Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	child_n	covenant_n	seal_n	2,756	5	9.5397	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70390	A sermon preach'd at Turners-Hall, the 5th of May, 1700 by George Keith ; in which he gave an account of his joyning in communion with the Church of England ; with some additions and enlargements made by himself.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing K209; ESTC R14185	28,024	34

of that holy Man Anselm's observation of a Shepherd Boy that had tied a small Stone with a small Thred to the Foot of a small Bird and then let it out of his hand loose to fly The small Bird did fly but a little at a time being incommoded and retarded with the weight of the Stone though but little flying a little and resting a little now mounting upwards as if it would fly straightway to Heaven but then soon after descending to the Earth which that holy Man beholding made the Embleme of the State of his Soul and fell into Weeping saying to this effect What the little Stone is to this little Bird that my Sin that hangs about me is to me To the Third The Administration of the Sacraments wherein do they suppose that the Dissenters have any advantage above the Church of England they will say that they add nothing to Christ's Institution in Baptism whereas the Church of England adds the Sign of the Cross and at the receiving the Lord's Supper they receive it kneeling to this I answer the Church of England makes not the Sign of the Cross any part of Baptism for she doth not order it to be used at private Baptism to any that is in danger of Death nor does she make it any Means of Grace but a convenient Symbole to put us in mind and also to signify that we own Christ that was crucified on the Tree of the Cross and are not ashamed to confess him the Captain of our Salvation and manfully to fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil c. which has but the like Service that a Cross drawn with Ink on Paper has to signify the Cross of Wood that he was crucified upon and is but a sort of Hieroglyphick neither commanded nor forbidden in Scripture but simply indifferent and that our Superiors both Ecclesiastick and Civil have Authority to command us in the use of indifferent Things I am well satisfied and I see not but so ought the Dissenters to acknowledge who grant that our Superiors both Ecclesiastical and Civil may enjoin the keeping of a Fast Day for publick Calamities or a Festival Day of Thanksgiving for publick Mercies Baxter makes no more hurt in using the sign of the Cross in Baptism than if we should tie a piece of Thred to our Finger to keep us in mind of what we desire to remember That the Lord's Supper is received kneeling has no more Ceremony nor hurt in it than that we pray kneeling for both the Minister that gives and the People that receives the Elements of Bread and Wine do it with Prayer For all the great Clamour against the Ceremonies of the Church of England I scarcely find any more but one that may be so called to wit that abovementioned the sign of the Cross at Baptism which is a very harmless and a very ancient Practise in the Church of Christ and had a warrantable Original that because the Heathens upbraided the Christians with the Cross to show they were not ashamed of it after receiving Baptism they received the sign of the Cross on their Foreheads nor is that occasion wanting in our Day where so many Thousands here in this Nation on the pretence of high Divine Inspirations have cast away the Profession of Faith in Christ as he was outwardly Crucified together with the Memorials of him Baptism and the Supper And as concerning Infant Baptism time will not permit at present that I should insist on it but this I say I am fully satisfied with the Baptism I had in Infancy and I do believe that it as duly belongeth to the Infant Children of Believers under the New Testament being a seal to them of God's Covenant of Grace for remission of Sin as Circumcision did belong to such under the Old Testament for God is no less merciful to Believers and their Children now than he was then I cannot but think strange that there should be such a Clamour against the Ceremonies in the Church of England having upon enquiry found them so few I lately met with a Book of one of the Church of England wherein I found him having the same Thought with mine that there is but one Ceremony in the Church of England viz. the sign of the Cross and strictly speaking I see no need why it should be called a Ceremony this hard Word offends many ignorant People why may not our Superiors Ecclesiastick and Civil enjoin some Things that are meerly Circumstantial and in themselves indifferent as to the Habit of Minister's Cloathing and the Use of a Surplice in Divine Service of the Decency and Conveniency of which they are more proper Judges than private Persons as well as they are generally allowed to determine other Circumstances of Time and Place and various Actions relating to both Religious and Civil Matters To bury in Wollen and to lay the dead in a Coffin to lay a Cloth or Cushen on the Pulpit to ring a Bell before Sermon to have a Clock or Hour-glass before the Minister's Face when he Preacheth which the Quakers cry out against as much as others do against the Surplice and sign of the Cross to have a clean Linnen Cloth on the Communion Table and Silver Platter and Cup for the distributing the Elements of Bread and Wine at the Lord's Supper all these and divers other Things the Dissenters commonly allow as well as the Church of England some of them by command of Superiors others of them by Custom why do they not call them Ceremonies and fright the People with that hard Word Lastly as to the Government of the Church the Dissenters are so far from having the Advantage of the Church of England that she hath the Advantage over them in that as well as in the other Things above-mentioned That in all Societies both Civil and Ecclesiastical there should be an Order and Superiority of Officers Rulers and Governours Nature it self teacheth it How can a City or Nation be ruled and kept in Order if all the Rulers be equal How can an Army be governed or disciplined or led forth to Battel without divers Degrees Superior and Inferior of Military Officers if all the Captains of each single Company consisting suppose of one hundred Men each single Company and the whole Army consisting of many Thousands if these single Captains had no superior Officers over them but every one left to his own Discretion to lead on his Company to Battle against the common Enemy who has all in good Order and a due and regular Distinction of superior and inferiour Officers how can it be supposed but that the Army that has this good Order and Distinction of various Officers superior and inferior should prevail against the other that hath no such Order and Distinction we may see a wonderful order of Superiority and Inferiority in all Things in the whole visible Creation in the Heavens and Elements and that there is the like Superiority