A96109:280
The saints delight. To which is annexed a treatise of meditation
The saints delight. To which is annexed a treatise of meditation. / By Thomas Watson, minister of Stephens Walbrook in the city of London. Imprimatur, Edm. Calamy.
London: printed by T.R. & E.M. for Ralph Smith, 1657
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
CHAP. XIII. For the Right Timing of Meditation.
Quest. 1. What is the fittest time for meditation?
Quest. 1. WHat is the fittest time for meditation?
Answ. For the timing of it, it is hard to prescribe, because of mens various callings and employments. But if I may freely speak my thoughts, the morning is the fittest time for Meditation. The best time to converse with God is, when we may be most private, that is, before worldly occasions stand knocking as so many Suitors at the door to be let in: the morning is, as it were the cream of the day, let the cream be taken off ⟨p. 223⟩and let God have it. In the stilling of strong water, the first water that is drawn from the Still is more full of spirits, the second drawing is weaker; So the first Meditations, that are stilled from the mind in a morning, are the best, and we shall find them to be most full of life, and spirits. The morning is the Golden hour. God loved the first fruits, Exod. 23.19. The first of the first-fruits thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord. Let God have the first-fruits of the day; the first of our thoughts must be set abroach for heaven. The student takes the morning for his study*. The Usurer gets up in the morning, and looks over his books of account; a Christian must begin with God in the morning. David was with God before break of day,