Christians that know how chearfully Christ came from the bosom of the Father to die for them What have we to leave or lose in comparison with him What are our sufferings to Christs Alas there is no compare there was more bitterness in one drop of his sufferings than in a sea of ours To conclude your delight and readiness in the paths of obedience is the very measure of your sanctification THE NINETH MEDITATION UPON Zech. 22. part of ver 10. And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born THIS promise is confessed to have a special respect to the Jews Conversion to Christ. It was in part accomplished in the Apostles days Acts 2. 37. yet that was but a specimen or handsel of what shall be when the body of that Nation shall be called But yet it cannot be denied that all Christians find the same pierceing sorrows and wounding sense of sin when God awakens them by convictions and brings them to see the evil of sin and the grace of Christ that is here exprest concerning them at their conversion The words present us with three very remarkable particulars in Evangelical repentance viz. First The spring and principle of it Secondly The effects and fruits of it Thirdly The depth and measure of it First The spring and principle of Repentance exprest in these words They shall look upon me whom they have pierced This looking upon Christ is an act of faith for so it is described in Scripture Joh. 6. 40. Isa. 45. 22. and it respects Christ crucified as its proper object yea and that by them not only as their Progenitors involved them in that guilt by entailing it on them but as their own sins were the meritorious cause of his death and sufferings They shall look upon me whom they have pierced Secondly The effects and fruits of such an aspect of faith upon Christ is here also noted They shall mourn and be in bitterness i. e. it shall melt and thaw them into Godly sorrow it shall break their hard and stony hearts to pieces The eye of faith shall affect their hearts for indeed Evangelical sorrows are hearty and undissembled tears dropping out of the eye of faith Thirdly and lastly The depth and measure of their sorrow is here likewise noted And it is compared with the greatest and most piercing sorrows men are acquainted with in this world even the sorrow of a tender-hearted Father mourning over a dead Son yea an only Son and his first born than which no earthly sorrow is more penetrating and sharp Jer. 6. 26. Hence the Note will be Doct. That the sufferings of Christ are exceeding prwerful to melt Believers hearts into Godly sorrow The eye of faith is a precious eye and according to its various Aspects upon Christ it produceth various effects upon the hearts of men Eying Christ as our compleat Righteousness so it pacifies and quiets the heart eying him as our pattern so it directs and regulates our actions eying him as our sacrifice offer'd up to divine Justice for our sins so it powerfully thaws the heart and melts the affections By meltings I do not only understand tears as if they only were expressive of all spiritual sorrow for it is possible the waters of sorrow may run deep in the heart when the eye cannot yield a drop There be two things in Repentance Trouble and Tears The first is Essential the last Contingent The first flows from the influence of faith upon the soul the last much depends upon the temper and constitution of the body It is a mercy when our tears can flow from an heart fill'd with sorrow sor sin and love to Christ and yet it often falls out that there is an heavy heart where the eyes are dry But that there is efficacy in faith to melt the heart by looklng upon the sufferings of Christ for sin is undoubted and how it becomes so powerful an instrument to this end I will shew you in the following particulars First Faith eyes the dignity of the Person of Christ who was pierced for us how excellent and glorious a Person he is In the Captivity it was for a lamentation that Princes were hanged up by the hands and the faces of Elders were not reverenced Lam. 5. 12. We read also the Lamentation of David 2 Sam. 3. 38. as he followed Abners Herse A Prince and a great man is fallen in Israel to day But what was Abner and what were the Princes of Israel to the Son of God Loe here by faith the Believer sees the Prince of the Kings of the Earth the only begotten of the Father equal to God in nature and dignity he whom all the Angels worship hanging dead upon the cursed Tree Faith sees Royal Blood the Blood of God poured out by the Sword of Justice for satisfaction and reconciliation and this cannot but deeply affect the believing soul. Secondly Faith represents the severity of Divine Justice to Jesus Christ and the extremity of his sufferings and this sight is a melting sight The Apostle tells us Gal. 3. 13. he was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Curse and Execration for us It relates to the kind and manner of his death upon the Cross which was the death of a Slave servile supplicium a free man was priviledg'd from that punishment It looks upon and well considers the sad plight and condition Christ was in in the days of his Humiliation for us It 's said of him Matth. 26. 38. he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 undequaque tristis surrounded with griefs exactly answerable to his name Isa. 53. 3. a man of sorrows Let him look which way he would outward or inward upward or downward to Friends or Enemies he could behold nothing but sorrow and what might increase his misery Another Evangelist saith he was sore amazed Mark 14. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It notes such a consternation as makes the hair of the head stand upright horripilatio A third tells us his sâ—…ul was troubled Joh. 12. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unde Tartarus a word from whence Hell is derived and denoting the anguish and troubles of them that are in that place of torments And the fourth tells us he was in an Agony Luk. 24. 44. all expressing in several emphatical notions and metaphors the extremity of Christs anguish and torment This cannot but greatly affect and break the Believers heart Thirdly But then that which most affects the heart is Christs Undergoing all this not only in love to us but in our room and stead He suffered not for any evil he had done for there was no guile found in his mouth Isa. 53. 4 5. but the Just suffered for the Unjust 1 Pet. 3. 18. It was for me a vile wretched worthless Sinner It was my Pride
any thing put into any promise of greater value than the Blood of the Lamb that was shed to purchase it Or is not the giving of Christ to die for us the accomplishment of the greatest promise that ever God made to us And after the fulfilling thereof what ground remains for any to doubt the fulfiling of lesser promises Lastly Is there any among you that desire to get up your affections at this Table to have your hearts in a melting temper to awaken and rouze up all the powers of your souls in so great an occasion for it as this Behold the Lamb of God and this will do it Christ calls off your eyes and thoughts from all other objects to himself Isa. 65. 11. I said behold me behold me Fix the eye of Faith here and you will feel a pang quickly coming upon your hearts like that Cant. 2. 5. Stay me with Flaggons comfort me with Apples I am sick with love Your eye will affect your hearts Whilst you behold your hearts will melt within you THE SIXTH MEDITATION UPON Rom. 8. ver 32. He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things THIS Scripture contains a most weighty argument to encourage and confirm the Faith of Christians in the expectation of all spiritual and temporal mercies It proceeds from the greater to the lesser affirmatively He that delivered his Son for us what can he deny us after such a gift every word hath its weight Did not God spare i. e. abate any thing which his justice could inflict upon his Son his own Son opposed here to his adopted Sons as being infinitly more excellent than they and most dear to him above and beyond all others but on the contrary delivered him up how dear soever he was unto him to Humiliation contradiction of Sinners to all sorrows and temptations yea to death and that of the Cross and all this for us for us Sinners for us Enemies to God for us unlovely Wretches How shall he not with him also freely give us all things How is it imaginable that God should with-hold after this spirituals or temporals from his people How shall he not call them effectually justifie them freely sanctifie them throughly and glorifie them eternally How shall he not cloath them feed them protect and deliver them Surely if he would not spare or abate to his own Son one stroke one tear one groan one sigh one circumstance of misery it can never be imagined that ever he should after this deny or withhold from his people for whose sakes all this was suffered any mercies any comforts any priviledge spiritual or temporal which is good for them and needful to them So that in the words we find 1. A Proposition 2. An Inference from it The Proposition opens the severity of Gods justice to Christ the Inference declares the riches of his mercy to us in Christ. First We have here before us a Proposition containing the severity of Divine Justice towards Christ And this is expressed two ways Viz. 1. Negatively he spared him not 2. Aâ—…irmatively he delivered him up for us First Negatively He spared not his own Son There is a three-fold mercy in God viz. Preventing mercy which steps between us and trouble Delivering mercy which takes us out of the hand of trouble And Sparing mercy which though it do not prevent nor deliver yet it mitigates allays and graciously moderates our troubles and though sparing mercy be desirable and sweet yet it is the least and lowest sort of mercy that God exercises towards any Though it be mercy to have the time of sufferings shortned or one degree of suffering abated yet these are the lowest and least effects of mercy and yet these were denied to Jesus Christ when he stood in our room to satisfie for us God spared not one drop he abated not one degree of that wrath which Christ was to suffer for us Secondly Affirmatively But on the contrary he delivered him up for us all He delivered him as a Judge by sentence of Law delivers up the Prisoner to be Executed 'T is true Pilate delivered him to be Crucified and he also gave himself for us but betwixt Gods delivering Pilates delivering and his own there is this difference to be observed In God it was an Act of highest Justice In Pilate an Act of greatest wickedness In himself an Act of wonderful obedience God as by an act of highest Justice delivered him up for us For us notes the Vicegerency of his sufferings not only for our good as the final cause nor only for our sins as the meritorious cause but for us i. e. in our room place or stead according to 1 Pet. 3. 18. and 2 Cor. 5. 14. Secondly We have also here before us a most sweet and comfortable inference and conclusion from this proposition If God have so delivered him how shall he not with him freely give us all things For Christ comprehends all other mercies in himself therefore in giving him for us all other mercies are necessarily with him given to us And these mercies the poorest weakest Believer in the world may warrantably expect from God For as God delivered him for us all so the treasures of all spiritual and temporal mercies are thereby freely opened to us all to the weak as well as to the strong He saith not Christ was delivered for all absolutely but for us all i. e. all that Believe all that are Elected and called in whose person it is manifest the Apostle here speaks as Pareus on the place well observed Hence these two doctrinal conclusions fairly offer themselves 1. Doct. That the rigor and severity of Divine Justice was executed upon Jesus Christ when he suffered for us 2. Doct. That Believers may strongly infer the greatest of mercies to themselves from the severity of Gods Justice to Jesus Christ. I would willingly speak to both these points at this time each affording such proper matter of meditation to us in such a season as this To begin therefore with the first observation 1. Doct. That the rigor and severity of Divine Justice was executed upon Jesus Christ when he suffered for us God did not spare him In Zach. 13. 7. you have Gods Commission given to the Sword of Justice to smiâ—… his own Son and that without pitty Awake O Sword against my Shepherd and against the man that is my fellow smite the Shepherd c. And when this Commission came to be executed upon Christ the Text tells us God did not spare him All the Vials of his wrath were poured out to the last drop Two things require our attention in this point 1. Wherein the severity of Justice to Christ appeared 2. Why must Justice be executed on him in such rigor and severity Why there could be no abatement mitigation or sparing mercy shewn him in that day First Wherein the severity of
Christ the best mercy but delivered him up for us all when we were his Enemies then certainly he will not deny lesser mercies when we are reconciled and made Friends to him And this is the forcible reason of the Apostle which even compels assent Rom. 5. 9. Much more being now justified by his Blood we shall be saved from wrath through him In a word Fourthly and lastly If it were the very design and intention of God in not sparing his own Son to open thereby a dore for all mercies to be let in upon us then 't is not imaginable he should with-hold them He will not lose his design nor lay so many stripes upon Christ in vain Some shall surely have the benefit of it and none so capable as Believers When God spared not his own Son this was the design of it and could you know the thoughts of his heart they would appear to be such as these I will now manifest the fierceness of my Wrath to Christ and the fulness of my Love to Believers The pain shall be his that the ease and rest may be theirs the stripes his and the healing balm issuing from them theirs The Condemnation his and the Justification theirs The Reproach and Shame his and the Honour and Glory theirs The Curse his and the Blessing theirs The Death his and the Life theirs The Vinegar and Gall his the sweet of it theirs He shall groan and they shall triumph He shall mourn that they may rejoyce His heart shall be heavy for a time that theirs may be light and glad for ever He shall be forsaken that they may never be forsaken Out of the worst of miseries to him shall spring the sweetest of mercies to them O Grace Grace beyond the conception of the largest mind the expression of the tongues of Angels THE SEVENTH MEDITATION UPON Mark 9. 24. And straight-way the Father of the Child cried and said with tears Lord I Believe help my Unbelief THE occasion of these words is to be gather'd from the Context and briefly it was this A tender Father brings a possessed Child to Christ to be cured with a Sipotes a doubting question If thou canst do any thing have compassion upon us and help us Words imparting much natural affection and tender love to his Child Have Compassion upon us and help us If the Child be sick the Parent is not well What touches the Child is felt by his Father And as they import his natural affection to his Child so also his own spiritual disease or the weakness of his Faith His Child was possest with a dumb Devil and himself with unbelieving doubts and suspitions of Christs ability to cure his Child The Child had a sick body and the Father an infirm soul. Satan afflicted one by a possession and the other by temptation ver 22. Christ returns his doubting language upon himself ver 23. If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth q. d. Dost thou doubt of my ability to heal thy Child question rather thy own ability to believe for his cure If he be not heal'd the cause will not be in my inability but in thine own infidelity Which he speaks not to insinuate that Faith was in his own power but to convince him of his weakness and drive him to God for assistance which effect it obtain'd for immediately he cry'd out and said with tears Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief O how good is it for men to be brought into the straights of affliction sometimes Had not this man fallen into this distress it 's not like that he had at least not so soon arrived either to the sense of his grace or the weakness of it In the words we may note these three parts First A profession of his Faith Lord I believe Secondly A sense of the weakness of his Faith Help thou my unbelief Thirdly The affection with which both were uttered He cried out and said with tears If these tears proceeded from the sense and feeling of divine power inabling him to believe as some think than they were tears of joy and would inform us of this great truth That the least and lowest measure of true Faith is matter of joy unspeakable to the possessor of it If they proceeded from the sense of the weakness of his faith then they give us this note That the remainders of unbelief in the people of God do cost them many tears they are the burdens and sorrows of gracious souls 1. Doct. That the least and lowest measure of Faith is matter of joy unspeakable to the possessor of it The Apostle in the 2 Pet. 1. 1. calls it precious Faith and it well deserves that Epithet for the least and lowest degree of saving Faith is of invaluable excellency as will appear in these particulars First The least degree of saving faith truly unites the soul to Jesus Christ and makes it as really a branch or member of him as Moses Abraham or Paul were All saving Faith receives Christ Joh. 1. 12. Indeed the strong Believer receives him with a stronger and stedier hand than the weak one doth who staggers doubts and trembles but yet receives him and consequently is as much interessed in the blessed priviledges flowing from Union as the greatest Believer in the world Such are Christs complacency in our persons and duties his sympathy with us in our troubles and affections and our interest in his person and purchase And is not this matter of exceeding joy Is it not enough to melt yea overwhelm the heart of a poor Sinner to discover and feel that in his own heart which entitles him to such mercies Secondly From the least degree of saving faith we may infer'as plenary a remission of sin as from tht strongest The weakest Believer is as compleatly pardoned as the strongest Act. 10. 43. By him all that believe are justified from all things All that believe without difference of sizes strength or degrees the least as well as the greatest the Believer of a day old as well as the Fathers and Worthies of greatest name and longest standing Loe then the least measure of faith intitles thee as really to the greatest blessing as the highest acts of faith can do 'T is true the stronger the acting of faith is the clearer the evidence usually is but interest in the priviledge is the same in both If then thou canst discern but the weakest act and smallest measure of faith in thy soul hast thou not reason with him in the Text to cry out and say with tears Lord I belive Canst thou receive and read this Pardon the pardon of such and so many sins and not wet it with thy tears O it's matter of joy unspeakable Thirdly The least degree of saving faith infers thy Election of God and if that be not matter of melting and transporting consideration nothing is O it 's matter of more joy that our names are written in
dishonour God and thus wrong your selves 2. Doct. That the remains of unbelief in gracious hearts do cost them many tears and sorrows There are many things that afflict and grieve the People of God from without but all their outward troubles are nothing to these troubles that come from within There are many inward troubles that make them groan but none more than this the unbelief they find in their own hearts This sin justly costs them more trouble than other sins because it is the root from which other sins do spring a root of bitterness bearing wormwood and gall to the imbittering of their souls For First The remains of unbelief in the Saints greatly dishonour God and what is a great dishonour to God cannot but be a great grief and burden to them For look as faith gives God special honour above all other graces so unbelief in a special manner both wrongs and grieves him above all other sins Unbelief in dominion makes God a liar 1 Joh. 5. 10. and even the reliques thereof in Believers doth shake their assent to his truths and promises and nourishes a vile suspicion of them in the heart and how do those base jealousies reflect upon his honour Certainly it cannot but be a grief to gracious hearts to see God dishonoured by others Psal. 119. 36. and a much greater to dishonour him our selves hinc illae lacrimae Upon this ground we may justly cry out and say with tears Lord help our unbelief Secondly The remains of unbelief in the Saints doth not only dishonour God but defaces and spoils their best duties in which they at any time approach unto God Is the face of God clouded from us in prayer hearing or receiving Examine the cause and reason and you will find that cloud rais'd from your own unbelieving hearts Are your affections cold flat and dead in duty dig but to the root and you will find this sin to lie there If the word do not work upon you as you desire and pray it might 't is because it is not mingled with faith Heb. 4. 2. No Duties no Ordinances no Promises can give down their sweet influences upon your souls because of this sin Now Communion with the Lord in duties is the life of our life These things are dearer to the Saints than their eyes Justly therefore do they bewail and mourn over that sin which obstructs and intercepts their sweetest enjoyments in this world Thirdly The remains of unbelief gives advantage and success to Satans temptations upon us Doth he at any time affright and scare us from our dudy or draw and intice us to the commission of sin or darken and cloud our condition and fill us with inward fears and horror without cause all this he doth by the mediation of our own unbelief The Apostle in Eph. 6. 16. calls Faith the souls Shield against temptation And 1 Joh. 5. 4. 't is call'd the Victory by which we overcome i. e. the Sword or Weapon by which we Atchieve our Victories And if so then unbelief disarms us both of Sword and Shield and leaves us naked of defence in the day of Battel a prey to the next temptation that befalls us Fourthly The remains of unbelief hinder the thriving of all graces it 's a worm at their root a plant of such a malignant quality that nothing which is spiritual can thrive under the droppings and shaddow of it It 's said Heb. 4. 2. that the Gospel was Preached to the Israelites but it did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it No Ordinances nor Duties be they never so excellent will make that soul to thrive where unbelief prevails You Pray you Hear you Fast you Meditate and yet you do not thrive your spiritual food doth no good You come from Ordinances as dead careless and vain-as-you went to them and why is it thus but because of remaining unbelief Use 1. Let all the People of God bewail and tenderly mourn over the remainders of insidelity in your own hearts There there is the root of the disease and surely Reader thy heart is not free of such symptoms of it as appear in other mens hearts For do but consider First What is our Impatiency to wait for mercy and despondency of spirit if deliverance come not quickly in the outward or inward straights of soul or body but a plain symptom of unbelief in our hearts He that believes will not make hast Isa. 28. 16. He that can believe can also wait Gods time Psal. 27. 14. Secondly And what doth our readiness to use sinful mediums to prevent or extricate our selves out of trouble but a great deal of Infidelity lurking still in our hearts might but Faith be heard to speak it would say in thy heart let me rather die ten deaths than commit one sin It 's sweeter and easier to die in any integrity than to live with a defiled or wounded Conscience 'T is nothing but our unbelief that makes us so ready to put forth our hands to iniquity when the rod of the Wicked rests long upon us or any eminent danger threatens us Psal. 125. 3. Thirdly Doth not the unbelief of your hearts shew it self in your deeper thoughtfulness and great auxieties about earthly things Matth. 6. 30. We pretend we have trusted God with our souls to all Eternity and yet cannot trust him for our daily bread We bring the evils of to morrow upon to day and all because we cannot believe more O Reader how much better were it to hear such questions as these from thee how shall I get an heart suitable to the mercies I do enjoy How shall I duely improve them for God What shall I render to the Lord for all his goodness This would better become thee than to afflict thy self with what shall I eat what shall I drink or wherewithal shall I be cloathed Fourthly What doth the slavish fear of death speak but remains of unbelief still in our hearts Are there not many faintings tremblings despondencies of mind under the thoughts of death O if faith were high thy spirit could not be so low 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 3. The more bondage of fear the more infidelity Fifthly To conclude what is the voice of all those distractions of thy heart in religious duties but want of faith weakness in faith and the actual prevalence of unbelief You come to God in prayer and there a thousand Vanities beset you your heart is carried away it roves it wanders to the ends of the earth Conscience smites for this and saith Thou dost but mock God thy soul will smart for this thou feelest neither strength nor sweetness arising out of such duties You enquire for remedies and fill the ears of Friends with your complaints and it may be see not the root of all this to be in your own unbelief But there it is and till that be cured it will not be better with you Use 2.
Flesh to be rent and his Blood set abroach for you what love like the love of Christ Secondly Learn hence a ground of Content in the lowest and poorest condition allotted to any Believer in this world It may be some of you live low in the world you have hard fare and are abridg'd of many of those sweet comforts in the Creature which the Enemies of God abound in but still remember you have no cause to envy their dainties and be dissatisficd with your own lot and portion when not many Nobles or mighty in the world feed as your souls do feed O what a feast have you What dainties do your souls tast by faith Whilst others do but feed upon Ashes and Husks what is the flesh of Lambs and Calves out of the Stall to the Flesh of Christ What is Wine in bowls and the chief Oyntment to the Blood of Christ and the anoyntings of his Spirit O be satisfied with your outward lot however God hath cast it whilst he hath dealt so bountifully with your souls Thirdly Learn hence the necessity of faith in order to the livelihood and subsistance of our souls What is a Feast to him that cannot tast it And what is Christ to him that cannot believe That cannot by faith eat his Flesh and drink his Blood 'T is not the Preparation made for souls in Christ but the Application of him by faith that gives us the sweetness and benefit of him Faith is the souls mouth or pallate the Unbeliever tasts no sweetness in Christ he can rellish more sweetness in money meat drink carnal mirth or any sensual enjoyment than Christ. Fourthly How excellent are Gospel-Ordinances What sweetness is there to be found in them by true Believers For there Christ is prepar'd and as it were serv'd in for them to feed upon It is your Ministers work to cook and prepare for you all the week long and to furnish for you a feast of fat things Loe here 's a Table spread and furnish'd this day with the costliest dainties that Heaven affords O prize these mercies sit not here with flat or wanton appetites lest God call to your Enemies and bid them take away 2. Use of Exhortation Is the Flesh and Blood of Christ Meat and Drink indeed then let me exhort you Brethren First To come to this Table with sharp and hungry appetites Have you ever tasted that the Lord is gracious and do you not hunger and thirst to taste it again Surely where the Carcass is thither will the Eagles be gather'd Math. 24. 28. There is a two fold appetite a dainty and an hungry appetite beware of a nice and dainty appetite that can rellish nothing in the most solid and spiritual duties except the dish be garnisht with flowers of Rhetorick or the matter serv'd in with art and elegancy This hath been the great sin of the Professors of this Generation O Christians no more of that I pray you Were you really an hungred and athirst for Christ you would come to his Ordinances as famishing men to a feast Secondly To feed heartily upon Christ in every Ordinance and in every Sacrament especially O that your souls might hear and answer that invitation this day Cant. 5. 1. Eat O Friends drink yea drink abundantly O Beloved For Motives I will only hint these three following First Christ is the matter of this Feast God hath prepar'd him for your souls Is any thing in Heaven or Earth so sweet as Christ Sacrificed is Do not the Angels and Saints in Heaven feast upon him Surely one drop of Christ's Blood hath more sweetness and excellency in it than the whole Ocean of all Creature-comforts Secondly Don't your graces need it Have you not a languishing love a staggering faith dull and sluggish desires Look into your hearts and see what need there is of strengthening the things that are in you which are ready to die O feed upon Christ that your graces may be revived strengthened Thirdly Do you know how many daies you are to go in the strength of this meal How long it may be ere you sit again at the Lords Table Surely even these as well as your inferior temporal comforts stand upon terms of greatest uncertainty Ah Christians Consider well the times you live in the Enemy that stands ready to take away the cloth and remove your spiritual food from you It 's said of Peter Martyr that being in Oxford when Q. Mary came in and hearing the first Mass-bell ring he was struck to the heart and said haec una notula omnem meam doctrinam evertit This one tinkling Bell overthrows all the labours of my Ministry at once God grant we may hear none of that Musick in England any more but it 's like to be according to your estimation and improvement of Christ's precious Ordinances Thirdly Commend the experiensed sweetness of Christ to others Don't conceal his loveliness and excellency Thus the fair and enamoured Spouse charges or adjures others Cant. 5. 9. Be not content to feast upon Christ alone whilst others souls are starving and perhaps the souls of your dear natural Relations Say to them as David Psal. 34. 8. O taste and see how good the Lord is Fourthly and lastly See that your appetite to Christ be right and truly spiritual Such an hunger and thirst upon which blessedness is entail'd by promise and you may conclude it so when First It is a sharp and strong appetite Psal. 42. 1. Let your thoughts run upon Christ night and day like the desires of a longing Woman Secondly When 't is a Universal appetite after every thing in Christ his Holiness as well as his Righteousness his Commands as well as his Promises for he is altogether lovely Cant. 5. 16. Thirdly When 't is a continual appetite I mean not that the pulse of your desires should keep an even stroke at all times but that there be real and sincere workings of heart after him always Psal. 119. 20. Fourthly When 't is an industrious appetite awakening the soul to the Use of all means and practice of all duties in order to satisfaction Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after Fifthly and lastly It 's then aright when 't is an insatiable appetite never to be allaid with any thing besides Christ Psal. 73. 25. No nor with Christ himself till thou comest to the full enjoyment of him in Heaven The Believer knows how sweet soever his Communion with Christ is in this world yet that Communion he shall have with Christ in Heaven far excels it there it will be more intimate and immediate 1 Cor. 19. 12. more full and perfect even to satisfaction Psal. 17. 15. more constant and continued not suffering such interruptions as it doth here Rev. 21. 25. More pure and unmixed Here our Corruptions work with our graces Rom. 7. 21. but there grace shall work alone In a word more durable and