knoweth not God for God is Love And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him So did some of the oldest of the Greek Poets call the Supream Deity and the Original of all Beings by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Love And so Plato and his Disciples call the First Person in their Trinity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self goodness 'T is by this Vertue of Love that we are made partakers of the Divine Nature most eminently that being the Highest Perfection of the Image of God that we are capable of For God is Love not causally only but essentially Other Graces are from him Quicquid in Deo est Deus est but this is in him and whatsoever is so is himself Other Graces of Humility temperance and even those two mentioned by the Apostle together with this Faith and Hope do connotate something of imperfection incompetible to the Divine Nature But Love is Pure and Perfect Goodness Our English Name of God comes from Good And 't is observable from Exod. 34.6 where the name of God is proclaimed by himself most of the Royal Titles that make up the Dignity and Perfection of that Great Name are no other than a Comment upon this simple and Essential Attribute of Love The Lord passed by before him Moses and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping mercy for Thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin And 't is this Vertue of Love that makes us partakers of the Name of God in a qualified sense Homo homini Deus one man is a petty God to another as he is a Benefactor Such only were the Hero's and minor Deities of the Heathens Such as had been Eminent Benefactors to their Country in their Lives and were therefore Deified after their Death Such were all earthly Gods Kings and Princes they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benefactors Luke 22.25 So the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used for a Prince and rendred by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth primarily signifie a Liberal Magnificent Benefactor I say therefore that Love is the most Divine Grace as having most of the Name and Nature of God in it On the contrary those Vicious Dispositions which are most directly opposite to Love are the most Satanical and Diabolical malice hatred envy c. 2. Charity is the most Christian Virtue most strictly charged by Christ himself by his special Command and signally expressed in his Singular Example Jo. 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you The Pronoun my is Emphatical signifying the Special Weight that he puts upon this Commandment And this is the reason as St Hierom reports that was given by the Beloved Disciple St John when the question was put to him by his Auditors why he did so much in ulcate that Precept in his Preaching Filioli diligite alterutrum Little children love one another he answered quia est preceptum Domini because it was the Command of his Lord meaning the Special and Principal Commandment and that which being obeyed would secure the fulfilling of all the rest that concerned humane society and was most necessary for the Constitution and the Preservation of the Church Indeed all Societies are maintained by the common Cement of Amity nor can any subsist without it But the Christian Society was designed to be the most Perfect of any that was possible to be amongst men and therefore was necessary to be most strictly obliged to this Bond of Perfection And therefore This precept of Charity was by Christ perfected in the proper measures and significations thereof and to be extended to all Mankind without exception of enemies which by no other law of Heathens or Jews had been expressly required Amicos diligere omnium est inimicos solorum Christianorum Tertul. To love friends was a common acknowledged obligation and practice of all men but to love Enemies too was a pure Christian law Joh. 13.34 Mat. 5.44 A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you He calls it a new Commandment notwithstanding it was as old as any other as old as Moses or Adam as to the matter and substance of it but almost antiquated by the manners of men and not well understood by the Jews and therefore was renewed by him who was the great Reformer of the world by his precept and example And this mutual love and amity was assigned by Him to be the badge and cognisance or mark of his Disciples whereby they should be known and distinguished from other People Joh. 12.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another And accordingly this was observed in the primitive times as the signal mark and distinction of Christians as is testified by Tertullian or Minutius Felix Vide inquiunt ut invicem se diligunt 3. Love is the most Spiritual Grace 'T is the first fruit of the Spirit in St. Pauls Catalogue Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is Love c. And the rest that are added are no other then the known effects and symptoms of Love The fruits of the Spirit are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Meckness c. 'T is the distinct character and proper attribute of the Holy Spirit as that name signifies the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity The three Primalities or signal properties noted in the Trinity of Persons are Power belonging to the Father Almighty Wisdome to the Son the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom are hid all the Treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 and Love to the Holy Ghost which is that which consummates the perfection of the Divine Nature rendring it infinitely good as well as great powerfull and wise And this Infinite Goodness is the flower and ultimate glory of the Divine Nature crowning his wisdom and power So that as the First Person in the Trinity may be esteemed the most Excellent in as much as it is the fountain and basis of the whole Deity and of all Being And the Second Person represented by the title of Wisdom called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ratio prima est substantialis is the first natural Emergency or advance of the same Being and therefore called the Son So the Third Person which is expressed by Love and is the immediate principle of all communication of Being and Goodness may in that respect be said to be flos gloria Deitatis the flower and glory and perfection of the whole Deity as the word Glory doth properly signifie the manifest ation and illustration of any Excellency CHAP. I. NOW the Text that I am treating of is an Exhortation to this most Divine most Christian most Spiritual Vertue emphatically expressed as a matter of greatest
Octob. 18. 1694. Imprimatur Gul. Stanley Procan Jos Beaumont Joh. Mountagu Jo. Eachard Joh. Covel A DISCOURSE UPON I Peter IV. VIII Wherein the Power and Efficacy OF CHARITY As it is a Means to procure the Pardon of Sin Is EXPLAINED and VINDICATED By the Reverend Mr John Whitefoot Sen. of NORWICH CAMBRIDGE Printed by John Hayes For William Graves and are to be sold by Samuel Oliver Bookseller in NORWICH 1695. TO All Good Christians whose Faith is made Effectual by CHARITY The AUTHOR Dedicateth this DISCOURSE Wishing Them Increase of that most Divine most Christian and most Spiritual Grace 1 Pet. 4. 8. And above all things have fervent Charity among your selves for Charity shall or will cover a multitude of Sins AS in the Ethnick Theology of the Greek Poets we read of a Famous Triade of Graces reported to be the Daughters of Jupiter So the Apostle St Paul makes mention of a certain Trinity of Christian Graces all special Fruits and Daughters of the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 13.13 And now abideth Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is Charity And that may duely be esteemed the greater 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or greatest of the Three in many respects besides that which the Apostle seems specially to aim at in that Text viz. That of continuance and duration in another Life after the Expiration of the other Two For Charity is a Vertue of the greatest Perfection that can be and most highly deserving the Name of Grace Gratia gratis data gratia gratum faciens As freely given as any other and most gratefull to God and Man This Charity is the Root Ground and Foundation of all Christian Piety as is intimated by the words of the Apostle Eph. 3.17 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Radicati Fundati That ye being rooted and grounded in love c. It is indeed the end and fruit of the other Two Faith teaches it Hope excites and cherishes it It is also of greatest Extent extending both to God and Man All Men our selves our Friends and Enemies Faith and Hope will be antiquated by possession sight and fruition but Charity is a thing that we shall carry with us into the other World where we shall improve and keep it for ever 'T is the end of the Commandment 1 Tim. 1.5 and the fulfilling of the Law Gal. 5.14 For all the Law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love c. That one little Monosyllable Love is a perfect abbreviation of the whole Code and Pandects of the Divine Law The first and the great Commandment is this Mat. 22.37 c. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul with all thy mind and with all thy might And the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets He that truly loves God will not break any of his Commandments willfully and he that doth not love him cannot keep any of them 1 Jo 5.3 'T is this love that keeps us from transgressing the Law and so prevents sin and as I shall shew hereafter the same is usefull to cover sin and to procure the pardon thereof It keeps us from injuring or offending our neighbour and inclines us to forgive his offences against us 'T is the bond of perfection both of Nature and Grace of Humanity and Divinity A loving Disposition is that which we call Good Nature the most Ingenuous Noble and Amiable Whereas the want of it and especially the contraries to it an envious malicious peevish froward rigid cruel covetous and penurious mind is Ill Nature Disingenuous and Hatefull Therefore the extream opposite to Love beareth the name of Wickedness in an Emphatical Sense in the Greek and Latin as also in our own and other Languages that have any Derivation from them So the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malitia malice are generally used And the Spirit of wickedness or the wicked Spirit is called by the name of Satan which signifies an absolute privation of all Love to God or Man together with the opposite to both consisting in his enmity to both But Charity is Goodness it self in the Common Sense of that Word and without it there is no such thing as Goodness truly so called And whereas there are divers sorts of Goodness noted by the ordinary distinction of Bonum jucundum utile honestum the pleasant profitable and honest Good Charity comprehends them all in the greatest Perfection nothing so pleasant both to the Lover and the Beloved nothing so Profitable to both nothing so Honourable 'T is the Perfection of Righteousness in the Sense of Holy Scripture where the word Righteous Mat. 6.1 some Copies read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness for Alms. and Righteousness do most frequently signifie especially in the Psalms more than meer innocence or common Justice Nor is the Sense of them to be contracted into the short and scanty measures of the Cardinal Vertue in the Ethick Philosopher or the Definition of Justinian Justitia est constans perpetua voluntas suum cuique tribuendi Though even that might pass for a Definition good enough with a Christian Gloss borrowed from St Paul and our Saviours command Rom. 13.7 8. Render to all their due where Love is one and the chiefest of all made so by the Common Law of Nature and by the express Precept of our Saviour of loving our Neighbour as our selves which makes it a general debt so interpreted by the Apostle Owe nothing to any man but to love one another And if this Obligation of debt could be dispensed with or abstracted from this Act of Charity in men as it is in God it would have so much the more of Divine Perfection as being more free St Paul calls it Piety or Godliness 1 Tim. 5.4 St James makes it Pure Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To shew Piety at home he means Charity Ja. 1 27. Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their distress And the same Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both Charitable and Godly It is the Energy Life and Perfection of Faith These are all Apostolical Titles vid. Gal. 5.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 2.18 21 26. I do not add the Scholastick Notion that it is the form of Faith because that 's liable to some Quarrel I shall conclude the present Encomium of this Grace in Three Words shewing that it is the most Divine the most Christian the most Spiritual Vertue 1. The most Divine For God is Love saith the most Loving and beloved Disciple twice over in one Chapter 1 Jo. 4.7 8 16. Beloved let us love one another for Love is of God And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God He that loveth not
be sufficiently avoided by alledging that although it be true that Faith is the only thing that is effectual to Justification or remission of sin and that no other Act or Vertue can contribute any thing to this end yet neither are the forementioned Promises nor the Exhortations void or useless in reference to this effect 1. Because there is a Necessity of presence though not of efficacy of those other Acts and Vertues which are mentioned in the Promises and Exhortations And so Charity amongst other things may be a causa sine quâ non of Salvation and remission of sin in respect of its necessary presence together with Faith 2. Because the same things are necessary to the verification of Faith i. e. to manifest the Truth of it though they have no concurrent efficacy with Faith to the Justification or Salvation of the Believer 3. Because the practice of these Vertues is necessary or at least usefull for the assurance of a mans Justification Pardon of sin and Salvation though it be no ways effectual to any of those ends considered in themselves Heb. 6.10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister And 2 Pet. 1.5 10 11. And besides all this giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity i. e. an universal Charity extended to all men as well as Christian Brethren Wherefore ye rather give diligence to make your calling and election sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in some Greek Copies and though these words are left out in our own and other Translations because they are so in ordinary Greek Copies yet the Sense of them is confessedly included in all readings for so an entrance shall be given you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And 1 Joh. 3.18 19. My little children let us not love in word nor in tongue but in deed and in truth And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him So 1 Jo. 3.14 We know that we have passed from death unto Life because we love the brethren By these Texts and many more of like Sense it is evident that Charity is usefull to procure a mans assurance of those Benefits which are supposed to be obtained by Faith only Another verbal evasion of all the Arguments which are produced for the effectual concurrence of Charity and Good Works to the attainment of the great Benefits of final Justification and Salvation hath been vulgarly expressed by that trite saying of the Latin Father Bernard Bona opera sunt via ad regnum non causa regnandi Good Works are indeed the way to the kingdom of Heaven but not the cause of reigning Which words applied to the Doctrine by us grounded upon the words of the Apostle must have this Sense viz. That Charity is the way to obtain the covering or non-imputation of sin but no cause of it i. e a means but not a cause a very nice distinction to be considered further hereafter This I take to be a just account of the chief Answers that have been made to the premised Arguments from the Promises and exhortations of Scripture for the efficacy or validity of Charity and Good Works unto the remission of sin and the Salvation of a sinner Now in order to a sufficient reply to these Answers I think it necessary in this place to say something by way of explication of the Question tending to the clearing of the true Sense and meaning of the Doctrine what is meant by that Efficacy which any act that can be done by men may have towards the remission of their sins their Justification and Salvation It is evident that all these things are the proper and peculiar Acts and Effects of God himself who is the agent of efficient cause of them all And therefore 't is impossible that any Humane Act should have any direct or immediate influence or efficiency upon these Effects Who can forgive sins but God And 't is God that justifies and saves actively And therefore all the Efficacy that can be in Humane Acts towards these effects can be no more than preparative or passive And what can that signifie more than that they are certain Dispositions and Qualifications of the Patient or Subject to receive these Effects of Divine Grace Nor can Faith it self have any other influence or efficacy upon these Effects any more than Charity Faith it self doth neither pardon our sin or contribute any thing to that Divine Act by which we are pardoned Neither doth qualifie or save us any otherwise then by making such a Change or Qualification in us whereupon this Grace of Justification to Life is freely given us of God But against this Explication of the Efficacy of Faith to the Grace of Justification it hath been alledged that Faith in Christ doth not justifie as an act or qualification found in us but as it hath a peculiar Vertue not common to Charity or any other Act of ours and that is of apprehending and receiving Christ or uniting us to him and so making us Partakers of his Righteousness imputed to us by means whereof we come to be Justified our sins Covered and our Souls saved Whereunto I answer 1. By allowing an union of Believers with Christ the common Saviour to be indeed the true ground and foundation of the Benefits which we receive by him And that this Union is not barely Relative or Political such as is betwixt a King Lord or Husband and their respective Subjects Servants and Wives Nor only Pactional imputed and founded upon the Promise or Covenant of the Gospel to them that believe in him but a true and real Union effected by the Medium of the Holy Spirit communicated to them that believe and are baptized into the Faith of Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit ver 11. of the same Chapter But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.12 If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ the same is none of his This Spirit of Christ is ordinarily called the Spirit of God abiding or dwelling in all true Believers whereby they are partakers of the Divine Nature as St. Peter speaketh as Christ also was 1 Cor. 3.16 1 Cor. 8.19 2 Pet. 1.4 though not in the same measure and manner Such a real Union there is between Christ the Head and all true Believers Members of his Body as there is between the head and members of a natural Body partaking of one and the