Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ghost_n	holy_a	son_n	5,168	5	5.9174	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46336	A sermon preached in the year of our Lord 1650, January 9, at the baptizing of Theophilus (then Lord Hastings) now Earl of Huntington by John Joynes.	Joynes, John.	1668 (1668)	Wing J1161; ESTC R28958	24,411	60

then a pledg and earnest of what is done in the Sacrament of Baptism ever since though not miraculously and visibly yet really and effectually the Gifts of Illumination and Justification being therein conferred by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost The third and last miraculous effect accompanying our Saviours Baptism was a voice from Heaven proclaiming him in the Audience of the by-standers to be the Son of God And there came a voice from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Here I doubt not to affirm That as Christ in his baptism was justified in or by the Spirit as the Apostle with reference 1 Tim. 3.16 as is thought to this testimony speaks that is As our Saviour at his baptism was mightily declared by the Holy Ghost to be the true and eternal Son of God by Generation so we at our baptism are admitted and received as the Sons of God by Adoption I suppose it altogether needless for me to bring arguments to prove this Every one that has but learn'd the entrance into his Catechism professes that in his Baptism he was made a member of Christ a Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven And upon this account it is that the Church upon the conferring of baptism gives publick and solemn thanks to God in those words mentioned before expressing not onely the gift of Regeneration but that also of Filiation or Adoption We yield thee hearty thanks most merciful Father that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant by thy Holy Spirit to receive him for thy own Child by Adoption and to incorporate him into thy Holy Church And so having done with those miraculous events that attended our Saviours Baptism which were The opening of Heaven The descent of the Holy Ghost and a voice heard from Heaven proclaiming Christ to be the Son of God And having parallel'd these miraculous Events with those real effects that do still accompany that Sacracrament of Christs own Institution and according to his promise shall do so to the end of the world Mat. 28. ult And having shewed that therein Heaven is opened the Holy Ghost conferred and the party baptiz'd made the Child of God by Adoption I come now unto The third Particular remakable in this story Particular observable and that is the means or instrumental cause that procur'd the opening of the Heavens the descent of the Holy Ghost and the voice that proclaimed Christ to be the Son of God which was as is here observed the Prayers of our Saviour Jesus being baptized and praying it came to pass that the Heavens were opened c. That so great things as these were procur'd by so powerful a means as the Intercession of the Son of God we need not wonder So need we not doubt of the truth and reality of those graces conferr'd upon us at our baptism since they are procur'd and obtained by the very same means viz. by the mediation and intercession of our faithful and merciful High-priest Heb. 7.25 who ever lives to make intercession for us and who has promised to accompany the use even of this very Ordinance by his Holy Spirit unto the end of the world Go and teach all Nations baptizing them c. And loe I am with you even to the end of the world Mat. 28.19 20. Hence we learn moreover that solemn Prayers and supplications ought always to be joyned with the Administration of the Sacraments Jesus being baptized and praying the heavens were opened and the Holy Ghost descended c. So now in the use of this Sacrament the Prayers of the Church united to the Intercession of Christ are a powerful and effectual means of epening Heaven and of bringing down the Holy Ghost in the sence above mention'd upon the persons baptiz'd Again From hence it is obvious to observe how the Ritual part of Christianity 1. The Rites and external Ceremonies enjoyn'd on Gods part are always to be accompanied with something moral on ours The Rite of Baptism is then effectual when it is rightly performed that is when the Administration of it is accompanied with solemn Prayer and Supplication Though the grace conferr'd in Baptism be the free Gift of God yet something is requir'd on our parts for the procuring of it Not that we should glory or attribute any thing to the merit of our own works but that we may value and prize the Grace the more being that is not obtain'd Ex opere operato as some affirm by the mere doing of the thing how carelesly and supinely soever but by careful and conscientious using therewithal the means of Gods own appointing and hallowing Jesus himself being baptized and praying the heavens were opened c. So the Sacraments of the Church through the Prayers of the faithful joyn'd with the Intercession of Christ become effectual to the very same purposes as has been shown in the preceeding discourse Lastly We may from hence rest satisfied that the Sacraments instituted by Christ under the New Testament are not Mera nuda symbola Naked symbols Signes onely and meer significations of something to be done without conferring any thing at all of help or assistance towards the doing of it Such indeed we acknowledg the Baptism of John to be A Rite or external Ceremony serving to put men in mind of the great purity that would be required of them who was to live under the Laws of the Messia whose forerunner he was and baptized as such saying unto the people that they should believe on him who should come after him Act. 19.4 that is on Christ Jesus Such we acknowledg Circumcision to have been viz. A sign or symbol of cutting off the superfluities and putting away filthiness of the flesh but that in it self it contributed nothing either of grace or strength towards the performance of such a work The Sacraments of the New Testament are of another Nature not bare and naked signes onely to signifie what is to be done and to mind us of our duty but according to the Doctrine not onely of the Schools but of the Fathers and Scripture it self they are the effectual means and instruments of conveying divine ayd ghostly strength and Grace to those Receivers of them that do not in themselves Obicem ponere as the Schools use to speak that is that do not put in something by way of barr or impediment to their intended and designed operation Particularly the Sacrament of Baptism supposing no such barre or impediment does in the right use of it carry along with it among others the Graces now mentioned of Justification Sanctification and Adoption so that therein in a spiritual but real sence as it was at the baptism of Christ in a literal The Heaven is opened the Holy Ghost bestowed and the baptiz'd person receiv'd for the Child of God by Adoption And herein as is said before consists the true