God That depravation of humane Nature which is derived from the first Adam makes the Heart of Man deceitful above all things as well as desperately wicked and for such an Heart in holy Duties to act treacherously and to start aside from God like a deceitful Bow is indeed but to act like it self An Heart totally carnal is so estranged from God that it will never come near him you should therefore value the promise of a new Heart and a new Spirit Ezek. 36. 26. and beg earnestly that what is promised may be given to you and though your Hearts are indeed renewed the renovation is but imperfect there is much of the old nature still remaining and this if you are not very vigilant will catch away your thoughts while you are worshipping the Lord and bring a damp and coldness upon your Hearts Original Corruption has seised upon all the Powers of your Souls and makes all of them averse from attending upon God The Imagination is strongly inclined to wander far off and the Heart and Affections but too apt to follow If a free vent be but given to a sinful and vain imagination the product and off-spring of it will be distracting thoughts without number like the Locusts Frogs and Flies that fill'd the Land of Egypt and with these Religious Duties will be corrupted and rendred unacceptable Solomon tells us that when Man fell from original uprightness he sought out many inventions Eccles 7. ult and all these Inventions were but Distractions from God and ways of departing from him a seeking and trying to find satisfaction and felicity elsewhere which is indeed to be found in the Lord alone Let this truth sink deep into you that your Hearts naturally care not for the Lord's Service and if it be engaged in they are very apt to be careless therein Cry to Heaven that you may be more renewed in the Spirit of your Mind that the old Man may be more compleatly put off and the new Man more fully put on The less your Hearts are renewed and sanctified the more you are likely to be distracted the more there is of corruption in you it will the more discover it self in the Duties of Religion which you do perform 2. A Caution is to be given you against your great Adversary Satan He catches the Word of God out of the Heart he draws away the Heart from the Word and every other Duty The Spirit of the Lord helps our infirmities and assists us in Prayer This evil Spirit resists us in our Supplications He himself confesses that he walks too and fro in the earth and goes up and down in it Job 1. 7. His business is to perswade the Children of Men to the doing of evil to hinder the doing of good or to hinder the good that is done from being well done Who is the Man that this bold Enemy will not set upon since he tempted Christ himself who is God and Man If he perswaded our Lord to worship the Devil no wonder if he perswades us not to worship God or to be heartless in the worship of him Where is the place in which we may be safe and free from his Temptations since he got into Paradise it self and tempted and prevailed over our first Parents there In secret Prayer he is ready to disturb us he is busie in the Sanctuary that Ordinances there may be lost and our engaging in them may be for the worse and not for the better He set upon Judas and entred into him while he was with Christ himself at the Table Joh. 13. 27. Great reason we have to watch and pray against this Tempter and to say to him The Lord rebuke thee Zach. 3. 2. Can you imagine that when you are about to draw nigh to God Satan will not draw nigh to you He will present objects and lay baits for your Senses thereby to divert your Minds from the Work of God and not only will he tempt you objectively but by injection too Though he cannot look into the Heart yet he can cast a great company of evil thoughts into it he makes strange impressions upon the Fancy sometimes endeavouring to please it sometimes to terrifie and affright it that either the one or the other way the Mind in Duties may be distracted You had need to be well aware of this subtle and sedulous Enemy and to look unto your compassionate High-Priest who intercedes for you with the Father to succour you against the Tempter When Satan would interrupt you with this and the other trifle reply to him You have to do with the great God about business of the greatest and highest consequence and it would shew both a neglect of God and a slighting of your own Souls to be diverted The Builders of Jerusalem's Walls as they wrought in the Work with the one hand so in the other hand they held a Weapon Neh. 4. 17. When you are about the Work of God you should have on the Armour of God that you may stand against the Devil's wiles the shield of Faith the breast-plate of Love and Righteonsness the Helmet of Hope and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God Satan's force is too weak for such weapons as these 3. A Caution also is highly needful against Mammon as one of the principal causes of Distraction The Service of Mammon justles out the Service of God or so distracts it that it is justly accounted no Service at all As this World is vain in many other regards so in this respect that sin hinders the end of it from being attained Instead of being led up unto God per scalam creaturarum by the Creatures which he has made we are by them drawn away from him instead of admiring God in the Creature we admire and affect the Creature and forget God The World being present and visible takes the Senses of Men and their Fancies and to walk after the sight of the eye is the way that the heart very well likes Eccles 11. 9. And hence it is that the invisible God and the things which are unseen tho of eternal excellency and continuance are totally disregarded or but slightly pursued by the most of Men. How are Men since the Fall become Children in understanding Meer toys and trifles are of great account with them Husks are coveted but that which is indeed Bread they have no hunger after Isa 55. 2. Wherefore do ye spend your Money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your Soul delight it self in fatness Here is a plain intimation that diligent hearkning and serious Service of the Lord was hindred by minding things which could not satisfie These are things which the Flesh purveys for that the Lusts of it may be fulfilled these are the things that Satan puts a varnish upon that they may be the more ensnaring and bewitching so
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
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
purifie your Hearts ye double-minded So Psal 24. 3 4. Who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean Hands and a pure Heart The Gospel strictly commands good works without these Faith is dead and vain and Love is only a seeming Fire The Apostle speaks with great vehemency Tit. 3. 8. This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works Our Lord owns them for his near and dear kindred who are doers of his Father's Work and Will Mat. 12. 50. He stretched forth his Hand towards his Disciples and said behold my Mother and my Brethren For whosoever shall do the Will of my Father which is in Heaven the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother Attenders upon God must not allow themselves in the doing of Evil Fellowship with the unfruitful works of Darkness and Fellowship with God are inconsistent 1 Joh. 1. 6. If we say we have Fellowship with him and walk in Darkness we ly and do not the truth Unless there be a living to God serving of him in Ordinances is of no account with him And as Hands must be cleansed so the Hearts of Attenders on God must be pure The Heart must not defile it self by regarding any iniquity so as to be unwilling to have it subdued Psal 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear me Regarded iniquity will cry so loud for a denial that Prayer will find no Audience The Heart must not pollute it self by love to the World for if this love prevail there can neither be any true love to the Father nor any Interest in the Father's love 1 Joh. 2. 15 Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him The Heart must consent to the crucifixion of all the affections and lusts of the Flesh It must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 double-minded on and off with God but steddy and right with him It s resolution must be to be holy still and its desire to be still holy more and more to have holiness perfected in the sear of God 6. Our Attendance upon God must be with Humility Fear and Faith without wrath and doubting Humility becomes the very Angels for all their excellency is derived and they are charged with possible folly Job 4. 18. 't is owing to the Election and confirming Grace of God that some Angels stood when others being left to the freedom of their own Will apostatized How humble should the Children of Men be who are fallen by their Iniquity The best of Saints have reason to be low in their own Eyes considering how many Talents they owed before they were satisfied for and paid by their Surety and how apt they are still to trespass It may be said of the strongest Christian stand he could not stand he would not were he not upheld by the Lord 's free and mighty Spirit But an humble Sense of our Worthlesness and ill-deserving should not hinder the acting of our Faith in Jesus when we come before the Lord. Our great Redeemer has bought us with a Price and he has bought all things for us We our selves are his Purchase and so is all that Grace we need and all that Glory we hope for God has made a Covenant with Christ and has promised to give us to him for his Inheritance and Possession Psal 2. 8. Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession And to be Christ's Inheritance and Possession implies our being separated from the World our being secured our being made fruitful and our eternal continuing to be enjoyed by him and to enjoy him Promises of all and especially of the best Blessings are made to us for Christ's sake and he will see to the making of them good because the accomplishment of them is so much for the Father's Glory as well as our truest Welfare All this may exceedingly strengthen and raise our Confidence and Hope when we attend on God Doubts concerning our speeding should be look'd upon as unreasonable when we come in such a prevailing Name as Christ's unto his Father and our Father his God and our God and we ask only for things agreeable to his Will 1 John 5. 14 15. And this is the confidence we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us and if we know that he heareth us we know that we have the Petition we desired of him And as Faith is opposed to doubting so to wavering James 1. 6 7. But let him ask in Faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a Wave of the Sea driven with the Wind and tossed For let not that Man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. He is the wavering Man whose Mind hangs doubtful and unresolved between God and the World Christ and Satan Sin and Holiness Such an Attender upon God who is more inclined to serve other Lords shall certainly be rejected Finally The Apostle forbids not only Doubting but Wrath also 1 Tim 2. 8. I will therefore that Men pray every where lifting up holy hands without Wrath or Doubting The Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God nay it causes an abounding in Transgression The Leaven of Anger and Malice is diligently to be searched for and purged out as that which if it remains will prove us carnal 1 Cor. 3. 3. For whereas there is among you Envying and Strife and Divisions Are ye not carnal and walk as Men Civil Discords Church-Divisions unruly Passions should be avoided with Care and Fear we should be full of Holy Love to all our Brethren ready to forgive the greatest Injuries and Enemies forward to pursue and promote Vnity and Peace whenever we attend upon Him who has called himself the God of Love and Peace 7. Our Attendance upon God should be with Gladness and Delight and a sense how good 't is for us to approach his presence Where the Will of God is best done and that is in Heaven there is the greatest Joy in the doing of it The chearful joyful Servant is a Credit to his Work honours his Lord and is a great Eye-sore to the evil one for Satan is very much afraid lest the Attenders upon God being full of Gladness others should be induced to try that Work and Service which these find so exceeding comfortable Hypocrites that go no further than the out-side of Religion count it wearisome because they do not understand it But as God takes pleasure in the Vpright so the Upright find the truest Pleasure in God and in his Ways The Psalmist speaks upon very good ground Psal 32. 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye Righteous
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
the God of Love Our Lord presses our reconciliation to our Brother before we offer our Gifts unto God Mat. 5. 24. Go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Whilst thou refusest to be reconciled to thy Brother how canst thou expect that God should be reconciled to thee Mat. 6 15. But if ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses As Charity thinks no evil so Uncharitableness thinks nothing else It is severe in censuring forward to judge not fearing what is threatned to be it self judged Mat. 7. 1. It hopes and believes nothing that is good it bears and endures nothing that it pronounces to be bad or in the least injurious to it Nay sometimes in Prayer instead of the acting of Grace uncharitableness will be expressed before the Lord himself there are most unseemly Complaints impious Imprecations and Desires vented that Divine Wrath may fall upon those whom the passionate are angry with But if they were so severely punished that offer'd strange fire before the Lord and fire come forth from the Lord and consumed them those that offer this hellish fire of furious and revengeful desires may well fear the vengeance of that fire that is eternal If you give way to this sinful anger you give way to the Devil and in this Chariot he will drive furiously your Hearts away from God in the Duties you perform but the more meek and composed and sedate your Souls are the Holy Ghost will the more delight to dwell in them and to vouchsafe his assistance to you 5. Another cause of distraction is the prevalency of infidelity Faith is a coming to God by Christ Jesus Unbelief is a rejecting of this Mediatour and the Hearts departing from the Lord Take heed of unbelief as that which strikes at Religion in the very root and blasts and withers all the Fruits of it Doubt not of the being of God who gives being to all things that are and who gave and upholds you in yours to this day Doubt not of his all-seeing Eye who fills Heaven and Earth with his presence Doubt not of his being ready to be found all the true seed of Jacob are witnesses for God that they have sought his face and that they have not sought him in vain Isa 45. 19. Doubt not of the promises in the Word which thousands of Saints have found accomplished unto their strengthning supply and satisfaction Doubt not of the Threatnings which have so often taken hold of them who have boldly ventured upon the sins threatned so that they have been forced to say Verily he is a God that judges in the Earth and like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings so hath he dealt with us Zech. 1. 6. If unbelief has place in you and the great truths of the Gospel are questioned or not firmly assented to how can you be serious in any Religious Service How distracted must your thoughts needs be when you question whether the Lord has any regard what you do or how you do it This unbelief the great spoiler of your Performances the Father of Lies endeavours to promote He will indeed inject unbelieving thoughts into Hearts that have much Faith and Grace But as Bernard well says Latrat solum cum suggerit mordet cum ad consensum trahit Satan does only bark when he does suggest he bites when he gains the Hearts consent Oh never entertain such Injections never give the least consent that they should lodge in you Look upon them as errant falshoods which an Enemy pesters you with out of a pernicious design firmly believe the quite contrary truths that that Belief may influence your Spirits and make you more serious when you are before the Lord. 6. The workings of spiritual pride in the heart are another cause of distraction which you are to beware of It was a good observation of Augustine that other iniquity discovers it self in the doing of evil Superbia vero bonis operibus insidiatur ut pereant Pride lies in wait as it were about your good Works to spoil the doing of them that they may be lost labour This sin shews it self several ways and upon all occasions is apt to stir to puff up and swell the Mind with high and touring thoughts and imaginations The Pharisee fasted twice a Week which implies Prayer and other Exercises of Religion Luk. 18. 12. hereupon he became self-conceited and pride hindred his justification for he placed his confidence in his own righteousness What a dangerous distraction is that when these thoughts are fixed in thy Heart that by thy Prayers and other Duties thou canst make an atonement for thy sins which can indeed be made alone by the satisfaction and intercession of the Lord Jesus When the Heart is enlarged in Prayer and good expressions come with great fluency from the Lips how apt is he that prays to have high Conceits of himself and of his Performances His Mind is prone to wander and to think what others think of him and is sinfully pleased in the imagination that they are mightily pleased and taken with him thus Pride draws off the Soul from God to contemplate its own excellent Gifts and others Admiration of them Enlargements in holy Duties are very encouraging and comfortable when we are humble under them when we acknowledge the Spirits Grace in them and though never so much enlarged despair of acceptance but in Christ alone But when these Enlargements are so advanced and put into Christ's place that we reckon those Blessings owing to enlargements which are the fruit of Christ's merit and purchase here is distracting Pride which draws off from Christ and is very displeasing to the Father Such Thoughts as these How well do I pray How broken for sin do I appear How fervent in Spirit do I seem What credit and applause shall I get by this Performance What a choice and precious Saint shall I be accounted Such Thoughts are apt to hover about an enlarged heart but if they are not kept out with an utter detestation of them the Heart will be distracted with hellish Pride how heavenly soever the expressions of the Mouth are And as you are to take heed of the Workings of Pride so of every other sin which does easily beset you If when you are confessing any fleshly or worldly Lust it stirs in you and your Hearts have some regard to it and delightful Thoughts about it this will distract your Prayer and deafen God's Ear. Oh 't is an ill thing to have the Heart resolve to spare the sin which the Hypocritical Tongue does cry aloud that it may be slain That sin which your Constitutions Callings or the Times in which you live make you most prone to commit Satan may in a special manner endeavour to invigorate that it may be a great distraction and disturbance to you in your
inquire into your own Spiritual Estate and mind what is likely to become of you when you go into the other World where you will be fixed in blessedness or misery that will be unalterable 3. Without distraction hertofore you have hearkned to the evil one and with great studiousness contrived to commit sin and if the worst Master was thus attended upon shall not now the best much more Have you not devised wickedness and set your selves in an evil way Psal 36. 4. and will you not now with as great thoughtfulness devise how to do good and with an undistracted purpose set upon the doing of it The Apostle would not only have you to change your Master and being free from sin become Servants of Righteousness Rom. 6. 18. but as you served sin so you should serve righteousness be as forward serious and diligent in holy Duties as ever you were in the Works of darkness 4. Without distraction you have thought upon injuries and meditated revenge and shall not reconciliation with God and your own Salvation be minded with greater intention Thou think est much of the wrongs that others do to thee think more of the injury thou hast done to God's Justice and how thou hast sinn'd against thine own Soul in provoking his Wrath against thee Jer. 7. 19. Do they provoke me to anger saith the Lord Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces Let the Thoughts of the many many Talents which thou owest swallow up the Thoughts of the few Pence which are owing thee 5. How often and for how long a time together has meer Vanity commanded your Thoughts and Hearts And will you not watch with your Lord and in his Work for an hour Proud Imaginations silly Suppositions of your having that Wisdom Wealth Excellency and Esteem which you have not have prevailed and you have set your selves on high in your own fancies Divers sorts of Wickednesses how fixed have they been in your Speculations And why should not your Spirits be much more fixed upon God and your Duty towards him 6. Food and Raiment and providing for your Families are minded in good earnest and without distraction and should you not with far greater heedfulness seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness Why should there be so much distraction in minding the one thing needful If you do not mind the good part quickly you may miss of it eternally it may soon be too late to seek it But if now you chuse it your Hearts being seriously set upon it you shall have it and that good part shall never be taken away from you Luke 10. 42. USE III. Shall be of Direction I am to direct you to proper Remedies against distraction in Religious Performances The Disease I grant is difficult to be cured but with the great Physician no Distemper is impossible to be healed Having therefore your Eye and dependance upon him use these following Remedies 1. Let your first Thoughts every Morning be always good ones An Heart well seasoned with these in the beginning of the day is likely to be in the better frame in holy Duties and better inclined all the day long As soon as you are awake let your Souls work Heaven-ward and be lifted up to the God that is there Such Souls he is pleased with and delights to communicate his Grace unto If the Lord has the first fruits of your Hearts the first thoughts and desires you are likely to be blest with the better thoughts and desires afterwards as of old the first-fruits being offered to God his Blessing was upon the whole Harvest And tho you do take pains with your Hearts in the Morning remember at no time of the day you must let down your Watch and become utterly regardless of your own Spirits for if you are corruption will quickly though it has had never so great a Check return and that with great force and violence Thus when the Sea fled and Jordan was driven back within a little while they both returned to their former Course and Channel When I awake says the Psalmist I am still with thee Psal 139 18. He saw himself under God's special care and compassed with his favour as with a Shield and God's Thoughts about him so full of tender mercy and loving kindness and amounting to so vast a Sum were very precious and delightful to him to think of And how whenever he awaked did his Heart work towards the Lord in a way of gratitude and love Begin the Day well and all the Day long keep your Hearts with all keeping If you would not have your Thoughts vain in Duty let them not be allowed to be vain at any time In the space of time between your solemn Duties be frequent in holy Ejaculations and mental Applications unto God this will mightily help to keep a sense of him upon your Hearts and the more undistracted will your Service be when at your set times every day you attend upon him 2. Be sensible that the preparation of the heart in Man is from the Lord Prov. 16. 1. Look unto him therefore to prepare your Hearts for every Duty you engage in Cries for preparation should be the first Cries and Cries afterwards are likely to be to better purpose Preparation for Duty goes before profit by it and when the Lord vouchsafes to prepare he intends to bestow benefits His preparation causes Prayer to be so seriously and fervently made as that it shall in no wise meet with a denial Psal 10. 17. Thou wilt prepare their Heart thou wilt cause thy Ear to hear In this preparation the Spirit of the Lord affords a mighty help there is a liberty and freedom to the Duty that is to be performed and the more free the Heart is to the Duty the more free and enlarged 't is likely to be in the Duty Clogs and weights are removed and among these clogs distraction and deadness may well be reckoned * The prepared heart is a fully resolved heart and an holy and firm resolution made in a strength beyond our own will mightily help to banish distraction The prepared Heart by the Spirit and Grace of Christ is disentangled from the World stands aloof from it that it may draw the nearer to God It is made to see how worthy sin is of its most bitter Sorrow and utter detestation and with an holy indignation it says What have I to do any more with any of my iniquities The prepared Heart prizes the Blessings 't is about to petition for and longs to appear before God from whom alone they can be obtained 'T is delivered from the vain and injudicious Spirit of this World and by the Spirit which is of God knows the worth of those things which are so freely given of God And this preparedness of Heart must needs be a great preservative against distraction 3. Pray for the fulfilling of that Promise wherein the Lord has engaged to give you
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
were broken and were rather chattering than Supplications Isa 38. 14. Like as a Crane or a Swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove mine eyes fail with looking upward O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me CASE VII What are those Distractions that make our attendance upon God altogether unacceptable to him and unavailable to our selves To this I answer 1. Distractions make our Duties of none effect for which there is no concernedness that God observes them as long as Man can take no notice of them How can it be expected that the Lord should have any gracious regard to them who have no regard to him or to his all observing Eye They that mind the praise of Men and not the praise of God and if Men do but approve and applaud they are not troubled though God does not commend but condemn them the praise of Men is all the reward they are likely to have Mat. 6. 5. Verily I say unto you they have their reward 'T is an argument of a carnal heart and that Duties are lost when Distractions are not unwelcome or disliked but the Heart is quiet enough with them If this be the ordinary frame and temper of the Heart to make nothing of heartless performances as long as Man cannot see the Heart to be absent 't is a sign that hypocrisie reigns and alass Hypocrites go to Hell through the Sanctuary they tread the broad road praying hearing receiving all along till they fall into eternal Condemnation 2. Distractions make Duties of none effect that are pleaded for as if there were nothing of sin or provocation in them The worse the Duties are many times the Performers think them to be the better they eye not their own Hearts and observe not their Deviations and Wandrings they rest in the external Service as if God would be pleased with the Work done and not mind the manner how We read of some that were bold to expostulate with God because they had fasted and he took no notice of it and yet there was good reason for his disliking what they did because when their Voice was heard on high their Hearts were inclined to strife debate and wickedness Isa 58. 3 4. The Scribes and Pharisees contented themselves with an outside righteousness they minded not that their Hearts should be serious and sanctified in their approaches to God but this righteousness of theirs our Lord pronounces insufficient and we must go beyond it or we cannot go to Heaven 3. Distractions make Duties of none effect that come from prevailing and allowed earthlimindedness How can a devoted Servant of Mammon whose Heart worships Mammon give acceptable attendance on God His Covetousness after which his Heart goes proves him an Idolater Eph. 5. 5. and his Service is most abominable dissimulation Let the Sin be what it will that is beloved and there is a resolution still to love and hide and spare it that sin will so distract and draw away the Heart from God that no Duty that is done can please him If we cover our sins we shall not prosper in our Services If we hide our iniquities in our Bosoms because they are dear to us God will hide his Face and refuse to hear us when we cry to him Isa 59. 2. 4. Distractions make Duties of none effect which hinder all manner of holy and spiritual affections and desires after God How can the Lord accept of a Service when the Heart is dead and cold as a stone and altogether senseless and unconcerned that it is so In such an heart there is no desire to know the Lord and his ways no inclination to become like to him or to enjoy any fellowship with him The Apostle says Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably Heb. 12. 20. Those Distractions that altogether hinder the acting and exercise of any grace whatsoever so that there is no Faith no Love no godly Sorrow no hungring and thirsting after righteousness certainly hereby also the success of Duties must be hindred 5. Distractions make Duties of none effect which though reproved are not striven against but sloth and negligence and formality in attendance upon God are allowed of Abundance of Idleness was the sin of Sodom and abundance of Idleness is to be found in many a Professour even then when engaged in Duties of Religion Such bestow no labour upon their Hearts they do not stir up themselves to take hold of God when they call upon his Name Isa 64. 7. As Vinegar to the Teeth and smoak to the Eyes is very offensive so is the sluggard to him that sends him How then must the Lord needs be displeased with the slothful attendant and slight his negligent Service Will such Service be rewarded No no so far from that that it will be severely punished He that took no pains to improve his Talent is called a wicked and slothful Servant Mat. 25. 26 and v. 30. the Sentence is past upon him Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth In the last place follows the Application And here I shall First Caution you against the Causes of Distraction Secondly Expostulate with you about these Distractions Thirdly Direct unto Remedies against Distractions Fourthly Insist upon several particular Duties and shew you how you may with less Distraction perform them Fifthly Speak Terrour to Sinners and Hypocrites Sixthly Conclude with Comfort and Encouragement to Saints who would fain do better and with less Distraction attend upon the Lord. USEI Shall be of Caution against the Causes of Distraction If we would be delivered from the effect we must find out and remove the cause Health and Ease are in vain hoped for while no care is taken to remove the Causes of sickness and pain Serious in holy Duties we shall never be whilst we allow and cherish the Causes which make our Hearts rove and wander from God Now the great Causes of Distraction which I am to warn you against and you are to take heed of are these 1. I enter a Caveat against corrupted Nature This is the Cause of Causes if you trace up any sin to its original you will see that to be original sin Corrupted Nature never did any Duty well has no care at all to do any thing better Though the first Adam died several thousand Years ago yet in a sense he lives to this Day he walks and haunts and troubles his whole Posterity and though this old Man is Crucified with Christ yet he is not quite dead in any Believer while the Believer lives upon the face of the Earth and the evil that remains in him will shew it self present with him when he would do that which is good Rom. 7. 21. We may truly cry out Mystery of Iniquity the great corruption of Nature the Mother of wickedness and abominations of the Earth As sin is from hence so this is the grand obstruction of the serious Service of