Dire( . VIlT. Of SSanEti zcation. 257 3. Meditation on the wordof God is of verygreat ufe and advantage for the attainment and praìice of holinefs through faith in Chrifl. It is a duty where- by the foul doth feed and ruminate upon the word as it's fpiritual food, and digefleth it, and turneth it into nourifhrnent, whereby we are flrengthened for every good work. Our fouls are fatisfied therewith, as with marrow and fatnefs ; when we remember God uponour beds, andmeditate onhim in the night watches, Pfalm lxiii S, 6. The new nature may well be called the mind, Rom. vii. 25. Becaufe it liveth and aneth, by minding and meditating on fpiritual things. Therefore it is a duty to be praaifed, not only at fome limited times, but all the day, Pfalm exix. 97. yea, day and night, Pfalm i 2. even in our ordinary employments at home and abroad. An habitual knowledge of the word will not profit us, without analive minding it by frequent meditation. Some think, that much preaching of the word is not needful, where a people are already brought to the knowledge of thofe things that are neceffary to fal- vation. But they who are regenerated by the word, find by experience, that their fpiritual life is main- tained and increafed byoften minding the fameword: and therefore, " as new born babes they delire the " fincere milk of the word, that they may grow " thereby," c Pet. ii. 2. and would, by the preach- ers, be put often in remembrance of the fame things, that they may feed upon them by meditation, tho' they know them already, and are " eflablifhed in " the prefent truth," 2 Pet. i. a a. But here our great- eft (kill and chief concernment lies, in praeliing this duty in fuch a manner, as that it may be fub- fervient, and not at all oppofite to the life of faith. We muff not rely upon the performance ofa dai- ly talk of meditation, as a work of righteoufnefs for the procurement of the favour of God, inftead of relying on the righteoufnefs of Chrifl; as indeed we Are prone to do, to catch at any :raw, rather than i
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