practise of this duty be not always like Martha troubled with this and that business but remember Maries choice who chose the better part in attending upon Christ's Ministry I would have all rich men every day think of that Text Luk. 12. 20. Thou fool this night shall thy soul be taken from thee and what then will become of all thy possessions I confess God doth not require this at the hand of the daily labourer or at the hands of servants that are not masters of their own time and those that are very poor and are not able to set time apart for Meditation But you may remember I gave you a distinction between Ejaculatory Meditation and solemn Meditation a poor man when he is at his work may have a short Ejaculatory Meditation though he hath not time for this set and solemn meditation when he is at his work he may meditate upon the Promises and of Heaven and of Hell and of Death and Iudgment and the vanity of the world I have heard of a godly man was wont to say I thank God I can be in heaven in the midst of the croud of Cheapside I can meditate on the Rest I shall have in the other world 3. The third Direction is this The Sabbath-day especially is a day wherein all sorts of people are to busie themselves in this excellent work of Divine Meditation this is a day wherein the labourer ceaseth from his work the Plowmans yoke is taken off and the labouring-man and the serving man have their rest therefore it concerns all of us to spend some time every Sabbath-day in Meditation to meditate of the work of Creation or Redemption for the Lords-day is so called because Christ rose on that day and Christ set apart that day in memory of his Resurrection in memory of his Redemption therefore this is thy work Oh Christian not only to come to the publick Ordinances not only to pray in thy family but to set some time apart for Divine Meditation and the Lord forgive us this sin that we have omitted this duty so long Oh that I could be Gods instrument that there might be a resurrection of it that you would make conscience of it every Sabbath-day as you make conscience of attending upon publick and private duties so you would put this as one of your sabbath-Sabbath-day duties for it is the very Quintessence the life and soul of all duty the sabbath-Sabbath-day is a type of the eternal Sabbath which we shall keep for ever in Heaven and shall not I think of my eternal Sabbath upon the Sabbath shall not I be much in Heaven when I am keeping a rest upon earth that represents my eternal rest in Heaven let us upon our day of rest meditate much upon our eternal rest Oh let us upon our sabbath-Sabbath-day meditate upon the everlasting Sabbath which we shall keep with God Almighty the Father Son and Holy Ghost for ever in Heaven 4. And last Direction is this That sacrament-Sacrament-days are especially to be meditating-meditating-days to be set apart for this great work of Divine Meditation it is the great end why Christ hath appointed the Sacrament to shew forth the Lords-death till he come and saith Christ Do this in remembrance of me There are two things make us worthy receivers of the Sacrament Preparation before we come and Meditation when we are come and though thy Preparation be never so serious yet if thou dost not act aright in thy Meditation as well as thou hast done in thy Preparation thou maist lose the benefit of the Sacrament Now if any should ask me What are those things you would have us to meditate of when we are come unto the Sacrament or when we are at the Sacrament There are twelve Meditations which ought to take up our Sacramental-time which I call twelve common-place-heads I do not say we can meditate upon all of them at one Sacrament but my design is to give you matter sufficient that you may sometimes meditate of one sometimes of another I will but name them 1. You must meditate of the great and wonderful love of God the Father in giving Christ not only to die for us upon the Cross but in giving him to be our food at the Sacrament there was nothing moved God to give Christ but pure love and great love For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son So how so infinitely so inexpressibly the love of God in bestowing Christ is so great that the Angels desire to look into it And you that are not affected with this love I fear you have little share in it That is enough to take up one Sacrament 2. You are to meditate at the Sacrament not only of the love of the Father in giving of his Son but of the love of Christ in giving himself Ephes. 5. 2. Who loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour As God gave Christ so Christ gave himself as God gave himself as man the Godhead infused this will into the Manhood that Christ willingly laid down his life Ioh. 10. 17 18. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again no man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up this commandment have I received of my Father Now the love of Christ in giving himself to be a curse for us is a love that passeth knowledg yet it is a love that we must study to know It is a riddle but such a riddle as the Apostle himself doth in so many express words declare unto us Ephes. 3. 19. That we may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and heigth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg Great is the love of Christ which passeth knowledg great is the love of Christ in dying for us and being made sin for us and being made a curse for us 3. We must meditate of the heinousness of sin when we were all fallen in Adam we were ingulphed into such a bottomless abyss of misery that none but the blood of a God could deliver us for there was an infinite breach by sin between God and us and this breach could never be made up but by the blood of God That is a rare meditation at the Sacrament to meditate of the heinousness of sin when you see the bread broken it was sin that caused Christs body to be broken and when you see the wine poured out it was sin caused Christs blood to be poured out it was sin that caused Christ to suffer so much 4. You must meditate of the excellency of this Sacramental feast for the Sacrament is a commemorative Sacrifice it is a commemoration of that blessed Sacrifice that was offered on the Cross for our sins and it is an obsignation
know thy interest in them thou wouldest often think of them or if thou didst love them thou wouldest often think of them or if thou hadst a Heavenly heart thou wouldest often think of them Oh therefore go to Christ and whatsoever you ask in the name of Christ it shall be given unto you 2. I am to set down Rules for the right ordering the materials the subjects that we are to meditate upon And here I shall give you in these four Rules I. Be sure that in the beginning till you come to be acquainted with this duty you pick out easie subjects to meditate upon there are some subjects that are very abstruse and sublime and difficult it is a hard matter for a weak Christian to spend an hour in the meditation of the ineffable and great mystery of the Trinity or in the meditation of the Hypostatical Vnion of the two Natures of Christ in one Person or in the meditation of the Mystical Union between Christ and a Christian. And therefore my advice is that in the beginning of the practice of this rare duty you would pick out easie subjects to meditate upon As for example I should think that it were an easie thing to spend an hour in meditating upon the Attributes of God to meditate of Gods Omnipotence and Gods Omniscience and Gods Omnipresence and the All-sufficiency of God the Everlastingness of God the Eternity of God the Perfections that are in God and so to meditate upon the works of God the work of Creation to meditate what God made the first second third fourth fifth sixth day to meditate on the goodness and mercy of God in creating the great fabrick of Heaven and Earth and to meditate of the work of Redemption to meditate of Iesus Christ of the Divine and humane nature of Christ. I should conceive it were an easie thing especially to you that love Christ to spend a great deal of time in meditation of the love of God in sending Christ to become man and of the love of Christ the mysery of love the miracle of love in God becoming man and to meditate of the life of Christ and the death of Christ what Christ suffered in the Garden when he sweat drops of blood and what he suffered upon the Cross when he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Of the love of Christ that died for us and of the persons for whom Christ died for us when we were sinners and of the patience and humility of Christ whilst he was dying for us and to meditate of the Resurrection of Christ the Ascension of Christ and the Offices of Christ the Kingly Priestly and Prophetical Office and to meditate of our interest in Christ and how we should do to walk worthy of Christ. I conceive there are few that truly fear God that are so little furnished with spiritual knowledg but are able to spend an hour in meditating upon these things I might add another meditation and that is the meditation of Heaven who is there that hath any thing of Heaven in him that cannot spend an hour in meditating 1. Of the happiness of Heaven in general It is a place where we shall have such joys that eye never saw nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive it is a place where we shall be crowned with three Crowns a Crown of Life a Crown of Glory a Crown of Righteousness It is an inheritance that hath three Properties which any understanding Christian may spend many years in thinking of An inheritance immortal undefiled and that never fadeth away 2. To meditate of the happiness of Heaven in particular as for example who is there of such a low form of grace that cannot spend time to meditate of the Beatifical Vision what a happiness it will be in Heaven to see God face to face for God is an universal Good all good is in God God is all happiness and therefore he that is admitted to see God sees all happiness in God And then to meditate of the sight of Christ what a rare thing will it be for a poor soul to live for ever in Heaven with Jesus Christ and to behold his face to be with the Lord Christ And then to meditate of the company that we shall have in Heaven to be present with Angels and Archangels with all the Patriarchs and with all the holy men of God that ever have been And then to meditate of the place it self Heaven is the Paradise of God it is the Throne of God it is the first building the highest building the largest building the best building of the Creation of God And then to meditate of the perpetuity of those joys who cannot spend a little time in meditating of the eternity of the joys of Heaven not only the perfection but the perpetuity of them and then to meditate of thy interest in these joys whether thou be'st a person qualified to go to Heaven and then to meditate how thou maist do to get to be qualified to go to that holy place in which no unclean person shall ever enter That is the first Rule 2. I would have you use variety in your Meditation I would not have you always dwell upon one subject the strongest stomack will loath to eat always of one dish and therefore I gave you in several particulars to meditate upon I gave you a large field to walk in and I did this the rather that so you might have matter enough you might not be drawn dry for want of subjects that you might sometimes pick one flower and then another flower and then another flower Variety will much delight a Christian. And truly I would fain have this duty not be a burden to any but a delight to all Sometimes I would have you meditate of the vanity of the world and sometimes of death of the certainty and uncertainty of death and how to be fit for death Sometimes I would have you meditate of the day of Judgment sometimes of Hell sometimes of Heaven sometimes of the sinfulness of sin sometimes of the love of Christ. So I would have you walk in the garden of Divine Meditation from flower to flower that you may take the more delight and content in it The third Rule is this Be sure to pick out such subjects to meditate upon especially which do most of all work compunction in the heart that do most of all stir up holiness and provoke you to godliness and piety Of this kind is the meditation of the Incarnation of Christ the Meditation of the Life and Death and Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. It is a meditation if the Lord bless it that will mightily provoke you to holiness and to piety and to thankfulness so the meditation of death is a sin-mortifying meditation and so the meditation of Heaven and the day of Judgment these are soul-sanctifying meditations So likewise the meditation of the vanity of the
THE ART of DIVINE Meditation OR A DISCOURSE OF THE Nature Necessity and Excellency thereof With Motives to and Rules for the better performance of that most Important Christian Duty IN SEVERAL SERMONS On GEN. 24. 63. And Isaac went out to meditate in the fields at the even-tide By EDMVND CALAMY B. D. late Minister of Aldermanbury London LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst and are to be sold at his shop at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel and by I Collier at the Bible on Londonbridg under the gate 1680. To the Christian Readers IF the Heathen Moralist Plutarch could say Meditation is as it were the recovery of decaying knowledg because as forgetfulness seems to be the egress of knowledg Meditation doth restore a new memory instead of that which passeth away and so preserve knowledg that it is in effect the same in that notwithstanding mutations it leaves something new and like it self resembling that which is Divine How may a Christian endow'd with the true knowledg of God say with the Psalmist in the revival of it Psal. 104. 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet When he is alone and hath no other companions to refresh himself with then he may as Bishop Hall who penn'd a part of his Meditations under the solitary Hills of Ardenna from a renewed mind send forth his active thoughts those immediate rays of that Candle of the Lord within him to contemplate upon his Maker Saviour and Sanctifier and reflect upon himself who is to survive the visible Creation and so raise himself into an Heaven upon earth relish such sweetness as the carnal mind and sensual heart immersed in dreggy matter and be-dull'd therewith is never so happy as to attain The Author of this little Treatise whose great and pious soul was notably heavenliz'd by the frequent exercise of holy Meditation the very same who penn'd The Godly mans Ark which hath been often printed for the support of drooping Christians amongst other excellent discourses upon various subjects in the exercise of his Ministry with great success did from his own experience recommend this of Meditation whether ejaculatory and occasional or solemn and deliberate I am not ignorant that many other eminent Divines persons of great worth and honour have already notably display'd the excellency and usefulness of this way of thinking yet perhaps this grave and famous Preacher in his day hath in a more easie method and plain way by his familiar expressions and resemblances suited to vulgar capacities here help'd the real Christian who would most delight in the Duty to put Meditation in practise than any who hath gone before him No doubt had this excellent person himself published this discourse here presented to your view you would have had it every way more accurate by the lopping off some superfluities and amending of phrases c. more proper for a Writer than these of a Preacher to a popular Auditory yet such as it is considering the Author in the Pulpit you 'l find when you have read it through it doth fully as much resemble Mr. Calamy in his preaching at Aldermanbury to your minds as the Engraver on the frontispiece hath represented his face to your eyes I dare say any of you who were his Auditors will be abundantly satisfied tho this piece be posthumous yet it is genuine And seeing there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety nine just persons which need no repentance Luk. 15. 7. If these practical Sermons taken by the swift pen of a ready writer have such an influence upon any as to bring them to the frequent and beneficial practise of Meditation which the Preacher of them held necessary None who prefer things before words and esteem real knowledg above elegancy of speech as the general good of mankind beyond that of any particular Countrey can justly think the Author wrong'd but rather that with Dr. Preston Mr. Fenner Mr. Hooker c. some of whose Works popularly deliver'd with plainness suited to the capacities of their hearers and taken but rudely from their mouths did more benefit Readers of meaner abilities than those which whiles alive they themselves published with greater exactness He is renown'd when he hath by this more diffusive good-work been any way instrumental to have God and the things of heaven where he now resides more delightfully thought upon As judicious Calvin in his Epistle to the King of Swetheland prefixed to his Commentary on the Minor Prophets said he would not be so morose a Censor of manners as to obstruct the publishing of that Commentary delivered in an extemporal kind of speaking when design'd only for his own private Oratory not otherwise to have come abroad only as 't was pen'd from his mouth by Budaeus Crispin and Ionvil because he said he had long before learn'd not to serve the theater of the World else he doth afterwards tell the Reader that if in his other works which he had written deliberately and succinctly with much more pains he had met with envious malignants who did carp at and quarrel them he might well endeavour to suppress that work taken by the aforesaid writers after him as it was freely utter'd to his own hearers for present use yet when others assured him that it would be a loss yea injurious to the Church if not printed as it was taken rather than not at all He thereupon having not time nor strength to transcribe or amend it readily permitted it to go to the Press And the Reformed Church hath since rejoyced in the benefit of having it as it was published yea and to this day Divines who have made great use of it since in their Commentaries as well as others to find the true true meaning of the Holy Writ have heartily blessed God for it Yet as Bishop Wilkins hath observ'd in his Epistle to the Real Character Foreigners in Short-Writing come far behind us here in England though it hath been now seventy years invented where they admire the skill of our Writers and whither the Divines of other Nations frequently come and learn our Language chiefly to understand our Practical Sermons many of which have been only preserv'd in this way You have this 't is to be hoped very useful piece taken well from the mouth of Mr. Edmund Calamy The Analysis or Method of the Contents of the whole Book Page THE Introduction 1 Text divided 2 1. The Person spoken of Isaac Ibid. 2. What is related of him He went out to meditate Ibid. 3. The place he chose In the field Ibid. 4. The time At the eventide Ibid. Explicat There is a Twofold Meditation 1. Sinful and wicked that was not Isaacs Ibid. 2. Holy and godly This Isaac practised 3 Observ. The Meditation of Holy and Heavenly things is a work that God requires at the hands of all people 4 Viz. of 1. Young Gentlemen Ibid. 2. Kings Nobles and great Persons Ibid. 3.
he tasts of when he takes an occasion by any thing that is sensitive to raise up his thoughts to Heavenly meditation Or take it thus Occasional meditation is when a man makes use of the Creature as a footstool to raise him up to God as a ladder to Heaven when a man upon the sudden makes use of what he sees with his eyes or hears with his ears as a ladder to climb to Heaven withal You have a pattern of this Psal. 8. 3 4. When I considered thy heavens the work of thy singers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained mark what is his meditation of this what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him Lord what is man that thou shouldest make the Heaven the Sun and the Moon and the Stars for his sake You must know that all the whole Creation is a picture of God it is Gods Looking-glass wherein you may behold the God of Heaven and Earth there is no Creature but it hath the Image of God upon it there is not the least spice of grace but you that are spiritual may read God in it It is the saying of a Heathen Every herb that you have in your Garden doth represent the Divinity or nature of God There are two books that God hath given us Christians to know him by the book of the Scripture and the book of the Creature now though the book of the Scripture be the better book of the two and the book of the Scripture will teach us more of God than the book of the Creature for the book of the Creature cannot teach us God in Christ cannot teach us the mystery of Redemption nor the mystery of the Trinity yet the book of the Creature is a rare book wherein a man may learn excellent things concerning Heaven and heavenly things excellent instructions I remember a story of a godly man Antony that was driven into the Wilderness for Religion sake and having no book at all in the Wilderness he was asked How he could spend his time saith he I have one book and that is the book of the Creation and as long as I have this book I want no other book Speaking how much he could behold God in that book And it is a good saying of Tertullian The same God is the God of nature that is the God of grace And it is the duty of a Christian to receive instruction and spiritual benefit from natural things as well as from gracious and spiritual things because there is the same God of nature as of grace The Creatures of God are a Divine Book in which we may read the power of God the goodness of God the love of God the mercy and wisdom of God Rom. 1. 20. That that may be known of God may be read in the Creature Now the Creatures are but Spectacles by which we are enabled to read these things concerning God I have read a story of a Painter Hermogenes he was a rare man for that Art and coming into a Painters shop he sees a line drawn so curiously that he crys out Surely Apelles hath been here none but Apelles could draw such a curious line And as the story saith he went out of theshop and never left till he had founb out this Apelles that so he might come to the acquaintance of that man that had so much skill The application of this is most excellent when you look upon this Creature of God and that Creature of God you must needs confess that none but a God could make such a glorious world digitus Dei est hic here is the finger of God and the consideration of this if you have any thing of God in you will make you to seek out after this God and to love this God and honour this God 2. I will give you some examples of this occasional sudden extemporary meditation of Divine things First I will give you Scripture examples Prov. 6. 6. there the wise man sends the sluggard to the Pismire Go to the Ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise which having no guide overseer or ruler provideth her meat in the summer Here you see what a rare meditation a man may have from the little Pismire and how the sluggard is sent to behold the Pismire to be ashamed of his sluggishness let the sight of that put thee in mind of thy laziness Ier. 8. 7. there God sends the unthankful Israelite to the Stork and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed time and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming Here you have a sudden and occasional meditation from the Creatures of God the Turtle the Crane the Swallow observe the time of their coming the Stork at such a time of the year goes out of the land and at such a time of the year comes into the land but my people there is the meditation know not the judgments of the Lord. And thus Christ sends the distrustful Christian to the fowls of the air and to the lillies of the field Mat. 6. 26. Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them here is an occasional meditation are you not better than many sparrows And why take you thought for raiment consider the lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these You have another example Ioh. 4. where Christ discoursing with the Woman of Samaria and intreating some water from the Woman takes an occasion from the water of the Well to discourse of the water of life And Ioh. 6. from the loaves Christ fed the people withal he takes an occasion to discourse of the bread of life You follow me for the loaves saith Christ but labour not for the meat that perisheth but labour for the meat that endureth for ever I am the bread of life that came down from heaven Christ takes occasion from the natural bread to meditate on the bread of life the bread of heaven To give you some other examples I read in St. Austin that he had a water-course near his lodging a great flowing down of waters and observing how sometimes the water went down silently sometimes made a great noise from the consideration of the different streaming of the water he made a rare discourse of the Order of Providence the manner how God governs the World in order There was a Minister Mr. Deering in Queen Elizabeth's days a man of famous memory in whose Life it is reported that just when he was a dying the Sun shone upon him and he takes occasion from that most excellently to discourse of that Sun of Righteousness of the glory of heaven of the happiness he was going
comforteth you who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and the son of man that shall be made as grass and forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth As if he should say If thou didst remember and think on the Lord thy God who made the Heavens and the Earth and hath all things in his hand Thou wouldest not fear a man that shall die c. Jer. 10. 6 7. first the Prophet breaks out into an admiration of God Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy name is great in might who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee doth it appertain forasmuch as among all the wise men of the Nations and in all their Kingdoms there is none like unto thee The meditation of God stirs up the Prophet to fear God Ier. 5. 22. Fear ye not me saith the Lord will you not tremble at my presence which hath placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet cannot they pass over it Did we meditate much upon the power of God we would fear him and stand in awe of him 4. This Divine meditation is a mighty help to beget in us a love to Iesus Christ for Jesus Christ is a fountain sealed a spring shut up a garden inclosed Now you know no man is the better for a book sealed up or a treasure lockt up to a careless Christian Christ is a fountain sealed a treasure lockt up but meditation is the key that unlocks the treasury of all the Excellencies of Christ and opens the book to let us read all the Excellencies that are in Christ. Meditation doth as it were open the fountain and did we study what Christ is that he is the choicest of ten thousand altogether excellent the brightness of his Fathers glory and the express image of his Person and did we study the love of Christ to poor sinners the height the depth the length the breadth of the love of God toward us did we study how Christ became poor to make us rich how he became a curse to free us from the curse how he was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God thorough him did we bury our selves in this meditation did you take half an hour in a day to meditate on the Excellency of Christ did you when you walk in the fields meditate on the love of Christ I am confident it would beget in you a love to Christ. 5. Divine meditation is a mighty help to inable us to believe and trust in God To trust 1. In his Providence in all outward streights 2. In his Promises in all spiritual troubles 1. It will help you to trust in his Providence when you are in any streights when all creature-helps fail and you are ready to sink then meditation will raise your faith and help you to trust in Gods Providence for outward provision Mat. 6. 25 c. I say unto you saith Christ take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on be not solicitous for your outward provision But how doth Christ argue what way should we take that we may not distrust God saith he Meditate upon the fowls of the air behold the fowls of the air for they sow not v. 28. Why take you thought for raiment consider the lillies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these The meditation of the lillies and the fowls of the air is a means to help us to trust in the Lord in the day of our streights 2. It will enable you to relye upon the promises for the good of your souls Did you when you read the promises of the Bible chew them how sweet would they be the reason why the Promises are not sweet to you is because you read them but you do not chew them by meditating upon them if you did meditate upon them they would be sweeter than the honey and the honey-comb especially if you did join application with meditation Abraham was the Father of the Faithful and he was strong in faith and what made him strong in faith because he considered not his own body now dead neither the deadness of Sarah's womb but he considered the promise of God Rom. 4. 19. And the reason why the Saints of God are so void of comfort and hang down their heads and walk so disconsolately is because they consider the deadness of their own souls they consider their imperfections but they do not meditate upon the promises the freeness and the riches of them Mat. 16. 8. Which when Iesus perceived he said to them Oh ye of little faith why reason ye among your selves because you have brought no bread Here Christ reproves them for want of faith but how came they to want faith Do you not understand neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets ye took up and do ye not remember the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many baskets you took up As if Christ should have said If you had meditated on my former miracles you would never have doubted this miracle but because you do not remember what I have formerly done therefore it is that you are so full of unbelief Now the way to fill your souls with comfort is to meditate upon the Promises of God 6. Divine meditation is a mighty help to beget in us a contempt of the world and all worldly things for the world is like unto gilded copper it is an easie matter for a man to mistake gilded copper for true gold unless he considers what he takes for if a man take gold without consideration he may quickly be cozened there is a glittering excellency in the world the wealth and riches of it are glorious things to a carnal eye but meditation of the world will wash away all the paint that is upon the world the studying the vanity of the world the nothingness of all earthly things the unsatisfiableness of them and the perishing nature of them this will take away the glittering excellency that seems to be in the world and certainly you would never be so covetous and so worldly and dote so much upon the world did you meditate upon the vanity of it as you should do this is the course Solomon takes the book of Eccles is called The Book of the Preacher and the subject of it is to wean us from the love of the world But what course doth Solomon take Eccles. 1. 3. I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things done under
so must you when these roving thoughts come upon you when you are in the Temple or the mount of meditation you must thrust them out that is you must use all your spiritual strength to thrust them out and you must pray unto God as Moses prayed Exod. 8. that God would take away this plague of flies and do as Pharoah did he sent for Moses Oh pray pray unto God for me that this swarm of flies may depart out of the land Speak to thy godly Ministers thy godly friends to pray for thee and do thou pray for thy self that the Lord would deliver thee from these noisome imaginations and fancies and roving thoughts that do disturb you in the Worship of God and in the practise of this duty of Divine Meditation So much for the place where we are to meditate The 2d thing to speak to is the time when we are to meditate it is said in the Text And Isaac went out to meditate in the eventide it seems Isaac found the Evening to be the fittest time for Meditation Dr. Hall in his excellent Tract of Meditation tells us out of his own experience that he found the evening-time to be the fittest time for Meditation And there is a learned Minister in that excellent Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest doth likewise from his own experience commend the eventide for the best and suitablest time for Meditation and he saith from the Sun-setting to the twi-light and sometimes in the night when it is warm and clear I will not lay clogs upon any mans conscience that which is seasonable for one is unseasonable for another some mens tempers are fittest to meditate in the morning and some mens tempers are fittest to meditate in the evening Now there are four Propositions four rules of Direction concerning the time when I would have you to meditate 1. It is the duty of all those that are not hindred by necessary business if it be possible to set apart some time every day for meditation whether it be morning afternoon or night For Meditation is the life and soul of all Christianity it is that which makes you improve all the Truths of Christian Religion you are but the Skeletons of Christians without Meditation it is as necessary as your daily bread and as you feed your bodies every day so you ought to feed your souls every day with meditating on your sins or your Evidences for Heaven or the everlasting burnings of Hell or of the day of Judgment the great account you are to give at that day or of the joys of Heaven or of the Promises c. We are every day assaulted with the Devil therefore we should every day put on the armour of Divine Meditation to consider how to resist the wiles of the Devil we are every day subject to death we are every day subject to sin therefore we should every day consider how to prepare our selves for death and every day consider how to resist sin Meditation is nothing else but a conversing with God the souls colloquie with God and it is fit we should every day walk with God Divine Meditation is nothing else but the souls transmigration into heaven the souls ascending up into Heaven now it is fit every day that we should have our conversation in Heaven David when he describes the blessed man Psal. 1. 2. saith he His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his law will he meditate day and night And he saith of himself though he was a King and had many worldly businesses the affairs of his Kingdom to hinder him yet he saith Psal. 119. 97. Oh how do I love thy law it is my meditation all the day v. 148. Mine eyes prevent the night-watches that I might meditate on thy word There is the morning-time for Meditation I prevent the dawning of the morning that I might meditate in thy word v. 15. I will delight my self in thy statutes and I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto all thy ways And Ioshua that great General of the Army though he was a man surely of great imployments yet God doth lay an injunction upon him Iosh. 1. 7 8. The book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day night 2. I will go higher yet it is our duty to set a sufficient proportion of time apart every day Oh it is a hard matter to get our hearts in tune for this duty as it is with a Musician he hath a great deal of time to string and to tune his Instrument before he can play the best Christian is like an Instrument unstrung and untuned he had need take a great deal of time to get his heart in tune for Divine Meditation the best Christian is like wet wood which will not burn you know without a great deal of blowing he had need to take a great deal of time to kindle a holy zeal in his heart to God to blow up the sparks of grace that are in him If a man would fill a Chest that is full of dirt full of Gold he must take time to empty the Chest before he can fill it By nature we are all full of the world full of the dirt of the world full of vanity full of carnal creature-pleasure now it is our duty first to take pains to empty the Chest before we can fill it full of Heaven full of God and Christ. Now I propound this to you that have a great deal of spare time especially you that spend whole afternoons in idle visitings and vain recreations Oh that I could perswade you to give God a visit every day and to meditate of God and of Christ and your selves and the recreations of the other world let me perswade you that count it your happiness to live vainly that you have not so much work to do as other men have to set some time apart to go up into the mount of God to meditate of the things of the other world And that I might provoke you let me tell you thus much it is the greatest curse under heaven for God to give a man over to live an idle life to trifle away his days in vanity and so it is reckoned Psal. 78. 33. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity Therefore it is spoken as a curse hearken to this you that idle away your time there cannot be a greater curse of God upon you than to suffer you to idle away your time herein you idle away your salvation this direction belongs to you that are rich men rich Merchants that have whole Exchanges full of business in your heads to beseech you that you would contract your worldly affairs into a narrower compass that you may have time for the practise of this rare duty of Meditation which is the very life and soul of all duty And the reason why you are so lean and poor in grace is for want of the
Principles not being able to hold out in meditation to keep themselves from wandring thoughts read in the Bible this in it self is not sinful but this is not sutable nor proper for certainly the proper way of meditation at the Sacrament is to be raised up in the Sacramental Elements the Sacramental actions the Sacramental promises and therefore thou must make the whole Sacramental frame and carriage to be thy Bible at the Sacrament and learn to be raised up by that to Heavenly Meditation The fifth Particular in order is the Materials of Meditation and here I am to shew you what are those Divine Truths that we are to meditate upon this is a subject of large comprehension for the truth is there is no divine object but it doth deserve our serious meditation Give me leave to make you a Common-place-book of Divine Meditation I will lay down some heads of Divinity that a Christian ought to spend his life in meditating upon sometimes upon one of them sometimes upon another of them as for example he that would avoid all sin and thrive in all godliness must meditate frequently and seriously of Death of Iudgment of Heaven and Hell these are called quatuor Novissima the four last things 1. You must meditate of death now I will not shew you how you should go about to meditate of death but I will give you some heads to help you 1. You must meditate of the certainty of death there is nothing so certain as that thou must die 2. You must meditate of the uncertainty of death there is nothing so uncertain as the time when we must die death comes certainly and death comes uncertainly death comes suddenly there is no Almanack can tell you when your death shall come your Almanacks will tell you when the next Eclypse of the Sun and Moon will be but they will not tell you when the eclypse of your lives shall be And death comes irresistibly it comes like pain upon a woman in travel it comes like an armed Giant that will not be resisted when it comes 3. You must meditate concerning your fitness for death whether thou hast got thy graces thy evidences ready for death whether thou art a wise Virgin or a foolish Virgin whether thou hast got oyl into thy lamp or no 4. You must meditate concerning death how you may so live as to be above the hurt of death that death might be an out-let to all misery and an in-let to all happiness 5. You must meditate how to live in continual expectation of and continual preparation for death 6. You must especially meditate how to be free from the slavish fear of death there are many of Gods children that live all their lives long under the bondage of the fear of death and it is the excellency of a Christian to meditate how to be above the hurt and fear of death and for that purpose you must look upon death with Scripture-spectacles you must look upon death as the going from the prison of this life to the palace of Heaven as disarmed by Christ as perfumed by Christ as a Serpent without a sting as a passage to eternal life Thus you see how you must meditate of Death 2. You must meditate of the day of Iudgment 1. You must meditate of the terribleness of the day of Judgment it is called the terror of the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 11. It is called by the ancient Fathers the great and terrible day of Iudgment In which Iesus Christ will come in flaming fire to render vengeonce upon all those that know him not 2. You must meditate of the great assizes that will be kept at that day in which all the men and women and children that ever have lived since Adam's time to the end of the world shall all appear before the Tribunal-seat of Jesus Christ. 3. You must meditate of the great account you are to give to God at that day the strict the exact the particular account it is a day in which we must answer for all our idle words for all our idle thoughts in which all our secret sins shall be made manifest 4. You must meditate of the great separation that shall be made at that day when the goats shall be placed on the left hand and the sheep on the right hand there will be a perfect separation In this life goats and sheep are mingled together but at that day there will not be one sheep on the left nor one goat on the right hand 5. You must meditate of the happy condition of a child of God at that great and terrible day of Iudgment it shall be a day of his Coronation in which he shall be crowned with glory and immortality it shall be a day of salvation to him 6. You must meditate of the cursed condition of an ungodly man at the day of Iudgment it shall be a day of perdition and everlasting destruction to him 3. You must meditate of Heaven 1. You must meditate of the joys of Heaven that are so great that eye never saw nor ear heard nor ever can it enter into the heart of man to conceive the greatness of them 2. You must meditate sometimes of the Beatifical Vision of the blessed sight of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and of the happiness that that soul shall enjoy that is admitted to that blessed sight for because God is infinitely perfect and all perfection is in God whosoever is admitted to the sight of God beholds and enjoys all things in God 3. You must meditate of the perfection of the happiness of Heaven 4. You must meditate of the perpetuity of the happiness of Heaven there you shall have fulness of joy and pleasures at the right hand of God for evermore 5. You must meditate of your fitness for heaven whether you are made meet and fit to partake of that glorious inheritance you must meditate whether God hath sent Heaven down into thee for no man shall ever go up to Heaven but Heaven must first come down to him you must meditate whether that Christ that hath prepared Heaven for thee hath prepared thee for Heaven 6. You must meditate what you must do that you may be meet to go to Heaven how you may lead your lives so that you may be sure at last to obtain Heavens eternity 4. You must meditate of Hell as Bernard saith you must go often down into hell by your meditation while you live and you shall be sure not to go down to hell when you die Descendamus vivenles non descendemus morientes as Chrysostome saith excellently if the not thinking of Hell would free you from Hell I would never have you think of hell but whether you think of it or no Hell-fire burns and your not thinking of it will bring you thither And the reason why so many go to Hell when they die is because they do not think of Hell while they live 1. You must study the
Vncertainty 3. The fitness for it 4. How to be above the hurt of it 5. To live in expectation of it 6. To be free from the fear of it 122 2. Judgment 1. The terribleness of it 2. Solemnity of the great Assizes 3. Account to be given to God 4. Separation at that day 5. Happiness of the Godly 6. Miserableness of the wicked 123 3. Heaven 1. The joys of it 2. Beatifical Vision 3. Perfection 4. Perpetuity 5. Fitness for 6. What to do to get to Heaven 125 4. Hell where of the punishment of 1. Loss 2. Sense 126 2. God Christ the Holy Ghost and thy self 127 1. Of God where of his 1. Attributes 2. Works 3. What Relation towards him 128 2. Christ where of his 1. Divine 2. Humane nature 3. Offices and then of his 1. Life 2. Death where 1. what he suffered 2. for whom 3. who he was 4. what love he suffered with 5. what interest you have in it 6. his Resurrection 7. Ascension 8. Intercession at Gods right hand ibid. 3. Holy Ghost 1. nature 2. office 3. motion 4. graces 131 4. Our selves in the state of 1. Innocency 2. Apostacy 3. Regeneration 4. Glory 132 Further of our 1. Sins 2. Duties 3. Evidences 4. Comforts 5. frailty of body 6. immortality ibid. 3. Dependance upon God 4. Advantages God hath us at he may throw into Hell at pleasure therefore we should study and think on 1. our Relations 2. Calling 3. Company 4. our hearts Hereof 1. Thoughts 2. Affections 3. Words 4. Actions ibid. 5. Sinfulness of sin 137 6. Vanity of the Creature 138 7. Excellency of the Gospel 8. Commandments Threatnings Promises Ordinances of the Gospel as 1. Prayers 2. reading the Word 3. hearing the Word 4. the Sacrament 139 9. Errors of the times Iudgments of God great changes of the Nation several passages of Providence the mercies of God 140 6 Rules and Directions and those of three sorts respecting person subject manner 1. For the right qualifying of the person that is to meditate viz. 143 1. Convince thy soul of the necessity of it 144 2. Of the benefits and advantages of it as 145 1. The begetting Repentance 2. The Love of God 3. Fear of God 4. Love of Christ. 3. The mischiefs of not-meditating 4. Get a sufficient furniture of saving knowledg 148 5. Labour to get a serious spirit 149 to which purpose a fourfold frame of spirit is to be avoided as namely 150 1. A slight frame of spirit 2. A trifling frame of spirit 3. A watry frame of spirit 4. An inconsiderate frame of spirit 6. Labour for the love of heaven and heavenly things 153 7. Labour to get an interest in Heaven and heavenly things 154 8. An heart disengaged from the world 155 9. Be not discouraged though you have difficulty in the beginning 157 10. Do all these things by power deriv'd from Iesus Christ 158 2. Rules for the right ordering the subjects or materials ibid. 1. At the beginning pick out easie subjects as of Heaven 1. the happiness of it in general 2. in particular 161 2. Vse variety as heads of several materials were suggested 162 3. Pick out such subjects more especially as dispose to godly sorrow and holiness 163 4. Such as are most seasonable to thy condition and suitable to thy relation As suppose thou art 164 1. Troubled in mind and exceedingly dejected think of the willingness of Christ to receive poor ones 165 2. Troubled in conscience think of the promises not only to grace but of grace to give grace 167 3. In outward want consider the wonderful providences of God ibid. 4. Sick like to thy own life or some dear Relative think on a seasonable subject as Death c. 168 5. To receive the Sacrament consider the nature thy need of it c. 169 3. Rules for the manner of ordering Meditations on the foremention'd or like subjects viz. 170 1. To begin and enter upon the practise of Meditation and here be six Directions ibid. 1. Be sure to pick a fit place to meditate in ibid. 2. A fit and seasonable time according to our circumstances ibid. 3. Be sure to have a fit subject prepar'd not to seek at the time 171 4. Then set your self as in Gods presence under his eye ibid. 5. Begin with some short ejaculatory not long prayer 172 6. Keep your hearts with all keeping 173 2. To proceed better in this work here we must know there be two faculties of the soul the understanding and will or heart and affections 175 1. Rules to help the understanding more logically and plainly 176 1. Logically as Topicks or Common-place-heads ibid. viz. 1. Description 2. Distribution 3. Causes 4. Effects 5. Properties 6. Opposites 7. Comparisons 8. Titles 9. Testimonies ibid. An instance in considering sin as the subject ibid. 1. Consider description as a transgression of Gods Law 178 2. Distribution as sin by imputation propagation and action ibid. 3. Cause of sin God not the cause but Satan and self 179 4. Effects and cursed fruits temporal carnal and eternal 5. Properties and Adjuncts in general and particular 181 6. Opposites grace and holiness 182 7. Comparisons as bruises leprosie c. ibid. 8. Titles given to sin in Scripture as robbing God c. 183 9. Testimonies in Scripture against sin wrath of God c. ibid. 2. Plainly where particularly consider 184 1. What the Scripture saith of the subject you would meditate upon ibid. 2. What Sermons you have heard upon that subject 185 3. Take a Book that treats on the subject you would metate upon 186 4. Be sure to join Application with your Contemplation 187 5. Consider the means how to obtain what you meditate upon 188 2. Rules to help the will heart and affections and to raise them 189 1 Labour to get a relish and savour of the things you meditate on to have the heart affected 2. Complain before God for the want of this relish 3. Wish you had a supply of the tast you want 190 4. Confess your inability as of your self to do this 5. Petition to God for help 6. Confidently believe God will help you 3. Rules to conclude all after entrance and progress 197 1. Lift up your heart to God with thankfulness and bless his Name ibid. 2. Resolve to live as one who hath been thinking on the things of God 199 3. Recommend your self body soul relatives c. to God 200 A Perswasion to the practise of these things concluding in four particulars 201 1. Mourn before God that you have liv'd so long in the School of Christ and have not practised this duty of solemn Meditation 202 2. That you have misplac'd your Meditation ibid. 3. Study the necessity excellency usefulness and profitableness of Meditation as the marrow of all other duties 205 4. Defer not to practise according to the directions given in expectation of Gods blessing ibid. GEN. XXIV 63. And Isaac went out to meditate in the
to I have likewise read that Mr. Eske and Dr. Hall who in his Book of Meditation doth quote this example were hearing a Consort of Musick and this holy Minister Mr. Eske being a very godly man all on a sudden was so strangely transported with the thoughts of the joys of Heaven that he said with a great deal of passion What musick Sirs shall there be in heaven O the spiritual joy and melody that there we shall have There is a story of two Cardinals in the Council of Constance that riding abroad for their Recreation they saw a poor Country-man weeping and when they came to him they askt him Why he wept saith he Do you see this Toad here that lies before me God might have made me a Toad I am weeping because I never was sufficiently thankeful that God did not make me a Toad you see this poor Country-man takes an occasion from the sight of the Toad to raise up his heart in thankfulness to God and these two Cardinals when they heard him say so they made use of the speech of St. Austin The poor and labouring men get to heaven and we Scholars go down to hell with all our learning They were ashamed to see what a good use the Country-man made of the sight of the Toad There is another story of a godly old man that beholding a harlot how curiously she trimmed her self to please her wicked lover he falls weeping and being askt Why he wept saith he I weep to see this leud woman what care she takes to dress her self to please her lover and that I should never take so much care to dress my soul to please my God I have read of Ignatius the Martyr that when he heard the Clock strike he would have this meditation Now there is one hour more that I must answer for I have read of Fulgentius that rare Scholar that when he came to Heathenish Rome and saw the Emperour ride in Triumph he brake out into this Exclamation If there be so much glory in Rome here upon earth O what will be the glory of Heaven I might be infinite in these stories only I will give you one more and that is of a Heathen-man Galen famous for his skill in Physick when he was viewing the composure of mans body and beholding the curious workmanship of it the story saith he fell to sing a Hymn to his Creator None but a God could make such a body there must needs be a God that hath wrought so curiously the members of mans body 3. Give me leave to give you some Motives to perswade you to the practise of this It is in vain to hear my Discourses unless you endeavour to put them in practise Now I will give you these Motives 1. This way of meditation may be done at all times this will not hinder your calling you that are poor men and have not time for solemn meditation on the week-day that are labouring men and cannot spare an hour for solemn and deliberate meditation you may make use of this sudden ejaculatory occasional meditation even when you are at your day-work you may make use of your day-work of the things that you are working about to stir up your hearts to Heavenly things for there is nothing in the world but a good Christian may make a Heavenly use of and therefore there is no body can say that he hath no leisure for this way of meditation 2. This is a way of meditation that a man may practise in all places and in all companies A godly man once said unto me I thank God I can be in heaven when I am in the midst of the croud in Cheapside in the midst of the noise I can have a heavenly meditation There is no place no company can hinder thee from this occasional sudden ejaculatory meditation 3. There is nothing more easie than this ejaculatory meditation to you that are spiritual deliberate and solemn meditation is very hard and difficult but this way of meditation is very easie and the reason is this because there is no Creature of God but is a teacher of some good thing thou canst not behold a Spider but thou maist make some good use of it the Scripture doth make many rare uses of a Spider a wicked man may be lookt upon in a Spider as in a glass and the hope of a wicked man is compared to a Spiders web as a Spider puts his trust in his web and spends a great deal of pains in weaving his web and when it is woven it is easily pull'd down there is no stability in it so a wicked man puts his trust in his hope of Heaven which is as vain as a Spiders web And the Scripture tells you how by all the money a wicked man gets by unlawful means he doth but weave a Spiders web That is a rare use the Prophet Isaiah makes of the Spiders which is one of the meanest of all the Creatures of God a Spider and a Toad and a Viper even the venomous Creatures a man may make rare use of Isa. 59. 5 6. They hatch cockatrice eggs and weave the Spiders web he that eateth of their eggs dieth and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper Their webs shall not become garments neither shall they cover themselves with their works That man is a very bad Scholar that can spell nothing out of ten hundred thousand books for every Creature is as it were a book to teach us some good thing Now that man is but a very ill Scholar that can make use of none of these books 4. Herein lies the excellency of a Christian that he is able to spiritualize natural things Herein lies the wickedness of a wicked man a wicked man doth naturalize spiritual things But herein lies the godliness of a godly man a godly man doth spiritualize natural things a wicked man carnalizeth even spiritual things when he is at the Ordinances at the very Sacrament if he be not truly godly he doth carnalize and naturalize even that spiritual Ordinance of the Sacrament but a godly Christian is like a Heavenly Alchymist that can draw Heaven out of a Spider as it were draw something of God out of a Toad Heavenly instructions out of a Toad out of a Viper out of any Creature of God much more out of the Heavens Sun Moon and Stars You wonder at the Chymist when he can extract all the four Elements out of a mixt body much more excellent is that Christian which can extract heaven out of every Creature of God that can heavenlize and spiritualize the Creatures of God And let me tell you a little to amplifie this motive 1. Herein a true Christian exceeds the bruit beasts the bruit beasts can enjoy the Creature but he cannot reflect upon the Creature he enjoys the good things of God but he cannot behold God in these things he cannot improve them for God but now a true Christian makes all these
things to be glasses to see God in pictures to behold God in the Goodness of God and the Wisdom of God and he endeavours to receive spiritual instruction by them 2. Herein a child of God exceeds all wicked men there is no wicked man can use the Creatures spiritually it is above his sphere a wicked man makes the Creatures a wall of separation between God and him not a glass to see God there is no wicked man useth the Creatures of God as a looking-glass to behold God in or as a footstool to raise him up to God or a ladder to climb to God by this is proper only to a godly man 5. Consider this It is the greatest affront you can offer to God not to take spiritual notice of his creatures not to make a spiritual use of his Creatures God hath put mankind upon the stage of this world and God hath made all the Creatures for mans use and God hath made man to be the tongue to praise him for all his Creatures and if man doth not praise him God loseth the praise of all the whole Creation God made all the Creatures for man and man to praise him for all the Creatures which if man neglect God loseth the glory of the whole Creation for how doth the Sun and the Moon and the Stars praise God! The Prophet David calls upon the Ice and the Snow and the Rain and all the Creatures of God to praise God How do they praise God How doth the fire and the water praise God When we praise God for these things then they praise God when we use them for God and draw Heavenly things spiritual instruction out of them and when we do not do this we offer the greatest affront that can be offered to God in that kind and we deprive God of the glory of the whole Creation 6. It is a soul-destroying sin not to observe the works of God and to make a good use of them Psal. 28. 5. Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hand he shall destroy them and not build them up These are the six motives Now in a word to put an end to this Discourse let me beseech and intreat you that you would put this duty in practise let me tell you Sirs that though occasional ejaculatory meditation be but as a Parenthesis as one very well saith in your worldly businesses yet this Parenthesis is more worth than all your worldly business yea it signifies more than all your worldly business As for example I will conclude my Discourse by giving you a little help When I rise in a morning what an excellent thing were it for a man to meditate of the great morning of the Resurrection and that it shall be as easie for men to rise out of the grave at the great Resurrection as it hath been for me this morning to arise out of my bed And when the Sun begins to arise and we behold the Sun shining what a rare meditation is it to consider there will a day come wherein the Sun of Righteousness shall come in the clouds and all his holy Angels with him and all the Saints at that day shall shine as so many Suns in the firmament O what a glorious day will that be when there shall be as many Suns as there are Saints there shall be as many Suns as there are Stars now in a bright shining night in the Heaven And when thou art going abroad it would be very comely spiritual and useful to remember that thou hast two companions always going with thee that is God and the Devil pardon me that I join them together thou hast thy judg and thy accuser to go with thee wheresoever thou walkest in the day time one Devil or other is always waiting upon thee and God is always present with thee who will call thee to an account for all that thou dost and the Devil scores up all that thou dost for to acaccuse thee afterward And when thou walkest abroad and seest a debauched wicked man it is an excellent thing to have a meditation and to say Blessed be God that hath made me to differ from this man if it had not been for the grace of God I had been as wicked as this man And when thou meetest with a godly man a man eminent for godliness Oh put up a prayer to God that he would make thee as godly and mourn that thou art not as godly as he When thou meetest with a learned man or a wise man or a beautiful creature it is a very excellent meditation to consider if there be so much beauty so much wisdom in the creature O what is there in God who is the ocean of beauty if there be so much comeliness so much excellency here below Oh what is there above It is a rare thing to use the creatures reflexively it is Idolatry to use the creature terminately but the admirable the superlative excellency of a Christian is to use the Creature reflexively to reflect from the Creature to the Creator So likewise when thou art in thy Shop and weighing thy Commodities would it not be an excellent meditation to think there will a time come when God will weigh thee in a ballance and weigh thy actions and weigh all that thou dost And meditate on that Text Prov. 11. 1. A false ballance is an abomination to the Lord. And so likewise when you walk in the fields and behold the grass that grows and behold the flowers of the field doth it not become you to meditate that all flesh is grass and all the glory of the world is but the goodliness of the grass and all earthly things are but like the beauty of a flower My little Child that I love so much is but like this flower it is beautiful but it is but fading And when thou seest a wicked man grow great by wicked ways would it not be a very comfortable thing to remember that Text Fret not thy self because of evil doers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity for they shall be soon cut down as the grass and wither as the green herb And you that are Merchants when you are upon the Exchange a short sudden ejaculation would not be hurtful but helpful to you As for example to remember that as you are Merchant-adventurers for earthly things so you are all Merchant-adventurers for heaven and your souls are in the midst of the Sea of this world this world is like a Sea and your soul is here like a ship at Sea and is in danger to be split upon the rocks in danger of pirates and in danger of being lost Your Ships have not half so many dangers as your Souls have the temptations of the Devil the allurements of the world the corruptions of your own hearts Now to consider as in the Exchange what is become of such and such a Ship so to ask thy soul in what
case is thy soul now that is on the Sea of this world and then to go to the Ensuring-office you know you have your Ensuring-offices wherein you ensure your Ships at Sea to get your souls ensured by reconciliation with God and by true faith manifested by holiness and righteousness to get your souls assured that they may come safe to the haven of Happiness In a clear bright frosty Winter-night when thou goest out and beholdest the bespangled heaven multitude of bright Stars what a rare thing were it to meditate This glorious bespangled Firmament is but the stable as it were but the out-houses of that Heaven where I am to go it is but the outward Court but the Wash-house as I may say and if the Stable and Out-houses be so glorious Oh what is the inward palace above the spangled Heavens is my Fathers house where I hope to live for ever with God and there my Christ is now interceding for me and by the power of his Spirit shall I be brought one day to that house Oh when will that time come when will my soul mount thorough these Heavens into the heaven of Heavens Now is not this comely for a Christian will not this heavenlize you and spiritualize you And then when you go to bed at night to remember I have one day more to answer for to remember there will a last night come after which there will be no day but the Resurrection of all Remember thy last night thy concluding night the end of thy life But I have been over-long in this a great deal more than I thought but I do it because here I shall put an end to this discourse of occasional meditation There is a second sort of Meditation and that is that that I call set solemn and deliberate when a man sets apart an hour a day it may be sets a part some time and goes into a private Closet or a private Walk and there doth solemnly and deliberately meditate of the things of Heaven Now concerning this meditation I shall handle by Gods assistance these two Particulars 1. I will shew you the nature of it 2. I will shew you the necessity of it 1. The nature of this duty what this meditation is that I would press you to I will describe it in two Particulars 1. This holy meditation is a dwelling and abiding upon things that are holy it is not only a knowing of God and a knowing of Christ but it is a dwelling upon the things we know as the Bee that dwells and abides upon the flower to suck out all the sweetness that is in the flower so to meditate upon God and Christ and the Sacrament it is to dwell upon God and the Sacrament to suck out all the sweetness we can in the things we meditate upon As we read of Anna Luk. 2. 37. She continued in the Temple praying and fasting day and night To meditate is to continue and fix our selves and our hearts upon the things we know this meditation in Scripture is called a holy musing Psal. 39. 3. My heart was hot within me while I was musing to meditate is to muse or else it is to commune with our own hearts Psal. 4. Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still It is a communing a consulting with our own hearts or if you will it is a bethinking our selves so it is expressed 1 King 8. 47. If they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captive and repent The Hebrew word is if they shall bring back to their hearts if they shall reflect upon themselves for meditation is a reflecting act of the soul whereby the soul is carried back to it self and considers all the things that it knows Meditation is an inward act of the soul a spiritual act whereby the soul doth recoil upon it self and looks back upon it self and considers all the things that concern its everlasting happiness and if I be not mistaken it is rarely typified under the Law two manner of ways 1. By those beasts that did chew the cud you shall read Lev. 11. of the clean beasts and the unclean beasts now the clean beasts were such as did chew the cud of those they were to eat now the unclean beasts were those that did not chew the cud a meditating Christian is one that chews the cud that chews on the Truths of Jesus Christ that doth not only hear good things but when he hath heard them chews them over ruminates upon them that so they may be fitter for digestion and concoction and spiritual improvement an unclean Christian is one that doth not chew the cud that doth not ruminate and ponder and bethink himself of the things of Heaven 2. Another type of this rare grace of Meditation is that of the Beasts Ezek. 1. that Ezekiel saw that had eyes within and without Vers. 18. their wings were full of eyes round about them And so likewise the Beasts Rev 4. 6. Round about the Throne were four beasts full of eyes before and behind A notable and a rare type of Meditation for meditation is nothing else but a looking thoroughly into the things of God a looking before and behind as I may so speak a meditating Christian is a man full of eyes that doth not only know God but sees much of God There is another metaphor to express it Psal. 119 59. I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies The word in the Hebrew is taken from Chapmen that when they buy a commodity they turn it over and over and over again they look all about it into every part of it Meditation is a thorow contemplation and a thorow consideration of the things of God a meditating Christian is full of eyes full of heavenly understanding 2. It is an act of the heart as well as of the head it is not only a speculative knowledg of things Divine but a practical knowledg it is not only an act of the intellect and understanding but of the will and affections it is an affective grace as well as an intellective grace and therefore it is said of the Blessed Virgin Mary She pondered all these sayings in her heart she did not only think of them with her head but she pondered on them with her heart and you shall read Deut. 4. 39. Know therefore this day and consider it in thy heart A true meditation is when a man doth so meditate of Christ as to get his heart inflamed with the love of Christ so meditate of the Truths of God as to be transformed into them and so meditate of sin as to get his heart to hate sin when it is such a musing of God as kindles a fire in the whole soul as David doth express it Psal. 39. 3. While I was musing the fire burnt When a man doth so contemplate on God that his heart is all on fire with the love of God
heaven His course was to consider all the Creatures that were under the Heaven I have seen saith he all the works that are done under the Sun and behold all is but vanity and vexation of spirit After he had meditated upon the world he goes over the riches and the pleasures of the world and when he had reckoned them all he concludes in Chap. 2. 11. Then I looked on all the works my hand had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit I gathered me silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of Kings and of the Provinces I got me men-singers and women-singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts so I was great and increased more than all before me in Ierusalem also my wisdom remained with me and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them And when he had looked upon all these glorious Excellencies what was his Conclusion Behold saith he all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sun Did we meditate much on the vanity of the world we would not idolize it so much 7. Divine Meditation is a mighty help to beget in us the grace of thankefulness for the mercies and blessings we receive from God Certainly it is a great duty that lyes upon us to be thankful for Gods mercies now there is no way to stir you up to thankefulness so much as meditation upon the mercies of God for he that forgets the mercies of God cannot be thankful for them and therefore mark the course that David takes Psal. 8. 3. When I consider the heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon the Stars which thou hast ordained then he crys out What is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest him for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels When he considered what God had done for man then he admires the love of God to man and breaks out into thankfulness Certainly a Christian forgetful of Gods mercies can never be thankful for them and the way to beget thankefulness is to meditate on what God hath done for us 8. Divine Meditation is a mighty help to beget in you a preferring of Gods house before your own house It is the great sin of this age wherein we live that every man studies to build his own house and no man cares for the house of the Lord We may truly say as Ieremiah saith This is Sion whom no man regards every man seeks his own interest and no man almost cares what becomes of Religion There is a strange kind of lukewarmness that is upon the spirits of all men in this age that so men may grow great themselves they care not what becomes of the House of God Now Divine Meditation would make you prefer the building of Gods House before the building of your own house And for this purpose let me beseech you to read Hag. 1. 4. Is it time for you Oh ye to dwell in your cieled houses and this house lye waste It was the sin of the people of Israel that they neglected the building of Gods House and every man strove to grow rich in his own particular Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways here the Prophet calleth them to consideration ye have sown much but bring in little ye eat but you have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink ye clothe you but there is none warm And he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes What was the matter because they did not build Gods House therefore God did not build their house v. 7. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts consider your ways ye looked for much but lo it came to little and when you brought it home I did blow upon it why saith the Lord of Hosts because of my house that is waste and ye run every man into his own house therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from her fruit God will never settle England God will never settle your houses till you make conscience to build Gods House and till you have more zeal for the House of God than for your own houses though you may dream of peace and plenty yet certainly the Lord will never build your houses until you build Gods House And therefore he saith further Hag. 2. 17. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands yet ye turned not to me saith the Lord. Consider now from this day and upward from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month even from the day that the foundation of the Lords Temple was laid consider it from this day will I bless you And certainly the world is much mistaken the way to build your own house is to join together to settle Religion God will never prosper you till Gods House be setled And did you meditate on these two Chapters the first and second Chapter of Haggai it would by Gods grace beget in you a mighty zeal toward the setling of the House of God and to prefer that before the setling of your own house 9. Divine Meditation will beget in us a keeping of all the commandments of God There is no Commandment of God but Divine Meditation when it is sanctified I do not say otherwise will work in us and inable us to keep Deut. 4. 39 40. Know therefore this day and consider it in thy heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath there is none else thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments And David saith Psal. 119. 55. I have remembred thy name Oh Lord in the night and have kept thy Law 2. Divine Meditation is not only a means to beget grace but it is a mighty help to preserve and increase grace As the wood preserves the fire as the oil preserves the flame as the water preserves the fish so doth meditation preserve your graces It preserves every grace and it increaseth every grace for Meditation is a Divine pair of bellows to blow up the sparks of grace when there is but a little fire meditation will kindle this fire more and increase it when you find your love of God grows cold meditate upon the love of God and this will kindle the love of God in your hearts and when you find the fear of God to diminish in you meditate upon the power of God that thy breath is in his hand that he hath thee in his hand this will increase the fear of God and so when the love of the world increaseth upon you meditate upon the vanity and nothingness of it and this will decrease the love of the world 3. Divine Meditation as it is a means to beget grace and to increase grace so it is
a mighty means to arm and defend us against all the temptations of the Devil and against all his fiery darts It is armour of proof against the Devil and all his temptations What made Moses refuse the pleasure treasures and honours of Egypt for Moses when he was of age a young man and fit to enjoy the pleasures of Egypt he chose rather to suffer affliction than to enjoy the pleasures of sin he refused to be called the Son of Pharoah's Daughter What made him do all this Because he had respect to the recompence of reward and he beheld him that was invisible he meditated upon the reward he should have in Heaven he knew the pleasures of Heaven were better than the pleasures of Pharoah's Court and he knew the treasures he should have in Heaven were better than the treasures he should have in Egyyt and therefore he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season He knew he could not enjoy both and he had an eye to the recompence of reward he saw him that was invisible and this made him do all this he could never have done this without this Divine grace of Meditation And what made Ioseph refuse to lye with his Mistris when he might have been preferred by lying with her and had secresie and security why he meditated How can I do this and sin against God He thought of God and he would not do it it was meditation that made him refuse it What made the Saints of old receive joyfully the spoiling of their goods Heb. 10. 34. They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance Because they knew that is they considered that they had in Heaven an enduring substance an eternal reward they should have better riches there they considered that and that made them lose their outward estates they looked for a better estate in Heaven Bishop Hooper when he was going to Martyrdom over night he discoursed and reasoned with himself saith he When I think of the fire I begin to be afraid for I fear that fire will burn but when I think of the fire of hell the fear of eternal fire makes me willing to endure a temporary fire Saith he again When I think of the loss of life I begin to be afraid I know life is precious and when I meditate upon these outward enjoyments outward preferments I seem unwilling to be burnt but when I meditate of the joys of Heaven and the preferments that I shall have there this makes me willing to go through fire to go through Martyrdom to Heaven It was meditation of Heaven and the joys of Heaven that made the Martyrs come so willingly to the stake and imbrace it as a bride doth her bridegroom And thus I have shewed you the great necessity of this grace of Meditation It remains now that I should come to the Application of this Doctrine If this duty of Divine Meditation be so necessary a duty as you have heard then it reproves those Christians that are utterly unaccustomed and unacquainted with this duty that receive mercies from God but are never the better for the mercies they do receive for want of meditation That do not say in their hearts let us fear that God that doth give us the former and the latter rain as it is Ier. 5. 23. it reproves those that are guilty of many sins but do not repent for want of consideration because they do not say in their hearts what have I done it reproves those that meet with many losses and crosses in the world but are never the better for their afflictions because they do not consider what is the meaning of Gods rod and how they may get their afflictions sanctified that read the blessed Promises of the Gospel but taste not the sweetness of them for want of meditation for want of chewing them in a word that hear many Sermons but are never the better for the Sermons they hear and all for want of this Divine Meditation The mercies of God and the promises of God and the afflictions of God and the Sermons we hear are like unto a Soveraign plaister which though it be never so good if it be taken off the wound as soon as ever it is laid on it will never cure the wound it is the abiding of the Plaister upon the wound that cures it So it is the dwelling upon the mercies we receive the chewing upon the Promises the meditating upon the Sermons we hear will do us good That man that hears a Sermon and forgets it as soon as he hath heard it will get no good by it it is with Sermons and mercies as it is with meat a man may eat his meat and be never the more nourished if he do not digest it if he vomit it up as soon as he hath eaten it or if his meat presently go through him it will do him no good it is the digesting the concocting of meat that nourisheth a man so there are thousands of people that hear Sermon upon Sermon and yet are never the more holy by what they hear for want of digesting the Sermons they hear by Divine Meditation Now this want of meditation is a sin that I perswade my self most Christians are guilty of I cannot exclude my self there are few Christians that are convinced of the necessity of this duty of Divine Meditation few that practise this duty the great God hath exercised this Nation with variety of Providences for these many years we have been these eleven or twelve years in the fire of affliction we have met with unexpected changes and alterations but where is the man that lays to heart the Providences of God where is the man that studies what God is doing with this Nation and how to get the Providences of God sanctified We may say of most of the Nation as it is in Ier. 12. 11. The whole land is made desolate because no man layeth it to heart There is no man considers what is the meaning of Gods Providences the variety and strangeness and wonderfulness of them We are like unto those Isa. 42. 24 25. Who gave Israel to the spoil and Israel to the robbers did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned for they would not walk in his ways neither were they obedient to his law therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battel and it hath set him on fire round about yet he knew not and it burned him but he laid it not to heart We have been burning and burning and consuming but no man lays it to heart this is the great sin of this Nation the Lord humble us There are four sorts of Christians that are here to be reproved for the want of the grace of Divine Meditation 1. The ignorant Christian that knows not how to set about the
or sealing up all the benefits of our Redemption and it is an exhibition of Jesus Christ it is a deed of gift of Christ God goes about giving of Christ to thee and me and all that labour to come worthily Oh! there cannot be a greater feast wherein Christ is the gift that is bestowed Christ is the banquet Christ and all his benefits 5. You must meditate of your own unworthiness O Lord I am not worthy to pick up the crumbs that fall from thy Table I am not worthy to eat my daily bread much less worthy to eat the Sacramental bread Oh the thought of this will make you say with Mephibosheth What am I a dead dog that my Lord and King should invite me to his table What am I dust and ashes sinful wretch that the Lord Jesus should invite me to such an Heavenly banquet 6. You must meditate of your spiritual wants and necessities what grace dost thou want that thou maist get supplied what sin doth bear most sway in thee that thou maist get it more mortified Now the more sensible you are of your spiritual wants the more will your appetite be quickned to this blessed feast 7. You must meditate of the cursed condition of an unworthy receiver an unworthy receiver is a Christ-murderer a soul-murderer a body-murderer he is guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ he eats and drinks down his own damnation he is guilty of bringing diseases For this cause that is for unworthy coming to the Sacrament many are sick and many weak and many die 8. I would have you meditate of the happy condition of those that come worthily to the Sacrament though you do not bring a legal worthiness yet if you have a Gospel-worthiness God will accept of you and the bread that we break shall be the Communion of the Body of Christ and the cup of blessing which we bless shall be the Communion of the Blood of Christ to you the communion of all the blessings of Heaven to thy soul. It shall be the bread of the Lord to you and the bread of life and the cup of Salvation unto you 9. I would have you meditate sometimes of the Sacramental Elements when you see the bread I would have you meditate of the analogy and proportion between bread and the body of Christ you know that bread is the staff of life so is Christ the staff of a Christian bread is not for dead folks but for living folks bread doth not beget life but increaseth and strengthneth life so the Sacrament is not for those that are dead in sin the Sacrament doth not beget Grace but nourish and increase Grace And then I would have you consider the analogy between Wine and the Blood of Christ As Wine refresheth the spirit and cheereth the heart so the Blood of Christ cheereth the soul of every worthy receiver 10. I would have you meditate of the Sacramental actions for all the actions of the Minister at the Sacrament are mystical they all represent Christ Christ is to be read by a spiritual eye in every thing that is done by the Minister the breaking of the bread represents Christs body being broken upon the Cross for our sins and the pouring out the Wine represents how Christs Blood was poured out for us and the giving of the Wine represents how Christ is offered and tendered unto us the taking of the bread and wine represents how thou by faith takes Christ for thy everlasting comfort Every thing in the Sacrament is the object of Meditation and it is a rare thing for a Christian to make the Sacramental Elements to be his Bible when he is at the Sacrament and when he finds his heart dull to look at the Elements the breaking of bread and pouring out of wine which are all spiritual helps to raise up thy heart unto Christ. 11. You must meditate of the Sacramental Promises Christ Jesus hath promised Take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me that is the Sacramental Promise This is my blood which is shed for you do this in remembrance of me Christ hath promised that whensoever we do take this bread and drink this cup worthily he will convey himself to us Now we must feed upon this promise and come to the Sacrament in the strength of this promise and he hath promised that the cup of blessing shall be the cup of the communion of the blood of Christ and the bread that is broken shall be the communion of the body of Christ Now we must meditate upon these Promises and act faith upon them 12. When all this is done I mean when thou hast received the Sacrament then thou must meditate what retribution to make unto Christ for this you must say as David doth Psal. 116. 7. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me Thou must say to thy soul Oh how ought I to love that Christ that hath loved me and became a curse for me how ought I to be willing to die for that Christ that hath shed his blood for me Oh what singular thing shall I do for that Christ that hath become man that hath left the Throne of Heaven and hath taken my nature and hath given himself for me upon the Cross unto me at the Sacrament what great thing shall I return unto this God! Oh that I were made up all of thankfulness Oh that I could do something worthy of this God! This must be your Meditation and you must study to find out some rare piece of service to do for this Christ that hath done and suffered so much for you and you must never leave meditating till you have found out some singular thing As for example such an enemy hath done me wrong I will requite him in loving him the more I will do him the more offices of love that is to walk worthy of Christ who loved me when I was an enemy and then there is such a deed of charity such a poor Christian his family is undone I will do this service for Christ I will give him some proportionable gift some worthy gift that his soul may bless God for me Again Christ Jesus this day hath given me himself he hath given me his body and blood I will go and be willing to die for him I will say with Thomas Come let us die for him I will be willing to suffer reproach for him if he shall call me These are the Meditations wherein you are to spend your time when you are at the Sacrament Now let me say but thus much What rare Christians would we be if from month to month we did thus spend our Sacramental hours surely great would be the benefit and the fruit of it Thus I have done with the time when we are to meditate 3. I am to speak of the properties and qualities of Divine Meditation in all holy duties it is not so much the
doing of the duty that God looks after as the right manner of doing the duty It is not the hearing the Word will please God unless we hear the word of God aright therefore Christ saith take heed how you hear it is not prayer that will prevail with God unless we pray after a right manner unless we pray in faith with fervency and humility so it is not the meditation of God and Christ and the Promises will do us any good unless we meditate after the right manner that God would have us to meditate Now I shall acquiant you with six properties of Divine Meditation for the right manner of performing it 1. Divine Meditation must be often and frequent Deut. 6. 7. there God commands Thou shall teach the words of the Law diligently unto thy children thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up Josh. 1. 8. The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night Though he was a great Commander and had affairs of great concernment yet God commands him to meditate day and night in the Law of God And David tells us of a godly man Psal. 1. 2. That he will delight himself in the law of God and in his law will he meditate day and night Psal. 119. 97 98 99. David professeth of himself though he was a King and had many diversions yet saith he Oh how do I love thy law it is my meditation day and night Thou through thy commandments hath made me wiser than my enemies for they are ever with me or it is ever with me speaking of the Commandments of God he had them always in his thoughts I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation Psal. 139. 8. When I awake I am still with thee What is the meaning of that that is by the meditation of God in the morning as soon as ever he awaked he begun the day with Meditation with some sweet pious thought of God It is the duty of a Christian as you have heard if it be possible if his worldly occasions do not necessarily hinder him there may you know be necessary avocations to spend some time every day in Divine Meditation You that are Ladies men of great Estates and have time are to set some solemn time some solemn part of the day for Meditation but all of us are to have Ejaculatory Meditation though it be in our worldly business There are three Reasons to perswade you to frequent Meditation 1. Because the oftner you meditate of God and Christ and Heaven the more you will know of God and Christ and Heaven and the more you will love God and Christ and the more earnestly you will seek after the things of Heaven for you must know the things of Heaven are like a beautiful Picture the more you view them the more will you admire them and seek after them to enjoy them I have read a story of Necrasophus who was an excellent Painter that viewing wistly a Picture there came a Country-man by and seeing him view that Picture so wistly he asked him Why do you look upon that Picture so much saith the Painter to him If you had my eyes you would never ask me this Question if you knew the excellency of this Picture you would never ask me why I look so much upon it The things of Heaven the things of God the Promises of God are most glorious and excellent things and the more you look into them the more you will look into them and the oftenr you view these Pictures the more you will admire them and the more you will view them God and Christ and Heaven are like unto a bottomless Mine of treasure the more you dig in this Mine the more riches you will find in it they are like unto a sweet cordial the more you chew them the more sweetness you will find in them They are like an excellent garden in the Spring-time the oftner a man goes into the garden still he finds a new flower and another flower and another flower so the things of God and Christ and the Promises and Heaven the more you walk in this garden the more flowers you will gather you will have still new flowers to pick. And the reason why the Saints of God love God no more and prize Christ no more and seek no more after Heaven is because they do not meditate more of God and Christ and Heaven the want of frequent meditation of them is the reason why we love them and esteem them so little and seek so little after them The second Reason why we should frequently meditate upon things Divine is because the oftner we meditate of God and Christ the more near and intimate acquaintance we shall have with them as you know Neighbours the oftner they visit one another the more acquainted they come one with another and the seldomer they visit one another the more estranged they are one to another Visitation breeds acquaintance so the seldomer you think of God and Christ the more you are estranged from them and the less acquaintance you have with them and the oftner you meditate of God the more intimate society you will have with him as I have told you Divine Meditation is nothing else but a dwelling upon the things of God a conversing with God and Christ and the Promises and it will be matter of rare comfort to a child of God when he lies upon his death-bed and is going out of the world to consider I am now going to a God that I am acquainted withal that I am not a stranger to I am going to heaven where I have been often in my meditation It is reported of Dr. Preston when he was dying he used these words Blessed be God though I change my place yet I shall not change my company for I have walked with God while I lived and now I go to rest with God A man that is often in meditation is often in Heaven often walking with God and Christ and the Promises and when he dies he goes to enjoy the Promises and to be and to live for ever with this Christ. It is a sad and a disconsolate thing for a man when he comes to die to think of God as a stranger to think of Heaven as a place where he hath never been he hath hardly had a thought of it all his life I verily perswade my self it is one reason that the Saints of God are so unwilling to die because they have no more acquaintance with God in this life they think of him as a stranger the more you are acquainted with God while you live the more willing you will be to die to go to him for death to a child of God is nothing else but a resting with God with whom he walked while
he lived to rest in the bosom of God in whose bosom he hath often been by holy meditation when he was alive 3. You must be often and frequent in the duty of Divine Meditation by often using it to make it more easie there is great complaint of the difficulty of this duty it hath been often said to me Sir there is no duty in the world so hard as Divine Meditation and it is true it is a hard matter to keep the heart close in Meditation of Divine things and therefore you must accustom your selves to this duty and use will make perfectness usus promptos facit by often doing it at last through grace it will become easie When a young youth is bound Prentice to a Manual Trade at first it seems very hard to learn his Trade but by long custom at last he is very expert in it A man that is to go up a hill every morning at first he pants and breathes and cannot get up the hill within a little while he can get up with ease so this duty of Divine Meditation though it be exceeding difficult because it is exceeding spiritual yet by often and frequent practising of it through the assistance of Gods Spirit it will become at last very easie whereas the seldomness of the practice of this duty makes it difficult and intermission of any thing makes it very hard A man that learns the Greek or Hebrew Tongues or learn to speak French if he intermit the speaking eleven or twelve years he will quickly forget to speak it so long omission of this duty is the reason why it is so difficult would you but resolve to practise it for one twelve month you would find it at the twelve months end an easie duty through the help of God The second property is this Divine Meditation must be solemn and serious though we must accustom our selves to this duty yet we must take heed of customariness and formality in the duty formality in good duty is the dead fly that spoils the box of precious ointment God hates a formal Christian he hates a formal prayer a formal hearer of the word formality in Gods service is like the plague of locusts of which you read Exod. 10. that did eat up all the green things in the land formality in good duties eats up all the beauty and all the comfort and benefit of a good duty there is nothing God hates more than formality in his service therefore you must take heed above all things of being formal in the practice of this duty of Meditation it must be solemn and serious and you must be very intent about it slight thoughts of God will make but a slight impression upon the affections and he that thinks slightly of God will serve him slightly and love him slightly he that thinks slightly of sin will slight sin he that thinks slightly of God God will slight him And the reason why we serve God with so little affection and so little devotion and reverence is because we meditate slightly of God for slight thoughts of God work but a slight heart and a slight conversation I will give you an instance or two of this slight way of Meditation Ioh. 6. you shall read of certain men that when Christ was preaching had a very good ejaculation ver 34. Lord say they evermore give us of this bread it was a sweet Meditation but it was but a short a slight and formal one for at the end of the Chapter these men forsook Christ it was not a solemn and serious Meditation Ioh. 18. 38. you read of Pilate Pilate saith unto him what is truth here is a good question that arose from some inward thought that he had and when he had said this he went out again he never thought of it more he never tarried to hear an answer but now our care must be to be very solemn and serious in this work of Divine Meditation let me give you an example of Alexander the Great a Heathen man was offering Sacrifice to his God the Priest that held the Censor the Chafing-dish wherein the Incense was there was a spark of fire fell upon his hand and he was so intent and unwilling to hinder the Sacrifice that he suffered his hand rather to be burnt than he would intermit the Sacrifice this shews how devout and intent this Priest was even in the service of the Heathenish God and Chrysostome tells a story of a Lady that being to make a precious ointment she calls in all her handmaids to help her so saith he when we converse with God in any holy duty we must call in all our handmaids all our affections when we are making any holy ointment the meaning is this when you are conversing with God by meditation or conversing with Christ or the Promises you must call in all your affections to assist you you must be very solemn and serious and intent upon this work And yet I must give you one caution here you must take heed you be not over-intent though you must be serious you must not be over-serious I have heard a story of a godly Minister Mr. Welsh that was one day meditating of eternity and he was so serious in the thoughts of Eternity that he fell into a trance into a swound that they could hardly ever recover life in him again he was so swallowed up in that Meditation he was too serious we must be serious but not over-serious we must do as good travellers do that will be careful not to over-ride their horses lest they tire they will ride moderately that so they may hold out to their journeys end so must we be serious but we must be moderate not over-serious we must remember we have a body of flesh that is not able to bear over-much seriousness in these weighty Meditations of Eternity and God and Christ and Heaven 3. Divine Meditation must not only be notional and speculative but practical and affectionate therefore consideration and meditation are not only acts of the head but acts of the heart Deut. 4. 39. Know therefore this day and consider it in thy heart There are three doors as I may so speak that Meditation must get into or else it is of no use 1. It must get into the understanding that must ponder the things of Heaven but it must not tarry there But 2. It must get into the door of the heart and affections to stir them up for the understanding must be as a Divine pair of Bellows to kindle a Divine fire in the heart and affections and to inflame and raise them up as David saith Psal. 39. While I was musing the fire burned we must so muse upon God and Christ that our affections may as it were burn within us as the Disciples hearts burnt within them while Christ was speaking 3. It must get into the door of the conversation that is we must so meditate of Christ as to live according to
the life of Christ and so to meditate of God as to obey the Commands of God And unless your Meditation get into these three doors it is of no use the understanding to the heart and affections is like the nurse to the child you know the office of the nurse is to prepare meat for the child to chew and cut it that the child may eat it so the work of the understanding is to prepare Divine Truths for the heart and affections that the heart may close with them and eat and digest them but if the nurse should eat the meat she chews and give nothing to the child the child may starve for all the nurse so though the understanding doth chew never such glorious Truths if it doth not convey them to the heart and affections it is of no use there is many a man spends his time in Meditation as a Butterflye feeds upon the flower sucks the flower not to be fruitful and useful but meerly to paint her wings so he studies and ponders of Divine things meerly to paint his wings to get curious language of God and Christ and curious notions of sin and the promises but because he doth not convey them into his heart and affections he is never the holier never the better for his Meditation but true Meditation is this when we so meditate of Christ as to find vertue coming out of Christ to cure the bloody issue of our sins to meditate of him so as to be transformed into him when we so meditate of God as to love God and desire after God and rejoice in God and live according to the Commands of God when we so meditate of sin as to hate and abhor it and turn from it so meditate of the promises as to close with them when by frequent musing of God there is a holy fire of Divine love kindled towards God as it is in Psal. 104. 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet When we so meditate on God as it gets into our affections to sweeten the thoughts of God unto our souls then the meditation of God is sweet this is the reason why many times an honest plain-hearted Christian finds more benefit by the practise of this Divine Meditation than a great Scholar for a great Scholar will meditate to find out some glorious expressions some curious notions As a man that reads a book meerly for the fine language and a man that hears a Sermon meerly to feast his ears because of the eloquence of the Sermon and goes home never the holier never the better but now the honest plain-hearted Christian meditates of the things of Heaven that he may be made the more heavenly he meditates of God that he may love and fear him more he meditates of Christ that he may prize him more he meditates of sin that he may hate it more and of the Promises that he may love them more though he cannot find out these curious notions that a Scholar doth yet his heart is more affected many times than the heart of a greater Scholar if he be not godly Divine Meditation is of no use unless it be practical and affectionative 4. Property is this Divine Meditation must be particular and applicative for generals will not work at all the Philosopher saith that fire in general doth not burn it is this fire that burns a sword in general doth not cut it is this sword cuts so confused meditation of heaven God and Christ will do you little good but if ever you would get good by the practise of meditation you must come down to particulars and you must so meditate of Christ as to apply Christ to thy soul and so meditate of Heaven as to apply Heaven to thy soul this is mine this is my portion Christ is my portion he is Iehovah my righteousness Nam quid est Deus si non est meus What am I the better for Heaven or for Christ if they be not mine what comfort can I have to meditate of Christ if I have no interest in him if I cannot apply him what comfort can I have to meditate of Heaven if I have no right to Heaven I meditate of a place that doth not belong to me Therefore the greatest part of Meditation is Application you must apply the things you meditate of to your own particular and that man that in his meditation of Christ can say with Thomas My God and my Lord is of all men the happiest blessed is that man that can say my God and my Lord. There are four things that work mightily upon the heart Necessity and Excellency Propriety and Perpetuity the heart is much taken with things that are excellent especially when they are necessary especially if I have a propriety in them and this propriety be perpetual and thrice happy is that man that can say all these four concerning God and Christ that when he meditates of the excellency of God and Christ and Heaven and the necessity of enjoying them when he can add a propriety all these are mine God is my God Christ is my righteousness and Heaven is my inheritance and my inheritance for ever Oh this man is in Heaven already that can make this application upon Scripture-grounds And therefore be sure in the practise of this duty your meditation be applicative though a medicine be never so soveraign it doth you no good unless you apply it the water in the fountain will never do you good unless it be brought to you by a cistern conveyed to you some way or other so the meditation of God Christ and Heaven will little avail unless you make application and this is especially to be used at the Sacrament the work you are to do at the Sacrament is meditation and in all Sacramental meditation you must be sure to join application when you meditate of the breaking of the bread of the body of Christ that was broken for you you must apply it it was broken for me and when you see the wine poured out you must meditate of the blood of Christ that was poured out upon the Cross you must make application by faith that is the great act of faith This blood was poured out for me this body was broken for me and now God offers Christ God gives Christ to me there is the sweetness in the Sacrament The fifth Property Divine Meditation must be calm and quiet there are many well affected Christians that in the practise of this duty will force themselves too much this is proper to young beginners that when they meditate of their sins will force themselves into tears and when they meditate of Christ will force themselves into joy it is ordinary when young Christians meditate because they cannot find their affections wrought upon they will use violence to their affections and force out tears or joy according to the nature of the thing they meditate upon just like the man Act. 3. 7 8. the lame man that was
4. Consider that by persevering in this duty it will at last grow easie it is I confess a very up-hill duty a very spiritual Heavenly duty but as a man that every day goes up a hill though at first it be very difficult he blows and pants as if his soul would go out of him but by persevering in it he can go up the hill without pain or weariness so though it be an up-hill a hard duty yet if you that have time as many of you have would but set about this work and persevere in it and labour that your Meditation be applicative and affectionative let me assure you you would quickly conquer the difficulty by the help of God let a man be to kindle a fire if the wood be wet he must blow and continue blowing and at last he will conquer it if he fling away the bellows he will never make the fire burn but he must continue blowing till he hath extracted the moisture and conquered the wood so when you go to meditate of God and Christ of the Promises of Heaven of your sins though you find your hearts dead and dull and full of vain roving thoughts and you are mightily out of tune and much discouraged you must go on blowing still you must blow and blow and blow and at last the fire will kindle the great God of Heaven and earth will come in and help you Thus I have done with the third particular the properties of Divine Meditation 4. I must speak to the companions of Meditation There are two companions you must always join with it or at least ordinarily I am sure that one you must always join one is reading the other is praying 1. You must join prayer with your meditation and therefore here in my Text the same word that signifies to meditate in the Hebrew signifies to pray And Isaac went out to meditate the word in the Hebrew is He went out to pray or to meditate and therefore in the Margent it is put And Isaac went out to pray And in the old Translation it is And Isaac went out to pray and in the new Translation it is He went out to meditate The same Hebrew word that signifies to meditate signifies to pray to teach us that we must always join meditation and prayer together As for example when you meditate of your sins you must put up a prayer to God that you may so meditate of your sins as to get your hearts humbled for them and when you meditate of Heaven you must join prayer with your meditation and lift up a prayer that the Lord would help you so to meditate of Heaven as to make you fit for Heaven when I say prayer I do not mean a set formal prayer but a short prayer when you go up the hill of Meditation you must not set your selves at prayer but only join short prayer beseeching God that he would bless it unto you Luk. 9. 29. when Christ went up to prayer while he was praying his countenance was changed he was transfigured and Cornelius while he was a praying the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him he had glorious appearances while he was praying Act. 10. when we go up to the hill to meditate and to pray to pray and meditate we shall be sure to meet with apparitions from God with glorious transfigurations it is a rare saying of Bernard Meditation without prayer is infertilis barren and luke-warm prayer without meditation is arida dry And as one saith very well writing of Meditation The reason why the prayers of many of the Saints of God are but carcases of prayer is because they do not join meditation and prayer And the reason why their meditation is no more powerful is because they do not join prayer with their meditation for meditation without prayer is altogether useless and unprofitable you must not meditate in your own strength 2. You must join reading with your meditation understand me aright I propound this to weak Christians that want a stock of knowledg there are some Christians that are a Walking-library they are Books themselves they need not a Book to help them to meditate But you that are weak Christians my advice is this that you would join reading with your meditation As for example would you meditate of Christ go and take the Bible and read the History of his Passion and when thou readest any thing remarkable lay thy book aside and meditate seriously of that passage As for example when thou comest to read of Christ sweating drops of blood that Christ in a cold Winter night upon the cold ground for thy sake should shed drops of blood lay thy book aside and meditate of these drops of blood Oh the wrath of God that he then suffered and so when thou comest to read what Christ suffered upon the Cross when he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me lay aside thy Book and meditate of the love of Christ that was forsaken for thy sake in regard of outward comfort I mean not in regard of union He was forsaken that thou maist not be forsaken So likewise wouldest thou meditate on the Promises if thou be a weak Christian take a Book that treats of the Promises and when thou readest any Promise that is suitable to thee lay the Book aside and meditate of that Promise till thy heart be affected with it and labour that it may take impression upon thy soul. Saith Bernard Long reading without meditation never made a good Scholar it is always barren And Meditation without reading leads many a weak Christian over to error And therefore when you set a time apart for Meditation join prayer and reading with your meditation Now here I must give you two Cautions 1. You must not read much lest it hinder you meditation as you must not be large in prayer that it may not hinder your meditation so you must not be large in reading when you go to meditate for prayer and reading are in order to meditation 2. When you are at the Sacrament you must lay aside all reading you must meditate at the Sacrament without reading the reason is because Christ at the Sacrament preacheth to the eye And our Sacramental Elements are our Sacramental Bible every action of the Minister is mystical and spiritual the breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the wine is spiritual Christ Jesus is represented in all that is done at the Sacrament And therefore when you begin to be drawn dry as I may so speak and you know not what to meditate on you must instead of reading look upon the Elements it is a sanctified way to quicken you to holiness and you must look upon them with a spiritual eye with an understanding eye as knowing what those Elements signifie and the sight of the Elements will suggest matter of meditation This I speak because I see many weak Christians and I believe they do it upon honest
a man that is ambitious you need not perswade him to think of honour and preferment but the love that he hath to preferment will force him to think of it So did you love God Christ Heavenly things you would be much in the meditation of them And the reason why you meditate no more of them is because you love them no more Psal. 119. 97. Oh how do I love thy law what then it is my meditation all the day What made David meditate all the day upon the Law of God because he loved it Psal. 1. 7. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night A man that is deep in love with a woman you need not bid him think of that woman Where the love is there the soul is Oh did you delight in the things of Heaven I need not lay down rules to perswade you to the practise of it the very love would be a loadstone love is a loadstone of Meditation and he that loves good things will think of them Cogitatione crebra cogitatione longa cogitatione profunda that is very often very long and very deep a man that is deep in love is deep in meditation of the party he loves The seventh Rule Labour to get an interest in Heavenly things labour by Scripture-evidences to make out thy interest in Heavenly things what comfort can that man have of meditating of Heaven that doth not know he hath a right to Heaven what comfort can that man have of meditating of Christ that doth not know that Christ is his what comfort can that man have in meditation of God that looks upon God as his enemy It is interest that will facilitate Divine Meditation a man that hath an interest in an inheritance will often think of it if he hath a thousand pound a year that is his own he is often thinking how to improve it and enjoy it but if he hath no title or right to it alas he will not think of it what doth he care for it It is your interest in the things of Heaven that will raise your meditation of them and as long as you have no assurance of a title to Heaven you will never heartily meditate of it you may know it by rote and by form but you will never heartily meditate of it till you know it to be your inheritance and you will never heartily meditate of the Promises till you know you have a title to them that they are Promises made to you The eighth Rule is this Labour to get a heart disengaged and disintangled from the world a man that is dead and buried in the world it is in vain to perswade him to go up the mount of Meditation a bird that is in a Lime-twig it is in vain to bid that bird fly alas poor bird she is intangled in the Lime-twig a man that is intangled in the lime-twigs of the world it is in vain to bid this man mount up in Meditation The love of the world is like the plague of flies that Pharoah had in Egypt he could not eat a bit of meat but the flies got into his meat and got into his drink so a man that is up to the ears in the world cannot pray cannot hear a Sermon and cannot receive the Sacrament but this plague of flies comes there the thoughts of the world is at the Sacrament with him in Prayer with him on the Sabbath-day with him The love of the world pray pardon me in this expression is just like a familiar spirit for indeed I cannot speak too much against it a Witch that hath a familiar spirit it will go along with her wheresoever she goes when she hath once entertained it she can never be rid of it but the Devil will haunt her so the love of the world is an invisible Devil and will haunt you wheresoever you go if you go to the Sacrament there the Devil will haunt you if you go to the mount of Meditation the Devil and the world will be there if you go to pray there the Devil will be And you that are in these lime-twigs it is in vain to preach to you the Doctrine of Divine Meditation and therefore let me speak to you as God did to Moses Put the shooes off thy feet for the place whereon thou stands is holy ground So do I say if ever you would be qualified for this duty of Divine Meditation put the shooes off your feet You must labour to be mortified to the world and worldly things you must labour to get a Heavenly frame of spirit it is in vain to perswade a worldly man to meditate of Heavenly things I do but beat the air for such as the heart is such will the man be if the heart be lustful the man will meditate of lustful things and act lustful things if the heart be worldly the man will be worldly such as thy heart is such is thy thoughts such are thy affections such are thy actions and till thy heart be Heavenly thou canst never be a fit practitioner of this duty and therefore labour for a Heavenly heart The ninth Rule is this Be not discouraged though you find a difficulty in the beginning of practising this duty but accustom thy self to it Custom will make perfectness usus promptus facit Custom will make it an easie thing as an Apprentice that is newly bound to his Master finds his Trade very hard at first but afterwards by custom when he hath been a year or two at it then it is very easie so at the first you will find it very hard to meditate of Christ to abide and dwell long at it but let me assure you accustom your selves to it and you will find it very easie through Gods mercy Have you not known many a man and woman that hath been by the Physician prescribed to walk up a hill every day at the first he finds it very hard he is not able to do it but within a month or two it begins to be easie and they that before could not go up the hill without resting almost twenty times now they can go up without resting at all Oh the hill of Meditation is hard for us to climb that are so full of the world so full of vanity and folly but if you did accustom your selves to climb up this hill by often doing of it you would find it very easie The tenth and last Rule is this Do all these things by power derived from Iesus Christ I do not think that it is in your power to do these things but I know there is power in Christ and Christ will give you power as the Apostle saith Phil. 4. 13. I am able to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Go to Christ for a Heavenly heart for a serious spirit to kindle in thee a love to Heavenly things to shew thee thy interest in Heavenly things for if thou didst
did to his servants Gen. 22. 5. He said unto the young men abide you here with the asse and I and the lad will go yonder and worship Tarry you here below while I go up to the Mount of God Now I know this is a hard matter I am not ignorant of it to drive away this plague of flies that pester our best duties and therefore we must do as the Priest did to King Vzziah he would needs offer Incense and the Priest hindred him and the Lord plagued Vzziah and the leprosie appeared in his forehead and the Priest came and thrust him out of the Temple So I would have you do when you go to your Closets to meditate your vain thoughts will croud into the Temple of your hearts I would have you do as these Priest did thrust out these vain thoughts out of the temple of your hearts or rather pray unto God to do it for alas it is above our power to get free from distracting thoughts in this duty pray unto the Lord who is the heart-maker that he would be the heart-preparer for when you go to meditate God looks especially at your hearts and if your hearts be full fraught with lustful vain worldly carnal covetous thoughts he scorns all your service Now do not mistake me I mean if you willingly yield to this if you strive against it God will accept of it let it be thy work that is my rule to keep thy heart with all keeping when thou beginnest this work And labour to get thy heart disengaged and disintangled from worldly things So much for the beginning and of the six Rules to direct you in the entrance upon this work 2. I will lay down Rules for the better proceeding in this work for this you must know there are two faculties of the soul that must always be set on work in the practice of Divine Meditation the one is the Understanding the other is the heart and affections for Divine Meditation is not only an act of the head but of the heart and true Meditation must not only be intellectual and notional but practical and affectionative The work of the Understanding is to blow up and increase to kindle and inflame the love of God and Christ in the heart the Understanding to the heart and affections must be as the nurse to the child as the nurse cuts the meat and many times chews it and prepares it for the child to eat so doth the Understanding by Divine Truths it prepares them for the affections and the heart to close with them to eat them and digest them and to turn them into a holy conversation These are the two faculties we must set on work and you never meditate aright unless the affection be raised as well as the understanding and therefore both heart and head are the parts that must be exercised in the practice of the duty of Divine Meditation Now the work of the head or understanding is serious consideration of the Truths we come to meditate upon the work of the heart is increase of devotion and holiness by these Meditations Now I will speak to both I will give you Rules to help the intellectual part your contemplation of Divine things and Rules to help the affectionative part 1. I will give you Rules for the helping the understanding to chew and prepare the things you meditate upon for the heart and affections Now here I must tell you I shall be somewhat difficult and hard to be understood this is the knottiest and difficultest part of Meditation and therefore learned men that write of this subject that labour to teach the art of Divine Meditation do give in nine common-place-heads as so many several ways of the enlarging the understanding in the consideration of the Truths that they meditate upon 1. They would have you describe the thing you meditate upon 2. They would have you divide and distribute the thing you meditate upon 3. They would have you consider the causes of the thing you meditate upon 4. The fruits and effects 5. The adjuncts qualities and properties 6. The opposites and the contraries to it 7. The comparisons to which it is compared 8. The titles that are given to the thing of which you meditate 9. All the Scripture-testimonies that may be brought concerning the thing you are to meditate upon Now there are nine common-place-heads and these I fear are very difficult but that I might help you a little I will give you an example I will go over these Logical heads only I will preface thus much That it is not the intent of these learned men that we should be over-curious in prosecuting all these Logical heads for the end of Meditation is not to practise Logick but to kindle devotion and there are many subjects that will not admit of all these nine When I meditate of God I cannot shew any cause of God and I cannot make any comparison to compare God to but the meaning of those learned men is this that we should not rack and torture our understandings to pursue all these heads of reasons but we should pick out so many of them as are most suitable to the subjects we are meditating upon As for example Suppose I would go into my Closet and meditate of the sinfulness of sin then I would go over all these nine heads and by going over them you will understand the use of them I would meditate of the sinfulness of sin that so I might get my heart to hate it more that so I might study to be more mortified to it to mourn for it Now for this purpose that I might enlarge my intellectual part of consideration 1. I will begin with the description of sin and I will say thus to my soul when I am alone Oh my soul why shouldest not thou hate and abhor sin is not sin the breach of the holy law of God and doth it not therefore deserve eternal damnation is not sin a walking contrary unto God and certainly that man that walks contrary to God walks contrary to Heaven and contrary to his own happiness Is not sin most opposite to the greatest good and therefore must needs be the greatest evil and why then should not sin have the greatest sorrow why should not I hate sin above all things if it be the greatest evil 2. I would proceed to the distribution of sin and thus I would say to my soul Oh my soul how art thou be-leper'd with sin how art thou all over bespread with iniquity thou art guilty of the first sin that ever was committed in the world of Adam's eating the forbidden fruit that sin was jusdy thine by imputation For in him saith the Apostle we all sinned Rom. 5. 12. And thou wilt never be free from the guilt of the imputation of Adam's sin till thou be by faith made partaker of the imputation of Christs righteousness Thou art guilty Oh my soul not only of Adam's sin by
of pardon Thus I have cut out a pattern and gone over these nine heads and you will say here is work for many hours to that Christian that is of a mean capacity that is able in some measure to go over these here you see what a rich furniture you have by going over these Logical helps and as I have done concerning sin so may you do concerning the Sacrament and when you meditate of Heaven you may go over these heads and consider the description of Heaven and the distribution of it and the causes and the effects and the opposites and the comparisons and this will furnish you with intellectual matter Now because these Logical heads are somewhat difficult I will give you some plainer rules for helping ordinary Christians those that are babes in the school of Grace and are not able to enlarge their thoughts upon any subject I will give you briefly five easie Rules to help you to enlarge your thoughts upon what subjects you chuse to meditate on 1. You must consider what the Scripture saith of the subject you would spend an hour in meditation about as for example would you meditate of the Promises do you want matter to furnish you take the Bible and consider what the Scripture saith concerning the preciousness of the Promises the freeness the riches the infallibleness of the Promises the universality of the tender of the Promises the variety of the Promises consider what the Scripture saith of Promises to Grace and promises of Grace consider all the many rare and admirable Promises that are in the Word of God and pick out some choice of them to meditate on So likewise would you meditate of the Sacrament take your Bible and consider what you have read concerning the Sacrament the nature of it and the excellency of it the excellency of the Feast and the end why God hath appointed the Sacrament and the way and means by which you may come to be prepared and made fit to be worthy receivers and consider the danger of coming unworthily and the happiness of coming worthily But if this be too hard I will give you an easie help 2. Consider what Sermons you have heard of that subject you would meditate upon and labour to recollect the heads of any Sermon you have heard and make use of them to help you to enlarge your thoughts in meditation As for example I have made many Sermons of late upon the Promises any of those Sermons would furnish you with matter enough for Meditation upon the Promises I have made many Sermons upon the week-day to set out the happiness of Heaven and many Sermons I have preached lately of the Divine Attributes of God which is a rare subject to meditate upon If you would meditate of the Attributes of God you must labour to recollect what you have heard of this subject and that would furnish you with matter So would you meditate of Heaven or of any thing that you find too hard to enlarge your selves about take the help of Sermons that you have heard or if that be too hard for you let me propound a third The third way that is easier than both these Take a book that treats of the subject you would meditate upon there is no Divine Subject but there is some book or other that doth treat of it there are many books that treat of the four last things which are four rare materials of Meditation the Quatuor Novissima Death and Hell and the day of Judgment and Heaven and there are many books that treat of the preciousness of the Promises the sinfulness of sin the excellency of Christ and the Sacrament Now if thou findest thou art barren in Meditation and knowest not how to spend an hour in meditating upon any of these Subjects take one of these books before thee Now I do not mean you should read these books but only pick out some choice things and then muse and meditate what these books will suggest unto you 4. Let me add another Rule Be sure always in your meditation to join application be sure to join examination and application and contemplation and consideration this is a rule of great concernment to the weakest of Christians As for example would you meditate of sin of the sinfulness of sin be sure to draw down your meditation to application make application to thy own soul and consider whether thy sins are pardoned not only consider the grievousness of sin in general for general contemplation of things though never so excellent will not work upon the soul I hardly ever heard of a man that was converted by Generals it is the particular application that works upon the heart and affections Nathan as long as he told David of his sin in a Parabolical way David was not wrought upon he was fain at last to tell him Thou art the man then David confesseth his sin you shall seldom hear a general Sermon do good it is the particular application that works upon peoples hearts And therefore in all your exercise of Divine Meditation be sure to draw down things to particulars As for example wouldst thou meditate of Heaven apply it to thy soul and ask thy soul Am I fit and meet to go to that place have I a Heavenly disposition have I Heavenly qualifications am I one of those whose names are written in Heaven is that my inheritance is that my house This will exceedingly affect you it will make your Meditation to be very useful and very powerful and so when you meditate of death still draw down to examination Am I fit for death will death be an happy hour to me am I one of those that shall enjoy God after death The fifth Rule is this Be sure always in your meditation to consider the means how to obtain what you meditate upon if it be good and the means to shun it if it be evil The means to get what you meditate upon if it be good if you meditate of Heaven then consider the means how to enjoy that blessed inheritance and if you meditate of the Promises consider how you shall do that by which you may be heirs of all these Promises and on the contrary if you meditate of evil things what means there are to be used to shun these evil things if you would meditate of sin what must I do to avoid sin that I may be unpoluted and undefiled that I may get my sins pardoned and my soul purged and when you meditate of Hell what shall I do to escape those everlasting burnings these are the five helps to weak Christians 6. You to whom the Lord hath given understanding I would have you fly to those nine common-place-heads if you be able study the cause of the thing you meditate upon the effects and the properties and the distribution and description c. and this I am sure will furnish you with rare matter with abundance of materials of meditation that man that is
thy children if thou hast any thy estate all that thou hast recommend them unto thy God shut up all with a sweet resignation of thy self and all thy affairs and all thy ways As David saith Commit your ways unto the Lord commit your selves and your affairs all that you are all that you have into the hands of the Lord as a faithful Creator and a merciful Redeemer I would have you close up all with a committing and a submitting committing thy ways unto God submitting unto God in all his ways purposing to live to his glory and to walk worthy of that heavenly calling to which thou art called And thus I have put an end to this subject of Divine Meditation Now what remains but to perswade you to the practise of these things That which a learned man who hath written a Tract called The art of Divine Meditation closeth his Book withal let me close this with saith he Oh that my words were as so many gourds to quicken up the dead and dull and drousie hearts of Christians to a conscientious practice of this excellent duty of Divine Meditation It is a strange speech that he useth saith he I will give any man leave to curse me upon his death-bed if he doth not then acknowledg that those hours that he hath spent in Divine Meditation have been the best hours that he hath spent in all his life if he doth not then confess he is sorrowful that he spent no more hours in so blessed a work Sure I am when you lye upon your death-bed this will be your comfort Lord I have been often in Heaven in Meditation and now I am going to that place that I am acquainted withal Oh my God! I have been often with thee in the Mount I have been often meditating of thee Oh my blessed Saviour thou art no stranger to me I have been often meditating of Christ. Oh what comfort will this be to you when you lye upon your death-beds I will not say curse me if you do not find this true but I will say this is as sure as the Word of God is true you will find it so There are four things I will conclude this Discourse withal 1. I would humbly beseech you that you would mourn before God that you have lived so many years in the School of Christ and have been no more acquainted with this duty of Divine Meditation I believe there are very many that have been long standers in Christ's School that never yet practised this duty of Divine Meditation that never were half an hour together in the Mount of God solemnly and seriously Now I beseech you mourn before the Lord that we have been no more acquainted with this blessed and heavenly duty 2. Let us mourn before the Lord that we have misplaced our meditation for the heart of man is restless it is like the weight of a Clock that will never leave going down as long as it is wound up the heart of man will always be meditating of something or other like mill-stones if they once grind they will grind one another the heart of man will always be grinding always musing always meditating on something or other Now mourn before God heartily and go into your Closets and bemoan it that you have ground chaff to your immortal souls all your lives long that you have spent your days in meditating what to eat and what to drink and what to be clothed withal and how to grow rich and how to manage your trading and your calling how to thrive in the world how to get such preferments you have been meditating all your lives long upon vain things and have not meditated upon the things of eternity those things that do most concern you you have been meditating upon trifles upon things that will not profit at the hour of death and forgot to meditate of those things that are of eternal concernment our Saviour Christ complains of those men Mat. 6. Take no thought for your lives what you shall eat and what you shall drink nor for your body what you shall put on as if he should say why do you spend all your time in taking thought of eating and drinking and clothing and outward things Which of you saith he can by taking thought add one cubit to your stature All your musing and meditating of them is vain Can a Dwarf by thinking he is a Dwarf make himself taller it is not all your musing and your meditating of these outward things I mean your inordinate meditating will advantage you I grant Tradesmen must have time to meditate of worldly things I will not lay heavier burdens than the Scripture doth lay but when you ravel away all your time in meditating upon earthly things and never are serious in the Meditation of heavenly things this I would have you mourn for you that are old people and have been many years professors of Religion Oh mourn that you have wasted your intellectual faculty that you have wasted that glorious faculty of soul your understanding in such vain and trifling things nay are there not some that do not only meditate of vain things but spend many hours in meditating on vile things that devise mischief upon their beds and meditate how to cozen their neighbours how to be revenged upon their neighbour how to do mischief how to compass about their wicked designs are there not some that meditate to do evil and rejoice in the meditation of evil when they have done it Many old men meditate with joy of their youthful vanities and wickedness committed in their youth they chew over their wicked ways with delight which we call contemplative wickedness Oh let us bewail and bemoan it before God that we have squandered away our immortal souls by exercising the glorious faculty of the understanding in such poor trifling things it may be lustful revengeful vile wicked thoughts either in doing that which is evil or in meditating on the evil we have done instead of mourning for it rejoicing in it 3. I would perswade you to study the necessity the excellency the usefulness and profitableness of Divine Meditation let me tell you for the conclusion this duty is not only a duty but the quintessence and marrow of all other duties there is no duty will take impression upon your souls without the practise of this duty it is the very life and soul of Christianity without which a Christian is but the carcass of a Christian. I have shewed that the want of Divine Meditation is the cause of all sin and all punishment I have shewed you that the practise of Meditation will help to beget Grace and increase Grace and resist the Devil and all his temptations 4. Let me perswade you all that you would put this duty in practise especially you that are rich people Gentlemen Merchants and others you that have estates you that are Gentlemen may spare time from your sports and you that are rich Merchants and others may take time from your outward occasions O let me intreat you that you would take some spare-time every day to go up to the Mount of God to meditate of some of those Subjects that I have propounded to you whether it be Death or Hell or Heaven or Iudgment or Sin or Christ or God or the vanity of the world whatsoever the Subject is that is holy and heavenly I will not lay burdens upon you I know there may be such occasions that you cannot but ordinarily that you would as often as you can make conscience to accustom your selves to this necessary and long-neglected duty of Divine Meditation Let me tell you you would be tall Christians in grace if you did accustom your selves to this duty the reason why you are such Dwarfs in Christianity and so unacquainted with God and the Promises and Christ and Heaven is for the want of the practice of this duty this is the reason why you creep upon the ground and are so poor in Grace and so lean in Religion Therefore let me intreat you especially you whose happiness is that you need not work every day to provide for your families the Lord hath given you an estate and you may spare time Oh let it not be said at the day of Iudgment that you lost Heaven for the want of the practising this duty of Divine Meditation And then you that are poor people and cannot find time you that are Servants and Apprentices that have not time remember what I said concerning Occasional Meditation I shewed you how you might meditate when you were about your worldly business there is no lawful calling that a man can be in but if he hath a heavenly heart he may heavenlize that calling he may take occasion as Christ takes occasion to heavenlize his Discourse from outward things to raise Heavenly Discourse when thou art at work thou maist be by Divine Meditation in Heaven But let me perswade you all on the Sabbath-day though you have not time on the week-day for set solemn Meditation yet then you have time for occasional Meditation for on the Sabbath all your work ceaseth that is the day that God hath set a part for publick service and private Meditation Meditation on the work of Creation and the work of Redemption it is a great work we are to do upon the day of our rest to meditate of our Eternal Rest in Heaven therefore let me perswade you to spend some time on the Sabbath-day upon Meditation but especially on the Sacrament-days There are Twelve Meditations I propounded to meditate on upon the Sacrament and I chose this Subject to help you with Sacramental Meditation it hath pleased God to carry me out further in the handling of it than ever I thought The Lord give a Blessing to it FINIS