Sixthly, Do your desires after Christ spring from a deep sense of your need and want of Christ ? Hath conviction opened your eyes to see your misery, to feel your burthens, and to make you sensible that your remedy lies only in the Lord Jesus ? then are your desires right desires. Bread and water are made necessary and desirable by hunger and thirst ; by these things try the truth of your desires after Christ.
Third use for consolation.
Do you indeed, upon serious trial, find such desires after Christ as were described above ? O, bless the Lord for that day wherein Christ, the desire of all nations, became the desire of your souls; and for your comfort, know that you are happy and blessed souls at present.
First, Blessed in this, that your eyes have been opened to see both the want and worth of Christ. Had not Christ applied his precious eye- salve to the eyes of your mind, you could never have desired him ; you would have said with them in Isa. liii. 2, 3. " He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, " there is no beauty that we should desire him :" Or, as they to
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the spouse, Cant. v. 9. " What is thy beloved more than another " beloved ?" O, blessed souls, enlightened of the Lord, to see those things that are hid from them that perish !
Secondly ', You are blessed in this, that your desires after Christ are a sure evidence that the desire of Christ is towards you : had he not first desired you, you could never have desired him. We may say of desires, as it is said of love, we desire him because he first desired us : your desires after Christ are inflamed from the de- sires of Christ after you.
Thirdly, Blessed in this, that your desires shall surely be satis- fied, Matt. v. 6. " Blessed are thev that hunger and thirst after " righteousness, for they shall be filled.,"> Prov. x. 24. " The de- " sires of the righteous shall be granted." God never raised such desires as these in the souls of his people, to be a torment to them for ever.
Fourthly, Blessed in this, that God hath guided your desires to make the best choice that ever was made in the world ; whilst the desires of others are hunting after riches, pleasure, and honour in the world; toiling themselves like children in pursuit of a painted butter-flv? which when they have caught, doth but daub their fingers : God, meanwhile, hath directed your desires to Christ, the most excellent object in heaven or earth. Any good will satisfy some men ; O, happy soul, if none but Christ can satisfy thee ! Psal. iv. 6.
F'rfthly, Blessed in this, that there is a work of grace certainly wrought upon thy soul ; and these very desires after Christ are a part thereof.
Sixthly, Blessed in this, that these desires after Christ keep thy soul active and working after him continually in the ways of duty, Psal. xxvii. 4. " One thing have I desired, that will I seek after.'1 Desire will be a continual spring to diligence and industry in the wavs of duty ; the desire of the end quickeneth to the use of means, Prov. xviii. 1. Others may fall asleep and cast off duty, but it will be hard for you to do so, whose souls burn with desire after Christ.
Seventhly, Blessed in this, that your desires after Christ will make death much the sweeter and easier to you, Phil. i. 23. " I de- " sire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, which is far better.1* When a Christian was once asked. Whether he was willing to die ? He returned this answer*, " Let him be unwilling to die, who is " unwilling to go to Christ.11 And much like it, was that of another, Vivere renao, ut Christo vivam : I refuse this life, to live with Christ.
* Jllius est nolle inori, ci'jiis nolle ire ad Christum.
SEEM. XIII. THE METHOD OF GRACE. O33
Fourth use for exhortation.
In the fourth place, let me exhort and persuade all to make Jesus Christ the desire and choice of their souls. And here I fall in with the main scope and design of the gospel. And O that I could effectually press home this exhortation upon your hearts ; let me offer some moving considerations to you, and may the Lord accompany them to your hearts.
First, Every creature naturally desires its own preservation ; do not you desire the preservation of your precious and immortal soul ! If you do, then make Christ your desire and choice, with- out whom they can never be preserved, Jude, ver. 1.
Secondly, Do not your souls earnestly desire the bodies they live in ? How tender are they over them, how careful to provide for them ? though they pay a dear rent for those tenements they live in. And is not union with Christ infinitely more desirable than the union of soul and body ? O covet union with him ! then shall your souls be happy, when your bodies drop off from them at death, 2 Cor. v. 1, 3. yea, soul and body shall be happy in him, and with him for evermore.
Thirdly, How do the men of this world desire the enjoyments of it ? They pant after the dust of the earth ; they rise early, sit up late, eat the bread of carefulness ; and all this for very vanity : Shall a worldling do more for earth, than you for heaven ? Shall the creature be so earnestly desired, and Christ neglected ?
Fourthly, What do all your desires in this world benefit you, if you go christless ? Suppose you had the desire of your hearts in these things, how long should you have comfort in them, if you miss Christ?
Fifthly, Doth Christ desire you, who have nothing lovely or de- sirable in you ? And have you no desires after Christ, the most lovely and desirable one in both worlds ? " His desires are towards " you," Prov. viii. 31. O make him the desire and choice of your souls.
Sixthly, How absolutely necessary is Jesus Christ to your souls ? Bread and water, breath and life, are not so necessary as Christ is ; "One thing is necessary," Luke x. 42. and that one thing is Christ. If you miss your desires in other things, you may yet be happy ; but if you miss Christ you are undone for ever.
Seventhly, How suitable a good is Christ to your souls ! com- prising whatsoever they want, 1 Cor. i. 30. Set your hearts where you will, none will be found to match and suit them, as Christ doth.
Eighthly, How great are the benefits that will redound to you by Jesus Christ! In him you shall have a rich inheritance settled
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upon you : all things shall be yours, when you are Christ's, 1 Cor. iii. 22. And is not such a Christ worth desiring ?
Ninthly, All your well-grounded hopes of glory are built upon your union with Christ, 1 Cor. i. 21. If you miss Christ, you must die without hope. Will not this draw your desires to him ;