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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	work_n	work_v	5,063	5	7.8717	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42248	The grounds of infant-baptism briefly explained		1693 (1693)	Wing G2138C; ESTC R222580	20,167	16

thanks at all but he is beholden to us by our Parents or by our Nominal God-Parents or by our selves for our good Merits and Deservings and not we at all to him for any special and differencing Grace Which Doctrine is the same with Pelagianisin plainly repugnant to Faith in God For God is not God unless he be absolutely Rom. 11. 35. 36. 1 Cor. 4. 7. and entirely the Author of all Good to his Creatures whether it be natural or supernatural corporal or spiritual common or special temporal or eternal it is all from God of Grace and not of Debt whether they be Infants or Adult Ones who partake of it 5. Though God make use of Instruments and Means and there can be no pardon of Sin without foregoing Divine Faith in the Adult and the Seed thereof in Infants yet Means ard Instruments 1 Cor. 12. 6. 15. 28. Psal 145. 17 18. Isa 40. 17 18. Eph. 1. 11. and subordinate Causes and Agents add no Perfection to God he is truly all in all and worketh all in all but so that he is no way the Author of Sin but the just Avenger of it the Author of all Good holy in all his Ways and righteous in all his Works working all things after the Counsel of his own Will and the whole Creation abstracted from compared with and set against God is as nothing yea less then nothing and vanity 6. In such sort as God in Scripture is said to repent by way of Anthropopathy and condescension to our weakness so he may be said to have conditional Promises and to promise Eternal Life upon condition of Faith and Repentance but no otherwise For like as the Scripture assures us and all agree that God is not a Man that he should repent so by the same reason God is not a Man that he should be bound and Debter and promise Eternal Life conditionally 1 Sam. 15. 11 29. Numb 23. 19. Gen. 6. 6. Hilar. de Trinit lib. 10. For it is a Maxime in Divinity taken from St. Hilary and grounded upon the deepest Reasons and Foundations of supernatural Religion that In absoluto nobis facili est aeternitas Eternal Life cannot consist in uncertainty wavering suspense and dubitation which necessarily it must and cannot be avoided if it be but conditional For what is Eternal Life but God himself as enjoyed in Eternal Blessedness Consequently to say that Eternal Life is not absolutely certain but conditional is in effect to say that God is but conditionally God uncertain of his own Life and so is not true and very God but an Idol a Figment of Man's Invention § XXII Excepting the Infant Jesus who was absolutely holy and sinless every other Infant doth suffer what it suffers for its own sin it s own inward pravity and corruption is the sole meritorious Cause of all the Nullus unquam ita somniando deliravit ut magnum istum defectum quo Natura humana primi hominis praevaricatione vitiata est ex aliquo Dei pacto cum parentibus initio vel ex positiva Dei lege aut voluntate propagari arbitretur Jansen de Statu Naturae lapsae l. 1. c. 17. punishment laid upon it by God and the Sin of Adam is but the occasion Original Sin in Infants is the Consequent but not the Effect of Adam's Sin His eating of the forbidden Fruit was his own Personal Sin and yet the Sin of all Mankind because he in that instant was all Mankind there being no other Man then in being But God gave him Repentance and Pardon of that and all his other Sins and therefore his eating of the forbidden Fruit is not impured to us no Man's Conscience doth smite him for it but all the Sin imputed by God to Infants is only that inward Corruption that is latent in their Souls which the Sin of Adam hath occasioned but not caused For though he was truly penitent and pardoned and so also was our first Mother Eve in the instant of their Natural Coition and Conjugal Act yet there did then cleave to their Souls inordinate Lust and Concupiscence and this Ex Naturâ rei from the nature of the thing did by God's most righteous Judgment and Permission unsearchably occasion but not cause Original Sin and sinful Contagion in all their Natural Off-spring This Distinction of the Cause and Occasion if well heeded both fully acquitteth God's Justice and abundantly reconcileth the seeming Contradictions of Scripture in this Argument of punishing Children for Parents Sin saith B. Sanderson in his Third Sermon Ad Populum p. 180. Edit 6. First God made Adam holy next he permitted his Sin then he gave him Repentance and Pardon through Faith in Christ the promised Seed afterward he made him a Common Head and Root to all his Natural Off-spring by Natural Generation according to his own Eternal Purpose to his own Children immediately to the rest of the World remotely as I humbly conceive § XXIII Christian Parents are the fittest to present their own Children to Baptism and to undertake for their good Education they indeed are their proper God Parents because they are so by Divine Institution Nature makes them Parents and Christian Faith makes them Godly Parents and so they are by Divine Ordination God's Agents Servants Sureties and Trustees to see to the Baptism and good bringing up of their Children and are accountable to him Whereas those who are commonly called God-Parents properly are not so they are but nominally so because they are what they are not by Divine but by Humane unnecessary Institution And therefore where by the 29th Canon of the Church of England touching Baptism it is ordained That no Parent shall be urged to be present nor be admitted to answer as Godfather for his own Child It should rather be ordained That except in case of Sickness or other the like impediment each Christian Parent shall be urged to be present at the Baptism of his own Child and undertake for its good Education and under Christ be reputed the most proper Godfather and the forenamed Canon should be abolished as contrary to Christian Meekness and Equity and savouring of Unchristian Rigour § XXIV Though Christian Parents are the next Instruments of presenting their Children to Baptism and procuring this favour for them yet it is the Offeruntur parvuli ad percipiendum Spiritualem gratiam non tam ab eis quorum gestantur manibus quamvis ab ipsis si ipsi boni fideles sunt quam ab universa Societate Sanctorum atque fidelium Ab omnibus namque offeri recte intelliguntur quibus placet quod offeruntur quorum Sancta atque individua Charitate ad Communicationem Sancti Spiritus adjuvantur Tota ergo hoc mater quae in Sanctis est facit quia tota omnes tota singulos parit August Epistol 22. whole Society of Godly Christians upon Earth who under God and the Lord Jesus are the most Noble and

present in the Assemblies of his Saints and with his Ministers in the right Dispensation of Baptism according to his Word alway Rev. 2. 1. Mat. 18. 20. 28. 19 20. even unto the end of the World But Christian Charity binds us to judge all the Infants of Christian Parents whilst they are Infants to be in a State of Salvation till being grown up they manifest the contrary Who can doubt but that the Infants of godly Parents are as dear to God as beloved by Christ as holy as fit for Heaven as much in a State of Salvation as Simon Magus as multitudes more such grown Persons baptized by the Apostles and as many baptized by the Opposers of Infant Baptism Can any Man forbid Water that the Infants of pious Parents should not be baptized which belong to the Kingdom of God as well as their Parents § XIV There is difference between the Doctrine of Baptism and Baptism Heb. 6. 1 2. 1 Cor. 1. 17. 1 Pet. 3.21 itself as between Morals and Rituals between Substance and Ceremony between Mercy and Sacrifice between Principal and Appendix For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel The Doctrine of Baptism is the Doctrine of the New Covenant of which Baptism is a Divine Sign Seal and Token The Sum of it is this That all Men are reducible to Two the First and the Second Adam and all such as descend from the First Adam by Natural Generation are conceived and born in Sin 1 Cor. 15 45.47 Joh. 3 3 5. Gal. 3. 21. Act. 4. 12. Rom. 8. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 2. from the Guilt whereof they cannot be saved and set free without supernatural Regeneration through the Grace of Christ the Second Adam and all such as God from everlasting did fore-know would by his special Grace in Christ be Regenerate and have Spiritual Life in their Souls them he did predestinate to eternal Salvation This Doctrine of Baptism is the Foundation of true Religion the Marrow of the Scripture the Sum of Practical Truth and the Compendium of Divinity But Baptism as distinct from the Doctrine thereof is but a Divine Figure Ceremony or Token annexed to the Gospel or New Covenant a Ritual Ordinance the Contempt whereof is perllous but Infants are not capable of contemning it § XV. There are Three sorts of Blessings and Favours vouchsafed by God to Fallen Man some common to Christians and Heathens some not common to us and Heathens and yet common to good and bad Christians some peculiar to God's Elect. Of the First sort are Rain and fruitful Seasons having our Hearts filled with Food and Gladness Magistracy Civil Order and the necessary Supports of Humane Society whereby the worst on Earth are in better case than the Devils and damned Ones in Hell and are capable of being saved by God's Grace in such sort as our first Parents and the Angels which fell were capable of Perseverance Of the Second sort are the Word and Sacraments being born of Christian Parents Education in the Christian Religion and Communion in external Ordinances and Priviledges common to Isaac and Ishmael to Jacob and Esau to Peter and Judas to Paul and Simon Magus to Elect and Non-Elect Christians suitably to their Age and Capacities Of the Third sort are Regeneration Adoption Pardon of Sin Justification Perseverance Eternal Life these are peculiar to God's Elect and not common to them and others And then doth God Elect Persons in Christ when according to his own Eternal Purpose and Fore-knowledge he doth for the sake of Christ and his meritorious Cross and Intercession without all precedent Merit of their own by his Gospel-work in them Divine Faith and thereby pardons their Sins and seals them with his Holy Spirit and so sets them apart for himself and of Dead in Sin the Slaves of Satan and Reprobate to every Good Work makes them alive unto Righteousness the Children of God his Elect Ones a peculiar People to himself Thus the Death of Christ is the meritorious cause of our Election to Salvation but not of God's Eternal Purpose to Elect us for Divine Purpose to Elect and Election itself are clearly distinct as Cause and Effect as Antecedent and Consequent and may in no wise be confounded § XVI I conceive that all the Three forementioned sorts of Blessings and Favours are proper Fruits and Effects of Christ's meritorious Cross and Passion though they are not all equally so but most eminently and principally the Third sort peculiar to the Elect and the other as subservient For Christ is the Saviour of all men especially of those that believe and whom he saves he saves by the merit of his Cross God doth not now Govern the 1 Tim. 4. 10. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Heb. 2.9 World barely as Creator before Adam's Fall but as Redeemer in and through Christ unto whom all Power is given in Heaven and Earth and his Kingdom ruleth over all both Angels and Men for the everlasting Good of all Militant Saints and in order to carrying on the Great Work of Redemption by Faith in all such as belong to the Election of Grace And therefore whatsoever Blessings and Mercies whether common or special any of fallen Mankind partake of subsequently to Creation and Permission of Original Sin they are proper Fruits and Effects of Christ's Death And wherein Col. 1. 20. Eph. 1. ●0 21.22 23. Phil. 2. 8 9 10. 〈◊〉 28. 18 19. J●m 5 ●2 23 2● H●b 9. 1● Rev. 5. 9 1● 13. any Intellectual Creatures whether Angels or Men are capable of being serviceable to God and to Christ our Mediator in promoting the Work of Redemption they are bound to serve to the utmost of their power and Christ may be said to have purchased their Service with his Blood and to have right thereto by the Merit of his Cross For in purchasing Eternal Redemption which is the principal end he must needs be supposed inclusively to purchase all the necessary helps and means requisite and conducing thereto Et qui adimit medium dirimit finem § XVII Concerning Heathen Parents the Scripture plainly declares That for the present they are without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth Eph. 2. 12. of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the world We cannot think that the Infants of such are in Covenant with God As of old it was rightly said Salvation is of the Jews so now it is rightly said That Salvation is of the Christians Joh. 4. 22. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved But we cannot say that the Infants of Heathen Parents are added to the Church Act. 2. 47. While the Jews continued in the Faith of Abraham their Infants were the natural branches and partaked of the root and fatniss of the Olive-tree Gal. 2. 15. Rom. 9.4 11. from 16. to 25. Act. 2. 39. Isa 44. 3. to them and their