A26883:3976
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,…
Richard Baxter's Catholic theology plain, pure, peaceable, for pacification of the dogmatical word-warriors who, 1. by contending about things unrevealed or not understood, 2. and by taking verbal differences for real,Richard Baxter's Catholick theologie plain, pure, peaceable, for pacification of the dogmatical word-warriours who, 1. by contending about things unrevealed or not understood, 2. and by taking verbal differences for real,
London: printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons, 1675
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.
B. We stand not by our own strength of habitual Grace, but by the upholding Love and Will of God.*
- *Carbo ex Aquin. 1. 2. q. 137. a. 4. Si persev• rantia sumatur pro ipso habitu, indiget dono habitualis gratiae, ut caeterae virtutes infusae; si autem accipiatur pro actu perseverantiae durante usque ad mortem, non jolum indiget habituali gratia, sed etiam gratuito Dei auxilio conservante hominem in bono—praedestinatis per gratiam Christi, non solum datur ut perseverare possint, sed ut perseverent, ut Augustin. Per se potest perseverare in malo, non autem in bono. Bradwardine who holdeth that no temptation can be overcome without special help, that is, a divine Volition or Decree, doth yet hold that the same Will of God which saveth one man by overcoming his temptations, saveth others by keeping temptations from them.
A. 1. When we dispute against their Doctrine, it is from the immortal quality of the seed of God abiding in them, that they plead for certainty of perseverance. 2. Who findeth not by constant experience, that God worketh on all things according to their Natures: And so on man as man, and so on Saints as Saints, and on the weak as weak, and on the strong as strong. Do we not see that he giveth men wisdom and all Intellectual abilities, before they speak and do as such abilities must fit them to do: When did you see Gods Grace make ignorant, injudicious, fools, or weak persons, judge, speak and live, in equality with the wise? Do we not see that as man is, so is his strength and work, operari sequitur esse: The strong do as the strong, and the weak judge and do as the weak. Why else doth God give men strength of Grace? sure they that think the habit of Grace must needs be before any act, will not hold that all our lives after, the Acts (from immediate divine production) go beyond the degree of the habits. We know that God is the chief cause of our perseverance, and all our works that are good: But he causeth them by disposing and quickening, strengthening, illuminating and sanctifying our faculties to do them; which is habitual Grace.