- Mar 21, 2003
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From Grace Gems - Free and Public Domain:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Grace Gems!
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From Grace Gems - Free and Public Domain:
Very Old - But Beautiful and Timeless Treasures.
Grace Gems!
___________________________________________
The Dangers of Neglecting Meditation
Edmund Calamy (1600-1666)
I shall show you the woeful troubles and the intolerable mischiefs which come from the lack of practicing this duty of meditation. I will show you that the lack of practicing this duty is the cause of all sin, and I will instance in particulars:
1. The reason why people harden their hearts in SIN and go on obstinately—is for lack of meditation. "I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?" (Jer 8:6). They did not repent because they did not reflect upon what they did; they did not bethink themselves, so the phrase is: "If they shall bethink themselves…and repent" (1 Kings 8:47).
They did not say, "I am undone by what I have done; I have lost God and Heaven by what I have done; and if I do not repent, I am an undone creature forever." No man repented of his wickedness, because no man considered what he had done; for did you consider the evil that is in sin, did you dwell and abide upon it, did you commune with your own hearts and seriously consider what an evil and bitter thing it is to sin against God, you dare not willingly sin against God. The reason why men go on rashly, heedlessly, obstinately in sin is for lack of the meditation of the evil of sin.
2. The reason why all the SERMONS we hear do us no more good, is for lack of divine meditation. For it is with sermons as it is with food—it is not having food upon your table that will feed you, but you must eat it. And you must not only eat it, but digest it—or else your food will do you no good.
So it is with sermons: it is not hearing sermons that will do you good, but digesting them by meditation. Pondering in your hearts what you hear, must do you good. One sermon well digested, well meditated upon—is better than twenty sermons without meditation! Now meditation is that which will digest all the sermons you hear.
There are some men sick with a disease that makes them vomit up whatever they eat—the food never does them any good.
So is the custom of many of you: you hear a sermon, you go away, and never think of it afterward. This is just like food that you vomit up.
There is a disease that some men have, that all the food they eat goes through them—it never nourishes with them. Now, this food never nourishes.
So it is with the sermons you hear—I am afraid that the sermons you hear go right through you. You hear them and hear them—and that is all you do. You never seek by meditation to root them in your hearts.
That is the reason why you are so lean in grace—though you are so fully fed with sermons!
It is with sermons as it is with a plaster—if a man has a wound in his body and lay a plaster to the wound, this plaster will never heal him unless it abides upon the wound. If he takes it away as soon as ever it is laid on-it will never do him any good.
So it is with sermons: if when you have heard a sermon, you never ponder and meditate on it, it is just like a plaster put on and then pulled off again!
I am confident the great reason why we have so many hunger-starved Christians who are lean in grace and lean in practice, though they hear sermon upon sermon—it may be on the Sabbath day they will hear four or five sermons—is because they digest nothing. They never ponder and meditate upon what they hear!
This is what our Savior Christ speaks of, by the seed that was sown by the highway side is meant a man that hears the word and never thinks of it after he has heard it, but allows the devil to steal it out of his heart (Luke 8:5). As the gardener that sows the seed on a hard path—you know he never plows it, he never looks that it should come to anything. For many of you, the sermons you hear are like the seed sown in the path—you never cover it by meditation, you never think of it after you have heard it; and that is the reason you get no more good by what you hear.
3. The reason why the PROMISES of God do no more affect your hearts, when the saints of God taste no more sweetness in the promises—is because you do not ponder and meditate upon them. It is with the promises of the gospel as it is with a candy—if a man does not chew his candy but swallow it down whole, he will never taste any great sweetness in it. The way to taste the sweetness is to chew it
In the same way, the promises of God are full of heavenly comfort, but you will never enjoy their comfort unless you chew them by meditation.
As it is with spices—unless they are chrushed, they never smell sweet. And as it is with a flower—unless you rub it, you will never smell the fragrance of it. No more will you ever taste the heavenly comfort that is in the promises of the gospel—unless you rub them, unless you crush them, unless you chew them by meditation!
The reason why the saints of God walk so uncomfortably all their lives long, is because they do not chew these promises.
4. The reason why the THREATENINGS of God make no more impression upon our hearts, is for lack of meditation. There are terrible threatenings against sin in the Word—but, alas, there are few people affected with these threatenings. The threatenings of God in Scripture are like the rattling of hail upon the roof-tiles—they make a great noise, but they make no impression.
And what is the reason? It is for lack of meditation. We do not lay them to heart; we do not consider that these threatenings belong to us as long as we continue in our sins. Oh, if a wicked man meditates solemnly upon the threatenings of God, it would make his heart ache, especially when a sense of his sin goes along with them.