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 affections. The language of the Psalmist is his: Whom have I 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 designs, 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 Divine glory. They regard the honor of God as comprehending 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 pleasure in beholding His glory, and therefore do sincerely and ardently desire to behold greater and brighter dis plays 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 gratitude. Gratitude to God is the exercise of love to Him for the favors 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 favor. The first exercise of love to God is, 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 favors which He has communicated to him in particular. The discovery of his personal interest in the favor which God bears 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 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 Savior, that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me. 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 vague, indescribable emotion, that "plays round the head." It is the "ruling passion;" the gov erning 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, 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 in very different degrees in different persons, and in the same persons at different times. While the people of God remain in this probationary* state, they will *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 apostasy of Adam brought into a state of sin 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, in order to a righteous retribution." In the present world, men have a fair opportunity to form their characters 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 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; like Israel of old, they are bent to backsliding from Him. The glory of His character has little effect upon their hearts, and less upon their conduct. The honor 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 more of things that are seen and temporal, than of those that are unseen and eternal. present world, they repent and believe the gospel, they may look for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our Lord 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 dis pensation 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 are kept only THROUGH FAITH unto salvation; God has placed them in a world where they must watch and pray-where they must forget the things that are behind, and reach forth toward those which are before; where they must keep under their body, and bring it into subjection, lest by any means they should be cast away. A state of probation, therefore, is neither inconsistent with the infallible certainty of the saint's final perseverance, nor the sinner's present condem nation. |