The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…

Distraction of mind.

Distraction of minde.

1 Being asked, why a man after sundry and laborious reading in his calling, being desirous by meditation to apply the things read unto himself, was so much interrupted, and violently, suddenly, and unwillingly drawn into other conceits: he said, it was either want of preparing and sanctifying our hearts by prayer before we set upon so holy¹ an exercise, and therefore the Lord correcteth the pride of our ••ts and presumption of our hearts, in being bold to work upon holy matters in our own strength or else for that we resting upon a general purpose of thinking some good thing, or at least not to think any evil, did not fasten our mind constantly or continually upon some particular object, but ranging up and down, as having some part of our affections, studies, and meditations void for some other matters, did not wholly & seriously set on the thing propounded to our selves. The trueth hereof may appear hereby, for that which the heart is throughly set upon, it is so attentive to, that it can be present to no other thing at that instant, especially if it be an hindrance to the thing taken in hand.

1 BEing asked, why a man after sundrie and laborious reading in his calling, being desirous by meditation to apply the things read vnto himsel•e, was so much interrupted, and violently, suddenly, and vnwillingly drawne into other conceites: he said, it was either want of preparing and sanctifying our hearts by prayer before we set vpon so holy¹