Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A26974
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Of justification four disputations clearing and amicably defending the truth against the unnecessary oppositions of divers learned and reverend brethren / by Richard Baxter ...
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Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.
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1658
(1658)
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Wing B1328; ESTC R13779
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325,158
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450
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do believe in God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God 2. Cor. 5.21 tells us that he was made sin for us c. but it saith not that our believing thus much only is the full condition of our Interest in his Righteousness But contrarily expresseth it by our own being reconciled to God to which Paul exhorteth Thirdly The Types which you mention were not all the Gospel or Covenant of Grace or Promise then extant If therefore there were any other parts of Gods word then that led them to Receive Christ entirely as the Messiah and particularly as the King and Teacher of his Church and promised life and pardon on this condition your Argument then from the Types alone is vain because they were not the whole word unless you prove that they exclude the rest which you never can And indeed not only the very first promise of the seed of the woman c. doth hold out whole Christ as Priest and Prophet and King as the object of justifying faith but also many and many another in the old Testament And the Epistle to the Hebrews which you cite doth begin with his Kingly office as the object of our faith in the two first chapters which are almost all taken up in proving it Fourthly you confess your self that Christ as Interceding is the object of justifying faith and if you mean it of his Heavenly intercession that was no part of his meritorious obedidience or humiliation It s true indeed that it is for the application or Collation of the fruits of his blood and so is much of his Kingly and Prophetical office too Mr. Blake Secondly That which the Sacraments under the Gospel setting forth Christ for pardon of sin lead us unto that our faith must eye for Reconciliation Pardon and Justification This is clear Christ in his own instituted ordinances will not misguide us But these lead us to Christ suffering dying for the pardon of sin Mat 26 28. A broaken bleeding dying Christ in the Lords Supper is received Reply First I hope you would not make the world believe that I deny it Did I ever exclude a dying Christ from the object of justifying faith But what strange Arguments are these that are such strangers still to the question you prove the inclusion of faith in Christ dying but do not so much as mention the exclusion of the other acts of faith which is the thing that was incumbent on you Secondly If you say that only is meant by you though not expressed then I further reply that this Argument labouring of the same disease with the last requireth no other answer First The Sacraments being not the whole Gospel you cannot prove your Exclusion from them unless you prove somewhat exclusive in them which you attempt not that I see Secondly If therefore you understand the Minor exclusively as to all other parts of Christs office I deny it and the texts cited say not a word to prove it Thirdly And if they did yet faith may eye a dying Christ only as purchasing Pardon and yet ex parte Christi that act that so eyeth him may not be the only act that is the condition of our Title to a dying Christ or to the pardon purchased Fourthly And yet though it would not serve your turn even ex parte Christi your exclusion is so far from being proved that it s contradicted both by the Sacraments and by Scriptures much more ex parte nostri your excusion of the other acts of faith For First In Baptism its apparent which is appointed for our solemn initiation into a state of Justification which the Lords Supper is not First Christ foundeth it in his Dominion Mat. 28.18 All power is given to me in Heaven and Earth go ye therefore c. Secondly He maketh the very nature of it to be an entering men into a state of Disciples and so engaging them to him as their Master ver 19. Go ye therefore and Disciple or teach all Nations baptizing them Thirdly The words of the Jews to John If thou be not that Christ nor Elias nor that Prophet why baptizest thou John 1.25 and their flocking to his baptism and the words of Paul I Cor. 14.15 I thank God that I baptized none of you lest any should say that I baptized in my own name do plainly shew that baptizing was then taken as an entering into a state of Disciples And I have before proved that baptism doth list us under Christ the Commander King and Master of the Church Fourthly And therefore the Church hath ever baptized into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost with an abrenunciation of the flesh the world and the devil not only as opposite to Christs blood but as opposites to his Kingdom and Doctrine Fifthly And the very water signifieth the spirit of Christ as well as his blood Though I think not as Mr. Mead that it signifieth the spirit only Sixthly And our coming from under the water was to signifie our Resurrection with Christ as Rom. 6. shews So that it is certain that Christ in all parts of his office is propounded in baptism to be the object of our faith and this baptism comprizing all this is said to be for the Remission of sin Secondly And though the Lords supper suppose us justified yet he understandeth not well what he doth that thinks that Christ only as dying is there propounded to our faith For First In our very receiving we profess Obedience to Christ as King that hath enjoyned it by his Law Secondly And to Christ our Teacher that hath taught us thus to do Thirdly The signs themselves are a visible word of Christ our Teacher and teach us his sufferings promises our duty c. Fourthly By taking eating and drinking we renew our Covenant with Christ And that Covenant is made with him not only as Priest but as the Glorified Lord and King of the Church On his part the thing promised which the Sacrament sealeth is not that Christ will dye for us for that 's done already but that Christ will actually pardon us on the account of his merits And this he doth as King and that he will sanctifie preserve strengthen and glorifie us all which he doth as King though he purchased them as a sacrifice On our part we deliver up our selves to him to be wholly his even his Disciples and Subjects as well as pardoned ones Fifthly Yea the very bread and wine eaten and drank do signifie our spiritual Union and Communion with Jesus who is pleased to become one with us as that bread and wine is one with our substance And surely it is to Christ as our Head that we are United and not only as dying for us and as to our Husband who is most dearly to be loved by us and is to rule us and we to be subject to him being made bone of his bone and flesh of
his flesh Ephe. 5.23 24 25 30. Sixthly We are to do it as in remembrance of his death so also in expectation of his comming which will be in Kingly Glory when he will drink with us the fruit of the Vine new in the Kingdome of his Father Object But Christ doth not pardon sin in all these respects Answ First But in the Sacrament he is represented to be believed in entirely in all these respects Secondly And he pardoneth as King though he merit it as a sacrifice And as his Sacrifice and Merit are the cause of all that following so therefore it is specially represented in the Sacrament not excluding but including the rest Thirdly Believing in Christ as King and Prophet even as his offices respect his Honor and our sanctity may be as truly the condition of our Justification as believing in his blood Mr. Blake As the spirit of God guides faith so it must go to God for propitiation and â—â—tonement But the Holy Ghost guides faith to go the blood of Christ for attonement Rom. 3.25 5.9 Eph. 1.7 1 John 1.7 Reply Concedo totum The conclusion can be but this therefore faith must go to the blood of Christ for attonement Who ever questioned this I But your Thesis which you set at the Head of your Arguments was Faith in Christ qua Lord doth not justifie which is little kin to any of your Arguments But in the explication you have here at last the term Only and therefore I may take that to be supposed in the Argument But then with that Addition I deny your Minor The texts mentioned say nothing to prove it Rom. 3.25 hath no only in it nor any thing exclusive of the other acts of Christ And if it had yet it would not follow that all other acts of our faith were excluded As his blood is the meritorious cause and so the foundation of all the benefits and so all the Applying Causes are supposed in the mention of it and not excluded so are all other acts of our faith in the mention of that act Rom. 5.9 saith not that we are justified only by his blood Nâ—r is it any adding to the Scripture to add more unless you can prove that these texts are the whole Scripture or that the other Scriptures add no more Ephe. 1 7. and 1 John 1.7 do neither of them exclude either the other acts of Christ or other acts of faith Nay John seems to make somewhat else the condition on our part then the belief in that blood only when he saith there If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Or if you think this if denoteth but a sign yet other texts will plainly prove more To conclude If I were to go only to the blood of Christ for atonement yet it would not follow that going to that blood only for it is the only act of Faith on which Justification is promised or given me in the Gospel as is before declared Mr. Blake You demand Will you exclude his Obedience Resurrection intercession To which I only say I marvell at the question If I exclude these I exclude his blood His shedding of blood was in Obedience John 10.18 Phil. 2.8 his Resurrection was his freedom from the bands of death and an evidence of our discharge by blood His Intercession is founded on his blood He intercedes not as we by bare petition but by merit He presents his blood as the high Priest in the Holy of Holies Repl. It was the thing I had to do to prove that Rom. 3.24 and those other texts are not exclusive of all but his blood and that the word Only is no more meant then it is expressed in them And now you grant it me And needs must do it while Scripture tells us that by the Obedience of one many are made Righteous Rom. 5.19 and that he is Risen for our Justification Rom. 4 â—5 and that Righteousness shall be imputed to us if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ver 24. and It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us Rom. 8 33 34. he that believeth all these texts will not add only to the first at least if he understand them for they do not contradict each other Well! but you marvell at my question I am glad of that Are we so well agreed that you marvell at my supposition of this difference To satisfie you my question implyed this Argument If the Resurrection Intercession c. be not in those texts excluded nor faith in them then we may not add only to interpret them but c. Ergo. But let us hear the reasons of your marveling First As to Obedience you say His shedding of blood was in Obedience Answer But though all blood-shed was in Obedience yet all Obedience was not by blood-shed nor suffering neither And the text Rom. 5.19 seems to speak of Obedience as Obedience and not only as in blood shed Secondly You say His Resurrection was his freedom c. Ans But Suffering is one thing and freedom from suffering is another thing I herefore faith to our justification must eye Christs conquest and freedom from death as well as his death it self Moreover Resurrection was an act of Power and his Entrance on his Kingdom and not a meer act of Priesthood Nor will you ever prove that faith to Justification must only look at the Resurrection as connoting the death from which he riseth Thirdly You say His Intercession is founded on his blood c. Answer So is his Kingdom and Lordship Rom. 14 9. Mat. 28.18 Phil. 2.9 10. It seems then faith in order to Justification must not only look at Christs blood but that which is founded on it His Government in Legislation Judgement Execution is all founded in his blood c. because he hath drank of the brook in the way therefore did he lift up the Head Psalme 110.7 You add He Interceeds by Merit Answer Not by new purchasing Merit but by the virtue of his former Merit and the collation of the effects of it from the Father And so he Reigneth and Governeth both by virtue of former Merit and for the applying that Merit and attaining of its Ends. Whereas therefore you say If I exclude these I shall exclude his blood It is a weighty Answer And the like you may say also of his Kingly and Prophetical office The operation of them are so woven and twisted together by infinite wisdom that all do harmoniously concur to the attainment of the ends of each one and if you lay by one you lay by all you exclude Christs blood as to the end of Justification if you include not his Kingly and Prophetical