Love to the Unseen Christ
Thomas Vincent (1634–1678) was an English rector, non-conformist, contemporary of John Owen, and minister to the needs of the afflicted in London during the days of the plague and the great fire of London.
In The True Christian’s Love the the Unseen Christ, Vincent writes,
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.
1 Peter 1:8
Faith without love to Christ is a dead faith; and a Christian without love to Christ is a dead Christian, dead in sins and trespasses.
The life of Christianity consists very much in our love unto Christ. Without love unto Christ, we are as much without spiritual life as a carcass, when the soul is fled from it, is without natural life. Faith without love to Christ is a dead faith; and a Christian without love to Christ is a dead Christian, dead in sins and trespasses. Without love to Christ, we may have the name of Christians, but we are wholly without the nature; we may have the form of godliness, but are wholly without the power. “Give me thine heart” is the language of God to all the children of men (Pro 23:26); and “Give Me thy love” is the language of Christ unto all His disciples.
Christ knows the command and influence that love to Him, in the truth and strength of it, has…
Christ knows the command and influence that love to Him, in the truth and strength of it, has: how it will engage all the other affections of His disciples for Him, [so] that if He have their love, their desires will be chiefly after Him; their delights will be chiefly in Him; their hopes and expectations will be chiefly from Him; their hatred, fear, grief, anger will be carried forth chiefly unto sin, as it is offensive unto Him. He knows that love will engage and employ for Him all the powers and faculties of their souls. Their thoughts will be brought into captivity and obedience unto Him, their understandings will be employed in seeking and finding out His truths, their memories will be receptacles to retain them. Their consciences will be ready to accuse and excuse as His faithful deputies; their wills will choose and refuse according to His direction and revealed pleasure. All their senses and the members of their bodies will be His servants: their eyes will see for Him, their ears will hear for Him, their tongues will speak for Him, their hands will work for Him, their feet will walk for Him. All their gifts and talents will be at His devotion and service. If He has their love, they will be ready to do for Him what He requires. They will be ready to suffer for Him, whatever He calls them unto.
If they have much love to Him, they will not think much of denying themselves, taking up His cross, and following Him wherever He leads them.
If they have much love to Him, they will not think much of denying themselves, taking up His cross, and following Him wherever He leads them (Mat 16:24). Love to Christ, then, being so essential unto true Christianity, so earnestly looked for by our Lord and Master, so powerfully commanding in the soul and over the whole man, so greatly influential on duty, I have made choice of this subject of love to Christ to treat on. My chief endeavor herein shall be to excite and provoke Christians unto the lively and vigorous exercise of this grace of love unto the Lord Jesus Christ.