Andrew Fuller Friday: Benevolence to Men

“Respecting benevolence, or good-will to men, in order to be genuine, it must consist with love to God. There is such a thing as partiality to men, with respect to the points in which they and their Maker are at variance; but this is not benevolence. Partiality to a criminal at the bar might induce us to pity him, so far as to plead in extenuation of his guilt, and to endeavour to bring him off from the just punishment of the laws; but this would not be benevolence. There must be a rectitude in our actions and affections to render them truly virtuous. Regard to the public good must keep pace with compassion to the miserable, else the latter will degenerate into vice, and lead us to be “partakers of other men’s sins.”

Whatever pretences may be made to devotion, or love to God, we never admit them to be real, unless accompanied with love to men; neither should any pretence of love to men be admitted as genuine, unless it be accompanied with love to God. Each of these virtues is considered in the Scriptures as an evidence of the other. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” — “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.”

Excerpt From “The Calvinistic and Socinian Systems Examined and Compared”, 1802

Fuller, Andrew,  The Works of Andrew Fuller. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2007.


By |November 3rd, 2017|Categories: Andrew Fuller Friday, Blog|

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