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
Thousands and Millions of Souls On this Christian Sabbath what kind of Attendance on God should ours be Before the day comes it should be longed for and when 't is come it should be most welcom Assoon as our Senses are unlock't in the Morning our Souls should be as it were caught up to the third Heaven and there continue until Night Our Lord is risen indeed and we should rise with him and seek those things which are above where he sits at the right hand of God Col. 3. 1. Things on Earth will be intruding into our Hearts and Thoughts but no Entertainment must be given them A Desire or Wish must not be allowed them unless it be that we may not be distracted with them When Abraham was just come to Mount Moriah he says to his Servants Abide you here and I and the Lad will go yonder and Worship Gen. 22. 5. So when the Lord's Day comes we should say to all our Worldly Businesses and Concerns Abide as you are cease from our Care and Thoughts whilst we and our Hearts ascend unto the Hill of the Lord and Worship This day is appointed for our more solemn approaches unto God and that we may have more intimate Fellowship with him and if Communion with him be enjoyed we shall find so much Grace and Strength and Peace therein that we shall be perfectly of the Psalmist's mind That a day in God's Courts is better than a Thousand Psal 84. 10. The very Palaces of the wicked are contemptible No place under Heaven is so desirable as the Sanctuary 2. There is an Attendance upon God on other days He is the Lord of our time and therefore every day he should have some part of it We should be careful to know how he would have us to employ that time which himself gives and will call us to account for We should live the rest of our time in the Flesh to the Will of God not to the Lusts of other Men or our own 1 Pet. 4. 2. and we should grieve that so much has been wasted to his Displeasure and Dishonour David was glad to go up to the House of God on the Sabbath but he was also a daily Attender on him Psal 86. 3. Be merciful unto me O Lord for I cry unto thee daily So Heman Psal 88. 9. Lord I have called daily upon thee I have stretched out my Hands unto thee And Daniel rather than omit praying daily unto God ventured to be cast into the Lion's Den and God miraculously appears for him his Mouth having been open so often in fervent Supplication God shuts the Lions Mouths that though in the Den among them they did not make a Prey of him Every day we should be in the Fear of God and have Faith in him and if in the midst of our Worldly Business our Hearts frequently step aside to attend on God in mental Applications to him that attendance will be both acceptable and profitable But some times every day we should sequester our selves from other business that this greatest and best business may be minded which is to draw near to God 6. There is an attendance upon God in a time of Liberty and a Calm and an attending upon him in a time of Persecution and a Storm In a time of Liberty the Lord has many Followers who leave him when a Storm of Persecution beats in their Faces When the King of Navarre was about to Apostatize to Popery and Beza came to confirm him in the Truth he made this Answer That he would never go so far to Sea as not to be able to put to Shore when he pleased He shewed plainly that he could turn Papist to get the Kingdom of France but he was resolved not to go through much Tribulation to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Hearers compared to stony ground heard the Gospel with forwardness and joy while the Gospel and Prosperity were conjoyned but when Persecution and Tribulation arose because of the Word they were offended they kept not their standing but in that time of Temptation fell away Mat. 13. 20 21. We should be other kind of attendants than so Let us count the cost of being Disciples and conclude that Grace and Glory will quit the cost Our Lord was offended at nothing that was to be done or suffered for our Redemption surely neither his Commands nor his Cross should be matter of offence to us but still we should remain his followers I might also add another distinction There is an attendance upon God in Earth and in Heaven the one is Duty the other is Reward the one is short the other is endless and yet in that Service there shall not be the least weariness nay so far from that that there will be fulness of Joy and everlasting Pleasure Thus I have spoken of the several sorts of attending upon God In the fourth place I am to assign the reasons why the Children of Men ought to give their attendance upon God 1. The Command to attend upon God is written on the Heart of Man by Nature There is both the Creed and the Law of Nature There are several Truths that are apparent without a supernatural Revelation as that there is a God that he rules the World that he sees all the works of the Children of Men and that he will call them to an account for all that they have done There are also Commands which are written in the Hearts of Men. Rom. 2. 14. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their Hearts and among these Commands this is as plain as any That God is to be worshipped The Gentiles therefore are blamed because this Command was not observed Rom. 1. 21. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Now as sins have their peculiar aggravations that are committed against the Light of Nature so neglect of Duty is highly aggravated when 't is evident by the Light of Nature that such Duty ought to be performed 2. Attendance upon God is frequently called for and urged in the Scripture The Lord spake this with his own Voice from Heaven and afterwards wrote it with his own Hand upon the Tables of Stone that we should have no other Gods before him that we should not Worship Idols that we should not take his Name in vain Exod. 20. Our Lord repeats what was enjoyned long before Mat. 4. 10. It is written thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve and he says Joh. 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth So Psal 22. 23. Ye that fear the Lord praise him all ye the Seed of Jacob glorifie him and
considering what precious Souls all are intrusted with and how full of Enemies and Snares this World is in which we live But the Lord alone is he of whom Safety is Psal 18. 31. Who is God save the Lord and who is a Rock save our God Sincere attenders upon God are very dear to him they are called his peculiar Treasure Exod. 19. 5. Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant then shall ye be unto me a peculiar Treasure above all People They are called his Jewels Mal. 3. 17. They shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a Man spareth his own Son that serveth him Nay he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his Eye Zech. 2. 8. Therefore he will keep them as the apple of the Eye he will hide them under the shadow of his wings Psal 17. 8. When you attend upon God you repair to a Rock of Salvation to an high Tower of defence With his favour he will compass you as with a Shield Psal 5. 12. He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you may securely trust for his truth shall be your buckler Psal 91. 4. In the hollow of his hand you shall be hid and the same hand shall beat down all your Enemies that design your Destruction You shall dwell on high your place shall be the munitions of Rocks Isa 33. 16. No Rock so high so firm as God no Munition so safe the Refuge is eternal When David says Vnto thee will I cry O Lord my rock be not silent to me Psal 28. 1. 'T is signified that this Rock can hear and answer and help abundantly and afford abundant matter for thanksgiving Psal 18. 46. The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and let the God of my Salvation be exalted 6. That God whom you attend upon can abundantly satisfie the very Soul of Man When the Soul has wearied it self with seeking satisfaction from the Creature and is sorrowful because its labour has been in vain God can say and do what Creatures cannot Jer. 31. I have satiated the weary Soul and I have replenished every sorrowful Soul The Negative Happiness is considerable in being secured from Evil and Misery but positive Blessedness is more in being satisfied and delighted with Divine Goodness Psal 65. 4. Blessed is the Man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Courts we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy House even of thy holy Temple That rich Man in the Gospel speaks as if he had like Nebuchadnezzar the Heart of a Beast rather than the Soul of a Man When he says Soul thou hast Goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat and drink and be merry Luke 12. 19. This was but sorry provision for an immortal Soul that was just ready to be required at his hand to leave all these things behind it and to go into Eternity Attenders upon God find that in him with which their Souls are satisfied indeed They are satisfied with his Mercy and Love in Christ They are satisfied in Christ's Sacrifice and the Satisfaction he has made for Iniquity They are satisfied when they perceive themselves changed more and more into the Image of God and what a Satisfaction is it to converse above and to sit in heavenly places Eph. 2. 6. And hath raised us up together and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus And what a Satisfaction is it at present to be assured of a far fuller Satisfaction hereafter Psal 17. 15. As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness 7. Attend upon God for he has long waited that he might be gracious to you How has that Scripture been fulfilled Isa 13. 18. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you He has stood at the door and has knock'd for entrance and though that has been denied him he has not gone away as he might in just Anger but behold he stands at the door still Rev. 3. 20. If you hear his voice and open the door he will enter and dwell with you and he and his Benefits shall be yours It is well for sinful Man that God is Patient and Long-suffering he does not cease calling at Man's first Deafness to his call he does not cease offering Grace Mercy and Life upon Man's first refusing to accept what is offered He told the old World that his Spirit should not always strive with Man Gen. 6. 3. yet 't is added his days shall be an hundred and twenty years All that time the Long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing 1 Pet. 3. 20. to see if the Disobedient would return to him The Lord comes year after year to the barren Fig-tree seeking Fruit but he found none whereupon he says Cut it down why cumbereth it the ground Yet upon Intercession made he is prevailed with to spare it longer to see if means that were used might be effectual to make it fruitful Luke 13. 6 9 The Apostle tells that the Lord is long suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. Oh repent of your forgetting God and your duty towards him days without number attend and seek unto him in Sincerity who has had many a long look for you and has waited so great a while for your return 8. Consider seriously how God is attended upon in Heaven and what an Honour it is to you to wait upon him He has thousand thousands that minister unto him ten thousand times ten thousand that stand before him Dan. 7. 10. He has Angels that excel in strength who surround his Throne that are ready to do his Commandments hearkening to the voice of his word Psal 103. 20. The Seraphims worship him with covered faces to shew their great reverence of God and how they are ravishingly overcome with the brightness of his Majesty and they cry out one to another Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth as well as Heaven is full of his Glory Isa 6. 2 3. These Angels are Spirits these Ministers likened to a flame of fire Psal 104. 4. How Sublime and Spiritual are their Praises How ardent their Love to the Lord whom they praise and serve And yet the Lord is said to humble himself when he takes notice of such Attendants as these 'T is certainly an high Honour that is done you when you are admitted into the presence of such a glorious Majesty he that sits upon a Throne of Grace and is so ready to pitty pardon heal help and save is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
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
be struck with godly Fear Thus was the Psalmist Psal 104. 1. O Lord my God thou art very great thou art cloathed with Honour and Majesty who coverest thy self with light as with a Garment Psal 96. 4 6 9. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all Gods Honour and Majesty are before him Strength and Beauty are in his Sanctuary O worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness fear before him all the Earth Now that you may the better understand with whom you have to do when you attend upon God You must know 1. God is Lord Creator of whom are all things The Man of God Moses with wonder and adoration cries out Psal 90. 2. Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth or the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God The Lord was before all and he was all of and in and to himself from Eternity The Father is of himself alone the Son is necessarily and eternally of the Father and the Holy Ghost as necessarily and eternally from both the Father and the Son And these Three are that one living and true God whom Christians believe in and in whose Name they are baptized But though God necessarily is yet Creatures are not so but have their being at his pleasure Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created It is the Lord whose Word of Power and Command brought all things out of nothing at first Heb. 11. 3. Through Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God Though some have imagined that Angels were created and many of them fell long before this visible World was made in Scripture there is not sufficient ground for such an Imagination It is probable those excellent Creatures were made the first day when 't is said Gen. 1. 1. In the beginning God created the Heaven The Heaven may take in the highest Heaven and the Host of Angels there Oh what a powerful Word was that which commanded Angels to be which before were nothing and gave them Spiritual and Immortal Natures indued with such mighty Strength and Understanding And when the Lord laid the Foundations of the Earth and stretched the line upon it these glorious Angels called Morning Stars sang together and all these Sons of God shouted for joy Job 38. 4 5 7. This Lord Creator did but say Let there be Light and there was Light The Sun the Moon the Stars the Earth and Seas and all their Hosts were what his Word made them And Man who was to have Dominion over this lower World God did make in his own Image his Body indeed was formed of the Dust of the ground but to shew that his Soul was not of earthly Original God is called the Father of Man's Spirit he breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and Man became a living Soul Gen. 2. 7. This great Creator whom we attend upon made all things very good Gen. ◠31. and though Sin entring into the World spoiled much of his Workmanship he can easily new make what Sin has marred and he can easily and will certainly destroy those who are finally unwilling to be made new Creatures 2. God is Lord Preserver of what himself has made The word of his power sustains all things Heb. 1. 3. it continues things in those beings into which at first it brought them Psal 148. 5 6. Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created He hath also established them for ever and ever He hath made a Decree which shall not pass The same Lord who called things out of nothing by his word hinders their returning into nothing by the same word of command Psal 33. 9. For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast There is so much power exerted in upholding the Creation that the Preservation of the Universe is rightly called a continued Creation of it If God should totally draw back his supporting hand all the Luminaries in Heaven would presently lose their Light the Earth and Seas would become a Chaos of Confusion nay Men and Angels and all things else would immediately lose their beings and become nothing As the Creation so the Preservation of all things is of the Lord alone Neh. 9. 6. Thou even thou art Lord alone thou hast made Heaven the Heaven of Heavens with all their Host the Earth and all things that are therein the Seas and all that is therein and thou preservest them all How worthy is he to be worshipped by the Host of Heaven and by the Sons of Men the Inhabitants of the Earth God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almighty or All-sufficient and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Mamma a Pap or Breast all Creatures from the mightiest to the very meanest do hang and depend upon God as Children do upon the Breasts that he may nourish and sustain them And if God thus upholds all things surely he will not fail to preserve his Church and Saints they may with Confidence attend upon him for defence no Humane nor Hellish Force shall prevail against them 3. God is Lord Proprietor and Possessor of Heaven and Earth So Melchizedek called the most high God when he blessed Abram the Father of the Faithful Gen. 14. 19. Blessed be Abram of the most high God the Possessor of Heaven and Earth Psal 24. 1. we read The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the World and they that dwell therein All Persons and things are properly God's own and he may do with them what he pleases By Creation the Lord began and by Preservation he continues to be the Proprietor of all things Propriety is the ground of Power and Power of Government now a most absolute and universal Propriety and Power the Lord does rightly challenge to himself he is accountable to none not to be resisted by any none can stay his hand or say to him What doest thou It was a good answer that Elihu made to Job Ch. 33. 12 13. God is greater than Man Why dost thou strive against him For he giveth not an account of any of his matters It is a wise part to attend upon God who has a Propriety in us and in all things besides and all things are really in his Hands and Possession so that he can with-hold or bestow them according to his own Will If God be for us he can make all things for us if he be against us nothing shall be for our help and benefit There is nothing which we need but a superabundance of it is in God's hand The Possessor of Heaven and Earth has the Blessings of Heaven and Earth to give forth Every Beast of the Forest is his and the Cattle upon a thousand Hills Psal 50. 10. All Sheep and Oxen yea and
increasing till it issue in glory John 4. 14. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up into everlasting Life And as all sorts of Life are from God so all sorts of Death he has power to inflict All Afflictions and Plagues when this Lord sends them do say Here we are The King of Terrors Death is God's subject and says I am ready to strike young or old high or low few or many as the Lord of all does give me Commission and Command And the second Death at God's righteous pleasure opens its everlasting doors to receive and eternally to swallow up all that he sentences thither Isa 5. 14. Therefore Hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it Such a Lord the effects of whose love and anger are felt not only in this World but also in the other and indeed run parallel with Eternity should certainly be attended on with a great dread of offending him with the exactest care in every thing to please him 7. God is a Lord obeyed by the whole Creation but only Men on earth and Devils and damned Spirits in Hell These greater lights the Sun and Moon that rule the day and night are perfectly ruled by their Maker and rise and set at his command And to shew that he can stop the Sun in its swift motion at Joshua's intreaty he commanded it to stand still in Gibeon and the Moon in the Valley of Ajalon Josh 10. 12. Nay in the days of Hezekiah he makes the Sun to move backward and to return no less than ten degrees by which it had gone down Isa 38. 8. All the Stars of Heaven he calls by their names and they observe their courses according to his Ordinances The Sea does ebb and flow according to his appointment and keep within the bounds that he has set it when it roars and is most tempestuous The Storms and Winds fulfil his word and if he do but say to them Peace be still presently there is a great calm He calls for the Thunder and the Lightning and how terrible is the Voice of the one and the flashing of the other The Thunder is silenced and the Lightning extinguished at his pleasure All Creatures that glide through the Air or slide through the Ocean that feed and grow upon the Earth in their way and manner obey their Maker and Preserver's Will Fye Oh Fye upon Apostate Angels and Men that they should be the only Rebels Look upward downward on the right hand and on the left and the many Thousands of Creatures which your Eyes behold are so many instances of Obedience to God Why Oh why should not all we be ready to yield our utmost Service 8. God is a Lord who over-rules them that rebel against him though they break his Commands they cannot get from under his power but he can check restrain disappoint and destroy them at his pleasure The Seed of the Woman has been hated by the Serpents brood and they that have been born only after the Flesh have been strongly inclined to persecute such as have been born after the Spirit Gal. 4. 28 29. Now we Brethren as Isaac was are the Children of Promise But as then he that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now And so 't is likely to be still When Heathen Emperors and Kings were Converts to the Christian Faith the Prince of Darkness did not turn and change He always was and is and will be full of Malice against Christ the Head and against his true Members And those who are of their Father the Devil the Lusts of their Father they will do and they that are Saints must expect find their Hearts set against them and as far as they can their hands too But that Lord who is with his People is greater infinitely than the evil one 1 John 4. 4. Ye are of God little Children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the World As Satan's Subtlety is nothing to God's Wisdom as his Power is small to God's Almightiness so his Wrath though never so great is a little and contemptible thing when the Love which God bears to his People is believingly considered The mightiest Men whom Satan employs to run down the Church of the living God shall never affect their wicked purpose the Church triumphs over her most surious Enemies looking unto her Mighty Helper Psal 46. 5 6 7. God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early The Heathen raged the Kingdoms were moved They stirred up themselves with their united force and in their rage they would have devoured the Israel of God but He uttered his Voice and the Earth melted All these Enemies were dispirited and came to nothing and no wonder for it follows The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah Well may the voluntary Subjects of such a Lord attend upon him with forwardness and Faith since he has such an absolute uncontrolable Dominion over all his and their Enemies 9. God is a Lord infinitely above and better than any other Lords whatsoever As he is infinitely superior to all in Majesty and Greatness so also in Mercy and Goodness The whole Earth is full of Divine Goodness Psal 145. 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his works It is special and peculiar Kindness which is shewn to his Saints Psal 103. 11. As the Heaven is high above the Earth so great is his Mercy towards them that fear him What are other Lords if compared with God As for Mammon who has most of Mankind to be his Vassals his delights are low his Riches uncertain his all is Vanity Satan is a cruel Lord he is a Lyar who deceives a Murtherer who destroys all whom he can keep under his Power and Dominion And the Wages which Sin does give to them that serve it is eternal Death and the more diligent they have been in the Service of Sin and the more laborious Workers of Iniquity Hell will be so much the hotter their Sorrow and Misery so much the greater Are such Lords as these comparable to the Lord Jehovah whose Strength whose Love is everlasting What care does he take of all that are truly his Servants How mild and gentle is his Government His Kingdom is Righteousness and Peace and Joy It was a Pious Ejaculation of one of the Ancients Da Domine quod jubes O Lord give that which thou commandest His Servants are by himself created in Christ Jesus unto the good works in which he has commanded them to walk He teaches them by his own Spirit to do his Will Psal 143. 10. Teach me to do thy Will for
with Lord shew me thy Will and let my Will in all things and at all times be determined by thine This is becoming Language and every Soul should sincerely speak it He is the most eminent and perfect Christian who stands most perfect and compleat in all the Will of God 7. When we look upon God as Lord we should never quarrel or murmur at any thing he is pleased to do to us or with us Arbitrary Power is very much affected by the Potentates of this World though it would be much more truly great in them to do as they ought than to do as they please Arbitrary Power is justly challenged by the Lord the universal Sovereign He may do whatever he pleases and it will please him to do nothing but what becomes his own Wisdom Goodness and other glorious Excellencies A mighty Monarch who had walked in Pride at length was so abased that he acknowledged and honoured this highest Lord of all and he says All the Inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth Dan 4. 35. The Dispensations of Divine Providence must not fall under our Censure He that reproveth God will ill answer for it 'T is sinful Boldness to strive with him and say What dost thou As if he had not done so well as he might 'T is more becoming with obedient Patience and Submission to cry out Oh the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out Rom. 11. 33. and Psal 145. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his Ways and holy in all his Works When under his severer Dealings with us we charge him with Rigour and want of Care we do but charge God foolishly His Understanding is infinite Psal 147. 5. therefore he is not liable to the least Mistake His Bowels are tender and he can never become Cruel 'T is inconsistent with his Justice to lay upon any Man more than is right that he should enter into Judgment with God Job 34. 23. He is so gracious that he afflicts when his People need and t is good for them to be afflicted That Man spake very ill who said I do well to be angry Whatever the Lord does to his People he does wisely justly faithfully how then can their Fretting and Impatience be justified It would be far better for them to cease their Contention and Disputing and to answer as Job at last did Job 40 4 5. Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my Hand upon my Mouth once have I spoken but I will not anwer yea twice but I will proceed no farther 8. When we look upon God as Lord we should long to behold his Glory in his Kingdom It was the Desire of Moses Exod. 33. 18. I beseech thee shew me thy Glory It is but little that the Saints see of the King of Saints in comparison of what they shall see They know but in part and how should they long that that which is perfect may come and that which is in part may be done away 1 Cor. 13. 10. The Earth is the Lord's Footstool and here we behold but some Footsteps and Shaddows and have a darker Discovery of him but the Heaven is his Throne and when we come to stand before his Throne how bright will be his Majesty in our Eyes How glorious his Holiness How will his Face be all Light and Love And how ravishing will the fullest Sense of that Love be It should be our Care by a continual Increase of Purity in Heart to be fitted for this beatifical Vision of the Lord of Glory Mat. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God And this Vision should the more longed for because it will be transforming When we behold the Lord's Glory we shall partake of it when we see him we shall to our eternal Excellency and Satisfaction be like him 1 Joh. 3. 2. Beloved now are we the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is In the last place follows the Application USE I. shall be of Reproof Well may the Mouth of his Messengers be full of Reproof since the Lord that sends them is so generally disregarded Several sorts of Persons are worthy Reprehension 1. They are to be reproved who say with Pharaoh who is the Lord that we should obey his Voice How many are there who will not acknowledge they owe him any Service or if they do acknowledge it they are so wicked and unrighteous that they will not render what they cannot but confess is due to him How many say Our Lips are our own who is Lord over us Psal 12. 4. who is he that would give laws to our Tongues and put them under a Bridle They say also our Members are all our own and therefore we will employ them as we please though that employing is abusing and abasing of them to be Instruments of Unrighteousness unto Sin Our Time also is our own and therefore we will pass it according to our own Pleasure as if Time were a thing of no Value and to have it well or ill with them to Eternity were a matter of meer Indifferency They that now cry Who is the Lord When they stand as they all must before his Judgment Seat he will make them know who he is How terrifying will his Looks be How heavy will his Hand be felt They would not obey the Scepter of his Word and he will break them with his Iron Rod and dash them in pieces like a Potter's Vessel Psal 2. 9. 2. They are to be reproved who have a greater Reverence for Man than for God who is the sovereign Lord of all They dare not displease great Men but the great God they make bold to offend Men whom they depend upon they are careful to keep in with but that God in whose Hand their Breath is and whose are all their Ways they do not glorifie Dan. 5. 23. They depend upon this Lord for their Being and Blessedness and all things Their Life is continued only during his Pleasure all things that they have are of his bestowing and if ever they are blessed 't is God must make them so and yet the Favour and Anger of this God are contemned in Comparison of the Love and Hatred of Man How many will comply with the Lusts of Men that will not conform to the Will of God Mens Inventions are regarded more than God's Institutions Thus the Statutes of Omri were kept and all the Works of the House of Ahab and Israel did walk in their Counsels Mic. 6. 16. when they rejected the Counsel of God against themselves and cast the Laws of Jehovah behind their Backs But how poor a thing is Man's
assistance The looking upon the Defects in our Services should make us look unto our Lord in whom we are compleat Col. 2. 10. and with a more intire dependance to rest upon his righteousness hereby Christ is honoured and the Father pleased and a multitude of faults will be cover'd But help against them must be desired from the Holy Ghost A gracious heart still desires renewed strength and aid from the Spirit to serve the Lord more acceptably but a lazy reliance upon Christ with an allowance of defects and distractions in the Duties we perform must needs be a very great provocation CASE VI. What course are Melancholick Persons to take in their Attendance on God when Distractions arise from the prevalency of that Distemper I answer 1. They should take heed of prolixity and length in holy Duties It is not length but life in these Duties that God looks at It is a thought that may lodge in the Breast of an Heathen but is unworthy of a Christian's heart that he shall be heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his much speaking Mat. 6. 7. Christians should not think much of the time they spend with God yet overdoing in this regard is doing less than if less were done When Melancholy hinders Duties from being extended as formerly with vigour and fervency they were they that more briefly now perform them should be the more frequent in short and holy Ejaculations And they must be sure to take heed of taking more pains to fix their thoughts than their heads will bear for when their Heads are out of order the more they labour to be intent the further they are off from it the disorder increases and so does their discouragement The Lord pities in such cases and allows them to spare their pains which are not only fruitless but hurtful and to pity themselves and not to attempt what a distempered Brain is unfit for 2. Melancholick ones must look unto Jesus in the due use of means for the cure of Head Distempers How many corporal Maladies did our Lord heal in a miraculous manner when he was here on Earth And he has not put off his Compassions towards the Bodies of Men now he is in Heaven Though the skill of the Lutist be never so great he can never make good Musick if the Lute it self be out of tune Satan has great advantage by prevailing Melancholy to hinder Devotion by the disorder of the Head though the Heart be never so honest and well inclin'd And our Lord very well knows this and being a merciful and faithful High-priest he is ready to succour in this case also Heb. 2. ult All power is given to him in Earth as well as Heaven all judgment committed to him Joh. 5. 22. so that all Distempers and Diseases come and go at his Command and though Miraculous Cures are not now to be expected yet something like them sometimes has been wrought in answer unto Prayer and Faith and where there has been a stedfast looking to Jesus there has been a mighty Blessing that has attended the means that have been used for the bringing of Blood and Spirits and Brain into better order 3. There are two great Duties which those that are under the power of Melancholy are not so sit for The one is Meditation and the other Self examination A distemper'd and disordered Head will make but sorry work of solemn Meditation the Head will ake the Mind will be lost in a cloud and mist of Confusion and the evil one will be ready to strike in and make the Melancholick Man turn self-accuser and consequently self-tormenter Such an one therefore should be wary of attempting the Duty of set Meditation but that and reading should be joyned together A short consideration of what is read there should be as the Head will bear a desire that the Heart may be affected and by the Grace of God a resolution to act and walk accordingly and those should be the Petitions Incline my heart unto thy Testimonies and make me to go in the path of thy Commandments Psal 119. 35 36. And as for self-examination Melancholick ones being now not so well themselves they should not be forward nor peremptory in passing Censures and Judgment upon themselves and they should be aware that Satan is now busie about them and he being a lying Spirit his Suggestions that they are Hypocrites and have no Grace that they are cast away and utterly forsaken by the God of all Grace should in no wife be credited Satan's Suggestions may be known by the design of them which is not to quicken Souls to Duty as the motions of the holy Spirit are but to drive them away from God and to make them say as he did in another case since the case is desperate and all hope of Salvation gone Why should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 2. 33. 4. Melancholick ones in the midst of their Distractions should grieve that neither head nor heart are so disposed to serve the Lord as they desire That 's proper language to be used which came out of the Mouth of holy Job chap. 10. 15. I am full of confusion see thou my Affliction And since they cannot actively glorifie God by the exercise of strong Faith and vehement Love and Joy and Delight in God they should glorifie him by an humble and patient submission to his Will When a melancholick Soul is quite emptied of all self-confidence and self-conceit is in a manner annihilated when under a great sense of its own guilt and vileness it looks unto Jesus and desires by his Blood and Spirit to be justified and washed and made clean when 't is ready to acknowledge that if ever 't is saved and brought to Heaven Grace will be free and superabundant because one of the lowest places in Hell has been deserved how far is flesh from glorying and hereby glory is given to the Lord. When melancholick ones are ready in their greatest Distractions and blackest darkness to justifie the Lord as righteous in all his Ways and holy in all his Works Psal 145. 17. and to condemn themselves because formerly when their Heads were in better order their Hearts were no better disposed and inclined to the Lord's Service they please and glorifie him more than they are aware of The more there is of self-distrust self-dislike self-condemnation humility and patient bearing of Divine Indignation because of sin that has been committed Mic. 7. 9. the more honour by all this does really redound to God 5. Let Melancholick ones take heed of being quite staved off from Duties and Ordinances though their performances are but mean and sorry The Lord can discern sense in the Soul when perhaps there is hardly sense in the words he takes notice of the gracious bent and good inclination of the heart towards himself when the Thoughts against the Will do wander Hezekiah had a most remarkable answer and prayed to good purpose when his Petitions
the more thou talkest of it unto them thou conversest with the more it will administer Grace to the Hearers The second Duty is hearing the Word preached And that you may hear the word with less distraction 1. Look beyond Preachers unto that God who sends them and speaks to you by them Look beyond the earthen Vessels unto the Treasure which they bring and upon the Word that is preached as the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ who is the Image of God 2 Cor. 4. 4 7. Preachers of the Gospel are Christ's Ambassadors and they are sent to treat with you about Peace with God and by them God beseeches you to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. How beautiful should you count the Feet of them who preach the Gospel of Peace and bring glad tidings of good things Rom. 10. 15. Such Tidings are too good distractedly and heedlesly to be heard And he that sends them is too great to be thus contemned When you sit before the Ministers of Christ and the Stewards of the Mysteries of God remember what our Lord himself says Luke 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me 2. Apprehend who are ready if you hear distractedly and without care to catch away the Word from you as soon as 't is spoken Evil Angels are compared to the Fowls of the Air who hover about the Sower to devour the Seed as soon as it is sown Luk. 8. 5. These evil Spirits are fitly compared to Fowls for they are many and how do they come flocking into our Religious Assemblies 'T is desirable to have Souls come flying to Christ as Doves to their Windows but it may startle us to understand that Devils came flocking into Churches to catch away the Word which is preached there These Enemies as they are many so as Fowls they are above us and consequently not so easie is it to resist them How many Sermons have these evil Angels stolen And the Sermons they have stolen they have them to shew against heedless Hearers at the Day of reckoning 3. Make a Covenant with your Eyes that your hearing may be the less distracted and more attentive Fix not your sight upon any alluring and ensnaring Objects or any thing which may divert you And as your Eyes must be turned away from beholding Vanity that you may be quickned in the way of your Duty so be sure to keep your Eyes waking If sleep locks up the Senses how fast must the Heart the mean time be barr'd against the Word of God! Eutichus a Church Sleeper is an Example upon Record sinking down with sleep while Paul was preaching he fell down and was taken up dead Act. 20. 9. They that sleep at a Sermon scandalously reject and despise the word preached Satan is a most wakeful Witness against them and his Arms are the Cradle in which they are rockt 4. Beg that the Lord himself would open your Hearts to attend to his Word It was he who opened the Heart of Lydia and then she attended to those things which were spoken by Paul Acts 16. 14. 'T is the Lord that makes way for the Word into the Mind that it may be heeded and understood and he makes way for the Word into the Heart that the Heart may be changed and cleansed thereby Joh. 15. 3. Now are ye clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you 'T is dreadful to provoke the Lord so as to be like unto provoking Israel to whom Moses speaks thus Deut. 29. 4. The Lord hath not given you an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear unto this Day And it will be worse if you love to have it thus still O think thus that distracted hearing may cause the word of Life to become deadly to you and God may judicially and yet justly harden your Hearts lest you should see and hear and understand and convert and be healed Isa 6. 10. 5. Let the word preached be mixt with Faith and received with Love The Apostle tells us that the Word preached did not profit the hearers of it not being mix'd with Faith in them that hear'd it Heb. 4. 2. Commands will be heeded and obeyed that are indeed believed to be of God Threatnings and Promises that are most firmly credited cannot but be minded and have a mighty influence The Word also is to be received in the Love of it that you may be saved The design of this Word is your deliverance from sin and misery your Peace your Purity and Perfection your eternal Redemption and Glory and therefore it commends it self exceedingly to your Aflections A sincere love to the Word will command the Thoughts of the Heart and hinder the Word from being disregarded 6. Remember that the Word which you hear is your Life There is a carelesness of life in heedlesness and distraction in hearing the Word of God Deut. 32. 46 47. Set your hearts unto all the Words which I testifie among you this Day for it is not a vain thing for you for it is your Life Prov. 7. 2. Keep my Commandments and live and my Law as the Apple of your Eye Isa 55. 3. Incline your Ear come unto me hear and your Soul shall live and I will make with you an everlasting Covenant even the sure Mercies of David And further to fix your attention to the Word preached be all of you perswaded that you who are now in the Sanctuary must shortly stand at the Judgment-Seat of Christ and the Word which he has spoken the same shall judge you at the last day Joh. 12. 48. Then you must render an account of your Stewardship and how all your Talents have been improved and you must be judged and receive according to your Works And sure I am that the Sentence which will then be pronounced whether it be of Absolution Come ye Blessed or of Condemnation Go ye Cursed cannot but be heard without distraction Both the one and the other of these Sentences must needs be heeded by all upon whom they are passed the one being so very comfortable and the other so terrible and confounding A third Duty which I shall insist on is Prayer now that you may with less distraction call upon the Name of God 1. Consider whose Name it is you are taking into your Mouths Deut. 28. 58. That glorious and fearful Name THE LORD THY GOD. A Name which should never be in the Lips without the profoundest Reverence in the Heart The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King at his Wrath the Earth doth tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Jer. 10. 10 11. This God whom you pray to is infinitely more above you than the greatest Emperour is above the meanest Worms
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
worketh also in you that believe It concerns us to take heed what we hear and how We should be forward to be made acquainted with God's Truth and Will and neither should be held in unrighteousness for to hear what God speaks and not to mind it but to act quite contrary is disobedience with an high aggravation 3. Attending upon God implies returning and yielding our selves unto God Man is naturally Contentious and struggles hard about this point and will not yield that God should direct and rule and that 't is reasonable that he in all things should submit and obey Man till he is instructed and enlightned from above will be still murmuring and disputing against his Duty and will not come to God though God is Light and can shine into his Mind though Divine Goodness can satiate Man's Soul though the Lord has supream and sufficient Authority to Command the Conscience and to lay the whole Man under obligation to Obedience But when we attend upon God indeed we hearken to his Call to return and we return at his Call There cannot be a right Attendance without sincere Conversion and this Conversion is Man's yielding of himself to his Lord. Rom. 6. 12 13. Let not sin reign in your mortal Bodies that ye should obey it in the Lusts thereof neither yield ye your Members as instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin but yield ye your selves unto God as those that are alive from the Dead and your Members as instruments of Righteousness unto God The Body must be yielded that the Holy Ghost may Consecrate it to the Lord's Service that Eyes and Mouth and Hands and Feet and all may be at God's Beck and ready to fulfill his Pleasure And especially the Heart must be yielded nay the whole heart else returning is but feigned Jer. 3. 10. Her treacherous Sister Judah hath not returned to me with her whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord. The Soul must consent to have all its powers renewed and sanctified that with them all it may give Attendance upon God the Heart without any reservation must yield that God should work out of it whatever is offensive that he should work in it that which is pleasing in his sight 4. Attending upon God implies seeking and desiring after God Isa 26. 9. With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit will I seek thee early The bent of the very Soul was towards God and the desires are kept up in vehemency both Night and Day The Lord humbles himself to behold things done in Heaven yet he looks down upon the Children of Men upon Earth to see if there be any that understand and seek him And if he seeks after these seekers how ready is he to be found of them The Command is that we should seek the Lord and his strength and his Face evermore Psal 105. 4. God is to be sought unto for himself when the all-sufficient Jehovah gives himself to any he gives infinitely more than if he gave them many thousand such Worlds as this is His strength is of absolute necessity to secure us from evil and to assist us in the doing of good and the shining of his Face makes our work easie and pleasant it makes our Life and even Death it self comfortable No wonder therefore when God said Seek ye my Face one of his Attendants heard presently as the Eccho answers the Voice said Thy Face Lord will I seek Psal 27. 8. To seek to any else is vain 't is seeking for Water in a broken Cistern that can hold none Men of low degree though never so great a multitude are vanity and Men of highest degree are a ly Psal 62. 9. But God's Power Mercy and Truth are an evident proof that he is forward and sufficient to satiate the Souls of all that charge their Souls to wait only upon him and to have their expectations from him 5. Attending upon God implies waiting upon him in his own House and Sanctuary Every Christian's House should be an House of Prayer but the place of publick assembling to Worship should be highly prized and frequented for the work sake that is performed there The living the true the eternal God is here publickly owned and acknowledged and so is the only Mediator Jesus as also the Holy Ghost whose Aid and Grace is all in all as to the efficacy and success of those Ordinances which are administred Saints that have seen God's Power and Glory in his Sanctuary it is no marvel that their Souls thirst for God for the living God and that 's the Language of their Hearts When shall we come and appear before God Psal 42. 2. As the Sanctuary was next to the holiest of all so the House of God on Earth is as it were the Suburbs of the City of God in Heaven The Sanctuary is the place where the Light of holy and heavenly Doctrine shines Here the Psalmist understood the end of the ungodly and that all their prosperity was but a Dream and Image being abused by themselves to further and hasten their destruction for they are quickly cast down from their greatest height and brought into Desolation as in a moment and utterly consumed with Terrors Psal 73. 17 18 19 Here also he understood how good God is to Israelites indeed when he does afflict them his Rod guides them purges their Hearts he upholds them with one hand when he corrects them with another he makes earthly things more contemptible in their Eyes and sets their Affections more upon himself who is their Portion for ever In the Sanctuary Believers are quickned strengthened comforted and settled And this one thing they desire of the Lord and that they seek after that they may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of their life that they may behold the Beauty of the Lord his Holiness and Grace in Christ with the admirable Harmony of all his Attributes and that they may perpetually be enquiring in his Temple until being guided unto Death and brought safe to Glory they are past all danger Psal 27. 4. 6. Attending upon God implies not only keeping the way of his Ordinances and Institutions but minding his Dispensations and the manner of his dealing with us The Ordinances of the Gospel are from Heaven and not of Men. Men have no right to institute who have no power to bless Mens Inventions in Religion though often followed with great eagerness are found unprofitable and vain to them that have been Zealous for them But the Ordinances which the Lord himself has appointed he is ready to own and make effectual to them that attend upon him in the use of them so that they shall have reason to say they have sought the Lord and have found him and have tasted and seen that he is gracious Ordinances are Feasts with which Saints are entertained called by the Prophet Feasts of fat things full of Marrow and of Wine on the Lees-well refined Isa 25.
Anger and a reward in the bosom strong wrath Prov. 21. 14. so secret confession of sin bitter mourning for it and begging forgiveness in the Name of Jesus will prevail for the pacifying of God's fiercest displeasure and the obtaining of his Love and Grace 2. There is an Attendance upon God that is Private in the Family This has been wofully sinfully shamefully neglected not only by the prophane but by them that call themselves Professors though hardly worthy of that Name Family Worship has been much press'd from the Pulpit Oh when shall it once be that every ones practise will be answerable I read not only of a Dedication of the Tabernacle and Temple but also of the Houses of the Israelites Deut. 20. 5. Psal 30. was composed at the Dedication of the House of David The Israelites justly called their Houses God's Houses And those tumultuous combined and insulting Enemies of theirs in Pride Scorn and Derision said Let us take to our selves the Houses of God in possession Psal 83. 12. Houses were dedicated to the Lord's Service Joshua says I and my House we will serve the Lord and all Israel promise the same Josh 24. 15 21. David says he will walk within his House with a perfect Heart Psal 101. 2. there be Songs of Mercy and of Judgment Indeed the voice of rejoycing and Salvation is in the Tabernacle of the Righteous Psal 118. 15. The Lord is adored and praised in the Tabernacles of them to whom he has shewed himself a God of Salvation Cornelius one of the first-fruits of the Gentiles was a devout Man and he feared God with all his House and prayed to God alway Act. 10. 2. And fearing of God implies calling upon his Name as casting off fear and restraining of Prayer are joyned together Job 15. 4. so that he prayed unto God with all his House and there is not the least reason to think that they did not pray altogether unless such kind of praying had been any where forbidden We read of a Curse and a Blessing not only upon Persons but upon Families Prov. 3. 33. The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the Just. Surely Families have reason to Pray against the one and that the other may rest on them And truly our Lord Jesus in that Prayer of his own making which is the great Directory for Prayer when he does instruct us to say Give us this day our daily Bread very plainly signifies that those in Families that daily Eat together ought also daily to pray together And are they only to pray together for daily Bread no they are also to Pray for the hallowing of God's Name the coming of his Kingdom and that his Will might be done on Earth as 't is done in Heaven They are to pray for the forgiveness of past trespasses and that Grace may prevent their being led into Temptation and may deliver them from Evil. You see here is ground enough for Families to give their Attendance upon God Families are the Seminaries from which both Church and State are furnished and if there were more of Devotion and Instruction and Discipline there the Church in all probability would be more pure and the State more righteously and better ordered Whereas if Families live without God in the World the Governours the Children and Servants are all usually wicked and likely to become worse and worse and the Churches Face is foul'd with odious spots and stains and the State grows more corrupt till at length 't is ripe for ruine 3. There is an Attendance upon God that is publick in the Congregation In publick Assemblies the true God is owned and honoured in the Face of the Sun and the Lord Christ is glorified Christians Assembling in his Name depending upon his Promise to be in the midst of them and to bless them He walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks Rev. 1. 13. He blesses the Ordinances himself has instituted to the enlightning purifying and Consolation of sincere Attendants on him In these Publick Assemblies Saints unite their spiritual strength in wrestling with God the Faith and holy Desires of a great many Believers together being conjunct are likely to be the more prevailing These Assemblies ought to be valued and frequented to forsake them is ill to the forsaker Hence that caution Heb. 10. 25. Not forsaking the Assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching The breaking of solemn publick Assemblies should be an Heart-breaking thing to us and the Lord has promised to gather those that are sorrowful upon this score Zeph. 3. 18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn Assembly who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burthen V. There is an Attendance upon God on his own day and upon other days 1. An Attendance upon God on his own day A seventh part of our time is hallowed by the fourth Commandment Six days are for Labour a seventh for Rest from that Labour and that we may have leisure with greater seriousness to attend upon God The great Creator having made the World in six days rested on the seventh and appointed it for a Sabbath and blessed it And the Apostle tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ the great Redeemer is entred into his Rest having ceased his own works as God did from his and therefore there remains a rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a keeping of a Sabbath to the People of God Heb. 4. 9 10. As the Jewish Sabbath was kept in Commemoration of the Lord 's resting from Creation so the Christian Sabbath is to be observed in Commemoration of Christ who is over all God blessed for ever his resting from the work of Redemption it is in him that we have rest by Faith at present and hope for a blessed glorious and everlasting Rest in Heaven The day that Christ rose was the day on which he rested for his lying in the Grave was not his rest but part of his Humiliation and that was the first day of the Week On this Christian Churches assembled for Worship Acts 20. 6 7. The Apostle was at Troas seven days We read not a word being among Christians that he solemnly Worshipt on the seventh day but upon the first day of the Week the Disciples came together to break Bread Upon this day Christians being assembled together Collections were made for good Uses at Corinth and in the Churches of Galatia 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Nay this is called the Lord's Day Rev. 1. 10. Now as the Lord's Supper is a Supper of the Lord's Institution so the Lord's Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a day of the Lord 's appointing and ordaining The prophanation of this Christian Sabbath has been punished with remarkable Judgments The Ordinances administred thereon have been owned and blessed to the Conversion and Confirmation of
is this when love to the Father is pretended but the thing intended is the gratifying the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the Eyes or the pride of life which are not of the Father but are of the World 1 Joh. 2. 16. A Cloak of Religion is a specious and goodly thing to look upon Praying Hearing Professing Singing of Praises Presence at other Ordinances looking upwards towards Heaven and speaking like Saints make the outside of this Cloak and Come see my Zeal for the Lord of Hosts and The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these make the Cloak look still the better outwardly But the inside is most foul and filthy there is Ambition reprobate Concupiscence insatiable Covetousness the Purse must be filled the Palate must be pleased the Senses must be delighted and Pride gratified with Applause and Preferment But certainly the Lord will not hold such dissemblers guiltless who with such carnal designs do take his Name in vain 6. They are to be reproved who are temporary Attenders upon God but in time of trial and temptation apostalize and depart from him Some kind of faint wishes they have that they might be saved and with some kind of Joy they entertain the glad-tydings of Salvation but whatever becomes of their Souls their resolution is to sleep in a whole Skin and they will not hazard what they possess on Earth for the sake of a Treasure in Heaven The heat of Persecution scorches such Attenders as these and causes all that is good in them to wither away Mat. 13. 6. They can by no means be reconciled to the Cross of Christ though the Spirit of Glory and of God does rest upon those that take up this Cross and gives them a Mouth and Wisdom to confound and silence the enemies of the Truth and strength to bear whatever wicked and unreasonable Men can inflict Nay abundant Consolation when Sufferings most abound 2 Cor. 1. 5. For as the Sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ When these temporary Followers of the Lord hear him say If any Man come to me and hate not i. e. less love his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Their answer is This is an hard saying who can hear it And not enduring the Trial and Furnace 't is a sign they are but reprobate Silver which the Lord rejects and their utter Apostasie in the time of Temptation shews they never had root in themselves Matt. 13. 21. If they had been of us says the Apostle they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 1 John 2. 19. 7. They are to be reproved who rest in the bare formality of attending upon God but 't is not their desire or aim to reap any Spiritual Benefit thereby Education Custom and a regard to their Reputation makes them to go in a road and round of Duties and hereby an ignorant natural Conscience has some kind of Peace But in all they do they have no eye on God nor any sincere desires after him So ignorant they are of themselves that they are unsensible of any Spiritual Necessities to be supplied they are unsensible of any Lusts and Passions to be mortified of any Plagues in their Hearts to be healed In attending upon God His Approbation is principally to be minded He is a Jew that is one inwardly whose praise is not of Man but of God Rom. 2. 29. And God himself is chiefly to be longed after Psal 42. 1. As the heart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God But these formal Attendants mind not God's approving of them neither do they desire Communion with him So the Work be but done they care not how nor how little themselves are Spiritually advantaged The Door turns upon the Hinges too and fro but still is where it was many years ago So these Professors come to Ordinances and from them no better than they were They were many years ago proud worldly selfish passionate sensual slothful and oh their Sin and Shame that so they are still or more so than ever notwithstanding all their Religious Services 8. The very best are to be reproved That there are so many sins in their holiest things and when they give their best attendance upon God Though they are new Creatures yet there is much of the old man remaining though they are born of the Spirit yet in part they are still carnal And this flesh lusteth against the Spirit so that they cannot do the things that they would Gal. 5. 17. and what they do they cannot do so well as they desire to do it They are to be pitied indeed under their groaning because of indwelling Sin And the Apostle calls himself wretched because of this who was joyful under the heaviest Cross he ever bore And yet Saints are to be reproved too because were it not their own fault they might still do and be better They might have more Grace from Christ Life more abundantly from him they might have more Aid from the Spirit they might be more enlarged in Ordinances and with greater Swiftness run the ways of God's Commandments Tho' when they have done all all is so defective they have need of the perfect Righteousness of Christ to cover their Failings and Imperfections USE II. Of Exhortation to you all to attend upon God Let not the World and the God of this World have you at command the things that their attendants take up withall are a meer shew and are gone presently The Psalmist speaking of those who only mind such things as these with great Asseveration tells us Psal 39. 6. Surely every Man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain and then adds v. 7. And now Lord what wait I for My hope is in thee Expectation from the Creature he knew would be frustrated but hope in God he was well assured would never make him ashamed The Arguments to perswade to attend upon God are these 1. 'T is wonderful Condescension and Compassion in God that he will admit of attendance by such as you are Whose Eye but Gods sees the whole of Sins evil The Lord alone does fully understand his own goodness and glorious Perfections and Excellencies therefore he alone fully understands Sins sinfulness which is so contrary to him The Psalmist tells us He is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him Psal 5. 4. When he prohibits Sin he speaks with great concernedness Jer. 44. 4. Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate You may perceive by his words that his very Soul does abhor Iniquity 't is therefore matter of Astonishment that God should have any thing to do in a way of Mercy with Man who is so abominably guilty and defiled What
who only hath Immortality dwelling in that light which no Man can approach unto whom no Man hath seen nor can see to whom be Honour and Power everlasting Amen 1 Tim. 6. 15 16. If this glorious God will accept of Service from such as you how readily should you give it How highly are you favoured when you come into his Presence and have Communion with him 9. Lay this to Heart that Not to attend upon God is wickedly to contemn him and to rebel against him 'T is in effect to say He is not worthy of your Service and that the Service of your Lusts and of the World is more beneficial Thus God was despised by those wicked Men that were infatuated by Prosperity in an evil way They said Job 21. 15. What is the Almighty that we should serve him And what Profit should we have if we pray to him When Saul refused to obey the Command of God Samuel rejects his Sacrifices and charges him with Rebellion which is as Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 22 23. Behold to obey is better than Sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams for Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft and Stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry When thou castest off the Service of God thou castest off his Fear and disownest God himself This is Rebellion and this Rebellion is thy Witchcraft thy Confederacy with the Devil thou makest a Covenant with Death and with Hell thou art at an Agreement USE III. Shall be of Direction How God should be attended upon There must not be only a seeking of God but a due Order in seeking him if this be wanting instead of receiving Benefits from his hand that hand may make a breach upon us 1 Chron. 15. 13. The Lord our God made a breach upon us because we sought him not after the due order If we have no care as to the manner of our Services the Lord will care as little for the matter of them Now the right manner of attending upon God is to be declared in these particulars 1. Our attendance upon God must be present our living without God so long and contemptuous neglect of our required Duty towards him should be matter of deep Humiliation and 't is but reasonable to judge our selves worthy of Frowns and Rejection because we sought his face no sooner But now immediately we must gird up the loynes of our Minds to his Work The Holy Ghost bids us hear his voice to day he tells us that the accepted time is now The Psalmist is a Pattern worthy of Imitation for his present harkening to the Voice of God and his speediness in yielding Obedience Psal 119. 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments Delays are displeasing to God for they argue the Heart not so well reconciled to Him and to his Precepts and that some other business is liked and preferred before his work And these delays are dangerous considering the uncertainty of our lifes continuance and how soon and suddenly the Spirit of the Lord being grieved by our deferring to obey his motions and accept of his gracious Aid may totally and finally withdraw from us 2. Our Attendance upon God must be instant Rom. 12. 12. continuing instant in prayer So Act. 26. 7. Vnto which promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come When we are thus instant in our attending it implies a sense of the great importance of those things we come to God about and that we are very urgent with him that we may not miscarry in our everlasting concernments Matters of Life and Death temporal are managed with great seriousness But when we attend upon God Eternal Life is before us to be laid hold on and Eternal Death is before us to escape Our intenseness and urgency here should if it were possible as far exceed our seriousness in other matters as Time in length is exceeded by Eternity As the loudest Thunder drowns a whisper so should the grand concerns of the unseen Eternal World when we come before God be carefully regarded before the petty matters of this present Life which are but for a moment 3. Our Attendance upon God must be constant Paroxisms and Fits in Religion argue an unhealthy Soul to be sometimes hot and sometimes cold is a bad temper They that grow weary of God and of his Service God is weary of them and their Duties The Lord speaks to Ephraim and Judah as one wearied because all the means and methods he had used had been ineffectual unto any lasting Reformation if at any time they seemed inclinable to what was good the inclination was very short-lived and they soon returned to their natural bent and inclination to Evil Hos 6. 4. O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah what shall I do unto thee for your goodness is as a morning Cloud and as the early Dew it goeth away 'T is not enough to begin well The same argument that perswaded you to begin will become stronger for your holding on It were better not to have known the way of Righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered to you 2 Pet. 2. 21. All that come to God should cleave unto him all that embrace his Testimonies should stick unto those Testimonies I have stuck unto thy Testimonies says the Psalmist Psal 119. 31. and ver 112. I have inclined my Heart to perform thy Statutes always even unto the end 4. Our Attendance upon God must be cordial and hearty 1 Chron. 22. 19. Now set your Heart and your Soul to seek the Lord your God The full bent of the Mind must be this way The Lord will not be found unless the Heart and Soul be set to seek him Naturally the Heart of Man is set another way being of a corrupt Original from the Womb 't is estranged from God and still 't is farther alienating and estranging it self 't is not easie to have such a Heart reconciled to God and to the Will of God But when the Heart is renewed the enmity is in a great measure cured the Heart is now willing to come into the Lord's Presence for when the Heart serves him 't is in the way to be satiated by him The Heart-searcher cannot bear the Heart's absence for if He has not the Heart something else has it which provokes him unto Jealousie But the more there is of the Heart in Duties God is the better pleased with them and the performers find them in a spiritual sense more advantageous When Hearts knock at Heaven gate the Gate shall certainly be open When Souls Thirst for God they shall not fail of satisfaction Psal 63. 5. My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fulness my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips 5. Our Attendance upon God must be with clean Hands and a pure Heart Jam. 4. 8. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Cleanse your Hands ye sinners
33. 31. There is a Greediness after Gain no hungring and thirsting after Righteousness Iniquity though so hateful and hurtful is regarded in the Heart but there is no regard unto God there How can there be a worse Distraction than for the Heart to forsake Fullness and Goodness it self and to embrace and fix upon meer Emptiness and Evil In this Distraction there is Phrenzy in the highest Degree 7. The Heart is distracted when carnal self and interest in attending upon God is the great end designed The end is that which directs an action and the eye and heart of him who acts is upon the end which he pursues If the end be wrong the action cannot be right Without a sincere aim no religious Duty can sincerely be performed Now if we look no higher than our carnal selves in those Services we pretend to do for God our selfish design will be in our Thoughts and distract them Acceptance with God and the Enjoyment of him will not be at all minded The Captives in Babylon were blamed in their Fasting and Mourning that God was not in their Eye his Approbation his Glory not regarded Zach. 7. 5. Did ye at all fast unto me even unto me They minded returning to Canaan more than returning to God and to their Duty If indeed we are truly selfish God will not be angry with us for there is an inseparable connexion between God's Honour and our truest interest When we seek and eye him most we most truly eye and seek our selves God has the highest Honour from us when we look for the highest Happiness in him and love him for himself and delight in him and bless and magnifie him to eternity But when God himself is not our end but his Service is made use of that we may the better bring about our earthly and worldly designs and projects Our Duties then are Hypocrisie and Distraction Such were those whom the Prophet so severely taxed Jer. 12 2. Thou art near O Lord in their Mouths and far from their Reins They gave good words but their Hearts were far off from that God to whom they spake It was outward Prosperity and Plenty which they sought and this Plenty and Prosperity was most wickedly abused 8. The Heart is distracted when the worship performed is Will worship of Man's Invention not of God's Institution How can there chuse but be Distraction if there be a wandring out of the Way in which he has appointed us to serve him The Jews of old were very culpable in this respect Isa 29. 13. Their Fear towards me says God is taught by the Precepts of Men When Man aspired to be like unto God in Wisdom he deprived himself of the Knowledge of God and grew unacquainted with his Will so that he is utterly unfit to be his own Instructer in Religion there is a necessity of a Revelation from Heaven that God may be known and the right way of serving him may be understood The vilest Impurities the greatest Cruelties have been practis'd under the Name of Devotion when Man has been contriving how God should be served Nay Will-worship is condemned by the Apostle though there be never so great a shew of Wisdom and Humility and neglecting of the Body Col. 2. 23. The Will of God is to determine what Worship pleases him not the Will of Man and whatever Mortifications and Austerities some may fancy God allows an honour and satisfaction to the flesh as long as the Lusts of it are not fulfilled Worship that is not of God's Institution is meer distraction labour to no purpose unless it be to ill purpose When God is represented by Images he is grosly misrepresented the Glory of him who is an incorruptible Spirit is changed When other Mediators in Heaven are made use of besides that great High Priest who is passed into Heaven Jesus the Son of God worship becomes carnal sinful and the mind of the Worshipper instead of drawing near to God is distracted and drawn away from him In the second place I am to tell you what it is to attend upon the Lord without distraction 1. To attend without distraction is to set God just before us and our selves just before God When our Eye is fixt upon his Eye and we behold him looking most stedfastly upon us He searches the Hearts and weighs the Spirits of the Children of Men. Nothing can escape his finding out for he knoweth the Secrets of the Heart Psal 44. 21. Doth not he see my ways says Job not only the ways of the Feet but the ways and Workings of his very Soul were open to God's View We are all here present before God says Cornelius Acts 10. 33. I have set the Lord always before me says David Psal 16. 8. This is undistracted Attendance when the Lord is still kept in our view and we keep and behave our selves as just under the inspection of the all-observing Eye of his Holiness 2. To attend without distraction is to have right apprehensions of God whom we attend upon God is a Spirit and as such he must be apprehended when we worship him that we may worship him in spirit and in truth and that our Conceptions of him may be spiritual and sutable unto his Nature As he is without Passions which Men are subject to so without those bodily parts which Men have Indeed metaphorically Eyes and Hands and Feet and Heart are in Scripture ascribed unto God but by these is signified his Knowledge his Working his Accesses and Departing his Will and Pleasure We must take heed of entertaining gross Idea's and Images in our Minds concerning God Act. 17. 29. We ought not to think says the Apostle that the Godhead is like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by art or Man's device Such kind of Representations are very improper of him who not only fills the Earth but the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him Our worship is distraction and the heart is drawn away from God unto a meer Vanity and Idol if God is conceived in the likeness of any Creature How severely are the Gentiles censured and how dreadfully were they punished and left to their vile Lusts and Affections to dishonour their own Bodies because they glorified not God as God but changed his Glory into the Image of corruptible Creatures Rom. 1. 21 22 23. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned professing themselves to be wise they became Fools and changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and fourfooted Beasts and creeping things In our Attendance upon God we must think of him as an incomprehensible Spirit of infinite Wisdom Power Truth Holiness Mercy and Goodness ready in Christ to receive returning Sinners but full of displeasure against those that go on still in their Trespasses God must be believed to
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
that here lies the great danger least while God is near in the mouth the World fill the heart and steal it from him There are three things in reference to the World which distract thousands of Hearts and cause millions of Duties to be in vain The one is Love to the World the other is care about it and another is Fear concerning it Of all these you are to beware with the greatest vigilancy and concernedness 1. Take heed of Love to the World If the World has your Love it will have your Thoughts at command and it will not fail to shew its power and to command your thoughts off from God when you attend upon him They that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God will think of Pleasures rather than of God That Rich Man in the Gospel while he was alive had Moses and the Prophets as well as his Brethren he was an Israelite in Name called himself a Child of Abraham and profest himself a Worshipper of the true God but all his worship was heartless his heart was intoxicated with sensual Delights and his Purple and fine Linen and sumptuous fare which every day was provided for him Luk. 16. 19. That which the Soul takes pleasure in how will it be revolved in the Mind Sports and Pastimes Garbs and Ornaments Journies for diversion and delight Feasts and Mirth and Musick if the Heart is foolishly fond of such sorry things as these how will they possess the Soul and that in the very House of God and when his Ordinances are administred They will be present to the imagination though really absent and an imaginary satisfaction will be taken in them and in the mean while the Lord himself will be forgotten and Communion with him slighted They that are greedy after gain their hearts will be upon their gain while their Bodies are before the Lord. Covetousness commands the Thoughts and extinguishes holy Desires while the Tongue is speaking heavenly words the Mind will be projecting and contriving how to get the Wealth of this World as if to be rich towards God were but a poor thing in comparison The earthly heart pleases it self with the Thoughts of what it has and with the Hopes of getting more of the World that for the flesh more abundant provision may be made Oh suffer not the World to have your love and friendship if you are friends to the World and over familiar with it it will have the more easie and ready access into your hearts at any time and that without the least check Familiar Friends you know make bold to come into your door without knocking for admission 2. Take heed of Care about the World How do these solicitous cares about earthly things distract and divide the Mind When the Kingdom of God and his righteousness should be sought there is a taking thought for Food and Raiment and things of that inferiour nature Our Lord knew the evil of these Cares and therefore uses a great many words to disswade from them He tells us that our heavenly Father clothes the Lillies of the Field and feeds the Fowls of the Air which have neither Storehouse nor Barn and much more will he provide Bread for his Children to eat and Raiment wherewith they may be clothed and they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of little Faith that make any doubt of it Mat. 6. 30. If Cares about such things prevail they may cause gross omissions of Duty or if Duties are done they may miscarry in the doing there may be such an anxious solicitousness about this earth and the affairs of it that Heaven and the God of Heaven may be hardly thought of Worldly care is one of the things that chokes the Word and it will choke Prayer also it will hinder the Word from being fruitful and Prayer from being successful You have leave to cast all your care upon God who cares for you 1 Pet. 5. 7. And if banishing distrust in God and eagerness after the the World you are careful for nothing in it you may then by Prayer and Supplication with thanksgiving make your request known unto God Phil. 4. 6. and he will make it known to you that this is the very best course you can take for all manner of supplies 3. Take heed of fear concerning the World Our Lord says why are ye so fearful O ye of little Faith There is great reason for Faith in God no reason for fear what the World can do to you Be not distracted by fear of worldly losses those shall not befal you but when God sees them best for you and they shall turn to your truest gain Be not distracted by fear of the Worlds hatred and the effects of it the Grace and Joy of the Holy Ghost can be an hundredfold better even at present than any worldly comfort that Man can deprive you of If an enraged World can keep you off from the Lord's Service he will have but little from you Be not afraid therefore of their terrour neither be troubled but sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts ◠Pet. 3. 14 15. and he has promised to be a Sanctuary to you The fear of the Lyons Den could not scare Daniel from the Throne of Grace but he prayed and gave Thanks as he was wont before his God If this present World cannot command your love nor care nor raise your fear you will be mightily fortified against one very great cause of Distraction in Religious Services 4. Another cause of Distraction which I must caution you against is Passion and Uncharitableness Passion has a strange and mighty force to transform the whole Soul into it self so that if this prevail not only Grace shall be under a dark Eclipse but even Judgment and Reason and common Prudence shall seem to be altogether banished Passion imbitters or rather invenoms the whole Heart of a Man diffusing it self all over so that all is under the power of it Passion has a monopoly of the thoughts and fixes them upon Injuries received nay though they are but imaginary injuries yet being supposed real how intent is the Mind upon them Perhaps Revenge though so contrary to the Nature of Christianity is wish'd for and meditated Patience indeed possesses the Soul but Passion catches the Soul away so that 't is possest no longer all the Powers and Faculties of the Soul are disturbed and most disorderly employed Passion rises and lies down with the Passionate Man and is a very bad Companion all the day long and when Duties of Religion come to be performed there is so much anger in the heart against Man that God's anger is not feared nor seriously deprecated neither is his love valued or with any earnestness desired As the furious Man abounds in transgression so his attendance upon God abounds in Distractions and these Distractions being the overflowings of wrath and bitterness and hatred how displeasing and abominable must they needs be unto
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
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
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
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