but one or two how glad will he be of them that are left and make much of them the rest are kill'd and these only remain Even so thy duties of Religion which thou hast planted and expectedst they should bring thee some good fruit but alas these Caterpillars have consumed it unless it be here and there a prayer here and there a Sermon that have scap'd O bless the Lord for these you have often prayed for such a mercy now you have it Let praises wear what prayers have won It is sad to consider what a beggarly spirit we are of if we want any thing Heaven and Earth shall ring of us but we are graves wherein the gifts of God are buried without any resurrection Where is the heart that is pregnant with praises that cries out to his friend O help me to praise the Lord Divide our lives and the one half of them is mercies and the other half is sins and yet divide our prayers and hardly the tenth part is spent in praises Alas thanks is a tacite begging Let God gain the glory and thou shalt not lose the advantage The God of Israel is he that giveth strength to his people blessed be God Psal. 68.35 Conclude with the Psalmist Not unto me O Lord not unto me but unto thy Name give glory Think not when thou hast attended on the Lord without distractions I have quit my self well but mercy hath quit its self well He that justly payes his score shall be trusted again SECT V. V. YOU see here in the last place That Religion is an inward a difficult and a serious business Rom. 2.28 29. He is not a Iew that is one outwardly But he is a Iew that is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God To be watchful and holy within that 's a Christian to have the vanities of the heart cut off that 's circumcision to carry it so in an Ordinance that you may be praised of God that 's Religion while others are quarrelling about shadows in God's Ordinances beware leâ—t you lose the substance thereof There is in Religion a Body and a Soul The Religion of the body is but the body of Religion the Religion of the soul is the soul of Religion And as the separation of the body and the soul is the death of a man so the divorcing asunder the form and power of godliness is the death of godliness As it is injury to macerate and destroy the body for to cure and save the soul so it is a crime to damn and lose the soul to please and pamper the body Even so it is injurious to destroy the body and outside of Religion to preserve and advance the soul and inside of Religion but it is heinous to lose and break the heart of the inside and vitals of Religion to pamper and adorn the exteriours thereof It is well if while we quarrel about a bended knee we do not lose a broken heart Is the folly of the Quakers criminal for killing Religion in her body how sinful then is Formality that slayes Religion in her soul And then you see here also that Religion is a difficult and serious business men cannot swim to Heaven in a stream of Rose water nor row up this River while they are asleep we cannot wrestle with our God with our hands in our pockets nor get the blessing without sweat and tears To repeat so many Pater nosters or Ave-maries with the heart on other things and running sometimes from their knees to other business in the midst of their Devotion as many do in the Church of Rome or to say our prayers and be slumbring or dressing us the while as in the guise of many outside Christians is far from our Religion The manner of duties is material to the acceptation of them Ah stupid worldlings how can ye read those Scriptures Mat. 7.14 Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Mat. 11.12 The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force and such like and yet hope for salvation in that secure and formal course you hold Do you imagine there are two waies to Heaven one for the diligent mortified and watchful Christian and another for the idle sluggard or carnal worldling Have the holiest Saints much ado to walk with God and get to him that make it their business they are saved and that 's all and can you live and die well enough that are neither mortified nor watchful nor diligent that have no delight but in your vanities no skill but in the world no diligence but for your base ends what back-way have you found to Heaven what blind way have you descried to happiness Awake awake look at the Scripture and then look at your selves and be convinced that the only way to eternal happiness is to make Christ your choice Religion your business the Scriptures your Rule Heaven your design the Saints your company and the Ordinances your delight and in them remember that you go to attend upon the Lord and this must be done without Distractions And now you know your duty and your danger The end of speculation is practice and the end of our Preaching is not your approbation but your submission The Christian Religion is not so much the form of spiritual Notions as the power of spiritual Motions He that complements in God's service will complement his soul into Hell The outside of Religion may bring you to the the outside of Heaven but inside-holiness will conduct you into the inside of happiness If these Directions I have given be but studied and applied as you would study and apply a medicine for the Gout or Stone or but the Tooth-ach I verily trust they will prove the destruction of your distractions But if they be neglected your distractions will prove your destruction FINIS * Letter to the E. of Salisb. concerning his Advancement Ambroâ— lib 8. â—p 6◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 §. 1. The dependance of the words * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Si orationem facit ad Dominum propè est Coelo Scripturis incumbit totuâ— illâ—c est Si Psalmum canit placet sibi Tertul. de exh cast p. 670. :: Tu de castitate canisâ— illae somniant etiam viros flammas patiuntur saciunt ubi decorum ubi adhasio Domini ubi finis à Paulo positus sublato fine tolli debent ad illud destinata Areâ—ius in loc * So the word is used 1 Cor. 14.40 §. 2. An Observation §. 3. The Explication of the Text. (a) Quod inteniè facit servire Domino sine ullâ distractione Hieron lib. 1. contr Jo. vin By comparing whereof with the present vulgar you may easily see the Vulgar was none of Hieromes For thus the Vulgar Quod facultatem
hands to God in the Heavens The elevation of the hands signifies nothing without lifting up the heart with them If prayer be the lifting up of the heart what are words without the heart A man may spend the same time and the same words in a serious and in an heartless Duty and yet the latter stand for nothing for want of intenseness and attention Isa. 64.7 There is none that calleth on thy name because none stirreth up himself to take hold on thee If a man come to the service of God and do not excite and stir up his soul to exercise grace as a man will blow a dull fire his faith zeal and humility if he do not blow them up but suffer his Heart to run at randome the holy God counts all the rest as a Cypher without a figure it stands for nothing 2. It is necessary to comfort in the Duty The service of God is a most sweet pot of ointment of a most refreshing odour The gracious soul is refreshed therein as in a bed of Spices Distractions are the dead flies Eccles. 10.1 that dropping into this sweet ointment cause it to send forth a stinking savour displeasing to God and unpleasing to the soul. Where can the soul be better than with God what sweeter company than that which Angels keep or pleasant imployment than conversing in Heaven till a sort of wandring thoughts arise and like a black cloud quite hide the sweet beams of that Sun of Righteousness from the soul and then your comfort is gone The sweetness of musick consists in its harmony when the strings are out of tune or untuneably toucht it is but a harsh sound there is no musick wandring thoughts are like strings out of tune there is no musick in that Duty the Holy Ghost goes away and likes it not and the soul likes it not is weary of it there is no sweetness in that Duty It is a tried Maxime The more seriousness the more sweetness the neerer to God the warmer and merrier is the soul which inward comfort is some reward to the heart of a Christian when his particular suit is denyed so that IN keeping of Gods Commandments there is a great reward The choicest of the Spirits sealing comforts are bestowed in the lively service of God 3. It is necessary to the prosperity of a Duty Psal. 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer In Gods service the soul should be regarding God alone If I regard a Corruption instead of Christ If wâ—en some vain object presents it self I turn my back on God to treat with vanity the Lord will not hear me nor regard me We read 1 Sam. 1.13 of that gracious Hannah that she spake in her heart only her lips moved not her voice was not heard yet this wordless prayer did the business Lip-labour if no more is but lost labour The sweating and labouring of the heart prevails The Lord our God hath a book of remembrance for them that think on his name while he turns the deaf ear to them that cry Lord Lord and do not inwardly adore him In short thus saith the Lord God Ezek. 14.4 Every man Child or not Child that setteth up his Idols in his heart and cometh to the Prophet sits demurely before the Preacher I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his Idols He that sets his heart on vanity vanity shall be his recompense If he will not affect his own Heart he shall never affect mine He that withdraws his Heart in asking will find the Lord to withdraw his Hand in giving what he asks 4. It is necessary to communion with Iesus Christ in a Duty Which though it be a Riddle to unregenerate men yet is the very business and next end of the Worship of God which if you lose that Duty is lost Jesus Christ calls Cant. 2.14 O my Dove let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely Now if when he waits thus to be gracious you wait not for his grace and watch for the blessed appearances of the Holy Ghost you will lose that happiness you 'l lose your labour and at length your souls How are you troubled that you are abroad when some good customer comes to your shop It troubles you when that is bestowed with another that was intended for you O Sirs the spirit of God is a good Customer and when he comes and you are away you are absent to your loss and therefore keep at home the next time How unmannerly would it be for the Subject to knock at his Princes Chamber and knowing he is within and waits for him step away about some frivolous trifle when he hath done The Prince appears opens his royall door and calls but the Clown is gone How fairly may he shut his door against such a guest and make him dance attendance long enough before he see his face Ah how seldome do we see the face of God in an Ordinance or much endeavour it Psal. 63.8 My soul followeth hard after thee The Hebrew is glued to thee That soul and that alone that follows hard after God by the earnest intenseness of zeal and love that cannot be content without him that heart shall cleave to him and have rare communion with him Thus you may plainly see that to attend on the Lord without Distraction is a Duty which is the Third Point to be handled CHAP. IV. Reasons why we ought to Attend on the Lord without Distraction SECT I. THe fourth Point is to shew the Reasons for the Doctrine and Duty of Attending on the Lord without Distraction And they are drawn 1. From the Nature of God 2. From the Nature of his Worship 3. From the Nature of our condition 4. From the Nature of Distractions The first reason is taken from the Nature of God each of his Attributes plead for this especially 1. The greatness of God The greater the Personage the greater the Reverence and the more solemn your attendance is Hence Elihu cryes Job 37.19 Teach us what we shall say to him for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness It is a bold adventure to speak to him what is it then to trifle with him wilt thou speak to God nay pray to God and not so much as look that way when thou speakest to him This is to put on him the robes and title of a King and use him like a slave A Prince may converse with two or three of his servants at a time but its Impudence for a servant to talk to two or three Princes at a time The great Iehovah can speak with thee and a thousand more and do all your errands at a time but alas thou art too poor a worm to entertain the great Iehovah and other matters at once We are his
be busie too If we had only an Idol to serve the body were enough but God is a spirit and cannot be conversed with without the spirit yea and the whole spirit also Fond man that thinks with his narrow soul to deal with God and somewhat else who alone is immense and beyond our greatest capacity He must be taken up and goe out of the world in a sense that will get into Heaven The soul on the lip and the soul in the ear do rid work in the service of God 3. It is sweet work Psal. 138.5 Yea they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord mark shall sing their spirits shall neither droop nor step aside He that attends on the Lord hath a most sweet imployment now the mind useth not to straggle at most rare musick or under an enchanting song Alexanders great soul yet is said exilire è convivio under the charms of Musick O the gracious presence of God! his sweet smiles and blessed love-tokens that can transport Angels sure they may ingage the heart of man and sufficiently fill it Read the Canticles and say then Is not converse with God an Heaven upon Earth and how far is Heaven from distracted thoughts sad and severe things afflict the mind It would flit from such subjects but sweet imployment ingages all the heart next dwelling in Heaven is the soul flying to Heaven in an Ordinance Our dryest Duties yield us least comfort The nearer the Sun the warmer More close to God more sweet you 'l find him and never more joyfull than in the House of Prayer SECT III. THe third reason is taken from the Nature of our Condition and that is this 1. We cannot live without God In him we live as to our natural life every 〈◊〉 is fetcht from Him so in our spiritual life the life of the soul is He that made it A world without a Sun is dark a body without a soul is dead but a soul withont God is dark is dead is damned It s true men feed and sing and make a shift without God in the World but he that lives truly lives by faith the other life Beasts live they eat and drink and work but know not God but if you will define the life of a soul God must be in the beginning in the midst and in the end of it 2. Our only way of communion with God is in an Ordinance This is the River the streams whereof make glad the heart Were a City besieged by mortal enemies round about and no relief to be conveyed but by the River that waters it how fatal to the City would the stopping of that River be that City must starve or yield The ordinary supplies that a Christian cannot be without come swimming down from Heaven through the Ordinances of God Distractions stop the River hinder Prayer from ascending to God hinder instruction from descending into the heart intercept commerce and starve the soul. The zeal of the Iews was eminent this way of whom Iosephus relates that when Pompeys Souldiers shot at the thickest of them in the siege of Ierusalem yet amidst those arrows did they go and perform their rites as though there had been peace why thy Prayer is the Embassador Distractions cut off the feet and Prov. 26.6 He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage A wandring Prayer is a message by the hand of a fool and that man is like to drink damage that useth it A man is a poor thing without God and God is not ordinarily met with but in an Ordinance 3. All our strength and Heart is too little for this business All our understanding too little to apprehend his rare perfections All our affections too weak and shallow to love imbrace and delight in him hence Mark 12.33 we are obliged to love and so to serve the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength that is with every faculty of the soul and with the utmost strength of every faculty Now if it be hard enough to climb the hill unto God with wings how shall we ascend with these weights about us or think to please with half an heart when the whole is too little for he is a great King and his name is dreadfull among the Heathen when all the water in the pool will but turn the Mill that Miller is a fool that by twenty Channels lets out the Water other wayes The intense and earnest heart is little enough to converse with God all the water in our Pool will but turn the Mill. What then can the remiss heart bring to pass and how unlikely are we to obtain with the great God with the negligent approaches of a trivial spirit with a little part of a little heart SECT IV. THe fourth Reason is taken from the Nature of Distractions 1. They divide the Heart and disable it wholly now a divided heart can do nothing at all Hos. 10.2 Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty If one heart divided from another make a fault much more faulty is one heart divided within it self Hence it comes to pass that Satan offers as the false Mother did about the living Child 1 King 3.26 Let it be neither mine nor thine but divide it If he cannot block your way to the presence of God and make good his claim to the living Child as She would have done then with might and main he furthers all imaginable diversions to part the Soul and cryes Lord let it be neither thine nor mine but divide it well knowing that as the Child so the heart while intire is a living and lively heart but divide it and destroy it As he that runs at once after two Hares catches neither so two businesses at once spoils both He that thinks to treat the Creator and the creature at the same time enjoyes neither of them And thus the vain heart of man by over-doing undoes it self and reaching at two matters spoils them both 2. These Distractions frustrate the Ordinance and cause the great name of God to be taken in vain Instead of forcing the Hearers these do but beat the air and cannot reach the Heart of God because they never reach your own And this is one of the follies of a roving heart that it consumes as much time in a sensless as in a serious Duty and yet doth nothing in it brings nothing to pass And so the Holy God stands over the heedless sinner with Iobs words Job 16.3 When shall Vain words have an End I am weary with this tinkling Cymbal either pray in earnest or pray not at all hear in earnest or hear not at all As good not at all as never the better The service of God requires a man not a shadow yea all a man and more than a man our