JEREM. 17. 9, 10.

The Heart is deceitful above all Things, and defperately wicked, who can know it?

Į the Lord fearch the Heart, I try the Reins, even to render to every Man according to his Ways, and according to the Fruit of his Doings.

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HIS Word Heart being a figurative Expreffion that occurs frequently in the holy Scriptures, I shall only obferve to you, that it generally denotes that more noble and excellent Part of Man which is furnished with the Powers of Perception, Reasoning, Memory, and Free-will, and is the only Subject of all his Senfations, Appetites and Paffions. It is probable that the Antients obferving the Heart

Heart to be placed in the Centre of the human Body, and to be a Member of principal Confequence to Life, might, for Want of Skill in the animal Structure, conclude from thence that it was the immediate Seat of the Soul, and were at first led by this vulgar Mistake into the Use of this Word, to fignify the Soul or Spirit or Mind of Man, which is the undoubted Sense of it in my Text.

Concerning this, it is there affirmed, that it is deceitful above all Things, and tho' it pretends to Honesty, Virtue and Truth, yet is defperately wicked; that is, it is oftentimes fo deceitful and wicked; that no Man, be his Sagacity and Penetration never fo great, can enter into the Secrets of another Man's Heart, and know perfectly all the Deceit and Wickedness that is concealed there: And not only fo, but that he is many Times deceived, even in his own Judgment, concerning his own Heart, and by an Habit of Self-flattery, and for want of due Attention, may come to a Persuasion, that his Heart is better than in Reality it is.

It is further affirmed, that to fearch the Heart, and know it perfectly, is the fole Prerogative of God; and that he actually F 4

does

does this, in order to render to every Man a righteous Retribution at the Day of Judg

ment.

I fhall offer my Thoughts to you upon the latter Verfe of my Text only, under three general Heads, which will take in all the Parts of it.

The 1st, That God has a perfect Knowledge of Men's Hearts.

The 2d, That this is the fole Prerogative of God, and can be affirmed of no other Being befides. I the Lord fearch the Heart, &c.

The 3d, That the Design and Intent of God's fearching and obferving Men's Hearts, is in order to render a righteous Retribution to every Man at the Day of Judgment; I the Lord fearch the Heart, I try the Reins, even to render to every Man according to his Ways, and according to the Fruit of his doings.

The 1st of these, namely, that God has a perfect Knowledge of our Hearts, is of the laft Importance, both to be true, and

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to be believed; because the very Effence of all Christian Virtue lies in the Sincerity and Uprightness of the Heart, and not in the Exactness of outward Performance; and if God could not discover this, and distinguish between an honest and a wicked Heart, there would be an End of all Motives to real Goodness; and the fpecious Hypocrite must ftand upon an equal Foot with the fincere and upright Man. But a firm Perfuafion that our Hearts are as open to God's all-feeing Eye, as our Faces, and that he fees all the hidden Springs of our Actions, and will try our Virtue by thefe only, at the last Day, this Perfuafion will kill Hypocrify at the very Root, and lay the only folid Foundation of Religion and a good Life.

And there can be no Doubt of the Truth of this. For it is most evident to our Reason, that God being the only self-existent Being, and confequently the Fountain and first Cause of all Things, muft neceffarily contain all poffible Perfections in his own Nature, and therefore must be infinite in Knowledge, and infinite in Prefence: For no Man can fay that these are not poffible Perfections, fince they may be conceived without a Contradiction. Now either of

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these will prove the Point in Hand. For if God be infinite in Knowledge, there can be nothing that he does not know, and the moft fecret Thoughts and Purposes of Men's Hearts cannot be hidden from him.

And the fame Confequence will follow from the infinite Prefence of God. For if he fills all Places and Things with the Plenitude of his Being, he cannot but know every Thing that paffes in the most secret Receffes of our Souls. All this is described by the Pfalmift, with the finest Imagination, in the 139th Pfalm. O Lord, thou haft fearched me and known me: Thou knoweft my down-fitting and mine up-rifing; that is, every Action of my Life. Thou understandeft my Thought afar off; that is, before it is conceived and formed, and confequently not then known, even to my felf; thou knowest the fecret Train that will produce it in my Soul. Thou compaffeft my Path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my Ways. Thou haft befet me behind and before, and laid thy Hand upon me. That is, whether I am in Motion, or at Reft, fleeping or waking, I am encompaffed by thee, and always in thy Power. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, from this infinite Spirit

that