Gerhard's Sacred Meditations

[[@Page:1]]GERHARD’S

SACRED MEDITATIONS.

Translated from the Latin

BY

REV. C. W. HEISLER, A. M.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.:

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY.[[@Page:2]]

Copyright, 1896,

By the

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY.

[[@Page:7]]INTRODUCTION.

A New translation of the admirable devotional manual of John Gerhard needs no apology. The Meditationes Sacræwas first published in Latin in the year 1606, when the author was but twenty-two years old. It enjoys the singular distinction of being the only work written by a young man that gained and maintained a deep and lasting hold upon the Church, as so expressing the loftiest devotion, with spiritual insight so just, that all, even those old in the faith, might be guided and uplifted by the meditations of so young a disciple of Christ. It has been frequently reprinted in Latin; it was speedily translated into German, and later into most of the European languages, including the Greek. It has also been honored with an Arabic version. The English translation by R. Winterton (1631), passed through at least nineteen editions. It ranks in its fine devotional spirit with Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, Arndt’s Das Wahres Christenthum, and Taylor’s Holy Living and Dying. It is not a large book, but a golden one. [[@Page:8]]

John Gerhard was born of a good family in Quedlinburg, 17th of October, 1582. In his fifteenth year, during a dangerous illness which continued about a year, he came under the personal influence of John Arndt, and resolved to study for the ministry. In 1599, he entered the University of Wittenberg. During his studies, he relinquished his purpose and gave himself for two years to the study of medicine. But, in 1603, he resumed his reading of theology at Jena. On the completion of his course, he began to give lectures at Jena in 1605. In 1606, the same year in which the Meditationes Sacræ appeared, he accepted the duke of Coburg’s invitation to a professorship in the Coburg Gymnasium and to the superintendency of Heldburg.

In 1616, he became professor at the University of Jena, which position he retained until his death. Though still comparatively young, Gerhard had already come to be regarded as the greatest living theologian of Protestant Germany; in the numerous disputations which characterized that period, he was always protagonist, while on all public and domestic questions touching on religion or morals, his advice was eagerly sought on all hands and by every class. Almost every university in Germany called him, as well as the University of Upsala in Sweden, but in vain. His writings indicate enormous labor, being both voluminous and varied, dealing alike in exegetical, polemical, dogmatic [[@Page:9]]and practical theology. All exhibit patient study, great grasp of intellect, copious knowledge and religious experience. Luthardt says, as a theologian “he combined rare learning, great acuteness, wonderful industry, sound judgment and practical ability, with ardent piety.”

His great work, the Loci Theologici, begun in 1610 and completed in 1621, in which the theology of the Lutheran Church is set forth, is his theological masterpiece, and is marked by fulness of learning, logical force, clearness, thorough elaboration of every question, and by a practical and spiritual use of dogma. “Bossuet is said to be the author of the often quoted remark that Gerhard is the third (Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard) in that series of Lutheran theologians in which there is no fourth.”

Gerhard died on the 20th of August, 1637. Of him it is recorded that personally he combined all the excellencies of the Christian character, his only failing, if it be a failing, being an excessive love of peace. The Meditations amply substantiate his fervent piety, his deep spiritual insight, which could only be acquired by living communion with the Lord.

The work of translation of this volume was entrusted to Rev. Charles W. Heisler, A. M., who has lovingly and faithfully performed his task, which to him was a congenial and pleasant labor. [[@Page:10]]

The age in which we live is practical and energetic, more given to work than meditation. It needs the corrective which such books supply, teaching that there is a spiritual greatness which can only be attained by meditation and prayer. It is well to work, but the highest work can only come from the greatest souls who are nurtured by fellowship with God. It is therefore sent forth with the hope that its pages will furnish to many a help to higher and deeper fellowship with the Master, to their unspeakable comfort and larger efficiency as laborers with Him in His kingdom.

Chas. S. Albert.

[[@Page:11]]

MEDITATION I.TRUE CONFESSION OF SIN.

An Acknowledgment of a Fault Heals It.

O Holy God (Lev. xi. 45), Thou just Judge (Ps. vii. 12), my sins are ever before Thine eyes, and present to Thy thought. Every hour do I think of death, for every hour death threatens me. Every day do I think of the judgment (2 Cor. v. 10), because for every day I must give an account at the Day of Judgment. I examine my life, and lo! it is altogether vain and wicked. Vain and unprofitable are many of my actions; vainer still are very many of my words; whilst full of vanity are the most of my thoughts. Nor is my life only vanity; it is also unholy and wicked; nothing good do I find in it. Even if I should find in it anything apparently good, yet it is not really good and perfect, because tainted with original sin and a corrupt nature. The godly Job said (Job ix. 28): “I am afraid of all my works;” and if so pious a saint thus complains, what must I, a miserable sinner, say of myself? “All our righteousnesses are as [[@Page:12]]filthy rags” (Is. lxiv. 6). If such be our righteousness, what then will be our unrighteousness? “When ye shall have done,” said the Saviour (Luke xvii. 10), “all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants.” If we are unprofitable when we obey, surely we shall be abominable when we transgress, His commands. If I owe Thee, O holy God, myself and all I can do, when I commit no sin, what can I possibly render Thee when I sin? Our righteousness, however excellent it seems to us, compared with Thine, is naught but unrighteousness. A lamp that gleams in the darkness is obscured in the light of the sun. Often a stick is supposed to be straight, until compared with a rule, its crookedness appears. Frequently the impression of a seal appears perfect to the ordinary beholder, whilst the eyes of the artificer will discover many defects. And thus often a deed that glows in the opinion of the doer, appears mean in the thought of the Judge; for the judgments of men are one thing, the judgments of God another. The remembrance of my many sins terrifies me; but oh! how many more escape my memory! “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults” (Ps. xix. 12), O Lord. To heaven I dare not lift up my eyes (Luke viii. 13), because I have offended Him who dwelleth in the heavens. Nor can I find any refuge upon earth. For how [[@Page:13]]dare I hope for any favor from the creature, since I have offended the Lord of all creatures? My adversary, the devil, accuses me (Rev. xii. 10): “Thou righteous Judge,” says he to God, “adjudge him mine on account of his sin, who would not be Thine through the offer of Thy grace; Thine he is by nature, mine by his wilful delight in sin; Thine he is through Thy passion, mine through my persuasion; disobedient to Thee, he has been obedient to me; from Thee he received the robe of immortality and innocence, from me he has received these tattered garments of unrighteousness; Thy robe he has lost, in mine he comes to Thee. Adjudge him then to be mine, and condemn him to share my eternal damnation.”

All the elements rise in judgment against me. The heavens cry out, “I have comforted thee with light.” The air exclaims, “I have given thee every variety of birds for thy pleasure.” The water says, “I have given thee every kind of fish for thy sustenance.” The earth declares, “I have supplied thee with bread and wine for thy nourishment. Yet hast thou abused all these things, and hast brought our common Creator into contempt; let all our blessings therefore be turned into instruments to torture thee!” The fire cries out, “Let him be burnt in me!” The water says, “Let him be drowned in me.” The air calls out, “Let him be tossed and driven by my tempests.” The earth [[@Page:14]]exclaims, “Let him be swallowed up by me.” The fire again says, “Let my flames devour him.”

The holy angels, whom God hath given to be my ministering spirits and my companions in the future life, accuse me also; and, alas! by my sins I have deprived myself of their holy ministry in this life and of the blessed hope of their fellowship in the life that is to come. The very voice of God, the divine law, is also my accuser: that law I must either keep, or perish; but for me to fulfill that law is plainly impossible, and the thought of perishing is absolutely intolerable. And God, the inflexible Judge, the almighty executor of His own external law, accuses me; Him I cannot deceive, for He is wisdom itself; from Him I cannot flee, for everywhere His power reigneth. Whither, then, shall I flee (Ps. cxxxix. 7)? To Thee, O blessed Christ, my only Redeemer and Saviour, do I fly for refuge. Great indeed are my sins; but greater far is the satisfaction Thou hast made for them; great is my unrighteousness, but greater far is Thy righteousness. I admit my sin, oh, do Thou graciously remit its penalty. I reveal it, do Thou mercifully conceal it. I penitently uncover it, do Thou graciously hide it. In me there is nothing but sin that deserves Thy condemnation; in Thee there is nothing but grace, that affords me a blessed hope of salvation. I have committed many sins for which I could be most justly condemned; but [[@Page:15]]Thou hast omitted nothing, that Thou mightest most graciously save me. I hear a voice in Canticles ([[ii. 14 > Song 2.14]]), which bids me, hide in the clefts of the rock. Thou art the immovable rock (1 Cor. x. 4), and Thy wounds its clefts; in them I will hide me against the accusations of the whole world. My sins cry aloud to heaven for vengeance; but still more strongly cries out Thy blood shed for my sins (Heb. xii. 24). My sins mightily accuse me before God; but Thy passion is mightier for my defense. My dreadfully wicked life clamors for my condemnation; but Thy holy and righteous life pleads more powerfully still for my salvation. I appeal from the throne of Thy justice to the throne of Thy mercy; nor do I desire to come before Thy judgment bar, unless Thy most holy merit interpose between me and Thy judgment. [[@Page:16]]

MEDITATION II.AN EXERCISE OF REPENTANCE FROM OUR LORD’S PASSION.

Behold the Suffering Christ!

Behold, O faithful soul, the grief of thy Lord upon the cross, His gaping wounds as He hangs there, and the awful agony of His death. That head, before which the angelic spirits bow in reverential fear, is pierced with crowded thorns; that face, beautiful above the sons of men, is defiled by the spit of the ungodly; those eyes, more luminous than the sun, darken in death; those ears, accustomed to the praises of the angelic hosts, are greeted with the insults and taunts of sinners; that mouth, which spake as never man spake, and teaches the angels, is made to drink the vinegar and the gall; those feet, at whose footstool (Is. lxvi. 1) the profoundest adoration is paid, are pierced with nails; those hands, which have stretched out the heavens (Is. xlv. 12), are extended upon the cross and fastened with spikes; that body, the most sacred abode and the purest habitation of the Godhead, is [[@Page:17]]scourged and pierced with a spear; nor did aught in it remain uninjured but His tongue, that He might pray for those who crucified Him (Luke xxiii. 34). He who rules in heaven with the Father is most shamefully abused upon the cross by sinners. God suffers; God sheds His blood (Acts xx. 28). From the greatness of the price paid, judge of the greatness of thy peril; and from the cost of the remedy, judge the dreadfulness of thy disease. Great indeed were thy wounds of sin, which could be healed only by the wounds of the living and life-giving flesh of the Son of God; desperate indeed was that disease which could be cured only by the death of the Physician Himself.

Consider, O faithful soul, the blazing wrath of God. After the fall of our first parent, the eternal, only-begotten, and well-beloved Son of God Himself became our intercessor; and yet God’s wrath was not turned away from us. He, by whom God made the worlds (Heb. i. 2), was interceding for us, and for the sake of us miserable sinners, He, the Most High, became the Advocate of our salvation (1 John ii. 1); and yet for all this was God’s wrath not turned away from us. The Saviour clothes Himself in our flesh, that the divine glory being communicated to our flesh, He might make an atonement for sinful flesh, and that the healing power of perfect righteousness being communicated to our flesh, He might thus purge out the poison of [[@Page:18]]sin inhering in our flesh; and yet, despite all this, God’s wrath was not turned away from us. He takes upon Himself our sins and their just deserts; His precious body is bound, scourged, wounded, pierced, crucified, and laid in the sepulchre; His blood starts forth profusely, like the dew, from all parts of His suffering body; His most holy soul is saddened beyond measure, and became sorrowful even unto death (Matt. xxvi. 38); He is subjected to the very pains of hell, and the Eternal Son of God cries out in horror that He is forsaken of God (Matt. xxvii. 46). He sweats such great drops as of blood, and such anguish does He suffer as to need the comfort of an angel (Luke xxii. 43), who Himself comforts all angels. He dies, who is the giver of life to all. If this be done in a green tree, what shall be done in a dry (Luke xxiii. 31)? If this be done to the Just and Holy One, what shall be done to sinners? If God so punish our sins in the person of His Holy Son, how shall He punish them in us? How shall God continually tolerate in a servant, that which He punished so severely in His own Son? What shall those whom He condemns suffer, if His only Son, whom He so dearly loves, suffered so much? If Christ, who came into the world without sin, could not depart from it without the bitter scourging, of how much sorer punishment shall they be deemed worthy, who are born in sin, who live in sin, and who die in sin? [[@Page:19]]The servant rejoices, while for his sin the wellbeloved Son is grievously afflicted. The servant treasures up against himself the wrath of the Lord, while the Son strenuously labors to soften and appease the Father’s anger. O, the infinite wrath of God! O, His unutterable indignation! O, the inconceivable rigor of divine justice! If God visits His holy indignation upon His only-begotten and well-beloved Son, the partaker of His own divine nature, not because of any sin of His own, but because He had taken the miserable servant’s place, what, think you, will He do to the servant, who so confidently persists in his sins and offenses? Let the servant fear and tremble and deeply sorrow at the thought of his own just deserts, since the blessed Son is so punished for no fault of His own; let the servant fear, who ceases not to sin, while the Son so agonizes for sin; let the creature fear, who has crucified his Creator; let the servant fear, who has slain his Lord; let the ungodly and the sinner be afraid, who has so afflicted the Holy and Righteous One. Let us hear our Saviour, O my beloved, crying aloud to us; let us give heed to Him as He sheds bitter tears for our sakes. From the cross He cries: “Behold, O sinful man, what I am suffering for thee; to thee I cry, because for thee I am dying. Behold the punishment inflicted upon Me! Behold the nails which pierce Me; there is no grief like unto My grief, and yet though My [[@Page:20]]outward sufferings are so great, far greater is the agony of My heart, because I am finding thee so ungrateful.” Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, O Thou only God of mercy, and turn our stony hearts to Thee! [[@Page:21]]

MEDITATION III.THE BENEFITS OF TRUE REPENTANCE.

“Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” says Christ.

The very foundation and principle of a holy life is godly sorrow for sin. For where there is true penitence there is forgiveness of sin; where there is forgiveness of sin there is the grace of God; where the grace of God is there is Christ; where Christ is there is Christ’s merit; where Christ’s merit is there is satisfaction for sin; where there is satisfaction there is justification; where there is justification there is a glad and quiet conscience; where there is peace of conscience there is the Holy Spirit; where the Holy Spirit is present there is the ever blessed Trinity; and where the Holy Trinity is there is life eternal.. Therefore where there is true penitence there is life eternal. And hence where there is no true penitence there is neither forgiveness of sins, nor the grace of God, nor Christ, nor His merit, nor [[@Page:22]]satisfaction for sin, nor justification, nor peace of conscience, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the blessed Trinity, nor eternal life. Why therefore do we delay repentance? Why put it off until to-morrow? Neither to-morrow nor true repentance is in our own power. For we must render an account at the final judgment not only for to-morrow, but for today as well. That to-morrow shall come’ is not certain, but that everlasting destruction shall overtake the impenitent is certain. God has promised grace to the penitent soul, but He does not promise a to-morrow.