A25294:750
The substance of Christian religion, or, A plain and easy draught of the Christian…The substance of Christian religion, or, A plain and easie draught of the Christian…
The substance of Christian religion, or, A plain and easy draught of the Christian catechism in LII lectures on chosen texts of Scripture, for each Lords-day of the year, learnedly and perspicuously illustrated with doctrines, reasons, and uses / by that reverend and worthy labourer in the Lord's vineyard, William Ames ...The substance of Christian religion, or, A plain and easie draught of the Christian catechisme in LII lectures on chosen texts of Scripture, for each Lords-day of the year, learnedly and perspicuously illustrated with doctrines, reasons, and uses / by that reverend and worthy laborer in the Lord's vineyard, William Ames ...
London: printed by T. Mabb for Thomas Davies, 1659
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Object. 1. Our good works are perfect, as they come from the Holy Spirit, whose works are all perfect.
Object. 1. Our good workes are perfect, as they come from the Holy Spirit, whose workes are all perfect.
Ans. 1. If in respect of us they be imperfect, they cannot as ours be of force to our justification, though in some other respect they may be perfect.
2. That perfection which they have in reference to the Holy Spirit, doth not redound properly unto our meriting or deserving by them, because the holy Ghost is no ways united unto us, into one person, which is the only ground, why the works of Christ had a divine merit and worth in them; namely, because they were divine works, as being his, that was, as man personally united unto the God-head and person of the Son, so as they made but one person. The Holy Spirit, then though he be the principal cause of our good works, yet this is in its own manner, as an external efficient, as having no personal union with the party working.
2. That perfection which they have in reference to the Holy Spirit, doth not redound properly unto our meriting or deserving by them, because the holy Ghost is no wayes united unto us, into one person, which is the onely ground, why the works of Christ had a divine merit and worth in them; namely, because they were divine workes, as being his, that was, as man personally united unto the God-head and person of the Son, so as they made but one person. The Holy Spirit, then though he be the principal cause of our good works, yet this is in its own manner, as an external efficient, as having no personal union with the party working.