when God took a rib out of Adam to make a woman of: so that the forming of our first Mother, hath caused many of her Sons the losing of their hearts; For as St. Cyril follows the Allegory: Ever since that time, sin assails the heart at that place where it wants that rib for to defend it. St. Gregory Moralizeth the Ribs into so mamy rational Virtues encompassing the heart like the strong men about the bed of Solomon, The tender skin of the heart he makes to be the tender Conscience, For he that wraps not up his heart in a soft, a clean, and unseared Conscience, is either about to make a forfeit of it, or hath already lost it. That therefore we may imitate Nature, Let the Heart nover be unguarded, let religious meditations be as veins to convey pure thoughts from it, constant vnshaken resolutions be the nerves, let a wall of Virtues, immure it instead of Ribs, a clear Conscience in lieu of a defiled; so shall we find the motive of all, made good, For out it come issues of life.  
It was Plato's advice in his second Dialogue of his Republic, That every City should have his Fountain in the midst of it, his reason, that it might be readier for use, either for the ordinary employments of it, or if a casual fire should need the help of it. For the same causes thinks St. Christome, That blessed Fountain of, blood and water, broke forth out of our Saviour's side about the heart near the midst of him, that it might be equally near to all, that would either drink out of that eternal spring, or quench the fire with it, that either Lust or Anger had made flame. Like such a Fountain in the midst of a besidged City, should the Heart of man be among his many enemies. But poisoning of waters is the ordinary stratagem of war, nor hath our great Adversary forgot it, He knows that if the Fountain of Life be not spoilt, his broken Cisterns of death will never be frequented, nor can he ever call himself his Conqueror, whose heart stands out against him. It was the complaint of Italy in the Civil Wars: That as often as Rome was set on, she of necessity was the way of the War; but it fares worse with the Heart, For as it is the first part of the man that life's, the last that dies; so it is the first the Devil gives assault unto, and the last that he gives over; nay, were there never a Devil, the Heart hath anill Spirit of ' its own to trouble it. For as some Boroughs with us boast of the Privi ledge, that they may hang & draw within themselves: so is the heart of man such a Corporation, it may execute itself within itself, without any Foreign, either judge, or Executioner. For should we go no further than the thought, might we not make a shift to think our selves to hell? if we had neither hands, nor eyes, nor feet, would not our hearts find the way thither? I know we all keep an outward state with our sins, as Princes do with their mean Favourites, we will not seem to acknowledge them abroad, yet we hug, and play, and make wantoness of them in the inward Chambers of our hearts: as if ill thoughts at the day of Judgement would weigh no more than the air or the Sun beams do in the Scales against us: but at that trial we shall find, that without the mercy of our God, every lose lascivious thought which we take delight in, shall be as a sheet of Lead to help to sink us. Proclus tells us a story of Pollidorus the Tyrant, who in a vision saw his Heart thrown into a boiling Cauldron, where after it had been a while tormented in the heat, it cried out of the Cauldron to him, Apollidore, I am the cause to thee of all this. Nor may we unjustly fear, that their hearts will really cry out so, who now pass over all as in a slumber, whose ill thoughts daily usher them to ill actions, whose ill actions bring them in a circle back to ill thoughts again. For David found it out, The wicked still walk the round; First, they act a sin, because the thought hath pleased them; then they think that sin over again, because the Act hath pleased them; by a damned Arithmetic multiplying one sin into a thousand. How then, must this Fountain be so pure, may not the least straw, nor grain of dust be thrown into it? Cannot the Heart so much as play with the Devil? Are ill thoughts sin; Good thoughts that are not put in execution are not rewarded, shall then the ill ones unacted be condemned: Cannot the distinctions of the Doctors of Rome excuse, when our great God shall examine, may not we answer for our thoughts in the subtle Language of their School, That some of them were but first first motions, therefore no sins; others second first motions, therefore but venial sins. How the learned Papist may evade from Hell with this, I know not: but we dull Protestants have no such Art, we dare not venture on it. That all our inordinate thoughts are sin, is our Confession, for all is our sorrow, of all is our repentance.  
Nor is it a wonder that thoughts should be interpreted for deeds: For, St. Chrisostom showeth us, That as the Deed of the band is the out ward action, so the Deed of the Heart is the thought. Ye have heard, saith our Saviour, 
Mat 5.37.28.  it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not commit Adultery, but I say unto you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her, hath committed Adultery in his heart, already. For saith Tertullian, The will itself is imputed to it self, nor can the bear't because the deed is undone, having done the thought that itself could do, be excused.  
As Hannibal therefore was wont to say of the Romans, that they could not be overcome but in their own countrey, So let us use this Stratagem in fight against our sin in the very heart, the country where it breeds It was St. Bernard's advice to his Sister, to mark well what God said of the Woman to the Serpent, She shall bruise his head: He himself answers, The very head of the Serpent is then truly said to be bruised, when sin is there stifled, where it is first borne. 
Psal. 137.9  He is a religious Herod, that kills such Infants, nor shall he want the name of happy, that dashes these little ones against the Stone. The Hebrew hath it, against the Rock. A misery which concerns us all, cries St. Augustine, for the Rock is Christ: Doth the tender Conscience complain of young growing sins, of disordered unruly thoughts, that break in upon us in the midst of our prayers? Away with them to the Rock; That Rock hath strength to bruise them: doth Lust kindle a flame in our hearts of lose Lascivious regitations? Away with them to the Rock; that Rock hath water to quench them. Do we find God's anger kindled against us for these sins? Away again to the Rock, that Rock hath holes to hide us in. Moses was in the cloven of the Rock when he saw God passing by: but if we once get into the cloven of this Rock, God shall be always passing by, but never pass, so he is ours for ever.  
It can be neither time no● labour lost, that is spent i● cleansing of the Fountain, fo● if any one here would th●● minute make it his work 〈◊〉 God would be well please● 〈◊〉 to look down from he●●●● ven upon such Labourers, whom his Son hath already blest, saying, Blessed are the clean in heart; yet this is not enough: be thy heart as pure as Truth, as white as Snow, or Innocency, if it be a Fountain sealed up, only a wishing, a thinking, or intending heart; nay, I may add, if it be only a believing heart, if there be no good works, no issues of Life from it, then flatter not thyself that there is any life in it. Tertullian speaks of some in his time, That God well satisfied, if they acknowledged him in their hearts, however in their actions they denied him: Inferring from hence, that they might sinne without forfeit of their Faith; As if (saith he) they could commit a chaste Adultery, without wrong to marriage; or Religiously poison their Father, without loss of their Piety. But they that have the Art to sin, without foregoing of their Faith, may have as strange a conveyance, no doubt, to be damned without losing of their pardon. We should hardly say, a good House were kept, where we never saw the Chimney smoke, nor Alms given at the gate; nor can it be the thrift of a good soul, not to dispense it hath abroad: Howsoever our Clanculary concealed Saints imagine, should the natural heart contract all the heat it had within itself, neither it, nor the body could have a being. For as in Glass works though the fire be still to be kept enclosed within the Furnace, yet there is some vent, some breathing for it; So when the Spiritual Heart hath entertained a vestal fire of Faith in it; the hands cannot but be warmed with Charity, the Tongue heated with Devotion, and the Eyes sparkling towards Heaven; All the outparts must feel the warmth of it; for it is well observed, that it is not said, In it is life, but out of it come issues of life.  
To shut up all with an observation of St. Cyrils, The Heart of man is like the Rod of Moses, as long as he held it in his hand, it remained a Roll, but when he threw it to the ground, it turned to be a Serpent: nay, a Dragon, the Prince of Serpents, as Philo the jew saith. So the Heart of man as long as there is fast hold of it, as long as man is the possessor, God the Guardian, it continues still a Heart, but if our boisterous unruly sins once throw it to the earth, it changeth instantly, to be a Serpent. So let me beseech as many as hear me to day, whose Consciences this minute tells them, that their Hearts are turned into Serpents, and are now crawling on the earth, to stretch forth a hand of sorrow, a hand of true repentance, to take them up again, in what shape soever they appear. For he that was exalted on the Cross, as the Serpent in the wilderness, shall turn those Serpents into Hearts again, their gall and poison into Innocence, their sting of Death, into Issues of immortal life.  
Lay up therefore these Memorials ye that love your Hearts, Lay them up ye that do not, that you may love them. Remember the Heart is a jewel of Gods own cutting, the substance and fashion of it is heavenly. Remember it is the Glass that God delights to look in, why should you break it and scatter it? It is his Letter sent from Himself to Himself, why should you either blot, or falsify; or not deliver it where it is directed? It is his Coin, his Meddale, why should you undervalue it? It is his Sacrifice, his Temple, and his Altar, why should you profane it? But if the Devil hath any sin so powerful as to strike out the memory of all this: Yet remember it is that jewel, which Man having forfeited, the Son of God was fain to dye for to redeem it. So that he that dares lose his Heart again, dares crucify his God again. Remember next, the pure Eyes of the Angels, that like the eyes of a wel-drawne Picture, are fastened on you which way soever you turn. Remember the never-sleeping God that is all Eye to be your Guardian, until that your wilful sins dismiss him from you with all his Angels. Remember last of all, that this heavenly watch is not set about dead Treasure. That as the celestial Orbs have a motion of their own, though moved perpetually by the First Eternal Mover: So thought the Powers of Heaven be set to Guard you, yet this excuseth not the Guard you are to set upon your selves; for if a man keep not himself, God doth not keep him. Keep therefore your Hearts through all the watches of the Night; from the twilight, to the crowing of the Cock; from the crowing of the Cock to the dawning of the day; from the Mantle to the Winding-sheet; sheet; from the Cradle, to ●he Grave. Let neither ill thought pollute the Spring, nor foul deeds the River; so shall there from thence come Issues of life, not only the life of nature, which the worst men have, nor only the life of Grace, which the Good have here, but the life of Glory, which the Saints have in the world to come, Amen.