I. Scripture-light the most sure light ... delivered in three sermons on 2 Pet.…

Answ. Surely this is a great evil, for as one saith well, Tantum temporis oras, quantum attendis; so much time you pray, as you do attend in prayer: and upon this account, if the Lord should abstract all the out-goings of our souls in Duty, and all our distractions from our prayers, O! how little of prayer would be left many times. It were an incivility, you will say, when a Petitioner hath gotten the Kings Ear, for the poor Petitioner, then to turn his back upon the King: and what an evil must it needs be, when a poor soul hath gotten the Ear of God, then to turn the back by way of distractions upon the Lord, who comes down to hear his Prayer. We use to say, When the Candle burns, the Mouse bites not, or the Mouse nibbles not; when the Candle doth not burn, then the Mouse eats the Candle; but when the Candle burns, the M•use doth not bite the same. And so long as a mans heart is warm, and inflamed in prayer, he is freed from distractions; but when a mans heart is cold in prayer, then comes these ill distractions. So that certainly, there is a great deal of evil indeed in these distractions, Yet, there is no reason for Discouragement. For,

Answ. Surely this is a great evil, for as one saith well, Tantum temporis oras, quantum attendis; so much time you pray, as you do attend in prayer: and upon this account, if the Lord should abstract all the out-goings of our souls in Duty, and all our distractions from our prayers, O! how little of prayer would be left many times. It were an incivility, you wil say, when a Petitioner hath gotten the Kings Ear, for the poor Petitioner, then to turn his back upon the King: and what an evil must it needs be, when a poor soul hath gotten the Ear of God, then to turn the back by way of distractions upon the Lord, who comes down to hear his Prayer. We use to say, When the Candle burns, the Mouse bites not, or the Mouse nibbles not; when the Candle doth not burn, then the Mouse eats the Candle; but when the Candle burns, the M•use doth not bite the same. And so long as a mans heart is warm, and inflamed in prayer, he is freed from distractions; but when a mans heart is cold in prayer, then comes these ill distractions. So that certainly, there is a great deal of evil indeed in these distractions, Yet, there is no reason for Discouragement. For,