Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	believe_v	faith_n	justification_n	5,240	5	9.4416	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47535	Gold refin'd, or, Baptism in its primitive purity proving baptism in water an holy institution of Jesus Christ ... : wherein it is clearly evinced that baptism ... is immersion, or dipping the whole body, &c : also that believers are only the true subjects (and not infants) of that holy sacrament : likewise Mr. Smythies arguments for infant-baptism in his late book entitled, The non-communicant ... fully answered / by Benj. Keach ...	Keach, Benjamin, 1640-1704.	1689 (1689)	Wing K68; ESTC R17190	114,897	272

saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Now they affirm that Infants are Believers and therefore are to be baptized Mr. Smythies says Infants are Believers in a sense or else they could not be saved nor have right to the Promises of Christ in the Gospel and if they are in any sense such Believers as are intitled to Salvation they are such Believers as have a right to Baptism if the Estate belongs to a Child in the Cradle the Indentures and Seals of that Estate belong to him likewise the Child of a Believer may as well be called a Believer as the Child of a Proselyte was called a proselyte if God gives Children but the denomination of Believers it is sufficient to entitle them to Baptism Thus Mr. Smythies But how does it appear that Infants are Believers in any sense is there any Argument or Scripture brought by this Man to prove them so to be if he can prove they have Faith and do believe in Christ he will do more than all the Men that ever lived on Earth could do I mean Children as such in common and in an ordinary way to be Believers True nothing is too hard for God to do he that can make an Ass to speak can as well cause a Babe to believe But how does it appear God has given them either the Habit of Faith or the Act of Faith or Faith in any sense to render them to be Believers But 't is intimated they are Believers by their Parents Faith why may not their Parents Baptism serve as well as their Parents Faith and they receive the Lord's Supper for them in their Names also and that be imputed to the Children by virtue of their Parents Faith And what though the Estate belongs to the Child in the Cradle together with the Indenture and Seals of that Estate Is it required the Child in the Cradle should therefore set his Seal to the Indenture is that requisite or would it make the Estate the more firm or sure to him But when you can prove Grace and Salvation to be Hereditary and that the Father's being a Believer and a godly Person all his Children must needs be such too you do your business Secondly But why do you say Children must be Believers or else they can't be saved who told you so Because Faith in Adult Persons is required as necessary in them if they are saved Can't God save poor Infants without they also do believe has God told you he cannot or will not save them except they believe I must confess I wonder at your Ignorance and daring Boldness God as Dr. Taylor observes may have many ways to magnify his Grace through Jesus Christ to them which we know not of and what have you to do with the Secrets of God who made you one of his Privy-Council you may as well say unless they repent they cannot be saved from Christ's words Luk 13. 3 5. and that they must be obedient and take up the Cross for these things are required of Adult Persons that would be saved as well as believing Thirdly Prove that God has given Children the Denomination of Believers or if it was granted he hath would it therefore ●ollow they may be baptized certainly no for we read of many who were said to believe they had some kind of Faith and so in some sense had the denomination of 〈◊〉 and yet had no right to Baptism for such ought to have 〈◊〉 Faith or to believe with all their Hearts 〈◊〉 Philip said to the Eunuch Act. 8. who are fit Subjects of that Ordinance or have a sufficient Title to it and would not that believing in any sense you speak of that entitles them to Salvation give them as good a right to the Lord's-Supper as to Baptism Come Sir you can't infer a right to an Ordinance from what grounds you please Baptism depends wholly I say again upon the Authority of a positive Law and express words of Institution and none but such who are made Disciples by preaching or who do actually believe ought from thence to be baptized I wonder what Faith 't is you suppose to be in Infants is it the Faith of the Church as Tho. Aquinas asserts which is intailed upon all within the pale thereof Or is it an Imputitive Faith from the Parents in Covenant as Musculus and others maintain Or is it the Faith of the Gossip or Surety as many of your Church say i. e. others believe for them Have they a justifying Faith as Mr. Baxter intimates or a dogmatical Faith only as in Mr. Blake's Sense Some as Mr. Danvers observes say 't is a Physical some a Metaphysical and some a Hyperphysical Faith. Some say they are born Believers others say they are made Believers by Baptism Now when you tell us what Faith they have we shall the better understand you and give you an Answer A Personal and actual Faith saith Dr. Taylor they have not for they have no Acts of Understanding besides how can any Man know they have Faith since he never saw any sign 〈◊〉 neither was he told so by any that could tell Secondly saith he Some say they have Imputative Faith But then so let the Sacraments be too that is if they have the Parents Faith or the Churches then so let Baptism be imputed also by derivation from them And as in their Mothers Womb and while they hang upon their Mothers Breasts they live upon their Mothers Nourishment so they may upon the Baptism of their Parents or their Mother the Church for since Faith is necessary to the susception of Baptism and they themselves confess it by striving to find out new kinds of Faith to daub the matter such as the Faith such must be the Sacrament for there is no proportion between an actual Sacrament and an Imputative Faith this being in immediate and necessary order to that This saith the Bishop We know there are some argue stifly for Infants having habitual Faith but as the said Doctor saith Are there any Acts precedent concomitant or consequent to this pretended Habit this strange Invention saith he is absolutely without Art without Scripture Reason or Authority But the Men are to be excused unless they had any better Arguments to defend their Practice they are forc'd to confess the Truth in the main viz. That Faith is required of Persons to be baptized and therefore they do what they can to prove Infants do believe But I will conclude this with what the said Doctor further saith And if any Man runs for Succour to that exploded Cresphugeton that Infants have Faith or any other inspired Habit of I know not what or how we desire no more advantage than that they are constrained to answer without Revelation against Reason common Sense and all the Experience in the World. CHAP. XII Containing an Answer to several other Arguments brought for Infant-Baptism Object 1. THough there is

know not nor consider this Order which God used in Covenanting with them in Baptism deal preposterously over-slipping the Commandment of Repenting and Believing It appears to me as if God will sometimes make Men speak the Truth whether they will or no and confirm his own blessed Order though they contradict their own Practice thereby Paraeus the same Person saith upon Mat. 3. 5. shews that the Order was that Confession as a Testimony of True Repentance go first and then Baptism for Remission of Sins afterwards What Commission our Brethren have got who sprinkle Children I know not let them fetch a thousand Consequences and unwarrantable Suppositions for their Practice it signifies nothing if Christ has given them no Authority or Rule to do what they do in his Name Natural Con●sequences from Scripture we allow but such which flow not naturally from any Scripture we deny Can any think Christ would leave one of the great Sacraments of the New Testament not to be proved without Consequences For I am sure there is no Baptism to be administred before the Profession of Faith in the Commission nor no where else in Christ's New Testament and that Faith is required in the second place as pre-requisite unto Baptism is very plain from Mark 16. 16. They must be Believers none are fit Subjects of Baptism but they that believe and are capable to believe He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved c. not he that is baptized and then believes Take heed you do not invert Christ's Order and if there is no Baptism to be found in the New Testament to be practised before Faith much less Sprinkling or Rantism is there required CHAP. VII Proving Believers to be the only true Subjects of Baptism from the Apostles Doctrine and the Practice of the Primitive Churches WE read that the Apostles according to the Commission Christ gave them preach'd the Gospel of the Kingdom having received the Spirit from on high and began at Jerusalem as he had commanded them and so endeavoured to make Men and Women Disciples i. e. bringing them to the sense and sight of their Sins and knowledg of their lost and miserable condition by Nat●●e as being unconverted and without Christ and in Acts 2. where Peter preached the first Sermon that was preached after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus And when they heard this the Text saith they were pricked in their Hearts and sai● unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do then said Peter REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of Sins and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost c. And then they that gladly received the Word were baptized and the same day there was added to them about three thousand Souls Pray observe the Footsteps of this Flock I mean the manner of the Constitution of this Church it being the first Church that was planted in the Gospel-days it was the Church at Jerusalem and indeed the Mother-Church for evident it is all other Gospel-Churches sprang at first from this and hence some conceive the Apostle calls this Church Jerusalem above being the Mother of us all said to be above not only because she was in her Constitution from Heaven or by Divine and Evangelical Institution but also might be said to be above in respect of Dignity or Priviledg being first constituted and having the first Fruits of the extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit poured out upon them and besides having all the great Apostles at first as Members with her and hence 't is that all other Churches were to follow the Church of God that was in Judea and were commended in so doing and certainly 't is the Duty of all Churches so to walk unto the end of the World. But to proceed Acts 8. we find Philip being by the Providence of God cast into Samaria he preaches Jesus Christ to them and when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ they were baptized both Men and Women not till they were Disciples and did believe were any baptized Men and Women not Children not them and their little Babes if Philip had so done he had acted contrary to his Master's Commission In the same Chapter we find he preached Christ to the Eunuch also And they came to a certain Water and the Eunuch said See here is Water what doth hinder me to be baptized ver 37. And Philip said If thou believest with all thine Heart thou mayst And the Eunuch answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God And they both went down into the Water both Philip and the Eunuch and he baptized him There must be Faith or no Baptism thou mayst or thou oughtest 't is lawful or according to Christ's Law i. e. his Commission A Verbal Profession is not sufficient say our late Annotators on this place Philip in God's Name requires a Faith as with all the Heart and not such as Simon Magus had who is said to believe and be baptized vers 13. this was say they the only thing necessary either then or now if rightly understood How was it known saith Mr. Baxter but by their Profession that the Samaritans believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ before they were baptized both Men and Wome and saith ●he Philip caused the Eunuch to profess before he would baptize him that he believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Moreover in the tenth of the Acts we find Cornelius and those with him were first made Disciples by Peter's preaching and the Spirit 's powerful Operation and then were baptized Who can forbid Water saith he that thest should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as me And he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus that is by the Authority of Christ according to the Commission So in Acts 16. when the poor trembling Jaylor was made a Disciple i. e. did believe with his whole House on the Lord Jesus Christ he was with his whole House baptized so Lydia believed and was baptized Acts 16. 14. the like in Acts 18. Crispus believing on the Lord and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized The Chief Ruler believed with all his House and were baptized he believed his House believed the Jaylor believed all runs in their believing all must by believing be made Disciples or not be baptized Luther saith that in Times past the Sacrament of Baptism was administred to none except it were to those that acknowledged and confessed their Faith and knew how to rehearse the same and why are they now See Mr. Baxter in his sixteenth Argument against Mr. Blake if there can be no Example given in Scripture of any one that was baptized

Faithful under the Law so Baptism belongs to the Children of the Faithful under the Gospel or else the Priviledges under the Gospel would be less than those were under the Law. Answ There hath been enough said over and over by Mr. Tombs Mr. Danvers and many others to detect and utterly vanquish the weakness of this Argument As first it hath been proved that the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham and his Seed doth not intend his Carnal Seed according to the Flesh but his Spiritual Seed or such who had the Faith of Abraham And one would think the Apostle might be believed in his expounding that Text viz. To Abraham and to his Seed were the Promises made Gal. 3. 16. He saith not And to Seeds as of many but as of one And to they Seed which is Christ Compare this with v. 29. If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's Seed and Heirs according to the Promise And again in Rom. 9. 7 8. he saith Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children but in Isaac shall thy Seed be called That is they which are the Children of the Flesh these are not the Children of God but the Children of the Promise are counted for the Seed Could the Apostle in plainer words have detected the Error of these Men if he had met with them in his day 'T is true he did meet with some viz. the Jews or Abraham's natural Seed who were so blind as thus to argue from the Covenant made with Abraham and concluded they were the true Seed and Children of God because they were the Off-spring of Abraham according to the Flesh But as John Baptist first endeavoured to undeceive them when he saw the Scribes and Pharisees coming to his Baptism by saying Think not to say with in your selves ye have Abraham to your Father c. So in the next place our Blessed Saviour himself in John. 8. likewise shewed them their great Error and Mistake herein and that they might be the Children of the Devil notwithstanding they were the Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh and thought themselves safe as being in that Covenant made with him The Covenant of Grace there made with Abraham and his Seed extends to none but the Holy and Elect Seed to none but the Spiritual Seed to such who are Christ's or true Believers in Christ only Now if the Covenant of Grace comprehends none of Abraham's carnal or fleshly Seed but the spiritual Seed only to what purpose is there so many Sheers of Paper printed by Mr. Baxter Mr. Sidenham c. to prove the carnal Seed of Believers to have right to the Seal of the Covenant Their Business is to prove all Believers Children to be in the Covenant in the first place or all they say is nothing But Secondly if they could prove all the Children of Believers to be in that Covenant made with Abraham yet it doth not from thence follow neither that therefore their Children may be baptized unless they can shew the Lord Jesus hath injoined them so to be because Baptism wholly depends upon the Authority of Christ's Institution or positive Prescription 'T is not enough for any to say if Children are in Covenant they may be baptized Who tells them so Hath Christ any where required it doth he say they ought or that it belongs to them Had it been Abraham's Duty to circumcise his Children because they were in Covenant with him before God gave him a positive Law so to do certainly had he done it without any Command of God and have called it God's Ordinance he had ceas'd being called any more Faithful Abraham Come Sirs your Consequences and Conclusions you have so long made a noise of will make no Gospel-Precept nor hold equal weight with the Ballance of the Sanctuary For thirdly pray consider Were there not divers in the Covenant of Grace i. e. in that Spiritual or Gospel-Covenant God made with Abraham in that very day and time that the Law of Circumcision was given forth and yet they were not from that Ground to be circumcised nor were they at all circumcised because God did not command them so to be Was not Lot a Godly Man and in the same Covenant of Grace together with Melchisedec and others I might mention These were in Covenant and yet without the Seal as you call it we do not read they were circumcised And do you not think that many of the Females of Abraham's off-spring were in that Covenant of Grace yet they had no right to Circumcision the Seal as you called it of the Covenant because none but Males were required or commanded to be circumcised Suppose Abraham should have gone without a Command or Word from God and have Circumcised his Females and have reasoned after the rate you do viz. My Female children are in Covenant and since the Covenant belongs to them the Seal of the Covenant belongs to them which is Circumcision therefore I will circumcise them also would God have allowed him to do any such Act think you You will reply I am sure that God would never have born with Abraham in doing any such thing because he must have done it without a Command And pray how can you think he will bear with you in Baptizing Children of Believers sith you have no more Command from God so to do than Abraham had to Circumcise his Female Children You reply They are in Covenant and therefore to them belongs the Seal of the Covenant even so say we his Females might be in the same Covenant and yet you would have condemned such an Act in him though grounded upon the very same foot of an Account which you stand upon your own Justification in and acknowledg no Fault but contrarywise blame nay reproach us for holding an Error because we cannot do and practice as you do in this case without any Authority from God's Word 4ly To prove further that the Right of Circumcision wholly depended upon the absolute Will Pleasure and Soveraignty of God as Baptism now doth and that his Will and not ours nor any Consequence that may be drawn from being in the Covenant can give a Person a right thereto without his Command or allowance 't is to be considered that there were those commanded to be Circumcised who were not as there is probable ground to believe in that holy and blessed Covenant of Grace God said his Covenant should not be established with Ishmael but with Isaac yet he was Circumcised Gen. 17. 20 21 25. Gal. 4. 29 30. The same might be said of Esau and thousands more of Abraham's Carnal Seed It was it appears from hence God's Soveraign Will and Pleasure that gave right to Circumcision and not being in the Covenant Quest But was not Circumcision a Seal of the Covenant of Grace under that Dispensation as Baptism is now a Seal of the same Covenant under this Dispensation Answ No for Circumcision was only a Seal to Abraham's