Thomas Watson ~ Divine Cordial

The following is taken from yet another tremendous work from one of those amazing Puritans. Seems there is often a distinguishing something ... a balance, of truth, love and encouragement all without wavering. This particular book was given to me by a saint at the recent conference and once again is timely, my eyes falling unto a place of experience and current circumstance. From that standpoint it would be that which precedes this excerpt however. This section is perhaps quite dangerous if the admonishen is not taken with great care of the perspective he is writing from, let me state it up front as he does at the end;

[i][b]But let none abuse this doctrine[/b][/i] and
[i][b]Again, I say, think not lightly of sin.[/b][/i]

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[b]The evil of sin works for good to the godly.[/b]

Sin in its own nature is damnable, but God in His infinite wisdom overrules it, and causes good to arise from that which seems most to oppose it. Indeed, it is a matter of wonder that any honey should come out of this lion. We may understand it in a double sense.

(1). The sins of others are overruled for good to the godly. It is no small trouble to a gracious heart to live among the wicked. [i]“Woe is me, that I dwell in Mesech”[/i] (Psalm cxx. 5). Yet even this the Lord turns to good. For,

(i.) The sins of others work for good to the godly, as they produce holy sorrow. God’s people weep for what they cannot reform. [i]“Rivers of tears run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law”[/i] (Psalm cxix. 136). David was a mourner for the sins of the times; his heart was turned into a spring, and his eyes into rivers. Wicked men make merry with sin. [i]“When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest”[/i] (Jer. xi. 15). But the godly are weeping doves; they grieve for the oaths and blasphemies of the age. The sins of others, like spears, pierce their souls. This grieving for the sins of others is good. It shows a childlike heart, to resent with sorrow the injuries done to our heavenly Father. It also shows a Christ-like heart. [i]“He was grieved for the hardness of their hearts”[/i] (Mark iii. 5). The Lord takes special notice of these tears: He likes it well, that we should weep when His glory suffers. It argues more grace to grieve for the sins of others than for our own. We may grieve for our own sins out of fear of hell, but to grieve for the sins of others is from a principle of love to God. These tears drop as water from the roses, they are sweet and fragrant, and God puts them in His bottle.

(ii.) The sins of others work for good to the godly, as they set them the more a praying against sin. If there were not such a spirit of wickedness abroad, perhaps there would not be such a spirit of prayer. Crying sins cause crying prayers. The people of God pray against the iniquity of the times, that God will give a check to sin, that He will put sin to the blush. If they cannot pray down sin, they pray against it; and this God takes kindly. These prayers shall both be recorded and rewarded. Though we do not prevail in prayer, we shall not lose our prayers. [i]“My prayer returned into mine own bosom”[/i] (Psalm xxxv. 13).

(iii.) The sins of others work for good, as they make us the more in love with grace. The sins of others are a foil to set off the lustre of grace the more. One contrary sets off another: deformity sets off beauty. The sins of the wicked do much disfigure them. Pride is a disfiguring sin; now the beholding another’s pride makes us the more in love with humility! Malice is a disfiguring sin, it is the devil’s picture; the more of this we see in others the more we love meekness and charity. Drunkenness is a disfiguring sin, it turns men into beasts, it deprives of the use of reason; the more intemperate we see others, the more we must love sobriety. The black face of sin sets off the beauty of holiness so much the more.

(iv.) The sins of others work for good, as they work in us the stronger opposition against sin. [i]“The wicked have made void thy law; therefore I love thy commandments”[/i] (Psalm cxix. 126, 127). David had never loved God’s law so much, if the wicked had not set themselves so much against it. The more violent others are against the truth, the more valiant the saints are for it. Living fish swim against the stream; the more the tide of sin comes in, the more the godly swim against it. The impieties of the times provoke holy passions in the saints; that anger is without sin, which is against sin. The sins of others are as a whetstone to set the sharper edge upon us; they whet our zeal and indignation against sin the more.

(v.) The sins of others work for good, as they make us more earnest in working out our salvation. When we see wicked men take such pains for hell, this makes us more industrious for heaven. The wicked have nothing to encourage them, yet they sin. They venture shame and disgrace, they break through all opposition. Scripture is against them, and conscience is against them, there is a flaming sword in the way, yet they sin. Godly hearts, seeing the wicked thus mad for the forbidden fruit, and wearing out themselves in the devil’s service, are the more emboldened and quickened in the ways of God. They will take heaven as it were by storm. The wicked are swift dromedaries in sin (Jer. ii. 23). And do we creep like snails in religion? Shall impure sinners do the devil more service than we do Christ? Shall they make more haste to a prison, than we do to a kingdom? Are they never weary of sinning, and are we weary of praying? Have we not a better Master than they? Are not the paths of virtue pleasant? Is not there joy in the way of duty, and heaven at the end? The activity of the sons of Belial in sin, is a spur to the godly to make them mend their pace, and run the faster to heaven.

(vi.) The sins of others work for good, as they are glasses in which we may see our own hearts. Do we see a flagitious, impious sinner? Behold a picture of our hearts. Such should we be, if God did leave us. What is in other men’s practice, is in our nature. Sin in the wicked is like fire on a beacon, that flames and blazes forth; sin in the godly is like fire in the embers. Christian, though you do not break forth into a flame of scandal, yet you have no cause to boast, for there is much sin raked up in the embers of your nature. You have the root of bitterness in you, and would bear as hellish fruit as any, if God did not either curb you by His power, or change you by His grace.

(vii.) The sins of others work for good, as they are the means of making the people of God more thankful. When you see another infected with the plague, how thankful are you that God has preserved you from it! It is a good use that may be made of the sins of others, to make us more thankful. Why might not God have left us to the same excess of riot? Think with yourself, O Christian, why should God be more propitious to you than to another? Why should He take you out of the wild olive of nature, and not him? How may this make you to adore free grace. What the Pharisee said boastingly, we may say thankfully, [i]“God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, etc.”[/i] (Luke xviii. 11). So we should adore the riches of grace that we are not as others, drunkards, swearers, sabbath-breakers. Every time we see men hasting on in sin, we are to bless God we are not such. If we see a frenzied person, we bless God it is not so with us; much more when we see others under the power of Satan, we should make our thankful acknowledgement that it is not our condition. Let us not think lightly of sin.

(viii.) The sins of others work for good, as they are means of making God’s people better. Christian, God can make you a gainer by another’s sin. The more unholy others are, the more holy you should be. The more a wicked man gives himself to sin, the more a godly man gives himself to prayer. [i]“But I give myself to prayer”[/i] (Psalm cix. 4).

(ix.) The sins of others work for good, as they give an occasion to us of doing good. Were there no sinners, we could not be in such a capacity for service. The godly are often the means of converting the wicked; their prudent advice and pious example is a lure and a bait to draw sinners to the embracing of the gospel. The disease of the patient works for the good of the physician; by emptying the patient of noxious humours, the physician enriches himself: so, by converting sinners from the error of their way, our crown comes to be enlarged. [i]“They that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars for ever and ever”[/i] (Dan. xii. 31). Not as lamps or tapers, but as the stars for ever. Thus we see the sins of others are overruled for our good.

(2). The sense of their own sinfullness will be overruled for the good of the godly. Thus our own sins shall work for good. This must be understood warily, when I say the sins of the godly work for good — [i]not that there is the least good in sin.[/i] Sin is like poison, which corrupts the blood, infects the heart, and, without a sovereign antidote, brings death. Such is the venomous nature of sin, it is deadly and damning. Sin is worse than hell, but yet God, by His mighty over ruling power, makes sin in the issue turn to the good of His people. Hence that golden saying of Augustine, “God would never permit evil, if He could not bring good out of evil.” The feeling of sinfullness in the saints works for good several ways.

(i.) Sin makes them weary of this life. That sin is in the godly is sad, but that it is a burden is good. St. Paul’s afflictions (pardon the expression) were but a play to him, in comparison of his sin. He rejoiced in tribulation (2 Cor. vii. 4). But how did this bird of paradise weep and bemoan himself under his sins! [i]“Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”[/i] (Rom. vii. 24). A believer carries his sins as a prisoner his shackles; oh, how does he long for the day of release! This sense of sin is good.

(ii.) This in being of corruption makes the saints prize Christ more. He that feels his sin, as a sick man feels his sickness, how welcome is Christ the physician to him! He that feels himself stung with sin, how precious is the brazen serpent to him! When Paul had cried out of a body of death, how thankful was he for Christ! [i]“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord”[/i] (Rom. vii. 25). Christ’s blood saves from sin, and is the sacred ointment which kids this quicksilver.

(iii.) This sense of sin works for good, as it is an occasion of putting the soul upon six especial duties:

(a) It puts the soul upon self searching. A child of God being conscious of sin, takes the candle and lantern of the Word, and searches into his heart. He desires to know the worst of himself; as a man who is diseased in body, desires to know the worst of his disease. Though our joy lies in the knowledge of our graces, yet there is some benefit in the knowledge of our corruptions. Therefore Job prays, [i]“Make me to know my transgressions”[/i] (Job xiii. 23). It is good to know our sins, that we may not flatter ourselves, or take our condition to be better than it is. It is good to find out our sins, lest they find us out.

(b) The inherence of sin puts a child of God upon self-abasing. Sin is left in a godly man, as a cancer in the breast, or a hunch upon the back, to keep him from being proud. Gravel and dirt are good to ballast a ship, and keep it from overturning; the sense of sin helps to ballast the soul, that it be not overturned with vain glory. We read of the “spots of God’s children” (Deut. xxxii. 5). When a godly man beholds his face in the glass of Scripture, and sees the spots of infidelity and hypocrisy, this makes the plumes of pride fall; they are humbling spots. It is a good use that may be made even of our sins, when they occasion low thoughts of ourselves. Better is that sin which humbles me, than that duty which makes me proud. Holy Bradford uttered these words of himself, “I am a painted hypocrite”; and Hooper said, “Lord, I am hell, and Thou art heaven.”

(c) Sin puts a child of God on self-judging; he passes a sentence upon himself. [i]'' I am more brutish than any man”[/i] (Prov. xxx. 2). It is dangerous to judge others, but it is good to judge ourselves. [i]“If we would judge ourselves, we should riot be judged”[/i] (I Cor. xi. 31). When a man has judged himself, Satan is put out of office. When he lays anything to a saint’s charge, he is able to retort and say, “It is true, Satan, I am guilty of these sins; but I have judged myself already for them; and having condemned myself in the lower court of conscience, God will acquit me in the upper court of heaven.”

(d) Sin puts a child of God upon self-conflicting. Spiritual self conflicts with carnal self. [i]“The spirit lusts against the flesh”[/i] (Gal. v. 17). Our life is a wayfaring life, and a war-faring life. There is a duel fought every day between the two seeds. A believer will not let sin have peaceable possession. If he cannot keep sin out, he will keep sin under; though he cannot quite overcome, yet he is overcoming. [i]“To him that is overcoming”[/i] (Rev. ii. 7).

(e) Sin puts a child of God upon self-observing. He knows sin is a bosom traitor, therefore he carefully observes himself. A subtle heart needs a watchful eye. The heart is like a castle that is in danger every hour to be assaulted; this makes a child of God to be always a sentinel, and keep a guard about his heart. A believer has a strict eye over himself, lest he fall in to any scandalous enormity, and so open a sluice to let all his comfort run out.

(f) Sin puts the soul upon self-reforming. A child of God does not only find out sin, but drives out sin. One foot he sets upon the neck of his sins, and the other foot he “turns to God’s testimonies” (Psalm cxix. 59). Thus the sins of the godly work for good. God makes the saints’ maladies their medicines.

But let none abuse this doctrine. I do not say that sin works for good to an impenitent person. No, it works for his damnation, but it works for good to them that love God; and for you that are godly, I know you will not draw a wrong conclusion from this, either to make light of sin, or to make bold with sin. If you should do so, God wilt make it cost you dear. Remember David. He ventured presumptuously on sin, and what did he get? He lost his peace, he felt the terrors of the Almighty in his soul, though he had all helps to cheerfullness. He was a king; he had skill in music; yet nothing could administer comfort to him: he complains of his “broken bones” (Psalm li. 8). And though he did at last come out of that dark cloud, yet some divines are of opinion that he never recovered his full joy to his dying day. If any of God’s people should be tampering with sin, because God can turn it to good; though the Lord does not damn them, He may send them to hell in this life. He may put them into such bitter agonies and soul convulsions, as may fill them full of horror, and make them draw nigh to despair. Let this be a flaming sword to keep them from coming near the forbidden tree.

And thus have I shown, that both the best things and the worst things, by the overruling hand of the great God, do work together for the good of the saints.

Again, I say, think not lightly of sin.

Thomas Watson

[i]Taken from the section:[/i]
[url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/watson/cordial.v.html]The worst things work for good to the godly[/url]

[url=http://www.ccel.org/w/watson/cordial/cordial.html]Divine Cordial[/url] or [i]The transcendent priviledge of those that love God and are savingly called ...[/i]

[i]Christian, though you do not break forth into a flame of scandal, yet you have no cause to boast, for there is much sin raked up in the embers of your nature. You have the root of bitterness in you, and would bear as hellish fruit as any, if God did not either curb you by His power, or change you by His grace.[/i]

[i]Sin puts a child of God upon self-observing. He knows sin is a bosom traitor, therefore he carefully observes himself. A subtle heart needs a watchful eye. The heart is like a castle that is in danger every hour to be assaulted; this makes a child of God to be always a sentinel, and keep a guard about his heart. A believer has a strict eye over himself, lest he fall in to any scandalous enormity, and so open a sluice to let all his comfort run out.[/i]

very true.... it is very dangerous to let down the guard, or even worse fall asleep. The enemy never sleeps

Love this, thanks. . .

Apparently had missed this prior, our sister had posted the same section back in September ...

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=19275&forum=45]The evil of sin works for the good of the godly ~ Thomas Watson[/url]

[b]An exhortation to love God[/b]

1. An exhortation. Let me earnestly persuade all who bear the name of Christians to become lovers of God. [i]“O love the Lord, all ye his saints”[/i] (Psalm xxxi. 23). There are but few that love God: many give Him hypocritical kisses, but few love Him. It is not so easy to love God as most imagine. The affection of love is natural, but the grace is not. Men are by nature haters of God (Rom. i. 30). The wicked would flee from God; they would neither be under His rules, nor within His reach. They fear God, but do not love Him. All the strength in men or angels cannot make the heart love God. Ordinances will not do it of themselves, nor judgments; it is only the almighty and invincible power of the Spirit of God can infuse love into the soul. This being so hard a work, it calls upon us for the more earnest prayer and endeavour after this angelic grace of love. To excite and inflame our desires after it, I shall prescribe twenty motives for loving God.

(1). Without this, all our religion is vain. It is not duty, but love to duty, God looks at. It is not how much we do, but how much we love. If a servant does not do his work willingly, and out of love, it is not acceptable. Duties not mingled with love, are as burdensome to God as they are to us. David therefore counsels his son Solomon to serve God with a willing mind (I Chron. xxviii. 9). To do duty without love, is not sacrifice, but penance.

(2). Love is the most noble and excellent grace. It is a pure flame kindled from heaven; by it we resemble God, who is love. Believing and obeying do not make us like God, but by love we grow like Him (1 John iv. 16). Love is a grace which most delights in God, and is most delightful to Him. That disciple who was most full of love, lay in Christ’s bosom. Love puts a verdure and lustre upon all the graces: the graces seem to be eclipsed, unless love shine and sparkle in them. Faith is not true, unless it works by love. The waters of repentance are not pure, unless they flow from the spring of love. Love is the incense which makes all our services fragrant and acceptable to God.

(3). Is that unreasonable which God requires? It is but our love. If He should ask our estate, or the fruit of our bodies, could we deny Him? But He asks only our love: He would only pick this flower. Is this a hard request? Was there ever any debt so easily paid as this? We do not at all impoverish ourselves by paying it. Love is no burden. Is it any labour for the bride to love her husband? Love is delightful.

(4). God is the most adequate and complete object of our love. All the excellencies that lie scattered in the creatures, are united in Him. He is wisdom, beauty, love, yea, the very essence of goodness. There is nothing in God can cause a loathing; the creature sooner surfeits than satisfies, but there are fresh beauties sparkling forth in God. The more we enjoy of Him, the more we are ravished with delight.

There is nothing in God to deaden our affections or quench our love; no infirmity, no deformity, such as usually weaken and cool love. There is that excellence in God, which may not only invite, but command our love. If there were more angels in heaven than there are, and all those glorious seraphim had an immense flame of love burning in their breasts to eternity, yet could they not love God equivalently to that infinite perfection and transcendence of goodness which is in Him. Surely then here is enough to induce us to love God — we cannot spend our love upon a better object.

(5). Love facilitates religion. It oils the wheels of the affections, and makes them more lively and cheerful in God’s service. Love takes off the tediousness of duty. Jacob thought seven years but little, for the love he bore to Rachel. Love makes duty a pleasure. Why are the angels so swift and winged in God’s service? It is because they love Him. Love is never weary. He that loves God, is never weary of telling it. He that loves God, is never weary of serving Him.

(6). God desires our love. We have lost our beauty, and stained our blood, yet the King of heaven is a suitor to us. What is there in our love, that God should seek it? What is God the better for our love? He does not need it, He is infinitely blessed in Himself. If we deny Him our love, He has more sublime creatures who pay the cheerful tribute of love to Him. God does not need our love, yet He seeks it.

(7). God has deserved our love; how has He loved us! Our affections should be kindled at the fire of God’s love. What a miracle of love is it, that God should love us, when there was nothing lovely in us. [i]“When thou wast in thy blood, I said unto thee, Live”[/i] (Ezek. xvi. 6). The time of our loathing was the time of God’s loving. We had something in us to provoke fury, but nothing to excite love. What love, passing understanding, was it, to give Christ to us! That Christ should die for sinners! God has set all the angels in heaven wondering at this love. Augustine says, “The cross is a pulpit, and the lesson Christ preached on it is love.” Oh the living love of a dying Saviour! I think I see Christ upon the cross bleeding all over! I think I hear Him say to us, “Reach hither your hands. Put them into My sides. Feel My bleeding heart. See if I do not love you. And will you not bestow your love upon me? Will you love the world more than me? Did the world appease the wrath of God for you? Have I not done all this? And will you not love me?” It is natural to love where we are loved. Christ having set us a copy of love, and written it with His blood, let us labour to write after so fair a copy, and to imitate Him in love.

(8). Love to God is the best self-love. It is self-love to get the soul saved; by loving God, we forward our own salvation. [i]“He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him”[/i] (I John iv. 16). And he is sure to dwell with God in heaven, that has God dwelling in his heart. So that to love God is the truest self-love; he that does not love God, does not love himself.

(9). Love to God evidences sincerity. [i]“The upright love thee”[/i] (Cant. i. 4). Many a child of God fears he is a hypocrite. Do you love God? When Peter was dejected with the sense of his sin, he thought himself unworthy that ever Christ should take notice of him, or employ him more in the work of his apostleship; see how Christ goes about to comfort him. [i]“Peter, lovest thou me?”[/i] (John xxi. 15). As if Christ had said, “Though thou hast denied me through fear, yet if thou canst say from thy heart thou lovest me, thou art sincere and upright.” To love God is a better sign of sincerity than to fear Him. The Israelites feared God’s justice. [i]“When he slew them, they sought him, and inquired early after God”[/i] (Psalm lxxviii. 34). But what did all this come to? [i]“Nevertheless, they did but flatter him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue; for their heart was not right with him”[/i] (verses 36, 37). That repentance is no better than flattery, which arises only from fear of God’s judgments, and has no love mixed with it. Loving God evidences that God has the heart; and if the heart be His, that will command all the rest.

(10). By our love to God, we may conclude God’s love to us. [i]“We love him, because he first loved us”[/i] (I John iv. 19). Oh, says the soul, if I knew God loved me, I could rejoice! Do you love God? Then you may be sure of God’s love to you. As it is with burning glasses; if the glass burn, it is because the sun has first shined upon it, else it could not burn; so if our hearts burn in love to God, it is because God’s love has first shined upon us, else we could not burn in love. Our love is nothing but the reflection of God’s love.

Cont.

(11). If you do not love God, you will love something else, either the world or sin; and are those worthy of your love? Is it not better to love God than these? It is better to love God than the world, as appears in the following particulars.

If you set your love on worldly things, they will not satisfy. You may as well satisfy your body with air, as your soul with earth. [i]“In the fullness of his sufficiency, he shall be in straits”[/i] (Job xx. 22). Plenty has its penury. If the globe of the world were yours, it would not fill your soul. And will you set your love on that which will never give you contentment? Is it not better to love God? He will give you that which shall satisfy. [i]“When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness”[/i] (Psalm xvii. 15). When I awake out of the sleep of death, and shall have some of the rays and beams of God’s glory put upon me, I shall then be satisfied with His likeness.

If you love worldly things, they cannot remove trouble of mind. If there be a thorn in the conscience, all the world cannot pluck it out. King Saul, being perplexed in mind, all his crown jewels could not comfort him (1 Sam. xxviii. 15). But if you love God, He can give you peace when nothing else can; He can turn the [i]“ shadow of death into the morning”[/i] (Amos v. 8). He can apply Christ’s blood to refresh your soul; He can whisper His love by the Spirit, and with one smile scatter all your fears and disquiets.

If you love the world, you love that which may keep you out of heaven. Worldly contentments may be compared to the wagons in an army; while the soldiers have been victualling themselves at the wagons, they have lost the battle. [i]“How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!”[/i] (Mark x. 23). Prosperity, to many, is like the sail to the boat, which quickly overturns it; so that by loving the world, you love that which will endanger you. But if you love God, there is no fear of losing heaven. He will be a Rock to hide you, but not to hurt you. By loving Him, we come to enjoy Him.

You may love worldly things, but they cannot love you in return. You love gold and silver, but your gold cannot love you in return. You love a picture, but the picture cannot love you in return. You give away your love to the creature, and receive no love back. But if you love God, He will love you in return. [i]“If any man love me, my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”[/i] (John xiv. 23). God will not be behindhand in love to us: for our drop, we shall receive an ocean.

When you love the world, you love that which is worse than yourselves. The soul, as Damascen says, is a sparkle of celestial brightness; it carries in it an idea and resemblance of God. While you love the world, you love that which is infinitely below the worth of your souls. Will any one lay out cost upon sackcloth? When you lay out your love upon the world, you hang a pearl upon a swine, you love that which is inferior to yourself. As Christ speaks in another sense of the fowls of the air, [i]“Are ye nor much better than they?”[/i] (Matt. vi. 26), so I say of worldly things, Are ye not much better than they? You love a fair house, a beautiful picture; are you not much better than they? But if you love God, you place your love on the most noble and sublime object: you love that which is better than yourselves. God is better than the soul, better than angels, better than heaven.

You may love the world, and have hatred for your love. [i]“Because you are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you”[/i] (John xv. 19). Would it not vex one to lay out money upon a piece of ground which, instead of bringing forth corn or grapes, should yield nothing but nettles? Thus it is with all sublunary things: we love them, and they prove nettles to sting. We meet with nothing but disappointment. [i]“Let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon”[/i] (Judg. ix. 15). While we love the creature, fire comes out of this bramble to devour us; but if we love God, He will not return hatred for love. [i]“I love them that love me”[/i] (Prov. viii. 17). God may chastise, but He cannot hate. Every believer is part of Christ, and God can as well hate Christ as hate a believer.

You may over-love the creature. You may love wine too much, and silver too much; but you cannot love God too much. If it were possible to exceed, excess here were a virtue; but it is our sin that we cannot love God enough. [i]“How weak is thy heart!”[/i] (Ezek. xvi. 30). So it may be said, How weak is our love to God! It is like water of the last drawing from the still, which has less spirit in it. If we could love God far more than we do, yet it were not proportionate to His worth; so that there is no danger of excess in our love to God.

You may love worldly things, and they die and leave you. Riches take wings, relations drop away. There is nothing here abiding; the creature has a little honey in its mouth, but it has wings, it will soon fly away. But if you love God, He is [i]“a portion for ever”[/i] (Psalm lxxiii. 26). As He is called a Sun for comfort, so a Rock for eternity; He abides for ever. Thus we see it is better to love God than the world.

If it is better to love God than the world, surely also it is better to love God than sin. What is there in sin, that any should love it? Sin is a debt. [i]“Forgive us our debts”[/i] (Matt. vi. 12). It is a debt which binds over to the wrath of God; why should we love sin? Does any man love to be in debt? Sin is a disease. [i]“The whole head is sick”[/i] (Isa. i. 5). And will you love sin? Will any man hug a disease? Will he love his plague sores? Sin is a pollution. The apostle calls it [i]“filthiness”[/i] (James i. 21). It is compared to leprosy and to poison of asps. God’s heart rises against sinners. [i]“My soul loathed them”[/i] (Zech. xi. 8). Sin is a misshapen monster: lust makes a man brutish, malice makes him devilish. What is in sin to be loved? Shall we love deformity? Sin is an enemy. It is compared to a [i]“serpent”[/i] (Prov. xxiii. 32). It has four stings — shame, guilt, horror, death. Will a man love that which seeks his death? Surely then it is better to love God than sin. God will save you, sin will damn you; is he not become foolish who loves damnation?

Cont.

(12). The relation we stand in to God calls for love. There is near affinity. [i]“Thy Maker is thy husband”[/i] (Isa. liv. 5). And shall a wife not love her husband? He is full of tenderness: His spouse is to him as the apple of his eye. He rejoices over her, as the bridegroom over the bride (Isa. lxii. 5). He loves the believer, as He loves Christ (John xvii. 26). The same love for quality, though not equally. Either we must love God, or we give ground of suspicion that we are not yet united to Him.

(13). Love is the most abiding grace. This will stay with us when other graces take their farewell. In heaven we shall need no repentance, because we shall have no sin. In heaven we shall not need patience, because there will be no affliction. In heaven we shall need no faith because faith looks at things unseen (Heb. xi. 1). But then we shall see God face to face; and where there is vision, there is no need of faith.

But when the other graces are out of date, love continues; and in this sense the apostle says that love is greater than faith, because it abides the longest. [i]“Charity never faileth”[/i] (1 Cor. xiii. 8). Faith is the staff we walk with in this life. [i]“We walk by faith”[/i] (2 Cor. v. 7). But we shall leave this staff at heaven’s door, and only love shall enter. Thus love carries away the crown from all the other graces. Love is the most long lived grace, it is a blossom of eternity. How should we strive to excel in this grace, which alone shall live with us in heaven, and shall accompany us to the marriage supper of the Lamb!

(14). Love to God will never let sin thrive in the heart. Some plants will not thrive when they are near together: the love of God withers sin. Though the old man live, yet as a sick man, it is weak, and draws its breath short. The flower of love kills the weed of sin though sin does not die perfectly yet it dies daily. How should we labour for that grace which is the only corrosive to destroy sin!

(15). Love to God is an excellent means for growth of grace. [i]“But grow in grace”[/i] (2 Pet. iii. 18). Growth in grace is very pleasing to God. Christ accepts the truth of grace, but commends the degrees of grace; and what can more promote and augment grace than love to God? Love is like watering of the root, which makes the tree grow. Therefore the apostle uses this expression in his prayer, [i]“The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God”[/i] (2 Thess. iii. 5). He knew this grace of love would nurse and cherish all the graces.

(16). The great benefit which will accrue to us, if we love God. [i]“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him”[/i] (I Cor. ii. 9). The eye has seen rare sights, the ear has heard sweet music; but eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor can the heart of man conceive what God has prepared for them that love Him! Such glorious rewards are laid up that, as Augustine says, faith itself is not able to comprehend. God has promised a crown of life to them that love Him (James i. 12). This crown encircles within it all blessedness — riches, and glory, and delight: and it is a crown that fades not away (I Pet. v. 4). Thus God would draw us to Him by rewards.

(17). Love to God is armour of proof against error. For want of hearts full of love, men have heads full of error; unholy opinions are for want of holy affections. Why are men given up to strong delusions? Because [i]“they receive not the love of truth”[/i] (2 Thess. ii. 10, 11). The more we love God, the more we hate those heterodox opinions that would draw us off from God into libertinism.

(18). If we love God, we have all winds blowing for us, everything in the world shall conspire for our good. We know not what fiery trials we may meet with, but to them that love God all things shall work for good. Those things which work against them, shall work for them; their cross shall make way for a crown; every wind shall blow them to the heavenly port.

(19). Want of love to God is the ground of apostasy. The seed in the parable, which had no root, fell away. He who has not the love of God rooted in his heart will fall away in time of temptation. He who loves God will cleave to Him, as Ruth to Naomi. [i]“Where thou goest I will go, and where thou diest I will die”[/i] (Ruth i. 16, 17). But he who wants love to God will do as Orpah to her mother in law; she kissed her, and took her farewell of her. That soldier who has no love to his commander, when he sees an opportunity, will leave him, and run over to the enemy’s side. He who has no love in his heart to God, you may set him down for an apostate.

(20). Love is the only thing in which we can retaliate with God. If God be angry with us, we must not be angry again: if He chide us, we must not chide Him again; but if God loves us, we must love Him again. There is nothing in which we can answer God again, but love. We must not give Him word for word, but we must give Him love for love.

Thus we have seen twenty motives to excite and inflame our love to God.