A53669:297
A brief declaration and vindication of the doctrine of the Trinity as also of…
A brief declaration and vindication of the doctrine of the Trinity as also of the person and satisfaction of Christ / accommodated to the capacity and use of such as may be in danger to be seduced, and the establishment of the truth by J. Owen.
London: printed by R.W. for Nath. Ponder, 1669
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But yet again it is pretended that sundry consequences irreligious and irrational do ensue upon a supposition of the satisfaction pleaded for. What then are they?
1. That it is unlawful and impossible for God All-mighty to be gracious, and merciful, or to pardon Transgressors.
Answ. (1.) The miserable confused misapprehension of things, which the proposal of this, and the like consequences doth evidence, manifests sufficiently how unfit the makers of them are to manage Controversies of this nature. For (1.) It is supposed that for God to be Gracious and Merciful, or to pardon Sinners, are the same; which is to confound the Essential properties of his nature, with the free acts of his will. (2.) Lawful, or unlawful, are terms that can with no tolerable sense be used concerning any properties of God, all which are natural and necessary unto his Being; as Goodness, Grace, and Mercy in particular are. (3.) That it is impossible for God to pardon Transgressors according to this Doctrine, is a fond Imagination, for it is only a declaration of the manner how he doth it. (4.) As God is gracious and Merciful, so also he is Holy, and Righteous, and true; and it became him, or was every way meet for him, in his way ⟨p. 195⟩of exercising Grace and Mercy towards sinners, to order all things so, as that it might be done without the impeachment of his Holiness, Righteousness and Truth. It is said again,
Answ. (1.) The miserable confused misapprehension of things, which the proposal of this, and the like consequences doth evidence, manifests sufficiently how unfit the makers of them are to mannage Controversi•s of this nature. For (1.) It is supposed that for God to be Gracious and Merciful, or to pardon Sinners, are the same; which is to confound the Essential properties of his nature, with the free acts of his will. (2.) Lawful, or unlawful, are terms that can with no tolerable sense be used concerning any properties of God, all which are natural and necessary unto his Being; as Goodness, Grace, and Mercy in particular are. (3.) That it is impossible for God to pardon Transgressors according to this Doctrine, is a fond Imagination, for it is only a declaration of the manner how he doth it. (4.) As God is gracious and Merciful, so also he is Holy, and Righteous, and true; and it became him, or was every way meet for him, in his way