Meditation

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

• Meditation is the soul's perspective glass, whereby, in her long remove, she discerneth God, as if He were nearer at hand.
  • Owen Feltham, p. 406.

• Profound meditation in solitude and silence frequently exalts the mind above its natural tone, fires the imagination, and produces the most refined and sublime conceptions. The soul then tastes the purest and most refined delight, and almost loses the idea of existence in the intellectual pleasure it receives. The mind on every motion darts through space into eternity; and raised, in its free enjoyment of its powers by its own enthusiasm, strengthens itself in the habitude of contemplating the noblest subjects, and of adopting the most heroic pursuits.
  • John G. Zimmerman, p. 406.

• It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most on Divine truth, that will prove the choicest, wisest, strongest Christian.
  • Bishop Joseph Hall, p. 406.

• For with all our pretension to enlightenment, are we not now a talking, desultory, rather than a meditative generation?
  • John Campbell Shairp, p. 406.

• It is an excellent sign, that after the cares and labors of the day, you can return to your pious exercises and meditations with undiminished attention.
  • Hannah More, p. 406.

• Night by night I will lie down and sleep in the thought of God, and in the thought, too, that my waking may be in the bosom of the Father; and some time it will be, so I trust.
  • William Mountford, p. 406.

• Avoid all refined speculations; confine yourself to simple reflections, and recur to them frequently. Those who pass too rapidly from one truth to another feed their curiosity and restlessness; they even distract their intellect with too great a multiplicity of views. Give every truth time to send down deep root into the heart.
  • François Fénelon, p. 407.

Unsourced

• Meditation is the life of the soul; action is the soul of meditation; honor is the reward of action; so meditate, that thou mayst do; so do, that thou mayst purchase honor; for which purchase, give God the glory.
  • Francis Quarles