by Samuel Davies, April 14, 1756
The lack of
love to God takes away all spirit and life from all your religious services,
and diffuses a malignity through all you do. Without the love of God: you may
pray, you may receive the sacrament, you may perform the outward part of every
duty of religion; you may be just and charitable, and do no man any harm; you
may be sober and temperate; but, without the love of God, you cannot do one
action that is truly good and acceptable to God; for how can you imagine that
He will accept anything you do, when He sees your hearts, and knows that you do
it not because you love him—but from some other low, selfish principle?
If a man
treats you well, and perform for you all the good offices of the sincerest
friendship; yet, if you know in the mean time, that he has no real regard for
you at all—but acts from some sordid, mercenary views, are you thankful for his
services, or do you love him in return? No! You abhor the deceiver, and
secretly loathe his services. And will God accept of that as obedience from
you, which he knows does not proceed from love to him? No! Hence it is, that as
Solomon tells us, that the prayers,
the sacrifices, and even
"the ploughing of the wicked, is sin."
Proverbs 21:4.
Now, I
appeal to yourselves—is not this a very dangerous situation? While you are
destitute of sincere love of God—can you flatter yourselves that you are fit
for heaven?
What! fit
for the region of divine love!
What! fit to
converse with a holy God, and live forever in His presence!
What! fit to
spend an eternity in His service!
Can you be
fit for these things—while you have no love to Him? Certainly not! You must perceive
yourselves to be fit for destruction—and fit for nothing else! You are devilized already! Lack of love to God is the grand
constituent of a devil, the worst ingredient in that infernal composition. And
must you not then be doomed to that everlasting fire, which is prepared for the
devil and his angels? Are you capable of hoping better things, while the love
of God is not in you?
And now,
what must you do, when this shocking conviction has forced itself upon you.
Must you now give up all hopes? Must you now despair of ever having the love of God
kindled in your hearts? Yes; you may, you must give up all hopes, you must
despair—if you go on, as you have hitherto done—thoughtless, careless, and
presumptuous in sin, and in the neglect of the means which God has appointed to implant
and nourish this divine, heaven-born principle in your souls. This is the
direct course towards remediless, everlasting despair.
But if you
now sincerely admit the conviction of your miserable condition; if you endeavor
immediately to break off from sin, and from everything which tends to harden
you in sin; if you turn your minds to serious meditation; if you prostrate
yourselves as humble earnest petitioners before God, and continue instant in
prayer; if you use every other means
of grace ordained for this
purpose; I say, if you take this course—then there is hope—there is hope for
you!
There is as
much hope for you, as there once was for anyone of that glorious company of
saints, now in heaven—for they were once as destitute of the love of God as any
of you presently are!
And will you
not take these pains to save your own souls from death? Many have taken more,
to save the souls of others: and you have taken a great deal to obtain the
transitory, perishing enjoyments of this life. And will you take no pains for
your own immortal interests?
Oh! let me
prevail, let even a stranger prevail upon you—to lay out your endeavors upon
this grand concern. I must insist upon it, and can take no denial. You cannot
be saved without sincere love to God! And if you entertain hopes of heaven without it—the common sense of
mankind is against you. Therefore, oh, seek to have the love of God shed abroad
in your hearts.
As for such
of you, and I hope there are sundry such among you—who love God in sincerity, I
have not time to speak much to you at present. Go to your Bibles, and there you
will find abundant consolation. I shall only refer you to one or two passages,
as a specimen.
"All
things shall work together for good—to those who love God!" Romans 8:28.
"No eye
has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared—for
those who love him!" 1 Corinthians 2:9.
This sincere
love of God in your hearts is a surer pledge of your salvation, than an
immediate voice from heaven could be. Heaven, the element of love, was prepared
for such as you—and you need never dread an exclusion!
by Samuel Davies, April 14, 1756
Now it is
evident that the love of God does not dwell in you:
if the native
enmity of your hearts against him has not been subdued;
if your thoughts and affections do not fix upon him with peculiar endearment,
above all other things;
if you do not give him and his interests the preference of all things that may
come in competition with him;
if you do not labor for conformity to him;
if you do not love to converse with him in his ordinances; and
if you do not make it the great business of your lives to please him by keeping
his commandments.
First, The
love of God is not in you—if the native enmity of your hearts against him has
not been subdued.
This will
appear evident to everyone who believes the Scripture account of human nature,
in its present degenerate state. By nature we are "children of
wrath," (Ephesians 2:3:) and certainly the children of wrath cannot be the
lovers of God, while such. "That which is born of the flesh—is
flesh," John 3:6. "The carnal mind is enmity against God."
Romans 8:7. And hence it is, that "those who are in the flesh cannot
please God." Romans 8:8. Paul gives this character of the Colossians, in their natural
state; and there is no reason to confine it to them: that they "were once alienated, and enemies in their
minds by wicked works." Col. 1:21.
In short, it
is evident from the uniform tenor of the gospel, that it is a dispensation for
reconciling enemies and rebels—to God. Hence it is so
often expressly called the ministry of reconciliation; and ministers are
represented as ambassadors for Christ, whose business it is to beseech men, in
his stead, to be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.
But reconciliation presupposes variance and alienation to God. From these things, it is
evident, that, according to the Scripture account, the present state of nature
is a state of disaffection and hostility against God. The authority of
Scripture must be sufficient evidence to us, who call ourselves Christians. But
this is not all the evidence we have in this case.
This is a sensible matter of fact and experience. For I appeal to all
of you that have the least self-acquaintance, whether you are not conscious
that your disposition, ever since you can remember, and consequently your natural disposition, has habitually been
indisposed and disaffected, or, which is the same, lukewarm and
indifferent—towards the blessed God—whether you have had the same delight in
him and his service, as in many other things—whether your earliest affections
fixed upon him, with all the reverence and endearment of a filial heart. You
cannot but know—that the answer to such inquiries will be against you, and
convince you that you are by
nature enemies to the God
that made you, however much you have flattered yourselves to the contrary.
Now, it is
most evident, that since you are by nature enemies to God, that your natural
enmity to him must be subdued; or, in the language of the New Testament, you
must be reconciled to him—before you can be lovers of
him. And have you ever felt such a change of disposition? Such a change of disposition could
not be wrought in you while you were asleep,
or in a state of insensibility.
I will not
say, that every one who has experienced this, is assured that it is a real sufficient
change, and that he is now a sincere lover of God; but this I will say, and
this is obvious to common sense—that every one who has experienced this, is
assured that he has felt a great change, of some kind or other, and that his
disposition towards God is not the same now as it once was. This, therefore, may be a
decisive evidence to you: If divine grace has never changed your disposition
towards God—but you still continue the same, you may be sure the love of God is
not in you.
And if this
change has been wrought, you have felt it. It was preceded by a glaring
conviction of your enmity,
and the utmost horror and detestation of yourselves upon the account of it. It
was attended with affecting views of the attractive
excellencies of God, and of your obligations to love him; and with those
tender and affectionate emotions of the heart towards him, which the passion of
love always includes. And it was followed with a cheerful universal dedication of yourselves to God and his
service. And does conscience (for to that I now address) speak
in your favor in this inquiry? Listen to its voice—as the voice of God.
Secondly,
It is evident, that you have not the love of God in you—if your thoughts and
affections do not fix upon him with affectionate endearment above all other
things.
This is so
obvious to common sense, that I need not take up your time with Scripture
quotations: for you would not have the face to profess to a person that you
loved him—if, in the mean time, you have told him that he had little or no
share in your thoughts and affections. You know by experience, that your affectionate thoughts will eagerly pursue the object of your love over wide-extended
countries and oceans: and that in proportion to the degree of your love.
Now if you
love God sincerely at all—then you love him supremely; you love him above
all people and things in the universe. To offer subordinate love to supreme perfection and
excellency, what a gross affront! It is essential to the love of God, that it
be prevalent, or habitually
uppermost in your souls. Now
if every degree of love will engage a proportionable degree of your
affectionate thoughts, can you imagine, that you may love God in the highest
degree—and yet hardly ever have one affectionate thought of him? Can you love
him above all—and yet think of him with less endearment and frequency than of
many other things that you love in an inferior degree? Certainly, it is
impossible.
