Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	act_n	faith_n	justify_v	2,616	5	9.2467	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96712	The summe of diverse sermons preached in Dublin, before the L. Deputie Fleetwood, and the Commissioners of Parliament for the affairs of Ireland. wherein the doctrine of infant-baptism is asserted, and the main objections of Mr. Tombs, Mr. Fisher, Mr. Blackwood, and others, answered / by Samuel Winter ...	Winter, Samuel, 1603-1666.	1656 (1656)	Wing W3089; ESTC R43829	127,074	209

arbitramur quia spiritus otiosus non est quemadmodum ratio etsi se non nisi paulatim exerat Idem Wal. the minor proposition is proved 1. From scripture Mat. 18.3 4 5. compared with Mar. 9.36 Whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me but whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me it were better that a milstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the midst of the sea The opposition shews he speaks of children For it 's an undoubted maxim Where terms stand as opposits the one is to be taken in the sense opposit to the other Now it 's clear from ver 3 4 5. that he speaks of children whom we are visibly to receive in Christ's name to such Ordinances as they are capable of therefore the words are so to be taken ver 5. little ones that believe in me There is the like phrase Rev. 9.4 It was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth neither any green thing neither any tree but onely those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads Which exception shews you That by grass green things and trees he means men For the exception as we say must be of the same kinde Exceptio est ejus dem generis See Rev. 7.3 2. We may see this exemplified in many Psal 22. 9. Thou madest me hope when I hung upon my mothers brests This is true in the antitype Christ who had faith from the very womb it 's true also in David Psal 71.5 Thou art my trust from my childhood by thee I have been holden from the womb v. 17. Thou hast taught me from my childhood now also when I am grey headed forsake me not We see original sin lies dormant in the child for a while but quickly puts forth it being peccatum actuosum Psal 58. They go astray from the belly and why may may not faith put forth betimes in some as in Esaias ch 49. Jeremiah ch 1.5 and John Baptist the first in the new Testament Now the first in every kinde is the rule of all the rest I see no reason but when a child puts forth acts of reason he may put forth an act of faith and when he begins to know his natural he may also know his heavenly father though it wants that reflect act whereby it knows that it knows the former we have seen verified in many children in New-England and elsewhere 3. 〈◊〉 If some be sanctified from the womb then they have faith quicunque renascitur fidem habet Luther For all the graces are concatenated but some are sanctified from the womb for Christ as he sanctifies our natures so he sanctifies every age as Hos 12 4. Jacob being actuated by the spirit began to act betime and to wrestle with his brother Esau in his mothers womb for the blessing See Zanchy 4. Children have faith in heaven therefore in earth For 1. If the Lord irradiate upon the souls of children in heaven Quos pleno lucis suae fulgore illustraturus est Dominus cur non iis quoque in presens si ita libuerit exiguà scintillâ irradiaret Cal. Inst l. 4. c. 16. and they do behold the face of God which is an act of faith Heb. 11.27 then have they faith in heaven if so why not on earth 2. They rest in hope of the resurrection else they were miserable Psal 16.9 that is the soul doth rest in hope for the bodie properly is not the subject of hope now hope is the daughter of faith 3. There will be this use of faith in heaven to believe that which we cannot comprehend for faith is the evidence of things not seen even the infinite being of God who dwells in that light that none can approach unto therefore we conclude infants in heaven have faith and why may they not have the seed of it here seeing there is no grace in heaven which was not wrought on earth Hence it is that regeneration is called an earthly thing Ioh. 3. because as for other reasons so this it must be wrought on earth 4. The first Adam had power to convey grace as faith to his posterity and hath not the second Adam much more power Was not the faith of Adam of the like nature with the faith of believers though it do not put forth that act whereby we are justified 5. Can any live without faith or be saved for ever without it and shall we denie it to infants who stand in need of justification by faith as well as we Obj. How can they be justified by faith which cannot act Ans Faith may be said to be passive in our justification because the habit of faith is passive before it put forth any act now we are justified so soon as by the habit of faith we are alive in Christ in the first moment of our conversion before faith put forth any act Thus children are justified by the habit of faith for as we were guilty of Adams sin which is imputed to us before we were active in giving consent unto it so is the rightousness of Christ imputed to children before they put forth any elicit act of faith Therefore I say they are capable of that passive Ordinance of baptism Obj. Children have no knowledge therefore no faith therefore no interest in the Covenant or seal thereof Ans Are they not reasonable souls because for the present they make no use of reason and may they not have habitual knowledge lying dormant in them though no actual is it not Christ that enlighteneth every one not that is going out but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming into the world doth not the reasonable soul lie dormant in the body till organized doth it not live though it move not for the present when a man is asleep he acts not grace doth it therefore follow he hath none may not a child be included in a lease and conditions made which render him capable of the benefit of it if he perform the conditions therein specified though at the making of the lease he give no consent at all and were not the children in the Evangelist blessed by Christ because they understood it not or was Peter washed in vain because he knew not what Christ did as yet Mr Tombs saith If he knew an infant such an one as John was such a one he would baptize and farther he saith that such as Christ blessed might be baptized if therefore baptism belong to one infant it 's enough to confute them who denie it to all but according to this account if onely the elect and faithful are to be admitted to the Ordinance of baptism there is no subject left to whom we may dispense that Ordinance 6. Arg. Taken from examples in scripture whole families were baptized Observe the families are made the precedent If any one say here is a Synecdoche the whole being put for part We answer with