Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	church_n	congregation_n	visible_a	1,646	5	9.0789	5	true

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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

tenets practise and worship and not take them up meerely of custome because they are generally received But it is not safe for people to leave the Ministery of the word and hearken to none but those that wil humour them in their opiniōs say as they say It is an argument that peoples opinions and practises are workes of darknesse when they refuse to come to the light to have them tryed How miserably may Satan and his instruments abuse silly soules if they can perswade them to come into no company but such where they may be confirmed in their errours I would intreat such to take heede lest being drawn to renounce their Baptisme received in infancie which is the drift of these men by perswading them that it is no Baptisme and keeping their Children unbaptized they cast themselves and their posterity out of Covenant reject God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost to whom they were consecrated in Baptisme by their parents and so cast away their Christianity their soules and salvation all at once and not onely their owne but their posterities too It cannot but bee very offensive to God whereas he hath offered himselfe to be our God from our infancy and taken us into his family having made the promise and covenant to our parents and us their children and sealed the same Covenant to us and really bestowed on us at least some of us and is ready to bestow on us all if we be not wanting to our selves what was in Baptisme sealed namely remission of sinnes regeneration and the spirit of adoptions if all this notwithstanding we shall hearken to the enemy of Gods glorious grace and our soules greatest comfort perswading us that neither wee were in Covenant with God in our infancy by vertue of the Covenant made with our parents neither our children in any better condition then the children of Turkes and Pagans untill the time of actuall faith If we set so little by Gods ancient mercies conveyed to our parents and us successively for many generations according to his mercifull promise and covenant let us take heede lest wee provoke him to cast us off and give us over to strong delusions because we have followed lying vanities and forsaken our owne mercies Secondly seeing the children of the faithfull have right to the promises of those blessings which are sealed in Baptisme and not onely the beleeving Governours of families themselves but also the whole families were baptized the children of the faithfull are holy within covenant and have right to Baptisme as well as infants in the Iewish Church had right to Circumcision upon which and the like grounds it hath beene proved that they ought to be baptized This should call upon Christian parents that have or shall dedicate their children to God in Baptisme and all the posterity of the faithfull that have beene consecrated to God in their infancy by Baptisme both highly to esteeme this priviledge and ancient faederall mercy of God so that they doe not suffer themselves to bee cheated of it by impostors And so thankfully holily and fruitfully to use it that it may be a meanes to strengthen their faith and confirme them in the assurance of Gods love and a speciall spurre to holinesse and curbe to restraine from profanenesse and by all meanes take heede of so abusing it that it should be an occasion of Gods dishonor by causing this holy ordinance to be blasphemed the offence stumbling of others and their own greater condemnation And this they should the rather look unto First because so many Christians by profession bring their children to baptisme meerly of custom neither regarding the grounds on which nor the end for which nor the manner how they ought to do this neither considering the mercies which God offers to them and their children in this sacred ordinance nor yet the duties whereunto they and their children are herein obliged as if Gods ordinances whereunto he cals us the priviledges which he bestowes on us and the duties whereunto he bindes us were but matters of fashion or sport And in like manner many when they come to yeares of discretion no more regard their baptisme then a trifle hardly so much as inquiring why they were baptized Secondly because as the Apostle said of circumcision Rom. 2.25 that it became no circumcision if men kept not the Law so may I say Baptisme becomes no baptisme to those which walke not according to the Gospel Let us not thinke that the meere worke done makes us sufficient Christians If men perswade themselves they may live ignorantly profanely and carnally and yet hope to be saved because they have been baptized let them read 1 Cor. 10. vers 1. to the 12. for confutation of their errour and discovery of the dangerousnesse and damnablenesse of that opinion Thirdly as the name of God was blasphemed by the Gentiles through the vicious lives of the Iews Rom. 2.24 who were by circumcision consecrated to God and made his people by profession so is God and Christ blasphemed and this holy Ordinance of Baptisme spoken evill of by occasion of the wickednesse of many that have beene baptized For not to speake of the blasphemy of Turkes Pagans and Papists cast upon the Christian Religion for the profanenesse of Protestants doe not we heare that some hence make bold to speak evill of the Baptisme of Children as if it were the cause of all profanenesse and impietie that is in the Church which though it be a most false calumnie and I know not how it can be excused from blasphemy For are not many of those that were baptized in infancie pious wise and garcious Chrstians How can baptisme then in infancie be the cause of profanenesse seeing where the cause is it produceth the effect Were not there among the Iewes as many profane ignorant and disordered persons as among us shall men say that circumcising their children in infancie was the cause of it that were plaine blasphemie Was there not notorious profanenesse in the Primitive Church as among the Corinthians c. Was baptisme whether of infants which yet I thinke they will not say or of professours of faith and repentance the cause of it This imputation a Christian eare will abhorre Is not the word of God a savour of death and occasion of hardning to some the Sacrament of the Lords Supper an occasion to some of temporall and spirituall judgements Yet what Christian dare say that these are the causes of sinnes in the Church Yet I say though this be a false and wicked imputation that the baptizing of infants is the cause of evils in the Church let them looke to it that give occasion of such blasphemy Fourthly all Christians should be stirred up the rather to make a good improvement of this priviledge of Christian parents in having God not onely for their God but also for the God of their children and so of the baptizing of their children because we see Satan