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	member_n	visible_a	2,107	5	9.5140	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45681	Infant baptism God's ordinance, or, Clear proof that all the children of believing parents are in the covenant of grace and have as much a right to baptism the now seal of the covenant, as the infant seed of the Jewes had to circumcision, the then seal of the covenant / by Michael Harrison ...	Harrison, Michael, Minister at Potters-Pury.	1694 (1694)	Wing H905; ESTC R9581	26,416	65

Gift and Appointment of God not yet repealed some Infants were once to be admitted Members of the visible Church by vertue of the Covenant of Grace then 't is certain some Infants are still to be so admitted but the former is true therefore the latter Two things must here be done to shew 1. That some Infants were once admitted Members of the visible Church 2. That this Church-membership was never repealed 1. Some Infants were once so admitted by vertue of the Covenant of Grace If any deny this thus it is proved 1. Infants were part of them that entered into covenant with the Lord God and into his Oath that he might take them to be a peculiar People to himself Deut 29.10 11 12 13 14 15. Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God your captains of your tribes your elders with your officers with all the men of Israel 11. Your little ones your wives c. 12. That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God and into his oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day 13. That he establish thee to day for a people unto himself and that be may be unto thee a God as he hath said unto thee and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. 14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath but v. 15. with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord your God but with him that is not here with us this day This was not a new Covenant but a renewing the Covenant made with Abraham as v. 13. Into this Covenant their little ones present were taken and their little ones yet unborn 2. Infants were engaged to God by the Seal of the Covenant which was Circumcision Gen. 17.10 Circumcision was not a meer politick Rite as some Frantick Anabaptists have dreamed but a Seal of the Covenant of Grace Rom. 4.11 He received the Sign of Circumcision as a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith That is Circumcision was 1. a Sign of what of the Circumcision of the heart by the Spirit of Christ of the mortifying and killing the old man of the sad effects of Sin both original and actual and the way of recovery by Jesus Christ 2. It 's a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith that is of the Righteousness of Christ imputed to the Believer and received by faith this is a Periphrasis of the Covenant of Grace wherein righteousness is promised and made over to us in a way of believing 3. Infants were baptized to Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3. And Stephen calls that Assembly whereof they were Members the Church in the Wilderness From hence it is evident beyond rational contradiction that Infants were sometimes taken into the visible Church as visible church-Church-members by vertue of the Covenant of Grace Secondly That this Infant Church-membership was never repealed For if Infant Church-membership be repealed then that repeal must be either in Mercy or Judgment but it was in neither therefore it was never repealed 1. Infant Church-membership was never repealed in Judgment for God never revokes his Covenant to any People till first that People break covenant with him which Infants never did therefore being once taken into covenant 't is certain God did never cast them out Now it was a mercy to have Infants taken into covenant Deut. 29.10 11 12. therefore if this Privilege be revok'd it must be in Judgment for as it is a great Mercy to be in the visible Church so 't is a sore Judgment to be out of it to be cast out of covenant Now if Infant Church-membership be repeal'd then the Infants of Believers under the Gospel are in a much worse condition than before Christ's Incarnation certainly Christ did not come to make our Children miserable or to put them into a worse condition than they were in before this would make Christ a Destroyer who is the only Saviour But certainly the Church is now in a much better condition and her Privileges more ample and larger than they were before she hath lost none of her Privileges but gained many more Heb. 8.6 A more excellent ministry better promises Rom. 5.15 16 17. 'T is certain Infants are not thrown out of covenant for that would much darken the Grace of God received in the Gospel 2. Nor is Infant Church-membership repeal'd in Mercy for it can be no Mercy to take away a Mercy unless it means to give a greater Mercy in the room of it Now let the Anabaptists shew what greater Mercy God hath given in the room of Infant Church-membership there is none Therefore it was never repealed 2. If that Covenant by vertue whereof Infants were received into the visible Church was the Covenant of Grace then 't is certain it was never repeal'd But that Covenant by vertue whereof they were taken in was the Covenant of Grace therefore it was never repealed But that Covenant by vertue whereof they were taken into the visible Church was the Covenant of Grace as is most evident Deut. 29.10 11 12. And so the Covenant made with Abraham whereof Circumcision was a Seal Gen. 17.7 10. as the Apostle clearly proves Rom. 4.11 Now the Covenant of Grace is an everlasting Covenant 2 Sam. 23.5 never was nor ever will be repeal'd Infant Church-membership was no Ceremony neither was it any part of the Ceremonial Law if any say it was let them shew what it typified under the Gospel If it were a Ceremony then the Materials of the Church would be a Ceremony and so the Church it self which would be very absurb to affirm Neither was it part of the Moral Law the Covenant of Works whatever pains some of the opposite Persuasion have taken to prove it for the Covenant of Works knows no Mercy neither was it any part of the Judicial Law for Church-membership was not a piece of meer Policy the Church is one thing and the Commonwealth another 3. If there be no mention or record of the Repeal of Infant Church-membership in any part of the New Testament then it is most certain it was never repealed But there is no record of any such Repeal in any part of the New Testament therefore it was never repealed if any say it was let them shew where that Repeal is recorded 'T is true Circumcision is ceased because it was a Ceremonial Type but Infant Church-membership being no Type or Ceremony is not ceased Argument 2. If an Infant was Head of the visible Church then an Infant may be a Member of the visible Church But an Infant was Head of the visible Church for who will deny but that Jesus Christ was Head of the visible Church in his infancy what honour was done to Christ in his infancy both by Angels and men Hence it appears 1. That the Nonage of Infants doth not make them uncapable of being Church-members supposing God's will 2.