Watson's treatise on meditation, built on Psalm 1:2, distinguishing it from memory and from study across eighteen short chapters, followed by its companion piece, A Christian on Earth Still in Heaven.
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Watson's treatise on meditation, built on Psalm 1:2 — "In his law doth he meditate day and night." The opening line states the chain he argues throughout: grace breeds delight in God, and delight breeds meditation, a duty in which he says the essentials of religion consist.
Nineteen short chapters define the duty and then fence it off from its neighbors — how meditation differs from memory, and how it differs from study. Watson answers the objection that unbroken meditation is impossible the way he answers the command to pray without ceasing: not every moment, but time set apart every day, as the sacrifice in Numbers 28:24 was called continual because it was daily.
The longest chapter by far sets out the subjects a Christian should meditate on. The rest are brief and practical — the necessity of meditation, why there are so few good Christians, and the hindrances that keep the duty from being done.
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A Christian on the Mount · Audiobook · 3 hr 33 min
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Grace produces delight in God, and delight produces meditation. This duty embodies the essentials of religion and nourishes its very lifeblood. To show how accustomed the godly person is to this blessed work of meditation, the psalmist adds, “In his Law doth he meditate day and night.”
This does not mean there can be no interruptions. God allows time for our ordinary work and grants us some relaxation. When the godly person is said to meditate day and night, the meaning is frequently: this duty occupies much of his attention.
God commands us to pray “without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). This does not mean we should always be praying, as the Eutiches held. It means we should set some time apart for prayer every day. Drusius and others interpret it this way.
Under the old law, we read of “the continual sacrifice” (Num 28:24). The people of Israel did not spend all their time sacrificing. They offered sacrifices at their appointed hours every morning and evening, and for that reason it was called the continual sacrifice. In the same way, the godly person is said to meditate day and night because he often does this work. He is no stranger to meditation.
Doctrine: The proposition that follows from the text is this: a good Christian is a meditating Christian. “I will meditate in thy precepts” (Ps 119:15). “Meditate upon these things” (1 Tim 4:15).
Meditation is chewing over the truths we have heard. Under the old law, animals that did not chew the cud were unclean. The Christian who does not chew the cud through meditation is likewise to be regarded as unclean. Meditation is like watering the seed: it makes the fruits of grace flourish.
The Nature of Meditation
If someone asks what meditation is, I answer: meditation is the soul’s withdrawal into itself so that, through serious and solemn thought about God, the heart may be raised to heavenly affections. This description has three branches.
1. Meditation Is the Soul’s Withdrawal into Itself
When a Christian goes to meditate, he must shut himself away from the world. The world spoils meditation. “Christ went apart into the Mount to pray” (Matt 14:23). So go apart when you are to meditate. “Isaac went out to meditate in the field” (Gen 24:63). He withdrew into solitude so that he might walk with God through meditation.
Zacchaeus wanted to see Christ, and he got out of the crowd: “He ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore-tree to see him” (Luke 19:3-4). In the same way, when we would see God, we must get out of the crowd of worldly business. Through the solitude of meditation, we must climb into the tree, where we shall have the best view of heaven.
The world’s music will either lull us to sleep or distract us in our meditations. A speck in the eye hinders sight. When worldly thoughts enter the mind like specks, the mind, which is the eye of the soul, cannot gaze so steadily toward heaven in contemplation.
When Abraham went to sacrifice, “he left his servant and the Ass at the bottom of the hill” (Gen 22:5). In the same way, when a Christian climbs the hill of meditation, he should leave all worldly cares at its foot. Then he may be alone and take a walk in heaven.
If a bird’s wings are covered with sticky birdlime, she cannot fly. Meditation is the soul’s wing. When a Christian is stuck fast to earthly things as a bird is to birdlime, he cannot fly to God on this wing.
When Saint Bernard came to the church door, he used to say, “Stay here all my worldly thoughts, that I may converse with God in the Temple.” So say to yourself, “I am going to meditate now. All you vain thoughts, stay behind; do not come near.” When you climb the mount of meditation, take care that the world does not follow you and throw you down from the top of this pinnacle. This is the first thing: the soul’s withdrawal into itself. Lock and bolt the door against the world.
2. Serious and Solemn Thought about God
The second thing in meditation is serious and solemn thought about God. The Hebrew word for meditate signifies an intense recollecting and gathering together of the thoughts. Meditation is no passing exercise consisting of a few fleeting thoughts about religion. It is not “a dog at the Nile,” like the dogs of the Nile that lap and run away. In meditation, the heart must be fixed on its object, and the thoughts must steep in it.
Worldly Christians are like quicksilver, which cannot be made to stay still. Their thoughts roam up and down and will not settle, like a bird hopping from branch to branch and staying nowhere. David was a man fitted for meditation: “O God, my heart is fixed” (Ps 108:1).
In meditation, the thoughts must remain on their object. A man riding at full speed through a town or village notices nothing. But an artist examining a finely crafted picture studies its entire design and portrayal. He observes its symmetry and proportion and notices every shadow and color. A worldly Christian with fleeting thoughts is like the traveler. His thoughts race along, and he notices nothing of God. A wise Christian is like the artist: he looks seriously at the things of religion and ponders them.
“But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Grotius explains the Greek word translated “pondered” as describing someone reasoning with himself.
3. Raising the Heart to Holy Affections
The third thing in meditation is raising the heart to holy affections. A Christian enters into meditation as a man enters a healing bath, so that he may be healed. Meditation heals the soul of its deadness and earthliness. But I will say more about this later.
Meditation Is a Duty
Meditation is a duty that rests on every Christian, and our duty is beyond dispute.
1. Meditation Is a Duty Imposed
It is not optional; it carries a divine mandate. The same God who has commanded us to believe has commanded us to meditate: “This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night” (Josh 1:8).
Although these words were spoken to Joshua personally, they concern everyone. The promise made to Joshua concerns all believers, as we see by comparing Joshua 1:5 with Hebrews 13:5. In the same way, the command given to Joshua, “thou shalt meditate in this book of the Law,” includes all Christians. It is the hypocrite’s practice to broaden the promise and restrict the command.
“Thou shalt meditate in this book of the Law.” The word Thou is not restricted to one person; it extends to every Christian. As God’s Word directs us, so his will must compel our obedience.
2. Meditation Is a Duty Opposed
We may conclude that it is a good duty because it runs against the current of corrupt nature. As someone said, “You may know that religion is right which Nero persecutes.” In the same way, you may know that a duty is good when the heart opposes it.
By nature, we have a strange aversion to meditation. We are swift to hear, but slow to meditate. Thinking about the world is delightful, even if it occupies the whole day. But how the heart wrangles and quarrels with holy meditation! It is like doing penance. Truly, we need no other reason to prove a duty good than the resistance of a worldly heart.
Take the duty of self-denial: “Let a man deny himself” (Matt 16:24). Self-denial is as necessary as heaven, but what disputes arise in the heart against it! “What, deny my reason, and become a fool that I may be wise? Not only deny my reason, but my righteousness too? What, cast it overboard and swim to heaven on the plank of Christ’s merits?”
The heart naturally opposes this duty and registers its dissent. That opposition is an argument proving self-denial good. The same is true of meditation. The heart’s secret hostility toward it shows that it is good, and this is reason enough to press the duty of meditation upon us.
Meditation and Memory
Memory is a glorious faculty. Aristotle calls it “the soul’s scribe”: it sits and records everything that is done. Whatever we read or hear, memory registers. Thus God does all his wonderful works so that they may be remembered. There seems to be some likeness and resemblance between meditation and memory. But I see two differences.
1. Meditation Has More Sweetness than Mere Remembrance
Memory is the chest or cupboard in which a truth is locked away. Meditation is the palate that feeds on it. Memory is like the ark in which manna was stored; meditation is like Israel’s eating of manna. When David began to meditate on God, it was sweet to him as marrow (Ps 63:5-6). There is as much difference between a truth remembered and a truth meditated on as between a restorative medicine in a glass and that medicine swallowed.
2. Remembrance without Meditation Brings Future Sorrow
Remembering a truth without seriously meditating on it will only give us cause for sorrow in a day to come. What comfort can a man have when he comes to die, to think that he remembered many excellent ideas about Christ but never had the grace to meditate on them so as to be transformed into their likeness? A sermon remembered, but not pondered, will only increase our condemnation.
Meditation and Study
The life of a student looks like meditation, but it differs from it. Meditation and study differ in three ways.
1. They Differ in Their Nature
Study is the work of the brain; meditation is the work of the heart. Study sets the inventive mind to work; meditation sets the affections to work.
2. They Differ in Their Purpose
The purpose of study is knowledge; the purpose of meditation is piety. Study aims to discover a truth; meditation aims to put a truth to spiritual use. One searches for the vein of gold; the other digs out the gold.
3. They Differ in Their Outcome and Result
Study leaves a person no better at all. It is like a winter sun that gives little warmth or influence. Meditation leaves a person in a holier state. It melts the heart when it is frozen and makes it shed tears of love.
Thomas Watson (1620 to 1686 AD) was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, taking his BA in 1639 and his MA in 1642. He served as rector of St Stephen's Walbrook in the City of London from 1646 until his ejection in 1662 under the Act of Uniformity, and was briefly imprisoned in 1651 for his part in Christopher Love's conspiracy to restore the monarchy. After the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he was licensed to preach again, sharing a lecture at Crosby Hall with Stephen Charnock. His exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism — published as A Body of Divinity, The Ten Commandments, and The Lord's Prayer — became the standard popular treatment of the catechism for over two centuries.
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