Editing Hugh Binning (section)

==Theology==
Because of the tumultuous time in which Hugh Binning lived, politics and religion were inexorably intertwined. Binning was a [[Calvinist]] and follower of [[John Knox]]. As a profession, Binning was trained as a Philosopher, and he believed that [[philosophy]] was the servant of [[theology]]. He thought that both Philosophy and Theology should be taught in parallel. Binning's writing, which is primarily a collection of his sermons, "forms an important bridge between the 17th century, when philosophy in Scotland was heavily dominated by Calvinism, and the 18th century when figures such as [[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]] re-asserted a greater degree of independence between the two and allied philosophy with the developing human sciences."<ref>{{cite web|title= Hugh Binning 1627-1653 - The International Society for Scottish Philosophy|url=http://www.scottishphilosophy.org/philosophers/hugh-binning/ |access-date=11 July 2019}}</ref>

Religiously, Hugh Binning was, what we would call today, an [[Evangelical]] [[Calvinist]]. He spoke on the primacy of God's love as the ground of salvation: 
"... our salvation is not the business of Christ alone, but the whole Godhead is interested in it deeply, so deeply that you cannot say who loves it most, or who likes it most.  The Father is the very fountain of it, his love is the spring of all."<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Of The Unity Of The Godhead And The Trinity Of Persons, Lecture XIII |title=The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning |edition=Kindle |page= Kindle Location 3114|first=Hugh|last=Binning|editor1=M. Leishman |year=2011|orig-year=1735}}</ref>

With regards to the extent of the 'atonement', Hugh Binning, did not hold that the offer of redemption applied only to the few that are [[Unconditional election|elect]] but said that "the ultimate ground of faith is in the electing will of God." In Scotland, during the 1600s, the questions concerning atonement revolved around the terms in which the offer was expressed.{{sfn|Macleod|2000|p=63}}

Binning believed that "forgiveness is based on Christ's death, understood as a satisfaction and as a sacrifice: 'If he had pardoned sin without any satisfaction what rich grace it had been! But truly, to provide the Lamb and sacrifice himself, to find out the ransom, and to exact it of his own Son, in our name, is a testimony
of mercy and grace far beyond that. But then, his justice is very conspicuous in this work'."{{sfn|Macleod|2000|p=65}}