Thus I have done with this case, in which I have been in the high mountains. I shall come to the valleys, which, as they are more easy of access, so usually they are more fruitful. What follows will be more plain.
298 SERMONS UPON GENESIS XXIV. 63.
SERMON V.
And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the even-tide.-— Gen. xxiv. 63.
Case 4. When must we meditate ?
1. In the general, something should be done every day ; seldom converse begetteth a strangeness to God, and an unfitness for the duty. It is a description of God's servant, Ps. i. 2, ' His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.' At least we should take all convenient occasions. It is an usual way of natural men to make conscience of duties after a long neglect ; they peiforni duties to pacify a natural conscience, and use them as a man would use a sleepy potion or strong waters ; they are good at a pinch, not for constant drink. Alas ! we lose by such wide gaps and distances between performance and performance ; it is as if we had never done it before.
2. For the particular time of the day when you should meditate, that is arbitrary. I told you before you may do it either in the silence of the night, when God hath drawn a curtain of darkness between you and the things of the world ; or in the freshness of the morning, or in the evening, when the wildness and vanity of the mind is spent in worldly business.
3. There are some special solemn times, when the duty is most in season; as —
[1.] After a working sermon ; after the word hath fallen upon you with a full stroke, it is good to follow the blow ; and when God hath cast seed into the heart, let not the fowls peck it away : Mat. xiii. 19, * When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.* Euminate on the word, chew the cud ; many a sermon is lost because it is not whet upon the thoughts : James i. 23, 24, ' He is like a man that beholdeth his natural face in a glass ; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was : ' Mat. xxii. 22, ' When they heard these things, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.' You should roll the word in your thoughts, and deeply consider of it.
[2.] Before some solemn duties, as before the Lord's supper, and before special times of deep humiliation, or before the sabbath. Medi- tation is, as it were, the breathing of the soul ; that it may the better hold out in religious exercises, it is a good preparative to raise the spirits into a frame of piety and religion. When the harp is fitted and tuned, it doth the better make music ; so when the heart is fixed and settled by a preparative meditation, it is the fitter to make melody to God in worship.
[3.] When God doth specially revive and enable the Spirit. It is good to take advantage of the Spirit's gales ; so fresh a wind should make us hoist up our sails. Do not lose the Spirit's seasons ; the Spirit's impulses are good significations from God that now is an acceptable time.
SERMONS UPON GENESIS XXIV. 63. 299
Case 5. What time is to be spent in the duty ?
I answer — That is left to spiritual discretion. Suck the teat as long as milk cometh. Duties must not be spun out to an unnecessary length. You must neither yield to laziness, nor occasion spiritual weariness ; the devil hath advantage upon you both ways. When you rack and torture your spirits after they have been spent, it makes the work of God a bondage ; and therefore come not ofi' till you find profit, and do not press too hard upon the soul, nor oppress it with an indiscreet zeal. It is Satan's policy to make you out of love with meditation by spinning it out to a tediousness and an unnecessary length.
Case 6. Whether should the time be set and constant ?
I answer — It is good to bind the heart to somewhat, and yet leave it to such a liberty as becomes the gospel. Bind it to somewhat every day, that the heart may not be loose and arbitrary. We see that necessity quickeneth and urgeth, and when the soul is engaged it goes to work the more thoroughly. Therefore the Lord asks, Jer. xx. 21, ' Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me ? ' It is good to lay a tie upon the heart ; and yet I advise not to a set stinted hour, lest we create a snare to ourselves. Though a man should resist dis- tractions and distempers, yet some business is unavoidable, and some distempers are invincible. I have observed this, that even religious persons are more sensible of their own vows than of God's commands ; when men have bound up themselves in chains of their own making, their consciences fall upon them, and dog them with restless accusations, when they cannot accomplish so much duty as they have set and pre- scribed to themselves. And besides, when hours are customary and set, the heart groweth formal and superstitious.