Thomas Manton · 27 of 57
The Second Verse. · Part 3
1. A holy impatiency in the want of Christ. When we strongly desire a thing, the heart fainteth under the want of it. Amnon was sick for Tamar, 2 Sam. xiii. 1-4. And the spouse was sick of love for Christ, Cant. v. 8. The soul languishes with a holy desire of the sense of his mercy, with a longing after pardon, and , and , and life, and what is to be found in Christ. They can find no rest in themselves till they do enjoy it: Ps. xlii. 1, ‘As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so doth my soul pant after thee, O God.’ Thirst is the most implacable impression that can be upon the body; the creature cannot be quiet till it be quenched. Now, of all creatures the hart is most thirsty by nature, and the thirst is mightily increased when it is hunted. And mark, it is the she-hart, for so the Seventy read it, ἡ ἔλαφος, ‘The she-hart panteth after the water brooks.’ Passions in females are stronger than in the males. As the she-hart panteth when chased, such a rage of thirst was there in his soul till it were satisfied with. God, and refreshed with the comforts of Jesus Christ. Search then for such a restless and strong desire; try if there be such an ardency and earnestness upon your affections, that nothing can satisfy but Christ, that you cannot be quiet till you have him. Was your heart never chased into a panting for the water brooks? Some tire haunted so by the ghastly apprehensions of God’s wrath, that they have no ease, no rest. But certainly all that love Christ are chased into a panting; they have such a sense of their sins and miseries, that their souls are put into an earnest expectation of the mercies of Christ.
2. A holy indignation. Passions usually serve and accompany one another. If there be a holy desire, there will be a holy anger. And this is at two things:—
[1.] At anything that would rival the affection.
[2.] At what would hinder the enjoyment of the object.
[1.] At anything that would rival Christ in the affection. There is a scorn that anything should come in competition with him, that we should have so much as a thought that anything were worthy but Christ: Phil. iii. 8, ‘I count all things but loss and dung, that I may win Christ.’ Any outward excellency in comparison of him is but σκύβαλα, dog’s meat. It thinketh the worst name good enough for anything that shall come in competition with him. And in such a case gold is not gold, but dog’s meat—honour is not honour—pleasure is not pleasure—but all is dung and dog’s meat. You know in a natural way things have their due respect from us, till they be compared with what we dearly love and prize; then no term is bad enough for them. So here, the soul doth even abhor the thought that Christ and other things should be spoken of the same day, which otherwise might have fairer respects and valuations from the soul. It is worth your observation to see how the do abominate the thought that anything should be supposed to satisfy them without or besides Christ: Ps. iv. 6, ‘There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us.’ O Lord, do not think we are of that strain. It is the many, the men of the multitude, that think so; they speak as if they would not own such an unworthy thought, nor entertain any resolution to prostitute their desires to any sensual good. God shall not turn them away so. If they should have all things else, it is irksome to them to think they should be contented. Te ipsum, Domine, da, quod peto, Domine, da te ipsum; as Austin crieth out: ‘Thyself, Lord—thyself, Lord.’ They are angry with themselves if any pleasing thought should arise any other way, any vain conceit, that they should be happy apart from God and Christ. It is an excellent saying of one, Taedet gaudere sine te, delectat contristari pro te—They had rather mourn for God than delight without him. All their comforts are irksome to them if they have not Christ with them. Try, then, is there such a zealous indignation against false thoughts in your comforts? In what case do you think yourselves? ‘Happy is the people that is in such a case.’ If that be a thought that is pleasing to your minds, it is a good sign.
[2] Indignation against what hindereth the enjoyment of the object. A man is angry with what cometh between him and his desires. If your desires be to Christ, you will be angry with your perverse hearts, that keep you from him. When a man desireth to sin, he is angry with God because he cometh in with his law, and steppeth between us and our desires: Rom. viii. 7, ‘The mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law, neither indeed can be.’ So when the desires are set and bent upon Christ, a man is angry with himself that he is so clogged and weighed down with the flesh that he cannot enjoy such full communion with him as he desires: 2 Cor. v. 4, ‘For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened.’ And David crieth out, Ps. cxx 5, ‘Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!’ ἡ παροικία, my pilgrimage, is prolonged. They are angry with their own base hearts, that still there is such a strangeness between them and Christ.
3. It will cause a holy waiting. Those that desired the coming of the Messiah, waited for him; as Simeon: Luke ii. 25, ‘Waiting for the consolation of Israel.’ Earnest expectation is the formal and most proper effect of the desire of anything. Look, as it is said of Sisera’s mother, Judges v. 28, ‘She looked out at a window and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming?’ She would fain meet with it as far as she could with her eyes. And so it is said, Rom. viii. 19, ‘The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God,’ Ἀπεκδέχεται, the creature lifts up the head—would fain see the general restoration of all things in the world; so the soul lifteth up the heart, it would fain see Christ coming to it in this or that ,—with a great deal of longing they expect when he will draw their hearts to himself: Ps. cxxx. 6, ‘My soul waiteth for thee more than they that watch for the morning; yea, more than they that watch for the morning.’
4. Another effect is a powerful command over the whole man. De sires are the most vigorous faculties, they carry the whole soul along with them. They will take up your thoughts, time, care, endeavours, speeches. Look and you shall observe that a man is so affected in earthly things, and, therefore, why not so in heavenly? It is a bad sign when there cannot be found the same proportion and care for heavenly things as men have for the things of the world. Let us see these things a little severally.
[1.] It will take up your thoughts. Our thoughts will be conversant about what we desire. We love to feed upon the sweet of those things that we long for,—to enjoy them in our meditations before we really and actually enjoy them. Thoughts are the pulses of the heart, you may know by them how it beats. When desires are at a high pitch, we shall not be able to put off those pleasing imaginations that concern the object of these desires. Nay, they will haunt the mind in the time of our usual repose and rest: Isa. xxvi. 9, ‘With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.’ Night and morning, all their mind was upon this, how they should get God.
[2.] It will challenge more of your time and care. When men will make bold with God rather than their own occasions, it is a sign they are but coldly affected to him. If your desires be to Christ, your care and time will be more laid out upon him; you will rather borrow from yourselves, your own pleasures and business, than borrow from God. I confess a man that is in a particular calling, and is to provide for a wife and family, must necessarily spend more time in the world than he can in religion; but when he begrudgeth all time to God, or thinketh all lost that is spent in duty, it is a sign there is little desire after Christ. When we are where we would be, time goeth too fast for us; therefore, try how it is with thee in point of religion: Is all too much that is spent in duty? If the heart goeth out that way, all will be too little. As men’s desires are so their time goeth away. Job xxi. 13, It is said of the wicked, ‘They spend their days in wealth.’ Voluptuous men do so,—so men, they spend their time in business and worldly cares, and are cumbered about much serving. You may try your bent by that, how you spend your days.
J3.] It will put you upon endeavours. Those are true desires that in action. Slight wishes after Christ never put us upon a pursuit of him. If a man be earnest in a thing, he will try all ways he can to compass it; it shall be his earnest business. Men that are slight would fain have Christ, but they will not seek him—Vellent, sed nolunt: Prov. xxi. 25, ‘The desire of the killeth him, for his hands refuse to labour.’ The slothful are most full of desires; they would fain have things, but they do not labour after them. Now, it is otherwise with the children of God. The spouse, that was sick for want of Christ, sought him through the streets, though it cost her many a wandering, Cant. v. 7. God hath fenced up every excel lent thing with difficulty, to see if we think it worth our endeavours.
Use 2. In the next place it serveth for exhortation, to press you to do otherwise than the men of the world do, and to beware of their spirit. Men see nothing in Christ why they should desire him, because they judge with a carnal spirit. Let not any such black note be found upon you: Do you make him the desire of your souls who is deservedly styled ‘the desire of all nations.’ This exhortation hinteth at three duties:—
1. Long to get him into your hearts. As all things are to him, let your desires be to him: Rom. xi. 36, ‘Of him, and through him, and to him are all things;’ therefore, all creatures, for it is the law of their creation to move towards God, especially for reasonable creatures so to do. But particularly by your desires look upon him as summum necessarium, as the only chief thing for your souls.
2. Be careful to keep communion with him. If you have got him, take heed you do not lose him again. Remember the fate of the spouse for parting with her beloved, and how dearly she paid for it, Cant. v. 6, 7. Whatever carnal men judge of it, the favour of Christ is worth the keeping.
3. Labour to get more interest in him. Worldly blessings have all this lot and fate, that they cloy in the enjoyment. Christ is a mercy of a nobler nature; the more you see of his excellency, the more you will thirst after him. When a man hath a taste of Christ, he will labour for more of him. The great prejudice against him is, that men have never had experience of him, Austin saith of himself, in the ninth book of his Confessions, chap. i.: ‘That the reason why he was loth to close with Christ was, because he was to forego all pleasures, and to deny himself in whatever was delightful, and that was very irksome to him. But since,’ saith he, ‘when once I had tasted Christ, quam suave mihi subito factum est carere suavitatibus nugarum! It was the greatest delight in the world to abstain from worldly delights.’ Christ made abundant recompense for them. Oh, how sweet is Christ to those that have tried him, and made experience of him! They will not want their old delights again. I shall prescribe a few means how you shall bring your hearts to desire Christ, to keep him, and to get further interest in him:—
[1.] Consider nothing is a fit object for your desires without Jesus Christ. The creatures are beneath you. The desire of the soul is like a member of the body out of joint when it is fixed upon a wrong object. All things without Christ are either sin or the creatures. To desire sin was the cause of the first misery; that is, forbidden fruits. We know what that is by sad experience. As to the creatures, to desire them for themselves is beneath us: it is, as it were, to sit upon the threshold and the door of the gate when we might sit upon the throne,—to make that our crown which should be our footstool: Ps. viii. 6, it is said, ‘Thou hast put all things under his feet.’ God made these things to be under our feet; and, therefore, the church is described, Rev. xii. 1, to have the moon under her feet. All sublunary things are beneath the people of God. I should a little digress from the matter in hand, at least vary from my purpose, if I should at large discourse of the uncertainty and frailty of the creatures, and show how the desires may be lost and wasted upon them, which they cannot be upon God; or should I descant upon the unsuitableness of the creatures, which cannot give true satisfaction to the soul; but I will only conclude this first rule with this: That sin is not to be desired at all, and the creatures only in reference to God and Christ, otherwise, we sin in the desire or enjoyment of them.
[2.] Look upon Jesus Christ alone as the only object upon which thy affections should be exercised. He hath all the properties in him that a lawful desire looketh to, though the world cannot see it. He is an excellent good, a necessary good, and one that deserveth the best of our desires.
(1.) Consider he is an excellent good. Whatsoever is an attractive of love is to be found in Christ. Oh, display his glorious beauties before the soul! There is in him greatness, goodness, glory, mercy, peace, comfort, satisfaction: these are the beauties of Christ. Look over all the world and see if there be any that can do you so much good as he is able or willing to do. Cant. v. 10-16, The spouse describeth her beloved as a comely young man, as one of the greatest perfections. It would be too large to go over every particular of that description; only, in the general, observe that the Spirit of God useth such expressions as serve to discover outward beauty, to show us that whatever we admire in the creatures is, in a far more eminent degree, to be found in God and Christ. I know not how to be particular in this large field; only I shall a little single out the name of God to you, as it is said, ‘Thy name is as an ointment poured forth; therefore do the virgins love thee.’ Cant. i. 3. And the desires of God’s people are always expressed to be towards his name in the scriptures. I shall mention two attributes, and pour out the savour of them, and display the beauty of them, which shine most gloriously in Jesus Christ; namely, his power and his mercy,
(1st.) His power and might. Christ is spoken of to be the desire of the nations, when he gave forth the greatest experiences of his power: Hag. ii. 7, ‘I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come.’ Who would not desire him that is able to secure him against all fears, to keep him in the midst of all dangers, and to comfort him in all conditions? If a man would long after any person, he would after him that is able to shake the nations and to secure him against the common visible fears of mankind. Men run after things for a little satisfaction and security, but still this troubleth them; they must die, and then all their shifts will not serve the turn: Prov. xi. 7, ‘When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish.’ Then all his desires—wife, children, friends—will not serve the turn, when his cold corpse must be laid in the grave. But now Christ is so powerful, that he is able to secure us against this fear, to comfort us in death, and to raise us when dead.
(2dly.) His mercy is very great. A man’s desire is restrained to things many times, which though otherwise allurable, yet he hath no hopes to obtain. Now here you may desire and be welcome, for your suit will be entertained: Ps. cxi. 8, ‘He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.’ When the soul openeth itself to God, he filleth it; the longing soul is satisfied: Rev. xxi. 6, ‘I will give to him that is athirst of the water of life freely.’ You need not stand off upon terms or punctilios; Christ will satisfy your longing freely; he hath passed his word: John vi. 37, ‘He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.’ They may have their comfort hindered and interrupted in their own thoughts, but he will in no wise cast them out.
(2.) Christ is a necessary good. Things may be excellent, yet if they be not needful to us, the affections move but faintly after them. Now Christ is unum necessarium, the one thing needful. It is not enough to choose that which is good, but that which is needful: Luke x. 42, ‘But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen the better part.’ Many follow after riches, pleasures, and honours, and outward comforts; these may be good in their kind, but they are not needful. What good will those things do us to all eternity? There the love of God will only stand us in stead. The things of this world, according to that usual saying among divines, are temporal in their use, but the punishment for the abuse of them is eternal. The most necessary and serviceable good to us is Jesus Christ; therefore get the judge to be your friend against the assizes.
(3.) Consider, he hath deserved that our strongest desires should be after him, not only as he is the being of beings, and the fountain of our lives and mercies, but as he laid down his life for us: John xii. 32, ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me;’ that is, I will do that which shall draw all men’s desires to me; he will leave such a debt of thankfulness upon them. Though we could expect nothing from Christ, yet, by the law of thankfulness, our desires are due to him.
Thirdly, I come now to the third thing propounded, which was to give you some practical points and observations that concern man in the ordering of his life and . I shall handle but three, and so quit this verse.
1. That God prosecuteth and accomplished his greatest designs by the most unlikely and despised means. Jesus Christ, the great Saviour of the world, was but a tender plant, which a man would be more apt to tread upon and crush, than to cherish.
2. God cometh in for the deliverance of his people in times of greatest despair and unlikelihood. For when the branches of Jesse were dried up, and had no verdure, even then sprung up the greatest ornament of that stock, although a root out of a dry ground.
3. Mean beginnings may grow up to great matters and glorious successes. Christ, the tender plant, was to be a tall tree, under the shadow of whose boughs all the fowls of heaven should lodge.
I begin with the first:—
Doct. 1. That God accomplished his greatest designs by the most unlikely and despised means. I might trace the way of God’s prosecution throughout all succession of ages, and show you how this truth is verified. He made us out of the dust, and that is contemptible matter. And as hath been our creation, so hath been our preservation, even by dust, that which we would trample upon rather than admire. But I shall rather come to the reasons of it, which are as follow:—
1. That his glory may more appear. The weakness of the instrument directs our thoughts to the power of the supreme worker. {Should things work according to the constant tenor of nature, and the order of second causes, God might have no glory. We should look upon successes and deliverances as coming to us by chance, and not mind the great sway and poise by which all things in the world are moved, and carried to their proper ends. Therefore God doth some times more eminently put forth his hand this way. The weakness of the instrument holdeth forth the glory of the first mover and agent. The spirit of is discovered by it: Zech. iv. 6, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.’ My Spirit; that is, the invisible sway that directeth and ordereth all things to their proper uses and effects. God worketh sometimes the most eminent glorious things by these weak means, that you may not rest on second causes.
2. That we may not see to the end of his counsels. A man doth not know what God will do with despised branches; God worketh in such a way as doth not suit with our usual expectations: Isa. xlviii. 7, ‘They are created now, and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.’ The things of God’s providence are said to be new things, not created of old, lest we should say we understood them; deliverance cometh that way that we least looked for it. Certainly this is a new thing, it is not according to the course of this world. God hath created some things of higher value and greater efficacy than others, but they are the old things. Notwithstanding, weak things are often made use of by God. Should we see a man of a stately presence and comely lineaments and proportion, we should straightway cry, This is the anointed of the Lord, he is now before him, as Samuel did: 1 Sam. xvi. 7, ‘Here is now the person that God will work by;’ but it is added there, ‘God seeth not as man seeth;’ that is, God will not work according to the usual way of your expectation. David, the least and the youngest, God chooseth him. So again, man thinketh that the eldest son shall advance the family, as being the flower of the parents’ strength; and by the constant course and tenor of nature, the elder proveth the most successful; yet many times God appointeth otherwise: Gen. xxv. 23, ‘The elder shall serve the younger.’ God will not have us look to the end of his counsels, and therefore the younger is the most eminent.
3. That he may declare his displeasure against the pomp of the world. God maketh least use of that which we so much adore, outward glory and splendour. Most of his glorious instruments have been taken from the plough and sheepfold. Christ himself, as I told you, honoured meanness in his own person. You may see by Isa. ii. 11-22, that God’s great design in the latter days is to destroy the pomp of the world, the oaks and the cedars, and whatever is lifted up: ‘The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low.’ God’s choice is of the meanest and most unlikely things, hereby showing certainly that there is not so much as the world thinketh in outward glory, which hath always proved unhappy to the church, who, when she enjoyed golden cups, had but wooden priests. Though Constantine was a worthy instrument, yet Seminatum est venenum in ecclesia—in his time poison was sowed in the church.
4. That he may shame his enemies in their security. When they have to deal with those that are unlikely to prevail, they think they shall carry all before them, 1 Sam. xvii. 42. The ruddy youth was despised by Goliath, and threatened terribly too, that his flesh should be given to the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field; but yet he over came the giant. The more shame doth God pour upon his enemies by far, when they meet with their destruction where they least think of it. Abimelech, after he had overcome Shechem, the hold of the god Berith, and divers other strongholds, and there was but one fort stood out, had his skull broke by a woman with a piece of a millstone, Judges ix. 53. God ruineth them most ignominiously. Thus the Almighty goeth to war against Pharaoh with flies, and frogs, and lice, Exod. viii., the most putrid of all living creatures. The Moabites were put to flight before the Israelites by a fancy, to wit, the sun shining upon the water, which they thought to be blood. Pope Adrian was choked with a gnat. So Judges v. 20, it is said, ‘The stars in their courses (or paths) fought against Sisera.’ And what was that? Nothing but a little rain and hail, as Josephus witnesseth; for as they drew to battle there fell suddenly a storm of rain and hail just in their faces, that they could not see; and it being on the backs of the Israelites, it drove them on with the more fierceness against their enemies. Now by this way God poureth a great deal of contempt upon his adversaries.
5. That he may take off all cause of boasting from the creature, that the flesh may not glory in itself. Thus this very reason is urged by the apostle, 1 Cor. i. 27-29, ‘God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things in the world, and things which are despised, hath ‘God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.’ The things that are nothing in our respect and valuation, God honoureth, and uses them as instruments, that we may have no cause to boast of our strength or merit. The creatures are apt to vaunt when they see there is anything of theirs concurring towards a work, though they do in part see God’s hand in it: Judges vii. 2, ‘And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.’ It is observable that David called twice upon the mighty: Ps. xxix. 1, ‘Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.’ When a people are mighty they are very loth to give the glory and strength to God. Therefore God worketh by those that cannot any way ascribe it to themselves.
6. Another reason may be, that God may provide for the esteem of the meanest. God hath so tempered his providence, that he will leave no cause of contempt and disrespect among us. He casteth honour upon the meanest, and those that are not so high in the valuations of men. This is the reason of God’s various distribution, why he hath made some mean, and some glorious, that he might upon times single out some of those mean ones to show his power by. Look, as Christ saith of the blind man, that he was made blind to fit him for a miracle—John ix. 3, ‘That the works of God should be manifest in him’—so some are poor, some are unlikely, that the work of God might be made manifest, that he might show his power and might and wisdom in working by them. He will leave none to scorn and contempt. Despised persons shall be honoured by him, when other more glorious persons are laid aside as useless.
To apply it now. It affordeth divers inferences of duty, suitable to our divers cases and conditions.
1. To keep up the heart in case the means be weak. Take heed, do not sink to any base despondency of mind or spirit. Usually when means are weak men fly to wicked means, to a base desertion of the cause of God that they have undertaken, and yield to every unworthy fear: Isa. viii. 6, ‘Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son.’ Shiloah was a little stream in Jerusalem. Now rivers are often put for the refreshments and accommodations of a place. So that the sense is, they had rather basely yield up to Rezin and Remaliah’s son than wait upon God, to see what he will do with the small forces in Jerusalem. Do not despise the waters of Shiloah. It is the greatest honour that can be done to God, if we keep up endeavours for him, though we have but weak means and encouragements; but then faith is tried, how you can east yourselves upon a bare promise.
