offensive service, because it was against his will. The difficulty that we find in holy duties, lieth not in the duties themselves, but in the awkwardness of our affections. Many think they have no parts, and therefore they cannot meditate. He that findeth a heart to this work, will find a head. Delight will set the mind a work; for we are apt to muse and pause upon that which is pleasing to us. Why are not holy thoughts as natural and as kindly to us as carnal? The defect is in the heart. "I have rejoiced in thy testimonies," saith David, and therefore "I will meditate in thy precepts."

In the words there is a double expression of David's love to the law of God:

I. I will meditate in thy precepts.

II. I will have respect to thy ways.
Concerning which observe,-

1. In both the notion by which the word of God is expressed and diversified, "precepts," "ways." ways." The word precepts implieth God's authority, by which the counsels of the word are ratified. Ways implieth a certain directions for our walk to Heaven. There are God's ways to us declared to us in his promises; so it is said, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth" (Psalm xxv. 10). Our ways to God, verse 4 of that psalm: "Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths.' These are his precepts.

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2. Observe, the one is the fruit of the other: "I will meditate;" and then, "I will have respect." Meditation is in order to practise; and if it be right, it will beget a respect to the ways of God. We do not meditate, that we may rest in contemplation, but in order to obedience : Thou shalt meditate in the book of the law day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein" (Joshua i. 8.) So, "Think of these things, do these things," Aoyíɛɛ, (Phil. iv. 8, 9); when you cast up your accounts, and consider what God hath required of you, it is that you may set upon the work. Meditation is not a flourishing of the wit, that we may please the fancy by playing with divine truths; (sense is diseased, that must be fed with quails) but a serious inculcation of them upon the heart, that we may urge it to practise. Nor yet acquainting ourselves with the word, that we may speak of it in company; conference is for others, meditation for ourselves when we are alone. Words are but the female issue of our thoughts, works the male. Nor, merely to store ourselves with curious notions, and subtile inquiries; study searcheth out a truth, but meditation improveth it for practical use it is better to be sincere than subtile.

3. Observe, this practical obedience is expressed by having "respect unto the ways of God." To respect God's ways, is to take heed that we do not turn out of them, to regard them and ourselves: "observe to do them" (Josh. i. 8); and it is called elsewhere, pondering our path, "ponder the path of thy feet" (Prov. 4. 26), that we may not mistake our way, nor wander out of it. Respect to God's word was opened, verses 6 and 9. The main point is this:

That one great duty of the saints is meditating on the word of God, and such matters as are contained therein.

Let us inquire what meditation is, because the practice and knowledge of the duty is almost become a stranger to us. Before I can define I must distinguish it. Meditation is,

1st, Occasional. 2ndly, Set and solemn.

First, Occasional meditation is an act by which the soul spiritualizeth every object about which it is conversant. A gracious heart is like an alembick, it can distil useful thoughts out of all things that it meeteth with. Look, as it seeth all things in God, so it seeth God in all things. Thus Christ, at Jacob's well, discourseth of the well of life (John iv.); at the miracle of the loaves, discourseth of manna (John vi.); at the feast of tabernacles, of living waters (John vii.); at the Pharisee's supper, discourseth of eating bread in the kingdom of God (Luke xiv. 15). There is a holy chemistry and art that a Christian hath to turn water into wine, brass into gold, to make earthly occasions and objects to minister spiritual and heavenly thoughts. God trained up the old chuch by types and ceremonies, that the things they ordinarily conversed with, might put them in mind of God and Christ, their duties, and dangers, and sins. And our Lord, in the New Testament, taught by parables and similitudes taken from ordinary functions and offices amongst men, that in every trade and calling we might be employed in our worldly business with a heavenly mind; that whether in the shop, or at the loom, or in the field, we might still think of Christ, and grace, and Heaven. There is a parable of the merchantman, a parable of the sower, a parable of the man calling his servants to an account, &c., that upon all occasions we might wind up our minds, and extract some spiritual use from our common affairs. Thus the creatures lift up our minds to the Creator. David had his night meditation, "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon, and the stars which thou hast ordained," &c. (Psalm viii. 3); the sun is not mentioned. When he was gone abroad in the night, his heart was set on work presently. And, there is a morning meditation, (Psalm xix. 5.) for he seemeth to describe the sun coming out of his chambers in the East, and displaying his beams like a cloth of gold upon the world. A holy heart cannot want an object to lead him to the meditation of God's power, and goodness, and glory, and wise Providence, who hath made and doth order all things according to the counsel of his will. There is a great deal of practical divinity in the very bosom of nature, if we had the skill to find it out. Job biddeth us, "Ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee." They speak by our thoughts.

Secondly, There is set and solemn meditation. Now this is of several sorts, or rather they are several parts of the same exercise.

1. There is a reflexive meditation, which is nothing but a solemn parley between a man and his own heart. "Commune with your own heart and be still" (Psalm iv. 4). When we have withdrawn ourselves from company, that the mind may return upon itself, to consider what we are, what we have been, what straights and temptations we have passed through, how we overcame them, how we passed from death to life; this is a necessary part of meditation, but very difficult. What can be more against self-love, and carnal ease, than for a man to be his own accuser and judge? All our shifts are to avoid our own company, and to run away from ourselves. The basilisk dieth by seeing itself in a mirror; and a guilty man cannot endure to see his own natural face in the glass of the word. The worldly man choaketh his soul with business, lest for want

of work the mill should fall upon itself. The voluptuous person melteth away his days in pleasure, and charmeth his soul into a deep sleep with the potion of outward delights, lest it should awake and talk with him. Well, then, it is necessary that you should take some time to discourse with yourselves, to ask of your souls what you have been, what you are, what you have done, what shall become of you to all eternity. No man asketh of himself, "What have I done?" (Jer. viii. 6.) You would think it strange of two men that conversed every day for forty or fifty years, and yet all this while they did not know one another. Now this is the case between us and our own souls; we live a long time in the world, and yet are strangers to ourselves.

2. There is a meditation more direct; when we exercise our minds in the word of God, and the matters contained therein. This is twofold:(1.) Dogmatical, or the searching out of a truth in order to knowledge; proving "what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. xii. 2). This is study, and differeth from meditation in the object, and supposeth the matter we search after to be unknown, either in whole or in part; whereas practical meditation is the inculcation or whetting of a known truth upon the soul: and it differs in the end; the end of study is information, and the end of meditation is practice, or a work upon the affections. Study is like a winter's sun, that shineth, but warmeth not; but meditation is like blowing up the fire, where we do not mind the blaze but the heat. The end of study is to hoard up truth; but of meditation, to lay it forth in conference or holy conversation. In study, we are rather like vintners, that take in wine to store themselves for sale; in meditation, like those that buy wine for their own use and comfort. A vintner's cellar may be better stored than a nobleman's. The student may have more of notion and knowledge, but the practical Christian hath more of taste and refreshment.

(2.) Practical and applicative: This we now speak of; and it is that duty and exercise of religion whereby the mind is applied to the serious and solemn consideration and improvement of the truths which we understand and believe, for practical uses and purposes. Not like a man that soweth and never reapeth; or a woman that often conceives, but never brings forth living children.

I. It is a duty, for it is commanded: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein" (Josh. i. 8). As the promise is general, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Heb. xiii. 5), so is the command. To meditate in the law is a part of the description of a godly man: "His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Psalm. i. 2). It is commended to us by the practice and example of the saints in Scripture: "Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the even-tide" (Gen. xxiv. 63); to pray, as in the margent; the word in the original is indifferent to both senses; it properly signifieth muttering, or an imperfect or suppressed sound. The Septuagint sometimes renders it by acide to sing; but others by acoλexa, which signifies to exercise himself. The word is used here ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς σε ἀδολεχήσω. Symmachus, λαλῆσαι, to speak: Aquila, uñoa, to discourse with Godand his own soul. The original word signifieth to mutter, or such a speaking as is between thoughts and words. He made his duty his refreshment and solace at night. So

David often in this Psalm. Reason enforceth it; God, that is a Spirit, deserveth the most pure and spiritual worship by the mind, as well as that which is performed by the body. Thoughts are the eldest and noblest offspring of the soul, and it is fit they should be consecrated to converse with God.

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: "Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction" (Psalm cxix. 92). Hope is not lively, unless we contemplate the thing hoped for, and with Abraham walk through the land of promise (Gen. xv); and think often and seriously on the glory of the riches of the inheritance of the saints (Eph. i. 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 God's love in Christ (Eph. iii. 18, 19), the more is the heart melted and drawn out to God, and more quickened to obedience: "Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes" (Psalm xxvi. 3). 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. 66 Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves: for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was" (James i. 22-24). 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 sunbeam 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: "God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this," &c. (Psalm lxii. 11); that is, 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, "I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation" (Psalm cxix. 99). The preacher can but lay down general theorems, and deduce practical inferences; but that which fasteneth them upon the heart, is our own thoughts; and so we come to be wiser, to see more clearly and practically as to our own case, than he that preacheth; we see a further use than he was aware of. So for prayer : what we take in by the word, we digest by meditation, and let out by prayer. These three duties help one another. What is the reason men have such a barren, dry, and sapless spirit in their prayers? it is for want of exercising themselves in holy thoughts: "My heart is inditing a good matter," and then "my tongue is as the pen of a ready writer" (Psalm xlv. 1); it alludeth to the mincah, the meat-offering; the oil and flour were to be kneaded together, and fried in a pan, and so offered to the Lord. When we come with raw, dough-baked offerings, before we have concocted and prepared our thoughts by mature deliberation, we are

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barren or tumultuary in our prayers to God. Prayer is called by the name of meditation, because it is the product and issue of it; as, "Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation" (Psalm v. 1). Again, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight" (Psalm xix. 14). Implying that prayer is but the vent and expression of what we have deliberated and meditated upon. So David findeth his desires more earnest after grace, the more he mused and meditated: "I remember the days of old, I meditate on all thy works: I muse on the works of thy hands, I stretch forth my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land" (Psalm cxliii. 5, 6). Well then it is the life and strength of other ordinances, without which, how slight and perfunctory are we! I might instance in conference, the stream of good discourse is fed by serious thoughts. The Lord's Supper is a duty which is mainly despatched by our thoughts; there we come to put reason to the highest use, to be the instrument of faith and love; of faith in believing applications; of love, in resolutions of duty and thankfulness. In that one ordinance there is a union of mysteries, which we take abroad in holy and serious thoughts. To have an unfruitful understanding then, is a great damp and deadness to the heart. Now we shall never enlarge ourselves in pertinent and savoury thoughts unless we use to meditate; for spiritual dispositions do not come upon us of a sudden, and by rapid motions, but by progressive and orderly degrees and preparations.

3. It is a profitable duty as to temporals. Isaac went out to meditate, and of a sudden he espied the camels coming, upon which Rebecca was brought to him (Gen. xxiv. 63, 64). Was this a mere accident think you, or a providence worthy of remark and observation? Isaac goes to meet with God, and there he gets the first view of his bosom friend and spouse. This was a mercy cast into the bargain: "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." There is nothing lost by duty and acts of piety. Seneca said the Jews were a foolish people, because they lost the full seventh part of their lives. Septimam ætatis partem perdunt vacando, intending their Sabbath time. This is the sense of nature, to think all lost that is bestowed on God. Flesh and blood crieth out, What need this waste? They cannot spare time from their callings, they have families to maintain. Oh, let me tell you, by serving God, you drive on two cares at once. Worldly interests are cast into the way of religion; and though not designed and intended by us, these things are added to us. For comforts and manifestations of God, we have them many times in our recess, and the privacy of our retirements, in a more plentiful manner than elsewhere. The spouse inviteth the bridegroom, Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field (Cant. vii. 11); upon which Bernard saith, O sancta anima, fuge publicum, fuge, an nescis te verecundum habere sponsum, qui nequaquam tibi velit indulgere præsentiam suam coram alis? We have most experiences of God, when we are alone with him, and sequestered from all distractions of company and business, solacing ourselves with God. Moses drove the sheep to the back side of the wilderness, and came to the mount of God (Exod. iii. 1); he goeth aside from the other shepherds, that he might converse with the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, and there he seeth the vision of the fiery bush.