St. Jerome complains of himself, and he doth bewail it; saith he, When I have been in the Wilderness alone, with wild beasts, and have had no company but wild beasts, my thoughts have been at Rome, among the Ladies at Rome, among the dances of Rome. And I have heard many Christians complain (and it is one of the ⟨p. 79⟩greatest complaints we have) that when they retire themselves to meditate of the Promises, or of Christs Passion, or of the Joys of Heaven, they are then pestered and exceedingly troubled with worldly business, with worldly thoughts; sometimes we are in our Counting-houses, sometimes we are at our pleasures, at our sports. It is an easy matter to thrust worldly company out of our closets, but a hard matter to thrust worldly thoughts out of our hearts; and therefore when you meditate you must do as Abraham did, Gen. 22. 5. And Abraham said to his young men, abide you here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship. So you must say to your vain thoughts and worldly business, tarry here below, I will go up to the mount and meditate; you must not only say to your worldly company, but to your vain thoughts and imaginations, tarry here below. The Rabbins say, though there were thousands of Sacrifices offered in the Temple in a year, yet there was never any fly seen in the Temple, which was certainly a Miracle. Happy is that Christian that can do Temple-work, without being pestered with these spiritual flies, with vain and roving thoughts. Oh how happy were it if we could come to the house of God, and that there might be no flies there, no vain imaginations to disturb us in our worship. I read ⟨p. 80⟩Exod. 8. of a plague of flies, and that plague of flies was one of the greatest plagues that Pharaoh had; for when he was to eat his meat, the flies got into his mouth; when he was to drink his drink, the flies filled his cup, so that he could neither eat nor drink; and these swarms of flies corrupted the land; v. 24. it is called a grievous swarm of flies. Now these swarms of flies may be compared to our roving wandering thoughts when we are about the service of God; these flies corrupt the best box of Ointment, they spoil our prayers and our meditation. But you shall read, in Goshen there was no plague of flies; Oh happy you that are not plagued with these swarms of flies, when you are in the service of God.
St. Ierome complains of himself, and he doth bewail it; saith he, When I have been in the Wilderness alone, with wild beasts, and have had no company but wild beasts, my thoughts have been at Rome, among the Ladies at Rome, among the dances of Rome. And I have heard many Christians complain (and it is one of the ⟨p. 79⟩greatest complaints we have) that when they retire themselves to meditate of the Promises, or of Christs Passion, or of the Joys of Heaven, they are then pestered and exceedingly troubled with worldly business, with worldly thoughts; sometimes we are in our Counting-houses, sometimes we are at our pleasures, at our sports. It is an easie matter to thrust worldly company out of our closets, but a hard matter to thrust worldly thoughts out of our hearts; and therefore when you meditate you must do as Abraham did, Gen. 22. 5. And Abraham said to his young men, abide you here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship. So you must say to your vain thoughts and worldly business, tarry here below, I will go up to the mount and meditate; you must not only say to your worldly company, but to your vain thoughts and imaginations, tarry here below. The Rabbins say, though there were thousands of Sacrifices offered in the Temple in a year, yet there was never any flie seen in the Temple, which was certainly a Miracle. Happy is that Christian that can do Temple-work, without being pestered with these spiritual flies, with vain and roving thoughts. Oh how happy were it if we could come to the house of God, and that there might be no flies there, no vain imaginations to disturb us in our worship. I read ⟨p. 80⟩Exod. 8. of a plague of flies, and that plague of flies was one of the greatest plagues that Pharoah had; for when he was to eat his meat, the flies got into his mouth; when he was to drink his drink, the flies filled his cup, so that he could neither eat nor drink; and these swarms of flies corrupted the land; v. 24. it is called a grievous swarm of flies. Now these swarms of flies may be compared to our roving wandering thoughts when we are about the service of God; these flies corrupt the best box of Ointment, they spoil our prayers and our meditation. But you shall read, in Goshen there was no plague of flies; Oh happy you that are not plagued with these swarms of flies, when you are in the service of God.
