Chapter 12. Concerning Occasional Meditations
Chapter 12.
Concerning Occasional Meditations Having removed these two objections out of the way, let me again revive the exhortation to "meditate on God's law day and night," (Jos
1.8). There are two sorts of meditation which I would persuade you to practice: 1. Occasional, and 2. Deliberate.
1. Occasional meditations. These are taken up on any sudden occasion. There is hardly anything that occurs that we may not quickly raise some meditation upon it. As a good herbalist extracts the spirits and quintessence out of every herb, so a Christian may from every emergence and occurrence, extract some matter for meditation. A gracious heart, like fire, turns all objects into fuel for meditation. I will give you some instances. When you look up to the heavens, and see them richly embroidered with light, you may raise this meditation: If the footstool is so glorious, what about the throne where God himself sits? When you see the firmament glittering with stars, think about Christ as the bright Morning Star! Rev 22.16.
Monica, Austin's mother, was standing there one day seeing the sun shine; she raised this meditation: "Oh! If the sun is so bright, then what is the light of God's presence!" When you hear music that delights the senses, quickly raise this meditation: What music is like a good conscience? This is the bird of paradise within, whose chirping melody enchants and ravishes the soul with joy. He that has this music all day, may take David's pillow at night, and say with that sweet singer, "I will lay me down in peace and sleep," Psa 4.8. How blessed is he who can find heaven in his own bosom!
When you get dressed in the morning, awaken your meditation.
Ask yourself, But have I been dressing the hidden man of the heart?
(1Pet 3.4). Have I looked at my face in the mirror of God's word? I have put on my clothes, but have I put on Christ? (Gal 3.27) It is reported of Pambo,83 that seeing a gentlewoman dressing herself all morning by her mirror, he fell to weeping. "Oh," he says, "this woman has spent the morning dressing her body, and I sometimes spend scarcely an hour in dressing my soul!" When you sit down to
dinner, let your meditation feed upon this first course: How blessed are those who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! What a royal feast that will be, which has God for its founder! What a love-feast, where none will be admitted but friends!
When you go to bed at night, imagine this: Shortly I will put off the earthly clothes of my body, and make my bed in the grave. When you see the judge going to the courts, and hear the trumpet blow, think to yourselves, as Jerome did, that you are hearing that shrill trumpet sounding in your ears, Arise you dead, and come to judgment. When you see a poor man going about in the streets, raise this meditation:
Here is a walking picture of Christ who "had no place to lay his head," Mat 8.20. My Saviour became poor that I, through his poverty, might be made rich. When you go to church, think this: I am now going to hear God speak; let me not close my ear; if I refuse to hear him speaking in his word, I will next hear him speaking in his wrath, Psa 2.5. When you walk abroad in your orchard, and see the plants bearing fruit and the herbs flourishing, think how pleasing a sight it is to God to see a thriving Christian. How beautiful are the trees of righteousness when they are hung full of fruit, Phi 1.11, when they abound in faith, humility, and knowledge! When you pluck a rosebud in your garden, raise this contemplation: How lovely are the early outputs of grace! God prizes a Christian in the bud; he likes the bloomings of youth, rather than the sheddings of old age. When you eat a grape from the tree, think of Christ, the true vine, and how precious is the blood of that grape!
Such rare clusters grow there, that the angels themselves delight to taste them. It is said of Austin, that he was much in these extemporaneous meditations. A gracious heart, like the philosopher's stone, turns all into gold. It is stilling time all year with a Christian; he stills out heavenly meditations from earthly occurrences. The mythical alchemist, when several metals are mingled together, can by his skill extract the gold and silver from the baser metals. So a Christian, by a divine alchemy,84 can extract golden meditations from the various objects he beholds. Indeed it argues for a spiritual heart, to be able to turn everything to a spiritual use; and we have
Christ's own example for these occasional meditations, Joh 4.7, 10, 13, 14. While he sat at Jacob's well, he quickly meditates on that, and breaks forth into a most excellent discourse concerning the water of life. So much for occasional meditations.
2. Deliberate meditations. These are the chief meditations that I exhort you to. Set some time apart every day so that you may, in a serious and solemn manner, converse with God on the mount. A godly man is a man set apart, Psa 4.3. As God sets him apart by election, so he sets himself apart by meditation.