C Fl AP. i8. Hotta faith is an I*usvent. 347 termes & fentences , as will , according to their ufual acceptation , contri- bute to make the truthes reveal4in Scripture intelligible to filch , as heare us. And when force termes have been innocently tiled inTheologie, for explication of truthes , whether to the more learned , or to the more unlear- ned, & have paired among. the orthodox without controll, orcontradi- etion , beyond the ordinary ;irne Of prefcriptions.; it cannot but give ground offufpicion for any noWto remove thefe old Land - Marks. efpecial- ly when it is attempted to be4gne , by fuch meanes & arguments , as will equally enforce a rejecuion ormany Scriptural expreffions : for should all the Metaphorical expreflions &fentences , which are in nature, be focanvaffed, & rejected , becaufe every thing agreeing properly to them when ufed , in their own native foile, doth not quadrate with them, as ufed in the Scriptu- res, in things divine,- where should we Land ? If thefe divine myfteries had been expreflèd to us only in termes, adequatly correfpondir,g with & fuiting the matter ; how should we have underftood the fame ? Therefore we finde the Lord condefcending in the Scriptures , to or low Capacities, and expreffing fublìme & high myfleries, by low & borrowed expreffioas, to the end , we might be in cafe to underftand fo much t hereof , as may prove, through the Lord's bleffing , laving unto us: And thereby bath allowed fuch, as would explaine thefe matters unto the capacity of others, to ufe fuch or- dinary expre ions, as may contribute force light & underftauding to their,, in the troches themfelves. Now when the orthodox havê , according to their allowed liberty , made ufe of the word Inffrument, in this matter , and maintained that Faith was , &;was nothing more then an Inf}rument in 'unification ; it is not faire to reject it altogether, becaufe improper, though fit enough to fignifie what they did intend thereby ; & becaufe all the properties, that agree to proper Phyfrcal , or artificial Inftruments , do not agree to it ; and becaufe if the fame be Hrickly examined, according to the rules of Philofophie, concerning Inftrumental Caufes, it will be found to differ from them. Mr. Baxter him feif, writting againft D. Kendal. §. 47. tels us , that the thing; which he de- niet h, ir, that Faith it an lnflrument, in the flricklogical fence, that is 671 Infiru- mental efficient caufe of our juflifications d? that heexpreflydifclaianeth cou- tending de nomine , or contraditting any that only ufe the word tnflrument, in an improper large fenfe,!as Mechanickr & Rhetoricians do: So that the quell:on (faith he ) , it de re. Whether it efficiently caufe our jußi frcatron , a r an In flrument But it may be conceived to have force efficient Influence , in our "unifica- tion , not as that is taken limply & !trickly for God's a jut }ifying, but as taken largely, comprehending the whole henefite : as activly coming from God , & as Paflìvely received by or terminated on us , & that as an Inftru- ment, though not in that proper fence , that Logicians, or Metaphyficians take Inflrumenral caufes, and explaine them , in order to phy fical & natural Effects. We know , that 'unification is a fupernatural work & efle &; -and therefore, though in explaining of it in its Carafes, we may make ufe of fuch termes , as are ufed about the expreffing of the Caufes of Natural , or Artificial Works-8t EtfeÌs; yet no Law can force us, to underftand by thefe V borrowed
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