keep it in motion, without taking it in
pieces, and viewing the parts separately. So, in contemplating any great
truth, which contains many different propositions; if we look at them
all at once, our ideas will be confused and imperfect; but if we
separate them, and examine one at a time, our views will be clear and
distinct. Our meditation must be _practical_, because every divine truth
is calculated to make an impression upon the heart; and if it fails of
doing this, our labor is lost. Make, then, a direct personal application
of the truth, on which your thoughts are fixed. But, our meditations
must also be _devotions_. They must all be mixed with prayer. As an
example of what I mean, examine the 119th Psalm. There the Psalmist, in
the midst of his meditations, was continually lifting up his soul in
prayer. His devout aspirations are breathed forth continually. Your
success in this exercise, and the profit you derive from it, will very
much depend on the manner you observe this direction.

3. _The subjects of Meditation._ The word of God furnishes abundant
matter for meditation. This was the constant delight of the Psalmist.
The 119th Psalm consists almost entirely of meditations upon the word of
God. But, in our regular seasons of fixed and solemn meditation, you
will find assistance and profit from fixing your mind on some particular
portion of divine truth; and carrying it out in its various relations
and applications. That these subjects may be always at hand, without
loss of time in selecting and arranging them, I here suggest a
considerable variety of topics, with references to passages of Scripture
calculated to illustrate or enforce the subjects. It is not designed
that you should confine yourself strictly to these, but to use them as
an aid to your own efforts. They are intended as mere suggestions, and
are therefore both imperfectly stated and partially carried out; One
great difficulty, in this exercise, is, always to be able to fix the
mind on some portion of truth, in such a manner as to secure variety,
and to contemplate truth in its proper proportions. And probably this
kind of meditation is often neglected, for want of time to select a
subject, and fix the attention upon it. If Christians were always in a
lively frame, perhaps this would not be necessary. The mind would
spontaneously revert to spiritual things. But, humiliating as is the
fact, it is nevertheless true, that our minds are often dull upon