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A65794 A method and instructions for the art of divine meditation with instances of the several kindes of solemne meditation / by Thomas White. White, Thomas, Minister of Gods Word in London. 1672 (1672) Wing W1835; ESTC R25814 99,155 336

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24. 63. That this was a solemn Meditation is evident because he went out into the field to perform it and had no other business there but this 'T is not said when he was in the field he meditated as if it were occasiona but to shew that it was a set duty 't is said that he went out to meditate 2. 'T is commanded Josh. 1. 8 and this duty of meditation is set down as a chief means to be sanctified of God for the keeping of the Law 3. It is as a Characteristical difference between a wicked man and a Saint 4. To consider in Scripture and to meditate are Synonima's and the necessity of it appears in this because that the cause of sin is the want of consideration and not want of knowledge Isa. 1. 3. and 't is not much for us to hear Sermons nay though we be neverso attentive it will not serve the turn Psal. 41. 12. It is more then to know for who is there almost in the world that knows not that he must dye but few are there that consider it Deut. 32. 29. 5. The necessity of Meditation appeares in this that no man is converted without Meditation for every one that is converted the method is this 1. He heares the truths of God 2. He is convinced of them 3. He considers and meditates upon them and sees how much they concern him 4. He is affected with them 5. Being thus affected it raiseth holy resolutions of better obedience But it will be objected alass I am not book learned how shall I perform this duty of Meditation This is rather for Ministers c Ans. 1. I may say of Meditation as 't is said of the Mathematicks he that is a rational man and doth but improve his reason though he hath neither tongues nor art to help him may understand grow to an extraordinary excellency in those Arts So he that hath grace if he doe but exercise and improve it though he hath not learning will excell the learnedest man in the world that hath not grace in the duty of Meditation 't is not learning but devotion that enables a man to this duty 2. Can a man be a blessed man without Learning then he may meditate without it Psal. 12. Obs. But 't is a very hard duty Ans. 1. That shews it to be an excellent duty for the harder any duty is the more excellent the hardness consists in this that 't is contrary to our corruptions and the more contrary any thing is to that which is bad 't is so much the better 2. Can you expect any duty should be easie at first Is there any thing so of temporal things which are of any excellency as Writing playing on a Lute c. 3. Because 't is so powerful to mortifie corruptions sweet things nourish and bitter things purge therefore if you will only perform those duties that are delightful they will nourish not purge out corruption 4. Get but your hearts inflamed with the love of God then this duty will not only be easie and delightful but it will be a duty that you cannot tell almost how to avoid for it is as hard not to think of what one loves as to think of what one hates bid the covetous man not think of his money or bid him think of the things of God and he will find an equal difficulty in both Indeed the love of God and desire of heavenly things are got by meditation but when once our hearts are enflamed by Meditation then our Mediattions are enflamed by love As an Oven is first heated by fewel and then it sets the fewel on fire and as with the fewel you must put in fire and blow it but afterwards it kindleth of it self so the difficulty of Meditation is at first When there is but as it were a spark of love in the heart it will cost him some pains by meditation to blow it up to a flame but afterwards the heart will be so heated with these flames of love that it will so inflame all the thoughts that it will make us not only easily but necessarily to meditate on the things of God 5. The people of God generally have found a great deal of difficulty in praying without a form at first Many godly Ministers used a set Form of Prayer before their Sermons not many years since and when they and priva●● Christians came to pray at first without a Form they found a strangeness and an unreadiness thereunto So it is in Meditation Christians being not used to it it will seem a strange and difficult work unto them but I may say of it as is said of the yoke Christ Gravè cum tollis suave cum tuleris thou wilt find it very delightful or at least very profitable Ob. But if it be such a necessary duty how comes it to pass that it hath been so generally neglected by the people of God Ans. It hath been practised by the people of God both in Scripture as is proved and it is evident that the Psalmes of David are frequently nothing but Meditations though not in this Method and by many in our dayes 2. It being a private Closet-duty the omission nor performance of it could be taken notice of and so the omission of it could not be reproved nor performance observed 3. The Directions and Instructions for Meditation have been generally very abstruse and intricate CHAP. V. Preparatory Directions for the Circumstances of solemn Meditation 1. FOR the place that must be private remote from company and noise Isaac went into the fields our Saviour into a Garden and David wisheth us to enter into our chamber and be still Psal. 4. 4. and our Saviour bids us enter into our Closet and shut the door the place must be such as must be remote from noise and company or any thing which might distract us in the duty and such a place that we may not be interrupted or forced to break off before the duty be ended it must be also private and remote from the observation of others so that we may neither be he heard nor seen because there are divers gestures and expressions which are not convenient for any one but God and ones own soul to be privy to Which of those places you find to be most advantagious to you in the matters of Meditation you may choose 2. For the time when The best is in the morning 1. Because it is the first-fruits of the day and the first-fruits being holy all the rest are fanctified 2. Because our thoughts being then not soyled with worldly business will not be so subject to be distracted 3. Because the body it self is more serene then after Meals and this Duty needs an empty stomack not only because the head will be more clear and fit for Meditation but also because many passages of Meditation require so much intention of the mind and fervency of affection that they do hinder Digestion 4. Because that
God commandeth and whatsoever God commandeth is his will Further we may observe that it is not enough to do holy duties but we must love holy duties for the blessed man doth not only keep to the utmost of his power the Law but delights in the Law the Commandments are not grievous but delightful to him A wicked man though he may pray yet he loveth it not a Saint would not for all the world that God should say to him you shall think so oft of me in a day it would be a great trouble to a Saint that God should forbid as it is to a wicked man that God commandeth him to think often But passing by these I shall choose this observation as the foundation of the following discourse viz. that to meditate upon the word of God is the essential character and indispensible duty and constant practice of every one that is a true blessed man and that this meditation on Scripture may be the easier understood and practised I shall proceed as followeth CHAP. III. Of the nature kinds and differences of solemn divine meditation SOmething seemeth necessary to be premised concerning the nature of Meditation what it is and how it differeth from other acts of the understanding that seem like it and how one kind of meditation differeth from another else this treatise will be defective without it First For the nature or definition of Divine Meditation we may say that it is a serious solemn thinking and considering of the things of God to the end we might understand how much they concern us and that our hearts thereby may be raised to some holy affections and resolutions Secondly Solemn Divine Meditation differeth from occasional meditation 1. In that occasional meditations are shorter like ejaculatory prayers which though they are as parenthesis in our worldly employments yet they signifie more then all the rest of the business we are employed in but meditation is generally of longer duration then ordinary solemn prayers 2. Such occasional meditations are things that we have in transitu or by the by and this that I speak of is a solem set duty Thirdly The subject from which occasional meditations arise are very frequently things artificial civil or natural indeed any thing that we see or hear but the subject of solemn meditation are only things spiritual Thirdly Solemn Divine Meditation differeth from study 1. In respect of the subject wicked men Study and Godly men meditate and it may be the former study more then the godly Nay it is the very distinguishing Sign between Saints and others that they meditate in the Law of God day and night Psal. 1. 2. And I believe it is a thing far more rare for a meditating Christian to be an hypocrite then for a Christan that spendeth much in prayer especicially if it be publick 2. In respect of the Subject of study so solemn meditation differeth from it for 1. Study is of all manner of things whether natural civil or artificial or mathematical c. But meditation is only of matters that concern our eternal welfare 2. The matters that are most knotty and difficult and generally such as afford little spiritual nourishment as Criticisms Crenologies and controversies but the matter of meditation is of things plain and of great spiritual advantage 3. Thirdly The end of Study is knowledge but the end of meditation is holiness If one seeth a learned man we may conclude that he hath been a great student and if we see a godly man we may conclude that that man hath meditated much Fourthly Solemn meditation differeth from contemplation in these several particulars as 1. Contemplation is more like the beatificial vision which the Angels have of God in Heaven Mediation is like the kindling of fire and contemplation more like a fire when fully kindled the one is like the Spouse seeking of Christ and the other is like the Spouse enjoying of Christ 2. Contemplation is one effect and end of meditation 3. Meditation is like the Bees flying to several flowers or like one smelling to Flowers particularly and contemplation is like the smelling of them alltogether in a nosegay or like the water that is distilled from them all The Spouse in her description of Christ is like to meditation her concluding that he is altogether lovely is like to contemplation Now there are four kinds of solemn meditation according to the four several subjects of it 1. Some solemn Meditations are upon Sermons that we hear which is a very useful and necessary practise for Christians and it is better to hear one Sermon only and meditate on that then to hear two Sermons and meditate on neither neither is it necessary nor possible to set down a method for meditating on Sermons since th method of Sermons is so various I shall only say thus much in particular that the end of such meditation is neither only nor chiefly that we may the better fix the heads and substance of the Sermon in our heads not that we may the better understand and be fuller instructed of the truth of the point we heard preached upon but especially to work those truths advices motives upon our affections that are proposed to us in the Sermon 2. The second kind of solemn meditation is when upon some providential occasion or upon some spiritual distemper or temptation or almost any thing of that nature we retire our selves and powre out our soules in prayers and soliloquies which may not but in a very large sense be called prayers being mixt of such various and differing parts sometimes speaking to God and telling him how we stand affected to him and his ordinances sometimes speaking to our own soul chiding encouraging or instructing of it sometimes speaking to our selves what we resolve to do what we intend to say unto God all which you may find in the 42. Psalm and many more of that nature both in that and many other Psalms which may not properly be called prayers but solemn occasional meditations and the occasions of those meditations are often set down in the begining of the Psalm and they differ from those occasional meditations of which I spoke in the begining of this Chaper only in their duration and solemnity just as solemn prayers differ from jaculatory prayers and to set down any method for these is not convenient because they observe no method and differ very little in any thing else from that kind of meditation for which directions are set down in this Treatise 3. The next kind of meditation is upon some practical truths of Religion many directions for which and instances of the same are set down in this Treatise 4. The fourth and last kind of solemn meditation is that which is upon Scripture which shall be the subject of the fourteenth fifteenth and sixteenth Chapters of this Treatise CHAP. IV. That solemn Meditation is a duty THat this is a duty is evident 1. From the practice of Gods People Gen.