Tliirdhj, The causes why a people grow weary of God. Besides those general causes, as to persons and nations, mentioned before, these may be added —
1. Want of love to God. For love is the life and heart of all other duties. As that decayeth, other things decay with it. If the first love be gone, the first works will be gone also ; at least are not carried on with that life, seriousness and complacency, as they should be. Rev. ii. 4, 5. Love is the great principle of our duties ; and therefore it concerneth christians to keep it up in strength. Nothing is hard and grievous to him that loveth God ; he is never weary of serving and glorifying God, 1 John v. 3. Therefore the sense of our obligation to Christ, who hath done such great things for us, should never be worn out.
2. We are too much led by sense ; and if we have not present satisfaction, we soon grow weary of religion, as if all this while we had gone upon a wrong scent : Mai. iii. 14, ' Ye say, It is in vain to serve the Lord ; and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances ?' Isa. Iviii. 3, 'Wherefore have we fasted, and he seeth not?' &c. People are carried on with great fervour and vigour for a while ; but if they meet not with sensible benefit, tire and grow weary of religion, and attendance upon the duties thereof. But this should not move us ; for God doth not govern the world by sense, but by faith, 2 Cor. v. 7 ; and our eternal reward is sure, 1 Cor. xv. 58. If we faint and give over, we miss of it. And besides, you do not serve God, but tempt and take an essay of him. If you forego religion, because you find not at first what you hope for, you do not make the adventure of faith, but only try conclusions and experiments, and look for such sensible proofs, which God will not always vouchsafe to you.
A FAST SERMON. 311
3. It argueth too much love of the world, which by long impor- tunity prevaileth with us to forsake God, and grow dead and cold in religion, 2 Tim. iv. 10. When we are well at ease, the world draweth us off from the love of God and heavenly things ; 1 John ii. 15, ' If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.' And where there is not love there is no delight ; and where there is no de- light there will soon be a weariness or backwardness to his service.
4. It comes from indulgence to the ease of the flesh. As bodily weariness is most incident to the lazy, so is spiritual weariness to those who do not rouse up themselves : Eom. xii. 11, ' Not slothful in busi- ness ; fervent in spirit ; serving the Lord.' If we will not take pains to keep grace alive, we soon tire and flag in the ways of godliness. We must stir up ourselves : Isa. Ixiv. 7, ' There is none that calleth upon thy name, none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.' So we by prayer and diligent meditation must keep up the fervour of our spirits ; and take heed of a remiss will, which is easily discouraged. There is in the saints an habit of doing good, which is kept up by in- fluence on God's part and diligence on ours. Now he that works by an habit, worketh with delight, is never weary of doing good. There is infused in regeneration an inclination to spiritual and heavenly things, Heb. viii. 10, and Ps. xl. 8. Now this inclination is strength- ened into a preparation or readiness, 2 Tim. ii. 21. The inclination is the remote power, the readiness is the next and immediate power ; the inclination is from the seed of grace, the readiness from growth and strength of grace. Now next to this readiness, an earnest impulsion, a zeal for the service, when our hearts within us make us willing. And this is continually strengthened in us by God's influence perfect- ing the habits of grace, Heb. xiii, 21 ; and by ourselves, Kev. iii. 2 ; by our watchfulness and diligence.
5. Impatience of troubles, and the manifold discouragements we meet with in the way to heaven : Heb. xii. 3, ' Consider him who endured such a contradiction of sinners, that ye may not wax weary and faint in your minds.' The tediousness of afflictions doth make the mind weary. Elijah speaketh like a man quite tired and spent, ' Take away my life, I am not better than my fathers.' The best christians may be tired and out of breath in bad times : Mat. xxiv. 12, ' Because iniquity doth abound, the love of many waxeth cold.' It is not taken in a general sense, that when there is a deluge of wickedness, sin, by being common, groweth less odious ; but in a limited sense, taking iniquity for persecutions, it is at least a damage to zeal.
Fourthly, The effects. I shall not mention the gross effect, total apostasy from God, or wholly giving over religion, which doth suffi- ciently discover itself ; but the effects of that partial deficiency or weariness I mentioned. Three things I will name —