by no means entertain an Imagination that at your own Pleasure you can work in your selves to will and to do but always acknowledge the necessity and Efficacy of the Grace of Christ and glorifie that Grace saying when you obey and labour it is not I but the Grace of God that is with me 4. Earnestly desire that your Hearts may be circumcised to love both the Lord himself and his Service likewise It is a Promise worth more and if made good to us will enrich us more than the Wealth of both the Indies Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy Heart and the Heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul that thou mayst live An Heart to love him is his own Gift and the Heart must be circumcised by himself before it will be brought to love him The Prophet speaks of the Foreskin of the Heart that must be taken away Now this Foreskin of the Heart is Carnal and Worldly Love together with Enmity against God and his Law Cry to the Lord according to his good Word of Promise to mortifie the one and to subdue the other And that he would give you a new Heart and Nature cause a new Light to shine that may manifest his glorious Goodness in the Face of Christ and so direct your Hearts into the Love of himself If he be truly loved he will be the more willingly obeyed and truly his Precepts are worthy to be loved too the better they are kept the more truly excellent are those that keep them And themselves are kept in more perfect Peace The Psalmist says My Soul hath kept thy Testimonies and I love them exceedingly Psal 119. 167. and no wonder for he had said before v. 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Such a Lord such a Law deserves Love and Love will sweeten Service it will not count this Service tedious but mightily incline the Heart to Perseverance in its Duty 5. Let your Fear and Awe of the Lord's Majesty when you attend upon him be joyn'd with an Hope in his Mercy If Fear and Hope are thus joyned together as you will be the more encouraged in God so God will take the more Pleasure in you For the Lord takes Pleasure in them that fear him and in those that hope in his Mercy Psal â—47 11. The Mercy of God is magnified in his Word on purpose that Hope may be raised and rise still higher and higher This Lord on whom you ought to attend is rich in Mercy His merciful Kindness is great Psal 117. 2. He has Mercy not upon the account of Merit in Man but because he will have Mercy Rom. 9. 18. And how often is it said Psal 136. that his Mercy endures for ever Here is a large and firm Foundation for Hope to build on And if your Hope be not presumptuous but of a purifying Nature you may from such a merciful Lord confidently expect that Grace and those good things you need in time And when your short time is at an end the best things of all unto eternity I have done with the second Doctrine Doct. III. I come now to the third and last Doctrine which I principally design to insist on That Attendance upon the Lord should be without Distractien 'T is not only Apostacy from the Faith and the Practice of Religion which the Apostle bids us to take heed of which is a more gross departing away from God but he cautions against any Withdrawings of Heart from that Lord with whom we have to do Therefore in a time of Distress and Persecution he prefers a single State before Wedlock not that Marriage in it self considered has any thing of Sin in it for 't is honourable in all not that a single State in it self has any thing of Holiness but because the Cares that attend Marriage are apt to distract the Mind and to hinder the things that belong to the Lord from being cared for as they ought and might be Indeed in the Context there is a plain Intimation that 't is a great part of Christian Prudence so to order our secular Affairs and to make choice of such a Condition of Life as may be most subservient to our spiritual Designs and may least interfere with our main Business which is the Lord's Service that that may be done without Distraction They are pronounced to be the blessed ones who keep God's Testimonies and that seek him with the whole Heart Psal 119. 2. And since the whole Heart must seek him the Thoughts the Affections the all of the Heart must attend upon him nothing of the Soul must be absent or withdrawn The Prophet speaks of the Hearts engaging to approach unto God Jer. 30. 21. For who is this that engageth his Heart to approach unto me Saith the Lord. That the Heart may be thus engaged for God it must be disengaged from other things and all that is within it too must be engaged to approach to him When Moses and the Children of Israel were to go into the Wilderness to serve the Lord They went with their young and old with their Flocks and their herds there was not an Hoof left behind Exod. 10. 26. And when we go to serve our God we should go with our all No Power of our Souls should be exempted not so much as a Thought should be left behind In the handling of this Doctrine I shall First tell you what Distraction in attending upon God is Secondly What it is to attend upon the Lord without Distraction Thirdly Assign the Reasons why with such Care we should take heed of Distraction in serving him Answer in the fourth place some Cases of Conscience about these Distractions Fifthly make Application In the first place I am to tell you what Distraction in attending upon God is 'T is the first Step to the Cure to know our Disease and to have a right Sense of it Several things are here to be premised 1. Distraction is the Fault of the Heart That deceitful and wicked thing how many Faults has it And how often does it withdraw when we have to do with God flying as Jonah from his Presence and being any where but where it should be Indeed sometimes this Distraction does but too visibly and scandalously appear by unnecessary Whisperings by Salutations when Persons are in God's Sanctuary and Service by the wandring of the Eye and other irreverent Carriage and Behaviour in the time of Worship These when ordinarily allowed are plain Indications that the Heart is not in God's Work and which is worse cares not to be engaged therein And how blameworthy then is it It is the Heart which foolishly departs from the Lord. It is not so right and stedfast with him as it should be Psal 78. 8. A Generation that set not their Heart aright and whose Spirit was not stedfast with God has a Brand set
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
thee of the evil Therefore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life from me for 't is better for me to die than to live Sometimes distraction and deadness and a carnal worldly frame of Spirit may hinder a Duty from doing any good to the performer of it though he be good in the main The perfection of sincerity may be so much wanting in some Services as that they may prove altogether unavailable Rev. 3. 2. Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die for I have not found thy Works perfect before God 3. I add further that Duties may be so performed by Believers themselves that the bad manner of doing them shall cost them very dear A true Saint may do his Duty in a way so displeasing to God that his Duty shall be his Death Thus the Corinthians came together to the Lord's Table not for the better but for the worse there was not that care to keep their hearts fixt upon God and fit for Communion with him and the Holy Supper was profaned by a prevailing of sensuality and Divine Displeasure broke out against them 1 Cor. 11. 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep and they were thus chastned of the Lord and some with stripes that proved deadly that they might not be condemned with the World v. 32. With what Intention Vigilancy and godly fear should the Lord's People engage in his Work and Worship He will be sanctified by them that draw near to him or he will be sanctified upon them he will manifest to their cost what an Holy and Jealous God he is Therefore says the Apostle Do we provoke the Lord to Jealousie are we stronger than he 1 Cor. 10. 22. CASE V. What Distractions are they which are mercifully overlookt and that hinder not the success of our Duties nor the benefit of them I answer 1. The Lord in much Compassion overlooks those Distractions in his Service that are grievous to us and which we heartily lament He passes by the greatest sins for the great Propitiations sake if there be Contrition in him that has been guilty of them Psal 51. 17. The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise And if the heart be broken because religious Duties are so broken and interrupted by vain imaginations he will not withdraw his Presence because of these weaknesses that are bewailed but according to his Promise He will be nigh to them that are of a broken heart and will save such as are of a contrite Spirit Psal 34. 18. 2. Distractions shall be pass'd by that are prayed against before they come and are resisted when they are come He that would worship God with great intention of Soul 't is a sign his heart is good and honest and that very Will is wrought in him by the Lord 's own Grace and is pleasing in the Lord's Eyes and 't is further pleasing to him when he beholds a Soul checking these Distractions as often as they do occur and manifesting a constant dislike of them The Psalmist tells us That he hated vain thoughts but he loved both the Word and the Work of God Psal 119. 113. His hatred of vain thoughts was well taken the intruding of them though they were hated was overlookt in Mercy And this hatred of them and perpetual conflicting with them is a good way to be rid of them And certainly those Distractions shall not be imputed to us which by checking of them and crying to Heaven for help we do in some measure prevail against 3. Distractions shall be overlookt the causes of which we endeavour to remove when we are upon our guard against the Cares of this Life deceitful Riches and those Lusts and Pleasures that would command our thoughts and entice away our hearts from God and cause them to be absent when our Bodies are before him 'T is meer self-deceit to pretend we are desirous to be freed from the effect if we like the cause to say we dislike Distraction if we are pleased well enough with those things whereby Distraction is caused The Psalmist who sighed and said Oh let me not wander from thy Commandments Psal 119. 10. certainly he was watchful against and groaned to be delivered from every thing that might make him wander Therefore he wishes that his heart might not be inclined to covetousness and that his eyes might be turned away from beholding vanity ver 36 37. He knew very well that coveting this World's Wealth would eat out his Desires after God and that eying and affecting vanity would deaden and distract his heart in the Lord's Service 4. Distractions though very horrid shall not hinder the success of Duties which the heart trembles at and utterly detests and abhors Satan sometimes apparently shews himself Devil indeed he roars like a Lyon he speaks like the old Dragon Hideous blasphemous Injections and thoughts are with hellish violence born into the mind of a Believer while attending upon God and the heart seems to be overspread with the blackness of darkness and with the wickedness of Hell it self But when these Satanical Injections are disowned and the Believer crys out Lord I am oppressed undertake for me And his Eye is unto Jesus for succour who is so ready to help 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those who by force are ready to be run down by the Devil Act. 10. 38. Satan shall not prevail against the Believer but the Believer shall prevail with God for that Grace which the evil one is so busie to hinder him from partaking of 5. Distractions shall in pity be covered that are occasioned by the prevailing indisposition of the head or other corporal Maladies that are the effect of excessive pain or of Melancholy which causes great confusion in such cases the Lord's compassion is drawn forth rather than his displeasure provoked We read Psal 103. 13. Like as a Father pittieth his Children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him for he knows their frame They are subject to much bodily indisposition as well as to spiritual Infirmities Now what earthly Father is angry with a Child because he does not those acts of Obedience in sickness which he could and would readily do were health continued The Lord is infinitely beyond the tenderest earthly Parent in pittying and sparing his Children He observes the Spirit 's willingness when the Flesh is weak and indisposed Distractions by sudden Accidents also shall not hinder Duties acceptance God will have mercy and not sacrifice Mat. 9. 13. It will not displease him neither shall Duty be lost if we leave off Prayer to help one by us fallen into a Swoon and that may expire without present succour in such cases his own Providence calls us off from a Duty of Religion to an act of Mercy 6. Distractions shall be past by that drive us to Christ for acceptance and to the Spirit for greater