A26915:325
Directions and persuasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation…Directions and perswasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation…
Directions and persuasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation of souls, and of those scandals, heresies, and desperate apostasies that are the consequents of a counterfeit, or superficial change / by Richard Baxter.Directions and perswasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation of souls, and of those scandals, heresies, and desperate apostasies that are the consequents of a counterfeit, or superficial change / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed by A.M. for Nevil Simmons, 1658
Directions to Sinners that are purposed to Turn, and are under the… › Direction 5
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.
These several points therefore I must entreat you here to note distinctly. 1. That you must be brought into a special Relation to the Person of Christ, as clothed with his Office, before you can lay claim to his Saving Benefits. He is the Head, and you must become his Members: He is the Husband of the Church, and you must become his Spouse, and so of the rest. This is called our Uniting to Christ, which must go before your further Communion with him. It is the Will of God, that you shall never receive his Benefits, without, or before you receive his Son: (Except only those Benefits, which go before your Union with Christ himself, in order to the accomplishing it; as ⟨p. 287⟩the Gospel, the gift of Faith to the Elect, &c.) You shall never have actual Pardon, Justification, Adoption, Sanctification, or Glory, till you have first saving interest in Christ himself. He is the Vine, and we are the Branches: we must be planted into him, and live in him, or else we can have nothing further from God, nor do nothing acceptable to God. And therefore the first, and great work of Faith is to Receive, and close with the Person of Christ, as clothed with his Office.
These several points therefore I must intreate you here to note distinctly. 1. That you must be brought into a special Relation to the Person of Christ, as cloathed with his Office, before you can lay claim to his Saving Benefits. He is the Head, and you must become his Members: He is the Husband of the Church, and you must become his Spouse, and so of the rest. This is called our Vni••ng to Christ, which must go before your further Communion with him. It is the Will of God, that you shall never receive his Benefits, without, or before you receive his Sonne: (Except only those Benefits, which go before your Union with Christ himselfe, in order to the accomplishing it; as ⟨p. 287⟩the Gospel, the gift of Faith to the Elect, &c.) You shall never have actual Pardon, Justification, Adoption, Sanctification, or Glory, till you have first saving interest in Christ himself. He is the Vine, and we are the Branches: we must be planted into him, and live in him, or else we can have nothing further from God, nor do nothing acceptable to God. And therefore the first, and great work of Faith is to Receive, and close with the Person of Christ, as cloathed with his Office.