A57966:148
The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace
The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace containing something of the nature of the covenant of works, the sovereignty of God, the extent of the death of Christ ... the covenant of grace ... of surety or redemption between the by Samuel Rutherford ...The covenant of life opened, or, A treatise of the covenant of grace containing something of the nature of the covenant of works, the soveraignty of God, the extent of the death of Christ ... the covenant of grace ... of surety or redemption between the by Samuel Rutherford ...
Edinburgh: printed by Andro Anderson for Robert Brown, 1655
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.
And what God of free goodness, decrees to do, that he may decree not to do; and things falling under his decree, are not necessary, he cannot decree that man should be a reasonable creature▪ for it involves a contradiction to be a man, and not to be a reasonable creature. But no shadow of contradiction there is for the Lord to forbid to eat; and to forbid to eat under a punishment: And the not created world (it being from eternity nothing and a non ens) could not have any jus or right to plead that God would stand to what he decreed,1 and give being and create a world, for if the Lord should not give being to it, and create what he had decreed from eternity to create, he should fail against his own unchangeable Nature, but should do no unjustice to an uncreated world, except we say God should be unjust, if he had not created the world▪ For being of justice is due to the world, and God refuses ⟨p. 45⟩to pay the debt of being to the uncreated world,2 which is non-sense. And upon the same ground, if he should annihilate the world or take away life from living things, he should be unjust; It is safer therefore to say that God oweth the creature nothing, but we are his debtors, for service and praises, while we have any being.
And what God of free goodnesse, decrees to do, that he may decree not to do; and things falling under his decree, are not necessary, he cannot decree that man should be a reasonable creature▪ for it involves a contradiction to be a man, and not to be a reasonable creature. But no shadow of contradiction there is for the Lord to forbid to eat; and to forbid to eat under a punishment: And the not created world (it being from eternity nothing and a non ens) could not have any jus or right to plead that God would stand to what he decreed,1 and give being and create a world, for if the Lord should not give being to it, and create what he had decreed from eternity to create, he should fail against his own unchangeable Nature, but should do no unjustice to an uncreated world, except we say God should be unjust, if he had not created the world For being of justice is due to the world, and God refuses