Marshall - BT765 M37 1788

Dina. XIII. pfSancti caticn. EXPLICATION. THIS might have been added to the inftruftiors the explication of the former direUion, be- caufe its ufe is the fame, to guide us in the myfterious manner of praEtifing holinefs in Chrift, by the life of faith; but the weight and comprehenfivenefs of it, maketh it worthy to be treated of by itfelf, as a dif tiny direaion. Two things are obfervable in it. Firft, That though all holinefs be effeEtually at- tained by the life of faith in Chrift, yet the ufe of any Means appointed in the word for attaining and pro- rooting holinefs, is not hereby made void, but rather eftablí(hed. This is needful to be obferved againft the pride and ignorance of fome carnal gofpellers, who being'`pufí=ed up with a conceit of their feigned faith, imagine thetnfelves to be in fuch a ftate of per- feaion, that they are above all ordinances, except tinging hallelujahs; and alfo againf thePapifts, who run into the contrary extreme, by heaping together a multitude of means of holinefs, which God never commanded, neither ever came they into his heart, and who flander the Proteftant doEtrine of faith and free grace, as if it tended to dettroy all diligent ufe of the means ofholinefs and falvation, and to breed up a company of lazy Solifidians. We do indeed af- fert and profefs, that a true and lively faith in Chrift is alone fufficient and effeFtual, through the grace of God, to receive him and all his fulnefs fo far as is neceffary in this life, for our juftification, fanEtifica- tion, and eternal falvation: but yet we alfo affert, and profefs, that feveral means are appointed of God for the begetting, maintaining and increafing this faith, and the acting and exercifing it, in order to the at- tainment of it's end; and that thefe means are to be ufed diligently, which are mentioned in the fequel. True believers find, by experience, that their faith t4á

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