Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	covenant_n	deny_v	infant_n	2,377	5	9.5458	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77221	Comfort from the cradle, as well as from the crosse of Christ. Being meditations upon Isaiah 9.6. / The substance whereof was delivered in two sermons. Preacht at VVinchester upon the feast of the Nativitie last past. By Tho. Bradley Dr in Divinitie, lately one of His Majesties chaplaines, and Rector of Castleford and Ackworth neere Pontefract in Yorke-shire.	Bradley, Thomas, 1597-1670.	1651 (1651)	Wing B4130; Thomason E637_1; ESTC R19661	52,275	95

Infants have proceeded from the ignorance of this Gospell truth namely of the grace and vertue which we derive and receive from this part in the obedience of Christ and degree of his humiliation his conception and incarnation 1 First therefore it is of use for satisfaction of doubtfull minds in that Quaere which these times have made more questionable then ever as indeed they have done all the other ordinances in the Church of Christ concerning the lawfulnes of the baptizing of Infants Who will doubt it when hee is sufficiently inform'd what grace and vertue they receive from the incarnation The ground of baptizing Infants and birth of the holy Child Iesus And that the very end why hee became a Child and was conceived in the womb was to merit it for them Are they capable of corruption conveyed unto them from the first Adam in their very conception before they have done good or evill and are they not capable of the grace merited for them and derived unto them from the second untill they come to be of 14. or 15. yeares of age or if they be why should we deny unto them the seale of that covenant the grace whereof wee doe not deny them Nay upon this ground I dare affirme that if it were possible it were lawfull to baptize a childe in the very wombe Secondly the knowledge of this truth is of use for confutation of the uncharitable doctrine of the Church of Rome concerning infants dying without baptisme The state of children dying without baptisme which cruelly condemnes all such though not to the lowest hell yet to a place belonging to it which they call Limbus infantum the Limbus of Infants a hard sentence some of the Fathers likewise of better repute in the Church have puzzeld themselves and been mistaken in this point some of them condemning infants thus dying ad poenam damni though excusing them from Poena sensus that is depriving them of the happinesse and joyes of heaven though not condemning them to the paines of Hell St Augustine laies upon them poenam mitissimam some most gentle punishment but what that is dares not determine Prudentius goes a middle way betweene both the happinesse of heaven hee will not allow them nor dares hee condemne them to the paines of hell but hath found out for them a third place betweene both these and that is the new heaven and the new earth which shall be created when these shall be dissolv'd thus have they wandred in their own fancies and framd to themselves divers conceipts in their own imaginations concerning these little ones but all without a guide and without a ground and all this because all this while they saw not this little one herein my Text or at least considered not the maine reason why he became such a one nor the vertue and the grace which these little ones they speake of derive from him and in particular from this degree of his humiliation his conception and incarnation as the cure of their originall sinne and sanctification of their natures their regeneration and new birth all which had meanes and opportunity for it been afforded should and ought in the laver of regeneration to have been sealed up unto them in the want of which and not the contempt of it let us know for our cōfort that the grace of Almightie God is not so tied to his outward ordinance as that he may not often doth save without it and may when he please dispense with the absence or omission of it though we may not Baptismus signum est non causa salutis Contempsisse nefas sed caruisse minùs Baptisme is the signe but not the cause of salvation it is the contempt not the want of it that is so dangerous Thirdly it is of use for consolation to tenderhearted parents mourning over their children either stil-borne Of Children still borne or called out of the world before they were washt in the Laver of regeneration Let them not give them for lost nor mourne for them as men without hope when they see the grace derived from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ takes hold of them in the very wombe and reaches to their very conception 5. Lastly it is of use for reprehension of the ignorance and uncharitablenesse of some men women in the base opinion they have entertained of abortive births esteeming no more nor better of thē then of so much earth diggd out of the ground yea of so much carrion and therefore have denied them Christian buriall or any other ordinary respect Of abortive births which if not in Christianity yet at least in Humanity were due to the children of Adam Let such knowe that even those abortives if they were once formed and quickned in the wombe and had that soule infused into them whereby they were distinguished from vegetatives and sensitives they were capable of that grace which in his conception this child in my Text hath merited for them It is worth our observation to consider in what tearmes the Covenant runnes I will be thy God and the God of thy seed not of thy of-spring nor of thy posterity nor of thy children but of thy Seed intimating that even in the womb as soone as they have a being while they are but yet as seed the Lord takes them into Covenant with him and ownes them for his own These are the benefits which we reap by the birth of this blessed Child these the fruits and advantages accrewing to the Church by this part of his obedience this degree of his humiliation his incarnation And it shall be our wisdome to learne much for our comfort distinctly to knowe Christ borne Christ crucified Christ dead Christ raised Christ ascended Christ glorified Christ in all the parts of his obedience and degrees of his humiliation and exaltation and to discerne what particular grace comfort each part and degree in it doth peculiarly afford and to apply it to that part of our disease and spirituall defect in our soules for the cure whereof it is most proper As there is no woūd given unto us by the disobedience of the first Adam but there is found in the obedience of the second a cure proper for it this when you are able to discover and sutably to apply then have you learned Christ crucified indeed when you can see in his originall righteousnes the cure of your originall sinne in his active obedience your fulfilling of the law in the precept or mandatory part of it in his passive obedience your satisfaction of the law in the curse or minatory part of it when you can see in his apprehension your dismission in his condemnation your absolution in his stripes your healing in his death your life in his resurrection and ascention your glorification all these are impli'd in the paralel between the two Adams Rom. 5.19 As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience

of hope unto which in the time of their most grievous troubles they had recourse and found reliefe And hence it is observed that the clearest visions of the Messiah have ever beene made out to the people of God in the darkest times Jacob in Aegypt Gen. 49.10 Num. 23. Dan. 9.24 Moses in the wildernesse Daniel in the captivity saw more and more clearly of the Messiah then they did at any other time besides The Lord in his mercy having appointed him as a ground of their hope and comfort against evill times in the remembrance of whom they might stay themselves untill his coming And such a time was it with Ahaz now and therefore such a method and means doth the Prophet use to comfort him Be of good cheare for unto us a child is borne unto us a sonne is given And beloved let us learne from this method of the Prophet how to comfort our selves and others in the like cases even by embracing this child in the armes of our faith by flying unto Christ with the wings of our hope and by having recourse to the * Fundamentall mercies are sure mercies sure mercies of the Covenant purchased by his blood in it is laid up all our hope happinesse that 's our reserve and sure refuge unto which we must trust in an evill day and well may for it will not faile us If such a day come and such daies will come remember the Prophets councell turne thee to Christ and turne to the covenant of grace of which hee is the mediator and consider the pretious and glorious things therein sealed up and made sure to thee read there thine eternall election to grace and glory firmer then the mouniaines The Covinan● of grace the charter of the Church Ephes 1.4 1 Pet. 1.18 Tit. 3.7 Gal. 4.5 Psal 32.1 Luk. 10.10 Col. 1.12 thy redemption by the blood of Iesus Christ thy free justification by faith thy reconciliation and peace made with God thy adoption to the honour to become the sonne of God the remission of thy sinnes thy name written in heaven and thy infallible title to an inheritance in glory all made over to thee and all made sure to thee in the Covenant of grace all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeke proverbe hath it without the reach and danger of the dart unshaken grounds of hope and joy in the midst of all the troubles losses and crosses which in this mortall life you are subject unto thinke upon these and be comforted when all is lost something yet there is left in these which we cannot lose when the world hath done its worst something yet it hath left us which it could neither give nor take away enough in the Prophets judgement here to comfort a King even in the losse of a Kingdome and in all that comfort have we all a share as well as he For Vnto us this Child is borne Vnto us this Sonne is given In which words here are three things which cleerly to the eye and at first view offer themselves to our examination take them in so many words 1 Quis Who 2 Quid What and 3 Quibus To whom 1 In the first of these we are to enquire who it is of whom the Prophet speaketh this and that the Text gives you in in two words A Child A Sonne 2 In the second we are to consider what it is that he speaketh of him and that he gives us in in two words more is borne is given The Child is borne but the Son is given 3 In the third we are to examine to whom hee is so borne and for whom he is given and that wee have in a double expression too Nobis to us and againe for failing Nobis to us For unto us a Child is borne unto us a Sonne is given Of these in order and first of the first Quis who As sometimes that noble Eunuch askt the question Act. 8.34 I pray thee of whom speaketh the Prophet this of himselfe or of some other such is the question here offered in the Text of whom doth the Prophet prophesie this of the Messiah or of some other Surely of some other sayes the Iewe which because he will by no meanes heare of Christ yet come in the flesh and because the Prophet speakes in the praeter tense is borne is given tels us we must needs understand this of some child that was now actually borne and visible in the world and in that enquirie they pitch upon Hezekiah the sonne of Ahaz a child now of about * As by computation of time may be gathered out of 2 King 18. compared with 2 Chron. 28. 13 yeares of age as if the Prophet like some flattering Court-Chaplaine to please the King did in these words but sooth and smooth him up by telling him what a glorious Prince his sonne Hezekiah should prove what a mighty and lasting Monarchie he should raise and be established in In answer to this cavill we do not deny but that the Prophet did all along in this prophesie allude to Hezekiah a hopefull Prince as to the type of another Prince farre more glorious herein with singular art gaining the Kings eare the more readily to entertain the doctrine of the Messiah The Prophets singular art to gaine the Kings eare while hee preacheth Christ unto him when he preacheth him to him under so lovely and lively a type as his owne sonne whereby hee did not onely honour the Prince in making him the type of Christ but leading the King on with delight in hearing such glorious atchievements personated in his sonne hee prevailed with him the more readily to receive him that was personated by him and while he opens his affections to the taking in of the one he takes the advantage of it to convey in with him the other also the type with the Antitype both together wherein he acted the part of a wise charmer Fishers of men should be cunning and have baits of all sorts to catch soules withall and reserving still the innocencie of the dove need had they bee wise as serpents which have serpents to deale withall which will stop their eares to the voyce of the charmer charme hee never so wisely But that it could not be Hezekiah which was here principally intended the sequele of this verse makes it cleare where the wonderfull things spoken of this child and the magnificent titles attributed to him in the description of him are too high and glorious to be ascribed to Hezekiah or to any mortall man else If I were to preach in a Synagogue of Iewes mee thinks I should need no more but foure other prophesies to this in the Text to convince them and to demonstrate the Child in my Text to be the Messiah that was to come and none other that child which above 3000 yeares before the Lord promised to Adam to comfort him after his fall Gen. 3.15 That child which to the Patriarchs and

tree so few and so thinne as some imagine But to hold our selves close to the word in this matter as t is fit we should Understand here Nobis To us in that sence in which our Lord himselfe understands it speaking of this very gift Ioh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten sonne to the end that whosoever beleeved in him should not perish but have life everlasting Nobis to us in that sense in which S. Paul understands it Rom. 5.10 As by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men to iustification of life Nobis to us in that sense in which the same Apostle understands it 1. Tim. 2.4 when he saies God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth And vers 7. of the same Chapter which gave himselfe a ransome for all For sinners 1. Tim. 1.15 for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 For his enimies vers 10. For them that deny him 2. Pet. 2.1 Even for them that are damn'd in the same Text the latter end of the verse Let no man here charge me with Arminianisme in that I preach up grace so high or if he doe I passe not much as long as by his own confession t is grace that I preach let me preach it as high as I can I shal therein be found more faithfull to my Master then they that extenuate conceale suppresse or monopolize it Upon these testimonies of holy writ I am perswaded to beleeve that there is no son of Adam that ever was or shall be borne in the world but the second Adam when he tooke his nature upon him did something for him so much at least as hath freed him of the guilt of the sin of the first Adam imputed to him hath put him upon a new score and a new account with the Lord God made over salvation to him upon a new covenant purchased by his blood made upon better tearmes conditions and promises then the old was that he shall never perish everlastingly unlesse he forfeit his salvation a second time All the questiō is de modo applicandi about the manner how Christ and the grace by him comes to bee applied to thē seeing there are so many nations that never heard so much as of his name or knowe what the Gospell meanes of which I shall by Gods helpe shortly give you an account and I hope some reasonable satisfaction in a Treatise which I have now under my hand upon the parallell between the two Adams compar'd in the fift Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans In the meane time rest upon this That with God all things are possible And as in the case of infants so of these where their ignorance is invincible and the meanes whereby that should bee cured to them impossible to be attained although they cannot apply themselves unto Christ the Lord of his abundant grace and goodnesse can apply Christ unto them Who is found of them that sought him not and seeks out them that asked not after him Know farther that there are different degrees of salvation hath the Lord but one blessing for all his sonnes or but one heaven to put his redeemed ones in or but one sort of mansions in that heaven what think you is the meaning of that Scripture 1. Tim. 4 10. Who is the Saviour of all men especially of them that beleeve Although it is certaine they are in no wise capable of that speciall salvation peculiar to beleivers yet I trust it is no heresie neither against grace nor charity to hope that walking up with all their might to that light which they have by the mercy of God and the merits of the Mediator they may be found capable of some degree of salvation and of an estate at least above that of perdition in the lake of everlasting burnings 3. Consider thirdly that at the last and great day of account though all the world shall bee judged at one barre yet they shall not all be juded by one Law but the meere Gentile by the Law of nature the meere Jew by the Law of Moses the Christian by the Gospell the Law of grace according to their conformity to these three Laws shall they receive their doome their Euge or their Apage Rom. 2.12 But to leave them to stand or fall to their own master give me leave to turne my selfe to you Bel and to speak something to you by way of application and so I will conclude this point And I have three things to say to you concerning this matter 1. The first is to put you in mind of your great happinesse and priviledge that you have above these poore people we speake of in this particular inasmuch as the Lord hath dealt more liberally with you then with them he hath done that which concerning them is but a question is to you out of question to you is this salvation sent which to them is denied to you this sonne is given to you is hee come to you he offers himselfe in his Gospell in his Ordinances how happy are you if you can see your happinesse to whom such meanes of happinesse are afforded what a price have you in your hands to get knowledge life and salvation what faire opportunity to build up your selves in grace here and to lay for your selves a foundation of glory hereafter blessed are your eyes that see the things that you see and your eares that heare the things that you heare which Kings and Prophets have desired to see and heare and have not and which to the greatest part of the world besides hath been denied But how miserable are you if in the midst of all these meanes you should miscarry if such a light being come into the world you should love darknesse rather then light if having such a price put into your hands to get knowledge grace and glory you like fooles should have no heart If the Lord having freely given you his son you should not receave him how ill must the Lord needs take this at your hands how heavily will he charge you another day as being in the number of those that wilfully forsake their own mercy that refuse and dispise great salvation and thrust from them the kingdome of heaven he would have gathered you but you would not be gathered he would have healed you but you would not be healed 2. Wherefore the next duty charged upon you is this if the Lord hath so freely given you his son then is it your duty with all joy and thankfulnesse to receive him t is not the sending of his sonne that will make you happy nor the giving but the receiving of this gift that will enrich you receive him therefore by your ready and cheerefull entertainement of the Gospell in which he offers himselfe unto you receive him into your hearts by Faith into