The Beatitudes - Thomas Watson
The nature of spiritual hunger
Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness
We are now
come to the fourth step of blessedness: `Blessed are they that hunger'. The
words fall into two parts: a duty implied; a promise annexed.
A duty
implied: `Blessed are they that hunger'. Spiritual hunger is a blessed hunger.
What is meant
by hunger? Hunger is put for desire. {Isa
26:9} Spiritual hunger is the rational appetite whereby the soul
pants after that which it apprehends most suitable and proportional to itself.
Whence is
this hunger? Hunger is from the sense of want. He who spiritually hungers, has
a real sense of his own indigence. He wants righteousness.
What is meant
by righteousness? There is a twofold righteousness: of imputation; of
implantation.
A
righteousness of imputation, namely, Christ's righteousness. `He shall be
called the Lord our righteousness'. {Jer
23:6} This is as truly ours to justify, as it is Christ's to
bestow. By virtue of this righteousness God looks upon us as if we had never
sinned. {Nu 23:21} This is a perfect
righteousness. `Ye are complete in him'. {Col
2:10} This does not only cover but adorn. He who has this
righteousness is equal to the most illustrious saints. The weakest believer is
justified as much as the strongest. This is a Christian's triumph. When he is
defiled in himself, he is undefiled in his Head. In this blessed righteousness
we shine brighter than the angels. This righteousness is worth hungering after.
A
righteousness of implantation: that is, inherent righteousness, namely, the
graces of the Spirit, holiness of heart and life, which Cajetan calls
`universal righteousness'. This a pious soul hungers
after. This is a blessed hunger. Bodily hunger cannot make a man so miserable
as spiritual hunger makes him blessed. This evidences life. A dead man cannot
hunger. Hunger proceeds from life. The first thing the child does when it is
born, is to hunger after the breast. Spiritual hunger follows upon the new
birth. {1Pe 2:2} Saint Bernard in one of his
Soliloquies comforts himself with this, that sure he had the truth of grace in
him, because he had in his heart a strong desire after God. It is happy when,
though we have not what we should, we desire what we have not. The appetite is
as well from God as the food.
1. See here
at what a low price God sets heavenly things. It is
but hungering and thirsting. `Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, buy without money'. {Isa 55:1} We are not bid to bring any
merits as the Papists would do, nor to bring a sum of money to purchase
righteousness. Rich men would be loath to do that. All that is required is to
bring an appetite. Christ `hash fulfilled all righteousness'. We are only to
`hunger and thirst after righteousness'. This is equal and reasonable. God does
not require rivers of oil, but sighs and tears. The invitation of the gospel is
free. If a friend invites guests to his table, he does not expect they should
bring money to pay for their dinner, only come with an appetite. So, says God, It is not penance, pilgrimage, self-righteousness I require.
Only bring a stomach: `hunger and thirst after righteousness'. God might have
set Christ and salvation at an higher price, but he
has much beaten down the price. Now as this shows the sweetness of God's nature he is not a hard master so it shows us the
inexcusableness of those who perish under the gospel. What apology can any man
make at the day of judgement, when God shall ask that question, Friend, why did
you not embrace Christ? I set Christ and grace at a low rate. If you had but
hungered after righteousness, you might have had it, but you slighted Christ.
You had such low thoughts of righteousness that you would not hunger after it.
How do you think to escape who have neglected 'so great salvation'? The easier
the terms of the gospel are, the sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy
of who unworthy refuse such an offer.
2. It shows
us a true character of a godly man. He hungers and thirsts after spiritual
things. {Isa 26:9 Ps
73:25} A true saint is carried upon the wing of desire. It is the
very temper and constitution of a gracious soul to thirst after God. {Ps 42:2} In the word preached, how he
is big with desire! These are some of the partings of his soul: Lord, thou hast
led me into thy courts. O that I may have thy sweet presence, that thy glory
may fill the temple! This is thy limping house; wilt thou draw some sacred
lineaments of grace upon my soul that I may be more assimilated and changed
into the likeness of my dear Saviour. In prayer, how is the soul filled with
passionate longings after Christ! Prayer is expressed by `groans unutterable'.
{Ro 8:26} The heart sends up whole
volleys of sighs to heaven; Lord, one beam of thy love! one drop of thy blood!
It reproves
such as have none of this spiritual hunger. They have no winged desires. The
edge of their affections is blunted. Honey is not sweet to them that are sick
of a fever and have their tongues embittered with choler.' So those who are
soul-sick and `in the gall of bitterness', find no sweetness in God or
religion. Sin tastes sweeter to them; they have no spiritual hunger. That men
do not have this `hunger after righteousness' appears by these seven
demonstrations:
1. They never
felt any emptiness. They are full of their own righteousness. {Ro
10:3} Now `the full stomach loathes the honeycomb'. This was
Laodicea's disease. She was full and had no stomach either to Christ's gold or
eye-salve. {Re 3:17} When men are filled with
pride, this flatulent distemper hinders holy longings. As when the stomach is
full of wind it spoils the appetite. None so empty of grace as he that thinks
he is full. He has most need of righteousness that least wants it.
2. That men
do not hunger after righteousness appears because they can make a shift well
enough to be without it. If they have oil in the cruse, the world coming in,
they are well content. Grace is a commodity that is least missed. You shall
hear men complain they lack health, they lack trading, but never complain they
lack righteousness. If men lose a meal or two they
think themselves half undone, but they can stay away from ordinances which are
the conduits of grace. Do they hunger after righteousness who are satisfied
without it? Nay, who desire to be excused from feeding upon the gospel banquet.
{Lu 14:18} Sure he has no appetite,
who entreats to be excused from eating.
3. It is a
sign they have none of this spiritual hunger, who desire rather sleep than
food. They are more drowsy than hungry. Some there are who come to the Word
that they may get a nap, to whom I may say as Christ did to Peter, `Couldest thou not watch one hour?'. {Mr 14:37}
It is strange to see a man asleep at his meat. Others there are who have a
`deep sleep' fallen upon them. They are asleep in security and they hate a
soul-awakening ministry. While they sleep, `their damnation slumbereth
not'. {2Pe 2:3}
4. It appears
that men have no spiritual hunger because they refuse their food. Christ and
grace are offered, nay, pressed upon them, but they put away salvation from
them as the froward child puts away the breast. {Ps 81:11 Ac
13:46} Such are your fanatics and enthusiasts who put away the
blessed ordinances and pretend to revelations. That is a strange revelation
that tells a man he may live without food. These prefer husks before manna.
They live upon airy notions, being fed by the `prince of the air'.
5. It is a
sign they have none of this spiritual hunger who delight more in the garnishing
of the dish than in food. These are they who look more after elegance and
notion in preaching than solid matter. It argues either a wanton palate or a
surfeited stomach to feed on salads and fancy dishes, neglecting wholesome
food. `If any man consent not to wholesome words, he
is proud, knowing nothing...'. {1Ti 6:3,1Ti 6:4} The plainest truth has its
beauty. They have no spiritual hunger that desire only to feast their fancy. Of
such the prophet speaks: `Thou art to them as a very lovely song of one that
hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an
instrument'. {Eze 33:32}
If a man were invited to a feast, and there being music at the feast, he should
so listen to the music that he did not mind his meat, you would say, Sure he is
not hungry. So when men are for jingling words and like rather gallantry of
speech than spirituality of matter, it is a sign they have surfeited stomachs
and `itching ears'.
6. They
evidence little hunger after righteousness that prefer other things before it,
namely, their profits and recreations. If a boy when he should be at dinner is
playing in the street, it is a sign that he has no appetite to his meat. Were
he hungry he would not prefer his play before his food.
So when men prefer `vain things which cannot profit' before the blood of Christ
and the grace of the Spirit, it is a sign they have no palate or stomach to
heavenly things.
7. It is a sign men have no spiritual hunger when they are more for
disputes in religion than practice. Robert of Gaul thought he saw in his dream
a great feast, and some were biting on hard stones. When men feed only on hard
questions and controversies {1Ti 6:3,1Ti 6:4} (like some of the schoolmen's
`utrums' and distinctions), as whether one may
partake with him that does not have the work of grace in his heart, whether one
ought not to separate from a church in case of mal-administration, what is to
be thought of paedobaptism, etc. When these niceties
and criticisms in religion take men's heads, neglecting faith and holiness,
these pick bones and do not feed on the meat. Sceptics in religion have hot
brains but cold hearts. Did men hunger and thirst after righteousness they
would propound to themselves such questions as these, How
shall we do to be saved? How shall we make our calling and election sure? How
shall we mortify our corruptions? But such as ravel out their time in frothy
and litigious disputes, I call heaven to witness, they are strangers to this
text. They do not `hunger and thirst after righteousness'.
The Word
reproves them who, instead of hungering and thirsting after righteousness,
thirst after riches. This is the thirst of covetous men. They desire mammon not
manna. `They pant after the dust of the earth'. {Am
2:7} This is the disease most are afflicted with, an immoderate
appetite after the world, but these things will no more satiate than drink will
quench the thirst of a man with the dropsy. Covetousness is idolatry. {Col 3:5} Too many Protestants set up
the idol of gold in the temple of their hearts. This sin of covetousness is the
most hard to root out. Commonly, when other sins leave
men, this sin abides. Wantonness is the sin of youth; worldliness the sin of
old age.
The Word
reproves them who hunger and thirst after unrighteousness. Here I shall indict
three sorts of persons:
1. It
reproves such as thirst after other men's lands and possessions. This the
Scripture calls a `mighty sin'. {Am 5:12}
Thus Ahab thirsted after Naboth's vineyard. This is an
hungry age wherein we live. We have a great deal of this hungering and
thirsting, which has made so many state-thieves. Men have fleeced others to
feather themselves. What a brave challenge did Samuel make; `Behold, here I am,
witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed: Whose ox have I
taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Of whose hand have
I received any bribe?'. {1Sa 12:3} Few that have been in power
that can say thus, Whose ox have we taken? Whose house
have we plundered? Whose estate have we sequestered? Nay, whose ox have they
not taken? `Goods unjustly gotten seldom go to the third heir'. Read the
plunderer's curse: `Woe to thee that spoilest, and
thou wast not spoiled; when thou shalt cease to
spoil, thou shalt be spoiled'. {Isa 33:1}
Ahab paid dear for the vineyard when the devil carried away his soul and the
`dogs licked his blood'. {1Ki 21:19} He that lives on rapine
dies a fool. `He that getteth riches, and not by
right, at his end shall be a fool'. {Jer
17:11}
2. It
reproves such as hunger and thirst after revenge. This is a devilish thirst.
Though it were more Christian and safe to smother an
injury, yet our nature is prone to this disease of revenge. We have the sting
of the bee, not the honey. Malice having broken the bars of reason grows savage
and carries its remedy in the scabbard. Heathens who have stopped the vein of
revengeful passion when it has begun to vent, will rise up
against Christians. I have read of Phocion
who, being wrongfully condemned to die, desired that his son might not remember
the injuries which the Athenians had done to him, nor revenge his blood.
3. It
reproves such as hunger and thirst to satisfy their impure lusts. Sinners are
said to sin `with greediness'. {Eph 4:19}
So Amnon was sick till he had defiled Tamar's chastity. {2Sa
13:1-39} Never does an hungry man come with
more eagerness to his food than a wicked man does to his sin. And when Satan
sees men have such an appetite, commonly he will provide a dish they love. He
will set the `forbidden tree' before them. They that thirst to commit sin shall
thirst as Dives did in hell and not have a drop of water to cool their tongue.
Let us put
ourselves upon a trial whether we hunger and thirst after righteousness. I
shall give you five signs by which you may judge of this hunger.
1. Hunger is
a painful thing. Esau, when he was returning from hunting, was almost dead with
hunger. {Ge 25:32} `Hungry and thirsty, their
soul fainted in them'. {Ps 107:5} So a man that hungers after
righteousness is in anguish of soul and ready to faint away for it. He finds a
want of Christ and grace. He is distressed and in pain till he has his
spiritual hunger stilled and allayed.
2. Hunger is
satisfied with nothing but food. Bring an hungry man
flowers, music; tell him pleasant stories; nothing will content him but food.
`Shall I die for thirst?' says Samson. {Jude 1:15:Jude 1:18}
So a man that hungers and thirsts after righteousness says, Give
me Christ or I die. Lord, what wilt thou give me seeing I go Christless? What though I have parts, wealth, honour and esteem in the world? All is nothing without
Christ. Shew me the Lord and it will suffice me. Let me have Christ to clothe
me, Christ to feed me, Christ to intercede for me. While the soul is Christless, it is restless. Nothing but the water-springs
of Christ's blood can quench its thirst.
3. Hunger
wrestles with difficulties and makes an adventure for food. We say hunger
breaks through stone walls. {cf. Ge 42:1,Ge 42:2} The soul that spiritually
hungers is resolved; Christ it must have; grace it must have. And to use
Basil's expression, the hungry soul is almost distracted till it enjoys the
thing it hungers after.
4. An hungry man falls to his meat with an appetite. You need
not make an oration to an hungry man and persuade him
to eat. So he who hungers after righteousness feeds eagerly on an ordinance.
`Thy words were found, and I did eat them'. {Jer 15:16} In the sacrament he
feeds with appetite upon the body and blood of the Lord. God loves to see us
feed hungrily on the bread of life.
5. An hungry man tastes sweetness in his meat. So he that
hungers after righteousness relishes a sweetness in heavenly things. Christ is
to him all marrow, yea the quintessence of delights. `If so be ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious'. {1Pe 2:3}
He that spiritually hungers tastes the promises sweet,
nay tastes a reproof sweet. `To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet'. {Pr 27:7} A bitter reproof is
sweet. He can feed upon the myrrh of the gospel as well as the honey. By these
notes of trial we may judge of ourselves whether we hunger and thirst after
righteousness.
The words may
serve to comfort the hearts of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness;
I doubt not but it is the grief of many a good heart that he cannot be more
holy, that he cannot serve God better. `Blessed are they that hunger'. Though
you do not have so much righteousness as you would, yet you are blessed because
you hunger after it. Desire is the best discovery of a Christian. Actions may
be counterfeit. A man may do a good action for a bad end. So did Jehu. Actions
may be compulsory. A man may be forced to do that which is good, but not to
will that which is good. Therefore we are to cherish good desires and to bless
God for them. Oftentimes a child of God has nothing to show for himself but
desires. `Thy servants, who desire to fear thy name'. {Ne
1:11} These hungerings after righteousness
proceed from love. A man does not desire that which he does not love. If you
did not love Christ, you could not hunger after him.
But some may
say, If my hunger were right then I could take comfort
in it, but I fear it is counterfeit. Hypocrites have their desires.
In reply,
that I may the better settle a doubting Christian I shall show the difference
between true and false desires, spiritual hunger and carnal.
1. The
hypocrite does not desire grace for itself. He desires grace only as a bridge
to lead him over to heaven. He does not so much search after grace as glory. He
does not so much desire the way of righteousness as the crown of righteousness.
His desire is not to be made like Christ, but to reign with Christ. This was
Balaam's desire. `Let me die the death of the righteous'. {Nu
23:10} Such desires as these are found among the damned. This is the
hypocrite's hunger. But a child of God desires grace for itself and Christ for
himself. To a believer not only is heaven precious but Christ is precious. {1Pe 2:7}
2. The
hypocrite's desire is conditional. He would have heaven and his sins too,
heaven and his pride, heaven and his covetousness. The young man in the gospel
would have had heaven, provided he might keep his earthly possessions. Many a
man would have Christ, but there is some sin he must not be uncivil to, but gratify. This is the hypocrites' hunger; but true
desire is absolute. Give me, says the soul, Christ on any terms. Let God
propound what articles he will, I will subscribe to them. Would he have me deny
myself? Would he have me mortify sin? I am content to do anything
so I may have Christ. Hypocrites would have Christ, but they are loath to part
with a lust for him. They are like a man chat would have a lease,
but is loath to pay down the fine.
3.
Hypocrites' desires are but desires. They are lazy and sluggish. When one
excited Lipsius to the study of virtue, says he, `My mind is to it'. `The
desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands
refuse to labour'. {Pr 21:25} Many stand as the waggoner in the fable
crying, `Help, Hercules', when his wain stuck in the mud, when he should rather
have put his shoulder to the wheel. Men would be saved but they will take no
pains. Does he desire water that will not let down the bucket into the well?
But true desire is quickened into endeavour. `With my
soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I
seek thee early'. {Isa 26:9} The `violent, take heaven by
force. {Mt 11:12} The lovesick spouse, though
she was wounded, and her vail taken away, yet she follows
after Christ (Canticles Mt 5:7).
Desire is the weight of the soul which sets it a going; as the eagle which
desires her prey makes haste to it. `Where the slain are, there is she'. {Job 39:30} The eagle has sharpness of
sight to discover her prey, and swiftness of wing to fly to it. So the soul
that hungers after righteousness is carried swiftly to it in the use of all
holy ordinances.
4. The
hypocrite's desires are cheap. He would have spiritual things,
but will be at no charges for them. He cares not how much money he parts
with for his lusts; he has money to spend upon a drunken companion; but he has
no money to part with for the maintaining of God's ordinances. Hypocrites cry
up religion, but cry down maintenance of ministers.
But true desires are costly. David would not offer burnt-offerings without
cost. {1Ch 21:24} An
hungry man will give anything for food; as it fell out in the siege of Samaria.
{2Ki 6:25} That man never hungered
after Christ who thinks much of parting with a little silver for `the Pearl of
price'.
5.
Hypocrites' desires are flashy and transient. They are quickly gone, like the
wind that does not stay long in one corner. Or like an
hot fit which is soon over. While the hypocrite is under legal terror, or in
affliction, he has some good desires, but the hot fit is soon over. His
goodness, like a fiery comet, soon spends and evaporates; but true desire is
constant. It is observable that the Greek word in the text is in the
participle: `Blessed are they that are hungering.' Though they have
righteousness, yet they are still hungering after more. Hypocrites desire it
like the motion of a watch which is quickly down. The desire of a godly man is
like the beating of the pulse which lasts as long as life.
`My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath to thy
judgements'. {Ps 119:20} And that we might not
think this pang of desire would soon be over he adds, `at all times'. David's desire after God was not an
high colour in a fit, but the constant complexion of
his soul. In the temple the fire was not to go out by night. `The fire shall
ever be burning upon the altar'. {Le 6:13}
There was, says Cyril, a mystery in it, to show that we must be ever burning in
holy affections and desires.
6.
Hypocrites' desires are unseasonable. They are not well-timed. They put off
their hungering after righteousness till it be too late. They are like the
foolish virgins that came knocking when the door was shut. {Mt
25:11} In time of health and prosperity the stream of the affections
ran another way. It was sin the hypocrite desired, not
righteousness. When he is to die and can keep his sins no longer, now he would
have grace as a passport to carry him to heaven. {Lu
13:25} This is the hypocrite's fault. His faith is too early and his desires are too late. His faith began to bud
in the morning of his infancy; he believed ever since he could remember, but
his desires after Christ begin not to put forth till the evening of old age. He
sends forth his desires when his last breath is going forth; as if a man should
desire a pardon after the sentence is passed. These bed-rid desires are
suspicious; but true desires are timely and seasonable. A gracious heart 'seeks
first the Kingdom of God'. {Mt 6:33}
David's thirst after God was early. {Ps
63:1} The wise virgins got their oil betimes before the bridegroom
came. Thus we see the difference between a true and false hunger. They who can
find this true hunger are blessed and may take comfort in it.
But some may
object: My hunger after righteousness is so weak, that I fear it is not true.
I answer:
Though the pulse beats but weak it shows there is life. And that weak desires
should not be discouraged, there is a promise made to them. `A bruised reed he
will not break'. {Mt 12:20} A reed is a weak thing, but
especially when it is bruised, yet this `bruised reed' shall not be broken, but
like Aaron's dry rod, `bud and blossom'. In case of weakness look to Christ
your High Priest. He is merciful, therefore will bear with your infirmities; he
is mighty, therefore will help them.
Further, if
your desires after righteousness seem to be weak and languid, yet a Christian
may sometimes take a measure of his spiritual estate as well by the judgement
as by the affections. What is that you esteem most in your judgement? Is it
Christ and grace? This is good evidence for heaven. It was a sign that Paul
bore entire love to Christ because he esteemed this Pearl above all. He counted
other things `but dung, that he might win Christ'. {Php
3:8}
But, says a
child of God, that which much eclipses my comfort is, I have not that hunger
which I once had. Time was when I did hunger after a Sabbath because then the
manna fell. `I called the Sabbath a delight'. I remember the time when I
hungered after the body and blood of the Lord. I came to a sacrament as an hungry man to a feast, but now it is otherwise with me. I
do not have those hungerings as formerly.
I answer: It
is indeed an ill sign for a man to lose his stomach, but, though it be a sign
of the decay of grace to lose the spiritual appetite, yet it is a sign of the
truth of grace to bewail the loss. It is sad to lose our first love, but it is
happy when we mourn for the loss of our first love.
If you do not
have that appetite after heavenly things as formerly, yet do not be
discouraged, for in the use of means you may recover your appetite. The
ordinances are for the recovering of the appetite when it is lost. In other
cases feeding takes away the stomach, but here, feeding on an ordinance begets
a stomach.
The text
exhorts us all to labour after this spiritual hunger.
Novarinus says, `It is too small a thing merely to
wish for righteousness; but we must hunger for it on account of a vast longing
making itself felt.' Hunger less after the world and more after righteousness.
Say concerning spiritual things, `Lord, evermore give us this bread. Feed me
with this angels' food'. That manna is most to be hungered after which will not
only preserve life but prevent death. {Joh
6:50} That is most desirable which is most durable. Riches are not
for ever {Pr 27:24}
but righteousness is for ever. {Pr 8:18} `The beauty of
holiness, never fades. {Ps 110:3} `The robe of righteousness'
{Isa 61:10} never waxes old! Oh hunger
after that righteousness which `delivereth from
death'. {Pr 10:12}
This is the righteousness which God himself is in love with. `He loveth him
that followeth after righteousness'. {Pr 15:9} All men are ambitious
of the king's favour. Alas, what is a prince's smile
but a transient beatitude? This sunshine of his royal countenance soon masks
itself with a cloud of displeasure, but those who are endued with righteousness
are God's favourites, and how sweet is his smile!
`Thy loving-kindness is better than life'. {Ps
63:3}
To persuade
men to hunger after this righteousness, consider two things.
1. Unless we
hunger after righteousness we cannot obtain it. God
will never throw away his blessings upon them that do not desire them. A king
may say to a rebel, Do but desire a pardon and you
shall have it; but if through pride and stubbornness he disdains to sue out his
pardon, he deserves justly to die. God has set spiritual blessings at a low
rate. Do but hunger and you shall have righteousness; but if we refuse to come
up to these terms there is no righteousness to be had for us. God will stop the
current of his mercy and set open the sluice of his indignation.
2. If we do
not thirst here we shall thirst when it is too late.
If we do not thirst as David did `My soul thirsteth
for God' {Ps 42:2} we shall thirst as Dives did
for a drop of water. {Lu 16:24} They who do not thirst for
righteousness shall be in perpetual hunger and thirst. They shall thirst for
mercy, but no mercy to be had. Heat increases thirst. When men shall burn in
hell and be scorched with the flames of God's wrath, this heat will increase
their thirst for mercy but there will be nothing to allay their thirst. O is it not better to thirst for righteousness while it is
to be had, than to thirst for mercy when there is none
to be had? Sinners, the time is shortly coming when the drawbridge of mercy
will be quite pulled up.
I shall next
briefly describe some helps to spiritual hunger.
1. Avoid
those things which will hinder your appetite: As `windy things'. When the
stomach is full of wind a man has little appetite to his food. So when one is
filled with a windy opinion of his own righteousness, he will not hunger after
Christ's righteousness. He who, being puffed up with pride, thinks he has grace
enough already will not hunger after more. These windy vapours
spoil the stomach. `Sweet things' destroy the
appetite. So by feeding immoderately upon the sweet luscious delights of the
world, we lose our appetite to Christ and grace. You never knew a man surfeit himself
upon the world, and at the same time be 'sick of love' to Christ. While Israel
fed with delight upon garlic and onions, they never hungered after manna. The
soul cannot be carried to two extremes at once. As the eye cannot look intent
on heaven and earth at once, so a man cannot at the same instant hunger
excessively after the world, and after righteousness! The earth puts out the
fire. The love of earthly things will quench the desire of spiritual. `Love not
the world'. {1Jo 2:15} The sin is not in the
having, but in the loving.
2. Do all
that may provoke spiritual appetite. There are two things that provoke
appetite. Exercise: a man by walking and stirring gets a stomach to his meat.
So by the exercise of holy duties the spiritual appetite is increased.
`Exercise thyself unto godliness'. {1Ti
4:7} Many have left off closet prayer. They hear the Word but
seldom, and for want of exercise they have lost their stomach to religion.
Sauce: sauce whets and sharpens the appetite. There is a twofold sauce provokes
holy appetite: first, the `bitter herbs' of
repentance. He that tastes gall and vinegar in sin hungers after the body and
blood of the Lord. Second, affliction. God often gives us this sauce to sharpen
our hunger after grace. `Reuben found mandrakes in the field'. {Ge
30:14} The mandrakes are an herb of a very strong savour, and among other virtues they have, they are chiefly
medicinal for those who have weak and bad stomachs. Afflictions may be compared
to these mandrakes, which sharpen men's desires after that spiritual food which
in time of prosperity they began to loathe and nauseate. Penury is the sauce
which cures the surfeit of plenty. In sickness people hunger more after righteousness
than in health. `The full soul loathes the honeycomb'. {Pr 27:7} Christians, when full
fed, despise the rich cordials of the gospel. I wish we did not slight those
truths now which would taste sweet in a prison. How precarious was a leaf of
the Bible in Queen Mary's days! The wise God sees it good sometimes to give us
the sharp sauce of affliction, to make us feed more
hungrily upon the bread of life. And so much for the first part of the text,
`Blessed are they that hunger.