work of Meditation for want of matter to meditate upon for meditation supposeth knowledg meditation is a dwelling upon that we know and therefore the ignorant Christian cannot be a meditating Christian he that is ignorant of God cannot meditate of God he that is ignorant of Christ crucified cannot meditate of Christ crucified and this is one reason why so many Saints of God are so barren in Sacramental meditation because they know so little of Christ crucified the ignorance of God and Christ is not only a sin but it is the root of all sin It is said 1 Sam. 2. 12. of the two Sons of old Eli They were sons of Belial and they knew not the Lord. All sin is wrapt up in ignorance as a child in swadling clouts as Toads and Serpents grow in dirty and dark Cellars so doth all sin grow where ignorance dwells And therefore Chrysostome saith That ignorance is a deep hell And one saith very well An ignorant Christian is the Devils shop wherein he forges all manner of wickedness 2. There is the forgetful Christian for meditation is a meditating of what we know concerning God and Heaven and the day of Judgment it is a bringing of the things we know unto our selves and therefore a forgetful Christian cannot be a meditating Christian he that forgets the Mercies of God can never meditate on the Mercies of God This sin of forgetfulness of God is a sin that the Children of Israel were very guilty of Psal. 106. 7. The Prophet complains of them our Fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt they remembred not the multitude of thy mercies but provoked him at the Sea even at the red Sea v. 13. they soon forgot his works v. 31. They forgot God their Saviour which had done great things in Egypt therefore he said that he would destroy them The forgetfulness of God and the mercies of God is made the root of all sin as well as the ignorance of God Iudg. 3. 7. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God therefore they did evil in the sight of the Lord. And therefore God lays a charge upon the children of Israel that when they came into the land of Canaan and should have the fulness of all outward blessings Deut. 8. 11. Beware saith he that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day lest when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein v. 14. Then thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God You that forget the mercies of God God will forget to be merciful unto you and you that do not remember what good things God hath done for you God will take order that you shall have no good things to remember The good Thief on the Cross when he was dying his great request to Christ was Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom It is the great desire of all Saints that God would remember them in mercy but certainly you that forget the mercies of God God will forget to be merciful unto you 3. I am to reprove the rash-headed Christian that rushes upon Duties and upon Ordinances and publick Offices without consideration that comes rashly to the Sacrament and kneels down rashly to his private and publick devotion that doth not consider before-hand when he comes to worship the Lord our God this I call the rash-headed Christian we have many such among us And there are four things worthy your observing that may be said of a rash-headed Christian. He is a spiritual fool and all the Sacraments he receives and the prayers he makes they are the sacrifices of fools as you have it excellently set down Eccles. 5. 1 2. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifices of fools for they consider not that they do evil Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few Out of which two verses I gather these two things 1. That it is the duty of all Christians in all their addresses to God to consider who this God is to whom they draw near to consider their own vileness and Gods excellency to consider that God is in heaven and they are upon earth 2. That whosoever doth rush upon Ordinances without consideration he doth offer up the sacrifice of fools because he doth not consider that he doth evil when you come rashly to publick duties here upon the Sabbath-day and you come rashly to the Sacrament and when you are hasty to utter words to God you come as so many spiritual fools 2. A rash-headed Christian will many times speak that which he will wish he had not spoken and he will do that which he shall have cause to repent of We have many examples of the Saints of God that have paid dearly for their rash-speaking and their rash-practising for this rashness is a sin that the Saints of God are very much subject to we read of Peter that he fell three times into this sin Mat. 16. 22. there Christ told Peter That he must be crucified and Peter began to rebuke him saying Be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee Peter spake very rashly now Christ said unto him Get thee behind me satan thou art an offence unto me And Luk. 9. when Christ was transfigured then Peter began to utter a rash speech saith Peter to Christ Master it is good for us to be here and let us make three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias not knowing what he said It was a rash speech and especially Luk. 22. when Christ told him that one of you shall betray me saith he very rashly Master though all betray thee yet will not I betray thee But he spake rashly not knowing the deceitfulness of his own heart We read of the two brethren Iames and Iohn that they spake very rashly unto Christ Luk. 9. 54. When his two disciples Iames and Iohn saw this they said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did but he turned and rebuked them and said Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of We read of Moses that he spake unadvisedly with his lips and God was angry with him Numb 20. Shall we bring water for you out of he rock he spake unadvisedly and the Lord was angry with him Iephtha made a rash vow Whatsoever I see I will offer in sacrifice He had cause to repent of that Vow And that which I say of words I may say of deeds the Saints of God have done many things in their haste that they have cause to repent of David rashly
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
I cannot mourn that I have not power I can do nothing without power derived from Jesus Christ. 5. I would go to supplication after confession and I would petition to God for strength and I would say Oh Lord thou that hast promised to take away my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh hast thou not promised to work all my works in me and for me hast thou not promised to subdue my iniquities Micah 7. 19. hast thou not promised that Sin shall not have dominion over me this is the promise Rom. 6. now Lord thou hast promised these things I beseech thee perform these Promises thou God of Truth make good thy word take away my heart of stone and give me to mourn for my great abominations and work this work in me and for me and subdue my iniquities and let not Sin have dominion over me rather give me over to the dominion of men though I would not be a slave to men yet I had rather be a slave to all the men in the world yea a slave to the Turk than a slave to the Devil rather be a Galley-slave than a Devils-slave of all slavery Lord deliver me from soul-slavery And thus I would supplicate and petition and when I have done all this 6. I would encourage my self by faith in a confident hope and trust in God that the Lord will hear my prayer and give me strength against my corruptions and supply me with help in all my necessities and I would say thus Oh Lord thou hast promised that whatsoever I ask in the name of Christ shall be granted unto me blessed God! I ask this day in the name of Christ pardon of Sin and power against Sin and a broken heart for Sin and from Sin I ask repentance unto Salvation thou hast promised to give it I believe thou wilt give it I believe Lord help my unbelief And then I would say to my soul why art thou disquieted Oh my soul why art thou cast down why art thou troubled still trust in God depend upon God he is my help he is my joy in him will I put my trust Thus I have gone over these Six Heads I have given you one instance Now I would have you know whatsoever I have said of Sin I can go over of any Subject whatsoever suppose I would meditate of Heaven after I have meditated of the joys and excellencies of Heaven and all those particulars in the Intellectual part then to work upon my affections I would labour to get my heart affected with the joys of Heaven and then I would complain that I am no more affected with those joys and with the Beatifical Vision and the rare company that I shall there enjoys and then I would passionately wish Oh that my heart were more heavenly Oh that I could taste more of those everlasting joys that the Lord would come down and heavenlize me and then I would confess my inability of my self and I would supplicate for help and I would confidently believe that the Lord will send down heaven into my heart and the joys of it before I come thither That which I say of the sinfulness of sin you may make use of in all other Subjects that you meditate upon So much for the Rules and Directions for the better helping you to proceed and go on in the duty of Meditation 3. Now there remains only some Rules for the conclusion of all When thou hast begun and entred upon this duty and made a progress in it when thou comest to make a conclusion shut up thy Meditation of Divine things with thankfulness with resolution and with recommendation of thy soul to God 1. I say conclude with thankefulness lift up thy heart to God and bless his name that hath enlarged thy soul and enabled thee to spend an hour in meditation of holy things especially if you find your hearts affected with what you meditate upon if you have gotten from the intellectual part into the affectionative if you have gotten your souls raised up As for example if you have been meditating of Heaven and you find a Heavenly frame wrought in you you find a desire to be with the Lord and you find some assurance that your name is written there and some manifestations of God to your souls Oh then close up all with an Hallelujah Blessed be the Lord for the assistance of this hour So likewise have you been meditating of Sin and find at the conclusion that thy heart is somewhat soft and doth begin to mourn for thy Sin and thou art troubled that thou hast offended thy God and the Lord hath wrought in thee some confidence some spiritual assurance that thy Sins shall be mortified and that the Lord will keep thee that thy sin shall not have dominion over thee then conclude with a Hallelujah lift up thy heart and bless the Lord for his assistance I might likewise add when thou hast been meditating on the Promises or of Death whatsoever the Subject thou art meditating upon is if the Lord hath wrought thee to have a heart above the fear of death by meditating of death and thou hast learned to be willing and ready to die Oh bless the Lord for his assistance 2. I would have you close with a resolution of heart to spend thy life as becomes one that hath been meditating of holy and heavenly things As for example I have been meditating of the Promises I will shut up my Meditation with resolution by the grace of God to live more upon the Promises than ever I have done I have lived too much upon the Creature but now I will live more upon God and his Promises I will close up with a resolution by the power of my God to study my interest in the Promises more and suck out the sweetness of them more and to be more acquainted with the freeness and the fulness and riches and preciousness of them And so would you meditate of Heaven I would conclude with a resolution that I would labour to live more heavenly and walk as becometh one that looks to live with Christ for ever in Heaven You must know these spiritual resolutions are spiritualia vincula obedientiae they are spiritual bonds to tye the soul fast to God As the beast was tyed to the horns of the Altar in the old Law that was to be sacrificed so these blessed vows and resolutions are heavenly cords to tye the soul faster to God and that is the reason every why Sacrament we renew our vows and resolutions as God renews his engagements to us so do we renew our engagements to God every Sacrament Now I would have you close up your Meditation by binding your souls faster to God in a holy resolution Divine resolution is the spiritual hedg of the soul saith one to keep the soul from breaking out into ungodly courses 3. Shut up all with a short commendation of thy self thy body thy soul thy wife
more good by our afflictions I have observed many of us the Lord pardon it unto us as soon as ever we are recovered from our afflictions we forget God presently we never consider the mercies of God in recovering us and then we return to our old vomit again for want of meditation 7. The reason why the Providences of God take no more impression upon our hearts is for want of this grace of meditation The Providences of God are very mysterious and God in the Government of the World doth walk in the Clouds And truly I am very confident that which God doth especially require of his children in these days is to meditate upon his Providences as well as upon his Ordinances there are many rare lessons to be learned from the consideration of the Providences of God the Providence of God toward England and toward Scotland and toward the Ministry God is now depriving you of Minister upon Minister many Ministers the Lord hath taken from you God is as I may so speak disburthening the Nation of this great burden of the Ministry which is a burden to a great many God takes his Ministers up to Heaven Now what is the reason that the Providences of God of late years do no more good though they have been wonderful toward England Scotland and Ireland towards all sorts of people The reason why we are never the better by them is because we do not study the meaning of all these Providences Isa. 57. 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come This is the reason why we get no more good by the death of the godly and by the Providences of God because we do not lay them to heart we do not muse and study upon them 8. What is the reason that the Saints of God are so distrustful of Gods Providences when they are ready presently to sink and to say they are undone It is for want of meditation and therefore Christ Luk. 12. saith Take no thought what you shall eat or what you shall put on consider the ravens for they neither sow nor reap which neither have store-house nor barn and God feedeth them how much more are ye better than the fowls Consider the lillies how they grow they toil not they spin not and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these Did you consider the lillies and the ravens did you study the love of God to you you would not distrust him under any sad Providences The reason why the Saints of God are so full of unbelief when they are in a low condition is for want of meditation they do not consider the ravens and the lillies they do not study the Promises that God hath made to his children in their lowest condition 9. The reason why the professors of Religion are so censorious of other men and so little censorious of themselves why they judg every man and examine every man but themselves which is the condition of these days it is for want of meditation Mat. 7. Iudg not that ye be not judged for with what judgment ye judg ye shall be judged and with what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye but considerest not the beam that is in thy own eye If men did reflect more upon themselves they would censure themselves more and others less And the reason why people are so rash in censuring is for want of self-reflection 10. The reason why professors of Religion do offer the sacrifices of fools to God when they come to worship him why they pray headily and rashly why they rush upon Ordinances without preparation is for want of meditation Eccles. 5. 1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifices of fools for they consider not that they do evil Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God Why do people rush upon Sacraments without preparation rush upon Sermons rush upon Prayer rush upon holy Duties why they do not consider what they do 11. What is the reason that people prepare no more for death Because they do not consider the shortness of life They do not meditate of the vanity of this life of the certainty and uncertainty of death and therefore it is said Deut. 32. 29. Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Because men do not consider their latter end therefore it is that they are so unprepared for their latter end 12. And lastly What is the reason that we come so unworthily to the Sacrament and when we are there we gaze up and down and carry our selves so unseemly at that Ordinance what is the reason that we lose all the fruit of that Ordinance but meerly for want of preparation before we come and meditation when we are come now preparation cannot be without meditation preparation includes meditation in it 2. The want of the practise of this duty is the cause of all punishment Isa. 12. 11. The whole land is laid desolate because no man layeth it to heart Oh this is the cause of the sword that hath drunk so much blood in this Nation no man lays to heart the Judgments of the Lord therefore the land is become desolate 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 because they do not meditate of Gods works therefore they Lord will destroy them Nay let me add that that is above all this for God to give a man over to a slight spirit an unmeditating spirit to a rashness and slightness of spirit is one of the greatest Judgments in the world A man of a slight head can never have a good heart a slight hearted Christian can never be a good Christian he that thinks slightly of God will speak slightly of God and he that speaks slightly of God will worship God slightly and he that slights God God will slight him now there cannot be a more cursed frame of spirit than to be given over to an unconsiderate frame of spirit an unconsiderate Christian is an inconsiderable Christian. Isa. 42. 24 25. Who gave Iacob for a 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 yet he laid it not to heart Here is the curse of curses not so much to be burnt as not to know it
for his sinful plottings and sinful contrivances though they never come to light Isa. 29. 5. Wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark and they say who seeth us and who knoweth us The Lord will send us to hell for all our sinful contrivances and vain projects though they prove abortive 2. There are some that meditate upon the evil they have done as an old Adulterer will with delight tell stories of his youthful wantonness and an old wicked man will delight to tell tales of the sins that he hath formerly committed this is to act over your sins again in Gods account this is to lick up the old vomit this is to sin anew I would to God you would consider of it a man may go to hell for contemplative wickedness for spiritual wickedness for heart-adultery and heart-murder as well as for actual wickedness a man may go to hell for thinking evil as well as for speaking evil and doing evil for God is a Spirit and he looks into the frame of your spirits and he will send you to hell for the inward lust of sin as well as for the act of sin and that man that repeats over the sins of his youth with delight this man acts them over again in Gods account But I will not spend more time in the use of reprehension But I come to that which I especially aim at an Vse of Exhortation to beseech you all that you would subscribe to the obedience of this Text that you would conform your selves to this Text that you would accustom your selves to his most necessary and excellent and long neglected duty of Divine meditation Let me with all earnestness commend unto you the consciencious practise of this duty of Divine Meditation because it is an universal remedy against all sin it is a help to all goodness it is a preservative of all godliness it is armour of proof against all the Devils temptations and the want of it is the cause of all iniquity as you have heard Let me commend this to all sorts of Christians If it be necessary for you to reform your lives it is necessary for you to meditate for what saith David I considered my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies What made Peter when he had denied Christ repent and weep bitterly for what he had done the Text saith when he meditated upon what he had done he went out and wept bitterly it was the meditation of his sin made him do so What is the reason that men repent no more of their sins because they do not meditate of the bitterness of them Ier. 8. 6. No man repenteth because no man saith what have I done If it be necessary for you to love God to trust in God to contemn the world it is necessary for you to practise this duty of meditation what is the reason all the Sermons you hear do you no more good it is for want of meditation we do not meditate upon what we hear Let me commend this duty of meditation 1. Unto all Ministers There are four things saith Luther make a Minister reading praying temptation and meditation It is not reading makes a Scholar without prayer nor reading and prayer without temptation how can he comfort others that was never tempted himself and then meditation and therefore Paul perswadeth Timothy to be much in meditation 1 Tim. 4. 15. 2. Let me commend this to great persons to Lords and Earls and Kings David professeth of himself Psal. 119. 148. Mine eyes prevent the night-watchings that I might meditate on thy word v. 15. I will meditate on thy precepts v. 23. Princes also did sit and speak against me but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes 3. Let me commend this to you that are Captains and Soldiers and men that belong unto the C Ioshua the great Captain-General of the people of Israel is commanded by God to meditate in the Law of God day and night Iosh. 1. 8. 4. Let me commend this to young Gentlemen from the example of Isaac in the Text that went out as his custom was to meditate of God and the things of God Isaac was heir to Abraham who was a very rich man he was very rich in cattel and very rich in silver and gold and Isaac was the heir of all he had and at even-tide he went out and walked in the fields and meditated upon the things of God meditated upon the works of God the things of Heaven 5. Let me commend this to you that are Merchants to you that are Tradesmen that you would spare some time for meditation 6. Let me commend this to all Women according to the example of Hanna and the Virgin Mary she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart Luk. 2. 19 51. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart Oh let me commend this to young maids when they are at their work that they would have some heavenly ejaculations and meditation of the works of God I remember I have read of Solon who was a great Law-giver saith he There are many good Laws made but there wants one Law to teach people how to practise all the other Laws such a Law were worth making So give me leave to tell you there are many excellent Sermons preached in this Nation in this City never better preaching I dare say in London but there is one Sermon yet to preach and that is to teach you to practise all the other Sermons Now if I be not mistaken this Sermon will help you to practise all the Sermons you ever heard for meditation is nothing else but a concocting of the mercies of God a digesting of the Promises and the Sermons we hear it is a Sermon to teach you to digest all the Sermons that ever you have heard Some men have a great appetite but have no digestion I do not complain of you that are greedy to hear Sermons but let me tell you if you have not a good digestion your Sermons will do no good that which a man is eating half an hour requires six or seven hours to digest I have heard of many men that eat too much but I never heard of any that digested too much you that eat much and do not digest it that which you eat will turn to bad nourishment therefore let me commend this duty to you as one of the choicest duties of a Christian. Now because of the excellency of this Subject I shall desire to speak to six Particulars about this Doctrine of Meditation 1. The place where we are to meditate 2. The time when we are to meditate 3. The ingredients and properties of Divine Meditation 4. The companions of it 5. The materials of it 6. Some helps to help us to the better practise of this duty 1. Concerning the place where we are to exercise this duty of Divine Meditation it is said of Isaac in
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
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
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
sick like to lose thy husband or thy own own life then pick out seasonable meditations seasonable subjects go and meditate of death meditate how Christ hath taken away the sting of death Meditate how death is a gate to let us into everlasting life how death is an out-let to all misery and an inlet to all happiness that death is the best friend that thou hast next to Jesus Christ. 5. Suppose thou art to receive the Sacrament what must thou do a little before thou receivest it I would have you every Month before you come to the Sacrament spend one hour or two in meditating of the Sacrament of the nature of it the necessity of coming meditate whether thou be'st a worthy receiver and what thou must do that thou maist be a worthy receiver meditate of thy sins thy graces thy spiritual wants Let me commend this to you every Sacrament and never forget it meditate to find out thy sins to be humbled for them meditate to know whether thou hast any grace in truth and to get it increased and meditate of thy spiritual wants what they are to get them supplied What a rare deal of matter is here contained in these three particulars to find out thy sins by the glass of the Law by taking the Law of God and examining thy life and the Law together that would cost thee many an hour and then to get thy heart humbled for these sins and to confess them and to have grace to forsake them And then to examine thy Graces whether thou hast truth of grace whether thy grace be meerly counterfeit and a shadow of grace and if thou hast truth of grace how to get it increased by the Sacrament and then to meditate what thou wantest and what thou wouldest have from Christ and to get that supplied The third thing is to set down Rules and Directions for the right ordering of our meditation upon these subjects And here I will lay you down Rules to direct you how to meditate rules to help you how to begin and then how to go on and proceed to hold out an hour in meditation for the better progress in it and then rules how you shall finish and conclude this excellent duty of Meditation 1. Rules to teach you how to begin and enter upon this excellent work of Meditation and here I will lay down six rules for your first entrance 1. Be sure that you pick out a fit place to meditate in you know Isaac went out into the field to meditate and I have shewed you that this example doth not oblige us always to go into the field but it obligeth us to retire to some secret place whether it be thy Closer or the fields 2. When thou enterest upon this work be sure to get a fit time pick out a seasonable time Isaac picks out the evening and thou maist pick out the morning if thou pleasest thou art not obliged punctually to this example or thou maist pick out the afternoon but thou must be sure to pick out that time that is the fittest time you that are great persons have time enough you to whom the Lord hath given wealth I shewed the poor man how he should husband his time We have all time enough on the Lords-day to busie our selves with the work of Meditation it is a Sabbath-days work as you have heard 3. You must be sure of a fit subject you must not have your subject to seek when you begin to meditate meditate of a soul-awakening a soul-refreshing subject 4. When you have your place and your time and your subject these three are proper to the beginning of this work then I would advise you to set your selves as in Gods presence though no eye sees you yet consider the great God sees you and especially when you are meditating of Divine things for you must know that meditation of Divine things is a conversing with God When you meditate of Heaven you converse with Heaven and the glory of Heaven it is the souls transmigration to Heaven it is the souls transfiguration and therefore I would have you set your selves as in Gods presence and this will overawe you and make you serious the consideration of the presence of God will prepare you for every holy duty so consequently for this holy duty it is a rare preservative against all sin as Ioseph said to his Mistris How can I do this evil and sin against my God though no body saw him yet he knew God saw him Gen. 39. 10. And it is a rare encouragement to all godliness Psal. 119. 168. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies why so for all my ways be before thee Therefore whensoever you go into your Orchards or Gardens or your Closets to set apart an hour in Divine Meditation I would have you do as David did Psal. 16. 8. I have set the Lord always before me 5. I would have you always begin with prayer now I do not mean to begin with a solemn set long prayer but I would have you begin with a short ejaculation I would have you pray unto God to enlighten your understandings to quicken your devotion to warm your affections and so to bless that hour unto you that by the meditation of holy things you may be made more holy you may have your lusts more mortified and your graces more increased you may be the more mortified to the world and the vanity of it and lifted up to Heaven and the things of Heaven And therefore in the Hebrew the same word that signifies to meditate signifies to pray and as it is said in my Text Isaac went out to meditate you shall find it in the Margent Isaac went out to pray Meditation must always be joined with Prayer Isaac went out to pray and meditate to meditate and pray saith Bernard Meditation without prayer is barren and unfruitful Therefore I I would have you begin with a short prayer 6. I would have you keep your hearts with all keeping Prov. 4. 23. have a care in the entrance of thy heart pray unto God to keep out inward company You know I told you of a twofold company of an outward company and inward company pray unto God not only to keep out outward company but inward company that is to keep out vain and worldly and distracting thoughts A man may easily drive out outward company he may easily be alone but it it a hard matter to drive away inward company thy vain worldly and distracting thoughts I would have you say to the world when you go up to meditate of Heaven or of Grace or of God as Christ said to his Disciples Mat. 26. 36. Sit you here while I go yonder and pray So I would have you say to the world and all worldly thoughts Tarry you here while I go into my Closet to meditate of the things of God and Heaven to meet with God in Heavenly things And I would have you say as Abraham
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-Sabbath-day upon Meditation but especially on the sacrament-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
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