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,…

fulfilling all his own mediatorial Law or Covenant, and receiving his Reward, and freely upon these Merits, and his Power received, making a Deed of Gift of Himself and Life (Pardon, Adoption, Spirit and Glory) to all that truly consent to his Covenant, and overcoming do persevere therein, and perform sincere Obedience to the last: by which Law or Covenant he will judge men at last, that is, will justify or condemn them: And this short and plain Doctrine of Faith is it, which I am constrained by the full and plain testimony of the Scriptures to embrace: ⟨p. 25⟩And I never yet saw any thing against it, which is not easily confuted, though my life is not like to be long enough, nor am I idle enough, to write against all that have written against me.

fulfilling all his own mediatorial Law or Covenant, and receiving his Reward, and freely upon these Merits, and his Power received, making a Deed of Gift of Himself and Life (Pardon, Adoption, Spirit and Glory) to all that truly consent to his Covenant, and overcoming do persevere therein, and perform sincere Obedience to the last: by which Law or Covenant he will judge men at last, that is, will justifie or condemn them: And this short and plain Doctrine of Faith is it, which I am constrained by the full and plain testimony of the Scriptures to embrace: ⟨p. 25⟩And I never yet saw any thing against it, which is not easily confuted, though my life is not like to be long enough, nor am I idle enough, to write against all that have written against me.

In conclusion, I must give notice to the Reader, that there are many great and weighty Points of great difficulty concerning our LOVE to GOD, and the order of it in respect to Faith, Repentance, the love of our selves and our felicity; and our love to Creatures, &c. which I pass by in this Treatise, as having spoken with some care of them in my Christian Directory, in the Appendix to the Chap. Of loving God, in Tom. 1. And if that seem too intricate to any, as being too long; in brief, I suppose that the Thomists grossly err in placing beatitude chiefly in the Intellect, and their Reasons (especially as Medina useth them) are very weak; and the Scotists are more sound, who place it in the Will, and those other most sound who place it in the perfection of the whole man actively; but objectively in God: And most plainly that very plain judicious School-man Aegidius Romanus Quodlib. 3. Qu. 18. p. 187, 188. who saith in short, 1. That God is the final Object simply; 2. That the love of God (or veil) is the final act; or beatitude formaliter: 3. That beatitude (or rather the ratio finis) is principally in the Object, and next in the Act: 4. That subserviently or quodam genere the visio Dei is the Object, and the velle videre Deum the Act. See also Aegidius, Quodl. 4. qu. 11. clearly proving three ways that we must love God above our selves, yea and not (properly) for our selves, but for himself, and our selves and all things for him.