and we have bought into his ideas. With piercing clarity, Calamy wrote, “Now this want of meditation is a sin, that I persuade myself [that] most Christians are guilty of, I cannot exclude myself; there are few Christians that are convinced of the necessity of this duty of divine meditation.”18 Because of this, pastors such as James Ussher counseled people over 350 years ago to meditate: “One hour spent thus, is worth more than a thousand sermons, and this is no debasing of the word, but an honor