The Art of Divine Meditation

Edmund Calamy (1600-1666) was a Reformed Presbyterian preacher of the Gospel and one of the distinguished members of the Westminster Assembly. He was active to promote Reformed Theology in his day and was an eminent scholar of the Bible. In this wonderful treatise on godly meditation, Calamy shows that meditation on holy and heavenly things is a work that God requires at the hands of all His people. God requires Christians to pray, read Scripture, study and also requires them to meditate. God requires them to hear sermons, and still, requires them to meditate on the sermons they hear. What good is learning anything without chewing and thinking about it? Yet, there are few Christians who believe this doctrine, and it is all but lost today. In contrast, meditation is to be a regular part of the daily private devotions of the Christian. Meditation cultivates seriousness in the Christian for life and godliness. The highest seriousness makes the best scholar, and consequently, the best Christian. This is a searching and scanning, a deep dive into the things of God. Calamy teaches that meditating on godly truth is not something done once and forgotten; it is something done regularly and daily. It places the mind and will under the influence of the Spirit, and it helps them to avoid sin and glorify Christ. Many make excuses not to meditate because it is difficult. Some neglect it totally, and yet others may have simply never learned to do it rightly. There is a right way and wrong way to meditate or think on these high thoughts of the Lord. Serious thinking is fundamental to all right doing before Jesus Christ. One cannot be subject to Christ if one does not know or understand the will of Christ. To meditate in a godly manner, then, is to think like a Christian. This work is not a scan or facsimile, has been carefully transcribed by hand being made easy to read in modern English, and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.