A26974:1098
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.
3. There is such a thing as the proper accepting of Christ, required as of flat necessity to Justification and Salvation: But this acceptation is not in Scripture called by the name of any other Grace: therefore it is taken for an Act of faith. The Maj. I hope no Christian will deny. For when Christ is offered to the world as their Saviour, Redeemer, Teacher, King-Husband; who can think that the accepting of him is not required, yea even in the offer? Not a physical Reception which some absurdly and dangerously dream of, but a moral; as when a people take a man for their King or Teacher; or a woman takes a man for her Husband. And for the Minor: Receiving Christ offered is not usually expressed in the term, Hope, Joy, Charity, Repentance; therefore it is included in the word Faith (unless you can name some other Grace which it is usually expressed by.)
4. The Grace by which we are united to Christ is Faith: But it is receiving Christ by which we are so united to him; therefore it is faith which is the receiving of Christ. I suppose none will deny that it is Christ himself that we must be united to by believing, and not the Word or Promise; and that it is receiving Christ which unites us to him, is obvious both from the language of Scripture, and the nature of the thing. A People is united to their Prince, as the head of the ⟨p. 363⟩Republic, and a Church to their Teacher, and a woman to her Husband, by the Wills consent or acceptance, and not properly▪ (but only initially, preparatorily, imperfectly and improperly, and if it be alone, not at all) by believing the Truth of their words. Amesius saith, Medul. l. 1. c. 3. §. 18 Fides etiam cum sit primus actus vitae nostrae, qua Deo in Christo vivimus, consistat necesse est in unione cum Deo, quam nullo modo facere potest Assensus adhibitus veritati quae est de Deo.
4. The Grace by which we are united to Christ is Faith: But it is receiving Christ by which we are so united to him; therefore it is faith which is the receiving of Christ. I suppose none will deny that it is Christ himself that we must be united to by believing, and not the Word or Promise; and that it is receiving Christ which unites us to him, is obvious both from the language of Scripture, and the nature of the thing. A People is united to their Prince, as the head of the