be â—ired to hold one hand in it an hour â—o gain a Kingdome how then shall â—he wicked be able to endure their whole bodies in that fire which is much hotter and created only for â—orment 3. It 's everlasting fire if a man were laid upon our fire it would in â—hort time consume his body to ashes â—nd put an end to his misery but men's bodies shall then be immortall â—o that they shall ever be burning â—ut never consumed yea when they have been there as many thousand years as they have been dayes or hours upon the earth they be never the nearer the end of their pain and â—o strait is the allowance of that place as nothing shall there be obtained as might give them the least hope of ease or refreshment the rich glutton whose â—ody hath been finely clad delicately â—ed and softly lodged is now in a scorching surnace of fire that â—ongue of his that was wont to be deâ—ied no sawce to make his meat relish and go down merrily Dives in inferno cogente inopia usque ad minima petenda perductus est qui sua tenacitate ad minima neganda pauperibus restrictus est Gloss in Iob 27. Ibi dolor permanet ut affligat natura perdurat ut sentiat quia utrumque non deficit nec poena de ficiet Aug. Et sic morientur damnati ut sempèr vivant sic vivent ut sempèr moriantur Bern. meditat c. 19. cannot now come by one drop of water to cool it self what lesse thing could he have desired yet this little he is denied There saith Austin doth pain remain that it might alwayes torment and there doth nature endure that iâ— might ever feel the pain and becausâ— neither of these be wanting thereforâ— the punishment can never have a ceasing so shall the damned die that they may alwayes live and so live thae they may be alwayes dying then those whose iniquities could not bâ— consumed with the vehement flameâ— of God's burning love shall be foâ— ever frying in the everlasting burnings and the hearts of those thaâ— would not be mollified with the refreshing dews of God's blessings oâ— earth shall be hardened to endurâ— the vengeance of eternall fire Damascen tells us of a certain King who was desirous to breed up his Soâ— in continuall pleasures for whicâ— purpose he caused him to be educateâ— in a Pallace which seemed to bâ— consecrated to all kinds of pastimeâ— all which nature and art could do 〈◊〉 delight the senses was here inclosed Suetonius reports of Tib. Cesar that being sought to by an offender to hasten his punishment he answered him Nondum tecum in gratiam redii so if one of the damned after many thousand years burning in Hell should entreat for a speedy death God would answer him in the same manner nothing was permitted to be presented before his eyes that might any way displease him in the end this happy creature was troubled at his golden cage and delightfull prison and desired to leave it and take a view of the world Oh then what a horrible bondage will it be to be in a fiery lake in an ugly stinking and loathsome pit of darknesse where he shall have Devils tormenting him for ever 4. Meditate on the contrariety of those torments in respect of their qualities there is a perpetuall flaming fire and yet an horrid mist of darknesse heat continually boiling and yet cold continually congealing the fire alwayes burning yet no light appearing thus saith Gregory Hell torments in the destruction of the wicked do disagree from their natures because while the wicked lived upon earth they disagreed from the will of their Creatour The serious meditation of Hell is of singular use to us Chrysostome saith that nothing is more profitable for people than that Ministers preach often and people meditate much on Hell fire and that the surest way to be freed from Hell is to meditate much upon the torments of Hell and saith he to his people offended thereat If you be troubled at the hearing of the torments of Hell fire how would you be able to feel the torments of it and he addeth Whether I preach of it or you think of it or not the fire burneth and to think often of it is a soveraign remedy for the soul and let me adde You that will not now meditate on Hell fire a time shall come that you shall have nothing else to do but to think of it you that will not now think of Hell to prevent it a time shall come that you shall have such thoughts as these Once I had a day of grace God gave me space for repentance but now there is none once this misery might have been prevented but now neither ease nor end of this misery is to be expected then wilt thou cry out against thy sin that brought thee to this place of torment then wilt thou see the wickednesse of depraved nature the deceitfulnesse of thy lusts and that all the worlds enticements have been meer inchantments To think seriously and frequently of Hell here Kempis de imitat Christi preserveth a man from falling into Hell have a care to repent while yet there is time for pardon what else shall the fire devour but thy sins the more thou heapest up sins the more matter thou layest up for the fire Sect. 11. Of meditation on the glory of Heaven The last subject of our meditations here shall be the glory of Heaven The last subject of Meditation the glory of Heaven wonderfull and unspeakable is that glory such as all the Kings and Emperous in the world cannot give they can leave their Kingdomes but to one of their sons the rest must be put off with Dukedomes and other dignities as the children of Abraham by Keturah and his Concubines must take their portions and be gone Isaac only must be his heir Gen. 25. but all God's children shall be heirs and crowned Kings Rev. 20.6 and inherit such a Kingdome as the world never saw nor dreamed of it is sometimes called the Kingdome of Heaven Mat. 8.11 sometimes a bosome a place of rest and sweet refreshment Luk. 16. sometimes Paradise in allusion to the earthly Paradise a place of all delights and pleasure where our first Parents lived before their fall Luk. 23.43 I dare not undertake to describe the joyes of Heaven but by circumstances we may guesse something at the greatnesse thereof 1. Let us conceive of it by this world which we see and wherein we live which is enlightned from the Sun Moon and Stars covered with the fair Canopy of the Heavens invironed with the Sea interlaced with many winding Rivers replenisht with variety and plenty of Cattell Fowls and Fish for the use and service of man and why was this world built but to be a resting place for man to stay in for a short time if then God hath given us such a cottage to be Termers in what shall
Meditatio sine lectione erronea sine oratione infructuosa Bern. Let prayer go before it go to God and beg of him to inspire thee with holy meditations it is God that with his own hand puts them into our mouthes Noah is commanded to make a window in the top of the Ark and a door in the side of it a window is for the eye to look out at a door is for the whole body to go out and he that will ever be a good Christian must not only make a window for contemplation as Daniel did at which he prayed thrice a day but a door for action as Abraham did at which he sate once a day at the window of meditation he must contemplate with a good heart at the door of action he must go out to bring forth fruit with patience Matt. Stiles for of our selves we are not sufficient for one good thought prayer of it self lifts up the soul to God who is our only joy and comfort as is the sight so will the affection be and as the affection is so will the desire be Pray at the end of your meditations as David doth Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer Psal 19.14 Pray that God would keep these things for ever in the imagination of your thoughts 1 Chron. 29.18 The last Rule is that all our meditations must be reduced to practice Thou shalt meditate in this Boâ—k of the Law that thou maist observe to do according to all that is written therein Josh 1.8 the end of meditation is practice I thought on my wayes and turned my feet unto thy testimonies Psal 119 59. In passing from our meditations we must resolve carefully to put them in execution without which meditation is not only unprofitable but rather hurtfull to us for vertues meditated on and not Rule 8 practised are apt to puff up the spirit in taking our selves to be such as we resolved to be therefore we must joyn practice to meditation To conclude as they that go into a goodly Garden go not out without gathering of some Flowers to smell to long after so our souls having by meditation fallen upon some pleasing points must take two or three most fit for our furtherance in piety to think on the rest of the day and as it were spiritually to smell unto Now as it is necessary that all these be setled in our hearts so in withdrawing our selves from our meditations we must passe very gently to other affairs for fear lest the liquor of our resolutions the result of our meditations do leak out and not penetrate into all parts as it should even into our hearts and souls yet all must be done without violence either of body or mind Object But who is able to put his meditations into practice the directions and exercises thereof being so many Resp If one were to put them all in practice every day he should do nothing else it would take up his whole time but that is not required but as time and place shall serve and as occasions shall offer themselves Renew thy resolutions often and say with David I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy wayes Psal 119.15 I will for ever keep thy Word and when thou failest herein take in hand thy protestation and offer it with thy whole heart to God This free confessing of our desire to serve God and to be wholly consecrated to him by a particular affection is very pleasing to him Chap. 13. Of the excellency and usefulnesse of Meditation Having given you Rules about meditation I shall in the next place shew you the excellency and usefulnesse thereof 1. Meditation breeds knowledge sc the knowledge of God and his benefits and our sin and unworthinesse As there is no moment wherein man useth not God so ought there to be no moment wherein he hath him not present in his memory Sicut nullum est momentum in quo homo nòn utatur Deo sic nullum esse debet momentum quo eum praesentem nòn habet in memoriâ Hugo l. 3. de anima Babingt in Num. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Aug. de civ Dei l. 21. c. 6. Aquin. in Joh 5. this continuall meditation on God and his mercies is that blessed union of our spirits with God which holy men so much regarded in their times a man given to meditation is a man that walketh not in darknesse nor in the shadow of death as those do that seldome or never think of him Clemens of Alexandria calls the meditations of holy men Candles that never go out like the Candle which was among the Pagans in the Temple of Venuâ— which was called inextinguishable as Austin relateth without this men are but snuffs in respect of their use and service as Aquinas saith Meditation doth not reveal any divine truth unto us that only is the work of God but after God hath revealed them faith apprehends them then meditation illustrates to the soul what faith believes and so our knowledge is encreased many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be encreased Fenner de meditat Dan 12.4 It is not saith one the bodily removing of man from place to place so much as the busie stirring of the mind from one truth to another by meditation that encreaseth spirituall knowledge 2. Meditation rectifies the affections of the soul it opposeth serious considerations against vain imaginations and because our imagination is apt to raise false objects and thereby false conceits and discourses in us therefore meditation propoundeth true objects for the mind to work upon from the meditation whereof the soul rightly conceives of things and discourseth upon true grounds of them meditating thus with himself if things be thus and thus in reality then must I live according to these principles this is the spring of all holy affections in the soul as the true love of God the true joy and delight in him and his wayes Meditation is like the player on an Instrument who by touching of the strings finds them that are out of tune winding them up or letting them down so after meditation hath examined the love the hate the fears the hopes the griefs the joyes of our souls if it find them out of tune in expressing their harmony which is the glory of God it then puts them in tune again 3. Meditation fills the heart with joy My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord Psal 104.34 When the Spirit of God doth open the eyes of the soul and it is brought forth into the light then doth meditation clear up to the soul those grounds of joy which are exceeding comfortable Holy meditation shews the soul the face of God reconciled his pardon sealed an entrance into the everlasting Kingdome the heart of God opened toward him and his name written in
Heaven Activa vira habet solicitum cursum contemplativa gaudium sempiternum Prosper l. 1 de contempl virâ Meditation clears up the promises to him that he never saw before he saw them before as by Candle-light by common light and reason but now he seeth them in another complexion Meditation clears up their interest in God and his promises and this is great matter of rejoycing Meditation works in the soul a frame of heart suitable to the Gospel what is more suitable to the Gospel than the joyes of the holy Ghost therefore when meditation works thorowly upon the heart it yeeldeth comforts suitable to the Gospel It is good for Christians to meditate much in God's promises which do convey much joy into the heart then dost thou improve the promises when thou dost so relish them as to rejoyce in them according to that sweetnesse that is revealed and contained in them 4. Quae alii di◠pariendo levia faciunt sapiens levia facit diù cogitando Charron de sapient Psal 119.150 151. Holy meditation is a great support to the soul under afflictions when trouble is near it represents God as near or nearer than any trouble can be suppose it be trouble of spirit that is very near indeed for that is in the vitals it is a soul-sicknesse but meditation shewes them though Satan may draw near to them to devour them yet God is nearer to them a God nearer to save than any michievous enemy to destroy Meditation labours to affect the heart with the sense of God's continuall presence with it this is indeed our great weaknesse and our great unthankfulnesse that we are apt to muse more upon God's afflicting of us than of God's perpetuall presence with us there is a savour in the ointments of the Lord Christ sufficient to perfume any soul that comes near him 5. Frequent meditation on God makes a man more holy more like unto him it sees so much beauty and goodnesse in him that it makes a man cast away every unsavoury lust and all those affections that have a strong sent of the flesh that they may be made like to God in holinesse Those Flowers that grow in the Sun are far more beautifull and fragrant and pleasant than those that grow in the shade but if we suffer our souls to be over-shadowed with carnall thoughts and affections these dark bodies will interpose between God and us and hinder the influences of his love upon us If the Needle that is but toucht with the Loadstone stands Northward then the soul that is toucht with God will stand Heaven-ward and labour to be conformed more to him in holinesse 6. Meditation is a great help to perseverance in well-doing the serious and frequent meditation of this promise Psal 94.12 14. that the Lord will not cast off his people nor forsake his inheritance makes them to cleave fast unto him This is the foundation of a peoples blessednesse that God will not forsake them when he doth most sharply correct them that the same priviledge that belongs to the whole Church belongs to every member of it for it is as possible for God to cast off his people and his whole inheritance as to cast off any one particular member of it for for God to cast off his people were to disinherit himself God would have his people to meditate hereof Thus saith God to Jeremy Ier. 33.24 25 26. Considerest thou not what this people have spoken saying the two families which the Lord hath chosen he hath cast them off but in the words following see how God doth assert his unchangeable Covenant against this false assertion If my Covenant be not with day and night and if I have not appointed the Ordinances of Heaven and earth then will I cast away the seed of Jacob c. as if he had said If ever you knew a day that had not a night succeeding it and a winter without a summer and ever found the Laws of Heaven abrogated then may you give way to your unbelief and think that I will cast off my people but if you see a perpetuall interchange of day and night though some dayes be more bright than others then will I never cast off any people that I have taken for my own The meditation hereof is a speciall means to keep us close to God even then when the foundations of the earth are shaken Meditate seriously on such things as may serve actually to convince thee of the unfitnesse and unreasonablenesse of thy yeelding to the sin to which thou art tempted and of the mischief that may come by yeelding When we muster up such thoughts we levy store of good souldiers which will fight with us and for us and do us good service while we are under temptation by this means alone with God's grace accompanying have many servants of God held their own when the Devil would have killed them Hoord Serm. in Ephes 4.30 7. Meditation is a strong barricado against the temptations of Satan the soul finds so much sweetnesse in God that it strongly guardeth the heart will and affections against temptations to sin it finds such delight in the meditation of God that it loaths the sweetest sin He that is used to choice meats and drinks can very ill brook unsavoury things so a man that is heavenly minded is brought to disrelish those sins that others drink down like water with greedinesse meditation makes the heart very tender and sensible of lesser sins and stirrings of corruption In a still silent clear night a little sound will be easily heard which will not be taken notice of in the day time when there is much businesse in hand so when Christ and the soul do rest and converse together the soul is very quick of hearing if the old Serpent doth but hisse never so little Satan then finds the soul upon its guard and that it hath a wakefull enemy A soul that is constant in the meditation of God is like a bright clear shiny day when any little cloud will be taken notice of at the first rising and like a calm Sea where a little stirring of the water will be discerned when the water first ariseth Chap. 14. The Motives to Meditation I shall now proceed to lay down divers Motives to meditation Meditation is delightfull to God Motive 1 It was the saying of an Heathen If God took delight in any felicity it was in contemplation God delights in holy meditations because in them we come nearest to the purity and simplicity of God in nothing do we more converse with him than in our pure and active meditations by these when we are as it were absent in body we are present with him for when the body lyes upon its bed and takes its rest the devout soul solaceth it self with God 2. This exercise of meditation may be done when other duties cannot When we want an opportunity to hear the Word to read to