The Saints Delight, Treatise · Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII. Containing divine motives to meditation.
Motive. 1 MEditation doth diſcriminate and characterize a man; by this he may take a meaſure of his heart, whether it be good or bad; let me allude to that Prov. 23.7. for as he thinketh in his heart, ſo is he; as the meditation is, ſuch is the man. Meditation is the Touchſtone of a Chriſtian, it ſhews what mettle he is made of. It is a Spiritual Index; the Index ſhows what is in the book: ſo meditation ſhows what is in the heart. If all a mans meditations are how he may get power againſt ſin, how he may grow in grace, how he may have more communion with God. This ſhows what is in his heart, the frame of his heart is ſpiritual; by the beating of this pulſe, judge of the health of thy ſoul. 'Tis made the character of a godly man, he fears God, and thinks of his Name, Mal. 3.17. Whereas if the thoughts are taken up with pride, and luſt, as are the Thoughts ſuch is the heart; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Iſa. 59.7. When vain ſinfull thoughts come, men make much of them, they make room for them, they ſhall diet and lodge with them; if a good thought chance to come into their minde, it is ſoon turned out of doors, as an unwelcome Gueſt; What need we further witneſs? This argues much unſoundneſs of heart; let this provoke to holy meditation.
Motive. 2 The thoughts of God, as they bring delight with them, ſo they leave peace behind: thoſe are the beſt houres which are ſpent with God. Conſcience, as the Bee, gives honey; it will not grieve us when we come to dye, that we have ſpent our time in holy Soliloquies and ejaculations. But what horror will the ſinner have when he ſhall ask Conſcience the queſtion as Joram did Jehu *2 Kings 9.22., is it peace Conſcience, is it peace? and conſcience ſhall ſay as Jehu, What peace as long as the Whoredomes of thy mother Jezabel, and her Witchcrafts are ſo many? O how ſad will it be with a man at ſuch a time? Chriſtians, as you tender your peace, meditate in Gods Law day and night.
Motive. 3 This duty of meditation, being neglected, the heart will run wilde, it will not be a vineyard, but a Wilderneſs *.
Neglectis urenda filix innaſcitur agris.
Meditation keeps the heart in a good decorum. It plucks up the weeds of ſin, Plantae nobiliores ſine cultu, ſilueſcunt Albertus, Magnus.it prunes the luxuriant branches, it waters the flowers of grace, it ſweeps all the walks in the heart, that Chriſt may walk there with delight. For want of holy meditation the heart lies like the ſluggards field, Prov. 24.31. all overgrown with thorns and briars, unclean earthly thoughts. It is rather the divels hogſty, then Chriſts garden. Tis like a houſe fallen to ruine, fit onelyonly for unclean ſpirits to inhabit.
Motive. 4 The fruitleſsneſs of all other meditations; one man laies out his thoughts about laying up; his meditations are how to raiſe himſelf in the world, and when he hath arrived at an eſtate often God blows upon it *Hag. 1.9.. His care is for his child, and perhaps God takes it away, or if it lives it proves a croſs. Another meditates how to ſatisfy his ambition, Honour me before the people, 1 Sam. 15.30. alas, what is honour but a meteor in the aire; a torch lighted by the breath of people *Honor uihi ſolidi eſt, ſed res imaginaria hominum arbitrio poſitae. M… cel.with the leaſt puff blown out; how many live to ſee their names buried before them *Miſeram eſt alinram incumbe…e famae Satyr.? When this Sun is in the meridian, it doth ſoon ſet in a cloud.
Et stult us labor eſt ineptiarum
— Martial.
Thus fruitleſs are thoſe meditations which do not center upon God. 'Tis but portare pulverem contra ventum, as Hierome ſpeaks. But eſpecially at death, then a man ſees all thoſe thoughts, which were not ſpent upon God to be fruitleſs, Pſalm 146.4. In that very day his thoughts periſh. I may allude to it in this ſence; all worldly, vain thoughts, in that day of death periſh, and come to nothing: What good will the whole globe of the world do at ſuch a time? Thoſe who have ravelled out their thoughts in impertinencies will but be the more diſquieted, it will cut them to the heart to think how they have ſpun a fools thread. A Scythian Captain, having for a Draught of water, yielded up the City, cryed out, quid perdidi, quid prodidi? What have I loſt? What have I betrayed? So will it be with that man, when he comes to dye, who hath ſpent all his meditations upon the world, he will ſay, what have I loſt, what have I betrayed? I have loſt heaven, I have betrayed my ſoul. And ſhould not the conſideration of this fix our minds upon the thoughts of God and glory? All other meditations are fruitleſs; like a piece of ground which hath much coſt laid out upon it but it yields no crop.
Motive. 5 Holy meditation is not loſt. God hath a pen to write down all our good thoughts. Mal. 3.5. a book of remembrance was written for them that thought upon his name. As God hath all our members, ſo all our meditations written in his book. God pens our cloſet devotion.
Motive. 6 The ſixth motive is in the text viz. the bleſſedneſſe affixed to the meditating Chriſtian, Bleſſed is the man, &c. verſe 1. ſay not it is hard to meditate. What think you of bleſſednes? foreign. Theodor. in Pſa. 1.Lycurgus could draw the Lacedemonians to any thing by rewards; If men can meditate with delight on that which will make them curſed, ſhal not we meditate on that which will make us bleſſed nay in the hebrew tis in the plural foreign bleſſedneſſes; we ſhall have one bleſſedneſs upon another.
Motive. 7 Laſtly, delightful meditation in Gods law, is the beſt way for a man to proſper in his eſtate, Ioſh. 1.8. This book of the law ſhall not depart out of thy mouth but thou ſhalt meditate therein, for then thou ſhalt make thy way proſperous. I leave this to their conſideration who are deſirous to thrive in the world; and let this ſerve for motive to meditation.
The next thing remaining is to lay down ſome rules about meditation.