Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	adam_n	infant_n	sin_n	4,766	5	6.2598	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77497	The doctrine and practice of paedobaptisme, asserted and vindicated. By a large and full improovement of some principall arguments for it, and a briefe resolution of such materiall objections as are made against it. Whereunto is annexed a briefe and plaine Enarration, both doctrinall and practicall, upon Mark 10.V.13.14.15.16. As it was some time since preached in the church of Great Yarmouth: now published for an antidote against those yet spreading errours of the times, Anabaptisme and Catabaptisme. / By Joh. Brinsley.	Brinsley, John, 1600-1665.	1645 (1645)	Wing B4712; Thomason E300_14; ESTC R200258	127,125	196

and all his family were circumcised In the selfe same day was Abraham circumcised and all the men of his house And the like we read of Baptisme As it came in the ro●me of Circumcision being the initiall seal of the Covenant as Circumcision was so it was administred after the same manner to the whole family Where the head of the family believed presently we read that they and all theirs were baptized Thus we read in that 16. of the Acts first of Lydia v. 15. God having opened her heart she was baptized and her houshold Then of the Iaylour v. 33. being wrought upon by the Apostles Ministery he came and was baptized he and all his Thus be they what they will being once in Covenant they may and ought to be baptized So runs the Apostles Commission Go teach all Nations Mat. 28. 19. And will you have the ground and reason of it why the administration of this Ordinance should be so universall consider but these two things 1. The universality of mans sin and misery and secondly The universality of Gods offer of grace and mercy 1. Mans misery is universall All have sinned Rom. 3. 23. And sinning died Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5. 12. Such is the condition of all the sonnes of men by nature They are all concluded and shut up under sinne and death so shut up as without the free grace of God in Christ pardoning their sinnes and healing their natures they cannot possibly be saved Even Infants that never sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression viz. by committing actuall sinne yet being sinners by nature by nature children of wrath they stand in need of Christ as well as any other And consequently they stand in need of this laver of regeneration this Sacrament of initiation whereby their spirituall washing from the guilt and spot of sinne and their ingrafting into Christ may be sealed up unto them and declared unto others All sorts of persons stand in need of Christ and consequently of this Sacrament which sealeth up their interest in Christ 2. And secondly as mans misery is universall so is the tender of Gods grace and mercy held forth to all men Goe teach all Nations Mat. 28. Goe preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16. 15. Thus Christ sent forth his Apostles and thus he now sendeth forth his Ministers with Commission to offer Christ and salvation by Christ to all that will receive him beleeve on him submit to him And reaching forth the thing signified hee also reacheth forth the signe even this Sacrament of Baptisme which is therefore to be administred alike unto all because Christ is offered alike unto all I meane all sorts of persons and is alike to all There is neither Iew nor Greeke i. e. Gentile there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Iesus Being all alike in Christ they ought alike to be baptised into him By one spirit we are all baptised into one body whether we be Iewes or Gentiles c. Thus all that are in Covenant ought to be baptised 2. And in the second place Onely they This being a seale of the Covenant ought not to be administred unto any but unto those which are or in the judgement of charity may be thought to be within the Covenant By this rule must the Church proceed in dispencing of this Ordinance not by the judgement of Infallibility and Certainty but of Charity To know infallibly who is within the Covenant this none can doe but God and a mans owne soule The Churches rule is the rule of charity Those who by the law of charity may bee thought and are to be reputed within the Covenant of Grace they all they and only they may and ought to partake of this Ordinance Q. Here then the great Question now falls in Who they are that in the judgement of charity are to bee thought to be within the Covenant A. Hereunto we answer All that professe the faith of Christ and their children Both these the eye of charity looketh upon as Christians and being such it cannot deny them the badge of their Christianity the seale of that Covenant wherein they are presumed to be As for the former of these we shall meet with no great difference about them Persons professing the faith of Christ may and ought to be baptised For this Scripture is expresse when the Eunuch put the question to Philip See here is water what doth hinder me to be baptised Philip returnes him this answer If thou beleevest with all thine heart thou mayest Those three thousand Converts Act. 2. 41. upon the receiving of Peters word his doctrine they were baptised Thus Simon Magus and the rest of Samaria upon their beleeving i. e. making a profession of faith they were baptised both men and women Thus all that professe the faith of Christ professing it with their mouthes and not denying it in their lives they have a right unto Baptisme And why Because in judgement of charity they are to be reputed Christians and to be within the Covenant True it is if we speake of Christians in truth in reality then they only are Christians who have received Christ into their hearts by faith and love in whose hearts Christ is formed He is not a Iew saith the Apostle which is one outwardly And so may we say He is not a Christian that is one outwardly that hath only the name and profession of a Christian Yet in a large sense they which make so much as a generall profession of Christ of faith in Christ and subjection to Christ they are to be accounted Christians And by vertue therof they may and ought to be baptised Upon this profession Iohn the Baptist baptized those that came unto him And so did the Apostles those which came unto them however in some of them that profession was hypocriticall and unsound as in Simon Magus Ananias Saphira c. yet the Apostles looking upon them with an eye of charity and judging of them according to their profession they admitted them unto this Ordinance Neither doe we read of any whom they refused or yet brought to an exacter scrutiny and tryall touching the inward worke of grace in their hearts who did make such a profession and confession And thus ought all those who are come to yeares of discretion before they are baptised be admitted to it As viz. Pagans and Infidels such as are borne and brought up without the pale of the Church not descended from Christian parents Before they be admitted to this Sacrament they ought first to be instructed in the faith of Christ in the principles and rudiments of Christian Religion Being thus instructed then they are to declare and testifie their voluntary imbracing of that faith together with their repentance

to be members of the Church and to have any right to the Covenant of grace Herein how injurious are they to the Kingdome of Christ In cutting off so considerable a part from all communion with the head and bodie Christ and his Church The story tels us of the Israelites when they had done the great execution upon the Benjamites They sate downe and wept repenting them for Benjamin their brother because there was a Tribe cut off from Israel that day Judg. last And what lesse doth the Anabaptist in cutting off Infants from communion with Christ and his Church In so doing there is a Tribe cut off from Israel which though it be the Tribe of Benjamin the youngest Tribe yet is it not the least but a very great and considerable part of this bodie This act of theirs cals for repentance To which leaving them Take wee heed lest any of us come under the same guilt in any other kinde least we be any wayes back-friends to the Kingdome of Christ by with drawing our selves or others from visible communion with the misteriall bodie of Christ Our selves If any man with-draw himselfe my soule shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10. Others by seducing them drawing them from visible communion with Christ in his Ordinances What is this but a dismembring of the bodie of Christ A thing which he cannot but be sensible of I wish they may so be who stand guilty of it David when hee had but cut off the lap from Sauls garment the skirt of his role his heart smote him What is it then to cut off a lambe from the bodie of Christ Take wee heed of having any hand in it Can wee doe any thing to enlarge and encrease the Kingdome of Christ this doe wee And as all ought to doe it so the Ministers of Christ in speciall whom Christ hath sent forth with the same commission as that great feast-maker in the Gospel did his servant ordering him to goe into the streets and lanes and high wayes and hedge rowes and to bring in all that he met with compelling them to come in that his house might be filled This are we the Ministers of Christ to doe Invite perswade command compell I meane in a spirituall way making use of spirituall weapons which are the weapons of our warfare viz. the sword of the spirit put into our mouthes compell men all sorts of persons to come in unto Iesus Christ that they may have communion with him and benefit by him But what then must men be forced to come unto Christ To have communion with him in his Ordinances though against or without their wils Not so Thy people shall be willing or come willingly in the day of thy power They which come to Christ must come willingly So did they which brought these Infants here in the text This is the maine worke of the ministers of Christ to worke upon the wills of men of unwilling to make them willing to bring off their wills to desire and seek communion with Christ that they may come and come willingly But what if they doe come and come willingly offering and tendering themselves to visible communion with Christ are they now to be received admitted to the Ordinances Surely yes Vnlesse there be some just obstacle to hinder them That was the case of these Infants here in the text They were brought unto Christ and the●e was no just obstacle to hinder them and therefore the disciples ought not to have kept them back No more for ought I know ought the Ministers of Christ to repell and reject any who come willingly unto Christ desiring communion with him in his ordinances I meane in the Sacraments whether Baptisme or the Lords Supper There being no just obstacle no just exception against them they ought not to keep them back True it is where there is a just obstacle as viz. where the person is ignorant or scandalous in this case there ought to be a suspension from these ordinances Sacred things ought not to be prostituted to all comers But otherwise I see not how the ministers of Christ can debar any from visible communion with Christ who offer themselves to it without incurring the displeasure of their Lord and master as here the disciples did by putting back these Infants against whom no just exception lay When he saw it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee was much displeased saying suffer little children to come unto me c. And so I am fallen upon the second particular observable in this Historie which informes us what our Saviour said to his disciples upon this act of theirs Where we may first take notice of the charge hee giveth them viz. that they should freely permit children to come unto him Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not A double charge or rather one and the same charge expressed 1. Positively suffer little children c. Then Negatively And forbid them not The latter is but an inforcement of the former Put them together they hold forth unto us this maine truth That the grace of Christ extendeth even ●●to Infants Infants have a right to and interest in Christ and are capable of benefit by him as well as others Wherefore else should Christ call them unto himselfe So hee did as St. Luke noteth it But Jesus called them unto him Them i. e. the Infants So the Greek expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And wherefore else should he give so strict a charge concerning them that they should have free accesse unto him Had hee no interest in them nor they in him Surely the grace of Christ reacheth them as well as others It must needs be so otherwise there were no hope of salvation for them In Adam the first Adam all dyed The roote dying all the branches dyed in it and with it So as now the whole posteritie of Adam are all concluded and shut up under death Death passed upon all for that all have sinned saith the Apostle All subject to a temporall lying under the power of a spirituall bound over unto an eternall death Such amongst other is the condition of Infants which appeareth in that they are subject to temporall death as well as others Death reigned from Adam unto Moses even ●ver them which had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression i. e. over Infants who had not sinned as Adam did actually in their owne persons Yet death reigned over them they were subject to a temporall death as well as others A plaine evidence that they were and are guiltie of eternall death as well as others Now there is no way no meanes of deliverance no way to be freed and exempted from this common condition but by Christ Even as in Adam all died so in Christ shall all bemade alive saith the Apostle i. e. all that are in him Even as all

that were in the first Adam dyed in him so all that are in the second Adam Christ shall bee quickned in him Or all that are made alive they are made alive in Christ and by Christ Freed from eternall death by his merit from spirituall death by his Spirit from temporall death by his Power I am the Way the Truth and the Life No life but in by and through the second Adam Christ So as if Infants ever come to eternall life they must come by and through Christ as well as others There being no name by which Salvation can be expected but only the name of Iesus Christ But how can Infants have any interest in Christ or receive any benefit by him when as they cannot come unto him This our blessed Saviour saith all that his Father hath given him must do and shall do All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me c. Now what is it to come unto Christ Why to believe on him So our Saviour himselfe explaineth it vers 35. He that commeth unto mee shall never hunger and he that believeth on mee shall never thirst The latter explaines the former To come unto Christ is to believe on him Now this Infants cannot doe How then can they be said to have any interest in Christ or receive any benefit by him Answ To this it is answered diversly Some in the first place conceive that in this case the faith of the Parents is sufficient Hereby the children of believers say they are brought unto Christ even as these children here they were brought unto Christ in the armes of their Parents so are Infants say they brought home unto Christ in the armes of their Parents faith laying hold upon the Covenant of grace both for themselves and their children Secondly Others conceive that even Infants are subjects capable of faith if not of actuall yet of habi●●all faith Germen fidei a seed of faith the Spirit of God working in them promodulo according to their capacities Hereof I have spoken more fully heretofore Thirdly For the present in the third place let it bee sufficient that some of them are given unto Christ in Gods eternall Election And being given unto him they shall come unto him one way or other All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me If they live to yeares of discretion they shall come unto him as I may say upon their owne feet by an actuall faith In the meane time they are brought unto him by a secret worke of the Spirit working upon their natures in a hidden and mysterious way for the changing and ren●w●●g of them Herein if we know not the way yet let not us question the thing seeing we have so plaine an expression from the mouth of truth it selfe Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not Applic. A Charge and a Prohibition both so direct against the Anabaptists of the times as if they had been purposely intended against them Whether our blessed Saviour did foresee what errors would spring up in these last times and so intended to make this as a Provision against them I will not say But sure I am a more direct Provision could not have beene made In denying Baptisme unto Infants what doe Anabaptists lesse than the Disciples here did even as much as in them lyeth forbid children to come unto Christ Which act of theirs how distastefull it was to him the first words of this verse expresse Hee was displeased And how contrary to his minde the like practise is in any other the latter words explaine Suffer little children to come unto me forbid them not For of such is the Kingdome of God Passe we now to our Saviours Reason whereby hee convinceth his Disciples of their errour in repulsing these Infants keeping them backe from comming unto him and consequently as much as in them lay debarring them from entring into that Kingdome to which they have as good a right and title as any others For of such is the Kingdome of God The Kingdome of God by way of Explication in phrase of Scripture is three-fold his Kingdome of Power Grace Glory You have them all three put together in that pithy doxologie the close of the Lords Prayer Thine is the Kingdome the Power and the Glory First Gods Kingdome is his Kingdome of Power even the powerfull government which God exerciseth in and over the world and all the Creatures in it all which are subject to his Providence even the least and most contemptible amongst them The Sparrow upon the house top the hayre of our head both of them numbered and ordered This universall Government is Gods Kingdome The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and in his Kingdome ruleth over all Psal 103. viz. his Kingdome of Power Thy Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome saith the Psalmist Psal 148. What Kingdome why his Kingdome of power So he explaines himselfe vers 11. They shall speake of the glory of thy Kingdome and talke of thy Power Secondly Gods Kingdome is his Kingdome of Grace even that speciall gracious government which hee exerciseth over his Elect whom having Predestinated to Grace and Glory he calleth out of the world to have union aad communion with Jesus Christ the head of this Kingdome guiding and governing them by his Word and Spirit Of this Kingdome we finde frequent mention in the new Testament Seeke first the Kingdome of God saith our blessed Saviour viz. his Kingdome of Grace So the following words explaine it The K ngdome of God and his Righteousnesse viz. Righteousnesse of Iustification and Sanctification wherein this Kingdome of Grace consisteth The Kingdome of God is Righteousnesse saith the Apostle The Kingdome of God is within you faith our Saviour His Kingdome of Grace Thirdly Gods Kingdome is his Kingdome of Glory even that glorious and blessed estate wherin himselfe reigneth and shall reigne with millions of Saints and Angels unto all eternity full of heavenly glory and felicity Of this speaketh our Saviour Feare not little flocke it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdome viz. the Kingdome of Heaven which is the Kingdome of God Know ye not saith the Apostle that the un-righteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God A three-fold Kingdome Quest Now of which of these shall we understand our Saviour here in the Text Answ To this I might answer not of one but of all Take it which way we will we shall finde a truth in it Of such is the Kingdome of God First His Kingdome of power Infants they are subjects of this Kingdome Over them God exerciseth a Providence a speciall providence and that both in the wombe and from the wombe David acknowledgeth both as touching himselfe Thou hast covered mee in my mothers wombe Psal 139. Thou art hee that tooke