2. The reason why all the Sermons we hear do us no more good, is for want of Divine meditation; for it is with Sermons as it is with meat, it is not the having of meat upon your table will feed you, but you must eat it; and not only eat it, but concoct it, and digest it, or else your meat will do you no good: So it is with Sermons, it is not the hearing Sermons will do you good, but it is the concocting them, digesting them by meditation; the pondering in your hearts what you hear, must do you good. And one Sermon well digested, well meditated upon, is better than twenty Sermons without meditation. As for example, a little meat well digested will nourish a man more than a great deal of meat if it breed raw humours, if it doth not digest; it is the digesting of meat nourisheth a man: Now meditation is that that will digest all the Sermons you hear. There are some men sick of a disease, that whatsoever they eat comes up presently, the meat never doth them any good; so it is the custom of many of you, you hear a Sermon, you go away, and never think of it afterward; this is just like meat that you vomit up. There ⟨p. 32⟩is a disease that some men have, that all the meat they eat goes through them, it never abides with them; now this meat never nourisheth: so it is with the Sermons you hear, I am sure on the week-day, and I am afraid the Sermons you hear on the Sabbath-day go through you, you hear them, and hear them, and that is all you do; but you never seek by meditation to root them in your hearts; and that is the reason why you are so lean in grace, though you are so full fed with Sermons; it is with Sermons as it is with a Plaster, if a man hath a wound in his body, and lay a plaster to the wound, this plaster will never heal him, unless it abide upon the wound; if a man takes it away as soon as ever it is laid on, it will never do him any good; so it is with Sermons: if when you have heard a Sermon, you never ponder and meditate on it, it is just like a plaster put on, and then pulled off again; and I am confident the great reason why we have so many lean hunger-starved Christians, that are lean in knowledge, and lean in grace, though they hear Sermon upon Sermon, (it may be on the Sabbath-day they will hear four or five Sermons) is because they concoct and digest nothing; they never ponder and meditate upon what they hear;
2. The reason why all the Sermons we hear do us no more good, is for want of Divine meditation; for it is with Sermons as it is with meat, it is not the having of meat upon your table will feed you, but you must eat it; and not only eat it, but concoct it, and digest it, or else your meat will do you no good: So it is with Sermons, it is not the hearing Sermons will do you good, but it is the concocting them, digesting them by meditation; the pondering in your hearts what you hear, must do you good. And one Sermon well digested, well meditated upon, is better than twenty Sermons without meditation. As for example, a little meat well digested will nourish a man more than a great deal of meat if it breed raw humours, if it doth not digest; it is the digesting of meat nourisheth a man: Now meditation is that that will digest all the Sermons you hear. There are some men sick of a disease, that whatsoever they eat comes up presently, the meat never doth them any good; so it is the custom of many of you, you hear a Sermon, you go away, and never think of it afterward; this is just like meat that you vomit up. There ⟨p. 32⟩is a disease that some men have, that all the meat they eat goes thorow them, it never abides with them; now this meat never nourisheth: so it is with the Sermons you hear, I am sure on the week-day, and I am afraid the Sermons you hear on the Sabbath-day go thorow you, you hear them, and hear them, and that is all you do; but you never seek by meditation to root them in your hearts; and that is the reason why you are so lean in grace, though you are so full fed with Sermons; it is with Sermons as it is with a Plaister, if a man hath a wound in his body, and lay a plaister to the wound, this plaister will never heal him, unless it abide upon the wound; if a man takes it away as soon as ever it is laid on, it will never do him any good; so it is with Sermons: if when you have heard a Sermon, you never ponder and meditate on it, it is just like a plaister put on, and then pulled off again; and I am confident the great reason why we have so many lean hunger-starved Christians, that are lean in knowledg, and lean in grace, though they hear Sermon upon Sermon, (it may be on the Sabbath-day they will hear four or five Sermons) is because they concoct and digest nothing; they never ponder and meditate upon what they hear;
