Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	faith_n	habit_n	justify_v	3,628	5	9.3789	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96712	The summe of diverse sermons preached in Dublin, before the L. Deputie Fleetwood, and the Commissioners of Parliament for the affairs of Ireland. wherein the doctrine of infant-baptism is asserted, and the main objections of Mr. Tombs, Mr. Fisher, Mr. Blackwood, and others, answered / by Samuel Winter ...	Winter, Samuel, 1603-1666.	1656 (1656)	Wing W3089; ESTC R43829	127,074	209

arbitramur quia spiritus otiosus non est quemadmodum ratio etsi se non nisi paulatim exerat Idem Wal. the minor proposition is proved 1. From scripture Mat. 18.3 4 5. compared with Mar. 9.36 Whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me but whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me it were better that a milstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the midst of the sea The opposition shews he speaks of children For it 's an undoubted maxim Where terms stand as opposits the one is to be taken in the sense opposit to the other Now it 's clear from ver 3 4 5. that he speaks of children whom we are visibly to receive in Christ's name to such Ordinances as they are capable of therefore the words are so to be taken ver 5. little ones that believe in me There is the like phrase Rev. 9.4 It was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth neither any green thing neither any tree but onely those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads Which exception shews you That by grass green things and trees he means men For the exception as we say must be of the same kinde Exceptio est ejus dem generis See Rev. 7.3 2. We may see this exemplified in many Psal 22. 9. Thou madest me hope when I hung upon my mothers brests This is true in the antitype Christ who had faith from the very womb it 's true also in David Psal 71.5 Thou art my trust from my childhood by thee I have been holden from the womb v. 17. Thou hast taught me from my childhood now also when I am grey headed forsake me not We see original sin lies dormant in the child for a while but quickly puts forth it being peccatum actuosum Psal 58. They go astray from the belly and why may may not faith put forth betimes in some as in Esaias ch 49. Jeremiah ch 1.5 and John Baptist the first in the new Testament Now the first in every kinde is the rule of all the rest I see no reason but when a child puts forth acts of reason he may put forth an act of faith and when he begins to know his natural he may also know his heavenly father though it wants that reflect act whereby it knows that it knows the former we have seen verified in many children in New-England and elsewhere 3. 〈◊〉 If some be sanctified from the womb then they have faith quicunque renascitur fidem habet Luther For all the graces are concatenated but some are sanctified from the womb for Christ as he sanctifies our natures so he sanctifies every age as Hos 12 4. Jacob being actuated by the spirit began to act betime and to wrestle with his brother Esau in his mothers womb for the blessing See Zanchy 4. Children have faith in heaven therefore in earth For 1. If the Lord irradiate upon the souls of children in heaven Quos pleno lucis suae fulgore illustraturus est Dominus cur non iis quoque in presens si ita libuerit exiguà scintillâ irradiaret Cal. Inst l. 4. c. 16. and they do behold the face of God which is an act of faith Heb. 11.27 then have they faith in heaven if so why not on earth 2. They rest in hope of the resurrection else they were miserable Psal 16.9 that is the soul doth rest in hope for the bodie properly is not the subject of hope now hope is the daughter of faith 3. There will be this use of faith in heaven to believe that which we cannot comprehend for faith is the evidence of things not seen even the infinite being of God who dwells in that light that none can approach unto therefore we conclude infants in heaven have faith and why may they not have the seed of it here seeing there is no grace in heaven which was not wrought on earth Hence it is that regeneration is called an earthly thing Ioh. 3. because as for other reasons so this it must be wrought on earth 4. The first Adam had power to convey grace as faith to his posterity and hath not the second Adam much more power Was not the faith of Adam of the like nature with the faith of believers though it do not put forth that act whereby we are justified 5. Can any live without faith or be saved for ever without it and shall we denie it to infants who stand in need of justification by faith as well as we Obj. How can they be justified by faith which cannot act Ans Faith may be said to be passive in our justification because the habit of faith is passive before it put forth any act now we are justified so soon as by the habit of faith we are alive in Christ in the first moment of our conversion before faith put forth any act Thus children are justified by the habit of faith for as we were guilty of Adams sin which is imputed to us before we were active in giving consent unto it so is the rightousness of Christ imputed to children before they put forth any elicit act of faith Therefore I say they are capable of that passive Ordinance of baptism Obj. Children have no knowledge therefore no faith therefore no interest in the Covenant or seal thereof Ans Are they not reasonable souls because for the present they make no use of reason and may they not have habitual knowledge lying dormant in them though no actual is it not Christ that enlighteneth every one not that is going out but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming into the world doth not the reasonable soul lie dormant in the body till organized doth it not live though it move not for the present when a man is asleep he acts not grace doth it therefore follow he hath none may not a child be included in a lease and conditions made which render him capable of the benefit of it if he perform the conditions therein specified though at the making of the lease he give no consent at all and were not the children in the Evangelist blessed by Christ because they understood it not or was Peter washed in vain because he knew not what Christ did as yet Mr Tombs saith If he knew an infant such an one as John was such a one he would baptize and farther he saith that such as Christ blessed might be baptized if therefore baptism belong to one infant it 's enough to confute them who denie it to all but according to this account if onely the elect and faithful are to be admitted to the Ordinance of baptism there is no subject left to whom we may dispense that Ordinance 6. Arg. Taken from examples in scripture whole families were baptized Observe the families are made the precedent If any one say here is a Synecdoche the whole being put for part We answer with

according to the teno● of Abraham's Covenant for saith the Apostle we are all one in Christ Jesus and if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise But children are Christ's Erg. Abraham's seed and therefore consequently alike priviledged with Abraham's children Add to this the words of the Text Acts 2 And let every one of you be baptized for the promise is to you Jews and Proselytes and your children This was the first open promulgation of the Covenant The Jews were so accustomed to that great personal promise I will be thy God and the God of thy seed as that there needed not any explanation of it it being ordinarily put for the Covenant and contrariwise the Covenant put for it Gal. 3.14 17. That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles that we might receive the promise of the spirit Thus vers 17 This I say therefore that the Covenant which was confirmed of God in Christ before the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disanul that it should make the promise of none effect Sometimes the Apostle useth the plural Number v. 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made Observe he saith to Abraham and his seed were the promise made Which relates to Gen. 17. For in Gen. 12. he saith in thee Yea Gal. 3 16. The inheritance was given by promi●e Now in Gen. 12 1 he only saith he will shew him the land but in the 17. he gives it Because this proposition I will be thy God being the mother promise containeth all other promises in the womb of it Thus Rom. 4 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the promise that is the Covenant made to Abraham is to be understood being mentioned in that chapter no less than four times This promise saith the Apostle Acts 2 is to you and your children and to the Gentiles when called and their children To you Jews actually for they were not as yet cut off and to the Gentiles intentionally answering the call of the Gospel As for that * Mr. Tom his rev interpretation of sending Christ which is given by some we say It 's improper to say the promise i● for it was already fulfilled though it was included in Abrahaham's Covenant but as for remission of sins and pouring out the spirit on them and theirs they are included in that great promise I will be thy God and the God of thy seed Thus the Apostle Gal. 3 14 That we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith This the Apostle had chiefly in his ey For the giving of the Messiah was the great promise of the old Testament as the giving of the spirit is the great promise of the new Testament See Luk. 24.49 Acts 1.4 5. and 2.33 Having received of the Father the promise of the holy Ghost Compare Acts 10.47 and 11.16 and 15.8 9. Giving them the holy Ghost as he did unto us and put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by faith Which words shew you that it 's not meant onely of the extraordinary gifts but of the ordinary gifts of sanctification By spirit then Act. 2 37 he meaneth not so much or solely the extraordinary gifts of the spirit as regenerating graces with the degrees of them We have now proved the first Proposition namely That such as are in Covenant are to be sealed with the seal of the Covenant It remains that we prove the second sc That Children are incovenanted For the proof of which mind well the words of the Text The promise is to you and to your Children Obj. The promise runs to children when they are called Ans Calling in the Jews did not go before the Covenant but followed after as appears by Act. 3.25 Ye are the Children of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the families 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where children must of necessity be included as the word imports of the earth be blessed The promise was not made to their seed because they did believe but some of their seed did believe because they were under the promise which promise reaches to spirituals as well as carnals even to turn them from their iniquities To the Jew first and also to the Gentile was this promise made The Jew before had a jus ad rem but upon their repentance a jus in re Act. 2 39. That being suspended till they came in and then the promise runs clear without any interruption 2. The Apostle sheweth not onely that baptism cometh instead but that it 's administered on the same grounds sc That God is our God and the God of our seed we need not fear the seal is put to a blank because no visible faith appears for here is a Covenant to which this seal of baptism is annexed and the Covenant I hope none will say is a blank to which the name JEHOVAH is added that gives being to all those promises Which name is so often repeated in Jer. 31 to shew that as he was known by that name when he brought them out of Egypt So now much more in these later days in bringing them out of all countries whether they are scattered 3. An exclusion of their children would have exceedingly perplexed them as is undeniably evident they being conscious to themselves of that bitter curse which was pronounced by them his bloud be upon us and our children 4. Act. 2.41 They gladly received that word namely the promise is to you and to your Children and therefore were baptized by which it appears that they understood that their children were included in that Covenant If then the Proselytes upon the receiving of the word were circumcised they and their Children then doubtless those and their children were baptized on the same ground 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ came not to loosen the Law much less the Prophesies and promises of old made to believers Rom. 15 8. To confirm the promises made to our fathers Because this might be questioned whether the Gentiles might be partakers with the Jews of the promises and their appertenances For he is not a God of the Jews onely but also of the Gentiles parents and children as he was to the Jews Rō 2.29 therefore the Apostle doth abundantly labour to prove by four several places of Scripture That Christ is a minister of the Circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorifie God for his mercie held forth in the same promise See v. 9 11 12. I do not remember any place of Scripture where the Apostle doth bring so many proofs as he doth in this one place shewing that the Gentiles have an interest in the promises made unto the Jews that so he might remove all scruples and drive the nale to the head and clinch it fast For First If children in the new Testament had been left

to them Others of his Children were before the Children of promise for outwards These saith the Text are the Kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any King over the children of Israel Gen. 36.31 1 Chron. 1.43 But what is all this yea what is that vast Turkish empire but as a crum given to a dog as Luther speaks Doubtless if Abraham had so understood the Lord he would have said as once Luther did to the Duke of Saxony who offered him a great gratuity Non sic satiabor Domine I will not be so put off this Lord shall not suffice me Sevently The bondmen born in Abraham's house had no inheritance in the land of Canaan yet were circumcised yea Abraham's seed for the space of 430 years enjoyed it not therefore Circumcision was not solely a seal of the land of Canaan for as those had no right unto it so Abraham in his posterity enjoyed it not for that space Eighthly The Apostle determines * Quum Deus sacramenta gratiis suis adjungere soleat ex eo quod sacramento privati erant colligit neque gratiae ipsos fuisse participes non est quidem perpetuum argumentum valet tamen quantum ad ordinariam dei dispensationem Calv. in Eph. Eph. 2.12 upon their uncircumcision that they were without God in the world v 11 Remember that at that time ye were Gentiles who were called uncircumcision that at that time ye were strangers to the Covenant of promise Hence that phrase They dy the deaths of the uncircumcised he saith not death but deaths as signifying not onely their corporal but their spiritual and eternal deaths Ezek. 32.25 26. and 28.10 Ninthly When the Lord renews the Covenant for that land of Canaan mark well the Lord did not reinstate them into that land after their return from Babylon Gen. 17.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I will freely give my Covenant So Galat 3. nor will he bring them back out of their last captivity into that land but by that gracious Covenant Jer. 3.19 How shall I put thee among my Children and give thee the pleasant land Thou shalt call me father and shalt not depart from me Some say the Covenant of Circumcision is to be understood as everlasting as Canaan and the possession thereof which untill Christ's coming who was the substance thereof it being a typical Covenant but it 's as clear as the sun That that land is promised to them in the later times upon their general Call for into that land must they return and fight with the sons of Greece Zac. 9.13 i. e the Turk and his adherents Ezek. 20.37 I will bring them into the bond of the Covenant v. 12 There shall the house of Israel even all of them in the land serve me This relates to their last return Rom. 11.26 So all Israel shall be saved that is the body of the 12 Tribes Thus Ezek. 36.24 I will gather you out of all Countries and bring you into your own land then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers v. 28. And ye shall be my people and I will be your God Yea saith the Text not for your sakes do I this v. 22 32 saith the Lord God be it known unto you q.d. You must not expect that land by a Covenant of works as Moses again and again minds the Israelites Deut. 9.4 Say not for my rightousness hath the Lord brought me to possess this land v. 5 6 7. And adds this memento for fear Israel should forget it Remember and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord in the wilderness Will any then for ever say for the future That the land of Canaan was given to Abrahams ' seed by a Covenant of works I wonder at the confidence of some who strongly affirm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 1.7 that which they are wholely ignorant of Surely they were hard bestead when forced to fly to this distinction to avoid the force of that Argument taken from Abraham's Covenant But alas There are many that are enemies to the Cross of Christ as Paul saith Phil. 3.18 of whom I tell you weeping I desire to bemoan the sad condition of such for a spirit of delusion is gone forth into the world to deceive the nations God having given Satan a commission or rather a permission judicially to harden not onely carnal Gospellers but some of his own dear people and this is the sorest judgment that I know that lies upon this nation this day Tenthly That Covenant was Gospel therefore not a fleshly carnal Covenant Gal. 3.18 God gave the inheritance by promise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Gen. 17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3.8 The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham Gen. 12. Saying in thee shall all Nations be blessed cap. 22. He saith in thy seed but from that time namely Gen. 22. to the coming out of Aegypt viz. Exod. 12.41 was not * Nay scarse 390 neither can the words Gal. 3. be referred to the first promise Gen. 12 For there was no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or confirmation mentioned before Gen. 17.18 Where it was confirmed by sacrifice after by the sacrament of Circumcision lastly by an oath cap. 22. four hundred and thirty years Therefore it must be referred to this 15 chapter or to the 17. But it 's not much material to which place of the two you referr it seeing that it 's one and the same Covenant But more fully explained accordingly as Abraham walked with God cap. 12 Lecleca It 's Dativus commodi when God calls them out of his country he bids him go for himself and tells him v. 3 he will bless him and that in him all nations shall be blessed upon this Abraham departed and comes into this land where the Lord appears to him cap. 12.7 and saith Unto thy seed will I give this land he had not told him that before after this there was a great famin in that land which was no small tryal to Abraham's faith that coming out of such a fertil soil as Chaldea was he should be put to such straits and forced to travel to Aegypt for food where he sojourns awhile and thence returns to the land whence he came there God appears to him again upon that self-denying act ca. 13.7 Abraham takes notice that the Canaanite dwelt in the land and therefore yields to his brother Lot who made choice of the fattest soil as intending rather to feed his flocks than to feed souls but the Lord again appears to Abraham cap. 13.4 saying All this land will I give he enlargeth his charter and lets him know he shall be no loser by him upon another act of self-denyal least the King of Sodom should say He had made Abraham rich the Lord again appears to him cap. 15.1 saying

Text Jer. 4.4 The end of Gods requiring obedience on their part was not for his own but for their benefit that he might do them good and give them a land flowing with milk and honey which land as hath been shewed was given by a Covenant of grace for which Covenant the Covenant of works did make way as the needle makes way for the thred 6. The Prophet setts to his seal saying Amen having respect to those gracious words in the close of his speach Which word is seldom used in any heathen author unless in XENOPHON q. d. So let it be that this people being careful to keep Covenant with thee may enjoy still that blessed land which thou didst by oath bind thy self to settle them in Obj. But what say you to those noted places Jer. 31.32 Heb. 8.8 But finding fault with the first Covenant he saith I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel do not these places hold forth a Covenant of works Ans I say that Covenant the Prophet speaks of is not the Covenant made with Abraham but the Covenant made with them when he brought them out of the land of Aegypt which as I told you before was 430 years after Abraham's Covenant Gal. 3. I will be thy God is confessed to be a Gospel promise M. Tombs and therefore doth not disanul the former Covenant and yet usually they confound this and Abraham's Covenant which they confess to be the new Covenant or Covenant of grace 2. I answer That old Covenant largely not strictly taken with its promises and appertenances was for substance the same with the new Covenant Heb. 13.8 Christ ever the same as appears First The old as well as the new was ratified by the bloud of the Messias that bloud of his being as well typified by the bloud of the sacrifices Heb 9.1 The first Covenant had Ordinances of divine service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justifications for by the bloud of Christ in the use of those Ordinances they were justified See Grot. as in these days it is represented and sealed to us in the Lords supper Therefore 't is called a Testament now a Testament must needs be a Covenant of grace for where a Testament is v. 16. there must be the death of the Testator whereupon neither the first Testament was dedicated without bloud 3. It was a marriage Covenant Jer. 31 32. Though I was an husband to them saith the Lord or Should I continue an husband to them seeing they brake my Covenant LXX or They continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord. Paul takes the sense of the Prophet not tying himself to words 4. In the day he took them by the hand Hos 11. denotes his tender affection to them Eph. 3.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Manuduction Christ hands us to the Father and fatherly care of them Hos 11.3 Which phrase implies it was a Covenant of grace 5. This distinction of the Covenant into the Old and New is not a division into his species but his adjuncts for the Lord as others well observe made but one Will or Testament Heb. 8. Faulty not absolutely but comparatively but caused it to be writ in diverse characters and some more legible and perspicuous one and the same Covenant may be either in paper or in parchment and be sealed with wax or bloud The Apostle saith Covenants Eph. 2.12 Rom. 9.4 Because so often renewed and enlarged therefore I say it 's called a new Covenant not simplely in regard of the substance for the main matter and substance is the same with the former as a new moon and an old is one and the same moon so the old and new Covenant one and the same Covenant but it 's said to be new because it 's ratified by the death of our Savior exhibited which was but in expectation before as the command of love is called a new command because confirmed by arguments drawn from Christ's own bowels I say it is established on better promises for that Covenant made nothing perfect but was the bringing in A bringing in of one thing upon another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the ceremonial Law they had a typical pardon successively if any sinned then he must offer his sacrifice so often as he sinned or superinduction of a better hope Heb. 7.19 In regard of the end Christ it was perfect Rom. 10. but in regard of the means to attain that end imperfect but in this later Christ is brought in who hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified 2. Better promises in regard of the clearness of them for here the Gospel is more clearly and distinctly revealed 1 Pet. 1.10 They had a sea of brass we a sea of Ordinances clear as crystal though mingled with the fire of contentions till this Covenant in its full extent be revealed to us Rev. 4.6 15.2 3. The former Covenant was much upon temporal promises in that infant age of the Church for the Jews like little Children won with a nut and lost with the shell were much taken with the gilded outside of the book rather than the inside to take out a spiritual lesson Gal. 4 but now in the new Testament the promises are more for spirituals and less for carnals the Church having attained to a greater stature and measure of grace in Christ 4. Better promises because more large and full 1. For the ceremonial part for their sacrifices were for the most part for sins of ignorance called by the Apostle Heb. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 7. the errors of the people there is in the sins of the people of God an overclouding of the judgement Lev. 6.3 4 5. Hence that expression of the Apostle Rom. 7.5 The passions of sin which were by the Law In the general there was a sacrifice for a sin of presumption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 7.5 Lev. 16.21 but in one place onely is any such allowed in particular there is one as was said of the thief on the Cross that we might not despair and but one least we should presume Lev. 6.3 4 5. But here the bloud of Christ cleanseth from all sin 1 Joh. 1.6 According to his promise Mic. 7.18 19. Who is a God like unto thee forgiving iniquity or that obliquitie of nature and passing by the transgressions that is the voluntary and deliberate sins of his people See the Hebrew 2. More large as to the subject it being in those days for the most part confined to the Jews and Proselytes of the Gentiles but now propounded and exhibited to all nations that shall embrace the faith of Christ Mat. 16.16 5. The promises of the new Covenant are better promises in regard of their efficacy the Spirit being more abundantly poured out now than in the days of old Acts 2.17 In the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh your old men shall dream