Baxter - BT763 B397 1658

that 'killeth a wild hurtful: bee , or that condemneth every man that murdereth orcommitteth Felony, &c. was in Be- ing before thofe perlons were bornperhaps : And yet it did not hoc agere; it did not Pramiare, Punire, Pracipere, &c. as to this man before. A pardonfrom a Prince to a Traytor, on condition, doth not perform the moral act of his difcharge,till he perform the condition, though it were in being before. The like I may fay of a Teftament or Deed of Gift : But what need many words in a cafe where the Truth is fo obvi- ous ? If forcemoral caufes maybe canfes, and 4gere mora- liter, or produce their effects, even before they are naturally in Being, much more may they fufpend it, and fo produce it long after they are inBeing : Caufa enimmoralisea ratioeft, utetiam cum non eft aEElu, fit efficax, modóhabe at Ç ut loquun- tur infcholù)'e,jJe cognitum:inquit Rivetus Difput. 3. def4tif- fall.Chrifi. pag.282. Next you fay, [ Yea it is thefame, though none *ere aria- allyjuftified. ] Anfwer. This requires no other anfwer, then what is given to the former. It is the fame Pby confzderata vet in Entitate naturali : But the moral actionof pardoning and juttifying is not the fame, nor is at all : A conditional pardon, Deedof Gift, Teftament, çc. doth not at all par- don, or Give, till you perform the condition. For it is the proper natureof a condition to fufpend the a&of the Grant fo that till it be abfolute orequal to Abfolute, it is not Arta., al Remiflïon,Juftificadon, &c.) The reafon of all this is,be- caufe thefe Laws, Teftaménts or Promifes, are but the Law- makers , Tellators or Donors Inftruments , and Lherefore a&when and how hepleafes : and it is his pleafure that they fhould act no otherwife then as is aforefaid, and as in the Te- nor of them he !hall exprefs. Next you add [ To bejn(tiied, notes a pa on robich pre- fuppafeth an AFíiontranfient, not immanent,or only Gods purpofe tojnftife : ] Anfwer i. So far as the Reception of a Rela- tionmay be called a Pallion, this is true : And nodoubt you are in the right, that it is not fírlres immanent. But now , What tranfient A1 it ic, I remember very few Divines that once tell us; but only ingeneral fay, It is a Tr.anfient 4 X x Now

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