Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	circumcision_n	covenant_n	seal_n	6,166	5	10.0625	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00730	Certaine plaine, briefe, and comfortable notes vpon euerie chapter of Genesis Gathered and laid downe for the good of them that are not able to vse better helpes, and yet carefull to read the worde, and right heartilie desirous to taste the sweete of it. By the Reuerend Father Geruase Babington, Bishop of Landaph.	Babington, Gervase, 1550-1610.	1592 (1592)	STC 1086; ESTC S100811	308,840	390

both by telling Abraham his couenant reached to his seed and by deferring the seale of the same to wit circumcision to the eight day which hee would neuer haue done if the want of it simply had bin damnation Conclude wee therefore with Austen Inuisibilis sanctificatio sine visibili signo esse potest the inuisible sanctification may be without the visible signe with Ambrose who comfortably speaketh of Valentinian dead without baptisme with Bernard that not want but contempt of baptisme hurteth and euen with Lumbard himselfe Gratia Dei non est alligata sacramentis The grace of God is not tied to the sacrament beside many others that I omit 8 In your generations sayth the text And why so Surely to shew the vse of the sacrament to be not to take sin away quite that it be no more in the party circumcised but only the imputatiō of it that thogh the venom of it remaine so rooted in our nature that but by death it cannot quite bee rooted out yet layde to our charge it is not for Christ his sake As therefore you see the corne cleane wynowed from his chaffe yet hath in it nature to yeelde chaffe agayne to that which groweth of it when it is sowen so doth this nature of ours to those that spring of vs yeelde corruption and originall sinne though we our selues were circumcised or baptized and so purged thereby from it Because that purgation is euer to be vnderstoode thus Non vt non sit in nobis peccatum sed vt non imputetur Not that wee are cleared from the being of anye euill in vs but from the imputation of it to vs. Therefore then in your generation saith the text shall this signe and sacrament of circumcision be continued that is from father to sonne and then to his sonne againe and so to euery male forasmuch as sinne like chaffe being propagated from the father to the son the chaffe of that is now sprung vp must be fanned away as well as his was of whome this blade sprung vp 9. Marke in the foureteenth verse the punishment of them that shoulde contemne this ordinaunce of God and remember howe God neuer coulde abide the contempt of his sacramentes and that hee taketh the wrong doone to the outwarde signe as if it were doone vnto the thing it selfe signifyed by it Because sayeth hee such an one hath broken my couenaunt when he had but neglected the signe of his couenaunt This may leade vs both to the consideration of that Popish follie and also to a true answere vnto it that concludeth out of the eleuenth chapter of the first Epistle of Paule to the Corinthians that because the Apostle sayeth They that eate and drinke vnwoorthely are guiltie of the bodie and blood of Christ c Therefore needes it must be that the wicked eate the body and drinke the bloud of Christ which they coulde not doe except they were there really for by faith they can not eate that are voyde of faith Therefore there is a reall presence by transubstantiation When all this in very deede prooueth no more then euidently we see in this place namely that God attributeth the abuse of the signe to the thing signified saying that because the wicked come vnreuerently and vnpreparedly to those holy signes and receyue them vngolilie wythout fayth therefore they shall bee guiltie euen of the body and blood it selfe that is euen as guiltie by abusing the signe as if they had abused the thing signified it selfe for the contempt of the one redoundeth vnto the other Circumcision was a signe of his couenaunt and here hee sayeth hee that contemneth that being the signe is guiltie and shall bee guiltie of the breach of his couenaunt which was the thing signified so are bread and wine the signes of the Lordes bodie and blood and therefore sayeth the Apostle by the same manner of speaking hee that abuseth them by eating and drinking vnwoorthily of them hee shall bee guiltie euen of abuse doone vnto the thing it selfe the true body and blood of Christ No more proouing hereby that the signes are chaunged and become really the thing it selfe than here it is to bee prooued that circumcision was really the couenaunt it selfe because it is sayde hee that omitteth the one breaketh the other Weake proppes therefore you see Poperie hath if they bee with a godly indifferencie examined and considered casting away that most wicked wilfulnesse and preiudice that hurteth so many and wil let them see nothing 10 In the fifteenth verse you see God chaungeth also the name of Sarai as well as hee had doone to Abraham and sayeth her name shall be no more Sarai but Sarah and hee will blesse her c. Where wee may note howe it being a great honour to Abraham so to haue his name chaunged by God hee woulde haue his wife also partaker of the same with him as teaching thereby that what befalleth the husband eyther to weale or woe reacheth it selfe also in some sorte to the wife as a partaker with him in the same No question but some part of this doctrine soundeth well to women and they readely catch at it but I doubt twise whether all of it doo so or no. My meaning is they most gladly heare that any honor of their husbands should reach vnto them and exalt them also but to pertake with their husbands in affliction and crosses in sorowes and cares in reproches and ignominie causelesse in bitternesse and vnthankefulnesse of an vnkinde world is it as sweet a doctrine to them I doo but moue the question let all women answere it in their hearts to themselues in stead of mee 11 In the 18. verse but O that Ismael might liue in thy sight sayth this great Patriarke See and see the heart of a father to his childe Though God heere promised more seede vnto him and that he should be a Father euen of many Nations and his progenie like the Starres of heauen for number yet all that remoueth not his affection from that one that hee had alreadie to wit Ismael but still his hart is to him and O that he may liue also So are Fathers but God knoweth so are not euer children to them againe The parent cryeth for life to the childe and the childe for death to the parent O that Ismael may liue sayth Abraham that I may inioy my childe but O that Abraham may dye will Ismaell say that I might inherit his land and goods and be a yong mayster or mistresse and ruffle it out yea when will this ould Father and Mother of mine be gone I thinke they will liue euer Too true this is and let it teach parents wisedome to moderate affections though they retayne nature to doo what shall be necessary and fit for their children 12 Wee haue heard the commandement of God touching Circumcision now in the 23. verse marke wee the obedience of Abraham to

of grace and life except it be renewed and borne againe by the spirit of God through a gracious receiuing it into a gracious couenant freely made with man and his seed by a gracious God that would not the death of a sinner but that he should know him serue him loue him and liue for euer Consider how long it indured but vntill Christ and no longer of necessitie What was afterwards done was in regard of weakenes in the Iewes till the truth of Christ and the effect of his comming might be better knowen For what ende to confirme this promise that now you haue seene that if they walked befo●e God and were vpright verely and verely yea euen so verely as that signe was in their flesh would God be their God and the God of their seed after them 6 Note how the signe is called by the name of the thing signified This cut in the flesh is called Gods couenant when it was but the signe and the couenant as you haue seene this I will be thy God c. This is no new kinde of speaking with God but vsuall euer in his sacraments heere you see it in the circumcision afterward in Exodus when he commeth to the Passeouer he calleth the Lambe the Passeouer which was but the signe of the Angells passing ouer all those houses that were stricked with the bloud vpon the dore cheekes In the new testament the rock is called Christ the seed is called the word the water is called the washing of the new birth And yet may not God bee alowed by some men in the sacrament of his last supper to speake as euer he did in all sacraments but because there he sayth the bread is his body c. therefore it must be so really carnally substantially and grossely by transubstantiation deuised of themselues But by these examples of like speach and phrase you well see that their assertion is a reall lye a carnall lye a substantiall lye and a grosse lye and truly sayd the Father if they woulde regard him Christus non dubitabat dicere hoc est corpus meum cum fignum daret corporis sui Christ doubted not to say this is my body when he deliuered but a signe of his body 7 That the child was not circumcised before the 8. day it teacheth vs that God hath not tyed saluation to the sacrament for it had bin a hard thing in the Lord to deferre it an houre if the childe had perished without it This answereth the feare of some good ones and the false bouldnes of some bad ones in these dayes touching children that dye without baptisme for God is not worse to vs vnder the Gospell then hee was to them vnder the Law neither lesse able to saue now without baptisme then in those dayes he was without circumcision the seede of the faithfull This grace was not then free and now bound then more and now lesse then stronger and now weaker farre be it from vs so to dreame Dauids childe when it died before the eight day he yet for all that iudged not damned neither cryed out for it as he did for Absolon that was circumcised but sayd that he should go to it refreshed himselfe cheered his wife and made his seruants to wonder at his comfort And when he sayd he should go to it we knowe he meant not that it was in Hell or any hellish Limbus and that thither himselfe looked to go to it but rather comfortably he conceyued it was with the Lord because the promise extended it selfe both to the godly and to their seede if further we desire to thinke of this matter consider we this and the like reasons No elect can be damned wee knowe it a principle whatsoeuer foolish men do prattle but some vnbaptized are elect a thing that no man will deny therefore some vnbaptised cannot be damned which if it be true then see you plainly that saluatiō is not tyed to baptisme as some imagine Againe he that heareth my word sayth Christ and beleueth in him that sent me shal be saued cannot be damned Iohn 5.24 but this may one doo before he be baptised therefore before a man be baptised he may stand in the state of saluation and out of all danger of damnation The assumption is euident in the Eunuch Act. 8· and others Fortie yeares it was omitted in the wildernesse and yet hard to say that whosoeuer so dyed was damned since God in that omission intended no crueltie but mercie and pitie to his people How do not these men consider that they put life and death saluation and damnation in the hand of a mortall man yea of any Minister that if he be disposed for malice to the parents to hurt the childe may be absenting himselfe and seeking delayes in the weakenesse of the childe so farre hurt it as to damne it for euer out of the kingdome of God and company of all faithfull O fearefull doctrine fearefull to all good parents iniurious to thousands of poore infants and blasphemous against the bottomlesse mercy of a sweet and tender father who hath sayd I will be thy God and thy childes not adding any condition of baptisme if it cannot be had as it ought How much sweeter is it that Luther obserued and long before him Bernard Epist 77. in the words of our Sauiour He that beleeueth and is baptised shall be saued and he that beleeueth not shall be damned Marke sayth Luther how in the affirmatiue he mencioneth baptisme but not in the negatiue For he doth not say he that is not baptised shall be damned but he that beleueth not he shall be damned Are couenants made by Sacraments or only sealed by them Did not the Primitiue Church examine those of yeares in the faith before they baptised them Why so I pray you but that they might shewe it was the couenant not the seale their faith and not the sacrament which chiefely was to be regarded though the seale also in no case to be neglected much lesse contemned How many in times past deferred their baptisme for many yeares as Constantine Nectarius Nazianzene c. not therein doing so well as they ought but yet euidently shewing the faith of the Church then that God without baptisme is able to saue and hath not tyed his grace to any signe If he can saue men of yeares why not infants but I will go no further only this will I say that if saluation depended vpon the sacrament it were not only fit that women who are neerest in time of weakenesse should baptise who yet are forbidden by God and well ordred Churches but also that all sorts of persons and not only Ministers should dispense that holy mysterie to the end that no poore creature might be cast away for want of it But blessed be God that hath neither thus inthralled his grace nor taught his Church in his word but quite contrary as we see in this place