Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	church_n	member_n	visible_a	3,184	5	9.3025	5	false

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

out of covenant without taking notice of it A Doctrine may be very clear the Scriptures brought to prove and the Argument thence deduced clear and convincing and yet it may remain dark to one that is uncapable of discerning it An Object may be very obvious and yet not well discerned by reason the Eye is clouded How plain are the Doctrines of the Trinity the Divine Nature of Christ Justification by Imputed Righteousness c. and yet many are so blind as not to see these things So the matter in debate viz. That the Infants of believing Parents have a right to Baptism is as clear to me as the other yet many will not see it The generality of Christians are but Babes in knowledge have but dark and confused apprehensions of the clearest Truths in Religion and must needs be much more at a loss in what hath not that clearness and perspicuity in it CHAP. II Containing the First Argument for Infant Baptism IF God doth own the Infant Seed of Believers as his then they ought to receive the Token of his so owning of them But God doth own the Infant Seed of Believers as his therefore they ought to receive the Token of his so owning of them which is Baptism Now that God doth own the Infant Seed of Believers as his I prove by these Four Arguments 1. If the Children of believing Parents are God's Children their Sons and Daughters his Sons and Daughters then God owns them But the Children of believing Parents are God's Children as is evident Ezek. 16.20 21. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed to be devoured Thou hast slain my children and delivered them to pass through the fire for them These Idolatrous Israelites were at this time much degenerated but yet God had not given them a bill of Divorce the Covenant was not dissolved and therefore these Children born within the Covenant were God's Children and his not merely by right of Creation so all are his but by right of Covenant There was little reason to believe the Parents were gracious but however being visibly in covenant God claims their Children as his own as belonging to his Church and Family by a Covenant-Right 2. If the Children of such Parents who are one or both of them Believers are federally holy then God owns them but the former is true 1 Cor 7.14 therefore the latter else were your children unclean but now are they holy the question was Whether when the Husband was a Believer and the Wife an Unbeliever or the Wife a Believer and the Husband a Pagan they might yet continue to live with the Unbeliever To this the Apostle answers they might and gives this reason for it viz. The unbeliever is sanctified by the believer Sanctified in Scripture usually signifies either 1. Savingly sanctified by Grace and Spiritual Life infused into the Soul by the Spirit of God or 2. Setting Persons apart for some holy Use or Office as the Priests Sabbath Tabernacle and all the Utensils thereof and all the People of Israel who were circumcised but the unbelieving Husband or Wise here were sanctified in neither of these respects therefore it 's otherwise to be understood Candidatus est fidei say some they are in a fair way of being won over to the Faith of Christ or prepared by God for such a use so sanctified signifies in Isa 13.3 but the meaning is plainly this That in regard that all the Faithful are Heirs of the Covenant of Grace Gen. 17.1 I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Acts 2.39 The promise is to you and to your children This Promise being to believing Parents and their Infants this Covenant the unbelieving Party cannot undo by his or her unbelief hence their Children were holy 1. Not merely legitimate for so they would have been had both the Parents been Pagans to say as the Anabaptists do they are not Bastards is saith Doctor Featly a Bastard Exposition 2. Nor can it be meant that they are saved justified and sanctified by the Holy Ghost though if that were the sense it would not contradict but confirm the Doctrine of Infant Baptism for whoever hath Justification and Sanctification the thing signified by Baptism hath undoubtedly a right to the Sign and Seal 3. Then by holy must unavoidably be meant federally holy i. e. within the Covenant as the Infants of the Jews were a holy Seed and had a right to Circumcision so the Infants of Christian Parents though but one of them a Believer had a federal holiness and a right to be baptised as if both the Parents had been Believers 4. If the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to little Children then Christ owns them but the Kingdom of Heaven doth belong to them Matth. 19.13 14. Then were there brought little children unto him that he should put his hands on them and pray and the disciples rebuked them But Jesus said Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven Here Christ declares the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them By the Kingdom of Heaven is meant either the Kingdom of Glory in the next World or the Kingdom of Grace here the latter is most probable for so the Church is called Matth. 22.1 2. Now be it the one or the other its evident Christ owned them as his 5. If the promise of the Covenant of Grace may be made to the Infant Seed of Believers then Christ owneth them but the promise of the Covenant of Grace is to the Infant Seed of Believers as well as to their believing Parents Gen. 17.7 I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee And this Promise the Apostle recites as belonging to all Believers Acts 2.39 The promise is to you and to your children Now from all it 's abundantly evident that God doth own the Children of believing Parents as his Therefore they ought to receive the Token of his so owning them which is Baptism The conclusion is unavoidably If it be evident God owns a Person that Person ought to be baptized let him shew that can any reason why a Person so owned by God should not be admitted into the Church by Baptism CHAP. III. Containing the Second Argument for Infant Baptism IF the Infants of believing Parents ought to be received and admitted visible church-Church-members then such Infants ought to be baptized but the Infants of believing Parents ought to be received and admitted visible Church-members therefore they ought to be baptized Now that such Infants ought to be received into the visible Church as visible Church-members I prove by these Arguments Argument 1. If by the merciful