Richard Baxter's Catholic theology plain, pure, peaceable, for pacification of the dogmatical word-warriors who,…Richard Baxter's Catholick theologie plain, pure, peaceable, for pacification of the dogmatical word-warriours who,…

An. Merit is manifold, and needs better explication: In the Comm• tative Justice of mere Proprietors, merit is indeed the Comparative value of things, and in works, their suitableness as you say to the wages, that is, their equal worth. But in distributive governing Justice, there is no wages, but only Reward: And merit is the moral aptitude for Reward: which is as various as the Law is that one is governed by: There are five sorts of Law, that by five sorts or ways of Justice, require five sorts of merit: 1. Gods Law of Innocency to Adam: where Justice called nothing, but personal perfect Obedience, Merit: 2. Gods Law to the Mediator, who was obliged perfectly to keep, 1. The whole Law of Nature. 2. The Law of Moses. 3. A peculiar Law of Mediation (to die, rise, do Miracles, &c.) The keeping of all this was Christ's Merit. 3. There is Christ's Law of Grace to fallen man (in the first, and in the perfect Editions,) where our keeping of it, is by Gospel-Justice called in Scripture [Greek or Hebrew], our worthiness or merit, that is, in tantum, secundum quid, in relation to that Law. That is to repent and believe, to love God and obey him sincerely. 4. There is the Law of Moses, peculiar to the Jews, which hath its peculiar required merit. 5. And there are the Laws of Men appointed and allowed of God, which have their peculiar Justice and Merit. All these are not to be confounded, much less all denied, as if there were no merit but between Proprietors in Commutative Justice; In which sense no Creature can merit of God.

An. Merit is manifold, and needs better explication: In the Comm• tative Justice of meer Proprietors, merit is indeed the Comparative value of things, and in works, their suitableness as you say to the wages, that is, their equal worth. But in distributive governing Justice, there is no wages, but only Reward: And merit is the moral aptitude for Reward: which is as various as the Law is that one is governed by: There are five sorts of Law, that by five sorts or ways of Justice, require five sorts of merit: 1. Gods Law of Innocency to Adam: where Justice called nothing, but personal perfect Obedience, Merit: 2. Gods Law to the Mediator, who was obliged perfectly to keep, 1. The whole Law of Nature. 2. The Law of Moses. 3. A peculiar Law of Mediation (to die, rise, do Miracles, &c.) The keeping of all this was Christ's Merit. 3. There is Christ's Law of Grace to fallen man (in the first, and in the perfect Editions,) where our keeping of it, is by Gospel-Justice called in Scripture 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, our worthiness or merit, that is, in tantum, secundum quid, in relation to that Law. That is to repent and believe, to love God and obey him sincerely. 4. There is the Law of Moses, peculiar to the Jews, which hath its peculiar required merit. 5. And there are the Laws of Men appointed and allowed of God, which have their peculiar Justice and Merit. All these are not to be confounded, much less all denied, as if there were no merit but between Proprietors in Commutative Justice; In which sense no Creature can merit of God.