Selected quad for the lemma: act_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A60172
|
A replication to a late book written by Mr. Benjamin Keach against infants-baptism intituled A counter-antidote, &c. By Gyles Shute of Lime-house.
|
Shute, Giles, b. 1650 or 51.
|
1694
(1694)
|
Wing S3712; ESTC R221469
|
41,869
|
83
|
Phil. 2. 3. Though the Act of Faith may be said to be the Believers yet the Habit of Faith is Gods for the Believer is wholly passive in the reception of Grace and there must be Habits before there can be Acts there must be the Root of Grace before there can be the Fruit of Grace and a young Infant is as capable of receiving the Habits of Grace wherein the Subjects are wholly passive as an Adult Person is 4. John the Baptist could never have leaped in his Mothers Womb for joy had he not known God in Christ the only true Object of Joy Sir You have measured these Profound Mysteries by the Rule of carnal Reason which is a very false Rule to measure it by The Faith of God doth not stand in the Wisdom of Men. 2. Saith Mr. K. in p. 14. We say the same thing with worthy Mr. Marshal in pag. 78. of his Book which you recited in the 24th pag. of yours viz. That Vnion betwixt Christ and the Soul is fully accomplished by Christ giving the Spirit of Faith to us even before we can Act Faith in the reception of Him because by this Grace or Spirit of Faith the Soul is inclined to an active receiving of Christ Pray Mr. K. did worthy Mr. Marshal say no more If he did how dare you be so unjust to deal thus unfairly by Mr. Marshal as to leave out the conclusion of his Sentence without an c. as if he had said no more Pray Reader look into the Pages Mr. K. hath quoted both of Mr. Marshal's Book and mine and there you will find the conclusion of his Sentence thus viz. And no doubt Christ is thus united to many Infants which have the Spirit of Faith because they are not come to the years of understanding Is this to say the same thing with worthy Mr. Marshal But this is as true as that I spent 20 Leaves in my former Book to prove that which No body denies But pray what hath Mr. Marshal said in this to destroy or enervate the Notion of Habitual Faith in Elect dying Infants For though he hath not used the very same Words yet it is to the same effect and carrieth an Equivalent in it with that of Habitual Faith Now if Mr. K. saith the same thing with worthy Mr. Marshal then Mr. K. and I am agreed 3. Saith Mr. K. Is Regeneration in your Infants that are Regenerated the Fruit or Product of this Spirit of Faith or Habits which you plead for to be infused into them when Infants Sure if they had any such Habits when Infants they need no other inspired Habits when they are grown up Where the Habits and Principles of Grace are once infused into a Soul they can never be lost neither shall they need any other inspired Habits of Grace when they are grown Persons for where these Habits are once planted they can never be destroyed for once in Christ by Regeneration and for ever in Christ by Justification and Sanctification for that Soul is in a State of Grace and hath the Life of Christ in him and that Life can never be lost because it is in Christ the Son of God it is in the keeping of Christ and therefore to speak with Reverence Christ himself may as soon be lost as that 2. We may conclude that many children of Believers that did not die in their Infancy have had the Habits of Grace infused into their Souls in their Infancy and that may be the reason why so many of them when they are grown Persons can tell they have Grace but know not how nor when they came by it No doubt Timothy had Grace infused into him in his Infancy because we read not any thing of his Conversion no more than we do of his Baptism wherefore both might be effected in his Infancy being the Son of a godly Mother But the Apostle Paul could tell the time of his own Conversion and also his Baptism Acts 9. 3. All Infants are conceived in sin Psal 51.5 There are all the Habits or Seeds of sin in an Infant in its first Conception or Formation even as many as there are in an Adult Sinner for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God therefore Elect dying Infants must be regenerated they must be begotten and born of God for God will be a reconciled Father to none but them which he spiritually begets for God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them Thus you see as young Infants are brought into the same Ballance of Original Guilt and Pollution with Adult old Sinners so they must be brought into the same Ballance of Justification Adoption and Sanctification with Elect Adult Believers or they can never be saved 4. Mr. K. doth own That all Infants are under the guilt and stain of Original Sin by Nature And he also saith We do believe that all those dying Infants who are saved God doth in some way or another which is not known to us sanctifie them for no unclean thing can enter into the Heavenly Jerusalem There is no other way but this viz. Children must be justified and acquitted from the guilt of Original Sin And secondly they must be sanctified and cleansed from the filth and pollution of sin they must be regenerated and made Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 For without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord The Fallen Angels may as well expect to be saved as any unregenerate Soul may either Old or Young that dyeth in that State and Condition 2. All Children are elected and chosen of God that are saved dying in their Infancy and therefore they must have the Grace of Faith to unite them to Christ which is the Faith that is peculiar to Gods Elect Titus 1.1 For all Mankind by Nature are in a state of Unbelief for it was that Sin that brought Man into a State of condemnation for had our first Parents believed God when he told them if they eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they should die Man had never fell into a State of Sin and Condemnation Now the opposite Grace to the Sin of Unbelief is Faith and Habitual Faith by the powerful Agency of the blessed Spirit of Grace is sufficient to subdue and conquer original Unbelief and to justifie and sanctifie them by the application of the Righteousness Blood and Merits of Jesus Christ to their Souls It is not Man's acting Faith that justifies him but it is the Habit of Faith in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ that doth that The Act of Faith in a sense may be said to be the Creatures but the Habit of Faith is Gods own Free Act in the Creature wherefore if Man cannot be justified without his acting of Grace then Justification depends on the Acting of the Creature Though a Believer may be said to have a hand in his own Sanctification yet he hath none at all in his
all that were in it But saith Mr. K. Might they not in that hour go a little way out of the House and be baptized This is begging the Question and yet he thus concludes viz. 'T is evident he abuses the Sacred Text. But hitherto you may see it is plain they did not go out of the House Ver. 33. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized he and all his straightway Ver. 34. And when he had brought them into his house he set meat before them and they rejoiced believing in God with all his house This was to bring them into some more peculiar Place or Dining-Room in his House for you see it is clear they were not out of the Prison before for so it appears by the next Verse viz. Ver. 35. And when it was day the magistrates sent the sergeants saying Let those men go But the Apostles refused to go out of the Prison And they came and besought them and desired them to depart out of the city Thus you see here was 1. The Jaylors bringing the Apostles out of their close confinement after his conviction 2. There was preaching the Word of the Lord to all that were in his House and not out of his House 3. Here was washing their stripes after they were taken out of their close confinement into his House at large 4. And Lastly Here was their Baptism And all this was done in the same hour of the Night straightway and then when this was done he invites them into his own peculiar Appartment or Dining-Room and set Meat before them And in the last place it doth plainly appear that they did not go out of the House or Prison all night because they were there in the Morning and refused to go out when the Magistrates sent to the Jaylor to release them therefore there is no manner of ground to imagine that they went out of the Prison and out of the City a little way in the Night to be baptized in a River or a Pond of Water but besides the Gates of Cities use to be shut in the Night and Guard kept at them who would have secured them had they attempted to go out in the night Ergo they were baptized in the House So that I have not abused the Sacred Text but it is evident that Mr. K. hath abused me in charging me falsely 12. And Lastly I shall give some Reasons to Evince that the Face of the Subject is the properest part to be baptized Because by the Face both God and Man are described 1. God is described by his most glorious face Psal 51.9 Psal 44.24 〈◊〉 18.10 Not that we are to conceive of God as of any Form or Shape who is a most Glorious Immense Spiritual Being in himself but it is in condescension to our weak capacities 2. Man is described and best known by the Face Gal. 1.22 Psal 84.9 And how common a thing is it among Men to say I never saw such an Ones Face That is they never saw the Person 2. The Face is the properest part for the application of water in Baptism because the Face represents the whole Man 3. The Face ought to be baptized as the properest part because the part baptized ought to be naked for these Reasons viz. 1. Because otherwise the Cloaths and not the Person are baptized 2. Because it maketh the truest Figure of Man in his natural laps'd State before he is washed in the Water of Regeneration and renewed by the Holy Ghost by which the Soul puts on these two blessed Garments of Salvation namely Christs Righteousness for Justification and the Robe of Holiness for Sanctification Every Soul in a laps'd State you have set forth in these two Texts in the old and New Testament first in the Old Testament Ezek. 16.4 5 6. Here you have Man in his natural State which is unsavoury loathsome polluted and helpless and in the New Testament Rev. 3. there he is set forth to be wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked This is the State and Condition of all Men by nature before they are washed in Regeneration 4. And Lastly The Face of the Subject is the properest part for the application of water in Baptism because Nature it self teacheth us that the Face is the most delightful comely part of Man for Conversation We do not care to converse with a Man that turns his back upon us Thus much for the part of the Subject that ought to be baptized and the posture the Subject ought to be prepared in and that is the naked Face Thus I have confuted Mr. Keach's Arguments which he hath produced to prove that Dipping is the only Infallible Mode for Baptism whereas there is neither Precept nor Example for it no not so much as a bare May be for it in all the Book of God but you see there is a great Analogy between those many Sprinklings and Baptism though the Mode is not absolutely determined declaratively II. I will prove that all Elect dying Infants must have the Grace of Faith or they can never be saved 1. But saith Mr. K. in p. 14 16. How doth God sanctifie dying Infants I speak as to the Mode of it No mortal Man I am sure can tell if it is by infusing Grace let it be so though it can't be proved while the World stands yet Gods design therein could not be the same in them as in others c. Though the Grace is given by which we do believe yet is not the Act ours Can God be said to believe for us or can there be Faith in any Subject and yet no knowledge of the Object To which I answer that the Mode of sanctifying Elect dying Infants must be by Infusion of Grace by the Holy Spirit into their Souls is as clear as the Sun because there is no other way for Old or Young to be savingly sanctified by 2. God hath promised it Isa 44.3 I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring c. 3. Gods design is the same in the infusing Grace and Holiness into an Elect Infant as it is in an Adult Elect Sinner for God hath no other End nor higher Design then the glorifying his own Free Grace in the salvation of both Old and Young therefore that part of your carnal Argument is already destroyed Pray Sir in your next let us know if God hath any other or differing Design or End in the saving Adult Elect Sinners from that of sanctifying and saving Elect dying Infants and let us also know what way that is 2. Faith is the Gift of God though the Act of Faith may be said to be the Believers yet if God do not Act in the Believers Faith his Acting will signifie nothing for God is the authour and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. And it is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed of his good pleasure