2. It is a necessary duty, not a thing of arbitrary concernment, a moral help that may be observed and omitted at our pleasure; but of absolute use, without which all graces wither. Faith is lean, unless it be fed with meditation on the promises. Psalm 119. 92. I had fainted in my affliction, unless thy word had been my delight. Hope is not lively, unless we contemplate the thing hoped for, and with Abraham walk through the Land of Promise, Gen. 15. and think often and seriously on the glory of the riches of the inheritance of the Saints, Eph. 1. 18. and get upon the Mount of Meditation, upon the top of Pisgah, to get a view of the Land. So for Love; the more we study the height, and breadth, and depth of Gods love in Christ, Eph. 3. 18, 19. the more is the heart melted and drawn out to God, and more quickened to obedience, Psal. 26. 3. Thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes. And as it helpeth our Graces in their exercise, so all other duties; as hearing of the word: To hear and not to meditate, is unfruitful; the heart is hard, and the memory slippery, the thoughts loose and vain; and therefore unless we cover the good seed, the fowls of the air will catch it away. It is like a thing put into a bag with holes, lost while it is received. James 1. 23, 24. Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls: for if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightways forgetteth what manner of person he was. Bare hearing begets but transient thoughts, and leaveth but a weak impression in the soul; like a flash of Lightning, as soon gone as come; or the glance of a Sun-beam upon a wave. A man never discerneth the scope, the beauty, the order of the Truths delivered, till he cometh to meditate on them, and to go over them again and again in his thoughts. Psal. 62. 11. God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this, &c. i. e. when we repeat it upon our thoughts, inculcate it, and meditate upon it, this maketh a deeper impression, and that which is spoken, rebounds again and again, it is twice heard. David saith, Psal. 119. 99. I have more understanding than all my Teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. The Preacher can but lay down general Theorems, and deduce practical Inferences;
2. It is a necessary duty, not a thing of arbitrary concernment, a moral help that may be observed and omitted at our pleasure; but of absolute use, without which all graces wither. Faith is lean, unless it be fed with meditation on the promises. Psalm 119. 92. I had fainted in my affliction, unless thy word had been my delight. Hope is not lively, unless we contemplate the thing hoped for, and with Abraham walk through the Land of Promise, Gen. 15. and think often and seriously on the glory of the riches of the inheritance of the Saints, Eph. 1. 18. and get upon the Mount of Meditation, upon the top of Pisgah, to get a view of the Land. So for Love; the more we study the height, and breadth, and depth of Gods love in Christ, Eph. 3. 18, 19. the more is the heart melted and drawn out to God, and more quickned to obedience, Psal. 26. 3. Thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes. And as it helpeth our Graces in their exercise, so all other duties; as hearing of the word: To hear and not to meditate, is unfruitful; the heart is hard, and the memory slippery, the thoughts loose and vain; and therefore unless we cover the good seed, the fowls of the air will catch it away. It is like a thing put into a bag with holes, lost while it is received. James 1. 23, 24. Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls: for if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightways forgetteth what manner of person he was. Bare hearing begets but transient thoughts, and leaveth but a weak impression in the soul; like a flash of Lightning, as soon gone as come; or the glance of a Sun-beam upon a wave. A man never discerneth the scope, the beauty, the order of the Truths delivered, till he cometh to meditate on them, and to go over them again and again in his thoughts. Psal. 62. 11. God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this, &c. i. e. when we repeat it upon our thoughts, inculcate it, and meditate upon it, this maketh a deeper impression, and that which is spoken, rebounds again and again, it is twice heard. David saith, Psal. 119. 99. I have more understanding than all my Teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. The Preacher can but lay down general Theorems, and deduce practical Inferences;
