Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	law_n	sin_n	transgression_n	2,676	5	10.9658	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77497	The doctrine and practice of paedobaptisme, asserted and vindicated. By a large and full improovement of some principall arguments for it, and a briefe resolution of such materiall objections as are made against it. Whereunto is annexed a briefe and plaine Enarration, both doctrinall and practicall, upon Mark 10.V.13.14.15.16. As it was some time since preached in the church of Great Yarmouth: now published for an antidote against those yet spreading errours of the times, Anabaptisme and Catabaptisme. / By Joh. Brinsley.	Brinsley, John, 1600-1665.	1645 (1645)	Wing B4712; Thomason E300_14; ESTC R200258	127,125	196

to keep it it is said to be weake It was weake through the flesh Rom. 8. 3. and unprofitable Heb. 7. 18. It was disanulled for the weaknesse and unprofitablenesse thereof But now the condition of that Covenant made with Abraham was Evangelicall viz. Faith and Evangelicall obedience Faith Circumcision the seale of that Covenant was to Abraham a seale of the righteousnesse of Faith sealing up unto him righteousnesse and life not upon the condition of doing working but beleeving which was accounted to him for Righteousnesse as the Apostle sets it forth Rom. 4. Obedience not exactnesse but uprightnesse Gen. 17. 1. Walke before me and be upright or sincere 5. Againe fifthly they differ in the end and use of them That legall Covenant it was given chiefly because of transgressions So the Apostle tells us Gal. 3. 19. wherefore then serveth the Law it was added because of transgressions viz. to discover them to bridle and restrain men from them to denounce punishments for them for that is a threefold use of the Law 1. Detegit 2. Fraenat 3. Punit to convince men of sinne and of their misery by reason of sinne that so they might come to see the need they have of Christ and be driven to him according to that of the Apostle Gal. 3. 24. The Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ But that other Covenant made with Abraham it was to assure him and his seed of their interest in the Messiah and the promise of life through him Sixtly and lastly They differ in their duration and continuance That legall Covenant it was but temporary to continue but till Christ should come So saith the Apostle Gal. 3. 19. The law was added because of transgressions untill the seed should come to whom the promise was made i. e. untill Christ should come Then that legall Covenant as a Covenant with the Church ceased But the Covenant made with Abraham it was an everlasting Covenant So the Lord tells him Gen. 17. 7. I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee for an everlasting Covenant c. So then you see that these Covenants were two distinet Covenants That Covenant which God made with Israel at Mount Sina it was not the same with that which he had made with Abraham before And of that Covenant it is that the Apostle there speaketh in the 7. and 8. chap. of the Hebrewes Not of the Covenant made with Abraham which was an Evangelicall Covenant and for substance the same with that which we are now under But of the Covenant made at Mount Sina that legall Covenant That is the Covenant which the Apostle there compareth with the new Covenant and of which he telleth us that it is now disanulled and abolished Q. Why but saith our Adversary how could that be called the old Covenant and the first Covenant when as it was 430. years after the Covenant made with Abraham This was rather the first Covenant and old Covenant A. To this it is answered That legall Covenant is called the old Covenant 1. In opposition to the Covenant of the Gospell under the new Testament which because it was revived and renewed and confirmed by the comming of Christ the promised seed it is therefore peculiarly called the new Covenant and that legall Covenant in opposition to it is called the old Covenant 2. The old Covenant because it waxed old and through age decayed So saith the Apostle of it in the place last named Heb. 8. last In that he saith a new Covenant he hath made the first old new that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish aw●y 3. The old Covenant and the first Covenant because for substance it was partly the same with that first Covenant which God made with Adam in state of innocencie The Law the morall part of it published upon Mount Sina it was no other but the same Law that was given to Adam at the first What was there written in Tables of stone was but a counterpane of what was written in the fleshy Tables of the heart of man at the beginning And being so well might it be called the old Covenant and the first Covenant being before the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham I or with Adam either You see then what the old Covenant is that legall Covenant whereof Moses was the Mediatour And of this Covenant it is true it is disanulled abrogated so as there is now no more use of the Law as a Covenant to the Church Marke that as a Covenant Other uses there are of it many which are still in force as much as ever But it is no longer a Covenant This Covenant is disanulled But so is not that Evangelicall Covenant made with Abraham which is as I told you an Everlasting Covenant and for substance the very same with that which Beleevers are now under viz. the Covenant of Grace promising life and salvation upon the condition of beleeving So much the Apostle tells us expressely Gal. 3. v. 8. The Scripture i. e. the Spirit of God speaking in Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the heathen the Gentiles through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed Marke it When God made this Covenant with Abraham declaring and promising that in his seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed he then preached the Gospel to him making a Covenant with him concerning Christ and salvation by Christ So much Zacharias in his song acknowledgeth Luke 1. 72 73. where speaking of the exhibiting and sending of Christ into the world he calls it An holy Covenant the oath which God sware unto our father Abraham The Covenant made with Abraham then was no other but the Covenant of Grace even the same Covenant that we are now under All the difference is the Covenant now is new drawne and so put into another forme set forth and expressed more clearly and fully then that with Abraham was even as our evidences and conveyances now they are more large and full then they were wont to be in the dayes of our forefathers though in effect the same but for substance they are one and the same And being so to close up this second Argument that Covenant is an everlasting Covenant I will make an everlasting Covenant with them saith the Lord speaking of the renewing of the Covenant of Grace with them Ier. 32. 40. A Covenant that is not waxed old as that legall Covenant did that is not nor ever shall be disanulled but is in force still as much as ever And consequently children of Beleevers being once in Covenant they are still in Covenant And being in Covenant they have a right to this seale of the Covenant Arg. 3. I passe now to a third Argument to prove children of Beleevers to be within the Covenant I take it from that known place of the

in it or rather a right to it I●s adrem though not I●s in re A right to it though not in it Even as a childe under age an Infant lying in the cradle being an heire he hath right to such a house or land which yet he cannot for the present take up and make use of Even such a right have the children of beleevers in or to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper a right to it and a right to partake of it when they are capable of it which for the present they are not Q. And why not as capable of the one Sacrament as of the other A. I answer because the one is a passive the other an active Ordinance in reference to the receivers Baptisme is a passive Ordinance even as Circumcision was which required nothing in the person to be actually done by him but only to suffer the flesh of his foreskin to be cut So in Baptisme now the person baptized is a meere patient in the act of baptizing But it is otherwise in the Lords supper Even as in the Passeover there was somewhat more required then a bare suffering viz. a taking and eating c. Even so in the Lords supper the Communicant is more then a meer patient he must be active in that Ordinance Take and eat take and drinke both in remembrance of Christ This must the Communicant do in the act of receiving Besides in way of preparation to it he must examine himselfe and that as for other things so for his abilitie to discerne the Lords body Which because Infants cannot do therefore they are debarred from that Sacrament though received to the other Baptisme is a passive ordinance wherein the person baptized is a meer patient Such is a man in the beginning of the new birth the first act of conversion a meere patient As in Generation so in Regeneration Now Baptisme we know is a Sacrament of our Regeneration and consequently Infants are capable of this Sacrament thoughnot of the other even as Infants under the Old Testament were capable of Circumcision at eight dayes old when they were not capable of eating the Passeover though they had a right to the one as well as the other But I shall dwell no longer upon it I passe to a second generall Argument Arg. 2. from Gen. 17. 12. He that is eight dayes old shall be circumcised AN Argument which I question not but it would alone bear the weight of this whole Controversie if it were laid upon it It is taken from the analogie and proportion betwixt Baptisme and Circumcision the one a Sacrament of the Old Testament the other of the New The Argument is framed thus Infants under the Old Testament were circumcised therefore Infants under the New Testament may be baptized The Proposition or former part of this Enthymeme the words which I have now read hold forth unto your That Infants were circumcised So runs the Order and Injunction here in the Text. He that is eight dayes old shall be circumcised c. Wherein for the opening of the words we may take notice of the Ordinance it selfe and the time assigned for the administration of it The Ordinance Circumcision the time the eight day Briefly of each 1. For the Ordinance it selfe Circumcision you know what it was The first Sacrament of the Old Testament signifying and sealing up to the people of the Iewes their entrance into Covenant with God Thence called by the name of the Covenant My Covenant shall be in your flesh Gen. 17. For further opening of it I might shew you both what was the signe and what the thing signified by it The outward signe the cutting away the foreskin of the flesh The thing signified by it Generally their entrance into Covenant More particularly their Iustification ●nd Sanctification Iustification in the remission of all their sins and gracious acceptation of their persons in and through the blessed seed being now marked out for God Sanctification in the mortifying of their lusts And hence it was that that mark was set upon that part of the body to represent both the pardoning and mortifying of all their sinfull lusts both which were hereby not only signified but sealed up unto them Many other uses there were of this Sacrament Divers mysteries were shadowed out and signified by it As 1. The Corruption of their natures viz. That they were by carnall generation unclean and impure out of Covenant with God deserving to be cut off and cast from the presence of God as that foreskin was from the presence of men 2. The meanes of their Redemption viz. by the shedding of blood without which there is no remission no redemption It is a generall observation All blood shed in the Old Testament was typicall and so was this The blood shed in Circumcision a type of the blood of Christ shed in his Passion 3. The nature of Mortification which is a painfull exercise making the heart bleed and making it bleed by affliction of spirit and a cutting off and casting away of sin as in Circumcision there was a cutting off and casting away the foreskin of the flesh 4. Their obligation and duty viz. That they should be ready to shed their blood for God who had taken them into Covenant with himselfe These and divers other mysticall significations it had besides divers other ends of the Institution As 1. It was to them the initiall seale of the Covenant making them visible members of the Church 2. It was a note of distinction to difference and distinguish them from all other nations and people 3. It was an obligation upon them binding them to the observation of the whole Law not only Moral but Ceremonial 4. It was to them a pledge and assurance of their right to and interest in the earthly Canaan which was the type of a heavenly These and many more ends and uses might be reckoned up but I shall not dwell upon them Passe we to the second thing which is here principally aimed at viz. the Circumstance of Time when this Sacrament was to be administred and that was upon the eight day He that is eight dayes old Filius ●ct● di●rum the son of eight dayes so the Originall hath it i. e. a Child of eight dayes old That was the day appointed for the administring of this Sacrament the eight day which was precisely commanded and as precisely observed upon what day soever it fell I though upon the Sabbath day Moses gave you Circumcision saith our Saviour to the Iewes and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man viz. that the Law of Circumcision might not be broken Thus it was Q. But the question may be touching the reason of it why God would have it so why he chooseth out that time that day why no sooner why no later A. For answer Know we it is not good nor safe to be too curious in our enquiries after