Antidote Against Distractions, Chapter 2
CHAP. II. The Kinds of Distractions.
SECT. I.
Cap. 2. The second general Head, viz. The kinds of Distractions.THE second Head will be to take a view of the kinds or sorts of our Distractions, And they are Diversified, 1. From the Fountain whence they flow. 2. From the matter whereof they Consist. 3. From their Adjuncts. For the first of them,§. 1. Their several Fountains. you will find
1. Many of our Distractions may justly be fathered on the Devil. He is a spiritual substance, and is most properly conversant in spiritual sins; He is compleatly skild in all thoughts whatsoever, and therefore what he imparts here, is of his own. Zech. 3.1. The High-Priest Joshua could not be at his Prayers for the Israel of God, but as Christ the Angel of the Covenant was on one hand, Satan was standing on the other, and he was got at the *Eccles. 10.2. A wise mans heart is at his right hand. i. e. His heart is ready and prepared to every good work. Annot. in loc.readier hand the right hand, the hand of action, that he might hinder him more dextrously in his Devotion. When we are most serious before the Angel, The Devil is whispering at our Elbow, and who can be dull and watchless, when God is on one hand, and Satan on the other?
The Devil is afraid of a serious lively prayer at his heart; he knows, That can pull down in a minute, what he hath been contriving a thousand years; and therefore if he cannot withhold us from holy Duties, he will do his utmost to disturb us in them. Hence the vision of that Holy man who in the whole market saw but one Devil busie, (for there Self was at hand, Satan had no need to bestir him) but in the *Non enim unquam dormitat vigil ille Synagoga suae Episcopus. Amama.Congregation there were multitudes of them, all their skill and power being little enough to stave off poor souls from Iesus Christ. Alas! we pray, and hear, and live as securely, as if there were no Devil at all.
And His suggestions in Religious duties are usually more **Impetus Diabolici fortiores affectibus naturalibus. Ioab could hinder David from weeping for Absolon, not from numbring the people to which Satan stir'd him up. D. Arrows.violent and impetuous, more dreadfull and impious than they of our own breeding; called therefore Darts, and fiery Darts of that wicked one; Though he lay these brats of his at thy door, yet they will be counted in the number of his sins, and of thy afflictions.
2. Our Distractions proceed from the mind and understanding. The Vanity of the mind alienates us from the life of God, and from communion with him. When a present and seasonable petition or instruction is conveyed through the ear into the understanding, It wantonly playes therewith, and taks occasion to run out on some contiguous notion, and from that to another, and at length rests and dwells on some alien and unseasonable point, till the gales of the good Spirit, and the present Matter be overpast. And thus by a default in the understanding we seek not God, Psal. 53.2.nor find him as we might; And that excellent faculty, that would penetrate into the Divine Mysteries, and should guide the will and heart unto God, by the Ignis fatuus of its unmortified Vanity, misleads us from the chief Good, and intangles us in distractions. We read 2 Cor. 7.1. Of a filthiness of the Spirit, whereof surely this is a part, and must be cleansed in them, that will perfect holiness in the fear of God.
3. Some Distractions proceed from the Fancy, a most busie faculty, that's most unruly and least sanctified in an Holy man. Sometimes by the help of memory, stepping back into things past, she brings into the most solemn worship a thousand passages that are past and gone, and rowling them in the head, carryes soul and all quite away from God: hence it is, you often hear the say, *Cùm reresupini jacemus in lectulo, nihil tale cogitamus. Sed cum venimus ad Orationem cogitationes avocant & sine fructu efficiunt. Chrys. de nat. Dom. Hom. 17.such a thing came into my mind at Sermon or Prayer that was forgotten weeks or months before: yea daring to re-act former sins by contemplative wickedness in the very sight of God, which doubles the guilt of repetition, and makes your former sins (a)Non-nunquam verò quod egi in corpore, hoc importun… verso in mente. In corde enim servo dedepicta qua vidi & feci: torpeo abutili opere quoniam fagi…or illicit … cogitatione. Bern. denit. Dom. cap. 30.exceeding sinfull. In this sense that Eccles. 6.9. is true, Better is the sight of the eyes, than the *Heb. The walking of the soul.wandring of the Desire; there is something more of evil in these second contemplations, than in the first Commissions. Sometimes the Fancy will create a world of figments and notions out of nothing, and multiply impertinent thoughts upon no ground and to no purpose; and can sally out of the present matter to every adjacent business, and make a great ado to bring nothing to pass. Job 27.8. There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the Vultures eye hath not seen, the fancy can find out such a way; thus God is not in all (hardly in any of) our thoughts, when we pretend to treat him with the greatest solemnity.
And sometimes the Fancy breeds Distractions by fore-casting things to come (b)Thus Praecedentia peccata sunt sequentium causa, sequentia sunt praecedentium poena. Aug.: So many a man can most easily, on the Sabbath, contrive his business for all the Week after; and the poor woman in the corner of a Prayer order the business of all the house for a day. Hence may an affair is cursed to our hands, by our unhappy contrivance thereof in the time of worship. Thus we have some saying (in their hearts no doubt) Amos 8.5. When will the New Moon be gone, that we may sell Corn; and the Sabbath, that we may set forth Wheat? And it is well, if they have no fellows in this Assembly that are making their Hay, measuring their Corn, counting their Coyn, if not providing for their Lusts, while they seem earnest with the Lord negotiating for Eternity.
4. Our Distractions in Gods Worship are sometimes occasioned by our outward (c)Respexit ocusus & sensum mentis evertit; audivit auris & intentionem inflexit; inhalavit odor & cogitationem impedivit, o… libavit, & crimen retulit, tactus contulit & ignem adolevit. Intravit mors per fenestram: Fenestra tua est oculus tuus. Ambr. de fug. seculi. c. 1.Senses. Most frequently by the Eye; a wandring Eye mostly hath a wandring Heart; for when the Eye discovers any new, pleasing, or ridiculous object, it presently brings news thereof unto the Heart; and that debates and studies upon it, to the grieving of Gods Spirit, and cooling of our own: and when that is over, a fresh sight presents it self, and the Eye is ready for that again, and leads the Heart into a maze of Follies. We read, Lam. 3.51. My Eye affecteth my Heart, because of all the Daughters of the City, that's with grief for their Calamity. their is a reciprocal working it seems; the Heart at first affects the Eye, and the Eye can affect the Heart with Grief: Even in like manner, when the Sons or Daughters of the City enter the Assembly, the (d)There was once a contention between the Eye & the Heart, whether of them was the cause of Sin: after long arguing it was concluded that the Heart was the Cause, the Eye the Occasion. The most vicious Sense, and therefore soonest decays, and made the seat of Tears.Eye affects the. Heart; stirs, diverts, kindles the Heart; and the Heart corrupts, stains, and transmits its follies by the Eye; the precious Soul (that while) suffering between them, and the holy God and his Service wofully slighted.
You resolve in this duty, I will not swerve from God, nor step aside into the least Distraction; but you bolt the door, and let your Enemy in at the window (e)Si per auticam ejicias, per posticam denu… solent irreper….. The thoughts that are shut out at the Street door, steal in at the back door, if you do not as well make a Covenant with your Eyes, as keep your Feet, when you enter into the House of God. In this sense the Woman and Man also, had need of the Covering of an holy and constant Watch, because of the Angels; the wicked Imps of Hell, that ride abroad in the air, to carry away our Hearts from God.
SECT. II.
§. 2. The matter of Distractions.SEcondly, Distractions are distinguished by the matter whereof they consist; which is sometimes,
Bernard makes three sorts of them, Impertinent, Worldly, Sinful. He compares the first to lutum simplex, the second to limus, that stick to the heart, the third to coenum, that are stinking and noysome in the sight of God. Bern. de tr. gen. Cogit.1. Good. It is Satans ambition and triumph, when he can affront God with his own matters; As to bring in shreds of Sermons in the heat of Prayer; and long passages which you have read, to keep out material points, that you should be hearing: He will hold your Husbands Picture before you, while you should look on your Husbands face, and at length delude you with Shadows instead of Substance. A good thing in its nature, may become a bad thing in its use, when it is out of season. Jewels mis-placed may grow worthless; a Diamond on the Finger is an Ornament, but in the Bladder a Torment: And God dislikes his own things in the Devil's way, little less than the Devil's things themselves.
As when one is playing in consort, (it is Mr. White's comparison) if we stay on any Note, while they who play the other parts go on; that which at first made excellent harmony, becomes now harsh, and spoils the Musick: So those thoughts that were sweet and musical, while they were suitable and pertinent to thy prayer, become harsh by dwelling unseasonably upon them.
2. Sometimes our wandrings are made up of things *Sunt en…m nonnullae cogitationes penitus ociosae & ad v…m non pertinentes quas tam facilè abjicere quàm recipere facile possit anima dummodo sit secum habitans in corde suo, & assistens dominatori vniversae terrae. Bern Serm. de tr. gen. cogit.Indifferent in themselves; and these things by miss-timing them, are debauched, and made very evil and offensive unto God. As to talk with, or to see a Friend, is in it self indifferent; but to perform this in the heat of Harvest, may be folly. There are an hundred harmless thoughts both of things and persons, which crowding into the sacred presence of God, and interposing between the Soul and its Maker, while the matters of Eternity are debating and concluding, is a great offence, and deserve to be whipt, and posted, and sent away.
3. The matter of them somtimes is absolutely Bad, proud, wanton, malicious Thoughts: Blasphemous thoughts, as whether God is, when we are praying to him, and the like. Able to sink us at any time, but sins of a double dye in the Worship of God; because there the special and piercing Eye of God is upon us: As Theft therefore is penal in all places, by reason of its intrinsecal evil, much more criminal is it, before a Judge in the Court: Even so are these thoughts guilty and base any where, but when they shall dare to intrude into the presence of the Judge of Heaven and Earth, as it were daring a jealous God, this is prodigious Sin, and greatly provokes him. So Ezek. 33.31. They come unto me as the People cometh, and they sit before me as my People; with their mouths they shew much love, but their Heart goeth after their Covetousness. What more sweet than a religious Mouth? What more bitter than a covetous Heart? Especially when the Heart goeth out after Covetousness, pursues and follows it in the sight of God: Oh dreadful! God, he is pursuing and following the Sinner with Christ and Mercy in his Arms, and the Sinner (the while) with his very Heart, is going after his Sin. And thus that House which God calls the House of Prayer, we make a Den of Lust, Malice, Covetousness, and Sin.
SECT. III.
THirdly, Distractions are distinguished by their Adjuncts. §. 3. The Adjuncts of Distractions.For,
1. Some are sudden. As the Church, Cant. 6.12. Or ever I was aware, my Soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab; and happy is that Soul, that is so sweetly and suddenly carried after Iesus Christ. So sometimes *These are cogitationes onerosae quibus resistere vult & tamen non potest, sed velit nolit, irruit in oculos mentis massarum pestilentia & perstrepunt ranae in penetralibus cordis ejus. Bern. lib. de Consc. c. 5.our treacherous Soul, ere we know or are aware of it, makes us like those hasty Chariots; which misery comes about through want of watchfulness, which like a Porter should keep the door, and turn all straglers away: A thought is a sudden motion, and by it we may quickly step into Heaven or Hell; Now these Thoughts do steal in so suddenly, that we fall to muse how they came in, by what door they entred, and so are intangled in more Distractions by tracing the former, and commit new Errors by discovering the old.
But now other wandrings are more premeditate, & whereinto the soul falls more leisurely, and wallows therein either of choice, or without much interruption; & these have much more guilt and mischief in them.
2. Some Distractions are Unwilling, quite praeter intentionem agentis *Of these Mr. Capel thus: While thy prayer comes out of a spiritual habit of grace, & be set on work at first by an actual intention of the mind, a vertual intention may serve all along after though there be some roving thoughts, I say may serve to make them currant at the Throne of Grace, and in the Court of Conscience. p. 121.; when the Heart like a good Archer aims directly at Communion with the Lord; aims at this, but Satan or his Corruptions jog him at the elbow, and make him to miss the mark. This indeed is a sad disappointment, for a Noble Soul to embrace the Dunghil instead of the Sun of Righteousness; for a man to lose those sweet words and minutes which might be had with God; it is a sad mischance indeed, but which is common with man, wherein if the Soul cry out as the forced Virgin, Deut. 22.27. it shall not be imputed to her, especially when there was neither previous provocation, nor subsequent consent. And this is the case of blasphemous thoughts, which are like Lightning cast into a Room, which carries horrour, but springs from no cause thereof in the Room: So these thoughts come in upon thee, amaze and terrifie, surprize thee against thy will: But be of good Comfort; neither leave off thy Duties, (thy Prayers will do thee more good, than these can do thee harm) nor hasten from them to gratifie Satan; for if God be not able to protect thee in the discharge of thy duty, it's time to think of another Master; but complain of Satan to God, parly not with them, but divert thy thoughts, and cry up that God the more, whom he tempts thee to blaspheme.
But others are willing Distractions, which are the ordinary effect of an unspiritual and unprepared Heart: To such an Heart the whole Duty is a Distraction: When a vain and earthly Soul like a truant Scholar, keeps out of his Masters sight out of choice, and with content, and is any where better than at his Lesson: What little Rest would such a Soul find in Heaven? Or what true delight can he take in the most holy presence of God above, that can find no rest and sweetness in his presence below?
3. Again, some Distractions are long, and do consist of a concatenation of vain thoughts, when they do lodge in the heart. The Lord still calling at the door, and saying, How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee? These do much alter the complexion of the Soul, and argue too deep an habit of vanity therein. It is a true saying, Though we cannot hinder the Birds from flying over our heads, yet we may disturb their roosting or making Nests in our hair. So though we cannot well hinder the sudden suggestion of a vain thought, yet we may trouble its quiet resting in the Soul. Yet such strange subtilty is there in us, that we can keep God in play a long time (yea when our selves are employed in a Prayer) and be tampering with the world or sin all the while, the soul never coming in, till the Amen of a Prayer do awaken us *Cerenus writes of Theophylact a Patriarch of Constantinople that he kept 2000 horses fed with Dates and Almonds and watred them in Wine, And being on a time, (while he was performing his Office in the Temple of Sophia) told in his Ear that his Mare Pha…bante had foal'd, he broke of his Service went home to see it, and then came and set in again. What was ill done by him in Person, is not well done by us in spirit.. But other Distractions are but short, only a step out of the way, and in again, and the soul catcheth the faster hold of God. And indeed when the soul doth follow hard after God (as every one should do in his service.) though it stumble, as it often happens to the most earnest in the way, yet it recovers to its advantage, being more zealous after; The fall of the former being like that of the Swine, who lyes still in her mire; The fall of the latter, like the Sheep that falling riseth, and runs the faster. And thus you have seen the several kinds of Distractions, which was the second general Head.