My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Ver. 26. My son, give me thy heart.] There is a strange strife, not of earthly, but of spiritual powers, after the possession of man's heart; and through man's transgression Satan hath gotten strong hold thereon. Act 5:3 Luk 22:3 Once he strove about a dead man's body; Jdg 1:9 but doubtless his purpose was therein to have set up an idol for himself in the hearts of the living. If Satan can get the heart, he is safe; and so is Satan's vicar. It was a watchword in Pope Gregory XIII's time, in Queen Elizabeth's days, My son, give me thy heart; be in heart a Papist, and then go to church, dissemble, do what ye will. Among the heathens, when the beast was cut up for sacrifice, the first thing the priest looked upon was the heart; and if the heart were naught, the sacrifice was rejected. As among the Jews Philo observeth, that the heart, and the horns, or brains were never offered with the sacrifices; for they are the fountains and secret cells wherein lurks, and out of which flows, all impiety. But whatever was in the type, this is in the truth. As the heart is by nature, the Lord will have none of it; yet till the heart be renewed and given to the Lord, he will accept nothing that can come from man. Isaiah 29:13 ; Isaiah 66:3 Jer 42:20 Of the heart God seems to say to us, as Joseph did to his brethren concerning Benjamin, "Ye shall not see my face without it." Gen 43:3 The heart is Christ's bed of spices, Son 6:2 wherein he delights, Psa 51:17 and for which he wisheth, "O that there were such an heart," &c. Deu 5:29
And let thine eyes observe my ways.] Look well to thy pattern, so fairly pencilled out unto thee; take true stitches out of this perfect sampler; take right strokes after this incomparable copy. The Hebrew here hath it, Let thine eyes run through my ways. Get a full prospect of them, and diligently peruse them. Fix and feed thine eyes upon the best objects, and restrain them from gazing upon forbidden beauties, lest they prove to be windows of wickedness, and loopholes of lust.