Chap. 13.j HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION. 213 templation, it is sufficient to say, that the most convenient is some private retirement. Our spirits need every 'help, and to be freed from everyhinderance in the work. If, in private prayer, Christ directs us to " enter into our closet, and shut the door, that our Father may see us in secret," so shouldwe do this in meditation. How often did Christ him- self retire to some mountain, or wilderness, or other solitary place ! I give not this advice for occasional meditation, but for that which is set and solemn. Therefore withdraw thy- selffrom all society, even that of godly men, that thou mayst awhile enjoy the society of thy Lord If a student cannot study in a crowd, who exerciseth only his invention and memory, much less shouldst thou be in a crowd, who art to exercise all the powers of thy soul, and upon an object so far above nature. We are fled so far from superstitious solitude, that we have even cast off the solitude of contem- plative devotion. We seldom read of God's appearing by himself, or byhis angels, to any of his prophets or saints, in a c, owd; but frequently when they were alone. But ob- serve for thyself what place best agrees with thy spirit, within doors or without. Isaac's example, in "going out to meditate in the field," will, I ank persuaded, best suit with most. Our Lord so much used a solitary garden, that even Judas, when he came to betray him, knew where to find him : and though he took his disciples thither with him,,yet he "was withdrawn from them" for more secret devotions; and though his meditation be not directly named, but only his praying, yet it is very clearly implied ; for his soul is first made sorrowful with the bitter meditations on his suf- ferings and death, and then he poureth it out in prayer. So that Christ had his accustomed place, and consequently ac- customed duty ; and so must we : he hath a place that is solitary, whither he retireth himself, even from his own dis- ciples, and so must we : his meditations go further than his thoughts; they affect and pierce his heart and soul; and so must ours. Only there is a wide difference in the object : Christ meditates on the sufferings that our sins had deserved, so that the wrath of his Father passed through all his soul ; but we are to meditate on the glory he hath purchased, that the love of the Father, and the joy of the Spirit, may enter at our thoughts, and revive our affections, and overflowour souls.
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