and Condemnation of Men at the last than this That they have known so much and practised so little Luke 12.48 Math. 10.14 15. Heathens at the last day will wring their Hands that they have known no more of God by the means vouchsafed them but Christians will rend their Hearts that they have known so much of God to no better purpose So as all Practical Treatises or Treatises quickening unto Practice are few enough to awaken men to their Duties And as for those that treat of Meditation as many Worthies have done whose Books I am not worthy to carry after them yet I find none that have Collected all necessary Practical Truths and Duties into such a way of Meditation but either are too large or too streight and therefore I hope this may through the Blessing of God conduce much to the benefit of those to whom God shall give Hearts to make use of it which is the Unfeigned Desire and Earnest Prayer of Your Faithful but Vnworthy Servant in the Work of the Lord J. B. THE CONTENTS Cap. 1. OF Meditation in general wherein the Doctrine Reasons Vses and there What it is the Kinds Motives Hinderances Helps and Directions Page 1. Cap. 2. Contains the first Head of Meditation viz. God and the things to be meditated on in him where 1. You have three Cautions 2. What those things are as Page 28 Sect. 1. 1. His Nature what that is and that he only is Jehovah Page 29 Sect. 2. 2. His Attributes and here on four things 1. What they are Page 32 2. Kinds of them 3. The benefit of Meditation on them Page 33 4. The evidences of an Interest in them Page 38 Sect. 3. 3. His Word Page 39 1. In general What it is the excellent Properties of it the Precepts Promises Threatnings and Examples in it Page 40 2. The Covenant of Grace in particular and here of Page 42 10. things what and why so called wherein the Old and New Covenant agree and differ c. Page 43 Sect. 4. 4. His Works 1 Before time viz. His Decree Page 50 2. In Time as Page 52 1. Creation and 2. Providence Page 52 And in the providences of God to meditate Page 53 1. On the kinds of Providences which are two as 1. Of Mercy where of the properties Page 54 The Branches of it sc His Converting Page 56 Protecting Providing Disposing Assisting Correcting Supporting and refreshing Providence Page 58 2. Of Justice and there of six things Page 66 2. The parts of Providence which are three 3. The extent of it 4. The Ends of it 5. The Experiences we have had of it 6. How to carry our selves under glad and sad Providences Page 73 Sect. 5. 5. His Worship where 1. What it is 2. Where 3. When 4. How 5. Why he is to be worshipped 82 Cap. 3. Of Christ and twelve things in and about him as Page 76 Sect. 1. 1. Who he is Page 100 2. What he is Page 100 3. The infinite Love of God in giving him Page 101 4. Of Christ in undertaking the Great Work of Redemption Page 101 5. The Loveliness of this Redeemer Page 101 6. The Greatness of his Work Page 105 7. The Ways and Means of his effecting our Redemption Page 111 8. The Priviledges that come by Him Page 112 9. The Evidences of our Interest in Him Page 1 10. The means of getting an Interest in Him Page 13 11. The Motives to labour after it Page 116 12. How to walk worthy of and suitable to such a Redeemer Page 118 Cap. 4. Of the Spirit of God and here of five things 1. Who he is Page 121 2. What his Office 3. Evidences of our Interest in him Page 123 4. Motives to seek it and 5. Means to procure it Page 127 Cap. 5. Of Man and in and about him 1. Of the four-fold state of Man 2. The Four last ends of Man Page 133 3. Such things about the Soul and Body Tongue Tallents Time and Eternity of Man as may most conduce to the Enabling Man to the Answering God and Christ and the Spirit in what they have done for Man Page 206 Sect. 1. Of the Blessed state of Man by Creation and here on three thinge Page 133 2. The cursed state of Man by Transgression and here of two things the Causes and Consequents Page 135 3. His Gracious state by Regeneration and here of Four things Page 137 1. What 2. Signes 3. Motives and 4. Means for it Page 159 4. The Happy state of Man by Glorification and here of five things 1. what 2. properties 3. certainty 4. who they are that shall partake in it Page 165 5. Of Death and here on two things 1. Such things as may fit us for it 2. Such things as may make us willing to it Page 173 6. Of Judgment and here on ten things as the Certainty Vncertainty the neer approach of it c. Page 185 7. Hell and here on ten things What and the Hideousness of the place c. Page 195 8. Of Heaven and here on four thing as what it is the excellent Titles given to it c. Page 201 Sect. 9. 9. Of the Soul and here of five things especially of the right ordering of our Conversation in order to the Salvation of our Souls Page 206 Sect. 10. Of the Body and here of two things 1. The Admirable structure of it and 2. The excellent use of it Page 234 11. Of the Tongue and here on two things 1. The ends wherefore God gave it 2. The Great need we have to imploy it to those ends Page 235 12. Of our Talents Corporal and Spiritual and what need we have to imploy them well Page 236 13. Of our Time wherein you have five or six things to be seriously thought on Page 237 14. Of Eternity and therein of four things Page 241 Cap. 7. Of the World and therein to Meditate on three things as 1. Those things in the Creature that engage us to Love God 2. Those things that disengage us from the inordinate Love of the Creature 3. The Duties we owe to God for the Creatures and What the Creatures teach us Page 243 Cap. 8. Of the Good and Evil Angels by which God governs the World Page 264 Sect. 1. Of the Good Angels and here of three things 1. What they are 2. Their Office 3. Our Duties in reference to them Page 265 Sect. 2. Of Evil Angels and here on these things 1. That there are such 2. What they are 3. How they became such 4. What their Office 5. What their Properties 6. What our Duties are in respect of them Page 274 Cap. 9. Of Occasional Meditation from Morning to Evening at Home and Abroad Page 301 The Reader is desired to mind these following Mistakes which have escaped the Press by reason of the Author's absence PAge 8. for 2 Kings 8. read 2 Kings 6. ult P. 9. for connected r. converted P. 11. The six first lines should come in after
the Spiritualness of Duty the middle of the Page P. 12. leave out The lives P. 49. after ruder put in the Old Covenant P. 94. for Joel r. Jonah 3.7 8. P. 132. for providing r. propagating the Gospel P. 136. at the bottom after Satan put in That he did not Cause you to abuse him P. 138. after mentioned leave out to sin P. 159. for ruâ— r. run P. 160. for converting r. conquering P. 197. for misericordis r. misericordia P. 274. for conversation r. conversion P. 260. for Scriptures r. Creatures To see the Creatures A SYNOPSIS O. R Body of Practical Divinity In Order To the begetting preserving and increasing of the Life and Power of Godliness in the hearts and lives of Professors c. Psal 104.34 My Meditation of Him shall be sweet CHAP. I. AMongst all Religious Duties there is none more necessary profitable and comfortable to a Christian than Divine Meditation and yet no duty that Christians are less acquainted with more backward to and careless of than that I have therefore made choice of this Subject to speak unto and the more fully that I might thereby quicken my self and you to the more frequent practise of it and the rather because Experience shews it to be the life and soul of Religion Without Meditation a Christian is but the Carkass of a Christian it 's as easie for a Man to live without a Heart as a Christian to live a spiritual life without Meditation And because some complain of scarcity or want of matter others of plenty or too much matter and others of distraction or want of Method I shall endeavour therefore to select the choisest things for Meditation through the body of Divinity and reduce them to their several heads that so how-ever you cannot remember them all yet you may have them still before your Eyes and go on in the meditation of them day after day or choose out such heads as your present Exigencies most call for But first of all before I enter on the particular heads of Meditation I shall open to you the nature of it and press upon you the practise of it For the connexion of the words take it briefly thus The whole Psalm is no other than a Meditation of David's on God's Attributes and Works In the first Verse you have his Meditation on God's Attributes In the 2d Verse to the 26. you have his Meditation on God's Works first of Creation and then of Providence First His works of Creation and here on the work of every day as for Example the first day God made the Light and that you have in the second Verse the second day he made the Heavens Verse the second the third day he made the Earth and the Water and that you have Vers the 5 to the 19 the fourth day he made the Sun the Moon and the Stars and this you have Verse the 19 to the 25 the fifth day he made the Sea and the Fish in it and this you have in the 25th Verse the sixth day he made Man and the Beasts of the Earth and this you have in the midst of the rest Vers 14 15 16. Secondly Having meditated on the works of Creation next he proceeds to the works of his Providence Vers 26. to the 31. And from the consideration of all these glorious Attributes and Works of God breaks out into Gratulation Meditation Affection and Supplication First Gratulation Verse 31 32 33 Meditation and Affection Verse the 34 and Supplication Verse the last That which I have made choice of to treat on is Meditation Verse the 34. Whence the Observation is obvious to all Doct. That It is the property of Saints to meditate on God and the things of God For the more profitable opening of it we shall enquire into these things 1. What Meditation is 2. The Kinds of it 3. Prove the Point 4. Give you the Grounds of it and then 5. Apply it First What Meditation is The word in the original hath a double signification it 's rendered sometimes Meditation and sometimes Speech So some translates it but our last and the most Meditation and so I shall handle it This duty is several ways expressed in the Scripture as for instance First Sometimes Remembring as Psal 63. Vers 6. When I remember thee on my Bed explained by the following words and meditate on thee in the Night Watches Secondly Sometimes it 's call'd A thinking on God Psal 48.9 We have Thought upon thy loving kindness O God Sometimes A musing on God Psal 143. Vers 5. I muse upon the work of thine hands Q. But what is it A. In the general no other than The fixing of our thoughts upon a thing or A serious musing on it that we may the better understand it and be more affected with it So as there are two special Acts in it First One direct upon the thing meditated on and the Second reflect upon the Person meditating The first is an act of the mind or the contemplative part of the understanding the second is an act of the conscience applying the thing unto a man's self The end of the first is to enlighten of the second to better the soul Secondly For the kinds It is either deliberate and solemn or occasional and sudden First Deliberate and Solemn is when we solemnly set apart some time and sequester our selves from all company to think upon some spiritual matter for the better informing of our judgments warming of our affections and reforming our lives as that of David in the 119 Psalm Secondly Occasional and sudden is that which is occasioned by such outward objects as by the providence of God are offer'd unto our senses as that Psal 8. Vers 3 4. When I consider c. First of deliberate and solemn Meditation I shall open it a little further to you and therein shew you a little more clearly What this is and That this is the property of the Saints The grounds of it and then Apply it First It may be described thus A serious fixing of our thoughts upon some thing with a particular application of it to our selves so as to be affected with it and frame our lives according to it First I say it is a serious fixing of our thoughts upon a thing not a slight and transient thought but a fixed and dwelâ—ing thought Psal 119. My meditation shall be of thee all the day Vers 97. Secondly with particular application of into our selves like the good Houswife Proverbs 31. 16. She considereth a Field and buyeth it so gracious Souls consider of this and that spiritual subject and appropriate it that is lay it to their heart as it is expressed Isaiah 57.1 The righteous are taken away from the evil to come and no man lays it to heart And Malachy 2.2 If you will not lay it to heart c. Thirdly so as to be affected with it Psal 39.3 Whilst I was musing the fire burned Psal 119 50. This is
God Let all the Angels of God worship him and were all along at his command and service attended on him in his Birth Life Death Resurrection Ascention and shall at the last day in his comming to Judgement as you may see clearly in reading the Gospel Luke 1.13 22.43 24.5 6. Acts 1.10 11. Mat. 8.38 13.49 3. They minister to the Church and People of God in Life and Death and after Death 1. In Life They Minister both to the well-fare of their Bodies and Souls in watching over them and protecting them from evil Psal 34.7 Psal 91.10 11. instructing and directing quickning incouraging and comforting them in that which is good Dan. 8.16 17. Dan. 9.12 Gen. 24.7 Gen. 32.1 Isa 6.6 7. Rev. 22.9 2. In Death They are about their Beds refresh them in their Sufferings as they did Christ in his Agonies stand ready to receive their Souls and to carry them as they did the Soul of Lazarus into Abraham's Bosom Luke 16.22 3. After Death They watch over their Bodies as Michael the Arch-Angel did over the Body of Moses Jude 9. And at the last day they shall open their Graves and bring out their Bodies and secure them from the fire that it shall not hurt them as in 〈…〉 these three Children in the Fiery Furnace Dan. 3. And whereas the Devil will then be most raging the good Angels will restrain them and stop their mouths as they did stop the mouths of the Lyons when Daniel was cast into the Den after this they will gather together all the Elect from the four quarters of the Earth Mat. 24.31 and separate them from the Reprobates Mat. 13.40 Take them up into the Clouds to be Accessors with Christ in Judgment on the wicked World 1 Cor. 6.1 and joyn with them 〈◊〉 praising God Rev. 4.9 10. Rev. 5.11 12. 7.9 10. Q. 2. What are our duties in respect of the good Angels A. These are many and weighty though little known and less practised by the most and therefore mind them well 1. To admire the wonderful love of God in honouring us with such glorious and blessed Guardians not only vouchsafing his own protection and the protection of his Son and Spirit but also of his blessed Angels Is not this matter of admiration what are the Angels but the most glorious Creatures in the World the glorious Courtiers of Heaven No Prince on Earth hath so glorious a Guard as every Saint even the poorest hath every day and night and therefore to be still admiring and adoring this wonderful love of God and say Lord what is Man and I among the Sons of Men that thou shouldest honour me so far as to give thy Angels a charge to minister to me and watch over me every day and night 2. To glory in this priviledge above all other priviledges in the World that we have such high and excellent Creatures to minister to us and to be our Guardians If men have a great and long Train at theit heels of great and Noble Persons in Silk and Sattin and Golden Chains how do they run after them and gaze upon them whereas alas all this bravery is but beggery to the Glory of those that wait upon the Saints they have higher and more glorious attendance those noble and glorious Courtiers of Heaven men need a fair day and a clear Sun-shine to discover their bravery or half the shew of it is lost but now nothing can darken the glory of the Saints attendance Mat. 28.2 3. And behold there was a great Earth-quake for the Angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it his countenance was like Lightning and his Raiment white as Snow 3. Take heed you do not injure any the least of God's Saints the poorest meanest most contemptible of them Why Because they have the glorious Angels to wait upon them and minister unto them Mat. 18.10 See that thou despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you the Angels behold the Face of my Father Why should any think them unworthy of their company and countenance when the greatest Angels think them worthy of their attendance and service if any wrong them the Angels will certainly right them When the Sodomites rose up against Lot the Angel smote them with blindness and rescued Lot out of their hands If Balaam go about to curse God's Israel an Angel stands in the way with a drawn Sword to withstand him If proud Sennacherib threaten to destroy Hezekiah and his People an Angel goes forth and slayes in one night a hundred eighty and five thousand in his Army And therefore take heed of wronging any of them any way 4. Be quickned hence to honour and serve that God more chearfully that hath so highly honoured and incouraged you in the service of him as to appoint the Glorious Angels to attend upon you in it shall they that are so high and holy above us stoop so low as to attend upon us and Minister to us at God's command and shall not we who are so inferior to him readily do service to him who is so high above us and hath no need of our service and whose service cannot any way reach to him but only to our selves And when our honour and happiness is wrapt up in it what a shame were this and what an aggravation will this be upon all idle Servants at the last day 5th Duty To carry our selves so as we may injoy the benefit sweet and comfort of this glorious and blessed Priviledge the Ministration and Service of the Angels Q. How is that A. Mind well it consists in these Particulars 1. To take more notice of this glorious Priviledge then ever you have done If you have been ignorant and heedless of it heretofore take the shame of it and labour to get a more distinct knowledge of it and get your Faith confirmed and established in it for is it not a foul shame that such glorious Spirits should take notice of us and minister to us and we take no notice of them 2. To see that you be such Persons as God hath given his Angels a charge over Who are they 1st Such as fear the Lord Psalm 34.7 2ly Such as keep in God's Wayes the wayes of his Commandments Psalm 91.1 3ly Such as continually pray to God for their direction and protection as Abraham's Servant did Gen. 24.7 and the Israelites Numb 20.16 4ly Such as are Heirs of Salvation for they minister only unto such Heb. 1. last 3. To carry your selves reverently in their presence and take heed you do nothing that should offend and grieve them whence that 1 Cor. 10.11 12. A Woman ought to cover her Head because of the Angels that is as Mr. Perkins sayes not onely in respect of God's Ministers but the Angels and not without great reason 1. Because they are present to observe our carriage in all the Service of God