The passive receiving of Christ is the process by which a spiritual principle of grace is generated in the will of man.

Hence the end of the world should be awaited with all longing by all believers.

The passive receiving of Christ is the process by which a spiritual principle of grace is generated in the will of man.

The will of God is eternal because He does not begin to will what He did not will before, nor cease to will what He willed before.

The inward offer is a kind of spiritual enlightenment, whereby the promises are presented to the hearts of men, as it were, by an inward word.

Hearing the word is the devout receiving of the will of God.

Therefore, the church is not absolutely necessary as an object of faith, not even for us today, for then Abraham and the other prophets would not have given assent to those things which were revealed to them from God without any intervening help of the church.