Section 8

SECT. VIII.

¹THE third Effect of Distractions, is, That they hinder the benefits of an holy duty. God seldom thinks of those prayers, that we think not of our selves, Isa. 64.7. And there is none that calleth on thy Name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: The Lord counts such prayers as none at all, when a man doth not stir up himself to his business, & non entis nulla est operatio^*. That which in God's account hath no being, can have no working. The benefits of Ordinances are many and great: they are like the medium to sensation, as the air to the eye, or ear; there is no seeing nor hearing without it: so are Ordinances to the soul: they are the Conduits to convey God's grace to us, and our desires to him: when a dirty distraction gets in, the Conduit is stopped, ⟨p. 161⟩and the soul starved. And in this sense God's Name (which should be most sacred and dear to us) is most palpably taken in vain. When we use a great solemnity to no effect, magno conatu nugas agimus. The wind and tide to serve, and yet the soul to sleep; the Mariner to be at Dice or Cards, till the opportunity be lost, what a great evil is this• when our voyage is for life and death? If you could by the expense of one serious hour gain a Lordship, would you not be intense and earnest that hour? would you not fume at the company, that would divert you, and disdain any ordinary business that would interrupt you? O stay, and let me alone this hour, for I am busy. Now by the ^*cordial management of one serious hour in prayer, reading, hearing, or meditation; you may, yea shall infallibly gain at least one grain of grace, which is worth more than a Kingdom, yea, than a whole World. And is not that an evil thing, and bitter, that then interrupts you, and frustrates your gainful employment, whereby it comes to pass that you get nothing? Pearls are dealing, and you get nothing. Orient graces in the hand of God, ready to give, and you none of them, who would entertain, that can be rid of such companions?