2 Peter 1:4
Precious Promises—William Spurstowe
Meditate thoroughly and frequently upon the promises, and… deal with them as the Virgin Mary did with the things that were spoken concerning Christ: “She kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
The distiller does not put any virtue into the herbs, but it distills and extracts whatever is efficacious and useful from them. The bee does not provide any sweetness to the flower, but by its industry it sucks the latent honey from it. Meditation conveys nothing of worth unto the promise, but it draws forth the sweetness, and discovers the beauty of it, which otherwise would be little crafted and discerned.
I have sometimes thought that a believer’s looking upon a promise is not unlike a person’s beholding of the heavens in a full and serene evening, who when he first casts up his eye, sees happily a star or two only to peep, and with difficulty to put forth a feeble and disappearing light; but by and by he looks up again, and both their number and luster are increased. A while later he views the heavens again, and then the whole firmament, from every quarter, full of a numberless multitude of stars, is richly enameled as with so many golden studs.
So when Christians first turn their thought towards the promises, the appearances of light and comfort which shine from them, do oft-times seem to be as weak and imperfect rays which neither scatter fears nor darkness; when again they set themselves to ripen and improve their thoughts upon them, then the evidence and comfort which they yield to the soul, is both more clear and distinct.
But when the heart and affections are fully fixed in the meditation of a promise, Oh! What a bright mirror is the promise then to the eye of faith? What legions of beauties do then appear from every part of it, which both ravish and fill the soul of a believer with delight?
One promise thoroughly ruminated and meditated upon, is like to a morsel of meat well chewed and digested, which distributes more nourishment and strength to the body, than great quantities taken down whole.
Precious Promises—William Spurstowe
Meditate thoroughly and frequently upon the promises, and… deal with them as the Virgin Mary did with the things that were spoken concerning Christ: “She kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
The distiller does not put any virtue into the herbs, but it distills and extracts whatever is efficacious and useful from them. The bee does not provide any sweetness to the flower, but by its industry it sucks the latent honey from it. Meditation conveys nothing of worth unto the promise, but it draws forth the sweetness, and discovers the beauty of it, which otherwise would be little crafted and discerned.
I have sometimes thought that a believer’s looking upon a promise is not unlike a person’s beholding of the heavens in a full and serene evening, who when he first casts up his eye, sees happily a star or two only to peep, and with difficulty to put forth a feeble and disappearing light; but by and by he looks up again, and both their number and luster are increased. A while later he views the heavens again, and then the whole firmament, from every quarter, full of a numberless multitude of stars, is richly enameled as with so many golden studs.
So when Christians first turn their thought towards the promises, the appearances of light and comfort which shine from them, do oft-times seem to be as weak and imperfect rays which neither scatter fears nor darkness; when again they set themselves to ripen and improve their thoughts upon them, then the evidence and comfort which they yield to the soul, is both more clear and distinct.
But when the heart and affections are fully fixed in the meditation of a promise, Oh! What a bright mirror is the promise then to the eye of faith? What legions of beauties do then appear from every part of it, which both ravish and fill the soul of a believer with delight?
One promise thoroughly ruminated and meditated upon, is like to a morsel of meat well chewed and digested, which distributes more nourishment and strength to the body, than great quantities taken down whole.
Readings taken from Day by Day with the English Puritans
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