Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	bind_v	child_n	parent_n	3,455	5	9.2562	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43469	Some plain letters in the defence of infant baptism and of the mode of baptizing (now generally used in the Church of England), which may serve, for a confutation of a small treatise entituled The reason why not infant-sprinkling, but believers-baptism ought to be approved, &c.	Hewerdine, Thomas, 1659 or 60-1738?	1699 (1699)	Wing H1630; ESTC R5896	62,852	138

Steward of the Mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4.1 In a word When we baptize we do in God's stead and in his Name Contract and Covenant with the Baptized Persons and so we take upon us to oblige God himself to make good the Promises of that Covenant whensoever the Conditions of it are perform'd But certainly then when we take thus much upon us even to bring God himself into Bonds and under Obligations it infinitely Concerns us to be throughly satisfy'd by what Authority we do this and who gave us this Authority You must needs understand this says an excellent Author that they who shall pretend to act in any Office by the King's Authority without a true Commission The King will be so far from reckoning himself oblig'd to confirm what they shall act in his Name that he will punish the presumption of such Officers and those that adhere to them and Dear Sir I will leave it to you to make the Application But then Secondly Let me ask again Are there any more New Covenants than one Or are not we and our Children to be saved by the same Covenant And why then may not our Children together with our selves be admitted to a Partnership in it It was their Ancient Privilege to be admitted with their Parents in to Covenant with God as you may plainly see and pray Sir take your Bible and look the place Deut. 29.10 11 12. And it is no strange thing for Children to be bound in Covenants as Copartners with their Parents For may not a Parent says Mr. Baxter take a Lease for Himself and his Child Yea says he it is a plain natural Duty of Parents to Covenant for their Children when it is for their Good And he asks the Question Were it not a Sin in that Parent who would refuse to engage his Child in an advantageous Covenant when else the Child would lose the benefit of it And says our very Learned Bishop of Ely A Parent may Contract with God on his Child's behalf as a Guardian does in behalf of a Minor or one under age which passage with more of the same Nature is in That his admirable Discourse call'd Aqua Genitalis And now Good Sir That I may clear and conclude this whole matter very briefly I will only farther ask leave to exercise your Patience with this very plain Case Should some great Person make the kind offer to lease out his Estate to his Tenants and to their Children upon Condition that they shall be bound as oft as they shall be required to do some little Suit and Service to him Should you then ask me What is requir'd of such Persons as are to have these Leases Seal'd to them I could answer That they are to promise and do some little Suit and Service to their Landlord whensoever they shall be required so to do And should you ask again But why then are Children bound in such Leases when by reason of their tender Age they can neither promise nor perform that Suit and Service Now to this I could likewise answer Because their Parents or Guardians promise and engage for them which is a very usual thing which Promise and Engagement when they come to age themselves are bound to perform And should you ask again But how can Parents or Guardians promise truly for their Children that they shall do such Suit and Service when perhaps they may not live to do it or else when they come to age they may prove Undutiful and Stubborn and may refuse to do it Even to this I could likewise answer First That if they do not live till they are capable of performing the Promises made for them then 't is most certain that they do not live till they are capable of Breaking them and so far therefore all 's well enough I hope And Secondly If when they come at age they prove Stubborn and Disobedient and will not be perswaded to do the Suit and Service which their Parents or Guardians promis'd in their Names Well Sir even in this Case of the Childrens disobedience their Parents are still blameless nor do their Promises made for their Children become Lyes and Falshoods as some foolishly speak for they were Covenant-promises and all the meaning of them was that their Children should perform them or else forfeit their Leases So that if their Children do not perform them they must e'en forfeit accordingly and there 's an end of that matter And thus In the New Covenant whereof Christ Jesus is the Mediator Heb. 8.6 and which was the purchase of his Blood as is intimated in that saying wherein his Blood is called the Blood of the New Covenant that is the Blood whereby the New Covenant was purchas'd Mat. 26.28 In this New Covenant I say which God through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ makes with all that will enter into it He obliges himself on the one hand to bestow Heaven and Happiness upon the Conditions of Faith and Repentance and they who enter into this Covenant do on the other hand Promise and Engage to perform these Conditions And now Sir If you ask What is required of Persons to be Baptized into this Covenant You have an Answer in our Catechism Repentance whereby they forsake sin and Faith whereby they steadfastly believe the Promises of God made to them in that Sacrament And if you ask again Why then are Infants Baptiz'd when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform them The Answer follows in the same Catechism Because as in the aforesaid Case they Promise them by their Sureties which Promise when they come to age themselves are bound to perform And if you ask again How can Sureties truly promise for such Infants that they shall perform these Conditions when perhaps they may not live to perform them or else if they live to 't they may prove Stubborn and undutiful and refuse to perform them To which I Answer as before First That if they do not live to perform then neither do they live to break them nor consequently is there any breach of promise thus far to be accounted for And Secondly If when they come at Age they prove Stubborn and Disobedient and will not be perswaded to perform what their Sureties promised for them Well Sir Their Sureties may be still blameless nor do their promises become Lyes and Falshoods as some Ignorant Peoples are apt to speak for it is here to be noted that they are perfect Covenant-promises and the meaning of them is that the Children shall perform the Conditions of the Covenant or else forfeit and loose the Benefits of it And thus doubt not Good Sir but their Sureties may safely Promise for our Children That they shall serve God truly all the days of their Lives for the Enjoyment of Heaven and Happiness at the end of them And let us not say that we dare not so Promise for them lest they should not perform and so we become Liars Oh let us

not deprive them of the Benefits of the New Covenant out of any such vain and foolish fear for thus runs the Covenant whereof Baptism is the Seal God promises Heaven upon such and such Conditions and their Sureties promise for our Children that they shall perform these Conditions for that Heaven that is they promise for our Children that they shall perform these Conditions or else forfeit that Heaven which is not otherwise to be had or hop'd for but upon these Conditions And this is the true nature and meaning of those Promises which are made by Parents and Sureties in the Names of Baptized Infants and you now plainly see I hope that there is no such danger in them as some poor silly people whom you know and have heard will be talking of And the danger wou'd be less still did but all Sureties strictly observe what they are most excellently taught in the Exhortation made to them at the Conclusion of the Office for the Publick Baptism of Infants in our Common Prayer-Books And indeed When you have made an Advantageous Covenant for your Children as you desire that they should reap the Benefit of it you must be sure to take care that as soon as they shall be able to learn they may be instructed in the Nature of it and be taught the Conditions required of them together with the Advantages which will accrue to them by their performance of these Conditions as also the great Damages which they shall sustain by their wilful neglect of them Even so it is not enough for their Sureties to engage Infants and Children in Covenant with God but they must be sure to take care especially in case of the Parents Death or neglect that the Children be taught as soon as they shall be able to learn what they are bound by that Covenant to perform and what infinite Gainers they shall certainly be by a Conscientious observance of the Conditions required of them and what infinite Losers by their wilful and continued failure in the performance of these Conditions Those for whom you stand as Sureties you ought says the Pious Author of the Christian Monitor to do your utmost towards their good Education in the knowledge of God and Religion according to the Charge given you Especially if the Parents Die or prove negligent Pag. 37. And Dear Sir In case of the Parents Death the State has provided that Children shall not want Guardians to take care of their Temporal Inheritances and shall any blame the Church for taking as good care of their Souls as the State has done of their Lands and Possessions Or why may not why should not the Church require that in case of the Parents Death their Children should have Sureties oblig'd to take care of their Eternal Affairs as well as the State requires that they shall have Guardians oblig'd to take care of their Temporal Certainly were we but as mindful and concern'd what may become of our Childrens Souls after our Decease as we are concern'd what may become of the Estates which we leave them we should then be as willing and careful to provide good Sureties for them who are oblig'd to look after their Souls as now we are careful to appoint them good Guardians who are oblig'd to look after their Estates And Sir Let the Ill-advised World say what they please there is as much Popery in the State for requiring Guardians as there is in the Church for requiring Sureties for Children unless the same care may not without Popery be taken of their Souls which may without Popery be taken of their Estates But perhaps you will say That Sureties very seldom take this care of the Children's Souls which I am speaking of I Answer That neither are all Guardians Faithful and Just as they ought to be so that you cannot still blame the Church for requiring Sureties because of that general neglect of their Duties which you observe among them but you must also blame the State for requiring Guardians because of that too general unfaithfulness which among them likewise is both observ'd and lamented in this Age. And then again in case of the Parents negligence As it is at the Request of those Parents that we become Sureties for their Children we do thereby acquire some kind of Authority over those very Parents themselves as well as over their Children and we may roundly reprove even those very Parents if they bring not up their Children in the Practice of those Christian Duties which themselves desired and procured us to Promise in their Children's Names and much more may we Reprove and Rebuke their Children being grown to years of discretion if then they neglect those duties And thus if Sureties are bound thus to give such Reproof and Christian Admonition to those Parents and Children for whom they have undertaken to the Church it is but a very necessary Duty that they are thus bound to and which all Christians are oblig'd to perform towards one another as there is occasion Those very Duties which we are oblig'd in General to perform towards one another we are but more Particularly oblig'd to perform them towards those Children for whom we become Sureties And therefore They who shun the Charitable work of becoming Sureties for Children because they are thereby oblig'd to Advise Counsel Exhort and Reprove them as they find occasion they may e'en as well refuse to become Christians because by their very Christianity they are oblig'd if there be a like occasion to Advise Counsel Exhort or Reprove all their Fellow-Christians And further If some wou'd have all Sureties at Baptism to be laid aside Because there are but few such Sureties that Conscientiously perform what they undertake might not the same reason perswade others to lay Baptism it self aside viz. Because there are but few who are Baptized that Conscientiously perform their Baptismal Engagements For thus Here comes a bold Man and makes a Noise and quarrels with the Church for Requiring that Children shall have Sureties to undertake for their Instruction and Education in the Christian Religion and all the Reason that he can give against the use of such Sureties is because so few of them do as they say or perform what they promise And Dear Sir May not another bold Fellow be thus Encouraged to quarrel with the Church for putting it upon all Persons to Renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh at their Baptism viz. Because but few who are Baptized do so Renounce these Spiritual Enemies in their Lives and Practices as by their Baptismal-Engagements they are oblig'd to do Surely if the general neglect of Sureties as to the Obligations laid upon them be a good Reason why there should be no Sureties at all then the like general neglect of Baptized Persons as to the Obligations laid upon them too may be thought a good Reason why there should be none Baptized at all But Sir When People have nothing to say against the use of Sureties but that the Duties which they take upon themselves are seldom regarded These very People may soon help to remove the Objection Namely by their undertaking for and performing these Duties towards Children whereby the usefulness and advantage of having such Sureties would be seen and felt and the good and Charitable meaning of the Church would be understood and applauded where she requires that there shall be for every Male-Child to be Baptized two God-Fathers and one God-Mother and for every Female one God-Father and two God-mothers Upon the whole matter Let us take care that our Children as well as our selves be admitted into the New Covenant by Baptism For 't is the one and onely Covenant by which both we and our Children are to be saved and let us remember how heavily God complain'd by his Prophet of some who took away his Glory for ever from little Children Micah 2.9 'T is true When our New-born Infants die Unbaptized before we can possibly bring them to that Holy Sacrament we may reasonably hope that in such a Case the want of Baptism will neither be required of them nor us But when we refuse or neglect to have them Baptiz'd when we neither want time nor opportunity so to do then whatever happens to the Innocents says the Seraphick Bishop Taylor we may well fear lest God should require their Souls at our hands We know indeed says he that God is good infinitely good but we know that it is not at all good to tempt his Goodness and yet he tempts God's Goodness who expects to meet his Children in Heaven when himself shuts the Door which is Baptism against them which for ought he knows is the only Door that stands open And now Sir As you put it upon me to begin these Letters with a very Solemn Protestation so I will here take leave to Conclude them with one too and therefore in the Apostle's words 2 Cor. 1.23 I call God for a Record upon my Soul that I would not for all the World have any Child of mine die unbaptized through my fault or negligence Dear Sir I say the Truth in Christ I lye not as the same Apostle protests again And you may assure your self that I speak the Truth likewise when I tell you that I am SIR July 29. 1698. Your very sincere and faithful Servant T. H. FINIS

our Lord That he preached Peace to them that were a far off and to them that were nigh Ephes 2.17 But how did he preach Peace to these Ephesians that were a far off Why he preached Peace to them by Teaching and Commanding his Apostles to Preach to them And thus did the Apostles teach Infants and Children by Teaching and Commanding the Parents to teach them and thus only it was that they were to Teach all Nations when they Discipl'd and Baptiz'd them viz. they were themselves immediately to Teach the elder sort and they were to teach Children by Teaching their Parents and others to teach them as our Lord preached Peace to those afar off by Teaching others to Preach to them And Dear Sir I 'll look the Objection once over again The whole Command and Commission given to the Apostles was this Go Disciple all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you From which last words is the Objection rais'd that none are to be Discipl'd and Baptiz'd but such as may be taught To which I farther answer That if None are to be Discipl'd and Baptiz'd but such as are also taught then none are to be Discipl'd and Baptiz'd but such as are also taught to observe all things whatsoever our Lord Commanded for so says the Text expresly not only Teaching them but Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded But I verily believe that our Adversaries themselves Baptize those to whom they have not taught all things whatsoever our Lord commanded Yea I may venture to affirm that the Eunuch was Baptiz'd by Philip and that the Jaylor and his Houshold were Baptiz'd by Paul and Silas before they had been Taught the Twentieth part of what our Lord Commmanded And hence 't is very plain that the Apostles Discipl'd and Baptiz'd those to whom they did not then Teach all things whatsoever our Lord had Commanded so that though these words Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you are added to the Command of Discipling and Baptizing Yet it is not necessary that all should be so taught who are Discipl'd and Baptiz'd But still farther to invalidate this mighty Objection I 'll here put a plain and familiar Case to You. Sir Suppose You should Command your Shepherd saying Go Take care to preserve my whole Flock Driving them from off the Starving Commons into a better Pasture and providing to have them well and carefully Clipt And then should your Shepherd thus reason with Himself and say my Master's Command is to have his whole Flock preserv'd and driven into a better Pasture and well Clipt that is he means that none are to be Preserv'd and better Pastur'd but those that are also to be Clipt and therefore the Lambs that are not to be Clipt must all be left upon the starving Commons still nor am I to take any Care to preserve them Sir should your Shepherd thus foolishly argue I hope you see that his Argument in this Case against taking any care to preserve the Lambs would be the very same with our Adversaries Argument against Discipling and Baptizing Infants For May it please you Sir to have them set together Our Lord commanded his Apostles Go Disciple all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And in like manner You are suppos'd to Command your Shepherd Go take care and preserve my whole Flock driving them from off the starving Commons into a better Pasture and providing that they be well and carefully Clipt And then as our Adversaries argue from our Lord's Command against the Infants of all Nations that they are not to be Discipl'd and Baptiz'd because not to be taught even so is your Shepherd suppos'd to argue from your command against the Lambs of your Flock that they are not to be preserv'd or driven from off the Starving Commons into a better Pasture because they are not to be Clipt For thus in one Word Our Lord's Command is say our Adversaries to have all Nations Discipl'd Baptiz'd and Taught And therefore None are to be Discipl'd and Baptiz'd but such as are to be Taught too and consequently no Infants And just so Your Shepherd may be suppos'd to say my Master's Command is to have all his Flock Preserv'd better Pastur'd and well Clipt and therefore none of his Flock are to be preserv'd and better Pastur'd but such as are to be Clipt too and Consequently no Lambs And thus This way of Arguing being so mightily insisted upon by our Adversaries this indeed being their great and most common Objection I have therefore taken leave by this very plain and easie Comparison to shew you the Vanity and Folly of it And I am persuaded that you will not countenance or justifie this way of Arguing left deluded by the like way of Reasoning your Shepherd should really play you the Scurvy trick which I have onely now suppos'd Again This way of Arguing may be very injurious to the Poor and Needy likewise as I will here demonstrate to you by another very plain Case Suppose Good Sir that you in your great Charity should Command me saying Go Feed and Cloath all the Poor of the Parish at My Cost and Charge Teaching them the Duties of Poor People Now according to our Adversary's way of Arguing tho' you should thus Command me to Feed and Cloath all the Poor without exception yet I ought not to Feed or Cloath so much as one Poor Child in the whole Parish because Children are not to be taught the Duties of Poor People But really Sir I should not so narrowly interpret your Command nor so much as once doubt but your will was that the poor Children should all be Fed and Cloath'd as well as their Parents tho' they could not then be so well taught their Duties And in short You Sir may try me with the Command if you please and I will certainly Feed and Cloath all the Poor of the Parish even the small and great together Yea and I will not only Teach all that are then to be Taught the Duties of Poor People but I will Teach them in due time to Teach their Children the same and so in Effect I shall Teach as well as Feed and Cloath all the Poor of the Parish so as to fulfill your Command in the several parts of it And this is so very plain that you must needs see how the Apostles in like manner were to fulfill our Lord's Command to Disciple Baptize and teach all Nations just as I have now shew'd you I should fulfill your Command To Feed and Cloath and Teach all the Poor of the Parish without any exception as to Children or Infants I will add one very plain Case more out of Scripture which I