Anger and a reward in the bosom strong wrath Prov. 21. 14. so secret confession of sin bitter mourning for it and begging forgiveness in the Name of Jesus will prevail for the pacifying of God's fiercest displeasure and the obtaining of his Love and Grace 2. There is an Attendance upon God that is Private in the Family This has been wofully sinfully shamefully neglected not only by the prophane but by them that call themselves Professors though hardly worthy of that Name Family Worship has been much press'd from the Pulpit Oh when shall it once be that every ones practise will be answerable I read not only of a Dedication of the Tabernacle and Temple but also of the Houses of the Israelites Deut. 20. 5. Psal 30. was composed at the Dedication of the House of David The Israelites justly called their Houses God's Houses And those tumultuous combined and insulting Enemies of theirs in Pride Scorn and Derision said Let us take to our selves the Houses of God in possession Psal 83. 12. Houses were dedicated to the Lord's Service Joshua says I and my House we will serve the Lord and all Israel promise the same Josh 24. 15 21. David says he will walk within his House with a perfect Heart Psal 101. 2. there be Songs of Mercy and of Judgment Indeed the voice of rejoycing and Salvation is in the Tabernacle of the Righteous Psal 118. 15. The Lord is adored and praised in the Tabernacles of them to whom he has shewed himself a God of Salvation Cornelius one of the first-fruits of the Gentiles was a devout Man and he feared God with all his House and prayed to God alway Act. 10. 2. And fearing of God implies calling upon his Name as casting off fear and restraining of Prayer are joyned together Job 15. 4. so that he prayed unto God with all his House and there is not the least reason to think that they did not pray altogether unless such kind of praying had been any where forbidden We read of a Curse and a Blessing not only upon Persons but upon Families Prov. 3. 33. The Curse of the Lord is in the House of the wicked but he blesseth the Habitation of the Just. Surely Families have reason to Pray against the one and that the other may rest on them And truly our Lord Jesus in that Prayer of his own making which is the great Directory for Prayer when he does instruct us to say Give us this day our daily Bread very plainly signifies that those in Families that daily Eat together ought also daily to pray together And are they only to pray together for daily Bread no they are also to Pray for the hallowing of God's Name the coming of his Kingdom and that his Will might be done on Earth as 't is done in Heaven They are to pray for the forgiveness of past trespasses and that Grace may prevent their being led into Temptation and may deliver them from Evil. You see here is ground enough for Families to give their Attendance upon God Families are the Seminaries from which both Church and State are furnished and if there were more of Devotion and Instruction and Discipline there the Church in all probability would be more pure and the State more righteously and better ordered Whereas if Families live without God in the World the Governours the Children and Servants are all usually wicked and likely to become worse and worse and the Churches Face is foul'd with odious spots and stains and the State grows more corrupt till at length 't is ripe for ruine 3. There is an Attendance upon God that is publick in the Congregation In publick Assemblies the true God is owned and honoured in the Face of the Sun and the Lord Christ is glorified Christians Assembling in his Name depending upon his Promise to be in the midst of them and to bless them He walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks Rev. 1. 13. He blesses the Ordinances himself has instituted to the enlightning purifying and Consolation of sincere Attendants on him In these Publick Assemblies Saints unite their spiritual strength in wrestling with God the Faith and holy Desires of a great many Believers together being conjunct are likely to be the more prevailing These Assemblies ought to be valued and frequented to forsake them is ill to the forsaker Hence that caution Heb. 10. 25. Not forsaking the Assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching The breaking of solemn publick Assemblies should be an Heart-breaking thing to us and the Lord has promised to gather those that are sorrowful upon this score Zeph. 3. 18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn Assembly who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burthen V. There is an Attendance upon God on his own day and upon other days 1. An Attendance upon God on his own day A seventh part of our time is hallowed by the fourth Commandment Six days are for Labour a seventh for Rest from that Labour and that we may have leisure with greater seriousness to attend upon God The great Creator having made the World in six days rested on the seventh and appointed it for a Sabbath and blessed it And the Apostle tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ the great Redeemer is entred into his Rest having ceased his own works as God did from his and therefore there remains a rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a keeping of a Sabbath to the People of God Heb. 4. 9 10. As the Jewish Sabbath was kept in Commemoration of the Lord 's resting from Creation so the Christian Sabbath is to be observed in Commemoration of Christ who is over all God blessed for ever his resting from the work of Redemption it is in him that we have rest by Faith at present and hope for a blessed glorious and everlasting Rest in Heaven The day that Christ rose was the day on which he rested for his lying in the Grave was not his rest but part of his Humiliation and that was the first day of the Week On this Christian Churches assembled for Worship Acts 20. 6 7. The Apostle was at Troas seven days We read not a word being among Christians that he solemnly Worshipt on the seventh day but upon the first day of the Week the Disciples came together to break Bread Upon this day Christians being assembled together Collections were made for good Uses at Corinth and in the Churches of Galatia 1 Cor. 16. 1 2. Nay this is called the Lord's Day Rev. 1. 10. Now as the Lord's Supper is a Supper of the Lord's Institution so the Lord's Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a day of the Lord 's appointing and ordaining The prophanation of this Christian Sabbath has been punished with remarkable Judgments The Ordinances administred thereon have been owned and blessed to the Conversion and Confirmation of
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
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
to make the highest earthly Enjoyments despised in comparison Thus the innumerable Multitude of Stars though never so glittering before do all disappear at the Sun rising Undistracted Attenders fix their Eye on God and the more the invisible God is seen the more all visible things will vanish into nothing The Psalmist had cast his Eye upon the prosperity of the wicked and began to admire it he comes into the Sanctuary of God and looking upon God he now wonders at his own Folly in admiring so poor a thing as a worldly happiness and the Temptation that was so strong is overcome Safety from the most dangerous Enemies is of the Lord they whose thoughts are upon his Name find it a strong Tower Satan and Mammon are less able to beguile them and the lustings of the Flesh become weaker and weaker against the Spirit and as they find sin more and more destroyed so they may behold the last Enemy Death without a Sting and the Grave as having lost its Victory 6. Attenders without distraction have most approbation from their own Consciences Conscience is a Monitor unto Duty and a diligent observer how 't is performed It will condemn Laziness it will commend labour of Love it will upbraid the Evil and Slothful with their vain Oblations but to the undistracted Attendant it will say Well done good and faithful Servant And how much Joy and Peace is there in the Testimony of a good Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. and we find a condemning and an approving Conscience compared together the condemning Conscience is the forerunner of God's Condemning and the approbation of the Conscience is the forerunner of God's Absolution 1 John 3. 20 21. If our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God Duties come off with great comfort when we have been intent and affected when God has been attentive to us when we behold his Face shining and find his Hand open and Conscience bears us witness that we have been seriously and the Lord has been graciously minding what we have been doing 7. Attenders without distraction are most beneficial to others They have the most publick Spirits and all do fare the better for that interest they have in Heaven which they daily improve for all How much is the Church of God beholding to them who will not hold their Peace day or night who will give the Lord no rest until he make Jerusalem a praise on the Earth Isa 62. 6 7. When the wickedness of Israel had made a great breach for the Wrath of God to break in upon them to consume them Moses attends upon God and intercedes with such intention and concernedness and fervency that the Wrath of God is appeased and the ruine prevented though it was at the door Psal 106. 23. Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his Wrath lest he should destroy them Whole Nations reap the benefit of such undistracted and prevailing Intercessions The Apostle tells us that Elias was a Man of like Passions with others yet he was so intent and servent in Prayer that he opened Heaven and fetch'd Rain from thence and the Earth brought forth her fruit and an end was put to a terrible Famine which had lasted for several Years together Jam. 5. â—8 The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man avails much he prevails for others as well as for himself Lot was a righteous Man and vexed his righteous Soul because of the Sodomites unlawful Deeds 2 Pet. 2. 8. yet his Deliverance from Sodom's Flames is ascribed unto Abraham's intercession Gen. 19. 29. And it came to pass when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain that God remembred Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the Cities wherein Lot dwelt Saints should pray harder one for another and pray for them that are without with more earnestness that greater Multitudes may be called out of the World and brought into the Church and secured from the Perdition of ungodly Men. Undistracted Attendants upon God are Pillars to bear up what else would fall into ruine The Church the Nation in which they live the whole World is beholding to them as well as particular Persons for whom they are concerned and whom they bear upon their hearts before the Lord. I have done with the Reasons of the Doctrine In the fourth place I am to answer some Cases of Conscience about these Distractions in attending upon God that so Difficulties which are apt to perplex the Mind in this matter may be removed And CASE I. is this Whether the Thoughts cannot be off from God in the least when we attend upon him but there must be a culpable and sinful Distraction To this I answer 1. In all our holy Duties there should be a constant overawing sense of God upon our Spirits from the beginning to the end of them Slavish fear alienates the heart from God but Filial Reverence keeps the heart close to him That part of the Duty is lost in which the sense of God is banished 2. Something else besides God may be thought of in Duties and yet this is not Distraction To think of our sins when we confess them is our Duty and to recollect the circumstances by which they have been heigtned and rendred more exceeding sinful Isa 59. 12. For our Transgressions are multiplied before thee and our sins testifie against us for our transgressions are with us and as for iniquities we know them Our Wants also we ought to think of and the necessity of having them supplied and the all-sufficient Jehavah is sufficient to supply all needs whatsoever be the Wants never so great and many and the Persons that apply to him never so vast a Multitude The Blessings we desire ought also to be thought of Others also which we pray for may be in our Minds when we are before God with their Distresses under which we would fain be helpful to them by our Supplications on their behalf It was not Distraction in the Apostle but matter of thanksgiving to the Lord that when he was at the Throne of Grace Timothy was in his thoughts and remembrance 2 Tim. 1. 3. I thank God whom I serve from my fore-fathers with pure Conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day 3. Our Thoughts must not run out so much upon the matter of our Duties but that there must be a quick and continual return to God the Object whom we worship We must not so much be thinking what we are praying for but we must ever be minding him whom we are praying to The Psalmist says Psal 142 2. I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble He thought of his trouble but had also a sense he was before God who he