Section I. — First, Harhour not any known sin in thy bosom. Sin hath two contrary effects on the conscience ; either it fills the conscience with horror, or benumbs and stupifies it; the latter is the more common. Suifer the devil to anoint thy temples with this opium, and thou art in danger to fall into the sleeping disease of a stupid conscience ; and thou wilt have little inclination then to pray. Or if it have the other effect upon thee, thou wilt be as much afraid, as now thou hast little desire, to pray. Secondly, Beware of any excess in thy affection to the creature. A drunken man, of all others, is most unfit- ting to watch ; such an one will be asleep as soon as he is set in his chair. Now all inordinancy of affection is a spiritual drunkenness ; Christ joins both together, — ' Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be over- charged with surfeiting and dnmkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares,' Luke xxi. 34. It is a preservative against drunk- enness of spirit, that the day of the Lord might not come upon them imawares ; and of the two, the drunkenness of the affection is the worst ; he that is bodily drunk over-night, is sober by the morning ; but he that is overcharged with the cares or love of the world, rises as drunk as he lay down, and how can he then watch unto prayer? We have therefore these two joined together, — ' Let us watch and be sober,' 1 Thess. v. 6. 'Be ye therefore sober, and watch,' 1 Peter iv. 7. Whatever the affection is, the intemperance of it lays the soul under a distemper, and indisposeth it for prayer. Is it sorrow? Our Saviour •finds his disciples sleeping for sorrow, when they should have watched and prayed, Luke xxii. 4.5. Is it love? This laid Samson asleep in Delilah's lap. The heart of man hath not room enough for God and the world too : the heart which spends itself in mourning for worldly crosses, will find the stream run low when he should weep for his sins ; if the cares of this life fill his head and heart, he will have little inclination to wait on God for spiritual pui-poses.
Section II.^ — ^Thirdly, Resist this spiritual drowsiness when it first creeps upon thee. Sleep is easier kept off when approaching, than shaken off when it hath got possession and bound the senses. This sleepy disease of the soul steals insensibly upon us ; when, therefore, thou findest it coming, rouse up thyself; as a man who hath business to do would start up from his chair to shake off his drowsiness. Now, thou mayest observe these few symptoms of this dis- temper. First, An unwillingness to duty. If thou findest this, it appears thou beginnest to be heavy-eyed ; when grace is wakeful, the Christian needs not many words to persuade him to come into God's presence : ' Thou saidst. Seek my face ; my heart said. Thy face will I seek.' Therefore conclude thou mayest. He that would run to the door, when awake, at the first knock of his dear friend, to let him in, may, when between sleeping and waking, let him stand too long ; this was the spouse's case, and she lost the company of her beloved : it showed plainly she was in a sleepy distemper, in that she was so backward in duty, for that was the door Christ would have met her at. Secondly, Formality in prayer is a certain symptom that a sleepy distemper hangs about thee ; grace awake is full of life and activity, at least it discovers itself by making the soul deeply sensible of its deadness, and it proves the soul awake that can feelingly confess its deadness. Thirdly, Prevalency of wandering thoughts. In sleep, fancy and imagination rule without control. If thy thoughts range in time of prayer, and meet with no check from thee, it shews thy grace is not awake.
Section III. — Fourthly, Express a conscientious diligence at thy particular calling in the intervals of prayer. They that sit up to watch had need of some work to keep them awake ; idleness is but one remove from sleep. I cannot believe that he who wasteth a day away in idleness, should find his heart awake to pray at night, for he hath that day lived in the neglect of a duty as neces- sary as this ; and it is bad going to one duty through the neglect of another. There is a generation of men, that, under a pretence of watching and praying always, betake themselves to their cloisters, and renounce all secular employ
WATCHING THEREUNTO. i-fQ>J