A96109:309
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.
Treatise › Chapter 16: Setting forth the excellency of meditation.
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. XVI. Setting forth the excellency of meditation.
Aristotle placeth Felicity in the contemplation of the mind. Meditation is highly commended by Austin, Chrysostom, Cyprian, as the nursery of piety. Hierom calls it his Paradise *with what words shall I set it forth? other duties have done excellently, but Thou excellest them all. Meditation is a friend to the graces, it helps to water the plantation. I may call it in Basils expression [Greek or Hebrew], 2the treasury where all the graces are locked up. And with Theophylact, the very gate & portal by which we enter into glory. By meditation ⟨p. 250⟩the Spirits are raised, 3and heightened, to a kind of angelical frame; meditation doth sweetly anticipate happiness, it puts us in heaven before our time. Meditation brings God and the Soul together, 1 Joh. 3.2.
ARistotle placeth Felicity in the contemplation of the mind. Meditation is highly commended by Austin, Chrysostome, Cyprian, as the nursery of piety. Hierom calls it his Paradise *with what words shall I set it forth? other duties have done excellently, but Thou excellest them all. Meditation is a friend to the graces, it helps to water the plantation. I may call it in Basils expression 〈non-Latin alphabet〉,