Muscatine journal. [volume] (Bloomington, Iowa) 1849-185?, 1853-07-15

Sermon No. viii.

text negatively, we will now give you the
Scriptural meaning of it: 'sMy son, give me
thy heart Glove the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, soul, might and strength ''--
ssThis day if you will hear His voice harden
not your heart.'' s'God hardened the heart
of Pharaoh sLet your heart not be troub-
Icd, you believe in God believe also in me -
ssAs they iourneyed their hearts burned with
in them as Jesus talked with thom.o ''The
heart Of the wicked is little worth" ''The
preparations of the heart in man is from
the Lord" '.Every one that is proud in heart
is an abomination TO the Lord" 'sTho fning
pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the Lord trieth the heart" ''The heart
of the prudent geteth Knowledge "FoE as
He thinksth in His heart SO is lie eat ana
drink, saith lie to thee, but uis heart is not
with thee" .'Hear thou,my son, ,and be wise,
and guide tn Y heart in the way. %" he king 5
heart is in the Lord and He turneth it as
the rivers Of waters are turned" "Truly
God is good to Israel, even to such as are of
a clean heart" ''Yea, in heart the wicked
work wickedness." "My heart is fixed, o!
God, will sing and praise thee 6 he fool
hath said In his heart there is no God.' S'My
heart is indIting good matter; my heart
was not within me while | was muslng the
fire burned" '.Let them not say in their
Atearts, ah! SO would we have its we have
swallowed him up.''
No girls, in spite of all the foul-mouth-
ed slanderers, am yet with you and likely
10 be. These are few Of the passages of
Scripture with which my memory serves
me (which illustrate the Bible sense of the
term heart. They all llrefer to the affections.
"Giye me thy heart" that is to say give me
thy affections.
''This day if you will hear my voice harde
not your heart that is as much as to say,
let your affections be celterel on M that
. the genial rays of the sun of righteousness
tnay shine upon them to soften and fash
ion them ike unto the, son OF God. ihe
Jews and CHRISTIANS generally have located
the affections, the elements Of winch are
denoninated hope, venerat.on, beneyolence
or kindness, fear, a conception OF tnings
sublime ana imaginary, &c., IN the heart,
by reason OF this organ being affected by
Atrong emotions OF the mind. However,
as their precise locality has not BY the AL
mighty been deemed essential 10 our happl-
ness here or hereafter, to tits day we are
not certain that any one organ in the aody
Is honored as their seat. IL Is our opinion
that the brain is the only org IN through
which the mind displays its wonderful fac
ulties and powers, and the mind being made
up the of aggregat, of intellect, moral and
social powers and passions, it follows that
The BRAIN is the. seat Of the affections These
affections, together with all other faculties
ANA powers OF the mind, were originally as
Ihsy came. frcm the creative hand OF God
witA hts holy image stamped upon them,
pure and free from all the contamsna-
t.oas OF sin which now mar their beauty.
Iut our first parents, by disobedienco, fell
4 d-,.t,N Z l,.,f- kVSf F1F tn- hfA In4 I
God were cast out from their beautiful
gurlea i,esiguctl.far their happiness, fallen
and laprage1 beings. ihase affections are
the great battle ground upon which good
anl evil have SO often u3g to contend Tor
supremacy in the mind. When the spirit OF
God, sent into the world TO reprOye it OF
sin, of righteousness, and Q Judgment to
come. sits enthruned in the affections to
sway che sceptre OF che prince OF peace over
all the doninIonS Of mlnd, satan, the arch-de-
Ceiyer Of man, sends forth the flower CT has
army, his caosen troops, and when they ar
rive on this battle ground Il scene of strife
and con iuslon ensues which ,he man or the
woman who has ever been under deep con-
yction of SIN, may understand but new
er describe. And when the battle be-
comes furious, and Judgment, hope, ,beneyo-
lence, veneration, Will, irmness or de!efnln-
alton and conscience, the great generals OF
the mind, beg n to quake, and fear, land FAINT
on the field, Jesus, the captain OF our sal
yation, draws the sword of the spirit,
stretches forth his bleeding hands and sud
denly the strife ends for the vanquished
foes in confusion run howling from his
presence. Had not the heart or affections
been totally depraved by the fall OF cur
first parents, they never would have been
centered upon forbidden objects, but would
ever have gone out after God, and only
been interested in those things OF pure
and holy character. But since We are total
ly depraved in an unconverted state, that
is to say in state OF nature and alienation
from God, our affections are centered upon
those things of time and sense which perish
with their usage, and are sinful IN their
very essence. In our natural state we
love those things which will do US hurt and
hate those things which will do US good
This is the reason why the world IS all
wrong from beginning 30 end. 1t mas been
contended by some that the affections OF
man in his converted or unconyerted state
are naturally pure, and If they ever appear
to be otherwise it is not owing to any
change from good to evil in them, but 70
the overwhelming power OF the Judgment,
corrupted by sin and the attacks of uncon-
trolled passions. This is fatal error
The judgment would be seldom wrong
were it not for the cogrupting influence OF
a depraved heart and unhallowed passions
upon it We all know fall well that our
evil desires do not originate I'M the Judgment
but in the heart. Here they spring w like
noxiOus weeds and spread out their branch
es until the whole mind sometimes ls over
shadowed by them. The atmosphere in
which they grow into full blown evils is
sin, the soil in which they are planted, take
root and grow up, is the total depravlty OF
the heart or affections, the light that shines
upon them Nithout which they could not
exist,is thaedeceptive light which emanates
from the prince of the power of sin, sold
Nic," the devil, when he appears as an
angel of light. We are convinced that il is
the heart that is wrong and the fountain
head from which all our evil desires flow,
from tho fact, that when the evil affections
and desires spring up in the heart, our
judgment tells Us they are wrong and con-
demns US FOR them, or rather for indulging
them. aiut We are told that it is the con-
science that condemns US, not the judgment.
In answer to this absurdity too often be-
lieved and too often preached from the
sacred desk, ever remember, there is no in
dependent power or faculty of the mind
which may be called conscience. Conscience
is an enlightened judgment that is to say,
when the judgment is convinced that a
thing a. IasIra nf tho mind