Baxter - BT763 B397 1658

clearRefolution, and the Confirmation thereof , and the Con- futation of the contrary conceits. And for the firft, I {hall give you my thoughtsof it in thefe two Propofitions. Propsfition i. Thedifferenceamongft Proteftants about this Q ueftion is not of fo great moment, that either party mutt Ea .vonaine be judged to deny the Effentials ( or Fundamentals ) of the faith,and fo to be of a different Religion from the other, or to fall (bort ofSalvation. I lay down this Propofition firít, Becaufe of the Papifts who $and looking uponall our differences with a mind too like the mind of theDevil ; rejoycing in them r and endeavouring to encreafe them, and tomake them feemgreater in the eyesofthe world than indeed they are, that fo they may make ufe of them for the reproachingof our Profef ion , and take an advantage from them tomake the truth and Servants of Chrift become odious unto others. Secondly, And I do it alfo for the fake of force (even too many) amongour felves, that fpeakofcontroverfies as they are concerned in them,or as the party to whom they joyn doth fpeak of them, or as they appear to them in the dark, or at a diftance, or upon a batty fuperficial fearch ; but have not the skil ( nor force of them, the will) to open the true ftate of a Controver- lie, and make the difference appear no wider, then indeed it is. To the provingof thePropofition, it muff be obferved, Firft, that the Affirmers doyield, that it is not the Doarineor Go- vernment of Chrift, but his blood that is the Ranfome for our fins, andhis Righteoufnefs that is the foie Meritorious Caufe of ourJuftification : and that believing in Chrift as Prophet and King, is not a proper Inftrument of our Juftiftcation ; and that Christ as a Ranfome forus, and a deferver of our juftification, is the formal Objets of that other a& ( which accordingly be- lieveth in him;) andnot of this as of believing inhim as Pro- phet and King, On the other fide, it is granted by them that are for theNe= gative, that it is our duty tobelieve in Chrift as a Prophet and King and that it is of necefiïty to falvation, yea to 1uftification it felt; For theyyield that it is the Fide; qux J,ißih'csc-t,the faith by

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