06 - Chapter 06
CHAPTER VI.
Trial of a Christian’s Delight in God.
Use 2. Trial. LET this put us upon a holy scrutiny and trial, whether we have this delight in religion? It is life or death as we answer this.
Question. How may this spiritual delight be known?
Answer 1. He that delights in God’s law, is often thinking of it; what a man delights in, his thoughts are still running upon; he that delights in money, his mind is taken up with it; therefore the covetous man is said to mind earthly things, Php 3:19. thus if there be a delight in the things of God, the mind will be still musing upon them. O what a rare treasure is the word of God! it is the field where the pearl of price is hid; how precious are the promises? they are the conduit that holds the water of life; they are like those two olive branches, ’which thro’ the two golden pipes did empty the golden oil out of themselves,’ Zechariah 4:12. These seal up pardon, adoption, glory: ’O Lord, by these things men live,’ Isaiah 38:16. Where there is a delight in the law of God, the mind is wholly busied about it.
2. If we delight in religion, there is nothing can keep us from it, but we will be conversant in word, prayer, sacraments. He that loves gold will trade for it. The merchant will compass sea and land to make money his proselyte. Men will not be kept from their fairs. If there be a delight in holy things, we will not be detained from an ordinance, for there we are trafficking for salvation. If a man were hungry, he would not stay from the market for the aching of his finger. The ordinances are a gospel market, and those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, will not for every slight occasion stay away. ’I was glad when they said, come let us go up to the house of the Lord,’ Psalms 122:1. Thou that art glad when the devil helps thee with an excuse to absent thyself from the house of the Lord, art far from this holy delight.
3. Those that delight in religion are often speaking of it; ’Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another,’ Malachi 3:16. Where there is grace infused, it will be effusive. ’The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious,’ Ecclesiastes 12:10. David delighting in God’s testimonies, ’would speak of them before kings,’ Psalms 119:46. The spouse delighting in her beloved, could not conceal her love, but breaks forth into most pathetical, and no less elegant expressions: ’My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand, his head is as the most fine gold,’ &c. The disciples whose hearts were upon Christ, make him the whole subject of their discourse as they were going to Emmaus, Luke 24:19. The primitive Christians who were fired with love to God, did speak so much of heaven, and the kingdom prepared, that the emperor suspected they meant to take his kingdom from him: words are the looking-glass of the mind, they shew what is in the heart. Where there is spiritual delight, like new wine, it will have vent; grace is poured into thy lips, Psalms 45:2. a man that is of the earth speaketh of the earth, John 3:31. He can hardly speak three words, but two of them are about earth. His mouth, like the fish in the gospel, is full of gold, Matthew 17:27. So where there is a delight in God, ’our tongues will be as the pen of a ready writer.’ Psalms 45:1-17. This is a scripture touchstone to try men’s hearts by. Alas, it shews how little they delight in God, because they are possessed with a dumb devil; they speak not the language of Canaan.
4. He that delights in God, will give him the best in every service. Him whom we love best, shall have of the best. The spouse delighting in Christ, will give him of her pleasant fruits, Song of Solomon 7:13. and if she hath a cup of spiced wine, and full of the juice of the pomegranate, he must drink of it, Song of Solomon 8:2. He that delights in God gives him the strength of his affections, the cream of his duties; if he hath any thing better than other, God shall have it: hypocrites care not what they put God off with; they offer that to the Lord which costs them nothing; a prayer that costs them no wrestling, no pouring out of the soul. 1 Samuel 1:1-28, they put no cost in their services. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, Genesis 4:8. It is observable, the Holy Ghost doth not mention any thing that might commend, or set off Cain’s sacrifice. When he comes to speak of Abel’s, he sets an emphasis upon it, ’Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof,’ verse 4, but when he speaks of Cain, he only saith, ’he brought of the fruit of the ground.’ Some sorry thing, perhaps pulled out of a ditch; God who is best, will be served with the best. Domitian would not have his statute carved in wood or iron but in gold. God will have the best of our best things, golden services. He who delights in God, gives him the fat of the offering; the purest of his love, the hottest of his zeal; and when he hath done all, he grieves he can do no more, he blusheth to see such an infinite disproportion between Deity and duty.
5. He that delights in God, doth not much delight in any thing else. The world appears in an eclipse; Paul delighted in the law of God, in the inner man, and how was he crucified to the world? Galatians 6:14. It is not absolutely unlawful to delight in the things of the world, Deuteronomy 26:11. ’Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given thee.’ None may better take the comfort of these things than believers; for they have the best right to them, they hold all in capite; and they have the dew of a blessing distilled, ’Take two talents, said Naaman to Gehazi,’ 2 Kings 5:23. so saith God to a believer, take two talents, take thy outward comforts, and take my love with them; but the children of God, though they are thankful for outward mercies, which is the yearly rent they sit at, yet they are not much taken with these things; they use them only as a conveniency for their passage; they know they need them as a staff to walk with, but when they shall sit down in the kingdom of heaven, and rest themselves, they shall have no use of this Jacob’s staff. Believers do not much pray for these things which are still passing. Their delight is chiefly in God and his law; and is it thus? have we this low opinion of all undermoon comforts? is the price fallen? The astronomer saith, if it were possible for a man to be lifted up as high as the moon, the earth would seem to him but as a little point. If we could be lifted up to heaven in our affections, all earthly delights would seem as nothing; when the woman of Samaria had met with Christ, down goes the pitcher, she leaves that behind; he who delights in God, as having tasted the sweetness in him, doth not much mind the pitcher, he leaves the world behind.
6. True delight is constant. Hypocrites have their pangs of desire, and flashes of joy, which are soon over. The Jews did rejoice in John’s light for a season, John 5:35. Unsound hearts may delight in the law of the Lord for a season; but, they will quickly change their note, "What a weariness is it to serve the Lord!" The Chrysolyte, which is of a golden colour, in the morning is very bright to look on, but towards noon it grows dull, and hath lost its splendour; such are the glistering shews of hypocrites. True delight, like the fire of the altar, never goes out; affliction cannot extirpate it, Psalms 119:145. ’Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me, yet thy commandments are my delight.’