3()8 TUE FRUITFUL LABOUR
from him spiritual strcnp;th. "When in our daily exercise we shall see the continual need we have of pardon for daily sins, of comfort and strength against daily corruptions and infirmities, this will make us feed on Christ and on the promises made in him — not only on the promise of forgiveness, but on the promise of a supply of necessary grace, on that sweet promise, that ' he will not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed,' Mat. xii. 20 — feed on him as a King to subdue our corruptions, &c. The daily exercise of a Christian life will force us unto Christ.
Again, To whet our appetite after Christ, consider the nccessih/ ive have of spiritual strciifith and cu)nfort. When a man considers that he hath a jour- ney to take, he will eat to enable him to his journe}' ; as Elias was bid to rise up and eat, because he had a journey to go, 1 Kings xix. 7. We are all to take a journey as far as heaven, and we are to travel through the wilderness of this world ; and we shall be daily assaulted, besides our inward corruptions, with divers temptations ; and therefore we had need every day to fetch strength from Christ. And consider that sickness will come, and death will surprise us ; and if we have not Christ, we are wretched creatures without him. And though we have applied Christ to ourselves, and made him our own, yet a time of desertion, a time of trial, will come. Thus the necessity of spiritual strength will force us to feed upon Christ.
Again, To get us a stomach to these things, let us converse with those that are spiritual, ivith those that are heavenly-minded, * that have tasted of heavenly things,' Heb. vi. 4. When we see them delight in reading, delight in hearing ; when we see them contemplate of heaven and heavenly things, on Christ and the benefits we have by Christ, on the blessed condition of a better life, and of the world to come ; when we see these persons that are better than ourselves, that have less cause than we, take such pains for their souls, we will be ashamed of our own neglect ; and it will be the dis- course of a soul presently with itself, Surely there is some excellent strength and comfort in these things, some extraordinary sweetness and refreshment that these men find, that they so fall to them. It is a great advantage to converse with those that are spiritual.
And lastly. To put an edge to our dull appetites after this food, consider we know not how soon this table that Christ hath spread, these dainties that wisdom hath jnovided for us in the ministrij of the ivord, may he taken from vs. Therefore, let us fall to while we have them. We should do as those do, that, being at a feast, and have neglected feeding, at the latter end, when they see all ready to be taken away, fall to afresh. We know not how long ■we may enjoy these blessed opportunities. Therefore now with Joseph, let us lay up against a time of scarcity. There will a hard winter come. Therefore, let us imitate the wisdom of that poor creature the ant, to pro- vide against winter, Prov. vi. G. Now, while the jubilee is, let us take out a pardon. There is a time of spending to come ; now let us ' get oil in our lamps,' Mat. xxv. 4. Now is the seed time ; now are the waters stirred in the pool of Bethesda ; now is the acceptable time of grace. We know not how long it shall continue. Therefore, now let us labour for the food ' that endureth to everlasting life.' I never knew any repent of the pains they had taken for their souls ; but many that have lamented and bewailed the precious time they have spent, and that they have not been good hus- bands for their souls. It is one special point of heavenly wisdom to take advantage of our precious time, to fill it up with holy exercises. Let us often offer this consideration to our souls, Wherefore was I sent hither into
FOR ETERNAL FOOD,
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this world ? What is the end why I Hve here ? Is it to scrape together perishing things, and so to perish with them ? Or am I not rather sent hither to get out of the state of corruption wherein we all are by nature ? to get into Christ, to make him mine own, to be turned into him, to feed on him, to get joy, and comfort, and strength from him ? Is not this the end why I live here ?
But to go on, and to make an use of trial, whether we have, as we should do, relished and tasted Christ, whether we have fed on this meat or no. How shall we know that ?
I answer. We may easily know it. For, first of all, if we have relished Christ and the good things by him, we disrelish all other things ; ive begin to have a baser esteem of all earthly things. It is with the soul as it is with a balance. When Christ is high in the soul, other things are low ; and when other things are high, Christ is low in the soul. Christ was high in Paul's soul ; therefore he esteemed all as * dung' in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ, Philip, iii, 8. The poor woman of Samaria, when she had heard Christ, and tasted the sweetness that was in him, down goes her water-pot, and she runs to the city and tells them, ' I have seen a man that hath told me all things ; is not this the Messiah ?' John iv. 29. Zaccheus, when he had tasted of grace, and had the pardon of his sins by Christ, ' half my goods I give to the poor,' &c., Luke xix. 8. When grace is planted in the soul, when the soul hath tasted once of better things, there will be a mean and base esteem of earthly things. . The more the soul feeds on heavenly things, the less respect it hath to temporal things. The soul is a finite essence, and it cannot spend itself on all things. The more it runs into severals, the more shallow it is to others ; as in a stream, when it is cut into many channels it runs weakly in the several, whereas it runs strongly in the main. So it is with the soul : when it is scattered, as the poor Israelites were about the land of Egypt to gather straw, to gather these perishing earthly things, it is weak to heavenly things ; it hath little strength to those. But when the course of it is wholly bent to those, there are but weak or no desires running to these earthly things. When once the soul of a Christian hath had a true taste and relish of the things of heaven, it looks with a despising eye upon whatsoever is here below. When once it hath tasted of Christ, then especially it grows out of relish with poison ; then away with popery ! away with false doctrine ! away with hypocrisy and formality in religion !