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	member_n	visible_a	6,329	5	9.5436	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39697	Vindiciæ legis & fœderis: or, A reply to Mr. Philip Cary's Solemn call Wherein he pretends to answer all the arguments of Mr. Allen, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Sydenham, Mr. Sedgwick, Mr. Roberts, and Dr. Burthogge, for the right of believers infants to baptism, by proving the law at Sinai, and the covenant of circumcision with Abraham, were the very same with Adam's covenant of works, and that because the gospel-covenant is absolute. By John Flavel minister of the gospel in Dartmouth	Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.	1690 (1690)	Wing F1205A; ESTC R218689	64,584	175

shall for ever remain immoveable though the outward Form and Administration be not so Well then from hence we have gained two things 1. That the Church of the Jews and Gentiles are essentially and substantially the same Church 2. That the Jews were not broken off from the invisible Church or from Faith and Election for these you truly say are invariable and immoveable and if you had deny'd it the Apostle assures us that the foundation of God stands sure and that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance But what then was their breaking off and the Gentiles grafting in which made this great alteration in the Church Can it be any thing else but our ingrafting into the Visible Church by the Profession of our Faith from whence the Jews were broken off from their unbelief For certainly from the Invisible Church they were not broken off and into the Invisible Church multitudes of professing Christians are not ingrafted 'T is evident therefore by grafting us into the Olive-tree he means the Visible Church and by the Fatness thereof the Ordinances and Priviledges of that Church Though we deny not but all sincere Professors are Members of the Invisible Church also and do belong to the Election of Grace but that 's not the breaking off or grafting in here spoken of And now having given up Mr. Tombes his Notion of the Invisible Church and Election you are again put to your Shifts and must either shuffle and seek to hide your self in an heap of strange and unintelligible Distinctions or which had been much fairer honestly have yielded the Cause and where-ever you met with them I find a whole Troop of distinctions rallied together for this purpose pag. 23 24. This grafting in say you may be either into the visible or invisible Church either by Faith or profession of Faith or by some outward Ordinance Children may be either grown Men or Infants The ingrafting ●…n may be either certain or probable Certain either by reason of election or their natural Birth being Children of believers Probable as being likely either because frequently or for the most part it happens so Though necessary and so not certain the thing to be prov'd is That the Children of believers are in the Covenant of free grace in Christ and by vertue thereof to be Baptized into the communion of the visible Church Reply Words enough and distinctions enough to reduce the Text to an indivisible point But whither doth all this tend I will ask you Two or Three plain Qestions and then make what use you please of your distinctions 1. Whether the Breaking off of the Jews and the ingrafting of the Gentiles here spoken of have Relation to the invisible Church by election or to the visible Church by profession of Faith and some outward Ordinance 2. Whethether if it were into the visible Church by profession of Faith that the Gentile believers were grafted in as doubtless it was and by relinquishing the former sense you here seem to yield it saying this ingrafture may be certain upon the account of natural Birth being Children of believers then I would fain know why you so state the Question as to make the certainty of Believers Childrens interest in Christ to be the only ground of their admission into the Communion of the visible Church This say you must be prov'd or no Baptism for them Alas poor Infants to what hard terms are they here tyed up Very much harder than the terms any of your one Society are tyed to and if Baptism must be suspended till this point can be clear'd that the person to be Baptized be first in Christ and in the Covenant of free grace as to the saving benefits thereof Then farewel to all Baptism both of Infants and adult prof●…ssours too For how can you prove that the persons you Baptiz●… are all or any of them really in Christ May they not deceive you as Simon Magus did Peter I did not think you had proceeded in this matter upon a Certainty but a Probability and if you proceed with yours upon the grounds of Probability how come you to tie up the Children of Believers to a certainty of their Interest in Christ as the antecedent suspending condition of their Baptism We need dispute no more about the proper Subjects of Baptism for by this account we have lost the Ordinance of Baptism it self We thought Sir that our Childrens Title to Baptism was derived to them from their believing Parents as the Children of the Jews was to Circumcision from their circumcised and professing Parents and that the same Promise which conveigh'd their Childrens Priviledge to them Gen. 17. had conveig'd the right of Believers Children to Baptism unto them also Acts 2. 38 39. and that the root being holy the branches are holy also that is federally holy Rom. 11. 16. But to this you make such an Answer as astonishes me to read pag. 26. where allowing Abraham to be the Root you say The Holiness here spoken of is first in respect of Gods Election Holiness personal and inherent in God's intention Ephes. 1. 4. He hath chosen us in him that we should be holy 2. 'T is also Holiness derivative but not from any Ancestors but from Abraham only and that not as a natural but a spiritual Father wherein he is a lively Image or Figure of Christ and is derived from the Covenant of Grace which passed in his Name to him and his Seed And lastly It shall be inherent being actually communicated by the Spirit of God when they shall be actually call'd Reply Here we see into what Brakes and Pits Men run themselves when they depart from the plain and safe Path in Explications of Scripture Here is such a tripartite Distinction of Holiness as I never met with before 1. Here is personal Holiness inherent in Gods intention By this you must either mean Sanctification decreed for them and to be bestowed on them at the time of their Calling and then it is coincident with the third Member of your Distinction Or else you mean that it is Holiness inherent in the Intention of God as an Accident in its Subject and then the Simplicity of Gods Nature resists your incongruous Notion But it would be a less Crime to confound the first with the last Member of your vain and self-created Distinction than to speak things so repugnant to the simple and uncompounded Nature of God Or if your meaning be That this Holiness is in God by way of Intention but in them by way of Inhesion that will not deliver you out of your Confusion neither but run you into greater for then you confound the immanent with the transient Acts of God and make the same thing at the same time to be purely in Intention and in Execution or to be only in Gods Purpose to bestow hereafter and yet at present inherent in the Persons he intends it for so that I must leave your strange Notion of

Vindiciae Legis Foederis OR A REPLY TO Mr. PHILIP CARY'S SOLEMN CALL WHEREIN He pretends to Answer all the Arguments of Mr. Allen Mr. Baxter Mr. Sydenham Mr. Sedgwick Mr. Roberts and Dr. Burthogge for the right of Believers Infants to BAPTISM BY Proving the Law at Sinai and the Covenant of Circumcision with Abraham were the very same with Adam's Covenant of Works and that because the Gospel-Covenant is Absolute By John Flavel Minister of the Gospel in Dartmouth Membra laxata inepta sunt ad sua munera obeunda gravissimo dolore corpus afficiunt P. Martyr Cum consensu videtur deponi fraternitas Aretius in Heb. 13. 1. LONDON Printed for M. Wotton at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet 1690. A Friendly Preface to the Author of the SOLEMN CALL and the more discreet and charitable of the Party concerned with him in this Controversie Christian Friends WHen we open our Bibles and read that Text 1 Cor. 1. 10. we have cause to deal with it as Origen once did by another Scripture even close the Book and weep over it in consideration of the weak and feeble influences such melting words delivered with such a Pathos have upon the hearts of Professors this day Now I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment I beseech you He dips the nail in oyl that it may drive the easier I beseech you Brethren a compellation breathing sweetness and affection and should drop from our lips into each others ears with the same effect that word once did upon the ears of Benhadads Servants my Brother Benhadad Sirs said Moses to the striving Israelites ye are Brethren O when shall the Church become a true Philadelphia I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ or as you love Jesus Christ ut quantum ipsum amant tantum studeant concordiae saith Calvin Be as studious of concord as you are free in professing love to Christ. That there be no divisions or rents among you a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schism or rent in the Church is much the same and altogether as dangerous as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sedition in the Common-wealth and harder to be cured For as the Lord Verulam truly observes differences amongst persecuting Enemies and the Church are like the strivings of the AEgyptian with the Israelite which Moses quickly ended by knocking down the AEgyptian but dissentions in the Church are like the striving of one Israelite with another and all that Moses can do to quiet and part these is only by fair and gentle words and reminding them that they are Brethren Great is the mischief of divisions among Christians and the less the grounds and causes are the greater always is the sin and mischief of them In the Primitive Church contentions grew fervent about meats lawful and unlawful which did not profit the meaning is it greatly damnified them that were occupied therein Heb. 13. 9. practical Religion among them grew cold as disputations about these trifles grew fervent The readiest way to cool such heats is by discovering the trivial nature of the matter contended about as Demosthenes appeased the tumult among the people rais'd by a small occasion by relating to them the story of a man that had hired an Ass to carry him a journey but the Sun shining servent he was forced to quit her back and betake himself to her shadow the owner withstood him alledging that he had hired the body of the Ass but her shadow was not in the bargain and so the contention between them grew as hot as the Sun Many such trifles have raised great contentions in the world witness the great contention betwixt the Eastern and Western Church about keeping of Easter Other points there are of greater moment about which good men contend and yet these oftentimes are magnified much above their true intrinsecal value So I am sure it is in the Controversie before us Mr. Cary tells us that these things will be found at length to be of highest concernment unto us and must therefore be our most serious practice pa. 243. If so then the proper subject of Baptism must be one of those that is of greatest weight and the profession thereof the very Schibboleth to distinguish one person from another in matters of Religion No wonder therefore the fires of contention are blown up to such a vehement heat even in such an improper season much like the contentions among the English Fugitives at Francfort when their brethren were frying in the flames at Smithfield Just so must we be scuffling whilst thousands of our Brethren are bleeding in Ireland Had we a true sense of the quality of the Subject or the unseasonableness of the Time it would certainly allay these heats among us Did we see who stand by and look with pleasure upon our follies it wou'd quickly allay our heats Tertullian tells the Christians of his time that they were like the Funambulones or men that walk upon Ropes the least tread awry might be their ruin so narrowly did their enemies watch them Sirs the peace safety and honour of the dissenting interest are things of too great value to be hazarded amongst the hands of our common enemies You may fancy they will neglect the advantage you give them but if they do the Devil will call them fools for it Mr. Herle tells us of a Kings fool who wrote down the King himself in his Table among his brother fools because he had trusted an African Stranger with 4000 l. to buy Barbary Horses The King asked him how he would make him amends if the Stranger should come again why then said he I 'le blot your name out of my Table of Fools and write down the African in your stead Think not our Enemies are such Fools to neglect the advantage we cast into their hands 'T is a weighty note that of Livy Consilia non dant homines rebus sed res hominibus Men don't counsel things but times and things counsel men Methink●… the postures of times and affairs giv●… us better counsel than we seem to be go●… verned by in such work as this Divisions of forty years standing and more about Infants Baptism have eaten up the times wasted the spirits and alienated the hearts of English Professors divided them both in Society and Love by reason whereof Gods pleasant Plant in this resembles the Bramble which taking root at both ends by reason of the rancounters of the sap commonly withers in the middle Your Brethren in their Narrative from their general Assembly make a sad and sensible complaint of withering in the power of Godliness And truly we as well as they may complain with the Church We do all fade as a Leaf the Lord help us to discern the true cause whether

it be not the mis-placing of our Zeal our being cold where we should be fervent and fervent hot where we should be cool whether the eating up of so much time and study about Baptizing of Infants have not kept us these forty years in the Infancy of our Graces I well remember that blessed time when Ours and Yours were terms almost unknown among Professors in England When their affections and prayers melted and mingled together sweetly in days of humiliation and other duties of edifying and heavenly Communion and then Churches began to flourish and the Graces of Christians every where floured and became fruitful But no sooner did the Saints divide in Society and Affection but these pleasant blossoms were nipt by it as by a Frosty morning The Church formed it self as it were into two Armies set in Battalia against each other It was now with us much like as it s said of the Amphisbena that hath an head at either end of which neither can well move without the consent of both but if each move a contrary way the body tears in the middle I doubt not but many that differed from us belonged to Christ the same Head with us and yet 't is past doubt that many who seemed to be of us were headed by Satan and quickly discovered themselves to be so by running farther than we first or you next imagined even into Quakerism Socinianism Ranterism and the foulest puddle and sink of complicated errors of which an impartial stranger under the name of Honorius Reggius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Georgius Hornius having heard the report in his own Countrey came over on purpose into England for his particular and perfect information and hath given the foreign Churches a full and sad account thereof in a Latin Narrative which I have by me whereby I find that if the Lord in mercy to us had not let in a third party with the common calamity upon us all we our selves must in all probability have mutually ruin'd each other But God saw other hands fitter for such dirty work than ours and now it was time to reflect upon former follies and renew our ancient acquaintance in the Common Goals And through the goodness of God this did somewhat allay the heats of good men and gave us fresh hopes of an hearty and lasting redintigration We hoped the Furnace might have purged our dross and melted our hearts into Unity both by discovering the evils for which the Lord afflicted us and the sincerity of the sufferers hearts under those trials Christians saith Mr. Jenkins if we must dye let us dye like men by an unanimous holy contention against the common enemy not like Fools by giving him our Sword and destroying one another by Schisms in our own bowels But alas alas no sooner is the rod off our backs and a respit from sufferings given us but we are presently sounding an allarm to the Battle again and to my sorrow my self unavoidably engaged therein Friends I have a witness in many of your bosoms how peacefully and respectfully I have always carried it towards you even to such a degree as began to bring me under the suspition of some of your party that I was inclining to their Opinion though I did not openly profess it But the true reasons of my moderation in this point were 1 That I ever did and still do look upon many of you as Christians sound in the other great Doctrines of the Gospel 2 That there are difficulties in this Controversie which may puzzle the minds of well-meaning Christians 3 I highly valued the peace of the Church and durst do nothing that tended to keep open the breaches upon a Controversie of this nature you being for purity in Doctrine and Worship in most other controverted points as well as we 4 I observed how rare a thing it is for engaged parties to give ground Qui velit ingenio cedere rarus erit 5 My head heart and hands have been filled with better employments from which I am extreamly loth to be diverted If Bellarmine turned with loathing from School-divinity because it wanted the sweet juice of Piety much more may I turn from such perverse disputes as these Sure I may find as fair expositions of Scripture and as acurate and legitimate distinctions among the School-men as in Mr. Tombes his Examen and Apology or which for the most part is but a transcript of both in Mr. Cary's Solemn Call But I see I must not be my own chuser I cannot now be both silent and innocent for in this Solemn Call I find the great Doctrines of Gods Covenants abused by my Neighbour The Book 's dispersed into many families related to me in this place one of them delivered to me by the Authors own hand with a pressing desire to give my judgment upon it Several Objections which I privately and seasonably sent him to prevent the sin and folly of his attempt pretended to be answered from p. 164. ad p. 183. Thus am I necessarily brought into the field of Controversie whither I come not a Volunteer but a press'd man not out of choice but necessity And now I am here I resolve to be only Adversarius litis non personae an Adversary in the Controversie not to the person especially of my friendly Neighbour Neither would I have appeared thus publickly against him if differences could have been accommodated and the evil prevented in a more private way in order whereto I have punctually observed and kept the rules and measures of friendship 'T is possible some may judge my style against him to be too sharp but if they please to read the Conclusion of his Call and my Answer I presume they will find enough to make atonement for that fault if it be a fault 'T is from the nature of the matter before me not from defect of Charity to the person or party that I am forced to be so plain and pungent as I am To conclude I suspect this very Preface may be also censured for its plainness and tediousness I confess when times are busie we should be brief and I am perswaded a sufficient Preface may be contracted into four words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Preface or Passions However I have a little eased my own heart by discharging my duty to my differing Brethren and pleased my self if not them The God of peace create peace in all the borders of Sion beat our Swords into Plow-shares and our Spears into Pruning-hooks I mean our polemicals into practicals that Jerusalem may once more be a City compact and no more terrible to her self but only to her enemies as an Army with Banners This Brethren is the prayer and shall ever be the endeavour of Your Friend and Servant in Christ John Flavell PROLEGOMENA BEfore we enter into the main Controversie it will be necessary to acquaint the Reader why I begin with the middle of the Book and it is because I there find