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
assistance The looking upon the Defects in our Services should make us look unto our Lord in whom we are compleat Col. 2. 10. and with a more intire dependance to rest upon his righteousness hereby Christ is honoured and the Father pleased and a multitude of faults will be cover'd But help against them must be desired from the Holy Ghost A gracious heart still desires renewed strength and aid from the Spirit to serve the Lord more acceptably but a lazy reliance upon Christ with an allowance of defects and distractions in the Duties we perform must needs be a very great provocation CASE VI. What course are Melancholick Persons to take in their Attendance on God when Distractions arise from the prevalency of that Distemper I answer 1. They should take heed of prolixity and length in holy Duties It is not length but life in these Duties that God looks at It is a thought that may lodge in the Breast of an Heathen but is unworthy of a Christian's heart that he shall be heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his much speaking Mat. 6. 7. Christians should not think much of the time they spend with God yet overdoing in this regard is doing less than if less were done When Melancholy hinders Duties from being extended as formerly with vigour and fervency they were they that more briefly now perform them should be the more frequent in short and holy Ejaculations And they must be sure to take heed of taking more pains to fix their thoughts than their heads will bear for when their Heads are out of order the more they labour to be intent the further they are off from it the disorder increases and so does their discouragement The Lord pities in such cases and allows them to spare their pains which are not only fruitless but hurtful and to pity themselves and not to attempt what a distempered Brain is unfit for 2. Melancholick ones must look unto Jesus in the due use of means for the cure of Head Distempers How many corporal Maladies did our Lord heal in a miraculous manner when he was here on Earth And he has not put off his Compassions towards the Bodies of Men now he is in Heaven Though the skill of the Lutist be never so great he can never make good Musick if the Lute it self be out of tune Satan has great advantage by prevailing Melancholy to hinder Devotion by the disorder of the Head though the Heart be never so honest and well inclin'd And our Lord very well knows this and being a merciful and faithful High-priest he is ready to succour in this case also Heb. 2. ult All power is given to him in Earth as well as Heaven all judgment committed to him Joh. 5. 22. so that all Distempers and Diseases come and go at his Command and though Miraculous Cures are not now to be expected yet something like them sometimes has been wrought in answer unto Prayer and Faith and where there has been a stedfast looking to Jesus there has been a mighty Blessing that has attended the means that have been used for the bringing of Blood and Spirits and Brain into better order 3. There are two great Duties which those that are under the power of Melancholy are not so sit for The one is Meditation and the other Self examination A distemper'd and disordered Head will make but sorry work of solemn Meditation the Head will ake the Mind will be lost in a cloud and mist of Confusion and the evil one will be ready to strike in and make the Melancholick Man turn self-accuser and consequently self-tormenter Such an one therefore should be wary of attempting the Duty of set Meditation but that and reading should be joyned together A short consideration of what is read there should be as the Head will bear a desire that the Heart may be affected and by the Grace of God a resolution to act and walk accordingly and those should be the Petitions Incline my heart unto thy Testimonies and make me to go in the path of thy Commandments Psal 119. 35 36. And as for self-examination Melancholick ones being now not so well themselves they should not be forward nor peremptory in passing Censures and Judgment upon themselves and they should be aware that Satan is now busie about them and he being a lying Spirit his Suggestions that they are Hypocrites and have no Grace that they are cast away and utterly forsaken by the God of all Grace should in no wife be credited Satan's Suggestions may be known by the design of them which is not to quicken Souls to Duty as the motions of the holy Spirit are but to drive them away from God and to make them say as he did in another case since the case is desperate and all hope of Salvation gone Why should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 2. 33. 4. Melancholick ones in the midst of their Distractions should grieve that neither head nor heart are so disposed to serve the Lord as they desire That 's proper language to be used which came out of the Mouth of holy Job chap. 10. 15. I am full of confusion see thou my Affliction And since they cannot actively glorifie God by the exercise of strong Faith and vehement Love and Joy and Delight in God they should glorifie him by an humble and patient submission to his Will When a melancholick Soul is quite emptied of all self-confidence and self-conceit is in a manner annihilated when under a great sense of its own guilt and vileness it looks unto Jesus and desires by his Blood and Spirit to be justified and washed and made clean when 't is ready to acknowledge that if ever 't is saved and brought to Heaven Grace will be free and superabundant because one of the lowest places in Hell has been deserved how far is flesh from glorying and hereby glory is given to the Lord. When melancholick ones are ready in their greatest Distractions and blackest darkness to justifie the Lord as righteous in all his Ways and holy in all his Works Psal 145. 17. and to condemn themselves because formerly when their Heads were in better order their Hearts were no better disposed and inclined to the Lord's Service they please and glorifie him more than they are aware of The more there is of self-distrust self-dislike self-condemnation humility and patient bearing of Divine Indignation because of sin that has been committed Mic. 7. 9. the more honour by all this does really redound to God 5. Let Melancholick ones take heed of being quite staved off from Duties and Ordinances though their performances are but mean and sorry The Lord can discern sense in the Soul when perhaps there is hardly sense in the words he takes notice of the gracious bent and good inclination of the heart towards himself when the Thoughts against the Will do wander Hezekiah had a most remarkable answer and prayed to good purpose when his Petitions
encouraging promise of Divine Aid and strengthning Grace Psal 27. 14. Wait on the Lord be of good Courage he shall strengthen thy Heart wait I say on the Lord. Psal 37. 34. Wait on the Lord and keep his way this way is true walking in it is holy and safe and the end is Peace In the handling of this Doctrine I shall First Shew you what is supposed in Man's Attendance upon God Secondly I shall tell you what is implied in this Attendance Thirdly I shall speak of several sorts of Attending upon the Lord. Fourthly I shall assign the Reasons why the Children of Men ought to give their Attendance upon God Fifthly Make Application In the first place I am am to shew you what is supposed in Man's Attendance upon God There are several pre-requisites unto this for Man is not easily perswaded to this Duty though the performance of it prove never so beneficial to him Now that there may be this Attendance 1. Man must firmly believe that there is a God Heb. 11. 6. But without Faith 't is impossible to please him for he that cometh unto God must believe that He is As God is to everlasting so he is from everlasting If he had not ever been and that of himself he would never have been neither could any thing else ever have had a Being Creatures Existence supposes there is a Creator and Attendance upon God supposes there is a God to be attended on The stronger the Assent to this is the greater will be the care to understand how the Attendance may be acceptable The Being of a God there are few that deny in words but there are abundance who deny him in their works even among them who profess to know him Tit. 1. 16. And being so foolish as to say in their Hearts there is no God No wonder that with their hearts they refuse to seek him Man should look upward and see how the Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work Psal 19. 1. The Visible Creation is not more obvious to the Eye than the Eternal Power and Godhead of him who made all things is clearly to be seen by the Mind of Man Rom. 1. 20. And if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man will but look into his own Heart he may find this Truth deeply ingraven there that God is therefore the Apostle speaks thus of the Gentiles who had only the Light of Nature Rom. 1. 19. for that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them Let not any go about to obliterate this Truth concerning the Being of a God but undoubtingly credit it for 't is the first Stone in the Foundation of all truly Religious Service and Obedience 2. Man must have a sense that he had his Being from God and was made for him and truly he is made such a Creature that he will never be quite unmade so as to become nothing He is capable of knowing and serving his Maker and enjoying him for ever God has made all Men for himself and some way or other he will secure his own Honour and have Glory from the very worst But as for his own People he has formed bought and new made them for himself that they might shew forth his Praise Isa 43. 21. Man should Eye the Hand that made him and the End for which he was made Our Bodies will be found a curious piece of Divine Workmanship if the contexture variety and use of their parts are considered But though our Flesh is of God's Forming yet in a more immediate manner he is called the Father of our Spirits And wherefore have our Souls a thinking Faculty but that God may be thought of Wherefore have we Memories but that our Creator from our Youth may be remembred And if we live to Gray-hairs he in no wise is to be forgotten Wherefore are we capable of loving desiring and taking delight but that God may be the chief Object of these Affections In him we live and move and have our Being Acts 17. 28. that we might live to him move according to his Will and be indeed his Servants 3. Man must be perswaded that God is rightfully his Ruler and has given him a Law and Commandments by which he is to be governed Mammon and Satan are meer Vsurpers and where they reign they ruin The evil One is to be resisted not obeyed and Man was made to have Dominion over the Creatures not to be enslaved by them But God is Man's Sovereign by Right and may lay upon Man what Commands he pleases but has given them none but what are holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. And the better these are obeyed Man becomes more holy just and good himself and partakes more of the Divine Nature Would we attend upon God We must have respect unto his Commands David plainly intimates the gain of Obedience when he says more are they to be esteemed than Gold yea than much fine Gold He signifies the pleasure of Obedience when he adds sweeter also than the hony and the hony comb Psal 19. 10. 4. Man must be convinced that by sin he has departed from God and has justly incurred his displeasure The natural distance between God and Man as a Creature must ever remain God is and will be for ever infinitely above and superiour even to those that are in Heaven he humbles himself to behold the things that are there Psal 113. 6. But the moral distance that is between God and Man or the enmity that Sin is the cause of may be made to cease When Man attends upon God he should come with deep sense how he has provoked him that he is by Nature a Child of Wrath Eph. 2. 3. and in his practise a Rebel and as he has acted like one so he deserves to be dealt with as an Enemy When the Syrians came to the King of Israel they had Sackcloth on their Loins and Ropes on their Heads 1 Kings 20. 32. They had newly been in Arms against him and now they declare how ill they deserved to be treated by him For offenders to approach unto God without any trouble for their offences 't is not to Attend upon him but to Affront him Those are his own words Wo to them for they have fled from me destruction unto them because they have transgressed against me Hos 7. 13. And hear the Language of the penitent Church Lam. 5. 16. The Crown is fallen from our Head wo to us that we have sinned When we come for Mercy we must be sensible that Mercy is undeserved and that confusion of Face belongs to us Dan. 9. 8. A penitential Acknowledgment there should be that we have been foolish disobedient deceiâ—ed that we have served divers Lusts and Pleasures and in our selves are so hateful to God that we are unworthy to be admitted into the number of his Attendants 5. Man must hear the Call of God to return to
Anger and a reward in the bosom strong wrath Prov. 21. 14. so secret confession of sin bitter mourning for it and begging forgiveness in the Name of Jesus will prevail for the pacifying of God's fiercest displeasure and the obtaining of his Love and Grace 2. There is an Attendance upon God that is Private in the Family This has been wofully sinfully shamefully neglected not only by the prophane but by them that call themselves Professors though hardly worthy of that Name Family Worship has been much press'd from the Pulpit Oh when shall it once be that every ones practise will be answerable I read not only of a Dedication of the Tabernacle and Temple but also of the Houses of the Israelites Deut. 20. 5. Psal 30. was composed at the Dedication of the House of David The Israelites justly called their Houses God's Houses And those tumultuous combined and insulting Enemies of theirs in Pride Scorn and Derision said Let us take to our selves the Houses of God in possession Psal 83. 12. Houses were dedicated to the Lord's Service Joshua says I and my House we will serve the Lord and all Israel promise the same Josh 24. 15 21. David says he will walk within his House with a perfect Heart Psal 101. 2. there be Songs of Mercy and of Judgment Indeed the voice of rejoycing and Salvation is in the Tabernacle of the Righteous Psal 118. 15. The Lord is adored and praised in the Tabernacles of them to whom he has shewed himself a God of Salvation Cornelius one of the first-fruits of the Gentiles was a devout Man and he feared God with all his House and prayed to God alway Act. 10. 2. And fearing of God implies calling upon his Name as casting off fear and restraining of Prayer are joyned together Job 15. 4. so that he prayed unto God with all his House and there is not the least reason to think that they did not pray altogether unless such kind of praying had been any where forbidden We read of a Curse and a Blessing not only upon Persons but upon Families Prov. 3. 33. The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the Just. Surely Families have reason to Pray against the one and that the other may rest on them And truly our Lord Jesus in that Prayer of his own making which is the great Directory for Prayer when he does instruct us to say Give us this day our daily Bread very plainly signifies that those in Families that daily Eat together ought also daily to pray together And are they only to pray together for daily Bread no they are also to Pray for the hallowing of God's Name the coming of his Kingdom and that his Will might be done on Earth as 't is done in Heaven They are to pray for the forgiveness of past trespasses and that Grace may prevent their being led into Temptation and may deliver them from Evil. You see here is ground enough for Families to give their Attendance upon God Families are the Seminaries from which both Church and State are furnished and if there were more of Devotion and Instruction and Discipline there the Church in all probability would be more pure and the State more righteously and better ordered Whereas if Families live without God in the World the Governours the Children and Servants are all usually wicked and likely to become worse and worse and the Churches Face is foul'd with odious spots and stains and the State grows more corrupt till at length 't is ripe for ruine 3. There is an Attendance upon God that is publick in the Congregation In publick Assemblies the true God is owned and honoured in the Face of the Sun and the Lord Christ is glorified Christians Assembling in his Name depending upon his Promise to be in the midst of them and to bless them He walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks Rev. 1. 13. He blesses the Ordinances himself has instituted to the enlightning purifying and Consolation of sincere Attendants on him In these Publick Assemblies Saints unite their spiritual strength in wrestling with God the Faith and holy Desires of a great many Believers together being conjunct are likely to be the more prevailing These Assemblies ought to be valued and frequented to forsake them is ill to the forsaker Hence that caution Heb. 10. 25. Not forsaking the Assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching The breaking of solemn publick Assemblies should be an Heart-breaking thing to us and the Lord has promised to gather those that are sorrowful upon this score Zeph. 3. 18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn Assembly who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burthen V. There is an Attendance upon God on his own day and upon other days 1. An Attendance upon God on his own day A seventh part of our time is hallowed by the fourth Commandment Six days are for Labour a seventh for Rest from that Labour and that we may have leisure with greater seriousness to attend upon God The great Creator having made the World in six days rested on the seventh and appointed it for a Sabbath and blessed it And the Apostle tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ the great Redeemer is entred into his Rest having ceased his own works as God did from his and therefore there remains a rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a keeping of a Sabbath to the People of God Heb. 4. 9 10. As the Jewish Sabbath was kept in Commemoration of the Lord 's resting from Creation so the Christian Sabbath is to be observed in Commemoration of Christ who is over all God blessed for ever his resting from the work of Redemption it is in him that we have rest by Faith at present and hope for a blessed glorious and everlasting Rest in Heaven The day that Christ rose was the day on which he rested for his lying in the Grave was not his rest but part of his Humiliation and that was the first day of the Week On this Christian Churches assembled for Worship Acts 20. 6 7. The Apostle was at Troas seven days We read not a word being among Christians that he solemnly Worshipt on the seventh day but upon the first day of the Week the Disciples came together to break Bread Upon this day Christians being assembled together Collections were made for good Uses at Corinth and in the Churches of Galatia 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Nay this is called the Lord's Day Rev. 1. 10. Now as the Lord's Supper is a Supper of the Lord's Institution so the Lord's Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a day of the Lord 's appointing and ordaining The prophanation of this Christian Sabbath has been punished with remarkable Judgments The Ordinances administred thereon have been owned and blessed to the Conversion and Confirmation of
fear him all ye the Seed of Israel See also Psal 105. 3 4. Glory ye in his holy Name let the Heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord Seek the Lord and his Strength seek his Face evermore And as the word of God calls for this so the Providence of God seconds his Precepts The dispensing of mercies calls upon us to attend the Father of them with our Praises And afflictions should quicken us in our seeking God he requires this Psal 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me And he reckons upon it that he should hear from his People when his chastning was upon them Hos 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my Face in their affliction they will seek me early 3. God sees whether there be an attendance upon himself and after what manner and that with a jealous eye And this is another strong reason for our attending on him The Lord looks down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to this very end that he may see if there be any that understand and seek God Psal 53. 2. so that he very strictly observes how Mens Hearts are affected towards him and his Service and he cannot but be very much displeased with the whole Race of fallen Man because Rom. 3. 10 11. There is none Righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God The Lord takes notice how Days and Weeks and Months and Years go over Mens Heads and yet that God from whom they have their all they seek not to for any thing neither return they any thanks to him how much soever they receive from him And those who attend upon God he observes the manner how they do it and heartless Duties doing the work of the Lord deceitfully provokes and kindles the Fire of his Jealousie Mal. 1. 14. Cursed be the deceiver who having a Male in his Flock voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing The second Commandment which directs us as to Divine Worship makes mention that the Lord is a jealous God He cannot endure to have his Service neglected as if there were no profit or reward in seeking him He cannot endure a negligent Service As if he were an Idol as if he had Eyes but did not see or take notice who they are that mock him God's Omniscience and all-seeing Eye struck a great awe upon the Apostle it made him draw near to God and it made him very serious when he had to do with him Heb. 4. 13. Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do 4. Man's necessities should constrain him to attend upon God Sin has made the Children of Men in the worst sense poor and needy they fancy themselves rich and dream of fulness but behold 't is only a dream for they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Now for the supply of their needs 't is in vain to have recourse to any but God The broken Cisterns can hold no Water and cannot furnish them with any that run to them but there is enough in the Fountain of living Waters for all that repair to it An experienced attender upon God knew how to be furnished with every thing Psal 57. 2. I will cry unto God most high unto God who performeth all things for me And the Apostle speaks with a most reasonable confidence Psal 4. 19. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus The one thing needful is alone from God and from him are all things else His Kingdom and Righteousness he bestows on them that seek him and all things else shall be added Matt. 6. 33. Man has beggar'd himself as to the true Riches he is a meer Bankrupt In him that is in his Flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. and that which is born of the flesh is flesh wholly carnal till there be a regeneration by the Spirit How shall Man who is so very evil be made truly good All true Grace and Goodness is from God who is therefore called the God of all Grace 1 Pet. 5. 10. and 't is through Christ that 't is all communicated Therefore every good thing in Believers is said to be in them in Christ Jesus Philem. ver 6. Man has need to come to God for he has ruined himself and 't is the Lord alone to whom Salvation belongs Man has destroyed himself in God is his help found Hos 13. 9. Those whom the Lord saves not must needs perish 5. Man's Obligations to attend upon God are still increasing The Lord causes his Sun to arise upon the evil as well as the good upon the unrighteous as well as the righteous Matt. 5. 45. He is kind to the unthankful and the evil Luke 6. 35. God's Bounty calls for a return of Duty and should quicken Man to seek the Lord who is so abundant in Goodness In God's hand Man's breath is and every time he breaths God saves his Life from God's hand he receives whatever he has How strictly is Man engaged to acknowledge God in all to serve him and to glorifie his Name Even those that are bad have experience of the riches of Divine Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering and though this goodness is but common yet offers are made to them of special Grace All the day long the Lord stretches forth his hand to the disobedient and gain-saying and in that hand are no less than the good things of Time and of Eternity The wickedest and worst of Men if they consent to leave their wicked ways and to have their wicked hearts changed and come to God they shall graciously be accepted be abundantly pardoned and have the best things bestowed on them God is ready to give Grace to them that have none and to give more Grace where he has already wrought it 6. Promises are precious that are made to attenders upon God and threatnings are terrible against Contemners of God who refuse to attend upon him Thus the Lord works upon those two great commanding things in the Soul of Man his Hope and his Fear that he may have Service from him If we draw near to God he promises to draw nigh to us James 4. 8. and his approaches to his People are the manifestations of his Pitty and Power for their help and supply the communications of that Grace which may be suitable and sufficient in the time of need He says not to the Seed of Jacob seek ye me in vain Moses supposes Israel apostatizing from their God by Idolatry and his anger waxed hot against them and themselves scattered among the Nations Yet says he If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all
of their Father they will do He is an hater of God and so are they All wicked Men are alienated from God and Enemies in their Minds by wicked works they dislike him and his Service they get out of his ways and turn aside out of his paths and say Cause the holy One of Israel to cease from before us Isa 30. 11. they care not to hear to think of this holy One they cannot abide to walk in his holy ways Now if love to God be the first and great Command how great a sin must the hatred of God be called and how unfit are they to be admitted hereafter into his glorious Presence and Kingdom who now say unto God depart from us Most worthy they are to be sent away from him with his Curse and to be sentenced to that everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels whom they resemble in hating of God and with whom they have joyned in rebelling against him 2. They are to be reproved who account Attendance upon God needless The Mind of Man appears to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 void of Judgment in determing what things are mainly to be minded Things that are vanity and vexation of Spirit what pains are taken to get them what care is taken to keep them The one thing needful is neglected as if it were the only thing unnecessary The Heathen Poet cryed out O curas hominum O quantum est in rebus inane The Care of Man about empty things how injudicious is it Time can be found for every thing but the making provision for Eternity and yet the providing for Eternity is the main thing to be done in time and time was given chiefly for the doing of this Are these to be our great enquiries What shall we eat and drink and wherewith shall we be cloathed and adorned How shall we heap up wealth and gratifie our selves with sensual pleasures How shall we live plentifully our selves and leave abundant substance to Posterity Certainly there are matters of far greater importance and necessity to be regarded The truly grand Enquiries are of another Nature How shall sin be pardoned and the Wrath of God appeased How shall the Heart be changed and made a new one and the Soul that is so precious saved How shall God be attended on and served and glorified so as to be enjoyed and eternal blessedness attained in the Enjoyment of him Attendance upon God is no more to be accounted needless than eternal happiness is needless than the loss of a Soul more valuable than the whole World is to be esteemed a small matter 3. They are to be reproved who look upon attendance on God as a weariness and grievous In following and trudging after Mammon they are unwearied How swift and many are the steps in the way to Earthly Delights and Treasure They rise up early sit up late rack their Wits grow Lean with Care for the things of the World and they are not grudging at all this Toil and Labour But when they come to wait upon God time moves very slowly a quarter seems longer than an hour Duties are tedious to them they are loth to begin and assoon as they have begun they do not wish for Communion with God or that they themselves might be better'd but that their Duties were at an end The Prophet is very sharp against them who despised the Table of the Lord and look'd upon the fruit and meat of it contemptible and they said behold what a weariness it is Mal. 1. 12 13. God is weary of such unwilling Services as yours are Isa 1. 13 14. Bring no more vain Oblations they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them And as he is weary of your services so he quickly may be weary to bear you and he may count it a comfort to be rid of you Ezek. 5. 13. Thus my anger shall be accomplished and I will cause my Fury to rest upon them and I will be comforted and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my Zeal when I have accomplished my Fury in them We read of some that were weary of Sabbaths the Ordinances then administred were to them no priviledges and when will the Sabbath be gone was their Language Amos 8. 5. but ver 7. the Lord swares he would not forget their works and he threatens ver 11. to send a Famine in the Land not a Famine of Bread nor athirst for Water but a Famine of hearing the words of the Lord And how unlikely were they ever to be saved from whom even the means of Salvation were taken away 4. They are to be reproved who are sinfully ashamed or afraid to attend upon God Some Ages are so degenerate that Religion grows exceedingly out of fashion and contempt of God and prophaneness is the thing that is al-a-mode When great Men think it below them to be good and Policy contemns Piety when the vilest Men are exalted and wickedness grows into credit when Judgment is turned away backward and Justice standeth afar off when Truth is fallen in the Streets and Equity cannot enter and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a Prey Isa 59 14 15. then this fear and shame that I am speaking against is apt to prevail But why should any be ashamed to own themselves Servants to the greatest and best of Lords Is not he glorious in Holiness Are not his Precepts concerning all things to be esteemed right Are not all those ways false that lead from him Has he not said Those that honour me I will honour and those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2. 30. Christ will be ashamed of them at the great day who are ashamed of him and of his Word before a perverse and wicked Generation And why should any be afraid to attend upon that mighty Lord who does according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and all the Inhabitants of the World are reputed as nothing before him Dan. 4. 35. Attenders upon God should banish the fear of Man for God has evil Men and evil Angels in a Chain and his sincere Servants under his own keeping Those who are afraid of Man that shall dye forget the living God and their Duty towards him and how able he is to protect them in the faithful discharge of it 5. They are to be reproved who attend upon God that they may cover and cloak their wicked and worldly and selfish designs They put on a form of Godliness but 't is the better to hide their wickedness They are for external Worship but when they seem to seek after God most of all they are nothing at all but self-seekers and Religion is most unworthily made subservient to secular Interest Thus the Birds of Prey when they soar highest towards Heaven have their Eyes still downwards towards the Earth to see what they may seize on there But what abominable Hypocrisie
thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of Uprightness He works in them to Will inclining their Hearts unto his Testimonies and he works in them to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. And directs their ways to keep his Statutes All the good that good Men do God is the doer of his Preventing and Assisting Grace is and does all in all And after all Dona sua coronat he crowns that Grace which himself has wrought and made active with an eternal weight of Glory Well may his attendants Glory in such a Lord as peerless Psal 34. 2 3. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together 10. God is the Lord and Judge of all at whose Barr Angels and Men the Quick and the dead must at last stand Apostate Angels believe and tremble at the foresight of future Judgment Satan's time is short his Wrath great but his Dread is greater of that great day of reckoning and retribution And as for the Children of Men all must be judged the Day is appointed and is hastning Every one of us says the Apostle must give account of himself to God Rom. 14. 12. And an account will be taken of all that has been done while we were in the Body Eccles 12. 14 For God will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil How should this Lord and Judge be feared With what diligence should his Commandments be kept Since this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole of Man Man's Duty Safety grand Concern and Interest lies here He that will Judge all at last with his own Eyes observes and sees all at present Psal 11. 4. The Lord's Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men Job 31. 4. Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps And when all the Children of Men that ever were or shall be do appear before him his faithful Attendants he will own and put great Honour upon and will say Well done good and faithful Servants you have been faithful in a few things I will make you Rulers over many things enter you into the Joy of your Lord But how shall the Children of Disobedience stand before him who lived and died in their Rebellion and Wickedness and did nothing but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous Judgment of God! In the second place I am to manifest what influence and effect the apprehension of God's being the Lord should have upon us when we attend upon him 1. When we look upon God as Lord we should be sensible of our distance and how we are infinitely below him What a sense was there of the Divine Majesty and of his own meanness in the Patriarch Abraham when he spoke those words Gen. 18 27. Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but Dust and Ashes We read that Dominion and Fear are with him that the brightest Stars are not pure in his sight how much less Man that is a Worm and the Son of Man that is a Worm Job 25. 2 5 6. The Grace of the Gospel does not exclude an holy Awe and Reverence of God but include it And the more there is of grace the more there is also of this godly fear and the Service is the more acceptable Heb. 12. 28 29. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming Fire We are indeed encouraged to come with boldness but that boldness is upon the account of our great High Priest and Mediator but though we are the Members of Christ we must remember that God is unconceivably above us The Man Christ Jesus himself when he prayed fell on his face before his heavenly Father Mat. 26. 39. Nay he calls himself a worm too Psal 22. 6. But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the People 2. When we look upon God as Lord we should be deeply humbled and abased for our Affronts Offences and Rebellions against him 'T is the Law of the Lord Almighty which sin breaks and 't is the Lord himself that sin causes to be despised When David was truly penitent and contrite he cries out Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight Psal 51. 4. His sin had been an injury and indeed a deadly one to Uriah his Subject but it was a gross and foul breach of the Law of God and so was committed against him And as his sin was ever before him so was that Lord against whom he had sinned This lays him very low and makes him readily condemn himself and ready to justifie God how severe a Sentence soever should be past how sore a punishment soever should be inflicted upon him that thou mightest says he be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest Job had not been so careful of God's Honour as he had been to vindicate his own innocency at length the Lord himself does manifest his Glory to him he confounds him with that question Job 40. 8. Wilt thou disannul my Judgment Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be Righteous Job at length has a clearer view of the Greatness and Soveraignty of that God with whom he had to do and says I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes Job 42. 5 6. 3. When we look upon God as Lord we should admire his concernedness for the Salvation and Happiness of such as we are It was the expression of one who was an eminent Saint and a great King O my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee Psal 16. 2. He is a Lord so high so glorious in himself so far exalted above all that the goodness of the best cannot in the least degree be beneficial to him He stands not then in need of Man therefore his good will which he bears towards Men is the more to be admired If the whole humane Race after the first defection from God had perished and every one of them had been miserable for ever the blessedness of God would have been no more impaired than it was by the loss and misery of those Spirits that first sinned and left their own Habitation none of which ever was recovered or shall be Oh whence is it that the Lord of Glory should shew such discriminating Grace to the Sons of Men Lord what is Man that thou who art so much above him should be so mindful of him as to visit him with thy Salvation who was unable to save himself
behold this self-same that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you And as I said before this Carefulness is an ingredient in every acceptable Duty The distracted Attendant has little care that God may be pleased he cares not that Ordinances in the truest in a spiritual sense be beneficial to him God's Anger therefore remains and abides upon him nay he grows more angry because of his negligence Ordinances leave him as they found him not at all more safe or better nay the Word not being a Saviour of Life to Life proves a Saviour of Death to Death 2 Cor. 2. 16. 'T is sad to have the means of Salvation ineffectual to Salvation but 't is worse by these very means of Salvation being distractedly used to have Destruction promoted Thus have I made apparent those Evils that are in Distraction The second sort of Reasons shall be drawn from the benefit of attending upon the Lord without distraction The benefit of such kind of Attendance I shall make manifest 1. Attenders without distraction their Hearts are right with God he is in Christ well pleased with them and with their serious Services That which the Lord chiefly minds and calls for it is their care to give to him and that is their very heart The Lord rejoyceth in the habitable parts of the Earth and his delights are with the Sons of Men Prov. 8. 31. The Sons of Men that seek him and whose Hearts are perfect with him As the wicked Man himself is hateful so the Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord because he never offers his Heart God is not in his Thoughts even when he is offering Sacrifice to him but the Prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. The Heart-searcher sees how his heart and his words agree together The Lord is very much pleased to behold the Thoughts called off from other things because He 's preferr'd before them all to behold the Mind fixed upon himself and the Soul with great vigour desiring his Grace his Strength and his Salvation as that which is most worthy to be longed for That 's the Language of Heaven to such an one Cant. 2. 14. Let me see thy Countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely 2. Attenders without distraction draw very near to God And if 't is so good to draw near to him it follows then the nearer the better There are some whom the Lord beholds afar off those whose proud and hard hearts were never truly humbled for sin their iniquity is a Wall of Partition between God and them When the Spouse of Christ her self was given to sleep though her heart waked and was loth and lazy in too great a degree in the seeking of her Lord she complains thus My beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone I sought him but could not find him I called him but he gave me no answer Cant. 5. 6. But undistracted attendance shews great diligence vehemency of desire and truth in the inward parts and God is nigh to them that call upon him in truth he is nigh to them not in some things only but in all that they call upon him for Deut. 4. 7. God is nigh as one reconciled as one nearly related as a most compassionate and ready helper as a sure Shield and Buckler as a full and all-sufficient Fountain from whom whatever is needed may be derived 3. Attenders without distraction know still more of God they come to be more intimately acquainted with him and that acquaintance is of all other the most high and beneficial Job 22. 21. Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace thereby good shall come to thee To understand the Secrets of Nature to understand humane affairs and how they may be most prudently ordered To understand the Ordinances of Heaven the Motions and Influences of the Sun and Moon and Stars are pieces of knowledge very desirable but to know the Lord himself is a Wisdom far beyond all other Now the undistracted Attendant follows on to know the Lord and gives up himself more intirely to his Service and God will manifest himself to such an one in a more peculiar way Psal 25. 14. The Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant And their knowledge shall not be only notional but to their great satisfaction it shall be experimental When others only hear of God by the hearing of the Ear they shall taste and see that he is gracious Psal 34. 8 9 10. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the Man that trusteth in him Oh fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lyons lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing 4. Attenders without distraction have most of the Grace of God and greatest strength from him The Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gives Grace that is greater than the greatest earthly things or he gives more Grace Jam. 4. 6. still more and more he is ready to communicate and most of all to them that are most humble and that draw nearest to him such as are bent upon it to seek the Lord and his Strength and his Face evermore shall not seek him his Face or Strength in vain Holy David who was a sincere seeker declares the good success he had Psal 138. 3. In the day when I cryed thou answereast me and strengthnedst me with strength in my Soul and as the strength of God did rest on him so the Face of God did shine upon him to his great Consolation Psal 25. 5. ◠His Glory is great in thy Salvation for thou hast made him most blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance The undistracted Attendant thrives amain he grows rich in Faith rich in Assurance rich in Experience He increaseth with the increases of God he grows up into him in all things who is his Head and approaches still nearer to the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ And where there is the most of Grace usually there is the most of Peace and Joy perfecting Holiness in the fear of God and the Comforts of the Holy Ghost commonly keep pace and go hand in hand together 5. Attenders without distraction are most victorious over their spiritual Enemies being strong in the Lord and in the power of his Might the power of the Enemies of their Salvation can prevail but little The nearer any approach unto God the farther they come out from the World and they are the more fortified against it both on the right hand and on the left the less do they mind the world's honour or dishonour evil report or good report from it 2 Cor. 6. 7 8. They are not afraid of the World's terrour and whatever the World offers to them they see enough in God
less will your Thoughts be drawn away from him 6. Be very poor in Spirit A pressing sense of your spiritual Necessities will make you very intent and serious in begging Supplies from above for 't is from thence alone you can be supplied They that are pinched with Poverty how much do they think how poor they are They have such a smart feeling of their Needs they can scarce think of any thing besides The condemned Malefactor when he cries for a Pardon and has hopes to speed surely the apprehension of his danger makes his Words and his Thoughts to go together When the Man almost famished asks for Bread no doubt his Mind is very much upon that Bread which may prevent his starving Be you but sensible how great the Needs of your Souls are and that 't is the Father of Spirits only who can give you the mercy and grace which you need and the more of sense you have the less distracted will you be in your Applications to him Our Lord pronounces the poor in Spirit blessed Mat. 5. 3. their Petitions come from an inward sense of their want and of the worth of Blessings and being earnest Petitioners they shall be successful ones You that feel your guilt and fear Divine Wrath must needs think of a Pardon and the desirableness of it when you ask for it You that are sensible of your Maladies how intent will your Minds be upon the Lord the healer of his People And you will have little list to think of something else when you are begging to be cured True poverty of Spirit will constrain to an undistracted seeking of that Gold tried in the fire to enrich you and that white Raiment to cover you Rev. 3. 18. without which you must needs be wretched and miserable because you will be poor and naked 7. Let Conscience be very tender vigilant and faithful Such a Conscience will be very helpful to prevent distraction or quickly to put an end to it It will observe and fetch home the Truant and straying Thoughts and bring them to your Duties * I distinguish between a tender Conscience and a scrupulous one for a scrupulous Conscience is a great cause of distraction for Scruples are most apt to run in and pester the Mind when holy Duties are performing Conscience acts in God's Name by his Authority and urges Obedience to his Laws and much insists if it be truly enlightned and faithful upon the right manner of obeying Conscience takes strict notice of the whole Soul and all the actings of it and this Officer of God especially does this in the Souls approaches to the Lord a sense of being under God's Eye makes the faithful Consciences Eye more strict and ready to spy all faults that they may presently be amended In holy Duties such a Conscience will be very busie it will earnestly protest against vain and distracting Thoughts and it will say What make such thoughts here when God and his Work ought only to be minded The presence of evil when good is doing such a Conscience cannot brook with Patience it stirs up the lustings of the Spirit against those of the Flesh that the Law of the Mind may prevail more against the Law in the Members Rom. 7. 23. If Conscience is asleep in your Performances how sorry and sinful will they be The Heart will be dead the Thoughts will be gone far away no holy Affections will be stirring Pray hard for a good Conscience a Conscience not only purged by the Blood of Christ from all the guilt which by dead Works you have contracted but also by the same Blood healed of its Sleepiness Stupidity and all other faults of it And that Conscience may more effectually check your Hearts from roving and trifling in attendance upon God look before you with the Eye of strong and steddy Faith and see as far as Death and Judgment and into Eternity and then do you judge whether for your carelesly performed Duties your Lord will say Well done true and faithful Servants The Apostle having lookt as far as his own and also the World's last Day wherein the Heaven shall pass away with a great noise the Elements melt with fervent heat and the Earth and the Works therein shall be burnt up rationally infers that Christians Conversations should be very well ordered Duties of Godliness most undistractedly and seriously performed Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness 2 Pet. 3. 10 11. 8. Another Remedy against Distraction is growing in Grace and in the knowledge of Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. This will keep you from being led away by errour and will make you more stedfast in Duty as well as Truth When Grace shall be perfected in Glory distraction will be perfectly cured and here on Earth the Cure is advanced as Grace is augmented The more Grace you have you will set the higher value upon Communion with God and this will fill your Hearts with holy Zeal and Indignation against every thing that may divert your Minds and be an obstruction to this Communion The more Grace you have the more you are filled with the Spirit and when you pray in the Holy Ghost your Prayer will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in-wrought Prayer Jam. 5. 16. How much of the Heart and Soul will be therein And the same Spirit in hearing and other Ordinances will keep your Hearts with God when they are about to turn to the right hand or to the left Isa 30. 21. The more Grace you have the more your Treasure will be in Heaven and you are told Mat. 6. 21. Where your treasure is there will your hearts be also Now that there may be an increase of Grace Christ must be better known for 't is from him that the first Grace is derived and all additional degrees of it Study him more and understand his fulness who fills all in all Eph. 1. 23. Desire with the Apostle that you may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his Death Psal 3. 10. If you conform to the Death of Christ and are crucified and dead to the World and the World to you the things of the World will appear without form and comeliness and will be less able to distract your Minds and ensnare your Affections And if you feel the Power of Christ's Resurrection your Hearts and Thoughts will rise with him and at what a rate will you seek those things that are above The Angels when here on Earth they are doing what God commands them and are in Heaven still as to their Thoughts and as to the Happiness they enjoy You should be heavenly when about your earthly business but especially when you are attending upon the God of Heaven And the more experimentally you understand Christ risen the less will things on Earth be minded and the higher will
that crawl upon the ground How should you look to the frame of your Spirits when you are before him The Passion of fear calls in the Blood to the Heart that the Vitals may be fortified and truly the Grace of fear will call in the Thoughts of the Heart that Duties performed to so great a Majesty may not be an heedless trifling with him 2. Sequester your selves from other business to intend Prayer the more you are disentangled from your Secular Affairs the more free and fit your Hearts will be to be poured out before the Lord in your supplications The further you step out and off from the World when you come to knock at Heaven Gates the more certainly will the Door be opened to you If Mammon has your Thoughts and Desires when you are praying to God you have a jealousie provoking Idol in your Hearts while in his Presence and how offensive must this needs be to him to see an Idol there where he chuses to dwell One thing says the Psalmist have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after Psal 27. 4. Other things were esteemed worthless comparatively Let not other matters distract you when you are calling upon God that you may pray in Prayer and do nothing else but pray Remember distracted Confessions increase Guilt and Wrath distracted Petitions ask for a denial and distracted Praises will tend very much unto the stopping of the Current of Mercies 3. Be perswaded that the Lord will attentively mind what you pray if you intently mind what you pray for your selves He takes pleasure in uprightness and this Heart-searcher well knows who are sincere and not so much as a Sigh or Groan from a sincere Soul shall be disregarded If you from your Heart cry for Mercy Mercy shall compass you about Psal 32. 10. The Prophet tells us That the Lord hearkned and heard Jer. 8. 6. Indeed most speak not aright they repent not of their wickedness saying what have we done But those who do speak aright and being truly sensible of the evil of their doings fervently pray to have their sins covered and all their defilements purged away The Lord who hearkens so attentively will surely hear all such Cries and in no wise deny what is cryed for Believe the mighty efficacy of fervent Prayer and what rich returns this Trading to Heaven brings in and what Treasures Prayer is a Key to unlock that you may be enriched thereby A sacred coveting these unsearchable Riches will make you mind what you are doing when you are praying to partake of them and the Apostle tells you for your encouragement Rom. 10. 12. There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him 4. Cry earnestly for the holy Spirit of Promise You will never pray aright or to any purpose without his aid The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Grace because all true Grace is from him and so are all gracious desires and actings He is also called the Spirit of Supplication all acceptable Confessions Petitions and Thanksgivings are of his enditing And this Spirit is promised and how ready is our heavenly Father to give the Spirit to any that ask him Now we read that he which searcheth the heart knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit for he maketh intercession for the Saints accorning to the Will of God Rom. 8. 27. Saints Prayers are called the Mind of the Spirit he makes them to be according to the Will of God and that not only as to the matter of them but also as to the manner The Spirit of God at first moved upon the face of the Waters and how many useful Creatures did he produce out of a Chaos of Confusion And if that Spirit move upon your Hearts in Prayer he can keep your Thoughts that they stir not from God and cause Faith and godly Sorrow and Hope Humility and Love to be in actual exercise and the more Grace is exercised Prayer will be the less distracted and more successful 5. Let Vigilancy and watching go before keep pace with Prayer and follow after it Why has a Christian new Eyes and Light but that he might watch with the one and by the other Our Lord joyned watching and praying together Prayer without watching will be heartless watching without Prayer will be insufficient for your security Watching with Prayer makes it more serious and to succeed the better The Apostle says The end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watch unto Prayer 1 Pet. 4. 7. Watching unto Prayer summons the whole Soul with all its Faculties to attend upon God and to prepare to meet him We also read Col. 4. 2. Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving Watching in Prayer is a mighty help against the Heart's straggling This straggling is the sooner observed and the straggling Thoughts presently reduced And he that watches after Prayer diligently and with all thankfulness observes the Answers of Prayer And thus to do will strongly induce you to give your selves more to Prayer in good earnest and to wrestle with him with whom you do so often prevail The fourth and last Duty I shall mention is Communicating at the Lord's Table and that this may be done with less distraction 1. Let there be more serious self-examination before you engage in that holy Ordinance 1 Cor. 11. 28. But let a Man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Look into the State of your Souls and your State is good if you know the true God so as to love him and prefer him in your choice before all things besides and if you know Christ so as to rely upon him with consent to be ruled by him as your Lord and Saviour Joh. 17. 3. This is life eternal thus to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent Take great notice also of Remember that Christ himself is really present at his Table and his Eye which is as a flame of fire observes the frame of every heart Fix your Eye upon your own Hearts since Christ's Eye is upon them the present frame of your Hearts that you may know in what Graces they are weakest and what kind of Lustings of the Flesh are aptest to prevail and what things they are which are most likely to distract your Minds and draw away your Hearts when at the Table your watch hereupon will be the stricter and your thoughts will run the more upon the particular Graces that are to be strengthened and upon the sins too which are to be struck more dead by the power of the Death and Crucifixion of Christ Jesus 2. Let the Death of Christ put you in mind what you were and would have been still if he had not died for you you would have been dead in Law under the damnatory Sentence of it and you would have been dead in
Christ's Righteousness and is so presented to the Father The Apostle tells us of the Glory of the Grace of God wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved Eph. 1. 6. When Christ was upon Earth the satisfaction he made was sufficient to make reconciliation for all sins and defects And now he is in Heaven he ceases not to intercede for Believers a thousand faults may be found in their best Duties but how absolutely faultless and prevailing is this Intercession of their Advocate 4. Many of those Duties which doubting Saints have thought to be nothing but Sin and Distraction God sees and owns the actings of Grace in He sees some Fire in the smoaking Flax which he will not quench though there is much that is offensive with it he sees some greenness in the bruised Reed though there is much that is dead and he will not break it Matt. 12. 20. His Eyelids try the Children of Men and he has a gracious regard to the actings of Grace and Faith though it be but as a grain of Mustard seed Christ Jesus is said to be quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord Isa 11. 3. He knows what Key will open every Heart and when he will open none can keep shut he can bring the most fearless and stupid to the fear of God And where the fear of God is in truth though it be in a lower degree he easily discerns it When a Well of Water is muddy at the top there is purer Water working up from the Spring at the bottom When the Heart is very much discomposed and distracted in Duty if under all these Infirmities there is a working and stirring of the Grace of God he will both observe and be well pleased with it He will not utterly reject a Duty when there is an hearty desire to do it well and an hearty grief 't is done no better 5. The Lord is ready to give a Blessing to those means which himself has appointed for the cure of these Distractions These means are effectual when the Spirit makes them so And is the Spirit of the Lord straitned Mic. 2. 7. What infirmity is too great for him to help What Heart too roving and unruly for him to settle The means must be used Cry for help that you may be helpt to cry hear the word with a desire to feel its power that you may hear it to better purpose Take encouragement from the mighty Spirit who is so ready to accompany God's Institutions He can fit you for your Duty and fix your Hearts in it and crown the doing of it with the Blessings which are promised And when your Hearts are fixed 't is but reason your Mouths should sing and give praise 6. When Militant Saints come to be triumphant their Distractions and Complaints because of them will be at a perpetual end In Heaven they shall be out of Satan's reach he shall resist them no more this World they will have left which so often troubled both their heads and hearts and will have exchanged it for a World that 's infinitely better their perfected Spirits will be perfect in their Operations nothing of imperfection will cleave to what the glorified Saints above are doing The Vision of God Face to Face will fix the Mind and Thoughts upon him eternally having once looked on they will never care to look off more Perfection of Holiness Love Delight and Joy must needs for ever hinder all even the least wandring None can in the least be weary of the Work that is done in Heaven it is so full of pleasure Rev. 4. 8 They rest not Day and Night saving Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come and full glad may they well be that such a pleasant Employment must never come to an end If all this Congregation with their Pastour can but get safe into the House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens Oh what Thoughts and Apprehensions shall we have How shall we be fill'd with Joy and Wonder at what we shall then behold Being entred and swallowed up in the Joy of our Lord shall we not then cry out Ah! Ah! What a difference is there between this Heavenly Country and the most desirable earthly Inheritance The Sun is but a small Spark to that Light which we now see When we lookt upward we admired Heavens outside the Firmament with all its shining Luminaries but now we plainly see that Heaven is much more glorious within What an excellent Society is this innumerable Company of Angels that we are among How does every glorified Saint and Member of Christ resemble his Head being all fair and no spot remaining How pleasant is the Harmony where there is no Sin no Sorrow no Defect or Discord These Hallelujahs which we now joyn in how ravishing and transporting are they not like the distracted Services which we used to perform together in the Sanctuary We are all now fixt in this glorious place and shall go no more out Our Complaints are quite ended and never again shall we do in the least amiss We are indeed without fault before the Throne of God and we shall Live and Reign Triumph and Magnifie the Lord for ever Thus have I finished my Discourse concerning Distraction in attending upon God a fault whereof all are guilty most make nothing or very light of and very few mind to have it mended My design herein has been to do some Service to the Church of Christ that their Worship may be more pure and Spiritual being freed from those wandring Thoughts which both distract and defile it and that the Best of Lords may still have better and more acceptable Service from all of you and from my self also Whilst we are in this World truly this World is too much in us 't is suitable to our Senses and apt to intice and draw away our Hearts Let the Eye of Faith pierce through the Clouds and see Heavens Joy and Glory and then this Worlds Vanity will be the more apparent and how vain a thing 't is for you to be so thoughtful about it and eager after it When Faith has seen how God is attended upon by Saints and Angels above it may help to kindle in you an holy zeal and a vehement desire more to resemble those excellent Attendants and to serve the Lord more gladly and seriously here below Oh cry to have the Cure of Distractions carried on further towards compleatness Live as Strangers and Sojourners here on Earth not concerned about the things of it as others are Declare plainly that you are born from above and let your Hearts and Thoughts more and more ascend thither Carry your selves as fellow Citizens with the Saints and as those that are of the Houshold of God Let there be more of God more of Grace in all you do and speak in all the Powers of your Souls in all the Duties you perform And think with gladness and