The harmony of the divine attributes in the contrivance and accomplishment of man's redemption…

1. That Repentance and Faith are required in order to the partaking of the precious benefits which Christ hath purchased, doth not lessen the Merit of his Death, and the completeness of the Satisfaction made to God by it. For we must consider,

1. That Repentance and Faith are required in order to the partaking of the precious benefits which Christ hath purchased, doth not lessen the Merit of his Death, and the compleatness of the Satisfaction made to God by it. For we must consider,

There is a great difference between the payment of that the Law requires by the Debtor, and the payment of that which was not in the original Obligation by another in his stead. Upon the payment of the first, actual freedom immediately follows. If a Debtor pays the sum he owes, or a Criminal endure the punishment of the Law, they are actually discharged, and never liable to be sued or suffer again. But when the same that the Law requires is not paid, but something else, by another; the release of the guilty is suspended upon those conditions, which he that freely makes satisfaction, […] the Governor who by favour accepts it, are ••eased to appoint. Now 'tis thus in the transaction of our Redemption: Christ laid down his Life for us, and this was not the very thing in strict sense that the Law required. For according to the threatening, the Soul that sins shall die; the Delinquent in his own person was to suffer the penalty: and there was no necessity natural or moral that obliged God to admit of his Satisfaction for our discharge. If the Law had expressed that the sinner or his surety should suffer, there had been no need of a ⟨p. 283⟩better Covenant. But in this the Grace of God so illustriously appears, that by his appointment the punishment of the guilty was transferred to the Innocent, who voluntarily undertook for them. In this respect God truly pardons sin, though he received entire Satisfaction; for he might in right have refused it.