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A64958
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The cure of distractions in attending upon God in several sermons preached from I Cor. 7.35 / by Nathanael Vincent ...
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Vincent, Nathanael, 1639?-1697.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing V405; ESTC R16228
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136,768
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288
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to make the highest earthly Enjoyments despised in comparison Thus the innumerable Multitude of Stars though never so glittering before do all disappear at the Sun rising Undistracted Attenders fix their Eye on God and the more the invisible God is seen the more all visible things will vanish into nothing The Psalmist had cast his Eye upon the prosperity of the wicked and began to admire it he comes into the Sanctuary of God and looking upon God he now wonders at his own Folly in admiring so poor a thing as a worldly happiness and the Temptation that was so strong is overcome Safety from the most dangerous Enemies is of the Lord they whose thoughts are upon his Name find it a strong Tower Satan and Mammon are less able to beguile them and the lustings of the Flesh become weaker and weaker against the Spirit and as they find sin more and more destroyed so they may behold the last Enemy Death without a Sting and the Grave as having lost its Victory 6. Attenders without distraction have most approbation from their own Consciences Conscience is a Monitor unto Duty and a diligent observer how 't is performed It will condemn Laziness it will commend labour of Love it will upbraid the Evil and Slothful with their vain Oblations but to the undistracted Attendant it will say Well done good and faithful Servant And how much Joy and Peace is there in the Testimony of a good Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. and we find a condemning and an approving Conscience compared together the condemning Conscience is the forerunner of God's Condemning and the approbation of the Conscience is the forerunner of God's Absolution 1 John 3. 20 21. If our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God Duties come off with great comfort when we have been intent and affected when God has been attentive to us when we behold his Face shining and find his Hand open and Conscience bears us witness that we have been seriously and the Lord has been graciously minding what we have been doing 7. Attenders without distraction are most beneficial to others They have the most publick Spirits and all do fare the better for that interest they have in Heaven which they daily improve for all How much is the Church of God beholding to them who will not hold their Peace day or night who will give the Lord no rest until he make Jerusalem a praise on the Earth Isa 62. 6 7. When the wickedness of Israel had made a great breach for the Wrath of God to break in upon them to consume them Moses attends upon God and intercedes with such intention and concernedness and fervency that the Wrath of God is appeased and the ruine prevented though it was at the door Psal 106. 23. Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his Wrath lest he should destroy them Whole Nations reap the benefit of such undistracted and prevailing Intercessions The Apostle tells us that Elias was a Man of like Passions with others yet he was so intent and servent in Prayer that he opened Heaven and fetch'd Rain from thence and the Earth brought forth her fruit and an end was put to a terrible Famine which had lasted for several Years together Jam. 5. â—8 The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man avails much he prevails for others as well as for himself Lot was a righteous Man and vexed his righteous Soul because of the Sodomites unlawful Deeds 2 Pet. 2. 8. yet his Deliverance from Sodom's Flames is ascribed unto Abraham's intercession Gen. 19. 29. And it came to pass when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain that God remembred Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the Cities wherein Lot dwelt Saints should pray harder one for another and pray for them that are without with more earnestness that greater Multitudes may be called out of the World and brought into the Church and secured from the Perdition of ungodly Men. Undistracted Attendants upon God are Pillars to bear up what else would fall into ruine The Church the Nation in which they live the whole World is beholding to them as well as particular Persons for whom they are concerned and whom they bear upon their hearts before the Lord. I have done with the Reasons of the Doctrine In the fourth place I am to answer some Cases of Conscience about these Distractions in attending upon God that so Difficulties which are apt to perplex the Mind in this matter may be removed And CASE I. is this Whether the Thoughts cannot be off from God in the least when we attend upon him but there must be a culpable and sinful Distraction To this I answer 1. In all our holy Duties there should be a constant overawing sense of God upon our Spirits from the beginning to the end of them Slavish fear alienates the heart from God but Filial Reverence keeps the heart close to him That part of the Duty is lost in which the sense of God is banished 2. Something else besides God may be thought of in Duties and yet this is not Distraction To think of our sins when we confess them is our Duty and to recollect the circumstances by which they have been heigtned and rendred more exceeding sinful Isa 59. 12. For our Transgressions are multiplied before thee and our sins testifie against us for our transgressions are with us and as for iniquities we know them Our Wants also we ought to think of and the necessity of having them supplied and the all-sufficient Jehavah is sufficient to supply all needs whatsoever be the Wants never so great and many and the Persons that apply to him never so vast a Multitude The Blessings we desire ought also to be thought of Others also which we pray for may be in our Minds when we are before God with their Distresses under which we would fain be helpful to them by our Supplications on their behalf It was not Distraction in the Apostle but matter of thanksgiving to the Lord that when he was at the Throne of Grace Timothy was in his thoughts and remembrance 2 Tim. 1. 3. I thank God whom I serve from my fore-fathers with pure Conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day 3. Our Thoughts must not run out so much upon the matter of our Duties but that there must be a quick and continual return to God the Object whom we worship We must not so much be thinking what we are praying for but we must ever be minding him whom we are praying to The Psalmist says Psal 142 2. I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble He thought of his trouble but had also a sense he was before God who he
be One yet in the Unity there is a Trinity This one God is Father Son and Holy Ghost Nazianzen an ancient Greek Father thus expresses his apprehensions of God when he came to worship him I am not able says he to apprehend One but I am presently struck with the brightness of Three I am not able to distinguish Three but I am presently brought back to One again Regulate your Apprehensions of God by that Revelation he has made of himself in his own Word and pry no farther than what is written that so you may undistractedly worship God himself and not the fruit of your imagination instead of him 3. To attend without distraction implies the greatest intention of mind As all the Lines from the circumference of a Circle meet together in one point of the Center so the Thoughts of the Mind should center upon God and the Duty that is done to him God should be so minded as that all other things should be out of mind Though the Soul is united to the Body yet it should be in a sense separated as risen with Christ and with him ascended and sitting in heavenly places Eph. 2. 6. And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus How intent upon God and his Praises are the Spirits of Just Men made perfect And the Spirits of Saints Militant should imitate those that are Triumphant It is storied of that famous Mathematician Archimedes that when Syracuse was taken by Marcellus he was so intent in making Figures upon the ground that he minded not the taking of the City and was slain by a Soldier that knew not who he was for Marcellus had given a Commandment to save him If such a danger could not disturb the intention of Archimedes for the saving of a City the saving of a Soul does justly challenge a greater intention in every Duty we perform to God 4. To attend without distraction implies the highest concernedness of Soul Faith should be strong and constrain the Mind to be serious things invisible should be represented so evident and substantial as if they were most visible and apparent God should be addressed as if he appeared to us as he did to Abraham as if he talked with us as he did to the Children of Israel from Mount Sinai With humbleness of Mind and self-abasement considering our distance guilt and vileness we should cry out Let not the Lord be angry if we intreat the forgiveness of Sin and that our Souls may live before him Now we should stir up our selves and take hold of God Isa 64. 7. Now his Strength and his Son and his Covenant may be laid hold on within a little while it may be too late and impossible to do it We should be concerned in all Duties and perform them with such a solicitous care as if we saw the Dart of the last Enemy ready to pierce us and the Grave open for us as if we saw the Judge upon the great white Throne and all both small and great standing before God and the Books opened that they might be judged according to their Works Rev. 20. 11 12. There should be a concernedness of Spirit as if we saw the World in a flame Hell naked before us and we beheld the flashings of eternal fire as if we saw Heaven opened and all that Glory that is there Weight and Worth and Necessity command Concernedness now when we attend on God we draw nigh to him about those things that are of most absolute necessity and of the greatest worth and weight imaginable 5. To attend without distraction implies the fullest bent and inclination of heart there must be intensivum velle a strong propension of the Will towards God and this is expressed by longing by panting Psal 42. 1. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God 'T is the Lord himself that thus determines the Will towards himself and this he doth without compulsion for he alters the Nature and Inclination of it so that the Will being made free by Divine Grace uses its liberty aright and chuses God as its end and the way of his Testimonies Such an end such a way is most worthy to be chosen The Heart now designs and desires the injoying Fellowship with God as infinitely more valuable than all other Enjoyments And this full bent of the Heart mightily fixes it so that the stream of the Affections is kept the better in one undivided Channel When the Psalmist said there was none on Earth he desired besides God it plainly shewed that his desire after God swallowed up his desire after worldly things and when he says Whom have I in Heaven but God! He signifies that he should not count Heaven it self to be Heaven indeed without the Enjoyment of God there 6. To attend without distraction implies a sincere care to please the Lord in that attendance his Approbation being principally minded Man's good thoughts and word are more easily gained but the Jew inwardly his praise is not of Man but of God Rom. 2. 29. And indeed all other Commendations are insignificant unless the Lord commandeth 2 Cor. 10. 18. The undistracted Attendant studies to approve himself to God With what confidence does David speak before his all discerning Judge that he had walked in his integrity Psal 26. 1. and Psal 17. 3. Thou hast proved my heart thou hast visited me in the night Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing He was not conscious to himself of regarded sin or of allowed guile and negligence in the Lord's Service Care to please that God whom we serve is a necessary ingredient in every Service that is acceptable This care commands the heart into the presence of God and keeps it there and he loves to see Hearts before him set on him and seeking after him 7. To attend without distraction implies resisting all attempts to draw away the heart from God Satan and Mammon will be knocking at the Door of the Heart while 't is attending upon the Lord and the flesh which lusts against the spirit will be apt to shew its treachery and to open the Door Undistracted Attendants do use great Vigilancy for they are full of Jealousie over themselves They bid Satan to get him behind them for they are worshipping the Lord their God and 't is wickedness and boldness in him to disturb them in the Lord's Service and when the Affairs of the World would crowd in upon them they reply They have some greater and more important affairs to mind and therefore those worldly matters must be regarded only at a convenient season At all times it should be our care to keep unspotted from the World to keep our selves that the wicked one touch us not 1 Joh. 5. 18. but this care should be greatest when our approaches to God are nearest For if the World and the God of it should all bespatter and defile us even while