And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
— Deuteronomy 6:5
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
— Proverbs 23:26
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
— John 14:15
And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
— Jeremiah 24:7
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
— Psalm 119:2
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
— Philippians 4:7
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
— Colossians 3:2
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
— Luke 10:40-42
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
— Luke 21:34
An Antidote Against Distractions, Or, An Indeavour to Serve the Church, in the Daily Case of Wandrings in the Worship of GOD, by Richard Steele. The following contains the Preface, Chapter One and an excerpt from Chapter Two of his work.
Judges 16:15, “How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me?
Psalm 119:10, “With my whole heart have I sought thee.”
O let me not wander—Basil. con. 9. de Oratione.
Bernard. de inter. Domo. c. 29.33.
Non cogitando cogito, cogitata recogito, & eadem iterum iterumque replicare non cesso, — in choro sum corpore, & in aliquo negotio mente — Aliud canto, & aliud cogito, psalmodiae verba profero, & psalmodiae sensum non attendo: vae mihi, quoniam ibi pecco, ubi peccata emendare debeo.
LONDON,
Printed for Elizabeth Calvert, at the Black-spread Eagle in Barbican.
1667.
TO THE Most Holy TRINITY.
These first fruits I humbly lay at thy blessed footstool, being ambitious of no other Patron but Thy self; for, Thou alone canst attest the sincerity of my aim herein, which will plead with Thee for the imbecillities thereof: Thou alone art the right Author of every valuable line and word in this ensuing Tract. The Errata’s only are mine, but the Honour’s Thine. Thou hast the strongest hand, and truest heart to protect, both the Writing and the Writer from all the malicious or unkind usage, that we may meet with. Thy approbation chiefly I humbly crave, and then I am sure to have all good men on my side. Against Thee, Thee only have I offended by my Distractions, and done these evils in Thy sight; and therefore am bound to seek the destruction of them, in all the world for Thy sake. Thou hast so infinitely obliged the unworthy Writer of these lines, that he rejoyces in this opportunity to tell the world, That there is none in Heaven or Earth to be compared to Thee. Thou only canst make my Indeavours herein succesful, and bring that to the heart, which I could only present to the ear or eye. Vnto Thee therefore do I dedicate both this and my self, with this earnest Prayer, That this Essay may both please Thee, and profit thy Church! That Thou wouldest take this Rod into Thy hands, and therewith whip these buyers and sellers out of Thy Temple! That Thy great Name may hereby be magnified, though the Writers were never known! To Thy heavenly blessing, do I most humbly recommend this mean work, and worthless workman, with a Resolution to remain, while I have any Being,
Thine own Richard Steele.
To the serious Reader, especially the first Hearers thereof.
Christian Reader,
You have here an Antidote against the most common distemper of God’s people in his Worship. My own disease caused me to study the cure; the general complaint of good people against these Egyptian Flies, moved me to preach it; and the common good of God’s Church (not without solicitations thereto) hath now perswaded me to publish it. Be not offended, that so much is written of so minute a point; greater Tracts of the Fever, Stone, or Tooth-ach (whereby they might be certainly cured) would not be thought too long, by such as are sick thereof. Indeed, this had never seen the light, but that the disease is so general and that so few, if any, that have throughly, and on purpose handled it. However, this may serve (as the Learned L. Verulam hath it) to awake better spirits, and to do the Bell-ringer’s office, who is first up, to call others to Church. This being my first Essay, riper Judgements will (I believe) observe divers defects and superfluities therein, but Candour is a common debt, which we all owe one to another; and one poor mite may be accepted by men, when two mites can please Christ himself. It is my Request To you especially, that were the first Hearers hereof, that ye be not Hearers or Readers only, but Doers of the Word. The world knows, you have been constant hearers, let the world see, that you are careful doers. The indubitable truths and duties, that I have still laid before you, will undoubtedly convert you, or else undoubtedly condemn you; and therefore I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain. For now I live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. And my earnest request for you, is, that Divine Power may accompany Divine Precepts. If you reap any benefit, let God have all the praise, and put the poor Instrument into some corner of your prayers. I have chosen a dialect and phrase familiar, for the advantage of the matter, rather than the applause of the Writer, being contented to be ranked among those, qui non secundum artem scripserunt, sed secundum gratiam; you will excuse the unevenness of the stile, and other imperfections, when you understand that I had more studies than books in the composing hereof, being distant from my Library, and variously distracted in the writing about Distractions. But my aim being a solid cure, not a starcht discourse, I have chosen a Divinity dress, and not preached my self (who am the chief of sinners) but Christ Iesus my Lord (the chief of Goods) and my self
Your Servant for Iesus sake, R. S.
May 10. 1667.
CHAP. I. The Text explained, The Doctrine proposed, and a Distraction described.
SECTION I.
1 CORINTH. 7.35.
—That you may attend upon the Lord without Distraction.
The Apostle is a Casuist in this Chapter, and the present Case is about Virginity and Marriage; wherein I. He determines for the former, (vers. 26.) when the Church was in the bonds of Persecution, it was not safe to be in the bond of Marriage. II. He prevents mistakes, (vers. 27, 28.) though the single man be fittest to suffer, yet there is neither that sin nor misery on the married, as to dissolve the sacred knot. III. He offers Reasons for this Resolve. 1. One, from the crosses and troubles then attending the state of Marriage, (vers. 28.) Thorns as well as Roses. 2. The other, from the Cares that alwaies accompany it (vers. 32.) For the Man, now is his heart divided. Before, if I can but please the Lord, and and contrive how to live comfortably with my God ; this is all my care and ambition. Now, the stream of my thoughts and affections is parted; I must please and provide for my Wife, (vers. 32, 33.) For the Woman, now is her task doubled. Before, her whole aim was to please her Husband in Heaven. Now must her designs and respects be for her earthly Husband also. (vers. 34) Not that these several Relations are inconsistent, but to provide for these new Duties and Temptations will distract the mind, especially in the daies of Tryal. :: IV. He qualifies his Counsel, and explains himself, (vers. 35.) It is no• part of my meaning, either to obtrude the Doctrine or Duty of Coelibate upon you, that to avoid a strait, you should run upon a sin; but my motion is, 1. For your profit; my office, and so my counsel is rather to profit, than to please you, 2. There is a comeliness or conveniency in it; both states are alwaies lawful, but the one may sometimes be more convenient. And 3. My ultimate design is, that you may chuse that state, wherein you may best Attend upon the Lord without Distraction. This the occasion and tendency of these words.
SECT. II.
From the general import of these words flows this Annotation,
That condition should be chosen by all, that’s best for their souls. Your outward condition must serve your inward condition; and this life must be subservient to another life. If single-life do every way better qualifie you, to serve the Lord, and save your souls, this is the best life for you; and if Marriage be better for your souls, no state is better.
For if the soul prosper, All prospers; and if tha• miscarry, All’s lost. If to be a Prince were dangerous for the soul, ’twere better to be a Beggar: If a poor state do enrich the soul, it is the best estate.
This needs not to be proved unto Christians, that will be granted by Heathens? some of whom have so powerfully discoursed of the immortality and excellency of the soul, that their Auditors have posted to death by self-destruction, for the happy state thereof. If Pagans would chuse to dye, as a condition best for the soul, well may we chuse that condition of life, which best serves the soul; lest those Acts which were unable to justifie them, prove able to condemn us with a witness.
Let this Axiom come in, when you are disposing your children or your selves; being confident, when you are most sollicitous about the soul, God will be most careful for the body, and you will meet with least distress, when you flee the least Distraction.
SECT. III.
The words of the Text present us with a Design, that Believers as often aim at, and yet miss, as any in the World; and which is so excellent a rare attainment, that the Holy Ghost even makes two words on purpose to express it by, no where else found in the New-Testament; (a)To Attend on the Lord without Distraction. Hierome confesseth that the Latine can hardly express the Emphasis of the Greek in this clause, and that thereupon it was wholly omitted in the Latine books. In the words we must consider,
The Matter What, (Attend upon the Lord.)
The Manner how, (Without Distraction.)
The Matter what, (Attend upon the Lord) The Greek word for (Attend) in our Copies hath a notable elegancy in it. 1. That you may be (b)Fit and ready for Gods Service, That Religion and religious Duties may sit fitly on you, that you may be ready to serve the Lord in Duty or Suffering. A most sweet frame of soul, to be alwayes bent and strung for the Service of God. That man is meet for the Masters use, that is prepared unto every good work, 2 Tim. 2.21. How many choice opportunities for instruction, for reproof, for charity, for prayer do we hazard, yea and lose for want of a Soul quick and ready to our duty. 2. That you may be (c)Fix• and setled in his Service. The word intimates such an (d) inseparable cleaving, such a marriage of the mind to the work of God, that we have in hand, as can by no means suffer a divorce. It should be as hard a matter, to break off the heart from God in his service, being married to him, and setled in holy duties, as it is to abstract the misers soul from the world, to which it is glued.
The Manner how, (Without Distraction) The sense hereof is almost prevented, by the Emphasis of the former word. Yet this Word is not without its great weight: And it speaks a (e)quiet unshaken and immoveable frame of Soul, which cannot be whirled about with vain trifles. The soul is never at that holy quiet, as when it is directly ascending and communing with the Lord; and therefore Satan exceedingly envies this Coelestial happiness of the Saints, and if he cannot distract them from duty, be sure he will distract them in it; and this he doth very much (f) by the World and the business thereof. And therefore (sayes the Apostle) guide your condition so, in this suffering season, as that it may not misguide your hearts, in your attendance on the Lord; that you may not attend on your selves, nor on others; but (g) on Him, who is the Centre of an Ordinance, and your All in All.
Take the sum of all in this Assertion, the main Doctrine from the Text.
It is a Christians Duty to attend on the Lord without Distractions.
And that I may from this Text and Doctrine profitably handle the Case, and attempt the Cure of Distractions, I shall proceed to shew these things, 1. The Nature of a Distraction. 2. The Kinds of Distractions. 3. That it is our Duty to attend upon the Lord without Distr•ctions. 4. The reasons why we must attend on the Lord without Distractions. 5. Answer the Objections. 6. Describe the Causes of Distractions. 7. The Evil of them. 8. The Cure of them. 9. Propound some encouragements under the burden of Distractions. 10 Draw some Inferences from this Doctrine. And first of the first, viz. the nature of a Distraction.
SECT. IV.
The first Head will be to describe a Distraction. A Distraction is a secret wandring of the Heart from God, in some Duty in hand.
It is a wandring, As the remisness of our Devotion shoots short, so Distraction shoots awry. ‘Tis said, Prov. 27.8. As a bird that wandereth from his nest, so is a man from his place. Its commonly known, the ready way to destroy the young in the shell, is discontinuance of heat; and to wander from our heavenly work, produces the dead off-spring of unprofitable Duties. It would be almost as easie to trace and follow the Bird in her vagaries, as the volatile and intricate imaginations of the heart :: It is a digression: you that are curious to observe the Minister in his digressions; how much more necessary is it to observe your own? It is secret, in the Heart. And this contracts the guilt and nature of Hypocrisie upon a Distraction; for we have a short and clear description of hypocrisie, which agrees too well with distractions. Matth, 15.7, 8. This People draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. To have a bended knee, a craving eye, are choice Expressions of Duty: but without the Impressions and attendance of the heart, are double iniquity and flat hypocrisie. How empty would our Congregations be sometimes, if no more bodies were present, than there are souls: And what abundance of sorry service hath our God, that no body sees?
Yet how unknown soever these triflings of the mind are to others, or to our selves, yet are they most palpable to the Lord, who sets our most secret sins in the clearest light of his Countenance; and though these primo-primi motus may antevert the use of Reason, and therefore seem small Peccadillo’s yet they fall under the rebuke of Religion; and are as sinfull as they are secret: Good in secret is the best Goodness; and secret sinfulness, the worst sinfulness.
This wandering of the Heart is from God, for God is the Object of Worship. To pray aright is, Zech. 8.21. To pray before the Lord. To give thanks aright is, Dan. 6.10. To give thanks before his God, not in his sight only, for so you are, when your hearts are worst; but they did look on God when they spake to him, as we do look on men, when we speak to them. Melancthon sayes, he hath heard Luther in his secret prayers so pray, that one would verily think, there were some body in the room with him to whom he spake.
This wandring is, while some Duty is in hand, to desert Duty is Nihil agere, to do divine duties to Diabolical ends is Male agere, to divert the Soul is Aliud agere. Hoc age must be the Christians motto, in the Worship of God. That was a good answer, Neh. 6.3. of Nehemiah to his false friends, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down, Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you? He that is in a Duty to God, is about a very great work, And that work stands, or goes backward every moment the heart is away; and why should a temporal vanity set back, and perhaps quite unravel your eternal concernment? How will that Spartan youth rise up in judgement against us, that holding the Censer during Alexanders Heathen Sacrifices, would not stir his hand from its duty; though the burning coals fell thereon, and made his flesh to fry and s•ell in the presence of all the Spectators?
CHAP. II. The Kinds of Distractions.
SECT. I.
The second Head will be to take a view of the kinds or sorts of our Distractions, And they are Diversified, 1. From the Fountain whence they flow. 2. From the matter whereof they Consist. 3. From their Adjuncts. For the first of them, you will find
Many of our Distractions may justly be fathered on the Devil. He is a spiritual substance, and is most properly conversant in spiritual sins; He is compleatly skild in all thoughts whatsoever, and therefore what he imparts here, is of his own. Zech. 3.1. The High-Priest Joshua could not be at his Prayers for the Israel of God, but as Christ the Angel of the Covenant was on one hand, Satan was standing on the other, and he was got at the readier hand the right hand, the hand of action, that he might hinder him more dextrously in his Devotion. When we are most serious before the Angel, The Devil is whispering at our Elbow, and who can be dull and watchless, when God is on one hand, and Satan on the other?
The Devil is afraid of a serious lively prayer at his heart; he knows, That can pull down in a minute, what he hath been contriving a thousand years; and therefore if he cannot withhold us from holy Duties, he will do his utmost to disturb us in them. Hence the vision of that Holy man who in the whole market saw but one Devil busie, (for there Self was at hand, Satan had no need to bestir him) but in the Congregation there were multitudes of them, all their skill and power being little enough to stave off poor souls from Iesus Christ. Alas! we pray, and hear, and live as securely, as if there were no Devil at all.
And His suggestions in Religious duties are usually more violent and impetuous, more dreadfull and impious than they of our own breeding; called therefore Darts, and fiery Darts of that wicked one; Though he lay these brats of his at thy door, yet they will be counted in the number of his sins, and of thy afflictions.
Our Distractions proceed from the mind and understanding. The Vanity of the mind alienates us from the life of God, and from communion with him. When a present and seasonable petition or instruction is conveyed through the ear into the understanding, It wantonly playes therewith, and taks occasion to run out on some contiguous notion, and from that to another, and at length rests and dwells on some alien and unseasonable point, till the gales of the good Spirit, and the present Matter be overpast. And thus by a default in the understanding we seek not God, nor find him as we might; And that excellent faculty, that would penetrate into the Divine Mysteries, and should guide the will and heart unto God, by the Ignis fatuus of its unmortified Vanity, misleads us from the chief Good, and intangles us in distractions. We read 2 Cor. 7.1. Of a filthiness of the Spirit, whereof surely this is a part, and must be cleansed in them, that will perfect holiness in the fear of God.
Some Distractions proceed from the Fancy, a most busie faculty, that’s most unruly and least sanctified in an Holy man. Sometimes by the help of memory, stepping back into things past, she brings into the most solemn worship a thousand passages that are past and gone, and rowling them in the head, carryes soul and all quite away from God: hence it is, you often hear the say, such a thing came into my mind at Sermon or Prayer that was forgotten weeks or months before: yea daring to re-act former sins by contemplative wickedness in the very sight of God, which doubles the guilt of repetition, and makes your former sins (a) exceeding sinfull. In this sense that Eccles. 6.9. is true, Better is the sight of the eyes, than the wandring of the Desire; there is something more of evil in these second contemplations, than in the first Commissions. Sometimes the Fancy will create a world of figments and notions out of nothing, and multiply impertinent thoughts upon no ground and to no purpose; and can sally out of the present matter to every adjacent business, and make a great ado to bring nothing to pass. Job 27.8. There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the Vultures eye hath not seen, the fancy can find out such a way; thus God is not in all (hardly in any of) our thoughts, when we pretend to treat him with the greatest solemnity.
And sometimes the Fancy breeds Distractions by fore-casting things to come (b): So many a man can most easily, on the Sabbath, contrive his business for all the Week after; and the poor woman in the corner of a Prayer order the business of all the house for a day. Hence may an affair is cursed to our hands, by our unhappy contrivance thereof in the time of worship. Thus we have some saying (in their hearts no doubt) Amos 8.5. When will the New Moon be gone, that we may sell Corn; and the Sabbath, that we may set forth Wheat? And it is well, if they have no fellows in this Assembly that are making their Hay, measuring their Corn, counting their Coyn, if not providing for their Lusts, while they seem earnest with the Lord negotiating for Eternity.
Our Distractions in Gods Worship are sometimes occasioned by our outward(c)Senses. Most frequently by the Eye; a wandring Eye mostly hath a wandring Heart; for when the Eye discovers any new, pleasing, or ridiculous object, it presently brings news thereof unto the Heart; and that debates and studies upon it, to the grieving of Gods Spirit, and cooling of our own: and when that is over, a fresh sight presents it self, and the Eye is ready for that again, and leads the Heart into a maze of Follies. We read, Lam. 3.51. My Eye affecteth my Heart, because of all the Daughters of the City, that’s with grief for their Calamity. their is a reciprocal working it seems; the Heart at first affects the Eye, and the Eye can affect the Heart with Grief: Even in like manner, when the Sons or Daughters of the City enter the Assembly, the (d) Eye affects the. Heart; stirs, diverts, kindles the Heart; and the Heart corrupts, stains, and transmits its follies by the Eye; the precious Soul (that while) suffering between them, and the holy God and his Service wofully slighted.
You resolve in this duty, I will not swerve from God, nor step aside into the least Distraction; but you bolt the door, and let your Enemy in at the window (e). The thoughts that are shut out at the Street door, steal in at the back door, if you do not as well make a Covenant with your Eyes, as keep your Feet, when you enter into the House of God. In this sense the Woman and Man also, had need of the Covering of an holy and constant Watch, because of the Angels; the wicked Imps of Hell, that ride abroad in the air, to carry away our Hearts from God.
SECT. II.
Secondly, Distractions are distinguished by the matter whereof they consist; which is sometimes,
Good. It is Satans ambition and triumph, when he can affront God with his own matters; As to bring in shreds of Sermons in the heat of Prayer; and long passages which you have read, to keep out material points, that you should be hearing: He will hold your Husbands Picture before you, while you should look on your Husbands face, and at length delude you with Shadows instead of Substance. A good thing in its nature, may become a bad thing in its use, when it is out of season. Jewels mis-placed may grow worthless; a Diamond on the Finger is an Ornament, but in the Bladder a Torment: And God dislikes his own things in the Devil’s way, little less than the Devil’s things themselves.
As when one is playing in consort, (it is Mr. White’s comparison) if we stay on any Note, while they who play the other parts go on; that which at first made excellent harmony, becomes now harsh, and spoils the Musick: So those thoughts that were sweet and musical, while they were suitable and pertinent to thy prayer, become harsh by dwelling unseasonably upon them.
Sometimes our wandrings are made up of things Indifferent in themselves; and these things by miss-timing them, are debauched, and made very evil and offensive unto God. As to talk with, or to see a Friend, is in it self indifferent; but to perform this in the heat of Harvest, may be folly. There are an hundred harmless thoughts both of things and persons, which crowding into the sacred presence of God, and interposing between the Soul and its Maker, while the matters of Eternity are debating and concluding, is a great offence, and deserve to be whipt, and posted, and sent away.
The matter of them somtimes is absolutely Bad, proud, wanton, malicious Thoughts: Blasphemous thoughts, as whether God is, when we are praying to him, and the like. Able to sink us at any time, but sins of a double dye in the Worship of God; because there the special and piercing Eye of God is upon us: As Theft therefore is penal in all places, by reason of its intrinsecal evil, much more criminal is it, before a Judge in the Court: Even so are these thoughts guilty and base any where, but when they shall dare to intrude into the presence of the Judge of Heaven and Earth, as it were daring a jealous God, this is prodigious Sin, and greatly provokes him. So Ezek. 33.31. They come unto me as the People cometh, and they sit before me as my People; with their mouths they shew much love, but their Heart goeth after their Covetousness. What more sweet than a religious Mouth? What more bitter than a covetous Heart? Especially when the Heart goeth out after Covetousness, pursues and follows it in the sight of God: Oh dreadful! God, he is pursuing and following the Sinner with Christ and Mercy in his Arms, and the Sinner (the while) with his very Heart, is going after his Sin. And thus that House which God calls the House of Prayer, we make a Den of Lust, Malice, Covetousness, and Sin.
SECT. III.
Thirdly, Distractions are distinguished by their Adjuncts. For,
Some are sudden. As the Church, Cant. 6.12. Or ever I was aware, my Soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab; and happy is that Soul, that is so sweetly and suddenly carried after Iesus Christ. So sometimes our treacherous Soul, ere we know or are aware of it, makes us like those hasty Chariots; which misery comes about through want of watchfulness, which like a Porter should keep the door, and turn all straglers away: A thought is a sudden motion, and by it we may quickly step into Heaven or Hell; Now these Thoughts do steal in so suddenly, that we fall to muse how they came in, by what door they entred, and so are intangled in more Distractions by tracing the former, and commit new Errors by discovering the old.
But now other wandrings are more premeditate, & whereinto the soul falls more leisurely, and wallows therein either of choice, or without much interruption; & these have much more guilt and mischief in them.
Some Distractions are Unwilling, quite praeter intentionem agentis ; when the Heart like a good Archer aims directly at Communion with the Lord; aims at this, but Satan or his Corruptions jog him at the elbow, and make him to miss the mark. This indeed is a sad disappointment, for a Noble Soul to embrace the Dunghil instead of the Sun of Righteousness; for a man to lose those sweet words and minutes which might be had with God; it is a sad mischance indeed, but which is common with man, wherein if the Soul cry out as the forced Virgin, Deut. 22.27. it shall not be imputed to her, especially when there was neither previous provocation, nor subsequent consent. And this is the case of blasphemous thoughts, which are like Lightning cast into a Room, which carries horrour, but springs from no cause thereof in the Room: So these thoughts come in upon thee, amaze and terrifie, surprize thee against thy will: But be of good Comfort; neither leave off thy Duties, (thy Prayers will do thee more good, than these can do thee harm) nor hasten from them to gratifie Satan; for if God be not able to protect thee in the discharge of thy duty, it’s time to think of another Master; but complain of Satan to God, parly not with them, but divert thy thoughts, and cry up that God the more, whom he tempts thee to blaspheme.
But others are willing Distractions, which are the ordinary effect of an unspiritual and unprepared Heart: To such an Heart the whole Duty is a Distraction: When a vain and earthly Soul like a truant Scholar, keeps out of his Masters sight out of choice, and with content, and is any where better than at his Lesson: What little Rest would such a Soul find in Heaven? Or what true delight can he take in the most holy presence of God above, that can find no rest and sweetness in his presence below?
Again, some Distractions are long, and do consist of a concatenation of vain thoughts, when they do lodge in the heart. The Lord still calling at the door, and saying, How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee? These do much alter the complexion of the Soul, and argue too deep an habit of vanity therein. It is a true saying, Though we cannot hinder the Birds from flying over our heads, yet we may disturb their roosting or making Nests in our hair. So though we cannot well hinder the sudden suggestion of a vain thought, yet we may trouble its quiet resting in the Soul. Yet such strange subtilty is there in us, that we can keep God in play a long time (yea when our selves are employed in a Prayer) and be tampering with the world or sin all the while, the soul never coming in, till the Amen of a Prayer do awaken us . But other Distractions are but short, only a step out of the way, and in again, and the soul catcheth the faster hold of God. And indeed when the soul doth follow hard after God (as every one should do in his service.) though it stumble, as it often happens to the most earnest in the way, yet it recovers to its advantage, being more zealous after; The fall of the former being like that of the Swine, who lyes still in her mire; The fall of the latter, like the Sheep that falling riseth, and runs the faster. And thus you have seen the several kinds of Distractions, which was the second general Head.
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