Chapter LXXXVII: Section VIII

God Is No Respecter Of Persons, But Has An Impartial Love For All His
Creatures.

_The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his
works._—PS. 145:9.

1. I am now indeed convinced (some one may say), that God knows my necessities better than I can discover them to him; that he has commanded prayer, and promised to hear it: but I am not yet fully satisfied, whether I in particular am not excluded from the benefit of these promises?—Come, then, and let us now show that God is no respecter of persons, in opposition to those blind guides, who, by their false interpretations of some places of Holy Scripture, particularly Rom. 9:13, Mal. 1:2, and the like, have endeavored to prove that God has an aversion to some particular persons, and a partial fondness for others; contrary to the plain and indisputable testimonies of Holy Scripture, which we ought firmly to fix in our minds, that we may not be perverted by the false glosses of unreasonable men.

“Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” Acts 10:34, 35.

“The Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.” Deut. 10:17, 18.

“God accepteth no man’s person.” Gal. 2:6.

“There is no respect of persons with God.” Col. 3:25.

“As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.—As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness.—None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him.” Ezek. 33:11, 12, 16.

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” 1 Tim. 1:15, 16.

“God will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Tim. 2:4.

“God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Pet. 3:9.

These and such testimonies of Scripture ought to be deeply imprinted on our minds, that every one may know, that all men are equally dear to God; that all men were created by him according to his image, and redeemed by Jesus Christ. Moreover, God has sworn by himself, that he desires not the death of a sinner. Hence God assists us all by his prevenient grace, not waiting till we are worthy to receive it. He comes to us, before we come to him; he knew us, before we knew him; he loveth us, before we love him; he loved us while we were yet his enemies. Rom. 5:10. He, therefore, is blind and impious, who dares assert that God does not love all men alike. Such a one scorns the God of heaven, accuses him of injustice, and makes him a respecter of persons.

2. But when it is said that God loved Jacob, and hated Esau (Rom. 9:13), such language is not to be understood of them personally, or as indicating only hatred, but refers to the exclusion from the inheritance in the land of promise—not to a hatred which refuses salvation, but to the refusal of temporal blessings. And though we are all sinners, yet God has a greater regard for those that love him than for those that continue in their sins and blindness, neither acknowledging God for their Father, nor bringing forth the fruits of repentance. God takes no pleasure in the wickedness of these men; but rather desires that all should be saved. And whereas it is said that “he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy; and whom he will he hardeneth” (Rom. 9:18); we must know that he hardeneth none but those who by their unbelief and impenitence have hardened themselves. These, indeed, he does at length, with reluctance, leave to themselves; and being thus forsaken, they naturally fall into a state of entire obduracy. And whereas it is said, that “it is not of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Rom. 9:16); it is plain that God doth elect and anticipate us by his grace, and not we ourselves, and that he is the Author and Giver of all our graces; so that whatsoever good we do, is owing to him, and not to ourselves.

3. This is the true interpretation of those places, which some perverse minds have interpreted, as if God had decreed to damn a great part of mankind (as the poets feigned of Saturn, who hated and devoured his own children). This is a doctrine that tends directly to subvert our faith, and to precipitate men into despair, or into a rude, lawless and Epicurean mode of life, as appears by woful experience. From all which snares, and deceits of the devil, may the Lord deliver us! Amen.

A PRAYER.

O Eternal and most righteous God, who acceptest not the persons of men; but art so just in thy dispensations towards us all, as to anticipate us with thy grace and favor, not waiting till we are already worthy, but bestowing thy prevenient grace to make us so; teach me, by thy Holy Spirit, gratefully to acknowledge thy boundless mercy towards us. Let thy light arise in my heart, that I may not, with the wicked world, disown that grace which thou hast already bestowed upon me, which is that treasure hidden in the field, the earnest of the inheritance of the saints; but may diligently search after it, find it, taste it, and enjoy it. Amen.