Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	church_n	faith_n	scripture_n	5,037	5	6.2487	4	true

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

which wilfully rejected the counsell of God against themselves which is recorded to their eternall shame and ignominy Now I say I read of none that were exempted from their Baptisme but such as rejected the counsell of the Lord which children could not do neither did the women as farre as I have been taught and therefore I may without any danger from the commission given unto Iohn the Baptist and Christs D●sciples thus argue for proofe of the lawfulnesse of children in Baptisme first beginning with Iohn the Baptists commission He that by his Commission from God Baptised in Ierusalem and all Indea and all the region round about Iordan and all people that followed his mnistery the Sadnces Pharisees and Lawyers only excepted Baptised both men women and children But John the Baptist by his Commission from God baptised Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Iordan and all the people that followed his ministry the Sadnces Pharisees Lawyers only excepted Ergo he Baptised both men women and children For the minor of this Argument it is sufficiently cleered from the concerning the major which places above quoted all the doubt is being proved the conclusion will ever stand firme and therefore for further illustration of this truth I will adde a few words more for the proofe of that because a great Anabaptist not long since pretended that this was but a supposition or at least an argument by consequence that children were then Baptized which if it were it is then but an argument by consequence likewise for the baptisme of men and women as well as of children for there is not any mention made of any man by name Christ only excepted or of any women that were baptised no more then there is of children for in the third of Math. and in the third of Luke and in the seventh chapter of the same booke the text is cleere that all the people and the multitude were Baptised the Saduces Pharisees and Lawyers only excepted Now when the Scripture is so full in this businesse that all the people that heard him the above-mentioned only exempted were baptised that women and children were as well baptized as men by Iohn the Baptist and as for men the Anabaptists deny not their baptisme and I by the same Law and Word may as well prove the Baptisme of women and children as of men for Ierusalem saith the Scripture and all Iudea and all the region round about Jordan all the people that came unto his ministry heard him were baptized Now Jerusalem and Judea and all the regions round about consisted of women and children as well as of men who were included in the multitude of people and they were also in covenant with God and his people and were to be brought to the ordinances as well as men neither is there any mention made that any were excepted but the Pharisees c. yea it is expresly said all the people were baptised therefore what the word of God holds out unto us that we ought to believe Neither will that evasion help the Anabaptists when they say that it is called the Baptisme of repentance and that they were baptised confessing their sinnes which say they intimates they were growen persons which is indeed but a meere cavill for those expressions doe no more exclude children of Christian Parents from Baptisme then the preaching of the Prophets when they say Let the wicked forsake his wayes and the unrighteous his thoughts Isa 55. and turne unto the Lord doe exclude the children of such from Circumcision because Faith and Repentance and confession of their sinnes are required first in the Parents of all that turne from their sinnes and Idols to serve the living God before their admittance into the Church But should it be granted that all the men and women that came to Iohns Baptisme did in their owne persons and for themselves make an orall and audible confession of their sinnes punctually before they could be baptized which had been almost an impossible thing for such multitudes to do yet it would not follow that their children were excluded from Baptisme for they were as well in covenant with God as their Parents and as well his children as they and the Scripture sayes expresly that Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and all the people were baptised and therefore children are as well included as they and their Parents did as well include their children as themselves in their confessions if they made any publickly as the Prophets and people of God under the law in their publick confessions as well included all the people both men women and children as themselves and as all the Congregations with the Ministers and their Parents now daily doe at the baptisme of any whether men women or children but I speake this by the way not that I shall ever be of that judgement to believe or thinke that all that were baptized by John the Baptist or the Apostles did make each of themselves a publick confession of their faith before their admittance into the Church for the Scripture is cleere for the contrary both in the third of Luke and in the second of the Acts where it is related that they only came to John and asked him what they should do and in the second of the Acts they said unto the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do And in both the places it is recorded that they were all at that instant of time baptized without making any confession of their sins severally which such multitudes of people could not have done without infinite toyle and much time to both Ministers and people But I conceive under reformation that those expressions are set downe by the Pen-men of holy writ to shew the difference between the Baptisme of the people and Christs baptisme for the people yeelding and submitting themselves unto the ceremony of Baptisme which was as a hand writing against them and intimated unto them that they were conceived in sinne though they were not as the sinners of the Gentiles and out of Covenant and that they had need of washing and purifying in the blood of the Messiah and that they should daily repent and dy unto sinne and rise to newnesse of life I say in this regard by the acceptance and embracing of this ceremony they declared and acknowledged that they were by nature sinfull and had need of clensing and were for ever bound all their life long to mortifie the old man and put on the new man upon which conditions Christ was not baptised and therefore for distinction and making a difference betweene the Baptisme of the people and Christs baptisme and for the grounds above specified as I conceive it is called the Baptisme of Repentance and they are said to confesse their sin which all people tacitly do when they are baptised Christ only excepted for Christ was not baptised under the notion of a sinner or

more some Independents have acknowledged that they were convinced by reading of your Booke which I conceive to be one of the principallest causes that makes them so much maligne you and hinder the publishing of it And others of them upon the reading of your booke have writ out of the Countrey to some of their fraternity here in London telling th●m that they had read your Booke saying moreover that they could witnesse that you had writ nothing of them and their practices but what they could witnesse to be true and therefore earnestly exhorted them to mend their manners and carry themselves so as beseemed the Gospell all this can bee abundantly proved which induces me to believe that if that Book were but knowne amongst the people they would either speedily be undeceived if they were seduced or bee preserved from the errours of the times All that I have now to say unto you besides my good wishes is this You have had great experience of Gods love unto you who hath hitherto preserved you and delivered you out of so many dangers and from so many deaths and from the fury of so many enemies and preserved you in the truth who with all their fury rage and reproches have never in any thing beene dismayed I shall therefore earnestly desire you to consider that you serve the same master still who is the same All sufficient Jehovah be constant therefore to maintaine his cause and truth to the death and be not discouraged with any thing any enemy can doe unto you which words I utter not as in the least doubting of your resolutions but out of my hearty desire of your honour and happinesse which your s●ability and constancy will crowne with a L●●rell of i●mortall praises manger all enemies I pray sir faile no● with the s●●nest to let me receive th●se Arguments I desire and to heare of your health and happinesse and the welfare of all your● and you shall ●●ch 〈◊〉 and rejoyce 〈◊〉 who is Sir Your assured Friend in What I may in the Lords quarrell RICHARD SMART From my house in Scalding Alley at the Hand and Pen this 25 of March 1647. To his Christian friend Mr. Richard Smart at his house in Scalding Alley at the hand and Pen. SIR IF in the very day of the Apostles when truth was so prevalently and powerfully taught and confirmed with so many wonders and Miracles errours did then so abound that Saint in Iohn in his Epistle to the elect Lady greatly rejoyced to find any walking in the truth It is now no wonder that in these latter and perilous times so many revolt from the same and embrace errors and therefore it is exceeding matter of joy to all the lovers of the truth to meet with any that continue constantly in the same and truly it doth much rejoyce me to find you against so many temptations persevering in the love of it which will ever be for your honour here and reall comfort in life and death For your good opinion of me and of the Book I sent you and for your kind acceptance of the same I returne you many thankes and withall for your farther satisfaction I doe here in the presence of the great God that shall judge both quick and dead professe unto you that I never was in my judgement and opinion an Anabaptist Brownist Independent or any Sectary And as I have formerly in almost all my bookes manifested to the world that I differ'd in nothing from the doctrine of the Protestant reformed Churches beyond the Seas as those of France Germany and the Netherlands in any dominative or Principle point of Religion saving in the doctrine of the Sabbath or Lords day which in my judgement ought wholly to be employed and kept both privately and publickly in all duties of piety and charity and that with as much care diligence and reverence as ever it was amongst the Jewes saving I say in this point only I speake it again in the presence of God I never differ'd in any thing concerning faith or any fundamentall point of doctrine from any of those Churches nor never approved of any separation from Gods ordinances celebrated in them or allowed of the leaving of their publick Assemblies and therefore whatsoever either the Anabaptists or any of the Sectaries have formerly published or doe now speak of me intimating that I was once one of them it is a meere calumny and foule reproach and what I now say I shall be able to prove by a cloude of witnesses and those of their own party who have formerly been of my acquaintance and familiarly intimate with me who are ready as they have lately told me to witnesse for me that I was ever against their severall separations from any of Gods ordinances in our publick Assemblies here in England and that in the worst times and therefore the Anabaptists and Sectaries do use me very injuriously to perswade their followers or any others that I was once one of them But before I come to declare my opinion concerning the baptisme of Children of Christian Parents which is my theame at this time and to prove that there is very good warrant for it in the word of God I thinke it fit in this place to declare my judgement which you desired in your Letter I would doe concerning all Separatists whether Papists or Sectaries which is this that I am so farre from favouring their wayes especially in these times of our so happy begun reformation that I am able by Gods blessed assistance ever to make it good that whatsoever either of them by what names soever they are called hold or beleeve concerning Christian religion more then what is beleeved and embraced in the Protestant reformed Churches that it is either blasphemous impious or at least superfluous so that a man may dy either in the ignorance or contempt of it and yet goe safely to heaven And as for the vanity impiety and falsity of all the popish tenents I have sufficiently declared it in many Books and in that my discourse betweene me and Mr. Montayne called the Church of Englands true Church and for all the severall opinions of the Sectaries wherein they differ from the Protestant reformed Churches they are if not as impious yet as vaine and needlesse as those of the Papists so that a man may as safely goe to heaven without the knowledge of them as either the glorious Prophets or blessed Apostles who knew none of them and yet were all saved for nothing keeps men out of heaven but sinne and the transgression of the law of God Now I desire any rationall creature to declare unto me what law of God I or any man transgresse and what sin I commit if I beleeve and practice no more then the written word of God hath taught me to beleeve and doe and if I die in the ignorance of Independency Anabaptisme Antinomianisme c. yea let any of them shew me what sin I commit in rejecting

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