To keep the heart then, is carefully to preserve it from sin which disorders it; and maintain that spiritual and gracious frame, which fits it for a life of communion with God.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of guarding one's heart and maintaining a conducive spiritual state for a relationship with God.
John Flavel's quote highlights the necessity of protecting one's heart from sin, which can lead to spiritual disarray. It suggests that to foster a life of communion with God, one must actively work to maintain a pure and gracious disposition, aligning one's inner state with divine principles.
In practice
In a sermon on spiritual growth, a pastor might quote this to emphasize the need for vigilance against sin.
All the tears of a penitent sinner, should he shed as many as there have fallen drops of rain, since the creation, to this day, cannot wash away one sin. The everLasting burnings in hell, cannot purify the flaming conscience, from the least sin.
All the dark, intricate, puzzling providences at which we were sometimes so offended...we shall [one day] see to be to us, as the difficult passage through the wilderness was to Israel, "the right way to the city of habitation".
Providence is like a curious piece of tapestry made of a thousand shreds, which, single, appear useless, but put together, they represent a beautiful history to the eye.
The carnal person fears man, not God. The strong Christian fears God, not man. The weak Christian fears man too much, and God too little.
Whatsoever we have over-loved, idolized, and leaned upon, God has from time to time broken it, and made us to see the vanity of it; so that we find the readiest course to be rid of our comforts is to set our hearts inordinately upon them.
It is the duty of the saints, especially in times of straights, to reflect upon the performances of Providence for them in all the states and through all the stages of their lives.
There are mythologies that are scattered, broken up, all around us. We stand on what I call a terminal moraine of shattered mythic systems that once structured society. They can be detected all around us. You can select any of these fragments that activate your imagination for your own use. Let it help shape your own relationship to the unconscious system out of which these symbols have come.
Those who turn against the Church do so to play to their own private gallery, but when, one day, the applause has died down and the cheering has stopped, they will face a smaller audience, the judgment bar of God.
No matter where you find yourself, comport yourself as if you were a distinguished person.
People don't like to make mistakes.
People of character do the right thing, not because they think it will change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the world.
The first and most important thing a man should keep away from is not doing harm of any kind knowingly to anyone, at any time.
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