Human nature in its fourfold state ... In several practical discourses

but be ye emptied of yourselves, and strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might; and ye shall come off victorious.

CASE IV. But when I compare my love: God, with my love to some created enjoyments, I find the pulse of my affections beat stronger to the creature than the Creator. How then can ⟨p. 153⟩I call him father? Nay, alas! these turnings of heart within me, and glowings of affection to him which sometimes I had, are gone; so that I fear, all the love I ever had to the LORD, h•• been but a fit and flash of affection, such as hypocrites often have. Ans. It cannot be denied, that the predominant love of the world, is a certain mark of an unregenerate state, 1 John ii. 15. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Nevertheless, th•se are not always the strongest affections, which are most violent. A man's affection may be more moved on some occasions by an object that is little regarded, tha• by another, that is exceedingly beloved; even as a little brook •••etimes makes a greater noise than a great river. The strength of our affections is to be measured by the firmness and fixedness of the root: not by the violence of their actings. Suppose a per•on meeting with a friend w•o has been long abroad, finds his affection more vehemently acting toward his friend on that occasion, than towards his own wife and children; will he therefore say that he loves his friend more than them? Surely no. Even so, although the Christian may find himself more moved in his love to the creature, than in his love to God; yet he is not therefore to be said to love the creature more than God; seeing love to God is always more firmly rooted in a gracious heart, than love to any created enjoyment whatsoever: as appears when competition arises in such a manner, that the one or the other is to be forgone. Would you then know your case? Retire into your own hearts, and there lay the two in the balance, and try which of them weighs down the other. Ask thyself, as in the sight of God, whether thou wouldst part with Christ for the creature, or part with the creature for Christ, if thou were left to thy choice in the matter? If you find your heart disposed to part with what is dearest to you in the world for Christ, at his call: you have no reason to conclude you love the creature more than God; but on the contrary, that you love God more than the creature; albeit you do not feel such vol motions in the love of God, as in the love of some created thing, Matt x. 37.