Page:A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace (John Ball).djvu/287

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it be given of our owne: nor to punish mercifully, and lesse then the fault deserveth, if it be a fault committed against our selves.Sunt quaedam Dei proprietates quarum exercitium, tum quoad actum, tum quoad tempus & modum actus, imo etiam quoad objecti determinationem, pendet a libera ipsus voluntate.
Ex promissione jus aliquod acquiritur ei cui facta est promissio: at comminatione apertius duntaxat declaratur meritum poenae in peccante, & jus puniendi in comminante. Cum bonitas & misericordia Dei non minus proprietas ejus sit, quam justitia: ac quamquam ex misericordia non egisset, sed puniisset universos, minimè eo mutabilis, vel etiam immisericors potuerit dici: similiter, neque extra decreti considerationem, mutabilem vel injustum dici potuisse, quanquam ignovisset universis citra illam satisfactionem. Quod is qui deliquit poenam meretur, eoque punibilis est, hoc ex ipsa peccati & peccatoris ad superiorem relatione necessariò sequitur & propriè naturale, ut vero puniatur quivis peccator poena tali quae culpae respondeat, non est necessarium simpliciter & universaliter, neque propriè naturale: sed naturae satis conveniens. Chamier. panstrat. Tom. 2. l. 5. c. 12. Parker de desc. l. 3. Sect. 56. Wotton de Reconcil l. 1 c. 4. Voss. respons. ad Iud. Ravensperg. cap. 28. Isa. 53. 10. Psal. 40. 8. Joh. 5. 19, 30. And it seemes as much repugnant to justice to accept a surety, as to pardon the punishment; especially that the Son of God, the party offended, should take upon him our nature, and make satisfaction for us. And if God by absolute necessity must punish sin as it deserveth, then it is simply impossible to renew the sinner by repentance, or to annihilate him, because then he doth not bear what punishment his sin doth call for from the hand of justice. Justice is essentiall to God, so is mercy, bounty, liberality: but God sheweth mercy to whom he will & doth good to whom he will freely, not by absolute necessity: only God hath obliged himselfe by righteousnesse of fidelity, that is by promises and threatnings, which must be fulfilled, to doe this or that. Sin though it hath an outward disagreement, such as may be in a creature from the Creator: yet it hath no inward positive repugnancy or contrariancy to Gods nature, such as is betwixt fire and water: for then should the divine nature inwardly in it selfe be worse for the being of sin, and should necessarily nill it. Sin is displeasing unto God, he cannot approve it as good in it selfe, but it is one thing to be displeased with, or hate sin, another to punish it of absolute and naturall necessity; as it is one thing to approve obedience, another to reward it of necessity. It is most true, that God doth not only hate, but punish all sin, but that he doth, not by naturall necessity, but by naturall congruity, which may stand with the most free will of God, determining to manifest his justice, for the manifestation whereof the punishment of sin was necessary. The hatred of sin and punishment thereof are joyned together as a free cause and effect, not as a necessary cause and effect: for God hateth sin at all times, but punisheth it not ever, but in his time or season. Butit