6. And the People of God are so strengthned revived and delighted and have such sensible Communion with him as that they speak out their Joy and Satisfaction v. 9. Lo this is our God and we have waited for him he will save us this is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoice in his Salvation Those are dangerously pufft up with Pride and Self-conceit that think themselves above Ordinances and 't is not a commendable Humility for them that desire the spiritual Benefit of Ordinances to imagine that Ordinances are above them They are in no wise to be neglected for they are the golden Pipes Zach. 4. 12. which convey the Grace of the Spirit compared to Oyl into the Hearts of Men. And as Attenders upon God are found in the way of his Ordinances so they observed diligently God's dealing with them They take notice how he looks upon them whether there are Smiles or Frowns in his Face they regard what God speaks whether it be by way of Counsel Caution Rebuke or Comfort they heed what the Spirit says to them and what Communications of Grace are vouchsafed They are attentive to regard the works of the Lord and to consider the operation of his hands Does he afflict they turn to him that smites them and desire to be more fully instructed and more thorowly purged Isa 27. 9. Does he load them with Benefits they are affected with his loving-kindness and sensible how obligations grow stronger to praise and please him 7. Attending upon God implies expecting all from him From this one Fountain flow the Streams of all sorts of Blessings In our Father's House there is Bread enough and to spare and how many soever are received and attend there there is room for more and not only room but Entertainment The Apostle though he was as having nothing yet had such a confident expectation from God as if he had all things in possession 2 Cor. 6. 10. as having nothing and yet possessing all things He assures the believing Philippians that God would supply all their needs according to his Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus Phil. 4. 19. The Psalmist in danger and calamity betakes himself to the mercy of God and the shadow of his Wings for refuge and cries unto him as the most High who performed all things for him Psal 57. 1 2. Who questions whether the Sun be full of Light whether the Ocean abound with Water Much less reason is there to question God's Power and Will to answer the expectations of his People that attend upon him It is his pleasure that they should wait upon him for every thing and knock at his door whatever they have to ask Abounding in hope is acceptable to God and will not issue in disappointment Therefore says David Psal 71. 14. But I will hope continually and will yet praise thee more and more 8. Attending upon God implies readiness to do whatever he Commands and to engage at his bidding in any Service Nominal Attendants will cry Lord Lord but real ones will do the things which he says There are an innumerable company of Angels who excel in strength who wait on God and those do his Commandments hearkning to the Voice of his Word Psal 103. 20. That they may fulfill their Maker's Pleasure they minister to them that shall be Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. Attendance includes a disposition to yield Obedience 'T is thus expressed Psal 119. 48. My Hands will I lift up to thy Commandments which I have loved The lifting up the Hands shews a forwardness to receive whatever Command God shall give and a readiness to set about the doing whatever he requires That 's becoming Language Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth and he that is truly a Servant will act according to what he hears his Lord speaking and he will not give back though he is put upon the hardest and hottest Service Abraham rose early in the Morning to obey God's Command to offer up his Son Isaac And the Lord sware to him by himself because he had not with-held his Son his only Son from him that in blessing he would bless him Gen. 22. 16 17. 'T is a temper of Mind in which God delights when his Attendants resolve to Obey without any exception 1 Sam. 15. 22. Hath the Lord as great delight in Burnt-offering and Sacrifices as in obeying the Voice of the Lord Behold to Obey is better than Sacrifice and to hearken than the Fat of Rams 9. Attending upon God implies giving Glory to his Name and acknowledging that his is the Kingdom and the Power Though the Offerings and Sacrifices enjoyned by the Law are to be offered no more Christ who was typified by those Sacrifices having offered up himself once for all and put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself yet under the New Testament Dispensation Attendants upon God have their Sacrifices to offer they must present themselves a living Sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is their reasonable Service Rom. 12. 1. and says the Apostle Heb. 13. 15. By Him therefore by Christ Jesus let us offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is the fruit of our Lips giving thanks to his Name Those glorious Spirits which attend above and surround the Throne in the Heavenly Kingdom Praise is their perpetual employment and to their Eternal Joy and Delight they find perpetual reason for it Worthy is the Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for he has created all things and for his Pleasure they are and were created Worthy also is the Lamb that was slain to receive the same and therefore Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever Rev. 4. 11. 5. 13. This Service of Thanksgiving the Lord much insists on is well-pleased with and accounts himself glorified by Psal 113. 1 2 3. Praise ye the Lord Praise O ye Servants of the Lord Praise the Name of the Lord Blessed be the Name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same the Lord's Name is to be praised Behold also how acceptable thankful Attendants are Psal 69. 30 31. I will praise the Name of God with a Song and will magnifie him with Thanksgiving this also shall please the Lord better than an Ox or Bullock that hath Horns and Hoofs And this is our way of Glorifying God who is so infinitely Glorious that to his Glory no addition can be made but only a Declaration and Acknowledgment made of it and when these Acknowledgments are largest it must be confessed that he is exalted above all Blessings and Praise 10. Attendance upon God implies a continuing to follow him Holy David says his Ears were opened or boared to hearken to God's Voice Psal 40. 6. Here is an Allusion unto the Israelitish Servant who was so well in his Master's House that
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
thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the Land of Uprightness He works in them to Will inclining their Hearts unto his Testimonies and he works in them to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. And directs their ways to keep his Statutes All the good that good Men do God is the doer of his Preventing and Assisting Grace is and does all in all And after all Dona sua coronat he crowns that Grace which himself has wrought and made active with an eternal weight of Glory Well may his attendants Glory in such a Lord as peerless Psal 34. 2 3. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together 10. God is the Lord and Judge of all at whose Barr Angels and Men the Quick and the dead must at last stand Apostate Angels believe and tremble at the foresight of future Judgment Satan's time is short his Wrath great but his Dread is greater of that great day of reckoning and retribution And as for the Children of Men all must be judged the Day is appointed and is hastning Every one of us says the Apostle must give account of himself to God Rom. 14. 12. And an account will be taken of all that has been done while we were in the Body Eccles 12. 14 For God will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil How should this Lord and Judge be feared With what diligence should his Commandments be kept Since this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole of Man Man's Duty Safety grand Concern and Interest lies here He that will Judge all at last with his own Eyes observes and sees all at present Psal 11. 4. The Lord's Throne is in Heaven his Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of Men Job 31. 4. Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps And when all the Children of Men that ever were or shall be do appear before him his faithful Attendants he will own and put great Honour upon and will say Well done good and faithful Servants you have been faithful in a few things I will make you Rulers over many things enter you into the Joy of your Lord But how shall the Children of Disobedience stand before him who lived and died in their Rebellion and Wickedness and did nothing but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous Judgment of God! In the second place I am to manifest what influence and effect the apprehension of God's being the Lord should have upon us when we attend upon him 1. When we look upon God as Lord we should be sensible of our distance and how we are infinitely below him What a sense was there of the Divine Majesty and of his own meanness in the Patriarch Abraham when he spoke those words Gen. 18 27. Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but Dust and Ashes We read that Dominion and Fear are with him that the brightest Stars are not pure in his sight how much less Man that is a Worm and the Son of Man that is a Worm Job 25. 2 5 6. The Grace of the Gospel does not exclude an holy Awe and Reverence of God but include it And the more there is of grace the more there is also of this godly fear and the Service is the more acceptable Heb. 12. 28 29. Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming Fire We are indeed encouraged to come with boldness but that boldness is upon the account of our great High Priest and Mediator but though we are the Members of Christ we must remember that God is unconceivably above us The Man Christ Jesus himself when he prayed fell on his face before his heavenly Father Mat. 26. 39. Nay he calls himself a worm too Psal 22. 6. But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the People 2. When we look upon God as Lord we should be deeply humbled and abased for our Affronts Offences and Rebellions against him 'T is the Law of the Lord Almighty which sin breaks and 't is the Lord himself that sin causes to be despised When David was truly penitent and contrite he cries out Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight Psal 51. 4. His sin had been an injury and indeed a deadly one to Uriah his Subject but it was a gross and foul breach of the Law of God and so was committed against him And as his sin was ever before him so was that Lord against whom he had sinned This lays him very low and makes him readily condemn himself and ready to justifie God how severe a Sentence soever should be past how sore a punishment soever should be inflicted upon him that thou mightest says he be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest Job had not been so careful of God's Honour as he had been to vindicate his own innocency at length the Lord himself does manifest his Glory to him he confounds him with that question Job 40. 8. Wilt thou disannul my Judgment Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be Righteous Job at length has a clearer view of the Greatness and Soveraignty of that God with whom he had to do and says I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes Job 42. 5 6. 3. When we look upon God as Lord we should admire his concernedness for the Salvation and Happiness of such as we are It was the expression of one who was an eminent Saint and a great King O my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee Psal 16. 2. He is a Lord so high so glorious in himself so far exalted above all that the goodness of the best cannot in the least degree be beneficial to him He stands not then in need of Man therefore his good will which he bears towards Men is the more to be admired If the whole humane Race after the first defection from God had perished and every one of them had been miserable for ever the blessedness of God would have been no more impaired than it was by the loss and misery of those Spirits that first sinned and left their own Habitation none of which ever was recovered or shall be Oh whence is it that the Lord of Glory should shew such discriminating Grace to the Sons of Men Lord what is Man that thou who art so much above him should be so mindful of him as to visit him with thy Salvation who was unable to save himself
be One yet in the Unity there is a Trinity This one God is Father Son and Holy Ghost Nazianzen an ancient Greek Father thus expresses his apprehensions of God when he came to worship him I am not able says he to apprehend One but I am presently struck with the brightness of Three I am not able to distinguish Three but I am presently brought back to One again Regulate your Apprehensions of God by that Revelation he has made of himself in his own Word and pry no farther than what is written that so you may undistractedly worship God himself and not the fruit of your imagination instead of him 3. To attend without distraction implies the greatest intention of mind As all the Lines from the circumference of a Circle meet together in one point of the Center so the Thoughts of the Mind should center upon God and the Duty that is done to him God should be so minded as that all other things should be out of mind Though the Soul is united to the Body yet it should be in a sense separated as risen with Christ and with him ascended and sitting in heavenly places Eph. 2. 6. And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus How intent upon God and his Praises are the Spirits of Just Men made perfect And the Spirits of Saints Militant should imitate those that are Triumphant It is storied of that famous Mathematician Archimedes that when Syracuse was taken by Marcellus he was so intent in making Figures upon the ground that he minded not the taking of the City and was slain by a Soldier that knew not who he was for Marcellus had given a Commandment to save him If such a danger could not disturb the intention of Archimedes for the saving of a City the saving of a Soul does justly challenge a greater intention in every Duty we perform to God 4. To attend without distraction implies the highest concernedness of Soul Faith should be strong and constrain the Mind to be serious things invisible should be represented so evident and substantial as if they were most visible and apparent God should be addressed as if he appeared to us as he did to Abraham as if he talked with us as he did to the Children of Israel from Mount Sinai With humbleness of Mind and self-abasement considering our distance guilt and vileness we should cry out Let not the Lord be angry if we intreat the forgiveness of Sin and that our Souls may live before him Now we should stir up our selves and take hold of God Isa 64. 7. Now his Strength and his Son and his Covenant may be laid hold on within a little while it may be too late and impossible to do it We should be concerned in all Duties and perform them with such a solicitous care as if we saw the Dart of the last Enemy ready to pierce us and the Grave open for us as if we saw the Judge upon the great white Throne and all both small and great standing before God and the Books opened that they might be judged according to their Works Rev. 20. 11 12. There should be a concernedness of Spirit as if we saw the World in a flame Hell naked before us and we beheld the flashings of eternal fire as if we saw Heaven opened and all that Glory that is there Weight and Worth and Necessity command Concernedness now when we attend on God we draw nigh to him about those things that are of most absolute necessity and of the greatest worth and weight imaginable 5. To attend without distraction implies the fullest bent and inclination of heart there must be intensivum velle a strong propension of the Will towards God and this is expressed by longing by panting Psal 42. 1. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God 'T is the Lord himself that thus determines the Will towards himself and this he doth without compulsion for he alters the Nature and Inclination of it so that the Will being made free by Divine Grace uses its liberty aright and chuses God as its end and the way of his Testimonies Such an end such a way is most worthy to be chosen The Heart now designs and desires the injoying Fellowship with God as infinitely more valuable than all other Enjoyments And this full bent of the Heart mightily fixes it so that the stream of the Affections is kept the better in one undivided Channel When the Psalmist said there was none on Earth he desired besides God it plainly shewed that his desire after God swallowed up his desire after worldly things and when he says Whom have I in Heaven but God! He signifies that he should not count Heaven it self to be Heaven indeed without the Enjoyment of God there 6. To attend without distraction implies a sincere care to please the Lord in that attendance his Approbation being principally minded Man's good thoughts and word are more easily gained but the Jew inwardly his praise is not of Man but of God Rom. 2. 29. And indeed all other Commendations are insignificant unless the Lord commandeth 2 Cor. 10. 18. The undistracted Attendant studies to approve himself to God With what confidence does David speak before his all discerning Judge that he had walked in his integrity Psal 26. 1. and Psal 17. 3. Thou hast proved my heart thou hast visited me in the night Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing He was not conscious to himself of regarded sin or of allowed guile and negligence in the Lord's Service Care to please that God whom we serve is a necessary ingredient in every Service that is acceptable This care commands the heart into the presence of God and keeps it there and he loves to see Hearts before him set on him and seeking after him 7. To attend without distraction implies resisting all attempts to draw away the heart from God Satan and Mammon will be knocking at the Door of the Heart while 't is attending upon the Lord and the flesh which lusts against the spirit will be apt to shew its treachery and to open the Door Undistracted Attendants do use great Vigilancy for they are full of Jealousie over themselves They bid Satan to get him behind them for they are worshipping the Lord their God and 't is wickedness and boldness in him to disturb them in the Lord's Service and when the Affairs of the World would crowd in upon them they reply They have some greater and more important affairs to mind and therefore those worldly matters must be regarded only at a convenient season At all times it should be our care to keep unspotted from the World to keep our selves that the wicked one touch us not 1 Joh. 5. 18. but this care should be greatest when our approaches to God are nearest For if the World and the God of it should all bespatter and defile us even while
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