Twenty Aggravations
Twenty Aggravations of lack of Love to Christ.
The second use brings a charge and an accusation against you, for not loving the Lord Jesus Christ. Some openly declare by their actions and manner of conduct—that they do not love him. Some openly pretend love to Christ, but really have no love unto him. "My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words—but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion—but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain." Ezekiel 33:31
Love to Christ is in their mouth—but love to the world is in their heart. Some say they love him—but God knows they do not: "But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you!" John 5.42. No!
Do you know how great a sin this is? Why then do you make so light of it? Why then are you no more ashamed, that you lack this love? Would you not be ashamed if a report was circulated about you—that you did not love your wife and your children? And is it not an incomparably greater sin and shame, that you do not love the Lord Jesus—the only Son of God, the only Savior of lost sinners! How is it that you do so seldom or never bewail the lack of love to Christ, in your prayers; or scarcely put it in among the confession of your sins? What! Do you love your gold—and not your God? Or do you make your gold your God—and then love your gold, instead of loving the true God? Can you love your silver—and not the precious Savior?
You are bound to love your very enemies—and yet you have no love to Him who would be your surest, greatest, and most faithful Friend! What shall I say? Good Lord, I am ashamed, and blush to say, which yet is true of too many men—that they love their very beasts, their dog, their horse, and all their cattle—and yet will not be prevailed upon to love your Son, your only Son, your beloved Son!
Nay, what shall I say? You love your heinous lusts and filthy sins, which will destroy and damn you forever—and yet no love for the Lord Jesus, who would save you from your sins, and from Hell forever.
What can I say? You do not love Christ—because you love your sin so much!
Oh horrid shame! You love deformity—and not beauty! Where are your eyes? Surely your love to sin is blind.
Oh monstrous iniquity! You love that which is worst of all—and not Him who is best of all! Where is your reason? Has sin bereaved you of your wits? Oh madness and folly! Are you so fond of sin—as to be damned for it? Are you so foolishly fond of this world, that you choose to be hated by God, and banished out of His glorious presence forever? Is your soul so clogged with flesh, and sunk so deep into it—that it can rise no higher than to love sensual, earthly, and fleshly delights and pleasures?
Will this love be so sweet in the review—as you think it is in the present taste thereof? Is this so vile a thing, such base and sordid love, which sets you below the rank of men—not to be reproved? For this, are you not justly blamed? Blamed yes, and justly reckoned Anathema —you who have such an incomparable object as Christ propounded to him—and yet will not love him! His excellencies are set forth plainly before you—and yet you see no beauty in him!
There is nothing in the world so suitable to a sinner, as Christ—and yet you will be so perverse as to imagine, and your heart maintain, that riches are more suitable, and pleasures are more suitable—and Christ, and the things of Christ, are the only inconvenient things for you. If you do not think so, why do you behave so as you do, in denying him your love? Are you not to be blamed, that when yet you might have Christ, and are not past a possibility of having Christ and all his benefits and good by him—that you do not turn your love unto him? Are you not to be blamed, when you thus vilify that blessed Lord whom none can over-value? Will not you pass for a sinful wretch with God, that you have such strong desires for the world, and for the empty vanities of this life—but no desire or will for Christ, for a full, and all-sufficient Christ? You prefer the fading enjoyments of a transitory life—before a durable good in eternal life!
Tell me, I beseech you, is not he deservedly a wretch, whom neither the excellencies of Christ himself, nor all the benefits he might have by him—will move him to set his heart upon Jesus? What do you think? What do you say? Have you done well or ill in not loving Christ? You dare not say, "Well." You are reluctant to say, "Ill"—because, by so saying, you will condemn yourself. What then? You condemn yourself, because you have not loved him, and do not love him now. You are condemned by God, and cursed by Christ, for not loving him at all!
But because the lack of love to Christ is such a horrid, loathsome sin, and yet lamented but by a few, as if it were in our days almost accounted for no sin at all—I shall endeavor to show the heinousness thereof in twenty particulars, propounded to you by way of questions. Let me entreat you to weigh them with a serious mind, and when right reason shall dictate a true answer—then seek out some secret place, where you can weep bitterly for this odious sin—lack of love to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I. What! Not love Christ! What is this, but a crossing of the end of God in making you a man —in setting you above the beasts of the field—in giving you a more noble and more excellent soul, than he has given to creatures without reason! Has not God given you a soul capable of knowing Jesus Christ? Is there any profit in this—if you do not love him? Has not God given you a will to go forth in its actings upon the most sweet and suitable objects? And what is that, but Christ? Has he not put such an affection as love into your heart? And do you think that this is that you might love the world —and not his Son? Or that you may love yourself—and not his Son? That you may love yourself —in opposition to his Son? That you may love your sin —and not his Son? Can you imagine that God made you a man, and not a beast—that you might love him no more than beasts can love him?
Then it had been enough, if God had made you a beast, and not a man. Or do you repent that God has given you the nature, the reason, and the love of a man—that you will not place it upon himself, for which end he made you a man? If you are nothing better than a beast—then choose the love and pleasures of a beast; and refuse the love and pleasures of a rational man, and which as a man you are capable of. If not, why do you not answer the end of your creation?
Do you not see that all the visible works of God do that for which they were made? Did not God make the sun to give light unto this world? And do you not see what haste it makes to set—and in the morning you perceive that it kept its course, and hastened to rise to give its light to this our hemisphere again? Did not God make this earth to bring forth fruit for the comfort of man—and do you not daily eat thereof? Did not God make other creatures for the use and service of man—and do they not do so? And has not God made you, and made it your duty to love him? Why then do you not do it?
Oh monstrous perverting of the creation of God—and that in the best of his visible works, man. If the like were done by other creatures—how soon would you be weary of your life! If the sun should withhold its light—what a dungeon would this world be! If the earth should bring forth nothing but briars and thorns—then it would yield you nothing but vexation and sorrow. If the creatures should use their power and strength against you, as they do in serving you—then you would judge it better to lack them, than to have them. And shall all that was made for man answer their end—and not man, who was made more immediately for God himself? But a man who lacks love to Christ, has become worse than the beasts that perish! Better that you never had the heart of a man—if Christ has not your heart.
II. What! Not love Christ! What is this, but a thwarting the end of all Christ's undertaking for you, as your Redeemer! When man had sinned away the holy image of God, and turned his heart and affections from God to the creature—man might have feared him, but never have loved him: "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid." Genesis 3:10. Sin had brought such an aversion in the heart of man from God and all good, that without Christ's undertakings for man—man could have loved him no more than devils.
Why did the Son of God become the Son of man?
Why did he shed his blood, and lay down his life?
Why did be suffer, sweat, bleed, and die?
Why did he bear our punishment, satisfy Divine justice, endure the wrath of God and the rage of men and devils—but to bring man back again to God, from whom he had departed—and that the stream of man's affections might be turned again into its right channel. Could you not have loved the world, and self—if Christ had never died? Could you not have loved your pleasures and your sins—if Christ had never died? Has he come from Heaven to gain your love—and shall he not have it? Has he given himself as a ransom to deliver you from your captivity, and paid your debt, for which you should have gone to the prison of Hell, to gain your love—and shall he not have it? Has he given his life for yours, his soul for yours, in dying when you should have died—and all this to gain your love—and shall he not have it?
What do you think—was Christ weary of the bosom of his Father? Was it more honorable for him to dwell in flesh on earth—than with the Father of spirits in Heaven? Was it not infinite condescension, for his Deity to be veiled with the rags of our humanity? Was Christ wasteful of his blood, or weary of his life? Did he love and choose such cruel scourgings, such contempt and scorn, such a cursed, shameful, painful death for himself?
Surely all this was for some great and noble end; which end you do, as much as in you lies, by your not loving him—frustrate, and render unattainable. For if all men should deny him their love, as you do, where would be the reconciliation between God and man, remission of sins, or salvation of souls, which Christ died to procure? Will God be reconciled to that man who does not love him! Or can that man who does not love him, be reconciled unto God? Or does not the reconciliation, without renewals of love, sound like a contradiction? Or shall remission and salvation be given to those who never love him? Behold then the greatness of this sin—in its thwarting the wonderful undertakings of Christ for man's redemption.
III. What! Not love Christ! What is this, but an opposing and withstanding all the operations of the Spirit!
For does not all tend to this—that you should love the Lord Jesus? What do all convictions tend to, in showing you your lost estate, the vanity of the world, the emptiness of the creature, the impossibility of salvation by any other—but that you might look after Jesus, and make him the object of your love? What does the illumination of the Spirit mean, in enlightening your mind in the knowledge of Christ, to see and discern . . .
the fullness and sufficiency of Christ;
the fitness and suitableness of Christ;
the freeness and the willingness of Christ
—but that you should fix your love upon him?
What do all the persuasions, strivings, and wooings of the Spirit tend to—but love to Christ? Was ever any more solicitous for the love of another, than the Spirit has been, that Christ might have your love? And shall all, and your only answer, be, "I cannot love him, I will not love him!" No! Why not? Can you better place your love? Can you find, in Heaven or earth, a more suitable object? Yet are you resolved to give no other answer, but, "I have loved strangers—and after them will I go!" Jeremiah 2:25.
I have loved the world—and I will love it!
I have loved my pleasures—and I will continue to love them!
I have loved my sin—and so I will still.
Why so resolved, poor sinner—why so resolute? Should not the world be a stranger to you—and you to the world? Should not sin be a stranger to you—and you to sin? What, though I have loved these strangers—and after them my heart and love shall go. Indeed! Then let God judge.
IV. What! Not love Jesus! What is this, but fearful sinning against the most gracious attributes of God!
1. Was it not love in God, to give his Son to be the Savior? And will you sin against this love, in not loving him—who by love was given for you? Was not God's love so infinite, so great, so wonderful—that no mortal man can comprehend it? "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," John 3:16. Is it not such manifest love, that all the devils in Hell cannot deny it to be love? "In this the love of God was manifested towards us—because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him!" 1 John 4:9. Was it not great love in God to give his Son for you—before you gave, or could give, your love to him? "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins!" 1 John 4:10.
And is it not a great sin against such great love, and a manifest sin against such manifest love—not to love him with a reciprocal love, who so far loved you with a first love?
2. Was it not infinite wisdom in God, to find out such a way, that justice might be fully satisfied, and free mercy might be richly manifested? That sin might be punished to the uttermost—and yet the sinner saved to the uttermost? That sin might be sin punished—and the sinner pardoned? If all the angels in Heaven who excel in wisdom and knowledge, had been called to counsel—they could never have thought of this way for fallen man's recovery, which is the product of the infinite wisdom of God! What greater folly then can there be, than to sin against such wisdom?
3. Was it not goodness in God, to accept of Christ's sufferings— for your sinnings? Of Christ's death—instead of your damnation—if you would believe on him, and love him? And will you slight this goodness, by withholding your love from him?
4. Was it not patience in God, to wait so long for your love? Might He not have damned you for your first refusal? Might He not have taken your first denial, for your final answer? Might He not have scorned your love, after you had so long given it to the world and sin, and denied it unto his Son? And when in your wicked heart you said, "I will not love him!"—God in his righteous judgment might have said, "I have your answer, and for this, you shall be eternally accursed!" If God had been thus quick and short with you, who has been so slow to love his Son—then what a deplorable condition would your soul have been in this day, and to all eternity? But if God has waited so many years, and still waits—if perhaps you will change your mind, return unto your senses, and give a wiser answer! Will you still abuse his patience, by persisting in the denial of your love to Christ? Take heed lest his patience towards you should end—before your love to Christ begin! For then, when your punishment for not loving him once begins—it shall never end. The longest patience will be turned into wrath—and you shall find the longest and the hottest wrath, and most fiery indignation!
5. What! Not love Jesus! What is this but an utter subverting of the whole design of the gospel, and refusing life and salvation by the covenant of grace!
God gave to innocent man a law and covenant of works—but he quickly transgressed that law, and thereby happiness became impossible to man. After that, God gave a law and covenant of grace to fallen man, and established the same in the blood of his Son. Will you also refuse life and happiness, by going on in your sin of not loving Christ? For hereby
1. The Conditions of the Gospel are Neglected.
2. The Threatenings of the Gospel are Slighted.
3. The Commands of the Gospel are Disobeyed.
4. The Promises of the Gospel are Undervalued.
1. In not loving Christ—the conditions of the gospel and covenant of grace are neglected. The great article, the sum and summary whereof is, "I will be your God—and you shall be my people," Hebrews 8.10.
I will love you—and you shall love me!
My heart shall be towards you—and your heart shall be towards me.
I will love none like you—and you shall love none like me.
How is this done? Can you love him—while you despise him? Has Christ your hearts—while the world and sin have your hearts?
"I will be a Father unto you—and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty," 2 Corinthians 6.18. That is, I will pity you as a father, and love you as a father does his children, and much more—and you shall love me as sons and daughters love their father, and much more. A son—and not love! A daughter—and not love! Such sons and daughters are bitterness to their parents—and so are you to Christ.
2. In not loving Christ—the threatenings of the gospel are slighted by you. It is dreadful to lie under the curses of the law —but it is more terrible to fall under the curses of the gospel . It might make your heart shake within you, to have the curse and not the blessing of your Maker . It would make your heart sink within you, to have the curse and not the blessing of the Redeemer .
What else does he do in the words of the text? What else is it but a curse—to be judged, accounted, declared to be unworthy of Christ! It is to be unworthy to be pardoned by him, and saved by him! It is to be unfit to be saved by Christ, nor fit to be delivered from Hell, or taken up to Heaven: "He who loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me!" Matthew 10.37.
Or will you bless yourself, though you hear this curse? Like the man in Deuteronomy 29.19 , "Those who hear the warnings of this curse should not congratulate themselves, thinking, 'I am safe, even though I am following the desires of my own stubborn heart.' This would lead to utter ruin!"
So you say: "Though I love the world, and sin, and self, more than Christ—I shall have peace, and pardon, and eternal life!" Shall you? How will you come by it? From whom will you have it? Will God spare such a man? Shall not his anger smoke against him—and the fire of his indignation burn him up until he is consumed! Or burn him, though by burning he shall never be consumed.
If it were a man , you might say, "Let him curse!" Psalm 109.28. But will you say of God , of Christ : "Let him curse—who cares? Let him curse—who fears his curse?"
You careless sinner! God will make you care! If you do not fear him, God will make you feel the weight of his anger! When you shall feel what now you do not fear—you shall not make so light a matter of it! "Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you!" Psalm 90:11
3. The great command of God is disobeyed—by not loving him. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment," Matthew 22.37-38. The Lord Jesus is a great King, a great Savior. The command to love him is a great command, which if you do not obey—upon this account you are a great sinner. If one is a great swearer, then you say that such a one is a great sinner. If one is a great drunkard—he is therefore a great sinner. But
though you are no drunkard, no swearer—yet not a lover of Christ—for this I say: "You are a great sinner—for you live in daily disobedience to the great command!"
4. By not loving Christ—the promises of the gospel are undervalued. If you would love him—he promises you a crown of life, James 1.12. He promises you all the good that you need or can desire. He promises you . . .
the pardon of all your sin,
the eternal favor of God,
deliverance from an awful Hell, and
the happiness of a glorious Heaven!
Oh what inducements of love are these! What motives to love Jesus! Oh! What incentives to love Jesus! What madness to lose all these for the love of the world—or the love of a vile lust!
Will you still say, "All these shall never gain my love to Christ—nor move me to set my heart upon him! Rather than love Christ—I will never be pardoned! Rather than love Christ—I will go without the favor of God, and without the joys of Heaven! I will be damned and go to Hell, rather than I will love Christ! When I am in Hell, and damned there—I shall still never love him!"
Is the love of Christ so grievous to you?
6. What! Not love Christ! What is this but odious ingratitude—for the greatest kindness! Suppose you were in debt, and unable to pay, therefore must be cast into prison. If one discharges your debt, would you not love him? If not, would not all say that you an unthankful wretch!
Suppose yourself to be in Islamic slavery, and one redeems you—would you not love him? Suppose you are condemned to die, and one procures your pardon—would you not love him? You were in debt to God—and had nothing to pay; you were in slavery to sin and Satan; you were at enmity with God, condemned to die, in danger of Hell, unfit for Heaven; the justice of God flamed against you; the wrath of God lay upon you; Hell and devils waited for you!
None could help you, but Christ!
None could satisfy for you, but Christ!
None could purchase your pardon, but Christ!
None could save you from Hell, and bring you to Heaven, but Christ by his . . .
suffering, bleeding, sweating, dying;
bearing the punishment of your sins,
giving his soul for yours, his life for yours!
And after all this, are not you an thankless wretch—if you will not so much as love him? What! Not love Jesus! Let the heavens be astonished, and the earth amazed, and all the creation of God blush, and be ashamed at the unthankfulness of sinful men! who hear, that for their sakes . . .
Christ was scourged, buffeted, crowned with thorns,
his side were pierced with a spear,
nails were driven through his hands and feet!
Christ was arraigned, accused, condemned, and crucified—and yet will not love . . .
a scourged Christ,
a Christ groaning under the burden of their sin,
a Christ sweating under the heavy load of the wrath of God! What! Will you not love a weeping, bleeding, crucified Christ—when all this was endured in place and stead of unworthy sinners!
7. What! Not love Christ! Is not this a damnable despising of him! Is it not a valuating him as worthless? It is spoken of Christ, that he is, "a reproach of men, and despised of the people," Psalm 22.6. And "He is despised and rejected by men. He was despised, and we esteemed him not," Isaiah 53:3. "And Herod with his soldiers despised and mocked him," Luke 23.11. "This is the stone which was despised by the builders," Acts 4:11.
What we greatly love—we highly value. What we do not love at all—we value not at all, and despise. And is it not sin enough to despise the people of God—but will you also despise the Son of God? Is it not enough to despise the word and ways of God, but you will despise the only begotten Son of God? Not to love, and to despise—is all one.
"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other," Matthew 6.24. Is this no evil in your eyes? Is Christ, who is honored by the Father—disdained by you? Is he the joy of angels, the delight of saints—and is he thus set as worthless by you? Is he the pearl of great price—and do you look upon him to be of no worth? Is he the chief of ten thousands—and do you thus disdain and vilify him, as if he were the meanest of ten thousands? Can you value your riches, and love them—and not Christ? Can you value your relations, and love them—and not Christ?
Behold, in comparison of riches, children, life—you despise Christ; when you should despise these, in comparison of Christ!
"He who despises the word, shall be destroyed," Proverbs 13.13
"He who despises his neighbor, sins," Proverbs 14.21
"He who despises his father's instruction, is a fool," Proverbs 15.5
"He who despises his mother, the ravens shall pick out his eyes," Proverbs 30.17
What then is he, and what shall be done to him—who despises the Lord Jesus Christ?
8. What! Not a lover of Christ! What are you then, but a hater of him! There is no neutral ground between these two. Love him you must—or you hate him, "He will hate the one—and love the other," Matthew 6.24. "He who is not with me—is against me," Matthew 12.30. He who does not so love Christ, as to have him rule him, hates him: "But his citizens hated him, and sent a messenger after him, saying: We will not have this man to reign over us," Luke 19.14.
You should hate your lusts—and love the Lord! But you love your lusts—and hate the Lord! I entreat you to tell me:, What has Jesus done unto you, that you should hate him?
As Christ reasoned with those who so hated him, that they stoned him: "Jesus answered them, saying: Many good works have I showed you from my Father—for which of those works do you stone me?" John 10.32. So let me reason with you: Many a good work has Christ done for you—for which of these do you hate him? Has he not come from Heaven for you? Was he not wounded, beaten, scourged, and suffered death for you? For which of all these do you hate him? Has he not made salvation possible for you—do you hate him for that? Has not he purchased a conditional pardon for you—do you hate him for that? Has not he entreated you to consider your own soul, and to prevent your own damnation—do you hate him for that? Has he given you any other cause to hate him? You have many reasons to love him—but no cause to hate him; as Christ himself asserts: "They hated me without a cause," John 15.25. They shall not be punished without cause—but for that hatred of Jesus!
9. What! Not love Christ! Are you not herein a confederate with the devil, against God and Christ! Do you join with the devil, against Christ? In this, you obey the destroyer—rather than the Savior of your soul. Christ calls: Give me your love—but you do not. Satan persuades you to withhold your love from Christ—and so you do. Christ says, "Give me your heart," Proverbs 23.26 —but you do not. Satan says: Let the world have your heart—and so it has. Can you displease Christ more than to deny him your love? Or can you please the devil better? What doe this perverseness of your heart mean? What do these cross and crooked dealings mean—as if Christ were your enemy, and the devil your friend? As if your loving Christ would be your ruin—and listening to the devil were the way to happiness.
Poor sinner! Will the devil save you? Christ would! Will the devil help you into the favor of God, or up to Heaven? Tell me, what do you in your conscience think—that Christ or the devil most desires your real good? Did the devil suffer for you? Christ did. Did the devil die for you? Christ has. Has the devil any love to you? Christ had so much as to shed his blood, that if you will hearken to him, you might be saved by him. Why then, when Christ, the world, and Satan, are striving for your heart and love—do you open your heart to the world and Satan, and shut it against the Lord Jesus Christ?
10. What! Not love Christ! Do you not herein bear the image of the devil, and look more like a devil than a man! Has the devil no love to Christ? Neither have you! Oh what a thing is this, that a man on earth should love Christ no more than the devils in Hell? And is the likeness of the devil your glory? Is his image your beauty? Is conformity to Satan your dignity? Or can you be saved more than the devil himself—if you love Christ no more than he? Oh, when the accusation at the last day shall be brought against you: This man hated Christ like a devil! Away with him now unto the devils. And, That man's heart was no more towards Christ than the devils! Then let that man and devils go together, and be damned together!
11. What! Not love Christ! Do you not behave worse towards Christ, than the devils do! And is not your not loving Christ, worse in you than it is in devils? Because the greater love and kindness that Christ has shown to you than ever he did to devils; and the more he has done for you than he has for them—the worse is lack of love to Christ in you than in them. Did Christ die for devils—as he has for sinful men? Did he bear the punishment of their sin—as he has for sinful men? Did he ever make salvation possible to them—as he has to sinful men? Did he ever offer pardon to them—as he has to sinful men? Or did he ever solicit them for their love—as he has done with sinful men?
Might not devils say: "We have not that cause nor reason to love Christ as men have?" And might not we suppose, if the devils in Hell were set in the same circumstances as men on earth—that some of the devils might love him, when most men will not? However, when we consider the texts that speak of fallen angels, and how they are irrecoverably cast into blackness and darkness, and of fallen men who are savable—it is sufficient foundation for this conclusion, that lack of love to Christ is worse in men than it is in devils!
Concerning God's just dealing with sinning angels, we read, "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment!" 2 Peter 2.4. "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day!" Jude 6.
There is not a word of a Savior for them—but of mankind the scripture speaks of abundance of love and mercy: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John 3:16. "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared—he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy!" Titus 3:4-5. "For truly he did not take upon him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham," Hebrews 2.16. Has he done that for you—which he has not done for devils! Is not then lack of love in you to him, a greater evil than it is in devils? Let this shame you, that you are not lovers of Christ!
12. What! Not love Christ! What do you make of this, but the beginning of Hell? By the same reason as love to Christ, is the beginning of Heaven. Love to Christ is the employment of the saints in glory—and to be without love to Christ, is the state of the damned in misery. So much of hatred to Christ as is in you—so much of Hell is in you, before you are in Hell.
13. What! Not love Christ! Is not this the daughter and the offspring, of many foul abominations that are reigning in your heart? Does it not suppose the predominance of many other sins, such as:
1. Does it not suppose ignorance of . . .
your misery,
sin's deformity, and
Christ's beauty, excellence, and necessity?
2. Does it not suppose preceding infidelity? You do not believe what God says concerning Christ, nor what shall be your portion, and your everlasting miserable condition, without Christ?
3. Does it not suppose a conceit of your own righteousness, which if you saw to be insufficient—Christ would not be thus slighted and disregarded by you?
4. Does it not suppose self-will? You will love what you will love, and not him you should love—come what will. Is it not plain stubborn willfulness, when you can give no reason why you will not love Christ, but because you will not?
5. Does it not suppose predominance of sinful self-love? You will love carnal self—and because this is inconsistent with the love of Christ, you omit the loving of him.
6. Does it not suppose fearlessness of God, and of his wrath? If this awed you—could Christ be thus neglected by you?
7. Does it not suppose forgetfulness of death and judgment—of Heaven and Hell? Could you, without horror, think of dying without love to Christ—when, to so die, would be to be damned forever? Could you think of judgment without trembling—when for lack of love to Christ you shall certainly be condemned, whenever you appear at his judgment-bar? Can you think of Heaven—when you must never enter into it? Can you think of of Hell—when you must certainly be cast into it for lack of love to Christ?
8. Does it not suppose great carelessness of your own soul? For can you love your soul, and not love Christ, the Savior of the soul? Can you take care of the salvation of your soul, and take no care to love him who is the purchaser and the giver of eternal salvation? There is such a litter of sins in the heart void of the love of Christ—and will you, after this, make so light a matter of it?
14. What! Not love Christ! Is it not the mother of many horrid transgressions—and the nurse, maintainer, and fomenter of them? Love to Christ shuts the door of the heart against . . .
the temptations of Satan,
the enticements of sinners,
and the allurements of the world!
But the lack of love to Christ, sets the heart open to all these heinous things. Love to Christ would be a dam to the stream of sin, but the lack of it is the plucking up the flood-gates thereof, that sin might run out of the heart into the life with a swift current!
Is not the absence of love to Christ, the cause of many commissions of evil? Would not love to Christ . . .
bridle your tongue,
restrain your hands,
shut your eyes,
stop your ears, and
keep all these from being defiled with sinful actings upon sinful objects?
Is not love to Christ the cause of the omission of good—of praying, hearing, meditation, holy discourse? What goes before, and what follows after the lack of love to Christ, as flowing and proceeding from it, makes it a sin exceedingly sinful.
15. What! Not love Christ! Have not then all the ordinances of God been ineffectual as to you? Have not ministers preached in vain, and spent their labor for nothing? Have not you heard in vain—and followed the means of grace in vain? When, by all the means, you have not got this grace of love to Jesus? What though you have obtained knowledge; is not that knowledge, without love to Christ—mere vain knowledge? What though you are able to discourse of God, and Christ, and Heaven, and the workings of the Spirit; without love to Christ, is it not, though concerning such great and weighty matters—yet vain discourse? Have not all . . .
the calls of mercy,
the workings of conscience,
the wooings of grace,
the pleadings of ministers,
the entreaties of love,
the knockings of Christ,
the strivings of the Spirit,
the waitings of patience—
been all slighted and disregarded by you? Are not all your prayers lost, and will not all your profession come to nothing, and your hopes of Heaven perish—when, for lack of love to Christ, your soul shall never enter into Heaven, but perish everlastingly!
16. What! Not love Christ! Is it not a mark and brand of a graceless man? Is not the absence of love to Christ inconsistent with the presence of any other saving grace? "O love the Lord, all you his saints!" Psalm 31.23. No love—no saint. No saint—no Heaven for you. If you do not love Jesus—then you are altogether graceless; for then,
1. If you do not love Jesus—then you are faithless; for, did you believe on him, you would have sincere love unto him, for where there is faith, it "works by love," Galatians 5.6.
2. If you do not love Jesus—then you are fearless of God. Love and fear of God sweetly concur. Love to Christ is afraid to offend him.
3. If you do not love Jesus—then you are sorrowless; that is, as to any holy, godly sorrow. Love to Christ would make you sorrow for your sin, for the absence of Christ—and love would cause you to sorrow that you love no more.
4. If you do not love Jesus—then you are also hopeless; for there can be no solid ground of hope in Christ, when there is no love unto him. He who hopes for Heaven by the merits of Christ, without love to the person of Christ—his hope is a fabric without a foundation, the fool's paradise. It is hope without a warrant, and in the end, when he misses the end of his expectation—will be found to be no better than rash confidence, bold and damnable presumption. For the greatest professor, without love to Christ—is a self-deluding hypocrite, whose hope shall be cut off, and prove as weak, though spun as fine as a spider's web, Job 8.14. And is the lack of all grace no evil in your eyes—when it brings punishment that shall be endless , easeless , and remediless —upon all that were totally and finally graceless.
17. What! Not love Christ—God's own Son! How then is God your Father? "Jesus said unto them: If God were your Father, you would love me!" John 8.42. If you are his creatures, and not love him—it is an aggravation of your sin, not to have love to him who gave being to you. But though you are his creatures without love to him—yet you are not his children. It would have been better never had been his creatures, if not his children, for though you should every day, with great confidence, say, "Our Father," without love to Christ—God will never own you as children, nor give you children's portions.
18. What! Not love Christ! How can you then excuse all the love you have to other things, from being sinful love? So that the more you love other things—the more you sin—because your love to others is not subordinate to the love of Christ. To love other things and people in subordination to the love of Christ—is a duty. To love other things and people, and not Christ, or more than Christ—is a sin. Thus, the love of your estates, is sinful love. And the love of husband, wife, children, and of yourselves—is therefore sinful love, because it is above the love of Christ, for these should be loved in Christ and for Christ—but you love them without Christ, and more than Christ! Therefore all your love, without love to Christ, though materially good, is sinful love. "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me!" Matthew 10:37
19. What! Not love Christ! Are you not all this while treasuring up terrible accusations in conscience against the hour of death, and day of judgment? The time will come, and is at hand—when you, and all that you love, besides Christ, must be separated.
You have loved the world —and you must leave it.
You have loved your pleasures —and you must bid adieu to them.
You have loved your relations —and you must take your farewell of them!
And then, oh then, if conscience is awakened, if you do not go blindfold, and hoodwinked by the devil, out of this world—you will, in the bitterness of your soul, lament your woeful case, and say, "Oh! What have I done! What is this that I have done! I have loved what I must leave! I loved my riches—and now death will take me from them. I have set my heart more upon my earthly relations than upon Christ—and now death is come to tear and carry me away from them! I have loved my life more than Christ—and now death will put an end to my life. All the things which I have loved—I now must lose! Oh! had I loved Christ as I have loved them—Christ would not have left me. Death could not have separated him from me, but would have moved me nearer to him. But I did not love Christ—woe is me that I never did! Now all my love proves vexatious love, to think and find that all I have loved all my life—in one moment I have forever lost!"
20. What! Not love Christ! Does not this make damnation unavoidable—and the escaping of Hell to be impossible? For when you die, where would you have your soul to go? To one whom you never loved? While you lived, you did not, and would not love Christ—and after death, you can not love him! Is Heaven a place for those who cannot love Christ? Heaven is a place of love; the employment of Heaven is to love, and praise Him whom they love. Without love to Christ—you would not find enjoyment there. The life of Heaven will be no idle life. All in Heaven shall live and love, and love as long as they shall live. Therefore such as do not now, and hereafter cannot love—shall never enter to live in that world of love.
Now, sirs, what do you think? Is the lack of love to Christ so small a sin as you have hitherto supposed it to be—when you have spent and past the greatest part of your lives without love to Christ, and without sorrow for lack of that love? What! do you mean to cease to live—before you begin to love him? You lived for in mirth and pleasure—when the love of Christ has not lived nor reigned in your hearts. Let conscience be judge between God and you; but if conscience is dead, and will not give its judgment—then let God himself be Judge: Have you done well, to love that which you should have hated—and hate him whom you should have loved?
Done well! God knows you have not well done, and devils themselves know you have not well done; and you yourselves, sooner or later, (God grant before it is too late!) shall know that you have not done well.
Done well! No, you have done foolishly—you have done wickedly! Nay, you have done devilishly !
Call to mind the things which have been said, ponder them in your hearts, weigh them in the balance of right reason, and they will tell you that you have done abominably in not loving Christ. God forbid that we should live without love to Christ—we think it is a pity that man should live, who does not love Christ.
This supposed love to Christ, I fear, will keep you off from repenting for lack of real love to Christ, and make you set light by all these aggravations of this sin—because you think and hope that you love Christ. Some are so ignorant of their sinful state by nature, and so vainly confident of the goodness of their hearts—that they bless God that they have loved Christ ever since they were born, and will be ready to spit in that man's face who shall question their love to Christ. Come then, you who are so confident that you love him—come to the trial, bring it to the touchstone of the Word of God, and try of what mettle your love is.
What if it should prove but counterfeit, instead of real? Or suppose it should not be sincere and saving love to Christ? For the discovery whereof I shall next proceed to the third use.