To serve and obey God on the conviction that it is right to
serve and obey him, is in Christianity joined with that love to God
which gives life and animation to service, and renders it the means of
exalting our pleasures, at the same time that it accords with our
convictions. The supreme love of God is the chief, therefore, of what
have sometimes been called our theopathetic affections. It is the sum
and the end of the law; and though it has been lost by us in Adam, it is
restored to us by Christ. When it regards God absolutely, and in
himself, as a Being of infinite and harmonious perfections and moral
beauties, it is that movement of the soul toward him which is produced
by admiration, approval, and delight. When it regards him relatively, it
fixes upon the ceaseless emanations of his goodness to us all in the
continuance of the existence which he at first bestowed; the
circumstances which render that existence felicitous; and, above all,
upon that great love wherewith he loved us,” manifested in the gift of
his Son for our redemption, and in saving us by his grace; or, in the
forcible language of St. Paul, upon the exceeding riches of his grace in
his kindness to us through Christ Jesus.” Under all these views an
unbounded gratitude overflows the heart which is influenced by this
spiritual affection. But the love of God is more than a sentiment of
gratitude: it rejoices in his perfections and glories, and devoutly
contemplates them as the highest and most interesting subjects of
thought; it keeps the idea of this supremely beloved object constantly
present to the mind; it turns to it with adoring ardour from the
business and distractions of life; it connects it with every scene of
majesty and beauty in nature, and with every event of general and
particular providence; it brings the soul into fellowship with God, real
and sensible, because vital; it moulds the other affections into
conformity with what God himself wills or prohibits, loves or hates; it
produces an unbounded desire to please him, and to be accepted of him in
all things; it is jealous of his honour, unwearied in his service, quick
to prompt to every sacrifice in the cause of his truth and his church;
and it renders all such sacrifices, even when carried to the extent of
suffering and death, unreluctant and cheerful. It chooses God as the
chief good of the soul, the enjoyment of which assures its perfect and
eternal interest and happiness: Whom have I in heaven but thee? and
there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,” is the language of
every heart, when its love of God is true in principle and supreme in
degree.
If, then, the will of God is the perfect rule of morals; and if supreme
and perfect love to God must produce a prompt and unwearied, a
delightful subjection to his will, or rather an entire and most free
choice of it as the rule of all our principles, affections, and actions;
the importance of this affection in securing that obedience to the law
of God in which true morality consists, is manifest; and we clearly
perceive the reason why an inspired writer has affirmed, that love is
the fulfilling of the law.” The necessity of keeping this subject before
us under those views in which it is placed in the Christian system, and
of not surrendering it to mere philosophy, is, however, an important
consideration. With the philosopher the love of God may be the mere
approval of the intellect; or a sentiment which results from the
contemplation of infinite perfection, manifesting itself in acts of
power and goodness. In the Scriptures it is much more than either, and
is produced and maintained by a different process. We are there taught
that the carnal mind is enmity to God,” and is not, of course, capable
of loving God. Yet this carnal mind may consist with deep attainments in
philosophy, and with strongly impassioned poetic sentiment. The mere
approval of the understanding, and the susceptibility of being impressed
with feelings of admiration, awe, and even pleasure, when the character
of God is manifested in his works, as both may be found in the carnal
mind which is enmity to God, are not therefore the love of God. They are
principles which enter into that love, since it cannot exist without
them; but they may exist without this affection itself, and be found in
a vicious and unchanged nature. The love of God is a fruit of the Holy
Spirit; that is, it is implanted by him only in the souls which he has
regenerated; and as that which excites its exercise is chiefly, and in
the first place, a sense of the benefits bestowed by the grace of God in
our redemption, and a well grounded persuasion of our personal interest
in those benefits, it necessarily presupposes our reconciliation to God
through faith in the atonement of Christ, and that attestation of it to
the heart by the Spirit of adoption. We here see, then, another proof of
the necessary connection of Christian morals with Christian doctrine,
and how imperfect and deceptive every system must be which separates
them. Love is essential to true obedience; for when the Apostle declares
love to be the fulfilling of the law,” he declares, in effect, that the
law cannot be fulfilled without love; and that every action which has
not this for its principle, however virtuous in its show, fails of
accomplishing the precepts which are obligatory upon us. But this love
to God cannot be felt so long as we are sensible of his wrath, and are
in dread of his judgments. These feelings are incompatible with each
other, and we must be assured of his reconciliation to us, before we are
capable of loving him. Thus the very existence of love to God implies
the doctrines of atonement, repentance, faith, and the gift of the
Spirit of adoption to believers; and unless it be taught in this
connection, and through this process of experience, it will be exhibited
only as a bright and beauteous object to which man has no access; or a
fictitious and imitative sentimentalism will be substituted for it, to
the delusion of the souls of men.
serve and obey him, is in Christianity joined with that love to God
which gives life and animation to service, and renders it the means of
exalting our pleasures, at the same time that it accords with our
convictions. The supreme love of God is the chief, therefore, of what
have sometimes been called our theopathetic affections. It is the sum
and the end of the law; and though it has been lost by us in Adam, it is
restored to us by Christ. When it regards God absolutely, and in
himself, as a Being of infinite and harmonious perfections and moral
beauties, it is that movement of the soul toward him which is produced
by admiration, approval, and delight. When it regards him relatively, it
fixes upon the ceaseless emanations of his goodness to us all in the
continuance of the existence which he at first bestowed; the
circumstances which render that existence felicitous; and, above all,
upon that great love wherewith he loved us,” manifested in the gift of
his Son for our redemption, and in saving us by his grace; or, in the
forcible language of St. Paul, upon the exceeding riches of his grace in
his kindness to us through Christ Jesus.” Under all these views an
unbounded gratitude overflows the heart which is influenced by this
spiritual affection. But the love of God is more than a sentiment of
gratitude: it rejoices in his perfections and glories, and devoutly
contemplates them as the highest and most interesting subjects of
thought; it keeps the idea of this supremely beloved object constantly
present to the mind; it turns to it with adoring ardour from the
business and distractions of life; it connects it with every scene of
majesty and beauty in nature, and with every event of general and
particular providence; it brings the soul into fellowship with God, real
and sensible, because vital; it moulds the other affections into
conformity with what God himself wills or prohibits, loves or hates; it
produces an unbounded desire to please him, and to be accepted of him in
all things; it is jealous of his honour, unwearied in his service, quick
to prompt to every sacrifice in the cause of his truth and his church;
and it renders all such sacrifices, even when carried to the extent of
suffering and death, unreluctant and cheerful. It chooses God as the
chief good of the soul, the enjoyment of which assures its perfect and
eternal interest and happiness: Whom have I in heaven but thee? and
there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,” is the language of
every heart, when its love of God is true in principle and supreme in
degree.
If, then, the will of God is the perfect rule of morals; and if supreme
and perfect love to God must produce a prompt and unwearied, a
delightful subjection to his will, or rather an entire and most free
choice of it as the rule of all our principles, affections, and actions;
the importance of this affection in securing that obedience to the law
of God in which true morality consists, is manifest; and we clearly
perceive the reason why an inspired writer has affirmed, that love is
the fulfilling of the law.” The necessity of keeping this subject before
us under those views in which it is placed in the Christian system, and
of not surrendering it to mere philosophy, is, however, an important
consideration. With the philosopher the love of God may be the mere
approval of the intellect; or a sentiment which results from the
contemplation of infinite perfection, manifesting itself in acts of
power and goodness. In the Scriptures it is much more than either, and
is produced and maintained by a different process. We are there taught
that the carnal mind is enmity to God,” and is not, of course, capable
of loving God. Yet this carnal mind may consist with deep attainments in
philosophy, and with strongly impassioned poetic sentiment. The mere
approval of the understanding, and the susceptibility of being impressed
with feelings of admiration, awe, and even pleasure, when the character
of God is manifested in his works, as both may be found in the carnal
mind which is enmity to God, are not therefore the love of God. They are
principles which enter into that love, since it cannot exist without
them; but they may exist without this affection itself, and be found in
a vicious and unchanged nature. The love of God is a fruit of the Holy
Spirit; that is, it is implanted by him only in the souls which he has
regenerated; and as that which excites its exercise is chiefly, and in
the first place, a sense of the benefits bestowed by the grace of God in
our redemption, and a well grounded persuasion of our personal interest
in those benefits, it necessarily presupposes our reconciliation to God
through faith in the atonement of Christ, and that attestation of it to
the heart by the Spirit of adoption. We here see, then, another proof of
the necessary connection of Christian morals with Christian doctrine,
and how imperfect and deceptive every system must be which separates
them. Love is essential to true obedience; for when the Apostle declares
love to be the fulfilling of the law,” he declares, in effect, that the
law cannot be fulfilled without love; and that every action which has
not this for its principle, however virtuous in its show, fails of
accomplishing the precepts which are obligatory upon us. But this love
to God cannot be felt so long as we are sensible of his wrath, and are
in dread of his judgments. These feelings are incompatible with each
other, and we must be assured of his reconciliation to us, before we are
capable of loving him. Thus the very existence of love to God implies
the doctrines of atonement, repentance, faith, and the gift of the
Spirit of adoption to believers; and unless it be taught in this
connection, and through this process of experience, it will be exhibited
only as a bright and beauteous object to which man has no access; or a
fictitious and imitative sentimentalism will be substituted for it, to
the delusion of the souls of men.