1. There is that which we call occasional meditation, which is an act by which the soul spiritualiseth every object about which it is conversant. A gracious heart is like an alembic, it can distil useful meditations out of all things it meeteth with. Look, as it seeth all things in God, so it seeth God in all things. So small a matter as a grain of mustard-seed may yield many spiritual applications.

2. There is set and solemn meditation. Now this is of several sorts, or rather, they are but several parts of the same exercise.(1) There is a reflexive meditation, by which we wholly fall upon ourselves. This is nothing else but a solemn parley between a man and his own heart (Psalm 4:4).(2) There is a meditation, which is more direct, and that is of two sorts —

(a)Dogmatical, whose object is the Word.

(b)Practical, whose object is our own lives.These are the kinds of meditation. The definition may be formed thus: Meditation is that duty or exercise of religion whereby the mind is applied to the serious and solemn contemplation of spiritual things, for practical uses and purposes. I shall open the description by the parts of it.

1. It is a duty and exercise of religion.(1) That it is a duty and exercise of religion appeareth by the evidence of Scripture, where it is commanded (Joshua 1:8), "This Book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night." It is made a character of a godly man (Psalm 1:2), "His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night." It is commended in the practice and example of the saints that were most famous in Scripture; Isaac in the text, Moses and David. And as it is plain by the evidence of Scripture; so by the light of nature and reason. God that is a Spirit deserveth the most pure and spiritual worship, as well as such as is performed by the body. The thoughts are the eldest and noblest offspring of the soul, and the solemn consecration of them is fit for God.(2) It is not a duty of an arbitrary concernment. It is not only a moral help that may be observed or omitted, but a necessary duty, without which all graces would languish and wither. Faith is lean and ready to starve unless it be fed with continual meditation on the promises; as David saith (Psalm 119:92), "Unless Thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished in my affliction." Thoughts are the caterers of the soul, that purvey for faith, and fetch in food and refresh it with the comfort of the promises. Hope is low, and doth not arise to such a fulness of expectation till by meditation we take a deliberate view of our hopes and privileges (Genesis 13:17).

II. THE NECESSITY AND PROFIT OF MEDITATION, OR MOTIVES TO PRESS TO THIS DUTY. I shall urge such as will serve also for marks; for when it is well performed, you will find these effects wrought in you. Meditation is the mother and nurse of knowledge and godliness, the great instrument in all the offices of grace; it helpeth on the work of grace upon the understanding, affections, and life, for the understanding of the doctrine of godliness, for the provoking of godly affections, and for the heavenly life.

1. In point of understanding it is of great advantage to us in the entertainment of the doctrines of religion.(1) To give us a clearer and more distinct sight of them.(2) That we may the better retain them.(3) That they may be always more ready and present with us.

2. It is a great advantage to the work of grace upon the affections.

3. It is an advantage to the fruits of grace in the life; it maketh the heavenly life more easy, more sweet, more orderly and prudent.

III. RULES TO GUIDE YOU IN THIS WEIGHTY AFFAIR OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

1. Whatever you meditate upon must be drawn down to application.

2. Do not pry further than God hath revealed; your thoughts must he still bounded by the Word.

3. When you meditate of God you must do it with great care and reverence; His perfections are matter rather of admiration than inquiry.

4. In meditating on common things, keep in mind a spiritual purpose. God hath endowed man with a faculty to discourse, and employ his mind on earthly objects to spiritual purposes (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

5. Take heed of creating a snare to your souls. Some sins are catching, like fire in straw, and we cannot think of them without infection and temptation; the very thoughts may beget a sudden delight and tickling, which may pass through us like lightening, and set us all on fire (Ezekiel 23:19).

6. Meditate of those things especially which you have most need of. There is the greatest obligation upon the heart. The matter is not arbitrary; there you will find most he]p, and there the benefit will be most sensible.

7. Whatever you meditate upon, take heed of slightness. Transient thoughts leave no impression. See that you meditate but of one thing at once.

8. Come not off from holy thoughts till you find profit by them, either sweet tastes and relishes of the love of God, or high affections kindled towards God, or strong resolutions begotten in yourselves.

9. Be thankful to God when He blesseth you in meditation, or else you will find difficulty in the next.

10. Do not bridle up the free spirit by the rules of method. That which God calleth for is religion, not logic.

11. Your success in the duty is not to be measured by the multitude and subtlety of the thoughts, but the sincerity of them.

12. You must begin and end all with prayer. Duties are subservient one to another. In the beginning you must pray for a blessing on the duty,, and in the end commend your souls and resolutions to God. There is no hope in your own promises, but God's.

IV. THE LETS OR HINDRANCES OF MEDITATION, TOGETHER WITH THE HELPS AND MEANS THAT MAY QUICKEN YOU TO THE PERFORMANCE OF IT. The lets may be sooner discovered than remedied. The lets and hindrances are of several sorts, some common to this with other duties, and others more peculiar to the duty of meditation.

1. I begin with the first sort, such hindrances as are common to other duties, and they are four — sloth, love of pleasure, a guilty conscience, and an unwieldy mind. How shall we do to shake off this spiritual sloth? I answer —(1) You must consider that a lazy spirit is most unfit for Christianity. The whole Christian life is carried on with much labour and diligence.(2) It is better to take pains than to suffer pains, and to be found with the cords of duty than with the chains of darkness.(3) There is nothing so hard in God's service but He hath manifested love enough to sweeten it.(4) There is no difficulty in religion wholly insuperable and too hard for an active and industrious spirit. Those that follow on after God do at length find Him to their comfort.(5) A lazy, backward heart must be urged forward with the greater importunity.

2. Another let and hindrance is love of pleasures. Men that would pass their time in mirth are unwilling to be so solemn and serious. When children's minds are set to play, it is irksome to hear of school or of their books; so when the heart is set for pleasure, it is a hard matter to bring the soul to religious performances. How shall we do to wean the soul from pleasures?(1) Consider to love pleasure is to gratify the beast in us rather than the angel.(2) Consider the sweetness of religious exercises is far better than that of carnal pleasures, as that heat is more manly that is gotten by exercise than by hovering over the fire.

3. The next general hindrance is a guilty conscience. What shall we do to remedy this?(1) Get your conscience cleansed by the hearty application of the blood of Christ.(2) There are matters comfortable that may be of excellent relief to the spirit (Hebrews 6:18; Psalm 94:19).

4. Another let and hindrance is unwieldiness of spirit to spiritual and heavenly duties. This our Saviour bids His disciples have a care e!! (Luke 21:34). What shall we do to help this?(1) Learn a holy moderation and sobriety in outward businesses and pleasures. As the apostle says of prayer (Ephesians 6:18), "Watching thereunto"; the same rule holds good in meditation.(2) Keep the body in a fit frame, that it may not be a clog to the soul, but a dexterous instrument. There is a sanctification of the body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). There are hindrances that are peculiar to the duty of meditation. I shall name but two — barrenness of thoughts and inconstancy.

1. Leanness and barrenness of thoughts. Now to remedy this —(1) You must not give way to it, but try and use constant exercise. The more we work, the more vigorous and free is the soul for the work of God.(2) Get a good stock of sanctified knowledge. Let there be a treasure in your hearts (Matthew 13:52).(3) When the heart is barren, think of your own sins and corruptions, and the experiences of God to your own souls.(4) You may season and affect your mind before meditation with some part of God's Word. Reading is a good preparative, and when we have taken in food, we may exercise our depastion and digestion upon it.

2. A loose garish spirit, that is apt to skip and wander from thought to thought. There is a madness in man; his thoughts are light and feathery, tossed to and fro, and like the loose wards in a lock, only kept up whilst we are turning the key. This doth much discourage Christians, that they cannot keep up their affections and command their thoughts. How shall we help and remedy this?(1) When you go to meditate, you should exercise a command and restraint upon yourselves. This is expressed in Scripture by trussing up the loins of your minds (Luke 12:30).(2) Pray and call in the help of God's Holy Spirit (Psalm 86:11), "Unite my heart to fear Thy name." Lord, make my heart one. He that could stay the sun can stay the fleeting of your thoughts.(3) Dry up these swimming toys and fancies with the flame of heavenly love. Love unites the heart, and where we have a pleasure, there we can stay (Psalm 119:97).(4) Let the course of your lives be grave and serious. The mind is according to the course of the life.(5) Watch against the first diversion; how plausible soever it be, look upon it as an intruding that breaks the rank.(6) When you come to meditate in God's presence, do not bring the world with you; purge yourselves of all carnal affections (Ezekiel 33:31), "Their heart goeth after their covetousness." Always consider this: the prevailing lust will engross the thoughts.

( T. Manton, D. D..)

I. I AM TO SHOW WHAT MEDITATION IS.

1. A choice of some spiritual subject to meditate upon. Many meditate upon sin with delight, and so ride post to hell with little din. "He deviseth mischief upon his bed, he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil. Others employ their thoughts only in the meditation of things of the world. But he that would meditate aright must choose some spiritual subject to think upon. And it is needful we should select some one, and not abide in generals (Psalm 63:6; Song of Solomon 1:4).

2. A calling in of the heart front all other objects. The mind of man is too narrow to be taken up to purpose about many things at once, especially with thoughts of divers kinds; therefore prays David, "Unite my heart to fear Thy name."

3. Employing the heart on the spiritual subject so chosen, to think upon it, study it, and seriously consider of it; to lay it before our understandings, so as to move our affections and improve our hearts.

II. LET US APPLY THE SUBJECT. I exhort you to make conscience of this duty of meditation, and particularly of fixed meditation, setting yourselves as solemly to it as to prayer and other duties. Motive

1. Consider it is the command of God. "Commune with your own heart upon your bed." "And meditate upon these things," says Paul to Timothy. Why do you perform other duties but because God commands you? Well, He that bids you do other duties, bids you do this also.

2. It is made desirable by the testimony which it hath from the practice of the people of God.

3. It is of notable use for a Christian's improvement. It much increases knowledge: "I have more understanding," says David, "than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation." It is the way to comfort under affliction. When David's enemies plotted against him, "thy servant," says he, "did meditate in thy statutes." It makes a Christian tender in his way. "I will meditate on Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways." It gives a Christian a sweet relish of the goodness of God (Psalm 63:5, 6).

(T. Boston, D. D.)

1. Man can only find himself in God; and he can only find God by meditation. A man has heights and depths and lengths and breadths which only God can reveal to him. We know how it is in the smaller round of our life. We are put into possession of ourselves by others. He who has most soul and heart is he who gives me not only most of himself, but most of myself. Charity, gratitude, faith, love, service, inspirations, do not these come from contact with those about us? We are like a musical instrument, we only know what can be got out of us when others play upon us. The clapper puts the bell in possession of itself. But God and God alone can put us in full possession of ourselves. Take, for instance, the faculty of reverence. Only by knowing God is reverence begotten. And only by meditation is it that we can know God and enter into any true relationship with Him. As I commune with Him my soul is bowed in lowliness. I may think of Him as all this without being solemnized and awed, for my thought is indeed a narrow and a shallow vessel to hold the glory of the Most High. But meditation is the way of revelation — it is the lifting of the veil that we may pass into the very Holy of Holies. So is it that God comes near to us and reveals Himself to us as our Gracious Father.

2. And briefly glance at the range of this truth — it covers everything. As a man finds himself in God, so does he find his brother. If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

3. So again, this meditation puts a man in possession of the world. The little things of earth sink down in that Presence into their true estimate.

4. Again, meditation puts a man in possession of all the ages. The past comes up and yields him its tribute. All these great saints of old do speak comfortably to us of the faithfulness and love of our God.Take some other aspects of meditation.

1. It possesses what thought only sees. There is a well-known shop that I often pass, where the windows are filled with all manner of daintiest sweets set forth in most attractive shapes. I have seen a crowd of little children flattening their noses against the window-panes, and ragged, hungry men and women standing looking within. But out of the door with paper parcels have come tripping little children and happy men and women laden with good things, beaming and smiling, possessing what others only look at. Meditation does that. It is as I begin to let the truth sink down within me that my love is kindled and my faith is stirred, and all my soul goes out in triumphant possession of that which I have heard.

2. Again, meditation retains what hearing lightly loses. Photography can secure the picture in a second, but in a second it is lost. There is a process of developing and a process of fixing for which retirement and solitude and darkness are necessary. Then the picture is secured. Truth is mostly lost because it is heard only and not retained. Meditation has not come in to develop and fix it. There is, too, a process by which the photograph is eaten into the plate, bitten into it by means of some acid. That also is what meditation can do for us — we want the truth graven upon us, we want the name and the message and the word of Jesus our Master wrought thus into us.

3. Again, meditation turns into life and strength what otherwise is but a burden. A man can carry a sack of flour and yet be very hungry. He must eat the bread if he would live thereby. Yet it is not what a man eats, but what he digests, that administers to him. And digestion is not all; he must assimilate it, turn it into his very life and being, into his blood and bones and muscles.

4. Meditation is the source of sweet serenity. I have sometimes sat with some old man sagacious, experienced, successful, quick to perceive at a glance the right course. And in the eventide, after the day's business is done, the son has come to talk over the day's work — an order from such a firm — a mishap there — this matter to be arranged, and such a thing to be seen to, and such a possibility to be considered. To talk with the Lord of these things of earth, to wait for the light which He gives and the wisdom of His guidance, is indeed to be at peace.

5. Meditation kindles the fire. While I was musing, says the Psalmist, the fire kindled. To meditate upon the goodness of God, to muse upon the love of Jesus, to trace the unfailing bounty, to spell the sweet promises of His Word, is to kindle afresh the flame of our love and to send it leaping and surging heavenward.

6. Of meditation the Word of God is the best basis. Do not read the Bible only, it is not meant only to be read. Even searching the Scriptures may be a dull, dead exercise. Turn from the Word to Him that speaketh, and let the heart commune with Him. But hearing all this and believing it will avail us nothing unless we set ourselves to learn and master this art of meditation.

(Mark Guy Pearse.)

(Archdeacon Fothergill.)

(J. Leckie, D. D.)

(J. Leckie, D. D.)

(J. Leckie, D. D.)

( Dr. Watts.)

(G. Gilfilhan.)

(G. Gilfilhan.)

(M. Dods, D. D.)

(Buck.)

(J. G. Pilkington.)

(H. G. Salter.)

(L. W. Bacon.)

(Philip Henry.)

     4933   evening

No Compromise
The faithful servant of Abraham, before he started, communed with his master; and this is a lesson to us, who go on our Lord's errands. Let us, before we engage in actual service, see the Master's face, talk with him, and tell to him any difficulties which occur to our minds. Before we get to work, let us know what we are at, and on what footing we stand. Let us hear from our Lord's own mouth what he expects us to do, and how far he will help us in the doing of it. I charge you, my fellow-servants, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 34: 1888

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22. If, therefore, even they who are united in marriage only for the purpose of begetting, for which purpose marriage was instituted, are not compared with the Fathers, seeking their very sons in a way far other than do these; forasmuch as Abraham, being bidden to slay his son, fearless and devoted, spared not his only son, whom from out of great despair he had received [1997] save that he laid down his hand, when He forbade him, at Whose command he had lifted it up; it remains that we consider, …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
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J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Blessing of Jacob Upon Judah. (Gen. Xlix. 8-10. )
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Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
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Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Genesis
The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation, i.-ii. 4a, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament