Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	authority_n	church_n	primitive_a	2,508	5	9.0550	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85408	Philadelphia: or, XL. queries peaceably and inoffensively propounded for the discovery of truth in this question, or case of conscience; whether persons baptized (as themselves call baptism) after a profession of faith, may, or may not, lawfully, and with good conscience, hold communion with such churches, who judg themselves truly baptized, though in infancy, and before such a profession? Together with some few brief touches about infant, and after-baptism. By J.G. a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1653 (1653)	Wing G1189; Thomason E702_7; ESTC R207109	25,228	32

theirs the Apostle here insisteth on as inconsistent with that most dangerous and pernicious Error of denying the Resurrection of the dead which had now gotten head amongst them And if there were such a practise as this in this Church I mean to baptize some of the living members in the name and stead of some that were dead is it not a plain case that there were some of these members who lived and dyed unbaptized VI Whether when Paul soon after his conversion assayed to joyn himself to the Church and Disciples at Jerusalem Act. 9. 26. did this Church make any enquiry after his Baptism as whether he had been baptized or no in order to his reception amongst them or did they know that he had been baptized Or did Barnabas in giving satisfaction to the Apostles and Church concerning his meetness to be admitted into communion with them so much as mention his being Baptized but only declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the Name of Jesus Acts 9. 27. VII Whether upon a supposal that it cannot be proved from the Scriptures that any unbaptized or unduly baptized person was ever admitted into Church-communion by Christians in the Apostles days or that any duly baptized person held communion with a Church the greatest part of whose members he deemed either unbaptized or unduly Baptized is such a defect of proof sufficient to justifie a withdrawing of communion by a person who conceiveth himself duly baptized from such a Church the generality of whose members he supposeth are either not baptized or unduly Baptized considering that very many things may be matter of duty and necessary to be done which are not warranted for so much as lawful by any example in the Scriptures of like action in all circumstances It is the duty of Churches and of every member respectively to admit their women-members to the Lords Table yet cannot this practice be warranted by any example recorded in the Scriptures Yea in case at the time of this Sacramental Administration in a Church all the men-members should occasionally be absent except only the Administrator and it may be a Deacon or two and only the women-members present there is little question to be made but that the Administration ought to proceed notwithstanding and the elements be administred unto this female Congregation though there be no example of such an Administration as this in the Scriptures There is no example in Scripture of any person worshiping the Holy Ghost yet it is a great duty lying upon Christians to worship him When David and the men with him entred into the House of God and did eat the shew-bread a he had no Scripture-example to justifie his action no more had the Disciples to justifie theirs when they plucked the ears of Corn as they passed through the Fields on a Sabbath day yet were both these actions lawful and to a degree necessary The reading of the Scriptures translated out of the Original Languages into English Welch Dutch French c. is not only lawful but necessary in the Christian Churches in these Nations yet is there no example extant in Scripture of any such practice in the primitive Times no nor so much as of any Translation of the Scriptures at all It were easie to add more instances of like consideration VIII Whether is an action or practice suppose in matters relating to the service or worship of God upon this account evicted to be unlawful because it hath neither precept I mean no particular or express precept and wherein the action or practice it self with all the circumstances under which it becomes lawful is named nor example to warrant the lawfulness of it Or hath the practice of admitting women to the Lords Table any such either precept or example to justifie it Or in case a Minister shall preach to a Congregation consisting of young men only and from Rev. 22. 3 or 4 c. would such an act as this be unlawful or is there any such precept as that mentioned or example in Scripture for the warrant of it Or when David and those that were with him went into the House of God and contrary to the letter of an Institution eat the shew-bread had they either such a precept as that mentioned or any example to bear them out in such a practise Or doth not our Saviour in the Gospel justifie that action of theirs notwithstanding Or if the case or law of necessity or of peril either of health or life be pleadable for the justification thereof is not the same Law altogether as yea much more pleadable on the behalf of such persons who being of tender weak and sickly constitutions dare not tempt God or expose themselves to the imminent hazard of health or life by being doused in their apparel over head and ears in the water especially considering that God hath testified from Heaven his dis-approbation of the practice by suffering some to be grievously afflicted in their bodies and some also to miscarry in life it self by means in all likelyhood of the temptation Or hath not God sufficiently and plainly enough declared his mind and pleasure in all such cases as this in saying I will have mercy and not sacrifice a Or if it be pleaded that all danger of miscarrying in either kind may be prevented by chusing a warm room and warm water for the transacting of the Baptismal Dipping is it not queryable hereupon whether this be not to alter and change to new-mold shape and transform the Ordinance of God as men please and this under a pretext of observing it Or is there not as much difference between hot water and cold as is between a child and a man IX Whether when God hath by Faith purified the hearts of a people walking in a Christian Brotherhood and Fellowship together hath he not sanctified them And in case any person shall now despise or decline their fellowship as unholy doth he not sin against that heavenly Admonition delivered by special Revelation unto Peter What God hath cleansed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. e. sanctified or purified call not thou or make not thou common a Or can a man lightly call or make that common which God hath sanctified in a more opprobrious and contumelious way then by fleeing from it as polluted or unholy X. Whether doth or needs a man contract any guilt of sin before God by walking in such a society of men who being otherwise confessedly Christian and holy have only some practice amongst them in the judgment and conscience of this man not approvable in case 1. he shall at any time openly declare his dislike of this practice and 2. Be no ways constrained or solicited to communicate in this practice Or when men may separate that which is precious from that which is vile and enjoy it thus separated

and apart without suffering any inconvenience by that which is vile is it a point of wisdom in them to deprive themselves of the enjoyment of what is precious because there is somewhat which they suppose to be vile near to it XI Whether may persons who are weak in the Faith be rejected by a Church from communion with them in case they desire it only because they question or dissent from the sence of the generality of this Church in some one point of doubtful disputation Or is not the practice of a man who pretends to be strong in the Faith in renouncing communion with a Church or which is the same in rejecting a Church from his communion which he judgeth weak in the Faith only because they more generally dissent from him in a matter of doubtful disputation a practice much more unchristian and unwarrantable then the former Or is not the practice especially the necessity of dipping after Infant-ablution or Infant-Baptism a matter of doubtful disputation unless haply by matters of doubtful disputation we mean not whatsoever is questioned opposed or denyed by any man or any sort of men being asserted and held by others but only such things which are controverted and disputed with good probability on either side by men of gravity worth soberness of judgment throughly versed and expert in the Scriptures c. And whether in this sence or notion of matters of doubtful disputation is the necessity of the said practice of after-Baptism so much as matter of doubtful disputation the generality of Christians so qualified as hath been expressed unanimously agreeing in the non-necessity yea and which is somewhat more in the irregularity of it XII Whether did the Lord Christ pointing to any river or water say Vpon this water will I build my Church Or did he not speaking either of himself or of that great Truth viz. that He was the Son of the living God which Peter had confessed say Vpon this Rock will I build my Church a Or is there the softest whisper or gentlest breathing in the Scripture of any such notion or opinion as this that a true Church of Christ cannot be constituted or made no not of the truest and soundest Believers in the world unless they have been baptized after their believing how or after what manner soever they have been baptized before XIII Whether is an error or mistake about the adequate or appropriate subject of Baptism of any worse consequence or greater danger then an error or mistake about Melchisedec's Father as viz. in case a man should suppose him to have been Noah which he must be in case Melchisedec were the same Person with Sem when as he was some other man If so how or wherein doth the excess of the danger or evil of the consequence appear If not whether is it Christian or any ways becoming the Spirit of the Gospel to abandon communion with such Churches which being interpreted is to proclaim them polluted hated and abhorred by Christ only because a man supposeth them to lie under the guilt of such an error or mistake XIV Whether may not the importune contest or question about the appropriate subject of Baptism as it is stated by the Brethren of New Baptism in opposition to the judgment and practice almost of the whole Christian World justly be numbered amongst those questions which the Apostle calls foolish and unlearned and adviseth both Timothy and Titus to avoyd as being questions which ingender strife a and are unprofitable and vain b considering 1. That the experience of many years in the Reformed Churches abroad and of some years amongst our selves at home hath abundantly taught and informed us that the said question hath yielded little other fruit unto those that have set their hearts to it yea and unto others also but contention strife emulations evil surmizings distractions confusions alienations of mind and affections amongst Christian Brethren evil speakings vilifyings revilings needless and wastful expence of time loss of many precious opportunities for matters of greatest consequence unprofitable disturbings and turmoylings of weak Consciences shatterings scatterings rendings and teerings of such Churches and Christian Societies who till this root of bitterness sprang up amongst them walked in love and with the light of Gods countenance shining on them holding the unity of the Spirit in the band of peace edifying one another in their most holy Faith c. 2. That the said Question in the nature and direct tendency of it leadeth unto very little that is considerable or of much consequence for Christians to know and that what is brought to light of moment and consequence by occasion of the ventilation of it is nothing but what might arrive at the knowledg of Christians in a more peaceable and less troublesom way And 3. and lastly That those who are most confident that they have found the treasure of Truth which the Question we speak of seeketh after are no ways as far as any ways appeareth or can be discerned spiritually enriched by it but rather impoverished at least the generality of them losing by degrees that Christian sweetness meekness humility love patience soberness of mind fruitfulness of conversation c. which were observable in them before as if their new Baptism had been into a new or another Jesus altogether unlike unto him whom Paul preached XV Whether is any Member of a Christian Church or Society at any more liberty or under any greater necessity to excommunicate cut off or separate this Church or all the members of it from his communion only upon his private conceit or perswasion suppose according to truth that they walk not in all things according to Gospel-rule then this Church is to excommunicate him upon a true and certain perswasion that he walketh not in every thing according to the rule of the Gospel Or if Churches either be at liberty or under an obligation by way of duty to excommunicate every of their members respectively because they judg them not to walk in all things according to the Gospel are they not at liberty or bound in duty and conscience thus to cast out all their members one after another considering that not in some things only but even in many things as the Apostle James speaketh we offend all Or hath any single member of a Church any more liberty or authority to adjudg and determine without the Scriptures upon what grounds or occasions his departure from a Church is justifiable then a Church hath to make Laws and Constitutions of her own for the ejecting of her members Or is it anywhere a case adjudged in the Scriptures that if a Church in any part of the world suppose under the frozen Zone shall not practice dipping after sprinkling or other washing in the Name of Jesus Christ every member thereof stands bound in conscience yea or is so much as at liberty to reverse or disoblige himself from his solemn and sacred engagements to it XVI

according to the order of Christ by others who themselves convey or dip under water their whole bodies leaving onely their heads above the water to be bowed down forced or thrust under water by the Baptizer Or is there either vola or vestigium little or much of such a practise as this to be found in the Scriptures where they speak of Baptism Or can he in any tolerable sence or construction be said to be the Architect or builder of a Turret or Steeple who onely setteth the Weather-cock on the top of it and not rather he who buildeth the rest of the body and Fabrick hereof XXX Whether is there any particular or express Institution of Baptism to be found in the Scriptures I mean any such Institution as there is of Circumcision and the Passover in the Old Testament or of the Lords Supper in the New or which prescribeth and determineth all circumstances essentiall unto Baptism as all the other do prescribe and determine all circumstances essentially requisite to their administrations respectively If not do not they {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} make themselves wise above that which is written constructively obtrude upon the consciences of men an Institution of their own in the Name of the Ordinance and Institution of God who undertake to prescribe and determine either particularity of subject or manner of Administration in Baptism XXXI Whether did not they amongst us or at least the generality and far greater part of them who have accepted and entred into the way of new-Baptism and at present walk in it receive that precious Faith from God together with all those Graces or fruits of the Spirit whereby they are whatsoever they are in Christ and towards God did they not I say receive all this blessedness from God under the dispensation of their Infant-Baptism Or is there one of a thousand of those ingaged in this new way who have added so much as the breadth of the least hair of their heads unto their former growth and stature in Christ I do not say by vertue or means of this their new Ingagement but since or after it Or is there not a visible and manifest change for the worse in very many of them and this in all probability occasioned by an overweening conceit that by means of their new baptizing they are more excellent then their Neighbours and too holy and near unto God to suffer themselves to be numbred amongst the members of other Churches Or do such things as these any way favour or strengthen the claim which their way of Baptizing makes of being a Divine Ordinance yea the onely true Baptism of God XXXII Whether amongst men and women whose consciences have at any time been surprized with a Religious conceit of a necessity of new Baptism and have accordingly submitted to it have not the most Christianly-meek and humble on the one hand and the most Judicious and Learned on the other hand upon a little experience of this way grown cool and very indifferent in their thoughts about it yea and many of them repented of their surprizal and weakness in this kind as Johannes O●colampadius Johannes Denkius Johannes Gaster men of great learning worth and humility with several others about Luthers dayes yea and some of like Character of late amongst our selves who might be named if it were necessary or meet XXXIII Whether because Baptism is termed the Baptism of Repentance {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} i. e. for or towards the remission of sins Mar 1. 4. doth it a whit more follow that children ought not to be Baptized either because they cannot repent or because they have no sins to be remitted unto them then it doth that children ought not to have been circumcised considering that Circumcision the nature of it and counsell of God in it considered may as truly be called the Circumcision of Repentance for the remission of sins as Baptism The Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of sins yea the Apostle Paul himself giveth a definition of Circumcision for substance and import of matter the same with that of Baptism when he calleth it the seal of the righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 11. and however Children are altogether as uncapable of Faith as they are of Repentance and have no more need of the righteousness of Faith then they have of remission of sins these being but one and the same thing XXXIV Whether when the Apostle Peter speaketh thus to his new Converts Acts 2. 38 39. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost For the promise is to you and to your children c. Doth he so much enjoyn or exhort them to Repent in order to their being baptized as encourage them both unto the one duty and the other upon the account of the Promise relating both to them and their children and the certainty of its being fulfilled and made good unto them both upon their Repentance and submission unto Baptism respectively And if their title unto and interest in the Promise be a ground or motive unto them the Parents to be baptized is not the like title and interest in the children a ground and motive also why they should be baptized XXXV Whether doth God smell the assemblies or in the assemblies of those who judg themselves the onely Baptized persons under Heaven with any such pleasure or delight as he smelleth many the assemblies of those who are called Unbaptized by the other Or are the Church-meetings of the former filled with the glory and presence of God at any such rate or to any such degree as many the holy assemblies of the latter are Or are there any such manifestations of the Spirit either in gifts or in graces in the tabernacles of the Baptized as there are amongst those who bear the reproach of Vnbaptized Or are the powers of the world to come any wayes so busie active and stirring in the Churches which call themselves Baptized as they are in many the congregations which are cast out to the Gentiles as unclean and Un-baptized Or is not that good word of God the Scriptures as a sealed book in many the assemblies of the former whereas even the deep things of God contained in it are by the Holy Ghost revealed in many Churches of the latter Or are such differences as these of no authority interest or import to umpire or decide the controversie depending between the two Baptisms XXXVI Whether are not children oft-times in Scripture comprehended under or with their Parents men and women c. where they are not expresly mentioned or named and particularly Jos. 25. 26. 1 Cor. 10. 1 2 * even as Subjects are under the names of their Kings and Families and Descents under the names of their Heads c. Yea are not both women and children to be understood where men only are