171 SERMON XII. THE LOVE OF CHRIST MUST BE THE SUPREME AFFECTION. MATT. X. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. OUR Lord is speaking of the persecutions and hardships which his faithful followers must endure for his sake. So little disposed are men to receive the very best tidings which ever came to the ears of mankind, that the preachers of the Gospel are exposed to reproach and much ill treatment from the world. "A man's foes shall be they of his own household;" which is no uncommon case even to this day: parents, husbands, wives, and children persecute their nearest relations on account of their love of Christ. He warns us, in this case, how necessary it is that we have the prevailing love of Christ in our souls. However dear father or mother, son or daughter, be, they must not rival Christ in our affections. He deserves more of our love than they: if we cannot enjoy their love in consistence with the love of Christ, he shews us in the text which ought to give way: that man who loves not Christ above the nearest and dearest relation he has in the world, and by consequence above every other person or thing besides, is not worthy of Christ. So that the doctrine of the text is, the love of our Lord Jesus Christ ought to be stronger than, and superior to, all other affections in the world.-Let us, first, illustrate a little the nature and excellency of this love of Christ; and then apply it to the consciences of different sorts of persons. 1. The duty of the text is one of those which flow from principles peculiarly Christian: it is such as would never have been known or understood at all, had it not been revealed in the Scriptures. It is at once connected both with Christian doctrine and practice; for without the belief and right apprehension of the doctrines, it cannot be understood at all. If I am to love Jesus Christ, I must know who he is, why he is worthy of my love, what are my obligations to him, and in what relation to him I am to stand in my religion. And if I love him indeed, I must shew the sincerity of my regard by obedience to his commandments, and by following his example. So that we have here the most comprehensive duty in the world: it embraces the whole of Christian faith and practice. There are many ways by which the craft of Satan and the deceit of the human heart can prevail on men to take up with some form of Christian religion without sincerity; and it is difficult to state the fundamentals of Christ's religion in any light whatever, but some abuse or perversion may be made of it: but to state them under the idea of loving Jesus Christ, seems as little liable to such abuses as any way that I know. Indeed, a person may have warm and passionate fits of seeming regard to Christ, and in the strength of imagination may work himself up to very high sensations, and yet be destitute of the principle itself, and in his conduct quite disgrace that Divine Saviour whom he may seem to love. But this is such an abuse as a man may make of his affections in other any way as much as in religion. A person may profess very warm attachment to any fellow-creature, and yet be as unstable as the wind; have no steady, well-rooted principle of affection at all; and shew by his conduct that he has not. Love cannot be without knowledge. He who does not know what he loves a person for, loves his own fancy more than any thing else. And abuses of this sort should not discredit with us the noble principle of love itself. It is the most pleasing and the most generous affection of which the human mind is capable. When God imprinted in us the affection of love, he meant that it should have a suitable object to rest in, to be satisfied with; and doubtless God himself is properly the supreme object of love. But sinners cannot come at God without a Mediator. Direct and immediate intercourse with God is not attainable by guilty creatures. We are distant, and estranged from him by sin; and are rather disposed to fly from him with dread, than to draw near to him with love. I confess, I like not men's talking of their love to God, without acquaintance with Christ as their Mediator. Our present circumstances, and the feelings of human nature, permit it not. Those who pretend to it, do but deceive themselves. But let us learn to know and believe the love that God hath to us in Christ, whom he sent to be a propitiation for our sins, that we may live through him; and then we solidly learn to love God. And in learning this, is it possible to be without a sincere affection to Jesus Christ? In truth, he is God and man, and all the excellencies of both are in him. Let no man fear his carrying this passion too far; let it only be a genuine affection, and not a fancy. No man need fear he shall love Jesus Christ too much. Alas! we may mourn over our defects in this matter: we are all much too cold and languid. Nor ought any one to be hindered, by the representations of the hypocrisy of many, and abuses made of this noble principle, from seeking to cultivate it with all his heart: for it is the very hap-piness of heaven. In that most glorious description given of the bliss of the celestial regions, in the last chapter but one of the book of the Revelations, it is said, "the Lamb is the light thereof." Take away the love of Christ, and heaven is gone. If we truly love God, we love him in Christ his Son. If we see the love of God to us, it is shewn in Christ to us. If we admire the character of God, it is in Christ that character is seen; and the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared him to us. What is there not in him proper to engage our affections? Besides all the excellencies of the Godhead, he is a human friend. He has brought down the glories of the Godhead, as it were, to our senses: he is become one of us: he has had all our infirmities, and has suffered with us in all things. He has taken away the curse from us; he was made a curse for us. He has restored to us life everlasting. He has proved himself to be the greatest Patron to mankind that can be: and now in heaven he appears before his Father's throne, to intercede for sinful men. You may put your cause at any time into his hand as an Advocate: and him that comes to him he will in no wise cast out. He is ever ready to bestow of his own Spirit to quicken and enlighten men's minds with these truths, whenever they apply to him: for, alas! so dead is man in sins by nature, that he knows nothing at all of this subject without influence from above. And then, the offices of King, Priest, and Prophet, which he sustains for all who believe in him, do each of them call on us to love him |