A77360:862
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation. : Gods return to the soul, or nation; together with his preventing mercy. : Delivered in ten sermons, (viz.) 1. Christs personal excellencies, the object of our love. 2. Christ crucified, the object of our faith. 3. The new covenant of grace opened. 4. Christ the mediator of the new covenant. 5. The way and spirit of the new covenant, or New Testament. 6. The blood of sprinkling. 7. The sweetness and profitableness of divine meditation. 8. The work and way of this meditation. 9. Gods return to the soul and nation. 10. Preventing mercy. / By W.B.
London: printed for N. Ranew, 1667
Sermons › Sermon 8: The Work and Way of Meditation. SERM. VIII.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
6. If you would meditate on God and the things of God, Then labour to get a deep Impression of the things of God upon your heart and soul. 'Tis deep impressions that calls for meditation. A man reads the word of God, and it may be understands it, but he don't meditate—Why? — because the word made no impression upon his heart as he went along. But if he read it, and understand it, and hath an impression made upon his soul as he reads it, then he thinks on't afterwards: As in hearing the Word of God, a man hears the Word of God in Public or in Private, and he meditates not thereupon — Why? — Why, because it has no impression upon him. Possibly a man may think of the free grace of God, yet if it make no impression upon his soul, he don't ⟨p. 449⟩go away and meditate on it. If a man think on the Wrath of God, and it make an impression upon him, he goes away, and is still in the thoughts thereof: What's the reason, that many poor souls, troubled in Conscience, are always thinking of Hell, and Judgement, and Wrath, but because the Wrath of God hath made a deep impression upon their souls; and the more deep the impression is upon your soul, the more full will your meditation be: You see how it was in former times, when they went in procession, at the end of the Parish, they would take up a Boy and whip him,— Why? that he might remember the bounds of the Parish: for, Passion is the best Door-keeper of Memory. And as passion is the Door-keeper of Memory; so Impression is the Door-keeper of Meditation.
6. If you would meditate on God and the things of God, Then labour to get a deep Impression of the things of God upon your heart and soul. 'Tis deep impressions that calls for meditation. A man reads the word of God, and it may be understands it, but he don't meditate—Why? — because the word made no impression upon his heart as he went along. But if he read it, and understand it, and hath an impression made upon his soul as he reads it, then he thinks on't afterwards: As in hearing the Word of God, a man hears the Word of God in Publick or in Private, and he meditates not thereupon — Why? — Why, because it has no impression upon him. Possibly a man may think of the free grace of God, yet if it make no impression upon his soul, he don't ⟨p. 449⟩go away and meditate on it. If a man think on the Wrath of God, and it make an impression upon him, he goes away, and is still in the thoughts thereof: What's the reason, that many poor souls, troubled in Conscience, are alwayes thinking of Hell, and Judgement, and Wrath, but because the Wrath of God hath made a deep impression upon their souls; and the more deep the impression is upon your soul, the more full will your meditation be: You see how it was in former times, when they went in procession, at the end of the Parish, they would take up a Boy and whip him,— Why? that he might remember the bounds of the Parish: for, Passion is the best Door-keeper of Memory. And as passion is the Door-keeper of Memory; so Impression is the Door-keeper of Meditation.