Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	believer_n	church_n	visible_a	1,349	5	9.2573	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80416	A learned and full ansvver to a treatise intituled; The vanity of childish baptisme. Wherein the severall arguments brought to overthrow the lawfulnesse of infants baptisme, together with the answers to those arguments maintaining its lawfulnesse, are duly examined. As also the question concerning the necessitie of dipping in baptisme is fully discussed: by William Cooke Minister of the Word of God at Wroxall in Warwickwshire. Printed and entred according to order.	Cooke, William.	1644 (1644)	Wing C6043; Thomason E9_2; ESTC R15425	103,267	120

of necessitie the whole Church and every particular member therof must be present at the choosing of a Minister and give their voice expressely therein If this be your meaning it is neither proved in the Scriptures you bring nor any other Or whether by being chosen by a Church you meane no more then to be chosen by some speciall persons in a Church that represent the whole Church If this be your meaning I will concurre with you in that particular as knowing that women and children have no voyce though members Nor is it necessary that every particular member of the rest should give his vote sith at such times oft some are occasioned to be absent and if present they yet may be so many that they cannot well give particularly their voices and though many refuse to give their votes yet if the greater part vote for him it is sufficient Secondly Whereas you say Constitute of Saints and beleevers by calling I aske whether you meane those that are so effectually called that they are really and truly become Saints and beleevers so that there is not a wicked man or hypocrite among them and that the mixture of wicked men or hypocrites among them which call the Elders causeth them not to be true Elders If this be your meaning looke over that place which you brought for proofe of your opinion and you shall finde it clearely confuted 1 Cor. 1.2 if you compare that verse with Chap. 3. v. 3. and Chap. 5. and 6. throughout Chap. 8. and 10. and 11. and 15. and 2 Cor. 12.20 21. and almost throughout both Epistles By comparing which places you shall see that these beleevers and Saints by calling did not so walke either in regard of soundnesse of judgement puritie of worship or holinesse of life as to give cleare evidence of their effectuall calling or sound sanctification So compare Phil. 1.7 with Chap. 3.18 19. and Rom. 1.7 8. with Chap. 16. v. 17 18. and then speake your conscience whether you can judge all these down right beleevers effectually called really Saints But if by beleevers or Saints by calling you meane such as are called to faith and holinesse and withall make a profession by externally giving their names up to Christ and accepting outwardly the covenant promising faith and obedience unto Gods word though there may be hypocrites and wicked livers we concurre with you as knowing that they must be Christians by profession and partakers of the heavenly calling not Iews Pagans or other Infidels that goe to the making up of a visible Church and such are our Churches whereby the Elders of whom we speak have been chosen or accepted Thirdly whether your meaning be the Congregation or people only without the precedency concurrence examination direction and Ordination of Ministers must chuse their Governours or Officers or else they are not true Governours or Officers If you meane so looke backe on the Scripture cited by you Acts 14.23 with other places Act. 6.3.6 1 Tim. 4.14 and 5.22 where it appeareth that Ministers had the chiefe hand in making Ministers Now these things propounded I answer to your position that we can easily shew that our people in England in regard of their generall and unanimous consent to and profession of faith in the same truth contained in the book of God acceptation of the covenant and giving up of their names unto Christ are a Church or Congregation of faithfull people or Saints by calling though many doe not walke answerably to their calling the greater is their sinne and shame and shall be their condemnation unlesse they repent And in regard of the many severall companies of the faithfull by whom Gods worship is performed apart one from another there are many Churches or Congregations of Saints by calling in our Land We can shew also that although our Elders of whom we speake have not been chosen by the whole Congregations in respect of every particular member yet by some speciall persons in behalfe of the whole Congregation to whom that charge was committed by them or which was their sinne usurped from them and that the people at least by accepting them so chosen did make choice of them in their own persons And that whatsoever disorders or defects have been in the choice do not nullifie their ministery As for such as have acknowledged the unlawfulnesse of their ministery or plead meere qualifications of whom you speake let them answer for themselves how they can we are not bound to stand to their principles or maintain their opinions As for the seven next Objections into the Answer whereof you digresse most of them being belike fained of your self that you may finde somewhat to say beside extravagant impertinencies malicious and master-like censures and some unquestioned truths which are yeelded by us but do nothing profit your cause nor hurt ours I see nothing that it is worth while to answer but what may be sufficiently answered unto by what hath been said before Neither do I intend to follow you in your idle roving Onely it is to be observed that this A. R. cannot endure to heare of a Synode though a speciall and maine ordinance of God to compose differences and quiet the hearts of Gods people which have been disquieted by trouble-Churches See Acts 15. the whole Chapter Because saith he a Synod cannot make a Last to suit every ones foot which in plain English is this they will not suffer Iesuits Papists Arminians idle Ministers Anabaptists Antinomians and Familists to have their own way in practise worship opinion c. Neither will they suffer every man to abuse the Scripture after his owne fancie and vent abroad his poysonous conceipts among the simple to draw disciples after them As if it were better to let every man follow his owne devises and labour to draw others into his opinions so that whosoever is most cunning pragmaticall and able to conform his doctrin to the humours of men shall goe away with most disciples to the overthrow of thousands of soules than that there should be a consultation of godly learned conscientious Ministers about the establishment of religion And here it is further to be noted that the children of darkenesse though in some particulars they be opposite one to another as Papists Arminians ignorant lazy and malignant Ministers and licentious Atheists on the one side and Anabaptists with Antinomians and Familists on the other side doe differ from yea directly oppose one another in some particulars yet they agree together as in opposing Gods faithfull Ministers and people so in hating the light and refusing to be brought unto the triall of Gods word and to be tyed unto the Rules thereof as they shall be found out and applyed by an Assembly of faithfull Ministers Again it is to be observed That these men take it in high indignation that any should go about to restrain them from abusing the Scripture and carrying about the simple people with every wind of

use of circumcision to Abraham and his posteritie for the substance to wit to be a signe of their being in covenant and seale of the righteousnesse of faith in your opinion why doe you not shew the difference of Abrahams circumcision and theirs If you say it was to Abraham a seale of his faith righteousnesse and regeneration that he had already to them of that which they were to have I answer this is but a circumstantiall difference and gives what we desire and maintaine If you say that many who were circumcised were never justified by faith or regenerated this was mans abuse and fault who being received into such a Covenant wherein God promised to be his God and was ready to performe his promise yet would not performe the conditions required in the covenant For if some that received circumcision were never internally in Covenant nor indued with the righteousnesse of faith that hinders not but that circumcision was a signe of their being outwardly received into that covenant wherein God was ready to bestow faith and regeneration if through their owne default they did not deprive themselves thereof Besides if there was not the same use of circumcision to Abraham and his children circumcised by Gods appointment How doe you say in your Preface to the Reader That baptisme is an undoubted pledge from God of the free pardon and remission of sinnes to the right subjects thereof sith it may with as good reason be said though it were so in our Saviours time yet it is not so now as you seeme to beare men in hand Though circumcision was a seale of the righteousnesse of faith and a signe of the covenant between God and him to Abraham yet it was not so to his posteritie though they were the right subjects thereof whom God had appointed to be circumcised But if you rightly gather that Baptisme is an undoubted pledge of the pardon of sinne to the right subjects thereof now because it was so to those which were first baptized we may as well gather that circumcision was a signe of the Covenant and seale of the righteousnesse of faith to those infants which by Gods appointment received it as it was to Abraham Hitherto of those Arguments of ours whereunto this Disputant answers As for the other Arguments and Objections which he brings and answers I shall leave them to defend them that owne them I will adde briefly one or two Arguments more 4. Arg. Arg. 6. If the baptizing of Infants born of Christian parents or parents within the new covenant be not according to the rule of Gods word then there is no rule or warrant in the Scripture for baptizing the posteritie of beleevers under the New covenant at all and so consequently the children of beleevers must not be baptized at all neither young nor old for we must do nothing without Scripture warrant But that the posteritie of Christian parents ought not to be baptized at all is most absurd and false as I think will be acknowledged of all that beare the names of Christians For how can it be supposed that the faith and Christianity of the parents should be so prejudiciall to the children as to deprive them of the pledge of the remission of sinnes though they repent and beleeve when yet the posteritie of Infidels may be baptized upon their faith and repentance Therefore the Antecedent must needs be false viz. that the baptizing of infants of Christian parents is not according to the rule of the word and consequently the contradictory thereto true viz. that the baptizing of infants borne of parents in covenant is according to the rule The Assumption I conceive needs no proofe seeing Christ hath appointed that the Sacraments of the New Testament should be perpetuall to the end of the world Matth. 28.19.20 1 Cor. 11.26 to those that should be in Covenant For the confirmation then of the proposition and making cleare its consequence Consider first there is no command example or other testimony in Scripture can be given to shew that the children of testimony in Scripture can be given to shew that the children of beleeving parents should be kept from baptisme untill they could in their owne persons actually repent beleeve and make confession of their faith But still when parents were converted to the faith and baptized their whole families were baptized with them Neither is there any word concerning the posteritie of Christian parents who were borne of them being in covenant to have been baptized in riper yeares Secondly those commands and examples of baptizing them that repented beleeved and professed the faith are all of such as had before been out of the New covenant and were come of parents that had never been under the covenant of the Gospel and therefore with lesse reason can be applied to the posteritie of Christian parents when they come to yeares of discretion then when they were infants For those examples and commands shew that so soone as one is in covenant with God in the time of the Gospel he hath right unto baptisme Neither can it without sinne to God and injurie to the person be denied to him but ought to be administred so soone as it may conveniently be had And therefore as they that had beene out of covenant before so soone as they had repented and beleeved at least professed so much which was necessary to their being taken into covenant ought to be baptized as soone as might be conveniently Act. 8.36 37 38. Act. 10.47 Act. 22.16 and might not without injurie be hindred by others or sinne in themselves neglect it So the children of Christian parents being in covenant as hath beene proved and cannot be denied with any shew of truth that I say not without blasphemy cannot without injurie be denied baptisme so soone as it may expediently be administred to them This Argument for more evidence and clearenesse may be propounded thus The posteritie of beleevers either must be baptized in their infancie or when they are able to make a profession of faith and do it really or they must not be baptized at all But to hold that they should not be baptized at all but that all the children of beleevers should be debarred baptisme though they prove never so godly is absurd and wicked that they should be baptized onely when they come to yeares of discretion and make profession of faith and repentance there is no warrant in Scripture neither by command practise or otherwise as hath been shewed Therefore they are to be baptized in infancie Arg. 7. If Christian women that are under the new covenant have right to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and may and ought to be admitted thereunto neither can without great injurie be detained therefrom notwithstanding their sexe though there be no cleare expresse direct and immediate command or example in the Scripture for the same then may and ought infants of Christian parents being in covenant to be admitted to