YeR. 40.] SERMONS UrON PSALM CXIX. 425
hanj^ backward ; but here they are in their proper place ; this is that which cannot be loved beyond what it doth deserve. A Christian should set no manner of bounds to himself in holiness, for he is to be ' holy in all manner of conversation,' 1 Peter i. 15, and to be 'perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect,' Mat. v. 48. And then desire is not only after that which is good, but after a good absent. Desire ariseth from a sense of vacuity and emptiness. Emptiness is the cause of appetite, and' therefore it is compared to hunger and thirst : Mat. V, 6, ' Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.' So it is in desiring holiness we have not yet attained, Phil. iii. 13. There is an indigence and emptiness ; we are not already perfect ; we want more than we have, and our enjoyments are little in comparison of our expectations ; and therefore we should make a swifter progress towards the mark, and with more earnestness of soul should press after that sinless estate we expect. That little we have doth but quicken US to inquire after more, not cloy but provoke the appetite. As a man hath a better stomach sometimes when he doth begin to eat, so when we begin with God, and have tasted of holiness, and tasted of comfort, being brought into a sense of obedience and subjection to God, we should desire more ; for certainly he is not good that doth not desire to be better. So that David might well say, ' I have longed after thy precepts.'
3. Consider the nature of these desires ; they are the genuine birth and offspring of the soul, motions of the heart, freest from constraint, and so do best discover the temper of it, and show that it is not tainted and biassed Avitli secular and worldly delights. No man can be con- strained to will that which he doth not love. Practices may be over- ruled. Ill men dare not act so much evil as they desire, for fear of shame, punishment, and other by-ends ; and good men do not act so much good as they do desire, because of that weak and imperfect state wherein they are. Paul was better at willing than at doing : Eom. vii. 18, ' To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.' And other of the saints of God, though they could not plead their exact performance, and tlieir full and effectual compliance with the will of God, yet have pleaded their desires : Isa. xxvi. 8, 'The desire of our soul is to thy name;' Neh. i. 11, 'We desire to fear thy name.' And Peter appeals to Christ's omnisciency, ' Lord, thou knowest that I love thee,' John xxi. 17. The temper and constitution of their hearts, and the strength of grace, is seen more in desiring many times than in doing. These are the pulses by which you may feel the state of your souls, when there are longing and vehe- ment desires of your souls after God's precepts.
4. Consider the use and necessity of these desires, still the point will be justified. The natural use of desire is to engage us to act, and to keep us up in an earnest prosecution of that which is good for us, not- withstanding the oppoi!^ilions and discouragements which come be- tween desire and fruition. For all good being hard to come by, unless desires be strongly fixed, men are soon put out of the humour, and so nothing would be done to any purpose in the world. Surely holiness that is so difficult and distasteful to flesh and blood, would be but little looked alter, if there were not strength of desires to keep it up. Therefore is this affection, that we may encounter difficulties and
426 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XLV.
oppositions. As Neh. iv. 6, when there were difficulties and straits, it is said, ' They built the wall, for the people had a mind to work ; ' that is, their hearts were set upon it. So if we had a mind to any excellent thin<2^, it is this mind that keeps us up in the midst of all difficulties and labours. All excellent things are hard to come by ; it is so in earthly matters, much more in spiritual. The Lord will have it so, to make us prize them more, for things soon got are little esteemed ; as riotous heirs, which know not how to get an estate, lavishly spend it. A man is chary of what is hardly gotten. Jacob prized Eachel the more because he was forced to serve for her so long. So we shall prize heavenly things the more when they cost us a great deal of diligence and labour to get them. Now, sluggish desires soon fail, but vehement longings keep the heart awork.
5. Consider the issue of these desires. As they come from a good cause, which is the new nature and a new life, for appetite follows life, so they tend to a good effect, are sure of a good accomplishment and satisfaction. God is wont to give spiritual things to those that desire them ; there the rule is, ' Ask and have.' It is not so in carnal things : many that seek and hunt after them with all the strength and labour of their souls, at length are miserably disappointed; but all the promises run for satistaction to a hungry, thirsty, earnest and longing soul, Mat. V. 6, Those that are hungry, and have a strong desire upon them, he will fill, Luke i. 51 ; and ' open thy mouth wide and I will fill it,' Ps. Ixxxi. 10 ; they that open unto him as the thirsty land for the rain. God, that gives velle, to will, will give posse, to do ; first the desire, and then the satisfaction ; and therefore, where there is this strength of desire, though there may be some failing in other things in our endeavours and performances, yet the Lord will accept it.