There he beholdeth his unspeakable mercy to a prisoner condemned to * That is, ' distilling.'— G.
182 TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
die, without which at the last in a desperate case he is led and haled unto execution, by the cursed crew of hellish furies.
Here she learneth how the Holy Land is entailed, and retaileth by dis- course the descent from Adam, unto Abraham and his son Isaac, and so forward unto all the seed of the faithful. By meditation the soul prieth into the soul, and with a reciprocal judgment examinoth herself and every faculty thereof, what she hath, what she wanteth, where she dwelleth, where she removeth, and where she shall be.
By this she feeleth the pulses of God's Spirit beating in her ; the sugges- tions of Satan ; the corruptions of her own affections, who like a cruel step-dame mingleth poisons and pestilent things to murder the Spirit, to repel every good motion, and to be in the end the lamentable ruin of the whole man.
Here she standeth, as it were with Saul upon the mountains, beholding the combat between David and Goliah ; between the Spirit and the uncir- cumcised raging of the flesh, the stratagems of Satan, the bootless attempts of the world.
Here appear her own infirmities, her relapses into sin, herself astonied by the buffets of Satan, her fort shrewdly * battered by carnal and fleshly lusts, her colours and profession darkened and dimmed through the smoke of affliction, her faith hidden because of such massacres and treasons ; her hope banished with her mistrust ; herself hovering ready to take flight from the sincerity of her profession.
Here she may discern, as from the top of a mast, an army coming, whose captain is the Spirit, guarded with all his graces ; the bloody arms of Christ by him displayed, the trumpets' sound, Satan vanquished, the world conquered, the flesh subdued, the soul received,! profession bettered, and each thing restored to his former integrity.
The consideration hereof made Isaac go meditating in the evening. Gen. xxiv. 63.
This caused Hezekiah to ' mourn like a dove, and chatter like a pye ' in his heart, in deep silence, Isa. xxxviii. 14.
This forced David to meditate in the morning, nay, all the day long, Ps. Ixiii. G, and cxix. 148th verse, as also by night in ' secret thoughts,' Ps. xvi. 7.
This caused Paul to give Timothy this lesson to meditate, 1 Tim. iv. 13, Heq. And God himself commanded Joshua, when he was elected governor, that he should meditate upon the law of Moses both day and night, to the end he might perform the things written therein. Josh. i. 8.
And Moses addeth this clause, teaching the whole law from God him- self, ' These words must remain in thy heart, thou must meditate upon them, both at home and abroad, when thou goest to bed, and when thou risest in the morning,' Deut. vi. 7.
This meditation is not a passion of melancholy, nor a fit of fiery love, nor covetous care, nor senseless dumps, but a serious act of the Spirit in * That is, • injuriously.'— G. t Qu. ' revived ' ? — G.
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the inwards of the soul, whose object is spiritual, whose affection is a provoked appetite to practise holy things ; a kindling in us of the love of Grod, a zeal towards his truth, a healing our benumbed hearts, according to that speech of the prophet, * My heart did was hot within me, and fire did kindle in my meditations,' Ps. xxxix. 3, the want whereof caused Adam to fall, yea, and all the earth, into utter desolation ; for there is no man considereth deeply in his heart, Jer. xii. 16. If Cain had considered the curse of God, and his heavy hand against that grievous and crying sin, he would not have slain his own brother. If Pharaoh would have set his heart to ponder of the mighty baud of God by the plagues already past, he should have prevented those which followed, and have foreslowed* his haste in making pursuit, with the destruction of himself and his whole army.
If Nadab and Abihu had regarded the fire they put in their censers, they might have been safe from the fire of heaven.
To conclude, the want of meditation hath been the cause of so many fearful events, strange massacres, and tragical deaths, which have from time to time pursued the drowsy heart and careless mind ; and in these our days is the butchery of all the mischiefs which have already chanced unto our countrymen ; for whilst God's judgments are masked, and not presented to the view of the mind by the serious work of the same, though they are keen and sharp, it being sheathed, they seem dull, and of no edge unto us, which causeth us to prick up the feathers of pride and inso- lency, and to make no reckoning of the fearful and final reckoning which most assuredly must be made, will we, nill we, before God's tribunal. Hence it cometh to pass that our English gentlewomen do brave it with such outlandish manners, as though they could dash God out of counte- nance, or roistf it in heaven as they carve it here, so that thousands are carried to hell out of their sweet perfumed chambers, where they thought to have lived, and are snatched presently from their pleasant and odori- ferous arbours, dainty dishes, and silken company, to take up their room in the dungeon and lake of hell, which burneth perpetually with fire and brimstone.