7. The great thing therefore that I would desire to be observed is this; that though faith were an instrument of the foresaid objective, or of the Ethical, Metaphorical reception of Christ (which yet is not properly, being ipsa Receptio,) yet it is not therefore the instrumental cause of the passive, proper reception of Right to Christ or Righteousness. Of this it is only the condition and not the proper instrument. (For I shall show hereafter that it is impossible it should be both:) It doth morally qualify the subject to be a fit patient to be justified, as M. Benjam. Woodbridge saith truly, in his excellent Sermon of Justification. The reason of this is, That it is only Donation or the will of the Donor signified, that can efficiently convey a right to his own Benefits. The Receiver is not the Giver, and therefore ⟨p. 26⟩not the conveyer of Right. Every instrument is an efficient cause, and therefore must effect: and it is only giving that effecteth this right. Now if the giving (the donation) had been absolute, it had absolutely conveyed right; and faith would have had no hand in it, as being no condition: Or if the gift had constituted another condition, that other would have had the causing interest that faith now hath (ut causa sive qua non.) So that the the nearest and formal interest of faith is, Its being the condition; and its apprehension of its object, is but the remote aptitudinal reason, being ipsa fides. The great thing therefore that I affirm is this, That if you will needs call faith the instrument of apprehending Christ, or righteousness, yet doth it not justify proximè & formaliter, As such; but As the condition of the gift performed.
7. The great thing therefore that I would desire to be observed is this; that though faith were an instrument of the foresaid objective, or of the Ethical, Metaphorical recption of Christ (which yet is not properly, being ipsa Receptio,) yet it is not therefore the instrumental cause of the passive, proper reception of Right to Christ or Righteousness. Of this it is only the condition and not the proper instrument. (For I shall shew hereafter that it is impossible it should be both:) It doth morally qualifie the subject to be a fit patient to be justified, as M. Benjam. Woodbridge saith truly, in his excellent Sermon of Justification. The reason of this is, That it is only Donation or the will of the Donor signified, that can efficiently convey a right to his own Benefits. The Receiver is not the Giver, and therefore ⟨p. 26⟩not the conveyer of Right. Every instrument is an efficient cause, and therefore must effect: and it is only giving that effecteth this right. Now if the giving (the donation) had been absolute, it had absolutely conveyed right; and faith would have had no hand in it, as being no condition: Or if the gift had constituted another condition, that other would have had the causing interest that faith now hath (ut causa siue qua non.) So that the the nearest and formal interest of faith is, Its being the condition; and its apprehension of its object, is but the remote aptitudinal reason, being ipsa fides. The great thing therefore that I affirm is this, That if you will needs call faith the instrument of apprehending Christ, or righteousness, yet doth it not justifie proximè & formaliter, As such; but As the condition of the gift performed.
