Editor’s Introduction
James Meikle (1730-1799) was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. His parents sought to teach him the fear of the Lord and from his youth Meikle was characterized by earnest religious feeling and great cheerfulness. When he was about sixteen years old he joined a branch of the ‘Secession’ church which had separated from the established kirk of Scotland in 1732. Meikle had little formal education. This, his poverty, and the death of his father in February 1748, which meant he was responsible to care for his mother and two sisters, frustrated his hope to study for the ministry.
In God’s providence Meikle was able to attend some medical lectures at Edinburgh, and when he returned to his hometown Carnwath in 1750, he was able in some measure to practice as a surgeon. His financial struggles continued and in December 1757 he resolved to enter the royal navy. After receiving some additional training at Surgeons’ Hall in London he was, in April 1758, appointed second surgeon’s mate to the Portland, a 50-gun ship of the navy. It was while serving as second surgeon’s mate on board the Portland that he began writing meditations and devotional writings that express his solid religious convictions, profound understanding of Christian life, and joy in Christ. Over the succeeding decades his writings received increasing circulation and many of his works passed through numerous printed editions. For instance, a seventh edition of his ‘Solitude Sweetened, or Miscellaneous Meditations on various Religious Subjects,’ was published in 1823.
Meikle married in 1779 but was left a widower within three years. He remarried in 1785 and in July 1789 was ordained to the eldership in the congregation of Biggar. He died suddenly in 1799 leaving behind him a widow and five children in very poor circumstances. The following excerpt is from Meikle’s collected works which are available for free on the internet. 1James Meikle, The Works of James Meikle, Vol. 1 (Pittsburg: Patterson and Lambdin, 1818), 322 pp.
– James A. Wanliss
Communion with God, What it Is
Selected from: James Meikle, Solitude Sweetened, Or, Miscellaneous Meditations on Various Religious Subjects, Written in Distant Parts of the World (Hartford: William Andrus, 1840), 33-35.
Communion with God is an expression often in my mouth, but which sinks no further; I know the word, but neither its blessed import, nor glorious extent. My prayers and practice jar; for while I beg it with my lips, I study not to attain it in my life. Ah! what a stranger am I to that which I would fain have flattered myself that I am acquainted with! Alas what know I of walking with God,—of joy which is found in believing? What know I of the lasting and abiding impressions of his inexpressible love!—What of that transforming vision, and assimilating sight which is enjoyed below, whereby the soul is changed into the same image, from glory to glory! What do I know of dwelling in his presence all the day long! What of pouring out my soul in prayer to him! and wrestling with him for the blessing! How seldom is my meditation of him sweet!
But union is the basis of communion; for how can those walk or talk together that are not agreed? O then be joined to the Lord, and become one spirit! But, my soul, mistake not communion, for it lies not in a flaming profession, nor in the performance of Christian duties, as reading, hearing, praying, praising, though enjoyed in these; nor in the greatest parts, and brightest talents; nor in lofty expressions in prayer; nor in the knowledge of divine things: What is it then? It is just a dwelling in and with God, and God dwelling in and with the soul. It is God’s love going out on the soul, and the soul in love going out on God. God dwells in the duty with supplies of grace, in the meditation as its subject, and in the heart as a portion and chief good. And the soul dwells in God, as her ultimate end, dilates in his fulness, riots in his bliss. The soul that is blessed with such a communion, favoured with such a fellowship, knows no other object for her love; no other subject for her thoughts; no other employment for her faculties; no higher degree of happiness for her attainment, than consummate communion; no other beloved for her affection; and no other end for her existence. Nor is this all. In communion with God, the soul shares of his fulness, communicates of his glory, drinks at his pleasures, satiates herself with his love, participates of his communicable perfections, enters into his joy, and partakes of the divine nature. O life of angels! O paradise of love! O transporting employ! O ecstacy of bliss! The soul is always with God; now in prayer, then in praise; now in meditation, then in ejaculation; she has not a complaint but she tells to God; not a grief but she makes known to him; not a sin but she mourns over to him; not a request, not a desire, but she reveals to him. O that holy intimacy that is contracted between the soul and God! that freedom of converse, that wrestling with God in prayer, disputing about the blessing! Let me go;—I will not let thee go until thou bless me!—This is the life of heaven on earth, God come down to man or man taken up to God.
Now, my soul, what sayest, what thinkest thou of all this? Ah! the carnal mind is enmity against God, and against communion with God. Then I must either be crucified to the world, or cursed with the world. It is not a Sabbath-day’s devotion, a rapture in time of praise or prayer, and returning greedily to the world. Communion is another thing that I have hitherto taken it to be. It is constant and continual. I should endeavour to keep my soul always in an heavenly frame, even in earthly affairs: thus the angels, even in messages to our world, carry heaven with them. Although I must mind the necessary affairs of this life, yet I should carry God to the field with me, and to the closet, to the street, and to my table. I should work, and walk, fall asleep, and awake in his presence; and talk with him on my bed, when all around me keep silence; and when hurried away with vain rovings, my soul should still return to God as her centre, as her resting place.
O the pleasure that is in this life of communion with God! it is a young heaven, with which, in the highest degree of perfection, all the saints in glory are blessed.—Then, Lord, begin this life of communion in my soul, to which I am too much a stranger; destroy every thing that would destroy it; and as I would desire to live with thee hereafter, so let me endeavour to live with thee here, and thus improve for eternity, and prepare for the world to come.
Footnotes
- 1James Meikle, The Works of James Meikle, Vol. 1 (Pittsburg: Patterson and Lambdin, 1818), 322 pp. ↩︎
