The Mount of Holy Meditation, Tract · Chapter 13
Chap. 13. Of the excellency and uſefulneſſe of Meditation.
Having given you Rules about meditation, I ſhall in the next place ſhew you the excellency and uſefulneſſe thereof.
1. Meditation breeds knowledge, ſc. the knowledge of God and his benefits, and our ſin and unworthineſſe. As there is no moment, wherein man uſeth not God; ſo ought there to be no moment, wherein he hath him not preſent in his memory:Sicut nullum eſt momentum in quo homo nòn utatur Deo, ſic nullum eſſe debet momentum, quo eum praeſentem nòn habet in memoriâ. Hugo l. 3. de anima. Babingt. in Num. foreign. Clem. Alex. Aug. de civ. Dei l. 21. c. 6. Aquin. in Joh 5. this continuall meditation on God and his mercies, is that bleſſed union of our ſpirits with God, which holy men ſo much regarded in their times: a man given to meditation, is a man that walketh not in darkneſſe, nor in the ſhadow of death, as thoſe do that ſeldome or never think of him. Clemens of Alexandria calls the meditations of holy men, Candles that never go out, like the Candle which was among the Pagans, in the Temple of Venu…, which was called inextinguiſhable, as Austin relateth: without this men are but ſnuffs in respect of their uſe and ſervice, as Aquinas ſaith. Meditation doth not reveal any divine truth unto us, that only is the work of God; but after God hath revealed them, faith apprehends them: then meditation illuſtrates to the ſoul what faith believes, and ſo our knowledge is encreaſed: many ſhall run to and fro, and knowledge ſhall be encreaſed.Fenner de meditat. Dan 12.4. It is not ſaith one, the bodily removing of man from place to place, ſo much as the buſie ſtirring of the mind from one truth to another by meditation, that encreaſeth spirituall knowledge.
2. Meditation rectifies the affections of the ſoul: it oppoſeth ſerious conſiderations againſt vain imaginations; and becauſe our imagination is apt to raiſe falſe objects, and thereby falſe conceits and diſcourſes in us, therefore meditation propoundeth true objects for the mind to work upon, from the meditation whereof, the ſoul rightly conceives of things, and diſcourſeth upon true grounds of them, meditating thus with himſelf; if things be thus and thus in reality, then muſt I live according to theſe principles: this is the ſpring of all holy affections in the ſoul, as the true love of God; the true joy and delight in him and his wayes. Meditation is like the player on an Inſtrument, who by touching of the ſtrings, finds them that are out of tune, winding them up, or letting them down; ſo after meditation hath examined the love, the hate, the fears, the hopes, the griefs, the joyes of our ſouls, if it find them out of tune in expreſſing their harmony, which is the glory of God, it then puts them in tune again.
3. Meditation fills the heart with joy: My meditation of him ſhall be ſweet; I will be glad in the Lord, Pſal. 104.34. When the Spirit of God doth open the eyes of the ſoul, and it is brought forth into the light, then doth meditation clear up to the ſoul thoſe grounds of joy, which are exceeding comfortable. Holy meditation ſhews the ſoul the face of God reconciled; his pardon ſealed; an entrance into the everlaſting Kingdome; the heart of God opened toward him; and his name written in Heaven.Activa vira habet ſolicitum curſum, contemplativa gaudium ſempiternum. Prosper. l. 1 de contempl. virâ. Meditation clears up the promiſes to him, that he never ſaw before: he ſaw them before as by Candle-light, by common light and reaſon; but now he ſeeth them in another complexion. Meditation clears up their intereſt in God and his promiſes; and this is great matter of rejoycing. Meditation works in the ſoul a frame of heart, ſuitable to the Goſpel; what is more ſuitable to the Goſpel, than the joyes of the holy Ghoſt? therefore when meditation works thorowly upon the heart, it yeeldeth comforts ſuitable to the Goſpel. It is good for Chriſtians to meditate much in God's promiſes, which do convey much joy into the heart: then doſt thou improve the promiſes, when thou doſt ſo reliſh them, as to rejoyce in them, according to that ſweetneſſe that is revealed and contained in them.
4.Quae alii di… pariendo levia faciunt, ſapiens levia facit diù cogitando. Charron. de ſapient. Pſal. 119.150, 151. Holy meditation is a great ſupport to the ſoul under afflictions: when trouble is near, it repreſents God as near, or nearer than any trouble can be: ſuppoſe it be trouble of ſpirit, that is very near indeed, for that is in the vitals, it is a ſoul-ſickneſſe; but meditation ſhewes them: though Satan may draw near to them to devour them, yet God is nearer to them; a God nearer to ſave, than any michievous enemy to deſtroy. Meditation labours to affect the heart with the ſenſe of God's continuall preſence with it: this is indeed our great weakneſſe, and our great unthankfulneſſe, that we are apt to muſe more upon God's afflicting of us, than of God's perpetuall preſence with us: there is a ſavour in the ointments of the Lord Chriſt, ſufficient to perfume any ſoul that comes near him.
5. Frequent meditation on God, makes a man more holy, more like unto him; it ſees ſo much beauty and goodneſſe in him, that it makes a man caſt away every unſavoury luſt, and all thoſe affections that have a ſtrong ſent of the fleſh, that they may be made like to God in holineſſe. Thoſe Flowers that grow in the Sun, are far more beautifull, and fragrant, and pleaſant, than thoſe that grow in the ſhade; but if we ſuffer our ſouls to be over-ſhadowed with carnall thoughts and affections, theſe dark bodies will interpoſe between God and us, and hinder the influences of his love upon us: If the Needle that is but toucht with the Loadſtone, ſtands Northward; then the ſoul that is toucht with God, will ſtand Heavenward, and labour to be conformed more to him in holineſſe.
6. Meditation is a great help to perſeverance in well-doing: the ſerious and frequent meditation of this promiſe,Pſal. 94.12, 14. that the Lord will not caſt off his people, nor forſake his inheritance, makes them to cleave faſt unto him. This is the foundation of a peoples bleſſedneſſe, that God will not forſake them, when he doth moſt ſharply correct them; that the ſame priviledge that belongs to the whole Church, belongs to every member of it; for it is as poſſible for God to caſt off his people, and his whole inheritance, as to caſt off any one particular member of it: for, for God to caſt off his people, were to diſinherit himſelf; God would have his people to meditate hereof. Thus ſaith God to Jeremy, Ier. 33.24, 25, 26.Conſidereſt thou not what this people have spoken, ſaying, the two families which the Lord hath choſen, he hath caſt them off: but in the words following, ſee how God doth aſſert his unchangeable Covenant, againſt this falſe aſſertion: If my Covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the Ordinances of Heaven and earth, then will I caſt away the ſeed of Jacob, &c. as if he had ſaid, If ever you knew a day, that had not a night ſucceeding it, and a winter without a ſummer, and ever found the Laws of Heaven abrogated, then may you give way to your unbelief, and think that I will caſt off my people; but if you ſee a perpetuall interchange of day and night, though ſome dayes be more bright than others, then will I never caſt off any people, that I have taken for my own. The meditation hereof, is a ſpeciall means to keep us cloſe to God, even then when the foundations of the earth are ſhaken.
Meditate ſeriouſly on ſuch things as may ſerve actually to convince thee of the unfitneſſe and unreaſonableneſſe of thy yeelding to the ſin to which thou art tempted, and of the miſchief that may come by yeelding. When we muſter up ſuch thoughts, we levy ſtore of good ſouldiers which will fight with us, and for us, and do us good ſervice while we are under temptation: by this means alone (with God's grace accompanying) have many ſervants of God held their own, when the Devil would have killed them. Hoord. Serm. in Epheſ. 4.30.7. Meditation is a ſtrong barricado againſt the temptations of Satan: the ſoul finds ſo much ſweetneſſe in God, that it ſtrongly guardeth the heart, will and affections, againſt temptations to ſin; it finds ſuch delight in the meditation of God, that it loaths the ſweeteſt ſin. He that is uſed to choice meats and drinks, can very ill brook unſavoury things; ſo a man that is heavenly minded, is brought to diſreliſh thoſe ſins, that others drink down like water with greedineſſe: meditation makes the heart very tender, and ſenſible of leſſer ſins, and ſtirrings of corruption. In a ſtill, ſilent, clear night, a little ſound will be eaſily heard, which will not be taken notice of in the day time, when there is much buſineſſe in hand; ſo when Chriſt and the ſoul do reſt, and converſe together, the ſoul is very quick of hearing: if the old Serpent doth but hiſſe never ſo little, Satan then finds the ſoul upon its guard, and that it hath a wakefull enemy. A ſoul that is conſtant in the meditation of God, is like a bright clear ſhiny day, when any little cloud will be taken notice of, at the firſt riſing; and like a calm Sea, where a little ſtirring of the water will be diſcerned, when the water firſt ariſeth.