SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF THE HEART
OR CHRISTIAN RETIREMENT by Thomas Reed 1837 ON THE DECEITFULNESS OF THE HEART
The word declares, The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jeremiah 17
verse 9 The deceitfulness of the heart is so great that no
human penetration can discover its extent or detect its various
windings. Fully to know this hidden evil
is a prerogative of Jehovah. For when the question is asked,
who can know it? The important answer is given,
I the Lord search the heart and try the reins, even to give every
man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his
doings. The holy, ever-blessed Trinity, three persons in one
Jehovah, can alone raise man from the ruins of the fall, and
restore him to holiness, happiness in heaven. How vain, then, are
all attempts to renovate the old Adam. The ancient philosopher
and the modern rationalist have each found their boasted efforts
ineffectual in restoring the disfigured mind of man to moral
beauty. The arts of civilization may
indeed render the savage peaceable, domestic, and industrious, just
as a refined education gives to the more cultivated parts
of society that vigor of mind and suavity of manner which greatly
add to the enjoyment of social life. But without the sanctifying
grace of God, communicated through the faithful preaching of the
Gospel, the rude barbarian, though civilized, still retains his
blindness, respecting the true God and all his native propensities
to evil. If we turn our eyes from the
civilized heathen to his superior in the scale of intelligence,
the polished and well-educated inhabitant of a Christian country.
We behold in this latter character science, taste, politeness, all
that can charm the mind and imagination in the brilliancy of wit, strength
of intellect, and sport of flights of fancy. Yet even this polished
stone, cut out of the quarry of nature, and rendered so beautiful
by art, is still destitute of real worth. while devoid of those
qualities which alone can render it precious in the sight of God.
Such a character, the world's idol and the gospel's bane, is
held up as a pinnacle of excellence, while utterly abhorrent in the
eye of him who sees not as man sees, and who has declared that
while man looks at the outward appearance, he looks at the heart.
Hence we see the necessity of converting grace. whether in
the crude or more polished parts of the human race. In all, the
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
In all, sin reigns until divine love dethrones the tyrant and
brings a humble sinner to the feet of Jesus. We cannot have
a more convincing proof of the corruption of our nature than
that proneness which we continually feel to seek rest in the creature. and to find our satisfaction
in earthly things. This alienation of the heart
from God may and often does exist, to a most awful extent, under
the fair garb of amiability of temper, an accreditable profession
of Orthodox Christianity. It is, therefore, possible to
be highly esteemed among men, and yet be an abomination in
the sight of God. The Holy Scriptures declare that
God will not accept of a divided heart. We must love God supremely,
or we do not love Him at all. We must rest altogether upon
His grace as manifested in the gift of His beloved Son, or our
partial dependence will be found a delusion. The language of the
Almighty Father is, My Son, give me your heart. O happy hour when
the heart is cheerfully and without reserve given to a gracious God. As all sin lies in the departure
of the heart from God, so all holiness is concentrated in this
unreserved surrender of the heart to Him. Herein lies the secret
of holiness and of happiness. When the heart is once truly
given to God, when the affections flow delightfully towards Him,
When the will is swallowed up in the divine will, when the
whole soul is devoted to the service of its Creator, Preserver
and Redeemer, then the fruits of righteousness will appear
and abound. Then joy and peace will gladden
the heart, and hope and love will unite to prepare the believer
for his eternal rest. But it is most awful to think
how little the blessed God is regarded and obeyed by creatures
whom he has endued with reason and reflection. Man, although
formed to show forth the praises of Jehovah, is of all his lower
works the only creature who rebels against his sovereign will. The
ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib. But Israel
does not know, my people do not consider. The stork in the heaven knows
her appointed times, and the turtle dove and the crane and
the swallow observe the time of their coming. But my people
know not the judgment of the Lord. Listen, you foolish and
senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears
but do not hear. Do you have no respect for me?
Why do you not tremble in my presence? I the Lord am the one
who defines the ocean's sandy shoreline, an everlasting boundary
that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar,
but they can never pass the bounds I set. But my people have stubborn
and rebellious hearts. They have turned against me and
have chosen to practice idolatry. Jeremiah 5 verses 21 to 23 When
we read the sacred pages of revealed truth, What an awful catalogue
of crime meets our eye! What unbelief! What pride! What sensual lust! What covetousness! What supreme attachment to the
world! What daring independence and contempt of the Almighty!
What entire forgetfulness of God and abominable idolatries! What gross impurities! What envy,
malice, cruelties and love of murder! What deceit and fraud! What superstition, hypocrisy
and formality! What crimes of every name and
character stain the history of our fallen race! and proved by
an incontrovertible evidence that we are born in sin and are
by nature the children of wrath. For such a world of hateful sinners,
Jesus died. O stupendous miracle of mercy! Well may angels desire to look
into this mystery of love. But O amazing infatuation! Man for whom this mercy was provided! man to whom this mercy is offered,
man who so greatly needs it and who without it must perish forever,
is careless and indifferent, yes, most awfully opposed to
it. We do not dislike mercy, but
we dislike the channel through which it flows. We do not dislike
forgiveness, but we dislike the purity of heart connected with
it. We do not dislike heaven as a place of rest from toil
and sorrow, but we dislike those dispositions and affections which
alone can qualify us for the enjoyment of it. While we would gladly be saved
from future misery, we cannot part with present sinful attachments. Therefore we willfully renounce
the infinite joys of heavenly glory, and choose the pleasures
of sin, which are but for a season, with all their tremendous consequences,
in a future world. Awful delusion! Lord, save us
from such a miserable choice and condition! In the midst of
this general aversion to the humbling, purifying, elevating
doctrines and precepts of the gospel, there is in every age
a remnant according to the election of grace, who most gladly and
thankfully embrace the rich offers of mercy made to a lost world
through the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. These happy
souls receive Christ into their hearts by faith, obtain pardon
and peace through His blood, and are renewed in the spirit
of their minds through the power of the Holy Spirit. They walk
in humble fear and holy obedience, are admitted as heirs of glory
into God's everlasting kingdom, and reign with Christ their Lord
and Savior for ever and ever. Blessed Jesus, You who are the
kind Physician of souls, heal this fatal distemper of my fallen
nature, an earthly mind. Spiritualize my affections, elevate
my views, enlarge my heart, fill my soul with Your own Self. Let
me not grovel here below, fond of the perishing vanities of
time. Wean my heart from the transitory
enjoyments of sense, and fix my affections upon Yourself,
the eternal, unchanging Source of Good. O satisfy me with Your
mercy, and that soon. Hasten to help me, for You are
my God. Short-sighted man can only see
The outward form of piety. But God can in a moment dart
Within the caverns of the heart, To his all-searching, piercing
eye Are our secret evil's naked lie. Pride cannot work by him
unseen, Nor angry passion lust or spleen. Wash me in Jesus'
blood divine, May I be his and he be mine. From all deceitful
workings free, My heart that pants to live for thee. A monument of grace I stand, Redeemed,
supported by your hand. Whatever I am, whatever possess,
It is all the gift of richest grace.