when once he is born again, then it is the milk itself that he desires for itself.

Desire the sincere milk. Not only hear it because it is your custom, but desire it because it is your food. And it is, 1. a natural desire, as the infant's desire of 'milk; not from any external inducement, but from an inward principle and bent of nature. And because natu. ral, therefore, 2. earnest; not a cold indifferent willingness, that cares not whether it obtain or not, but a vehement desire, as the word signifies and as the resemblance clearly bears; as a child that will not be stilled till it have the breast; offer it what you will, silver, gold, or jewels, it regards them not; these answer not its desire, and that must be answered. Thus David says, My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath to thy judgments. *And because natural, it is, 3. constant. The infant is not cloyed nor wearied with daily feeding on the breast, but desires it every day, as if it had never had it before; so the child of God hath an unchangeable appetite for the word; it is daily new to him; he finds still fresh 'delight in it. Thus David says also, My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath to thy judgments at all times. A natural man, on the contrary, is easily surfeited with the word, and the very commonness and cheapness of it makes it contemptible to him. And this is our case-that wherein we should wonder at God's singular goodness to us and therefore prize his word the more, that very thing makes us despise it. While others have bought this milk with their own blood, we have it Supon the easiest terms that can be wished, only for the desiring, without the hazard of bleeding for it.

That ye may grow thereby. This is not only the end for which God hath provided his children with the word and moves them to desire it, but that which they are to intend in their desire and use of it. Desire the word, not that you may only hear it-that is to fall very far short of its true end, yea, it is to take the beginning of the work for the end of it. The ear is indeed the mouth of the mind by which it receives the word, as Elihu compares it, Job xxxiv, 3; but meat that goes no further than the mouth cannot nourish. Neither ought this desire of the word to be, only to satisfy a custom; it were

an exceeding folly to make so superficial a thing the end of so serious a work. Again; to hear it only to stop the † mouth of conscience, that it may not clamor more for the gross impiety of contemning it, this is to hear it, not tout of desire, but out of fear. To desire it only for some present pleasure and delight that a man may find in it, is not the due use and end of it. That there is delight in it may help to commend it to those that find it so, and so be a means to advance the end; but the end it is not. To seek no more than a present delight, that vanisheth with the sound of the words that die in the air, is not to desire the word as meat, but as music. To desire the word for the increase of knowledge, although this is necessary and commendable, and, being rightly qualified, is a part of spiritual growth, yet, take it as going no furather, it is not the true end of the word; nor is the venting of that knowledge in speech and frequent discourse of the word and the divine, truths that are in it, which, where it is governed with Christian prudence, is not to be despised, but commended. If any one's head or tongue -should grow apace, and all the rest stand at a stay, it would certainly make him a monster; and they are no other, who are knowing and discoursing Christians and grow daily in that respect, but not at all in holiness of heart and life, which is the proper growth of the children of God. David, in Psalm cxix. which is wholly spent upon this subject, the excellency and use of the word of God, expresseth his delight in it, his earnest desire to be further taught and to know more of it, his readiness to speak of it; but withal, you know, he joins his desire and care to keep it, to hide it in his heart, ver. 5, 11, to make it the man of his counsel, to let it be as the whole assembly of his privy counsellors, and to be ruled and guided by it; and to use it so, is indeed to grow by it.s

If we know what this spiritual life is and wherein the nature of it consists, we may easily know what is the growth of it. When holiness increases, when the sanctifying graces of the Spirit grow stronger in the soul and consequently act more strongly in the life of a Christian, then he grows spiritually.

1

And as the word is the means of begetting this spiritual life, so likewise is it of its increase,

1

T

11. This will appear, if we consider the nature of the word in general, that it is spiritual and divine, treating of the highest things, and therefore hath in it a fitness to elevate men's minds from the earth, and to assimilate to itself such as are often conversant with it; as all kind of doctrine readily doth to those who are much insát, cand apply their minds to study it! Doubtless such kind of things as are frequent with men, have an influence on the disposition of their souls. The gospel is called light and the children of God are likewise called light, as being transformed into its nature, and this they become still the more, by more hearing of it; and so they grow.optery *** 2. If we look more particularly unto the strainwand tenor of the word, it will appear most fit for increasing the graces of the Spirit in a Christian, This it doth both by particular exhortation to the study and exercise of those graces, sometimes pressing one and sometimes another, and by rightly representing to them their objects. The word feeds faith, by setting before it the free grace of God, his rich promises, and his power and truth to perform them all; shows it the strength of the new covenant, not depending upon itself, but holding in Christ, in whom all the promises of God are you and Famen; and drawing faith to rest still more entirely upon his righteousness. It feeds repentance, by making the Svileness and deformity of sin daily more clear and visible; as the more light there is in a house, the more any thing in it that is uncleanly or deformed is seen and disliked. Likewise it increaseth love to God, by opening still more and more his infinite excellency and loveliness. As it borrows the resemblance of the vilest things in nature to express the foulness and hatefulness of sin, osovall the beauties and dignities that are in all the crea>tures, are called together in the word, to give us some >small notion of that uncreated beauty that alone deserves eto be loved.

1

But above all other considerations, this is observable in the word as the increaser of grace, that it holds forth Jesus Christ to our view to look upon, not only as the perfect pattern, but as the full fountain of all grace, from whose fulness we all receive. The contemplating of him as the perfect image of God, and then drawing from chim

as having in himself a treasure for us, these give the soul more of that image which is truly spiritual growth. This the apostle expresseth excellently, 2 Cor. iii, 18, speaking of the ministry of the gospel revealing Christ, that beholding in him, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord; not only that we may take the copy of this graces, , but have a share of them. bu There be many things that might be said of this spiritual growth, but I will add only a few.

༤༢་༡༢་ཟླརེད།

n

On the one hand, in the judging of this growth, some persons conclude too rigidly against themselves, that they grow not by the word, because their growth is not so sensible to them as they desire. But, first, it is well known, that in all things that grow, this principle is not discerued in the growing but when they are grown. Secondly, other things are to be considered. Although other graces seem not to advance, yet if thou growest more self-denying and humble in the sense of thy slowmess, all is not lost. Although the branches shoot not up so fast as thou wishest, yet if the root grow deeper and fasten more, it is a useful growth. He that is still learnling to be more in Jesus Christ and less in himself, to have all his dependence and comfort in him, is doubtless a sgrowing believer.ne

On the other side, a far greater number conclude wrong in their own favor, imagining that they do grow, if they gain ground in some of those things we mentioned above, namely, more knowledge and more faculty of discoursing, if they find often some present stirrings of joy or sorrow in hearing of the word, if they reform their life, 'grow more civil and blameless; yet all these and many such things may be in a natural man, who notwithstanding grows not, for that is impossible; he is not, in that state, a subject capable of this growth, for he is dead, he hath none of the new life to which this growth relates. Herod heard John gladly, and did many things.

? Consider, then what true delight we might have in this. You find a pleasure when you see your children grow ; (you love well to perceive your estate or your honor grow; but for the soul to be growing liker God and nearer

heaven, if we know it, is a pleasure far beyond them all alto find pride, earthliness, and vanity abating, and faith, love, and spiritual mindedness increasing, especially if we reflect that this growth is not as our natural life, which is often cut off before it has attained full age, as we call it, and, if it attain that, begins again to move downwards and decays, as the sun, being at its meridian, begins to decline again. But this life shall grow on in whomsoever it is, and come certainly to its fulness; after which, there is no more need of this word either for growth or nourishment, no death, no decay, no old age, but perpetual youth, and a perpetual spring; fulness of joy in the presence of God, and everlasting pleasures at his right hand.

Ver. 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 7259. UIS *se Buil

1.

OUR natural desire of food arises principally from its necessity for that end which nature seeks, namely the growth or at least the nourishment of our bodies. But there is besides a present sweetness and pleasantness in the use of it, that serves to sharpen, our desire and is placed in our nature for that purpose. Thus the children of God in their spiritual life are naturally carried to desire the means of their nourishment and of their growth, but withal there is a spiritual delight and sweetness in the word, and this adds to their desire and stirs up their appetite towards it. The former idea is expressed in the foregoing verse, the latter in this. Nature disposes the infant to the breast; but when it hath once tasted of it, that is a new superadded attractive and makes it desire it the more earnestly. So here the word is fully recommended to us by its usefulness and pleasantness; like milk, which is a nourishing food, and withal sweet and delightful to the taste: by it we grow and in it we taste the graciousness of God. David, in that psalm which he dedicates wholly to this subject, gives both these as the reason of his appetite. His love to it he expresses pathetically, cxix, 97; O how love I thy law! It follows, that by it he was made wiser than his enemies, than his teachers, and than the ancients; taught to refrain from