Antidote Against Distractions, Chapter 6

Antidote Against Distractions · Chapter 6

p. 64CHAP. VI. The Causes of Distractions,Cap. 6. The Causes of Distractions. with their Remedies.

SECT. I.

§. 1.VVE shall now proceed unto the more Practical part of this Subject, namely to find out and summ up the causes of this Epidemical Disease, which is the Sixth Point to be handled.

The First Cause of Distractions in Gods service is, Secret Atheism **Secret Atheism. foreign. Basil, in reg. brev.. There is an Atheism of the Head, Atheism of the heart, and Atheism of the Life. In the first, The Fool hath said in his Head, There p. 65is no God, Psal. 14.1. Mark, it is not, He hath thought in his heart, but says it by rote to himself; rather as what he would have, than what he doth believe. And of him this is truly said, That the speculative Atheist is the greatest Monster in the world, except the Practical. And our late Divisions, by the help of our corrupt Natures, have proselyted a considerable number to this desperate Opinion: As if the different opinions about the ebb…ng and slowing of the Sea, should render it doubtful whether the Sea did ebb and flow; or the disputes about the manner of Vision, should call our Sight it self into question: You would think it a fond conclusion to say, Because Philosophers argue much about the sensitive and vegitative Faculties of the Soul, that there is no rational Soul at all, in that these very velitations and debates do argue a rational Soul, by and with which these points are disputed: even so it is notorious madness to conclude, from the variety and diversity of Opinions about Religion and Government, that there is no God; seeing you are supported by him, while you dispute and argue about him.

Atheism of the Heart, is, whereby the Fool saith also in his Heart, There is no God; p. 66that is, either secretly questions, or but coldly assents to the existence of God, or heartily wishes there were none at all. And it is worth observation of both these, that they are such as are obnoxious to the Divine Majesty by some misdemeanor: The Felon wishes there were no Judge at all, and even these are forced in some pangs to acknowledge him, at some fright by thunder, under some horrour of Consci…nce, or in the point of death, they are forced to give Iehovah his due. And they also in any sudden fright, or great extremity, use to cry out, O God, O Lord, as earnestly as others.

Atheism of the Life, that's described, Tit. 1.14. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him. Now both these latter do breed of the first, and this last is most visible in our Distractions: For if thou didst as verily believe God present in an Ordinance, as he that sits next thee, durst thou trifle so egregiously as thou dost? The Minister looks at you, and you dare not talk; if you saw him that looks at you from Heaven, you durst not straggle: And therefore the more or less strong our belief is of God, the more or less lively are we in our applications to him. p. 67Oh the patience of God! that he can indure the Worm to doubt of him, yea implicitely to deny him, and not demonstrate himself by a Thunderbolt! But the Countrey-man's ignorance of the Primum Mobile, doth not nullifie it; no more doth the Athiests Infidelity degrade the Primus Motor, the Majesty of Heaven, Heb. 11.6. He that cometh unto God, must first believe that he is.

The Remedy of this Cause, is, Humbly to read the Scripture, which is the most clear, certain and convincing way to work Faith herein. **One in Gerson that studied against Atheism, and could not get the better of it, at last fell to Prayer, & thereby grew as really perswaded of the truth of unseen things, as of the Chair he sat in.Prayer and the Bible have convinc'd more than any other Reasons, & recommend me to Moses above Plato, for the demonstrating a Deity. All that Reason can suggest, might be written by an Infidel; and more Infidels (I trow) have been convinced by reading and hearing the Book of the Christians, than have Christians been settled by reading the Books of Infidels. And therefore although holy David, Psal. 19.1. appeals to the Heavens, and the Host of them, as a most strong Argument to declare God, and so it is; (for what reason but the hand of a God, can be rendred, that the Planets being all of one matter, should have contrary motions, p. 68seeing things of the like matter have by nature like motion?) yet laying that Topick aside, he pitches upon the Law of God, vers. 7. as the most perfect and sure way to demonstrate a God, and convert and enwise a Soul. Then go to God in prayer, and beg him to touch thy Heart, and open thine Eyes, and thou shalt quickly see him that is not far from every one of us.

SECT. II.

§. 2.II. The corruption of our Nature.THE second Cause of Distractions in the service of God, is, The corruption of our Nature, that is, of Soul and Body; so that our inward faculties do act our outward senses, and they infect our inward faculties in this business, **Hoc disco m…a experi e…tiā quod non habeo t…m magnā causam timendi extra me quā intra me. Luth.Mat. 15.19. Out of the Heart proceed vain and evil thoughts; are not forced out, as sparks out of a Flint, but come out thence of themselves, as sparks out of a Furnace: View the mind, and its accident is Vanity, and how can a vain Mind be serious with God without a great deal of grace? The Heart its name is Deceitful, and makes a trade of jugling and purloining in the solemnest Duties; and when p. 69the ear receives the word as a lovely song, she runs after covetousness the while. Now is she without, now in the streets, and l…eth in wait at every corner, like the lewd woman, Prov. 7.11. The eye that should be fix'd on Heaven, is in the ends of the earth, and gathering a stragling notion from every object. The ear by every noise calls off the soul from its great business, thus wofully the old man is bent against the new man. Rom. 7.23. The law of the members war against the law of the mind, and leads us into captivity to the law of sin that is in the members. When the mind it self is set in its most hearty purposes to wait on God, and offer him a faithful sacrifice, then comes in the law of the members, and either suggests within, or admits from without some roving notions, and these lead the poor soul like that young man, Prov. 7.21, 22. forc'd with flatteries, like the ox to the slaughter or the fool to the correction of the stocks. And he that began in Heaven, ends on earth, if not in hell. **M…ns humana propter infirmitatem naturae diu s…are in Alto non potest. Aquin. 22. q. 83. a. 13.Thus the good he would do, he cannot. O wretched man that must lead his life with such an heart!

As if a man were tied still to shoot in a warping bow; he settles himself in his p. 70right postures, aims directly at the White, but his warping bow still carries the arrow quite besides the Butt, and his skill is rendred ineflectual: so the poor upright Christian in a duty, orders his business and his heart, as well as ever he can, and aims at the glorifying of God, and getting good to his soul; but the corruption of his nature diverts him, and perverts him from his purpose. This hinders the elevation of the soul, which would fix it in God's service, like one that hath a light heart, and an heavy body; the light heart would flie, the heavy body clips her wings, and will hardly creep. O, saith the soul, now will I arise and soar into heaven; I must, I will, speak with my God; my wants are pressing, my sins increase, Eternity approaches, who will give me the wings of an Eagle? I'le never live so far from God, I will away. Thus this Bird of Paradise takes wing, when behold the stone of her corrupt nature hangs at her leg, and weighs her down: she flutters a little, but cannot flie, for her heart she cannot flie, indeed because of the heart she cannot flie **As a Fuller and a Collier living in one house, what the one whites the other blacks; so is Grace and Corruption in our hearts. M. Strong..

And not only the dulness, but the deceitfulness of our corrupt nature furthers p. 71our distractions. For though the heart be deceitful from the beginning to the end of the year, yet her prime and subtled sleights are shewed in the service of God; where she is put hard to it to shift hard for her self, and therefore useth her finest notions and sliest fetches to evade the presence of God, A man that hath the Palsie, his hand shakes, but 'tis against his will.and powerful influences of the holy Ghost. Like some subtil Thief, that joyns himself to the unwary Traveller, and gives him pleasant company a while, till when he watches his time he draws him with him out of the way, and takes his purse; before he is aware he is in a wood, and his purse is gone. Even so, the heart of man takes on to be very willing to prayer, or other good duties, and goes with us a while; but ere we have stept twenty sentences into our work, this deceitful heart turns us aside, brings us to feed upon ashes, and binds up the faculties, that we cannot deliver our souls, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Isa. 44.20. Now is it not an hell upon earth to live with such a heart, to cross a man in the midst of his greatest business, disappoint him in his highest expectations, and make him lose his labour, if not his soul?

p. 72The Remedy against this corruption of our Nature is hard. To divert a stream is easie, but to dry up a spring is hard, stop it here, and it breaks out there. So to divert and discharge a wandring thought is easie in comparison, but the womb of the heart is pregnant; kill one Viper, and there's an hundred more ready for the birth. **As the Ivy, though stump, body and branches be cut off, yet some sprigs will sprout, till the wall be pulled down So it is with us.We think our worldly business is the only cause of them, but the most retired Hermites tell us, that an unsanctified or half-sanctified heart can find matter enough of diversion in a naked Cell. And that the corruption of the subject, as well as the bewitching of the object, makes us trifle in Gods worship. As Hierom tells of Hilarion **Oravit semel sixo in terram capite & ut natura sert hominum, abducta ab oratione mens nescio quid aliud cogitabat: insiliit dorso ejus sestinans gladiator & latera calcibus, cervicem flageilo verberans: eja inquit, cur dormita…? carbinnansque desup…r, cum desecisset, an hordeum vellet accipere, sciscitabatur. Hieron. in vita Hilar. p. 243., whose heart roving from God, was soundly scourged for his labour by an Angel. And therefore the only cure of this is, to get a true and greater degree of sanctifying grace.

You that have no grace, can never pray well, till your hearts be changed, a new heart can only sing this new song p. 73well. **I never knew Beggar that wanted words to express his wants. B. Hall.You complain that you want expressions, ah! it is impressions you want, and nothing else; if you had that sense of sin, that makes the soul to ake and mourn, you would find words sufficient to express it, and you would not be playing with your fingers, when you are in danger of falling into hell fire; nor smil…ng at one another, when God is frowning, and thundring against you. He that feels the Stone to torment, hath few wandring thoughts, while he is telling his grief, and seeking help. The condemned prisoner is not sleeping, or fooling at the Bar. Dionysius his Flatterer had little mind of his Musick, seeing the naked sword hang by an hair over his empty head; neither would a poor sinner, if he were enlightned to see his guilt and danger, so commonly and senselesly trifle before God, when his matter is debating, and terms of life or death proposing. Alas! there is no hope of your cure in this, till your fundamental disease be healed, your whole life is a long distraction from the true end, and main business of life; and therefore it stands you upon, if ever you would perform a pleasing duty unto God, to get grace, whereby you may serve God acceptably, p. 74**Lydia did then attend unto the things spoken by the Lord, but it was when he had opened her heart. Act. 16.14, 25.Acts 16:14Acts 16:25for without that you cannot do it.

And to counterballance that corruption of Nature in you, you that have some sanctification, must get more. This sweet wood cast into that bitter water, will by degrees render it more wholesome. The more sanctification, the more you will be mortified to the world, and all the business and vanity thereof; and then its thoughts and cares will not rush in, with that violence upon you, but stay to speak with you at your better leisure; or if they be invading the heart, you will have more vigour of grace to expel them, and more repentance for them; you will be more lively, and spiritual, and fervent in Religious duties, and so less room for these wandrings; for he that's hot in his business, prevents the assault of the most importunate diversions; and a lively serious Christian runs on his errand, like Elisha's Servant, 2 King. 4.29. If thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again; and Satan cannot fasten discourse on such a man: yea, and generally, the more holy the heart is, the fewer of these wandring thoughts; forasmuch as sanctity being p. 75his frame and element, heterogeneous by thoughts do put him out of his temper, and so displease him, and cause some smart to the soul; and the sin that really molests a man, will hardly ever prevail over him; and finally, the more holiness you attain, the more afraid will you be to displease God. For to be amended with a little cross, to be affected with a little mercy, and to be afraid of a little sin, are certain arguments of a great deal of grace. And therefore an holy Christian is more troubled at a vain thought in a duty, than a sleight Christian is at the total neglect of a Duty.

It follows therefore, that all means be used and improved to the utmost, for the increasing of the grace of God in your hearts, there being as much duty to grow in grace, as to get it, and no greater argument of sincerity, than endeavours to grow better. Turn therefore those many thoughts you spend about the truth of your grace, into all possible care to advance and increase it, so will you best clear your doubts, and in particular clear your distractions.

p. 76SECT. III.

§. 3.III. Unpreparedness.THe third Cause of distractions in the Service of God, is, unpreparedness unto it. Iob 11.13. If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands to hins— If iniquity be in thy hand, put it far away— Then shalt thou be stedfast. First, prepare the heart, then stretch out the hands. He that keeps not his foot, when he goes into the house or service of God, a thousand to one he stumbles, and offers but the sacrifice of fools. He that's unfitted for any work, must needs be unfixed in it **Hence David, Ps. 57.7, 8. So Deborah, Judg. 5.12.Ps 57:7Ps 57:8Judg 5:12. As holy Mr. Dod used to say of Afflictions, when we are prepared for them, they are like a sword that only strikes upon our Armour; but when we be unprepared, they be like a sword striking on our bare skin: Even so, when the heart is well fixed and prepared for the Lord's service, an impertinent thought or suggestion falls on our Armour, but when we come unprepared, it meets with our very hearts, and runs away with them. If a man chop into a Prince's presence undress'd, unbrush'd, or p. 77without his band, you may easily imagine how, when he is aware of the feathers or dirt up and down, he is distracted: so is the Soul wofully carried off, when approaching to God, the follies of sin, and vanities of the world disfigure and divert it from a close converse with God; and therefore a serious Christian doth not only pray, and watch in prayer, but watcheth unto prayer. We so eat our meat (says Tertullian of their primitive Supping) as remembring we must go pray before we go to bed **Ita satura…tur, ut qui m… minerint etiā per noctem adorandum D…um sibi esse— Ita fabu…a…tur, ut qui sciant Dominū audire: à co…v viis disceditur — ut qui non tam coenam coen…verint quam disciplinam. Tertul. Apol. p. 36.. And here I shall answer a necessary Question, viz.

Q. What kind of Preparation is necessary before our ordinary duties of Worship?

Answ. 1. The light of nature teacheth us to prepare for every weighty action. Approaching to the Lord of Heaven and Earth is such. Who teaches the Client to consider his case, when he comes to state it to his Advocate? or the Husband-man to prepare himself for his tillage, or the poor suitor to weigh his request, that he makes to a Prince? Why, the light of nature teacheth this; and the light of Scripture distinguisheth an upright man from an hypocrite hereby. 2 Chron. 19.3. There are good things in thee— in that p. 78thou hast prepared thine heart to seek God: there was Iehoshaphat. Again, 2 Chron. 12.14. Rehoboam did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. He sought God, its likely, as many will do, but he cared not how he did it, and so though he did a good thing, yet, saith the Scripture, He did evil.

Answ. 2. Most certainly the Lord is a great God, who can raise or ruine thee in a moment, and whom the Angels approach not without a profound respect: and so likewise Duties of Worship are great and weighty Duties, wherein you transact for a Kingdom, and plead or hear the cause that is for life or death. You drink a cup that will either mend or end you, and who is sufficient for these things? And it is manifest, that we are naturally unprepared, and to every good work reprobate. The positure of our hearts is inverted, and now they are open downwards, and shut towards Heaven; all which if you lay together, it must needs follow, that some preparation is necessary, even for the ordinary duties of God's Worship.

Answ. 3. The hearts of men are of a different temper, and so are their occasions; p. 79the hearts of some are always in heaven, or else within a Call: they are, as the Apostle speaks, Tit. 3.1. Ready to every good work. When a duty of Piety is offered, they are ready; when an object of charity is proposed, they are ready to distribute. And this present Spirit is a great blessing, when Holiness is so rooted and framed upon the heart, that God's Worship is their Element: the hearts of others, through custom and supine negligence, abide at great distance from God; no little ado will raise them, nor will they be fetch'd in with many calls; like a great Bell, hard to be raised: and as these have a greater unhappiness, so they have need of more pains to fit them for God's service.**In such case Meditation, like a dish of water, may set the Pump a going; yea, foul water may bring up fair water. B. Hall.

The occasions of some men will give them time enough to set their hearts in order, to state their souls condition, and chafe themselves into an holy heat; and for them to come with cold and dead hearts into Religious duties, cannot be answered. The occasions of others are so urgent and continual, that they have much ado to redeem time, for Prayer, but can hardly set apart time for a set and formal Preparation; especially when a p. 80man is surprised with an holy duty, or in prayer at meals, or the like: and therefore one Last may as soon fit all feet, as one particular Rule suit with every good Christian.

Answ 4. The least measure of Preparation that is necessary for the ordinary worship of God, is, That the heart be recalled, and recollected out of the world **Prov. 18.1. If thou canst not always have separating time betwixt other occasions and God's worship, …et have some separating thoughts ere thou enter upon the duty M Angier, p. 197.Prov 18:1, and made apprehensive or sensible of the Nature of that God, and weight of that work, that you are about; which, if you can attain in a minute, or are of necessity straitned or surprized, you will be welcome to Heaven: but if you can easily order your time, or not easily order your hearts, and remand your thoughts, you venture on your peril; and if God be not merciful, and you penitent, you will carry away a curse instead of a blessing. And so I conclude this Answer with Heb. 12.28, 29. Let us have grace (not only a gracious habit, but a gracious frame) whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.**Illotis manibus precari nihil refert: illotâ conscientiâ, hoc maximum malorum. Chrysost. Serm. de Joseph.

Think it not much therefore, to keep or get an heart prepared for the Worship of God. When Ringers set not in together, there's little but jangling in that p. 81Peal, but when they start all together, there's sweet musick; and so it is, when all the Congregation set …out, and take wing at once, it's Musick for Heaven: whereas the heart that is unready for the duty, mostly rings discords in it, and spoils the harmony **When you have prepared your hearts, God will pass by great imperfections, 2 Chr. 30.18, 19. and you may then do much in a little time, Psal. 10.17. Thou hast prepared their hearts, then thou wilt cause thine ears to hear. M. Burroughs.2 Chr 30:182 Chr 30:19Ps 10:17. And indeed, this unpreparedness of the soul doth make the duty ungrateful to the Worshipper; When a friend comes upon you, and you are unready, no provision or rooms in readiness, how (comparatively) unpleasing is his visit, and distracted his entertainment? when as to him that keeps a constant table, or hath made set preparation, the sight and conversation of his friend is very sweet: So it is between our God and us; when the rooms of the soul are prepared, and at our gates (ready) are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, laid up for our beloved, how can we welcome our Maker on his own cost into our souls? whereas Christ himself hath but cold welcome, and distracted entertainment in an unprepared soul. Lift up therefore thy heart in the porch of a duty, with Psal. 119.37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken me in thy way.

p. 82SECT. IV.

§. 4. Luke-warmness.THe fourth cause of Distractions in God's Worship is Luke-warmness **This n…ght past as I waken'd out of my sleep, the devil came and intimated, that God was far from me, and heard not my dull prayers: So I said, Well then, so will I cry the louder. Luth. Colloq. And when he found his spirit out of frame, he would never give over praying, till he had prayed his heart into that frame he prayed for.. He that is intense in any thing hath few thoughts to spare. Distractions are but the idlings of the hea…t, he that runs, looks at nothing but the goal; though he meet passengers, or pass by Palaces, he is in earnest, and stops at nothing: it is he that walks at leisure, that turns his eye to every trifle, and descants on every object, he's not in haste at all. Even so the zealous Soul, though he forgets not those things that are behind, yet reaching forth to the things that are before, presseth towards the mark, he hath business in hand that concerns Eternity, he cannot stand to whisper with every passenger, nor trifle with every object. It is the luke-warm heart that is prone to that. He can pray to God, and dress himself at once, he can hear God and talk with p. 83men, speak about heaven and contrive about the earth, and, in a word, serve God and Mammon at a time. Good Iacob was little troubled with wandring thoughts, Hos. 12.3, 4. when he had by his strength power with God, yea, he had power over the Angel and prevailed, for he wept and made supplication. Tears are the best charms to chase away Distractions. While you sweat, and weep, and pray, wandring thoughts will flee away **Birds w…ll not light nor stay on flaming Sacrifices. M. White..

As there can be no reason given for any sin, (call'd therefore folly) so for this in special; for if the holy work you are about, be worth the consuming of your time, (which passes in every duty, and is most precious) sure it's worth the spending your pains and diligence. He that loseth his time in the duty, and loseth his soul by his luke-warmness in the duty, makes a mad man's match. For if the Sermon, Prayer, Chapter, be not worth thy labour, never attempt it; and if it be, never shrink, nor be indifferent about it. When you see a man freez at his work, it invites a passenger to entertain him with talk. And a frigid attender upon God tempts the Devil himself to tempt him. Wherefore the Apostle, Rom. 12.11. p. 84directs us to be fervent in spirit, Where could a wandring thought get into that most zealous Prayer, Dan. 9 19?Dan 9:19while we are serving the Lord: not drowsie, but fervent in spirit, or boyling hot, as the word signifies. The busiest flies will not meddle with the scalding hony; though the sweetness entice them, yet the heat affrights them. The base flies of thy distractions will not molest thy heart, if it keep boyling hot in the service of God. A warm and weeping Prayer is the right Holy Water, that scares away the devil.

Now the best remedy against this Luke-warmness is, 1. Consideration, and 2. Practice.

1. Consideration of the ineffectualness of a frozen duty, which seldom reacheth the Heart of God when it reacheth not our own **Tu non audi… orationem tuam, & Dominum vis audire precem tuam? Chrys. de Nat Dom. Hom. 17.. That the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent only take it by force; that such duties neither please God, nor our selves, they mock God, and rather deceive than delight us. That some Prayer or Sermon must be thy last, and perhaps this present may be it. That it is an irrational thing, to bring a dead Sacrifice to a living God. That one serious and lively duty does you more good, and leaves a more sweet, blessed and active frame upon the soul, than an hundred p. 85heartless services; and, in short, That the Majesty, whom you serve, loves Adverbs **Nihil enim, nihil inquam, precatione ignitâ & sincerâ validius est. Chrys. ad Phil., and narrowly observes the How's and Why's of Sacred Worship: That it is not a vain thing that you are about, for it is your life. Deut. 32.47.

2. Practice is the other remedy. To cure this luke-warmness in God's service, frequent those Lights that are burning as well as shining. Let's go to Dedham (said the Godly in that time) to fetch fire, when famous M. Rogers was there. If you cannot hear a warming Divine, then read them, and be sure to have some Books for the rouzing and …eating of your heart, as others for clearing and instructing your judgment, unless the work of Sanctification be perfect already in your heart and affections, while it remains imperfect in your mind and judgment. Associate also with zealous Christians, borrow some of their heat, and lend them some of your light; and be not ashamed to talk of God, Heaven and a Soul when you are together; we lose the benefit of mens graces, for want of broaching those blessed Vessels of grace you converse with. Especially read the Scripture, which will inflame thee, and p. 86mold thee (being rightly used) into its blessed nature. I have known some, that before their private duties would meditate on a **O…ationi lectio, lectioni succedat oratio. Hieron. ad Laet.verse in the Psalms, Can…icles, or the like, and then run hot and lively into the presence of God. And chose rather to be **Non si s…rmonem in longum extenderis, in negligentiam frequenter lapsus, mul… Diabolo subrependi facultatem dederis, & supplantandi … abducendi cogitationem ab his quae dicuntur. Chrys. Hom. 79. ad pop. Antioch.frequent and fervent, than long and roving in a duty. Shorter prayers may sometimes inflame, when long ones tire the spirits; and that way the antient Christians **Dicuntur fratres in Egypto crebras quidem habere orationes, sed ea… tamen brevissimas & raptim quodammodo jaculatas. — Ne per productiores moras evanescat atque hebetetur intentio. Absit enim ab oratione mul…a locutio sed non desit multa precatio. August. Epist. 121.in Egypt used to take. And, lastly, do as holy David did, that carried such a nature as thou dost, be ever calling to God, (as, He who is at it eight or nine times in Psal. 119. Quicken me in thy way, quicken me, and I will call upon thy name: and if He had need thus to fetch fire from Heaven, how much more have We?

Q. Were it not better to omit the duty, than attempt it with such a dull heartless frame as this?

A. 1. Omission of a duty will never fit us for the better performance of a duty. p. 87Luther was used to say, The oftner I neglect, the more unfit I am: this is nothing but a shift of the Devil.

2. If thou dost endeavour with thy utmost strength… and sincerity, though thou be dull, it's better than to leave it undone: for as one sin prepares for another, so one duty prepares for another.Oratio debet continuari, quandiu devotio potest conse… vari. Aquin. 22. 983. a. 14. Fall therefore to work, and then God is engaged to help thee; never think neglects will mend it; one sin never cures another.

By the upright use of these means, you will find the holy Ghost, as it were, stretch himself on your cold hearts, and infuse life and heat into you. And when you are soaring aloft in the Spirit, that cunning marksman cannot shoot, and fetch you down by his distracting Arrows.

p. 88§. 5.SECT. V.

V. Worldly mindednes….THe fifth cause of Distractions in God's Worship, is, Worldly mindedness. An heart in earth, and an heart in Heaven, are far asunder **Adhaerere Domino indivulse & non subi…de m…ndanis curis interpelli & negoti…s a…ist ahi ut vix dum sinitâ spirituali iliâ actione in quâ jam versatus est, statim ad terrena anxie curanda t…ansvolet & carnalibus e…us ita se pen…tus immisceat ac si Insidelis esset. Mort. in 1 Cor. 7 35.1 Cor 7:35. As long as the Lark soareth upward, she sings without danger of the Net; but stooping to gaze on the Foulers deceitful Glass, she is quickly ensnared. So is it with us, while we live aloft, we are safe; but when the heart stoops down, and grows worldly through the false glass Satan puts upon it, then are we taken in these snares. Ezek. 33.31. With their mouthes they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. Their faces look one way, but they row another; their eyes are up towards heaven, their hearts set on the earth, and grasping two affairs they prosper in neither. How should he set his affections on the things above, that hath set them chiefly on things below? when as these two are directly opposed, Col. 3.2. How should the Soul, that Bird of Paradise, flie up to heaven in a duty, when it is not only weighed down with the p. 89lead of natural corruption, but intangled in the lime-twigs of earthly mindedness? they can never write on their duties, Holiness to the Lord, that stamp upon their coyn, God with us **M. Willes of. perilous times.. Hence it comes to pass, that the heart is loth to come to an Ordinance, and then longs to goe out again: how heavily do they go to Church, how lightly to the market? for here the heart goes with them, and there it's left behind; and being forc'd into a duty, because its treasure is in the world, the heart hastens to be there again, and sicut piscis in arido, is out of its element when in an Ordinance **See a plain instance hereof in that hearer, Luke 11.13, 14.Luke 11:13Luke 11:14.

We read of the world set in a mans heart, Eccles. 3.11. and of an heart set on the world, Ps. 62.10. Now how should God have any of such a heart? No, no, he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth; there he can rest without weariness; of that he can discourse without distractions: but when he should turn to God, and flee to heaven, this care knocks at door, and that business whispers him in the ear, and there the carcase is left, but the heart is gone. The Prophet, Hosea 4.11. tells us, that whoredome, and wine, and new wine take away the heart. It p. 90were very unlikely, that any man in the heat of those sins should pray, or hear, or meditate aright; and it is much what as likely, for an heart that is taken away with the cares of this world, and drowned therein, to converse with God, without innumerable wandrings **Curvasti quidem genua, sed mens tua foris vagabatur: os quidem loquebatur, sed mens usuras cogitabat, possessionem, reditus supputabat. Chrysost. Hom. 17. de Nat. Dom..

Mistake not, it is not the world, but worldly mindedness that is taxed; not the increase of riches, but the heart set upon them **Water under a ship helps it, but water in the ship drowns it.: And so no doubt a poor man may have his part of distractions, through his want of worldly things, as well as the rich through his abundance. He may have many a distracting thought what to do for the world, as the rich hath what to do with the world. And thus we see, those things which were given for our welfare, prove our snare; and what should hire us to serve God, keeps us from him. Which shews, what good reason the wise man had to crave neither riches nor poverty, but convenient comforts, seeing the weight of the world distracts one sort, and the want of the world another sort in the very immediate service of God. Howbeit p. 91for the most part, the heart that is fullest of the world is emptiest of God.

Now the best remedy against worldly mindedness, is Mortification. O get a chip of Christ's Cross, Gal. 6.14. whereby the world will be crucifi'd to you, and you to the world. So was Paul. As saith one of the Antients **Chrysost., Paul and the world were like two dead bodies, that neither embrace with delight, nor part with grief from each other. You must be dead, I say dead, to the world, if you mean to live to God, or live with him. A drunken prayer, and a worldly prayer, are alike devout. Therefore **Let not the world be your familiar friend, familiar friends will come in without knocking. M. White of Thoughts.Love not the world, nor the things of the world, for so long the love of the Father is not in you; and if you love him not, how should you pray to him? It would be an ill favoured sight, to behold all this Congregation in their work-day cloaths here; how unpleasing a sight to God is it, to see us all with our work-day hearts? Now that you may be rid of an earthly heart, faithfully make use of these directions.

1. Get faith, to believe the report God hath given of the world, that all that is in it, is but the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life; a p. 92poor vain thing, not able to give the soul a breakfast **When we shall have reigned hereafter many millions of years in Heaven, what thoughts will remain of this little inch of time upon earth, &c. M. Bolton, Discourse of true Happiness. pag. 143.: this all that have tasted it, and Christ also, do aver, and canst thou find that in it, which none ever found? will it do more for thee, than ever it did for any? Believe its vanity upon God's Word, ere thou try it by thy sad experience.

Get faith to suck vertue out of Christ's death to vanquish it. For this is our victory, 1 Ioh. 5.4. that overcometh the world, even our faith. Lay thee down with Christ in the grave by faith, and say then, What is the world? Get faith to believe that eternal happiness, which being once seen by that piercing eye, would so disgrace the world, that all the comforts of it would not weigh a straw in comparison of it **Let their mony perish with them, that esteem all the Gold in the world worth one days society with …esus Christ. Galeacius to a Nobleman, tempting him to Apostat…ze with a great sam of mony.If a man lived in the Sun, what a poor mote would the whole earth look? He that lives in Christ, in Heaven, by faith sees all the glories of the earth with a disdainful eye, and cries, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

2. You shall be helped against this disease, by deep consideration of the folly p. 93and misery of such a frame of heart. It's folly, for all that is gotten of the world, with the neglect of the soul, invasion of holy duties, or by a carking worldly heart, comes to thee in wrath, will sink thee deeper in hell; or if thou repent, is (most commonly) some way consumed, & vix gaudet tertius haeres, thy grand-child will rue it. If we could penetrate the method of God's providence, usually those losses you have in this beast, or the other house, or the like, are the just value of what you have gotten by immoderate care, hard dealing with others, or unseasonable contrivance, when your heart should have been better employed. And then the misery of worldly-mindedness, that it pierceth the heart through with many sorrows. Sorrow and pain in getting, sorrow and care in keeping, sorrow and grief in losing. The heart is never at perfect rest. A man would not use his horse, as a worldling doth his heart, gives it no quiet or ease, and all this to no purpose at all. Hab. 2.13. The people labour in the very fire, and weary themselves for very vanity. and may not the consideration hereof be an effectual means to hate this humour? and when it is once hated, it is more than half discharged.

p. 943. Have recourse to God by prayer, and therein see and bewail thy former madness; solemnly vow to restore their right to every man thou hast wronged; rather part, like Zacheus, with half thine estate, than with thy whole soul and body; and earnestly cry to the Lord, to encline thy heart to his testimonies, and not unto covetousness, Psal. 119.36. Intreat your heavenly Father, to give you an heavenly heart, and if it come not at first asking, it's a gift worth going for again; humbly tell him, by vertue of that Covenant, wherein you promised to forsake the world, (which you are now resolved to stick to) his Majesty is bound to give you a mortifi'd and heavenly heart, and you will never leave him, till you have obtained it.

4. **Cogitatio omnis secularis & carnalis abscedat, nec quicquam tunc animus quam illud solum cogitat quod precatur. Cypr. de Orat. Domin.Charm your hearts from worldly thoughts, when you go to the worship of God. Prov. 16.1, 3. The preparation of the heart is from the Lord— Commit thy ways to him, and thy thoughts shall be established. The Heathen left their shooes at the Temple doors, to intimate, that all earthly affections must be left behind you when you go to speak with God. Do as that great States-man used, who would p. 95lay off his Gown, wherein he administred his Office, when he went to worship God, and say, Lie there, Lord Cecil; implying, he would take none of the cares of his Office into the presence of God: So when you go to prayer, reading or hearing, lay aside the world, and say, Lie there house, ye fields lie there; lie there my cares, till I have done with God. So Abraham left his servants and asses, Gen. 22.5. below the hill, and took up nothing but an holy heart, and the materials of his Sacrifice with him thither. Keep still an eye upon your hearts, and both watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation **Exemplum legimus de Quodam qui volens Rusticum conviacere de cordis instabilitate dum fi… O…atio, pollicitus est se daturum sibi Asinum si posset Orationem Dominicam, nihil aliud actualiter cogitans, persicere. Qui mox ut a… orationem divo…tit, securus de Asini lucro, coepit distrahi in hanc cogitatio …m, si Sellam habiturus erat cum Asino: qui tandem ad se reditus & se redarguens instabilitatem sui cordis confessus est. Gerson. de Orat. p. 611..

SECT. VI.§. 6.

THe sixth cause of Distractions in the Worship of God is,VI. Weakness of love to Christ and his Ordinances. Weakness of love to Iesus Christ, and consequently to his Ordinances. Love unites the soul to p. 96its object: as Faith is the bond of our mystical, so Love is the bond of our moral union with Christ. The more love to Christ, the more life in his service. Cant. 8.6. Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for love is strong as death. Were your love more strong, it would seal up both soul and body, and unite them firmly unto Jesus Christ. Love marries the heart and eye to the object; hence 'tis, there is not a distracting thought in heaven, for there love is perfect: they see, and love, and sing; and praise, and see, enjoy, and love, for ever and ever. The three Disciples, Matth. 17.4. had but an half-quarter glimpse of that state, but their love to their dearest Lord and his presence was so heightned, that the world was forgotten, Ierusalem below, and all their friends and fellow-Disciples forgotten, and they undone to abide there. And if we could by the eye of faith see him that is invisible, and perfectly love him, O how hardly could we spare a by-thought in his presence and service! no, all the world would be forgotten, comforts and crosses all sleep together, while God and our soul were conversing in an Ordinance **Dat mi…ifraena Timor, dat m…hi calcar Amor..

p. 97Whence is it that most men can work and care perpetually, and no distractions divert them? discourse their business most orderly, without one alien thought? drive on a bargain an hour together, and think on nothing but what's pertinent to their present business? Why, they love what they are about, they like it well, and so tongue and heart go together, are wholely taken up therewith. The jovial knot like their company, and nothing shall distract them; the servant comes about necessary business; the master fumes that they will not let him alone; the child comes, and then the wife, but he frets, he rages. And why all this? why, he loves his company, 'tis his delight, his heaven: Even so, the Soul that hath a strong love to a precious Christ, and his Ordinance-presence, doth most heavily bear a distracting thought. The devil cannot pluck him from Christ, but the soul smarts, and when there is this smart at parting, that soul will part but seldom. You have sometimes seen a sucking child, that loves the mother and the breast most dearly; how loth is it to leave it, while it is hungry? how eagerly and angrily it seeks, and cries, and catches p. 98hold again? Here's love Omnes igitur …od… distract…ones & men is fluctuationes in unum collige, in sol… Deo totum desiderium tuum fige, & ibi sit cor tuum ubi est thesaurus tu…s d…siderabilis …ultumque amabilis. Bern. de inter. Domo, c. 5.. Christ Iesus is the spring of all happiness, and his Ordinances are his breasts, and he that loves the Lord Jesus with all his soul, and all his strength; there he lies, and sucks at the breasts of consolation. This business knocks at door, that trifle tempts him; yet there he sticks and frowns away all his temptations. His love is ardent, Psal. 1.2. His delight is in the Law of the Lord, and then it follows, in that Law doth he meditate day and night. When prayer is your delight, and not your task, then you will dwell therein with complacence, Psal. 43.4. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. Children are subject to look off their books, because they delight not in them, but when they are playing, they do hoc agere. But now when thy love is cool, and weak, thou lovest Christ, and that's all; alass, there's little heart to him, the soul comes heavily to him, and having little delight, and heavenly complacence in him, is most easily drawn off with any distraction: for where the treasure is, there will the heart be also; where God and Christ are a man's treasure, his heart is with them. He wakes, and travels, and cares, but his p. 99heart is with them; he runs through his business with all the haste, that may stand with good speed, that he may retreat to his heart, which he left with God, and then holy duties are the rest of his soul. And where the world, or sin, are a mans treasure, his heart is with them also; he reads, and hears, and prays, but his heart is away: the least noise, business or whisper can fetch him away, alas, his love is cool, and a drop of water will quench a spark of fire **Judge of the Divinity of the Jesuites. Q. When is a man obliged to have actually an affection for God? Ans. Any time before he die; others, at the point of death; others, at least every year: in fine, it's sufficient if we hate him not. Sirmond of virtue. p. 16, 19, 24..

The Remedies of this weakness of love to Christ and his Ordinances, are,

1. Know him better, and meditate more on his real excellencies. Ignoti nulla cupido. Cant. 5.9. What is thy Beloved more than another beloved? Why, ver. 16. His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely; or, as the Heb. **foreignall of him is delights. And then mark the reply, chap. 6.1. We will seek him with thee. The pure and orient Sun is no more than a glow-worm to the blind, nor the fairest face than a Skeleton. It is the eye that must p. 100affect the heart. Come then, open the eye of Faith, and gaze on this heavenly object: sit down, and meditate who, and what he is; open but the sacred Cabinet of his Attributes, every box full of most sweet perfumes: each of his offices pregnant with true and transcendent comfort. His actions, his passion, his words, his works, and above all, his heart, as full of Heaven as ever it can hold, and full for thee: the breast full running into the open mouth of faith, the Fountain opened for thy sins and uncleanness. The treasures of his grace free for thy supplies, what heart can freez under such discoveries? Nay stay, and look at him on the cross calling thee, arms stretched out to embrace thee, heart opened to let thee in, and deny him thy love if thou can. And if once **He loves thee little, O Lord, who loves any thing with thee, which he loves not for thee. Nil preter te, nisi propter te. Aug.your hearts be inflamed with his love, no small businesses shall keep you from his presence, nor distract you in it.

2. Get communion with Christ in his Ordinances. As he said on another occasion, Ioh. 4.10. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is— thou wouldest have asked, and he would have given thee living water. So I say, if thou knewest what communion is with Christ, thou wouldest p. 101ask after prayer, and long for such opportunities. Why, what is communion with Christ? Why, for thy spirit to flie up into heaven, among the celestial spirits, and for Christ's Spirit to descend into thy heart. And this makes an heaven upon earth, 'tis inexperience in this, that makes us cool to Christ and holy duties: strangeness makes company burthensome. A King and a beggar, a scholar and a clown, cannot make company of one another. So when there is a distance between God and the soul, there is little longing for his Ordinance, nor true delight in it. Communion with Christ increases love, and love to him promotes communion. Cant. 8.1. O that thou wert my brother, (saith the Spouse) the son of my mother, (there's ardent love) when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee, (there's communion) yet should I not be despised. If you did but see his power and glory **Mouns. de Renty said of himself, that when ever he pronounc'd the name of God, he tasted such a sweetness upon his lips, as could not be expressed. In vitâ., your soul would be filled as with marrow and fatness, and your mouth would praise him with joyful lips. Psal. 63.2, 5. One beam of his holiness, love or mercy, would so charm your hearts, that you would be loth to part, and long to meet again; for how can it choose but transport a finite p. 102heart, to see and feel the sweetest properties of the infinite God displayed before, and graven on it? When Moses was in near communion with God on the Mount, no thinking of meat, no cares about his tents below, but there he is swallowed up, and is content to melt in that Sun of light and heat, and come down no more; easie to count his distractions in the Mount. O who can see the face of God, and not be ravished therewith… who can behold the beauty of the Lord, and not chuse to dwell in his presence all the days of a mans life? 'Tis communion with Christ Iesus, that will warm your love to him, and when the King brings you into his chambers, you will be glad and rejoyce in him, you will remember his love more than wine.

3. Believe verily that you can be no where better, no where so well as in an Ordinance: this will content and please your minds in the Lord's service, when you can be no where better; for what company can be better than God's? The chiefest Good must needs afford the choicest company, who can impart such rare delights and sweet content as he can? and where doth he communicate himself, p. 103as in an Ordinance? Say, the world knocks at door, and would have thee away; can vanity entertain you like felicity? can the world produce higher pleasures, than he that made it? Would sin come in, and steal your hearts away? can the chiefest evil create thee sweeter entertainment than the chiefest Good? No, no, you are best where you are. If the world could find you such another Deity, somewhat might be yielded; or give you security, like God, of the reality, satisfaction and duration of its toys, quarter-contents: but alas, there's no shew for this, you are best where you are. I am conversing with the Lord of heaven and earth, who can reward or ruin me in a moment. I am sucking at the breast of the chiefest Good. I am in the next employment to heaven, in a corner of heaven, I cannot look off yonder lovely One, I will not leave, I must not come down. And this experience would enamour you of an Ordinance, and deliver you from diversions in it; you will sit down under his shadow with great delight, when his fruit is sweet to your taste.

p. 104§ 7.SECT. VII.

VII. Want of Watchfulness.THe seventh cause of wandring of the thoughts in the worship of God, is, want of watchfulness. Matth. 26.41. Watch and pray **Qui enim sic vigilans orat, illius exauditur oratio; hoc enim significat dicens, Vigilate & Orate ut primum vigilemus & sic vigilantes oremus. Origen. Tract. 35. in Matth., are most necessary companions, else shall we fall into temptation. In those sad times of plague, the faithful Guard stands at the City gates, and the dangerous passenger for all his importunity is stopp'd and turn'd again: Why? perhaps the plague comes with him, and therefore the Halbard salutes his breast, he comes not there; the neglect of this care would soon lay waste the land. So if any stragling thought, perhaps with the plague in it, shall enter at pleasure into the soul, especially while the Lord's service is in hand, no wonder that soul lies waste, Lord have mercy may be written on that door.

1. The neglect of watchfulness before holy duties causes distractions; and that is, by not heeding to order your affairs with discretion for God's service **Prov. 18.1. Through desire a man having separated himself, se…keth and intermedleth with all wisdom.Prov 18:1. When you p. 105involve your selves in too much business, too much for your head, too much for your time, or too much for your strength, then worldly thoughts will get place, you cannot help it. Or, when men are unadvised in their business, in not chusing a fit time for duties, and thereby your business and God's shoulder one another, and neither is done well. And therefore we are commanded, 1 Pet. 4.7. to watch unto prayer. As Satan watches to cross and indispose us, by throwing some diverting and cooling occasions, so is it our wisdom to counter-watch him. **Clarissima soror, audi qu… dico: Ante tempus orare est providentia; I… tempo…e constituto o…a…e, est obedientia, Tempus orandi praeterire, est neglige…. Bern de de modo benè vivendi. Serm. 40.Indeavour to time your businesses, and especially your duties. It is the character of a good man, Psal. 112.6. that he orders his affairs with discretion, and renders every thing beautiful in its time For its a true observation, that an indiscreet ordering of Saturdays business, hath great in…luence into the unprofitableness of the Sabbath's Ordinances.

2. Neglect of watchfulness in holy duties. Our hearts, so far as unregenerate, are fetch'd into holy duties, as a prest souldier into the field: he is brought in against his will, no principle of courage, or love to his country: he had rather be p. 106digging or idling at home. Now such a souldier, what trust can you repose in him, if he be not watch'd? he steals away at every lanes end, and in the midst of the battel, you shall be sure to miss him; a constant eye must keep him, or you lose him. 'Tis just so with our naughty hearts, if there be not a predominant principle of grace, 'tis not choice but use that brings them in, they would rather be carking or trifling about any thing, than busie in prayer, and therefore if you neglect to watch them at every turn, no sentence end but they will steal away. For **I… …ssi…ax petitio est, cum precatur Deum sterilis oratio. Quia Deus no… vocis sed cordis est auditor. Cyprian. de Orat. Dom.prayer without watching is but a meer complement. Where the tongue goes one way, and the heart another, that's a complement, and such is a watchless duty. It is said, the Nightingale in her sweetest notes is apt to fall asleep; to prevent which, she settles her self on a bough, with a thorn at her breast, that when she begins to nod, that sharp monitor may awake her. The holiest **Bonum est sanctorum precibus frui, sed quando &. ipsi seduli & vigiles fuerint. Chrys. in 1 Thess.Saint is apt to nod, and steal away in the midst of his solemnest duties; if God's Spirit do not aurem vellere, quicken his watch. Christ's own Disciples, even just after a Sacrament, were overtaken for want of this, Matth. p. 10726.40. What, could ye not watch with me one hour? And if they fell asleep at prayer for want of watching, how can you keep close to God without it, that have neither so good a monitor without, nor so good an heart within?

3. Neglect of watchfulness after duties causes distractions in the next that follow; people use to let loose their hearts, when the Duty ends, and unlace themselves for ease; and then their thoughts take liberty **As men are out of prayer, so will they be …n prayer. Morn. L…ct.. Which our deceitful hearts fore seeing, no cords will bind them to a good behaviour in the very duties themselves; whereas, were there a constant watch kept up after our duties were done, and conscience made of our thoughts all the day long, we should contain our hearts in better order, while God's worship lasts. The fore-sight, and especially fore-tastes of liberty approaching, sets the soul madding, thereupon, and we cannot keep it in. Besides, Religion is concatenated, hath a dependance one thing upon another, and it is unsufferable to take and leave where we will. If vain thoughts lodge with you at other times, they will visit you at your business, and if they be entertained when you have a p. 108mind, they will press in when you have no mind.

The Remedy against this neglect is, To be throughly convinc'd of the absolute necessity of constant watchfulness, Prov. 4.23. Keep thy heart with all diligence, as a castle is kept from scaling, an house from robbing, or a Jewel from defacing, so the Criticks; and all these are kept constantly, one hours negligence would hazard any of them **Let us imagine a City not only begirt with a strait siege of bloud-thirsty enemies, but also within infested with lurking Commotioners, how much would it stand that City upon to stand upon its guard, &c. M. Bolton's discourse of true Happiness, p. 146.— And then with all diligence, Heb. with all keeping, or as some, above all keeping. The eye we watch from harm all the day, the vitals we defend and guard with constant care; we know that a touch there is mortal; but above all keeping keep the soul: Be perswaded, that watchfulness is as necessary as prayer; you think, without prayer you shall go to hell, and I aver, that without watchfulness you cannot go to heaven. Mans life in this sense is a continued Ordinance. Hos. 12.6. wait on thy God continually; not only at thy prayers, but at thy plough; while on your knees you are waiting on God, and when you rise from your knees, you are going to wait on him in your calling, and an unbecoming thought is displeasing to him every where; he is sensible p. 109of an affront in the kitchen as well as in the parlour, and hates vanity all the day long. 1 Pet. 4.7. Be sober, and watch unto prayer. Sober and watch, as if they that do not watch are mad. To watch unto prayer is duty, as well as to watch in it. He that watches not to duties, doth not do his duty: a wise Christian should have always something in store for God; work and look at God, eat, and drink, and talk, and still look at God, and at the soul **You see the Angels sent about God's messages to th…s earth, yet never out of their heaven, never without the vision of their Maker; and so should you strive when you are up and down in your business, yet be within sight of God. D. Hall's Contemp.. This is to w…lk with God all the day long. As the careful Bee must needs leave her hive, and fly abroad, but she dwells no where else, she lights on this …lower, and then on that, exhausts their sweetness, deflowers them, and gets away; she never rests till she return to her hive, there she rests and enjoys her self. So an holy heart must needs out into the world, and business must be done, but he rests at nothing, till he return to the enjoyment of God again, no flower gives him content, no business, no company satisfies, but he retires to God, looks at him, and is lightned, and steps out again. This, Sirs, this is the Religion of Religion. **Its a thousand times easier to keep the floudgates shut, than to drain the lower grounds when they are overflown. Idem.I know it's hard, but it's possible, the ice is broken for you, and the way is trodden. p. 110Act. 24.16. Herein do I exercise my self, to have always a conscience void of offence. It's my daily trade and business to keep my soul, that I neither offend God nor man. If you will make a trade on't, you may do it. God never calls for duty, but helps in it. Phil 4.13. I can do all things through Christ. God and his servant can do any thing.

§. 8.SECT. VIII.

VIII. A beloved sin.THe eighth cause of distractions in holy duties is **Observe, that some make a difference between a beloved sin, and a reigning sin; a beloved sin rules over our sins, not over our graces; a reigning sin rules over both., A beloved sin. When the soul hath espoused some bosome lust, the thoughts (be you never so busie) will be warping towards it, though God himself look on. Ier. 4.14. O Ierusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness,— how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee? When wickedness is in the heart, vain thoughts will be in thy duties; they will enter, yea, they will lodge within thee. A beloved sin is like a byass on the bowl, though you throw it out never so streight, yet the byass will draw it off that way, do what you can: so is a beloved sin unto the soul; aim you with utmost skill, yet p. 111there is a secret load stone in it, that attracts the heart, and makes that prayer to end in hell, that began in heaven. Either sin and you must be at a distance, or God and you will. The soul that is in league with sin, dare not come at God, dare not look at him, dare not think on him; and what must that man think on in a duty, that dare not think seriously on God? As that penitent Father speaks in his confessions. An unmortifi'd soul (like the husband of a scolding wife, had rather be any where than at home, and makes many a sad bargain abroad, because he hath no comfort at home with his wife; so such an heart) chooses to be thinking of any thing rather than God **Gravi namque men… nostra orationis suae tempore confusione deprimitur, si hanc aut sua adhuc operatio inquin…t, aut alienae malitiae serva…us dolor accusat. Greg. in Job. l 10. c. 18.; alas, matters are not straight between them, the poison of sin is in him, and he hugs that abhominable thing which God hates; the Thief had rather go forty miles another way, than come near the Judge; God is an offended Judge to a wilful sinner, and he cares not for ever coming near him. Hence, Heb. 10.22. Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. He that comes to God with a true upright honest heart, being sprinkled from an evil conscience, p. 112may draw near to God in full assurance of faith; whereas guilt clouds, clogs and distracts the soul. So that you see both the gu…lt and power of a bosom sin, furnish us with too much cause of distractions. **Ita mala quae seci, cogitationi meae suis imaginibus impressa, in ipsa mea oratione me conturbant. Caeterum quanto graviore tumul…u cogitationum carnalium premor, tanto ardentius orationi insistere debeo. Bern. de inter. Domo. c. 49.Sin, That would have all the heart; and God, He will have all or nothing. It's such an offering, that is a whole burnt-offering, that the Lord delights in. As no subject is capable of two contrary qualities, in the intense degree, (as heat and cold may be both in the same hand, but not in their intense degrees) so the heart of man cannot entertain Christ and corruption, light and darkness, except the one be loved and served superlatively above the other. Psal. 66.18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. **Look as it is with a boyling pot, the scum of it will be rising up, together with the meat therein; so is it in prayer. M. Cobbet of Prayer, p. 396.God first stops his ear above, and then the sinners mouth below, that regards iniquity, that likes, loves, approves, or gives it rest and quiet in the soul. Indeed God neither regards him, nor doth such a soul regard God. He must love God, that is lively in his service. Iob 27.10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God? will he always? he may now and then send a thought that way in his special need, but p. 113not always: there's difference between converse and communion. One may have converse or traffick with a stranger upon occasion, but communion is with a friend, there's visits of pure kindness: an hypocrite may have some converse, or trading with God for necessaries, but sweet communion, constant calling on God, and serious duties he can never enjoy and follow, that loves any sin before the chiefest Good.

The Remedies against a beloved sin are briefly these two.

1. Consideration: sit down and think what real good, this sin hath ever done thee. Think what hurt it hath done thee and others: and what fruit but shame and death it brings to any. Thy dearest sin is but sin, which is the worst thing in the world, and its masks and disguises being laid aside, more ugly than the devil, more horrid than hell it self. And think, the more thou lovest it, the more God hates it, and his rage and jealousie is increased with the increase of thy desires. Think how many prayers it hath lost thee, how many mercies it hath poison'd to thee, how many smiles it hath clouded, besides what unutterable sufferings p. 114it hath inflicted upon Christ, and is preparing for thee in hell. Consider, that thou maist have as much joy, happiness and true comfort without it, and all converted sinners confess, that Jesus Christ hath been better to them than all their sins; and if you may have as good injoyments, or better, to have Christ with them, and Heaven after them, will not make them worse.

2. Supplication **Ille laudatur, qui … coeperit cogitare indida, statim in… ficit cogitata & allidit ad p…tram. P…tra autem est Christus.: Kneel down and pray with faith, in the uprightness of your hearts, for strength from above. All the strength of Heaven is engag'd by prayer. He that heartily sets himself against his sin by prayer, cannot but dislike it, and when it is truly disliked, its heart is broken.

Augustine complains, that when he in his unconverted estate begged a divorce from his sin, his heart was afraid, lest God should hear his prayers. Beware lest your hearts secretly cry Spare, when your tongues openly cry, Lord, kill and crucifie my corruption: but do thou bonâ fide pull on earth, and the Lord will bono Spiritu, pull from Heaven, and rent thy sin and soul asunder. Otherwise, as the Poets tell us of Hippomanes, Ov…d. Met. …. c. 11.that running p. 115with Atalanta for victory, he conquered by throwing golden apples down; which Atalanta stooping to take up, lost the prize; so Satan seeing the soul running heaven-ward in God's service, will throw down the gilded temptations of a beloved sin, stop it in its carreer, and hazard the prize of eternal glory.

SECT. IX.§. 9.

A Ninth cause of Distractions in the Worship of God,IX. Satan. is, Satan **Diabolus cum sit astutas, scil. quoniam in tempore orationis grandia postulemus & saepius impetremus, impedire sestinat improvidas mentes. Chrys. in Matth. Hom. 16.. And this he doth sometimes more remotely, by throwing in some cross business before Duties, whereby the soul is unhinged: some body, or Letter with business, just before prayer; or some passionate distempering passages in the family, whereby to lay matter ready for our discomposure, and wandrings in the following duties. Sometimes he approaches nearer, and by presenting and occasioning objects to our senses in God's Worship, draws off the heart: He can stay One long from the Congregation, that Another may be distracted in observing him coming in, and so wounds two, and sometimes twenty p. 116at a blow: Satan is not idle, when this and that child are restless and unquiet in the family; whereby perhaps all in the family lose the passages that would most profit them. He can create a further distraction by every pillar and part of the structure, and every person in the congregation; and can be content you read sentences on the walls, to hinder and divert your s…uls from the sentences in the pulpit. Yea, he often approaches nearer, and works immediately upon the Fancy, upon which he can imprint a thousand notions, most strange and incoherent many times, to steal the heart from God, for we are not ignorant (the more is our sorrow) of his devices. Hence we have him, Iob 1.6. When the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, coming also among them. And being questioned, tells his business is to go to and fro in the earth, and to walk up and down in it; as if he walked only out of curiosity, or for some charitable end. But as our Lord Iesus went up and down, doing good; this was his work from morning to night: so the Devil walks up and down, doing evil. He is in every pue, at every elbow, throwing in his fire-balls, p. 117and enticing poor souls to commit folly with him; and when God is treating with the soul about Heaven and Hell then comes He **Satan cares not how heavenly our words be, if our thoughts be earthly. While, of vain thoughts.and thrusts the World between, or some vanity therein, to break the treaty, and spoil that sacred conference; so that of all roads, no road is so full of thieves as the road to Heaven.

And though to give the Devil but his due, we can make shift to be bad enough in an Ordinance without him, yet he waits there no doubt to make us worse: what else should bring thoughts then into our head, that have never come there, in a month or year before? who else should suggest such horrid atheistical thoughts, when we are pinch'd with convictions, and move us to question all, when any thing pursues us? Ephes. 6.12. We wrestle against spiritual wickedness in heavenly things or **foreign.employments. The devil is wickedness in the abstract, when we are about heavenly work. Never did the crafty Cheat watch and spie, how to defraud and slur the innocent Merchant, while he is receiving his cash, as Satan lies at catch in the Worship of God, to purloin from us the true treasure, that should make the soul rich. Especially p. 118**The high-way-ground-hearers had the word taken from them by the devil, that is, by such wandring tho…ghts a… he immediately casts in. Mr. Angier, p. 148.that Prayer, or Chapter, or Sermon, that should do thee most good, or most destroy his Kingdom, will he be most busie in. When the High Priest was interceding for the poor Church, then Satan stood at his right hand to resist him: hence our solemnest Duties, often have the saddest Distractions, and such as have no coherence nor reason for them; but arrows, fiery darts, shot out of the Devils own quiver. What a sort of them have I in the very writing hereof, and what long parenthesis between every sentence, and you perhaps will not want, while you are reading, yea, it may be, (as the body, when the humours are stirred by Physick, is worse, so) he will be busiest to divert and trouble your hearts, while the cure is working. But when your heart is prepared before, and watchful in your Duty, though yours be the sorrow, that you have the womb that bare them; yet his will be the guilt, because he is the father that begets them.

The Remedy against Satan's distracting us in God's Worship, is, that of Christ's own prescribing, Matth. 26.41. Watch and Pray, lest ye enter into temptation. Stand upon your guard, give no heed to p. 119his suggestions. As you run to the water with the bucket, to quench a spark of fire in the thatch; so drop a tear of contrition upon this spark of temptation. **Nam ipsum advertere & examinare istas cogitationes, evagari est. Itaque te babeas quosi eas nod aspicere dig…is. Alvarez.Treat not with these thoughts, but dismiss them unregarded, and by some short ejaculation call in thy friend, to countermine thine enemy. And still watch and pray. And pray and watch, and always remember, that we have as much need of the strength of Christ for assistance, as the merit of Christ for acceptance in every duty. And be sure to cast out his injections with disdain and hatred. Nam superbus est spiritus, **Luther.& non patitur contemptum. He is a very proud piece, and cannot endure contempt. The stronger is your resistance, the longer will he stay away; and the more you hate his motions, the less mind he'l have to offer them. The devil is like that Sanballat, Nehem. 6.2. &c. that sent to Nehemia, who was busie in the work of the Lord; And I (saith Nehemia) sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down; why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you? Yet they sent messengers unto me four times after this sort, and I answered p. 120them after the same manner. Come, says Satan, let's meet and confer, here's a notion and here's a business, you must needs discuss this. Nay, say thou, I am doing a great work for Eternity. As that gallant Painter, being demanded a reason of his exact curiosity in his work, answered, Pingo eternitati, I paint to last for eternity. So, I am doing a work for eternity, I am pleading the cause that runs for life or death; so that I cannot hearken to thee. Why should my great work cease, while I leave it and come down? Alas, this business will go no farther than it's lifted at. I am rowing upon a River, if I trifle or nod a little, I go down again **It is said, Gen. 15.11. when the fouls did light, Abraham drove them away; not when they were sitting or feeding upon the carkasses, but as soon as ever they lighted. We must not give place to these thoughts, no not for a moment. Mr. White, of vain thoughts.Gen 15:11. I have a business on the wheel, that cannot be le…t a minute. If I look away, my iron burns, and I suffer loss. Yet he'l send messengers over and over again, as Sanballat did; but still answer them after the same manner. Discourage him, and break his heart with thine obstinate resolution; Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

p. 121SECT. X.

THE Tenth Cause of Distractions in our Lords service is,§. 10. Vain thoughts out of Duties. Vain thoughts at other times. For,

1. These displease and disengage the spirit of God; without whose help these Infirmities will crowd in upon us. If you should lodge your noble friend, whom Love only moves to visit you, in the same room with a nasty beggar, may not he take it for a plain affront, and refuse to come near or help you in your need? even so the holy Ghost, your Noblest Friend will take it ill, to be pack't into a room with base and beggarly thoughts, and may justly deny that presence and assistance, which we have need of; and without Gods spirit helping us, we cannot pray as we ought, nor keep out Distractions with all our skill. Rom. 8.26. The spirit helpeth our infirmities, and these wandrings are some of those infirmities, which the spirit must help us about, yea and will, if he be not disobliged, but it is far from likely, that we should have that sacred Spirit at our beck in Duty, whom we have distasted all the day long. How p. 122justly may He say, as it is Jer. 11.15. What hath my beloved to do in my house? or, as the Margent, what is to my beloved in my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many? As if he should say, I know not what to do with thee in my house, or what thou hast to do with me, having roved so extreamly with thy heart from me, and been lewd with many. Remember it is the Holy Ghost, who hates a sinful thought any time of day. That man must walk with God in the Day, that will have God draw nigh to him at Night.

2. These dispose and naturalize the soul to roving. Habit is a second nature **Hereby holy Thoughts become tedious and painful, for we strive against two natures, one that sin hath brought and another that Custome hath wrought. Mr. Angier p. 141., and it is almost as hard to wash an Ethiopian white, as to break an evil custome. Jer. 13.23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots, then may ye also do (or think) good, that are accustomed to Evil. If a man be used to ill company, and link't in with them, though he sometimes resolve better, yet when they come, away he must go with them against his purpose. Perhaps you have resolved against these vain wandrings in Gods service, but being us'd to them, they call at door, and take you captive away against p. 123your intention. And therefore set up a constant watch against them, for Religion is link't together in the power and practicals of it. So that you must take all, or leave all; be a Christian allwayes and altogether, or not at all. It is said of that accursed Mahomet that he had used a Dove to come to his Ear, and thence to eat her commons, And so when the falling sickness surprized him, his pigeon presently came to her repast, which he feigned to be the holy Ghost or an Angel, that told him the mysteries of his Religion: my beloved, if these fowls, these evil Angels be used to your ear or heart, they will come even in your most coelestial imployments, and divert and distract you: and hereby they become less strange, and things that are familiar to us, though ugly, are not started at; nay treble diligence will not dispel them, if you give them ordinary entertainment. If a way be made over your corn or ground, and people used to come that way, it must be an higher hedge than ordinary, that must keep them off. If vain thoughts have made a road over thy heart, and use to come that way without controll, it must be a very high and strong watch p. 124and resistance, that will turn them by, in holy Duties. Prov. 35.28. He that hath no rule over his own spirit, is like a City that is broken down and without Walls.

3. These vain thoughts at other times make us apprehend it more impossible to conquer, and less sinfull to be conquered by them. And when Distractions appear so powerful that there is no resisting them, or so harmless that they are not worth our trouble to resist them, then is a floodgate opened to let them in: when once our courage is conquered, or our Conscience is feared, we are quite undone. And thus you see that one sin ushers in another, and the loosness of our heart at one time, prepares it to be so another. Even as you observe your Children ('tis the comparison of one that hath the skill of simile…s) they are more unruly before strangers, or at times when they should be most demure, than at other times: and you are then, more aware and troubled at their shrewd words and gestures, than the whole year besides: Alas, It is not meerly, that they are worse then, but then you take more notice of it, it is then most observeable and apparent, p. 125though their carriage be much at one: So it is with your Hearts; O (cry you) I am more pestred with foolish thoughts in Prayer or Sermon, than all the day or week besides… Then my Heart is worst, when it should be best. Alas! its naught all along, it do's but as it is used to do, only you observe it not at other times, and now observe it a little and find it out, but its alwayes so.

4. These do infect the memory **Sed cùm s…mens ad studium orationis erexerit, earum rerum imagines reverberata patitur, quibu… libenter prius otiosa premibatur. Greg. in Job. l. 10. c. 16., and imprint such species and notions there, as offer and produce themselves, when we are in the service of God And so when a good man out of the good treasure of his heart should bring forth good things. He stumbles upon the vain and unprofitable trash, before laid up in his memory, to the grie… of Gods spirit, and hazard of his own. The memory, you know, will most easily retain an impertinent story, a filthy or foolish imagination a long time, and then when an Idle heart hits upon it, (though God himself looks on) that will run away with the heart, and give both matter and strength to a long, woful, and wandring Distraction.

p. 126How doth the **Hence cogitatio à cogendo, quia voluntas cogit memoriam ut proferat materiam, cogit etiam intellectum ad formandum, Bern. Ep. de vlt. Solit.active Fancy in our sleep sometimes light upon some sorry thoughts we had in the day, and take them by the end, and spin them out into a very sinfull Dream? and this, Casuists say, we are responsible for though it seem involuntary: because we administred matter for it, and remotely promoted it: so we shall be found guilty before God, even of our unwilling wandring in Gods service, because we laid up for them before. If we brew for them, Satan will be sure to broach them.

5. These idle thoughts, at other times, provoke God to give us up to our own inventions. As that dreadful word, Hos. 4.17. Ephraim is joyned to Idols, let him alone. Seeing he will be marryed to them, and forsake me, let him take them. If a man be resolved upon Idols or any other sin, God will not hinder him. So when he finds the heart joyned, taken up, and pleased with vain thoughts; Good motions knock and wait, but are not accepted or heeded; come and knock again with double earnestness, How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee? but are not regarded, sin and the heart are making merry within; come and try once p. 127more, open now or never; And no answer, nay, now the Soul is joyned to these things, let him alone. Sleep on now, and take thy rest. Trouble him no more in his vain inventions. So I gave them over, Psal. 81.12. To their own hearts lust, and they walked in their own counsels. If they choose Hell before Heaven, let them take it. My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man. And now when the Soul is given up to a vagabond frame, then thy weak purposes, and faint watchfulness over it stand for nothing, but are broken like Sampsons cords; and a deluge of all manner of impertinencies breaks in, and the Heart is prostituted to all temptations.

The Remedy against these idle thoughts out of Duties is,

1. A right understanding what a vain thought is. Though it sound somewhat harsh, that all thoughts are either good or bad, the matter of some being in itself indifferent; yet if we consider the Principle and Tendency of them, we shall hardly light upon one individual thought, but it hath either the stamp of Good or Evil upon it. It is certain, that a wicked mans thoughts are all vain, as p. 128they come from him, neither flowing from a sanctified heart, nor being directed to a Divine end. Ah poor sinners, your hearts are little worth, the imaginations of them are materially or formally or finally evil, only evil and that continually. The sweetest words from corrupt lungs do stink in the nostrills of them that stand by, and so your best thoughts coming from corrupt hearts, cannot be right in the sight of God.

And then for a gracious man, it should seem every thought comes either from the old man or the New, the regenerate or unregenerate part, especially if we consider that there is hardly a thought but it may be resolved ultimately either into Christ or Self, Let it therefore be concluded, that every thought that is not suggested, or directed by the Spirit of God, and that no way conduceth to the glory of God, the good of your neighbour, nor the good of your own soul or body, is a vain thought, vain or void, it might be spared, it stands for nothing, its worse than nothing.

2. Be throughly convinced that vain thoughts are Sins **The greatest Good and Evil that ever was in the world, was first but a little thought. Mr. Angier p. 171.; They are not free p. 129from the Law of God, though they be free from the lash of man. The Rabbins had a strange exposition of that, Psa. 66.18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me; they read it thus, If iniquity do but remain within the heart (be not produced into act) God will not regard it; and so the Pharisees of the Decalogue, as if God had only forbidden the outward acts of sin; but there is nothing more contrary to the nature of God, or of his Law, or of the souls of men than this. I wonder how they could over-look all these direct passages in the Old Testament, Levit. 19.17. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart. — Thou shalt not say in thy heart, and innumerable such. No, no thoughts are words before God, **Quod agunt hominibus dicta, eadem Deo cogita…iones. Bern. formul. hon. vitae.Ezek. 11.5. I know the things that come into your mind, every of them. What is sin… but a deviation or transgression of the Law of God? and this is a woful thing. Sin even in a thought is a woful thing; Nay, words and actions are as it were sins at second hand; the very first life,See Mr. Bolton's discourse of true happiness p. 126. and freshest vigour of all ill, is immediately inspired into the thoughts. Hence it is that Peter adviseth Simon Magus to pray to God, if it were possible, that the thoughts of his heart might be p. 130forgiven him; as though there lay the greatest guilt, and deepest stain before God **Sicut enim vipera à filiis in venire adhuc positis occiditur, ita nos occidunt cogitationes nostrae intra nos enutritae. Bern. de modo bene vivendi. Ser. 29.. Alas, one vain thought would bring down the highest Angel into the lowest Hell: and that which would damn an Angel, will damn thee, except thou repent. If millions of Angels have fallen by a sinful thought, and yet thou standest under the guilt of many, thank Free Grace, and the Death of Christ for that; but yet thy sin is still as bad, and thou hadst need to cleanse the filthiness of the spirit, as well as of the flesh.

3. Daily winde up your spiritual watch, and renew your Covenants with God in prayer. Draw all your parts and faculties into Covenant, Iob 31.1. I made a Covenant with my eyes. Why then should I think upon a Maid? Behold the blessed purity of this mans heart! Neither eye nor thought of his should wander after a Maid; and this he vows. Though good purposes are the shifts of Hypocrites, whose Covenants to God are like ropes of Sand, broken as soon as made; yet when they are accompanied with repentance for former falls, and hearty indeavour for future performance, no better sign of an upright Christian. Know, that p. 131constant watchfulness is a duty; that as Nature hath provided a cover for the eye, so Grace hath prepared watchfulness for the soul; and as it would be a fearful sight to see an eye without a lid, it would soon be put out; so it is a fearful and dangerous thing to keep a soul without its case, without its watch, Prov. 23.17. Let not thy heart envy (or imitate) sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long; not only at prayer-times, but all the day long. Be sure that every morning you sincerely and solemnly relieve your watch, by new purposes and prayers, and then when vain thoughts offer to come in, you may say, I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous Iudgements. And labour, that all your thoughts may hold weight with that excellent Scripture, Phil. 4.8. Finally, Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

4. Repent thoroughly and heartily for them. For as Humiliation without Reformation, is a foundation without a building; p. 132so Reformation without Humiliation, is a building without a foundation, which the next wind of temptation will throw down. To wash the heart, (mark, it must not be swept only) in the brinish …ears of Repentance, is the way to dislodge vain thoughts from within you, Jer. 4.18. If you felt the smart and bitter pangs of true Repentance to night for your vain thoughts, it would affright and mortifie the heart from them to morrow; you would have no mind to tamper with the vanities that cost you so dear: The burnt child would dread the fire, and the fresh remembrance of the heart-ach you had for these guests last day, would bolt them out from coming in to day. If our sins did cost us in David's sense, broken bones, we should not so easily sin again. If the Scholar, after his truanting, stole to his place unobserv'd and uncorrected, he will easily venture on his freaks again to morrow; but if he tasted the Rod, the smart he felt, will somewhat warm and keep him from such follies again. Ah Sirs! our Repentance is easie, and our confessions complements; we forgive our selves, ere God forgive us; we can lick our selves whole, without the cost of a tear or sigh, p. 133and then we are ready for a sin again: He that finds it easie to repent, will not find it hard to sin. Verbal Repentance will never cure you of real sins. It is your sad thoughts that will prevent your vain ones, **Quia e…im semper cogitamus, exquir…nda sunt nobis bona, ne mala cogitemus. Greg. in 1 Reg. c. 14.1 Kgs 14and idle thoughts are best excluded by keeping the heart full of good ones.

SECT. XI.

THe Eleventh Cause of wandring thoughts in the Ordinances of God,§. 11. XI. A divided hea…t is, a divided heart, James 1.6.8. For he that wavereth, is like a wave of the Sea, driven with the wind and tossed. The forlorn picture of a roving heart, carryed up and down, as the wind of any temptation pleaseth: The Cause, ver. 8. A double mind: A double minded man is unstable in all his waies. The word signifies **foreign.one that hath two souls; one that speaks with a double heart, Psal. 12.2. Like that prophane Piece, that bragged he had two souls in one body; one for God, the other for any thing that came. This man is the unstable man in God's service, off and on with God, unfixed to his business, p. 134knows not what he would have, prayes and unprayes, wants faith for the ballast of his soul, and so is carried at the pleasure of every wave; and then ver. 7. is the misery o… this frame. Let not this man think that he shall obtain any thing of the Lord; that is (as some) though God may answer such requests out of his superabundant mercy, yet such a man can look for nothing. Though a distracted prayer may receive something, yet it cannot expect any thing from God; when a mans supplication is a provocation, there is little hope: He that puts treason into his petition, has little reason to hope for a good answer.

How an heart may be said to be divided in a duty these waies:

1. When all the heart is not ingaged therein; as when understanding or conscience without the will or affections. This opens a door unto distractions, Eph. 6.6. Doing the Will of God from the heart, with good will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men. Half an heart can do nothing with God. A man may as well with one eye observe the stars, and with the other measure the Earth at the same time, as at once dispatch affairs with God and man. p. 135Hereby both businesses are spoiled: Conscience of God hinders from any discreet and serious contrivance of any thing in his presence; and tampering with the world, provokes God, and hinders the affairs above. Our Lord Christ is most peremptory in that case: Ye cannot serve two Masters, the one will be over-served, ye cannot serve God and Mammon.

2. The heart may be said to be divided, when it is unfixed and indeterminate; wavering and unsetled. A duty to God is shooting at an hairs breadth; if a man be uncertain and unsteady, how shall he hit the mark? Psal. 57.7. O God, my heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed, I will sing and give praise. Now the work is likely to go on. You cannot (it seems) so much as sing a Psalm, or give the Lord praise without this fixedness of heart. As you have seen the Needle in a Compass, waver up and down perpetually, till it point towards the North, then it is fixed and standeth still: so until the soul be composed, and bent directly towards God, it wanders, and trifles everlastingly.

3. The heart is divided by Hypocrisie, Iames 4.8. Purifie your hearts, ye double minded. As he speaks to open sinners p. 136to cleanse their hands, so to close Hypocrites, to purifie their hearts, that is, be sincere: An Hypocrite is a man of two hearts, and both little worth; one good one is worth a thousand pair of double hearts. Hence holy David, Psal. 86.11. Unite my heart to fear thy Name, else I shall have one heart to move me towards thee, and another heart to fetch me back again. One heart for God, another for Baal, and so shall halt between them.

4. The heart is divided, when you perform not his service with all your might and strength, Ier. 48.10. Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently, loosely, that unbends his bow, that unstrings his heart in the Lord's service **foreign, &c. Nostram ad D…um oration…m non syllabarum numeris absolve…c nos oportet, sed sincerâ potius animi voluntate. Basil. conc. 9. de oratione.. He that is studying with all his might, the least noise or word distracts him, and troubles him… he cannot admi… or abide the least diversion: So he that is intent with all his might in God's service, cannot give room for the least by thought. No, I am before the Lord, and I can do but little, but I'le do what I can, Psal. 103.1. Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, praise his holy Name. And this leads us to the Remedy for this Cause.

The Remedy for a divided heart is, get sincerity p. 137and seriousness. And indeed the soul that is sincere, is serious. The real Beggar begs in good earnest, he cries, he weeps, he heeds not the playing of the children, the barking of the doggs, not he; his wants pinch him, his stomach pulls and craves, nothing but meat will please him: There's musick perhaps within, and company without, but all's one to him, he is not concerned therewith, he's hungry in good earnest, and therefore still he cries for bread: So it is with the upright and serious heart, he is really and deeply prest down with sin, and needy of grace and comfort; he sees the reality of invisible things; he fears the anger of God, and feels his broken bones, & therefore let the Devil, or the world, distribute what they can, or suggest what they will, he plyes this … must have pa…don and grace… and the light of the Lord's countenance: It is not the stirring of a feather can unhinge him, for he is in good earnest, Ier. 30 21. For who is this that hath engaged his heart, to draw, nigh to me, saith the Lord. Where sits that man, that gives a heart to God? the Lord cryes, who? O let every one that hears or reads this, cry out, Lord, it is I; and when the heart, p. 138the whole heart is engaged in a duty, then work goes on. There's a vast difference between the pleading of an Orator, and the pleading of a Malefactor: The former hath perhaps a more smooth, elegant and starcht discourse, but he handles it with a light finger; a friend, a fee would take him off; but the Malefactor that pleads for his life, he sweats, he cryes, he begs, the Judge interrupts him, but he goes on; the Jaylor stops his mouth, but he will proceed; all the Court cannot distract his mind from his business, his heart is wholly in it. And so it is with a sincere and serious Saint: He can truly say, Lord, thou hast more of my heart, than ever any creature in the world had; my heart is fixed, I am set upon this affair **Gregor. Nazidnz. tells of his Sister Gorgonia, being sick of an incurable disease, prostrated her self at the Altar, minantem se non prius Altare dimissuram quam nacta esset sanitatem: And cryes out, O honest…m impudentiam … And she went whole away.: The great matters I am about, I neither can live, nor dare die without them, and therefore blame me not to be busie. It is the dear prayer that prevails, the prayer that costs us dear.

p. 139SECT. XII.

THE Twelfth Cause of wandring Thoughts in God's Worship,§ 12. is,XII. An opinion of no great evil in them. an opinion that there is no great evil in them; which partly proceeds from that Notion, that thoughts are free, or at least, that no sin is really sin, except it be voluntary, and these are without consent; partly from our being used to greater sins, which do widen the conscience to digest these lesser ones, without any staying: And partly from the commonness of them, being the snares wherein we are most frequently taken; and the oftener they walk thorow the heart, the less strange are they there; the more familiar they are, the more apology we have for them; and so usually it becomes no sin, that we have a mind unto **Non feci; si seci, non malè feci; si maleè, non multum malè; si multum malè, non malâ intentione. Bern..

And now, when there is bred in the soul, an opinion that there is no evil, or next to none therein; the heart is pleased with th…, and merrily playes with those baits, till by the hidden hook it's caught in the hidden snare of the Devil. To rectifie this mistake,

1. Somewhat must be granted. The p. 140evil in these wandring thoughts, is not so great, as in many other sins: these do not vastare conscientiam, lay the conscience waste, as some others, especially these roving thoughts, as are rather injected, than contrived; the matter whereof is good, not evil, and which are short and sorrowed for: But who will swallow a Spider, and say, there is not so much poyson in this as in a Toad; or break his legg, and say, there is not such danger therein, as in breaking the neck? even so, it is a poor plea to say, these peccadillo's, trivial things are not like oaths, and murders, and oppression, &c. But these are great enough to displease God, to bind guilt upon the soul, to prepare for greater, and bid fair for Hell.

2. Something must be answered, as namely, 1. That though our thoughts are free from the notice of men on Earth, or Satan in Hell, further than they are imprinted in the body or actions; though they are free from the punishment of humane Laws, yet are they not free from the eye, nor Law, nor wrath of God, as you heard in divers instances before, and particularly in the case of Simon Magus, Act. 8.22. And 2. That other Notion p. 141is corrupt, that nothing is culpable that is involuntary: It's true, this doth extenuate a fault, but this doth not extinguish it: 'tis a less fault in that ca…se… but it is a fault **Nay, in some respects, the more involuntary any sin is, the more strong and natural it is; and the more natural, the more horrible; as a natural thief is worse than a deliberate thief, who sometimes steals: and in this respect, involuntary sins may be worst of all. Shepherd Select cases., for the understanding may be depraved, as well as the will; and we are really guilty in Adam's sin, though we had no previous consent therein. It is a fault, that we are capable subjects for such sinful injections, though we yield not to them; for there is something in us that incourages those attempts: the Angels met with none of these. The will lyes dormant when we are asleep, and yet **Aquin. 22 ae. q. 154. act. 5.Casuists say, there wants no sin, even in our dreams; for the fancy and the memory may be corrupted, as well as the will; and therefore it follows, these wandring thoughts may be against God's Will, though they be besides our own. And 3. For our accustomedness to greater sins, and frequency in those, that signifies little herein: for crimes do not excuse faults. The Stars are the same in the firmament all day, though while the Sun shines, they appear not; when the Sun is retired, they will shew themselves: while your greater staring sins appear, these are nothing; but if ever a night of terrour come upon you, p. 142then each of these will shine in its proper guilt, in the eye of conscience. And then 4. The commonness of them adds to their sinfulness, though it take from your sense thereof. If your neighbour for a time break over your hedge, and tread your corn, the matter is soon put up, 'tis but a trespass by chance; but if he daily use it, and make it his way, you think it's intolerable: So if a wandring thought stole in once a week, it were a less offence; but if they will transgress, and make a way over God's ground, spoil his Garden often in every day, this makes the sin the greater, though the sense of it be the less **Tu qui dicis peccatum parvum, velim scire, quoties tale peccatum admittis, si tot parvulas plagas in corpore aut maculas & soissuras in vestibus fieri velis. August..

3. Something must be advised for cure. And that is, 1. A true knowledge, and deep sense of the nature of sin, whereby you will see, that no sin can be little; that there is more evil in the least sin, in a vain thought, than in all the world besides. Hence, saith God, Ier. 6.19. Behold I will bring evil upon this people even the fruit of their thoughts. All the possible sorrows that can tear the mind and soul; all the p. 143sickness and sores that can be inflicted on every part of the body; all the mischiefs that can sink thy name and estate, (put them all together) amount not to that real evil, that is in the least sin **The least infirmities do break the first covenant of works, and hence you do not only deserve, but are under the sentence of death, and curse of God, by the most involuntary, accidental infirmity, according to that, Gal. 3.10. Mr. Shepherd select cases.Gal 3:10. For it is an offence to God, displeasing him whom the Angels study to please, and would not offend for ten thousand worlds. Psal. 51.4. Against thee, thee only have I sinned. The greatest evil in sin, is that 'tis against God; by it you provoke the highest Majesty, displease the sweetest Nature, and offend your chiefest Friend. And if I know a little thing will offend such a person, I am a wretch, for a little thing to offend so great and good a friend. Might not Adam have argued thus, 'tis but an Apple, there can be no great hurt in this; what's this to breed a jarr between God and me? and yet we have found that little Figg or Apple, a great sin. Here was all, God was disobeyed, his Will opposed, his Soveraignty and Mercy trodden under foot; and this is the nature of sin: whereof, if the soul have a deep sense, it will excuse no longer, but frighted at the hideous look thereof, fly even into the fire to escape it, Psal. 119.113. I hate vain thoughts: but thy Law do I love. I not p. 144only avoid them, but I hate them; I see a sinning evil in them, I see a damning evil in them. I hate vain thoughts; not only wicked, wanton, revengeful, proud, or blasphemous thoughts, but vain thoughts; empty thoughts fill me with grief **Though to live in the greatest sin, may consist with the form of Godliness, yet to live in the least, may not with the power thereof.. Natural conscience may abhor the former, but a soft heart can only oppose the latter. And there is the means he used; Thy Law do I love; he that loves a pure Law, cannot but hate a vain thought.

2. You must apprehend the evils, yea, the great evils that are in this sin. For though we grant, there is more of poison in some other crimson sins, and in some distractions more than others, yet there is much evil in the least of these; which, on purpose to whet and ripen your most serious resolutions against them, (and see they attain that effect) I shall now in the seventh place discover: