Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	eternal_a	life_n	11,601	5	4.9057	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26964	The nonconformists advocate, or, A farther account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written principally in vindication of A letter from a minister to a person of quality, shewing some reasons for his nonconformity, modesty answering the exceptions of two violent opposers of the said reasons.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1680 (1680)	Wing B1318; ESTC R1328	72,144	90

that score deny his Babe Christendom He saith in such a Case the answer is plain that he ought not Though here he speaks without Book I mean the Common-prayer Book and against the Order of it in the Baptizing of Infants Whereas you say on the contrary in these words That odium he meaning me would load the Minister with that shall deny to Administer Baptism to them who come not according to the Rule of the Church are surely it should be is referring to odium besides our Argument 't is sufficient he the Minister hath no Title I think you mean hath no right for I am often at a loss to unriddle you so to do it that he is more serious in his function than to be knowingly unjust either to the trust the Church or God himself as I may say hath reposed in him If a Father come to have his Child Baptized but not according to the Rules of the Church The Minister has no Title so to do it and therefore in such Circumstances will be more just to the trust reposed in him than to Baptize the said Child If this be not the purport and intention of your words you speak unintelligibly but if they be you fight against your fellow Souldier yea and against Truth it self Shall we obey God or Man Christ hath said Go and disciple all Naions Baptizing them in the name of the Father c. and among others the Children of believing professing Parents simply because they are so This is the True Gospel trust put into the hands of Gospel Ministers well but the Church or man commands to Baptize them with God-Fathers and God Mothers and the sign of the Cross meer accidents and accessories forreign from the Nature and Essence of Baptism but only invented and imposed from Humane Tradition which therefore some weak and Scrupelous believers question and fear as a profanation of that Holy Ordinance and accordingly dare not so address themselves with their Children unto Baptism But now shall their Babes upon this account be denyed their birth-right Shall they be denyed a priviledge so excellent and so desirable Shall a pitiful order of the Church in Comparison over-rule and obtain Shall it be heeded and observed by the Minister more than the Regia placita of heaven it self God forbid I Objected against the order for the burial of the dead because what is there spoken to God and man though often at the interment of the worst of sinners is spoken of them as if they had been Saints and most devout Holy persons and their Souls then in a safe and happy State For first the Congregation by the mouth of the Minister speaks as it were to themselves one to another concerning the party deceased Forasmuch as it hath pleased God of his great mercy to take unto himself the Soul of our dear brother He is a Brother a dear Brother his Soul is now taken by God taken in mercy in great mercy and it is taken to himself And then when Corps is put into the Grave he continues his speech in these words we therefore commit his body to the ground in a sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to Eternal life Then Secondly the Congregation in the close of the Office by the mouth of the Minister speaks unanimously to God we meekly beseech the O Father to raise us from the death of sin to the life of righteousness that when we shall depart this life we may rest in him Christ Jesus as our hope is this our Brother doth What can be said more if the most Holy Martyr or confessour if Stephen again were carried to his Burial Let him be a Nabal a Cain a Judas yet here is if I might use the Word his Apotheosis his enthronization among the Crowned in Celestial glory You say I have only this to say That it is in the judgment of Charity we prenounce this of all I answer Charity with judgment is a gracious Excellency but without judgment it is the greatest absurdity and nothing else but the vain opinion of an over-pittiful simplicity But if Charity be with judgment then it must have some Rule of judging and if the right Golden Rule then this Rule is the Word for I know no other Now if Charity hath this Golden Rule of the Word to judge by then Charity can have no hope for some many flagitious abominable sinners so living and so dying when they are brought to be buried as suppose two Hectors falling out and fighting for a Miss and both killing one another in the place or let it be one of them which happens too too often suppose some High-way Gentlemen in the very Act of Robbery shot down stark dead the same moment by the Honest Traveller and thus I might instance in many like Cases Here if we will speak soberly and according to Truth we can have no hope nothing being written in the whole Bible from end to end to ground the least of any such hope upon Here to mention what happened to the Thief upon the Cross and what may be the dealings of God with the most profane wretch at the last Minute as you do and what may befall the most profligate persons inter pontem fontem as some others is a vain execuse and cannot afford the least shew or shadow of a just Apology As for the Thief upon the Cross a wonderful Act of mercy was extended to him at the last by an extraordinary priviledge at an extraordinary occasion but withal we know what a wonderful extraordinary Testimony he gave of his Faith and of the Change of his heart before expiration The order for the burial of the dead might have been proper enough at his interment but would it also have been as proper at the interment of the other his Copartner in sin Had he suffered in England supposing all things then as now he might have then been buried according to Liturgy For I see none else excluded but the unbaptized Excommunicate and laying violent hands upon themselves and yet even these also upon your grounds may equally be admitted to Christian burial I am sure the first of them the unbaptized may upon far better and as for the worst of the other who knows how gracious God may be in his dealings with them in the last Minute Who knows None can know and because none can know therefore none can hope for hope without knowledge is a meer Nullity As for what we know concerning such abominable wicked workers if we believe the Holy Scripture which saith Neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor revilers nor Extortioners shall ever inherit the Kingdome of God which saith without regeneration and holiness no man shall see the Lord and every where to the like purpose it speaks their condition desperate and damned and therefore with silence but without hope we must leave them wholly to the disposition and

the Sign of the Cross You know not what remark to make on this but leave it to my self and every impartial Reader to think on it Though you do not know what Remark to make on my Objection yet I know what Remarks to make on your Confutation for plainly I observe in it falseness and weakness First there is a great untruth in it for though you say The Church of England has expresly ordered in that private form of baptizing to baptize Children without Godfathers and Godmothers or the Sign of the Cross yet there is no such thing expressed or mentioned in the Order but at the uttermost it is only supposed by a Mute and will you call silence expression Here I leave you to your self and serious thoughts so likewise to the thoughts of the impartial Reader how far you can stretch to bring in an Accusation If the Minister in private Baptism should sign the Infant baptized with the Sign of the Cross would he cross the intent of that silent which you call express Order yea or not I believe nothing at all which to do had it been an expressed or declared Order would have been a manifest violation of the same And then as to Godfathers and Godmothers they are both mentioned and interrogated and as clearly brought in for the Consummation of private Baptism as in publick Secondly There is a great weakness in our Confutation for my Objection lies against the manner of baptizing in ordinary and you answer me from the manner of baptizing in extraordinary as in case of any apparent danger of death What can only Parents whose Children are in danger of death have these scruples mentioned by me against Godfathers and Godmothers and against the Sign of the Cross and not multitudes besides them How shall the Children of these how scrupulous soever they be as you avouch they may come to their Christendom What shall these whether these Children be in imminent peril of death yea or not come with a lye in their mouths to the Minister and say Pray Sir baptize our Children according to the private order of Baptism for they are ready to die though they are not Well he comes and on the contrary sees their Children strong and well ought he now to baptize them according to the private or publick form Surely according to the publick because the pretended necessity of the private is found a falsity Here ergo the scrupulous Parents are at the same Bar as at the beginning and their Children as far from being baptized as ever and this too because the Minister will not and according to order ought not to baptize their Children without Godfathers and Godmothers and the Sign of the Cross Now what I have here spoken is not an idle Supposition and ● meer Imagination but I have reason to believe it a real truth i● matter of fact for I know the Person very well who has again and again been desired by Parents to baptize their Children and being unwilling and averse to intermeddle in that affair hath sincerely counselled the said Parents to have a recourse to their own Parish-Minister to do it for them whose proper office it was but they have replied He will not baptize our Children without Godfathers and Godmothers and we know not where to get them My last scruple was against the Order and Office for the Burial of the Dead wherein we have as much said as can well be signified and expressed by word or tongue concerning the most certain salvation and happiness of every one buried by the Minister though of the worst of men though of the most flagitious and facinorous persons so living and so dying What think you of S. Coleman the Traytor I am assured from an Eye and Ear-witness that he was buried in S. Giles's Church-yard by one of the Readers and by the Common-Prayer Book and so perhaps were the rest not of the Loyal but Liolan and lying Saints after him At every such Interment the Minister saith Forasmuch as it hath pleased God of his great mercy to take unto himself the Soul of our dear Brother here departed c. What can more plainly signifie the safety and bliss of such a Soul what can more fully declare the love and favour of God towards it and place it in Heaven You say It is no more than that of Solomon in the Ecclesiastes Chap. 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it But surely in my judgment God his taking to himself and this too in mercy in great mercy every such particular soul whose body is committed to the ground sounds and imports much more than Solomon intended by his returning of the Spirit unto God after death for the whole verse is but a general description of death and to give us to understand that after death the Body goes one way and the Soul another the Body to the Ground and the Soul unto God that is ad Deum Judicem unto God as unto a Judge before whose dreadful Tribunal the Soul immediately after death shall be brought to appear and there shall be sentenced according to desert either to weal or woe for ever and ever This is quite another thing from God his receiving of every Soul departed in great mercy to himself which implies the happy and setled state and abode of such a Soul in the place of Gods abode to all Eternity You say To return to God and to be taken to him signifies to be put in the immediate disposal of God and for your Authority and Vouch you quote one Mr. Falkner I see by your often quotations of him you securely rely upon him as if he were an unerring Oracle and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unanswerable demonstration nevertheless I know not the man nor ever yet set eye upon any of his learned Lucubrations and therefore how truly or how falsly you have quo●ed or perhaps transcribed him I can neither affirm or deny I freely grant him to be a Reverend Person of great Abilities according as you have reported him notwithstanding my Faith and Perswasion depend not upon his sense and judgment nor indeed of any mans else though otherwise the most Renowned for Learning in the Age but only upon the Infallible Truth of Gods Word and therefore will follow him and you also as far as ye follow that but no further He saith according to your quotation Our Church acknowledgeth to be an act of mercy in God through the Grace of Christ who hath the Keys of Hell and Death that dying persons do not forthwith go into the power of the Devil who had the power of Death but do immediately go into the hands of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ to be disposed of by him according to the promises and conditions of the Gospel-Covenant c. These are his words but can these be verified

into the Covenant of Grace Here again I might fasten upon you the opus operatum conferring grace as well as you upon me from a lesser cause but I pass it by to tell you of another errour for children of believers were actually i.e. really and truly in the Covenant of Grace before their Baptism because it is by vertue of their interest in that Covenant that they are admitted to that Ordinance Baptism is but an open Declaration of that which before was more latent and implicit it strengthens our Claim to the Covenant but our Title was good and sure before In a word Baptism is as the mutual sealing when both sides are agreed the Articles are drawn up all things are concluded and now only to be consummated by setting their Hands and Seals Children say you baptized and dying before actual sin are undoubtedly saved that is put at least in a salvable condition I answer After all your strong Proofs and Arguments you faint in your great Assertion and very tamely are contented to come down to lower Terms Vndoubtedly saved that is to be in a Salvable condition You are like the wise Steward who instead of an Hundred Talents willed the Debtor to write down Fifty Vndoubtedly saved and to be put into a Salvable condition are no Synonyma's for the last is far short from an Equipolency to the first There is a vast difference between a Non posse non vivere and a posse non mori between a necessary enjoyment of life with the utmost security from death and the most possible yea probable attainment of life cum formidine contrarij with the hazzard of the contrary Of these two Undoubtedly saved is the first and a Salvable condition is the last You know the Proverb A bird in the hand Undoubtedly saved is a Ship arrived put in and safely come to shore past all danger a Salvable condition is a ship far off on the main Though she be a stout and strong built Vessel with all her Tacklings firme and compleat and in a good and likely way to make a prosperous Voyage yet she may miscarry and perish in the deep Your paraphrase therefore is paradox to the Text though sound and Orthodox in it self Children Baptized are indeed in a Salvable condition not only before but also after they have committed actual sin yea according to the Doctrine of the Liturgy in the order appointed for the burial of the dead not only Children but grown up men committing actual sins sins of the deepest die most gross immoralities not to be named among Christians Heaven-daring and Hell-deserving sins all the days of their lives unto their last Exit are still in a Salvable condition Or else how can they be thought to be in an hope-able condition You know what is read over all such when they are brought to the Grave That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him in Christ as our hope is this our Brother doth There is a Gospel without an hope to relie upon the promise of it and there is an hope I see without a Gospel to justifie the reason of it But that remains yet to be discussed I therefore return to the matter before us Children Baptized are in a Salvable condition that is in a right hopeful and probable way of salvation according to the Gospel For though Christ hath said it many are called and few are Chosen and though from hence even because of the multitude who are called into Gods Family continually by Baptisme as from other Objections some Scruples may arise in our minds powerful enough to take off and hinder the full Assurance and certain belief of the undoubted Salvation of all such yet because the secret things of Election belong wholly to God and the revealed things of the outward call only unto us we according to what is revealed unto us in that outward call may and ought to judge Charitably concerning all Infants Baptized and hope well of their Eternal State In the general we have good reason to believe that God will own and bless his own Ordinances and grant Salvation to his people in his own ways and Institutions appointed for such an end Truth hath said it He that believeth and his Baptized shall be saved Children I confess cannot actually believe and so perhaps this promise is not properly theirs yet they cannot wholly be debarred of it for even in their infancy the seed of Grace and the seed of Faith may be sown and Rooted in their Hearts but however they are actually Baptized which leads on directly to the Blessing there mentioned and has such a full and fair Aspect upon the same that I would not be wanting of the Ordinance of Baptisme my self nor deprive my Children of it for Thousands of Gold and Silver and the rather because Wisdom hath said again Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God You have therefore my vote and suffrage for the Salvable condition Children Baptized I leave them in the way of life while yet they are living in via Salutis dum viatores but how they can be thought or said to be so in termino after they are gone to their long lasting Everlasting home or how you can apply this for the vindication of the Rubrick is beyond my understanding It is certain by Gods Word that Children which are Baptized dying before they commit actual sin are undoubtedly saved that is say you in your explanation they are put at least in a Salvable condition what are they still but in a Salvable condition after dying I shall make no remark upon this remarkable but am ready to Trespass another way even volens nolens Quis tale legendo Temperet a risu Nevertheless this shall be spoken for your Honour that you are a more generous Opponent than the former for you intrepedly and Heroickly own justifie the Truth of the Rubrick when as he most basely and sneakingly would have shuffled it off by the slight of evasion not allowing it any place in his assent and consent though it hath evidently a place in the Liturgy and is a part of the whole But then on the other side I think him more sober than your self though he call a certain query of mine A raving question which was this since Baptizing gives such an unquestionable Title unto heaven may a Minister deny the Ordinance to any infant whatsoever if he might be permitted to Administer it In particular I brought down the question to a True believer whose Child had an unquestionable right unto Gospel Baptisme according to the Terms and conditions of the Gospel Whether if such a believer should bring his Child to the Font and desire the Minister to have it Baptized but yet either out of weakness or tenderness of Conscience Scruples God-Fathers and God-Mothers and the sign of the Cross and dares not admit of them the Minister may and ought upon