Need we add, when Christ is less glorious to the eye, and less precious to the heart, Divine love in the soul of a believer must be on the wane? it cannot be otherwise. Our views of Jesus must be materially affected by the state of our affections towards him. Where there is but little dealing with the atoning blood, leaning upon the righteousness, drawing from the fullness, and bearing daily the cross of Christ, the love of a believer waxes cold. We would judge the depth of a man's Christianity, by his reply to the question, "'What think you of Christ?' Is he lived to, is he lived upon? is his name your delight, his cross your boast, his work your resting place?" This will be your blessed experience, if the pulse of Divine love beats strong in your bosom for Christ.
Octavius Winslow
Source
Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul - Chapter 2 · Declension in Love
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Perhaps you have been misinterpreting the Lord's providential dealings with you; you have been indulging in unbelieving, unkind, unfilial views of your trials, bereavements, and disappointments; you have said, " Can I be a child, yet be afflicted thus? can he love me, yet deal with me so?" O that thought! O that surmise! Could you have looked into the heart of your God when he sent that trial, caused that bereavement, blew upon that flower, and blasted that fair design, you would never have murmured more: so much love, so much tenderness, so much faithfulness, so much wisdom would you have seen as to have laid your mouth silent in the dust before him. Wonder not that, indulging in such misgivings, interpreting the covenant dealings of a God of love in such a light, your faith has received a wound. Nothing perhaps more tends to unhinge the soul from God, engender distrust, hard thoughts, and rebellious feelings, than thus to doubt his loving-kindness and faithfulness in the discipline he is pleased to send. But faith, looking through the dark cloud, rising on the mountain wave, and anchoring itself on the Divine veracity, and the unchangeable love of God, is sure to strengthen and increase by every storm that beats upon it.
Octavius Winslow
Source
Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul - Chapter 3 · Declension in Faith
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A substitution of his own work in the soul for the atoning and finished work of Jesus, greatly grieves the Holy Spirit of God. One essential and important office of the Spirit is to glorify Christ: " He (the Spirit) shall glorify me," said Jesus; " He shall testify of me "; "He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." This being his work in reference to Christ, it must be, of course, the great delight of the Spirit ever and at all times to lift up Jesus and glorify him. And how does the Spirit most glorify Christ, but by exalting his atoning work, - giving to it the pre-eminence, the importance, and the glory it demands, - leading the sinner, whom he has first convinced of sin, to accept of Jesus as a willing, an all-sufficient Savior, - to cast away all trust in self, all reliance upon a covenant of works, which is but a covenant of death, and thus going entirely out of himself, to take up his rest in the blood and righteousness of Immanuel, the God-man Mediator. Oh, what sweet, holy delight must it be to the Spirit of God, when a poor sinner in all his conscious nothingness is led to build upon Jesus, the "tried stone, the precious corner-stone, the sure foundation!"
Octavius Winslow
Source
Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul - Chapter 6 · On Grieving the Spirit
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Afflicted believer, do not forget that it is the fruitful branch only that the Lord prunes: "Whom the Lord loves, he chastens ": and again, he declares, " Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten." Then, thank him for the pruning; bless him for the sanctified trial that weans you from earthly things, that deadens your heart to every rival of Christ, and that imparts an upward spring to faith, hope, and love. Not one unkind thought is there in the heart of the God that now chastens you. True, he may have severed from you branch after branch, he may cut off all your earthly springs, he may lead you down into the deep valley of abasement; yet still is he love, and nothing but love. Could you look into his heart, not a spring would be found dwelling, nor a pulse beating there that would not speak of love to you at this very moment. All that he seeks with regard to yourself, is your increased fruitfulness; and to promote your real sanctification, is to promote your real happiness. In all God's dealings with his covenant people, he seeks their greatest good, their highest happiness, and in nothing more manifestly than in this does he show the intense love which dwells in his heart towards them.
Octavius Winslow
Source
Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul - Chapter 7 · The Fruitless and the Fruitful Professor
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‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.’ Deut 6: 5. The duty called for is love, yea, the strength of love, ‘with all thy heart.’ God will lose none of our love. Love is the soul of religion, and that which constitutes a real Christian. Love is the queen of graces; it shines and sparkles in God’s eye, as the precious stones on the breastplate of Aaron.
Thomas Watson
Source
Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments · 1.2 Love
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If we love God, our desire will be after him. ‘The desire of our soul is to thy name.’ Isa 26: 8. He who loves God, breathes after communion with him. ‘My soul thirsteth for the living God.’ Psa 42: 2. Persons in love desire to be often conferring together. He who loves God, desires to be much in his presence; he loves the ordinances: they are the glass where the glory of God is resplendent; in the ordinances we meet with him whom our souls love; we have God’s smiles and whispers, and some foretastes of heaven. Such as have no desire after ordinances, have no love to God.
