“Meditation is a middle sort of duty between the word and prayer, and hath respect to both.
The word feedeth meditation, and meditation feedeth prayer; we must hear that we be not erroneous, and meditate that we be not barren.
These duties must always go hand in hand; meditation must follow hearing and precede prayer.
To hear and not to meditate is unfruitful. We may hear and hear, but it is like putting a thing into a bag with holes:
‘He that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.‘ (Hag. 1:6)
‘He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.’ (James 1:23-24)
Bare hearing begets but transient thoughts, and they leave but a weak impression, which is rather like the glance of a sunbeam upon a wall.
There is a glaring for the present, but a man never discerneth the beauty, the lustre, and the order of the truths delivered till he cometh to meditate upon them; then we come clearly to see into the truth, and how it concerneth us, and how it falleth upon our hearts.
David saith, ‘I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation.’ (Ps. 119:99)
The preacher can but deliver general theorems, and draw them down to practical inferences; by meditation we come to see more clearly and practically than he that preacheth.
We see, in outward learning, they thrive best that meditate most; knowledge floateth, till by deliberate thoughts it be compressed upon the affections.”
–Thomas Manton, The Works of Thomas Manton, Vol. 17 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1870/2020), 17: 272.
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