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book_n	according_a	open_v	work_n	3,235	5	5.8581	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93044	Truth prevailing against the fiercest opposition being a vindication of Dr. Russel's True narrative of the Portsmouth disputation ... Also, a sermon upon Mat. 28. 19. by Mr. John Williams ... As also An answer to the Presbyterian dialogue, by another hand / published by Mr. John Sharp ... who was moderator at the disputation in Portsmouth.	Sharp, John, of Froome, Somersetshire.; Williams, John, minister.	1700 (1700)	Wing S3005; ESTC R217599	120,924	184

for tho they seem to be all confident that Children are the Subjects according to the Rule yet they are greatly divided whose Children they are that are the right Subjects according to the Rule some will baptize all Children whose Parents make a verbal Profession of Christ tho their Conversation do utterly destroy their Profession a second sort will baptize all except Bastards A third sort will baptize none but such whose Parents are true Believers in the Judgment of Charity A fourth sort will baptize none but such whose Parents one or both are in Communion with themselves Here are four Opinions and there is but one Truth therefore three of these must needs err either they are too large or too short in their Judgment and I do not in the least question but the fourth is in an Error also he that is most strict in the Point of Infant-Baptism is too large there being neither Precept nor Precedent for his Practice 2. Consider if you baptize a wrong Subject you do it in your own Name not in the Name of Christ my meaning is you do it by your own Authority not by the Authority of Christ having no Commission from him for what you do 3. Consider it 's a bold attempt for Ministers to say I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost if the Subject be not a Disciple of Christ This is like setting the broad Seal of Heaven to a Patent of their own drawing up 4. Ministers must give an account of their Stewardship another day The Books shall be opened and every Man shall be judged out of the things that are written in the Books according as his Works have been Rev. 20. 11. Then the Commission will be laid open once more and Ministers must be tried whether they have observed Christ's order first to disciple and then to baptize 2. I would caution Ministers to beware they do not mistake the form of Administration and make use of sprinkling instead of dipping 1st Consider there are a great many Ministers that do either mistake or alter and change the form some there are that do grant that the word in the Commission signifies to dip and that it was the Primitive Practice that Christ and John did baptize by Dipping that yet make use of Sprinkling instead of Dipping because we are under a cold Climate and alledg this for their Practice That God will have Mercy and not Sacrifice and that where moral Precepts and positive Precepts do interfere there positive Precepts must give place as when David eat of the Shew-bread and the Disciples pluck'd the Ears of Corn upon the Sabbath-day To this I answer 1. Such as do think it good to alter the form of Baptism from Dipping to Sprinkling under this Consideration had best to consider whether it were not necessary to alter their form of words too and say I rantize thee instead of I baptize thee that so they may speak truth in what they say seeing they do it in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 2. If the coldness of the Climate be such that it will not admit of dipping why do you do any thing in the room thereof Where is your Authority for that you are to baptize if you do any thing it 's not left to your discretion which of these shall be done by you this is to rantize in your own Name 3. I grant that in some cases positive Precepts have given place when they have interfer'd with moral but this is no where made a general Rule for sometimes moral Precepts have given place to positive as when God commanded Abraham to offer up his Son Isaac a Burnt-offering the moral Precept Thou shalt not kill gave place to the positive 4. When positive Precepts have given place to moral it hath been in some case of exigency that hath suddenly fallen out where in a little time the Subject might return to his Duty unto the positive Precept again but if the positive Precept to Dip must give place to the moral because of the coldness of the Climate we shall never have opportunity to return to our Duty to the positive Precept more because our Climate will never alter it will be always cold and so the positive Precept to Dip will be of no more use to us than the Altar that was built on the other side of Jordan was to them which was not built to offer Sacrifice thereon but to be a Witness of what was formerly done Josh 22. 28. so the positive Precept for Dipping shall only stand as a Monument of what was done in the Primitive Time 5. It 's but a begging the Question in this case to say that the positive Precept doth interfere with the moral No instance can be given of any one Person discipled to Christ that ever sustain'd the least damage or had his Health impaired by being Dipt no not in the coldest season under this cold Climate 2dly Consider if you mistake the Form you mistake the Essence for the Essence of a thing lies as well in the Form as in the Matter 3dly If you mistake the Form you deceive the Subject he thinks he is baptized when it 's no such matter he is but rantized not baptized 4thly If you mistake the Form the Subject loses the benefit of the Ordinance for it 's not Rantism but Baptism that obligeth the Subject to die to Sin and to live to Holiness Rom. 6. 4. It 's Baptism not Rantism that doth evidence together with Faith our Title to Salvation Mark 16. 16. Secondly I would caution People and that in two Branches 1st To beware you do not take up this Ordinance of Baptism till such time as you are discipled unto Christ 1. Consider there are many that will desire to be baptized and are so that are not discipled in deed but only in shew Simon Magus was baptized and I suppose there is no doubt but Judas and Ananias and Sapphira and many more were baptized that were never really discipled to Christ 2. Consider you have no right to the Ordinance till you believe Acts 8. 37. If thou believest with all thy heart thou mayst the contrary that offers it self is this If thou dost not believe with all thy heart thou mayst not 3. The Ordinance will stand you in no stead if you do not believe it will be no ways acceptable unto God nor profitable to your selves Without Faith it 's impossible to please God and without Faith it will be no Evidence of your Title to Salvation it 's not the putting away the filth of the Flesh but the answer of a good Conscience by the Resurrection of Christ that will stand us in stead 4. You will make your selves Hypocrites thereby rank your selves among the number of foolish Virgins and so render your Condition worse than it was 2dly I would caution such as are discipled to Christ to beware they do not

appears by the 1st vers of the 29th Chapter Secondly The Covenant of Grace is a better Covenant Heb. 8. 6. He is a Mediator of a better Covenant established on better Promises God hath put Justification Sanctification and Glorification into the Covenant of Grace that he will write his Law in their hearts that he will be merciful to their Unrighteousness and remember their Sins no more ver 10 11. But there is not one promise of Justification nor Sanctification put into this Covenant if there had this Covenant would have been good and the Promises as good as the Covenant of Grace or the Promises thereof How could 〈◊〉 ●e otherwise if the same Blessings had been put into this Covenant as are put into the new Covenant there is not ●he blessing of a new Heart nor of the pardon of Sin ●o be found among all those Blessings Deut. 28. 2 to 15. ●nd these were the Blessings of this Covenant Thirdly There is not one Subject of the Covenant of Grace but is justified and shall be sanctified Jer. 31. 33 ●4 I will write my Law in their hearts they shall all know ●ie from the least to the greatest for I will forgive their Iniquity and remember their Sin no more This remission of ●in is applied to the time of Christ's Oblation Heb. 10 15 16. the witness of the Spirit is there called in to attest that great Truth that is laid down in the 14th ver that by one Oblation he hath for ever perfected or pardoned them that are sanctified whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness the witness that the Spirit bears is this Their Sins and Iniquities will I remember no more and from this testimony of the Spirit the Apostle draws this inference That where remission of these is there is no more sacrifice for sin but there were multitudes of those that entred into Covenant with the Lord Deut. 29. 10. that were never justified nor sanctified Deut. 29. 4. God hath not given them a Heart to perceive nor Eyes to see nor Ears to hear unto this day Rom. 11. 7. What then Israel hath not obtained that which it sought after but the Election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded There were of the Non-elect in this Covenant that went without New Covenant-Blessings ver 8. As it is written God hath given them the spirit of slumber Eyes that they should not see and Ears that they should not hear This does not look like that promise that God hath made in the New Covenant to all the Subjects thereof that they shall all know him from the least to the greatest of them that Covenant the Subjects whereof or part of the Subjects thereof might go without Justification and Sanctification was not the Covenant of Grace But for this Covenant many of the Subjects thereof might and did go without Justification and Sanctification therefore it was not the Covenant of Grace Some of them ●●deed were justified and sanctified but not by virtue of their Interest in this Covenant but in the Covenant of Grace for all the Elect among the Jews had an Interest in the Covenant of Grace at the same time These two Covenants were in being together Fourthly The Covenant of Grace contains only Blessings there is no Curse put into that Covenant the sum and substance thereof is Blessedness Gen. 22. 18. In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed All the Subjects of this Covenant are blessed their Sins are all pardoned and such are blessed ones Blessed is the man whose Iniquities are forgiven The Promises of this Covenant are full of Blessings and there are none but Promises put into it Promises o● good to be bestowed on them Ezek. 36. 26 27. that God wil● withhold nothing that is good Psal 84. 11. that all thing● shall work together for good Rom. 8. 28. But this Covenant contains Curses as well as Blessings Deut. 29. 21. And the Lord shall separate him for evil out of all the Tribes of Israel according to all the Curses of the Covenant that are written in the Book of the Law The Curses that are contained in the 28th chap. from ver 16. to the end were the Curses of this Covenant and these might fall on the Subjects thereof without a sanctified use of them as they did on those that were compared to the evil Figs Jer. 24. 8 9 10. Fifthly The Covenant of Grace is still in being it 's confirmed by Christ and there is no disannulling it He i● still the Mediator of the new Covenant Heb. 12. 24. therefore the New Covenant remains But this Covenant is done away Zec. 11. 10. Then I too● my staff even beauty and cut it asunder that I might break m● Covenant that I had made with all the People and it wa● broken in that day If this Covenant that is here said to be made with all the People was not the Covenant th●● was made with the whole Congregation of Israel Deut. 29 then shew me what Covenant it was shew me another Covenant if you can that was made with all the people of Israe● and that was broken by Christ when he was offered up when they weighed for his Price thirty pieces of Silver this Covenant being broken it 's evident it was not th● Covenant of Grace 2. I deny that they were all Believers that at this time were taken into Covenant with the Lord therefore no argument can be drawn from it to prove that Believers and their Children have interest in the Covenant of Grace This was certainly a mix'd people there were many among them that were vile and wicked Moses declares that God had not given them Hearts to perceive nor Eyes to see nor Ears to hear unto this day Here were the blind and the deaf and I may say the hard-hearted too and this was the very day that they stood before the Lord to enter into Covenant with him Here were the strangers that were in the Camp as well as the Israelites which strangers I suppose were the Egyptians for it 's said Exod. 12. 38. that a mixed multitude went up also Do these look like Believers that have neither Eyes to see nor Hearts to consider this was a brave Camp indeed if they were all Believers from the Hewer of their Wood to the Drawer of their Water I wonder how Ministers can look upon this to be the Covenant of Grace that had such a mix'd People to be the Subjects thereof or upon these to be all Believers or taken into Covenant under that Consideration Object But some may say They did all believe with a dogmatical Faith they did believe a Messiah to come To this I answer 1. This is sooner spoken than proved It 's a great question whether all the Camp had such a Faith But 2. Would such a Faith serve the turn Would it be sufficient to interest them and their Children in the Covenant of Grace if it would why will not the like