Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	word_n	work_v	worship_v	12	3	7.9522	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80622	The grounds and ends of the baptisme of the children of the faithfull. Opened in a familiar discourse by way of a dialogue, or brotherly conference. / By the learned and faithfull minister of Christ, John Cotton, teacher of the Church of Boston in New-England.	Cotton, John, 1584-1652.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.	1646 (1646)	Wing C6436; Thomason E356_16; ESTC R201141	171,314	214

breasts Psal 22.9 Esay saith in like sort The Lord hath called me from the wombe Esa 45.1 and the Lord saith the same of Ieremy I sanctified thee before thou camest forth of the wombe Ier. 1.5 Yea little children are so farre forth capable of receiving the holy Ghost or which is all one the kingdom of God for by his Spirit he setteth up his kingdom in us that our Saviour expresseth it generally that whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child to wit as a little child receiveth it for so the syntax carryeth it he shall not enter therein Mar. 10.15 What though it bee said that faith commeth by hearing so it is also said the Spirit commeth by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 And yet you see as some have received the Spirit that never heard of faith so the same h●ve received faith that never heard the word As for Iob the place which you quote Iob 31.18 argueth the like of him that hath been said of the former that Iob from his mothers wombe was indued with an indoles or inbred disposition and affection to pity and succour the fatherlesse and widow which d●ubtlesse was wrought in him by the holy Ghost as all other good gifts be And all other infants as well as he are capable of the same and the like gifts if the spirit of the Lord be pleased to work them Silvester I am not against any that have faith but am absolutely for all that believe whether infants or others so that their faith appeare by such effects as the word of God approveth of But whereas some say that infants are capable of the Spirit of God and of the grace of the Covenant though not wrought in the same way and by the same meanes yet the same things and by same Spirit so farre as is necessary to union with Christ and justification of life thereby else children were not elected nor should be raised up in their bodies to life I wish it may be minded that touching union with Christ three things are essentiall to the same 1. Gods revealing and tendering of Christ as the al-sufficient and onely way to life 2. An heart fitly disposed by faith to apprehend and receive Christ so tendered 3. The spirit of grace uniting and knitting the heart and Christ together And this I understand to be that effectuall and substantiall union with Christ to the justification of life which the word of God approveth of For justification to life ever presupposeth the parties knowledge of the thing beleeved Rom. 10.14 Heb. 11.6 Now let this be well examined by the rule of truth and then see how capable infants are of union with Christ and justification to life thereby As for some evill consequences which some to darken and obscure the truth doe say would follow thereupon that then infants were not erected nor should then their bodies be raised again to life c. I would first enquire of such whether infants with reference to their nonage were the subjects of Gods election Secondly if infants so considered are capable subjects of glory And if not as I suppose none will affirme then why are they any more capable of grace then of glory The word of God sheweth that he hath elected persons to the meanes as well as to the end the meanes being the way unto the end and that was the adoption of sonnes to bee called and justified by believing on Jesus Christ Ephes 1.4 5. Rom. 8.29 30. 1 Pet. 1.2 2 Thes 2.13 14. c. And to return free obedience unto him again as Rom. 9.23 24. Ephes 1.6 12. And for the raising of infants it is the power of God that raiseth the dead and not union with Christ 1 Thess 4.16 And when any of Gods electcan by the Scriptures be shewed to dye in their infancy then it will be granted their bodies are raised to life eternall When you say you are not against any that have faith Silvanus whether infants or others so that their faith appeare by such effects as the Word approveth I demand what if their faith appeare not by the effects is it not enough if it appeare by divine testimony Christ hath said that of such is the kingdom And that all that receive his kingdom must receive it as little children doe as hath been shown above and is not his testimony of their faith as good an evidence of their faith as the effects of their faith can be As for the 3 things which you would have to bee minded as essentiall to union with Christ The first of them the revealing and tendering of Christ as the al-sufficient and only way of life if you meane the revealing and tendering of him by the Ministery of the gospel you know the Ministery of the gospel is but an outward instrumentall cause of faith and no outward instrumentall cause is essentiall to the effect whether we speake of naturall or supernaturall effects certaine it is that the spirit of God who is the principall cause of faith though he be wonted to work it by the Ministery of the Word yet he can also work it without the Ministery or else how came the Wisemen from the East to seeke after Christ and to worship him by the sight of a starre If you say that was extraordinary but you speake of ordinary meanes that will not serve for that which is essentiall to a thing the thing cannot be without it neither ordinarily nor extraordinarily a thing cannot be and be without his essence or that which is essentiall to it Besides Christ speaketh of it as no extraordinary thing for infants to receive the kingdom of God and they cannot receive it without Christ nor without faith in Christ and yet they never received either Christ or faith by their own immediate hearing of the Wo●d And for the second thing which you make essentiall to union with Christ an heart fitly disposed by faith to apprehend and apply Christ Be not unwilling to understand that which is the truth The heart is fitly disposed by faith to apprehend or apply Christ when faith is begotten in the heart for by this gift of faith begotten in us Christ apprehendeth us and by the same gift of faith the heart is fitly disposed to apprehend Christ even in infants for when faith is wrought in infants the heart is quickned with spirituall life and made a sanctified vessell fit to receive Christ which reception of Christ though it be passive as Dr. Ames calleth it in Ch●p 26. de Vocatione lib. 1. Medullae Theologiae yet it is all one with regeneration wherein not infants onely but all men are passive which gave the Lord Jesus occasion to say That whosoever receiveth not the kingdom of God as a little child hee can in no wise enter into it Luk. 18.17 It is true in men of years the Spirit as you speake worketh faith by the hearing of the Word and by revealing and tendering Christ

degree of the highest and holiest communion in the Church but not to eat common bread at one anothers table for hee speaketh of the least degree of familiar society with such a one saying With such a one no not to eat but that by the way to cleare your mistake in that point But for the point in hand the Apostle had sufficiently cleared both his owne meaning and the Corinthians scruple touching their civill society with their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes in expounding himselfe not to forbid them Communion with the fornicators or Idolaters of this world but of the Church whence it clearly appeard that their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes being not of the Church but of the world it was no part of the Apostles meaning in his former or latter letter to forbid them communion with their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes So that if the scruple of the Corinthiane had sprung from the mistake of the Apostles former letter the Apostle had there fully cleared his owne meaning and withall removed their scruple there needed no more words of it againe here It seemeth therefore much more probable that their scruple arose from that other place which you mention Ezra 10. where the people of God are charged to separate themselves from the people of the land and from their strange wives which charge they obeyed also and fulfilled But if their scruple sprung from that place then the Corinthians had as just occasion to scruple the keeping of their children which they had by these wives as the keeping of their wives For the people of God in that Chapter of Ezra made an holy Covenant with God to put away not onely their strange wives but their children also which were borne of them v. 3. Now then let us come to consider of the Apostles answer to these scruples as you expound him The Apostle say you answereth from a double ground 1. In that all things are sanctified to such as beleeve Tit. 1.15 therefore beleevers may have a lawfull use of their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes This conclusion is true and intended by the Apostle but this ground of it the Apostle doth not here give but you fetch it from another Epistle It is true the marriage of the Corinthians with their unbeleeving yoak-fellows when they were both infidels being lawfull by Gods institution before now when one of them came to be converted to the faith the faith of the beleever did not make his former marriage which was lawfull before now unlawfull but rather gave him a pure and sanctified use both of his marriage and of his yoak-fellow But the Apostle doth not here give for a ground thereof the purity of all things to a beleever though hee might have given it for a just ground thereof but the onely ground which in this Text hee giveth of it is taken from the holinesse of their children Else saith hee were your children unclean but now they are holy which argueth that there is now in the dayes of the New Testament such an holinesse acknowledged by God to belong to the children from either parent beleeving as is sufficient alone though there were no other ground of it to ratify to the beleeving parent a sanctified use of his unbeleeving yoak-fellow which holinesse can bee no other but the holinesse which springeth from the Covenant of grace wherein God promiseth to bee a God to the beleever and his seed Whereas on the contrary if this holines of the children did onely arise from the lawfulnesse of the marriage of their Parents by the same ground upon which the Corinthians scrupled the lawfulnesse of their marriage with their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes by the same they might justly scruple the lawfulnesse of their children which they had by them for in that place of Ezra whence you conceive their scruple either sprung or grew as the marriage of the Iews with strangers was uncleane and therefore strange wives to bee put away so their children also were uncleane and to bee put away also according to the counsell of God and the example of the people in that place Let us then proceed to examine your second ground which you say the Apostle giveth to satisfie the scruple of the Corinthians about the retaining of their unbeleeving yoak-fellowes 2. If you Corinthians judge your selves to live in such a way of uncleannesse upon which you must now part then your children so begotten are uncleane also and to be put away But in that you hold it lawfull to retaine your children and not to put them away though you beleeve and they beleeve not then much more the unbeleeving Parents that beare them For if the effect bee holy then must the cause be also holy that produceth the same which is Gods holy Ordinance of marriage and not the holy Covenant of grace This ground hath no ground at all neither in the Apostles words nor meaning not in his words for the Apostle doth not say your children are holy in your judgement or as you hold but the Apostle delivereth his owne Iudgement your children are holy Neither will it stand with the Apostles meaning nor with the divine wisedom power of an Apostolick spirit to prove an holy use of the parents mariage from the conceited holines which the Parents imagine to bee in their children For though in Disputation against an adversary it may bee of use to convince him out of his owne conceits yet in dealing with a scrupulous conscience it giveth no satisfaction to give him for grounds of lawfull Practise his owne conceits Neither hath it any ground at all from the Apostles words or meaning to gather as you doe from the holinesse of children an argument from the lesse to the greater That if the children bee holy and so lawfull to bee retained then much more the unbeleeving Parents that bare them because if the effect bee holy then must the cause also bee holy for the unbeleeving Parents are no cause at all of the holinesse of their children neither are they holy themselves by the holy Ordinance of marriage For though marriage it selfe bee holy in respect of the holy institution of it yet not in respect of the holy efficacy in it to make all them holy that enter into marriage estate yea as to beleevers all things are pure so to the unbeleever nothing is pure no not his marriage nor his yoak-fellow nor his children Though the unbeleeving yoak-fellow Paul saith bee sanctified to the beleever yet Paul never said that the beleever is sanctified to the unbeleeving yoak-fellow Unbeleevers are neither holy themselves nor is any thing else sanctified to them much lesse can they bee the cause of producing sanctification and holinesse in others And therefore Paul doth inferre the holinesse of children not from the holy Ordinance of marriage but from the holy Covenant of grace It had bin in vaine for the Apostle to have gon about to prove the lawfull retaining of the unbeleeving yoak-fellow from the holinesse of their children being in