Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	according_a	pray_v	prayer_n	1,046	5	6.5771	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50609	Vindiciæ fœderis, or, A vindication of the interest that the children of believers as such have in the covenant of grace with their parents under the Gospel-dispensation being the substance of two sermons, with additions preached to a congregation in Wapping : also some seasonable reflections upon various unsound and cruel passages taken forth of two furious books of Mr. H. Collins printed against infant-baptism / by Fran. Mence.	Mence, Francis, 1639?-1696?	1694 (1694)	Wing M1703; ESTC R27509	104,587	170

that here might be some Women Ay but that must be drawn by consequence Certainly we must not doubt but that in the Churches of Ephesus Philippi Coloss and all the Churches of Asia had Baptism among them yet this must be concluded by consequences or no way as I understand According to the Analogy of Faith Evangelical Duties are not alwayes grounded upon Express Commands either in Old or New Testament but from consequences drawn from either as the Duties of praying Morning and Evening in the Family and also in the Closet alone daily reading of the Scriptures and prefix'd time of Meditation setting apart a Time or Day to seek God by Prayer in a more than ordinary manner Many more things might have been mentioned and improved in this Affair How can any Man that is so prove himself to be a Minister of Christ Or any serious and pious Christian that he hath an Interest in Christ that he hath Saving and Special Grace and is an Heir of Heaven but by consequence How many Arguments do the Anabaptists found upon consequences to prove their Believers Baptism When they make for them then they can cleave to them and make the utmost Improvement but when they make against them then they be of no use or validity but they cry out Give us plain and positive Proofs and an absolute Command for such Infant-sprinkling as reproachfully they phrase it which my Antagonist is wonderfully subject to One great Reason why many well-minded Christians run away with their Notion of rejecting Infants Baptism is their not wisely considering and pondering upon what I have though in much weakness said of the Covenant and of the new Administration of it in the Times of the Gospel An Excellent Specimen we have of it in our Text where the Gospel that never was before in its recent Administration is preached and believed by those that never were before baptized there the Adult do enter into covenant with their Children and both ought to be baptized and afterwards this is confirmed by whole Families that were so Alas it followeth not that because we read that those that were never under the Gospel Administration were never baptized before but many were Heathens and Gentiles and were upon their Faith and Repentance admitted into covenant and received the Seal of it that therefore their Children that enter into the same Covenant must be excluded the same Token or Seal of the Covenant but the quite contrary is true for still the Promise runs to you and your Children 7. This Doctrine doth inform us that Children are capable of sundry Blessings of Baptism and that because they are with their Parents graciously taken into Covenant most certainly the God of Grace would never have conferred this priviledge in vain this Seal is not for blanks God hath great Grace and Mercy to bestow upon them therefore he is pleased to impale them in this inclosure that he may be gracious unto them I need not stand upon this for I have largely discovered to you what singular Blessings of the Covenant they be capable of and what exceeding great and precious Promises are made unto them of which if they are not capable then God hath promised in vain and deluded the faith and hopes of good Parents that are built upon them But who dare be so bold as thus to accuse God I have shewn you how that to Infants God hath made Promises of the Gift of the Holy Ghost of Remission of Sin of Renovation and Regeneration of being taught of God of having the Law of God wrote in their Hearts though they be not capable of Mans teaching yet what cannot the Lord do for them He can as easily by his Spirit frame and fashion the New Creature in them as he could curiously form and fashion them in their Mothers Womb and so it must be otherwise dying Infants can never be saved We have a late confident Writer Mr. H. C. who hath transmitted such things into the World that plainly declare that Infants are not capable of the Blessings of this Ordinance and so by consequence not of the Kingdom of Heaven I will give a few of his bold Sayings very fatal to poor Infants He saith This Ordinance speaking of Baptism cannot concern Infants but Believers because it is a testisication of the Remission of Sins and Salvation to the worthy Receiver and Subject of it What doth he mean by his testification but a Sign and Seal of it then it must inevitably follow that Children are not capable of Habitual Faith nor of the Pardon of Sin for here Believers and Remission of Sin are set in opposition to Infants if what he saith should be true as not capable of either Again he saith That Baptism is a lively representation of Regeneration therefore can only affect Believers meaning adult Believers that he is pleading for to be the only subject of Baptism The Apostle said he alludes to Baptism when he speaks of the washing of Regeneration Tit. 3.5 his meaning is that the Ordinance is a lively body symbol and sign of Regeneration It is very true 't is so but mark how this is brought in and upon what account it is viz. to prove that Believers that is adult ones that profess their Faith Baptism can only affect them it is such a sign body and symbol of Regeneration and the New Birth only So that here Infants are shut out of Regeneration and the New Birth they must not be Baptized because they are not capable of them which is the unavoidable consequence of this desperate Doctrine Again he tells us that in Luke 18. where we read of Infants that were brought to Christ which he took up into his Arms and blessed that the Greek word signifieth a Child capable of teaching Surely if he notwithstanding his flourish of Learning had been able to have examined the Greek word he would not have been so confident as to have spoke thus It is great pride for Men to pretend to have such Learning they never had any Education nor Opportunity to attain unto I have shewed before the proper and true meaning of the Greek word in that place and that from good Authority unto which I refer you and the same that we have in Timothy Let this Man talk of his Learning among those that are not acquainted with his Education and from what his immediate access was to the Pulpit Again he saith If it be their Duty who believe to be Baptized then I infer that those that are not capable of this Grace of Faith are under no Divine Obligation nor their Parents neither to Baptize them it is only a piece of Will-Worship which God never required He speaks of the Grace of Faith in general and denies that any Infants are capable of it no not so much as Habitual Faith if so then I understand no hopes given to their Parents of their Union with Christ Justification Remission and Salvation Again he saith That Infants

visibly declare and set them out to be such Christ hath declared them to be of the Kingdom of Heaven that is of his Church and Parents ought by this Ordinance to represent and openly to declare them to be such This is a visible incorporating of them into this body and a listing them under the Banner of Christ to serve and to cleave unto him They must be put into Christ's List and brought under his Banner though they do him at present but little service Thus we find in the Scripture when God hath called his People solemnly to enter into covenant with him to love him to serve him to obey him they have appeared before the Lord with their Little Ones with them Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. Children that are brought under the Bonds of the Covenant and Listed for the Lord it is their Duty when they attain to understanding to be very sensible of the same and to do and manage themselves accordingly for God will require their dedication and Parental obligation at their Hands 4. By this way Parents do shew their right understanding of and do give a good testimony unto the covenant which the Lord has been pleas'd to gratifie them withal Thus did Abraham by his immediate complying with the Lord in the Seal of it by this they do openly declare their well liking of and their great pleasure they take in the covenant and how joyful and ready they are that their Children should obtain and be made the happy partakers of the Blessings and Priviledges of it and be the open and visible Proprietors with them in it methinks Parents should commend and set out the excellency of this covenant and what sweetness and comfort they have had in it by being very willing and desirous that their children should be within the compass of it and as they have done partake of the rich and eminent Blessings of it Pious Parents do not know how to live in any condition without the covenant and the suitable and seasonable Promises of it and how can they chuse then but be very solicitous and desirous that their children should succeed them in such an Enjoyment and Tenour 5. By this they do testifie their belief of the Truth and of the Faithfulness of God and the Veracity of all the gracious Promises comprehended and lodg'd in the Covenant Indeed the Seal and Token is to assure and to confirm all therefore when the Lord was pleased to establish his Covenant with Abraham and his Seed there was Circumcision as the Seal affixt to be a great Incouragement unto the Faith of Abraham to believe and expect the Accomplishment of all the Covenant-Promises that God had made with him and his Seed for ever Now when Parents that be in covenant do suddenly by this Seal devote and give up their Children to God they do signifie and declare their firm and unboubted Faith in all that God hath promised to them and their Children and in this Matter they put up their Requests to God exercising Faith in the Promises for their Children and so also after in their frequent Requests for Covenant-Mercies for them 6. By this means Parents do as they ought to do lay great Obligations upon themselves unto the greatest care and diligence that may be that their Children may partake of the Internal Part and saving Blessings of the Covenant What a strict Tye and Bond must this be to Parents to be greatly concerned for the Souls and Eternal Salvation of them They have given them up unto God as his Children in a Covenant-Obligation and have ingag'd for them now they must look to their Charge and Trust that the Souls of their Little Ones do not perish through their default by their carelesness and negligence in their discharge of their weighty and incumbent Duty that the Living God in this gracious Covenant hath imposed upon and injoined them Abraham had a great respect unto this which caused the Lord to give him this commendation Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment It was but in the Chapter before this that he did enter into covenant with the Lord for himself and his Oh! said God I know that he hath a sence of his Covenant-Obligation upon him that he hath lately received from me and he will observe it being careful of his Houshold that they may perform the Duties and injoy the Blessings of the Covenant What a close and strict Engagement is this to Parents that they bring up their Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord How doth this call upon us to prayer to educate carefully and to instruct our Children in the knowledge and fear of the Lord 3. Improve this great Blessing of the Covenant for the Encouragement of your Hopes as to the Spiritual Birth of your Children This is the great Concern of pious Parents about their Children so soon as they see that they be once born that they may be born again that they may not only be born of the Flesh but also of the Spirit that they may not only have a Natural but also a Spiritual Birth It is for this that godly Parents do groan and travail You that are thus concerned for your Children 't is the Covenant of Grace that must be your great Encouragement in besieging the Throne of Grace for them your Fangs for the New Birth in your Children must be covenant Ones it is the Covenant and the Mediatour and Blood of it that must animate quicken and support your Hopes in this great Affair you must put the Promise in suit and plead them with that God of Infinite Grace Love and Faithfulness that hath put you and yours into this Feederal Compact You may humbly go to God and tell him that he hath promised to be your God and the God of your Seed to teach you and your Children and to circumcise your Heart and the Heart of your Children to love and to fear him that he hath promised to pour out his Spirit upon your Off-spring and that your Children shall be taught of God Gen. 17.7 Deut. 30.6 Ezek. 36.26 27. Isa 44.3 and 59.21 and 54.13 And many such Golden Promises of rich Grace comprehended in the Covenant as Food for the Faith of Parents that make conscience daily to pursue and wrestle with God for the renewing and sanctifying of their Children Wherefore go to God and plead his Covenant after this manner Hast thou not promised to be a God to me and mine Is not the Promise to me and my Children Thou hast shewn abundance of Mercy in giving them all Natural Parts of the Body and Endowments of Mind Ay but Blessed Lord thou hast confer'd greater Mercy than this upon them Thou hast put them in thy Covenant and hast planted them in thy House and Family they have a Standing in thy Church Lord be pleased