Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT770 .B39 1670

t 5_ The Lie of' Faith. of thefe mutt be totally left out in the definitionof ir, if you would not be deceived. It is Heretic, and not the Chriftian Faith, if it exclude any one (prig! part : And if it include it not, it is infidelity : And indeed there is fuch a connexion of the objeas, that there is no part (in truth) where there is not the whole. And it is impiety if any one part of the offered good that is neceffary, be refuted: Ir is no true Faith, if it b: not a truecnmpofition of all thefe. Dires. 8. There ie no nearer way to know what true Faith if, than truly to underhand what your Baptijntal Co:e:ratating didcontain, In Scripture phrafe, to be a Dífciple, a Believer, and a Chri ftian, is all one, Atis 11. 26. Acts 5. 14. 1 Tim. 4. 12. Match. 10. 42. & 27.57. Luke 14.. 26, 27, 33. Acts 21.16.74.9.28. And tobe aBeliever, and to have Belief or Faith, is all one : and therefore tobe a Chriftian, 'and to have Faith, is all one. Chriftianity fignifieth either our firft entrance into the Chriftian State, or our progreflin it. (As Marriage fignifieth either Ma. trinnny, or the Conjugal State continued in.) In the latter fcnfeChtiftianity fignifieth more than Faith; for more than Faith is nccclfary to a Chriftian. But in the former fenfe, as. Chriftianity fignifieth but our becoming Chriftians, by our covenanting with God ; fo to have Faith, or to be a Believer; and internally to become a Chriftian in Scripture fente, is all one; and the outwardcovenanting is but the profef(ionofFaitb or Chriftianity : Not that the word Faith is never taken in a narrower fenfe, or that Chriftianity, as it is our heart-covenant or eonfent, containeth nothing but Faith, as Faith is fo taken in the narroweft fenfc: But when Faith is taken (as ordina- rily in Scripture) for that which is made the condition of Juftiftcation and Salvation, and oppofcd to Heathenifm, Infi- delity, Judaitm, or the works of the Law, it is commonly taken in this larger fenfe. Faith is well enough defcribed to them, that underhand what is implyed, by the ufuai (hotter dcfcription ; as, that it is abelieving acceptance ofChri/t, and relying on him as our Sa- viour, orforfalvation: Or, a beliefofpardon, and the heavenly Glory as procured by theRedemption wroulbt by Cbrift, and given by GO in the Covenant of Grace ; But the rcafon ys, lcsaufs

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