1. Go to God and wait for the power of his grace. David speak- eth of it as his work : ' Ps. Ixxxvi. 11, ' Unite my heart to the fear of thy name,' fix it, gather it together, evwaov t7]v Kuphlav fxov (saith the Septuagint^), make it one. The heart is multiplied when it is dis- tracted by several thoughts. God hath our hearts in his own hand, and when we can keep them up no longer, then he holds them up ; when he withdraws his grace, we lose our life and seriousness ; as meteors hang in the air as long as the heat of the sun is great, but when the sun is gone down they fall ; as long as the love of God and the work of his grace are powerful in us, we are kept in a lively heavenly frame ; but as that abateth, the soul swerveth and returneth to vanity and sin. We read. Acts xvi. 14, 15, that ' The Lord opened the heart of Lydia, so that she attended to the things that were spoken of Paul.' Attention there beareth somewhat a larger sense than we now consider it in, namely, a deep regard to the doctrine of life ; yet this sense of fixedness of spirit cannot be excluded. Go to God, then, pray him to keep thy heart together ; he that hath set bounds to the sea, and can bind up the waves in a heap, and stop the sun in its flight, certainly he can fasten and establish thy heart, and keep it from running out.
2. Meditate on the greatness of him before whom we are. It is of great consequence in duties to consider whom we take to be our party with whom we have to do, Heb. iv. 13. In the word, God is the party that speaketh to us : ' Thou shalt be as my mouth," Jer. XV. 16 ; 'As if God spake by us,' 2 Cor. v. 20. It is God speaketh ; and the heathen king of Moab showeth such reverence, that when Ehud said, ' I have a message to thee from God,' he arose out of his seat, Judges iii. 20. So in prayer you have to do with God ; you do as really minister before him as the angels that abide in his presence. Oh, if you could see him that is invisible, you would have more reverence. A man that is praying or worshipping should behave himself as if he were in heaven immediately before God, in the midst of all the blessed angels, those ten thousand times ten thousand that stand before God.2 Qh, with what reverence, with what fear, should a poor worm creep into his presence 1 Think then of that glorious
1 This is the rendering of Symmachus, not of the LXX. — Ed.
* ' Omuino nos oportet orationis tempore curiam intrare coelestem illam, utique curiam in qua Rex regum sedet in stellato solio, circumdante eum inuumerabili et inefifabili beatorum spirituum exercitu, ubi et ipse qui viderit, quia majorem numeruna non inveuit, Millia ait millium ministrabaut ei, et decies centena millium assistebant ei, quanta ergo cum revcreutia, quanto timore, quanta illuc Lumiiitate accedere debet e
454 HOW MAY WE CURE DISTEACTIONS [MaT. XV. 7, 8.
all-seeing Grocl, with whom thou canst converse in thoughts as freely as with men in words ; he knoweth all that is in thy heart, and seeth thee through and through. If you had spoken all those things you have thoughts upon, you would be odious to men ; if all the blas- phemy, uncleanness, worldly projects, were known to those that join with us, should we be able to hold up our heads for blushing ? And doth not the Lord see all this ? Could we believe his inspection of the heart, there would be a greater awe upon us.
3. Mortify those lusts that are apt to withdraw our minds. He that indulgeth any one vile affection will never be able to pray aright. Every duty will give you experience what corruption to resist, what thoughts we are haunted and pestered with, when we come to Grod. God requireth prayer, that we may be weary of our lusts, and that the trouble that we find from them in holy exercises may exaspe- rate our souls against them. We are angry with an importunate beggar that will not be satisfied with any reasonable terms, but is always obtruding upon us. Every experience in this kind should give us an advantage to free our hearts from this disturbance. The whole work of grace tendeth to prayer ; and the great exercise and employment of the spiritual life is watching unto prayer, Eph. vi. 18 ; and that prayer be not interrupted, 1 Peter iii. 2.
4. Before the duty there must be an actual preparation, or a solemn discharge of all impediments, that we may not bring the world along with us. ' Put off thy shoes off thy feet/ saith God to Moses, ' for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.' Surely we should put off our carnal distractions when we go about holy duties. ' Gird up the loins of your minds,' saith the apostle Peter, 1 Peter i. 13, an allusion to long garments worn in that country : it is dangerous to come to prayer with a loose heart. ' My heart is fixed ' saith David, ' 0 God, my heart is fixed,' Ps. Ivii. 7 ; that is, fitted, prepared, bended to God's worship : the soul must be set, put into a dexterous ready posture. Claudatur contra adversarium pectus, et soli Deo pateat, ne ad se liostem Dei accedere tempore orationis pati'atur. — (Cyp. lib. De Oratione Domini) There must be a resolved shutting of the heart against God's enemy, lest he insinuate with us, and withdraw our minds.