There are times and seasons in the course of men’s lives, in which they retire themselves into their own thoughts. The busiest men in the world have some times for thinking to themselves. And those who design no such thing, as if afraid of becoming wiser and better than they are, yet spend time in these thoughts, whether they will or not. But those who are wise will be at home as much as they can, and have as many seasons for such retirements as it is possible for them to attain. If that man is foolish, who busies himself so much abroad in the concerns of others, that he has no time to consider the state of his own house and family, then much more foolish is the one who spends all his thoughts on other things, and never makes use of them to inquire how it is with himself and his own soul. However, men can hardly avoid having some seasons, partly planned, partly occasional times, in which they entertain themselves with their own thoughts. The evening and the morning, times of waking on the bed, the necessary cessation of all ordinary affairs — of walking, journeying, and the like — are such seasons. If we are spiritually minded, if thoughts of spiritual things abound in us, they will ordinarily, and with constancy, possess these seasons.
John Owen. THE GRACE AND DUTY OF BEING SPIRITUALLY MINDED.
