Vital Godliness: A Treatise on
Experimental and Practical Piety
By William S. Plumer
LOVE TO CHRIST
In addressing the strangers scattered abroad throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, the apostle Peter admits
that they had never personally seen Jesus Christ. He himself had often seen
the Lord. He had seen him walking by the sea of Galilee. He had seen him
walking on it. He had been with him on the holy mount, in the judgment-hall,
and on the top of Olivet, when he ascended to glory. He had been his
companion for years, had tasted of his mercy, had beheld his miracles, had
been an eye-witness of his agony, of his betrayal, of his trial, of his
resurrection, of his ascension, and of his glory and majesty. He had seen
him in the depths of his humiliation. He had seen him in the first and
second stages of his exaltation. Yet the apostle does not assert that those
who had not been so highly favored as himself were destitute of right
affections to the Redeemer, but says, "Whom having not seen, you love." 1
Pet. 1:8.
What a rich provision of mercy is that which so far puts
all God's people on a level as to permit the saint of these latter days to
love the Lord Jesus as fervently and as acceptably as if he had seen his
blessed person, and spoken with him face to face! Though love to Christ is
not different from love to God, yet it is worthy of distinct consideration.
It is much spoken of in Scripture. It enters very fully into the experience
of all saints. Love to Christ is one of the strongest of all affections,
and one of the most powerful principles. If the time shall ever come
when such a theme shall be distasteful to professing Christians, then indeed
the glory will have departed from the visible church.
Yet the theme is always unpleasant to carnal men. Some
satisfy themselves with not caring for these things; but others rail at the
whole doctrine of love to the Son of God. The efforts of such are commonly
directed to the denial of the reality of everything vital in religion.
Accordingly they make light of sin, they speak of human guilt as a trifle,
they think a depraved nature a theological invention, they look upon heaven
as a fantasy and hell as a dream. They deny all Christian graces, and in
particular they regard all love to Christ as romance, confined to the weak
and ignorant.
But the word of God rebukes all such wickedness. If God
does not teach us the reality of love to Christ in all his people, he
teaches us nothing. Else what shall we do with such scriptures as these?
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for his love is better than
wine. Your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore the virgins love you.
We will remember your love more than wine: the upright love you. Behold, you
are fair, my beloved, yes, pleasant: also our bed is green. A bundle of
myrrh is my beloved unto me; he shall lie all night between my breasts. I
sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste. He brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me was
love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick with love.
His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me. My beloved
is mine, and I am his. I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me. I
found him whom my soul loves; I held him, and would not let him go. Set me
as a seal upon your heart, as a seal on your arm. I charge you, O you
daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick
with love. Come, my beloved, let us go up early to the vineyards, let us see
if the vines flourish. There will I give you my love. Make haste, my
beloved, and be like a roe, or a young deer on the mountains of spices."
Such is some of the language of one of the short books of
the Bible, which abounds indeed in imagery borrowed from the East, but which
also abounds in the richest stores of Christian experience. Other portions
of Scripture fully accord with the proofs already quoted. Christ himself
said, "He who loves me shall beloved of my Father, and I will love him, and
manifest myself to him. If any man loves me, he will keep my words, and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with
him. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; continue you in my
love." Other portions of God's word are of like import. It is then
undeniable that God's word calls for love to Christ as an essential proof
of Christian character.
Infidelity teaches nothing more dangerous, than that we
can have pious affections, without any love to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
God's people have the best ground of love to Christ. He is "the chief among
ten thousand, and altogether lovely." He is perfect God and perfect man in
two distinct natures and one person forever. He is the author of eternal
redemption, the Savior of the world. To him we owe both our being and our
well-being. His grace is rich, free, and unchangeable. His love to us has in
it heights and depths, lengths and breadths, which can never be measured. It
passes knowledge. None ever loved us as Christ, who gave himself for us.
Well do Solomon and Paul unite in calling him the Beloved. All the
righteous do the same. We owe him all gratitude, all good-will, all delight.
The first essential quality of love to Christ is that it
be SINCERE. In it there can be admitted no double-mindedness. Paul
closes one of his epistles with the solemn words, "Grace bet with all those
who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen." Eph. 6:24. Insincerity
spoils any profession; but a profession of love, not founded in the depths
of the heart, is exceedingly hateful to God and man. When even the worst of
men see deception and guile in matters of friendship, their abhorrence is
awakened. Let every man see to it that his love is real and genuine.
Love to Christ is a PURE and HOLY affection. It is
the reigning principle among the redeemed in glory. It is the bond of union
among believers on earth.
Love to Christ has for its object his glorious person.
And yet it is not at all like the admiration and fondness we have for the
lovely appearance of men upon earth. There is nothing carnal or gross in the
affections of a creature towards the Lord of life and glory. When upon
earth, his pious followers loved him, although "his visage was marred more
than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." And it is so still.
After his resurrection and before his ascension, he said to Mary, "Touch me
not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say
unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your
God.' John 20:17. Some think our Lord thus intended to remind Mary that it
was not by touching his body, but by believing on him; not by handling him,
but by spiritually laying hold on him, that he would have her approach him.
Whether this passage bears such a construction or not, there is no doubt of
the fact that thousands saw him, heard him, and touched him with their
bodily faculties, and were never a whit the better for it all.
Paul says, "Though we have known Christ after the flesh,
yet now henceforth know we him no more." 2 Cor. 5:16. To his disciples no
less than to his enemies Jesus said, "You shall seek me; and as I said unto
the Jews—Where I go you cannot come, so now I say to you." John 13:33;
compare John 8:21. "He is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not
of men, but of God." Rom. 2:29.
True love to Christ is always grieved at having its
sincerity seriously questioned. "Jealousy is cruel as the grave; the coals
thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame." Song 8:6.
"Peter was grieved because Jesus said unto him the third time—Do you love
me?" John 21:17. That question is never earnestly brought home to the bosom
of any genuine follower of the Savior without awakening the deepest concern;
and until it can be satisfactorily answered, the soul is in deep waters.
This must ever be the case. It is not possible for any to love the Lord
Jesus without seeing something of his infinite excellency, without at the
same time wishing to love him more; or without seeing that lack of love
to him would be the eternal undoing of the soul.
It should also be noted that there may be much
imperfection even in genuine love to the Savior. To deny this is to cut
off the whole Christian world from a participation in the favor of Christ.
If no man loves the Savior, except he loves perfectly, then none but the
redeemed above have any evidence that they are his. How sadly imperfect even
genuine love may be, is seen in the case of David and Peter and many other
Bible saints. At times their conduct was sadly opposed to the belief that
they were godly men. So now all the best men in this world are among the
foremost to cry out, "In many things we all offend!" "Iniquities prevail
against us!" "We abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes!" "Unto us
belong shame and confusion of face."
Yet true love to Christ is not fitful. It is constant,
not occasional. Like the fire of old kept burning on the altar, which at
some times was much brighter than at others, yet at no time was entirely
extinct, so the love of Christ never totally vanishes from the heart of a
godly man, although it is not always glowing. A gold dollar may be as
genuine metal, as a gold eagle. A live coal is as truly fire, as the
burnings of a glowing furnace. The new-born infant is as truly a human
being, as the full-grown man. Let us beware how we grieve whom God does not
grieve by denying them the rights and privileges of the sons of God. He who
can give power to the faint, and increase might to him that has no strength;
he who can hold up the weak brother, and make the feeble among his people
like David, will not forget his covenant nor quench the smoking flax. It
is a good sign when we can humbly and reverently appeal to Omniscience for
the sincerity of our love.
Appearances are sometimes against men, very godly men.
When this is so, they are deeply abased; but they will not therefore let go
their hold on the divine mercy, nor deny their allegiance to Christ. This
was the case with Peter. He had denied his Lord, and brought great reproach
on the cause of God, and had deeply bewailed his wickedness; yet when thrice
interrogated by Christ, his answers were, "Yes, Lord: you know that I love
you." "Yes, Lord: you know that I love you." "Lord, you know all things—you
know that I love you." Every true child of God can sincerely pray, "Lord, if
I am deceived, I beg you to undeceive me." To our Master in heaven we stand
or fall; and when we can truly say, "Lord, to whom shall we go but unto you?
you have the words of eternal life," we have a right to rejoice and be glad.
Genuine love to Christ does not regard any service it can
render, or any sacrifice it can make, as too great for the honor of Christ.
True love to the Savior, so far from being a dormant principle, is
wonderfully active, and delights in paying the largest tribute it can
possibly render. It is not of the nature of supreme love to begrudge
anything. Under the sway of such affection for Christ, Paul said of bonds
and afflictions, "None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry
which I have received from the Lord Jesus—to testify the gospel of the grace
of God." Acts 20:24. Again he says, "But everything that was a gain to me, I
have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also
consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things
and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him,
not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through
faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith." (Philippians
3:7-9). It was the same mighty principle of love to Christ that sustained
the martyrs of all ages, made them rejoice in the confiscation of their
goods, and in all tribulation, and finally caused them to triumph over death
in its most horrible forms.
True love to Christ is supreme. "If any man comes to
me, and hates not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also—he cannot be my disciple."
Luke 14:26. That is, if a man does not put Christ above all these, and love
them less than him—he is not a true Christian. Gregory Nazianzen said, "If I
have any possessions, health, credit, learning, this is all the contentment
I have of them—that I have something I may despise for Christ, who is the
all-desirable and the everything desirable." Augustine said, "How sweet it
is, to deny these sinful sweets."
It is worthy of special notice that the exercise of love
to Christ is not only pleasant, but is so in a high degree. The same may
indeed be said of other pious affections, but this is so peculiarly true of
love to the Savior, that it deserves special consideration. The very first
motions of this grace are so delightful, that even young converts regard a
day of holy exercises of mind as worth more than years of sinful pleasure.
They greatly wonder that they never had a just estimate of these things
before.
To love Christ is the very height of wisdom. Every
Christian has the demonstration of this truth in his own blessed experience.
The natural language of the renewed soul is—Who would not love Jesus? The
'wicked passions' of our nature commonly bring with them great pain. Under
their influence men grow pale, tremble in their whole frame, lose their
appetite, become wakeful and restless, and often pine away. But the love of
Christ produces none of these miseries. It opens fountains of joy before
sealed up, and makes rivers to break forth in the wilderness.
In love to Christ, nothing is more pleasing than to
witness its increasing strength and mellowness. At first, in all its
feebleness it may yet manifest some rather fiery qualities; but when it
becomes strong it acquires much of the gentleness of Christ. Our first love
is often like new wine. Our matured love is like wine on the lees well
refined. The former may burst even new bottles; the latter would not injure
old ones. This matter may be well illustrated by the difference between a
loving young groom and bride and the same people after they have been
partakers of each other's joys and sorrows for half a century. When young,
there is a peculiar ardor and fondness not at all diminished by the novelty
of the affection; but in old age, the heart and life of each are bound up in
the other. If one of those young people had died, the survivor would have
been filled with grief, and perhaps have fallen into paroxysms; but in a few
years at most, all would have seemed to pass away. But let one of those
loving old people die, and the survivor, however strong and healthy at the
time, will soon show signs of decay, and in a short time will sink into the
grave. The young couple, with all their affection, were sometimes a little
irritable, perhaps jealous or moody; but the old ones had a confidence in
each other, and a natural tenderness which nothing could disturb. So the
young disciple, though he loves Jesus sincerely, has but little stability
compared with what he will have, if he shall serve God until he has a large
experience.
There is also in true love to Christ a genuine modesty,
which grows with all other right affections. This modesty leads even the
babe in Christ to be dissatisfied with the amount of his devotion to the
Savior. More experience leads to yet more profound self-renunciation. Every
fall into sin followed by recovery—but deepens self-distrust. And although
the child of God may not be ready to renounce his integrity nor deny his
love, yet he is very willing to speak of himself and his love to Christ in
the most unpretending manner. It is also true, that he who loves Christ
delights in commending and honoring him, and in seeing others do the same.
It is impossible to love that which is not excellent or beautiful in our
eyes. And so surely as anything seems so to lovely us, we wish others to
unite with us in admiring it. Could therefore a converted man be found who
was indifferent whether others were brought to love Christ or not, he would
be such a monster in the spiritual world as has never yet made his
appearance.
True love to Christ is to his whole person, to his
human and his divine natures. He who hates or rejects either his divinity or
his humanity hates and rejects him. Chrysostom says, "When you hear of
Christ, do not think him God only or man only—but both together. For I know
Christ was hungry, and I know that with five loaves he fed five thousand
men, besides women and children. I know Christ was thirsty, and I know
Christ turned water into wine. I know Christ was carried in a ship, and I
know Christ walked on the waters. I know Christ died, and I know Christ
raised the dead. I know Christ was set before Pilate, and I know Christ sits
with the Father. I know Christ was worshiped by the angels, and I know
Christ was stoned by the Jews. And truly some of these I ascribe to the
human, others to the divine nature; for by reason of this he is said to be
both together."
Of course he who loves Christ loves his Sabbaths, his
worship, his truth, his laws, his people, and all that brings him to mind.
To such the Sabbath is a delight, the holy of the Lord, and honorable. There
is no uncharitableness in supposing that he who hates holy time hates a holy
God and a holy Savior. And if any man loves not the worship of Christ on
earth, surely he cannot love the temper of the redeemed above; for nothing
is more clearly revealed than that Christ receives the highest adorations of
heaven.
The same man, when he finds the words of Christ, will
keep them and rejoice in them. They are to his soul food and drink. They are
to him a fountain of life, a well-spring of salvation. Even Christ's laws,
with all their binding force, are the rejoicing of his heart. And to him
God's people are the excellent of the earth, in whom is all his delight.
Whoever loves God's image anywhere, will love it in his people. He who loves
not his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love his Savior, whom he has not
seen.
One of the miseries of man is that he is apt to set his
affection on unworthy objects. The more he loves such things, the more
unhappy he is. But in loving Christ we know that the object is worthy of our
supreme regard. Yes, he is worthy. Lady Huntington expressed common
Christian experience when she said, "I am nothing; Christ is all. I disclaim
as well as disdain any righteousness but his. I not only rejoice that there
is no wisdom for his people but that from above, but reject every pretension
to any but what comes from himself. I want no holiness he does not give me;
I would not accept a heaven he did not prepare for me. I can wish for no
liberty but what he likes for me, and I am satisfied with every misery that
he does not redeem me from; that in all things I may feel that without him I
can do nothing."
Either Christ will be all our salvation—or he will leave
us to perish. The righteous consent that it shall be so. Would you have
fervent love—labor for lively faith. Ardent love is sure to accompany strong
believing. An old writer says, "Believe, and you shall love; believe much,
and you shall love much; labor for strong and deep persuasions of the
glorious things which are spoken of Christ, and this will command love.
Certainly, did men believe his worth, they would accordingly love him; for
the reasonable mind cannot but love that which it firmly believes to be
worthiest of affection.
Oh, this mischievous unbelief is that which makes the
heart cold and dead towards God. Seek then to believe Christ's excellency in
himself, and his love to us, and our interest in him—and this will kindle
such a fire in the heart as will make it ascend in a sacrifice of love to
him. Love to Christ is sure to be requited by the love of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Spirit. Christ himself said, "He who loves me shall be loved
by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." And the
Spirit is as loving as the Father and the Son. And although that expression
used by Paul, 'the love of the Spirit,' is by many understood to mean "the
love of which the Holy Spirit is the author," yet even that shows his loving
nature perhaps no less than if thereby we understood his direct love to his
people.
Love to Christ is a mighty principle. Let it control us,
and we shall be able to meet all the storms of life with firmness, and do
all the duties of life with alacrity. It will bear us up and on and through.
John Newton says, "The love of Christ was the apostle's chief motive; it
constrained him; bore him along like a torrent, in defiance of labor,
hardship, and opposition." As for us, what are we without it—but reeds
shaken with the wind? But with it we become heroes, pillars, martyrs,
victors, yes, more than conquerors. This is true at all times. On one
occasion Doddridge interested himself in behalf of a condemned criminal, and
at length obtained his pardon. On entering the cell of the condemned man,
the pardoned man fell at his feet, and with streaming eyes exclaimed, "Oh
sir, every drop of my blood thanks you, for you have had mercy on every drop
of it. Wherever you go, I will be yours." How natural was all this.
And how surely will one who feels that his soul is saved
from wrath by the blood of the Lamb, be ready to give all—all to him. It
is this love to Christ that makes God's people so dissatisfied with all
their present attainments, and so long to depart and be with Christ.
That eminent servant of God, Samuel Davies, on recovering from a dangerous
illness, wrote to a friend, "Formerly I have wished to live longer, that I
might be better prepared for heaven; but this consideration had but very
little weight with me, and that for a very unusual reason, which was this:
after a long trial, I found this world is a place so unfriendly to the
growth of everything divine and heavenly, that I was afraid if I should
live longer, I would be no better fitted for heaven than I am. Indeed, I
have hardly any hopes of ever making any great attainments in holiness while
I live, though I should be doomed to stay in it as long as Methuselah. I see
other Christians around me making progress; but when I consider I set out
about twelve years old, and what optimistic hopes I then had of my future
progress, and yet that I have been almost at a stand ever since, I am quite
discouraged. Oh my good and gracious Master, if I may dare to call you so, I
am afraid I shall never serve you much better on this side the region of
perfection. The thought grieves me; it breaks my heart; but I can hardly
hope better. But if I have the least spark of true piety in my bosom, I
shall not always labor under this complaint. No, my Lord, I shall yet serve
you, serve you through an immortal duration, with the activity, the fervor,
the perfection of the seraph that adores and burns. I very much doubt this
desponding view of matters is wrong, and I do not mention it with
approbation, but only relate it as an unusual reason for my willingness to
die, which I never felt before, and which I could not suppress."
The only thing very remarkable in this extract is that
its learned and experienced author should have supposed that some strange
thing had happened to him. All God's people long for perfect deliverance
from sin; nor does their experience lead them to expect it here. They
would be made perfect in love to Christ. Child of sorrow, come and welcome
to Jesus Christ. He will give you rest. His peace shall rule your heart.
Blunt says, "Are you travailing with sorrow? Are you heavy-laden with the
burden of oppression or woe? Christ will give you rest. Doubtless the
heavy-laden with the burden of sin are first invited, but they exclude no
other sufferers. There is no exception of age or rank or climate, the extent
of the travail, or the weight of the burden; the childish sorrows of the
weeping school-boy are as much the subject of the Savior's sympathy as the
matured wretchedness of the aged man; all come within the Savior's
invitation."
Oh that all would receive him. How soon should the waters
of bitterness be changed into fountains of joy, and the mournful dirge be
given up for the song of triumph. We can now see something of the force of
that solemn declaration of Paul, "If any man loves not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema, Maranatha." The world hurls its anathemas after
those who despise its follies and denounce its vices. The Council of Trent
cries anathema on "whoever shall affirm that a true and proper sacrifice is
not offered to God in the mass." But Paul says, "If any man loves not the
Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, Maranatha." That is—let him be
accursed when the Lord comes!