The fading of the flesh and flourishing of faith, or, One cast for eternity…

Reader, let me persuade thee to be so much at leisure as to ask thy soul two or three Questions.

Reader, let me perswade thee to be so much at leisure as to ask thy soul two or three Questions.

1. In what channel doth the stream of thy desires run? Which way and to what coast do these winds of thy soul drive? Is it towards God, or towards the world? A rich Heir in his minority, kept under by Tutors and Guardians, longs for the time when he shall be at age and enjoy the privilege and pleasures of his inheritance. Thou cravest, and thirsteth, and longest, and desirest; something there is which thou wouldst have, and must have, and canst not be satisfied till thou hast it: Now what is it? Is it the husks of this world, which thou enquirest so earnestly for some-body to give thee? or is it bread in thy Fathers house which thou hungerest after? Dost thou ⟨p. 142⟩pant after the dust of the earth, according to the Prophets phrase, Amos 2.7. or with the Church, The desire of my soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee! Thou art hungry, and thirsty, unquiet, unsatisfied; what is the matter, man? Dost thou like the dry earth, gape and cleave for showers to bring forth corn and wine? Is the voice of thy heart, Who will show us any good? or is it, Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance on us? Physicians can judge considerably of the state of their Patients bodies, by their appetites; they who long only for trash, speak their stomachs to be foul; they who hunger after wholesome food are esteemed to be in health. Thou mayst judge of the state of thy soul by thy desires; if thou desirest chiefly the trash of the world, thy spiritual state is not right; thy heart is not right in the sight of God; if thou canst say with David, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee: Blessed art thou of the Lord, thou hast a part and lot in this boundless portion. Observe therefore Friend, which way these wings of thy soul, thy desires, fly. He who thirsteth after the kennel water of this world hath no right to the pure river of the water of life; but he who hungereth after the dainties of the Lambs Supper, may be sure the scraps of this beggarly world are not his happiness: The true Wife longeth for the return of her Husband, but the false one careth not how long he is absent.