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
attendance upon God The Grace of God therefore should make you most to watch against and hate that sin which Nature did most of all delight in and love 7. Another cause of distraction is a zealous affection towards an erroneous way Errours are of several sorts some are praeter fundamentum off from the Foundation others are circa fundamentum about the Foundation a third sort are contra fundamentum against and rase the very Foundation of Religion these last are most dangerous The broachers and spreaders of them are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ravening Wolves that spare not the Flock and truly the propagators of lesser Errors do a great deal of harm they are called little Foxes and are often very prejudicial especially to young Converts and prove a great hindrance to the good work begun in them Therefore you read Cant. 2. 15. Take us the Foxes the little Foxes that spoil the Vines for our Vines have tender Grapes Errours how do they excite the zeal of the Soul And though they are but about smaller matters yet they so command the Tongue and Thoughts that they are more talk'd of and minded than the great things of Law and Gospel Erroneous Opinions do so possess the Heart that the main truths and things of Religion are little regarded and less improved They that are very fond of Errour when they are praying or hearing or engaged in other Ordinances Satan dresses up that error with a disguise of truth and so presents it to their Minds and their Minds are drawn away by the thoughts of it and Ordinances are ineffectual and lost to them No wonder that zealots for Errour are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jud. v. 13. wandring Stars they wander from the way of truth and this wandring makes them very much to wander from God in holy Duties whilst the eagerness of their Spirits is after their mistakes in which they are so very confident Beguiled Souls are called unstable 2 Pet. 2. 14. the Apostle tells us they are tost to and fro carried about with every wind of Doctrine The unsettledness of their Judgments and proneness to run from one errour to another mightily distracts their Thoughts and they are little if at all edisied by their Duties Errours are very apt to knock at the Door when you are attending upon God and Satan is very busie then to disturb and distract you with Thoughts about them The Lord would be served with greater intention if you did not trouble your Heads with doubtful Disputations which you are caution'd against Rom. 14. 1. and if you did follow that counsel 2 Pet. 3. 17. Beware lest ye being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness 8. The sloth and loziness of the Heart in refusing to take pains with it self to keep close to God is another cause of distraction a cause it is which most commonly prevails there is therefore need of caution against it The Work of the Heart with its own self is very hard Work indeed in the doing of this to purpose lies both the difficulty and also the truth of Religion To be wicked and deceitful are the two bad properties of the Heart which are natural to it the wickedness of the Heart makes it backward to come to God the deceitfulness of the Heart makes it very ready to start aside like a deceitful Bow and to fly off from him Great pains and labour is absolutely necessary to engage the Heart to approach to the Lord and to abide with him These accesses to God are against nature like rowing a Boat against a swift Stream or rolling a Stone up a steep Hill If the Oar be not plyed the Stream carries the Boat back let the Stone but a little alone to it self and how presently and how far will it run downward The Poet observed the strength of Natures inclination Naturam expellas furcâ licet usque recurret Use greatest force ' gainst Natures Will It shall recoyl upon you still There is need of constant care and industry and the aid of supernatural Grace else the Heart will never be brought to acquaint it self with God or to delight in Communion with him Take heed of sloth in holy Duties and carelesness of Spirit which makes Men indifferent and unconcerned what frame their Hearts are in as if in these distractions there were no great sin or harm The Psalmist tells us The Lord is in his holy Temple the Lord's Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eyelids try the Children of Men Psal 11. 4. with a pleased Countenance he does behold the upright Heart but he frowns upon all careless Servants Take heed of imagining there is no need of striving again vain Thoughts in the Lord's Service If these are allowed of know that God allows not of them and if they have place in you what may they come to at last The greatest sin that ever was committed began with a Thought and if the first Thought had been utterly banished the sinful desire had not been kindled nor the Deed done I have spoken of the causes of distraction with great heed you are all of you to beware of them for if you give way to these they will corrupt all your Duties I read in the old Law that nothing that had a blemish was to be offer'd to God in Sacrifice this shews that Christ the great Sacrifice was without blemish and without spot and 't is an intimation what our Duties ought to be But if Distractions and the causes of them are not taken heed of your Services will be no better than a Sacrifice would have been that had all the forbidden blemishes Lev. 22. 22. Blind broken maimed with Wens Scurvy and Scabbed which must needs have been very hateful if it had been offer'd to the Lord. USE II. By way of expostulation I shall expostulate the matter with you about these distractions in your Religious Performances 1. Without distraction you can mind your Secular Affairs and why should you not be more intent and serious about your eternal concerns What is a small Cypher to the whole Circle of the Heavens What is Time which is ended almost as soon as begun to Eternity that will never end at all Temporal Afflictions are light and burthens only for a moment 2 Cor. 4. 17. Temporal felicity is but a pleasant and short Dream and is chased away as a night Vision But eternal Woes and Joys are Woes and Joys indeed they are perfectly possessed all at once altogether and as to the Woes there can be no hope of any release as to the Joys there is no room for any fear of deprivation 2. Without distraction you can hear or read News or a pleasant History and is not a Religious Duty of far greater importance to you Shall the pleasing of the fancy be minded more than the securing of the Soul Shall the State of Affairs in this World be asked after and will you not seriously
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
and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart The Man after God's own Heart said that the Meditations of God are sweet Psal 104. 34. He was glad when they said to him let us go into the House of the Lord Psal 122. 1. He tells us who is the Man that may have what he will all his desire granted 't is he whose delight is in God Psal 37. 4. Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desire of thy Heart He is the blessed Man who takes no pleasure in the counsel way or seemingly easest Seat of the Wicked but his delight is in the Law of the Lord Psal 1. 1 2. And why should he not with delight be served at present since in his Kingdom by all he will be praised with the highest Rapture of Joy for ever 8. Our Attendance upon God should be in all Ordinances It is produced as an Argument that that excellent couple mentioned Luke 1. 6. were both righteous before God because they walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Under the Old Testament there was an Ordinance of God that was to be administred betimes even to the Infants and that was Circumcision and though Abraham at the first Institution of this Ordinance believed and was circumcised at Age as also were the Men of his Houshold and though Circumcision is called a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 11. Yet Infants also were circumcised these little ones are said to enter into Covenant with the Lord their God Deut. 29. 11 12. Under the New Testament our Lord Jesus does not cast these Infants out of his Church and Covenant but says Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God Mark 10. 14. The Apostle Peter after he had exhorted to Baptism says The Promise is unto you and to your Children Acts 2. 39. And the Apostle Paul affirms That the Children of Believing Parents are Holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. they are therefore Members of the Body of Christ Now 't is plainly signified that Baptism is the Privilege of all in that Body 1 Cor. 12. 13. We are all baptized into one Body Indeed some that mind the Sound of Scripture more than the Sense of it when they read Repent and be baptized Believe and be baptized conclude that none but those that are at Age and capable of professing their Faith and Repentance ought to partake of this Ordinance But they would do well to consider who these were that in Scripture repented believed and were baptized they were either * Under the Name of Jews I take in all Proselytes to the Jewish Religion Jews or Heathens that were converted to the Christian Faith at Age and if thousands of such should be converted now now also at Age Baptism ought to be administred to them upon their repenting and believing But in the whole New Testament we do not find any baptized at Age whose Parents were Christians at their Birth Yet several without Scripture warrant are thus baptized at this day Oh that there were less disputing about Infant-Baptism and more care to improve it All Infants that go to Heaven are baptized with the Blood and Spirit of Christ they are justified and sanctified thereby This Justification and Sanctification all that have been baptized should desire to partake of Other Ordinances also should be engaged in for the Lord who has instituted them is ready to own and bless them and himself to be found in them Who that is wise would neglect any one of them since none of them are appointed in vain nay every one of them to serious engagers has been experienced abundantly Beneficial The Lord is to be atteâ—â—â—ed upon how and in what way soever he pleases in the Closet in the Family in the Sanctuary at the Table or any other way that he has ordained Blessed are all they that wait for him 9. Every Attendance upon God should make every Attender better 'T is thought by some that Creatures in the Waters as long as they live they grow still greater Saints as long as they live should still be growing in Grace and be more full of all Goodness They should grow as the Lilly cast forth their roots as Lebanon their branches should spread and their beauty be as the Olive-tree Hos 14. 5 6. God is ready to be as the dew to them that from Him their Fruit may be found It is really a fault in Believers if every time they wait upon the Lord they come not away from him with more Wisdom Strength and Grace and Peace than they had since he is ready to impart such Blessings as these and gives them Liberally without upbraiding USE IV. Shall be of Consolation to them that thus as I have directed do attend apon God Isa 40. 1. Comfort ye Comfort ye my People saith your God with Joy you may come and draw most pure and refreshing Waters out of the Wells of Salvation You are the Children of Peace and the Peace of God is to rest upon you For your Comfort take notice of these things following 1. God puts an high value upon his sincere Attendants He had a special respect to Abel and that excellent Sacrifice that he offered Though the Heaven be his Throne and the Earth his Foot-stool yet to that Man will he look as being well pleased with him that is Poor and of a contrite Spirit and that trembles at his Word Isa 56. 1 2. He remembers the kindness of their Youth the love of their Espousals Jer. 2. 2. and their willing Consecration of themselves to be Holiness to the Lord. He has taken notice of all their Desires and Groans and their Cries to himself and their frequent speaking one to another that they might confirm and encourage one another in the worst of Times and Trials to continue his Attendants still Mal. 3. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard and did so well approve them that a Book of Remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name 2. God delights over his sincere Attendants to do them good He takes pleasure in the Prosperity of his Servants they are in Heaviness by Affliction only when there is need of it he delights especially to see their Souls prosper As he opens his Armory and brings forth the Weapons of his Indignation against the Wicked so he opens his Treasures of Bounty and Goodness to his Servants that they may be supplied abundantly He does them good with a good Will his whole Heart and Soul is with them Jer. 32. 41. when his hand is open to them He is ready to fulfil their Desires to grant their Requests Nay when their Thoughts are most Comprehensive and they crave never so much he is able and ready to do for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding
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
unworthy to be saved nay unwilling to be saved till thou didst make him willing in the day of thy Power 4. When we look upon God as Lord we should exceedingly dread his Wrath and value his Loving-kindness The Rebukes of such a mighty Lord when provoked must needs be terrible Psal 18. 7. Then the Earth shook and trembled the foundations also of the Hills moved and were shaken because he was wrath Exod 15. 6 7. Thy right hand O Lord is become glorious in Power thy right hand O Lord hath dashed in pieces the Enemy and in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee thou sentest forth thy wrath which consumed them as Stubble And as the Anger of God has all evils in its power to inflict on those who are so fool-hardy to provoke it so his loving-kindness is ready to open the treasures of his goodness How bountiful is his love to his beloved ones The Psalmist having meditated on it justly stands amazed at it and cries out How excellent is thy loving kindness O God! Psal 36. 7. It transcends all created love if all the love that is in Men and Angels were united together it would not be so much compared with the love of God as the light of a Gloworm is to the Sun shining forth in its Noon-day Glory And as the love of God is so excellent in it self transcendently excellent also are the acts and beneficial effects of it If the wrath of a King be as the messengers of death Prov. 16. 14. what is the wrath of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords If in the light of the King's Countenance is life and his favour is as the Cloud of the later Rain Prov. 16. 15. the favour of the blessed and only Potentate must needs be infinitely more refreshing and better than life it self It is from this Lord that every Man's Judgment comes He ministers Judgment at present good and evil is dispenced by his hand and 't is he that will pass upon all the final Sentence of Absolution or Condemnation at the last day What care then should there be to have his Wrath appeased by a Mediator what fervency of Spirit in sueing for peace and reconciliation Solomon tells that many seek the Rulers Favour but certainly Divine Favour is much more desirable because every man's Judgment is from the Lord Prov. 29. 26. 5. When we look upon God as Lord we should trust in him for deliverance from other Lords who have had the Dominion over us He can work whatsoever and in whomsoever he pleases and none shall be able to hinder The Psalmist was sensible of sins force and power he was weary of sins Dominion he cries unto God to deliver him from the Reign of all the sins he knew and those sins which were secret and concealed from his view he begs that he might be convinced of them and throughly cleansed from them Psal 19. 12 13. The Lord can turn the Heart perfectly to hate the sin that was most of all beloved and the strength of sin is gone when once 't is hated and as the hatred grows stronger and stronger sin becomes weaker and weaker daily Saul was a proud self-confident Pharisee a furious Persecutor the Lord meets him and stops him in his persecuting Rage he humbles him works in his Heart Faith in Christ against whom he had such a mighty and seemingly invincible prejudice of a Wolf he turns him into one of the Sheep of Christ nay into a zealous and careful Shepherd of the Flock so that he preached that Faith which once he endeavoured to destroy Gal 3. 23. The Lord can subdue Iniquity where it has born the greatest sway If he speaks the word of power down go all strong-holds reasonings that before were thought strong are seen to be absurd imaginations vain high things and thoughts are brought into Captivity and Obedience 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into Captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ The very Prince of the Devils Beelzebub himself the Lord can easily dispossess He cast him out of Heaven and surely he can cast him out of the Heart also If the Lord speak the Word Satan falls like Lightning How sudden and remarkable is his Downfall If he charge this unclean Spirit to come out he must presently quit his Habitation and if he command him to keep out he must enter no more Mark 9. 25. He rebuked the foul Spirit saying unto him I charge thee to come out of him and to enter no more into him When the Lord by the preaching of the Gospel made himself known in the World how were Heathen Idols destroyed 1 Thes 1. 9. Ye turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God And whatever Worldly Enjoyments have been idolzied he can shew the Vanity of them and mortifie inordinate Affection to them He is jealous of his Honour likes not to have his Throne usurped we are to trust in this Lord and to desire he would take unto this his great Power and Reign in us and that no opposite Lords may be any longer served 6. When we look upon God as Lord we should be careful to know his Will and always forward to do it That is one of the first Inquiries of a true Convert Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 6. Man's Will till renewed by Grace is foolish perverse wicked and perniciously inclined He wills that which is to his own Woe 'T is but reason that such a Will should yield to the Will of God who is wise holy and good Who ever acted according to the Will of God and saw cause to repent of it And sure I am that they who do contrary to the Will of God must repent of it in this World or too late in the next We find that Wisdom is very much placed in knowing the Will of God Eph. 5. 17. Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the Will of the Lord is And Happiness is placed in the doing of it Joh. 13. 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them We should approve our selves better Servants if we did but mind more our Lord and Master's Will In Temptation we should consider what is the Will of God and then the Tempter would be withstood When earthly Treasure is laid before us to draw our Hearts to covet it we should remember 't is the Will of the Lord that our Heart and Treasure should be in Heaven Whatever Duty we are setting about towards God or Man we should inquire how would God have this Duty to be done What acceptable Service then would God have from us And what Blessings should we be to those whom we are related to and converse
us into Disorder in our Duties and utterly out of Frame Sometimes this wickedly bold and foul and wretched Spirit will give the vilest Names to the blessed God which are given to the worst of Men. Sometimes he will say that divine Favour and Fury are both contemptible and as if he were a mere Idol that 't is not in him to do good or to do evil Zeph. 1. 12. whereas indeed penal Evils are all from him Amo. 3. 6. Shall there be evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it And the Psalmist tells Psal 33. 5. He loves Righteousness and Judgment the Earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord. Sometimes Satan will deny the Providence of God and say how doth God know And is there Knowledge in the most high As if he did not regard Men or their Ways but that all things in this World fall out either according to blind Chance or fatal Necessity whereas the Psalmist with great Force and Evidence of Reason argues Psal 94. 9 10. He that planted the Ear shall he not hear He that formed the Eye shall he not see He that teacheth Man Knowledge shall not he know Nay sometimes this evil one though himself believes a God and trembles before him yet will inject atheistical Thoughts and confidently deny the very Being of a God that he may discourage all Religion and Application to him Whereas the Heavens declare the Glory of the Lord and as the Light of the Sun is evident so it is evident there is a God by whom that Sun was made and all things visible besides Finally this lying Spirit will bear in with great Violence blasphemous Falshoods against the Word and Gospel of Jesus Christ Christ was manifested to destroy the Works of the Devil and the Devil will endeavour to hinder the Word of Christ from being believed though God himself did bear witness to the Truth of this Word both with Signs and Wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own Will Heb. 2. 4. and miraculous Operations of Grace cease not to this Day When a blind Mind is made to see when an Heart of Stone is turned into an Heart of Flesh when the dead in Sin are made alive to God and Righteousness is their Practice and their Conversation is in Heaven all this shews a divine Efficacy in the Word and its divine Authority and most certain Truth These hellish Injections must by no means have an undisturbed Abode in the Mind for if they have they will cut the Sinews of all religious Endeavours They will damp the Affections dead the Heart and eat out all manner of gracious Inclinations and Purposes These blasphemous Injections shew that there is a Devil for even Nature as bad as it is will rise against some vile Thoughts which he casts in and he is an Enemy to God to Righteousness to the Souls of Men and as great a Lyar as an Enemy therefore he is not at all to be credited but his Wickedness and Falshoods to be abhorred 4. The Heart is distracted when though its Thoughts are good they are unseasonable A good Thought becomes a bad one when 't is entertained at a time that is not proper for it If when we are confessing Sin a Thought good for the matter of it arises that is utterly alien that draws the Mind away from thinking of Sin and that has no Tendency to humble and break the Heart for it This Thought by its Unseasonableness becomes evil If when we are Petitioning for Mercy a good Thought should intrude and make us forget what we are doing and we neither mind what we are asking nor to whom we are speaking A good Thought in this Case causes a sinful Distraction Solomon says that every thing is beautiful in its time Eccles 3. 11. A Word spoken in due season how good is it And as Words so Thoughts are the better the more seasonable they are If the subtle Serpent cannot divert the Mind from the Duty performing by bad Thoughts he will endeavour to do it by good ones If when hearing the Word preached we fall a reading the Scripture to our selves or our Minds are upon a Piece of a Sermon hat we heard at another time and the Truths that are propounding and the Duties that are pressing are not at all regarded Alas we are but too much like the very high way ground and the Seed is catched away assoon as sown 5. The Heart is distracted when the Mind and Judgment are so carnal and perverted as to esteem earthly things above spiritual and eternal When our Lord says The Light of the Body is the Eye Mat. 6. 22. He intimates that what the Eye is to the Body the Judgment is to the Soul and indeed to the whole Man If the Judgment be rectified and apprehends things aright the actings of the Soul will be the better but if the Judgment be darkened and does not discern between Truth and Falshood between good and evil between Substance and Shaddows the Soul must needs wander away from God and lose it self quickly When the Judgment is perverted there is a very wicked Distraction of Mind for the Judgment gives Sentence against God and for the Creature as if a Portion in this Life were more worthy to be chosen and secured than an Inheritance that is eternal It was said to the rich Man in Hell Son remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things Luke 16. 25 They are called his good things because his mistaking Mind apprehended them to be the good things indeed and the best things of all were not in his Judgment so good as these How can the natural Man chuse but be distracted in all his Duties he performs to God since his darkened Mind thinks such Duties unprofitable and that the things of God are Foolishness 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are Foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 6. The Heart is distracted when the Will and Affections withdraw from God and fasten upon Vanity A false Judgment being past no wonder that a foolish Choice is made This is an ill distraction indeed When the Biass of the Will turns away from God and it refuses to be subject to him though the best Lord and cares as little to enjoy him as to obey him The Lord observed and complained of this Psal 81. 11. My People would none of me He offered no less than himself to them who is so infinitely desirable who was so alsufficient and able to fulfil their Desires in whom the truest Delight was to be found yet this greatest and best Offer was contemned And when the Heart and Affections are thus denyed to God how are they bestowed Pleasures are loved more than God and even in his House and when there is an external Service yielded the Heart goeth after its Covetousness Ezek.
it Heb. 10. 7. Lo I come to do thy Will O God and as willing to finish it therefore in his greatest Agonies he said Not my Will but thine be done His Holy Will notwithstanding the reluctancy of innocent Nature perfectly submits to his Father's Pleasure Joh. 18. 11. The Cup which my Father giveth me to drink shall I not drink it How undistracted and fervent was our Lord in praying for his Church whom his Father had given him out of the World And now he is in Heaven his Heart and Thoughts and Care are upon and for his Members Militant below His intercession for them is incessant his Life now in Heaven is a Life of continual interceding and the end of his intercession is that the Blessings he has purchased by his Sufferings may be bestowed upon Believers whom he suffered for Now what a Slight is put upon this great High Priest who is passed into the Heavens where he is so serious to intercede if we are not serious in petitioning If we hardly think what we are doing when we are asking for those Blessings which it cost him not only strong Cries and Tears but his Blood and Life to purchase They were not small things that the Blood of God was a price to purchase They are not small things that a glorified Redeemer is continually praying to the Father to bestow If these things are scarce thought of when we ask for them they are most sinfully undervalued Christ himself his fulness his satisfaction and intercession are despised altogether 4. In distraction there is a grieving and vexing the Holy Spirit of God by not valuing his proffered assistance When Christ ascended into Heaven and was glorified there he sent the Spirit to abide with his Church for ever And one great work of the Spirit is to aid and assist us in our Supplications He urges us to attend upon God and is most ready to help us in that attendance He is ready to fix our Minds to incline our Hearts aright to enlarge our Desire to make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. 8. 26. He offers us his mighty Grace which will enable us to pray prevailingly to hear profitably and fruitfully to improve the Ordinances of God But distracted Attendants are a grief and vexation to this good Spirit they had rather be without his help and grace than have it They chuse rather to lose all their Duties by a wretched heartlessness and formality than be assisted to take pains in these Duties that they may fare the better for them for ever 5. In distraction there is an undervaluing of all promised Mercies and Blessings which God is ready to bestow on them that seriously attend upon him The Promises of the Gospel are made by him whose faithfulness never fails and the surety of the New Testament stands engaged that they shall be accomplished if they are by a true and lively Faith applied These Promises are of things which we cannot be without but we must needs be beyond conception miserable Peace with God through Christ and that Peace within which passes all Understanding Grace sufficient to succour support strengthen and establish the good things of this Life with a Blessing from Heaven upon them and endless Blessedness in the World to come These are the things that are promised and who besides God can make Promises so exceeding precious and so great Now in our attendance upon him he would have us expect what he has promised for he keeps truth for ever and what he has promised he is able to perform Rom. 4. 21. Distracted Attendants upon the Lord look upon these Promises with a strange Eye they believe not the truth of them or are not perswaded of the worth of them and are very careless in pleading of them and having no serious thoughts and desires after the promised Blessings the threatned Curses fall upon them 6. In distraction there is great carelesness of our selves and of our main concerns those of our immortal Souls In attendance upon God our Souls are principally concerned Now these Souls themselves are of more worth than the World and so are the Blessings we request for them and to be heartless and trifling here what Apology can be made for it What is come to the Soul of Man that it should be so mindless of it self That it should have so few Thoughts about it self Distracted Duties argue an indifferency what becomes of the precious Soul to eternity and an indifferency must needs cause a miscarriage and ruine since striving to enter in at the strait gate is necessary Luk. 13. 24. and Heaven will be miss'd of there be not an holy violence to take it In distracted Services Men put a cheat upon themselves they only seem to run and so they will really miss the prize and in this Distraction there is great Hypocrisie which is most hateful to God and which our Lord has denounced so many Woes against Mat. 2. Hypocrites Duties are a most provoking Mockery and tho Hell will have all the Wicked at last turned into it yet in a special manner 't is called the portion of Hypocrites as well as Unbelievers Mat. 24. 51. compared with Luk. 12. 46. 7. Distraction exposes us to Satan Distracted Attendants are Servants of the Lord only in shew but Satan is really served and gratified by their Duties They expose themselves to this Enemy both as an Accuser and a Tempter When their Hearts are absent from the Lord's Work in which they engage Satan s Mouth is open against them He boldly charged Job with being a Mercinary Servant and yet there was no ground for it Job 1. 9 Doth Job fear God for nought But put forth thy hand now and touch what he hath and he will curse thee to thy face v. 11. And if he charged so good and upright a Man without ground surely he will be forward to accuse when there is abundant ground for the Accusation See will Satan say how such and such do serve the Lord with Duties that are things of nought and good for nothing See how they mock the God of Heaven to his very Face And upon such distracted Service as he is forward to be an Accuser so he has great advantage as a Tempter Such Duties bring in no strength from above to withstand him Nay the Lord is provoked to withdraw further and those whom God leaves to themselves how easily does Satan lead them Captive at his pleasure All Strays are seized by the God of this World how close should we cleave to the God of Heaven 8. Distraction is a great obstruction to the efficacy and success of Ordinances If we pray as if we prayed not shall we speed If we hear as if we heard not shall we profit Will doing the Work of the Lord deceitfully be encouraged by the vouchsafing of Grace or rewarded with Glory Carefulness is one effect and fruit of godly Sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 11. For
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
Trespasses dead to God and to any thing that is truly good employed in nothing but dead works and thereby fitted to destruction And how should your Thoughts be seized on by the obligation your Lord has laid you under in freeing you from Death and eternal Destruction by laying down his own Life a ransom for you Mat. 20. 28. When the Apostle said he determined not to know any thing save Jesus Christ and him crucisied 1 Cor. 2. 2. it shews upon whom his Thoughts were Our Thoughts at the Lord's Table should be fastned to Christ as he was to the Cross We should behold admire and be suitably affected when we behold him that is equal with God in the form of a Servant in the likeness of sinsul Flesh and humbling himself so low as to become obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross Phil. 2. 8. Let the worth of the Person suffering the Merit of the Sufferings themselves and the value of the Benefits thereby procured be believed and how can they chuse but be heedfully thought of 3. Take due notice that Christ when he was dying gave this charge to his Disciples that they should engage in this Ordinance as a Memorial of him Christ's Death was infinitely more than if all Creatures that have Life had lost their Lives to make an atonement Just when he was ready to make his Soul an Offering for sin he bids us to do this in remembrance of him 1 Cor. 11. 23 24. The Lord Jesus the same Night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me The command of such a Lord that Lord dying and dying such a meritorious Death and in that Death expressing Love which passes Knowledge and the Command given on purpose that he might still be and live in our remembrance if well weighed will make us mind what we are doing and prevent distraction 4. The Sacramental Elements and Actions being understood with their signification will be a great means to fix the Thoughts of the Communicants When your Eyes behold the Bread let your Faith behold the Body of Christ When you see the Bread broken believe that Christ was wounded and bruised for your Iniquities and bare them in his Body on the Tree When the Bread is given you understand what a gift of God Christ is When you take the Bread into your hands let your Hearts be open more fully to receive Christ himself and to receive still more from him And when you eat the Bread be sure to feed upon Christ the Bread of Life by Faith Rely upon his Crucifixion as your reconciliation for says the Apostle We are reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Rom 5. 10. And as Bread is the staff of Life so let this Bread of Life be your Souls stay rest upon Christ for spiritual life and strength more and more abundantly to be given you When you perceive the Wine given a part from the Bread think with your selves that your Lord's Life was indeed though not against his Will taken from him Body and Soul were separated though neither from the Godhead Look beyond the Wine to the Blood of Jesus believe it to be more precious than Gold that perishes and that being the blood of him who is God it can do away the greatest guilt and the foulest spots and stains of the sins of Men. When you drink the Wine believe the Cup of Blessing to be indeed the Communion of the Blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10. 16. Rest on this Blood to justifie you from all things for which the Law condemns you Rest on this Blood to pacifie your Consciences and heal the Wounds which sin has made there to purifie and heal all the Plagues of your Hearts to make you perfect in every good work and to open a way for you into the holiest of all Heb. 10. 19. not only to procure constant access to the Throne of Grace but an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom Thus you will be helped against distraction in this Ordinance If what is visible to the Eye the Heart understands and improves 5. That you may be the more serious in this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper remember therein you solemnly renew Covenant with the God of Heaven you give your selves from your selves to him and disclaim all other Lord's and Owners and profess to take him to be your Lord your God your Guide your All. Oh mind what you do that you may be sincere in doing it God has no pleasure in Fools Eccles 5. 4. who consider not with whom they have to do who consider not what evil they do when they do that which is good after a distracted and deceitful manner In this Ordinance the Broad-Seal of Heaven is put into your hand to confirm your Faith in the New Covenant and that you may with greater confidence expect the accomplishment of its Promises He that rests on Christ and hungers and thirsts after righteousness may rejoyce in this Ordinance more than a Bankrupt would do that receives an Acquittance sealed of the release of all his Debts and with it a Will and Testament sealed whereby a plentiful Estate is made over and assured to him And the Communicants solemnly profess a Restipulation they tie themselves faster and more strictly to the Lord there is nothing you have or are but is his Will and Heart and Thoughts are to be ever in his Service and at his Command 6. Be sensible how dreadful guilt is contracted when you are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord and this guilt comes upon you by distracted careless and unworthy receiving 1 Cor. 11. 27. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. The Communicant whose Heart cares not how distracted it is how does he contemn the Son of God his Blood and Benefits If he does not count them worth serious thinking of surely he does not think them worth his thankful acceptance How precious is the Blood of Jesus and what an heavy load is the guilt of such Blood 'T is sad not to be saved by the Blood of Christ but much sorer under the guilt of it to sink lower into Damnation Temporal Punishments that are inflicted upon receiving amiss may be terrible but how much worse are eternal Judgments Oh give your Hearts into God's Hand that he may keep and order them at the Table and afterwards the more there is of his help in the performance the less will there be of distraction and of your own infirmities USE V. Shall be terrour unto Sinners and Hypocrites all whose attendance upon God is void of care and full of allowed distraction They freely grant their Hearts a liberty and their navghty Hearts take it to be whatever they please and to run upon
THE CURE OF DISTRACTIONS IN Attending upon GOD In Several SERMONS Preached from 1 Cor. 7. 35. That you may attend upon the Lord without Distraction By NATHANAEL VINCENT M. A. Minister of the Gospel Psal 27 8. When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus non vocis sed Cordis auditor Cypr. Primum argumentum compositae mentis existimo◠posse consistere secum morari Seneca Epist 2. LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over against the Royal-Exchange in Cornhill 1695. To the Truly Honourable Sir WILLIAM ASHURST Kt. AND Alderman of the City of London Much Honoured SIR I Did not Address to you when you were like the Rising Sun and made the Chief Seat in this City where you were deservedly placed to shine with more than ordinary Lustre when you discovered and were severe against the Works of Darkness and your Influence was so benign and kind for the Sustentation and Benefit of London but now you have run your Course so well and have set without the least Cloud nay with so much Clearness and Glory I make this Dedication to you desiring your serious Perusal of a Treatise the Subject of which is of such great importance And indeed now you have quitted the Chair and have less of publick Business to manage and may have more leisure to retire into your Self and from Company and from Civil Affairs this Cure of Distractions in Religious Duties knocks at your Door the Author desiring it may be helpful to your Meditations and Devotion 'T is a great Respect and Honour that is due to the God's on Earth so Magistrates are called and Inferiours should apply to Them accordingly with a great sense of their distance With what Reverence then are we to approach the Supream Majesty The Lord of Hosts the King of Glory Our highest Apprehensions are infinitely below him And the best of Saints do rather wish to Worship him than perform any thing that is worthy of the Name of Worship Among the many Faults in Holy Duties there is one that will never be quite mended in this World and that is Distraction but yet more and more help may be still attained against it And these Sermons mhich I now present you with I hope with a Blessing from Heaven may contribute somewhat and be successful this way If Religious Duties were but well done every thing else would be done the better for it is from God alone that we have ability to do as we ought in any matter whatsoever The Lord gives Wisdom and Grace most liberally to them who most sincerely seek him And such as have most help from God will best perform their Duty towards Man and both Church and State will find them the most useful Members Religion is certainly the truest Policy The Wisdom of this World says the Apostle and of the Princes of this World comes to nought but Godliness in the power of it makes Men better in every Capacity and Relation How does it alter and amend Persons Families Nations where 't is encouraged and prevails Righteousness and Peace Joy and Love are found to be the blessed effects of true Religion It tames the fierceness and subdues the malignity of corrupt Nature And makes Man to look something like what he was in the state of Innocency All that wish well to this City and Nation must needs desire that God may be better served and that Men by his Service may be better'd How happy should we be if People were all Righteous Violence then would be no more heard in our Land nor wasting and destruction within our Borders our Walls would be called Salvation and our Gates Praise and the Lord himself would be to us an everlasting Light and our God our Glory I wish that all Lord Mayors for the future may follow your Example and endeavour to suppress Wickedness and may never be ashamed of Holiness which is the Glory of God and is most unreasonably look'd upon as matter of Disgrace to any Man Sir You are descended from Religious Ancestors and Religion is that which does truly ennoble your Blood and Family An increase of this Nobility and of all other Blessings is wisht to your self and Yours By Honoured SIR Your Most Humble Servant Nathanael Vincent TO THE READER Reader IT is a Subject of the highest consequence and in which all are concerned that I Discourse of in this Treatise and I design some relief against that which is the general Complaint of serious Christians who would fain offer to God more Spiritual and well pleasing Sacrifices but are hindred by the remaining Sin and Vanity of their own Minds They are called indeed the Habitations of God through the Spirit but these Habitations are haunted with distracting Thoughts and vain Imaginations to their great grief and disturbance The Work and Service of the God of Heaven is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 principal business every one has to do in this World and though no Duties are to be slightly done to Man which are done for the Lord's sake yet in attendance upon himself and in those Duties which more immediately we perform to him an holy Awe becomes us our Hearts should be immoveably fixed and we should exert the utmost Vigour of our Spirits To trifle with a Jealous God whose All-seeing Eye strictly observes the whole we do and wherein soever we fail is to despise him to his Face and to act to the great peril of our own Souls Our God says the Apostle is a consuming fire and Nadab and Abihu the Sons of Aaron sound him so to their cost and sorrow when they offer'd strange fire such as he commanded them not We must do what God commands and as he commands else what we call our Religious Duties will be look'd upon by him as acts of Disobedience The Mind of Man ever since the first Man parted from God is notoriously fickle and wavering being unsetled by Sin it roves up and down the Earth from one Vanity to another but how hardly is it brought back to God! And though it is engaged to approach near to him yet if it be not narrowly watched in the twinkling of an Eye it starts back and is gone away from him To keep our Hearts with all diligence is our Duty but they will not be held in from wandring by our most careful Custody It is the Hand of that God alone by which the whole Vniverse consists and is kept from dissolution that can fix the Mind of Man and hinder its being distracted in his Service There is a great deal of Pains taken in the World to little purpose All things says Solomon are full of labour Man cannot utter it and yet he affirms that there is no profit under the Sun But 't is lamentable to think that in the Church there should be so much labour in vain Distraction of Mind keeps
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.
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
God That depravation of humane Nature which is derived from the first Adam makes the Heart of Man deceitful above all things as well as desperately wicked and for such an Heart in holy Duties to act treacherously and to start aside from God like a deceitful Bow is indeed but to act like it self An Heart totally carnal is so estranged from God that it will never come near him you should therefore value the promise of a new Heart and a new Spirit Ezek. 36. 26. and beg earnestly that what is promised may be given to you and though your Hearts are indeed renewed the renovation is but imperfect there is much of the old nature still remaining and this if you are not very vigilant will catch away your thoughts while you are worshipping the Lord and bring a damp and coldness upon your Hearts Original Corruption has seised upon all the Powers of your Souls and makes all of them averse from attending upon God The Imagination is strongly inclined to wander far off and the Heart and Affections but too apt to follow If a free vent be but given to a sinful and vain imagination the product and off-spring of it will be distracting thoughts without number like the Locusts Frogs and Flies that fill'd the Land of Egypt and with these Religious Duties will be corrupted and rendred unacceptable Solomon tells us that when Man fell from original uprightness he sought out many inventions Eccles 7. ult and all these Inventions were but Distractions from God and ways of departing from him a seeking and trying to find satisfaction and felicity elsewhere which is indeed to be found in the Lord alone Let this truth sink deep into you that your Hearts naturally care not for the Lord's Service and if it be engaged in they are very apt to be careless therein Cry to Heaven that you may be more renewed in the Spirit of your Mind that the old Man may be more compleatly put off and the new Man more fully put on The less your Hearts are renewed and sanctified the more you are likely to be distracted the more there is of corruption in you it will the more discover it self in the Duties of Religion which you do perform 2. A Caution is to be given you against your great Adversary Satan He catches the Word of God out of the Heart he draws away the Heart from the Word and every other Duty The Spirit of the Lord helps our infirmities and assists us in Prayer This evil Spirit resists us in our Supplications He himself confesses that he walks too and fro in the earth and goes up and down in it Job 1. 7. His business is to perswade the Children of Men to the doing of evil to hinder the doing of good or to hinder the good that is done from being well done Who is the Man that this bold Enemy will not set upon since he tempted Christ himself who is God and Man If he perswaded our Lord to worship the Devil no wonder if he perswades us not to worship God or to be heartless in the worship of him Where is the place in which we may be safe and free from his Temptations since he got into Paradise it self and tempted and prevailed over our first Parents there In secret Prayer he is ready to disturb us he is busie in the Sanctuary that Ordinances there may be lost and our engaging in them may be for the worse and not for the better He set upon Judas and entred into him while he was with Christ himself at the Table Joh. 13. 27. Great reason we have to watch and pray against this Tempter and to say to him The Lord rebuke thee Zach. 3. 2. Can you imagine that when you are about to draw nigh to God Satan will not draw nigh to you He will present objects and lay baits for your Senses thereby to divert your Minds from the Work of God and not only will he tempt you objectively but by injection too Though he cannot look into the Heart yet he can cast a great company of evil thoughts into it he makes strange impressions upon the Fancy sometimes endeavouring to please it sometimes to terrifie and affright it that either the one or the other way the Mind in Duties may be distracted You had need to be well aware of this subtle and sedulous Enemy and to look unto your compassionate High-Priest who intercedes for you with the Father to succour you against the Tempter When Satan would interrupt you with this and the other trifle reply to him You have to do with the great God about business of the greatest and highest consequence and it would shew both a neglect of God and a slighting of your own Souls to be diverted The Builders of Jerusalem's Walls as they wrought in the Work with the one hand so in the other hand they held a Weapon Neh. 4. 17. When you are about the Work of God you should have on the Armour of God that you may stand against the Devil's wiles the shield of Faith the breast-plate of Love and Righteonsness the Helmet of Hope and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God Satan's force is too weak for such weapons as these 3. A Caution also is highly needful against Mammon as one of the principal causes of Distraction The Service of Mammon justles out the Service of God or so distracts it that it is justly accounted no Service at all As this World is vain in many other regards so in this respect that sin hinders the end of it from being attained Instead of being led up unto God per scalam creaturarum by the Creatures which he has made we are by them drawn away from him instead of admiring God in the Creature we admire and affect the Creature and forget God The World being present and visible takes the Senses of Men and their Fancies and to walk after the sight of the eye is the way that the heart very well likes Eccles 11. 9. And hence it is that the invisible God and the things which are unseen tho of eternal excellency and continuance are totally disregarded or but slightly pursued by the most of Men. How are Men since the Fall become Children in understanding Meer toys and trifles are of great account with them Husks are coveted but that which is indeed Bread they have no hunger after Isa 55. 2. Wherefore do ye spend your Money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your Soul delight it self in fatness Here is a plain intimation that diligent hearkning and serious Service of the Lord was hindred by minding things which could not satisfie These are things which the Flesh purveys for that the Lusts of it may be fulfilled these are the things that Satan puts a varnish upon that they may be the more ensnaring and bewitching so
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