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thou art my God ; early will I seek thee : my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee ; in a dry and thirsty land^ where no water is : to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.' He that once hath had a sight of God, and a taste of God, would not be long out of his company. He compareth his desire of communion with God with hunger and thirst, and maketh it greater than the hunger and thirst which men suffer in a dry wilderness, where there is no re- freshment to be had. He had seen God, and would fain see him again ; the remembrance of the pleasures of the sanctuary revived his desires ; 80 that besides nature there is experience.
3. There is yet a tliird cause, and that is necessity. We should take delight in the m^ans of grace and ordinances of God> though we stood in no need of them, because they carry such a suitableness with the new nature, and because they are means to exhibit more of God tx> us. But our imperfection is great, and this is the only way to^ get it supplied. Decays are very incident to us, and how else shall they be prevented ? 1 Thes. v. 19, 20, ' Quench not the Spirit ; despise not prophesying.' Our spiritual vigour is soon quenched, our spiritual strength soon abated, our spiritual gust and delight soon lost, if once we despise o-rdinances. Every grace, when it is wrought, needeth support and increase. There is something lacking to faith, and some- thing lacking to love, and something lacking to knowledge ; and if that which is lacking be not supplied, we shall lose what is wrought in us. For it fareth with a man going to heaven as it doth with a man rowing against the stream ; if he doth not go forward, he goeth back- ward. Surely they that are acquainted with the spiritual life cannot live without ordinances. Painted fire needeth no fuel, but true fire will go out unless it be fed and maintained. Wherever there is life, because of the depastion of the natural heat upon tlie natural moisture, though the stomach be never so full for the present, yet anon they will be hungry again. So because of the constant combat between the flesh and the spirit, divine love and carnal concupiscence ; wherever there is spiritual life, there is a necessity it should be fed with new supplies of grace, ministered by the ordinances. An hungry conscience must have satisfaction.
4. Utility and profit. That maketh the children of God value the ordinances. They get more here in one day than they get in the world in a thousand. A man may moil in the world all the days of his life, and what gets he ? Many times his labour for his pains : Ps. cxxvii. 2, ' It is in vain for j'ou to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrow.s.' The Lord doth justly punish the painfulness of .some, who toil like infidels in the use of means, with a sad disap- pointment. They work their hearts out, and nothing cometh of it. Whereas those who have God's blessing thrive insensibly, and are very prosperous. But in case they have the world at w'ill, what will it profit them when they come to die ? Job xxvii. 8, 'What is the hope of tlie hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul ? ' They have a sad bargain of it who have spent all tlieir days in heaping up wealth, and have hunted for that which they shall never roast. Or if they wallow in sensual felicity, yet it must be left at length. But now by the ordinances men get God for their portion ;
150 SERMON UPON PSALM LXXXIV. 10.
and he is aa everlasting portion. They are a means to help us to the fruition of God : Prov. viii. 34, 35, ' Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gattes, waiting at the posts of my doors ; for whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.' Spiritual wisdom is more than all worldly riches, and to find Christ is to find life. Now this is obtained by waiting at his gates, and at the posts of his doors ; that is, by a daily attendance upon the means of grace.
Point 2. That God's people do not only value and esteem his ordinances, but they value and esteem them above all worldly things. We have given you some reasons of their respect to ordinances simply considered, now comparatively. For it is not enough to constitute us religious, that we have some respect for God, his ways, and ordinances, when we have a greater respect for other things ; to be a little for God and more for the world. Mo ; it must be your great business to wait upon God, and to redeem time for spiritual uses, counting an hour spent withiiim to be your sweetest time, and the meanest service about him to be your greatest prefei'ment, and to enjoy his love more than to enjoy the greatest treasures in the world.