The Art of Divine Meditation, Title page – Dedication
THE ART of DIVINE Meditation. OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE Nature, Necessity, and Excellency thereof. With Motives to, and Rules for the better performance of that most Important Christian Duty. IN SEVERAL SERMONS On GEN. 24. 63. And Isaac went out to meditate in the fields at the even-tide.
By EDMVND CALAMY, B. D. late Minister of Aldermanbury, London.
LONDON: Printed for Tho. Parkhurst, and are to be sold at his shop at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel, and by I Collier, at the Bible on Londonbridg under the gate, 1680.
To the Christian Readers.
IF the Heathen Moralist Plutarch could say, Meditation is as it were the recovery of decaying knowledg; because as forgetfulness seems to be the egress of knowledg, Meditation doth restore a new memory instead of that which passeth away; and so preserve knowledg, that it is in effect the same, in that, notwithstanding mutations, it leaves something new, and like it self, resembling that which is Divine: How may a Christian, endow'd with the true knowledg of God, say with the Psalmist in the revival of it, Psal. 104. 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet. When he is alone, and hath no other companions to refresh himself with, then he may (as Bishop Hall, who penn'd a part of his Meditations under the solitary Hills of Ardenna) from a renewed mind, send forth his active thoughts, those immediate rays of that Candle of the Lord within him, to contemplate upon his Maker, Saviour, and Sanctifier, and reflect upon himself, who is to survive the visible Creation, and so raise himself into an Heaven upon earth, relish such sweetness as the carnal mind and sensual heart, immersed in dreggy matter, and be-dull'd therewith, is never so happy as to attain. The Author of this little Treatise, whose great and pious soul was notably heavenliz'd by the frequent exercise of holy Meditation, the very same who penn'd The Godly mans Ark, which hath been often printed for the support of drooping Christians, amongst other excellent discourses upon various subjects in the exercise of his Ministry with great success, did from his own experience recommend this of Meditation, whether ejaculatory and occasional, or solemn and deliberate. I am not ignorant, that many other eminent Divines, persons of great worth and honour, have already notably display'd the excellency and usefulness of this way of thinking; yet perhaps this grave and famous Preacher in his day, hath in a more easie method, and plain way, by his familiar expressions and resemblances, suited to vulgar capacities, here help'd the real Christian, who would most delight in the Duty, to put Meditation in practise, than any who hath gone before him. No doubt, had this excellent person himself published this discourse here presented to your view, you would have had it every way more accurate, by the lopping off some superfluities, and amending of phrases, &c. more proper for a Writer, than these of a Preacher to a popular Auditory; yet such as it is, considering the Author in the Pulpit, you'l find when you have read it through, it doth fully as much resemble Mr. Calamy in his preaching at Aldermanbury, to your minds, as the Engraver on the frontispiece hath represented his face to your eyes. I dare say any of you who were his Auditors, will be abundantly satisfied, tho this piece be posthumous, yet it is genuine. And seeing there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety nine just persons which need no repentance, Luk. 15. 7. If these practical Sermons, taken by the swift pen of a ready writer, have such an influence upon any, as to bring them to the frequent and beneficial practise of Meditation, which the Preacher of them held necessary: None who prefer things before words, and esteem real knowledg above elegancy of speech, as the general good of mankind, beyond that of any particular Countrey, can justly think the Author wrong'd; but rather that with Dr. Preston, Mr. Fenner, Mr. Hooker, &c. (some of whose Works popularly deliver'd with plainness suited to the capacities of their hearers, and taken but rudely from their mouths, did more benefit Readers of meaner abilities, than those which whiles alive, they themselves published with greater exactness) He is renown'd, when he hath by this more diffusive good-work been any way instrumental to have God and the things of heaven (where he now resides) more delightfully thought upon. As judicious Calvin in his Epistle to the King of Swetheland prefixed to his Commentary on the Minor Prophets, said he would not be so morose a Censor of manners, as to obstruct the publishing of that Commentary delivered in an extemporal kind of speaking, when design'd only for his own private Oratory, not otherwise to have come abroad; only as 'twas pen'd from his mouth by Budaeus, Crispin, and Ionvil, because he said, he had long before learn'd not to serve the theater of the World: else, he doth afterwards tell the Reader, that if in his other works which he had written deliberately and succinctly with much more pains, he had met with envious malignants, who did carp at and quarrel them, he might well endeavour to suppress that work, taken by the aforesaid writers after him, as it was freely utter'd to his own hearers for present use; yet when others assured him, that it would be a loss (yea, injurious) to the Church, if not printed as it was taken, rather than not at all; He thereupon having not time nor strength to transcribe or amend it, readily permitted it to go to the Press. And the Reformed Church hath since rejoyced in the benefit of having it as it was published; yea, and to this day Divines who have made great use of it since in their Commentaries, as well as others, to find the true true meaning of the Holy Writ, have heartily blessed God for it. Yet as Bishop Wilkins hath observ'd in his Epistle to the Real Character, Foreigners in Short-Writing come far behind us here in England (though it hath been now seventy years invented) where they admire the skill of our Writers, and whither the Divines of other Nations frequently come and learn our Language, chiefly to understand our Practical Sermons, many of which have been only preserv'd in this way, You have this ('tis to be hoped very useful) piece, taken well from the mouth of Mr.
Edmund Calamy.