Samuel Willard's "The Covenant of Redemption"

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Don Kistler

Puritan Board Sophomore
Samuel Willard's "The Covenant of Redemption" is at the printers and is due here in a few weeks. Most here would be familiar with the two covenants God made with mankind, the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. But not many are as familiar with the covenant God made with Himself and with Christ, which theologians call the Covenant of Redemption.

In this rare work by this New England Puritan (1640–1707), Willard opens this doctrine in its fullness and shows us the eternal plan God devised to honor His Son before the entire universe and the obedience of Christ in agreeing to the terms of the covenant. The Covenant of Redemption came first and is the basis and foundation for all that God intended to do for lost sinners.

God's reason for doing so is stated thus by Willard:

"It was that God might express His free and undeserved favor to a number whom He had chosen to be made partakers in it, that He might bestow on man a salvation which he never labored for; bring him to a heaven he never earned; enrich him with a portion which he could never have purchased, and free him from a misery which would else have swallowed him up forever, and which he procured to himself."

This work has been completely retypeset from the 1693 edition and edited (not abridged in any way). It is an exposition of Psalm 89:3: "I have made a covenant with My Chosen, I have sworn unto David My servant."

Samuel Willard pastored the Old South Church in Boston from 1678 until his death in 1707. He was also president of Harvard College for a time. He is probably best known for his "Complete Body of Divinity," 250 sermons organized according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, published posthumously in 1726.

This 200 page hardback book is stitch sewn and printed on acid-free paper. The retail price is $28. Your price is $20 plus shipping.

Here is the link if you wish to order:


Don Kistler
 
Yeah, some of the old videos are linked to that old domain. It's not something I can fix in the video. May be able to fix in the call to action. I'll check that out.

LINKS FIXED. Some of them were directing to the old site. I'll get the all updated.
 
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Update on Willard's "Covenant of Redemption"

Friends, the printers I use in Michigan was hit with a malware attack recently and had to shut down operations entirely
for a time. They are just now getting back up and running, though not quite fully operational as yet.

This has pushed back the completion of Samuel Willard's "Covenant of Redemption" several weeks. I don't have a firm
date for it to ship to me, but I will get the books on their way to those of you who ordered them as quickly as I can once
I have received them.

Thank you for your patience.

Don Kistler
Northampton Press
 
Later divines (Boston, John Brown of Haddington, et al) preferred to speak of the same thing but not by referring to it as a distinct covenant to the covenant of grace but rather as the making of the covenant of grace in eternity, as distinguished from the administration of it in time. This seems to fit well with the Larger Catechism,

Q. 31. With whom was the covenant of grace made?
A. The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.
 
Later divines (Boston, John Brown of Haddington, et al) preferred to speak of the same thing but not by referring to it as a distinct covenant to the covenant of grace but rather as the making of the covenant of grace in eternity, as distinguished from the administration of it in time. This seems to fit well with the Larger Catechism,

Q. 31. With whom was the covenant of grace made?
A. The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.
I don’t think it fits that well, considering the Catechism here says “Christ” and not “God the Son.”
 
I don’t think it fits that well, considering the Catechism here says “Christ” and not “God the Son.”

Rutherford speaks of a twofold ‘enactment’ (not his word) of the covenant of redemption. The covenant of designation and actual redemption. One is in eternity past, the other Christ consents to in time as the God-man. That being said, I don’t think this rules out a way in which we can speak of the CoG being made with between God and Christ and the elect in him. (Gal. 3.17).

I don’t think LC 31 is the closed case that some of the Bostonian minded men think it is. I’m a 3 covenant man myself, but I’m glad the Westminster standards don’t decide the question. There is room for disagreement on the question.

Edit: I do wish some divines were more careful with their language when outlining the doctrine. Dickson in his Therapeutica Sacra almost exclusively speaks of the covenant of redemption being made between God and Christ. That needs some parsing out and further clarifications. I think Rutherford in the main makes these distinctions but I do wish he were clearer about the parties not exclusively being God and Sinners in the CoG. But as one of my ministers says, “Rutherford wasn’t interested in proving to you his orthodoxy.”
 
Sorry I wasn’t meaning to derail this thread, I’ve realised the subject has been discussed at large elsewhere on the board.
 
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