Love is commonly distinguished into a love of complacence and a love of benevolence. Of these two a love of complacence is first, and is the foundation of the other, if by a love of complacence is meant relishing a sweetness in the qualifications of the beloved...To have a love of benevolence means to love someone for the things they do. In other words you love the gifts that they give, but not necessarily the person itself. As this applies to God, a love of benevolence would be a love that is strictly a love of benefits. You love God because of the job He has provided for you, the family or friends He has placed around you, or the natural abilities He has gifted you with. You enjoy the benefits without thinking deeply about, and finding more excellence in, the Giver of the benefits.
...That the soul may relish the sweetness and the beauty of a beloved object whether that object is present or absent, whether in possession or not in possession; and this relish is the foundation of love of benevolence, or desire of the good of the beloved. It is the foundation of love or affection to the beloved object when absent; it is the foundation of one's rejoicing in the object when present; and so it is the foundation of everything else that belongs to divine love.
And if this is true, then the main ground of true love to God is the excellency of His own nature and not any benefit we have received or hope to receive by His goodness to us.
Treatise on Grace, p.34
A gratitude for kindness is nothing distinctly Christian. All that is required is a principle of self-love that can be found in any natural, unregenerate, depraved human being. So would you still love God if your house was destroyed? If a friend, child, or spouse died? If you found yourself without the ability to see or to walk? Would you love God simply because He is God and therefore deserves to be loved? This leads us to a love of complacence.
Just as a love of benevolence is to love someone for things they do, a love of complacence is to love someone for the thing that they are; to love them in and of themselves, apart from their actions. To love God because He is God.
A love of complacence is the foundation of any proper love of benevolence toward God (a desire for the good of the beloved, and not simply an appreciation of the good provided). The self-love of benevolence will necessarily point people to that which sweetest to them. But, as Edwards states, "God's perfections must first savor the appetite and be sweet to people... before self-love can have any influence upon them to cause an appetite after the enjoyment of that sweetness" (p.35). It is in that divine taste wherein love of complacence most fundamentally consists, prior to any benevolence that can incline us to God.
Divine love, as it has God for its object, may be thus described: it is the soul's relish of the supreme excellency of the divine nature, inclining the heart to God as the chief good (p.32)I have tried my best here to present an accurate portrayal of Edward's position. As you ponder the position of Edwards that I have put forward, I encourage you to stay tuned for future blog posts. As great a concept as Edwards has derived (that of love of benevolence and love of complacence) I found myself a little at odds with material, and not quite sold on his definitions. So in some respects, I am still wrestling through whether I completely agree with Edwards or not, and I hope you will join me as I wrestle with my thoughts in a public, steel-cage-like, forum.
(Disagreeing with Edwards? Sniff, sniff... do I detect the smell of heresy? I hope not... but it is scandalous nonetheless).
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