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| First Written | 1606 |
| Genre | Religion |
| Origin | UK |
| Publisher | Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies |
| ISBN-10 | 0866980008 |
| My Copy | library hardback |
| First Read | May 14, 2014 |
The Art of Divine Meditation
This is a short treatise that tries to be a systematic guide to 'Christian Meditation.' It's interesting, and I think would even today work as a useful guide to actual devotional practice. Hall's breakdown of the component parts of meditative thoughts seems very medieval, with its serious hierarchy and list-making and all, but that doesn't bother me.
Noted on May 14, 2014
Wherefore, as travelers in a foreign country make every sight a lesson, so ought we in this our pilgrimage. Thou seest the heaven rolling above thine head in a constant and unmovable motion, the stars so overlooking one another that the greatest show little, the least greatest, all glorious; the air full of the bottles of rain or fleeces of snow or divers forms of fiery exhalations; the sea under one uniform face full of strange and monstrous shapes beneath; the earth so adorned with variety of plants that thou canst not but tread on many at once with every foot; besides the store of creatures that fly about it, walk upon it, live in it. Thou idle truant, dost thou learn nothing of so many masters? Hast thou so long read these capital letters of God's great book and canst thou not yet spell one word of them?
Quoted on May 14, 2014
[Meditation is] a heavenly business as any belongeth either to man or Christian, and such as whereby the soul doth unspeakably benefit itself. For by this do we ransack our deep and false hearts, find out our secret enemies, buckle with them, expel them, arm ourselves against their re-entrance.
Quoted on May 14, 2014