As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity—the evidence of the new birth—the spiritual barometer of faith and grace—and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes—the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built—and the root by which they are nourished. It is from this principle of Divine life which flows from Christ to his members, that these desires and struggles after holiness of thought and conduct arise, and are kept alive. They prove a fountain of consolation to the harassed and tried believer; for if we are in the sense of this scripture 'righteous,' we shall have those desires to enjoy the presence of God on earth, and with him felicity in heaven, which the voice of the Omnipotent declareth SHALL be granted. O! the blessedness of those in whose hearts are planted 'the desires of the righteous.'
This brings us to the most important of all the subjects of self-examination—am I one of the 'righteous'? or, in other words, 'am I born again?' Upon this solemn heart-trying inquiry hangs all our hopes of escape from misery and ascension to glory—a kingdom, a crown, a bright, a happy, an eternal inheritance, on the one hand, or the gloomy abodes of wretchedness on the other hand, are forever to be decided. What are our desires? To guide our anxious inquiries into this all-important subject, our author unlocks the heavenly treasures, and in every point furnishes us with book, and chapter, and verse, that we may carefully and prayerfully weigh all that he displays in the unerring scales of the sanctuary. A desire after the presence of God—of conformity to his image and example—for a greater hatred of sin—yea, as Bunyan expresses it, a desire to desire more of those blessed fruits of the Spirit, inspires the inquirer with the cheering hope that he has passed from death unto life—that he has been born again, and has been made righteous. And if, as we progress in the Divine life, our experience of the delights of communion with God enables us to say with David, 'My soul panteth,' or crieth, or, as the margin of our Bibles have, brayeth, 'yea, thirsteth after God,' however we may be assaulted by the enemies within and without, we may say with confidence, 'Why art thou disquieted, O my soul? hope thou in God, for I SHALL yet praise him.'
Deeply are the churches of Christ indebted to the Holy Spirit for having assisted their honoured servant to write this treatise. We are under great obligation to his friend, Charles Doe, for having handed it down to us, as he found it prepared for the press, with other excellent treatises, among the author's papers after his decease. It abounds with those striking ideas peculiar to the works of the author of the Pilgrim's Progress; most faithful home thrusts at conscience, which those who really desire to know themselves will greatly prize. It has been very properly observed that the words used by the author, as descriptive of the text, may, with great propriety, be applied to this treatise—' It is a sharp and smart description' of the desires of a righteous man.
The desires of the righteous are very graphically depicted and described. They reach beyond time and peer into eternity. 'The righteous have desires that reach further than this world, desires that have so long a neck as to look into the world to come.' 'So forcible and mighty are they in operation'; 'is there not life and mettle in them? They lose the bands of nature—harden the soul against sorrow—they are the fruits of an eagle-eyed confidence.' They enable the soul to see through the jaws of death—to see Christ preparing mansion-houses for his poor ones that are now kicked to and fro, like footballs in the world!' 'A desire will take a man upon its back and carry him away to God, if ten thousand men oppose it.' 'It will carry him away after God to do his will, let the work be never so hard.' The new man is subject to transient sickness, during which desire fails in its power when the inner man has caught a cold.
Bunyan's views of church fellowship are always lovely; they are delightfully expressed. He also introduces us to the unsearchable riches of Christ. 'The righteous desire a handful, God gives them a seaful; they desire a country, God prepares for them a city.' Wonders of grace belong to God. Bunyan's pictures of the natural man are equally faithful and striking—when guilt and conviction take hold on him—when pestilence threatens to break up his house-keeping—and death takes him by the throat and hauls him down stairs to the grave; then he, who never prayed, crieth, Pray for me, and the poor soul is as loath to go out of the body for fear the devil should catch it, as the poor bird is to go out of the bush. At the same time, she sees the hawk waiting to receive her. But I must not detain the reader longer from entering on this solemn and impressive treatise, but commend it to the Divine blessing.
GEO. OFFOR.
