Gods husbandry

And the second thing required,¹ is, to keep a good stomach or appetite, that is, a continual desire of more grace, feeling its wants, and longing for a supply. We must tell our selves often how far short we come of that we might attain, and others have attained; and we must earnestly provoke our selves to desire a supply of what we feel our selves to want. We should often say to our selves, Alack, how poor a quantity of faith, patience, hope, charity, temperance, heavenly-mindedness have I gotten? how slender are all graces in me? If I compare my self with those of Gods Saints, whose examples are commended in Scripture for mine imitation, I come so short of them, that it may almost be a question, whether I have any goodness or none at all. What a little meekness have I, in comparison of Moses? what a little zeal of Gods glory, in comparison of David? what little patience to bear affliction for Christs sake, in comparison of Paul? what little faith in Gods promises, in comparison of their faiths that the Apostle to the Hebrews commendeth to me? O how far did Job surpass me in patience, in ⟨p. 147⟩bounty, in religiousness, in the fear of God? How far did Nehemiah go beyond me in love to the Church and people of God, and zealous desire of promoting the worship of God? So weigh thy self in the balance against the godly men which are famous in holy Writ, and seeing how much thou wantest of what they had gotten, (and yet that which they had, cometh far shorter of what they should have had, then what thou hast, doth come short of what they had) then move thy desire to an increase, and think thus, Ah that I could get at least a little more grace! Ah that my grain of faith were made two grains! Ah that my one talent were made two talents, my two five! What might I do to get more grace? what course might I take to fill up that which is wanting to my faith, patience, temperance, confidence, and other like virtues? To whet a mans appetite in this manner, and to sharpen his desires towards virtues, doth exceedingly help to make him capable of them, and is, as one may term it, a great inducement to the Lord, to bestow more upon him; for the Lord, as once Job, doth love to feed the hungry, and to give drink unto them that thirst. But some man may haply demand, How shall one get his soul a good stomach?

And the second thing required,¹