§ 4. This meditation is, the acting of all the powers of the soul. It is the work of the living, and not of the dead. It is the work of all others the most spiritual and sublime, and therefore not to be well performed by a heart that is merely carnal and earthly. They must necessarily have some relation to heaven, before they can familiarly converse there. I suppose them to be such as have a title to rest, when I persuade them to rejoice in the meditations of rest. And supposing thee to be a Christian, I am now exhorting thee to be an active Christian. And it is the work of the soul I am setting thee to, for bodily exercise doth here profit but little. And it must have all the powers of the soul, to distinguish it from the common meditation of students; for the understanding is not the whole soul, and therefore cannot do the whole work. As in the body, the stomach must turn the food into chyle, and prepare for the liver; the liver and spleen turn it into blood, and prepare for the heart and brain; so in the soul, the understanding must take in truths, and prepare them for the will, and that for the affections. Christ and heaven have various excellencies, and therefore God hath formed the soul with different powers for apprehending those excellencies. What the better had we been for odoriferous flowers, if we had no smell? Or what good would language or music have done us, if we could not hear? Or what pleasure should we have found in meats and drinks, without the sense of taste? So, what good could all the glory of heaven have done us, or what pleasure should we have had in the perfections of God himself, if we had been without the affections of love and joy? And what strength or sweetness canst thou possibly receive by thy meditations on eternity, while thou dost not exercise those affections of the soul, by which thou must be sensible of the sweetness and strength? It is the mistake of Christians, to think that meditation is only the work of the understanding and memory; when every school-boy can do this, or persons that hate the things which they think of. So that you see, there is more to be done than barely to remember and think of heaven; as some labors not only stir a hand, or a foot, but exercise the whole body, so doth meditation the whole soul. As the affections of sinners are set on the world, are turned to idols, and fallen from God, as well as their understanding; so must their affections be reduced to God, as well as the understanding; and as their whole soul was filled with sin before, so the whole must be filled with God now. See David's description of the blessed man, _His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night_.[349]
[Footnote 349] Psalm i, 2.
§ 5. This meditation is set and solemn. As there is solemn prayer, when we set ourselves wholly to that duty; _ejaculatory prayer_, when in the midst of other business, we send up some short request to God, so also there is solemn meditation, when we apply ourselves wholly to that work; and transient meditation, when in the midst of other business we have some good thoughts of God in our minds. And as solemn prayer is either set in a constant course of duty; or occasional, at an extraordinary season; so also is meditation. Now, though I would persuade you to that meditation, which is mixed with your common labors, and also that which special occasions direct you to; yet I would have you likewise make it a constant standing duty, as you do by hearing, praying, and reading the Scriptures; and no more intermix other matters with it, than you would with prayer, or other stated solemnities.