N00556:170
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.
3. That the first Covenant made with Adam, and the Law therein given him, was an express of this Decree concerning the duty of men, and the rewards of Obedience and Sin. It was because God had purposed thus to proceed with man, that ⟨p. 80⟩he published to him this Law, with the Sanctions of it; wherein he assured him, that if he obeyed he should […], but if he transgressed, he should die, Gen. 2.17. and therefore what God hath said on this account, he is resolved to pursue it, Ezek. 18.4. This Transaction is represented under the notion of a Covenant, to signify that there was a mutual obligation: not only did God oblige man in it, but himself too; and here was, as it were, a publication of the Edict or Decree, that man might know what God was resolved on, and upon what ground he himself stood.
3. That the first Covenant made with Adam, and the Law therein given him, was an express of this Decree concerning the duty of men, and the rewards of Obedience and Sin. It was because God had purposed thus to proceed with man, that ⟨p. 80⟩he published to him this Law, with the Sanctions of it; wherein he assured him, that if he obeyed he should 〈…〉, but if he transgressed, he should die, Gen. 2.17. and therefore what God hath said on this account, he is resolved to pursue it, Ezek. 18.4. This Transaction is represented under the notion of a Covenant, to signify that there was a mutual obligation: not only did God oblige man in it, but himself too; and here was, as it were, a publication of the Edict or Decree, that man might know what God was resolved on, and upon what ground he himself stood.