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-day duties for it is the very Quintessence the life and soul of all duty the 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-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-days are especially to be 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
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
punishment of loss what a cursed thing it is to be excluded from the presence of God for ever and ever that is one great part of hell to be shut out of Heaven to be shut out from the Beatifical Vision from the glorious presence of God and Christ and the Saints of God 2. You must study poenam census the punishment of sense for the damned are not only shut out of Heaven but they endure endless easless torments you must meditate of the hell-worm and the hell-fire the Scripture speaks of a hell-fire and a hell-worm and of the eternity of the hell-fire and the eternity of the hell-worm Mat. 9. 44 46. Where the worm never dieth and the fire never goeth out What is meant by this worm nothing else but the gnawing of an awakened conscience Oh think of this hell-worm and this hell-fire that you may never come to be so miserable as to be made partakers of it These are the first four things In the next place to give you some more he that would thrive in all godliness and avoid all sin must meditate often of God of Christ of the Holy Ghost and of himself 1. He must meditate of God and that is a rare subject of meditation David saith Psal. 104. 34. My meditation of God shall be sweet 1. Sometimes you must meditate of the Attributes of God of his Eternity a God from everlasting to everlasting You must meditate of his unchangeableness a God in whom there is no shadow of turning You must meditate of his Omnipresence a God that fills Heaven and earth with his presence Of his Essence you must meditate of his Omnipotence a God that is able to do all things nothing is impossible with God You must meditate of his Omniscience a God that knows all things to whom all things are naked You must meditate of his Simplicity and the perfection of his nature of his all-sufficiency and his self-sufficiency here is a sea of matter What rare Christians should we be if we did often and often meditate on these things instead of meditating on vanities and follies 2. You must meditate of the works of God of the work of Creation of the glorious fabrick of Heaven and Earth and you must meditate of the work of Redemption that glorious work of God in sending Jesus Christ into the world this meditation is that which swallows up the Angels and Saints in Heaven You must meditate of the wonderful love of God in giving Christ to become a curse for us You must meditate of the incomparable goodness of God in giving the Son of his love his natural Son to die for his adopted Sons 3. You must meditate in what relation you stand towards God whether you stand in a Covenant-relation to God or no whether you stand reconciled to God or no whether God be your reconciled Father in Christ or no 2. You must meditate upon Christ. 1. You must meditate of the Divine Nature of Christ he is God from everlasting he is coequal coessential coeternal with his Father 2. You must meditate of the humane nature of Christ of God manifested in the flesh of God made man the union of two Natures into one Person 3. You must meditate of the Offices of Christ of the Kingly office the Priestly office the Prophetical office of Christ but more especially you must meditate of the Life the Death the Resurrection the Ascension the Intercession of Christ. 1. You must meditate of the Life of Christ and examine whether thy life be answerable to his life if thou dost not live as Christ lived thou shalt have no benefit in Christs Death and Passion thou must meditate of Christs life to follow the example of his life 2. You must meditate of his Death that is a rare meditation to prepare you for the Sacrament 1. You must meditate what Christ suffered what he suffered when he was in the Garden when he sweat drops of blood and prayed Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Oh the bloody agony that Christ was then in And then you must meditate what Christ suffered when he was upon the Cross when he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me When there was darkness for three hours together upon the face of the earth when there was darkness without and darkness within too when there was a withdrawing the light of Gods countenance from Christ. You must meditate what Christ suffered in Pilates Hall when he was whipt scourged buffeted Oh what love to Christ would this kindle in your hearts if you had serious meditation of these things 2. You must meditate for whom Christ suffered all these things for us when we were his enemies us wretched damned creatures not the blessed Angels but us us sinful men 3. You must meditate who he was that suffered all this even Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God 4. You must consider with what love he suffered all this infinite love the height and depth and length and breadth of the love of God in suffering all this for us 5. You must consider what interest you have in Christ crucified whether Christ was crucified effectually for thee or no 3. You must study the Resurrection of Christ. 4. You must study the Ascension of Christ. 5. You must study the Intercession of Christ the sitting of Christ at the right hand of God the Father where he lives for ever to make Intercession for you 3. You must meditate of the Holy Ghost and there are rare things to fill up your thoughts 1. You must meditate of the Divine nature of the Holy Ghost that the Holy Ghost is the third person in the Trinity that the Holy Ghost is God blessed for ever 2. You must meditate of the Office of the Holy Ghost it is the office of the third Person in the Trinity to bring us into the possession of all the Father hath decreed and the Son hath purchased to make us partakers of the decree of the Father and the purchase of the Son 3. You must study the Divine motions of the holy Spirit and we must meditate how often we have quenched the Spirit of Christ how often we have resisted these motions how often we have imbraced these motions 4. You must meditate of the grace of the Spirit this will open a door to a great deal of excellent matter you must meditate of the grace of faith the grace of repentance the grace of love to God and Christ and thy neighbour the grace of fear of God and the grace of humility that is you must meditate whether your faith be a right faith or no whether it be the faith of a Simon Magus or the faith of a Simon Peter whether it be an Historical faith only or a justifying faith and whether your repentance be a true repentance or no and whether your love to Christ be a true love or a counterfeit love 4. You must meditate of your selves 1.
world and the sinfulness of sin I would have you pick out soul-awakening and soul-sanctifying subjects to meditate upon there are some men and not a few of those that spend many hours in meditating when the Iews shall be converted and in finding out the time when the great slaughter and massacre of the two Witnesses spoken of in Rev. 11. shall happen and in studying out the meaning of the Prophecy of Daniel and the Revelations to know whether there shall be a Personal Reign of Christ a thousand years upon earth and when that shall happen Now you shall observe that these men are very barren in devotion that ravel out all their thoughts and meditations in finding out the secrets of God such things as God hath kept secret unto himself these men are very barren and dry in practical Divinity I have read a story of a man that studied the Critical Questions of School-divinity so long that he forgat to say his prayers he could not pray And you shall find that those that empty all their strength and ability in studying speculations and notions are very barren in matters of practice and therefore my counsel is that you would especially pick out subjects that will help you to be weaned from the world to walk humbly with God that will kindle a holy fire of love in your souls to Christ and will make you more like unto Christ and more conformable to his death and resurrection It is true a great understanding and an acute wit will make a learned man but it is the holy life that makes a good man 4. Pick and chuse out such subjects especially to meditate upon that are most seasonable to thy condition most suitable to thy relation and to that estate in which God hath set you for these will most affect the heart As for example to give you three or four instances 1. Suppose thou art a man troubled in mind exceedingly dejected thou art ready to despair because thou art a great sinner and thou thinkest God will not be merciful unto thee and thou art afraid left Christ hath forsaken thee Now I would have thee pick out such a subject to meditate upon that will suit thy condition I would have thee go and meditate of the willingness of Christ to receive poor sinners not only the ability but the willingness of Christ to pardon all that come unto to him Iesus Christ is not only able but he is willing to pardon a penitent sinner one that comes to him for life he is more willing to pardon us than we can be to ask pardon If thou be'st willing to leave thy sins Christ is more willing to receive thee than thou canst be to be received Jesus Christ would never have took such a journey from heaven to earth if he had not been very willing to save poor sinners He is so willing to save you if you come to him as that he came unsent for the Patient did not send for the Physician but the Physician came of his own accord from Heaven The Son of man is come to seek and save that which is lost Mat. 18. 11. therefore he must needs be-willing For a Physician to take such a journey and to come of his own accord and when he came here and saw he could not cure his Patient but by his own death the Physician dies to cure the Patient the Physician makes a bath a medicine of his own blood to cure his Patient this did Christ and therefore he was very willing to receive you if he had not been willing to save sinners he could never have provided such Gospel-Ordinances And then again he must needs be willing for he hath sworn if any man come unto him he will receive him If any man come to me I will in no wise cast him out He hath engaged himself with promise and Christ must be a lyar I speak it with a great deal of reverence if you should come to him and he refuse you and when he was here upon earth he complains of nothing but that men would not come unto him You will not come unto me that you might have life He never complained of the greatness or the naughtiness of their diseases he cured the diseases of all that came unto him but all his complaining was that they would not come unto him Now did you go into your Closets and meditate upon these things and pray unto God to bless the meditation of these things would not this cure your troubled Consciences 2. And again you that are troubled in conscience meditate of the Promises of God and not only those Promises that are made to those that have grace but meditate of the Promises that God hath made to give grace Study the Promises God hath made not only to give pardon to them that repent but the Promises God hath made to give repentance to those that ask it God hath not only promised to give pardon to those that believe and repent but God hath promised to give repentance Act. 5. 31. and God hath promised to give faith Phil. 1. 29. God hath not only promised pardon to a broken heart but he hath promised to give a broken heart Ezek. 36. 26. Now do you go into your Closets and meditate of these things they would be very refreshing to you And then again 3. Suppose thou art in outward want the Lord hath blasted thy estate thou hast lost all thy estate and art like Job upon the dunghill thou art driven it may be to beg thy bread thou art now a poor man not worth an half-peny thou wert a rich man the Lord hath blown upon all thou hast this is a sad condition now I would have such an one spend a great deal of time in meditating of the wonderful Providences of God towards his poor children consider how God feeds the fowls of the air and the ravens how God provides for the lillies I would have him read Mat. 6. from the 24th verse to the end of that Chapter Consider saith Christ the lillies and the fowls of the air how God provides for them and therefore be not distracted in thy heart take no thought what thou shalt eat and what thou shalt drink c. but study the Providence of God And then meditate of the Promises that God hath made unto his children to give them whatsoever shall be necessary for them I would have such people as are low in estate read the Bible and pick out all the Promises that God hath made to those that want that fear his name God hath promised the young Lions shall lack and suffer hunger but they that fear the Lord shall want nothing that is good The Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly And I will never leave you nor forsake you Gather up all the Promises God hath made to believers when they are poor and have lost all 4. Art thou
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
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
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
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