The Art of Divine Meditation, Text (2 of 3)

The Art of Divine Meditation · Text (2 of 3)

p. 69A. I will give you a distinction, that I may not be misunderstood. There is a double slightness of head, there is a slightness of head that is a natural disease, when a man through the weakness of his head cannot dwell long upon any thing, when he cannot think of worldly business long, his head will not bear it; now thou maist be a true child of God and have a weak head, that is not able to think long of any thing at all. And there is a slightness of head that is a sinful slightness, and that is, when a man can be serious upon the things of the world, can dwell upon worldly businesses, but cannot dwell long upon the things of heaven, cannot be serious about the things of his soul, but as soon as ever he comes to prayer, he is slight; as soon as ever he comes to the Sacrament, or any holy duty, then he hath slight thoughts of God, and of Heaven, such an one was Gallio, Act. 18. when he saw it was a matter of Religion, he cared for none of these things; saith he, if it p. 70were a matter of civil right, I would regard it; but seeing it is matter of religion, look ye to it. And Pilate was a slight-headed man, Ioh. 18. 38. Pilate saith unto him, what is truth? that was a good question; and when he had said this, he went out again unto the Iews; he never looked for an answer: he had a slight thought came into his mind that was good, but he went away, and never came and desired Christ to give him answer. I beseech you to consider of it, a slight-headed Christian can never be a good Christian. If the things of God do not make impression upon your hearts, you will never be serious about the things of eternity. These are the four sorts of Christians that are to be reproved for want of meditation.

But I have another use of reproof. If those are to be reproved that neglect this Divine duty of meditation, much more are those to be reproved that meditate upon things that are wicked, instead of meditating upon the things of Heaven. Here are two sorts I would speak a little to, either those that meditate to do evil, or those that meditate upon the evil they have done.

1. It reproves those that meditate to do evil: you shall read of them, Psal. 36. 4. They devise mischief upon their bed. Jer. 18. 18. Then said they, come and let us devise devices against Ieremiah. There are some men that plot how to do evil, which is a double sin; it is one sin p. 71to do evil, it is a greater sin to plot to do evil; a man may go to hell 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.

p. 72But 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 p. 73for 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, p. 74that 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 p. 75is 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.

p. 766. 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 my Text, that he went out into the fields to meditate. I do not think that this example is obligatory, that a man is always bound to go into the fields to meditate: I read of David, Psal. 63. that he meditated upon God when he was in his bed: v. 16. When I remembred thee upon my bed, and meditated on thee in the night-watches. But this example doth hold out thus much to us, that private and solitary places are the fittest places for meditation; and as Christ saith, Mat. 6. 6. When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, (speaking of private prayer) and when thou hast shut thy door, pray unto thy Father that is in secret, and thy Father which seest in secret shall reward thee openly. So do I say, When you would meditate solemnly of Christ, or of Heaven, or of your sins, or of the Promises, you must enter into your closets, or go into your gardens, or walk into the fields; you must retire your selves into some private place. It is worth marking how the Evangelist takes notice of this practise in Iesus Christ, Mat. 14. 23. He sent the multitude away, and went up into a mountain apart to pray, and when the evening was come he was there alone. Mark 1. 35. And in the morning p. 77rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Mark 6. 46. He departed into a mountain to pray, Luk. 6. 12. He went into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. The Scripture makes mention of a garden to which Christ did usually resort to pray, and this garden Christ did often go unto, that when Iudas purposed to betray him, he knew where to find him: Ioh. 18. 1. When Iesus had spoken those words, he went where there was a garden, and Iudas which betrayed him knew the place, for Iesus often times resorted thither with his disciples. And what did Christ go to the garden for? he went there to pray: Luk. 22. There was the place where he shed drops of blood, Mat. 26. There he went to pray, and there he went to meditate; a garden famous for what Christ did there. Now all this doth signifie thus much unto us, that in the practise of this Divine duty of Meditation, we must retire our selves, whether into a private garden, or into our closets, or whether into private walks, into the fields. For if a Scholar cannot study in a croud, he must retire to some private study, some private place; much more when you would converse with God in the Mount, when you would meditate of those glorious things of the other world, you must shut out the society of men, that you may the more enjoy the society of p. 78God. It is a rare saying of Bernard, That the bridegroom will not come to the meditating bride (speaking of Christ who is our bridegroom) but when she is alone. And therefore it is said, Cant. 7. 11. Come my beloved let us go forth into the fields, &c. v. 12. there will I give thee my love. God loves to visit his people when they are alone, meditating of the things of Heaven.

But now I must acquaint you with two sorts of company, there are outward company, and there are inward company; now when you meditate you must not only retire your selves from outward company, but from inward company. It is an easie matter to shut the doors of your closets, and to be there alone, but it is a hard matter to shut out company from within, from your hearts as well as from your closets. There are many men when they are alone in a garden, or in the fields meditating, they are pestered with company within, with worldly thoughts, with voluptuous thoughts, with vain imaginations.

St. Ierome complains of himself, and he doth bewail it; saith he, When I have been in the Wilderness alone, with wild beasts, and have had no company but wild beasts, my thoughts have been at Rome, among the Ladies at Rome, among the dances of Rome. And I have heard many Christians complain (and it is one of the p. 79greatest complaints we have) that when they retire themselves to meditate of the Promises, or of Christs Passion, or of the Joys of Heaven, they are then pestered and exceedingly troubled with worldly business, with worldly thoughts; sometimes we are in our Counting-houses, sometimes we are at our pleasures, at our sports. It is an easie matter to thrust worldly company out of our closets, but a hard matter to thrust worldly thoughts out of our hearts; and therefore when you meditate you must do as Abraham did, Gen. 22. 5. And Abraham said to his young men, abide you here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship. So you must say to your vain thoughts and worldly business, tarry here below, I will go up to the mount and meditate; you must not only say to your worldly company, but to your vain thoughts and imaginations, tarry here below. The Rabbins say, though there were thousands of Sacrifices offered in the Temple in a year, yet there was never any flie seen in the Temple, which was certainly a Miracle. Happy is that Christian that can do Temple-work, without being pestered with these spiritual flies, with vain and roving thoughts. Oh how happy were it if we could come to the house of God, and that there might be no flies there, no vain imaginations to disturb us in our worship. I read p. 80Exod. 8. of a plague of flies, and that plague of flies was one of the greatest plagues that Pharoah had; for when he was to eat his meat, the flies got into his mouth; when he was to drink his drink, the flies filled his cup, so that he could neither eat nor drink; and these swarms of flies corrupted the land; v. 24. it is called a grievous swarm of flies. Now these swarms of flies may be compared to our roving wandering thoughts when we are about the service of God; these flies corrupt the best box of Ointment, they spoil our prayers and our meditation. But you shall read, in Goshen there was no plague of flies; Oh happy you that are not plagued with these swarms of flies, when you are in the service of God.

Q. I but you will say unto me, How shall I keep my self from these plagues of flies? how shall I keep my self that I may shut out inward company when I go to the mount to meditate?

Answ. For that, you must do as Abraham did, Gen. 15. 11. And when the fowls came down upon the carcass, Abraham drove them away; so must you: when this company doth thrust upon you and croud in, when your vain thoughts croud in, you must stir up all your spiritual strength to drive them away; you must do as the high Priest did, 2 Chron. 26. 20. when Vzziah the King would have offered sacrifice, the Lord smote him with a p. 81leprosie, and the high Priest took him and thrust him out of the Temple though he was a King; 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 p. 82likewise from his own experience commend the eventide for the best and suitablest time for Meditation; and he saith from the Sunsetting 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 p. 83should 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 p. 84doth 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 p. 85of 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 p. 86night 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 labouringman, 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; p. 87for 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 p. 88be 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 p. 89the 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, p. 90and 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 or sealing up all the benefits of our Redemption; and it is an exhibition of Jesus Christ, it is a deed of gift of Christ; God goes about giving of Christ to thee and me, and all that labour to come worthily. Oh! there cannot be a greater feast, wherein Christ is the gift that is bestowed; p. 91Christ is the banquet, Christ and all his benefits.

5. You must meditate of your own unworthiness; O Lord I am not worthy to pick up the crumbs that fall from thy Table; I am not worthy to eat my daily bread, much less worthy to eat the Sacramental bread. Oh the thought of this will make you say with Mephibosheth, What am I, a dead dog, that my Lord and King should invite me to his table! What am I, dust and ashes, sinful wretch, that the Lord Jesus should invite me to such an Heavenly banquet!

6. You must meditate of your spiritual wants and necessities; what grace dost thou want that thou maist get supplied? what sin doth bear most sway in thee, that thou maist get it more mortified? Now the more sensible you are of your spiritual wants, the more will your appetite be quickned to this blessed feast.

7. You must meditate of the cursed condition of an unworthy receiver; an unworthy receiver is a Christ-murderer, a soul-murderer, a body-murderer; he is guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ; he eats and drinks down his own damnation, he is guilty of bringing diseases; For this cause (that is for unworthy coming to the Sacrament) many are sick, and many weak, and many die.

p. 928. I would have you meditate of the happy condition of those that come worthily to the Sacrament; though you do not bring a legal worthiness, yet if you have a Gospel-worthiness, God will accept of you; and the bread that we break shall be the Communion of the Body of Christ; and the cup of blessing which we bless, shall be the Communion of the Blood of Christ to you; the communion of all the blessings of Heaven to thy soul. It shall be the bread of the Lord to you, and the bread of life, and the cup of Salvation unto you.

9. I would have you meditate sometimes of the Sacramental Elements; when you see the bread, I would have you meditate of the analogy and proportion between bread and the body of Christ; you know that bread is the staff of life, so is Christ the staff of a Christian; bread is not for dead folks but for living folks; bread doth not beget life, but increaseth and strengthneth life; so the Sacrament is not for those that are dead in sin; the Sacrament doth not beget Grace, but nourish and increase Grace. And then I would have you consider the analogy between Wine and the Blood of Christ; As Wine refresheth the spirit, and cheereth the heart, so the Blood of Christ cheereth the soul of every worthy receiver.

p. 9310. I would have you meditate of the Sacramental actions; for all the actions of the Minister at the Sacrament are mystical, they all represent Christ; Christ is to be read by a spiritual eye in every thing that is done by the Minister; the breaking of the bread represents Christs body being broken upon the Cross for our sins; and the pouring out the Wine, represents how Christs Blood was poured out for us; and the giving of the Wine represents how Christ is offered and tendered unto us; the taking of the bread and wine represents how thou by faith takes Christ for thy everlasting comfort. Every thing in the Sacrament is the object of Meditation; and it is a rare thing for a Christian to make the Sacramental Elements to be his Bible; when he is at the Sacrament, and when he finds his heart dull, to look at the Elements, the breaking of bread, and pouring out of wine, which are all spiritual helps to raise up thy heart unto Christ.

11. You must meditate of the Sacramental Promises; Christ Jesus hath promised, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me; that is the Sacramental Promise, This is my blood which is shed for you, do this in remembrance of me. Christ hath promised that whensoever we do take this bread, and drink this cup worthily, he p. 94will convey himself to us. Now we must feed upon this promise, and come to the Sacrament in the strength of this promise; and he hath promised that the cup of blessing, shall be the cup of the communion of the blood of Christ, and the bread that is broken shall be the communion of the body of Christ: Now we must meditate upon these Promises, and act faith upon them.

12. When all this is done, I mean when thou hast received the Sacrament, then thou must meditate what retribution to make unto Christ for this; you must say as David doth, Psal. 116. 7. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me! Thou must say to thy soul, Oh how ought I to love that Christ that hath loved me, and became a curse for me! how ought I to be willing to die for that Christ that hath shed his blood for me! Oh what singular thing shall I do for that Christ that hath become man, that hath left the Throne of Heaven, and hath taken my nature, and hath given himself for me upon the Cross, unto me at the Sacrament! what great thing shall I return unto this God! Oh that I were made up all of thankfulness! Oh that I could do something worthy of this God! This must be your Meditation, and you must study to find out some rare piece of service to do for this Christ, that hath done and p. 95suffered so much for you; and you must never leave meditating till you have found out some singular thing. As for example, such an enemy hath done me wrong, I will requite him in loving him the more; I will do him the more offices of love; that is to walk worthy of Christ, who loved me when I was an enemy; and then there is such a deed of charity, such a poor Christian his family is undone; I will do this service for Christ, I will give him some proportionable gift, some worthy gift, that his soul may bless God for me. Again, Christ Jesus this day hath given me himself; he hath given me his body and blood; I will go and be willing to die for him; I will say with Thomas, Come let us die for him; I will be willing to suffer reproach for him, if he shall call me. These are the Meditations wherein you are to spend your time when you are at the Sacrament.

Now let me say but thus much, What rare Christians would we be if from month to month we did thus spend our Sacramental hours! surely great would be the benefit and the fruit of it.

Thus I have done with the time when we are to meditate.

3. I am to speak of the properties and qualities of Divine Meditation; in all holy duties it is not so much the doing of the duty p. 96that God looks after, as the right manner of doing the duty: It is not the hearing the Word will please God, unless we hear the word of God aright; therefore Christ saith, take heed how you hear; it is not prayer that will prevail with God, unless we pray after a right manner, unless we pray in faith, with fervency and humility; so it is not the meditation of God and Christ, and the Promises, will do us any good, unless we meditate after the right manner, that God would have us to meditate.

Now I shall acquiant you with six properties of Divine Meditation, for the right manner of performing it.

1. Divine Meditation must be often and frequent, Deut. 6. 7. there God commands, Thou shall teach the words of the Law diligently unto thy children, thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou lyest down, and when thou risest up. Josh. 1. 8. The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Though he was a great Commander, and had affairs of great concernment, yet God commands him to meditate day and night in the Law of God. And David tells us of a godly man, Psal. 1. 2. That he will delight himself in the law of God, and in his law will he meditate day and night. p. 97Psal. 119. 97, 98, 99. David professeth of himself, though he was a King, and had many diversions, yet saith he, Oh how do I love thy law! it is my meditation day and night. Thou through thy commandments hath made me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me, or, it is ever with me, speaking of the Commandments of God; he had them always in his thoughts: I have more understanding than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation. Psal. 139. 8. When I awake, I am still with thee. What is the meaning of that? that is by the meditation of God; in the morning as soon as ever he awaked he begun the day with Meditation, with some sweet pious thought of God. It is the duty of a Christian, as you have heard, if it be possible, if his worldly occasions do not necessarily hinder him, (there may, you know, be necessary avocations) to spend some time every day in Divine Meditation. You that are Ladies, men of great Estates, and have time, are to set some solemn time, some solemn part of the day for Meditation; but all of us are to have Ejaculatory Meditation, though it be in our worldly business.

There are three Reasons to perswade you to frequent Meditation.

1. Because the oftner you meditate of God, and Christ, and Heaven, the more you will p. 98know of God, and Christ, and Heaven; and the more you will love God, and Christ; and the more earnestly you will seek after the things of Heaven; for you must know, the things of Heaven are like a beautiful Picture, the more you view them, the more will you admire them, and seek after them to enjoy them. I have read a story of Necrasophus, who was an excellent Painter, that viewing wistly a Picture, there came a Country-man by, and seeing him view that Picture so wistly, he asked him, Why do you look upon that Picture so much? saith the Painter to him, If you had my eyes, you would never ask me this Question; if you knew the excellency of this Picture, you would never ask me why I look so much upon it. The things of Heaven, the things of God, the Promises of God, are most glorious and excellent things; and the more you look into them, the more you will look into them; and the oftenr you view these Pictures, the more you will admire them, and the more you will view them. God, and Christ, and Heaven, are like unto a bottomless Mine of treasure, the more you dig in this Mine, the more riches you will find in it; they are like unto a sweet cordial, the more you chew them, the more sweetness you will find in them. They are like an excellent garden in the Spring-time, the oftner a man p. 99goes into the garden, still he finds a new flower, and another flower, and another flower; so the things of God, and Christ, and the Promises, and Heaven, the more you walk in this garden, the more flowers you will gather; you will have still new flowers to pick. And the reason why the Saints of God love God no more, and prize Christ no more, and seek no more after Heaven, is because they do not meditate more of God, and Christ, and Heaven; the want of frequent meditation of them, is the reason why we love them, and esteem them so little, and seek so little after them.

The second Reason why we should frequently meditate upon things Divine, is because the oftner we meditate of God and Christ, the more near and intimate acquaintance we shall have with them; as you know Neighbours, the oftner they visit one another, the more acquainted they come one with another; and the seldomer they visit one another, the more estranged they are one to another. Visitation breeds acquaintance; so the seldomer you think of God and Christ, the more you are estranged from them, and the less acquaintance you have with them; and the oftner you meditate of God, the more intimate society you will have with him; as I have told you, Divine Meditation is nothing else but a dwelling upon the things of God, a conversing p. 100with God and Christ, and the Promises, and it will be matter of rare comfort to a child of God, when he lies upon his death-bed, and is going out of the world, to consider, I am now going to a God that I am acquainted withal, that I am not a stranger to: I am going to heaven, where I have been often in my meditation. It is reported of Dr. Preston, when he was dying, he used these words, Blessed be God though I change my place, yet I shall not change my company; for I have walked with God while I lived, and now I go to rest with God. A man that is often in meditation, is often in Heaven, often walking with God and Christ, and the Promises; and when he dies, he goes to enjoy the Promises, and to be and to live for ever with this Christ. It is a sad and a disconsolate thing for a man when he comes to die, to think of God as a stranger, to think of Heaven as a place where he hath never been, he hath hardly had a thought of it all his life. I verily perswade my self, it is one reason that the Saints of God are so unwilling to die, because they have no more acquaintance with God in this life, they think of him as a stranger; the more you are acquainted with God while you live, the more willing you will be to die to go to him; for death to a child of God is nothing else but a resting with God, with whom he walked while he p. 101lived; to rest in the bosom of God, in whose bosom he hath often been by holy meditation when he was alive.

3. You must be often and frequent in the duty of Divine Meditation, by often using it to make it more easie; there is great complaint of the difficulty of this duty; it hath been often said to me, Sir, there is no duty in the world so hard as Divine Meditation: and it is true, it is a hard matter to keep the heart close in Meditation of Divine things; and therefore you must accustom your selves to this duty, and use will make perfectness, usus promptos facit; by often doing it, at last through grace it will become easie. When a young youth is bound Prentice to a Manual Trade, at first it seems very hard to learn his Trade, but by long custom at last he is very expert in it. A man that is to go up a hill every morning, at first he pants and breathes, and cannot get up the hill, within a little while he can get up with ease; so this duty of Divine Meditation, though it be exceeding difficult, because it is exceeding spiritual, yet by often and frequent practising of it, through the assistance of Gods Spirit, it will become at last very easie; whereas the seldomness of the practice of this duty makes it difficult, and intermission of any thing makes it very hard. A man that learns the Greek or Hebrew Tongues, or p. 102learn to speak French, if he intermit the speaking eleven or twelve years, he will quickly forget to speak it; so long omission of this duty is the reason why it is so difficult; would you but resolve to practise it for one twelve month, you would find it at the twelve months end an easie duty, through the help of God.

The second property is this, Divine Meditation must be solemn and serious; though we must accustom our selves to this duty, yet we must take heed of customariness and formality in the duty; formality in good duty, is the dead fly that spoils the box of precious ointment; God hates a formal Christian, he hates a formal prayer, a formal hearer of the word; formality in Gods service is like the plague of locusts, of which you read, Exod. 10. that did eat up all the green things in the land; formality in good duties eats up all the beauty and all the comfort and benefit of a good duty; there is nothing God hates more than formality in his service; therefore you must take heed above all things of being formal in the practice of this duty of Meditation; it must be solemn and serious, and you must be very intent about it; slight thoughts of God will make but a slight impression upon the affections; and he that thinks slightly of God, will serve him p. 103slightly, and love him slightly; he that thinks slightly of sin, will slight sin; he that thinks slightly of God, God will slight him. And the reason why we serve God with so little affection, and so little devotion and reverence, is because we meditate slightly of God; for slight thoughts of God work but a slight heart, and a slight conversation. I will give you an instance or two of this slight way of Meditation, Ioh. 6. you shall read of certain men, that when Christ was preaching had a very good ejaculation, ver. 34. Lord, (say they) evermore give us of this bread; it was a sweet Meditation, but it was but a short, a slight and formal one; for at the end of the Chapter these men forsook Christ; it was not a solemn and serious Meditation, Ioh. 18. 38. you read of Pilate, Pilate saith unto him, what is truth? here is a good question that arose from some inward thought that he had; and when he had said this, he went out again, he never thought of it more, he never tarried to hear an answer; but now our care must be to be very solemn and serious in this work of Divine Meditation; let me give you an example of Alexander the Great; a Heathen man was offering Sacrifice to his God, the Priest that held the Censor, the Chafing-dish, wherein the Incense was, there was a spark of fire fell upon his hand, and he was so intent and p. 104unwilling to hinder the Sacrifice, that he suffered his hand rather to be burnt, than he would intermit the Sacrifice; this shews how devout and intent this Priest was, even in the service of the Heathenish God; and Chrysostome tells a story of a Lady that being to make a precious ointment, she calls in all her handmaids to help her; so saith he, when we converse with God in any holy duty, we must call in all our handmaids, all our affections, when we are making any holy ointment; the meaning is this, when you are conversing with God by meditation, or conversing with Christ, or the Promises, you must call in all your affections to assist you, you must be very solemn and serious, and intent upon this work. And yet I must give you one caution here, you must take heed you be not over-intent; though you must be serious, you must not be over-serious. I have heard a story of a godly Minister, Mr. Welsh, that was one day meditating of eternity, and he was so serious in the thoughts of Eternity, that he fell into a trance, into a swound, that they could hardly ever recover life in him again, he was so swallowed up in that Meditation, he was too serious; we must be serious, but not over-serious; we must do as good travellers do, that will be careful not to over-ride their horses, lest they tire; they will ride moderately, that so they may hold out p. 105to their journeys end; so must we be serious, but we must be moderate, not over-serious; we must remember we have a body of flesh, that is not able to bear over-much seriousness, in these weighty Meditations of Eternity, and God, and Christ, and Heaven.

3. Divine Meditation must not only be notional and speculative, but practical and affectionate; therefore consideration and meditation are not only acts of the head, but acts of the heart, Deut. 4. 39. Know therefore this day and consider it in thy heart. There are three doors, as I may so speak, that Meditation must get into, or else it is of no use.

1. It must get into the understanding, that must ponder the things of Heaven; but it must not tarry there: But,

2. It must get into the door of the heart and affections to stir them up; for the understanding must be as a Divine pair of Bellows to kindle a Divine fire in the heart and affections, and to inflame and raise them up, as David saith, Psal. 39. While I was musing the fire burned; we must so muse upon God and Christ, that our affections may as it were burn within us, as the Disciples hearts burnt within them, while Christ was speaking.

3. It must get into the door of the conversation; that is, we must so meditate of Christ as p. 106to live according to the life of Christ; and so to meditate of God as to obey the Commands of God. And unless your Meditation get into these three doors, it is of no use; the understanding to the heart and affections is like the nurse to the child; you know the office of the nurse is to prepare meat for the child, to chew and cut it, that the child may eat it; so the work of the understanding is to prepare Divine Truths for the heart and affections, that the heart may close with them, and eat and digest them; but if the nurse should eat the meat she chews, and give nothing to the child, the child may starve for all the nurse; so though the understanding doth chew never such glorious Truths, if it doth not convey them to the heart and affections, it is of no use; there is many a man spends his time in Meditation, as a Butterflye feeds upon the flower, sucks the flower, not to be fruitful and useful, but meerly to paint her wings; so he studies and ponders of Divine things meerly to paint his wings, to get curious language of God and Christ, and curious notions of sin, and the promises, but because he doth not convey them into his heart and affections, he is never the holier, never the better for his Meditation; but true Meditation is this, when we so meditate of Christ as to find vertue coming out of Christ to cure the bloody issue p. 107of our sins; to meditate of him so as to be transformed into him; when we so meditate of God, as to love God, and desire after God, and rejoice in God, and live according to the Commands of God; when we so meditate of sin as to hate and abhor it, and turn from it; so meditate of the promises as to close with them, when by frequent musing of God there is a holy fire of Divine love kindled towards God; as it is in Psal. 104. 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet. When we so meditate on God, as it gets into our affections to sweeten the thoughts of God unto our souls, then the meditation of God is sweet; this is the reason why many times an honest plain-hearted Christian finds more benefit by the practise of this Divine Meditation than a great Scholar; for a great Scholar will meditate to find out some glorious expressions, some curious notions. As a man that reads a book meerly for the fine language, and a man that hears a Sermon meerly to feast his ears, because of the eloquence of the Sermon, and goes home never the holier, never the better; but now the honest plain-hearted Christian meditates of the things of Heaven, that he may be made the more heavenly; he meditates of God that he may love and fear him more; he meditates of Christ, that he may prize him more; he meditates of sin, that he may hate it more; and of the Promises p. 108that he may love them more; though he cannot find out these curious notions that a Scholar doth, yet his heart is more affected many times than the heart of a greater Scholar, if he be not godly. Divine Meditation is of no use unless it be practical and affectionative.

4. Property is this, Divine Meditation must be particular and applicative; for generals will not work at all; the Philosopher saith, that fire in general doth not burn; it is this fire that burns; a sword in general doth not cut, it is this sword cuts; so confused meditation of heaven, God and Christ, will do you little good; but if ever you would get good by the practise of meditation, you must come down to particulars; and you must so meditate of Christ, as to apply Christ to thy soul; and so meditate of Heaven, as to apply Heaven to thy soul; this is mine, this is my portion, Christ is my portion, he is Iehovah my righteousness. Nam quid est Deus, si non est meus? What am I the better for Heaven, or for Christ, if they be not mine? what comfort can I have to meditate of Christ, if I have no interest in him, if I cannot apply him? what comfort can I have to meditate of Heaven, if I have no right to Heaven; I meditate of a place that doth not belong to me. Therefore the greatest part of Meditation is Application; p. 109you must apply the things you meditate of, to your own particular, and that man that in his meditation of Christ can say with Thomas, My God and my Lord, is of all men the happiest; blessed is that man that can say, my God and my Lord.

There are four things that work mightily upon the heart, Necessity and Excellency, Propriety and Perpetuity; the heart is much taken with things that are excellent, especially when they are necessary; especially if I have a propriety in them, and this propriety be perpetual; and thrice happy is that man that can say all these four concerning God and Christ; that when he meditates of the excellency of God, and Christ, and Heaven, and the necessity of enjoying them; when he can add a propriety, all these are mine, God is my God, Christ is my righteousness, and Heaven is my inheritance, and my inheritance for ever. Oh this man is in Heaven already, that can make this application upon Scripture-grounds. And therefore be sure in the practise of this duty, your meditation be applicative; though a medicine be never so soveraign, it doth you no good unless you apply it; the water in the fountain will never do you good, unless it be brought to you by a cistern, conveyed to you some way or other; so the meditation of p. 110God, Christ and Heaven, will little avail, unless you make application; and this is especially to be used at the Sacrament; the work you are to do at the Sacrament is meditation, and in all Sacramental meditation you must be sure to join application; when you meditate of the breaking of the bread, of the body of Christ that was broken for you, you must apply it, it was broken for me; and when you see the wine poured out, you must meditate of the blood of Christ, that was poured out upon the Cross, you must make application by faith, that is the great act of faith, This blood was poured out for me, this body was broken for me, and now God offers Christ, God gives Christ to me, there is the sweetness in the Sacrament.

The fifth Property, Divine Meditation must be calm and quiet; there are many well affected Christians that in the practise of this duty, will force themselves too much; this is proper to young beginners, that when they meditate of their sins, will force themselves into tears; and when they meditate of Christ will force themselves into joy; it is ordinary when young Christians meditate, because they cannot find their affections wrought upon, they will use violence to their affections, and force out tears or joy, according to the nature p. 111of the thing they meditate upon; just like the man, Act. 3. 7, 8. the lame man that was cured; as soon as ever Peter took him by the hand and lift him up, immediately his feet and ancle-bones received strength, and he leaping up, stood and walked, and entred with him into the Temple; the poor man never walked in all his life, he was lame from his mothers womb; as soon as ever he found his legs, he fell a leaping presently; he did not leap afterwards, but walked ordinarily as other men; but he was so overjoyed, that he forced himself to a kind of leaping; so there are many Christians that when they first set upon this duty, because they find their hearts very dead and dull, therefore they will offer violence to their affections, and force themselves to tears or joy. But you must not do this, the best way is to wait in the practise of meditation for the coming down of God; to wait for the consolation of Israel, as it is said of Simeon, Luk. 2. 25. There was one Simeon a man in Ierusalem, who was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. So must we in the use of this blessed duty wait upon God for Divine comfort; and while we are waiting, God will come in, Isa. 30. 18. Blessed are all they that wait upon the Lord. ver. ult. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. You p. 112must continue waiting, and be assured the Lord whom you seek will come in, and you shall find your hearts melted if you go on in a calm, quiet, waiting posture. As Bernard, who was a man much accustomed to this duty of meditation, when he went to meditate and pray, he found his heart at first very dull; at last the visitations of the Almighty came upon him, and he felt his heart warm, he had the appearances of the Lord to his soul, that he cried out rara hora, brevis mora, it comes but seldom (but sometimes it comes, blessed be God), it tarries too short a while; Oh that it would continue; wait upon God in the practise of Divine Meditation, and you shall find the elapses of the Holy Ghost, the Visitations of God coming upon your souls, and filling you full of Heavenly comfort.

6. And lastly, This Divine Meditation must be persevereing; you must persevere in this duty, though you cannot at first find the benefit and comfort that you expect. There are many Christians that have set upon this work of Meditation, and finding it too hard and difficult, and meeting with so much opposition in their hearts, wandering thoughts, and abundance of spiritual distempers, they have been discouraged, and laid it aside, which certainly they ought not to have done. I have read of the Leopard, when it looks after his prey, when p. 113it looks after his prey, when it hath a beast in view, that it would prey upon the manner of its hunting, is to take three or four great skips, and if it cannot take the beast in three or four skips, then it leaves it, it is so furious and hasty. So there is many a poor Christian skips into the duty of Meditation, as it were, by taking three or four leaps, and sees he cannot compass it, he cannot find the benefit and comfort he would, and therefore he lays it aside; this is a great fault: you must wait upon God, as I said in the former, you must continue and persevere, and go on in this duty: And I have four arguments to perswade you to persevere in this duty.

1. From the necessity of this duty; it is a duty absolutely necessary, as I have told you; it is the life of all other duties; prayer will do you no good unless it be joined with meditation, Oratio sine, meditatione est arida, saith Bernard, Prayer without Meditation is dry, and luke warm, and cold; and the reason why our prayers are like so many dead carcases of prayers, is because we do not join meditation with prayer: sermons do us no good without meditation. Meditation is the life of all Religion, and that which puts life into all other duties. It is of great necessity, and therefore you must not be weary of well-doing, you p. 114must persevere, for there is no grace crowned without perseverance.

2. Consider the excellency of this duty, it is the souls transmigration to Heaven, the souls transfiguration, the souls going up to Heaven to converse with God and Christ, and the things of eternity; it is a rare duty, as necessary as your daily bread; and certainly God conveys much of himself in the practise of this duty. As Iesus Christ when he was in the Mount, was transfigured, and his face shined like the Sun. So certainly you that are much in the mount of meditation, you that often go up to meditate of God and Christ, and Heaven, and sin, your faces will shine, you will be taller than other Christians in grace by the head.

3. Study the mischiefs that come by the want of practising this duty; it is not eating meat that nourisheth you, but the digesting of it; meat may be set before a man, and he may eat a great deal, but if he doth not digest it, he will never be nourished. Meditation is a digesting of all the things of God; it is not the hearing a Sermon doth you good, but the meditating on what you hear; if a man hath a plaister and lays it to his sore, and take it off as soon as he hath laid it on, it will do no good at all; so when you hear a Sermon, if you forget it as soon as ever you have heard p. 115it, if you do not chew, meditate and ponder upon what you hear, you will never get any good. As the beast that chewed not the cud was an unclean beast, so the unmeditating Christian is an unclean Christian. The reason why we have so many lean kine, pardon my expression, that devour the fat, and are never the fatter; I mean so many lean Christians that devour hundreds of Sermons, that will hear three or four a day, and are never the beetter, never the fatter; what is the reason of this, because it comes in at one ear, and goes out at the other, one Sermon justles out another; but they never meditate, ponder and consider what they hear, that is the reason why you are so lean in grace. You know there are many hours required to digest a little meat eaten in a little while; so a man should be many hours digesting a Sermon that he hears in one hour. God and Christ are like a picture that hath a curtain drawn over it; now a man will never judg of the picture till the curtain be withdrawn; Meditation is nothing else but the taking aside the curtain, and viewing of God. To an unmeditating Christian God is like the Sun in a cloud; to an unconsidering Christian Christ is like a jewel in a leathern purse; now meditation opens the purse, and takes out the jewel, and looks upon it; Meditation draws aside the curtain, p. 116and views God, and beholds the glorious things of God.

4. Consider, that by persevering in this duty it will at last grow easie; it is I confess a very up-hill duty, a very spiritual Heavenly duty; but as a man that every day goes up a hill, though at first it be very difficult, he blows and pants as if his soul would go out of him, but by persevering in it he can go up the hill without pain or weariness; so though it be an up-hill, a hard duty, yet if you that have time, as many of you have, would but set about this work and persevere in it, and labour that your Meditation be applicative and affectionative; let me assure you, you would quickly conquer the difficulty by the help of God; let a man be to kindle a fire, if the wood be wet he must blow, and continue blowing, and at last he will conquer it; if he fling away the bellows he will never make the fire burn: but he must continue blowing till he hath extracted the moisture, and conquered the wood; so when you go to meditate of God, and Christ, of the Promises, of Heaven, of your sins, though you find your hearts dead and dull, and full of vain roving thoughts, and you are mightily out of tune, and much discouraged, you must go on blowing still, you must blow, and blow, and blow, and at last the fire will kindle, the great God of p. 117Heaven and earth will come in and help you.

Thus I have done with the third particular, the properties of Divine Meditation.

4. I must speak to the companions of Meditation. There are two companions you must always join with it, or at least ordinarily. I am sure that one you must always join, one is reading, the other is praying.

1. You must join prayer with your meditation; and therefore here in my Text the same word that signifies to meditate in the Hebrew, signifies to pray: And Isaac went out to meditate; the word in the Hebrew is, He went out to pray or to meditate; and therefore in the Margent it is put; And Isaac went out to pray. And in the old Translation it is, And Isaac went out to pray; and in the new Translation it is, He went out to meditate. The same Hebrew word that signifies to meditate, signifies to pray, to teach us, that we must always join meditation and prayer together. As for example, when you meditate of your sins, you must put up a prayer to God, that you may so meditate of your sins as to get your hearts humbled for them; and when you meditate of Heaven, you must join prayer with your meditation, and lift up a prayer that the Lord would help you so to meditate of Heaven, as to make you fit for Heaven, when I say prayer, I do not mean a set formal prayer, but a short p. 118prayer; when you go up the hill of Meditation, you must not set your selves at prayer, but only join short prayer, beseeching God that he would bless it unto you: Luk. 9. 29. when Christ went up to prayer, while he was praying, his countenance was changed, he was transfigured; and Cornelius while he was a praying, the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him; he had glorious appearances while he was praying, Act. 10. when we go up to the hill to meditate and to pray, to pray and meditate, we shall be sure to meet with apparitions from God, with glorious transfigurations; it is a rare saying of Bernard, Meditation without prayer is infertilis, barren and lukewarm; prayer without meditation is arida, dry. And as one saith very well, writing of Meditation, The reason why the prayers of many of the Saints of God are but carcases of prayer, is because they do not join meditation and prayer. And the reason why their meditation is no more powerful, is because they do not join prayer with their meditation; for meditation without prayer is altogether useless and unprofitable; you must not meditate in your own strength.

2. You must join reading with your meditation; understand me aright, I propound this to weak Christians that want a stock of knowledg; there are some Christians that are a p. 119Walking-library, they are Books themselves, they need not a Book to help them to meditate. But you that are weak Christians, my advice is this, that you would join reading with your meditation. As for example, would you meditate of Christ? go and take the Bible, and read the History of his Passion; and when thou readest any thing remarkable, lay thy book aside, and meditate seriously of that passage. As for example, when thou comest to read of Christ sweating drops of blood; that Christ in a cold Winter night upon the cold ground for thy sake should shed drops of blood: lay thy book aside, and meditate of these drops of blood; Oh the wrath of God that he then suffered! and so when thou comest to read what Christ suffered upon the Cross, when he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! lay aside thy Book, and meditate of the love of Christ, that was forsaken for thy sake, in regard of outward comfort, I mean not in regard of union; He was forsaken that thou maist not be forsaken. So likewise, wouldest thou meditate on the Promises? if thou be a weak Christian, take a Book that treats of the Promises, and when thou readest any Promise that is suitable to thee, lay the Book aside and meditate of that Promise till thy heart be affected with it, and labour that it may take impression upon thy soul. Saith Bernard, Long p. 120reading without meditation, never made a good Scholar, it is always barren. And Meditation without reading leads many a weak Christian over to error. And therefore when you set a time apart for Meditation, join prayer and reading with your meditation.

Now here I must give you two Cautions.

1. You must not read much, lest it hinder you meditation; as you must not be large in prayer, that it may not hinder your meditation, so you must not be large in reading when you go to meditate; for prayer and reading are in order to meditation.

2. When you are at the Sacrament, you must lay aside all reading; you must meditate at the Sacrament without reading; the reason is, because Christ at the Sacrament preacheth to the eye. And our Sacramental Elements are our Sacramental Bible; every action of the Minister is mystical and spiritual; the breaking of the bread, and the pouring out of the wine is spiritual; Christ Jesus is represented in all that is done at the Sacrament. And therefore when you begin to be drawn dry, as I may so speak, and you know not what to meditate on, you must instead of reading, look upon the Elements, it is a sanctified way to quicken you to holiness; and you must look upon them with a spiritual eye, with an understanding p. 121eye, as knowing what those Elements signifie, and the sight of the Elements will suggest matter of meditation. This I speak because I see many weak Christians, and I believe they do it upon honest 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, p. 122must 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?

p. 1234. 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 p. 124flaming 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; p. 125it 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 p. 126that Christ that hath prepared Heaven for thee, hath prepared thee for Heaven.

6. You must meditate what you must do, that you may be meet to go to Heaven, how you may lead your lives so that you may be sure at last to obtain Heavens eternity.

4. You must meditate of Hell; as Bernard saith, you must go often down into hell by your meditation while you live, and you shall be sure not to go down to hell when you die. Descendamus vivenles, & non descendemus morientes, as Chrysostome saith excellently; if the not thinking of Hell would free you from Hell, I would never have you think of hell; but whether you think of it or no, Hell-fire burns, and your not thinking of it will bring you thither. And the reason why so many go to Hell when they die, is because they do not think of Hell while they live.

1. You must study the punishment of loss; what a cursed thing it is to be excluded from the presence of God for ever and ever; that is one great part of hell to be shut out of Heaven, to be shut out from the Beatifical Vision, from the glorious presence of God and Christ, and the Saints of God.

2. You must study poenam census, the punishment of sense; for the damned are not only shut out of Heaven, but they endure endless, easless torments; you must meditate of the hell-worm, p. 127and the hell-fire; the Scripture speaks of a hell-fire, and a hell-worm, and of the eternity of the hell-fire, and the eternity of the hell-worm, Mat. 9. 44, 46. Where the worm never dieth, and the fire never goeth out. What is meant by this worm? nothing else but the gnawing of an awakened conscience. Oh think of this hell-worm, and this hell-fire, that you may never come to be so miserable as to be made partakers of it. These are the first four things.

In the next place to give you some more; he that would thrive in all godliness, and avoid all sin, must meditate often of God, of Christ, of the Holy Ghost, and of himself.

1. He must meditate of God, and that is a rare subject of meditation. David saith, Psal. 104. 34. My meditation of God shall be sweet.

1. Sometimes you must meditate of the Attributes of God, of his Eternity, a God from everlasting to everlasting. You must meditate of his unchangeableness, a God in whom there is no shadow of turning. You must meditate of his Omnipresence, a God that fills Heaven and earth with his presence. Of his Essence; you must meditate of his Omnipotence; a God that is able to do all things, nothing is impossible with God. You must meditate of his Omniscience; p. 128a God that knows all things, to whom all things are naked. You must meditate of his Simplicity, and the perfection of his nature; of his all-sufficiency, and his self-sufficiency; here is a sea of matter. What rare Christians should we be, if we did often, and often meditate on these things, instead of meditating on vanities and follies?

2. You must meditate of the works of God; of the work of Creation, of the glorious fabrick of Heaven and Earth, and you must meditate of the work of Redemption, that glorious work of God in sending Jesus Christ into the world; this meditation is that which swallows up the Angels and Saints in Heaven. You must meditate of the wonderful love of God in giving Christ to become a curse for us. You must meditate of the incomparable goodness of God in giving the Son of his love, his natural Son, to die for his adopted Sons.

3. You must meditate in what relation you stand towards God, whether you stand in a Covenant-relation to God or no? whether you stand reconciled to God or no? whether God be your reconciled Father in Christ, or no?

2. You must meditate upon Christ.

1. You must meditate of the Divine Nature of Christ, he is God from everlasting, he is coequal, coessential, coeternal with his Father.

p. 1292. You must meditate of the humane nature of Christ, of God manifested in the flesh, of God made man, the union of two Natures into one Person.

3. You must meditate of the Offices of Christ, of the Kingly office, the Priestly office, the Prophetical office of Christ; but more especially you must meditate of the Life, the Death, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Intercession of Christ.

1. You must meditate of the Life of Christ, and examine, whether thy life be answerable to his life? if thou dost not live as Christ lived, thou shalt have no benefit in Christs Death and Passion: thou must meditate of Christs life, to follow the example of his life.

2. You must meditate of his Death, that is a rare meditation to prepare you for the Sacrament.

1. You must meditate what Christ suffered, what he suffered when he was in the Garden, when he sweat drops of blood, and prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Oh the bloody agony that Christ was then in! And then you must meditate what Christ suffered when he was upon the Cross, when he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? When there was darkness for three hours together upon the face p. 130of the earth; when there was darkness without, and darkness within too; when there was a withdrawing the light of Gods countenance from Christ. You must meditate what Christ suffered in Pilates Hall, when he was whipt, scourged, buffeted. Oh what love to Christ would this kindle in your hearts, if you had serious meditation of these things.

2. You must meditate for whom Christ suffered all these things; for us when we were his enemies, us wretched damned creatures; not the blessed Angels, but us, us sinful men.

3. You must meditate who he was that suffered all this, even Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God.

4. You must consider with what love he suffered all this, infinite love, the height, and depth, and length, and breadth, of the love of God in suffering all this for us.

5. You must consider what interest you have in Christ crucified? whether Christ was crucified effectually for thee, or no?

3. You must study the Resurrection of Christ.

4. You must study the Ascension of Christ.

5. You must study the Intercession of Christ; the sitting of Christ at the right hand of God the Father, where he lives for ever to make Intercession for you.

p. 1313. You must meditate of the Holy Ghost; and there are rare things to fill up your thoughts.

1. You must meditate of the Divine nature of the Holy Ghost, that the Holy Ghost is the third person in the Trinity, that the Holy Ghost is God blessed for ever.

2. You must meditate of the Office of the Holy Ghost; it is the office of the third Person in the Trinity to bring us into the possession of all the Father hath decreed, and the Son hath purchased; to make us partakers of the decree of the Father, and the purchase of the Son.

3. You must study the Divine motions of the holy Spirit; and we must meditate how often we have quenched the Spirit of Christ, how often we have resisted these motions, how often we have imbraced these motions.

4. You must meditate of the grace of the Spirit, (this will open a door to a great deal of excellent matter) you must meditate of the grace of faith, the grace of repentance, the grace of love to God, and Christ, and thy neighbour; the grace of fear of God, and the grace of humility; that is, you must meditate whether your faith be a right faith, or no; whether it be the faith of a Simon Magus, or the faith of a Simon Peter; whether it be an Historical faith only, or a justifying faith; p. 132and whether your repentance be a true repentance or no; and whether your love to Christ be a true love, or a counterfeit love.

4. You must meditate of your selves.

1. You must meditate of the fourfold state of man; man may be considered in a fourfold state:

1. Either in the state of innocency, as he was before the fall, a spotless picture of God; that is a rare meditation: study the happiness of man before he fell, when he was made after Gods own image.

2. The state of man when fallen, when corrupted: study the cursed condition of man in his natural condition.

3. The estate of man when restored by Christ, when regenerated, when renew'd, when made a picture of God.

4. The estate of man in Heaven.

1. What thou wert in Adam.

2. What thou art when fallen.

3. What thou art in Christ.

4. What thou shalt be in Heaven.

You must meditate of your sins, of your good duties, of your evidences, and of your comforts.

1. You must meditate of your sins, that is a large field to walk in; you must meditate of the sins you have committed against God, of your sins of omission, of your sins of commission; p. 133your sins against the Law, your sins against the Gospel, your Sermon-sins, your Sacrament-sins, your spiritual sins, your fleshly sins. You must meditate of sin to be humbled for it, that is a rare meditation to fit you for the Sacrament. And oh that we had hearts seriously to meditate of our sins.

2. You must meditate of your good duties, that is how many good duties we omit, how many good duties we sinfully perform; whether we perform duties so as to please God in the performance of them.

3. You must meditate of your Evidences for Heaven, whether they are right or no; whether you have gotten Tribunal-proof assurance for Heaven; whether thy Evidences for Heaven are death-enduring; whether they will hold out at the day of Judgment.

4. You must meditate of your comforts; whether those comforts that you have, be the consolations of the Spirit, or the delusions of the Devil. There are many men will tell you that they have comforts, but their comforts are Diabolical delusions, not Divine consolations.

You must meditate of the frailty of your body, the immortality of your soul, the dependance you have upon God, and the advantage God hath you at.

p. 1341. The frailty of your body; the body of man is made of dust, and will quickly crumble to dust; it is an earthly Tabernacle that is easily dissolved. What a rare thing will it be to take the Scripture, and study all the comparisons to which the life of man is compared? to set out the shortness of it, it is compared to grass, to hay, to stubble, to dry stubble, to a dry leaf, to a swift post, to a vapour, to a hands-breadth; meditate of the frailty of thy vile body, that will quickly go down to the house of rottenness.

2. Meditate of the immortality of thy soul, thy precious soul, which is a picture of God, made by God, and made for God. There is no man but hath a heavenly tapour within him, which can never be blown out; there is no man but he hath that within him that he cannot kill himself; there is no man but he hath that within him that must live for ever as blessed as an Angel, or as cursed as a Devil. Meditate upon the dependance you have upon God. Oh this will keep thee humble, and make thee comply with Gods will; thou dependest upon God for thy being, thy well-being, thy eternal being; thou dependest upon God every minute, thou livest by Gods upholding thee; study the dependance thou hast upon God for thy soul, thy body, thy wise, thy children, thy all.

p. 1354. Meditate of the advantage God hath thee at. God hath all the world between his hands, as the Prophet saith; and he can easily crush us, as we do a moth; as we are creatures he can annihilate us if he please; and as we are sinners he can throw us into hell if he please. Study the relations in which God hath placed thee; study thy calling, thy company, thy heart.

1. Study thy relations in which God hath placed thee; there is none of us all but we are under many relations; art thou a Minister, art thou a Magistrate, art thou a Father, art thou a Master? study the duties of every relation; study how to honour God in every relation; study to keep a good conscience in every relation.

2. Study thy calling; how to honour God in thy calling, how to keep a good conscience in thy calling; how to keep thy self unspotted from the sins of thy calling, for there is no calling but hath some sin or other attending it. Oh meditate, that thy Shop do not destroy thy soul; meditate to keep a good conscience in thy Shop; that thou dost not lose in thy own house what thou gainest in Gods house.

3. Study thy company, what company to keep, that is a great matter; for I know a man by his company more than any thing whatsoever; I mean by the company he useth to p. 136keep. Study to keep a good conscience in all company, study to keep thy self from the sins of thy company.

4. Study thy heart: meditate often of thine own heart, the deceitfulness of thy heart; the heart is deceitful above all things, it is the greatest cheater in the world; and there are thousands whose hearts do cozen them into Hell; thy heart will tell thee thou lovest God when thou dost not love him at all; that thou art upright, when thou art an hypocrite.

Study thy Thoughts, thy Affections, thy Words, and thy Actions.

1. Meditate of thy Thoughts, the vanity of thy thoughts, the vileness of thy thoughts, the Hell, shall I say, that is in thy thoughts; if all the thoughts that we think were written upon our foreheads, how would we be ashamed that the world should see us. Oh meditate of thy covetous thoughts, of thy lustful thoughts, thy vile and vain thoughts, to be humbled for them.

2. Meditate of thy Affections: God doth especially look to our affections; he hates any service that is not mixed with affection. There are several Affections; meditate of thy love, whether thou lovest God or the world p. 137most. Meditate where thy love is, whether thou servest God out of love; whether the world doth not lye nearer thy heart than Christ; Meditate of thy desire, whether thou hast larger desires after the creature than after God; Meditate of thy joy, whether thou dost not delight more in vanity than in Christ Jesus; And meditate of thy sorrow, whether thou dost not mourn more for outward losses than for thy sins? Meditate of thy anger, whether thy anger be rightly placed; And meditate of thy trust and hopes, whether thou dost, trust in God at all times.

3. You must meditate of your Words; Oh what a world of sin is in our tongues! and if we would meditate of the sins of our tongues, Oh what a black catalogue would there be! the tongue is a world of iniquity, set on fire of hell, saith the Apostle Iames.