Love's Pedigree OR A Discourse shewing the Grace of LOVE in a Believer to be of A Divine Original Delivered in a SERMON Preached at the Lecture in Boston Febr. 29. 1699. 1700 By S. Willard Teacher of a Church there Jam. 1. 17. Every good gift every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights BOSTON in N. E. Printed by B. Green and J. Allen. Sold by Benjamin Eliot at his Shop under the West End of the Town House 1700. Love's Pedigree 1 John IV. 19. We Love him because he first Loved us THE knowledge of our good and safe Estate deriving from an interest in the Everlasting Love of God is a thing which every one who hath right thoughts of the Eternity he is going to will be very sollicitous about There is besides the Testimony of the Spirit of God to this in us which is necessary for our confirmation in the belief of it the witness of our own spirit requisite for our ordinary Assurance about it which must be given to those things in us which are evidential of iâ These Evidences are built upon the discovery of such fruits or effects of the love of God wrought in us as aâe proper and distinguishing and these are mainly the Graces of Faith and Repentance and these are put into us by the operation of the Spirit of God in our Effectual Vocation and because there may be something like unto these found in Hypocrites which may cheat them into false and presumptuous hopes of their good estate there is a yet farther trial to be made of them to prove that this Faith is unfeigned and that this Repentance is unto life which must be gathered from those distinguishing fruits of them which are not to be found in the other These fruits are all of them in the Word of God reduced to that common head of love by which Faith is said to Operate Gal. 5. 6. Which Love is distributed according to the next or immediate objects of it into the loving of God and of our brother and because these two are inseparable they are therefore made use of mutually to evidence each the other inasmuch as if we truly love our brother it derives from our love to God as the principle in which it is rooted and if we love God indeed it will unfailingly prâduce the other love in us So that the grand Case into which our Self Examination must ultimately resolve it self is Whether God loveth us with that love which he bears to his Chosen because if we are but sure of this the inference is infallible viz that we shall certainly at last arrive at Eternal Life how happy then must we needs be and the enquiry on which this conclusion must determine is Whether we do cordially and sincerely love God for though our happy state was secured for us in the former it being appointed and settled in that love of his yet we cannot come at the knowledge of it but by the âatâer The words of our Text give us a reason of the safety of this way of concluding and shew us why and wherein it amounts to a Demonstration in as much as it leads us from the Effect to the supream cause from whence it must derive It is needless to enquire after the coherence of our Text with the Context the words themselves being an entire proposition and having abundant mattar of profitable instruction in them and the design of them is not only to assert the close connexion that there is between our loving of God and his loving us but also to point us to the reason of this Connexion and shew us the closeness of it and the safety of our inserring his love to us from ours to him and if it be enquiâed to what kind of reasoning it is to be referred I answer it must needs be to the Efficient Cause It doth not only intimate that there is a Concomitancy but also a Causality for though the word because doth not always refer us to the cause of the thing but may refer to any other head of arguments and is accordingly to be judged of by the nature of that which it refers to yet it must do so in this place inasmuch as we are here given to understand the priority of Gods love to us as that from which we come to love him which can be inferred from no other but the Efficient The word is an Adjective and not an Adverb and that also puts force into the argument he was the first in this love and thence it was that our love followed after Hence DOCTRINE Our Loving of God is the genuine effect of his first Loving of us If we love him in time it it because he first loved us from Eternity I shall not insist on this Doctrine at large but restrain the following Discourse to the resolution of the following Case viz. Quest In what respect Gods love to us is leading to and influential of our loving of him A. That we may take up the right meaning of the Case in order to the better resolution of it There are these two remarks to be made 1. That by Gods love to us we are to understand his Eternal purpose of good will by which he appointed us to Salvation by Christ Love is improperly attributed to God in whom there are no Passions or Affections properly so called inasmuch as they argue imperfection and composition in the subject of them which is incompaâible with the most absolute first Being But because these are in men the Instruments of the Will by the Ministry whereof it performs its Imperate Actions or they are the various postures of it with respect to its Object according to the resentment that it hath of it hereupon when we see such things done in Gods Works of Efficiency as are wont to be managed by such an Affection we after our manner of conception ascribe it to that Affection because we cannot otherwise express it Now love is an Affection in us which beareth good will to the Object of it and expresseth it self in acts of kindness to it As therefore it is an Humane Affection it is rooted in the heart or will and is on all opportunities discovering it self in the carriage and from this conception of it when God manifesteth his benignity to the Creature we conceive him in his so doing to act as a cause by Counsel and so ascribe it to his Benevolence and call it his love And frâm this consideration there is a divers love that is assigned to him according to the different effects of his good will discerned in the fruits of his Beneficence to the Subject of it There is a common love attributed to him wherein the good and the bad do promiscuously partake and it appears in that Goodness of his which he confers upon them wherein he gives them large tasts of his bounty and to this love we are pointed in Psal 145. 9. The Lord is good
hereby to us but for which we must have remained utter strangers unto peace for ever 4. This love hath pointed out to us the way of Salvation by Christ. As God hath laid it in Christ for us so he hath in the Gospel discovered the way of it to us There is a way in which Sinful men must come to partake in the precious fruits of Christ Redemption and there are terms on which these are conveyed to us now God hath opened these terms and laid out all the Articles of the New Covenant in his Gospel This is not a favour which all partake in it is said of the Gentiles who are without the Gospel in Rom. 3. 17. The way of peace have they not known And we are told in 2 Tim. 1. 10. That God hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel There are the proposals in the New-Covenant which must be complied withal by those âhat hope to be Saved by Christ they that never hear of them can never comply with âhem Rom. 10. 14. How shall they believe in him âf whom they have not heard And it is Gods âove to his chosen that moved him to open âhis Covenant and propose the terms of it to âhem in order to their being brought into it 5. This love hath not only provided the means but also renders them effectual to our Salvation God brings about the Salvation of his Elect in the way of means as best accommodated to his treating of them as reasonable Creatures he hath therefore appointed them in the Gospel and they are the gifts of our glorified Saviour Eph 4. 10. c. It is therefore a singular favour for men to enjoy them there is that remark Psal 147. 19 20. He shewed his word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any nation c. And it must be so for the want of them is a note of perdition 2 Cor 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost But yet many have them and they prove occasions of their greater ruine because they abuse them Herein therefore is Gods love antecedently to ours eminently celebrated in that he gives a blessing to the means and so making them powerful to advance the end of them Rom. 1. 16. The Gospel is the power of God to Salvation in them that believe and why only in such aâ do believe why because the Spirit of God comes in with them to such and leaves saving impressions by them Now all these are the incentives of our love and do certainly proceed from his loving us first USE I. We may hence infer the Doctrine of personal Election Great attempts have been and are used in the Christian world to undermine this truth but all are in vain If there were no more Scripture evidence for the confirmation and establishment of this Article of our faith but only the words of our Text it is sufficient to enervate all the cavils and objections that are brought against it If Gods first loving us be not only a Reason but a Cause too of our loving him and consequently if any of us have the love of God produced in him it is an evidence of that antecedent love which he bare to us it so becomes a distinguishing note between them whom he loved and others and for that reason it must needs be an infallible evidence of Gods having such a love for us before which must needs be from Eternity because his will and purpose is like himself Immutable And this can amount to nothing less than a Personal âlection for if God be the author of this Grace ââ us and he produceth it by his Spirit because âe loved us than we were personally appointed âereto from Eternity So the Apostle layes it âown Eph. 1. 3 4. Blessed be the God and Father âf our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with âll Spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy USE II. This tells us that Gods Electing love could not âe founded on the prevision of any thing in the Creature We are here acquainted with the Absolute Sovereignty of God in this affair If Gods love be the first cause of all Grace and Good to us it must needs then be it self Independent for that is an inseparable property of a Supream Cause If Gods love produceth all that is good in the Creature it is then impossible that the goodness of the Creature should produce that love to it To limit Gods special love which he bears unto any unto something foreseen in the Subject is to make something in us that did precede that and that did not derive from it as the Efficient of it which is to invert the order of Causes and put the second being in the place of the first God could not foresee any thing lovely in us but upon his own purpose to confer it upon us on which the futurity of it depended anâ therefore this foresight could not cause his lovâ but must needs flow from it He bestowed thâ gift on us because he loved us Rev. 1. 5. Unâ him that loved us and washed us frââ our sins his blood USE III. Hence we learn what little reason they have tâ think that God loved them who are void of thâ love of God It is true Gods love to those whom he hath Chosen in Christ runs under grounâ for a great while and there are those whom hâ hath an endeared respect for who are at presenâ in arms of rebellion against him who have nâ regard for him who say unto him depart from us such indeed are all Gods Elect before Conversiâ on Eph 2. 2 3. Wherein in times past ye walkeâ according to the course of this world c and werâ Children of wrath even as others Tit. 3 3 We ouâ selves also were sometimes foolish and diâobedient c. And though there are ânseen ways in which this love of his is before hand working towarâ them yet all this while ââey have no grounâ of evidence to prove their interest in his special favour It is certain if any are the Subjects of this love it will sooner or later breaââorth in their Calling and will kindle in them a âincere love to him Jer 31 3 I have loved thâ âith an everlasting love therefore in loving Kindâess have I drawn thee And this is the first âiscovery by which they know that he loved âhem 2 Thes 2. 13 God hath from the beginâing chosen you to Salvation through the Sanctiâcation of the Spirit And therefore the order âf Assurance is to come at the knowledge of âur Election by our Vocation 2 Pet. 1. 10. In âain then do they pretend to be the beâoved of God who do not love and serve âim cordially USE IV. Hence it follows that they who truely love God âannot but acknowledge and adore his Electing love âo them What is the reason why the Profesing World is so full of prejudices against the Doctrine of Gods free Sovereign Election and âhat there are so few that can relish or paâiently endure the Preaching of it Doubâess ât must be because they were never experimentally acquainted with it That man who âath had the love of God shed abroad in his âeart and hath known what it is to be Saved by Grace will put the greatest Emphasis upon this Article of it and his love will be the more ardently enflamed by it to think that herein God hath manifested what precious and endearing thoughts he had for him in the daâ of Eternity how distinguishing that love wââ when he had neither being nor deservinâ My Prayer then for all such prejudiced persons shall be that God will give unto them the experience of this love in themselves and that will silence all their uprisings of heart and fill them with adoration FINIS
to all and his tender mercies are over all his works And Acts 14. 17. He left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness And there is an Especial love of his that we are told of which he bears only to some and in comparison with which others are said to be hated according to Rom. 9. 13. Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated and it appears in those peculiar favours which he hath laid in for and bestows upon them of which we have such observations Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. 1 Joh. 4 9. In this was the love of God manifested towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him and this is the love that we are now considering of and is intended in our Text which if we run up to the top of it is nothing else but that good will of his by which he purposed to bestow all saving good upon us There is a natural love which we ascribe to God by which he loveth himsâlf eternally being his own last end and with this love every Sacred Person in the undivided Trinity love each other and there is a voluntary love which we conceive in him which must needs flow from his good pleasure for we are told Rom. 9. 18. He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy And such must be all âe love which he bears to the Creature since â being and all that he doth to it or for it ârive from his holy pleasure Who doth all things âording to the Counsel of his will Eph. 1. 11. And â was this love that procured our Salvation Gal. â 20. Who loved me and gave himself for me 2. That by our loving of God we must understand âat Cordial respect which we have for him where â we have chosen him for our portion and are enâely devoted to his fear Love in us is an Afâction leading us in pursuit after Union to the object â it in order to our having intimate Communion âith it for love is a Closing Affection and ârrieth us forth after that which we love That âhich attracts our love to it is the Goodness âhich we apprehend to be in the object of it âhich renders it a thing lovely the discovery ââ which goodness made to the Understanding âoves on the Judgment and by that on the âeart and draws it out after it Now the exâession of this love is in a suitable respect that âe shew to the object of it and is accordingly âiversifyed as there is a different reference or reâtion that we bear to it the love therefore ââ Parents to their Children and of Children ââ their Parents doth not shew it self after the âme manner There are therefore these two âings wherein our real love to God appears Viz. In our renouncing of all other things â him chusing him alone for our portion aâ accordingly depending upon him for all whâ we can say as the Church Lam. 3. 24. The Lâ is my portion saith my Soul therefore I will hopâ him And as the Psalmist Psal 62. 5. My Sââait thou only upon God for my expectation is frâ him And in our submitting our selves wâ greatest willingness and delight to his Servicâ Christ therefore directs to this as the Evideâ oâ our love Joh 14 15. If ye love me keep â Commandments Love is therefore used in â Scriptures to express all that Obedience whâ we pay to God in studying and practising uâversal conformity to his revealed will Thiâ rooted in our hearts by the delight we have his precepts when we can say with him Râ 7. 22 I delight in the Law of God after the inwâ man And it is exerted in our life when â devote our whole man to New Obediencâ When we love the Lord our God with all our heâ and all our soul and all our mind Matth. 22. â It nâw ââllows that we proceed to the reâlâtion of the Case and we may take it upâ the following Propositions 1. This love of ours with which we love God not barely a Natural Affection or a Moral Prâciple in it but a Grace of the Spirit The âtural affection indeed is the Subject of it in âhich it is rooted but we must distinguish beââeen the affection it self and the love which â rooted in it Love hath Good for its Object ând such as the good is so is the love denomiâated We love the things that are suited to âur inclinations and hence there is in Unreâenerate mân a Carnal Love which inclines them ââ the gratification of their carnal Lusts and so âe objects which are suited thereto attract âeir love There is a Natural Love in men to âch persons or things as are agreeable to their âatures and there is a love to the things that ââe Morally Good and Honest which some Unâonverted men have in them and it proceeds âom a principle of Morality which either reâains in them notwithstanding the fall or hath âeen acquired by them but none of these aâounts to the love which we are now in the Consideration of There is then a Divine Love which carries men out to God and to Heavenly things and fixeth them there and âis flows from a special gracious principle inâsed into the man by the Spirit of God and can âlaim its Original from no other it is thereâore called one of the fruits of the Spirit and ââ the first named Gal. 5 22. The fruit of the Spirit is love c. This love of God indeed was âonnatural to man in his state of integrity being âne of those Graces of Sanctification which were concreated in him and belonged to thâ Image of God which was at first put upon hiâ and adorned him This love was active aâ vigorous in man before such time as he had â praâed himself by Sin and none of the Commââ were grievous to him 2. The Apostasy robbed man of that holy love God which was at first planted in him This it â when it stript him of the Image of God in whâ this and all the other Graces of Sanctificatiâ were contained When man put off the Imaâ from him all that was Spiritual or Theologicâ good in him went with it So that every Uâ regenerate man if he will say the Truth mâ confess of himself entirely as Paul doth of hiâ self in respect to his worser part Rom. 7. â In me that is in my flesh there dwells no good thiâ Man who at first loved God as his last end aâ chief good now ceaseth to do so and there is nâ one spark of that primitive love left in him â is said of every natural man that the love of â Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2. 15. The Affectiâ of love abides in the man it being essential his Humanity and inseparable from it but