A26974:1174
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.
My Opponents in this (though they are unwilling to appear in the opposition) must needs be all those that say, Justification is simul & semel, at once and but once, and that it is a good Argument against any acts or works after Faith that [They exist not till we are justified, therefore they are no conditions of our Justification:] and all those that deny and scorn the distinction between 1. Our Justification at the first (or putting us into a justified state) 2. And our daily Justification by the continuation of that state. 3. And our frequently reiterated particular Justification from the Guilt of particular sins. 4. And our final Justification by the sentence of the Judge. Especially by denying the second, they must needs deny my Assertion, as shall be showed anon.
My Opponents in this (though they are unwilling to appear in the opposition) must needs be all those that say, Justification is simul & semel, at once and but once, and that it is a good Argument against any acts or works after Faith that [They exist not till we are justified, therefore they are no conditions of our Justification:] and all those that deny and scorn the distinction between 1. Our Justification at the first (or putting us into a justified state) 2. And our daily Justification by the continuation of that state. 3. And our frequently reiterated particular Justification from the Guilt of particular sins. 4. And our final Justification by the sentence of the Judge. Especially by denying the second, they must needs deny my Assertion, as shall be shewed anon.
Argum. 1. If Paul speak not only of Justification as begun, but as continued, then the Faith which he opposeth to works is not only one numerical Act. (For there must needs go some other Numerical Act before it, or else the person could not be justified by faith before) But the Antecedent is true, as I prove from Rom. 4.18, 19. and Gal. 3. If Paul prove Justification by faith, from the instance of Abraham's believing after that he was justified, then he speaketh not only of Justification as begun (or of our first Being justified) But the Antecedent is plain in the Text compared with