A77854:342
Vindiciæ legis
Vindiciæ legis: or, A vindication of the moral law and the covenants, from the errors of papists, Arminians, Socinians, and more especially, Antinomians. In XXIX. lectures, preached at Laurence-Jury, London. / By Anthony Burgess, preacher of Gods Word.Vindiciæ legis: or, A vindication of the morall law and the covenants, from the errours of papists, Arminians, Socinians, and more especially, Antinomians. In XXIX. lectures, preached at Laurence-Jury, London. / By Anthony Burgess, preacher of Gods Word.
London: printed by James Young for Thomas Underhill, 1646
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 so Aquinas well, Deus non est debitor, quia ad alia non ordinatur, sed omnia ad ipsum, God by covenanting and promising ⟨p. 124⟩doth not become a debtor, because he is not to be ordered for other things, but all things for him. Hence is that saying of God, Reddit debita nulli debens, donat debita nihil pendens: And so againe, Justus est, non quia reddit debitum, sed quia facit quod decet summè bonum: So that when God entereth into a covenant or promise, you must conceive of this suitably to his great majesty; you must not apprehend of it, as when two men agree that are equal, and therefore a debt of justice ariseth between them, and one may implead the other; but as a merciful condescension on Gods part, to promise such things to us, that so we might be the more confirmed in our hope in him. Hence Durand and Ariminensis labour to prove, that Gods promises do not induce an obligation, but denote the disposition of God to give, although their arguments exclude only a debt of justice from God.
And so Aquinas well, Deus non est debitor, quia ad alia non ordinatur, sed omnia ad ipsum, God by covenanting and promising ⟨p. 124⟩doth not become a debtor, because he is not to be ordered for other things, but all things for him. Hence is that saying of God, Reddit debita nulli debens, donat debita nihil pendens: And so againe, Justus est, non quia reddit debitum, sed quia facit quod decet summè bonum: So that when God entreth into a covenant or promise, you must conceive of this sutably to his great majesty; you must not apprehend of it, as when two men agree that are equall, and therefore a debt of justice ariseth between them, and one may implead the other; but as a mercifull condescension on Gods part, to promise such things to us, that so we might be the more confirmed in our hope in him. Hence Durand and Ariminensis labour to prove, that Gods promises doe not induce an obligation, but denote the disposition of God to give, although their arguments exclude onely a debt of justice from God.