Selected quad for the lemma: nation_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nation_n	baptise_v	disciple_n	infant_n	1,787	5	9.8128	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27068	Whether parish congregations be true Christian churches and the capable consenting incumbents, be truly their pastors, or bishops over their flocks ... : written by Richard Baxter as an explication of some passages in his former writings, especially his Treatise of episcopacy, misunderstood and misapplied by some, and answering the strongest objections of some of them, especially a book called, Mr. Baxters judgment and reasons against communicating with the parish assemblies, as by law required, and another called, A theological dialogue, or, Catholick communion once more defended, upon mens necessitating importunity / by Richard Baxter.	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1684 (1684)	Wing B1452; ESTC R16512	73,103	142

truly thank God and him that I am called to review them and to clear my sence before I die And I adjure the tearing persecuting sect to think no more strangely and odiously of our differences in this case than of the sharp contention of Paul and Barnabas or that men should scramble if Gold and Pearls were scattered in the streets where dogs and swine would never strive about them Gods servants would please him we are all of weak understandings The Wisest best know their weakness The rest are nearest the state of the Fool who rageth and is confident It is impossible but offence must come Luke 17.1 But wo wo wo to any who will make canons so extreme hard for men to agree in as terms of their Union and Communion and excommunicate all that say a word against any word ceremony circumstances or office of their train and when they have done cry out against men for not agreeing to every syllable which a thousand to one are uncapable of understanding and the better men understand them the more they dislike them A Short Answer to the Chief Objections in a Book ENTITULED A Theological Dialogue c. THE chief matter of this Book is already answered by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 1.10 1 Cor. 3. Rom. 16.16 17. Eph. 4.4 to the 17. Phil. 2.1 2 3. 1 Thes 5.12 13. John 17.22 23 24. And 1 Cor. 12. And Acts 20.30 The Spirit and Stile of it is answered in the third Chapter of James throughout I have nothing then to do but to answer the pretended argumentation of it For the Author shall not draw me from my Defensive part to play the part of a plaintif against others or to wast my time in altercations and spend many sheets to tell the world that another man hath not skill to speak sence and that he seduceth others by ambiguous words and by confusions Obj. 1. To prove us sinful for being members of the Church of England he saith Pag. 15. Is he not by Communion in the Sacarment of Baptisme made a member Page 13. Is not Baptisme according to the Liturgy a symbol of incorporation into the Church of England Confirmation another receiving the Lords Supper another symbol c. Ans 1. Baptism as such incorporateth no man into any particular Church but only into the universal as it did the Eunuch Acts 8. 2. The ceremonies or circumstantials of Baptism only shew what men submit to rather than to be unbaptized and not what particular Church they are of 3. This objection would insinuate that all that are Baptized in the publick manner in England were thereby incorporated into an unlawful Church which they must by being rebaptized or by open renunciation disclaim And so that it is not Lawful to Communicate with any that were Baptized in the Parish Church till they have repented it or are Rebaptized or Penitent openly And if you must have all in England renounce their Baptism before you will take their Communion for lawful the same reason will hold against your Communion with all the rest of the Churches on Earth And when you cut off your self from all saving a shred are you a Member of the undivided Body of Christ 4. If our Baptism in England doth incorporate into their Church which you suppose is no Church being a false Church doth not Baptism into your Church incorporate Persons into yours And what then if your Schism prove a Sin What if Rebaptizing prove a Sin What if the Covenant descri●ed by your Client to obey none but Christ in matters belonging to Worship prove a Sin are they all guilty of all these and such others Obj. II. All that are liable to a Church Excommunication when they have offended are declared Members of the Church But all Communicants and Native Inhabitants are so Therefore the Law hath excepted none How comes it to pass that the Church hath power of excommunicating any Person but by vertue of Incorporation which she hath by the same Law He that is not in the Church how comes he to be cast out Is he not by Communion in the Sacrament of baptism made a Member Ans 1. Doth their esteeming you a Member prove that you are so 2. You know that they excommunicate Papists and Atheists who deride them for it and say It 's a strange Church that will cast us out because they cannot compel us to come in 3. If this be a good argument that all are of their Church that are excommunicate then you are either safe from Excommunication or of their Church whether you will or not If to make good your argument you will aver that no Separatist Independent Presbyterian Anabaptist or Quaker was ever excommunicate or imprisoned as such you will change the Current of Intelligence and comfort many that can believe you and teach them how to escape a Prison for the time to come But if not you make your self and all these parties incorporate Members of the Church of England as well as me 4. Do you think a Lay Civilian by Excommunicating can prove or make a man a member of any Church against his will Then mens Argument against Parish Churches for want of consent is void They may be made such against their wills 5. But tho few men d●sl●ke the Lay-Excommunicators and Absolvers more than I do nor grudge more at the Bishops and Deans who use them and let them put their names to the Excommunications especially of the poor Church-Wardens for not swearing c. yet let us not render them causelesly ridiculou● I imagine that they excommunicate not known Papists Anabaptists and such like out of their Church who they know were never in it but out of the Universal Church If this be not their sense let them give it you themselves for I am not bound to be their Interpreter And yet to moderate our Censures of them I 'le tell you a wonder Within this hour I received a Letter of credible Intelligence of a Chancellor who hearing of a Conventicle not presented by the Church-Wardens and being told that they met to repeat the publick Sermon said God forbid that they should be hindered Obj. III. Page 8. A Church in a sense is a Christian Kingdom that is a Royal Nation under Christ their King But there is no such Gospel-Church in your sense for there was neither Christian Kingdom nor King in the Ap●stl●s days Ans The Institution may be in the Gospel before the existence Christian Kings and Kingdoms are neither unlawful nor needless because there were none then The Prophets not only foretel that Nations shall come in to Christ and serve him but that all Nations that do it not shall perish And Christs Commission to his Apostles was To go and Disciple all Nations as much as in them lay baptizing them Nations as such were first to be discipled and then baptized Infants are part of Nations And Matth. 23. Christ would have gathered Jerusalems Children all the Jewish

Nation into his Church as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings And Rom. 11. Only their own unbelief broke them off from being a National Church including Infants And it is part of the Saints triumph that the Kingdoms of the World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ If you will read Mr. Beverlys Book called The whole duty of Nations it will give you full proof of this Where hath the Gospel extensively much prospered where Princes and Rulers were not Christians The Turks give liberty of Religion And yet the sometime famous Greek Churches Corinth Philippi Coloss Ephesus Laodicea Philadelphia and more than all the West are Apostatized or withered to a few ignorant vicious scandalous Christians Obj. IV. 8. If such a confederation in lawful Circumstantials as well as Integrals will make a Church I know not why we may not have a Catholick Visible Church organized if this be a due acception of a Church Ans This is as much as to say If the name Church may be used equivocally as all words must of several sorts then all those sorts may be the same I deny it If you dislike the use of the name you have your liberty as a Grammarian to forbear it But sure the Name and the Thing are not all one nor the Controversies about them 2. But we have a Catholick Visible Church Organized as I have oft proved against the Papists viz. under one Christ the Head and his Ministers as his subordinate Officers Obj. V. Page 3. If you touch a mans finger you touch the man we have communion with an integrum perpartes and with a Genus by the Species and with both by individuals Nay as every part of the Scripture one verse or sentence of it makes up sence so every part of the Liturgy as in form and manner therein contrived is Liturgy and worship thereafter is according to the Liturgy tho it be but part of the w●rship Page 20. As for the falseness in Integrals it gives the denomination to the whole for an Integral part is an essential part of the whole Much more there is to the same purpose making him guilty of all that useth a part Ans 1. You have the freedom of using words at your pleasure but not imposing them on mankind when necessity hath taught the World to distinguish essential and integral parts you have no authority to confound their Language by the quibble of calling Integrals essential causes of the whole A totum per aggregationem as a heap of Sand or a field of Grass is not constituted of a proper essentiating form and so homogeneous matter aggregate is all the being it hath And if you make contiguity an essential cause or how else you will you have liberty of speech But we will not be cheated by it to believe that it causeth any more than Totality or Integrality and the absence of it is a privation of no more And all mens Graces Obedience and Worship are defective in point of Integrality and degree and I hope you will not say that they need no favour or pardon or amendment 2. All human actions have their faults must we therefore do nothing or converse with no men England is one Kingdom If there be one or many faults in its Laws or officers may we therefore obey none that are faultless The Laws are the Rule of National Justice may a Judg Justice Officer or subject use none of them because some are faulty Doth that make him guilty of all Bonum est ex causis integris The fault of a part may indeed denominate the whole faulty so far But the whole Law or Liturgy may be called faulty for a part and yet he that useth either not be guilty of any of the bad part for using the good The Law and Liturgy are one thing and the use is another Its faults are no further his than he owneth them your Bread or Meat may be called bad if part only be bad and yet if you eat none but the good part it will not hurt you 2. But if it must be otherwise no man may hear you or joyn with your Churches And do you think as aforesaid that Mr. Faldo and all his Church at Barnet lived not in a sinful communion very many years that omitted at least an integral part of publick worship the singing of Gods praise Christ with his Disciples sung a Hymn after the Sacrament The Jews Church made it the chief part of their Worship James prescribeth it us in all our Holy Mirth such as the Lords Day is appointed for 1 Cor. 14.26 Every one had a Psalm and with them no one had a Psalm tho his Judgment was for it the question was Whether he should forsake them for refusing it I thought not because it was better that they had something that was good than nothing But your argument would not only unchurch them but make all sinners that communicated with them for omissions of great duties are faults and greater faults than tolerable failings in performance He that prayeth not at all doth worse than he that prayeth by a Book and he that preacheth or teacheth not at all doth worse than he that readeth a Sermon so that their total stated omission and opposition to singing by your false rule denominated them no worshippers of God if the whole must be denominated from a part How many private Meetings in London never sing a Psalm for fear of being discovered Yea how many seldom read a Chapter but only preach and pray and sometime administer the Sacrament Must we needs say therefore that they omit all Worship VI. On such occasions I argued That if we must not communicate with any Parish Church because of the faults of the Liturgy it will follow that we must not communicate with any Church on Earth that hath as great faults and that by this we must renounce Communion with all Christs Body on Earth All the Armenians Nestorians Eutychians Copties Abassines Georgians Greeks Russians Papists yea Lutherans have a more faulty Liturgie or manner of worship than the English Yea the Churches called Calvinists have their Liturgies and faults And I instanced in Switzerland because as God hath of late most preserved their peace so they are taken to be the honestest sort of Protestants that in poverty serve God with soundest doctrine and least scandal of Life but yet have no proper discipline but the Magistrates Is it a sin to have confederacy or Communion with their Churches To this he plainly saith Page 11. It is That is all that confederate with them as Churches are guilty of their error called Erastian For subjection t● such discipline is the condition of their Communion Ans Subjection is an equivocal word If it were by profession or subscription of consent it were indeed to be guilty of that error tho not by a fau●t of the Part denominating the whole to make their worship unlawful or their Churches none but