Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	draw_v	faith_n	sprinkle_v	1,168	5	10.6414	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A22472	The neuu couenant, or, A treatise of the sacraments whereby the last testament of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ, through the shedding of his pure and precious blood, is ratified and applyed vnto the conscience of euery true beleeuer : diuided into three bookes [brace] 1. Of the sacraments in generall, 2. Of baptisme, 3. Of the Lords Supper : verie necessarie and profitable for these times, wherein we may behold the [brace] truth it selfe plainly prooued, doctrine of the reformed churches clearely maintained, errors of the Church of Rome soundly conuinced, right maner of the receiuing of the[m] comfortably declared, and sundry doubts and difficult questions decided / by William Attersoll ...	Attersoll, William, d. 1640.	1614 (1614)	STC 889.5; STC 896_INCORRECT; ESTC S120393	495,931	616

haue life in you which must be vnderstood of such as are of yeares and growne in age And thus Innocentius the third in the b Decret Gregor lib. 3. tit 42 c. 3. decrees expoundeth it so doth Peter Lumbard c Lumb sent lib. 4. dist 4. maister of the Sentences So then if they will be tryed eyther by their owne Pope which is their holy father or by Peter Lumbard which is their grand-maister this place cannot be inforced against infants that dye before they be baptized but must be re●erred to men of greater yeares We reason not thus farre to iustifie and allow the sluggishnesse and neglect of carelesse parents vnder colour and pretence of this that the saluation of the child dependeth not vpon the participation of the Sacrament but to shew that if it cannot be obtained as it ought to be desired or if by godlesse parents it be deferred and neglected yet saluation is not tyed and glued to the outward water The neglect of the Sacrament is a notable marke of a despiser and therefore the Pharisies are saide to haue reiected the counsell of God against themselues beeing not baptized of him Luke 7 30. It is strange to consider what childish excuses and pretences parents vse to iustifie their negligēce in performing this good duty to their Children For baptisme is necessary in respect of God that hath commanded it in respect of the Church the lawfull vse of it being a note of the true Church and in respect of the promise annexed vnto it Neuerthelesse it is not simply necessary to saluation as though without the washing of water one could not be a member of Christ True it is to euery one that beleeueth baptisme must necessarily be either actually receiued or earnestly desired receiued if it may be had desired if it cannot be had For as the true desire of grace is grace indeed in Gods acceptance so the desire of baptisme is accepted of God as baptisme And therefore simply the want of it without neglect cannot bring danger of dānation Away then with the doctrine of the Church of Rome touching the absolute necessity of baptisme and touching Children that dye without it a beastly and bloody d Let none obiect the opinion of Augustine for he thought it necessary to saluation that children shold receiue the Lords Supper as well as baptisme De pecc●tor me●t lib. 1. cap. 24. doctrine ioyned with rigor and cruelty full of terror and feare vncharitable in it selfe presumptuous by entring into Gods secret iudgements impious by binding him to second causes and ordinary meanes iniurious to thousands of poore infants discomfortable to all good parents and blasphemous against the bottomelesse mercy of a gracious God who hath saide e Gen. 17 7. I will bee thy God and the God of thy seede where he maketh a couenant of saluation with vs and our children not adding any condition of baptisme if it cannot be had as it ought to be If it cannot be had by the infant the Spirit of God doth worke the effectuall knitting of them to the body of Christ by a secret working as pleaseth him in stead of ordinary meanes For when our Sauiour had said Mar. 16. He that shall beleeue and be baptized shall be saued he doth not adde contrariwise he that is not baptized shall be damned f Ma● 16 16. but annexeth onely Hee that beleeueth not shall be condemned Thus we haue shewed the malice and madnesse of Sathan against poore infants and how he hath vsed proud and pestilent instruments to effect his purpose partly the Anabaptistes who deny baptisme to their bodies and partly the Papists who deny saluation to their soules for want of baptisme CHAP. VI. Of the fourth outward part of Baptisme THe last outward part of baptisme is a The last outward part of baptisme is the body washed the body that is washed For wee haue shewed before that the Sacraments without their vse are no Sacraments And albeit the worde ioyned to the signe make a Sacrament yet this presupposeth a Minister to administer it and a receiuer to take it and then the rule is most certainely to bee admitted Now whether the whole body should be washed or a part of the body whether it should be washed once or oftner whether it should be dipped or sprinkled we are neither curiously to enquire nor seriously to contend nor rashly to determine but rest in practise of the Church and in the custome of the country as in a thing in it owne nature indifferent The dipping and plunging into the water vsed by Iohn Baptist and the Apostles in Iudea and such hot regions are not a necessary rule to be drawne into imitation especially in these colde quarters and countries For the word doth not onely signifie to diue to put and plunge into the water but to dip to sprinkle and to wash This sprinkling doth very fitly answere to the signification of water For the apostle Peter teacheth that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit vnto obedience sprinkling of the blood of Iesus Christ as 1. Epistle of Peter chap. 1. 1 Pet. 1.2 verse 2. which is signified by outward baptisme and was shaddowed by sprinkling of blood vnder the law Neyther may we imagine that the efficacy of baptisme dependeth vpon the quantity of water that is vsed and imployed no more then the force and vertue of the Lords Supper dependeth vpon the quantity of the bread and wine which wee receiue They then are much deceiued that would bring in an absolute necessity of dipping Children into the water as if without it they were not lawfully baptized For as we noted before the word importeth euen simply any washing of what sort soeuer as Marke 7. It is said of the Pharisies that comming from the market they eate not except they wash 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this outward washing of the bodye from filth representeth the inward clensing of the soule from sinne Heereunto the Apostle alludeth when he affirmeth that we are saued according to the mercy of God our Sauiour by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy-Ghost Tit. 3.5 Eph. 5 25 26. Titus 3 verse 5. And else-where he saith Ehesians 5. verses 25 26 Christ loued the Church and gaue himselfe for it that hee might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word So then the ceremony vsed among vs to sprinkle water vpon the face of the child cannot be reproued or condemned but standeth with the ordinance of God as well as dipping in the water and therefore the Apostle saith to the Hebrewes Chap. 10.22 Let vs draw neere with a true heart in full assurance of faith Heb. 10 22. hauing our hearts sprinkled from an euill conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Hence it is that Cyprian writing of this argument in his Epistles teacheth

inuert the reason and make it serue to euert and ouerthrow the sacrifice of their Masse seeing it is certaine there were no Altars Lastly we must obserue that it is not barely called a table but the Table of the LORD to teach vs to drawe Vse 3 neare vnto it with all reuerence and regard If we measure and marke our affection in earthly things we see what care curiosity is often times vsed when men come to the table and presence of Noble men how much greater care and conscience should be vsed of euery one of vs when wee come to this table where the King of Kings and the Lord of heauen and earth is present When Dauid would reward and recompence the kindnes of Barzillai he charged Salomon his sonne that the sonnes of Barzillai should sit and eate bread at his table how great then is the honour that God vouchsafeth to vs permitting and appointing vs to sit at the Table of his owne Son of whom we say truely a greater then Salomon is there Wherefore to stirre vs vp to this duty deuotion let euery one consider and meditate thus with himselfe I am this day to be the Lords guest I am inuited to his Table I am to eate of his bread and to drink of his cup I haue not in this busines to do with man whose breath is in his Nostrils but to deale with God in whose presence I do abide who is both a beholder and Iudge of all my actions to whom I shall eyther stand or fall If I come in hypocrisie he will finde me out o Heb. 4 13. before whom all things are naked and open If I come fitted by faith and sanctified by repentance I shall receiue Christ and all his merits to my endlesse comfort Thus much sufficeth to be considered touching this title of the Lords Table The last title of this Sacrament remaineth to be handled being called the new Testament or will of Christ p The vses of calling this Sacrament the testament or will of Christ from whence we may gather diuers vses as good conclusions frō this doctrine For first it teacheth that there is a double Testament and couenant of God made to his people one of workes the other of grace one of the law the other of the Vse 1 Gospell as Iohn 1 17. The law was giuen by Moyses but grace and truth by Iesus Christ And Ier. 31 31 32. I will make a new couenant with the house of Israell and the house of Iudah not accord●ng to the couenant that I made with their Fathers when I tooke them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egipt the which my couenant they brake although I was an husband vnto them But this shall bee the couenant that I will make with the house of Israell after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people The couenant of the law is a couenant wherein God hath promised to his people all blessings corporall and spiritual temporall and eternall q Leuit. 18 5. Mat. 19 17. Gal. 3 12. Deut. 27 20. vnder the condition of perfect obedience and hath threatned all curses and death 〈◊〉 to all that continue not in all parts and points of the 〈◊〉 do them The couenant of grace ratified by the death an● blood of Christ is a couenant wherein God promiseth his loue and fauor for euer to come vpon all that beleeue in his Sonne r Ioh. 3.16 assuring them of remission of sins and eternall life requiring of them onely faith in him as Iohn 3. God so loued the world that he gaue his onely begotten Sonne that such as beleeue in him should not perish but liue for euer Againe if this Sacrament sealing vp the new couenant Vse 2 betweene God and man haue the name and nature of a will or testament then it serueth to condemne the Church of Rome that adde alter mingle and mangle this Sacrament at their owne pleasure For the Apostle teacheth Gal. 3. Though it be but a mans ſ Gal. 3 11. couenant yet when it is confirmed no man doth abrogate it or addeth any thing thereto And Heb. 9 14. He is the mediator of the new Testament that through his death they which are called might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance for where a testament is there must be the death of the testator for the testament is confirmed when men are dead for it is yet of no force as long as he that made it is aliue If then the testament of man may not be abrogated or altered much lesse the Testament of God confirmed by the death of the Mediator Notwithstanding such is the sacriledge and presumption of that Antichristian Church that the idolatrous Masse as a bottomlesse gulfe hath ouerturned and swallowed vp the Lords Supper turning the Sacrament into a sacrifice administring it in a strange tongue taking away the cuppe from the people of God making prayers for the dead bringing in their carnall presence imagininng a monstrous transubstantiation setting vp a new Priest-hood a new sacrifice a new Altar and lastly feigning vses and ends therof which Christ neuer appointed the Apostles neuer acknowledged the Churches succeeding neuer confessed or practised Now masses t Concil cabilon can 33. are mumbled in memory of the Saints they are held auaileable not only for the liuing but for the dead they are iudged profitable against stormes and tempests they are thought a soueraigne remedy against 〈◊〉 ●ore and sicknes of the body healthfull and helpefull ●●r such as are going to warre to couer their heads in the day of battell as a shield of brasse and to preserue them from the sword of the enemy good against enchantments and sorceries and fit to be applyed to make tryall proofe whether a man be guilty of the crime and accusation laid to his charge But what are all these strange vses but strange abuses yea strong fancies and delusions of the man of sin burying in perpetuall forgetfulnes the true ends for the which Christ Iesus ordained his last Supper All these being pestilent corruptions of the Sacrament of the Supper and fraudulent additions to the last will and testament of Christ do lay open to the full the wretched abhominations of the Church of Rome the mother of fornications Vse 3 Lastly the name of Christs last will and testament giuen to this Sacrament serueth for the great comfort of Gods children For heerein we shall finde all things belong●ng to a full and perfect testament For Christ Iesus is the testator all faithfull Christians u Rom. 8 17. 1 Pet. 1 12. and 5 1. are appointed heires the angels are as the ouerseers the Apostles are the witnesses the legacies bequeathed are not lands and possessions or great summes a Mat. 8 20 26. of mony for the sonne of man had not

before the word of the Lord what wisedome can there be in vs or how can we be assured to please God Thus we haue run ouer and answered the foolish and friuolous obiections that carnall minded men alledge in defence of their negligent comming to the Communion of the body and blood of Christ Christ himselfe is ready to entertaine vs as his friends to inuite vs as his guests to command vs as his seruants to come to his Table let vs then make conscience of this duty and not bring this curse vpon our selues to exclude our selues from his Sacrament and from his presence Excommunication is the greatest and highest censure of the Church which as a sharpe sword cutteth off offenders from the Church casteth them out from the communion of the faith-ful and putteth out from among them but these careles persons that regard not to be present at the partaking of this Supper do banish themselues from the Citty and excommunicate themselues from the Church of God They doe willingly and wilfully cast out themselues and cut themselues off from the society of his people To conclude this point let all such slothfull and sluggish persons take heed they do not exclude themselues from this comfortable Sacrament vnder what pretence soeuer it be least they bee in the number of those that draw backe vnto perdition of whō the Lord pronounceth My soule shall haue no pleasure in him These things being thus rightly waighed and considered let vs make conscience of this duty and come chearefully and comfortably to this Table No man commeth vnto it but he departeth better away if he come as he ought to do He is filled with good things if he haue an hand to receiue them No man shall repent of comming vnto it if he repent of his sins before he come And when we come often yet we should be sorry that we come not more often It is Christs commandement let vs obey it it is his will let vs do it it is his counsell let vs follow it and his commandement his will his counsel is not cumbersome or burdensome vnto vs. If he should require at our hands something that were hard or heauy to flesh and blood ought we not with chearefulnes to vnder-goe it seeing he hath made vs and not we our selues seeing he hath redeemed vs and not we our selues and seeing he hath sanctified vs and not we our selues so that all that is in vs is the Lords Howbeit that which he willeth vs to do is not hard but easie it is not a burden grieuous to be borne to resort often to his Supper but light and pleasing to them that are spiritually minded It was well said of Naamans seruants to their Maister when he turned away in a rage from the Prophet My father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not haue done it How much rather then when hee saith to thee Wash and be cleane 2. King 5 12. 2 Kings 5 12. So if Christ our Lord and Maister should command vs to do greater things then these and such as were costly to vs ought we not to do them How much more then when he saith vnto vs Mat. 11. Mat 11 30. My yoke is easie my burden is light and my commandements are not greeuous 1 Iohn 5.3 1 Ioh. 5 3. How much more when he saith Eate O my friends drinke and make you merry O my beloued Cant. 5 1 Cant. 5 1. Surely he will do very little for a man who being solemnly bidden and friendly inuited to a feast by his neighbour wil not go to his Table but scornfully refuse and churlishly reiect both the feast and him that called him We cannot thinke he wil do any great thing for vs neither can we make any great account of his fauor and friendship that will not come to supper vnto vs being kindly and curteously intreated In like manner what can we assure our hearts that we will do for Christ that wil not feast with Christ It is well said of Cyprian How will that man drinke the cup of Martyrdome for Christ that will not drinke the cup of saluation with Christ How will he suffer death for him that will not reioyce with him nor eate and drinke in his presence Remember therefore that the partaking of this Sacrament is to our great benefit he that eateth of this bread shall not hunger againe he that drinketh of his blood shall neuer thirst againe Remember that he which findeth good by any thing that he doth needeth no great inuiting much lesse compelling and enforcing He needeth no law to inforce him the loue of it will sufficiently allure him It is enough to compell such as feele no benefit by it and haue no regard of it But such as loue his last Supper and haue felt the benefit of it and haue tasted the sweetnesse of this feast need no compelling nor deuising of excuses to iustifie their absence Remember that God will not alwayes beare with our contempt nor put vp the wrong that is offered vnto him He is indeed very patient and a God of much long suffering he is content to warne vs oftentimes and to with-hold his hand from punishing of vs but if we abuse his patience we prouoke him to plague vs with diuers iudgements If he send out his messengers and we refuse to come at the first call he may forbeare vs or at the second cal he may peraduenture bear it at our hands in hope of repentance but if we harden our hearts and stop our eares when he calleth he hath passed sentence vpon vs already we shall not eate of his Supper For when this feast is kept in his Church Christ himselfe commeth among them and surueyeth his guests he looketh for vs to meete vs at his Table if he see our places often empty be sure he will misse vs and aske for vs and not alwayes suffer it euen as Saul did beare with Dauids absence the first day of the feast and spake not any thing 1 Sam. 20 ●● 27. but when his roome was empty the second day he held his peace no longer and Ionathans excuse serued not God may beare with our dulnesse and negligence for a while but if we be absent from day to day and can alledge no iust excuse for our absence we may be well assured he will not take it at our hands For as a fearefull iudgement hangeth ouer his head that commeth vnprepared and eateth vnworthily so is he guilty of iudgement that refuseth to come at all It is not enough to say we come not vnworthily for as wel negligence in not comming is a sinne as want of reuerence in our comming We cannot be excused by pleading for our selues I thanke God I am not as many others I come not vnfitted and vnprepared to the Lords Table I presse not in among his guests I do not come ignorantly and vnworthily without knowledge without faith without

Cyprian lib. 4. epist 7. that such as are sprinkled with water being sicke are no lesse truely baptized then such as are otherwise washed But let vs see who they are that haue right and interest in baptisme and who are capable of this Sacrament For not euery one without respect without difference without distinction is to bee admitted to this priuiledge because they are not fitte receiuers thereof If a Minister should take the outward element and vse the word of institution baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy-Ghost yet it can bee no Sacrament vnlesse the deliuerer haue authority to administer it and the party baptized haue warrant to receiue it If hee should baptize a stone or an Image or a bruit beast without reason and vnderstanding these are no fit receiuers heere is an apparant and flat nullity whereby appeareth farther the truth of the former rule that besides the ioyning of the word to the outward signe there is necessarily required a fitted person to be partaker of the Sacrament as is more at large expressed Booke 3. Chap. 3. To proceede b Who are in the couenant wee must know that the receiuers are such as are within the couenant and such as professe the truth whether in truth or not wee leaue to GOD that searcheth the hearts and reines c Rom. 14 4. let vs not iudge another mans seruant he standeth or falleth to his owne maister Againe such as are borne in the couenant are of two sorts First men and women of yeares Secondly infants that are the seede of the faithfull For the faithfull do beleeue for themselues and for others as in bargaines they couena●● and contract for themselues and their heires after them for euer Although children cannot be saide to be saued by their fathers faith no more then to liue by the fathers soule inasmuch as the Prophet d Hab. 2 4. Rom. 1 17. Gal. 3 11. Heb. 10 38. teacheth That the iust shall liue by his owne faith yet the faith of the parents maketh their children to be counted in the couenant who by reason of their age cannot yet actually beleeue as they that want all knowledge and vnderstanding e Ionah 4 11. not discerning the right hand from the left Euery man liueth this temporall life by his owne soule so euery man liueth the eternall life by his owne faith True it is baptisme is a common seale But as all haue not interest to the pasture herbage and priuiledges of a Commons but onely such as are tenants according to the custome of the manor so all haue not title to baptisme being a Sacrament of the Church but onely such as are the Lords people according to the tenour of the couenant Touching the first sort of such as are to be baptized they are men women of riper yeares who adioyne themselues to the Church testifie their repentance hold the foundation of religion f Acts 8.36 and confesse their faith as Acts 8. If thou beleeuest thou maiest bee baptized The second sort are infants within the couenant g 1 Cor. 7 14. which haue both their parents or one at the least faithfull as 1 Cor. 7 14. The vnbeleeuing husband is sanctified to the wife and the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified to the husband else were your children vncleane but now they are holy Where the Apostle sheweth that albeit a beleeuer bee vnequally yoaked and matched with an vnbeleeuer yet he is not to be forsaken nor the marriage bed to be accounted polluted inasmuch as their children are sanctified to God and the Church as well as if they were borne of both parents faithfull For so the children of the Israelites being of the posterity of Abraham are included in the couenant of God We are not curiously to enquire into the secret counsell and election of God we must h We must hope well of the seed of the faithfull and there●ore we baptize them hold all the seed of the faithfull holy vntill they cut off themselues and in processe of time openly declare themselues to be strangers from the promises of saluation Againe the same Apostle i Rom. 11 16 Gen. 17 7. saith Rom. 〈◊〉 If the first fruites be holy so is the whole lumpe if the roote bee holy so are the branches So likewise God testifieth Gen. 17. I will establ sh my couenant betweene me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an euerlasting couenant to be a God to thee and to thy seede after thee Such onely were circumcised as were within the couenant Notwithstanding they which were borne of vnbeleeuing parents and were strangers from the common-wealth of Israel and aliants from the promises of saluation if they acknowledged the errors in which they liued and sought forgiuenes of their former sins were accounted the childrē of faithfull Abraham were admitted into the Church and receiued circumcision as the apostles said to the Iailer k Act. 16 30.31 humbled vnder the mighty hand of God and desiring to be instructed in the way of saluation Beleeue in the Lord IESVS CHRIST and thou shalt be saued and thy whole houshold So the Euangelist testifieth the like of Zacheus when he had once receiued CHRIST into his house nay which is more into his heart l Luk. 19 9. then Iesus saide vnto him This day is saluation come vnto this house forasmuch as he is also become the sonne of Abraham Thus when the Sunne of righteousnesse shineth vpon the head and maister of the family the beames thereof by a gracious influence begin to comfort and conserue m Act. 16 14 3 15. 1 Cor. 1 16. Ioh. 4 53. 2 Ioh verse 1. al the rest in the house like the precious oyntment vpon the head of Aaron that ranne downe vpon the beard and descended vpon the borders of his garments or like the dew that falleth from heauen vpon Hermon and the Mountaines of Sion n Psal 133.2 which goeth downe into the vallies and maketh all the plaine country fertill The knowledge of this point offereth diuers profitable Vse 1 vses to our consideration and consolation First it is the duty of all those that are within the couenant to giue their bodies to be washed and to receiue that washing in the face and presence of the Congregation Let such as are of yeares desire and craue this Sacrament let them claime this priuiledge o Act. 8 36. 22 16. let them demand to bee baptized according to the example of the Eunuch Acts 8. So soone as he was instructed in the faith of Christ by the preaching of Philip as he came to a certaine water he said of his owne accord See heere is water what doth let me to be baptized So to the same purpose Act. 22. Ananias stirreth vp Paul to this duty saying Why tariest thou Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sinnes Secondly this condemneth sundry corruptions and