You who have love to God, labour to preserve it; let not this love die, and be
Make it your earnest request to God, that He will give you a heart to love Him. This is an acceptable request, surely God will not deny it. When king Solomon asked wisdom of God, "Give therefore your servant an understanding heart" (1 Kings 3:9), "the speech pleased the Lord" (verse 10). So when you cry to God, "Lord, give me a heart to love You. It is my grief, I can love You no more. Oh, kindle this fire from heaven upon the altar of my heart!" surely this prayer pleases the Lord, and He will pour of His Spirit upon you, whose golden oil shall make the lamp of your love burn bright.
2. An exhortation to preserve your love to God.
You who have love to God, labour to preserve it; let not this love die, and be quenched.
As you would have God's love to be continued to you, let your love be continued to Him. Love, as fire, will be ready to go out. "You have left your first love" (Rev. 2:4). Satan labours to blow out this flame, and through neglect of duty we lose it. When a tender body leaves off clothes, it is apt to get cold: so when we leave off duty, by degrees we cool in our love to God. Of all graces, love is most apt to decay; therefore we had need to be the more careful to preserve it. If a man has a jewel, he will keep it; if he has land of inheritance, he will keep it; what care then should we have to keep this grace of love! It is sad to see professors declining in their love to God; many are in a spiritual consumption, their love is decaying.
There are four signs by which Christians may know that their love is in a consumption.
(1). When they have lost their taste. He who is in a deep consumption has no taste; he does not find that savoury relish in his food as formerly. So when Christians have lost their taste, and they find no sweetness in a promise, it is a sign of a spiritual consumption. "If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious" (I Pet. 2:3). Time was, when they found comfort in drawing nigh to God. His Word was as the dropping honey, very delicious to the palate of their soul, but now it is otherwise. They can taste no more sweetness in spiritual things than in the "white of an egg" (Job 6:6). This is a sign they are in a consumption; to lose the taste, argues the loss of the first love.
(2). When Christians have lost their appetite. A man in a deep consumption
has not that relish for his food as formerly. Time was, when Christians "hungered and thirsted after righteousness" (Matt. 5:6). They minded things of a heavenly aspect, the grace of the Spirit, the blood of the cross, the light of God's countenance. They had a longing for ordinances, and came to them as a hungry man to a feast. But now the case is altered. They have no appetite, they do not so prize Christ, they have not such strong affections to the Word, their hearts do not burn within them; a sad presage, they are in a consumption, their love is decaying. It was a sign David's natural strength was abated, when they covered him with clothes, and yet he get no heat (I Kings 1:1). So when men are plied with hot clothes (I mean ordinances), yet they have no heat of affection, but are cold and stiff, as if they were ready to be laid forth; this is a sign their first love is declined, they are in a deep consumption.
(3). When Christians grow more in love with the world, it argues the decrease of spiritual love. They were once of a sublime, heavenly temper, they spoke the language of Canaan: but now they are like the fish in the gospel, which had money in its mouth (Matt. 17:27). They cannot lisp out three words, but one is about mammon. Their thoughts and affections, like Satan, are still compassing the earth, a sign they are going down the hill apace, their love to God is in a consumption. We may observe, when nature decays and grows weaker, persons go more stooping: and truly, when the heart goes more stooping to the earth, and is so bowed together that it can scarcely lift up itself to a heavenly thought, it is now sadly declining in its first love. When rust cleaves to metal, it not only takes away the brightness of the metal, but it cankers and consumes it: so when the earth cleaves to men's souls, it not only hinders the shining lustre of their graces, but by degrees it cankers them.
(4). When Christians make little reckoning of God's worship. Duties of religion are performed in a dead, formal manner; if they are not left undone, yet they are ill done. This is a sad symptom of a spiritual consumption; remissness in duty shows a decay in our first love. The strings of a violin being slack, the violin can never make good music; when men grow slack in duty, they pray as if they prayed not; this can never make any harmonious sound in God's ears. When the spiritual motion is slow and heavy, and the pulse of the soul beats low, it is a sign that Christians have left their first love.
Let us take heed of this spiritual consumption; it is dangerous to abate in our love. Love is such a grace as we know not how to be without. A soldier may as well be without his weapons, an artist without his pencil, a musician without his instrument, as a Christian can be without love. The body cannot lack its