MEDITATION; the chief Employment of the just Man is to meditate upon the Law of God Day and Night. This is the principal and most usual Acceptation of the Verb to meditate; to think closely and seriously upon any Thing. We also say, to meditate, when we speak indeed, but low and indistinctly, as when a Man learns any Thing by Heart, or rehearses in a low Voice any Thing in which his Thoughts are deeply engaged. Job says, My Lips shall not speak Wickedness, nor my Tongue utter (or meditate) Deceit. The Psalmist says, My Tongue shall speak (or meditate) of thy Righteousness. Psal. xxxv. 28.And elsewhere, The Mouth of the Righteous speaketh (or meditate) Wisdom. And Solomon says, My Mouth shall speak (or meditate) Truth.
Isaiah compares the Groanings of an Isai. xxxviii. 14.afflicted Man to those of a Dove; and he makes Use of the Word to meditate, to express them both. Sicut pullus hirundinis sic clamabo, meditabor ut columba. And elsewhere, Isai. lix. 11.Sicut columba meditantes gememus. ‘Tis pretty near in the same Sense that Virgil says,
Silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avenâ.