A Treatise of Divine Meditation
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Hear one of his instructions on how to meditate:
"O! heavenly Father, I heartily desire to follow You wherever You shall lead me, to do what You shall command, and to cleave to You as long as I live. But I find the flesh rebellious, soliciting daily, yes, and violently hailing to those things that are evil. Ah, miserable wretch that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? You, Lord, are only able, and willing to promise help and succour. To You therefore do I fly. I pray You have mercy on me in Jesus Christ, and repair the lost image of Yourself. Your hands have made me, and fashioned me; give me understanding, and I shall live. You created me pure, You can restore me, though corrupt. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Breathe into me the Spirit of Life, and establish me in the way of Your precepts. Heal my soul, for I am defiled, and cause me to grow up into the perfect stature of a spiritual man. I have wounded my soul, but cannot cure it, defaced Your image, but cannot fashion it anew. Look on my misery, dear Father, forgive my sin, and make me a new creature for Your infinite mercy, begin in me this good work, and perfect it to Your praise; in You do I trust, to You I seek for grace, for in You the fatherless find mercy."
Ball divides this work into three areas: 1) what meditation is and its importance, 2) what occasional or extemporary meditation is, and 3) what solemn meditation is. Serious theological thinking is fundamental to all right Christian doing. Ball will show that godly meditation is a commanded, necessary and a spiritual help to the Christian being a vital component of a Christian living to God. In other words, everyone that names the name of Christ is required to meditate for God’s glory and their benefit.
There is no duty more neglected among Christians than this duty of meditation. Therefore, you should not only read over this work, but live it over. If you would be blessed in all your enterprises or concernments with the blessings of God, (Joshua 1:8), if you would have your understanding enlightened with the knowledge of God, your affections inflamed with the love of God, your heart established with the promises of God, your solitariness cheered up with the company of God, your afflictions mitigated with the comforts of God, and if you would have your thoughts, words and works regulated by the command of God, pray and consider, pray and meditate.
This is not a scan or facsimile, has been updated in modern English for easy reading and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.
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John Ball (1585-1640) was a godly puritan preacher and scholar who was well known for his works on Covenant Theology, and praised for his work on godly meditation.
C. Matthew McMahon, Ph.D., Th.D., is an American Calvinist Reformed theologian and adjunct professor at Whitefield Theological Seminary. He is the founder and chairman of A Puritan's Mind, the largest Reformed website on the internet for students of the Bible concerning Reformed Theology, the Puritans and Covenant Theology. He is also the founder of Puritan Publications which publishes rare Reformed and Puritan works from the 17th century.
