we are engaged in holy Ordinances how uncomely would this be How inexcusable should we be How much displeased would the Lord be 8. To attend without distraction implies refusing to be diverted from attending upon God without great necessity Indeed since the Lord will have mercy and not sacrifice he will excuse our attendance when unavoidable necessity and the Mercy he requires us to shew does divert us from it but Hearts that are truly gracious are troubled when they are thus diverted When our Lord admonishes his Disciples to pray that their flight might not be in the Winter nor on the Sabbath-Day Mat. 24. 20. he plainly intimates that to be disturbed on the Sabbath and to be hindred from engaging in Ordinances ought to be lookt upon as a very great Affliction Carnal Minds are glad of occasions that seem to justifie their omission of Holy Duties but sanctified and renewed hearts are otherwise minded they are sensible that Worship and Duty is owing to the Lord and that he is not benefited but they by giving it The Farm the Merchandise and things of that nature cannot hinder their coming to the Marriage Supper They are deaf to the perswasions of carnal Relations and Friends who would draw them off from Exercises of Religion They know that time was given them not that chiefly they should mind things temporal but those things that are invisible and eternal To be far from God is the way to perish 't is good 't is pleasant 't is safe to be near him Psal 73. 27. To be diverted from attending on the Lord is to be diverted from the most blessed thing on earth Psal 65. 4. Blessed is the Man whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Courts we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy House even of thy holy Temple 9. To attend without distraction implies abiding with God and perseverance in his Service The undistracted attendant is stedfast in the Lord's Covenant his Bonds and Cords are Bonds and Cords of love and why should any say Let us break these Bonds asunder and cast away these Cords from us They were good words and they that spake them were as good as their word Jer. 50. 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten This perpetual Covenant should be kept in everlasting remembrance and there is good reason for it Psal 25. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies He that attends without distraction ceases not to be an Attendant but perseveres in his Lord's Service he takes care to have his Loyns girt about for spiritual Labour his Light burning for he is waiting and expecting his Lord's coming An ancient Father wished when Christ came that he might find him aut precantem aut praedicantem either Praying or Preaching Every Christian should have a wish of this nature that he may be found either praying hearing or practising what he hears Blessed are those Servants whom the Lord when he comes shall find so doing Luke 12. 43. In the third place I am to assign the reasons why with such care we should take heed of distraction in the Lord's Service And these Reasons shall be of two sorts The first sort shall be drawn from the evil of distraction The second sort shall be drawn from the benefit of attending without distraction The first sort of reasons shall be drawn from the evil of distraction and the evil of this I shall make manifest and apparent 1. In distraction there is great irreverence and contempt of God Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God says the Psalmist Psal 10. 13. There is no reason he should do it nay there is all the reason in the World to the contrary that he should adore and serve him The wicked contemn God by running away from him and a total neglect of his Service but his Attendants contemn him when they make their addresses to him if instead of offering spiritual Sacrifices they offer Affronts to God and there is a special offensiveness in so doing therefore he protests that such Service were a trouble to him that he was weary to bear them that his Soul hated them Isa 1. 14. If a Man should address an earthly Potentate and instead of speaking to the King should ever and anon talk to some inferiour Person that stood by instead of hearing the King should turn his Eye and his Ear away from him and not mind a word he should say Royal Majesty would look upon this as an Affront insufferable But thus in distracted Duties the King of Glory is treated the Mind is upon the Creature and this and that and t'other worldly affair when the Tongue is speaking to the Creatour and what he speaks the Ear many times hears not and the Heart is farther off from heeding Thus what would not be done to a Governour is done to the highest and best and greatest King whose dreadful Name all the Earth should stand in awe of 2. In distraction there is a taking of God's Name in vain the third Commandment is broken the Transgressors whereof the Lord says he will not hold guiltless Exod. 20. 7. This may be called the first Commandment with threatning as the fifth is said to be the first Commandment with promise For though in the second Commandment mention is made of the Mercy of God and of his Jealousie yet the one is provoked by them that hate God the other is promised to them that love him and keep his Commandments so that Commandments in the general are mentioned not this particular Commandment specified To what purpose is a Duty performed where distraction is allowed The Name of God is not hallowed but profaned when it sounds from the Lips but the heart thinks not of nor sanctifies him whose Name it is When distraction prevails all Ordinances are engaged in vain nay there is not only a missing of that benefit that is promised unto serious Engagers but guilt is contracted and by such distracted Duties the distance becomes greater between God and the performers Bernard complains Aliud canto aliud cogito I sing and pray one thing and think another And afterwards Vae mihi quoni am ibi pecco ubi peccata emendare debeo I commit faults wo is me even in those Duties by which my faults should be amended It was well he said Wo is me Because of these distractions else God would have said Wo to thee because of them And indeed where they are not minded nor bewailed the case is woful God takes it amiss and is very much displeased that such Hypocrites take his Name into their Mouths 3. In distraction there is a slighting of Jesus the Advocate and Mediatour Our Lord's Heart and Soul was in the Work of our Redemption he was forward to undertake
all should run this way as to a matter of the mightiest importance and concernment Here if we are undistractedly serious and sincere all is safe and that both throughout time and to Eternity But if Attendance upon God be either neglected or negligently given though we are never so intent and industrious about other things our Souls and all our labour will be lost together In this Chapter a little before the Text the Apostle admonishes the Corinthian Saints of the shortness of time of the transitoriness of this present World and then informs them what kind of Attendance upon himself God required and expected from them 1. His Admonition concerning Time is startling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time is contracted to a little space An allusion here is to Sails which are no longer spread but bound up when the Ship is just come to the Harbour The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also signifies to wind up a Body in Grave clothes that it may be fit for the Sepulchre Time is thus ready to be wound up continually and to be buried as it were in Eternity compared with this 't is but as a drop to the whole Ocean and this very drop is ever wasting Time is a short thing in a continual Flux and every moment growing shorter Other things are of the less value because they can be enjoyed but a little while the Epithet Temporal or lasting only for a season being added to the greatest Wealth the highest Pleasures nay to Diadems and Kingdoms makes them fall in the esteem of a discerning Judgment But the worth of Time is enhanced by the brevity of it The day of Salvation the accepted time in which we and our attendance upon God may be accepted of cannot extend beyond the limits of the time of life Now we must make Peace with God work out our own Salvation and provide for Eternity this must be done now or never There is not a moment of time but is too good to be lost there is Service and work enough to do in it and to lose all our time is everlastingly to lose our selves 2. The Apostle speaks of the Worlds transitoriness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fashion of the World passes away Mammon is but a sorry Master and really is unworthy of that numerous attendance and mighty respect which is given to him Sin has made man foolish and the world vain And 't is an undeniable argument of Man's Folly that a vain World is so much minded which is so apt to fade and change As Scenes in a Comedy or Tragedy alter and quickly I borrow a similitude from what I am far from approving the last Act comes and the Play is at an end so this World is continually varying Now there appears one and a little after quite and clean another Face of things The Face of the Sky is not more mutable than the state of humane Affairs And thus 't is likely to be to the World's End when the Earth and the works that are therein shall be burnt up That God whom Christians attend upon is unchangeable and so is his love to them and the inheritance they expect hereafter is incorruptible and fadeth not away But they themselves are Strangers and Pilgrims in this World and should behave themselves as Passengers that are travelling towards a better World And as for their Enjoyments by the way they should love them as being about to leave them Joy should be moderate in the fruition of them and when they are taken away Sorrow should not be excessive nor transgress the Bounds of Grace and Reason 3. The Apostle as a Man well acquainted with the Court of Heaven directs Believers Attendance upon the Lord who dwells and reigns there He is very careful not to cast a Snare upon the Corinthians nor to impose upon Conscience what God does not Papal Authority is Audacious and Antichristian and makes bold to Command and that upon the highest Penalty what the Lord never required But the Apostle abhors spiritual Vsurpation He would have all observe what God called them to and in every condition to abide with God and to attend upon the Lord without Distraction In the words take notice 1. Of the Lord with whom we have to do The Eyes of Servants are to their Masters and the Eyes of Worshippers should be to the Lord whom they adore and if they had a greater respect to this holy One what an influence would it have upon their Lives and Services The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord in the New Testament is put for Jehovah in the Old The God whom Christians acknowledge is the Lord Jehovah who has his Being of himself and has Dominion over all 2. Observe what this Lord requires and calls for and that is attendance upon him The Greek word which the Holy Ghost uses is very significant and emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implies access unto God and abiding with him and being sit for and well-pleased with both the one and the other 3. Who are to attend upon the Lord All Men do owe Homage and Service to him which is their Honour and Interest to pay But those who are his own Children and People are by special obligations and favour called to this duty and priviledge of attending upon their God and they have a new Principle and Nature which inclines them to it 4. Here is a direction as to the manner of attending on the Lord it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without distraction Plutarch calls that Studium sapientiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the study of Wisdom without Distraction when nothing is able to call away the Mind and make it cease that study In attending upon God there must be intention in the mind a full bent of the heart with strength of affection and desire not to be diverted much less to be extinguished All other business comparatively must be lookt upon as trivial attendance upon the Lord must be with the greatest seriousness I raise three Doctrines from the words First The Children of Men ought to attend upon God this the Text plainly supposes Secondly In attending upon God we should look upon him as the Lord and serve him accordingly Thirdly Attendance upon the Lord should be without Distraction Doct. I. I begin with the first of these Doctrines The Children of Men ought to attend upon God The Heaven of Heavens is his Throne and he is attended on by thousands and ten thousands of glorious and holy Ones who minister unto him and stand before him And yet upon Earth which is his Footstool he calls for Attendance too for he rejoices in the habitable parts of the Earth and his delights are with the Sons of Men who understand him and themselves so well as to seek after him He requires continually to be waited on Hos 12. 6. Therefore turn thou to thy God keep Mercy and Judgment and wait on thy God continually Injunctions to wait are reiterated with the
he refused to go out free at the year of release and had his Ear boared with an Awl to the Post of the Door to signifie his resolution to serve his Master continually To profess Service to the Lord and then to depart from him is highly to reproach and dishonour him and in effect to say that fleshly and worldly Lusts are better Lords than He 't is more notoriously to despise him and to harden others in their contempt of him and of his Word and Commandments Attenders upon God give not over following him in all those ways he has commanded them to walk in They follow on to know him they follow him fully and being upheld with the right hand of his Righteousness their Souls follow hard after him Psal 63. 8. And whom should they follow to whom else should they go The Lord has the words of Eternal Life He alone has Grace and Honour and Glory and all good things else to give and to go away from him is to lose all this and to tread the path which leads to Eternal Death Attenders upon God cannot change their Lord but they must change for the worse nay the very best for the very worst of all therefore they are unchangeably his stedfast and unmovable always abiding and abounding in his Work and Service In the third place I am to speak of several sorts of Attending upon God It will be needful to insist particularly on these that you may have a more distinct understanding of your Duty in the Extent and Latitude of it The Scripture makes a great difference between Attendance and Attendance upon God so that there are diverse kinds of it as shall be manifested in these following Distinctions I. There is an Attendance upon God which is with the lips and body only and that which is with the Heart also I begin with this distinction to prevent Hypocrisie and Formality in Religious Duties whereby the Jealous God is so much provoked and Professors deceive others but principally cheat and ruine their own Souls 1. An Attendance which is with the lips and body only God by the Prophet spake against this and by his own Son shews the vanity of it and how displeasing 't is to him Mat. 15. 7 8. Ye Hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you saying This People draweth near unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me The body indeed is to give Attendance as being the Temple of the Spirit The Tongue is then most Angelical and Man's Glory when most enlargedly it does confess to God call upon and praise and magnifie his Name But if when the eyes are lift up towards Heaven the hands are stretched forth with great eagerness the knees bowe with seeming Humility and Devotion and the words of the mouth are serious and holy and with appearing fervency all this while the heart keeps aloof and at a distance from God values not his love his grace or Communion with him but goes after its pleasures lusts and covetousness Alas Here is only a dead and rotten carcass of a Duty without a Soul and 't is very loathsom and abominable In all Religious Performances if the heart does not at all care to draw near 't is certain the Lord will not draw near neither as to his gracious presence And if God be not found in the Duty nor the Heart of the performer found there how unprofitable must the performance needs be 2. There is an Attendance upon God not with the Body only but with the Heart also He speaketh unto us as unto Children and saith My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. Give him never so much without this you give him nothing that he cares for The Heart does the chief part in the pure and acceptable Worship of God The Heart must keep his Commandments else they are not kept Prov. 3. 1. My Son forget not my Law but let thy Heart keep my Commandments The Psalmist lifted up his very Soul to God Psal 25. 1. this the Lord look'd at and liked Those Graces which are to be acted in Attendance upon God as Faith and holy Reverence Love Desire and Hope and such like the Heart is the Seat of them and 't is by the Heart that they are exercised And when the Heart being cleansed from its Defilements and weaned from the Allurements of this World draws very near to God and God also draws very near these his nearer approaches how reviving how healing and confirming are they When the Spirit of a Saint does before the time in a sense return to God who gave it and converse with him in the heavenly places that converse how high and joyful and beneficial is it found When Moses came down from the Mount where he had been with God his Face did shine and when the Heart has been above in Heaven a clearer light does shine into it and 't is more gloriously transformed into the Divine Image and Nature II. There is an Attendance upon God which is voluntary and which is through constraint and forced 1. An Attendance which is voluntary When God by his powerful Grace inclines and determines the Will to himself so that He is chosen and his special Favour and Blessings are valued above all things A mighty strength is put forth and yet without coaction in bending the Will of Man towards God and to his Will which naturally is so perverse and obstinate in Evil that 't is fitly compared to an Iron Sinew What a Power is it which makes it pliable Psal 110. 3. Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power And when to will is thus wrought the Heart is then enlarged and at liberty to come to God and to do its Duty There is a renewed Nature which is principium motus a principle of spiritual Motion This is notably expressed Zach. 8. 21. And the Inhabitants of one City shall go to another saying let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of Hosts I will go also The like temper we find Jer. 50. 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their Faces thitherward saying come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten 2. There is an Attendance which is through constraint and forced The Heart is not right with God nor taken with himself at all But pressing necessity drives the Soul to him for some benefit which none but he can bestow Or there are some indications of God's Anger and Displeasure The effects of which they which attend upon him feel or fear whereupon they are forced to cry for mercy Such kind of Attenders were those Psal 78. 34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him they returned and enquired early after God they remembered that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouth and lyed unto him
Thousands and Millions of Souls On this Christian Sabbath what kind of Attendance on God should ours be Before the day comes it should be longed for and when 't is come it should be most welcom Assoon as our Senses are unlock't in the Morning our Souls should be as it were caught up to the third Heaven and there continue until Night Our Lord is risen indeed and we should rise with him and seek those things which are above where he sits at the right hand of God Col. 3. 1. Things on Earth will be intruding into our Hearts and Thoughts but no Entertainment must be given them A Desire or Wish must not be allowed them unless it be that we may not be distracted with them When Abraham was just come to Mount Moriah he says to his Servants Abide you here and I and the Lad will go yonder and Worship Gen. 22. 5. So when the Lord's Day comes we should say to all our Worldly Businesses and Concerns Abide as you are cease from our Care and Thoughts whilst we and our Hearts ascend unto the Hill of the Lord and Worship This day is appointed for our more solemn approaches unto God and that we may have more intimate Fellowship with him and if Communion with him be enjoyed we shall find so much Grace and Strength and Peace therein that we shall be perfectly of the Psalmist's mind That a day in God's Courts is better than a Thousand Psal 84. 10. The very Palaces of the wicked are contemptible No place under Heaven is so desirable as the Sanctuary 2. There is an Attendance upon God on other days He is the Lord of our time and therefore every day he should have some part of it We should be careful to know how he would have us to employ that time which himself gives and will call us to account for We should live the rest of our time in the Flesh to the Will of God not to the Lusts of other Men or our own 1 Pet. 4. 2. and we should grieve that so much has been wasted to his Displeasure and Dishonour David was glad to go up to the House of God on the Sabbath but he was also a daily Attender on him Psal 86. 3. Be merciful unto me O Lord for I cry unto thee daily So Heman Psal 88. 9. Lord I have called daily upon thee I have stretched out my Hands unto thee And Daniel rather than omit praying daily unto God ventured to be cast into the Lion's Den and God miraculously appears for him his Mouth having been open so often in fervent Supplication God shuts the Lions Mouths that though in the Den among them they did not make a Prey of him Every day we should be in the Fear of God and have Faith in him and if in the midst of our Worldly Business our Hearts frequently step aside to attend on God in mental Applications to him that attendance will be both acceptable and profitable But some times every day we should sequester our selves from other business that this greatest and best business may be minded which is to draw near to God 6. There is an attendance upon God in a time of Liberty and a Calm and an attending upon him in a time of Persecution and a Storm In a time of Liberty the Lord has many Followers who leave him when a Storm of Persecution beats in their Faces When the King of Navarre was about to Apostatize to Popery and Beza came to confirm him in the Truth he made this Answer That he would never go so far to Sea as not to be able to put to Shore when he pleased He shewed plainly that he could turn Papist to get the Kingdom of France but he was resolved not to go through much Tribulation to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Hearers compared to stony ground heard the Gospel with forwardness and joy while the Gospel and Prosperity were conjoyned but when Persecution and Tribulation arose because of the Word they were offended they kept not their standing but in that time of Temptation fell away Mat. 13. 20 21. We should be other kind of attendants than so Let us count the cost of being Disciples and conclude that Grace and Glory will quit the cost Our Lord was offended at nothing that was to be done or suffered for our Redemption surely neither his Commands nor his Cross should be matter of offence to us but still we should remain his followers I might also add another distinction There is an attendance upon God in Earth and in Heaven the one is Duty the other is Reward the one is short the other is endless and yet in that Service there shall not be the least weariness nay so far from that that there will be fulness of Joy and everlasting Pleasure Thus I have spoken of the several sorts of attending upon God In the fourth place I am to assign the reasons why the Children of Men ought to give their attendance upon God 1. The Command to attend upon God is written on the Heart of Man by Nature There is both the Creed and the Law of Nature There are several Truths that are apparent without a supernatural Revelation as that there is a God that he rules the World that he sees all the works of the Children of Men and that he will call them to an account for all that they have done There are also Commands which are written in the Hearts of Men. Rom. 2. 14. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their Hearts and among these Commands this is as plain as any That God is to be worshipped The Gentiles therefore are blamed because this Command was not observed Rom. 1. 21. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Now as sins have their peculiar aggravations that are committed against the Light of Nature so neglect of Duty is highly aggravated when 't is evident by the Light of Nature that such Duty ought to be performed 2. Attendance upon God is frequently called for and urged in the Scripture The Lord spake this with his own Voice from Heaven and afterwards wrote it with his own Hand upon the Tables of Stone that we should have no other Gods before him that we should not Worship Idols that we should not take his Name in vain Exod. 20. Our Lord repeats what was enjoyned long before Mat. 4. 10. It is written thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve and he says Joh. 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth So Psal 22. 23. Ye that fear the Lord praise him all ye the Seed of Jacob glorifie him and
an heart to know him They that are ignorant of God must needs be ignorant also how to attend upon him If their knowledge be only notional and they know him not as they ought to know him they will not attend upon him as they ought to attend upon him Lay hold therefore upon that good Word of Promise Jer. 24. 7. And I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my People and I will be their God for they shall return to me with their whole heart And Heb. 8. 11. They shall all know me from the least to the greatest This knowledge of God will have a mighty influence upon your Hearts to bring your very Thoughts into captivity and obedience 2 Cor. 10. 5. We read 1 Sam. 2. 3. That the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed and they who rightly know this will take care to serve him in sincerity True knowledge of God will bring a great awe of him upon your Spirits His Majesty Glory Holiness will strike you into great humility and reverence How will you be emptied of your selves and your Souls and Thoughts swallowed up in God when he does cause his Excellency to pass before you The appearance of the Lord obscures and darkens all things else that they are counted not worth minding Therefore the Prophet says Isa 24. 23. Then the Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before his Ancients gloriously The Eye of this God whom you attend upon is jealous and yet withal it is all seeing Oh take heed of being deceived as if God would be mocked by Man and Man not be the worse nor smart for it Gal. 6. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he also reap If thy Duties are only like a sowing of meer Chaff how canst thou expect to reap any good by them The good Angels themselves do reverence the Lord whom you are worshipping the Apostate ones tremble before him the better you know him the more godly your fear will be and fear will unite your Hearts and Thoughts both to God and to the Work and Duty he requires 4. Be very careful to cherish the Grace of Hope in your Hearts and look upon holy Duties as highly valuable Priviledges the greater your expectation is of the truest benefit and advantage the more intent and fixed will your Thoughts be The Apostle prays to the God of hope for the believing Romans that they might abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. Hope has an earnest expectation and the better the things are which are hoped for still the more earnest the expectation is this the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an emphatical word and signifies to look for a thing with an Head lifted up and with great intention both of Eyes and Mind Such an Hope what a remedy would it be against Distraction When Hope is very low the Mind runs very much upon matter of discouragement and is deadned by it And the best things of all being almost despaired of the Heart is the apter to wander after things that cannot profit but Hope is compared to an Anchor Heb. 6. 19. Which hope we have as an Anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast it keeps the Soul steddy and fixed upon what is hoped for till it be enjoyed Duties are not only to be engaged in as what are due to God but we are to be perswaded that the giving what is due to God is the way to receive still more and more from him In these Duties our Hopes should be high in him that is most high we are not able to conceive how much he can do for us We are to hope in him as a most liberal and all-sufficient Giver we are to expect the yearning of his Bowels in our Distresses and Afflictions and especially when we are weary and heavy laden with the burthen of our Iniquities We are to expect the unlocking of the unsearchable Riches of Christ which are enough to enrich the whole beggar'd progeny of Adam and all that come to him shall certainly experience the Riches and fulness of that Grace that dwells in him The Ploughman plows in hope and hope fixes his Thoughts upon the precious Fruits of the Earth which in Harvest he expects to reap Oh study the Promises of God which are exceeding broad they are wider than the Earth and Sea and they reach as high as the highest Heaven Hope for the promised Blessings which are of all sorts Temporal Spiritual Eternal and the more strong and lively hope is it will the more fix your Mind revive your Spirits and quicken your Desires 5. Another Remedy against Distraction is a fervent Love As love is the first and great Command so 't is a most commanding affection Amor meus pondus meum Love is the weight which sets all the Wheels a going and inclines them that way which it self is inclined The Soul of Man has been by some affirmed to be ubi amat non ubi animat where it loves and on the object beloved rather than in the Body which is the Tabernacle where it dwells and the reason is because Love does so command the Mind and Thoughts after it If your love be set upon God Love will set your Thoughts upon him The Thoughts of the Covetous how are they intent upon their beloved gain and the Pleasures which the voluptuous doat on are hardly ever out of their Mind If love to God constrain you to attend upon God it will bring your Thoughts along with it and very much restrain them from wandring The Love of God can never be produced by corrupt Nature nor by the meer force of reason 't is a special Grace of the Lord's Spirit and to him you must make application for it Christ died that he might bring you to God and Love is the going of the Soul to him In the Name of Christ put up your earnest Petitions that this Grace of Love may be wrought in you in truth and being wrought that it may continually be increased The Lord says he will write his Laws in your Hearts Oh pray that this great Command to love him may be written in deep and lasting Characters and if the Lord once become your desire and delight the Duties you perform will become more pleasant and delightful and undistracted God is light and in him there is no darkness nothing but what is desirable All Excellencies in the Creatures are derived from him and the Streams are but little if we look to the Fountain from whence they all come This God as excellent and glorious as he is is willing in Christ to be yours Such loveliness Such loving kindness what Love does it call for from you Let nothing be able to draw away your Love and the