A26886:614
Certain disputations of right to sacraments, and the true nature of visible Christianity defending…
Certain disputations of right to sacraments, and the true nature of visible Christianity defending them against several sorts of opponents, especially against the second assault of that pious, reverend and dear brother Mr. Thomas Blake / by Richard Baxter ...
London: printed by R.W. for Nevil Simmons, 1658
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.
ANSWER.
[Embracing] is a Metaphor, and can signify nothing here but their Wills, Consent, and Use. The words [Gospel tender] signify either the thing tendered, or the act of the tenderer. To consent to, and so embrace the latter, is no more than to be willing to hear, or to consent tha• God and his Messengers shall make the render. This an Heathen or Infidel may do. To consent to, and embrace the thing tendered, upon the terms that it is tendered, is saving faith. In that sense therefore I deny the Minor: and in the former the Major, as extending to Baptism. All that consent that Christ shall be offered to them, ought not to be baptized nor any on that account. None that consent to have Christ offered, (Christ as Christ) can be truly said to be short of saving faith. If by [embracing] you mean Metonymically [the profession of embracing Christ] then you say as I say, & give up your Cause. Its that Profession, and not his short faith, nay that without any faith, that will warrant us to baptize him.
[Embracing] is a Metaphor, and can signifie nothing here but their Wills, Consent, and Use. The words [Gospel tender] signifie either the thing tendered, or the act of the tenderer. To consent to, and so embrace the latter, is no more than to be willing to hear, or to consent tha• God and his Messengers shall make the render. This an Hea•hen or Infidel may do. To consent to, and embrace the thing tendered, upon the terms that it is tendered, is saving faith. In that sense therefore I deny the Minor: and in the former the Major, as extending to Baptism. All that consent that Christ shall be offered to them, ought not to be baptized nor any on that account. None that consent to have Christ offered, (Christ as Christ) can be truly said to be short of saving faith. If by [embracing] you mean Metonymically [the profession of embracing Christ] then you say as I say, & give up your Cause. Its that Profession, and not his short faith, nay that without any faith, that will warrant us to baptize him.