A26974:1086
Of justification four disputations clearing and amicably defending the truth against the unnecessary oppositions…
Of justification four disputations clearing and amicably defending the truth against the unnecessary oppositions of divers learned and reverend brethren / 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.
Yea the same Amesius tells us Medul. lib 2. cap. 5. That five things concur even to that Belief which we call fides Divina; viz. 1. Notitia rei à Deo testatae. 2. •ffectio pia erga Deum quae facit ut maxime valeat apud nos ipsius Testimonium. 3. Assersus qui praebetur veritati test atae propter hanc affectionem erga Deum qui est ejus testis. 4. Aquiescentia in Deum ad illud quod prop•nitur consequendum. 5. Electio vel apprehensio rei ipsius, quae in Testimonio nobis exhibetur. So that even this faith hath many acts. Yea, and he adds, Primum horum est in intellectu: sed non constituit fidem, &c. secundum, quartum & quintum sunt in voluntate, & constituunt fidem, prout est virtus & actus religionis. T•rtium (viz. assensus) est in intellectu, sed prout movetur, à voluntate; neque est proprie fidei virtus, s•d effectum. So that this Doctrine which 1. makes three acts of faith in the very ⟨p. 356⟩will, 2. and makes the intellectual acts (even assent) to be but an effect of faith, and not the virtue, is far from yours (though I scruple not to take in assent with the rest, for all it is in the Intellect,) and if these be all in that faith which is a holy virtue, much more must that which justifies contain as much. And indeed to place justifying faith only in the intellect, is somewhat strange for those that make it the principal Grace, when Philosophers will not give it the name of a moral Virtue. For in the understanding are only intellectual Habits; but moral virtues are all placed in the Will, or sensitive appetite (for that quarrel I will pass by, whether they be only in the sensitive as Burgers•icius, &c.) If any therefore wonder that I place faith in so many acts, and yet make one the chief compleative Act, I have yet further this most accurate Divine saying the very same as I. Perfectio autom fidei est in Electione aut apprehensione illa, qua bonum Propositum fit nostrum. Hinc fidei natura •ptimè explicatur in Scriptura cum fideles di•untur adhaerer• D•o,