Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	baptize_v	child_n	infant_n	1,168	5	9.1746	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07350	The English catechisme explained. Or, A commentarie on the short catechisme set forth in the Booke of common prayer Wherein diuers necessarie questions touching the Christian faith are inserted, moderne controuersies handled, doubts resolued, and many cases of conscience cleared. Profitable for ministers in their churches, for schoole masters in their schooles, and for housholders in their families. By Iohn Mayer, Bachelour of Diuinitie.; English catechisme	Mayer, John, 1583-1664.	1622 (1622)	STC 17733; ESTC S100659	485,672	636

Christ being accounted such as he is all our sinnes being passed ouer And this is that which maketh true faith so excellent as that being indued heerewith the Lord vouchsafeth to seale couenants by his Sacrament vnto vs. Whatsoeuer faith wee haue else it is generall historicall and imperfect if wee beleeue that there is a God that the Scriptures are his word that the promises and threanings are true yea though wee had faith to remoue mountaines onely then is faith perfect and full when it doth lawfully apply the merits of Christs sufferings vnto the soule for the forgiuenesse of all the sinnes Quest Why then are infants baptised when as by reason of their tender age they cannot performe them Answ Yes they doe performe them by their sureties who promise and vow them both in their names which when they come to age themselues are bound to performe Acts 8.37 Explan Hauing shewed what repentance and faith is and how necessary vnto baptisme repentance is faith being also of the like necessity according to the institution He that beleeueth and is baptized shall be saued and according to the practise of the Church vnto the Eunuch If thou beleeuest saith Philip thou maist and when any came to be baptized it was wont to be asked What beleeuest thou and the person answered I beleeue in God the Father Almighty c. It remaineth now to giue resolution touching the baptisme of infants in whom there cannot bee faith and repentance actually Because faith and repentance are necessary to saluation it becommeth questionable whether infants ought to bee baptized and some haue altogether denied it affirming that if any haue beene baptized in their infancie they ought to bee rebaptized when they came to vnderstanding as the Anabaptists in Germany and some giddy-headed seperatists in England El●is and his faction But that the children of beleeuing parents may and ought to bee baptized it is plaine Reas 1 1. From the vse of Circumcision which was the forerunner heereof which was appointed to be done vpon the eight day after the birth Now the seale of Gods couenant is to be applyed vnto the children of Christians as soone as vnto the children of the Iewes but vnto the children of the Iewes the seale was applyed in their infancie therefore to the children of Christians likewise as Circumcision their seale to them so baptisme our seale to these If doubt bee made of the first part of this reason it is proued thus Where there is the like reason and none but the same hinderances it may bee sealed alike but in these children there is the same reason and onely the same hinderances the same reason because they are the children of Gods people likewise onely the same hinderances because they want vnderstanding alike therefore the seale is as well to bee applyed vnto the children of Christians as vnto theirs Reas 2 Acts. 2 39. Secondly from the estate of infants the promises belong to them as well as vnto their Parents saith Peter is made to you and your children Theirs is the kingdome of heauen saith our Sauiour Christ As the Parents are holy so they are holy 1. Cor. 7.14 so Now they are holy saith Paul to the Corinthians Now vnto those that are wholly partakers of the promises of God and of the Kingdome of Heauen the signe and seale of God is not to bee denied but children of beleeuing parents are such euen in their infancie therefore the seale or signe of baptisme may not be denied Reas 3 2 Cor. 1.16 Acts 16.5 Verse 33. Thirdly from the practice of the Apostles and first teachers of the Gospell S. Paul the Apostle baptized the houshold of Stephanas and Lydia and her houshold and the Iaylor was baptized with all that belonged vnto him And when little children were brought vnto Christ some disliking it were reproued and the bringers of them incouraged neither hath there beene any time since wherein they haue beene refused but since the springing vp of the many headed Hydra of Anabaptisme Indeed none but men of yeares haue been admitted to this Sacrament when their Parents had not before been baptized that commonly at one time of the yeare being able to giue account of their faith But for those whose parents had receiued the faith before they were counted worthy of this holy signe in their Infancie Whereas the Institution of Baptisme may be obiected and that no mention is made of any particulars that were baptized by the Apostles in their Infancie I answere that Christ in giuing order to his Disciples to goe teach and baptize doth onely prescribe for men of yeares and discretion who were not to be baptized without teaching going before and it is a good reason onely against the baptizing of their children who were not instructed and baptized before themselues Againe it is no maruell though Baptisme was vsed vnto children also that no particular mention is made heereof seeing it sufficeth vpon the conuersion of any to set downe he was baptized and his houshold For who can bee so ignorant and not out of this generall to conclude in particular that their children being part of their houshold were baptized also 1. Cor 7 14. For further resolution of the doubt why Infants are baptized seeing they cannot beleeue and repent that which is set downe in the Catechisme is that they performe them by their Sureties c. that is their Sureties standing in their Parents stead doe publikely professe both these so as they are supposed in them to bee performed and through them in their Children For there is so neere a Relation of the Child vnto the Parents that what the state of the Parents is such is the estate of the child reputed to bee vntill that it commeth to reason and discretion nay the young childe is taken for a very partie or limbe of the Parent whereunto giueth testimony that which hath been already said otherwise your children were vncleane but now are they holy that is the Parents or one of them being made holy by beleeuing Luke 19.9 For this cause when Abraham was appointed the circumcision it was for him and all the males belonging vnto him and when Zacheus entertained Gods grace and was made partaker of saluation it is said This day is saluation come not to this man but to this houshold And the state of this man is not to be measured by the fruites which he doth outwardly bring forth but by his incorporation through Baptisme into the visible Church whereby hee becommeth a member of it and the Children which hee begetteth are likewise members of the same So that howsoeuer children doe want actuall faith and repentance yet such as present them to the Church sustaining their Parents persons are supposed not to want them and in their Parents they are to be reckoned such as haue them because of their neere coniunction vnto their Parents whose bowels as it were they be and by Baptisme remission