A26923:1121
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches by reconciling explication without much disputing. Written by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for John Salusbury, 1691
Chapter 25: Of good Works and Merit, and trusting to any thing of our own.
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.
§. 44. 3. That this supposeth that such Works of Man have a moral Aptitude for that Reward; which consisteth in these things: 1. That they are efficiently from God's Spirit. 2. They are in their measure agreeable to God's governing Will. 3. They are done in Love, to his glory, and to please him. 4. They are done by a Member of Christ. 5. They are profitable to Men, our selves and others. 6. The Habits and Acts are God's own Image. 7. They have the Promise of his Reward. 8. They are washed in the Blood of Christ, that is, Their faultiness is pardoned through his Merits. 9. They are presented to God by Christ's Intercession. 10. And lastly, they are Man's Aptitude for the Reward in their very nature; yea, ⟨p. 292⟩part of it themselves as they are of God; Holiness being the beginning of Happiness, or of that love of God which in its Perfection is Heaven it self: Such an Aptitude, as that a holy person cannot be miserable, nor can God hate and damn a holy Soul that truly loveth and obeyeth him.
§. 45. 4. This moral Aptitude for the Reward is amiable and pleasing to God; and therefore he calleth the Reward in the Gospel usually [Greek or Hebrew], which properly signifieth Wages, which men give by Commutative Justice: But that is only metaphorically, because God that cannot be profited by man, is yet pleased in that which profiteth our selves and one another, and glorifieth him by declaring his Perfections: And as if this were profiting him, he calleth it Wages, for some similitude, but not in proper sense.
§. 45. 4. This moral Aptitude for the Reward is amiable and pleasing to God; and therefore he calleth the Reward in the Gospel usually 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, which properly signifieth Wages, which men give by Commutative Iustice: But that is only metaphorically, because God that cannot be profited by man, is yet pleased in that which profiteth our selves and one another, and glorifieth him by declaring his Perfections: And as if this were profiting him, he calleth it Wages, for some similitude, but not in proper sence.