[2.] Would you have and keep up ardent desires ? Do as they do that would keep in the fire, cherish the sparks and blow them up to a flame. There is no man that lives under the means of grace, and under the discoveries of God and religion, but hath his good moods and very lively motions ; the waters are stirred many times. Take hold of this advantage, ' Strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die,' Eev. iii. 2, and blow up these sparks into a flame. God hath left us enkindling means — prayer, meditation, and the word. Observe where the bellows blows hardest, and ply that course. The more supernatural things are, there needs more diligence to preserve them. A strange plant needs more care than a native of the soil. Worldly desires, like a nettle, breed of their own accord, but spiritual desires need a great deal of cultivating.
[3,] Improve your tastes : 1 Peter ii. 3, 'If you have tasted that the Lord is gracious ;' and Col. i. G, ' Since ye knew the grace of God in truth.' When you have got any taste of the worth of these spiritual things, they do not cloy but awaken appetite. Fancy and imagination cannot awaken it so much as this taste. When you have tasted how good and sweet it is to live in a state of conformity, this will make you long for more : Ps. Ixiii. 1, ' My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh long- eth for thee.' David had been acquainted with the pleasures of the sanctuary, therefore longs for them more. He that hath tasted honey is more affected with it than he that hath only read of it. The Gauls, when they had tasted of the wine of Italy, nothing would keep them from pressing into the country. So when we have tasted of the
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clusters of Canaan, the first-fruits of the Spirit, this should encourage and whet our appetite.
[4.] "Watch over other desires, such as would dull and blunt the edge of the spirit. As iron drives out iron, so one desire drives out another. If we are taken with other things, Christ loseth his sweet- ness and relish. Vain worldly desires extinguish those that are • spiritual and heavenly : they lose their fervour when prostituted to base objects ; your prayers are more flat and cold, for your desires are manifested by prayer and industry. Now your desires will flag and abate when you let out your hearts to the world ; therefore you must watch lest the carnal savour and carnal minding increaseth upon you, for then the spiritual minding is quite hindered, impeached,^ and in- terrupted : Eom. viii. 5, ' For they that after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit.' ^Yhen outward things would steal away your hearts and affec- tions from God, remember your first choice : ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ?' itc, Ps. Ixxiii. 25.
[5.] Eenew your desires every time you come to God. W^hen you come to the word, come with an appetite ; prepare your stomachs always for God's food. They see more of Christ in an ordinance that come most unworthy in their own sense. John vii. 37, saith Christ, ' If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.' You shall have Benjamin's portion, and more plentifully filled, when you come with a strong appetite and a holy longing after God and his grace. Christ takes it best when you come with most enlarged desires and raised expectations. Did God ever fail a thhsty soul? Luke xxii. 15, ' With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I die.' Christ himself hungered and thirsted for us, he longed to give us pledges of his love ; and shall not we say, "With desire have I desired to taste of thy feast and eat of thy supper ? Christ longs to give, and shall not we long to take ? Certainly where there is this earnest work- ing of heart towards God, and this desire, the Lord will fill it. The gaping of young ravens, God satisfies it ; the Psalmist concludes from thence, Ps. cxlv. 19, ' He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him ; lie also will hear their cry and will save them.' Naturalists observe the raven exposeth her young ones, and they are merely fed by provi- dence ; but when they gape, the Lord satisfieth them with that food which is convenient for them : much more will he fulfil the desires of the humble.
[6.] Consider your wants, and the fulness that is in Christ, and his readiness to impart unto you.
(1.) Your wants. I speak not now of a total want. Indeed, if those that are under a total want of soul could be brought to consider their condition, the work of conversion would not stick so long as it doth. But I speak now of such a want as remains in the saints after they have begun with God, and been put in a way of obedience. It is not enough that the soul is once come to Christ, but it is the business of our lives; we must be always coming : 1 Peter ii. 4, ' If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone.' If you have tasted, then come to him for more. They