The Love of God

~The Love of God~

à Brakel, Wilhelmus (1635–1711) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Ainsworth, Henry (1569–1622) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
Ames, William (1576–1633) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Annesley, Samuel (c.1620–1696) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Ashwood, Bartholomew (1622–1680) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Austin, Benjamin (fl.1641–1650) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: N/A
Ball, Nathanael (1623–1689) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB
Bartlet, John (c.1599–1680) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB
Bates, William (1625–1699) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Bavinck, Herman (1854–1921) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Baxter, Richard (1615–1691) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Baynes, Paul (c.1573–1617) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Berkhof, Louis (1873–1957) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Bolton, Robert (1572–1631) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
Bunyan, John (1628–1688) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
†Burgess, Anthony (†1664) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
†Burroughs, Jeremiah (c.1600–1646) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
†Calamy, Edmund (1600–1666) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Calvin, John (1509–1564) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Carson, Donald Arthur (1946–) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Chambers, Humphrey (c.1599–1662) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Smith Writings: PRDL
Chantry, Walter (1938–) Citation(s): Tag/Label
Charnock, Stephen (1628–1680) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Clarkson, David (1622–1686) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Cole, Thomas (c.1627–1697) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Bremer Writings: PRDL
Collinges, John (1623–1690) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Cooper, William (fl.1653) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: N/A
Cotton, John (1584–1652) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Daniel, Curt (1952–) Citation(s): Tag/Label
Davenant, John (1572–1641) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Dekker, Harold (1918–2006) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: The Banner
Diodati, John (1576–1649) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Downame, George (c.1563–1634) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Dyer, William (d. 1696) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB Writings: N/A
Edwards, Jonathan (1703–1758) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Elton, Edward (c.1569–1624) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: In Post Writings: PRDL
Foxe, John (1517–1594) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
Frost, John (c.1626–1656) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB, Brook Writings: N/A
Fuller, Andrew (1754–1815) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Gearing, William (c.1625–c.1690) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: MTP Writings: PRDL
Goodwin, Thomas (1600–1680) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
†Harris, Robert (1581–1658) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
Hildersham, Arthur (1563–1632) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
Hodge, Charles (1797–1878) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Holdsworth, Richard (1590–1649) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Howe, John (1630–1705) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Hulse, Erroll (1931–2017) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Personal Page
Jenkyn, William (1612–1685) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Keach, Benjamin (1640–1704) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Knox, John (c.1514–1572) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Kuyper, Abraham (1837–1920) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: WikiWiki Writings: N/A
Larkham, Thomas (1602–1669) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB
Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn (1899–1981) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Luther, Martin (1483–1546) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Mallery, Thomas (fl.1662) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB (bottom entry)
Manton, Thomas (1620–1677) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Mather, Increase (1639–1723) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
McCheyne, Robert Murray (1813–1843) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB
Muller, Richard A. (1948–) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, CTS
Murray, Iain H. (1931–) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, Monergism
Newton, George (1602–1681) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook
Oldfield, John (c.1627–1682) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB Writings: N/A
Pawson, John (c.1620–1654) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: N/A
Pearse, Edward (c.1633–c.1674) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB
Perkins, William (1558–1602) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Petter, George (†1661) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: N/A
Polanus, Amandus (1561–1694) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Polhill, Edward (1622–1694) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB Writings: PRDL
Polwheile [Polwhele], Theophilus (d.1689) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB
Poole, Matthew (1624–1679) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Powell, Vavasor (1617–1670) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB
Prynne, William (1600–1669) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Randall, John (1570–1622) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB
Rawson, James (†1673) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: N/A Writings: PRDL
†Reynolds, Edward (1599–1676) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Robinson, John (c.1575–1625) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Robotham, John (fl.1654) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB Writings: PRDL
Rogers, Daniel (1573–1652) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
Rowe, John (1626–1677) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Rutherford, Samuel (1600–1661) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Ryle, John Charles (1816–1900) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
†Scudder, Henry (c.1585–1652) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
†Seaman, Lazarus (†1675) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Shelton, Thomas (1601–c.1650) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB
Shepard, Thomas (1605–1649) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
Sibbes, Richard (1577–1635) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Sproul, R. C. (1939–) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Spurgeon, Charles (1834–1892) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Stock, Richard (c.1569–1626) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
†Strong, William (d.1654) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Swinnock, George (1627–1673) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB Writings: PRDL
Taylor, Thomas (1576–1633) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
Thornwell, James Henley (1812–1862) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Tuke, Thomas (c.1580–1657) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB
van Mastricht, Petrus (1630–1706) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Various Authors:
Vincent, Nathaniel (c.1639–1697) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Vos, Geerhardus (1862–1949) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki
Warfield, Benjamin Breckinridge (1851–1921) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: N/A
Watson, Thomas (c.1620–1686) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Watts, Isaac (1674–1748) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Wendelin, Marcus Friedrich (1584–1652) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wikiᵈᵉ, McClintock & Strong, DB, Dilday Writings: PRDL
Whitefield, George (1714–1770) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Willard, Samuel (1640–1707) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki Writings: PRDL
Whittingham, William (c.1524–1579) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
†Whitaker, Jeremiah (1599–1654) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: Wiki, DNB Writings: PRDL
Wilson, Thomas (1563–1622) Citation(s): Tag/Label Bio: DNB, Brook Writings: PRDL
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See also the index on “The Historicity of the Reformed Doctrine of Electing and Non-Electing Love” at the Calvin and Calvinism site here (click). Below is an alphabetical listing according to last name:

The Historicity of the Reformed Doctrine of Electing and Non-Electing Love

    ADDITIONAL NOTES (some from my Miscellanies section):
    1. Dec. 6, 2014: The apocryphal work, The Book of Wisdom, is frequently cited by Reformers and Puritans as containing some truth, though not as an authority. Read and mark the more interesting verses for future reference. Chapter 11 verse 24 is commonly quoted. The Book of Wisdom 11:23-26 says the following: "23. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook the sins of men that they may repent. 24. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. 25. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? 26. But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls," Chapter 12 verse nevertheless says, "the ancient inhabitants" in the holy land "whom you hated for deeds most odious..." And again, "equally odius to God are the evildoer and his evil deed" (14:9). The sense is that God loves (amor benevolentiae) all creatures as his creatures, but hates (odium abominationis) evil creatures in so far as they are sinful.
    2. Dec. 6, 2014: John Robinson (in Of Religious Communion [1614], p. 116) affirms God's common love towards all creatures as their Creator in distinction to redemptive love, but his affirmation is too embedded in theological nonsense to be worth blogging. The same goes for John Stalham (Vindiciae Redemptionis [1647], p. 37).
    3. Dec. 9, 2014: Beza wrote: "But lest thou exclaim that I do wrangle, I confess that the Lord doth do[?] an incredible favor and leniency, even towards the vessels of wrath, ordained to destruction. When is it that he should not destroy Cain by and by? Whence is it that he should protract the flood so many years? Whence is it that he should bless Esau with the plentifulness of the earth? That Ishmael should grow to a great kindred? That he should suffer the Caananites and the Amalachites so long? That he should not take away Saul by and by, but suffer him so long to enjoy the benefit of this life, and also the renown and benefits of the Kingdom of Israel? Finally, that we prosecute antiquities, whence is it that he so nourisheth, and so favorably suffereth so many wicked Turkes, such tyranny of Antichrist, and finally thyself with so many false Prophets, who cease not to seduce whomsoever they may from God's truth. Great, yea great and incomprehensible is this goodness of God towards his enemies, which would God they could once acknowledge, whosoever are elect among them, and be not known, that they might at the last return to him, who truly showeth himself favorable, and slow to wrath even to his adversaries." -- Theodore Beza, An Evident Display of Popish Practices, or Patched Pelagianism, trans. William Hopkinson (London: Imprinted by Ralph Newberie, and Henry Bynnyman, 1578), 62-63. William Strong also says that both Beza and Calvin taught that God had a "fatherly love" for all. This is contrary to Hoeksemian teaching.
    4. Dec. 11, 2014: Check Augustine's De Diversis Quaestionibus Ad Simplicianum (the second question) for different senses of love and hate. He qualifies in this work, unlike elsewhere.
    5. Jan. 12, 2015: Thomas Hall (1610-1665) affirms that "God loves all His creatures" in An Exposition By Way of Supplement, on the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Chapters of the Prophecy of Amos (London: Printed for Henry Mortlock, at the Phoenix in St. Pauls Church-yard, near the Little North-door, 1661), 326.
    6. Jan. 13, 2015: "They [the elect] have the comfort of God's special love, and that is more than what arises but from a general love, which is no more than a reprobate may have." -- John Stalham, Vindiciae Redemptionis (London: Printed by A. M. for Christopher Meredith, at the Sign of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard, 1647), 35. See also page 37. Stalham was a high Calvinist.
    7. Jan. 20, 2015: "Sin is a practical blasphemy to all the attributes of God. It is the dare of his justice, the rape of his mercy, the geer of his patience, the sleight of his power, the contempt of his love." -- Samuel Bolton, ᾺΜΑΡΤΩΛΟΣ ᾺΜΑΡΤΙΑ: Or, the Sinfulness of Sin (London: Printed by G. M. for Andrew Kemb, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Talbut gate in Southwark, 1646), 9. "there is more good in God, then there is evil in ten thousand hells of sin." Ibid., 10. "His love it runs in divers rivulets and streams, it is dispensed throughout the whole creation, he loves everything he hath made, but now his hatred it runs in one chanel, all against sin." Ibid., 12.
    8. Jan. 29, 2015: The Westminster Larger Catechism, in the answer to question #67, speaks of a "special love" of God to his elect. To speak of a "special" love implies that there is a non-special or common love.
    9. March 20, 2015: John Forbes (c.1568-1634), a Puritan who argues for a strict atonement in the context, nevertheless affirms Christ's "common love, which he carrieth to all flesh" in A Treatise Tending to Clear the Doctrine of Justification (At Middelburgh: Printed by Richard Schilders, 1616), 48.
    10. Apr. 3, 2015: Peter Toon quotes this in his work on The Emergence of Hyper-Calvinism under the heading on the free offer of the gospel: "Expounding Hebrews 3.3, John Owen wrote: 'They who are judged at the last day (for not receiving the Gospel) will be speechless and have nothing to reply....  Because they despise an overture of a treaty about peace and reconciliation between God and their souls.  God who hath no need of them, nor their obedience or friendship, tenders them a treaty upon terms of peace.  What greater condescension, love or grace could be conceived or desired?  This is tendered in the Gospel, 2 Cor. 5.19.  Now what greater indignity can be offered unto him than to reject his tenders?  Is not this plainly to tell him that they despise his love and scorn his offers of reconciliation?  It is life and salvation that he tenders, on whose neglect he complains that men will not come unto him that they might have life.  Certainly there can be no want of righteousness in the ruin of such persons.'" -- from [John] Owen, Works (ed. Goold), Vol. XX, p. 308.
    11. Feb. 20, 2016: The argument that no where in the NT is the phrase "Christ died for you" is bad for a couple of reasons. First, it is debatable since 1 Cor. 15 says that Paul's initial gospel message to the Corinthians involved his statement "Christ died for *our* sins according to the scriptures." And again, Christ at the table said in the presence of Judas that his blood was shed for "you," which included Judas, a reprobate. Other such arguments from various texts can be made, such as with Acts 3:26, where Christ was sent to turn all Israelites from their iniquity and to save them. Second, the argument is a double-edged sword. Neither is it explicitly said in NT scriptures by any evangelist to a lost person that "God loves you," even though orthodox Calvinists affirm that the idea is implied. Shall we conclude that the Apostles and inspired authors did not believe in God's universal benevolent love since they no where said to the lost, "God loves you"? Hyper-Calvinists use that sort of argument against the universal love of God, and high Calvinists use a parallel sort of argument when they appeal to the absence of explicit "Christ died for you" language in the NT.
    12. March 2, 2017: One should not be surprised at John Gill’s affirmation that God even loves the devils or fallen angels insofar as they are creatures (A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, 3 vols. [London: Printed for W. Winterbotham, 1796], 1:115). It’s a doctrine with a strong Reformed pedigree. Appealing to Wisdom 11:24 and commenting on the “Generalis seu communis amor Dei” (the general or common love of God), Amandus Polanus said, “there is no one among men, or even of the demons, that can say that he is not loved by God” (nemo est vel hominum vel etiam daemoniorum, qui dicere queat, se non amaria Deo). See Syntagma theologiæ christianæ(Hanau: Wechel, 1609), 1095. Heinrich Heppe translates Polanus this way: “...no one either of men or even of demons may say that he is not loved by God” (Reformed Dogmatics, rev. and ed. Ernst Bizer, trans. G.T. Thomson [1950; repr. London: Wakemen Great Reprints, 2000], 95). This seems to have originated with Zanchi, who said, “Hoc pacto, nemo est, vel hominum, vel etiam diablorum: qui dicere queat, se non amori a Deo” (Hieronymi Zanchii, De Natura Dei, Seu De Divinis Attributis: Libri V. (Heidelbergae: Mylius, 1577), 444; or translated in Girolamo Zanchi, Life Everlasting: Or The True Knowledge of One Iehova, Three Elohim and Jesus Immanuel (Printed by Iohn Legat, printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge. And are to be sold [in London] at the signe of the Crowne in Pauls Church-yard by Simon Waterson, 1601), 362. See also Thomas Larkham, The Attributes of God Unfolded, and Applied. The Second Part. (London: Printed for Francis Eglesfield, 1656), 158–59, who got his idea from William Perkins (The Whole Treatise of the Cases of Conscience Distinguished into Three Books [Cambridge: Printed by John Legat, and are to be sold [in London] in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne by Simon Waterson], 1:7). John Cotton also said that God loved even the fallen angels in a sense. See William Twisse’s critical citation of Cotton in A Treatise of Mr. Cotton’s (London: Printed by J. D. for Andrew Crooke, 1646), 140. Samuel Rutherford affirmed that there is a general “love that God beareth to the Reprobate, yea, and to the fallen angels.” See Samuel Rutherford, Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself (London: Printed by J. D. for Andrew Crooke, 1647), 410. Willet said, “...God loveth him [the devil] as his creature, & so he doth also the wicked, suffering the Sunne to shine upon them, Mat. 5.” See Andrew Willet, Tetrastylon papisticum (London: Printed by Robert Robinson for Thomas Man dwelling in Pater noster row at the signe of the Talbot, 1593), 20. David Clarkson noted that “The devil himself, how hateful soever, yet as he is the workmanship of God, is so far good, but sin has nothing in it of God’s workmanship, nothing in it in any sense good; it is the spawn of the devil, and of him, not as he is a creature, but as he is a devil, and so has nothing in it but what is purely evil, and absolutely hateful.” See “God’s End in Sending Calamities and Afflictions on His People: Isa. XXVII. 9.,” in The Practical Works of David Clarkson, B.D.(Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1865), 2:231. James P. Boyce said that God’s love of benevolence “exists towards all, even towards devils.” See James Petigru Boyce, Abstract of Systematic Theology (n.p., 1887), 95. Also in James Petigru Boyce, Abstract of Systematic Theology(Louisville, KY: Chas. T. Dearing, 1882), 104. John H. Gerstner noted that, according to Jonathan Edwards (as cited in an unpublished MS sermon on Eph. 4:15–16, “In a company of Christians among whom Christianity has its genuine effect, love is the beginning and love is the middle and love is the end of all their affairs,” p. 2, May 1743), God loves men ‘even in damnation’.” See John H. Gerstner, The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, 3 vols. (Powhatan, VA: Berea Publications; Orlando, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 1993), 2:38. Gerstner elsewhere noted, when discussing Edwards’s theory of virtue, that “although it is a trivial point, if the virtuous person were to love Satanic being it would be infinitesimally less than the love for God, and pertain only to Satan’s being as such, and not his anti-benevolence, which is his essential moral nature.” Ibid., 3:287.
    13. June 20, 2017: “4. The hyper-Calvinist denies the universal love of God. He has a fearful caricature of the real nature of God which would present him as fierce, and not easily induced to love. If we fellowshipped more with Christ, said Iain Murray, we would know and love him more. Then there would be no uncertainty that God desired the salvation of sinners. ‘How oft would I have gathered you,’ says the Saviour to recalcitrant Jerusalem.” -- Geoff Thomas, “Spurgeon’s Battle with Hyper-Calvinism,” Evangelical Times 29.7 (July 1995): 10?. Thomas studied at the University College of Cardiff and Westminster Theological Seminary. He is Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.
    14. June 21, 2017: For Reymond’s affirmation of general goodness, general love, and common grace, see Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 2nd ed. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), 5n7, 201, 399, 401, 402–03, 452, 913, 1125; ‘What is God?’: An Investigation of the Perfections of God’s Nature (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications; Mentor, 2007), 100, 234, 239, 243–44, 248, 251–52, 255. W. Gary Crampton also held to a sense of “common grace.” See W. Gary Crampton, He Shall Glorify Me: A Study of the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit (Orlando, FL: Xulon Press; Lakeland, FL: Whitefield Press, 2004), 250n139.
    15. June 28, 2017: Van Mastricht affirms God's universal and common love in Petro van Mastricht, Theoretico-Practica Theologia (Utrecht: W. van de Water, et al, 1724), 1:179r (2.17.9). "IX. Hinc triplex resurgit, versus creaturas quidem, Dei amor: Universalis [VERSES] per quem omnia creavit, conservat, gubernat [VERSES]. Communis, ad homines quidem peculiariter sese extendens, non omnes quidem & singulos; sed quosvis tamen promiscue, tam reprobos quam electos, cujus generis etiam est, qui beneficia dispensat, quae comemorantur [VERSES]."
    16. July 16, 2017: “Mark saith, that Jesus beholding him, loved him; not with a special saving Love, (for he sent him away sad; upon his going, he tells his Disciples that it was a very hard thing for a Rich Man to come to Heaven, he tells him, One thing was wanting to him) but he loved him with such a common Love, as he loveth all his Creatures with, and more especially such as are better than others. All that can be concluded from hence is, That Acts of Moral Righteousness are pleasing to God.”—Matthew Poole, “Annotations on the Gospel According to St. Matthew: Matthew 19:21,” in Annotations Upon the Holy Bible, 2 vols. (London: Printed for Thomas Parkhurst, et al., 1700), 2:Fff7r. Or see Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, 3 vols. (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 3:90; Matt. 19:21. This exposition of Matthew is actually from John Collinges. See here. It is interesting that this comment not only refer to God having a “common love” for all his creatures, but that it seems to refer to God’s love of complacency for the Rich Young Ruler, due to virtue in him, even as an unbeliever. On Matthew 5:45, Collinges also wrote: “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.”—Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, 3 vols. (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 3:26. Poole’s Annotations on Phil 1:8 (apparently written by Richard Adams) also referred to a “common love.”
    17. September 2, 2017: “God loves every single human being [benevolently], and we should have no reluctance in saying that.”—Albert Mohler, “Ask Anything Live,” Thursday, August 31, 2017. Source: Facebook or YouTube
    18. March 25, 2018: "Calling is an action of God’s love, whereby he calleth men to salvation."---Elnathan Parr, A Plain Exposition Upon the Whole Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth Chapters of the Epistle of Paul to the Romans (London: Printed by George Purstowe for Samuel Man, 1620), 222. Parr goes on to distinguish between the outward and inward call, and shows that the inward call is a matter of special love.
    19. June 20, 2018: “hyper-Calvinism. A deviant form of Calvinism that denies any human freedom or moral responsibility, usually with respect to matters of faith and repentance. Hyper-Calvinists embrace hard determinism and discourage open invitations to sinners to believe on Christ for salvation. God’s love is restricted only to the elect.”—Scott Christensen, What About Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God’s Sovereignty (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2016), 256.
    20. Dec. 18, 2018: “147 [Franciscus] Gomarus, De perseverantia (1608), xvi, distinguishes between, on the one hand, God’s love, grace, and general benevolence shown commonly to all, and, on the other hand, God’s grace and infinite love conferred in Christ. Although it parallels Arminius’s distinction between God’s general and saving love, Gomarus’s general love is not for the purpose of saving” (Keith D. Stanglin, Arminius on the Assurance of Salvation: The Context, Roots, and Shape of the Leiden Debate, 1603–1609 [Brill’s Series in Church History, ed. Wim Janse, vol. 27; Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007], 226).
    21. Jan. 11, 2019: Johannes Scharpius (†1648), Bénédict Pictet (†1724), Petrus van Mastricht (†1706), Marcus Friedrich Wendelin (†1652), and Johann Heinrich Heidegger (†1698) all teach God’s general love for mankind, in addition to electing love. See Johannes Scharpius, Cursus theologicus, in quo controversiae omnes de fidei dogmatibus ..., 2nd ed., 2 vols. (Geneva : Petrus et Jacobus Chouët, 1620), 1:201–202; Bénédict Pictet, La Théologie Chrétienne, et la Science du Salut, ou l’exposition des Véritez que Dieu a révélées aux hommes dans la Sainte Ecriture, 3 vols. (Geneve: Chez Cramer, Perachon, & Cramer Fils, 1721), 1:210–211; Petrus van Mastricht, Theoretico-practica theologia, qua, per singula capita theologica, pars exegetica, dogmatica, elenchtica & practica, perpetua successione conjugantur, 2nd ed. (Utrecht: Apud W. van de Water, 1724), 1:179–180; Marcus Friedrich Wendelin, Christianae theologiae libri duo (Amsterlodami: Joannem Janssonium, 1657), 1:81–82; and Johann Heinrich Heidegger, Corpus theologiae christianae ... (Zürich : Typis Joh. Henrici Bodmeri, 1700), 1:96. For a secondary source confirmation of this, see also Dolf te Velde, The Doctrine of God in Reformed Orthodoxy, Karl Barth, and the Utrecht School: A Study in Method and Content (Studies in Reformed Theology, vol. 25; Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2013), 208. Also in Roelf Theodoor te Velde, “Paths Beyond Tracing Out: The Connection of Method and Content in the Doctrine of God, Examined in Reformed Orthodoxy, Karl Barth, and the Utrecht School” (PhD diss., Theologische Universiteit Kampen, 2010), 176.
    22. Jan. 11, 2019: “Questions about the universal saving will of God, and of limits on Christ’s saving work do not much arise for [Martin] Bucer, who rather emphasizes the universal nature of external vocation, and of the ‘gospel’ that God ‘loves’ all men, or at least does not will that any be lost” (David Neelands, “Predestination and the Thirty-Nine Articles,” in A Companion to Peter Martyr Vermigli, ed. T. Kirby, E. Campi, & F. A. James III [Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition, vol. 16; Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2009], 359).
    23. March 17, 2019: "For though the common love of God (as the bare offer of grace is) may be manifested without having Christ, yet special actual love cannot be actually our own, without having and first receiving of him..."---Thomas Shepard, Theses Sabbaticæ, or, The doctrine of the Sabbath wherein the Sabbaths I. Morality, II. Change, III. Beginning. IV. Sanctification, are clearly discussed, which were first handled more largely in sundry sermons in Cambridge in New-England in opening of the Fourth Commandment (London: Printed by T.R. and E.M. for John Rothwell, 1650), 123.
    24. March 17, 2019: "God doth not only love, but he doth greatly love Christians: He loves all the Creatures with a common love, but he loves Christians with a special love, with a far greater love."---Richard Kentish, καθ΄ υπερβολήν ὁδός. Or, The Way of Love, Set Forth in a Sermon Preached at Pauls Septemb: 10. 1648. (Printed for Hannah Allen at the Crown in Popes-head-Alley, 1649), B2ʳ.
    25. March 17, 2019: "...there is matter in Christ's common love in his satisfaction, for us to plead with sinners for gratitude (before assurance of special love) though they have not hearts to perceive it to purpose, till God open their hearts by his Spirit."---Richard Baxter, Rich. Baxter's Admonition to Mr. William Eyre of Salisbury; Concerning his Miscarriages in a Book Lately Written for the Justification of Infidels, Against M. Benj. Woodbridge, M. James Cranford and the Author (London: Printed by A. M. for Thomas Underhill, ... 1654), E1ʳ.
    26. March 20, 2019: Obadiah Sedgwick (c.1600-1658), a Westminster divine, affirmed a common love and mercy in God, in distinction from a choice love and mercy, such that some may "partake of His common love, and common effects of that love, yet you may be His very enemies, and vessels of wrath." See Obadiah Sedgwick, The Parable of the Prodigal (London: Printed by D. Maxwel, for Sa. Gellibrand, 1660), 188, 339.
    27. March 21, 2019: "A second Corollary or Conclusion deducible from Zimri's fact may be this. That wicked and ungodly men (such as Elah was) have a just right and title to these outward blessings. I say not barely, that they have a spiritual right in the Court of Conscience, and in the sight of God, who out of that φιλανθροπία, the general and common love which he bares to men as his creatures, Makes his Sun to rise on the evil, and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust. Matt. 5.45. God collates and confers them as a free gift of his mere bounty and goodness, and what is so bestowed is usually accounted and reckoned as our own. For if Dominion be founded not in grace, but in Divine providence, And there is no Power but of God, Rom. 13.1. Then wicked Rulers must needs have a good right to that power and Authority wherewith God in his general providence doth instake and invest them."---John Ramsey [Minister of East Rudham, d. circa 1669], Zimri's Peace: Or, the Traytor's Doom & Downfall (London: Printed for Charles Adams at the Talbot in Fleetstreet near St. Dunston's Church, 1660), 13.
    28. March 23, 2019: Joseph Hacon (1603–1662) affirms God's common or general love in A Vindication of the Review. Or, the Exceptions formerly made against Mr. Horn's Catechisme set free from his late allegations, and maintained not to be Mistakes (Cambridge: Printed by John Field, 1662), 138, 218. For Hacon's biographical information, see this (click) post.
    29. February 11, 2021: “Once again it is right to acknowledge the divine benevolence, for God does not do with humankind what was merited by the magnitude of the sin. Adam together with all his posterity deserved to be completely rejected and wholly condemned. Nevertheless, God gave both to him and to his posterity room for repentance, and he did so through the Redeemer, out of pure kindness, and without provocation.”—Johannes Oecolampadius, Commentary on Genesis (In Genesim [1536], 50r–v). Quoted in John L. Thompson, Timothy George, and Scott M. Manetsch, eds., Genesis 1–11: Old Testament, vol. 1, Reformation Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012), 151.
    30. February 13, 2021: “Not only outside, but within, at the very heart of the church, enemies are not lacking. ‘With wicked hatred they hate me,’ hating me even though I [God] love them.”—Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms 25.19.
    31. February 19, 2021: "Those that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity shall be beloved of him with a peculiar distinguishing love: he will love them and manifest himself to them [John 14:12]."—Matthew Henry on Prov. 8:17
    32. September 3, 2021: Roger Nicole affirmed “the general benevolence of God” and “the universal offer of salvation” in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Roger Nicole, and H. Orton Wiley, “Feature Interview: The Debate over Divine Election,” Christianity Today 4.1 (Oct. 12, 1959): 4.
    33. October 10, 2021: Thomas Cole (1627?–1697) taught a general love in God in The incomprehensibleness of imputed righteousness, for justification, by humane reason, till enlightned by the spirit of God preached in two sermons at the Merchants-Lecture in Broadstreet (London: Printed for Tho. Cockerill, 1692), 15–16.
    34. March 8, 2022: "He that in his generall love feeds the Ravens, the Lions, and Leopards; makes his raine to fall, and his Sunne to shine upon the wicked, and fills their bellies with his hid treasures; what will his speciall love make him to his owne?"—Richard Stock (c.1569–1626), A Learned and Very Useful Commentary Upon the Whole Prophesie of Malachy (London: Printed by T. H. and R. H. for Daniel Frere and William Wells, and are to be sold at their shops in Little Britaine. 1641), 21.
    35. May 2, 2022: "It is just as Christ said to Judas in the garden: “Friend, why have you come?” [Matt. 26:50]. Judas was His friend, but Christ was Judas’ enemy, for Judas regarded Him as an enemy and hated Him while Christ loved Judas and regarded him as His friend."—Martin Luther, Luther’s Works: Church Postil V, ed. Benjamin T. G. Mayes, James L. Langebartels, and Christopher Boyd Brown, vol. 79 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2016), 75.
    36. May 8, 2022: “To the very end Jesus loved Judas, but he [Judas] would have none of what He [Jesus] offered him.”—John MacArthur, Matthew 8–15, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1987), 177; “But the Lord’s pain was compounded many times over because He knew ahead of time that He would be betrayed and because the consequences were so serious. Yet He endured the pain, because He loved Judas and knew that His own betrayal was a necessary part of the redemptive plan.”—John MacArthur, Drawing Near: Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 30; “Jesus loved Judas, even though he knew he would shortly betray him, a tangible and moving expression of Jesus’s maxim that his followers should love even their enemies.”—Andreas J. Köstenberger, The Jesus of the Gospels: An Introduction (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2020), 420. See also Isaac Watts above.
    37. June 22, 2022: “Here is, 1. The privilege of Christians: They are beloved of God, they are members of that body which is beloved, which is God’s Hephzibah, in which his delight is. We speak of God’s love by his bounty and beneficence, and so he hath a common love to all mankind and a peculiar love for true believers; and between these there is a love he hath for all the body of visible Christians.”—Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 2193; John Evans on Romans 1:1–7.
    38. June 22, 2022: “III. Divine love to the brethren should constrain ours: Beloved (I would adjure you by your interest in my love to remember), if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another, v. 11. This should be an invincible argument. The example of God should press us. We should be followers (or imitators) of him, as his dear children. The objects of the divine love should be the objects of ours. Shall we refuse to love those whom the eternal God hath loved? We should be admirers of his love, and lovers of his love (of the benevolence and complacency that are in him), and consequently lovers of those whom he loves. The general love of God to the world should induce a universal love among mankind. That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust, Mt. 5:45. The peculiar love of God to the church and to the saints should be productive of a peculiar love there: If God so loved us, we ought surely (in some measure suitably thereto) to love one another.”—Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 2451; John Reynolds of Shrewbury on 1 John 4:7–13.
    39. November 24, 2022: Universal love: “God is awesome because He so loves the human race that He performs miracles through His saints. He is more awesome in His saints than in the rest of His creatures.”—Jerome, “Homily 7: On Psalm 67 (68),” in The Homilies of Saint Jerome (1–59 on the Psalms), ed. Hermigild Dressler, trans. Marie Liguori Ewald, vol. 1, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1964), 59.
    40. January 24, 2023: “God loveth himself first, and most, as the chiefest good, and all other good things [i.e., all mankind as His creatures], as he communicates with them less, or more, the effects of his own goodness.”—John Robinson (1576–1625), Works (1851), 1:4.
    41. March 24, 2023: “…God does have a general love toward all men posterior to the fall,…”—The Palatinate delegation to the Synod of Dort (Acta Synodi Nationalis in nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi […] Dordrechti [1620], 2:107).
    42. January 14, 2024: God loves all creatures: “Amor Dei potest considerari vel affective, quo sensu omnes creaturas Deus amat aequaliter, cum in ipsum non eadat plus & minus; vel effective, quo sensu inaequaliter eas diligit, non eadem aut paria beneficia illis tribuendo.”—Samuel Maresius (1599–1673)

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