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
A76088	The storming of the Anabaptists garrisons, vvith a brief discovery of the weaknesse of the same, & of the inconsiderableness of the sconces and forts of all the other sectaries, in despight and contempt of all the which, any Christian souldier may safely march to Heaven, without the least danger; ... In a word, in the insuing discourse, the vanity of all novell opinions is discovered, the ignorance of all the which can no way hinder any mans happinesse: and the baptisme of little children borne of Christian parents, whether Iewes or Gentiles, is proved by the word of God to be lawfull, ... / By Iohn Bastwick, Doctor in Physick.	Bastwick, John, 1593-1654.; Smart, Richard, fl. 1647.	1647 (1647)	Wing B1071; Thomason E390_23; ESTC R201542	43,659	52

well in covenant as their Parents and that they were also baptized for their whole housholds were baptized with them it must needs be a great fighting against the truth and an exceeding wrong to all Christian Parents to exclude their children not only from the Seales of the Covenant of Grace but from the Covenant it selfe which the Anabaptists most impiously and injuriously do affirming they are no more now in Covenant then the children of Turkes and Infidels nor have no more right to baptisme then catts or doggs which if it be not the greatest unrighteousnesse that can be committed I know not what unrighteousnesse is for if we compare the children of those that are in covenant with God with their Parents and the Priviledges that both God in his Word grants unto them and Christ himselfe did afford unto them with those that are given to their Parents we shall find no difference between the children and their Parents but that they are all equall in favour with God and equall in priviledges and we shall find also as many significations of Gods and Christs love unto them and as many wayes to expresse it as to their Parents and therefore they are as dearly beloved of God and as well in covenant with him and have as much right unto the Seale of the Covenant as they and equall every way in priviledges with them and for proofe of what I now say I shall briefly declare it by some instances I will begin with the covenant of God made with Abraham Genes the 17. where God equally ingages himselfe to the children of Abraham as to Abraham himselfe promising that he would be his God and the God of his seed and enjoynes him to Circumcise all his children and those in his family as well as himselfe and makes it a Law for ever with him and with all strangers Exod. the 12. ver 48. that should embrace the doctrine of Abraham to doe the same and commands through all generations that the male children should as well be circumcised as their Parents they being as well in covenant with him as their Parents And God hath in all Ages as equally preserved their children from the fury of their enemies as their Parents and kept their little children from destruction and drowning in Pharoahs time Exod. 1. as well as their Parents and so in all their Perigrinations in the Wildernesse Yea he destroyed their Parents and saved their children calling their children his children though their Parents were rebellious Now therefore when God sheweth equall care and affection to their children that he did to their Parents and equalizeth them equally in their Priviledges what a madnesse is it in any to make a difference between them And Christ himselfe reproves his Disciples for hindring little children to come unto him and commands them to suffer them to be brought unto him and gives reasons why they should be brought unto him saying that they were of the Church as well as they and that they belonged unto the Kingdom of heaven as well as they The words are these Matth. the 19th ver 23. 24. 25. Then saith the Evangelist were there brought unto him little children that he should put his hands on them and pray and the Disciples rebuked them but Jesus sayd suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdome of heaven and he layd his hnads on them And Saint Marke chap. the 10. ver 14. sayth that Christ was much displeased with his Disciples because they forbad them and addes more-over ver 16. That he tooke them up in his armes put his hands upon them and blessed them Greater significations and testimonies of favour Christ shewed to none which is a sufficient argument to prove that he loved them with equa●l love to their Parents as being as well in covenant with him as they And if it be duly weighed and considered what Christ there speakes concerning them and what he doth to them it will be a sufficient confirmation to us that they had a right to the Baptisme of water as well as they had to circumcision for he blessed them with a spirituall blessing and shewed as much love to them as to any that came to him for he tooke them up in his armes and layd his hands upon them and blessed them Now this was a spirituall blessing which argues they were sprituall persons neither were ever any curst that God blessed Baalam had learned that lesson Numb 23. ver 19. 20. Yea God told Abraham that he would blesse them that blest him and curse those that curst him therefore those little children that Christ blest they were blest for ever and that it was a spirituall blessing that Christ bestowed upon those little children it is evident for they were not brought unto him as sicke or weak or lame or blind or as laden with any infirmities but only that he should put his hands on them pray for them which was a spirituall favour and the childrens bread which he bestowed upon them laying his hands upon them and blessing them reproving his Disciples for hindring them of his prayers and commanding them for ever after to suffer little children to come unto him saying that of such are the kingdome of heaven that is that they were spirituall persons and that they were as well of the Church as themselves and belonged to heaven and were of the houshold of God as well as they they being members of the Church and of the family of Abraham as well as themselves yea Christ putting his hands upon them and blessed them which are childrens bread and the peculiar priviledgs of his people Now when Christ himselfe the Mediatour of the New Covenant graces little children with as much favour as he did any that came unto him and blesseth them with everlasting blessings and with blessings of the highest price and ranke it sufficiently declares that they had right to blessings of inferiour a●ay and that they had right to the Baptisme of Water as well as their Parents as being the children of Abraham and his people in covenant and holy persons And for ought any thing can be sayd to the contrary those little children might formerly have been baptized by the Disciples as others were and therefore they being no way infirme the Disciples might thinke they had no need to come to their Master and therefore forbad them but I say how ever it were that Christ reproves his Disciples for it and commands them to suffer little children for the future to come to him and in that he prayes for them and bestowed a spirituall blessing and favour upon them saying that theirs was the kingdome of heaven it abundantly proveth to mee that they had a right unto Baptisme and being as dearly beloved of Christ as any other of the Nation Which a great comfort to all Christian Parents and their children when they consider Gods and Christs love towards them But if we

measure of the wrath of God against themselves to the full to their own damnation as the Apostle there speakes And truly the practice of these men is not far from that of the Jewes it being a sinne against their owne knowledge for if they were not convinced that their wayes were erronious they would come to the light and they would exhort all men to read my bookes and to buy them up yea they would themselves lay out their moneys as they promised and send them freely abroad through Town and Countrey to breed Independents for they gloried exceedingly what store of Independents I had bred and engaged themselves in the hearing of others that when my last booke was once printed for they heard it was then in the presse that they would buy fifty pounds worth of them and publish them every where for the increasing of Independents Now then if their way be the way of God as they pretend and if men by reading of my books as they boast be made Independents why doe they not publish them and procure that they be spread abroad why doe they not bring the people to the light yea why do● they every where disgrace them and to the uttermost of their power hinder the publishing of them both by pulling downe titles in all places they disswading all men from reading of them These their proceedings doe sufficient●y declare unto all the world the sinfulnesse of their dealings and that they wilfully withhold the truth from the people in unrighteousnesse and by that means hinder their salvation and keep them still in blindnesse and error in as much as in them lyes for they say my Books breed Independents and they are the only saints in their dialect and yet they will not indure the publishing of them for the breeding of saints but let them as they brag lye as wast paper All these their actions do declare that they are very injurious and malicious men and that of all men if the power lay in their hands they would never grant unto the Presbyterians liberty of Conscience nor suffer them to enjoy a Tolleration or an Indulgence for their Religion for if now in word and deed they reproch revile and maliciously abuse them and hinder the very publishing of their Books and if now they spend their best abilities by slanders and all indirect meanes as can sufficiently be proved by their daily practices to suppresse the truth and light of the everlasting Gospell and preaching of the same and labour to set up erronious teachers in all places and publish through the Kingdome and that at their owne charges all erronious and seducing Pamphlets though distructive to the government of Church and State and to the disturbance of both and hinder as much as in them lyes the publishing of all such books as may discover their errors and juglings to the world all these their indirect dealings abundantly manifest that they are not only persecutors which they accuse their brethren to be though falsly but that they would never give a Tolleration to the Presbyterians or suffer them to use the liberty of their consciences whatsoever they now pretend and howsoever they plead for it amongst us for all men may well gather that if they will not indure our Books to be read by the people in which the truth is maintained and error confuted they would never suffer the preaching of it publickly But in all these their practises as in many other they are like the Papists and Jesuits who as the world knowes hinder the spreading of all orthodox Books amongst the people and make it death to all such as either divulge them or have them in their houses where they have power in their hands And where they have not the Inquisition there in all disgracefull manner they disparage the orthodox Writers and vilifie their bookes disswading all their party from reading of them telling them that it is not only a mis-spending of their pretious time but an animating of Hereticks yea a very great sin and a tempting God and by such proceedings as these they delude the poore ignorant people especially the women devouring Widowes houses and leading captive silly creatures to their owne destruction And therefore for my part when I behold the practises and dealings of all the Sectaries compare them with those of the Jesuits and Papists I can discerne no difference between them And truly they that shall reade my utter routing but with deliberation will soon perceive there is very little difference between them and the Papists in divers of their opinions as well as in their practises so that a man may without any sin conclude that they are a company of Papists in a new dresse whatsoever they pretend to the contrary which will the better appeare if things be duly considered for it is well known that the holding of any one dominative or principall point in any Religion or Sect makes one to be called by the name of that Religion or Sect As for example if any one hold that men ought to be circumcised after the manner of Moses though in all other points he be a Christian yet all men call a man this Jew And so if any one hold but any one principall point of popery as that the Pope is head of the Church and Peters successor or that the Masse is a sacrifice appointed by Christ though in all other points he be a Protestant yet all men will say he is a Papist So if any amongst the Papists hold but one opinion of the Protestants though in all other of his tenents he be a right down Papist as for instance if he hold that the Pope is not head of the Church but is Antichrist or if he hold that the Masse is an Idoll or that the word of God is sufficient without traditions or that it ought to be had in the vulgar tongue and to be read by the people any one of these opinions though in all other things he be of the Papists judgements is enough for ever to take away his life where the Inquisition dwells and for such a one to be branded with the name of an Heretick or a Calvinist And so it is in all other Sects he that holds but any one of the Antinomian opinions is accounted and called by all men an Antinomian And he that holds that Children of Christian Parents ought not to be Baptised though in all other points he be orthod●x yet he for this will be reputed and called an Anabaptist Now then when the Sectaries hold so many of the Papists tenents as that of Free-will and falling away from grace and that the word of God cannot be known to be the word of God but by the testimony of men c. and hinder as much as in them lyes the publishing of all orthodox Books and further the divulging of all erronious Pamphlets for the deceiving of the ignorant people by these their opinions and practices they proclaime themselues to

consider other passages and duly weigh Christs actions and expressions towards little children at other times and what he sayes and testifies of them the truth will yet more perspicuously appear viz that children of Christian parents have a right to Baptisme and that the children of the Jewes as well as their Parents were equall in Priviledges and were as well baptized as they When our Saviour Christ reproved his Disciples for their dispute which of them should be greatest it is related Marke the 9. ver 36. 37. That Christ tooke a child and set him in the middest of them and when hee had taken him in his armes he sayd unto them Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my Name receiveth me and whosoever shall receive me receiveth not me but him that sent me And ver 42. he sayth Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that beleeve in me it is better for him that a milstone were hanged about his necke and and he were cast into the sea And in the 17th of Matth. it is recorded there that when there was a dispute amongst the Disciples who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven Christ to discide this controversie ver 2. called a little child unto him and set him in the midest of them and sayd except yea be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdome of heaven whosoever therefore shall humble himselfe as this little child the same is greatest in the kingdome of heaven And who so shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me but whoso shall offend one of these little ones which beleeve in me it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea and ver 10. speaking unto his Disciples he saith unto them take heed ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven there Angels doe alwayes behold the face of my Father which is in heaven c. These words of our blessed Saviour concerning little children borne of the Jewish Nation then his people in Covenant with him require a deepe consideration and truly if they be rightly weighed they may be an excellent means if not to put an end to the controversie between us and the Anabaptists yet of convincing many gainsayers who have meane and low thoughts of little children for Christ in these words doth greatly magnifie the dignity of little children where he proclaimes the same blessings to such as shall in his Fathers name receive them as he doth to any that shall receive his Disciples or a Prophet affirming that they that received them receive himselfe and him that sent him and they that shall offend any one of them it were better that a milstone were hanged about his neck and that he were cast into the middest of the Sea And he pronounces no greater judgements against the greatest enemies of his Church Moreover Christ in terminis saith they beleeve in him If any shall aske me how that can be that little children beleeve I answer that Christ hath sayd it who is the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12. the true witnesse who cannot lye and who can as well worke faith in little children who doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth Psal 115. as to put into the heart of good Josiah when he was young and but eight yeares of age to seek after the God of David his father and to doe that which was right in the sight of the Lord 2 Chro. 34. ver 1. 2. 3. And who found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel in the little child a wicked Jeroboam 1 King the 14. ver 13. Which good God himselfe wrought in him And all reason will dictate unto any man that God can as well worke faith in little children as fill John Baptist with the holy Ghost even from his mothers wombe Luk. the 1. ver 15th according to that of Christ John the 3. ver 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth the Spirit of God can as well worke his graces in little children as in growen persons who hath ordained strength out of the monthes of babes and sucklings to still the enemy and avenger Psal 8. ver 2. and as Christ sayth to perfect his praise Matth. 21. ver 16. I say therfore in regard of the great power of God and in regard of so many Presidents of his wonderfull working of grace and good in little children and in regard that Christ himselfe hath sayd that the little children of the Jewes did beleeve in him I doe beleeve that they had faith in Christ and by vertue of that had right unto Baptisme as well as their parents But which is yet more Christ saith not only little Children beleeve in him but that the offending of the least of them not only exceedingly displeaseth him but excludes the despisers of them out of heaven and for further terror to such as should offend them he sayth that their Angels behold his Fathers face in Heaven intimating that little children have a guard of Angels to protect and defend them and to punish their enemies so that whatsoever can make any of the most eminent servants of God to be in esteeme amongst men and whatsoever Priviledges they are graced with the same things are to be found in the little children of beleeving Parents and such as are in covenant with God for they by Christs testimony have humility and faith and a guard of Angels to attend them as well as men and women and God is their Father as well as theirs and Christ is their Redeemer as well as theirs Who saith ver 11. that he came to save those as well as they asserting moreover they that received such little children receive with them Christ and God and they that offend them are accursed Now then when little children partake in all the eminentest priviledges which the ancientest beleevers are graced with and are in as high esteeme in Gods account as they by all reason they are not only capable of Baptisme but have a right unto it as well as their Parents as being in the covenant as well as they And truly it may not be passed over slightly which addeth something yet to the dignity of little children Jesus Christ sends his Disciples to schoole to those little children and makes them his Disciples masters and from them bids them learne their first ●esson of ●u●ility and selfe-denyall tell●ng them that unlesse they become like one of them they should never enter into the kingdome of heaven which is as great a dignity as can almost bee conferred upon the sons of men to be made the masters and teachers to those that were to teach the world for in some respects Christ equaliseth those little children with himselfe for Matth. the 11th ver 28. he saith unto all such as would be saved Learne of me for I am

meeke and lowly of heart And here he so dignifieth little children that he sends his Disciples to schoole to them which I affirme is as eminent a favour as he shewed to any men when he was up●n eatth and therefore doubtlesse those that Christ so graced in all respects are worthy of Baptisme and have a right unto it and all such as despise little children borne of Christian parents and count them Infidels highly offend Yea there are other passages yet not to be passed by concerning little children It is related Math. 21. ver 14. 15. 16. That the blind and the lame came unto Christ in the Temple and he healed them And when the chiefe Priests and Scribes saw the wonderfull things that hee did and the children crying in the Temple and saying Hosanna to the Sonne of David they were sore displeased and sayd unto Christ hearest thou what they say And Jesus sayth unto them yea have ye not read out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise Here we see that when Christs enemies were offended at the acclamation of the children Christ allowed of their witnesse and confirmes it by Scripture teaching all men that they did well and their duty and that God was honoured by it and that in all ages God would be glorified by the very mouthes of babes and sucklings who should set forth his praises as they did so that by the words of Christ it is sufficiently manifest that they confessed him before men and were not ashamed of him and hee had taught his Disciples and all men that they that confesse him before men hee would confesse them before his Father in heaven and here hee approved of them and owned them as his witnesses which is also as high a dignity as is conferred upon any of Christs followers and therefore I will never doubt to conclude that those children had right to Baptism that Christ so honours and that they were baptized by John and Christs Disciples amongst the other people and world that followed Christ for Jerusalem and all Iudea and all the regions round about Iordan were baptized and Christs Disciples baptized more then Iohn and children by Christs testimony beleeved in him and confessed him as well as others Ergo they were baptized And therefore in all these regards I may use the same words to all the Anabaptists that Saint Peter used when the Holy Ghost fell on them in Cornelius his house Can any man saith he forbid water that these should not bee baptized that have received the holy Ghost as well as we Acts 10th 47. I say in all these regard I may say unto the Anabaptists Who can forbid water that the children of those that are borne of such parents as are in covenant with God as the Jewes children then were and Christians children now are should not bee baptized God having graced them with such eminent significations of his favour and owning them so often to be his children and having put no difference between the Christian Jewes and their children and Christian Gentiles and their children yea they being now under a better Covenant and more surer promises Surely all those that doe forbid water that the children of Christian Parents should not be baptized are such as withstand God which Saint Peter durst not doe Acts 11. ver 16. and for my part I never will doe who by Gods assistance shall live and dye in this faith that children as well as women and men amongst the Jewes had not only right to Baptisme as well as their Parents but that they were really Baptized and that the children of the Christian Gentiles were as well baptized in their severall families as their Parents and that they ought still to be till the comming of Christ and in this faith by the grace of God I will live and dye This Mr. Smart to gratifie your desire I thought fit to write unto you whom I truly love in the Lord that you may know not only my opinion concerning this point of controversie but have by you my reasons for the same All that I have now to say unto you is this The times in which wee live are perilous times in respect of the many dangerous and desperate opinions that are now abroad destructive to the life of godlinesse which our Baptisme tyes unto and tending to the ruine of Christian Religion and disturbing of Church and State if the Lord from heaven by his mighty power doth not rebuke this spirit of errour that is now gone out into the world yea it is sad presage that great Judgements hang yet over this Land for the preventing of the which we ought cortinually to be put upon the duties of fasting and prayer and all watchfulnesse in them the meanes that God himselfe hath appointed for the diverting of his wrath and to these duties we ought to the uttermost of our power to joyne a godly life and a holy conversation as we have covenanted by our baptisme that so wee may set forth the praises of him that hath called us out of darknesse into his marvellous light knowing that the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ which that you and I and all such as feare his Name may doe and for ever persevere with all constancy in the truth is the daily prayer of him Aprill this 27. 1647. That loves you for our Masters sake JOHN BASTVVICK Errata PAge 6. line 33. for Mountaine read Mountague P. 7. l. 32. for which incertaine freemen and bonds r. within certaine Precincts and bounds P. 8. li. 16. for forced r. fed P. 8. l. 24. for and r nor P. 14. l. 24. for a man this r. this man a. P. 20 l. 27. for in Ierusalem r. Ierusalem P. 20. line ult for the concerning c. read the places above quoted all the doubt is concerning the Major which being FINIS

wander and stray to their destruction or should but raze the names of his children and progeny out of his evidences and assert they had no right to their fathers estates or say they were unlawfully begotten or were bastards or should really indeavour to rob their Parents of their children or steale away the affections of their wives from their husbands or the husbands from their wives and their children or servants from their Parents or Masters is there any man I say of sound understanding that would thinke such a generation of people a harmlesse company of men much lesse call them the harmlesse men when they doe all the in●ury to people ●hat men possibly can doe How therefore can any man call the Anabaptists a harmlesse people when they not only thrust the children of Christian parents out of covenant with God and raze out their names out of the divine records telling them that their children are no more in covenant with God then Turkes and Infidels and that they have no more right to Baptisme then catts and dogs proclaiming them to the world an unc●eane and unholy generation labouring to seduce the people and to lead them into damnable errours and b● that meanes rob the Parents and Masters of their children and servants and steale away the affections of those that are joyned together in most relations and that against all the lawes of God and Nations which is indeed the greatest robbery and unrighteousnesse that can be perpetrated against God or men for it not only robbeth God of his honour and glory by making nothing of his holy Word but parents likewise of their children and the comforts of their children whom their parents according to the doctrine of the Anabaptists cannot looke upon but as on a company of Infidels and when they dye can have no more hope of their eternall happinesse then of the happinesse of a heathen which must needs sad the hearts of all such as beare any reall affection to their children when they cannot behold them but with such thoughts as that dying without the Covenant they are damn'd If when Christ came towards Ierusalem he wept over it foreseeing their misery how must those Parents that dearly love their children weepe over them when they dy of whom they have no hope Yea it must needs exceedingly sad the hearts of such Parents and make them greatly to mourne and be over-sorrowfull at the death of any of their children if they have any tender affections towards them if they beleeve the principles of the Anabaptists who account children of Christian Parents no better then Infidels and Heathens But Saint Paul in the first of the Thessaloniaxs and the 4th hath taught all Christians not to mourne as those without hope knowing that they and their children are within the Covenant and therefore all these tenents of the Anabaptists make them not only an hurtfull people to all good Christians and their children but a company of fighters against God and such as must one day give a dreadfull account if they speedily repent not for all these their unchristian and unrighteous proceedings But say ●ste Anabaptists these are arguments by consequent which are not binding But had we only arguments by consequence they would be sufficiently binding being groūded upon the holy Scripture and divine authority and taken from Presidents of the like nature for Christ himselfe hath taught us so to argue who in the 22. of Mathew to prove one of the greatest points of the Christian saith against the false teachers of his time viz. The Resurrection of the dead he evidenceth it from this that Abraham Isaac and Iacob were living and therefore by consequence that there should be a Resurrection which the Saduces excepted not then against alledging that it was but an argument by consequence and therefore not binding they poore ignorant soules were not so learned as our Anabaptists Saint Paul also in the first of the Cor. and the 15th chap. proves the Resurrection of the dead with many arguments by consequence as is there to be seene at large Now if arguments by consequence will stand good from both Christs and Pauls example and doctrine to prove the fundamentallest point of religion without which all preaching is vaine and our faith is vaine as the Apostle affirmes had we no better arguments they upon the same grounds would ever hold good for the confirmation of our faith in any point of religion of lesse consequence But we have not only arguments by consequence to prove that the children of the beleeving Jewes were Baptized and therefore that the children of beleeving Gentiles ought also to be baptized but expresse Scripture as I proved before from the Commission of Iohn the Baptist's and Christs Disciples before Christs death and from their practice who were sent to baptise the Jewes without distinction or limitation either of age or sex and who as the Scripture recordeth Baptized all that came unto their ministry they only excepted that rejected the counsell of the Lord against themselves which neither women nor children nor none of the people did but the Saduces Pharisees and Lawyers and their complices who neither entred into the Kingdome of heaven themselves nor would suffer others to enter by their good wills though the Publicans and harlots beleeved Iohn and were saved Math. ●1 ver 31. 32. and all the other people were baptized both men women and children for Ierusalem and all Iudea and all the region round about Iordan were baptized by the Baptist and all that waited upon Christs ministry and the world that followed him were baptized for the Disciples baptized more then Iohn and all that attended upon their ministry for wee read of none that were exempted but the above-named amongst which women and children are not included And even after the Ascension of Christ we read that in the City of Samaria Acts the 8th from the greatest to the least both men and women were baptized and we read that Cornelius his whole Family and all his friends there with him were baptized Acts the 10. ver 48. and of Lydia and her houshold Acts the 16. ver the 15th and the Goaler and all his houshold ver 33. and of Stephanus and his houshold 1 Cor. the 1. ver 16. who were all baptized which is more then if they had sayd that they baptized all the men and women in those families for Houshould includes all young and old of all sects and ages and therefore all the children as well as growen persons in the severall families of those that then embraced the Faith were baptized and made partakers of the Seales of the Covenant and of the Promises according to the old manner of admission under the Old Testament as well as the Parents and masters of those families Seeing therefore we have such pregnant proofes out of the holy Scripture and such a cloude of witnesses for the confirmation of this truth that children of christian Parents are as