Love to God
In the preceding Essays, I have exhibited as I proposed, a variety of views, feelings, and practices, which cannot be relied on with safety, as conclusive evidence of Christian Character. In the subsequent ones, I propose to give a brief view of those, which may be relied on without the danger of deception.
It is the excellence of the Christian religion, that it makes a claim upon the affections. 3Ii, son, give me thine heart. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Though I give all my goods to feed the poor; and give my body to he burned; and have not love; it profiteth me nothing.
At first view, there appears to be some difficulty in understanding with clearness, what it is to love God. Men are in the habit of placing liieir affections upon beings that are the objects of sense. God is invisible. To profess to love a being that is not perceptible to our senses, appears to some, to savour more of the ignorance and wildness of enthusiasm, than of the sober deductions of enlightened and sanctified reason. But though no eye hath seen, or can see the Infinite and Eternal Spu’it, yet He hath not left himself without witness. There is a power in the human mind, which enables it to form just notions of persons and things that cannot be perceived by sense. We need no other method of ascertaining the nature of love to God, than the nature of love to man. The mode of reflection is in both cases the same. The process of compounding, comparing, and abstracting, is the same. Seriously, considered, there is precisely the same difficulty in conceiving of the nature of love to man, that there is in conceiving of the nature of love to God. You know what it is to love your friend. And yet it is not the mere external form, it is not the animal, unanimated by the living, actingspirit, that you love. But this is all that is perceptible to your senses. You see the motion, you hear the voice of your friend; and from the nature of what you see and hear, you form the idea of his character. The soul, that which is characteristic both of the man and the friendy is invisible. What you see and hear, is not that which you love; though it discovers to you something which is lovely. That which is the object of your senses, suggests the existence and character of that invisible, thinking being, which is the object of your affections, and which you either love or hate, as it pleases or displeases you.
You may as easily know what it is to love God, therefore, as you may know what it is to love your friend. The sensible signs by which He has communicated, and is every hour communicating His character, are vastly more significant than those which manifest the character of any other being in the universe. God is every where. The Infinite Mind is ever active. It is the great Agent throughout all worlds. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-work. Day unto day uttereih speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out throughout all the earthy and their words to the end of the world. God has expressed His divine excellence in the work of His hands, and has exhibited the lustre of His glory in the word of His truth. Every act that He has performed, together with every word that He has spoken, is an unequivocal declaration of His character. It is easy to conceive that this character must be loved or hated, and that the Invisible Being which this character unfolds, must be the object either of complacency or aversion; of benevolence or malignity.
Love to God involves complacency in His chalacter, benevolence toward His interest, and gratitude for His favours.
It involves complacency in His character. You see something in the character of your friend, which to you appears pleasing and amiable. You see something which is lovely; and this loveliness is the foundation of your attachment. Thus the excellence of God is the foundation of all holy love. True love to God is a firm and steady principle, which draws its motive and its sanction from His own intrinsic loveliness. It is delight in His excellence. Those who have put on the new man, which after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness, love God because He is just such a God as He is; because His power is irresistible; His wisdom unerring; His purity spotless; His justice inflexible; His goodness universal; His grace infinite; His designs eternal and immutable. Here holy love begins.
Wicked men are apt to consider God altogether sack an one as themselves, “They clothe the Di- “vine Being with such attributes, and such only,” as suit their depraved taste; and then it is no “difficult thing to fall down and worship Him.” But it is not God that they worship; it is not God that they love. It is an image that bears no resemblance to that Glorious Being whom all heaven adores; it is a mere idol of their own imagination. Genuine complacency in God, therefore, is delight in His true character. The love which arises from delight in the character of* a false god, is enmity toward the true God. The enemies of God may love Him for what they imagine Him to be; none but the real friends of God love Him for what He is.
Supreme attachment to the character of God for His own inherent excellence, draws the line of distinction between that love which is merely mercenary, and that which is disinterested. A man may be supremely, selfish in the exercise of a ceiiain kind of love to God. h all his love, he may have no ultimate regard, except to his own happiness. He may delight in God for what He is to him; while he takes no delight in Him for what He is in Himself, Such is not the love of the new-born soul. The enmity of his heart toward God is slain. He is reconciled to the Divine Character as it is. God is the object of delightful contemplation to his devout mind. In his most favoured hours, his views are diverted from himself. As his eye glances at the varied excellence of the Deity, he does not stop to ask the question, whether God is a being who will at all events regard his interest; it is enough for him, that He will at all events regard His own glory. He beholds a dignity, a beauty in the Divine Character, that fills his soul with high devotion. All things else are atoms, motes, dust, and vanity. The feelings of the Prophet are his: The desire of my soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. The unchangeableness of the Divine Being, and the perfections of the Divine Nature excite the noblest views, and the most raised afTeetions. The language of the Psalmist is his: Whom have 1 in heaven but Thee? And there is none on earth that I desire beside Thee! The soul is satisfied with God’s perfect excellence, and does not cherish a wish that He should be different from what He is.
True love to God also implies benevolence toward Him, and the interest of His kingdom. In the intrinsic excellence of His character, God is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The fulness of perfection is alike necessary at all times to His very existence as God. It would, therefore, be arrogance in the worms of the dust to imagine that they may be profitable to God, as he that is wise may be profitable to himself; but it is presumption for them to imagine that they love Him, without feeling a friendly interest in His desiirns, a sincere desire for the advancement of His cause and the glory of His name. Those who love the Divine character, necessarily desire to promote the Divineloly. They regard the honour of God as cbmprehending every good, and as concentrating every wish. In this, every holy mind takes supreme delight. It is the ardent desire, the highest wish of a sanctified heart, that in all his works, in all his plans, by all in heaven, by all on earth, and all in hell, God should be glorified. Those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, have found unspeakable plea-Love to God, l;j
.sure in beholding His ^^lory, and therefore do sincerely and ardently desire to beliold greater and brighter displays of it. This sublime spirit enters into the essence of all genuine love to God. The Infinite Being, who is capable of enjoying an infinitely higher degree of happiness than all created intelligence beside, shares largely in the benevolent affections of every devout mind.
Genuine love also involves the exercise of graiitude. Gratitude to God is the exercise of love to Him for the favours which He has communicated to us. The primary ground of love to God is the intrinsic excellence of His own character, without regard to any personal interest in His favour. The first exercise of love to God h, and must be, antecedent to the persuasion that God loves us. Still, it is true that no man who loves God for the amiableness of His own character, can refrain from loving Him for the favours which He has comnmnicated to him in particular. The discovery of his personal interest in the favour which God hears to his own people, will excite the most tender and grateful emotions. He cannot contemplate the care which has sustained him from year to year; the goodness which encircles him every hour that he lives; the Word which instructs
76 Lou to God.
him, and the discipline which is preparing him for better enjoyments — without some sensations of thankfulness. He cannot call to mind the promises that have supported him; the threatnings that have warned him, and the wonderful grace that has redeemed him — without admiration and love. He cannot look forward to scenes of temptation and sorrow, through which covenanted mercy has engaged to bear him, to the hour of death, and the joys of a future world — without a heart expanding with love to his heavenly Father. That God should show mercy to a wretch like him, — angels have no such cause for gratitude as this!
A distinguishing characteristic of true love to God, is, that it is supreme. No man can serve two masters. There cannot be two objects of supreme regard. He, saith our Saviour, that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of BIc, When God promised to circumcise the heart of His people, it was that they might love the Lord their God with all their heart and all their soul. God neither requires, nor will accept of a divided affection. He is a jealous God. No rival may participate in that love which is due to Him. Genuine love to His character is something more than languid esteem, a mere lukewarm affection; something more than a vaojue, indescribable emotion, that “plays round the head.” It is the “ruling passion;” the governing motive. The love of God is paramount to every other principle. Every attachment is subordinate to delight in His excellence; every desire subservient to that of promoting His glory. To a mind that loves Him, God is alike the source and sum of good.
“Of all Thy gifts, thou art Thyself the crown,” Give what thou wilt, without Thee we are poor, “And with Thee rich, take what thou wilt away.”
But while we say, that in every renewed heart, the love of God is the predominant principle, we ought not to withhold the remark, that it exists m very different degrees in different persons, and in the same persons, at different times. While the people of God remain in this probationary
* By a state of probation the writer does not intend to involve any thing that bears the remotest resemblance to the unscriptural notion, either that all mankind are not, by the apostacy of Adam, brought into a state of tpin and condemnation; or, that those who were chosen in Christ Jesus before the world began are in a state which renders their final perseverance in the least degree uncertain. A state of probation is <’ a state of trial y in order to a righteous retribution,** In the present world, men have a fair opportunity iofjrm their chastate, they will be sinners. Their love to God will be very unequal at different seasons, and at some, very low and languishing. The best of men have their seasons of sin, as well as their seasons of darkness. Sometimes they are on the mount, and sometimes in the vale. They are prone to forsake God;
racters for eternity. They are not in a state of probation, in the same sense in which Adam was placed in that state. They are not under a covenant of works. The question to be tried, is not whether they shall stand or fall by that covenant. But they are under a dispensation of grace. If, while in the present world, they repent and believe the gospel, they may look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Lwd Jesus Christ. But if, while in the present world, they remain impenitent and unbelieving, they will heap up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Unbelievers enjoy this dispensation of grace in common with believers. They have a reprieve from final condemnation, together with the opportunity of fleeing to Christ for a complete reversal of the condemning sentence. Believers also enjoy a dispensation of grace in common with unbelievers. They arc kefit onlxf ‘Tii ROUGH FAjrn uTito sulvatioTi; God has placed them in a world where they must ‘match and firay — where they must forget the things that are behind, a7id reach forth toward those which are before; where they must keefi under their body, and bring it into su6jectio?i, lest by any means they should be cast’ aiuay. A state of probation, therefore, is neither inconsistent with the infallible certainty of the saint’s final perseverance, nor the sinner’s present condemnation. like Israel of old, they are hcnt to hack sJidins from Him. The glory of His character lias little eflect upon their hearts, and less upon their conduct. The honour of His name excites no ardent desire to promote it, no anxious concern to see it promoted. Other objects employ so much of their time, and engage so much of their affections, that for a while, they think moie of things that are seen and temporal, than of those that are unseen and eternal.
But there are seasons also when the child of God, gradually excluding all other objects from his view, fixes his mind upon the divine character as the object of his chief delight, and upon the divine glory as the great end of his being. There are seasons, seasons of inexpressible sweetness and delight, when, like Elijah on Carmel, Moses on Pisgah, and John in Patmos, he is lost in the contemplation of the Ever Blessed God, and borne aloft to catch a glimpse at that glory that fills the temple above. He beholds the Infinite One arrayed rvith majesty and excellence, and decked with light as with a garment. He beholds the lright and brightening displays of His glory, while his bosom expands with holy fervour, and beats high with pure devotion.
It is not necessary to inquire, whether the state of declension or of vigour be the more; desirable; nor which it is our duty to avoid, and which to cherish and maintain. Both the duty and blessedness of God’s people point to that heavenly precept. Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. We do not ask the reader, whether he possesses that degree of love which he ought to possess; but, whettier he possesses any that is genuine, I love them, saith the voice of Eternal Wisdom, that love me. The holy God cannot love those who hate Him. He cannot regard those with complacency who regard Him with aversion. He cannot be reconciled to those who are irreconciled to Him ^, He cannot be reconciled to those who hate Him, and who justify their hatred to Him. He retains His anger toward them, so long as they retain their
* We arc happy in being able to quote the words of a divine so deservedly eminent as Van Mastricht, in confirmation of a truth that meets with so much opposition from the popular theology of the present day. Speaking Be dona co7iifilacentice in Deo he says, “Nostra complacenlia in Deo, “irritabit vicissim Dei complacentiam in nobis.” Our coni’ jilacency in God will in return excite God*s complacenctj in us, Theoret. Pract. Thcolog. Auct. Pet. Vanmast. p. 1267. The inference is unavoidable; God’s complacency in us docs not pre cede J hui follows our complacency in Him.
opposition and enmity toward Him*. Hence none have a right to believe that God loves them, until they first love Him. And none will believe it, without having been given up to strong delnsion that they shoidd believe a lie. A man must be conscious of his love to God, before he can have scriptural evidence of God’s love to him. And the evidence which arises from this consciousness is conclusive. We have no more right to doubt of God’s
The reader may perhaps ask, how is this reconcile?blc with the declaration in 1 John iv. 19, TVe love Ilimy becausf Mcjirst loved us?
God’s love to his people is the cause of their love to Him; but it is not the niotive of their love to Him. It precedes their love to Him in these two respects: —
1. He loved them with the love of benevolence, as He did other men. He sent his Son to be the propitiation for their sins. And but for this expression of benevolence, the whole human race would have been abandoned to the ruins of the fall. There would have been no Gospel; no way of reconciliation; and consequently not a vestige of holy love in the barren world.
2. He loved them with the “love of election,” He gave them to His dear Son in the everlasting covenant. In pursuance of his gracious design, He makes them new creatures; slays their enmity, and sheds abroad His love in their hearts. And but for this expression of distinguishing love, ihey would have for ever remained His enemies. / have loved thee with an everlasting lovCy says God to his Church, therefore with loving’ kindness have I drawn thee.
love to us, than we have a right to doubt of our love to Him. As our love to God grows constant and vigorous; the evidence increases, that we are friends to God, and that God is a friend to us.
Is then thy heart right rvith God? Are you pleased with the Divine character? Do you love every part of that character? Do you love God’s
In these respects, the love of God to us is the cause of our love to Him. It cannot be the motive of our love to Him, for this plain reason, that vre have no evidence of His distinguishing love to us, until we possess the consciousness of our love to Him.
The love which God exercises toward the elect while they are yet in their sins, is of a peculiar character. It cannot be the love of complacency; for it is exercised while the objects of it are perfectly hateful; and is therefore consistent with the utmost detestation of their whole characters. It cannot be the love of benevolence; for the love of benevolence is impartial, and this is discriminating. It is very properly styled the” love of election.’*
I am happy to present the reader with a correct view of this text, from an author who may justly claim more than a common share of confidence.
“They who serve God from filial affection, not slavish “fear, love him, because he first loved them :* not that” their love is merely gratitude for his previous benefits, “which, abstracted from other exercises of love, would be” a -uery %cyJi%h affection: nor could any man in that case love holiness as well as His grace; His justice as well as His mercy? Do you love Him because He is immutably disposed to hate sin, and punish the sinner, or merely because He is disposed to forgive sin, and save the sinner? Do you love Hini because he has a greater regard for His own glory than your happiness; or because you apprehend that he has a higher regard for your happiness than for His own glory? There is a kind
“God at all on good groimds, without some immediate reve-” lation to assure him that he was the object of his special
“LOFEy EVEN irHILSr HE HAD NO GSACE, AND WAS WHOLLY
“iMPENitEN’TAND SINFUL. But the evident meaning is, that “if the Lord had not loved them before they loved him, even” when they were dead in sin, they must for ever have con- “tinued enemies to hhn. His love suggested the plan, and “provided the means of redemption; he revealed to sinners” his glorious perfections and abundant mercy, in the Person “and work of his Son; he sent his word, to declare to sin-” ners this great salvation, and to invite them to partake of it; he regenerated them by his Spirit, and so brought t’ them, by repentance and faith in Christ, into a state of ac- “ceptance and reconciliation; and thus taught and enabled “them to love his excellency, to value his favour, to be” thankful for his inestimable benefits, and zealous for his ^’ glory. As, therefore, his love to them was the original <’ source of their love to him: so from the latter they may in- *’ fer the former, and take the comfort of the happy change “which hath been wrought in them, whilst they give him the glory of it.” Scott’s Family Bible, in loc.
of love which flows from a very unworthy principle. If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye; for sinners also love those that love them. To love God from no higher motive than the persuasion that you are interested in His favour, is supremely selfish. Those who love God from no higher principle, do not love Him at all. This is the affection which might and does reign without opposition in the hearts of thousands who are far from righteousness, and who will finally be excluded from the kingdom of heaven.
Are you reconciled to that character of God which you see portrayed on every page of His word? Are you 7vell pleased ihi God should not only possess that character; but are you well pleased, that all His perfections should be under his own dii’cction and control? Do you love God as a sovereign God? How do you regard the manifestation of that character in the distinguishing dispensations of grace and justice? Do you approve it, or do you oppose it? Do you love it, or do you hate it? Every thing which God does, every thing which He eternally designed to do, is an expression of what He is. Every thing that He does in fixing the eternal allotments of the righteous and the wicked, is a display of His true character. To be opposed to what He does, therefore, or to be opposed to what He eternally designed to do, or to object to his designing from eternity to do any thing; is to oppose God, and to object to His divine excellence. Whenever any part of the Divine character, clearly under stoody is the object of opposition and hatred, rather than of acquiescence and delight, the opposition is the result of selfishness and malignity, and those who cherish it have not the love of God in them..
Is the glory of God the great end of your being? Do you sincerely and ardently desire to see greater and brighter displays of that glory? Do you rejoice that God is unfolding, and will for ever unfold, the excellence of His character? Do you know nothing of this benevolent regard for God and the interests of His kin<rdom? Do you find your happiness in yourself, or out o,” yourself? Do you rejoice merely in the hope of your personal interest in God’s favour? or do you rejoice in the hope of His glory? Can you unite your feelings with His, your joys with the joys of His people, and share in the blessedness which results from beholding the Ever Blessed God completely and for ever slorified?
What has your experience taught you of the love of gratitude to God? Do you behold God in all your mercies? Do you feel that you live in God’s world? that you breathe God’s vital air? that you are upheld by God’s powerful hand? Do you delight to feel the sweet and tender obligations that bind you to the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you seen the seasons when the abundant goodness, the infinite grace of God towards you, a polluted sinner, seemed enough for ever to fill your heart with love and your lips with praise?
Is your love to God supreme? Does it rise superior to the attachments of flesh and sense? What, whom, do you love more than the Everlasting God? In whose character do you behold more beauty? Whose blessedness is an object of warmer desire, or more vigorous exertion? To whom are you more grateful? Do you love God more than father or mother, wife or children, houses or lands y Do you love Him better than yourself? If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, his own life also, he gain not be my disciple.
There may be danger, but surely there can be no necessity of being deceived in a case so plain.
Lovr to God. 87
Supreme love to God; is decisive evidence of the renewed heart. When the soul is ushered from the darkness of sin into God’s marvellous light, it beholds God in an infinitely different light from what it ever beheld Him before. Now, God is every where. There is an inexpressible beauty, a mild glory in almost every object, because it is the work of His hand, and reflects the excellence of His nature. The language of those who love God, is that of the rejoicing Churchy I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soid shall be joyful in my God. They think how excellent a being God is, and how exalted would be the happiness to enjoy Him to perfection, and to be swallowed up in Him for ever. To see and to love that which is infinitely lovely, to behold and to adore that which is supremely adorable, is the character and the blessedness of the heavenly world. The early dawn of this spiritual light, the first glow of this pure affection, is the glimmering of that sacred fire, which will burn with a purer and a brighter flame throughout interminable ages.
Does the reader then love God? If so, the question as to his own good estate is at rest. If you are a friend to God, God will be an everlastinc friend to you. iVothing shall separate you from His love. Neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall he able to separate yon, from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus your Lord,