your Hearts rise and ascend after him 9. Ever commit the keeping of your Souls to God himself in well-doing 1 Pet. 4. 19. Apprehending how liable you are to distraction in his Service intreat that he would undertake for you He that spans the Heavens and in his Hand does hold the Winds so that they stir not in the least against his Will certainly is able to keep your Hearts undistracted in your Duties and close to himself The Lord makes and searches and new makes and fixes the Heart of Man and none of this is to be done by any power less than his When David's Soul followed hard after God he acknowledged it was the Lord's own right hand which upheld him Psal 63. 8. Call in help from Heaven against distraction if you would be helpt effectually The Christian not only when he is leaving the World but when he is engaging in any Religious Duty should say with the Psalmist Psal 31. 5. Into thy Hands O Lord I commit my Spirit He and he alone can keep it in a serious and composed frame USE IV. Shall be of Counsel as to some particular Duties which I shall insist on and shew you how they may with less distraction be performed And there are four Duties which at present I shall speak of The first is Reading the Holy Scriptures The second is Hearing the Word Preached The third is The Duty of Prayer The fourth is Communicating at the Lord's Table Of these in order I begin with Reading the Holy Scriptures and that these may be read with less distraction 1. Be firmly perswaded of the Scriptures Divine Authority and Verity When you take the Bible to look into it remember 't is a Book of God's own making you have in your hands The Writers of it were but his Penmen they wrote not their own but God's Mind and Will and were moved and inspired by the Holy Ghost To be distracted and regardless of what you read is to contemn God in disregarding his Word Mind what you read for the Scripture can make you wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. You may securely trust to his Word its light is infallible 't is certain in its Promises and Threatnings 't will by all be found true to eternity The word of the Lord endures for ever 1 Pet. 1. 25. 2. Believe the Scriptures perfection and sufficiency as a means most full and plain to guide you to everlasting blessedness Here you are faithfully warned to flee from the Wrath to come and from sin which does deserve it and here you may find God's Counsel by which you may be guided safe to Glory Psal 73. 24. You need not be distracted and doubtful in your own Minds as if in the Scriptures God's Mind was declared only in part Man's additions are needless nay impious Prov. 30. 6. Add thou not unto his Words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a Liar and Mens Traditions are vain Heed the Word of God as that which enlightens the Eyes converts the Soul rejoyces the Heart as that which is profitable for Doctrine Reproof for Correction instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. 3. Look upon the Scriptures as much directed to you in particular and laying an obligation upon you as if they had dropt from God out of Heaven into your hand The word forbids sin in you as well as in any other in the World the Commands of it reach you as truly as if you had heard the Lord calling to you by Name to yield Obedience The offers of the Gospel are really made to you and upon acceptance the Blessings offered are your own if they are refused how can you ecape the Wrath of him who from Heaven speaks to you for your good Heb. 12. 25. That such a particular application should be made is signified by Solomon whose word is as a Goad and a Nail fastned to stir you up to your Duty and to settle you in it Prov. 22. 19 20. That thy trust may be in the Lord I have made known to thee this day even unto thee Have I not written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge 4. See the Lord himself just by you when you read his Word and hear him bidding you take heed how you read As he has magnified his Word above all his Name so he requires a special regard should be had to it He looks with approbation and pleasure upon that Man who trembles at his Word Isa 66. 2. but when he perceives instruction to be hated and that his Law is cast behind the Back he admonishes such forgetters of God to consider what this neglect will cost them if not repented of and he threatens to tear them in pieces so as that there shall be none to deliver Psal 50. 17. 22. 5. Lift up your Eyes to Heaven for instruction from the Spirit by whose inspiration the Scripture was given 'T is the Spirit of Christ who opens Mens Vnderstandings to understand the Scriptures Luke 24. 45. Be humbly sensible of your ignorance and proneness to error and mistake A promise is made to the humble and meek that God will guide them in Judgment so that they shall judge aright of things and he will teach them his way Psal 25. 9. Cry to the Lord to make you mind what you read and to profit by what you mind Desire Scripture knowledge that what you know may have a deep impression upon your Spirits may excite holy and gracious Affections and Resolutions in your Hearts and be mightily effectual unto the more thorow amending of your ways and doings 6. In all your ways seek for light from the holy Scriptures that every step you take may be rightly ordered Go not in any way which the word of truth calls a false way How well and wisely does he walk that can say with the Psalmist Thy Word is a Lamp to my Feet and a light unto my Path Psal 119. 105. When you go let this Word lead you and then when you sleep there is a promise to keep you and when you awake it will talk with you and be telling you what you must avoid believe and do that you may be blessed for ever The Commandment is a Lamp and the Law is light and the reproofs of instruction are the way of Life Prov. 6. 22 23. And as the Word talks to you so you should talk of the word you read it will fix it in your Thoughts and Hearts the better and make your Discourse more edifying to others Deut. 6 6 7. And these words which I command thee this Day shall be in thy heart and thou shalt diligently teach them to thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy House and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up The more the word is written in your Hearts the more Grace is there and
thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of Uprightness He works in them to Will inclining their Hearts unto his Testimonies and he works in them to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. And directs their ways to keep his Statutes All the good that good Men do God is the doer of his Preventing and Assisting Grace is and does all in all And after all Dona sua coronat he crowns that Grace which himself has wrought and made active with an eternal weight of Glory Well may his attendants Glory in such a Lord as peerless Psal 34. 2 3. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together 10. God is the Lord and Judge of all at whose Barr Angels and Men the Quick and the dead must at last stand Apostate Angels believe and tremble at the foresight of future Judgment Satan's time is short his Wrath great but his Dread is greater of that great day of reckoning and retribution And as for the Children of Men all must be judged the Day is appointed and is hastning Every one of us says the Apostle must give account of himself to God Rom. 14. 12. And an account will be taken of all that has been done while we were in the Body Eccles 12. 14 For God will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil How should this Lord and Judge be feared With what diligence should his Commandments be kept Since this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole of Man Man's Duty Safety grand Concern and Interest lies here He that will Judge all at last with his own Eyes observes and sees all at present Psal 11. 4. The Lord's Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men Job 31. 4. Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps And when all the Children of Men that ever were or shall be do appear before him his faithful Attendants he will own and put great Honour upon and will say Well done good and faithful Servants you have been faithful in a few things I will make you Rulers over many things enter you into the Joy of your Lord But how shall the Children of Disobedience stand before him who lived and died in their Rebellion and Wickedness and did nothing but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous Judgment of God! In the second place I am to manifest what influence and effect the apprehension of God's being the Lord should have upon us when we attend upon him 1. When we look upon God as Lord we should be sensible of our distance and how we are infinitely below him What a sense was there of the Divine Majesty and of his own meanness in the Patriarch Abraham when he spoke those words Gen. 18 27. Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but Dust and Ashes We read that Dominion and Fear are with him that the brightest Stars are not pure in his sight how much less Man that is a Worm and the Son of Man that is a Worm Job 25. 2 5 6. The Grace of the Gospel does not exclude an holy Awe and Reverence of God but include it And the more there is of grace the more there is also of this godly fear and the Service is the more acceptable Heb. 12. 28 29. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming Fire We are indeed encouraged to come with boldness but that boldness is upon the account of our great High Priest and Mediator but though we are the Members of Christ we must remember that God is unconceivably above us The Man Christ Jesus himself when he prayed fell on his face before his heavenly Father Mat. 26. 39. Nay he calls himself a worm too Psal 22. 6. But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the People 2. When we look upon God as Lord we should be deeply humbled and abased for our Affronts Offences and Rebellions against him 'T is the Law of the Lord Almighty which sin breaks and 't is the Lord himself that sin causes to be despised When David was truly penitent and contrite he cries out Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight Psal 51. 4. His sin had been an injury and indeed a deadly one to Uriah his Subject but it was a gross and foul breach of the Law of God and so was committed against him And as his sin was ever before him so was that Lord against whom he had sinned This lays him very low and makes him readily condemn himself and ready to justifie God how severe a Sentence soever should be past how sore a punishment soever should be inflicted upon him that thou mightest says he be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest Job had not been so careful of God's Honour as he had been to vindicate his own innocency at length the Lord himself does manifest his Glory to him he confounds him with that question Job 40. 8. Wilt thou disannul my Judgment Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be Righteous Job at length has a clearer view of the Greatness and Soveraignty of that God with whom he had to do and says I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes Job 42. 5 6. 3. When we look upon God as Lord we should admire his concernedness for the Salvation and Happiness of such as we are It was the expression of one who was an eminent Saint and a great King O my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee Psal 16. 2. He is a Lord so high so glorious in himself so far exalted above all that the goodness of the best cannot in the least degree be beneficial to him He stands not then in need of Man therefore his good will which he bears towards Men is the more to be admired If the whole humane Race after the first defection from God had perished and every one of them had been miserable for ever the blessedness of God would have been no more impaired than it was by the loss and misery of those Spirits that first sinned and left their own Habitation none of which ever was recovered or shall be Oh whence is it that the Lord of Glory should shew such discriminating Grace to the Sons of Men Lord what is Man that thou who art so much above him should be so mindful of him as to visit him with thy Salvation who was unable to save himself
upon them that we may take heed of being like them 2. Distraction is a Fault that is most easily incurred as the Leaves of some Trees waver with the least stirring of the Wind so the Mind of Man is apt to waver and discover its natural Instability when Corruption stirs within or Satan endeavours to put the Heart into Disorder How far may the Heart if it be not strictly watched start of a sudden as far as the East is from the West nay as far as Earth is from Heaven 'T is natural to the Soul to lift up it self to Vanity This is intimated plainly by the Psalmist when he describes the acceptable Attendant on God to be one that hath not lift up his Soul to Vanity Psal 24. 4. By Vanity we may understand Idols which are called by that Name or the Vanities of this World which the Heart is so prone to gad and rove after even when Duties of the greatest Importance are performing and which ought to be performed with the greatest Fixedness of Thought and Seriousness imaginable 3. The longer the Distraction is it is the worse A Heart which is truly good and honest may be seized on by Distraction before it is aware The evil one may step into the Chariot and begin to drive it away from God deceitful Sin may suddenly arise in the Soul and begin to disturb and defile it But when this is quickly observed and the wakeful Conscience checks the Heart and the upright Heart is glad of the Admonition and presently checks it self and immediately returns to its Lord and to its Work and Duty Satan misses his Aim and the Duty shall not be lost The Soul which follows hardest after God may sometimes stumble but if assoon as 't is down 't is up again and runs the faster This running will not be in vain But when Distraction continues for a great while it argues the Conscience is not so vigilent and faithful as it should be in that it does not correct these vagrant Thoughts which come into the Mind There is a Fault also in the Heart that it can so patiently endure such vain Guests to lodge in it for so long a time before they are turned out of doors The Psalmist says that his Spirit made diligent Search Psal 77. 6. A Spirit that does so will quickly take notice of these roving Imaginations and there is an endeavour to thrust them out assoon as they are found out But if there is a Carelessness and too great a Connivance at these Wandrings though the Soul may not be quite dead in Sin yet there is much of a Spiritual Lethargy and Sleepiness which is the Image of spiritual Death 4. If Distractions in holy Duties are ordinarily allowed of they argue the Heart not right with God When the Heart is constantly absent from Ordinances and does not care to be better inclined and disposed to them when it willingly is at Mammon's and Satan's Command even then when the Body draws nigh to God and there is a Lip-honour and Service given to him this argues plainly that the Heart is unrenewed and remains alienated and estranged from the Lord. The Heart must needs be still carnal and wicked and Enmity against God that is like the eyes of Fools in the End of the Earth Prov. 17. 24. When things above should be sought and Heaven should be minded These things being premised I shall tell you what Distraction in attending upon God is in in these Particulars 1. The Heart is distracted in this Attendance when its Thoughts are impertinent and vain These kind of Thoughts may well be called Legion for they are many They are like the Motes in the Sun or the Bubbles in the Water on a rainy Day innumerable These Thoughts hover about the Minds of the best when they engage in holy Duties and will presently intrude if they are not kept out with a very strict Guard But where they are entertained they draw off the Heart from the Work in hand and the Lord sees it and is displeased Psal 94. 11. The Lord knoweth the Thoughts of Man that they are Vanity and Impertinency is not the smallest part of this Vanity Vain Man is compared to a wild Ass's Colt Job 11. 12. The Silliness of that Creature and its Frisks and Motions to little purpose are a fit Representation of the Mind of Man and of its foolish Sallies and Vagaries in the Lord's Service Who has not reason to cry out with the Psalmist Psal 69. 5. O God thou knowest my Foolishness and my Sins are not hid from thee If in the Performance of holy Duties the Tongue should fall a talking of some other matter and idle and vain Discourse should proceed out of the Lips this would be a scandalous Distraction that others might take notice of Now thinking is the Minds speaking and the Heart-searcher can and does more easily take notice when the Mind thinks impertinently than we can observe when the Tongue speaks so 2. The Heart is distracted when in religious Duties its Thoughts are wicked and vile Our Lord who well knew what is in Man tells us Mat. 15. 19. Out of the Heart of Man proceed evil Thoughts These are the first bad Offspring and the greatest Wickedness that is acted begins with them How great was Man's Wickedness upon Earth When God saw that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually Gen. 6. 5. If Thoughts are evil continually they don't cease to be evil when Duties of Religion are engaged in When proud Thoughts or wanton filthy Thoughts or worldly Thoughts or envious malicious and revengeful Thoughts or any other wicked Imaginations have place in the Heart These as Swarms of noisome Flies corrupt Mens Services and make their Sacrifices unto God to become abominable By these the Mind does not only wander from God but is alienated and estranged from him The Heart is in Hell while the Eyes are looking up to Heaven and the Tongue is speaking to the God that dwells there When a Man with an Heart full of such sinful Thoughts approaches unto God how loathsome must he needs be unto his pure and piercing Eye The Lord beholds and knows him afar off Psal 138. 6. And indeed what Fellowship can there be between Holiness and Pollution It s much more unbecoming and dangerous for such an one to approach the Presence of God than it would be for the foulest Leper with the nastiest Garments to come before the greatest Emperor upon the Face of the Earth 3. The Heart is distracted in attending on God When hellish Injections are entertained Satan sheweth his deep and inveterate Enmity against God in these blasphemous Injections and he creates a very troublesome Disturbance to us in the Lord's Service he has fiery Darts whereby he does endeavour to cause Hell Fire in our Consciences by dispairing Agonies and Horrours And blasphemous Thoughts are like fiery Bombs which he shoots into our Souls to put
it Heb. 10. 7. Lo I come to do thy Will O God and as willing to finish it therefore in his greatest Agonies he said Not my Will but thine be done His Holy Will notwithstanding the reluctancy of innocent Nature perfectly submits to his Father's Pleasure Joh. 18. 11. The Cup which my Father giveth me to drink shall I not drink it How undistracted and fervent was our Lord in praying for his Church whom his Father had given him out of the World And now he is in Heaven his Heart and Thoughts and Care are upon and for his Members Militant below His intercession for them is incessant his Life now in Heaven is a Life of continual interceding and the end of his intercession is that the Blessings he has purchased by his Sufferings may be bestowed upon Believers whom he suffered for Now what a Slight is put upon this great High Priest who is passed into the Heavens where he is so serious to intercede if we are not serious in petitioning If we hardly think what we are doing when we are asking for those Blessings which it cost him not only strong Cries and Tears but his Blood and Life to purchase They were not small things that the Blood of God was a price to purchase They are not small things that a glorified Redeemer is continually praying to the Father to bestow If these things are scarce thought of when we ask for them they are most sinfully undervalued Christ himself his fulness his satisfaction and intercession are despised altogether 4. In distraction there is a grieving and vexing the Holy Spirit of God by not valuing his proffered assistance When Christ ascended into Heaven and was glorified there he sent the Spirit to abide with his Church for ever And one great work of the Spirit is to aid and assist us in our Supplications He urges us to attend upon God and is most ready to help us in that attendance He is ready to fix our Minds to incline our Hearts aright to enlarge our Desire to make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. 8. 26. He offers us his mighty Grace which will enable us to pray prevailingly to hear profitably and fruitfully to improve the Ordinances of God But distracted Attendants are a grief and vexation to this good Spirit they had rather be without his help and grace than have it They chuse rather to lose all their Duties by a wretched heartlessness and formality than be assisted to take pains in these Duties that they may fare the better for them for ever 5. In distraction there is an undervaluing of all promised Mercies and Blessings which God is ready to bestow on them that seriously attend upon him The Promises of the Gospel are made by him whose faithfulness never fails and the surety of the New Testament stands engaged that they shall be accomplished if they are by a true and lively Faith applied These Promises are of things which we cannot be without but we must needs be beyond conception miserable Peace with God through Christ and that Peace within which passes all Understanding Grace sufficient to succour support strengthen and establish the good things of this Life with a Blessing from Heaven upon them and endless Blessedness in the World to come These are the things that are promised and who besides God can make Promises so exceeding precious and so great Now in our attendance upon him he would have us expect what he has promised for he keeps truth for ever and what he has promised he is able to perform Rom. 4. 21. Distracted Attendants upon the Lord look upon these Promises with a strange Eye they believe not the truth of them or are not perswaded of the worth of them and are very careless in pleading of them and having no serious thoughts and desires after the promised Blessings the threatned Curses fall upon them 6. In distraction there is great carelesness of our selves and of our main concerns those of our immortal Souls In attendance upon God our Souls are principally concerned Now these Souls themselves are of more worth than the World and so are the Blessings we request for them and to be heartless and trifling here what Apology can be made for it What is come to the Soul of Man that it should be so mindless of it self That it should have so few Thoughts about it self Distracted Duties argue an indifferency what becomes of the precious Soul to eternity and an indifferency must needs cause a miscarriage and ruine since striving to enter in at the strait gate is necessary Luk. 13. 24. and Heaven will be miss'd of there be not an holy violence to take it In distracted Services Men put a cheat upon themselves they only seem to run and so they will really miss the prize and in this Distraction there is great Hypocrisie which is most hateful to God and which our Lord has denounced so many Woes against Mat. 2. Hypocrites Duties are a most provoking Mockery and tho Hell will have all the Wicked at last turned into it yet in a special manner 't is called the portion of Hypocrites as well as Unbelievers Mat. 24. 51. compared with Luk. 12. 46. 7. Distraction exposes us to Satan Distracted Attendants are Servants of the Lord only in shew but Satan is really served and gratified by their Duties They expose themselves to this Enemy both as an Accuser and a Tempter When their Hearts are absent from the Lord's Work in which they engage Satan s Mouth is open against them He boldly charged Job with being a Mercinary Servant and yet there was no ground for it Job 1. 9 Doth Job fear God for nought But put forth thy hand now and touch what he hath and he will curse thee to thy face v. 11. And if he charged so good and upright a Man without ground surely he will be forward to accuse when there is abundant ground for the Accusation See will Satan say how such and such do serve the Lord with Duties that are things of nought and good for nothing See how they mock the God of Heaven to his very Face And upon such distracted Service as he is forward to be an Accuser so he has great advantage as a Tempter Such Duties bring in no strength from above to withstand him Nay the Lord is provoked to withdraw further and those whom God leaves to themselves how easily does Satan lead them Captive at his pleasure All Strays are seized by the God of this World how close should we cleave to the God of Heaven 8. Distraction is a great obstruction to the efficacy and success of Ordinances If we pray as if we prayed not shall we speed If we hear as if we heard not shall we profit Will doing the Work of the Lord deceitfully be encouraged by the vouchsafing of Grace or rewarded with Glory Carefulness is one effect and fruit of godly Sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 11. For
an heart to know him They that are ignorant of God must needs be ignorant also how to attend upon him If their knowledge be only notional and they know him not as they ought to know him they will not attend upon him as they ought to attend upon him Lay hold therefore upon that good Word of Promise Jer. 24. 7. And I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my People and I will be their God for they shall return to me with their whole heart And Heb. 8. 11. They shall all know me from the least to the greatest This knowledge of God will have a mighty influence upon your Hearts to bring your very Thoughts into captivity and obedience 2 Cor. 10. 5. We read 1 Sam. 2. 3. That the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed and they who rightly know this will take care to serve him in sincerity True knowledge of God will bring a great awe of him upon your Spirits His Majesty Glory Holiness will strike you into great humility and reverence How will you be emptied of your selves and your Souls and Thoughts swallowed up in God when he does cause his Excellency to pass before you The appearance of the Lord obscures and darkens all things else that they are counted not worth minding Therefore the Prophet says Isa 24. 23. Then the Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his Ancients gloriously The Eye of this God whom you attend upon is jealous and yet withal it is all seeing Oh take heed of being deceived as if God would be mocked by Man and Man not be the worse nor smart for it Gal. 6. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he also reap If thy Duties are only like a sowing of meer Chaff how canst thou expect to reap any good by them The good Angels themselves do reverence the Lord whom you are worshipping the Apostate ones tremble before him the better you know him the more godly your fear will be and fear will unite your Hearts and Thoughts both to God and to the Work and Duty he requires 4. Be very careful to cherish the Grace of Hope in your Hearts and look upon holy Duties as highly valuable Priviledges the greater your expectation is of the truest benefit and advantage the more intent and fixed will your Thoughts be The Apostle prays to the God of hope for the believing Romans that they might abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. Hope has an earnest expectation and the better the things are which are hoped for still the more earnest the expectation is this the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an emphatical word and signifies to look for a thing with an Head lifted up and with great intention both of Eyes and Mind Such an Hope what a remedy would it be against Distraction When Hope is very low the Mind runs very much upon matter of discouragement and is deadned by it And the best things of all being almost despaired of the Heart is the apter to wander after things that cannot profit but Hope is compared to an Anchor Heb. 6. 19. Which hope we have as an Anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast it keeps the Soul steddy and fixed upon what is hoped for till it be enjoyed Duties are not only to be engaged in as what are due to God but we are to be perswaded that the giving what is due to God is the way to receive still more and more from him In these Duties our Hopes should be high in him that is most high we are not able to conceive how much he can do for us We are to hope in him as a most liberal and all-sufficient Giver we are to expect the yearning of his Bowels in our Distresses and Afflictions and especially when we are weary and heavy laden with the burthen of our Iniquities We are to expect the unlocking of the unsearchable Riches of Christ which are enough to enrich the whole beggar'd progeny of Adam and all that come to him shall certainly experience the Riches and fulness of that Grace that dwells in him The Ploughman plows in hope and hope fixes his Thoughts upon the precious Fruits of the Earth which in Harvest he expects to reap Oh study the Promises of God which are exceeding broad they are wider than the Earth and Sea and they reach as high as the highest Heaven Hope for the promised Blessings which are of all sorts Temporal Spiritual Eternal and the more strong and lively hope is it will the more fix your Mind revive your Spirits and quicken your Desires 5. Another Remedy against Distraction is a fervent Love As love is the first and great Command so 't is a most commanding affection Amor meus pondus meum Love is the weight which sets all the Wheels a going and inclines them that way which it self is inclined The Soul of Man has been by some affirmed to be ubi amat non ubi animat where it loves and on the object beloved rather than in the Body which is the Tabernacle where it dwells and the reason is because Love does so command the Mind and Thoughts after it If your love be set upon God Love will set your Thoughts upon him The Thoughts of the Covetous how are they intent upon their beloved gain and the Pleasures which the voluptuous doat on are hardly ever out of their Mind If love to God constrain you to attend upon God it will bring your Thoughts along with it and very much restrain them from wandring The Love of God can never be produced by corrupt Nature nor by the meer force of reason 't is a special Grace of the Lord's Spirit and to him you must make application for it Christ died that he might bring you to God and Love is the going of the Soul to him In the Name of Christ put up your earnest Petitions that this Grace of Love may be wrought in you in truth and being wrought that it may continually be increased The Lord says he will write his Laws in your Hearts Oh pray that this great Command to love him may be written in deep and lasting Characters and if the Lord once become your desire and delight the Duties you perform will become more pleasant and delightful and undistracted God is light and in him there is no darkness nothing but what is desirable All Excellencies in the Creatures are derived from him and the Streams are but little if we look to the Fountain from whence they all come This God as excellent and glorious as he is is willing in Christ to be yours Such loveliness Such loving kindness what Love does it call for from you Let nothing be able to draw away your Love and the
the Heart away from God and from the Duty that seems to be performed to him it hinders the stirring of holy Affections the acting of saving Grace and turns Religion into a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bodily Exercise and how can that be profitable to the Soul which is a great way off and so little regards what is done How can it be acceptable to God who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth The Church of Rome is for implicit Faith for blind Obedience and for Worship in an unknown Tongue How distracted must that Worship needs be How can the Peoples Thoughts be intent upon what they do not understand Too many Protestants in their Devotions mind what themselves say as little as if they did not understand the words they spake and truly the latter sin with greater aggravation because having means of better instruction their Duties are no better performed The Cure of Distraction in Religious Services is very difficult some think light of the Disease and imagine the Cure needless others are discouraged from striving against Distraction as if it were impossible to overcome them but nothing is too hard for the great Physician he can heal the Mind's Vanity bring the Heart into God's Presence he is able to cast down Imaginations and to hinder them from rising again and to bring Thoughts into Captivity and Obedience A Sense of my own Wandrings in those Ordinances I administer and engage in has put me upon a more serious study how to prevent them And I would be the first and best Follower my self of that Counsel which I give to others And if the Lord is served with greater Attention and Spirituality and if the Hearts of those who shall read this Treatise are more than ever in the Work of God and more benefited by doing it the great End is obtained which is designed by Nathanael Vincent The CONTENTS of the ensuing Treatise THE Context considered Page 2. The Text opened and divided p. 5. Three Doctrines raised p. 7. D. 1. The Children of Men ought to attend upon God ibid. Ten things supposed as pre-requisite unto Man's attending upon God p. 8. Ten things implied in this attendance upon him p. 22. Several sorts of attending upon God Distinction 1. Attendance upon God with the Lips and Body only and that which is with the Heart also p. 36. Dist 2. Attendance upon God which is voluntary and which is through constraint and forced p. 39. Dist 3. Attendance upon God which is ordinary and which is extraordinary p. 41. Dist 4. Attendance which is secret in the Closet private in the Family and publick in the Congregation p. 45. Dist 5. Attendance upon God on his own Day and upon other Days p. 50. Dist 6. Attendance upon God in a time of Liberty and in a time of Persecution p. 54. Reasons assigned why the Children of Men ought to attend upon God which are nine p. 56. Use 1. Of Reproof applied to eight sorts of Persons p. 67. Use 2. Of Exhortation to all to attend upon God and backt with nine Arguments p. 77. Use 3. Of Direction how God is to be attended upon in nine particulars p. 90. Use 4. Of Consolation to them that in due order attend on God five grounds of Comfort p. 104. D. 2. In attending upon God we should look upon him as the Lord and serve him accordingly p. 109. How God is the Lord shewed in ten particulars p. 111. What influence and effect the apprehensions of God's being the Lord should have upon us when we attend upon him in eight particulars p. 126. Use 1. Of Reproof four sorts of Persons concerned p. 135. Use 2. Of Advice in five things p. 140. D. 3. Attendance upon the Lord should be without distraction p. 143. What distraction in attending upon God is p. 145. Four things premised When the Heart may be said to be distracted in attending upon the Lord this shewed in eight particulars p. 148. What 't is to attend upon the Lord without distraction shewed in nine particulars p. 158. Reasons produced why with such care we should take heed of distraction These of two sorts Eight Reasons drawn from the Evils of distraction in attending upon God p. 166. Seven Reasons more from the benefit of attending upon the Lord without distraction p. 173. Several Cases of Conscience answered relating to distraction in attending on God Case 1. Whether our Thoughts cannot be off from God in the least when we attend upon him but there must be a sinful distraction Answered in three particulars p. 180. Case 2. Whether it be distraction and withdrawing from God at all to think of our Worldly Affairs Answered in three particulars p. 182. Case 3. Whether the best of Men while in this World can be totally free from distraction in Holy Duties Answered in three particulars p. 184. Case 4. Whether a true Believer may not sometimes perform Duties so distractedly as to reap no benefit at all by them Answered in three particulars p. 185. Case 5. What Distractions are they which are mercifully overlookt and hinder not the success of our Duties Answered in six particulars p. 188. Case 6. What course are Melancholick Persons to take in their attendance upon God when distraction arises from the prevalency of that Distemper Answered in five particulars p. 192. Case 7. What are those Distractions that make our attendance upon God altogether unacceptable to him and unavailable to our selves Answered in five particulars p. 196. Use 1. Of Caution against the Causes of Distraction Eight Causes specified p. 200. Use 2. By way of Expostulation about the unreasonableness of Distraction p. 218. Use 3. Of Direction Nine Remedies prescribed against Distraction in attending upon God p. 221. Particular Duties mentioned How Reading the Scripture may be with less distraction p. 233. How with less distraction you may attend on the Word preached p. 237. How with less distraction you may call upon the Name of God in Prayer p. 241. How with less distraction you may Communicate at the Lord's Table p. 245. Use 5. Of Terrour to Sinners and Hypocrites all whose attendance upon God is full of allowed distraction p. 250. Use 6. Of Comfort to Believers who desire to do still better and with less distraction to attend upon God p. 253. THE CURE OF DISTRACTIONS IN ATTENDING upon GOD. 1 Cor. 7. 35. lat part That you may Attend upon the Lord without Distraction THE Apostle Paul had a great and fervent zeal for the honour of God that he might have such attendance as he Commands and which most rightfully appertains to a Lord so great and good unto whom both Heaven and Earth do owe all Service and Obedience The Apostle also manifests an extraordinary care of the Souls of Men that they might not fail to give that Attendance which is enjoyned them as their Duty and is also their advantage honour and security The thoughts the hearts the endeavours of
fear him all ye the Seed of Israel See also Psal 105. 3 4. Glory ye in his holy Name let the Heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord Seek the Lord and his Strength seek his Face evermore And as the word of God calls for this so the Providence of God seconds his Precepts The dispensing of mercies calls upon us to attend the Father of them with our Praises And afflictions should quicken us in our seeking God he requires this Psal 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me And he reckons upon it that he should hear from his People when his chastning was upon them Hos 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my Face in their affliction they will seek me early 3. God sees whether there be an attendance upon himself and after what manner and that with a jealous eye And this is another strong reason for our attending on him The Lord looks down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to this very end that he may see if there be any that understand and seek God Psal 53. 2. so that he very strictly observes how Mens Hearts are affected towards him and his Service and he cannot but be very much displeased with the whole Race of fallen Man because Rom. 3. 10 11. There is none Righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God The Lord takes notice how Days and Weeks and Months and Years go over Mens Heads and yet that God from whom they have their all they seek not to for any thing neither return they any thanks to him how much soever they receive from him And those who attend upon God he observes the manner how they do it and heartless Duties doing the work of the Lord deceitfully provokes and kindles the Fire of his Jealousie Mal. 1. 14. Cursed be the deceiver who having a Male in his Flock voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing The second Commandment which directs us as to Divine Worship makes mention that the Lord is a jealous God He cannot endure to have his Service neglected as if there were no profit or reward in seeking him He cannot endure a negligent Service As if he were an Idol as if he had Eyes but did not see or take notice who they are that mock him God's Omniscience and all-seeing Eye struck a great awe upon the Apostle it made him draw near to God and it made him very serious when he had to do with him Heb. 4. 13. Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do 4. Man's necessities should constrain him to attend upon God Sin has made the Children of Men in the worst sense poor and needy they fancy themselves rich and dream of fulness but behold 't is only a dream for they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Now for the supply of their needs 't is in vain to have recourse to any but God The broken Cisterns can hold no Water and cannot furnish them with any that run to them but there is enough in the Fountain of living Waters for all that repair to it An experienced attender upon God knew how to be furnished with every thing Psal 57. 2. I will cry unto God most high unto God who performeth all things for me And the Apostle speaks with a most reasonable confidence Psal 4. 19. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus The one thing needful is alone from God and from him are all things else His Kingdom and Righteousness he bestows on them that seek him and all things else shall be added Matt. 6. 33. Man has beggar'd himself as to the true Riches he is a meer Bankrupt In him that is in his Flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. and that which is born of the flesh is flesh wholly carnal till there be a regeneration by the Spirit How shall Man who is so very evil be made truly good All true Grace and Goodness is from God who is therefore called the God of all Grace 1 Pet. 5. 10. and 't is through Christ that 't is all communicated Therefore every good thing in Believers is said to be in them in Christ Jesus Philem. ver 6. Man has need to come to God for he has ruined himself and 't is the Lord alone to whom Salvation belongs Man has destroyed himself in God is his help found Hos 13. 9. Those whom the Lord saves not must needs perish 5. Man's Obligations to attend upon God are still increasing The Lord causes his Sun to arise upon the evil as well as the good upon the unrighteous as well as the righteous Matt. 5. 45. He is kind to the unthankful and the evil Luke 6. 35. God's Bounty calls for a return of Duty and should quicken Man to seek the Lord who is so abundant in Goodness In God's hand Man's breath is and every time he breaths God saves his Life from God's hand he receives whatever he has How strictly is Man engaged to acknowledge God in all to serve him and to glorifie his Name Even those that are bad have experience of the riches of Divine Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering and though this goodness is but common yet offers are made to them of special Grace All the day long the Lord stretches forth his hand to the disobedient and gain-saying and in that hand are no less than the good things of Time and of Eternity The wickedest and worst of Men if they consent to leave their wicked ways and to have their wicked hearts changed and come to God they shall graciously be accepted be abundantly pardoned and have the best things bestowed on them God is ready to give Grace to them that have none and to give more Grace where he has already wrought it 6. Promises are precious that are made to attenders upon God and threatnings are terrible against Contemners of God who refuse to attend upon him Thus the Lord works upon those two great commanding things in the Soul of Man his Hope and his Fear that he may have Service from him If we draw near to God he promises to draw nigh to us James 4. 8. and his approaches to his People are the manifestations of his Pitty and Power for their help and supply the communications of that Grace which may be suitable and sufficient in the time of need He says not to the Seed of Jacob seek ye me in vain Moses supposes Israel apostatizing from their God by Idolatry and his anger waxed hot against them and themselves scattered among the Nations Yet says he If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all
is there in Man by Nature to commend him to God The Apostle charges the whole World as guilty before God and proves Heart and Tongue and Hands and Feet of Man to be corrupt and that the way of Peace he knows not Rom. 3. 17. Why should such a Wretch be look'd upon and graciously called upon to return Here is indeed Eternal Misery that Man is in danger of for Divine Mercy to prevent Here is a great deal of Sin for the justifying Righteousness of a Mediator to cover Here are Heart-Plagues for Christ the Physician of Souls to heal Here is Stubbornness and Obstinacy in evil for the Spirit of Grace to overcome Here are innumerable wants for the All-sufficient God to supply But not the least jot of meritorious Worthiness Will the Lord admit such as we are indigent worthless vile Let us wonder that he will do it and keep no longer at a distance from him 2. Remember God refuses to be attended upon by multitudes of fallen Creatures which at first were better than Man We read that Man was made a little lower than the Angels Psal 8. 5. so that the Angels were in degree higher than Man in their first Creation Now a great Host of these Angels sinned and when they sinned they were not spared 2 Pet. 2 4. as soon as they fell into Sin they were thrown down and fell into Hell The Lord calls not to the Apostate Angels to repent of sin and return to himself There is no Throne of Grace for them to come to no Mercy offered the door of hope is lock'd up and fast barr'd against them for ever Our Lord took not on him the Nature of Angels Heb. 2. 16. The good Angels were indeed confirmed in their good State in their original Integrity by the Son of God who is the Head of all Principality and Power Col. 2. 10. But the Son of God redeemed and recovered not so much as one of the bad Angels but they are all in Chains of darkness reserved unto Judgment These reprobate Angels are of very great Capacity they excel in strength yet the Lord will accept of no service at their hands He forces them against their wills to be subservient to his purposes and pleasure but Worship and Obedience from them he admits not of But he calls after Man to return though fallen by his iniquity Hos 14. 1. He puts words into Man's Mouth and tells him what he should say and what he himself is ready to hearken to and grant Hos 14. 2. Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously So will we render the calves of our lips This great difference which Grace does make between fallen Man and fallen Angels should be a mighty Inducement and Encouragement to Man to give most ready attendance upon God 3. 'T is the great endeavour of your Spiritual Enemies to hinder your attendance upon God or to disturb you in it Which shews they are well aware how beneficial this attendance if serious would be and they envy you the benefit of it 'T is Wisdom ab horte doceri well to mark and to receive some instruction from an Enemy What Satan urges you to pursue you may conclude is of little worth his Malignity is such that he will not truly consult your interest And since he uses so many Methods and so much Subtlety to stave you off from God you may reasonably argue that in coming to God lies your Duty and your Blessedness The Enemy of our Salvation has false glasses through which he misrepresents the Lord and his Service to us Sometimes he represents him as so High that he minds not what we do whether it be good or evil Sometimes he sets him forth as so indulgent that any careless Duties will please him and neglect of his Service will not much if at all provoke him Sometimes he sets before Man's Eyes God's Wrath and Jealousie and says that delays to serve him have rendred him unintreatable and that to seek him is now too late and in vain Thus he would obstruct Man's attendance on his Maker for he knows that the Lord is good to them that wait for him to the Soul that seeketh him Lam. 3. 25. and those that are far from God shall perish Psal 73. 27. But if by all these ways he cannot hinder attendance upon God he will endeavour to disturb them that do attend Zach. 3. 1. And he shewed me Joshua the high Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him How busie is Satan about us when we come to appear before God! He endeavours to fill the Mind with vain Imaginations to thrust violently the World into the Heart to make indwelling sin active to hinder the actings of Grace He endeavours to batter Faith to beat down Hope and to damp holy and spiritual Affections He cannot endure the Soul should meet with God in Duties he is troubled at its Communion with God and being bless'd with Spiritual Blessings But all this should but quicken your desires and diligence in seeking for what you seek after you may conclude is highly worth finding 4. How empty are all things that are apt to draw you away from attending upon God! The Egyptians of old were derided by the Poet because they made Gods of every thing O Sanctas Gentes quibus hoc nascuntur in hortis Numina The very Herbs and Plants that grew in their Gardens were deified And truly among many that are called Christians a multitude of things that are very mean and low are idolized Some make Idols of their Garbs by affecting and being proud of them Some idolize their earthly Treasures and sensual Pleasures by loving those more than God 2 Tim. 3. 4. Some make their Belly their God and how many Meat-offerings and Drink-offerings are sacrificed to this base Deity by the Wine-bibbers and riotous eaters of flesh How low is Man fallen How has he lost his Dominion over the Creature They make him not only their Slave but their Worshipper But pray bethink your selves and take notice what things they are that thus captivate and draw you away from God Such is the immensity of God that the whole World compared with him is not so much as the smallest Dust to the Globe of Earth not so much as a drop of Water to the whole Ocean And as the Being of God transcends all other Beings so his goodness excels all created goodness So that our Lord speaking in the highest sense affirms That there is none good but one that is God Matt. 19. 17. What then are the good things of this World which Sin has brought a Vanity nay a Curse upon and which are used by Satan as his great Baits to catch inconsiderate Souls that they may be lost and ruin'd 5. Be prevailed with to attend upon God who is the strongest Rock the surest Refuge Safety is desirable
abundantly more Eph. 3. 20. Who can conceive how beneficial waiting upon God is That passage is both encouraging and amazing Isa 64. 4. For since the beginning of the World Men have not heard nor perceived by the Ear neither hath the Eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him 3. God is ready to cover a multitude of Infirmities in them that sincerely attend upon him He mercifully observes how willing their Spirits are when their Flesh is weak and cannot keep pace with their renewed Minds When our Lord was in an Agony his Disciples could not watch with him one hour but were fallen asleep yet he himself graciously excuses it Matt. 26. 41. The Spirit indeed is willing but the Flesh is weak and passes it by He takes notice of the Lustings of the Spirit against the Flesh the Strivings of Grace against Sin and Corruption and passes by the Lusting of the Flesh against the Spirit the Strivings of Sin against Grace The Lord does not enter into Judgment with his Servants nor deal in Rigour with them but he expresses Fatherly Tenderness and Compassion towards them Psal 103. 13. Like as a Father pittieth his Children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him We are directed to beg for the Forgiveness of Trespasses daily which shews that as the Disciples of Christ daily offend so their Heavenly Father is ready to grant forgiveness daily to them Nay Iniquity cleaves unto our holiest things our best Dâ—ties should and might be done a great deal better These Infirmities then are much to be lamented more and more striven against and seeing our selves compassed about with them we should banish all Self-confidence and look into Jesus that in him we may find acceptance and certainly the Righteousness of Christ the Son of God and the Father's love in him will cover the greatest multitude of bewailed Infirmities and Offences 4. It may be also Comfort to Attenders upon God to think whom they have attending upon them Saints on Earth have the Angels in Heaven to be their Guardians Christ is signified by Jacob's Ladder the Angels of God are said to ascend and descend upon the Son of Man John 1. 51. 'T is owing to our Lord Jesus that Believers have the Benefit of the Angels Ministry and the Apostle signifies that all of them are thus employed for the Saints Protection and Security Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of Salvation The reprobate and evil Angels resist Attenders upon God but the elect and good Angels are their Friends These Angels that excel in strength How do they rejoyce when any repent and are converted And they have a Charge over Converts to keep them in all their ways Psal 91. 11. and when 't is added v. 13. Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and the Adder the young Lion and the Dragon thou shalt trample under feet It may be intimated that Satan's Force and Fury and Subtlety shall be ineffectual and that by his Temptations he shall not prevail But though Angels attend the Servants of God they are not wholly trusted to the Angelical Care The Lord himself is their Keeper The Father and the Son come to them and make their abode in them and will secure their own Mansions till they are out of the reach of Enemies and past all danger 5. Sincere Attendance upon God shall attend upon him after another and better manner in another World They shall be sitted for and admitted into the presence Chamber of the King of Glory In Heaven there will be no need of the Sun or of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of the Lord does lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Rev. 21. 23. and Rev. 22. 3. And there shall be no more Curse but the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his Servants shall serve him They shall serve him so as never in the least to disserve him they shall do his Will and nothing at all contrary to it there will be a Perfection of Delight and Rest and Peace in the Obedience they shall yield when they rest not day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Rev. 4. 8. and Rev. 5. 13. Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever All God's sincere Attendants are now advanced to Priestly nay to Kingly Dignity therefore they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2. 9. Christ has loved them and washed them from their sins in his own Blood and has made them Kings and Priests unto God and his Father Rev. 1. 5 6. But hereafter they shall inherit and possess the Kingdom prepared for them they shall all of them be actually crown'd with a Crown of Life and Righteousness And Oh what a joyful sight will it be to behold the Lord and all his Saints glorified together with him Col. 3. 4. When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory Thus of the first Doctrine Doct. II. The second Doctrine is this In attending upon God we should look upon him as the Lord and serve him accordingly When God pronounced his own Laws with his own Mouth upon Mount Sinai He thus begins I am the Lord Exod. 20 2. and this was to awe Israel into Obedience We read Deut 6. 4. Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. No other Lord is his equal no Commands to be regarded like his Commands None so worthy of service as He He must have attendance who or whatever is neglected Psal 89. 6 7. Who in Heaven can be compared to the Lord who among the Sons of the Mighty can be likened unto the Lord The mightiest Monarchs upon Earth the highest Angels in Heaven are infinitely below him therefore it follows God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him Holy David cries out Psal 8. 1. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth who hast set thy Glory above the Heavens He worshipped and praised him as the highest Sovereign who excelled all things on Earth and whose Glory the Heaven though full of it was not able to contain and when he says our Lord 't is intimated that he was truly his Servant and Subject and that he gloried in subjection to him In the handling of this Doctrine I shall First Shew you how God is the Lord. Secondly Manifest what influence and effect the apprehension of his being Lord should have upon us when we attend upon him Thirdly and Lastly make Application In the first place I am to shew you how God is the Lord. His Majesty may amaze us when we think or speak of his Dominion we should
us into Disorder in our Duties and utterly out of Frame Sometimes this wickedly bold and foul and wretched Spirit will give the vilest Names to the blessed God which are given to the worst of Men. Sometimes he will say that divine Favour and Fury are both contemptible and as if he were a mere Idol that 't is not in him to do good or to do evil Zeph. 1. 12. whereas indeed penal Evils are all from him Amo. 3. 6. Shall there be evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it And the Psalmist tells Psal 33. 5. He loves Righteousness and Judgment the Earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord. Sometimes Satan will deny the Providence of God and say how doth God know And is there Knowledge in the most high As if he did not regard Men or their Ways but that all things in this World fall out either according to blind Chance or fatal Necessity whereas the Psalmist with great Force and Evidence of Reason argues Psal 94. 9 10. He that planted the Ear shall he not hear He that formed the Eye shall he not see He that teacheth Man Knowledge shall not he know Nay sometimes this evil one though himself believes a God and trembles before him yet will inject atheistical Thoughts and confidently deny the very Being of a God that he may discourage all Religion and Application to him Whereas the Heavens declare the Glory of the Lord and as the Light of the Sun is evident so it is evident there is a God by whom that Sun was made and all things visible besides Finally this lying Spirit will bear in with great Violence blasphemous Falshoods against the Word and Gospel of Jesus Christ Christ was manifested to destroy the Works of the Devil and the Devil will endeavour to hinder the Word of Christ from being believed though God himself did bear witness to the Truth of this Word both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will Heb. 2. 4. and miraculous Operations of Grace cease not to this Day When a blind Mind is made to see when an Heart of Stone is turned into an Heart of Flesh when the dead in Sin are made alive to God and Righteousness is their Practice and their Conversation is in Heaven all this shews a divine Efficacy in the Word and its divine Authority and most certain Truth These hellish Injections must by no means have an undisturbed Abode in the Mind for if they have they will cut the Sinews of all religious Endeavours They will damp the Affections dead the Heart and eat out all manner of gracious Inclinations and Purposes These blasphemous Injections shew that there is a Devil for even Nature as bad as it is will rise against some vile Thoughts which he casts in and he is an Enemy to God to Righteousness to the Souls of Men and as great a Lyar as an Enemy therefore he is not at all to be credited but his Wickedness and Falshoods to be abhorred 4. The Heart is distracted when though its Thoughts are good they are unseasonable A good Thought becomes a bad one when 't is entertained at a time that is not proper for it If when we are confessing Sin a Thought good for the matter of it arises that is utterly alien that draws the Mind away from thinking of Sin and that has no Tendency to humble and break the Heart for it This Thought by its Unseasonableness becomes evil If when we are Petitioning for Mercy a good Thought should intrude and make us forget what we are doing and we neither mind what we are asking nor to whom we are speaking A good Thought in this Case causes a sinful Distraction Solomon says that every thing is beautiful in its time Eccles 3. 11. A Word spoken in due season how good is it And as Words so Thoughts are the better the more seasonable they are If the subtle Serpent cannot divert the Mind from the Duty performing by bad Thoughts he will endeavour to do it by good ones If when hearing the Word preached we fall a reading the Scripture to our selves or our Minds are upon a Piece of a Sermon hat we heard at another time and the Truths that are propounding and the Duties that are pressing are not at all regarded Alas we are but too much like the very high way ground and the Seed is catched away assoon as sown 5. The Heart is distracted when the Mind and Judgment are so carnal and perverted as to esteem earthly things above spiritual and eternal When our Lord says The Light of the Body is the Eye Mat. 6. 22. He intimates that what the Eye is to the Body the Judgment is to the Soul and indeed to the whole Man If the Judgment be rectified and apprehends things aright the actings of the Soul will be the better but if the Judgment be darkened and does not discern between Truth and Falshood between good and evil between Substance and Shaddows the Soul must needs wander away from God and lose it self quickly When the Judgment is perverted there is a very wicked Distraction of Mind for the Judgment gives Sentence against God and for the Creature as if a Portion in this Life were more worthy to be chosen and secured than an Inheritance that is eternal It was said to the rich Man in Hell Son remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things Luke 16. 25 They are called his good things because his mistaking Mind apprehended them to be the good things indeed and the best things of all were not in his Judgment so good as these How can the natural Man chuse but be distracted in all his Duties he performs to God since his darkened Mind thinks such Duties unprofitable and that the things of God are Foolishness 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are Foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 6. The Heart is distracted when the Will and Affections withdraw from God and fasten upon Vanity A false Judgment being past no wonder that a foolish Choice is made This is an ill distraction indeed When the Biass of the Will turns away from God and it refuses to be subject to him though the best Lord and cares as little to enjoy him as to obey him The Lord observed and complained of this Psal 81. 11. My People would none of me He offered no less than himself to them who is so infinitely desirable who was so alsufficient and able to fulfil their Desires in whom the truest Delight was to be found yet this greatest and best Offer was contemned And when the Heart and Affections are thus denyed to God how are they bestowed Pleasures are loved more than God and even in his House and when there is an external Service yielded the Heart goeth after its Covetousness Ezek.
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
were broken and were rather chattering than Supplications Isa 38. 14. Like as a Crane or a Swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove mine eyes fail with looking upward O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me CASE VII What are those Distractions that make our attendance upon God altogether unacceptable to him and unavailable to our selves To this I answer 1. Distractions make our Duties of none effect for which there is no concernedness that God observes them as long as Man can take no notice of them How can it be expected that the Lord should have any gracious regard to them who have no regard to him or to his all observing Eye They that mind the praise of Men and not the praise of God and if Men do but approve and applaud they are not troubled though God does not commend but condemn them the praise of Men is all the reward they are likely to have Mat. 6. 5. Verily I say unto you they have their reward 'T is an argument of a carnal heart and that Duties are lost when Distractions are not unwelcome or disliked but the Heart is quiet enough with them If this be the ordinary frame and temper of the Heart to make nothing of heartless performances as long as Man cannot see the Heart to be absent 't is a sign that hypocrisie reigns and alass Hypocrites go to Hell through the Sanctuary they tread the broad road praying hearing receiving all along till they fall into eternal Condemnation 2. Distractions make Duties of none effect that are pleaded for as if there were nothing of sin or provocation in them The worse the Duties are many times the Performers think them to be the better they eye not their own Hearts and observe not their Deviations and Wandrings they rest in the external Service as if God would be pleased with the Work done and not mind the manner how We read of some that were bold to expostulate with God because they had fasted and he took no notice of it and yet there was good reason for his disliking what they did because when their Voice was heard on high their Hearts were inclined to strife debate and wickedness Isa 58. 3 4. The Scribes and Pharisees contented themselves with an outside righteousness they minded not that their Hearts should be serious and sanctified in their approaches to God but this righteousness of theirs our Lord pronounces insufficient and we must go beyond it or we cannot go to Heaven 3. Distractions make Duties of none effect that come from prevailing and allowed earthlimindedness How can a devoted Servant of Mammon whose Heart worships Mammon give acceptable attendance on God His Covetousness after which his Heart goes proves him an Idolater Eph. 5. 5. and his Service is most abominable dissimulation Let the Sin be what it will that is beloved and there is a resolution still to love and hide and spare it that sin will so distract and draw away the Heart from God that no Duty that is done can please him If we cover our sins we shall not prosper in our Services If we hide our iniquities in our Bosoms because they are dear to us God will hide his Face and refuse to hear us when we cry to him Isa 59. 2. 4. Distractions make Duties of none effect which hinder all manner of holy and spiritual affections and desires after God How can the Lord accept of a Service when the Heart is dead and cold as a stone and altogether senseless and unconcerned that it is so In such an heart there is no desire to know the Lord and his ways no inclination to become like to him or to enjoy any fellowship with him The Apostle says Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably Heb. 12. 20. Those Distractions that altogether hinder the acting and exercise of any grace whatsoever so that there is no Faith no Love no godly Sorrow no hungring and thirsting after righteousness certainly hereby also the success of Duties must be hindred 5. Distractions make Duties of none effect which though reproved are not striven against but sloth and negligence and formality in attendance upon God are allowed of Abundance of Idleness was the sin of Sodom and abundance of Idleness is to be found in many a Professour even then when engaged in Duties of Religion Such bestow no labour upon their Hearts they do not stir up themselves to take hold of God when they call upon his Name Isa 64. 7. As Vinegar to the Teeth and smoak to the Eyes is very offensive so is the sluggard to him that sends him How then must the Lord needs be displeased with the slothful attendant and slight his negligent Service Will such Service be rewarded No no so far from that that it will be severely punished He that took no pains to improve his Talent is called a wicked and slothful Servant Mat. 25. 26 and v. 30. the Sentence is past upon him Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth In the last place follows the Application And here I shall First Caution you against the Causes of Distraction Secondly Expostulate with you about these Distractions Thirdly Direct unto Remedies against Distractions Fourthly Insist upon several particular Duties and shew you how you may with less Distraction perform them Fifthly Speak Terrour to Sinners and Hypocrites Sixthly Conclude with Comfort and Encouragement to Saints who would fain do better and with less Distraction attend upon the Lord. USEI Shall be of Caution against the Causes of Distraction If we would be delivered from the effect we must find out and remove the cause Health and Ease are in vain hoped for while no care is taken to remove the Causes of sickness and pain Serious in holy Duties we shall never be whilst we allow and cherish the Causes which make our Hearts rove and wander from God Now the great Causes of Distraction which I am to warn you against and you are to take heed of are these 1. I enter a Caveat against corrupted Nature This is the Cause of Causes if you trace up any sin to its original you will see that to be original sin Corrupted Nature never did any Duty well has no care at all to do any thing better Though the first Adam died several thousand Years ago yet in a sense he lives to this Day he walks and haunts and troubles his whole Posterity and though this old Man is Crucified with Christ yet he is not quite dead in any Believer while the Believer lives upon the face of the Earth and the evil that remains in him will shew it self present with him when he would do that which is good Rom. 7. 21. We may truly cry out Mystery of Iniquity the great corruption of Nature the Mother of wickedness and abominations of the Earth As sin is from hence so this is the grand obstruction of the serious Service of
inquire into your own Spiritual Estate and mind what is likely to become of you when you go into the other World where you will be fixed in blessedness or misery that will be unalterable 3. Without distraction hertofore you have hearkned to the evil one and with great studiousness contrived to commit sin and if the worst Master was thus attended upon shall not now the best much more Have you not devised wickedness and set your selves in an evil way Psal 36. 4. and will you not now with as great thoughtfulness devise how to do good and with an undistracted purpose set upon the doing of it The Apostle would not only have you to change your Master and being free from sin become Servants of Righteousness Rom. 6. 18. but as you served sin so you should serve righteousness be as forward serious and diligent in holy Duties as ever you were in the Works of darkness 4. Without distraction you have thought upon injuries and meditated revenge and shall not reconciliation with God and your own Salvation be minded with greater intention Thou think est much of the wrongs that others do to thee think more of the injury thou hast done to God's Justice and how thou hast sinn'd against thine own Soul in provoking his Wrath against thee Jer. 7. 19. Do they provoke me to anger saith the Lord Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces Let the Thoughts of the many many Talents which thou owest swallow up the Thoughts of the few Pence which are owing thee 5. How often and for how long a time together has meer Vanity commanded your Thoughts and Hearts And will you not watch with your Lord and in his Work for an hour Proud Imaginations silly Suppositions of your having that Wisdom Wealth Excellency and Esteem which you have not have prevailed and you have set your selves on high in your own fancies Divers sorts of Wickednesses how fixed have they been in your Speculations And why should not your Spirits be much more fixed upon God and your Duty towards him 6. Food and Raiment and providing for your Families are minded in good earnest and without distraction and should you not with far greater heedfulness seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness Why should there be so much distraction in minding the one thing needful If you do not mind the good part quickly you may miss of it eternally it may soon be too late to seek it But if now you chuse it your Hearts being seriously set upon it you shall have it and that good part shall never be taken away from you Luke 10. 42. USE III. Shall be of Direction I am to direct you to proper Remedies against distraction in Religious Performances The Disease I grant is difficult to be cured but with the great Physician no Distemper is impossible to be healed Having therefore your Eye and dependance upon him use these following Remedies 1. Let your first Thoughts every Morning be always good ones An Heart well seasoned with these in the beginning of the day is likely to be in the better frame in holy Duties and better inclined all the day long As soon as you are awake let your Souls work Heaven-ward and be lifted up to the God that is there Such Souls he is pleased with and delights to communicate his Grace unto If the Lord has the first fruits of your Hearts the first thoughts and desires you are likely to be blest with the better thoughts and desires afterwards as of old the first-fruits being offered to God his Blessing was upon the whole Harvest And tho you do take pains with your Hearts in the Morning remember at no time of the day you must let down your Watch and become utterly regardless of your own Spirits for if you are corruption will quickly though it has had never so great a Check return and that with great force and violence Thus when the Sea fled and Jordan was driven back within a little while they both returned to their former Course and Channel When I awake says the Psalmist I am still with thee Psal 139 18. He saw himself under God's special care and compassed with his favour as with a Shield and God's Thoughts about him so full of tender mercy and loving kindness and amounting to so vast a Sum were very precious and delightful to him to think of And how whenever he awaked did his Heart work towards the Lord in a way of gratitude and love Begin the Day well and all the Day long keep your Hearts with all keeping If you would not have your Thoughts vain in Duty let them not be allowed to be vain at any time In the space of time between your solemn Duties be frequent in holy Ejaculations and mental Applications unto God this will mightily help to keep a sense of him upon your Hearts and the more undistracted will your Service be when at your set times every day you attend upon him 2. Be sensible that the preparation of the heart in Man is from the Lord Prov. 16. 1. Look unto him therefore to prepare your Hearts for every Duty you engage in Cries for preparation should be the first Cries and Cries afterwards are likely to be to better purpose Preparation for Duty goes before profit by it and when the Lord vouchsafes to prepare he intends to bestow benefits His preparation causes Prayer to be so seriously and fervently made as that it shall in no wise meet with a denial Psal 10. 17. Thou wilt prepare their Heart thou wilt cause thy Ear to hear In this preparation the Spirit of the Lord affords a mighty help there is a liberty and freedom to the Duty that is to be performed and the more free the Heart is to the Duty the more free and enlarged 't is likely to be in the Duty Clogs and weights are removed and among these clogs distraction and deadness may well be reckoned * The prepared heart is a fully resolved heart and an holy and firm resolution made in a strength beyond our own will mightily help to banish distraction The prepared Heart by the Spirit and Grace of Christ is disentangled from the World stands aloof from it that it may draw the nearer to God It is made to see how worthy sin is of its most bitter Sorrow and utter detestation and with an holy indignation it says What have I to do any more with any of my iniquities The prepared Heart prizes the Blessings 't is about to petition for and longs to appear before God from whom alone they can be obtained 'T is delivered from the vain and injudicious Spirit of this World and by the Spirit which is of God knows the worth of those things which are so freely given of God And this preparedness of Heart must needs be a great preservative against distraction 3. Pray for the fulfilling of that Promise wherein the Lord has engaged to give you
less will your Thoughts be drawn away from him 6. Be very poor in Spirit A pressing sense of your spiritual Necessities will make you very intent and serious in begging Supplies from above for 't is from thence alone you can be supplied They that are pinched with Poverty how much do they think how poor they are They have such a smart feeling of their Needs they can scarce think of any thing besides The condemned Malefactor when he cries for a Pardon and has hopes to speed surely the apprehension of his danger makes his Words and his Thoughts to go together When the Man almost famished asks for Bread no doubt his Mind is very much upon that Bread which may prevent his starving Be you but sensible how great the Needs of your Souls are and that 't is the Father of Spirits only who can give you the mercy and grace which you need and the more of sense you have the less distracted will you be in your Applications to him Our Lord pronounces the poor in Spirit blessed Mat. 5. 3. their Petitions come from an inward sense of their want and of the worth of Blessings and being earnest Petitioners they shall be successful ones You that feel your guilt and fear Divine Wrath must needs think of a Pardon and the desirableness of it when you ask for it You that are sensible of your Maladies how intent will your Minds be upon the Lord the healer of his People And you will have little list to think of something else when you are begging to be cured True poverty of Spirit will constrain to an undistracted seeking of that Gold tried in the fire to enrich you and that white Raiment to cover you Rev. 3. 18. without which you must needs be wretched and miserable because you will be poor and naked 7. Let Conscience be very tender vigilant and faithful Such a Conscience will be very helpful to prevent distraction or quickly to put an end to it It will observe and fetch home the Truant and straying Thoughts and bring them to your Duties * I distinguish between a tender Conscience and a scrupulous one for a scrupulous Conscience is a great cause of distraction for Scruples are most apt to run in and pester the Mind when holy Duties are performing Conscience acts in God's Name by his Authority and urges Obedience to his Laws and much insists if it be truly enlightned and faithful upon the right manner of obeying Conscience takes strict notice of the whole Soul and all the actings of it and this Officer of God especially does this in the Souls approaches to the Lord a sense of being under God's Eye makes the faithful Consciences Eye more strict and ready to spy all faults that they may presently be amended In holy Duties such a Conscience will be very busie it will earnestly protest against vain and distracting Thoughts and it will say What make such thoughts here when God and his Work ought only to be minded The presence of evil when good is doing such a Conscience cannot brook with Patience it stirs up the lustings of the Spirit against those of the Flesh that the Law of the Mind may prevail more against the Law in the Members Rom. 7. 23. If Conscience is asleep in your Performances how sorry and sinful will they be The Heart will be dead the Thoughts will be gone far away no holy Affections will be stirring Pray hard for a good Conscience a Conscience not only purged by the Blood of Christ from all the guilt which by dead Works you have contracted but also by the same Blood healed of its Sleepiness Stupidity and all other faults of it And that Conscience may more effectually check your Hearts from roving and trifling in attendance upon God look before you with the Eye of strong and steddy Faith and see as far as Death and Judgment and into Eternity and then do you judge whether for your carelesly performed Duties your Lord will say Well done true and faithful Servants The Apostle having lookt as far as his own and also the World's last Day wherein the Heaven shall pass away with a great noise the Elements melt with fervent heat and the Earth and the Works therein shall be burnt up rationally infers that Christians Conversations should be very well ordered Duties of Godliness most undistractedly and seriously performed Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness 2 Pet. 3. 10 11. 8. Another Remedy against Distraction is growing in Grace and in the knowledge of Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. This will keep you from being led away by errour and will make you more stedfast in Duty as well as Truth When Grace shall be perfected in Glory distraction will be perfectly cured and here on Earth the Cure is advanced as Grace is augmented The more Grace you have you will set the higher value upon Communion with God and this will fill your Hearts with holy Zeal and Indignation against every thing that may divert your Minds and be an obstruction to this Communion The more Grace you have the more you are filled with the Spirit and when you pray in the Holy Ghost your Prayer will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in-wrought Prayer Jam. 5. 16. How much of the Heart and Soul will be therein And the same Spirit in hearing and other Ordinances will keep your Hearts with God when they are about to turn to the right hand or to the left Isa 30. 21. The more Grace you have the more your Treasure will be in Heaven and you are told Mat. 6. 21. Where your treasure is there will your hearts be also Now that there may be an increase of Grace Christ must be better known for 't is from him that the first Grace is derived and all additional degrees of it Study him more and understand his fulness who fills all in all Eph. 1. 23. Desire with the Apostle that you may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his Death Psal 3. 10. If you conform to the Death of Christ and are crucified and dead to the World and the World to you the things of the World will appear without form and comeliness and will be less able to distract your Minds and ensnare your Affections And if you feel the Power of Christ's Resurrection your Hearts and Thoughts will rise with him and at what a rate will you seek those things that are above The Angels when here on Earth they are doing what God commands them and are in Heaven still as to their Thoughts and as to the Happiness they enjoy You should be heavenly when about your earthly business but especially when you are attending upon the God of Heaven And the more experimentally you understand Christ risen the less will things on Earth be minded and the higher will
that crawl upon the ground How should you look to the frame of your Spirits when you are before him The Passion of fear calls in the Blood to the Heart that the Vitals may be fortified and truly the Grace of fear will call in the Thoughts of the Heart that Duties performed to so great a Majesty may not be an heedless trifling with him 2. Sequester your selves from other business to intend Prayer the more you are disentangled from your Secular Affairs the more free and fit your Hearts will be to be poured out before the Lord in your supplications The further you step out and off from the World when you come to knock at Heaven Gates the more certainly will the Door be opened to you If Mammon has your Thoughts and Desires when you are praying to God you have a jealousie provoking Idol in your Hearts while in his Presence and how offensive must this needs be to him to see an Idol there where he chuses to dwell One thing says the Psalmist have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after Psal 27. 4. Other things were esteemed worthless comparatively Let not other matters distract you when you are calling upon God that you may pray in Prayer and do nothing else but pray Remember distracted Confessions increase Guilt and Wrath distracted Petitions ask for a denial and distracted Praises will tend very much unto the stopping of the Current of Mercies 3. Be perswaded that the Lord will attentively mind what you pray if you intently mind what you pray for your selves He takes pleasure in uprightness and this Heart-searcher well knows who are sincere and not so much as a Sigh or Groan from a sincere Soul shall be disregarded If you from your Heart cry for Mercy Mercy shall compass you about Psal 32. 10. The Prophet tells us That the Lord hearkned and heard Jer. 8. 6. Indeed most speak not aright they repent not of their wickedness saying what have we done But those who do speak aright and being truly sensible of the evil of their doings fervently pray to have their sins covered and all their defilements purged away The Lord who hearkens so attentively will surely hear all such Cries and in no wise deny what is cryed for Believe the mighty efficacy of fervent Prayer and what rich returns this Trading to Heaven brings in and what Treasures Prayer is a Key to unlock that you may be enriched thereby A sacred coveting these unsearchable Riches will make you mind what you are doing when you are praying to partake of them and the Apostle tells you for your encouragement Rom. 10. 12. There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him 4. Cry earnestly for the holy Spirit of Promise You will never pray aright or to any purpose without his aid The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Grace because all true Grace is from him and so are all gracious desires and actings He is also called the Spirit of Supplication all acceptable Confessions Petitions and Thanksgivings are of his enditing And this Spirit is promised and how ready is our heavenly Father to give the Spirit to any that ask him Now we read that he which searcheth the heart knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit for he maketh intercession for the Saints accorning to the Will of God Rom. 8. 27. Saints Prayers are called the Mind of the Spirit he makes them to be according to the Will of God and that not only as to the matter of them but also as to the manner The Spirit of God at first moved upon the face of the Waters and how many useful Creatures did he produce out of a Chaos of Confusion And if that Spirit move upon your Hearts in Prayer he can keep your Thoughts that they stir not from God and cause Faith and godly Sorrow and Hope Humility and Love to be in actual exercise and the more Grace is exercised Prayer will be the less distracted and more successful 5. Let Vigilancy and watching go before keep pace with Prayer and follow after it Why has a Christian new Eyes and Light but that he might watch with the one and by the other Our Lord joyned watching and praying together Prayer without watching will be heartless watching without Prayer will be insufficient for your security Watching with Prayer makes it more serious and to succeed the better The Apostle says The end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watch unto Prayer 1 Pet. 4. 7. Watching unto Prayer summons the whole Soul with all its Faculties to attend upon God and to prepare to meet him We also read Col. 4. 2. Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving Watching in Prayer is a mighty help against the Heart's straggling This straggling is the sooner observed and the straggling Thoughts presently reduced And he that watches after Prayer diligently and with all thankfulness observes the Answers of Prayer And thus to do will strongly induce you to give your selves more to Prayer in good earnest and to wrestle with him with whom you do so often prevail The fourth and last Duty I shall mention is Communicating at the Lord's Table and that this may be done with less distraction 1. Let there be more serious self-examination before you engage in that holy Ordinance 1 Cor. 11. 28. But let a Man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Look into the State of your Souls and your State is good if you know the true God so as to love him and prefer him in your choice before all things besides and if you know Christ so as to rely upon him with consent to be ruled by him as your Lord and Saviour Joh. 17. 3. This is life eternal thus to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent Take great notice also of Remember that Christ himself is really present at his Table and his Eye which is as a flame of fire observes the frame of every heart Fix your Eye upon your own Hearts since Christ's Eye is upon them the present frame of your Hearts that you may know in what Graces they are weakest and what kind of Lustings of the Flesh are aptest to prevail and what things they are which are most likely to distract your Minds and draw away your Hearts when at the Table your watch hereupon will be the stricter and your thoughts will run the more upon the particular Graces that are to be strengthened and upon the sins too which are to be struck more dead by the power of the Death and Crucifixion of Christ Jesus 2. Let the Death of Christ put you in mind what you were and would have been still if he had not died for you you would have been dead in Law under the damnatory Sentence of it and you would have been dead in
Christ's Righteousness and is so presented to the Father The Apostle tells us of the Glory of the Grace of God wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved Eph. 1. 6. When Christ was upon Earth the satisfaction he made was sufficient to make reconciliation for all sins and defects And now he is in Heaven he ceases not to intercede for Believers a thousand faults may be found in their best Duties but how absolutely faultless and prevailing is this Intercession of their Advocate 4. Many of those Duties which doubting Saints have thought to be nothing but Sin and Distraction God sees and owns the actings of Grace in He sees some Fire in the smoaking Flax which he will not quench though there is much that is offensive with it he sees some greenness in the bruised Reed though there is much that is dead and he will not break it Matt. 12. 20. His Eyelids try the Children of Men and he has a gracious regard to the actings of Grace and Faith though it be but as a grain of Mustard seed Christ Jesus is said to be quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord Isa 11. 3. He knows what Key will open every Heart and when he will open none can keep shut he can bring the most fearless and stupid to the fear of God And where the fear of God is in truth though it be in a lower degree he easily discerns it When a Well of Water is muddy at the top there is purer Water working up from the Spring at the bottom When the Heart is very much discomposed and distracted in Duty if under all these Infirmities there is a working and stirring of the Grace of God he will both observe and be well pleased with it He will not utterly reject a Duty when there is an hearty desire to do it well and an hearty grief 't is done no better 5. The Lord is ready to give a Blessing to those means which himself has appointed for the cure of these Distractions These means are effectual when the Spirit makes them so And is the Spirit of the Lord straitned Mic. 2. 7. What infirmity is too great for him to help What Heart too roving and unruly for him to settle The means must be used Cry for help that you may be helpt to cry hear the word with a desire to feel its power that you may hear it to better purpose Take encouragement from the mighty Spirit who is so ready to accompany God's Institutions He can fit you for your Duty and fix your Hearts in it and crown the doing of it with the Blessings which are promised And when your Hearts are fixed 't is but reason your Mouths should sing and give praise 6. When Militant Saints come to be triumphant their Distractions and Complaints because of them will be at a perpetual end In Heaven they shall be out of Satan's reach he shall resist them no more this World they will have left which so often troubled both their heads and hearts and will have exchanged it for a World that 's infinitely better their perfected Spirits will be perfect in their Operations nothing of imperfection will cleave to what the glorified Saints above are doing The Vision of God Face to Face will fix the Mind and Thoughts upon him eternally having once looked on they will never care to look off more Perfection of Holiness Love Delight and Joy must needs for ever hinder all even the least wandring None can in the least be weary of the Work that is done in Heaven it is so full of pleasure Rev. 4. 8 They rest not Day and Night saving Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come and full glad may they well be that such a pleasant Employment must never come to an end If all this Congregation with their Pastour can but get safe into the House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens Oh what Thoughts and Apprehensions shall we have How shall we be fill'd with Joy and Wonder at what we shall then behold Being entred and swallowed up in the Joy of our Lord shall we not then cry out Ah! Ah! What a difference is there between this Heavenly Country and the most desirable earthly Inheritance The Sun is but a small Spark to that Light which we now see When we lookt upward we admired Heavens outside the Firmament with all its shining Luminaries but now we plainly see that Heaven is much more glorious within What an excellent Society is this innumerable Company of Angels that we are among How does every glorified Saint and Member of Christ resemble his Head being all fair and no spot remaining How pleasant is the Harmony where there is no Sin no Sorrow no Defect or Discord These Hallelujahs which we now joyn in how ravishing and transporting are they not like the distracted Services which we used to perform together in the Sanctuary We are all now fixt in this glorious place and shall go no more out Our Complaints are quite ended and never again shall we do in the least amiss We are indeed without fault before the Throne of God and we shall Live and Reign Triumph and Magnifie the Lord for ever Thus have I finished my Discourse concerning Distraction in attending upon God a fault whereof all are guilty most make nothing or very light of and very few mind to have it mended My design herein has been to do some Service to the Church of Christ that their Worship may be more pure and Spiritual being freed from those wandring Thoughts which both distract and defile it and that the Best of Lords may still have better and more acceptable Service from all of you and from my self also Whilst we are in this World truly this World is too much in us 't is suitable to our Senses and apt to intice and draw away our Hearts Let the Eye of Faith pierce through the Clouds and see Heavens Joy and Glory and then this Worlds Vanity will be the more apparent and how vain a thing 't is for you to be so thoughtful about it and eager after it When Faith has seen how God is attended upon by Saints and Angels above it may help to kindle in you an holy zeal and a vehement desire more to resemble those excellent Attendants and to serve the Lord more gladly and seriously here below Oh cry to have the Cure of Distractions carried on further towards compleatness Live as Strangers and Sojourners here on Earth not concerned about the things of it as others are Declare plainly that you are born from above and let your Hearts and Thoughts more and more ascend thither Carry your selves as fellow Citizens with the Saints and as those that are of the Houshold of God Let there be more of God more of Grace in all you do and speak in all the Powers of your Souls in all the Duties you perform And think with gladness and