February 17

"Meditate upon these things." — 1 Timothy 4:15.

SUCH was Paul's charge to Timothy, but the words will admit of general application. The Christian is to be a man of meditation. Let us look at this pleasing duty in

THE PECULIARITY OF ITS NATURE. It does not consist in the exercise of the memory: many possess a good natural memory, who know nothing about spiritual meditation. A good memory is a great assistance in this Christian duty, though not always connected with it. There is a distinction between study and meditation. By study we acquire learning, by meditation we turn it to account; by study the mind is filled with knowledge, by meditation the soul feasts on it: study consists chiefly in the application of the mind, but meditation in the excursions of the mind. One has described meditation as the soul being rolled into itself. You may be alone, and yet not engaged in this exercise. The Christian loves solitude, and feels that he is never less alone than when alone. Meditation makes the world appear to him as a shadowy arch, through which he gazes on the bright and expansive sky beyond. It is an exercise, which, while it connects the soul with all that is solemn and sublime, produces the most elevating and reviving effects on the mind. While, therefore, we delight in seasons of social intercourse, let us never forget the charms of solitude, but prize its golden hours. One has beautifully remarked — The good man soars to heaven in mind, though chained to earth in body: it is thus the superb eagle, in the region of thunder, darts along on majestic pinion, and seems to say to mortals, "I was born on the earth, but I live in the sky."

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