Conversion is a marriage wherein (with reverence be it spoken) Christ resigns up himself, with all he is and has, to us, and we resign ourselves, with all we are and have, to him. Such a union is here alluded to. The love we bore to Christ at that time might fitly be called the love of our espousals. Was there not a time when we scarcely wished for any other pleasure than what was to be enjoyed in communion with himself and his saints—when his name was as ointment poured forth—when we loved the very image of it? And, when we have seen those who we thought bore most of that in their spirit and conduct, has it not been as though we had seen an angel of God? Was there not a time when closet exercises were reckoned our highest privileges—when the return of public ordinances was waited for with eager expectation—in short, when we took Christ’s cause for our cause, his people for our people, his will for our law, his glory for our end, and himself for our portion? Now these were times from whence we may each say, “Thy vows, O God, are upon me!” But have we not since then strangely forsaken him? How is this? Did we love him too well then? Is he not as worthy now as then? If a prince espouse a poor miserable outcast, and give himself with all he is and has to her, and only require her heart in return, shall she refuse him that? shall she be the first that shall be dissatisfied? must she go after other lovers, and that in spite of all her solemn vows? And yet may each backslider say, Thus it has been with me! “O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord;” thou hast taken him for thy lawgiver and thy portion: how is it that thou shouldst bow down to other lords, and seek satisfaction in that which is not God?

Fuller, A. G. (1988). “On Spiritual Declension and the Means of Revival,” Miscellaneous, Tracks, Essays, and Letters. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Expositions—Miscellaneous (J. Belcher, Ed.; Vol. 3, pp. 627–628). Sprinkle Publications.