Ah, Christians, tell me, do not those holy influences, those spiritual breathings, those divine in-comes, that you meet with in ordinances, make your souls cry out with David, As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, even for the living God: when shall I come and appear before the presence of God? (Psalm 42:1,2). So in Ps. 63:1-2, O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee! my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is: to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

In these words you have David's strong, earnest, and vehement desires; here you have desire upon desire; here you have the very flower, and vigour of his spirit, the strength and sinews of his soul, the prime and top of his inflamed affections, all strongly working after a fuller enjoyment of God. Look, as the espoused maid longs for the marriage day, the apprentice for his freedom, the captive for his ransom, the condemned man for his pardon, the traveller for his inn, and the mariner for his haven; so doth a soul, that hath met with God in his ordinances, long to meet with God in heaven. 

It is not a drop, it is not a lap and away, a sip and away, that will suffice such a soul. No. This soul will never be quiet, till it sees God face to face, till it be quiet in the bosom of God. The more a saint tastes of God in an ordinance, the more are his desires raised and whetted, the more are his teeth set on edge for more and more of God. Plutarch saith, that when once the Gauls had tasted of the sweet wine that was made of the grapes of Italy, nothing would satisfy them but Italy, Italy. So a soul that hath tasted of the sweetness and goodness of God in ordinances, nothing will satisfy it, but more of that goodness and sweetness. A little mercy may save the soul, but it must be a great deal of mercy that must satisfy the soul. The least glimpse of God's countenance may be a staff to support the soul, and an ark to secure the soul, and a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide the soul; but it must be much, very much of God, that must be enough to satisfy the soul. 

Image courtesy of Wikipedia, because Google Images is just that cool.

I would say I hate to always be borrowing Jenny's ideas, but I don't. She has such good ones. Recently, she posted a brief but poignant remark on the importance of the opening lines of a book, quoting several of her favorites' at the end by way of example/an excuse to fill a post with really good quotes. This is what I resort to blogging when my brain is too tired to produce anything but unedited snippets of awkward.

A fair few of my favorites found their way into Jenny's post, and I shall not bother to recapitulate those; Rosemary Sutcliff, Beowulf, and Perelandra being foremost in my memory as such (you may find her post here). But sans-the-aforementioned, here is my own, per Jenny's request and my own desire to throw this together.

First Impressions: {Redux}