7eR. 40.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX, 431
SERMON XLVI. Behold I have longed after thy precepts, &c. — Ver. 40.
I COME now to a second use, and that is —
Use 2. To press us to long after holiness and subjection to God.
Two motives : —
First, You shall have these desires granted. For a man to have his ■will, and whatsoever he desires, what a happiness is that! If his soul be set upon holy things, he shall have what he desires, the Lord will not be wanting : Prov. x. 24, ' The fear of the wicked, it shall come come upon him ; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.' The desires of the righteous are suitable to the constitution and frame of their heart. He will grant the desires of their souls, Ps. x. 17. A man that makes God his heart's delight shall have his heart's desire : Ps. xxxvii. 4, ' Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desire of thy heart ; ' his business is to maintain commuuioa with God, and his desires will not miscarry.
Secondly, When they are granted it shall do you no hurt : Prov. xi. 23, ' The desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.' It is the greatest judgment to wicked men when God gives them a heart to desire a full affluence of earthly comforts. Better to be denied in mercy, than to have our requests granted in auger. But grace will do us no hurt ; it will not increase our snares and temptations, as other things do ; and therefore can never be given in anger, but always in love. Well, then — (1.) Fix your de- sires ; (2.) See they do not abate in you,
1. Fix your desires and enlarge them to the full. A carnal man may be a shame to a godly man, because he is carried out so earnestly, and with such uniform respect to earthly things : 1 Cor. xii. 31, ' Covet earnestly the best gifts ; ' this is a holy covetousness, and a good diver- sion from that great sin. As the covetous learn all the arts of thriving, are always 'joining house to house, and field to field,^ Isa. v. 8, so should we add faith to faith, and obedience to obedience. Our enjoy- ments are better, and therefore it should not be followed with a slacker hand. The more a covetous man hath in the world, the more he desires still. Should not we 'forget the things that are behind, and reach forth to the things that are before us' ? Still here the taste increaseth the appetite, like sea-water, that wets the palate, but inflames the appetite. Now, shall not we be carried out witli a holy covetousness thus to God? See what help and methods of increase they use, how their desire carrieth them on in unwearied diligence : ' They rise early, sit up late, eat the bread of sorrows,' Ps. cxxvii. 2 ; and all to heap up a little pelf to themselves ; neglect no occasion of gain : and shall not Ave make it the business of our lives, and be projecting f^till how we may grow in grace, and increase in the love of God, and ripen for the heavenly state, and grow more like God every day ? You know how sparing they are, and how apprehensive of their losses. Oh ! should not the decays of religion go as near us ? and should not we be careful that we do not waste that grace we have received, and that we increase it more and more, and that it thrive upon our hands ?
432 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XLVI.
2. Watch against, the abatement of your desires, for they are of great nse to you in the spiritual life. If a man lose his appetite, the body piueth and languisheth, and strength decayeth. What appetite is to the body, that desire is to the soul ; it fitteth us to take in our supplies, and putteth us upon action and diligence ; it is the vigorous bent of the soul. Therefore see that it doth not decay. It is said, Eev, ii. 4, of the church of Ephesus, that she had ' lost her first love,' and then presently ' left her first works.' ,Now your desire decayeth when your prayers are less fervent, for prayer is the presenting our desires to God, or vent given to spiritual groans. Therefore keep up your desires : Ps. xxvii. 4, ' One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that I will seek after.' When the desires are fixed, endeavours are engaged ; our desires must be pursued resolutely. But what shall we do to awaken these earnest longings in our souls, and those desires after holiness ?
[1.] Go to God, for he giveth both to will and to do, Phil. ii. 13. All is from God ; the will is from God, and the deed from God. The will ; I bring that to show how you should beg that he would stir up those earnest desires in you, because all affections are but the vigor- ous motions of the will. Desire is but passionate will, or the will effectually and powerfully excited or stirred up to some absent good. Now the appetite is from God as well as the meat. Desire of grace is an affection above nature, and must be planted in us by the Spirit of God. • God gives the desire, and he satisfies it. He 'draws,' then we ' run after him,' Cant, i. 4. He puts this desire in our hearts, then we are carried on with an earnest pursuit after grace.