Gods Love to Man and Mans Duty Towards God, Part 1 · Section 21 – Section 22
Sect. 21. PROP. XXI. When God threatned man, [that in the day ſinned, or diſobeyed, he ſhould ſurely dy… or dying he ſhould dye,] this will not pro… the full execution of the threatning, … immediately to attend Man's firſt tra… greſſion; but that Death, and all miſeri… included in it, were immediately due Law.
THat he ſhould be puniſhable. Illud [morie… non ſignificat. Actum moriendi ſed debitu… As we muſt not underſtand the prohibition [T… ſhalt not eat] as a prediction or declaration, touching matter of event. But the meaning … thou mayeſt not eat, it ſhall not be lawful for the ſo neither are we to underſtand the threatning, [… the day thou eateſt, dying, thou ſhalt dye] as a p… diction of what ſhould immediately come to pa… Nec enim ſtatim mortuus Adamus … ſed ſtatim tamen reus mortis factus, Whittak. de Peccat. Orig. p. 39.… morte digniſſimus. When Solomon thre… ned Shimei, 1 Kings 2.37. [on the d… thou goeſt out, thou ſhalt ſurely dye] the meani… is, thy life ſhall be accounted forfeited.
Though I grant, as ſoon as Man had ſinned, … became mortal, and began to dye, yet the threatni… as a threatning, does not foretell certain matter event; but only declare what puniſhment was due. And ſuppoſe the Death threatned here, was to have been immediately inflicted, as ſoon as our firſt Parents had ſinned, then there had been no natural generation. Then the guilt and puniſhment had no way reached his Poſterity; becauſe ſo he ſhould have had no poſterity.
Here you may obſerve a great difference between … threatning and a promiſe; he who hath a promiſe made to him, may lay claim to the thing promiſed; …e hath a right by vertue of the promiſe. Men …ometimes ſue upon a promiſe, and Juſtice gives …hem the thing in kind, or value, the promiſe being proved; one is bound to do, as he promiſeth, not …lwayes to do as he threatneth. There may be …eaſon to relax the puniſhment, that was threatned.
Rector that hath power in his Laws to ſet down …nd determine what puniſhment ſhall be due to the Tranſgreſſors; he hath alſo power above the Law … ſome caſes to reſpite, or take off the puniſhment; …therwiſe there could be no ſuch thing as Pardon. No Rector can be ſaid to pardon an offender, but when he remits the puniſhment legally due.
Yet I grant, it becomes not the Wiſdom of a Go…ernour to relax his Laws (ſuppoſing them good …nd Juſt) to remit the penalty lightly, or without …ood conſideration; for ſo the Law would ſoon loſe …s Authority; Men would be imboldened to tranſ…reſs, the end of Government would not be carried …n. It is a clear caſe, that God the righteous Go…ernour of the world, would not remit the penalty without a moſt valuable conſideration; as Chriſt muſt …ye in our ſtead.
And one thing further muſt be granted, that ſometimes threatnings do not only declare meritum paen… in peccante, & jus puniendi in comminante, a deſe… of puniſhment in him that offends, and a right … puniſhing in him that commandeth and threatneth but alſo the irrevocable decree, & purpoſe of the Rector to inflict the ſaid puniſhment. Thus God threa… ned Eli & his houſe, Ahab & his houſe; thus the ſin … blaſphemy againſt the Holy Ghoſt is threatned; an… ſo all that continue finally impenitent and unbelie… ing are threatned: Such threatnings are not a me… Sanction of the precept, but a ſignification, or Revelation of Gods purpoſe, ſhewing not only what … juſtly may, but what peremptorily he will inflict.
Sect. 22. PROP. XXII. The Penalty threatned in the Covenant works, was neither fully executed (f… then all Mankind had been utter… ruined) nor abſolutely remitted (f… then none were liable to Death a… Condemnation by that Covenant.) b… relaxed.
THe Penalty taken off in ſome part from Man general; whence it is, that ſinners, ſuch … are under the Covenant of works, have ſome lin… ments (as it were) of God's Image, ſome remai… der, or remembrances of it ſtill, and ſome commemercies. And the penalty more fully taken off from believers. And that upon moſt wiſe, and …eighty Reaſons, the ſatisfaction of Chriſt being a …ufficient Motive, and the manifeſtation of Gods …ich and free Grace, a glorious end of his ſo …oing.
Now whether the Reprival of ſinners be a fruit …f Chriſt's ſatisfaction, and whether they owe all …heir common mercies to Chriſt's Mediatory under…aking, I will not take upon me to determine; But …at any of the Sons and Daughters of Adam are …ardoned and diſcharged, that believers are juſti…ed and ſaved, this muſt needs be aſcribed unto Jeſus Chriſt, the ſecond Adam, and his meritorious ſa…sfaction.