THE USE AND BENEFIT OF Divine Meditation, In two SERMONS Preached by that Reverend and Fathful Minister of Gods Word,  
WILLIAM FENNER, B. D. sometimes Fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, and late Minister of Rochford in Essex.  
 publisher's device of millwheel on river and hand holding a staff 
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LONDON, Printed by E. T. for John Stafford, at the sign of the George at Fleet-Bridge. 1657.   

A SERMON OF The use and benefit of Divine MEDITATION.  HAGGAI 1. 5. Now therefore saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways. 
THe Prophet reproveth the people because they could find in their hearts to mind their own houses, and yet were careless of the house of the Lord: the Lord had sent a drought& a famine, and sundry punishments upon them for this thing, and yet they laid it not to heart; and therefore he sends Haggai the Prophet unto them to call them to repentance; and( which is an admirable course, and little thought of in the world) he begins with holy meditation and consideration: Now therefore thus saith the Lord, consider your ways; that is, both in regard of the course of them, your wicked ways; and also in regard of the bitter fruit of them, your wretched and unprosperous ways. Here be two things very remarkable according to the Text;  

1. The repetition and enforcing of it again; for he urgeth it again, Consider your ways, in the seventh verse.  
2. The benefit that came by it; it brought them to repentance; for they all obeied the voice of the Lord, and the words of the Prophet, verse, 12. So that the Doctrine from hence is this, That   
Serious meditation of our sins by the Word, is a special means to make men repent.  
Meditation is a settled exercise of the mind for a further inquiry of the truth, and so affecting the heart therewith, and therefore their be four things in meditation.  
The first is an exercise of the mind, not barely closing with the truth, and assenting unto it, and seeing it, and there rests, but it looketh on every side of the truth: I thought upon my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies, Psal. 119, 59. saith David; that is, I looked on my ways on both sides, above and beneath; it's taken from curious works, which are the the same on both sides, so that they which work them, must often turn them on every side; used Exod. 38. 33. as being works with two faces, as one well observes, so it was with David, I turned my ways up-side down, and looked every way upon them: thou never meditatest, unless thou look on thy ways on both sides with all circumstances. An elegant phrase we have, Dan. 12. 4. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall abound, and be increased,[ Run to and fro] what is that? It is not the bodily removing of man from one place to another so much, as busy stirring of the mind from one truth to another, so that it seeth the whole selvedge and compass of the truth: thou wilt never get the truth to be meditated of, till thou run to and fro in it, meditate it on this side, and meditate it on that side, look on it in every nook of it. Meditation is like perambulation, when men go the bounds of the Parish, they go in every part of it, and in every skirt of it: so meditation is the perambulation of the soul, when the soul looks how far sin goes, how far the flesh goes, how far the wrath of God against it goes.  
Secondly, as it is an exercise, so it is a settled exercise, it is not a sudden flash of a mans conceit, but it dwells upon a truth. When a man is in a deep meditation upon a thing he neither sees, nor hears, nor attends any thing else; the stream of the heart is settled upon the truth received; The word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the world, 1 John 2. 14. How came these young men to overcome Satan? not by looking into the word, or only thinking of the word; but by letting the word abide in them. When a man hath been offered an injury, his heart is always settled upon it, when he eats, his mind runs on the injury; when he walks, and talks, still his mind runs on the injury: so thy heart must go on the truth, 2. Tim. 3. Continue in things thou hast learned: that is, take up thy mansion house in them. A wicked man may turn into the word sometimes to think of it; but it is as a man goes into another mans house: there is not his dwelling.  
Thirdly, it is to make a further inquiry. Meditation doth not only settle upon the truth known; but it also would fain know more of those truths, that are subject to it; as a man without may see the out-side of the house, but he cannot see the rooms within, unless he come nigh, and draw the latch, and come into the house, and go into the rooms, and look about them; Meditation pulls the latch of the truth and looks into every closet, and every cupboard,& every angle of it. Here is my sin, here is my uncleanness, and here is Gods anger, here is the woeful evil that will follow upon it, and here is a remedy against it. Meditation searches into all the lofts and closerts of the truth. The entrance of thy word giveth understanding unto the simplo. Ps. 119. 30. The ingress( as one expounds it) or going into thy word, gives understanding; the wicked stand looking upon the truth without the doors, but it is the ingress, or going into the truth, that gives understanding. Indeed the truth is like a neat Palace,( saith chrysostom) the Spirit of God is like the light of the sun that shineth into it; the wicked they stand without, like fools peeping in at the windows, and there be many thousand of pearls that are not manifest unto them: the house seems dark to them that stand without. Thou must enter into the word, and into every particular truth in it, and go up stairs, and down stairs, and have an eye into every room. There thou shalt find humility, there contrition, there conversion, there Christ and his Spirit in one closet, there all his Jewels in that, and that box; all is manifest within doors.  
Fourthly, it labours to affect the heart; it doth not only labour to know more and more of the truth, but also it labours to bring it home to the heart. The good woman considers a field and buys it, Prov. 31. 16. This is( saith Ambrose) the good Christian soul, if in civility, then much more in Divinity, he considers the truth and buys it, he taketh it as his own, and appropriates it unto himself; Lo this( saith Eliphaz) we have preached out, so it is, hear it, and know it for thyself, Job 5. 27. When thou canst say of the truth, lo this is it, we have preached it out; I have dived into it, perused it, so it is, even so indeed: all this is, that thou mayest apply it unto thyself, and know it for thy good.  
The first Reason is, because meditation musters up all weapons, and gathers all forces of arguments for to press our sins, and lay them heavy upon the heart: This usury is spiritual and good, when meditation, like usurers, who grinned and suck the blood of the needy, and are not content with their Principal, but will have consideration for every pound they lay out; yea for every shilling, and that for every week, and every month, and every quarter, and every year: the poor man could be content to pay the principal; but to exact use upon use, this kills him; so meditation exacteth upon the soul, and holdeth it to use upon use. You have committed evil in a corner, but you shall not carry it away so. Item, it was against the knowledge of God revealed; Item, against many mercies received; Item, against many Judgements threatened, against many checks of conscience, against many Vows and Promises; remember that, O my soul, Item for that, and Item for this; Item for every lust, and every circumstance, thus oft, and in this place and at that time, in that manner So meditated the prodigal. Look 
Luke. 5. 17.  as it is in wars, were there but many scores come against an Army, they might be conquered; or many hundreds, they might be resisted; but if many thousands should come against a small Army, it would be in danger indeed. Meditation leadeth a whole Army of arguments, a whole Army of curses, miseries, judgements, commandments against the soul, how ever one misery or plague will not knock it down, but the soul may brook it, and go away with it: but meditation brings a great Armado of arguments, and tells the soul, God is against thee, and against thy ways: God is against thee where ever thou art, or what ever thou dost. Then the heart begins to cry out, as Elisha his servant did, Master, what shall we do? 2 Kings 6. 15. So many horses against us, so many charets, and so many men against us? Master what shall we do? so many sins, and so heinous; so many judgements and so heavy; and so many evils, and spiritual maladies! Oh, what shal I do to be saved! that I should commit sin against a God that hath damned innumerable Angels, millions of Kings, Princes, and Nobles! that I should commit it against this God, so merciful to me, so gracious, so patient, so good to my soul! that I, wretched rebel, should for a cup of drink refuse heaven! for a lust not worth a straw under my foot, cast off Christ, and grace, and all! how shal I do? Then the soul stands in a maze.  
The second Reason is, because meditation having hundled up all Items against the soul, and brought it in all bills of account, it fastens sin upon the soul; I mean it makes the soul feel it, so that it must needs be convinced without any evasion. Meditation deals with a man as Elisha dealt with the messengers of the King Joram; the murderer he was coming to do mischief to the Prophet, and the prophet did shut the door, and held him fast at the door, 2 Kings 6. 32. and then he made him know that the evil was from the Lord, before he could stir: so meditation, when the soul would fain out of doors into its old course again, it shuts the door upon it, and holds it fast: Meditation tells the soul, this evil is from the Lord upon thee, O my soul, if thou stir in or out upon this or that lust any more, this evil, that course, that vengeance and damnation; if ever thou stir forth, thou losest thy mercy, thou losest Christ, thou losest all possibility of comfort. Stir not out, if thou dost, thou wilt rue it. Sometimes when men hear the Word, they go away touched, they resolve not to commit sin again as they have done; yet when they are gone, it works not, but the heart recoyls again, and turns to its old pass, The reason is, because they meditate not upon the Word, they fasten it not upon their consciences.  
It is with the word as it is with a salue: if a man that hath never so good a salue, that will heal any thing in four and twenty hours, if a man should do nothing but lay it to the wound,& take it off, lay it on and take it off, it will not heal the wound: and no marvel, Why? he will not let it lie on, the best salue will not heal the soare, nor eat out the corruption, unless it be bound on and let lie: so it is with the Word, many a soul hears it; heart, conscience, affections, all touched: but when he is gone out of the Church, all is gone, his affections die, his heart dyes, and his conscience becomes unfruitful: Why? he is still removing of the salue, and will not let it lie on, and therefore the Word soothsayers not his corruptions; the Word is like the salue; conviction of conscience is like the laying on of the salue; meditation the binding of it to the soare.  
St. James compares a slight hearer to a man that looks into a glass, who soon forgets his visage, but a good hearer doth two things: First, he stoops down and looks into it, to take a perfect view of his estate; Secondly he continues looking into it, james 1. 25. he doth not leave the glass behind him, but he carrieth away the glass with him: This man shall be blessed in his dead.  
If the pills be never so bitter, yet let a man swallow them speedily, there is no great distaste; but if a man chew a pill, it will make him deadly sick. Thy sins are like those pills, they go down very pleasingly, because thou swallowest them: thou swallowest down thine oaths, lies, ignorance, pride, thou swallowest down the threats of the Lord, but if thou wouldest chew these bitter pills, and meditate and ruminate, and chew the cud, drunkenness would be as bitter as hell; swearing and security, and sabbath breaking, would be as bitter as worm wood; thou durst not go on in them, they would make thee look sourely upon them for ever: like a man that hath chewed a pill, he can hardly ever see a pill, but his stomach riseth against it. Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, Hos. 2. 6. I will not be so precise( saith the heart) I will go on as I have done, I will go after these and these courses; I will hedge up thy way with thorns( saith God,) meditation is Gods instrument, and sets a thorn in the way to every sin, to bring the heart back again. Would the heart lash out into wilderness? Meditation sets a thorn in the way; God will spew thee out of his mouth. Would the heart sally forth into any sin? Meditation sets a thorn in the way, Cursed art thou if thou dost err from Gods Commandements. The heart cannot step forth into any lust, but meditation meets it with a thorn, this curse, and that curse, this plague, and that plague. Would the heart reach at mercy in its sin? Meditation pricks it; mercy is vengeance unto thee, so long as thou hankrest after sin. Would the heart reach after Christ in his sin? Meditation bushes it back with a thorn: no Christ for thee, but a severe judge, so long as thou itchest after thy vanities.  
What shal we think of them then, which are loth to practise this duty? Most men are loth, though they be willing enough to meditate on their worldly affairs. The master meditates and considers his course by his compass, or else he might soon run on the quick-sands; a Pilgrim is full of thoughts, what? am I in my right way? He never comes to a doubtful turning, but he stands in a study and muses, O which is my right way? The Merchant meditates, and his mind runs on his Count-book, or else he is soon bankrupt: The voluptuous man his thoughts run on his pleasure: the drunkard on his cups, the proud man on his credit. But it is one thing to look to that which is thine, and another thing to look to thyself, Take heed to yourselves, saith the Lord, Deut. 11. 16. Deut. 12. 30. Deut. 4. 9. Exod. 34. 12. as if he should say, think on thyself,& of thy poor soul; let thy Meditation run on thy poor soul. The heart is untoward unto this duty, and as unwilling as a Bear to be brought to the stake: the Bear would rather be rambling abroad then be baited: so men had rather let their hearts ramble about any thing, then bait them for their sins; yea men scoff at it, saying, shall we always be poring on our sins? shall we run mad? shall we drive ourselves to despair? cannot men keep themselves well while they are well?  
The poor man he hath no time for this tedious duty: the rich man he needs it not, the wicked they dare not; so no man will, No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Jer. 8. 6. no man would meditate and think with himself, what is my case? how stands my condition before God? what evil have I done? in the Ark and in the old Law if there were any beast that chewed not the end, it was a sign of an unclean beast: the word implies the bringing up of their meat into their mouths again, and sitting down to chew it again. But now men like unclean beasts, swallow down the food of their souls unchewed, and will not meditate thereof, that it may turn to good nutriment; but like Cormorants, they take it down by whole-sale, and are never the better. So the Word is to them as the Quails to the Israelites, while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them, and smote them them with a very great plague, Num. 11, 33. So the Word of God sticks in their teeth, ere they chew it, or meditate upon it, the wrath of God falls upon them, and strikes them with a very great plague of hardness of heart, and leanness of soul. But the truth is: you that will not now see your sins nor meditate on them, you shall see them, and meditate on nothing but on fear, Lord when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see and be ashamed, Isaiah 26. 11.  
Now the Lets of serious meditation are, First, vain company. When Peter saw the people touched, Acts 2. 37. he said unto them, Save yourselves from this untoward generation, verse 40. as if he should say, If you love yourselves, God hath touched your hearts, suffer not Satan and these wicked instruments, to steal away these impressions of terror from your Souls If ever you love your souls. sort not your selvs with this untoward generation. See, as it humbles you, so let meditation follow upon it, so that it may still humble you. Ill company brings a man to the gallows( as the proverb is) and ill company will bring a man to hell( say I) and meditation cannot be admitted to it. David would not have a wicked man to abide in his sight, when he was to meditate he wished that there were never a wicked man in the world; much less would he keep company with them My meditation of him shall be sweet; let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more: Bless thou the Lord, O my soul, Ps. 104. 35.  
The second Let is, multitude of worldly businesses. A dream( saith Solomon) comes through multitude of businesses, Eccles. 5. Multitude of businesses causeth the mind so to run on them, that they do even dream of them in their sleep, as Lucretius, Seneca, Claudian, and many others of the heathens haue observed. He that over-imploys himself, his meditations of heaven are dreaming meditations; his thoughts, dreaming thoughts, he can never seriously meditate on the good of his soul. Many engross businesses into their hands never thinking they have enough, they are so greedy after the world, and so careless of heaven. So they make their hearts like high-way-ground: the word sown in their hearts, is like seed sown in the high-way, where is such a throughfare, and a broad Carriers road of earthly affairs, that all the word and meditation thereof is trodden down as the grass in the high-way, which cannot grow, so neither meditation in a busie-bodied heart. For a good meditating mind, ( Nemo ad illam pervenit occupatus, saith Seneca) no man ever came to it surfeited with employments. David although he had abundance of State-affairs, both his hands full, yet he would not to be over-charged, but that he might meditate in Gods word: My hands also( not all down to business only in the world, but also up to thy Law) will I lift up to thy commandements, which I have loved, and I will meditate on thy statutes. Psal. 119. 48. Take not too much upon thee, like those grasping worldlings, that will have a finger in a hundred things: march a, Martha, thou art cumbered about many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen the better part, Luke 10. 41. and what was that one thing? Mary was sitting and meditating in, and pondering Christs words, not( as Theophylact expounds it) as if we would say, Martha, Martha, thou art cumbered about many dishes, but one thing is needful only, only one dish, though indeed so it be, yet he here speaks not only of one dish, but of many cares which hinder that one necessary duty of hearing and meditating of the word of God.  
Thirdly, ignorance. A man cannot meditate of a thing he knows not; nor thou of thy sins, if thou be not skilful in Gods Catalogue of thy sins; nor of mercies and promises, if thou beest not verst in them; nor of his Precepts, if thou be not expert in them. the Psalmist proveth that he had more knowledge than all his teachers: Why? because he used to meditate. I have more understanding then all my Tutors, for thy testimonies are my meditation, Psal. 119. 99.  
Fourthly, averseness of the heart: The heart is like the swine, meditation is like the yoke: the hog would fain get into forbidden fields for to grub them; the yoke that hinders him; but he cannot abide it; every step he takes, he lifts up his foot to strike it off if he could; so the heart would fain break through hedges, and get into forbidden ways, and if thou wouldest meditate, it would every moment lift up it's heel to put thee besides it. If it cannot put thee besides it, it will mar it if it can, and therefore David prayed to God to settle his heart upon the right, and put his yoke upon him, orit would never be steadfast else upon meditation. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be ever acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer; Psal. 19. 14.  
This averseness of the heart consists in three things: First, in the carelessness of the heart, the heart prizeth not meditation, nor the things of grace that are to be meditated on; it will not be at the cost and charge, nor at the pains for them. To what end is a price in the hands of a fool, seeing there is no heart to get wisdom? Prov. 17. 16. The heart will not be brought to Gods price? it would fain have the wears at a cheap rate.  
Secondly in runnings of it: the heart is like a vagrant rogue, he would rather be hanged, than tied to his parish. Thou canst not bring it to prayer, but it will be a gadding on by thoughts: thou canst not bring it to a Sermon, but it will be roving after wandring imaginations; thou canst not bring it to a meditation, but it will be a gossiping forth. When Christ came to bind men with his blessed cords, and bind their hearts to him, Psal. 2. they fall a meditating afterwards, but it was meditating and imagining vain things, verse 1. and when they saw they were to be tied up, Tush( say they) let us break their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us, verse 3. What, do Ministers call us to such strictness, thinking to imprison our hearts in their stocks? away with their bonds, no, we will have none of it.  
Thirdly, in the wholesomeness of the heart: It is as weary of meditation, as a Cur is of the whip, and the chain; Oh how it barks and maunders till it be loose! yea, though it be never so eager upon it at the first, it's jaded presently. When God called the Jews to sanctify his Name, they thought in their hearts; O, what a weariness is this! and ye have snuffed at it( saith the Lord) ye brought which was lame, and torn and sick, Malac. 1. 13. What a weariness is it to meditate? saith the heart; it snuffs, it is untoward; it is lumpish; it would fain tear off a piece of the duty, or bring it wanting a leg, or without soundness and sincerity; yet some of them( saith Calvin) were so humbled, that they thought on the name of the Lord, Malac. 3. 16. they thought, and meditated, and forced their hearts to consider thoroughly.  
This may serve for terror unto all those, who for all this that hath been spoken, dare sit down without it; yea, the world will not believe these things, nor meditate therein: yea, they blame Gods messengers, that call so sore upon them. Habakkuk was so served; he preached the mercies of God to the humble, and the judgements of God to the wicked: they ask him why he was so mad? well( says the Prophet) I will stand upon my watch, and see what the Lord says unto me, that I may answer to them that reprove me, Hab. 2. 1. What did the Lord tell him? writ the vision, and make it plain upon Tables, that he may run that reads it, verse 2. Will they not believe? Will they rove? Will they not meditate steadily upon these things? Will they not let their hearts stay and meditate and consider? The vision shall be so plain, that he that runs may red it. If thou wilt not stay, and meditate herein, the word is so plain to thy condemnation, that if thou didst not but think of it with a running thought, thou mayst red thine own vengeance, thine own woes, in regard of the multitude of them. He that runs by a way full of holes and pits, though he stand not meditating where are the pits, yet he may run and see them. The book of God is full, leaves and cover, and all, of woes against thee, Lam. 2. 10. It is written without, there thou mayst red thy sins written; it is written likewise within, there thou mayst red thy plagues.  
Secondly, in regard of the greatness of them, he that runs along, and lo a great town on fire, though he stay not to meditate on it, what or where it is, yet he may run and red it: so is the curse of sinners a great curse, Zeph. 1. 10. he that runs may red it.  
Thirdly, in regard of the proximitie and nearness of them. He that runs, if a sword come out at his throat, though he doth not stop to meditate, what is this at my throat, yet he cannot but see it. Behold the Judge standeth before the door, James, 5. 9. Take heed how thou grudgest, or sinnest in any particular; behold the Judge standeth before the door; be hold it and meditate on it with thy heart; if not, he is nigh enough, thou canst not step out of doors unto any sin, but though thou runnest, thou must needs see the Judge that will Judge thee, Iteming thy sins, noting thy ways, observing thy courses, ready to unhasp the door on thee, to hale thee unto hell in thy sins. Whose end is destructions Why? Even those that mind earthly things, Phil. 3. 19. If thy mind and meditation run more on thy ground, cattle, goods, kitchen, house business, earthly talk, discourses, thoughts, more than of heaven, thy end is destruction. If thy thoughts will not stay here, do but run, and thou mayst red it: Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, I am come to fulfil them, Matthew 5. 17. Some( saith chrysostom) might think now Christ is come, it is no matter though we not be so strict, Christ is enough. Think not thus( saith Christ) but rather think and meditate that I am come to fulfil it myself, and to see it fulfilled in those I mean to save, so as to make it a rule of their lives. Themistocles said, he could not sleep in his bed for continual thinking and meditating on Miltiades his triumphs; And how canst thou sleep in thy bed, if thou wouldest but meditate on these places of Scripture? Retire thyself apart, there is no casting up of mans account in a crowd: Let me alone, I am busy; so we use to say, when we would be private.  
Thou must do with thy soul as Ehud did to Eglon, who said, I have a secret errand to thee, O King, and so all went out, and he said: I have a message from God to thee, and so stabbed him at his heart, Judges 3. 19. So( for Ehud was a type of Christ, saith Lavator) I have a secret errand to thee, O my soul, and so let all go forth: I have a message from God to thee, a message of wrath for thy Pride, a message of wrath for thy vain hopes: Thus, saith the Lord; Cursed art thou, O my soul; stab it to the heart with this spiritual Dagger, wound it with the blade and haft and all, till thou have let out the fat and the dirt, the filth and iniquity all out. The Prophet speaking of mens looking on Christ whom they have pierced, this meditating and laying to heart that they have crucified the Lord Jesus, saith that they shall mourn every one in private, the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the house of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; every family apart, and their wives apart, Zach. 12. 2.  
The second means, if thou wouldest meditate aright, observe the times of privacy,  
First, the morning, that is the best time for study: David choose the morning for meditation, Psal 5. 1. 3. Let them hear this,( saith chrysostom) that arise betimes in the morning to serve their hogs and their Doggs, their bellies and their backs, before they serve God in meditation or prayer, unless it be the mumbling and roaring a few [ Lord have mercy upon us] that pray not till after many other businesses, it may may be, not then neither. David prayed and meditated in the morning. In the morning thou washest thy face and thy hands, but thy soul hath more need, which thou washest not: in the morning thou puttest thy clothes on thy body, but thou puttest not on afresh the new man upon thy soul; in the morning thou shakest off sleepiness from thine eyes, but thou shakest not off drowsiness from thy soul. Thou lookest into the glass in the morning, to see if thy face be as it should be; but thy soul is not composedly looking into the glass of Gods word. In the morning loook up in prayer, look up in thanksgiving, look up in meditation.  
Secondly, the night too; O Lord, I meditate on thee in the night watches, Psal. 93. not as carnal ones do, when they cannot sleep, then their mind runs on their Cow and their Calf, their markets and vanities, this neighbour and that neighbour, like Petronius his dog, that was hunting while he lay asleep in his kennel.  
Thirdly, In the evening; I prevent the night watches, that I might meditate, Psal. 119. 148. he did not as wicked men do, sleep like a horse in the stable on his litter, with his neck tied to the manger: they did go to bed with their hearts roped to the world, worldly thoughts, this thought and that thought, and God knows what.  
Fourthly, when the heart is touched at a Sermon or Sacrament, or observing of any judgement or mercy, or act of Gods providence, it is best striking when the Iron is hot; David, when his heart was touched at the reproaches of the wicked, then he meditated, Psall. 119. 23. When the Instrument is in tune, then it is good playing upon it; when a Churl is in a good mood, then it is sittest to deal with him. Oft will thy heart be out of tune, oft churlish, and in an ill mood: if thou lettest the good opportunity go, thou knowest not when thou shalt have such another. When the fish is nibbling at the bait, then it is good twiching at the angle-rod, when the heart is a nibbling at grace, then gave a pluck at it by meditation. See Acts 17. 11. now while the time lasts, see thou mayst get into heaven.  
Thirdly, Rub up thyself and thy memory; call as much to mind as thou canst, what evil thou hast done ever since thou wast born, what in the womb, what in the cradle, childhood, youth, age; what a servant, what a Master; what as a servant, what as a son, what as a neighbour, what as an inferior, what as a superior; either in thought, or word or dead; how often thou hast omitted good duties, or done them by halvs; Item for this; and Item for that. They shall remember themselves and turn unto the Lord, Psal. 22. 27. First, they shall remember themselves, and say, what have I done, O wretch! how carelessly have I lived! Secondly, so meditating, they shall turn unto the Lord. Many say, Oh! they cannot remember their sins. They lie in a thousand particulars: for they can remember to commit them well enough. See Lam. 3. 19. 20. 21. our Greek translation turns it, I spake to myself, and meditated: as if they should say, O what a rebel have I been! how unthankful, how unprofitable under all the means of grace! I may thank my sins for all the plagues of the Almighty that are upon me: if he had damned me, I had been well served. What follows? The heart bowed, and was humbled, as it is in the text.  
The fourth means. rouse up thy heart. As it is with the eye of the body, so it is with the eye of the Soul: when a man would look wistly upon a thing, as if he would look thorough it, he sets his eye on it, as Paul set his eyes on Elymas, Ah thou child of the devil, thou, &c. Acts 13. 9. Meditation is the setting of the eye of the soul upon a thing: set thine eye upon thyself, and say, Ah thou child of the wicked, why hath Satan filled thy heart! O wretched heart! whence hadst thou thy self-love? hadst thou not it from the devil? God might do well to sand thee to the devil, if thou lovest so to be his Broker. Set thine eyes steadfastly upon thine own ways, and thou shalt see infinite hellish evils in thy sins.  
The third Use is for Reprehension. What is more usual than this, that men make slight account of their sins? Nay, when God tells them in their hearts, Thou shalt not do this, thou shalt not do that, yet they meditate and think, Why may I not? Samuel bid Saul stay for directions from him, before he sacrificed unto God. It seems that God spoken to his heart. Stay till Samuel comes to direct thee: yet Saul forced himself to disobey, and to do Sacrifice, 1. Sam. 13. 12. he was bold, as Vatable turns it; he confirmed himself, as Pagnin translates it: he thrust himself upon the doing of it; God forbade him, he would do it: God urged him in his conscience not to do it, yet he would do it: God again whispered to him not to do it, yet he forced himself to do it; as if he should say, I hope I may do it, I have stayed seven days wanting an hour, or a piece of an hour; and a little piece breaks no square: No? God rejected Saul for that venture; God would have forced him by meditation, O no, do it not by no means: he made him think, Oh, it is against Gods commandements, I may not do it. No, but nevertheless he forced himself to do it. Thus God deals with thousands and millions in the world: Be not a drunkard; God flings the meditation into the conscience, yet a drunkard thou wilt be. Be not a drunkard again; a drunkard notwithstanding thou wilt be: Be not again; they force themselves, they will go to the Ale-house. And so of all other sins. If men will cast off this work of meditaion darted into their souls, they cast off their own mercy. God tells them, pray not, hear not, offer not without directions from me; they dread not the commandment, they will: I trust prayers are good, I will say them. Thus they will not meditate, or if they do, they break it off before it comes to any strength or perfection: yea, Gods own servants, that desire to look towards Sion, is not this your complaint oft? I cannot find sin heavy: I confess the word discovers it to me, but I cannot be troubled for it. Look as it is with men in the world, if five hundred pound weight be laid upon the ground, if a man never pluck at it, he shall never feel the weight of it. Your sins are not many hundreds, but many thousands, yea many ten thousands: self-love, security; hardness of heart, base fears, &c. it is impossible to reckon them. The least vain thought that ever you imagined, the least vain word that ever you uttered, were weight enough to press your souls down to hell; Therfore what are so many sins and so great, and so often committed? What are they? they are as heavy as rocks and mountains; yet ye feel them not so heavy. Why? Ye weigh them not; if ye did, ye should find them heavier than the sand, as David did when his sin was ever before him( Psal. 51. 3.) that is, his sin was ever in his thoughts, and in his meditation, his sin was ever like a huge millstone before him, and he was ever tugging and pulling to remove it out of his way.  
I, but you will say, How shall I come to feel my burden?  
I answer, three things are here to be discovered;  

First, the ground upon which our meditation must be raised.  
Secondly, the manner how to follow it home to the heart.  
Thirdly, how to put life and power into it.   
The ground I refer to these four heads:  
First, meditate on the goodness, patience, and mercy of God, that hath been abused by any of your sins: the greater they have been to you, the greater is every sin: this maketh them out of measure sinful, because God is out of measure merciful. There are many sins in one, when a man sins against many mercies, See judge. 2. 2, 3. Why have ye done thus? I, have done thus and thus mercifully unto you, why have ye done thus unthankfully to me? Why was my mercy abused? Why was my goodness slighted? Why was my patience despised? as if the Lord should say, I speak to your own conscience, think of it, meditate of it, why have ye done this? do ye thus requited the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy Father? Meditate of it first, and tell me then. For it is a question put to thy meditation to answer. Do ye thus requited the Lord, ye foolish people? Wert thou ever in want, but God supplied thee? Wert thou ever in weakness, but God strengthened thee? Wert thou ever in straits, but God delivered thee? When thou wert in sickness, who cured thee? when thou wert in poverty, who relieved thee? when thou wert in misery, who succoured thee? Hath not God been a gracious God to thee? Every soul can tell, never poor sinner hath had a more gracious God, than I poor sinner have found to my soul. All my bones can say, Lord, who hath been like unto thee? This heart hath been heavy, and thou hast cheered it: this soul hath been distressed, and thou hast eased it: many troubles have befallen me, and thou hast given me a gracious issue. This poor man( saith David, pointing to himself,) this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, Psal. 34. 9. And shall I thus reward the Lord? shall I sin against his goodness? Then what shall I say? Hear, O heavens, and harken, O earth; sun, stand thou still, and thou Moon be amazed at this, and be avenged on such a heart as this. The ox knows his owner, and the ass his Masters Crib; but here is a heart that will not remember to know the Lord. Hear, O heavens, this villainy crieth so loud, that your ears may hear it. Hear all ye Angels add be astonished, here is villainy to make your ears glow: yea, hear hell, hear Devils, if ever there were worse committed by you. When men are but ingenuous, if they haue received any kindness from a friend, they were never in want but he relieved them: never harbourless, but he housed them; never to seek, but he found them: Let a man deal thus kindly with a man, if this man should deny him any ordinary favour; he will be ashamed of himself, ashamed to come into his presence. What will he think? his house was mine, his cupboard was mine, and his purse was mine, and his friends were mine, and that I should deal thus unkindly with him, even nature rebukes me. This serious meditation will help to break thy heart.  
The second ground of meditation is to mediate on the justice of God: God is a just God as well as merciful. Speak all ye Devils in Hell, do ye not feel that he is a just God? Speak sodom, Speak Gomorrah, your fire and brimstone can testify that he is a just God: Speak Adah, Zillah, and all ye that were drowned in the old world, your deluge can testify he is a just God, His judgements are all in the world, 1. Chro. 16. 14. What is become of drunken Nabal, and swearing Saul, and covetous Ahab, and proud Jesabel, and mocking Jehu, and envious Shimei? What is become of all blind Jebusites, and parting, cavilling Diotrepheses? Justice hath taken hold on them. What is poverty? What is nakedness? What is famine, sickness, the gout, the ston, fever, plague? These are the little arrows of Gods justice. What is shane, disgrace, crosses, afflictions, unseasonable reins, dangerous weather, wars, rumours of wars? What are all the evils under the Sun? They are the little finger of Gods justice. Thou spiest them here and there, in every Town, and in every Parish, in every Country do they not all witness that he is a just God? red Psalm 7. 11, 12, 13. God hath bent his bow already( saith David) the arrow is ready to fly out of the string: It will not be long before it hit thee, if thou meditate not upon amendment: God is angry with the wicked every day, as an angry man useth to say, I will be revenged on thee. Wilt thou not give over thy sins? I will be revenged on thee. red Psal. 11. 5, 6, 7. Meditate on this; he will neither spare King nor subject, nor rich, nor poor, nor noble, nor base, nor Judges, nor Justices: yet Judges and Justices may spare, but God will not spare: they may be bribed to pardon, but God will not be feed to spare them that go on in their wickedness; and do I think to escape? Nay, my soul, thou canst never escape, except thou obeyest.  
The third ground is, Meditate on the wrath of God; O! what wrath is it? Can I stand against it? It burns like an oven, and all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble, and the day of wrath shall burn them up. Behold this, saith the Text, Malac. 4. 1. Behold it, and meditate on it. Can I go naked in a hot fiery Oven? Can I lift up my hands against it? My hands will be scorched. Can I kick against it? My legs will be baked. Can I blow upon it with my mouth? My mouth is fired. Did I ever see lime burned? were I in the limbs room, could I endure that boiling? and yet if I live in my sins, I shall be as the burning of lime, Isay 33. 12. Let thy heart meditate terror: Who among us shall be able to dwell( that is the meaning of it, as Montanus sheweth) who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? who among us shall burn with everlasting burning? verse 14. Gods mercy shall say, Take him wrath: I would have converted him, but he would not. Gods goodness shall say, Take him wrath I would have been kind unto him, but he hath abused me; Gods patience shall say, Take him wrath: I have suffered him a great while, that he might have time of repentance, but he repented not in that time. God smote egypt in their first born: Why? For his mercy endureth for ever God overthrew Pharaoh and his host: Why? For his mercy endureth for ever. Psal. 136. 15. He smote great Kings, Sihon a King, and Og a King: for his mercy endureth for ever. So will God damn thee that art a drunkard: Why? for his mercy endureth for ever. God will confounded thee that art a worlding: Why? for his mercy endureth for ever. God will be revenged on thee that art a Luke-warmling: Why? for his mercy endureth for ever. This may well make thee tear the hair off thy head, rather than let thee go on in thy sins. See Ierem. 7. 29. Meditate on this.  
The fourth ground: Meditate on the constancy of God. As the Lord was an enemy to wicked men, so he continues the same God still, a constant enemy to them still. As the Lord would not endure sin heretofore, so he is constant, he still will not endure it. Did the Lord once say, Weep and howl ye drunkards? Joel 1. 5. he is constant, so he faith still. Did the Lord say, he would burn up sabbath-breakers? Jer. 17. 27. he is constant; so he saith still. Who ever hardened his heart against the Lord, and prospered? Job 9. 14. as if he should say, I put it to thee to meditate of it: canst thou show me a president? did ever any man harden his heart against Gods Word, in his sin, that prospered? Did Senacherib prosper in his will-worship? Did Judas prosper in his covetousness? Did Jeconiah prosper in his stubbornness? Where is the Scribe? Where is the disputer? Where is he that counted the towers? Your fathers, where are they, saith Zachariah? Did not my words take hold of them? and are they not all now in hell, that have ever lived and died in their sin, from the beginning of the world? Thou canst not show me one drunkard, or one mocker, or one profane person, or one formal professor, from the day that man was created upon the earth, that is not now in hell, if he be dead. Meditate on this, how canst thou expect to be the one onely in all the world that shall escape, if thou livest and diest in thy sins? If hell were opened, and the bottomless pit were looked into, thou shouldst see every soul that ever lived, and died in their sins, even every soul; there is not one soul missing. Meditate on this; when I die, do I think I shall not be there? nay, I shall be there too, unless aforehand I enter into the straight gate, and walk in the narrow way of newness of life.   

The Second SERMON OF The use and benefit of Divine MEDITATION.  HAGGAI 1. 5. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider your ways. 
NOw follows the manner, how to follow Meditation home to the heart. Here are four things to be practised.  
First, weigh and ponder all these things in thy heart. It's said of Mary, she pondered, Luke 2. 19. and kept all these sayings in her heart: verse 51. The words signify two things: First, she compared these things together, Secondly, she cast them in the scales together. Dost thou know God is merciful? ponder it with his justice. Dost thou know that Jesus Christ dyed for sinners? ponder it with the true drift of it, how that it is not to let men go on in their sins, but to save them from their sins. Dost thou obey God in this or that Commandement? O ponder thy life with the rest, Ponder the path of thy feeet, and let all thy ways be established. Prov. 4. 26. A man that eats his meat well, forty morsels well, yet one crumb going awry throttles him. Thou walkest in these and these Commandements; yea, but there be other Commandments besides these: dost thou walk in them too? thou must, if thou meanest to have thy ways to be established. The Jews had their continers, talents, mindes, sickles, which were greater weights; so they had also their gerahs, and agarahs, smaller measures, and smallest of all: so have thou greater and less weights; great ones to ponder the great Commandements, and less to weigh even the least of Gods Commandements: and see thou make true Evangelical weight, or else all will not be well. Suppose a man were to pay a 100 pound of good and lawful money, and in weight, upon forfeiture of all that he hath; if he weigh it not, but the Creditor doth, and finds it light, he is undone. If thou ponderest not thy ways, God will ponder them: Prov. 5. 21. the word signifies, he weighs and ponders them in a balance, or scales, he puts the word of his Gospel in the one, and thy goings and obedience in the other. Thou art weighed, and art found too light, thy kingdom is departed from thee, saith God to Belshazzer, Dan. 5. 27. So if thou be light, thou shalt be weighed, and so found, thou shalt lose the Kingdom of heaven for ever.  
Secondly, strip sin, and look upon it stark naked: sin covers and disguiseth itself with pleasure, profit, ease, and many a whorish garment, and so enticeth the heart. Even a toad, if she were covered over with gold, those that saw only the gold would pocket it up; if it were naked they would sling it in the kennel. Why do men love covetousness? Why? its hooded with profit. Why carding, dicing, hunting, hawking, tabring, piping, and more than the word alloweth? Why? they are clothed with pleasure, and delight. Its the duty of Ministers to unmask and uncase sin, and pluck off the veil that covers it from appearing unto men. The not doing of this is the cause that men do not meditate on the vileness of their sin, never are humbled, never escape Gods wrath; even because they not discover mens iniquities, Lam. 2. 14. Alas the profit of thy sins shall cease, the pleasure cease, the ease cease, and all these goodly suits shall vanish away, when the soul comes to die, or to stand before the judgement seat of Christ: sin will remain, but thy silver, and thy gold, where will that be then? thy laughter, and thy merriment, what will become of that then? thy delight will be gone. Meditate therefore with thyself, my sin is now gainful, and easy, and pleasant; but what will my sin become, when I come to lie on my deathbed? what good will it do me, when I have most need of succour? I will never aclowledge him my friend, that will turn against me, when I have most need of him. Alas, I must die, I must come to judgement, I, I must go either to heaven or to hell: the profit that I get now by my sins, will it bestead me then? the pleasure, the ease that I now find in sin, will it help me there? Alas no, it will then be my break-neck, it will be a Devil unto me: the more I have been delighted with it, the more it will gull me: the more I have gotten by it the more it will damn me: the sin which I most of all loved, will most of all torment me. Eccles. 11. 9. look thus upon sin.  
The third means: Dive into thy own soul and heart. There is a tough brawn over thy heart, that it feels not its sins. Now Meditation must look through, and come to the heart at the quick, and cause the truth to dive into the deep places of the soul. When the timber is hard, the workman cannot thrust in the nail with the weight of his hand: no, he must hammer it in. Meditation is the hammering of the heart. It's a pertinent phrase, Jer. 23, 24. Is not my word like a fire( saith the Lord) and like a hammer that breaketh the rocks in pieces? There be two similitudes, first, of a hammer: the Word of God is the hammer; meditation is the hand that taketh this hammer, and knocks the nail into the rocky heart, and makes it enter: Wilt thou not feel? I'll make thee feel( saith Meditation) wilt thou not take notice of thy wretched estate? Meditation comes with blow after blow, and makes us take notice. Secondly, of fire; the word is like fire; Meditation kindles it about the heart. A man be numbed with could is senseless; the water frozen with could, though the least pibble would have sunk in it before, now a great millstone is able to lie upon it, and not sink; the water is able to bear it: so is the heart, be it's sins never so heavy, as the hill of Basan, yet it bears it and feels no weight: but Meditation thawes the heart, and then every sin pincheth and oppresseth. Is not my word like fire? as if he should say, think of it, and muse of it, and meditate of it, and thou shall feel it as a fire. Meditation is the often smiting of the heart with this hammer: so did Ephraim smite upon his thigh, Jer. 31. 19. like a man in a miserable agony, he thumps his own breast, and in a vexation strikes his hand on his thigh. Oh miserable wretch that I am! So did Ephraim, Oh what an unruly ox am I? how unwilling am I to bear the yoke of the Lord? Oh, and oh the hardness of my heart! oh that I could tell how to beat thee black and blue! Many men smite their hearts, but they smite them not often enough. When Elishah bad Joash smite upon the ground, he smote thrice, and stayed; The man of God said to him in anger, Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times, for then thou hadst smitten Syria, till thou hadst consumed them, whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. 2. King. 13. 19. So men smite their hearts twice, or thrice, or so; but they will not smite their sins dead: it may be they break the head of their sins, but they recover again, and grow strong upon them, as at first. Thou must smite five or six times, yea fifty times five times, till thou hast quiter broken the imposthume of thy heart. Meditate on the mercies of God, and with them smite it often, and often: Meditate on the justice of God, and with it smite it again, and again: Meditate on the wrath of God, which is as a consuming fire, and with it smite it soundly. Meditate on the truth of the Lord, this threatening and that threatening; this commandement and that commandment this promise and that promise; and with all these smite it to powder.  
The fourth means, Anticipate and prevent thine own heart: meditate what thy heart will one day wish, if it be not humbled: and tell thy Soul as much; thou wilt one day wish, Oh that I had been humbled under the reproofs of the Lord! Oh that I had been wise to have understood my own mercy! Cursed be the day that ever I neglected the means of grace; so the Lord brings in a foolish obstinate sinner, cursing and banning his own soul, sobbing and howling at the last. O how have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof! and have not observed the voice of my Teachers, nor inclined mine care to them that instruct me? Prov. 5. 12, 13. I had Ministers to preach to me, but I would not come at them: or if I did, I cared not for their doctrine, I had friends that advised me well; but woe is me damned wretch! I headed them not. Thus thou wilt cast the fool into thine own teeth, and fling a thousand curses into thine own face, because of thy madness. I might have learned but I would not; I might have been humbled, but I would not: I was almost in an evil in the midst of the assembly of the congregation, verse 14. I lived where the Saints of God were in whole assemblies, but I mocked them. I hated them, I misliked them for being too precise. I was not ashamed of my security, no not in thy sight. Thus thou wilt cry out one day, if thou wilt not yield unto meditation, which must make this as present with thee. Know thou, O my soul, the time of thy visitation is at hand, thou wilt curse thyself hereafter, if thou dost not now be moved by Gods mercies, thou shalt never see mercy more: Now be awaked by Gods judgments, or else thou shalt feel them for evermore; now or for ever thou shalt roar for them. Then thou shalt curse thy gains and thy profits that bewitched thee, thou shalt curse thy pleasures and delights that besotted thee, curse thine one heart, and thine own soul, and thine own conscience that have damned thee. Meditation may tell thee, thus it will be with thee, unless thou obeyest now. Hear ye me now, Oh ye Children and depart not from the words of my mouth, verse 7. hear the word now, and obey it, let it not depart out thy meditation. Now be humbled with grace, or then thou shalt be humbled with horror: then thou shalt wish, Oh that I had been ruled! When thou art in hell, then thou shalt meditate, Oh it was good counsel that such and such a Minister gave me; good counsel that such a friend, and such a brother gave me; but wretch that I was, I had not grace to follow it. I had more mind of my pleasures, more mind of my vanities than of grace. Oh if it were to do again, I would not do so for a thousand worlds: but alas, it is now too late. Therefore let Meditation press this upon thee beforehand.  
Now follows the third thing, how to put life to Meditation. Four duties are to be done to this purpose.  
1. Let Meditation haunt the heart, let meditation dog thee with the hellish looks of thy sins, and follow it with the dreadful vengeance of God, haunt it with promises, haunt it with threatenings, haunt it with mercies, and haunt it with judgements, and haunt it with Commandments, The heart is like the Beaver, when it perceiveth it cannot possibly escape from the Huntsman, it cuts off the Member for which it is hunted, and flings it down, and so escapes( saith Aesop:) So pursue thy heart with its sins, with the hue and cry of Gods mercies; pursue it with the bubbub of Gods judgements; let meditation haunt it, and let thy soul see it shall never be rid of the haunt; at last it will be content to part with its lusts. Let Meditation say, Wilt thou forsake thine own mercies? If thou livest thus and thus, If thou prayest thus and thus, dead heartedly, thou kickest against thine own mercy, wilt thou rush upon the pricks? This mercy thou mayst have, if thou wouldst amend, that vengeance thou shalt have, if thou do not amend: Either cut off thy sins, or else God will cutoff thy soul. Return, O Shulamite, return, return, its the voice of Christ to thee: Let Meditation say, Return, O my soul, return return, and thou mayst be saved; return, or else thou shalt be condemned. Now what was the effect of this haunting meditation? Or ere I was ware, my soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab. verse 12. That is, my soul musing and meditating on these and these commandments, it so humbled my soul, that it made me yield; yea, and made me run as fast as the Chariots of Aminadah, freely and willingly to Christ.  
Deal with thy heart as Iunius his father dealt with him: he seeing his Son was Atheistical, he laid a Bible in every room, that his son could look in no room, but behold a Bible haunted him, upbraiding him, Wilt thou not red me, Atheist? Wilt thou not red me? And so at last he red it, and was converted from his atheism: So let meditation haunt thy heart, hold forth the commandements, promises, threatenings of the Lord, that thy heart may see them; let meditation haunt thee in thy wilderness: prayest thou thus luke-warm? This prayer will break thy neck one day. Repentest thou? This luke warm repentance will cause God to spew thee out of his mouth. Hearest thou, speakest thou, thinkest thou? These lukewarm duties will confounded thee ere long, if thou lookest not to it.  
Let meditations haunt thee, as they haunted Nehemiah with warnings, ten times( saith the Text) they sent to Nehemiah, they will be upon thee, Nehem. 4. 12. Beware of the danger, the enemy will be upon thee: ten times they warned him, never giving over till Nehemiah looked about him, verse 13. So do thou haunt thine own heart: they will be upon thee, this curse, this wrath, that hardness of heart, this security will be upon thee. Ten times, yea, a thousand times ten times, never give over thine own foul, until thou hast made it to submit. Indeed there be some, let God sand Meditations to haunt them, and follow them, saying, Repent, leave this or that sin? why wilt thou be damned with this sin? Oh forsake it, presently they will gag the mouth of meditation, and of conscience, and strike them stark dead: as Abner, when Azahel would haunt him and follow him, and turn neither to the right hand, nor to the left, but follow him at the heels. Turn aside( saith Abner) but he would not turn aside from following him. Turn aside from me( says Abner again) or I will kill thee, but he would not turn aside, he would follow him close: Then he up with his Spear and slay him, 2. Sam. 2. 19. 20, 21, 22, 23. So many deal with the Meditation of conscience, when conscience would dog them, and weary them out of their sins, they will not, when conscience would haunt them, they will not be haunted therewith; when conscience would follow them up with their desperate wilfulness, they gull, and wound, and murder conscience to be quiet. But David haunted his heart, and would have it haunted.  
The second duty: Let Meditation trace thy heart, as it should haunt thee, so also let it trace thee in the same steps. So would the Church, Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord: Lam. 3. 40. The word( in the original, says Buxtorf) signifies, tract her steps, step by step: this step was in the ditch, tha● in the mire, that step awry: tract them all, that we may undergo them all again, and turn unto the Lord. Never pray but let Meditation tract thy prayer: this passage was right, that passage was amis. Never keep a Sabbath but let Meditation tract thy keeping of it; this duty was sincere, that was rotten: Never do any thing, but let Meditation tract it. This thought, this word, this action was warrantable; that was out of the way: tract thy heart, as the Lord tracked Eliah, he tracked him in the wilderness, he tracked him under the juniper three, he tracked him in the cave; What dost thou here Eliah? go forth: 1. Kings 19. What dost thou here Eliah, go, return. He tract him in the Mount, Go, return, what dost thou here Eliah? this is not a place for thee. So let Meditation wait thee; what dost thou here, O sinner? what dost thou here, drunkard? in thy Cupps, or in thy profaneness, what dost thou here? this is not a place for thee, unless thou mean to perish. It may be thou art now scared out of these sins, and art run into civil honesty, let Meditation still tract thee. What dost thou do here, O sinner? civility is not a case fit for thee, unless thou wert better, thou shalt be torn in pieces. It may be thou art driven out of thy civility; and art gone further, to the profession of Religion, though it be without the power of it; let meditation still wait thee. What dost thou do here, O sinner? this sorry kind of profession is not a race fit for thee: unless thou be godlier than so, thou shalt be devoured with everlasting fire.  
Meditation is like the coursing of a Hare in the snow; the Hare fearing to be taken by the dogs, Here she stops, there she leaps, here she interleaps, there she goes backward, and forward, upward and downward, and all to deceive the dogs, that they may not find her; but they go, smelling, winding and turning, and tract her step by step, till they find her: so meditation is the coursing of the soul, the heart hath a thousand fetches, a thousand Meanders and labyrinths, a thousand cross windings, and compassings, and deceits, and all to puzzle Meditation. But Meditation must tract the heart, as God dealt with Job, he counted his steps, step by step, job 14. 16. Meditation is the souls blood hound, it will never leave howling the wrath of God; till he hath taken the hearts sin for a prey, Meditation haunts it out of one sin, and it runs into another; Meditation haunts it out of that, and it runs into a third: Meditation is a good pursuivant, it prosecutes the sinner, and attaches him.  
Now because the heart is most cunning, and hardest to be tracked by its sent, when the heart hath taken up abundance of good duties, and attained unto sundry graces, these good duties and common graces drown the sent of the hearts wickedness. As Huntsmen observe, that the hounds cannot well hunt in the Spring, as Theophrastus, and Pollux, and others observe: the sweet odours of the flowers and herbs( says Oppian) hinder the hounds from smelling the hare: so it is with Meditation; it is hard for it to tract the heart in the green Spring-time of civill honesty and formality. And therefore let Meditation make diligent search, saith he.  
The third duty: hale thy heart before God, and let Meditation bring it before his throne, and there power out thy complaint against it before God, out with all thy villainy there, and article against thyself, and bring as many complaints against thyself before heaven, as there be drops in a bucket full of water. So do the godly: I powred out all my complaints before him( Psal. 102. in the preface) I powred out my complaints as a man poureth out water out of a vessel; generally men are willing to call for mercy, but they are not so willing to bring complaints unto God against themselves: ye shall have them whisper after the Minister, as he is begging for pardon and mercy, but they will not do so, whiles he is complaining of their sins, the hellish and devilish abominations of their heart. These are men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith, and shall never have mercy, till they be as forward to complain of their sins, as to be plaintiffs for mercy.  
When a man in Meditation meets with a hard matter, that he cannot sufficiently dive into, he breaks it to another: so do thou to God; break all thy heart to God, tell him of thy hardness of heart, of the pride of thy heart, of the desperate profaneness of thy heart: but take these rules with thee;  
First, thy complaint must be full of sorrow Psal. 55.  
Secondly, it must be a full complaint of all thy sins, and of all thy lusts; Lam. 2. 18, 19. Poure aut thy heart like water before the face of the Lord. Water runs all out of a vessel, when you turn the mouth downward; never a spoonful will stay behind. The wicked, will not complain of their sins fully: they make hypocritical professions. If it be a sin, I am sorry for it;( says one) if it be nought, I cry God mercy;( saith another) when their own consciences tell them it is is a sin, yet they will not complain of it absolutely.  
Thirdly, thy complaint must be with aggravation: thou must aggravate thy sins by all the circumstances, that may show it to be odious, as Peter did: When he thought thereon, he wept, Mark 14. 72. the original hath it, he cast all these things one upon another. Wretch that I was, Christ was my master, and yet I denied him; such a good master, that he called me before any of my fellow-Apostles, and yet I denied him; I was ready to sink once, he denied not me: I was to be damned once, he denied not my soul, and yet I denied him; he  told me of this sin before-hand, that I might take heed of it, and yet I denied him. I said, I will not commit it, nor forsake him, and yet I denied him: yea, this very night, no longer ago, did I say and say again, I would not deny him, and yet I denied him; yea, I said, though all others denied him, yet would not I; and yet worse than all others, I denied him with a witness before a maid, before a dansel; nay, more filthy beast that I am, I said I did not know the man; nay more, I swore I did not know him; nay more than all this, I did even curse myself with an oath, that I did not know him: nay more, all this evil did I, not above five or six strides from my Lord and Saviour: nay more, even then, when if ever I should have stood for him, I should have done it then, when all the world did forsake him. O wretch that I was, I denied him I he cast up all these circumstances together, and meditating on them, he went out, and wept bitterly.  
Fourthly, thy complaint must be a selfe-condemning complaint: thou must condemn thyself, and lay thyself at Hell gates, and set the naked point of Gods vengeance at thy throat. Thus and thus have I lived, damned, cast-away, as I have deserved to be! So did Ezra in the behalf of the Jews, Ezra 9.  
For 1. He fell on his face; he did not bow down on his knees; but like a man astonished, he fell on his knees, ready to fall on the ground in amazement.  
2. He spread out his hand unto the Lord, verse 5. as if he should say, here is my heart-blood, Lord here is my breast, Lord we deserve thou shouldst stab us with thy wrath.  
3. He blushes to look Heaven in the face, verse 6. so vexed to think on the sins of his people, that he is even confounded to beg mercy.  
4. He is( as it were) dumb and speechless before God: And now our God, what shall we say after all this? for we haue forsaken thy commandements, verse 10. Shall I excuse the matter? alas! it is inexcusable. What shall we say after all this? Shall we call for thy patience? Wee had it, and yet were little the better. Shall we call for mercy, Why? we had it, and yet our stubborn hearts would not come down; I know not what to say for ourselves: for we have sinned against thee.  
5. He declares Gods truth, that he had warned them by his Prophets,( vers. 11, 12.) but no warning can better us.  
6. He shows how God had punished them, yet they would not be humbled: for all that God had brought upon them less evils than they deserved, and wrought deliverance for them, which they could not have expected; What shall we say, should we for all this break thy commandements? verse 13, 14. What can we expect but hell and confusion?  
7. He is sensible of Gods Judgements and righteousness: O Lord thou art righteous: as if he should say, How canst thou spare us for this sin? How can it stand with thy righteousness? How is it that such hell-hounds as we are, should live above ground, when thou art so righteous a God? It is a wonder that the earth opens not her mouth for to swallow us up quick: for, O Lord thou art righteous.  
8. He lays down his soul, and all the peoples souls at Gods feet; as if he should say, here we be, thou mayst damn us if thou wilt; Behold we are all here before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee, because of this, verse 15. Behold here are we: rebels we are: here are our heads, and our throats before thee, if now thou shouldst take us from our knees unto hell, and from our prayers unto damnation, we cannot ask thee, why thou dost so: Oh it's mercy, it's mercy indeed, that we have been spared. Thus Meditation must bring our hearts before God, and there complain against them before heaven.  
Meditation should deal with the heart, as the Father did with his possessed child, who carried him to Christ, saying, Master my child is possessed with a devil, even a dumb spirit, and I spake to thy Disciples that they should cast him out, but they could not, Mark 9. 18. Bring him to me( saith Christ) verse 19. How long is this ago since this came to him? Of a child( saith the Father) and often it hath cast him into the fire, and often into the water to destroy him; but if thou canst do any thing( as certainly thou canst do all things) have compassion on us, and help us, verse 22. And then Christ helped him. So let Meditation drive thy heart to God, saying; Lord here is my heart( I believe) possessed with a Devil; for it is a most abominable sinful heart: I brought my heart to thy Ministers to cure it, to Sermons, to Prayers, to all other good duties, but they could not help me, my heart is a devilish heart, still my heart is wicked, and rebellious still, the Devil, Oh, the Devil is in it still! Oh, how he tempts me! he holds me, he casts me into the fire of this lust, and into the water of everflowing iniquity. Have thou compassion, come and help me, for my heart is miserable vexed with Satan; when I pray, the Devil stuffs me with dead thoughts, and drowsy desires, the Devil fills me with wandring Imaginations, and I know not what; when I hear the Word, the Devil makes me to rise up against it, or forget it, or not obey it; when the Sabbath is come, the devil sets me on thinking my own thoughts, and speaking my own words; when a Sacrament is come, the Devil hinders me in selfe-examination, The Devil disappoints me of my preparation: Oh have thou compassion on me,  
The fourth duty; Let Meditation, when it hath haled thy heart before God, there cast thee down before him: when Meditation hath preached out thy case, and made it appear how woeful it is, then let it lay thee along before God, with What shall I do to be saved? So it did with them in Acts 2. 27. as if they should say( saith Chrysostome) we have not one jot of hope to find mercy, so long as we live as we do. What shall we do? Say what thou wilt, our ears are ready to hear it; command what thou wilt, our souls, what ever it be, are willing to do it: bid us suffer whatsoever thou pleasest, tell us what it is, and we will endure it. They did not say( notes Chrysostome) How shall we be saved, as wicked men do, they desire to be saved, but their main care is not to see what they must do, they are  told what they must do, and yet refuse to do it; but thy chief study must be, to cast thyself down before God with the good Jaylor, Sirs, What shall I do to be saved? Acts 16. 30. First, What must I do? and then to be saved. First thy care must be what to do to get out of thy sins, how to be rid of thy lusts, and then to be saved; as if he should say, I see I am at a damned pass, and therefore I was a making away myself, the fire of hell did slay my soul: but now is there hope of salvation? is there indeed? Oh tel me, I am willing to do any thing, what must I do? Keep nothing back of all the will of the Lord; be it punishment to suffer, tell me of it, I am ready to bear it; be it precepts for to do, though never so irke some, O let me know it, and I would not refuse it. What must I do to be saved? When the heart is thus humbled upon sound Meditation, i'ts willing to do or suffer any thing. Jonah is willing to be cast into the sea, being humbled, Jonah 1. 2. Here I am, Lord deal with me as thou wilt.  
The first Motive. Is it not a folly not to meditate? Should a man walk on in his course, and not meditate whither it will tend? When he falls into mischief, what will he say? I never thought on this before, I never considered that this would be the end. Now it is the part of a fool to say, I never thought, as the latin proverb hath it; when the stead is stolen, if he should then shut the Stable door, what wouldest thou say, He should have thought of that before. The rich man in the Gospel had these meditations in his heart; he thought within himself, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? He said in his heart, This will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater; and will say to my soul, Soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, eat, drink, and be merry; Luke 12. 17, 18, 19, 20. Thou fool( said God) this night shall thy soul be required of thee; then whose shall these things be that thou hast provided? God said thus unto him: not as if God spake thus familiarly unto him( saith Theophylact) but it is a parable, and God says so in his word, Thou fool, this night shall they require thy soul of thee. In this night of thy blindness, in this night of thy security, shall they require it: he doth not say, I will require thy soul of thee, but they: he doth not say who, but they, the Devils in hell. God knows who shall come, thou shalt die, and they shall fetch away thy soul to hell: they shall require it. A goldy mans soul is not required, but rather he requires God to take away his soul: he is willing to die, that he may be with Christ: but a wicked mans soul is required of him: he would willingly not die, but that his soul is required of him, and he must die. doubtless the rich fool now thought with himself, I never thought that I should have dyed so soon, and therefore now he calls( it may be) to his Lord, Lord, and cries God mercy. But what will they say to him? Thou shouldst have thought on this before.  
The wise man shall inherit glory, but shane shall be the promotion of fools, Prov. 3. 3. The wise and prudent, those that truly meditate of things beforehand, shall have glory; but fools that hope to be promoted to to glory and salvation, shane and confusion of face shall be all their promotion, and when they come thereto, besides their expectation; what will they say? We never thought it would be thus with us before; but fools as we were, we thought to be promoted to heaven: like Haman, when King Ahashuerus said unto him, What shall be done to the man whom the King will honour? O thus and thus( saith Haman) for he thought, I am the man whom the King intendeth to honour, Esther 6. 6. but when Haman was presently after to be hanged on a gallows, he might rightly say, I never thought of this before. So, what will be done to the man whom the Lord will honour? Thus and thus sayest thou, he shall have mercies, blessings, heaven: I, for thou thinkest I am the man that God intendeth thus to honour; but when thou art come to hell, what wilt thou say then? I never thought of this before, that so it would be.  
The second Motive is, Thou wouldest be loth to have the brand of a Reprobate: Not to meditate, is that brand; The wicked through the pride of his countenance, will not seeek after God; neither is God in all his thoughts, Psal. 10. 4. He scorns to be so poring upon Bibles, to be so wracking his mind with his sins; He hath said in his heart, God will not require it, vers. 13. God requires no such scrupulosity nor strictness.  
The third Motive is, Thou wouldest be loth to rob God of his honour, and the main part of his service, which is meditation. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, Matth. 22. 38. How can this be true of them( saith Chrysostome) who become vain in their imaginations? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind: And so do I( saist thou:) So dost thou? What, and not love God with all that is in thy heart? Thy thoughts are in thy heart, thy meditations are in thy mind; If thy thoughts then, and meditation be not of God, thou dost not love God with all thy heart: David did not onely pray, that the words of his mouth, but also that the thoughts of his heart should be ever acceptable to the Lord, Psal 19. 14. not onely that he might be full of heavenly communication in his mouth, but also of holy meditation in his heart. Behold( saith he) thou rquirest truth in the inward parts, Psal. 51. 5. And meditation is one of the duties of truth in the inward parts.  
The fourth Motive: Thou wouldest be loth that all the worship thou givest to God, should be abominable: so it will be without meditation; meditation before it, meditation after it.  
First, Thou must meditate before thou goest about a duty of Gods worship: consider before thou hear the word of God, meditate what thou art going about, harken O daughter, and consider, incline thine ear, Psal. 45. 10. First, consider and meditate, and then incline thine ear. This is part of those words often in Scripture, Be ready, be ready: Be ready and come up, saith God, Exod. 34. 2. Be ready against the third day, Exod. 29. Gather yourselves together, Zep. 2. 1. that is, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel, Amos 4. 12.  
Secondly meditate after the duty. When men part with men, they use to give one another a farewell, and not bluntly deliver their mind one to another, and so turn their backs one upon another. Lysias could not writ a letter to Felix, and break up abruprly, but he gave him a farewell Acts 23. 30. Neither may a man, when a duty is done, go away bluntly from God, but give him a farewell by holy meditation. It's an unseemly kicking of a duty, as most men do when they are come to the end of their prayers, to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be ascribed all praise and glory, Amen; Come is dinner ready? or what news do you hear? This is unmannerlinesse towards the ordinances of God. A man that hath been at a good dinner, will sit a while at it, or walk a while, he will not presently run to his work, that the meat may digest the better: So when thou hast been at Gods dainties, sit after it a while, pausing and meditating thereof, as often as thou well mayest, let it have its working a while.  
What is the reason thou hast so many by-thoughts in prayer? Because thou dost not meditate before hand and after. Hence it is, that thine eyes are not directed to the duty, but like a blind Archer thou shootest but by aim; when the good Archer shoots, he must have the white in his eye still, which he must level at. My voice shalt thou hear betimes in the morning, in the morning will I direct my prayer to thee, and will look up, Ps. 5. 3. How came that? you may look on his meditations, verse 1. By meditation he was wont to direct and level his prayers to God. Wicked men know that God is before them, as a blind man may learn the Butt is before him, but they see not God before them to direct their prayers unto him: they pray at rovers. Thou must use then to meditate of God, that thy prayers may be directed: if thou prayest not thus, thy prayers are like them in the Prophet, who drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him, like an arrow beside the Butt, or far from the mark, either wide or short. They have not cried unto me with their hearts, when they howled upon their beds, Hosea 7. 14. They prayed, but they prayed not to me;( saith the Lord) as the white may say of a bungling Archer, he shoots, but not at me when he shot, he shot another way. God counts all such prayers no better than howling of Dragons and wild beasts;( so the word signifies saith Scindler) God would as lief, and rather to, that a Dog, or a Wolf, or Dragon should howl in his hearing, than hear such a prayer as this is. The onely way therefore to perform duties of Gods worship purely, is chiefly meditation, meditation, meditation.