A26998:368
The Protestant religion truly stated and justified by the late Reverend Mr. Richard BaxterThe Protestant religion truely stated and justified by the late Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter
The Protestant religion truly stated and justified by the late Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter ; prepared for the press some time before his death ; whereunto is added, by way of preface, some account of the learned author, by Mr. Daniel Williams and Mr. Matthew Sylvester.The Protestant religion truely stated and justified by the late Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter ; prepared for the press some time before his death ; whereunto is added, by way of preface, some account of the learned author, by Mr. Danel Williams and Mr. Matthew Sylvester.
London: printed for John Salusbury, 1692
Protestant Religion Truly Stated, and Justified, &c. › The Four and Twentieth accused Point.
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.
4. In all this, we say not, that God hath by his will and decree ordained from Eternity, (or in time) that men shall sin, or will and choose Evil, but only who shall be Damned for sin, which God never willed or caused, but foresaw; not as if he were an idle Spectator, but a willing suspender of his own acts, so far as to leave Sinners to their self-determining wills.
5. But God being the cause of Good, and Men and Devils of Evil, our Salvation is of him, and our Destruction of our selves; and therefore God decreeth not Men's Salvation or Sanctification, merely on foresight of our Faith, but decreeth our Faith it self: Sin he permitteth, but Faith, he effecteth, and decreeth to Effect.
5. But God being the cause of Good, and Men and Devils of Evil, our Salvation is of him, and our Destruction of our selves; and therefore God decreeth not Men's Salvation or Sanctification, meerly on foresight of our Faith, but decreeth our Faith it self: Sin he permitteth, but Faith, he effecteth, and decreeth to Effect.
6. As for them that feign that we say, that God decreeth that some shall be Saved and others Damned however they Live; it is but the dictates of the Father of Lies: We say that God at once decreeth the End, and the Means; as he doth not decree that men shall live though they neither Eat nor Drink, nor that they shall have ⟨p. 101⟩Corn, though they neither Plough nor Sow, but that they shall Eat and Drink, and live thereby; and that they shall Plough and Sow, and manure the Soil, and so have Corn. So God doth at once decree, [that this and that man shall have the means of Grace, (especially a Saviour and the Gospel,) and shall faithfully use them, and be Sanctified by them, and sincerely obey God, and overcome the World, the Flesh and the Devil, and persevere to the End, and that for Christs Merits he will give them the Grace of his Spirit, and pardon their Sins, and bring them to Glory.] All this is our Decree of God.