"Charity . . . seeks not her own"
-- 1 Corinthians 13:5
Having
shown the nature of charity in respect to the good of others, in the two
particulars, that it is kind to them, and envies not their enjoyments and
blessings; and also in respect to our own good, that it is not proud, either in
spirit or behavior — I pass to the next point presented by the apostle, viz.
that charity “seeketh not her own.” The doctrine of these words
plainly is,
THAT THE SPIRIT OF
CHARITY, OR CHRISTIAN LOVE, IS THE OPPOSITE OF A SELFISH SPIRIT.
The ruin that the fall
brought upon the soul of man consists very much in his losing the nobler and
more benevolent principles of his nature, and falling wholly under the power and
government of self-love. Before, and as God created him, he was exalted, and
noble, and generous; but now he is debased, and ignoble, and selfish.
Immediately upon the fall, the mind of man shrank from its primitive greatness
and expandedness, to an exceeding smallness and contractedness; and as in other
respects, so especially in this. Before, his soul was under the government of
that noble principle of divine love, whereby it was enlarged to the
comprehension of all his fellow creatures and their welfare. And not only so,
but it was not confined within such narrow limits as the bounds of the creation,
but went forth in the exercise of holy love to the Creator, and abroad upon the
infinite ocean of good, and was, as it were, swallowed up by it, and became one
with it. But so soon as he had transgressed against God, these noble principles
were immediately lost, and all this excellent enlargedness of man’s soul was
gone; and thenceforward he himself shrank, as it were, into a little space,
circumscribed and closely shut up within itself to the exclusion of all things
else. Sin, like some powerful astringent, contracted his soul to the very small
dimensions of selfishness; and God was forsaken, and fellow creatures forsaken,
and man retired within himself, and became totally governed by narrow and
selfish principles and feelings. Self-love became absolute master of his soul,
and the more noble and spiritual principles of his being took wings and flew
away. But God, in mercy to miserable man, entered on the work of redemption,
and, by the glorious gospel of his Son, began the work of bringing the soul of
man out of its confinement and contractedness, and back again to those noble and
divine principles by which it was animated and governed at first. And it is
through the cross of Christ that he is doing this; for our union with Christ
gives us participation in his nature. And so Christianity restores an excellent
enlargement, and extensiveness, and liberality to the soul, and again possesses
it with that divine love or charity that we read of in the text, whereby it
again embraces its fellow creatures, and is devoted to and swallowed up in the
Creator. And thus charity, which is the sum of the Christian spirit, so partakes
of the glorious fullness of the divine nature, that she “seeketh not her
own,” or is contrary to selfish spirit. In dwelling on this thought, I
would, first, show the nature of that selfishness of which charity is the
opposite; then how charity is opposed to it; and then some of the evidence in
support of the doctrine stated.
I. I would show the nature
of that selfishness of which charity is the opposite. — And
here I would observe,
1. Negatively, that
charity, or the spirit of Christian love, is not contrary to all self-love.
— It is not a thing contrary to Christianity that a man should love himself,
or, which is the same thing, should love his own happiness. If Christianity did
indeed tend to destroy a man’s love to himself, and to his own happiness, it
would therein tend to destroy the very spirit of humanity; but the very
announcement of the gospel, as a system of peace on earth and goodwill toward
men (Luke 2:14), shows that it is not only not destructive of humanity, but in
the highest degree promotive of its spirit. That a man should love his own
happiness, is as necessary to his nature as the faculty of the will is; and it
is impossible that such a love should be destroyed in any other way than by
destroying his being. The saints love their own happiness. Yea, those that are
perfect in happiness, the saints and angels in heaven, love their own happiness;
otherwise that happiness which God hath given them would be no happiness to
them; for that which anyone does not love he cannot enjoy any happiness in.
That to love ourselves is
not unlawful, is evident also from the fact, that the law of God makes self-love
a rule and measure by which our love to others should be regulated. Thus Christ
commands (Mat. 19:19), “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” which
certainly supposes that we may, and must, love ourselves. It is not said more
than thyself, but as thyself. But we are commanded to love our
neighbor next to God; and therefore we are to love ourselves with a love next to
that which we should exercise toward God himself. And the same appears also from
the fact, that the Scriptures, from one end of the Bible to the other, are full
of motives that are set forth for the very purpose of working on the principle
of self-love. Such are all the promises and threatenings of the Word of God, its
calls and invitations, its counsels to seek our own good, and its warnings to
beware of misery. These things can have no influence on us in any other way than
as they tend to work upon our hopes or fears. For to what purpose would it be to
make any promise of happiness, or hold forth any threatening of misery, to him
that has no love for the former or dread of the latter? Or what reason can there
be in counseling him to seek the one, or warning him to avoid the other? Thus it
is plain, negatively, that charity, or the spirit of Christian love, is not
contrary to all self-love. But I remark still further,
2. Affirmatively, that
the selfishness which charity, or a Christian spirit, is contrary to, is
only an inordinate self-love. — Here, however, the question arises,
In what does this inordinateness consist? This is a point that needs to be well
stated and clearly settled; for the refutation of many scruples and doubts that
persons often have, depends upon it. And therefore I answer,
First, that
the inordinateness of self-love does not consist in our love of our own
happiness being, absolutely considered, too great in degree. — I do not
suppose it can be said of any, that their love to their own happiness, if we
consider that love absolutely and not comparatively, can be in too high a
degree, or that it is a thing that is liable either to increase or diminution.
For I apprehend that self-love, in this sense, is not a result of the fall, but
is necessary, and what belongs to the nature of all intelligent beings, and that
God has made it alike in all; and that saints, and sinners, and all alike, love
happiness, and have the same unalterable and instinctive inclination to desire
and seek it. The change that takes place in a man, when he is converted and
sanctified, is not that his love for happiness is diminished, but only that it
is regulated with respect to its exercises and influence, and the courses and
objects it leads to. Who will say that the happy souls in heaven do not love
happiness as truly as the miserable spirits in hell? If their love of
happiness is diminished by their being made holy, then that will diminish their happiness
itself; for the less anyone loves happiness, the less he relishes it, and,
consequently, is the less happy.
When God brings a soul out
of a miserable state and condition into a happy state, by conversion, he gives
him happiness that before he had not, but he does not at the same time take away
any of his love of happiness. And so, when a saint increases in grace, he is
made still more happy than he was before; but his love of happiness, and his
relish of it, do not grow less as his happiness itself increases, for that would
be to increase his happiness one way, and to diminish it another. But in every
case in which God makes a miserable soul happy, or a happy soul still more
happy, he continues the same love of happiness that existed before. And so,
doubtless, the saints ought to have as much of a principle of love to their own
happiness, or love to themselves, which is the same thing, as the wicked have.
So that, if we consider men’s love of themselves or of their own happiness
absolutely, it is plain that the inordinateness of self-love does not consist in
its being in too great a degree, because it is alike in all. But I remark,
Secondly, that
the inordinateness of self-love, wherein a corrupt selfishness does consist,
lies in two things: — in its being too great comparatively; and in
placing our happiness in that which is confined to self. In the first place,
the degree of self-love may be too great comparatively, and so the degree
of its influence be inordinate. Though the degree of men’s love of their own
happiness, taken absolutely, may in all be the same, yet the proportion that
their love of self bears to their love for others may not be the same. If we
compare a man’s love of himself with his love for others, it may be said that
he loves himself too much — that is, in proportion too much. And though this
may be owing to a defect of love to others, rather than to an excess of love to
himself, yet self-love, by this excess in its proportion, itself becomes
inordinate in this respect, viz. that it becomes inordinate in its influence and
government of the man. For though the principle of self-love, in itself
considered, is not at all greater than if there is a due proportion of love to
God and to fellow creatures with it, yet, the proportion being greater, its
influence and government of the man become greater; and so its influence becomes
inordinate by reason of the weakness or absence of other love that should
restrain or regulate that influence.
To illustrate this, we may
suppose the case of a servant in a family, who was formerly kept in the place of
a servant, and whose influence in family affairs was not inordinate while his
master’s strength was greater than his; and yet, if afterward the master grows
weaker and loses his strength, and the rest of the family lose their former
power, though the servant’s strength be not at all increased, yet, the
proportion of his strength being increased, his influence may become inordinate,
and, from being in subjection and a servant, he may become master m that house.
And so self-love becomes inordinate. Before the fall, man loved himself, or his
own happiness, as much as after the fall; but then, a superior principle of
divine love had the throne, and was of such strength, that it wholly regulated
and directed self-love. But since the fall, the principle of divine love has
lost its strength, or rather is dead; so that self-love, continuing in its
former strength, and having no superior principle to regulate it, becomes
inordinate in its influence, and governs where it should be subject, and only a
servant. Self-love, then, may become inordinate in its influence by being
comparatively too great, either by love to God and to fellow creatures being too
small, as it is in the saints, who in this world have great remaining
corruption, or by its being none at all, as is the case with those who have no
divine love in their hearts. Thus the inordinateness of self-love, with respect
to the degree of it, is not as it is considered absolutely, but comparatively,
or with respect to the degree of its influence. In some respects wicked men do
not love themselves enough — not so much as the godly do; for they do not love
the way of their own welfare and happiness; and in this sense it is sometimes
said of the wicked that they hate themselves, though, in another sense, they
love self too much.
It is further true, in the
second place, that self-love, or a man’s love to his own happiness, may be
inordinate, in placing that happiness in things that are confined to himself.
In this case, the error is not so much in the degree of his love to himself
as it is in the channel in which it flows. It is not in the degree in which he
loves his own happiness, but in his placing his happiness where he ought not,
and in limiting and confining his love. Some, although they love their own
happiness, do not place that happiness in their own confined good, or in that
good which is limited to themselves, but more in the common good — in that
which is the good of others, or in the good to be enjoyed in and by others. A
man’s love of his own happiness, when it runs in this last channel, is not
what is called selfishness, but is the very opposite of it. But there are others
who, in their love to their own happiness, place that happiness in good things
that are confined or limited to themselves, to the exclusion of others. And this
is selfishness. This is the thing most clearly and directly intended by that
self-love which the Scripture condemns. And when it is said that charity seeketh
not her own, we are to understand it of her own private good — good limited to
herself. The expression, “her own,” is a phrase of appropriation, and
properly carries in its signification the idea of limitation to self. And so the
like phrase in Phil. 2:21, that “all seek their own,” carries the idea of
confined and self-appropriated good, or the good that a man has singly and to
himself, and in which he has no communion or partnership with another, but which
he has so circumscribed and limited to himself as to exclude others. And so the
expression is to be understood in 2 Tim. 3:2, “For men shall be lovers of
their own selves;” for the phrase is of the most confined signification,
limited to self alone, and excluding all others.
A man may love himself as
much as one can, and may be, in the exercise of a high degree of love to his own
happiness, ceaselessly longing for it, and yet he may so place that happiness,
that, in the very act of seeking it, he may be in the high exercise of love to
God; as, for example, when the happiness that he longs for, is to enjoy God, or
to behold his glory, or to hold communion with him. Or a man may place his
happiness in glorifying God. It may seem to him the greatest happiness that he
can conceive of, to give God glory, as he may do; and he may long for this
happiness. And in longing for it, he loves that which he looks on as his
happiness; for if he did not love what in this case he esteemed his happiness,
he would not long for it; and to love his happiness is to love himself. And yet,
in the same act, he loves God, because he places his happiness in God; for
nothing can more properly be called love to any being or thing, than to place
our happiness in it. And so persons may place their happiness considerably in
the good of others — their neighbors, for instance — and, desiring the
happiness that consists in seeking their good, they may, in seeking it, love
themselves and their own happiness. And yet this is not selfishness, because it
is not a confined self-love; but the individual’s self-love flows out in such
a channel as to take in others with himself. The self that he loves is, as it
were, enlarged and multiplied, so that, in the very acts in which he loves
himself, he loves others also. And this is the Christian spirit, the excellent
and noble spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the nature of that
divine love, or Christian charity, that is spoken of in the text. And a
Christian spirit is contrary to that selfish spirit which consists in the
self-love that goes out after such objects as are confined and limited — such
as a man’s worldly wealth, or the honor that consists in a man’s being set
up higher in the world than his neighbors, or his own worldly ease and
convenience, or his pleasing and gratifying his own bodily appetites and lusts.
Having thus stated what that
selfishness is that a Christian spirit is contrary to, I pass, as proposed, to
show,
II. How the
spirit of charity, or Christian love, is contrary to such a spirit. — And
this may be shown in these two particulars: that the spirit of charity, or
Christian love, leads us to seek not only our own things, but those of others;
and that it disposes us, in many cases, to forego or part with our own things
for the sake of others. And,
1. The spirit of
charity, or love, leads those who possess it to seek not only their own things,
but the things of others.
First, such
a spirit seeks to please and glorify God. The things that are
well-pleasing to God and Christ, and that tend to the divine glory, are called
the things of Christ, in opposition to our own things; as where it is said
(Phil. 2:21), “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus
Christ’s.” Christianity requires that we should make God and Christ our main
end; and all Christians, so far as they live like Christians, live so that
“for them to live is Christ.” Christians are required to live so as to
please God, and so as to “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God” (Rom. 12:2). We should be such servants of Christ as do in all
things seek to please our Master, as says the apostle (Eph. 6:6) — “Not with
eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of
God from the heart.” And so we are required in all things (1 Cor. 10:31),
whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever we do, to do all to the glory of God.
And this, surely, is a spirit which is the opposite of self-seeking.
Secondly, they
that have the spirit of charity, or Christian love, have a spirit to seek the
good of their fellow creatures. Thus the apostle commands (Phil. 2:4),
“Look not every man on his own things; but every man also on the things of
others.” We ought to seek the spiritual good of others; and if we have a
Christian spirit, we shall desire and seek their spiritual welfare and
happiness, their salvation from hell, and that they may glorify and enjoy God
forever. And the same spirit will dispose us to desire and seek the temporal
prosperity of others, as says the apostle (1 Cor. 10:24), “Let no man seek his
own, but every man another’s wealth.” And we should so seek their pleasure,
that therein we can, at the same time, seek their profit, as again it is said by
the apostle (1 Cor. 10:33), “Even as I please all men in all things, not
seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved;” and
again Rom. 15:2), “Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to
edification.”
But more
particularly, under this head, I would remark, that a spirit of charity, or
Christian love, as exercised toward our fellow creatures, is opposite to a
selfish spirit, as it is a sympathizing and merciful spirit. It disposes
persons to consider not only their own difficulties, but also the burdens and
afflictions of others, and the difficulties of their circumstances, and to
esteem the case of those who are in straits and necessities as their own. A
person of selfish spirit is ready to make much of the afflictions that he
himself is under, as if his privations or sufferings were greater than those of
anybody else; and if he is not in suffering, he is ready to think he is not
called to spare what he has in possession, for the sake of helping others. A
selfish man is not apt to discern the wants of others, but rather to overlook
them, and can hardly be persuaded to see or feel them. But a man of charitable
spirit is apt to see the afflictions of others, and to take notice of their
aggravation, and to be filled with concern for them, as he would be for himself
if under difficulties. And he is ready, also, to help them, and take delight in
supplying their necessities, and relieving their difficulties. He rejoices to
obey that injunction of the apostle (Col. 3:12), “Put on therefore, as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness;” and to cherish
the spirit of “wisdom (Jam. 3:17) that is from above,” which is “full of
mercy;” and, like the good man spoken of by the Psalmist (Psa. 37:26), to be
“merciful,” that is, full of mercy.
And as it is a
sympathizing and merciful spirit, so the spirit of charity, as exercised toward
our fellow creatures, is the opposite of a selfish, inasmuch as it
is a liberal spirit. It not only seeks the good of others that are
in affliction, but it is ready to communicate to all, and forward to promote
their good, as there may be opportunity. To do good, and to communicate, it
forgets not (Heb. 13:16); but obeys the exhortation (Gal. 6:10), “As we have
opportunity, let us do good unto all men.” But on this point I need not
enlarge, having already dwelt upon it at length in the lecture on “Charity is
kind.”
And as the spirit
of charity, or Christian love, is opposed to a selfish spirit, in that it is
merciful and liberal so it is in this, also, that it disposes a person to be
public-spirited. A man of a right spirit is not a man of narrow and private
views, but is greatly interested and concerned for the good of the community to
which he belongs, and particularly of the city or village in which he resides,
and for the true welfare of the society of which he is a member. God commanded
the Jews that were carried away captive to Babylon, to seek the good of that
city, though it was not their native place, but only the city of their
captivity. His injunction was (Jer. 29:7), “Seek the peace of the city whither
I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it.”
And a man of truly Christian spirit will be earnest for the good of his country,
and of the place of his residence, and will be disposed to lay himself out for
its improvement. A man was recommended to Christ by the Jews (Luke 7:5), as one
that loved their nation and had built them a synagogue; and it is spoken of as a
very provoking thing to God, with respect to some in Israel (Amos 6:6), that
they were “not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” And it is recorded, to
the everlasting honor of Esther (Est. 4:16), that she herself fasted and prayed,
and stirred up others to fast and pray, for the welfare of her people. And the
apostle Paul (Rom. 9:1-3) expresses the deepest concern for the welfare of his
countrymen. And those that are possessed of the spirit of Christian charity are
of a more enlarged spirit still; for they are concerned, not only for the thrift
of the community, but for the welfare of the Church of God, and of all the
people of God individually. Of such a spirit was Moses, the man of God, and
therefore he earnestly interceded for God’s visible people, and declared
himself ready to die that they might be spared (Exo. 32:11, 32). And of such a
spirit was Paul, who was so concerned for the welfare of all, both Jews and
Gentiles, that he was willing to become as they were (1 Cor. 9:19-23), if
possibly he might save some of them.
Especially will the
spirit of Christian love dispose those that stand in a public capacity, such as
that of ministers, and magistrates, and all public officers, to seek the public
good. It will dispose magistrates to act as the fathers of the commonwealth,
with that care and concern for the public good which the father of a family has
for his household. It will make them watchful against public dangers, and
forward to use their powers for the promotion of the public benefit; not being
governed by selfish motives in their administration; not seeking only, or
mainly, to enrich themselves, or to become great, and to advance themselves on
the spoils of others, as wicked rulers very often do; but striving to act for
the true welfare of all to whom their authority extends. And the same spirit
will dispose ministers not to seek their own, and endeavor to get all they can
out of their people to enrich themselves and their families, but to seek the
good of the flock over which the great Shepherd has placed them; to feed, and
watch over them, and lead them to good pastures, and defend them from wolves and
wild beasts that would devour them. And so, whatever the post of honor or
influence we may be placed in, we should show that, in it, we are solicitous for
the good of the public, so that the world may be better for our living in it,
and that, when we are gone, it may be said of us, as it was so nobly said of
David (Acts 13:36), that we “served our generation by the will of God.” But,
2. The spirit of
charity, or love, also disposes us, in many cases, to forego and part with our
own things, for the sake of others. — It disposes us to part with our own
private temporal interest, and totally and freely to renounce it, for the sake
of the honor of God, and the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. Such was the
spirit of the apostle Paul when he exclaimed (Acts 21:13), “I am ready not to
be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
And the same spirit will dispose us often to forego or part with our own private
interest for the good of our neighbors. It will make us ready on every occasion
to aid or help them, leading us willingly to part with a lesser good of our own,
for the sake of a greater good to them. And the case may even be such (1 John
3:16), that “we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” But I will
not dwell longer on this point now, as I shall probably have occasion to speak
more to it under some other part of the context. I pass, then, as proposed,
III. To notice
some of the evidence sustaining the doctrine which has been stated. — And
the truth of the doctrine, that the spirit of charity, or Christian love, is the
opposite of a selfish spirit, will appear, if we consider the nature of love in
general, the peculiar nature of Christian or divine love, and the nature of
Christian love to God and to man in particular. And,
1. The nature of
love in general. — This, so far as it is really and truly sincere, is of a
diffusive nature, and espouses the interests of others. It is so with the love
of natural affection, and earthly friendship. So far as there is any real
affection or friendship, the parties between which it subsists do not seek only
their own particular interests, but do espouse and seek the interests of each
other. They seek not only their own things, but the things of their friends.
Selfishness is a principle that contracts the heart, and confines it to self,
while love enlarges it, and extends it to others. By love, a man’s self is so
extended and enlarged, that others, so far as they are beloved, do, as it were,
become parts of himself so that, wherein their interest is promoted, he believes
his own is promoted, and wherein theirs is injured, his also is injured. And
still further will this appear, if we consider,
2. The peculiar
nature of Christian or divine love. — Of charity, or Christian love, it is
peculiarly true, that it is above the selfish principle. Though all real love to
others seeks the good and espouses the interests of those who are beloved, yet
all other love, excepting this, has its foundation, in one sense, in the selfish
principle. So it is with the natural affection which parents feel for their
children, and with the love which relatives have one to another. If we except
the impulses of instinct, self-love is the mainspring of it. It is because men
love themselves, that they love those persons and things that are their own, or
that they are nearly related to, and which they look upon as belonging to
themselves, and which, by the constitution of society, have their interest and
honor linked with their own. And so it is in the closest friendships that exist
among men. Self-love is the spring whence they proceed. Sometimes natural
gratitude, for good turns that have been done them by others, or for benefits
received from them, disposes men, through self-love, to a similar respect to
those that have shown them kindness, or by whom their self-interest has been
promoted. And sometimes natural men are led into a friendship to others, from
qualifications that they see or find in them, whence they hope for the promotion
of their own temporal good. If they see that others are disposed to be
respectful to them, and to give them honor, then love to their own honor will
lead them to friendship with such; or if they see them generously disposed to
them, then love to their own profit will dispose them to friendship to them on
this account; or if they find in them a great agreement with themselves in
disposition and manners, self-love may dispose them to amity with them on
account of the enjoyment they have in their society, or because this agreement
with them in their temper and ways carries with it the approbation of their own
temper and ways. And so there are many other ways in which self-love is the
source of that love and friendship that often arises between natural men. Most
of the love that there is in the world arises from this principle, and therefore
it does not go beyond nature. And nature cannot go beyond self-love, but all
that men do, is, some way or other, from this root.
But divine love, or
the charity that is spoken of in the text, is something above self-love, as it
is something supernatural, or above and beyond all that is natural. It is not a
branch that springs out of the root of self-love, as natural affection, and
worldly friendships, and the love that men may have to one another, as such, do.
But as self-love is the offspring of natural principles, so divine love is the
offspring of supernatural principles. The latter is something of a higher and
nobler kind than any plant that grows naturally in such a soil as the heart of
man. It is a plant transplanted into the soul out of the garden of heaven, by
the holy and blessed Spirit of God, and so has its life in God, and not in self.
And therefore there is no other love so much above the selfish principle as
Christian love is; no love that is so free and disinterested, and in the
exercise of which God is so loved for himself and his own sake, and men are
loved, not because of their relation to self, but because of their relation to
God as his children, and as those who are the creatures of his power, or under
the influence of his Spirit. And therefore divine love, or charity, above all
love in the world, is contrary to a selfish spirit. Other, or natural love, may
in some respects be contrary to selfishness, inasmuch as it may, and often does,
move men to much liberality and generosity to those they love; and yet, in other
respects, it agrees with a selfish spirit, because, if we follow it up to its
original, it arises from the same root, viz. a principle of self-love. But
divine love has its spring where its root is — in Jesus Christ; and so it is
not of this world, but of a higher; and it tends thither, whence it came. And as
it does not spring out of self, so neither does it tend to self. It delights in
the honor and glory of God, for his own sake, and not merely for the sake of
self; and it seeks and delights in the good of men, for their sake, and for
God’s sake. And that divine love is, indeed, a principle far above and
contrary to a selfish spirit, appears further from this, viz. that it goes out
even to enemies; and that it is its nature and tendency to go out to the
unthankful and evil, and to those that injure and hate us — which is directly
contrary to the tendency of a selfish principle, and entirely above nature —
less man-like than God-like. That Christian love, or charity, is contrary to a
selfish spirit, is further plain,
3. From the
nature of this love to God and to man in particular. And,
First, from
the nature of this love to God. If we consider what the Scriptures
tell us of the nature of love to God, we find that they teach that those who
truly love God, love him so as wholly to devote themselves to him and his
service. This we are taught in the sum of the ten commandments, “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30). In these words is contained
a description of a right love to God; and they teach us, that those who love him
aright do devote themselves wholly to him. They devote all to him: all their
heart, and all their soul, and all their mind, and all their strength, or all
their powers and faculties. Surely a man who gives all this wholly to God, keeps
nothing back, but devotes himself wholly and entirely to him, making no reserve;
and all who have true love to God have a spirit to do this. This shows how much
a principle of true love to God is above the selfish principle. For if self be
devoted wholly to God, then there is something, above self, that overcomes it;
something superior to self, that takes self, and makes an offering of it to God.
A selfish principle never devotes itself to another. The nature of it is, to
devote all others to self. They that have true love to God, love him as God, and
as the Supreme Good; whereas it is the nature of selfishness to set up self in
the place of God, and to make an idol of self. That being whom men regard
supremely, they devote all to. They that idolize self, devote all to self; but
they that love God as God, devote all to him.
That Christian
love, or charity, is contrary to a selfish spirit, will further appear, if we
consider what the Scriptures teach,
Secondly, of
the nature of this love to man. And there are two chief and most
remarkable descriptions that the Bible gives us of a truly gracious love to our
neighbors, each of which should be noticed.
The first of
these is the requirement that we love our neighbor as ourselves. This we have in
the Old Testament (Lev. 19:18) — “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself;” and this Christ cites (Mat. 22:39), as the sum of all the duties of
the second table of the law. Now this is contrary to selfishness, for love is
not of such a nature as confines the heart to self, but leads it forth to others
as well as self, and in like manner as to self. It disposes us to look upon our
neighbors as being, as it were, one with ourselves; and not only to consider our
own circumstances and interests, but to consider the wants of our neighbors, as
we do our own; not only to have regard to our own desires, but to the desires of
others, and to do to them as we would have them do to us.
And the second remarkable
description which the Scriptures give us of Christian charity, which shows how
contrary it is to selfishness, is, that of loving others as Christ hath loved
us. “A new commandment,” says Christ (John 13:34), “I give unto you, That
ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” It
is called a new commandment, as contradistinguished from that old one (Lev.
19:18), “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Not that the duty of
love to others, which is the matter of the commandment, was new, for the same
kind of love was required of old, under the Old Testament, which is required
now. But it is called a new commandment, in this respect, that the rule and
motive annexed, which we are now more especially to have an eye to, in these
days of the gospel, are new. The rule and motive more especially set in view of
old, was, our love to ourselves — that we should love our neighbor as
ourselves. But the motive and rule more especially set in view now, in these
days of the gospel, and since the love of Christ has been so wonderfully
manifested, is the love of Christ to us — that we should love our neighbor as
Christ hath loved us. It is here called a new commandment; and so in John
15:12, Christ calls it his commandment, saying emphatically, “This is
my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” That we should
love one another as we love ourselves, is Moses’ commandment; but that we
should love one another as Christ hath loved us, is the commandment of God our
Savior. It is the same commandment, as to the substance of it, that was given of
old, but with new light shining upon it from the love of Jesus Christ, and a new
enforcement annexed to it, by him, beyond what Moses annexed. So that this rule,
of loving others as Christ has loved us, does more clearly, and in a further
degree, show us our duty and obligation with respect to loving our neighbors,
than as Moses stated it.
But to return from
this digression, let us consider how this description that Christ gives of
Christian love to others shows it to be the contrary of selfishness, by
considering in what manner Christ has expressed love to us, and how much there
is in the example of his love to enforce the contrary of a selfish spirit. And
this we may see in four things: —
First, Christ
has set his love on those that were his enemies. There was not only no
love to himself in those on whom he set his love, but they were full of enmity
and of a principle of actual hatred to him. “God commendeth his love toward
us, in that, while we were yet sinners,” or, as in the next verse but one,
“enemies,” “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, 10).
Second, such
was Christ’s love to us, that he was pleased, in some respects, to look on
us as himself. By his love to us, if we will but accept his love, he has so
espoused us, and united his heart to us, that he is pleased to speak of us and
regard us as himself. His elect were, from all eternity, dear to him as the
apple of his eye. He looked upon them so much as himself, that he regarded their
concerns as his, and their interests as his own; and he has even made their
guilt as his, by a gracious assumption of it to himself, that it might be looked
upon as his own, through that divine imputation in virtue of which they are
treated as innocent, while he suffers for them. And his love has sought to unite
them to himself, so as to make them, as it were, members of his body, so that
they are his flesh and his bones, as he himself seems to say in Mat. 25:40, when
he declares, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Third, such
was the love of Christ to us, that he did, as it were, spend himself for our
sakes. His love did not rest in mere feeling, nor in light efforts and small
sacrifices, but though we were enemies, yet he so loved us, that he had a heart
to deny himself, and undertake the greatest efforts, and undergo the greatest
sufferings, for our sakes. He gave up his own ease, and comfort, and interest,
and honor, and wealth; and became poor, and outcast, and despised, and had not
where to lay his head, and all for us! And not only so, but he shed his own
blood for us, and offered himself a sacrifice to God’s justice, that we might
be forgiven, and accepted, and saved! And,
Fourth, Christ
thus loved us, without any expectation of ever being requited by us for his
love. He did not stand in need of anything we could do for him, and well
knew that we should never be able to requite him for his kindness to us, or even
to do anything toward it. He knew that we were poor, miserable, and empty-handed
outcasts, who might receive from him, but could render nothing to him in return.
He knew that we had no money or price with which to purchase anything, and that
he must freely give is all things that we needed, or else we should be eternally
without them. And shall not we be far from a selfish spirit, and utterly
contrary to it, if we love one another after such a manner as this, or if we
have the same spirit of love toward others that was in Christ toward ourselves?
If this is our spirit, our love to others will not depend on their love to us,
but we shall do as Christ did to us love them even though they are enemies. We
shall not only seek our own things, but we shall in our hearts be so united to
others, that we shall look on their things as our own. We shall endeavor to be
interested in their good, as Christ was in ours; and shall be ready to forego
and part with our own things, in many cases, for the things of others, as Christ
did toward us. And these things we shall be willing and ready to do for others,
without any expectation of being repaid by them, as Christ did such great things
for us without any expectation of requital or return. If such be our spirit, we
shall not be under the influence of a selfish spirit, but shall be unselfish in
principle, and heart, and life.
In the application
of this subject, the great use I would make of it is, to dissuade all from a
selfish spirit and practice, and to exhort all to seek that spirit and live that
life which shall be contrary to it. Seek that by divine love your heart may
be devoted to God and to his glory, and to loving your neighbor as yourself, or
rather as Christ has loved you. Do not seek everyone your own things, but
everyone also the things of others. And, that you may be stirred up to this, in
addition to the motives already presented, consider three things: —
First, that you
are not your own. — As you
have not made yourself, so you were not made for yourself. You are
neither the author nor the end of your own being. Nor is it you
that uphold yourself in being, or that provide for yourself, or that are
dependent on yourself. There is another that hath made you, and preserves you,
and provides for you, and on whom you are dependent: and He hath made you for
himself, and for the good of your fellow creatures, and not only for yourself.
He has placed before you higher and nobler ends than self, even the welfare of
your fellowmen, and of society, and the interests of his kingdom; and for these
you ought to labor and live, not only in time, but for eternity.
And if you are
Christians, as many of you profess to be, then, in a peculiar sense, “ye are
not your own; for ye are bought with a price,” even “with the precious blood
of Christ” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20; 1 Pet. 1:19). And this is urged as an argument
why Christians should not seek themselves, but the glory of God; for the apostle
adds, “Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God’s.” By nature you were in a miserable, lost condition, a captive in the
hands of divine justice, and a miserable slave in the bondage of sin and Satan.
And Christ has redeemed you, and so you are his by purchase. By a most just
title you belong to him, and not to yourself. And, therefore, you must not
henceforth treat yourself as your own, by seeking your own interests or pleasure
only, or even chiefly; for if you do so, you will be guilty of robbing Christ.
And as you are not your own, so nothing that you have is your own. Your
abilities of body and mind, your outward possessions, your time, talents,
influence, comforts — none of them are your own; nor have you any right to use
them as if you had an absolute property in them, as you will be likely to do if
you imagine them only for your own private benefit, and not for the honor of
Christ and for the good of your fellowmen. Consider,
Second, how you,
by your very profession as a Christian, are united to Christ and to your
fellow-Christians. — Christ
and all Christians are so united together, that they all make but one body; and
of this body Christ is the head, and Christians are the members. “We, being
many,” says the apostle, “are one body in Christ, and every one members one
of another” Rom. 12:5); and again, “By one Spirit are we all baptized into
one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free” (1 Cor.
12:13). How unbecoming, then, is it in Christians to be selfish, and concerned
only for their own private interests! In the natural body, the hand is ready to
serve the head, and all the members are ready to serve one another. Is what the
hands do, done only for their own advantage? Are they not continually employed
as much for the other parts of the body as for themselves? Is not the work they
are doing, from day to day, for the common good of the whole body? And so it may
be said as to the eye, the teeth, the feet, that they are all employed, not for
themselves or for their own limited and partial welfare, but for the common
comfort and good of the whole body. And if the head be dishonored, are not all
the members of the body at once employed and active to remove the dishonor, and
to put honor upon the head? And if any members of the body are wounded, and
languishing, and in pain, are not all the members of the body at once engaged to
screen that weak or suffering member? Are not the eyes employed in looking about
for it, and the ears in attending to the directions of physicians, and the feet
in going where relief is to be sought, and the hands in applying the remedies
provided? So it should be with the Christian body. All its members should be
helpers and comforts to each other, and thus promote their mutual welfare and
happiness, and the glory of Christ the head. Once more, consider,
Third, that, in
seeking the glory of God and the good of your fellow creatures, you take the
surest way to have God seek your interests and promote your welfare.
— If you will devote yourself to God, as making a sacrifice of all your own
interests to him, you will not throw yourself away. Though you seem to neglect
yourself, and to deny yourself, and to overlook self in imitating the divine
benevolence, God will take care of you; and he will see to
it that your interest is provided for, and your welfare made sure. You shall be
no loser by all the sacrifices you have made for him. To his glory be it said,
he will not be your debtor, but will requite you a hundred-fold even in this
life, beside the eternal rewards that he will bestow upon you hereafter. His own
declaration is, “Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake,
shall receive an hundred-fold” (the other evangelist adds, “in this present
time”), “and shall inherit everlasting life” (Mat. 19:29); and the spirit
of this declaration applies to all sacrifices made for Christ, or for our
fellowmen for his sake. The greatness of the reward for this life Christ
expresses by a definite number; but he does not God make use of numbers, however
great, to set forth the reward promised them hereafter. He only says they shall
receive everlasting life, because the reward is so great, and so much exceeds
all the expense and self-denial persons can be at for Christ’s sake, that no
numbers are sufficient to describe it.
If you are selfish,
and make yourself and your own private interests your idol, God will leave you
to yourself, and let you promote your own interests as well as you can. But if
you do not selfishly seek your own, but do seek the things that are Jesus
Christ’s, and the things of your fellow-beings, then God will make your
interest and happiness his own charge, and he is infinitely more able to provide
for and promote it than you are. The resources of the universe move at his
bidding, and he can easily command them all to subserve your welfare. So that,
not to seek your own, in the selfish sense, is the best way of seeking your own
in a better sense. It is the directest course you can take to secure your
highest happiness. When you are required not to be selfish, you are not
required, as has been observed, not to love and seek your own happiness, but
only not to seek mainly your own private and confined interests. But if you
place your happiness in God, in glorifying him, and in serving him by doing
good, — in this way, above all others, will you promote your wealth, and
honor, and pleasure here below, and obtain hereafter a crown of unfading glory,
and pleasures forevermore at God’s right hand. If you seek, in the spirit of
selfishness, to grasp all as your own, you shall lose all, and be driven out of
the world at last, naked and forlorn, to everlasting poverty and contempt. But
if you seek not your own, but the things of Christ, and the good of your
fellowmen, God himself will be yours, and Christ yours, and the Holy Spirit
yours, and all things yours. Yes, “all things” shall be yours; “whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is
God’s” (1 Cor. 3:21, 22).
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's Jonathan Edwards Collection by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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