N00556:162
The doctrine of the covenant of redemption. Wherein is laid the foundation of all…
The doctrine of the covenant of redemption. Wherein is laid the foundation of all our hopes and happiness. Briefly opened and improved. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. ; [Three lines from Psalms]
Boston: printed by Benj. Harris over against the Old-Meeting-House, 1693
Chapter 10: The necessity of this Covenant, in order to Mans Salvation.
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.
7. Hence the transferring of the guilt and punishment of Sin from the Sinner to his Surety, seems to plead against this natural necessity: because, if the penalty ⟨p. 76⟩be removed, the Offender may escape and therefore Sin may go unpunished in him: and that God will not remove it from him but in a way of Translation seems to be voluntary, because he hath contrived it as a way most suitable to advance the Declarative Glory of his Justice and Grace. It is most certain, that Christ in suffering for Sin, suffered Arbitrarily; there was the highest Sovereignty expressed in it. The pardoning of the Sinner hereupon is equally Arbitrary, and refers to the Covenant of Redemption: and how this should be consistent with Relative Justice, except God had a Sovereignty in regard of the thing it self, is very hard for any to tell.
7. Hence the transferring of the guilt and punishment of Sin from the Sinner to his Surety, seems to plead against this natural necessity: because, if the penalty ⟨p. 76⟩be removed, the Offender may escape and therefore Sin may go unpunished in him: and that God will not remove it from him but in a way of Translation seems to be voluntary, because he hath contrived it as a way most suitable to advance the Declarative Glory of his Justice and Grace. It is most certain, that Christ in suffering for Sin, suffered Arbitrarily; there was the highest Soveraignty expressed in it. The pardoning of the Sinner hereupon is equally Arbitrary, and refers to the Covenant of Redemption: and how this should be consistent with Relative Justice, except God had a Soveraignty in regard of the thing it self, is very hard for any to tell.
8. That Mercy and Grace are also Divine Perfections. These are equally God with the other. They are Divine Attributes, and are as much Essential to God, as his Holiness and Justice, though they are also Relative in the manifestation of them. When God shows himself merciful and gracious in pardoning Iniquity, Transgression, and Sin, he shows himself to be God, which he should not do, if these were not his Innate Perfections. These are therefore Letters of his Name,