him And remember that to grief the Spirit oft is the way to quench the Spirit and to quench the Spirit oft is the way to do despite to the Spirit That is a rare expression Gal. 5.25 If ye live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit how far is this phrase from vulgar apprehension or feeling To live and walk by the conduct and quickening of the Holy Ghost this is the life of a Saint And then he that walks in the Spirit prays also in the Spirit and watches thereunto Ephes. 6.18 Whereby those airy darts of the Devil that would conquer the strength of a man are crush'd and chas'd away by the strength of a God SECT IV. IV. BElieve the Presence of God The eye of the Master makes the Scholar busie If his eye be off the Scholar the Scholar's eye is off his book Psal. 16.8 I have set the Lord alwaies before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Else your hearts will be moved and removed too upon every motion And therefore Faith which doth realize invisible things and presentiate an invisible God is of great use in every holy duty Heb. 11.6 He that cometh to God must believe that God is He must as fully believe that God is present as if he were visible that thou art incompassed and involved in the presence of God If thou go forward he is there if backward thou mayest perceive him on the left hand there he doth work though thou canst not behold him he hides himself on the right hand that thou canst not see him Yet he knoweth the way that thou takest Job 23 9 10. This his common presence but then in an Ordinance there he is in the midst of his people there he looks over Heaven and Earth as nothing and to this man looks he that 's poor and contrite and trembles at his Word and therefore when you pray you must not only speak as speaking of God but to God It 's sleighting a Prince when we deliver a Petition and look another way we bid our children look at us when they speak to us and so should we at God who is not far from every one of us in his Ordinances There he is with his Host about him and though 't is above us to determine whether his Angels are imployed to conduct his Word to us or our Prayers to him yet it s certain that they attend the great Iehovah and never more willing than in an Ordinance being transported with joy at a sinners conversion and most pleasantly feasting on our poenitential tears It 's true God is alwaies and every where with thee with those more common Attributes of Immensity Power and Providence but in his Worship there he is also present by his grace mercy holiness and efficacy His common presence may be compared to the Sun in a cloudy day it is in the Sky we have great benefit by it we should die without it but his special Ordinance Presence is like the Sun breaking out of a cloud in a Summers morning that discovers atomes warms our bodies and refresheth our spirits Even so the common presence of God upholds the world in him we live move and have our Being and the belief that God is every where should perswade us to sin no where But now the special presence of God in his Worship that like the Sun breaking out inlightens the mind warms the heart and melts the most rocky soul. Hereby God doth as it were shine directly upon us so that to trifle or sin before him is a crime intolerable The name of every place where God is rightly worshipped is Iehovah Shammah the Lord is there Thy closet the Lord is there between thy chair and thee and canst thou shift from him thy bed-chamber the Lord is there between thy bed-side and thee and canst thou turn from him by the fire-side with thy family the name of that place is Iehovah Shammah and wilâ— thou sleep In the Assembly the Lord is there and what are all the Gallants there in comparison of him O therefore hear and look at God and pray and look at God meditate and look at God sing Psalms and still look at God It was Hagar's saying Gen. 16.13 Have I also here looked after him that seeth me And she called the Name of the Lord that spake to her Thou God seest me O call the Name of the Lord that speaks to thee and the Lord to whom thou speakest Thou God seest me Keep thy eye upon him as he keeps his eye upon thee find a fairer object and gaze and spare not but while there is none in Heaven or Earth desirable like him let nothing in Heaven or Earth distract thee from him The lively sense of thisâ— will charm the heart exceedingly and we steal from duty because we see no One there It 's said Prov. 20.8 A King that sitteth in the Throne of Iudgement scattereth away all evil with his eyes that is his very countenance should read such a Lecture of Justice Temperance Chastity and Piety that every spectator should fear to do otherwise O then how should the presence of God so inchant the soul with that holiness goodness and sweetness therein that not one thought could be spared from so lovely an object The full and clear vision and fruition of this presence of God doth so eternally ravish and content the soul in Heaven that they would not look off the face of God for a thousand worlds no though all the Kings of the Earth in their greatest triumph should pass by Heaven gates and the Earth's utmost glory with them A glorified soul is so full of the presence of God that it would not spare one minut's look to see it all It is said of one Theodorus a Martyr that in all his tortures he smiled and being askt his reason answered that he saw a glorious youth wiping the sweat off his face whereby he was infinitely refreshed If thou couldest but see by the eye of Faith the blessed face of God smiling on thee and with the handkerchief of his love wiping thy sweat and tears away thy heart would be glad and thy glory rejoyce and thou wouldst say Lord it 's good yea it 's best for me to be here Go not willingly from him without a sight of him Moses had few distractions when he saw God face to face The actual faith of a Saint ingages the actual presence of God Drexelius tells us of a vision of an holy man and behold in the Temple an Angel at every man's elbow that was at prayer He that prayed with malice in his heart his Angel wrote his petitions in Gall he that prayed coldly his prayers were written in the water he that prayed with distractions his suits were written in sand and he that prayed in faith his Angel wrote his petitions in Letters of Gold The moral whereof at least is good
find that in it which none ever found will it do more for thee than ever it did for any Believe its vanity upon God's Word ere thou try it by thy sad experience Get faith to suck vertue out of Christ's death to vanquish it For this is our victory 1 Ioh. 5.4 that overcometh the world even our faith Lay thee down with Christ in the grave by faith and say then What is the world Get faith to believe that eternal happiness which being once seen by that piercing eye would so disgrace the world that all the comforts of it would not weigh a straw in comparison of it If a man lived in the Sun what a poor mote would the whole earth look He that lives in Christ in Heaven by faith sees all the glories of the earth with a disdainful eye and cries Vanity of vanities all is vanity 2. You shall be helped against this disease by deep consideration of the folly and misery of such a frame of heart It 's folly for all that is gotten of the world with the neglect of the soul invasion of holy duties or by a carking worldly heart comes to thee in wrath will sink thee deeper in hell or if thou repent is most commonly some way consumed vix gaudet tertius haeres thy grand-child will rue it If we could penetrate the method of God's providence usually those losses you have in this beast or the other house or the like are the just value of what you have gotten by immoderate care hard dealing with others or unseasonable contrivance when your heart should have been better employed And then the misery of worldly-mindedness that it pierceth the heart through with many sorrows Sorrow and pain in getting sorrow and care in keeping sorrow and grief in losing The heart is never at perfect rest A man would not use his horse as a worldling doth his heart gives it no quiet or ease and all this to no purpose at all Hab. 2.13 The people labour in the very fire and weary themselves for very vanity and may not the consideration hereof be an effectual means to hate this humour and when it is once hated it is more than half discharged 3. Have recourse to God by prayer and therein see and bewail thy former madness solemnly vow to restore their right to every man thou hast wronged rather part like Zacheus with half thine estate than with thy whole soul and body and earnestly cry to the Lord to encline thy heart to his testimonies and not unto covetousness Psal. 119.36 Intreat your heavenly Father to give you an heavenly heart and if it come not at first asking it 's a gift worth going for again humbly tell him by vertue of that Covenant wherein you promised to forsake the world which you are now resolved to stick to his Majesty is bound to give you a mortifi'd and heavenly heart and you will never leave him till you have obtained it 4. Charm your hearts from worldly thoughts when you go to the worship of God Prov. 16.1 3. The preparation of the heart is from the Lord Commit thy ways to him and thy thoughts shall be established The Heathen left their shooes at the Temple doors to intimate that all earthly affections must be left behind you when you go to speak with God Do as that great States-man used who would lay off his Gown wherein he administred his Office when he went to worship God and say Lie there Lord Cecil implying he would take none of the cares of his Office into the presence of God So when you go to prayer reading or hearing lay aside the world and say Lie there house ye fields lie there lie there my cares till I have done with God So Abraham left his servants and asses Gen. 22.5 below the hill and took up nothing but an holy heart and the materials of his Sacrifice with him thither Keep still an eye upon your hearts and both watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation SECT VI. THe sixth cause of Distractions in the Worship of God is Weakness of love to Iesus Christ and consequently to his Ordinances Love unites the soul to its object as Faith is the bond of our mystical so Love is the bond of our moral union with Christ. The more love to Christ the more life in his service Cant. 8.6 Set me as a seal upon thy heart as a seal upon thy arm for love is strong as death Were your love more strong it would seal up both soul and body and unite them firmly unto Jesus Christ. Love marries the heart and eye to the object hence 't is there is not a distracting thought in heaven for there love is perfect they see and love and sing and praise and see enjoy and love for ever and ever The three Disciples Matth. 17.4 had but an half-quarter glimpse of that state but their love to their dearest Lord and his presence was so heightned that the world was forgotten Ierusalem below and all their friends and fellow-Disciples forgotten and they undone to abide there And if we could by the eye of faith see him that is invisible and perfectly love him O how hardly could we spare a by-thought in his presence and service no all the world would be forgotten comforts and crosses all sleep together while God and our soul were conversing in an Ordinance Whence is it that most men can work and care perpetually and no distractions divert them discourse their business most orderly without one alien thought drive on a bargain an hour together and think on nothing but what 's pertinent to their present business Why they love what they are about they like it well and so tongue and heart go together are wholely taken up therewith The jovial knot like their company and nothing shall distract them the servant comes about necessary business the master fumes that they will not let him alone the child comes and then the wife but he frets he rages And why all this why he loves his company 't is his delight his heaven Even so the Soul that hath a strong love to a precious Christ and his Ordinance-presence doth most heavily bear a distracting thought The devil cannot pluck him from Christ but the soul smarts and when there is this smart at parting that soul will part but seldom You have sometimes seen a sucking child that loves the mother and the breast most dearly how loth is it to leave it while it is hungry how eagerly and angrily it seeks and cries and catches hold again Here 's love Christ Iesus is the spring of all happiness and his Ordinances are his breasts and he that loves the Lord Jesus with all his soul and all his strength there he lies and sucks at the breasts of consolation This business knocks at door that trifle tempts him yet there he sticks and frowns away all his temptations His love is ardent Psal.
be busie too If we had only an Idol to serve the body were enough but God is a spirit and cannot be conversed with without the spirit yea and the whole spirit also Fond man that thinks with his narrow soul to deal with God and somewhat else who alone is immense and beyond our greatest capacity He must be taken up and goe out of the world in a sense that will get into Heaven The soul on the lip and the soul in the ear do rid work in the service of God 3. It is sweet work Psal. 138.5 Yea they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord mark shall sing their spirits shall neither droop nor step aside He that attends on the Lord hath a most sweet imployment now the mind useth not to straggle at most rare musick or under an enchanting song Alexanders great soul yet is said exilire è convivio under the charms of Musick O the gracious presence of God! his sweet smiles and blessed love-tokens that can transport Angels sure they may ingage the heart of man and sufficiently fill it Read the Canticles and say then Is not converse with God an Heaven upon Earth and how far is Heaven from distracted thoughts sad and severe things afflict the mind It would flit from such subjects but sweet imployment ingages all the heart next dwelling in Heaven is the soul flying to Heaven in an Ordinance Our dryest Duties yield us least comfort The nearer the Sun the warmer More close to God more sweet you 'l find him and never more joyfull than in the House of Prayer SECT III. THe third reason is taken from the Nature of our Condition and that is this 1. We cannot live without God In him we live as to our natural life every 〈◊〉 is fetcht from Him so in our spiritual life the life of the soul is He that made it A world without a Sun is dark a body without a soul is dead but a soul withont God is dark is dead is damned It s true men feed and sing and make a shift without God in the World but he that lives truly lives by faith the other life Beasts live they eat and drink and work but know not God but if you will define the life of a soul God must be in the beginning in the midst and in the end of it 2. Our only way of communion with God is in an Ordinance This is the River the streams whereof make glad the heart Were a City besieged by mortal enemies round about and no relief to be conveyed but by the River that waters it how fatal to the City would the stopping of that River be that City must starve or yield The ordinary supplies that a Christian cannot be without come swimming down from Heaven through the Ordinances of God Distractions stop the River hinder Prayer from ascending to God hinder instruction from descending into the heart intercept commerce and starve the soul. The zeal of the Iews was eminent this way of whom Iosephus relates that when Pompeys Souldiers shot at the thickest of them in the siege of Ierusalem yet amidst those arrows did they go and perform their rites as though there had been peace why thy Prayer is the Embassador Distractions cut off the feet and Prov. 26.6 He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage A wandring Prayer is a message by the hand of a fool and that man is like to drink damage that useth it A man is a poor thing without God and God is not ordinarily met with but in an Ordinance 3. All our strength and Heart is too little for this business All our understanding too little to apprehend his rare perfections All our affections too weak and shallow to love imbrace and delight in him hence Mark 12.33 we are obliged to love and so to serve the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength that is with every faculty of the soul and with the utmost strength of every faculty Now if it be hard enough to climb the hill unto God with wings how shall we ascend with these weights about us or think to please with half an heart when the whole is too little for he is a great King and his name is dreadfull among the Heathen when all the water in the pool will but turn the Mill that Miller is a fool that by twenty Channels lets out the Water other wayes The intense and earnest heart is little enough to converse with God all the water in our Pool will but turn the Mill. What then can the remiss heart bring to pass and how unlikely are we to obtain with the great God with the negligent approaches of a trivial spirit with a little part of a little heart SECT IV. THe fourth Reason is taken from the Nature of Distractions 1. They divide the Heart and disable it wholly now a divided heart can do nothing at all Hos. 10.2 Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty If one heart divided from another make a fault much more faulty is one heart divided within it self Hence it comes to pass that Satan offers as the false Mother did about the living Child 1 King 3.26 Let it be neither mine nor thine but divide it If he cannot block your way to the presence of God and make good his claim to the living Child as She would have done then with might and main he furthers all imaginable diversions to part the Soul and cryes Lord let it be neither thine nor mine but divide it well knowing that as the Child so the heart while intire is a living and lively heart but divide it and destroy it As he that runs at once after two Hares catches neither so two businesses at once spoils both He that thinks to treat the Creator and the creature at the same time enjoyes neither of them And thus the vain heart of man by over-doing undoes it self and reaching at two matters spoils them both 2. These Distractions frustrate the Ordinance and cause the great name of God to be taken in vain Instead of forcing the Hearers these do but beat the air and cannot reach the Heart of God because they never reach your own And this is one of the follies of a roving heart that it consumes as much time in a sensless as in a serious Duty and yet doth nothing in it brings nothing to pass And so the Holy God stands over the heedless sinner with Iobs words Job 16.3 When shall Vain words have an End I am weary with this tinkling Cymbal either pray in earnest or pray not at all hear in earnest or hear not at all As good not at all as never the better The service of God requires a man not a shadow yea all a man and more than a man our
and affections while it remains imperfect in your mind and judgment Associate also with zealous Christians borrow some of their heat and lend them some of your light and be not ashamed to talk of God Heaven and a Soul when you are together we lose the benefit of mens graces for want of broaching those blessed Vessels of grace you converse with Especially read the Scripture which will inflame thee and mold thee being rightly used into its blessed nature I have known some that before their private duties would meditate on a verse in the Psalms Canâ—icles or the like and then run hot and lively into the presence of God And chose rather to be frequent and fervent than long and roving in a duty Shorter prayers may sometimes inflame when long ones tire the spirits and that way the antient Christians in Egypt used to take And lastly do as holy David did that carried such a nature as thou dost be ever calling to God as He who is at it eight or nine times in Psal. 119. Quicken me in thy way quicken me and I will call upon thy name and if He had need thus to fetch fire from Heaven how much more have We Q. Were it not better to omit the duty than attempt it with such a dull heartless frame as this A. 1. Omission of a duty will never fit us for the better performance of a duty Luther was used to say The oftner I neglect the more unfit I am this is nothing but a shift of the Devil 2. If thou dost endeavour with thy utmost strengthâ— and sincerity though thou be dull it 's better than to leave it undone for as one sin prepares for another so one duty prepares for another Fall therefore to work and then God is engaged to help thee never think neglects will mend it one sin never cures another By the upright use of these means you will find the holy Ghost as it were stretch himself on your cold hearts and infuse life and heat into you And when you are soaring aloft in the Spirit that cunning marksman cannot shoot and fetch you down by his distracting Arrows SECT V. THe fifth cause of Distractions in God's Worship is Worldly mindedness An heart in earth and an heart in Heaven are far asunder As long as the Lark soareth upward she sings without danger of the Net but stooping to gaze on the Foulers deceitful Glass she is quickly ensnared So is it with us while we live aloft we are safe but when the heart stoops down and grows worldly through the false glass Satan puts upon it then are we taken in these snares Ezek. 33.31 With their mouthes they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness Their faces look one way but they row another their eyes are up towards heaven their hearts set on the earth and grasping two affairs they prosper in neither How should he set his affections on the things above that hath set them chiefly on things below when as these two are directly opposed Col. 3.2 How should the Soul that Bird of Paradise flie up to heaven in a duty when it is not only weighed down with the lead of natural corruption but intangled in the lime-twigs of earthly mindedness they can never write on their duties Holiness to the Lord that stamp upon their coyn God with us Hence it comes to pass that the heart is loth to come to an Ordinance and then longs to goe out again how heavily do they go to Church how lightly to the market for here the heart goes with them and there it 's left behind and being forc'd into a duty because its treasure is in the world the heart hastens to be there again and sicut piscis in arido is out of its element when in an Ordinance We read of the world set in a mans heart Eccles. 3.11 and of an heart set on the world Ps. 62.10 Now how should God have any of such a heart No no he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth there he can rest without weariness of that he can discourse without distractions but when he should turn to God and flee to heaven this care knocks at door and that business whispers him in the ear and there the carcase is left but the heart is gone The Prophet Hosea 4.11 tells us that whoredome and wine and new wine take away the heart It were very unlikely that any man in the heat of those sins should pray or hear or meditate aright and it is much what as likely for an heart that is taken away with the cares of this world and drowned therein to converse with God without innumerable wandrings Mistake not it is not the world but worldly mindedness that is taxed not the increase of riches but the heart set upon them And so no doubt a poor man may have his part of distractions through his want of worldly things as well as the rich through his abundance He may have many a distracting thought what to do for the world as the rich hath what to do with the world And thus we see those things which were given for our welfare prove our snare and what should hire us to serve God keeps us from him Which shews what good reason the wise man had to crave neither riches nor poverty but convenient comforts seeing the weight of the world distracts one sort and the want of the world another sort in the very immediate service of God Howbeit for the most part the heart that is fullest of the world is emptiest of God Now the best remedy against worldly mindedness is Mortification O get a chip of Christ's Cross Gal. 6.14 whereby the world will be crucifi'd to you and you to the world So was Paul As saith one of the Antients Paul and the world were like two dead bodies that neither embrace with delight nor part with grief from each other You must be dead I say dead to the world if you mean to live to God or live with him A drunken prayer and a worldly prayer are alike devout Therefore Love not the world nor the things of the world for so long the love of the Father is not in you and if you love him not how should you pray to him It would be an ill favoured sight to behold all this Congregation in their work-day cloaths here how unpleasing a sight to God is it to see us all with our work-day hearts Now that you may be rid of an earthly heart faithfully make use of these directions 1. Get faith to believe the report God hath given of the world that all that is in it is but the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life a poor vain thing not able to give the soul a breakfast this all that have tasted it and Christ also do aver and canst thou
1.2 His delight is in the Law of the Lord and then it follows in that Law doth he meditate day and night When prayer is your delight and not your task then you will dwell therein with complacence Psal. 43.4 Then will I go unto the altar of God unto God my exceeding joy Children are subject to look off their books because they delight not in them but when they are playing they do hoc agere But now when thy love is cool and weak thou lovest Christ and that 's all alass there 's little heart to him the soul comes heavily to him and having little delight and heavenly complacence in him is most easily drawn off with any distraction for where the treasure is there will the heart be also where God and Christ are a man's treasure his heart is with them He wakes and travels and cares but his heart is with them he runs through his business with all the haste that may stand with good speed that he may retreat to his heart which he left with God and then holy duties are the rest of his soul. And where the world or sin are a mans treasure his heart is with them also he reads and hears and prays but his heart is away the least noise business or whisper can fetch him away alas his love is cool and a drop of water will quench a spark of fire The Remedies of this weakness of love to Christ and his Ordinances are 1. Know him better and meditate more on his real excellencies Ignoti nulla cupido Cant. 5.9 What is thy Beloved more than another beloved Why ver 16. His mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely or as the Heb. all of him is delights And then mark the reply chap. 6.1 We will seek him with thee The pure and orient Sun is no more than a glow-worm to the blind nor the fairest face than a Skeleton It is the eye that must affect the heart Come then open the eye of Faith and gaze on this heavenly object sit down and meditate who and what he is open but the sacred Cabinet of his Attributes every box full of most sweet perfumes each of his offices pregnant with true and transcendent comfort His actions his passion his words his works and above all his heart as full of Heaven as ever it can hold and full for thee the breast full running into the open mouth of faith the Fountain opened for thy sins and uncleanness The treasures of his grace free for thy supplies what heart can freez under such discoveries Nay stay and look at him on the cross calling thee arms stretched out to embrace thee heart opened to let thee in and deny him thy love if thou can And if once your hearts be inflamed with his love no small businesses shall keep you from his presence nor distract you in it 2. Get communion with Christ in his Ordinances As he said on another occasion Ioh. 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is thou wouldest have asked and he would have given thee living water So I say if thou knewest what communion is with Christ thou wouldest ask after prayer and long for such opportunities Why what is communion with Christ Why for thy spirit to flie up into heaven among the celestial spirits and for Christ's Spirit to descend into thy heart And this makes an heaven upon earth 't is inexperience in this that makes us cool to Christ and holy duties strangeness makes company burthensome A King and a beggar a scholar and a clown cannot make company of one another So when there is a distance between God and the soul there is little longing for his Ordinance nor true delight in it Communion with Christ increases love and love to him promotes communion Cant. 8.1 O that thou wert my brother saith the Spouse the son of my mother there 's ardent love when I should find thee without I would kiss thee there 's communion yet should I not be despised If you did but see his power and glory your soul would be filled as with marrow and fatness and your mouth would praise him with joyful lips Psal. 63.2 5. One beam of his holiness love or mercy would so charm your hearts that you would be loth to part and long to meet again for how can it choose but transport a finite heart to see and feel the sweetest properties of the infinite God displayed before and graven on it When Moses was in near communion with God on the Mount no thinking of meat no cares about his tents below but there he is swallowed up and is content to melt in that Sun of light and heat and come down no more easie to count his distractions in the Mount O who can see the face of God and not be ravished therewithâ— who can behold the beauty of the Lord and not chuse to dwell in his presence all the days of a mans life 'T is communion with Christ Iesus that will warm your love to him and when the King brings you into his chambers you will be glad and rejoyce in him you will remember his love more than wine 3. Believe verily that you can be no where better no where so well as in an Ordinance this will content and please your minds in the Lord's service when you can be no where better for what company can be better than God's The chiefest Good must needs afford the choicest company who can impart such rare delights and sweet content as he can and where doth he communicate himself as in an Ordinance Say the world knocks at door and would have thee away can vanity entertain you like felicity can the world produce higher pleasures than he that made it Would sin come in and steal your hearts away can the chiefest evil create thee sweeter entertainment than the chiefest Good No no you are best where you are If the world could find you such another Deity somewhat might be yielded or give you security like God of the reality satisfaction and duration of its toys quarter-contents but alas there 's no shew for this you are best where you are I am conversing with the Lord of heaven and earth who can reward or ruin me in a moment I am sucking at the breast of the chiefest Good I am in the next employment to heaven in a corner of heaven I cannot look off yonder lovely One I will not leave I must not come down And this experience would enamour you of an Ordinance and deliver you from diversions in it you will sit down under his shadow with great delight when his fruit is sweet to your taste SECT VII THe seventh cause of wandring of the thoughts in the worship of God is want of watchfulness Matth. 26.41 Watch and pray are most necessary companions else shall we fall into temptation In those sad times of plague the faithful Guard stands at the City gates
it Phil 4.13 I can do all things through Christ. God and his servant can do any thing SECT VIII THe eighth cause of distractions in holy duties is A beloved sin When the soul hath espoused some bosome lust the thoughts be you never so busie will be warping towards it though God himself look on Ier. 4.14 O Ierusalem wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee When wickedness is in the heart vain thoughts will be in thy duties they will enter yea they will lodge within thee A beloved sin is like a byass on the bowl though you throw it out never so streight yet the byass will draw it off that way do what you can so is a beloved sin unto the soul aim you with utmost skill yet there is a secret load stone in it that attracts the heart and makes that prayer to end in hell that began in heaven Either sin and you must be at a distance or God and you will The soul that is in league with sin dare not come at God dare not look at him dare not think on him and what must that man think on in a duty that dare not think seriously on God As that penitent Father speaks in his confessions An unmortifi'd soul like the husband of a scolding wife had rather be any where than at home and makes many a sad bargain abroad because he hath no comfort at home with his wife so such an heart chooses to be thinking of any thing rather than God alas matters are not straight between them the poison of sin is in him and he hugs that abhominable thing which God hates the Thief had rather go forty miles another way than come near the Judge God is an offended Judge to a wilful sinner and he cares not for ever coming near him Hence Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience He that comes to God with a true upright honest heart being sprinkled from an evil conscience may draw near to God in full assurance of faith whereas guilt clouds clogs and distracts the soul. So that you see both the guâ—lt and power of a bosom sin furnish us with too much cause of distractions Sin That would have all the heart and God He will have all or nothing It 's such an offering that is a whole burnt-offering that the Lord delights in As no subject is capable of two contrary qualities in the intense degree as heat and cold may be both in the same hand but not in their intense degrees so the heart of man cannot entertain Christ and corruption light and darkness except the one be loved and served superlatively above the other Psal. 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me God first stops his ear above and then the sinners mouth below that regards iniquity that likes loves approves or gives it rest and quiet in the soul. Indeed God neither regards him nor doth such a soul regard God He must love God that is lively in his service Iob 27.10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God will he always he may now and then send a thought that way in his special need but not always there 's difference between converse and communion One may have converse or traffick with a stranger upon occasion but communion is with a friend there 's visits of pure kindness an hypocrite may have some converse or trading with God for necessaries but sweet communion constant calling on God and serious duties he can never enjoy and follow that loves any sin before the chiefest Good The Remedies against a beloved sin are briefly these two 1. Consideration sit down and think what real good this sin hath ever done thee Think what hurt it hath done thee and others and what fruit but shame and death it brings to any Thy dearest sin is but sin which is the worst thing in the world and its masks and disguises being laid aside more ugly than the devil more horrid than hell it self And think the more thou lovest it the more God hates it and his rage and jealousie is increased with the increase of thy desires Think how many prayers it hath lost thee how many mercies it hath poison'd to thee how many smiles it hath clouded besides what unutterable sufferings it hath inflicted upon Christ and is preparing for thee in hell Consider that thou maist have as much joy happiness and true comfort without it and all converted sinners confess that Jesus Christ hath been better to them than all their sins and if you may have as good injoyments or better to have Christ with them and Heaven after them will not make them worse 2. Supplication Kneel down and pray with faith in the uprightness of your hearts for strength from above All the strength of Heaven is engag'd by prayer He that heartily sets himself against his sin by prayer cannot but dislike it and when it is truly disliked its heart is broken Augustine complains that when he in his unconverted estate begged a divorce from his sin his heart was afraid lest God should hear his prayers Beware lest your hearts secretly cry Spare when your tongues openly cry Lord kill and crucifie my corruption but do thou bonâ fide pull on earth and the Lord will bono Spiritu pull from Heaven and rent thy sin and soul asunder Otherwise as the Poets tell us of Hippomanes that running with Atalanta for victory he conquered by throwing golden apples down which Atalanta stooping to take up lost the prize so Satan seeing the soul running heaven-ward in God's service will throw down the gilded temptations of a beloved sin stop it in its carreer and hazard the prize of eternal glory SECT IX A Ninth cause of Distractions in the Worship of God is Satan And this he doth sometimes more remotely by throwing in some cross business before Duties whereby the soul is unhinged some body or Letter with business just before prayer or some passionate distempering passages in the family whereby to lay matter ready for our discomposure and wandrings in the following duties Sometimes he approaches nearer and by presenting and occasioning objects to our senses in God's Worship draws off the heart He can stay One long from the Congregation that Another may be distracted in observing him coming in and so wounds two and sometimes twenty at a blow Satan is not idle when this and that child are restless and unquiet in the family whereby perhaps all in the family lose the passages that would most profit them He can create a further distraction by every pillar and part of the structure and every person in the congregation and can be content you read sentences on the walls to hinder and divert your sâ—uls from the sentences in the pulpit
my prayer is not the beginning of my punishment Though these be but small like the Sand yet being many as the Sand how can I stand under them I am ashamed yea even confounded for these reproaches of my duties Nay then saies God that hearkens behind the curtains all this while Is Ephraim my dear Son is not he a pleasant child I will remember him I will have mercy upon him When thou art ripe for Hell in thy own eyes then art thou ripe for grace and glory in the eyes of God No man shall ever be overborn with a sin he hates Go my blessed Spirit that hast melted him and mend him that hast softened him strengthen him he that laments his sin shall never languish under it The sacrifice of a broken heart doth please him though the sacrifice of a broken Christ alone doth satisfie him 2. Dispositively grief at heart doth help forward the cure of distractions and that by softening the heart and so fitting the same for the impressions of God's will When the Wax is melted you may turn and mold it which way you will So when the soul is melted by grief for these sins God Almighty may easily be heard and his counsel will be taken And also this godly sorrow as was before observed doth so afflict and make a mans heart to ake and smart that he will take some pains to prevent the like anguish again When they knock at door you 'l say O these are they that cost me dear at such a time non emam tanti poeniteo I feel yet the sad impressions of my late affliction for them I found a pardon no easie enterprize nor Repentance so pleasing a potion to brew for it again I would not for all the world much less for one vain thought or two nor for a thousand worlds together be under that anger of God nor feel one drop of his scalding indignation which I have perceived for these offences O Sirs where godly sorrow is in the power of it what carefulness doth it work what zeal what indignation yea what revenge It makes sin lye like a Mountain upon the soul musters up all the aggravations of sin and sets them home on the heart O to sin in an Ordinance against such a God! in the midst of my greatest business after such conviction vows and promises of exactness before him To offend both Father Son and Holy Ghost at a clap heart of stone dost not melt yea to offend the Angels of Heaven which holy spirits turn away their faces at our vanities in the Assemblies yea and offend the Angels upon Earth God's Ministers while that which cost them most serious pains is spoken to the air to wound my own soul in the act of curing it and increase guilt when I am getting it cleared to play the Hypocrite before the face of God the Judge of Heaven and Earth O wretched man that I am O my sin is exceeding sinful lend a tear O rend an heart O thou most high A broken heart today will be a good preservative against a wandring heart to morrow SECT III. III. ENgage the holy Spirit of God in thine assistance Joh. 15.5 Without me ye can do nothing Supernatural work cannot be done without supernatural help You may and ought to do what a man can do that is compose your selves and guard your senses but you cannot do that which only a God can do that is fly up and fix your hearts in Heaven Rom. 8.26 We cannot pray for any thing for matter as we ought for the manner but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us The Greek word signifies the Spirit over and above steps in and helps or as others makes vehement intercession for us We climb up the Ladder as well as we can towards Heaven but alas it wavers no stability till the Holy Ghost hold it at the top and draw and lift us up and then we get a sight of Heaven And you have resolved belike and been secure of a good frame but Prov. 28.26 He that trusteth to his own strength is a fool you have found no fixedness or liveliness in your spirits without the assistance of God He that prayes aright must pray in the Holy Ghost Jude v. 20 This also quickens and hears the soul whereby there is no room or leisure for distracted thoughts Hereby the soul is carried streight up to God and staies at nothing on this side Heaven yea by the Spirit 's blessed assistance Every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. O blessed frame when every thought is captivated to obey Christ there is none can deal with our spirits but the Spirit of God When the Word comes in the hand of the Spirit there is no avoiding it Then the reading one Chapter can convert as that Ioh. 1. did the learned Iunius yea of one verse as that 1 Tim. 1.15 did Mr. Bilney yea one sentence can comfort the heart as that Isa. 57.15 did the afflicted conscience of one that nothing else could satisfie thereby the soul is carried up as Mr. Tilleman the Martyr was in his devotions so that he saw or heard no body till after long search and great noise his persecutors took him up from his knees The heart is so carried upward to God that all the world looks as inconsiderable as a mote or atome at that time and not worth the thinking on And is entertained with that sweet content that it cannot wish to be any where else and therefore a by-thought is as unâ—welcom as base company to him that is busie with Nobles Beg therefore of God with earnest importunity at the entrance of every Ordinance for his holy Spirit and he hath said Luk. 11.13 He will give his Spirit to them that ask him Say Lord if thy Spirit go not with me let me go no further For as the Intercession of Christ is absolutely necessary for your acceptance so the Intercession of the Holy Ghost is necessary for your assistance The Spirit it self also making intercession for us with sighs that cannot be uttered Promise your heavenly Father that you will never willingly disoblige or grieve away his Spirit again Art thou dead cry Quicken me and I will call upon thy Name Is thy heart roving cry Unite my heart to fear thy Name Humbly plead his promise that he will put his Spirit and fear into your hearts that you shall never and if never then not in his solemn Ordinance depart from him and observe the gracious gales of the Spirit and when they clash not with the Rules of his holy Word lay hold on them and fall to duty It 's best rowing below when the wind blows fair above When thy heart is warm and in ure then do the business throughly And beware of grieving him between times let there be a coherence between prayer and practice let your whole life be of a piece lest he withdraw when you have most need of
praebeat sine impedimento Dominum obsecrandi miswritten for observandi as Beza thinksâ— But Erasmus sayes the oldest Translation was Domino observiendi after turned into observandi and by some obsecrandi (b) Some Copies read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acceptabâ—le This way the Arabick speaks ut confortemini quà m proximè secùndum Dominum But the truest is our own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deâ—ompositâ—m of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sedeo from which the Syriack differs little (c) Assidere apiè adhaerefcere Legh Assiduus in aliquo negotio Stephan (d) Indivulsè adhaerens Budaeus Quasi à latere alicujus nunquam discedens Stephan Ut sitis seduli more fidorum servorum qui à latere domini sui non discedunt Bez. è Syr. (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trabo immobilis inconcussus quietus qui distrahi nequit Budaeuâ— Stephan Usus est hac voce Plut. de Curiosit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellans â—ffiduum studium sapientiae nullis negotiis aliâ— mentem avocantibus (f) Ut fitis seduli erga Dominum vestrum cum honestate decorá non cogitantes de mundo Treâ—ull (g) Ut srequens sit oratio Sedulius Doct. § 4 The first general Head viz. The description of Distractions * Primum argumentum compositae mentis existimo esse consistere secum morari Senec. Epist. 2. :: The same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Soul and a Butterfly because our wandring imaginations make our wavering spirits like wagling Butterflies puffed up and down with every blast of vanity Mr. Pagets Primmer * In the Sacrifices of the Law the Inwards still were offered to God the skin was for the Priest Psal. 90.8 * When King Ethelbert was at his Devotions news was brought of the Danes invasion at Essenden but he neither omitted nor abreviated his prayers he would hear no suit on Earth till he had made his requests in Heaven and afterwards he bravely vanquished them Dr T. Fuller Cap. 2. The second general Head viz. The kinds of Distractions §. 1. Their several Fountains * Eccles. 10.2 A wise mans heart is at his right hand i. e. His heart is ready and prepared to every good work Annot in loc * Non enim unquam dormitat vigil ille Synagoga suae Episcopus Amama ** Impetus Diabolici fortiores affectibus naturalibus Ioab could hinder David from weeping for Absolon not from numbring the people to which Satan stir'd him up D. Arrows Psal. 53.2 * Cùm reresupini jacemus in lectulo nihil tale cogitamus Sed cum venimus ad Orationem cogitationes avocant sine fructu efficiunt Chrys. de nat Dom. Hom. 17. (a) Non-nunquam verò quod egi in corpore hoc importunâ— verso in mente In corde enim servo dedepicta qua vidi feci torpeo abutili opere quoniam fagiâ—or illicit â— cogitatione Bern. denit Dom. cap. 30. * Heb. The walking of the soul. (b) Thus Praecedentia peccata sunt sequentium causa sequentia sunt praecedentium poena Aug. (c) Respexit ocusus sensum mentis evertit audivit auris intentionem inflexit inhalavit odor cogitationem impedivit oâ— libavit crimen retulit tactus contulit ignem adolevit Intravit mors per fenestram Fenestra tua est oculus tuus Ambr. de fug seculi c. 1. (d) There was once a contention between the Eye the Heart whether of them was the cause of Sin after long arguing it was concluded that the Heart was the Cause the Eye the Occasion The most vicious Sense and therefore soonest decays and made the seat of Tears (e) Si per auticam ejicias per posticam denuâ— solent irreper◠§. 2. The matter of Distractions Bernard makes three sorts of them Impertinent Worldly Sinful He compares the first to lutum simplex the second to limus that stick to the heart the third to coenum that are stinking and noysome in the sight of God Bern. de tr gen Cogit * Sunt enâ—m nonnullae cogitationes penitus ociosae ad vâ—m non pertinentes quas tam facilè abjicere quà m recipere facile possit anima dummodo sit secum habitans in corde suo assistens dominatori vniversae terrae Bern Serm. de tr gen cogit §. 3. The Adjuncts of Distractions * These are cogitationes onerosae quibus resistere vult tamen non potest sed velit nolit irruit in oculos mentis massarum pestilentia perstrepunt ranae in penetralibus cordis ejus Bern. lib. de Consc. c. 5. * Of these Mr. Capel thus While thy prayer comes out of a spiritual habit of grace be set on work at first by an actual intention of the mind a vertual intention may serve all along after though there be some roving thoughts I say may serve to make them currant at the Throne of Grace and in the Court of Conscience p. 121. * Cerenus writes of Theophylact a Patriarch of Constantinople that he kept 2000 horses fed with Dates and Almonds and watred them in Wine And being on a time while he was performing his Office in the Temple of Sophia told in his Ear that his Mare Phaâ—bante had foal'd he broke of his Service went home to see it and then came and set in again What was ill done by him in Person is not well done by us in spirit Cap. 3. Proves that it is our Duty to Attend on the Lord without Distraction §. 1. The possibility of it * Imperat mihi Deus ut praebeam illi cor meum quia imperanti Deo non sum obed eâ—s mihi sum rebellis contrarius idcirco plura machinatur cor meum uno momento quà m omnes homines perficere possunt uno anno Bern. med c. 8. * Compare Deut. 10.16 with Chap. 30.6 And so 1 Ioh. 2.27 28. §. 2. The necessity of it Read Gersons Distinction of Habitual Actual and Vertual Attention of the heart and consider it well Gerson de Oratione p. 612. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc. * Ubi Duo vel â—res congregati in nomin meo c. qui sunt isti Duo nisi anima corpus Ambros. de instit virg c. 2. ** 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Tunc Veraciter oramus quando alâ—â—nde non cogitamus Bern. de in t Domo c. 48. * Nequâ— enim agnosci potâ—riâ— Ã spiritu sancto spiritus inquinatus aut impeditus à liberoâ— nemo adversarium recipit nemo nisi comparem sùum admittit Tert. de orat p. 135. * Deus autem non vocis sed cordis auditor est sicut conspector Tert. de oratione p. 154. * As long as Moses hâ—ld up his hand Israel prevailed and no longer * Morn Lect. p. 467. * Curramus igitur non passibuâ— corporis sed affectibus sed desideriis quia non â—olum Angeli sed Angelorum Creator nos expectat Bern. Med.
me and heard not my dull prayers So I said Well then so will I cry the louder Luth. Colloq And when he found his spirit out of frame he would never give over praying till he had prayed his heart into that frame he prayed for * Birds wâ—ll not light nor stay on flaming Sacrifices M. White Where could a wandring thought get into that most zealous Prayer Dan. 9 19 * Tu non audiâ— orationem tuam Dominum vis audire precem tuam Chrys. de Nat Dom. Hom. 17. * Nihil enim nihil inquam precatione ignitâ sincerâ validius est Chrys. ad Phil. * Oâ—ationi lectio lectioni succedat oratio Hieron ad Laet. * Non si sâ—rmonem in longum extenderis in negligentiam frequenter lapsus mulâ—â— Diabolo subrependi facultatem dederis supplantandi â— abducendi cogitationem ab his quae dicuntur Chrys. Hom. 79. ad pop Antioch * Dicuntur fratres in Egypto crebras quidem habere orationes sed eaâ— tamen brevissimas raptim quodammodo jaculatas Ne per productiores moras evanescat atque hebetetur intentio Absit enim ab oratione mulâ—a locutio sed non desit multa precatio August Epist. 121. Oratio debet continuari quandiu devotio potest conseâ—vari Aquin. 22. 983. a. 14. §. 5. V. Worldly mindednesâ— * Adhaerere Domino indivulse non subiâ—de mâ—ndanis curis interpelli negotiâ—s aâ—ist ahi ut vix dum sinitâ spirituali iliâ actione in quâ jam versatus est statim ad terrena anxie curanda tâ—ansvolet carnalibus eâ—us ita se penâ—tus immisceat ac si Insidelis esset Mort. in 1 Cor. 7 35. * M. Willes of perilous times * See a plain instance hereof in that hearer Luke 11.13 14. * Curvasti quidem genua sed mens tua foris vagabatur os quidem loquebatur sed mens usuras cogitabat possessionem reditus supputabat Chrysost. Hom. 17. de Nat. Dom. * Water under a ship helps it but water in the ship drowns it * Chrysost. * Let not the world be your familiar friend familiar friends will come in without knocking M. White of Thoughts * When we shall have reigned hereafter many millions of years in Heaven what thoughts will remain of this little inch of time upon earth c. M. Bolton Discourse of true Happiness pag. 143. * Let their mony perish with them that esteem all the Gold in the world worth one days society with â—esus Christ. Galeacius to a Nobleman tempting him to Apostatâ—ze with a great sam of mony * Cogitatio omnis secularis carnalis abscedat nec quicquam tunc animus quam illud solum cogitat quod precatur Cypr. de Orat. Domin * Exemplum legimus de Quodam qui volens Rusticum conviacere de cordis instabilitate dum fiâ— Oâ—atio pollicitus est se daturum sibi Asinum si posset Orationem Dominicam nihil aliud actualiter cogitans persicere Qui mox ut aâ— orationem divoâ—tit securus de Asini lucro coepit distrahi in hanc cogitatio â—m si Sellam habiturus erat cum Asino qui tandem ad se reditus se redarguens instabilitatem sui cordis confessus est Gerson de Orat. p. 611. §. 6. VI. Weakness of love to Christ and his Ordinances * Dat miâ—ifraena Timor dat mâ—hi calcar Amor. Omnes igitur â—odâ— distractâ—ones men is fluctuationes in unum collige in solâ— Deo totum desiderium tuum fige ibi sit cor tuum ubi est thesaurus tuâ—s dâ—siderabilis â—â—ultumque amabilis Bern. de inter Domo c. 5. * Judge of the Divinity of the Jesuites Q. When is a man obliged to have actually an affection for God Ans. Any time before he die others at the point of death others at least every year in fine it 's sufficient if we hate him not Sirmond of virtue p. 16 19 24. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * He loves thee little O Lord who loves any thing with thee which he loves not for thee Nil preter te nisi propter te Aug. * Mouns de Renty said of himself that when ever he pronounc'd the name of God he tasted such a sweetness upon his lips as could not be expressed In vitâ § 7. VII Want of Watchfulness * Qui enim sic vigilans orat illius exauditur oratio hoc enim significat dicens Vigilate Orate ut primum vigilemus sic vigilantes oremus Origen Tract 35. in Matth. * Prov. 18.1 Through desire a man having separated himself seâ—keth and intermedleth with all wisdom * Clarissima soror audi quâ— dico Ante tempus orare est providentia Iâ— tempoâ—e constituto oâ—aâ—e est obedientia Tempus orandi praeterire est negligeâ—â—â— Bern de de modo benè vivendi Serm. 40. * Iâ—â—â—ssiâ—ax petitio est cum precatur Deum sterilis oratio Quia Deus noâ— vocis sed cordis est auditor Cyprian de Orat. Dom. * Bonum est sanctorum precibus frui sed quando ipsi seduli vigiles fuerint Chrys. in 1 Thess. * As men are out of prayer so will they be â—n prayer Morn Lâ—ct * Let us imagine a City not only begirt with a strait siege of bloud-thirsty enemies but also within infested with lurking Commotioners how much would it stand that City upon to stand upon its guard c. M. Bolton's discourse of true Happiness p. 146. * You see the Angels sent about God's messages to thâ—s earth yet never out of their heaven never without the vision of their Maker and so should you strive when you are up and down in your business yet be within sight of God D. Hall's Contemp. * It s a thousand times easier to keep the floud-gates shut than to drain the lower grounds when they are overflown Idem §. 8. VIII A beloved sin * Observe that some make a difference between a beloved sin and a reigning sin a beloved sin rules over our sins not over our graces a reigning sin rules over both * Gravi namque menâ— nostra orationis suae tempore confusione deprimitur si hanc aut sua adhuc operatio inquinâ—t aut alienae malitiae servaâ—us dolor accusat Greg. in Job l 10. c. 18. * Ita mala quae seci cogitationi meae suis imaginibus impressa in ipsa mea oratione me conturbant Caeterum quanto graviore tumulâ—u cogitationum carnalium premor tanto ardentius orationi insistere debeo Bern. de inter Domo c. 49. * Look as it is with a boyling pot the scum of it will be rising up together with the meat therein so is it in prayer M. Cobbet of Prayer p. 396. * Ille laudatur qui 〈◊〉 coeperit cogitare indida statim inâ—â—â— ficit cogitata allidit ad pâ—tram Pâ—tra autem est Christus Ovâ—d Met. 〈…〉 c. 11. §. 9. IX Satan * Diabolus cum sit astutas scil quoniam