into prayer for myself or
others, as the word may lead to it, but still continually keeping before
me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result
of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession,
thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation,
and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and
strengthened, and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in
a peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to
communicate unto me that which, either very soon after or at a later
time, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not
for the sake of the public ministry of the word that I gave myself to
meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.

With this mode I have likewise combined the being out in the open air
for an hour, an hour and a half, or two hours, before breakfast, walking
about in the fields, and in the summer sitting for a little on the
stiles, if I find it too much to walk all the time. I find it very
beneficial to my health to walk thus for meditation before breakfast,
and am now so in the habit of using the time for that purpose, that when
I get into the open air I generally take out a New Testament of
good-sized type, which I carry with me for that purpose, besides my
Bible; and I find that I can profitably spend my time in the open air,
which formerly was not the case, for want of habit. I used to consider
the time spent in walking a loss, but now I find it very profitable, not
only to my body, but also to my soul. The walking out before breakfast
is of course not necessarily connected with this matter, and every one
has to judge according to his strength and other circumstances.

The difference, then, between my former practice and my present one is
this: Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and
generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the
time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer, except when I
felt my soul to be more than usually barren, in which case I read the
word of God for food, or for refreshment, or for a revival and renewal
of my inner man, before I gave myself to prayer. But what was the
result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an
hour, on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived
comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often, after havin