The Threefold Love of God

Besides his special love to the elect, orthodox Reformed divines speak of God's general love towards his creatures, as creatures, including all men, made in his own image, whether reprobate or elect. The command of Christ to love our enemies as even our Heavenly Father does is a clear demonstration of this truth. Moreover, the Incarnation itself is proof of God's love for man. Citing Wolfgang Musculus, Loci communes, XLVIII (Commonplaces, pp. 961-963), Richard Muller writes: "There could be no greater indication of the love of God for humanity than this personal union of human nature with the divine nature" (Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics 3.563). The select extracts which follow demonstrate the consistent understanding of Reformed divines, that, because God is love, and this attribute is essential to himself, the general, benevolent love of God towards all his works of creation, is consistent with his special, discriminating, or electing love, to his chosen ones.

Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 1 (Twentieth Question), p. 241:

IV. From goodness flows love by which he communicates himself to the creature and (as it were) wills to unite himself with and do good to it, but in diverse ways and degrees according to the diversity of the objects. Hence is usually made a threefold distinction in the divine love: the first, that by which he follow creatures, called "love of the creature" (philoktisia); the second, that by which he embraces men, called "love of man" (philoanthropia); the third, which is specially exercised towards the elect and is called "the love of the elect" (eklektophilia). For in proportion as the creature is more perfect and more excellent, so also does it share in a greater effluence and outpouring (aporroen) of divine love. Hence although love considered affectively and on the part of the internal act is equal in God (because it does not admit of increase or diminution), yet regarded effectively (or on the part of the good which he wills to anyone) it is unequal because some effects of love are greater than others.

Edward Leigh, A Treatise of Divinity, II.viii (p. 71) (quoted by Richard A. Muller, PRRD 3.566):

God's love to Christ is the foundation of his love to us, Matt. 3:17; Ephes. 1:6.
God loves all creatures with a general love, Matt. 5:44, 45, as they are the work of his hands; but he doth delight in some especially, whom he hath chosen in his Son, John 3:16; Ephes. 1:6.

John Collinges, in Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. 3, p. 26 (re Matt. 5.45):

As your heavenly Father hath a common love, which he extendeth to all mankind, in supplying their necessities, with the light and warmth of the sun, and with the rain; as well as a special love and favour, which he exerciseth only toward those that are good, and members of Christ; so ought you to have: though you are not obliged to take your enemies into your bosom, yet you ought to love them in their order. And as your heavenly Father, though he will one day have a satisfaction from sinners, for the wrong done to his majesty, unless they repent; yet, to heap coals of fire on their heads, gives them good things of common providence, that he might not leave them without witness, yea, and affords them the outward means of grace for their souls: so, although you are bound to seek some satisfaction for God's honour and glory from flagitious sinners, and though you may in an orderly course seek a moderate satisfaction for the wrong done to yourselves, yet you ought to love them with a love consistent with these things; that so you may imitate your heavenly Father, and approve yourselves to be his children.

Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian's Reasonable Service I.3.33, Vol. 1 (1999 ed.), pp. 123-124:

The love of His benevolence is either general as it relates to the manner in which God delights in, desires to bless, maintains, and governs all His creatures by virtue of the fact that they are His creatures (Psa. 145:9), or it is special. This special love refers to God's eternal designation of the elect to be the objects of His special love and benevolence. This finds expression in the following texts, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16); "As Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Eph. 5:25).

William Jenkyn, An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude, p. 36:

1. There is a love of God to man, though without passion, sympathy, or any imperfection or weakness; these being attributed to him only to relieve the weakness either of our faith or apprehensions. And this love is,

(I.) Considered as a love of desire; as love desires to be carried to the union of the thing beloved. This desire of union with man God shows many ways; as, I. By being near unto, nay, present with him, by his universal care and providence; he being " not far from every one of us : for in him we live," &c., Acts xvii. 27, 28. 2. By assuming the nature of man into a personal conjunction with himself in the Mediator, Christ. 3. By conversing with man by signs of his presence, extraordinary visions, dreams, oracles, inspiration; and ordinarily by his holy ordinances, wherewith his people, as it were, abide with him in his house. 4. By sending his Holy Spirit to dwell in man, and bestowing upon man the Divine nature. 5. By taking man into an eternal habitation in heaven, where he shall be ever in his glorious presence, Psal. xvi. 11.

(2.) There is a love of God to man, considered as a love of benevolence, or of good-will, or of willingness to do good to the thing beloved: what else was his eternal purpose to have mercy upon his people, and of saving them, but, as it is expressed concerning Jacob, this loving them? Rom. ix. 13. And to whom can a will of doing good so properly agree, as to Him whose will is goodness itself?

(3.) There is a love of God to man, considered as a love of beneficence, bounty, or actual doing good to the thing beloved. Thus he bestows the effects of his love, both for this life, and for that which is to come. And the benencence of God is called love; "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God," 1 John iii. 1. And John iii. 16, "God so loved the world, that he gave," &c. By this love of beneficence he bestows the good things of nature, grace, and glory. God does good to every creature, hating, though the iniquity of any one, yet the nature of none; for the being of every creature is good, Gen. i. 31, and God has adorned it with many excellent qualities. According to these loves of benevolence and benencence, God loves not his creatures equally, but some more than others; inasmuch as he wills to bestow, and also actually bestows, greater blessings upon some than upon others. He makes and preserves all creatures, but his love is more especially afforded to mankind; he styles himself from his love to man, Tit. iii. 4, and not from his love to angels, or any other creature. He is called [Gk.], a lover of man, but never [Gk.], or [Gk.], a friend of angels or creatures without man. His love is yet more peculiarly extended to man in creating him after his own image, Gen. i. 27, and in giving him lordship over the creatures, Psal. viii. 5; in giving his Son to take upon him man's nature, Heb. ii. 16, and exalt it above heavens (Matt, xxviii. 18) and angels, to die for sinning, dying man; offering him to man hi the dispensation of the gospel with wooing and beseechings. And yet of men he loves some more especially and peculiarly than others; namely, those whom he loves with an electing, calling, redeeming, justifying, glorifying love. God loves all creatures, and among them the rational, and among them the members of his Son, and much more the Son himself.

(4.) There is a love of God to man, considered as a love of complacency, and delight in the thing beloved. He is pleased through his Son with his servants; and he is much delighted with his own image wheresoever he finds it. He is pleased with the persons and performances of his people: "He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him," Psal. cxlvii. 11. They reflecting his excellencies, and showing forth his virtues; he rejoicing over them with joy, and resting in his love, Zeph. iii. 17: accounting a believer amiable; his soul, a lesser heaven; his prayers, melody; his sighs, incense; his stammerings, eloquence; his desires, performances.

Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 70-71:

a. The goodness of God towards His creatures in general. This may be defined as that perfection of God which prompts Him to deal bountifully and kindly with all His creatures. It is the affection which the Creator feels towards His sentient creatures as such. The Psalmist sings of it in the well known words: "Jehovah is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works...The eyes of all wait for thee; and thou givest them their food in due season, Thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living creature," Ps. 145:9,15,16. This benevolent interest of God is revealed in His care for the creature's welfare, and is suited to the nature and the circumstances of the creature. It naturally varies in degree according to the capacity of the objects to receive it. And while it is not restricted to believers, they only manifest a proper appreciation of its blessings, desire to use them in the service of their God, and thus enjoy them in a richer and fuller measure. The Bible refers to this goodness of God in many passages, such as Ps. 36:6; 104:21; Matt. 5:45; 6:26; Luke 6:35; Acts 14:17.

b. The love of God. When the goodness of God is exercised towards His rational creatures, it assumes the higher character of love, and this love may again be distinguished according to the objects on which it terminates. In distinction from the goodness of God in general, it may be defined as that perfection of God by which He is eternally moved to self-communication. Since God is absolutely good in Himself, His love cannot find complete satisfaction in any object that falls short of absolute perfection. He loves His rational creatures for His own sake, or, to express it otherwise, He loves them in Himself, His virtues, His work, and His gifts. He does not even withdraw His love completely from the sinner in his present sinful state, though the latter's sin is an abomination to Him, since He recognizes even in the sinner His image-bearer. John 3:16; Matt. 5:44,45. At the same time He loves believers with a special love, since He contemplates them as His spiritual children in Christ. It is to them that He communicates Himself in the fullest and richest sense, with all the fulness of His grace and mercy. John 16:27; Rom. 5:8; I John 3:1.

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, p. 427:

Goodness, in the Scriptural sense of the term, includes benevolence, love, mercy, and grace. By benevolence is meant the disposition to promote happiness; all sensitive creatures are its objects. Love includes complacency, desire, and delight, and has rational beings for its objects. Mercy is kindness exercised towards the miserable, and includes pity, compassion, forbearance, and gentleness, which the Scriptures so abundantly ascribe to God. Grace is love exercised towards the unworthy. The love of a holy God to sinners is the most mysterious attribute of the divine nature. The manifestation of this attribute for the admiration and beatification of all intelligent creatures, is declared to be the special design of redemption.

John Gill, A Body of Divinity, p. 79:

All that God has made is the object of his love; all the works of creation, when he had made them, he looked over them, and saw that they were good, very good, Gen. i. 31. he was well pleased, and delighted with them; yea, he is said to rejoice in his works, Psal. civ. 31. he upholds all creatures in their beings, and is the Preserver of all, both men and beasts; and is good to all, and his tender mercies over all his works, Psalm xxxvi. 6. and cxlv. 9. and particularly, rational creatures are the objects of his care, love, and delight: he loves the holy angels, and has shewn his love to them in choosing them to happiness; hence they are called elect angels, 1 Tim. v. 21. by making Christ the head of them, by whom they are confirmed in the estate in which they were created, Col. ii. 10. and by admitting them into his presence, allowing them to stand before him, and behold his face, Matt. xviii. 10. yea, even the devils, as they are the creatures of God, are not hated by him, but as they are apostate spirits from him: and so he bears a general love to all men, as they are his creatures, his offspring, and the work of his hands; he supports them, preserves them, and bestows the bounties of his providence, in common upon them, Acts xvii. 28. and xiv. 17. Matt. v. 45. but he bears a special love to elect men in Christ; which is called his great love, Eph. ii. 4. whom he has chosen and blessed with all spiritual blessings in him, Eph. i. 3, 4. and which love is distinguishing and discriminating, Mal. i. 1, 2. Rom. ix. 11, 12.

James Ussher, A Body of Divinity, p. 55-58:

What is the Love of God?
It is an Essential Property in God, whereby he loveth himself above all, and others for himself, 1 John 4:16; Rom. 5:8; John 3:16; Titus 3:4; Mal. 1:2, 3.

What learn you from hence?
That we should love him dearly, and other things for him.

That we may the better know what the Love of God is, declare first, What Love is in our selves?
It is a passion of the Mind, whereby we are so affected towards the Party whom we love, that we are rather his than our own, forgetting ourselves to do him good whom we so love.

And is love such a thing in God?
No: the true Love of God is not such as our Love is.

What difference is there?
There is great difference two ways. First, In time: for Love was in God before it was in us, or in anything created; for he loved himself and us also before the World was, John 17:23. Secondly, They differ in nature and quality: for that Love which is in God is most perfect and pure, without passion; but in us it is imperfect, and matched with Passions, with impure Affections, and grief of the mind.

After what manner doth the Scripture express the Love of God?
In the Scriptures God doth compare himself to a Father and to a Mother loving their Children; to a Hen gathering her Chickens together under her Wings; to a good Shepherd seeking up his Sheep, and to divers other things.

And wherefore serve these Comparisons?
They are for our profit two ways. First, To shew us that God's Love towards us, is most vehement and sincere. Secondly, To make us bold in coming to him, and calling upon him. So for this Love Christ Jesus calleth us by all the Names of Love: as his Servants, his Kinsmen, His Friends, his Spouse, his Brethren, and by many names more: to shew, that he loveth us with all loves, the Father's Love, the Mother's Love, the Masters Love, the Husbands Love, the Brothers Love, &c. and if all Loves were put together, yet his Love exceedeth them all: for all could not do so much for us as he alone hath done.

If Love doth not signify any Affection or Passion in God, as it doth in us: What then doth it signify?
In God it signifieth three things most perfect. First, The eternal good Will of God towards some Body: for the Love of God (suppose towards the Elect) is his everlasting good Will, or his purpose and determination to shew them Mercy, to do them Good, and to save them, as in Rom. 9:11, 13. Secondly, The effects themselves of this Love or good Will; whether they be temporal concerning this Life, or eternal concerning the Life to come, as in 1 John 3:1. Thirdly, The pleasure and delight which he taketh in that which he loveth: and so it is taken in Psalm 45:7.

That things doth God love besides himself?
Besides himself, God loveth all things else whatsoever he made: but he loveth not sin and iniquity; for he never made it, as St. John saith, 1 John 2:16. Again, he loveth his Son, being manifested in the flesh; and he loveth his chosen Children for his Sons sake, with whom he is well pleased, Matt. 3:17.

Object. 1. The Scripture saith, That God doth hate all that work Iniquity: How then can God both hate and love one and the same Man?
In every wicked Man we must consider two things. First, His Nature. Secondly, His Sin. His Nature is the Work of God, and that he loveth: but his iniquity is not of God, and that he hateth.

Object. 2. God doth afflict his Children; therefore he doth not love them.
Whom he loveth he correcteth, (Prov. 3:12) and therefore he correcteth them because he loveth them; even as a Gold-smith tryeth his Gold in the fire, because he loveth it.

Whether doth God love all alike, or no?
No: he preferreth Mankind before all his other Creatures; for which cause God is called Philanthropos, that is, a Lover of Men. And this appeareth by three effects of his Love.
First, He made him according to his own Image; that is, in Righteousness and true Holiness, Gen. 1:26; Eph. 4:24.
Secondly, He made him Lord over all his Creatures, Psalm 8:5, 6.
Thirdly, He gave his own Son to death for his ransom.

Doth God love all men alike?
No: for he loveth his Elect better than the Reprobate. For the Elect he calleth effectually by his Spirit in their Hearts, when he calleth others but by the outward Voice of the Gospel, &c.
Again, amongst the Elect themselves, some are actually Wicked, and not yet reconciled nor called; as was Paul before his Conversion. But the rest are called and already made holy by Faith in Christ, as Paul was after his Conversion. And of these, he loveth the latter sort with a greater measure of love than the former, as the Scripture testifieth, Prov. 8:17.

What manner of Love doth God bear to his Elect?
It hath three adjuncts or properties. First, It is free without desert.
Secondly, It is great without comparison.
Thirdly, It is constant without any end.

How is the Love of God said to be free?
It is free two ways. First, Because nothing caused God to love us, but his own Goodness and Grace: and therefore St. John saith, that his Love was before ours, 1 John 4:10.
Secondly, It is free, because God in loving us, did not regard any thing that belonged to his own Commodity: for, as David saith, Psalm 16:2, he hath no need of our Goods; but only to our own Salvation he loved us.

Wherein doth the Greatness of God's Love appear to his Elect?
It appeareth two ways. 1. By the means which God used to save us by, that is, the death of his Son: and so St. John setteth forth his Love, John 3:16; 1 John 3:16, when he saith ου'τω, that is, So, (as if he should say, so vehemently, so ardently, so earnestly, so wonderfully) did he love us, that for our Salvation he spared not his own only begotten Son, but gave him to the death of the Cross for our Salvation.

What else doth set forth the greatness of God's Love unto us?
The consideration of our own selves. For he did not only give his only Son to death for us, but it was for us being his Enemies. And this Circumstance is used by the Apostle to express the same, Rom. 5:7, 8.

Where find you it written, that God's Love is constant and perpetual?
That is manifestly shewed in these Scriptures following, Hos. 11:9; John 13:1; Rom. 11:29. For as God is unchangeable in His Essence and Nature; so is he unchangeable in his Love, which is his Essence and Nature: and therefore is God called Love in the Scriptures, 1 John 4:8.

What use must we make of God's Love?
First, It filleth our hearts with gladness, when we understand that our God is so loving, and Love itself: and what is this but the beginning of eternal Life? if eternal Life consists in the true knowledge of God, as our Saviour Christ saith, John 17:3.

Secondly, Out of knowledge of this Love, as out of a Fountain, springeth the Love of God and our Neighbor. For St. John saith, He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is Love, 1 John 4:8.

Thirdly, When we consider that God loveth all his Creatures which he made, it should teach us not to abuse any of the Creatures, to serve our Lusts and beastly Affections. For God will punish them which abuse his beloved; as he punished the rich Glutton, which abused the Creatures of God, Luke 16.

Fourthly, We are taught to love all the Creatures, even the basest of all, seeing that God loveth them, and for the love he beareth to us he made them: and we must (if we love them for God's sake) use them sparingly, moderately, and equally or justly. To this end we are commanded to let our Cattle rest upon the Sabbath day, as well as our selves: to this end we are forbidden to kill the Dam upon her Nest; and to this end we are forbidden to muzzle the Mouth of the Ox which treadeth out the Corn, Deut. 25:4; 1 Cor. 9:9.

Fifthly, We are taught from hence to love Mankind better than all other Creatures, because God doth so: and therefore we must not spare any thing that we have, that may make for the safety of his Body, and the salvation of his Soul. And for this cause, we are commanded to love our Enemies, and to do them good; because our good God doth so.

Sixthly, From God's Love, we learn to prefer the Godly Brethren, and those that profess sincerely the same Religion that we profess before other Men: because God's Love is greater to the Elect, than to the Reprobate: and this doth the Apostle teach us, Gal. 6:10.

Seventhly, Whereas God's Love is freely bestowed upon us, this teacheth us to be humble, and to attribute no part of our Salvation to our selves, but only to the free Love of God.

Eighthly, From hence ariseth the certainty of our Salvation. For if God's Love was so free and great when we were his Enemies, much more will it be so, and constant also to us, being reconciled to God by Jesus Christ, Rom. 5:10.

Puritan Classic on Marriage Reprinted After 350 Years

Ruling Elder John Uselding of Liberty and Grace Reformed Church in Warrenton, Virginia, has done the church a valuable service by republishing a Puritan classic on marriage that has long been out of print and difficult to find. Matrimonial Honor by Daniel Rogers was completed in 1634, but first published in 1642. Along with William Gouge's Of Domestical Duties (1622); Matthew Griffith's Bethel (1633); and William Whateley's A Bride Bush (1616); it is considered to be one of the most highly regarded of the English Puritan domestic conduct books.

Chilton Latham Powell, English Domestic Relations, 1487-1653: A Study of Matrimony and Family Life in Theory and Practice as Revealed by the Literature, law, and History of the Period, p. 138, writes:

Daniel Rogers' Matrimonnial Honovr is interesting for several reasons. It was written by a minister of the Church of England; like Gouge's book, it is an exposition of life rather than the Scriptures; it is extremely human in its attitude, kindly towards the much abused weaknesses of mankind, and respectful towards people whose beliefs differed from the author's own. Were it not for the fact that it covers but a small part of the field, although 389 pages in length, it would surely outrank all others of the type. Rogers discusses only two main subjects, the honor of matrimony and the duties of husband and wife, but digresses at times to speak of parental consent to child marriages, of contracts of marriage, and, in an appendix, of chastity and the lack of it.

Daniel Rogers (1573–1652), the son of Richard Rogers (1550?-1618), was married twice, first to Margaret Bishop, and later to Sarah Evered. His first marriage, from which he had one son, Daniel, who became a minister himself, seems to have been a difficult one. From the second marriage, he had four more children: Hannah, Samuel, Mary and (named for his first wife) Margaret. Margaret married Renatus Jordain, a French Huguenot refugee, and was the mother of John Jortin, the English church historian. Mary became the wife of Puritan William Jenkyn.

In an age when marriage is lightly esteemed, and greatly trampled upon, Rogers' defense of the honor of matrimony is needed more than ever. He wrote:

Marriage is the Preservative of chastity, the Seminary of the Common-wealth, seed-plot of the Church, pillar (under God) of the world, right-hand of providence, supporter of laws, states, orders, offices, gifts and services: the glory of peace, the sinewes of war, the maintenance of policy, the life of the dead, the solace of the living, the ambition of virginity, the foundation of Countries, Cities, Universities, succession of Families, Crownes and Kingdoms.

Edification Press has made Matrimonial Honor available at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This is a book which I am very pleased to see in print once again, and that I highly recommend. Elder Uselding notes that Barnes & Noble has the best price:

Currently Barnes & Noble is offering the book at a much lower price than Amazon. Receive an additional 15% off at barnesandnoble.com using coupon code U3D8B4J. The coupon code is valid until October 28, 2010 at 2:59 a.m. Eastern Time.

Elder Uselding also plans to republish future Puritan works, Lord willing, including Robert Bolton's A Three-Fold Treatise.

Puritan Preface to the Scottish Metrical Psalter

In 1673, a group of Puritan divines authored a preface to a new edition of the 1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter. The following year, many of these same divines signed an Epistle to the Reader for Thomas Vincent's Exposition of the Shorter Catechism (Vincent himself being a signer of the Psalter preface). Their preface to the Psalter is brief but eloquent so I reproduce it here, along with biographical links and information that I have compiled about the signers.

Good Reader,
’Tis evident by the common experience of mankind, that love cannot lie idle in the soul. For every one hath his oblectation [way of enjoyment] and delight, his tastes and relishes are suitable to his constitution, and a man’s temper is more discovered by his solaces than by any thing else: carnal men delight in what is suited to the gust [i.e., taste] of the flesh, and spiritual men in the things of the Spirit. The promises of God's holy covenant, which are to others as stale news or withered flowers, feed the pleasure of their minds; and the mysteries of our redemption by Christ are their hearts’ delight and comfort. But as joy must have a proper object so also a vent: for this is an affection that cannot be penned up: the usual issue and out-going of it is by singing. Profane spirits must have songs suitable to their mirth; as their mirth is carnal so their songs are vain and frothy, if not filthy and obscene; but they that rejoice in the Lord, their mirth runneth in a spiritual channel: “Is any merry? let him sing psalms,” saith the apostle (James 5:13). And, “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage,” saith holy David (Ps. 119:54).

Surely singing, ’tis a delectable way of instruction, as common prudence will teach us. Aelian (Natural History, book 2, chapter 39) telleth us that the Cretans enjoined their children to learn their laws by singing them in verse. And surely singing of Psalms is a duty of such comfort and profit, that it needeth not our recommendation: The new nature is instead of all arguments, which cannot be without thy spiritual solace. Now though spiritual songs of mere human composure may have their use, yet our devotion is best secured, where the matter and words are of immediately divine inspiration; and to us David's Psalms seem plainly intended by those terms of “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” which the apostle useth (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). But then ’tis meet that these divine composures should be represented to us in a fit translation, lest we want David, in David; while his holy ecstasies are delivered in a flat and bald expression. The translation which is now put into thy hands cometh nearest to the original of any that we have seen, and runneth with such a fluent sweetness, that we thought fit to recommend it to thy Christian acceptance; some of us having used it already, with great comfort and satisfaction.

• Thomas Manton D.D. (1620-1677)

• Henry Langley D.D. (1611-1679) - English Puritan minister and educator. He served as master of Pembroke College (1647) until he was ejected for his Presbyterian convictions (1662), after which he maintained an academy for young men at his house, where he taught logic and philosophy. He preached again after the indulgence of 1672.

• John Owen D.D. (1616-1683)

• William Jenkyn (1613-1685)

• James Innes ( )

• Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686)

• Thomas Lye (?-1684) - English Puritan known for his emphasis on and abilities in catechizing. He wrote an exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism that was popular. He was one of the ministers ejected for nonconformity in 1662. His additional works include The Child’s Delight, two Farewell sermons, a sermon entitled Death, the Sweetest Sleep and several of the Cripplegate Sermons, among others.

• Matthew Poole (1624-1679)

• John Milward (1619-1688) - English Puritan, fellow of Corpus Christi College and served at a pastorate at during the Interregnum, but was ejected from his pulpit in 1660. After this he settled in London where he contributed two of the Cripplegate Sermons: 1) How ought we to love our neighbors as ourselves? and 2) How ought we to do our duty towards others, though they do not theirs towards us?

• John Chester ( )

• George Cokayn or Cokayne (1619-1691) - English Puritan, was a lifelong friend of John Bunyan. He wrote the preface to Bunyan's The Acceptable Sacrifice shortly after Bunyan's death; he also endorsed John Toldervy's The Foot Out of the Snare; assisted Joseph Caryl in the preparation of an English-Greek lexicon; and wrote other works.

• Matthew Mead (1629-1699)

• Robert Francklin or Franklin (1630-?) - English Puritan, ejected from his pulpit for nonconformity in 1662 (he said, "I left my living, rather than defile my conscience by the then Conformity"). He was persecuted and imprisoned often in the following years prior to the Glorious Revolution. He wrote an account of his own life and short catechism, as well as other works.

• Thomas Doolittle (1630-1707) - English Puritan, born at Kidderminster and was converted at the age of 17 under the preaching of Richard Baxter (sermons later published as The Saints' Rest), under whom he later served as an assistant minister. Doolittle was a one of the ejected ministers of 1662. Afterwards he opened a boarding school, with the assistance of Thomas Vincent, and later a private academy. Among his pupils were Matthew Henry and Edmund Calamy the Historian. He preached one of the Cripplegate Sermons on the subject of Family Worship. He also preached on Motives to Love Jesus and wrote a Plain Method of Catechizing with a Prefatory Catechism (1698).

• Thomas Vincent (1634-1678)

• Nathaniel Vincent (1639-1697)

• John Ryther (1634-1681) - English Congregationalist, ejected in 1662 for nonconformity. He served time in prison twice for illegal preaching. He preached a funeral sermon for James Janeway, as well as other works.

• William Tomson ( )

• Nicholas Blaikie (d. 1698) - Scottish Puritan, graduated from the University of Edinburgh on April 15, 1652 and was later ejected from his pulpit at Roberton in 1662 for nonconformity. He later pastored the Scots' Church in London (afterwards succeeded by Robert Fleming).

• Charles Morton (1626-1698) - English Puritan minister and educator. He opened an academy for young men in London at which he taught Daniel Defoe. He also served as vice-President of Harvard University.

• Edmund Calamy the Younger (1635-1685) -- Son of Edmund Calamy the Elder, Westminster Divine, and father of Edmund Calamy the Historian.

• William Carslake (d. 1689) - English Puritan, graduate of Exeter College, Oxford, and a Presbyterian minister who was ejected for nonconformity in 1662. He preached in London during the Great Plague (1665). Edmund Calamy the Historian says of him that "he was a good and pious man, but inclined to melancholy."

• James Janeway (1636-1674)

• John Hickes (1633-1685) - English Puritan ejected from his pulpit in 1662 for nonconformity. His brother George, however, remained part of the Established Church. Following the Battle of Sedgemoor, John Hickes sought shelter at the house of Alice Lisle, who was executed on September 2, 1685 for harboring John Hickes, who was himself executed the following month, both executions arising from the Bloody Assizes.

• John Baker ( )

• Richard Mayo (1631-1695) - He was one of the continuators of Matthew Poole's English Annotations, while his son Daniel was one of the continuators of Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Bible.

God Is Merciful To All

Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. (Ps. 36.5-7)

The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. (Ps. 145.8-9)

It is denied by some that God shows mercy to the reprobate, but rather only, always wrath. This view recoils at the notion that if grace is truly unmerited favor, therefore the reprobate in this life, as well as the elect, whether regenerate or not at a point in time, do in fact partake of God's lovingkindness by the mere fact that such are not consumed and cast into hell immediately and by the reception of undeserved gifts are allowed to enjoy blessings in this life which are favorable, merciful and indeed gracious.

Love is the bond that unites the ethically perfect. Grace is the objective pleasantness and the subject attraction of the ethically perfect. Mercy wills and desires the ethically perfect to be blessed. It should be evident from this that God cannot be merciful to the reprobate wicked and that His mercy toward his people must be founded in His sovereign election, according to which he beholds them eternally as perfectly righteous in the Beloved. (Herman Hoeksema, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2, p. 115, quoted by David Silversides, The Free Offer: Biblical & Reformed, p. 35).

Silversides adds (pp. 42-43):

Remember Hoeksema's words, 'God cannot be merciful to the reprobate wicked.' Hoeksema's presuppositions require this conclusion. In fact, the Scripture teach that God can and does show mercy to the reprobate wicked in this world, according to his sovereign good pleasure.

The Apostle Paul says:

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (Rom. 2.4)

Silversides (p. 16):

Romans 2:4-5 actually teaches that the guilt of the reprobate is increased by the fact that God does show lovingkindness to them. It is the genuineness of the kindness that heightens their guilt, albeit within the decree of God.
...
It must also be borne in mind that elsewhere Hoeksema's definition of the word 'goodness' is very different from the meaning commonly given to it by Reformed writers and, most particularly, its usage in the Westminster Standards. For example, in Answer 4 of the Shorter Catechism, we read, 'God is a Spirit, infinite eternal and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.' The Shorter Catechism has been criticized by some at this point for not using the terms 'grace, mercy, love', but it must be recognised that in the minds of the Westminster Assembly the term goodness included all of these. This explains why the term 'goodness' is expanded in the Larger Catechism as equivalent to 'most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness' (Ans. 9) and in the Westminster Confession as 'most loving, gracious, merciful, longsuffering, abundant in goodness...forgiving inquity, transgression and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him...' (ch. II, i).

The terms 'good' and 'goodness' (Heb. tob) are consistently linked to God's mercy or faithful love (Heb. chesed), for example in Psalms 23:6, 25:7-8, 86:5, 100:5, 145:9 etc., and when Psalm 34:8 is referred to in 1 Peter 2:3, the term is rendered 'gracious' (Gk. chreestos: A.V. 'kind'). No doubt this explains why the term is rendered 'gracious' in the 1650 Metrical Psalter rendering of Psalm 86:5.

Puritans often distinguished between the general mercy of God to all his creatures and the special mercy shown to the elect.

Samuel Rutherford, Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself (1803 ed., slightly modernized spelling), p. 550:

2. There is a second love and mercy in God, by which he loves all men and angels, yea, even his enemies; makes the sun to mine on the unjust man, as well as the just, and causeth dew and rain to fall on the orchard and fields of the bloody and deceitful man, -whom the Lord abhors; as Christ teacheth us, Mat. v. 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48. Nor doth God miscarry in this love; he desires the eternal being of damned angels and men; he sends the gospel to many reprobates, and invites them to repentance, and, with longanimity and forbearance, suffereth pieces of froward dust to fill the measure of their iniquity; yet does not the Lord's general love fall short of what he willeth to them.

William Jenkyn, An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude, p. 27 (re: v. 2):

For the sorts or kinds of God's mercy. It is either, 1. A general mercy, extended to all creatures in common, as there is no creature in any misery which in some respect he does not succour: he gives food to the hungry; warmth by wool, and sundry sorts of skins, to the naked; medicine by many kinds of herbs; the sun, the clouds, the winds, the rain, to refresh the earth severally: and thus he is merciful to the elect and reprobate, just and unjust, nay, men and beasts, Psal. cxlvii. 9; Matt. vi. 26, &c.; Psal. cxlv. 15. Or, 2. A special mercy bestowed upon the elect alone, different from the former both in regard of God's will to help, and also in regard of the effects of that will. It is the will of God, John vi. 39, that the elect should be delivered from their sins, his wrath, Satan's power, the sting of death, and that they should obtain eternal life in Christ. The will and pleasure of God is to do them good, they are his "Hephzi-bah," Isa. Ixii. 4; but he hath no pleasure in or special love to others, Mal. i. 10. The effects likewise of his will to help are different toward the elect from those he expresses upon the reprobate; he calling effectually, justifying, redeeming, glorifying the elect, Rom. ix. 15, 18; I Tim. i. 13. "The Lord pitieth them that fear him," Psal. ciii. 13. "He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about," Psal. xxxii. 10. The Lord is "plenteous in mercy to them that call upon him," Psal. Ixxxvi. 5. Of others he saith, "I will deal in fury; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity," Ezek. viii. 18. The elect are vessels of mercy, the other of wrath. To the former he is merciful in bestowing upon them an eternal, to the latter in affording a temporal, life. These two differing as much as the mercy with which a man regards his beast does from that wherewith he tenders his son: the beast is fed to be slain, or to be fit for labour; the son to be preserved, and out of a paternal care for his good. To the wicked God affords a drop, to the godly a draught of mercy; to the wicked, the crumbs under the table, to the godly, Christ with all his benefits, that bread of life which endureth to eternal life.

We do well that remember that as Matthew Mead said, "Everything on this side of hell is mercy," and as Richard Allestree wisely noted, "The very breath with which we complain is a blessing" (The Art of Contentment).

We should sing with praise to God and thanksgiving for the Lord's lovingkindness and tender mercies to all with the Psalmist who wrote these words:

1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter:

9 Good unto all men is the Lord:
O'er all his works his mercy is.
10 Thy works all praise to thee afford:
Thy saints, O Lord, thy name shall bless. (Ps. 145.9)

6 Thy justice is like mountains great;
thy judgments deep as floods:
Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
7 How precious is thy grace!
Therefore in shadow of thy wings
men's sons their trust shall place. (Ps. 36.6-7)

Six Degrees of Richard Rogers

If you, dear Reader, have heard of the parlor game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, then this will make sense. It seems like Richard Rogers is at the center of the Puritan universe, although similar levels of interconnectivity can be achieved with other Puritans, methinks. If not, consider this a Puritan family tree with honorary branches. The following is only a snapshot, because many other names of interest and connections have not been included, but it shows just how much influence one godly man has had through his family and ministry.

Puritan minister Richard Rogers (1551-1618, author of the first major Puritan devotional manual on the Christian life, Seven Treatises, and a notable commentary on the Book of Judges, who by the way is NOT kin to the "protomartyr" John Rogers, c. 1500-1555, or, so far as I know, the American composer Richard Rogers, 1902-1979) was the father of Puritan minister Daniel Rogers (1573-1652, student of William Perkins and author of the classic Puritan marriage treatise Matrimoniall Honour) and Ezekiel Rogers (1590-1660, one of the founders of Rowley, Massachusetts); the stepfather of Puritan minister Samuel Ward of Ipswich (1577-1639/1640, who was also cousin [I think] to Puritan scholar Samuel Ward, 1577-1643, one of the translators of the King James Bible and a delegate to the Synod of Dort and an invited, but non-attending, delegate to the Westminster Assembly) and Puritan minister Nathaniel Ward (1578-1652, author of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties), whose son-in-law was Puritan minister Giles Firmin (1614-1697, author of The Real Christian); the grandfather of Puritan minister William Jenkyn (1613-1685, author of a notable commentary on the Book of Jude); the uncle of Puritan minister John Rogers of Dedham (c. 1570-1636, known as 'Roaring Rogers' for his preaching style and author of Sixty Memorials), who was the father of Puritan minister Nathaniel Rogers (1598-1655), who was the father of Harvard University President John Rogers (1630-1684); and the teacher of pupil-turned-Puritan minister Paul Baynes (d. 1617) by whose ministry Puritan minister Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) was converted.

Every Thing Betters A Saint

William Jenkyn, "How Ought We to Bewail the Sins of the Places Where We Live?" in Puritan Sermons, 1659-1689, Vol. 3, p. 125:

Every thing betters a saint. -- Not only ordinances, word, sacraments, holy society, but even sinners and their very sinning. Even these draw forth their graces into exercise, and put them upon godly, broken-hearted mourning. A saint sails with every wind: as the wicked are hurt by the best things, so the godly are bettered by the worst. Because "they have made void thy law, therefore do I love thy commandments." (Psalm cxix. 126, 127.) Holiness is the more owned by the godly, the more the world despiseth it. The most eminent saints were those of Caesar's (Nero's) house: (Phil. iv. 22: ) they who kept God's name, were they that lived where Satan's throne was. (Rev. ii. 13.) Zeal for God grows the hotter by opposition; and thereby the godly most labour to give the glory of God reparation. Lime, by casting water upon it, grows inflamed; and opposition confirms the upright Christian in holiness; winds make the trees more firmly rooted. It was said of old, Grave bonum a Nerone damnari: "The best action saints account that which is opposed by the worst men." Elijah's jealousy for religion was the more kindled by its being opposed by idolaters: (1 Kings xix. 14: ) Lot showed himself a better man in Sodom than in the cave. (Gen. xix. 30.)

Biblical Penology

William Jenkyn, An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude, pp. 174-175:

The second branch of jurisdiction which belongs to the magistrate, consists in the distribution of rewards and punishments. 1. Of rewards to those who keep; 2. Of punishments to those who break the law.
...
2. Of punishments. These are of sundry kinds. Some concern the name, as degradations; some the estate, as pecuniary mulcts; some the body, and these are either capital, or not capital, as mutilation of some part, &c. Evident it is from Scripture commands, that it is the magistrate's duty to punish: "The judges shall make diligent inquisition. And thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life," Deut. xix. 18, 21. (2.) From his function: "He beareth not the sword in vain," Rom. xiii. 4. (3.) From the benefit of these punishments. To the punished, who may grieve for what they have done; to the spectators, who may be warned from doing the same, Prov. xix. 25. Sinful indulgence silently, yet strongly, invites to a second wickedness. Even capital punishments are enjoined by Scripture: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," Gen. ix. 6; Exod. xxi. 12; Lev. xxiv. 17, &c.; a law which, being before the erection of the Mosaic polity, shows that the laws which afterward commanded capital punishments, did not simply and absolutely, but only, in respect of some circumstances, concern the Israelites. The capital punishment of malefactors by the magistrate was dictated by the law of nature. And as the force of the aforesaid command was before, so it continued after Moses; Christ himself, even from it, drawing an argument to dissuade Peter from shedding of blood, Matt. xxvi. 52. Nor do I understand but that, if all punishments of malefactors by the sword be now unlawful, that all defending of the subjects by the sword against an invading enemy is unlawful also; the public peace being opposed by the one as much as the other; nay, may we not argue, that if the power of the sword belong not to the magistrate to defend the commonwealth, that it belongs not to any private man to defend himself against the violent assaults of a murderer?

In sum, capital punishments may be inflicted, but sparingly, slowly. It is observed by some, that God was longer in destroying Jericho than in making the whole world. As many funerals disgrace a physician, so many executions dishonour a magistrate. The execution of justice should, like thunder, fear many, and hurt few: let all means be tried before the last be used. A magistrate must not be bloody when he sheds blood: the master bee alone is (they say) without a sting. If a butcher may not be of the jury, much less may he be a judge. In a doubtful case, it is better to spare many nocent than to punish one innocent; nor must vehement suspicion, but clear evidence, satisfy a judge. Punishment delayed may afterward be executed; but being once executed, cannot be recalled; and even when the malefactor is condemned, the man should be commiserated; though as an offender his blood be debased, yet as a man it is precious.

Puritan Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe, English writer and jack-of-all trades, is known primarily today for being the author Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders and A Journal of the Plague Year, among other literary works. Students of church history and/or literary history may be interested to learn that he was a Puritan, or Dissenter, and that his life and writings intersected with many other Puritans.

He was born into a Nonconformist Presbyterian family and remained a Presbyterian throughout his life. His Presbyterian convictions permeate the whole of his body of literary works.

He was taught as a young man by Puritan Charles Morton, head of an academy for Dissenters at Newington (later vice-President of Harvard University), who was among the signatories of the 1673 Puritan Preface to the Scottish Metrical Psalter.

Defoe wrote the preface to Baptist Dissenter Thomas Delaune's Plea for the Nonconformists. Delaune served time at Newgate Prison where he and, as Defoe notes, his fellow-prisoner, William Jenkyn, noted Puritan minister and biblical expositor, died. Jenkyn was also a signer of the 1673 Puritan Preface to the Scottish Metrical Psalter.

Defoe's lifelong friend was the Puritan Timothy Cruso who, like Defoe, wrote religious guide books. It is believed that he named the protagonist in Robinson Crusoe after him.

He was the author of Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, which is in large measure a tribute to the Protestant martyrs and Scottish Covenanters who suffered religious persecution by the British Crown and Anglican Church.

Anonymously, he wrote The Shortest Way With Dissenters, a masterpiece of satire calling for the Anglican authorities to deal harshly with Dissenters and in so doing making a laughingstock of them. Ironically, he was arrested and pilloried for this, and then served time at the same aforementioned Newgate Prison.

Charles Drelincourt, French Huguenot, wrote Consolations de l'âme fidèle contre les frayeurs de la mort (Christians Defense against the Fears of Death). Defoe later wrote A True Relation of the Apparition of Mrs Veal, who came from the other world to recommend the perusal of Drelincourt on death, it is said, for the express purpose of promoting the sale of an English translation of the Consolations.

There was a bit of controversy between Defoe and Presbyterian Puritan John Howe over the subject of Occasional Conformity, Defoe's tract against the practice of requiring a measure of religious conformity to the Anglican Church on the part of officeholders. The two men addressed the issue from different angles and it was a lamentable controversy.

Defoe is buried at Bunhill Fields, the Dissenters' Cemetery, where other noted Puritans such as John Owen and John Bunyan, are likewise interred.

The Worst of Times Call For The Best of Christians

As I consider the times in which we live, this counsel from Puritan William Jenkyn seems apropos.

William Jenkyn, An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude, pp. 73, 298:

A Christian should be best when the times are worst, and get good by others' sins. When others contend most against, we should most contend for the faith. Of the opposition of the truth by others, we should make a spiritual advantage. As God suffers nothing whereby he gets not glory, so a Christian should observe nothing whereby he gets not some good. As the faint and lukewarm assistance of friends, so the fierce and furious opposition of enemies, should make his contention for the truth the more holily vehement. It was not only the expression of a gracious heart, but of such a one in a very gracious temper, that because the wicked had made void God's law, therefore did he love his commandments above gold, Psal. cxix.127.
...
The faithful must be holy in unholy times. Enoch in a corrupt age walked with God, and kept close to him when most left him. Saints must show that they are not of the world, when they are in it; they must not be conformed to the world, nor run with the world "to the excess of riot," 1 Pet. iv.4. As their righteousness must exceed the righteousness of hypocrites, so must it condemn the unrighteousness of the profane; the rest of their time they should not live to the lusts of men, but to the will of God; they are forbidden to follow a multitude to do evil, to go "in the way of evil men," Prov. iv.14, to have "fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness," Eph. v.11. Elijiah was zealous for God when he scarce could discern any to join with him. As Noah was saved by God when the earth was overwhelmed with an inundation of water, so did he walk with God when it was overspread with an inundation of wickedness. When David was looked upon as a monster, Isaiah and the faithful as wonders, yet they retained their integrity, Psal. lxxi.7; Isa. viii.18; Jer. xx.7: when the wicked have almost made void the law, even then, nay therefore, must the godly love God's commandments, and esteem all his "precepts concerning all things to be right," Psal. cxix.126-128. God is a Friend, a Father; and as this Friend loves us in the day of adversity, so should he be beloved in the day when his honour suffers. May not God say to those who temporize with his enemies for fear, or hope, Is this your kindness to your Friend? Is there any time wherein God hath left or forsaken us, and should there be any wherein we are weary of walking with God? Is God our Father, and can we endure with a tame patience to see him dishonoured? It is reported of a son, who though before dumb, yet seeing enemies about to kill his father, presently cried out, Kill not my father. The sons of God must glorify their Father, and shine as lights in a crooked and perverse nation, Phil. ii.15. Nor can the truth, much less the strength of grace, or the power of godliness, ever be manifested, unless it appears in times of opposition: there is no power seen, where there are no difficulties contended with. Wherein doth the life of grace differ from death in sin, if Christians are carried down the unholy stream of their times? Grace will ever conflict with that sin, either in the soul or the world, which it is not able to conquer; it will condemn it, though it cannot execute it. And what more unreasonable, lastly, than for us to mete to God with one measure, and to expect that he should mete to us with another? How can we expect that he should love us in that day wherein he will leave the most, if we will not walk with him in this day when most forsake him? Study then, O saints, to give the name of God reparations for all the disgrace which wicked men cast upon it. Discover the true nobleness of your Christian spirit, and of minds spiritually generous, by gathering vigour and growing invincible, from the very oppositions of the wicked, and the impieties of your times.