Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n
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A62091
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Primitive baptism, and therein infants and parents rights
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Sylvester, Matthew, 1636 or 7-1708.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing S6332; ESTC R220779
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19,616
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43
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if it had been expresly said that the Dead are raised for God is not a God of the Dead but of the Living which had you considered you might have known that the Spirits of Men though separate from their Bodies are by the Power of God the God of the Spirits of all Flesh still held in Life and that therefore he can and will by the same Power according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself raise their Bodies and unite them to their own Spirits which Inferences being agreeable to the Holy Scriptures and a true and right asserting of the Power of God are as Scripture of which ye being willingly or wilfully ignorant have erred in this main Article Now though the Sadduces still persisted after such Conviction in their Error saying that there is no Resurrection and in opposition to the Doctrine of Christ Luke 20.37 38. that there is neither Angel nor Spirit yet the way of proving by Consequences is not less cogent or commendable And if the Resurrection might be thus proved why not other Points why not the baptizing of Infants It is true the Resurrection is not Worship yet it is an Article of Faith which if not believed 1 Cor. 15.13 14 c. all our Worship is in vain And though nothing is to be admitted into the Worship of God as such which is contrary to express Precept and Command by Consequences yet these rightly drawn from Scripture are no less a Rule for our Practice than they are for our Faith Now tho the baptizing of Infants hath been abundantly proved from time to time by many plain and undeniable Consequences rightly inferred from the Scriptures which being Christ's way of proving should satisfy us yet since express Precept or Example are so much called for let us a little enquire into that What the First Commission of Christ was about baptizing is not recorded but must be gathered from his Second Commission and from the Practice of his Disciples and Acts of the Apostles The Second Commission of Christ for baptizing is Mat. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. The Practice of the Disciples and Apostles was to baptize particular Persons and with Parents their House and Houshold as Lydia and all her Houshold Acts 16.14 15. the Jailor and all his ver 33. and Crispus and all his House Chap. 18.8 Quest The Question is Whether these were only Adult or Adult and Infants Answ Adult and Infants These words Houshold His and House when spoken of Persons being an Hebraism for Children of the House who are the Seed of the House 1 Sam. 2.33 Deut. 25.5 Mat. 5.12 19. whether they be Infants or adult Children Thus Gen. 34.30 I and my House and 41.13 19. Pharaoh said Take your Father and your little ones and your Wives and come and 46.31 My Brethren and my Father's House are come Numb 16.32 And the Earth opened her Mouth and swallowed them up and their Houses that is their Sons and little Children ver 27. to wit of Dathan and Abiram Deut. 11.6 whereas of Korah it was all the Men that appertained unto him as in the same 32d Verse not his House for chap. 26.11 the Children of Korah died not Judg. 9.16 Now therefore if ye have done truly and dealt well with Jerubbaal and his House for my Father fought for you c. and ye are risen up against my Father's House and have slain his Sons If ye have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and his House then rejoice c. 1 Sam. 3.12 13 14. In that day I will perform against Eli all which I have spoken concerning his House c. 2 Sam. 3.1 6. Now there was long War betwixt the House of Saul and the House of David c. And chap. 7.16 18 19 23 29. Thine House shall be established c. And chap. 9.3 And the King said Is there not yet any of the House of Saul And chap. 12.10 Now the Sword shall not depart from thy House 1 Kings 13.34 And this thing became Sin to the House of Jeroboam And chap. 21.21 22. And will take away thy Posterity And will make thy House like the House of Jeroboam 1 Chron. 13.14 The Lord blessed the House of Obed Edom that is chap. 26.4 5 6. his Children And chap. 1.16 43. David returned to bless his House Psal 114.1 When Israel went out of Egypt the House of Jacob from a People of a strange Language Micah 2.2 They oppress a Man and his House Habbak 2.10 Jer. 23.34 Thou hast consulted Shame to thine House Luke 19.9 This day is Salvation come to this House Titus 1.11 Who subvert whole Houses Add unto these Gen. 7.1 And the Lord said unto Noah Come thou and all thy House So chap. 18.19 I know Abraham that he will command his Children and Houshold after him that is his Children who are his Houshold after him for no others of the Family tho' it exclude not them were properly his Houshold after him but his Children called his Seed after him Thus ch 30.30 And now when shall I says Jacob provide for mine own House also So Exod. 12.27 It is the Sacrifice of the Lord 's Passover who passed over the Houses of the children of Israel when he smote the Aegyptians and delivered our Houses Thus Deut. 25.9 So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's house So 1 Tim. 3. v. 4 5. One that rules well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God And Chap. 5.8 But if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own House which according to the same Apostle 2 Cor. 12.14 is his Children For the Children ought not to lay up for the Parents but the Parents for the Children Thus we see the Hebraism of these Words Houshold His and House in Scripture according unto which these Words in these three first cited Examples of Lydia the Jaylor and Crispus are by some very great Interpreters rendred The Children of the House and are necessarily to be so taken there Infants not excepted unless some sufficient reason be given to the contrary Now the main Reason to the contrary given is That these Houses and Housholds who are said to be Baptized were such as to whom the Word of the Lord is said to be spoken and who are said to believe in the Lord which it is pretended they could not do if spoken of Infants so that there were either no Infants there or no Infants there Baptized But this Reason is not sufficient because it supposeth these Houses and Housholds to be said to have the Word of the Lord spoken to them and to be said to Believe without the
PRIMITIVE BAPTISM And therein INFANTS AND PARENTS RIGHT MATTH 19.6 What God hath joined together let no Man put asunder LONDON Printed for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXC TO THE READER THE Author of these Papers is one whom I have known long since to be a person of great Reputation for Knowledg Wisdom Gravity and Seriousness A Person not only skilful and diligent in his particular Calling and beautiful in his Christian Conversation but also a diligent and judicious Reader and Observer of the Sacred Scriptures and so far as I could either learn of others or my self discern by Conversation with him an impartial searcher after Truth and readily receptive of it in its discerned Evidence and consequently not tenacious of any Sentiments or Opinions through humour interest and self-conceitedness where any reasons do appear to prove them false or probably uncertain or unsafe That this small Tract is his I have great reason to believe It is small nervous and clear as to the great Design thereof of which the Title is a sufficient indication and account but let the matter speak for it self and force its way into the Readers breast by its own Strength carried home by God's blessing thereupon to such degrees as He sees fit who is the Original source and Fountain Patron and End of Truth I shall only add That when our Brethren who judg it improbable that any Infants had their solemn admission into the Church of Christ in Scripture-times by the instituted rite of Christian Baptism have tryed their Strength upon what is here offer'd and scripturally proved and have effectually Answered what is here briefly and in other Books more copiously demonstrated and improved they may probably gain more Proselytes to themselves Read carefully think deeply pray fervently design honestly judg impartially and give Christ's evident Truths Laws Institutions their just receptions and improvement and take in nothing for Truth or Duty for the sake of any Man but yield to Evidence and this will be most grateful Candid and Christian Reader To thine in and for our Blessed Lord whilst M. SYLVESTER PREFACE AS Civil Right is one of the great controverted Points in the World so is Religious Right in the Church What is here offered concerning Infants and Parents Right in the Church is a short Discourse maintained against two different Practices the One withholding Baptism from Infants of baptized Parents the Other withholding such Parents from their Infants in Baptism The Arguments brought against these Practices are those brought by Christ against a Practice of the like Nature namely that it is a putting asunder those whom God hath joined together and that from the beginning it was not so Which Arguments are not insisted upon as suspecting the strength of other Arguments but as agreeing therewith and the better to clear up the Apostolical Practice in these things All submitted to superior Judgments Primitive Baptism GOD who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son Who that our Religion and Manners Faith and Worship may be after the due Order hath commanded us to search the Scriptures containing Rules and Directions Precepts and Examples always evident and perfect in their kind though not always alike express The Sadduces finding no express mention of the Resurrection in the Books of Moses which they emphatically called the Scriptures not only denied the Resurrection but framed Arguments from those Scriptures against it One whereof they thought so unanswerable Deut. 25.6 that they encountred Christ himself with it Mat. 22. v. 23 24 c. Christ observing their Confidence reproves them as plainly both of Error and the Cause thereof in these Words ver 29. Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God and from the Scriptures proves the Resurrection Which Words of Christ Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God may have a double Aspect one unto the Scripture from whence they framed their Argument against the Resurrection and another unto the Scripture which he brings to prove the Resurrection by That the Sadduces did not know the Scriptures literally or the Power of God historically cannot be the meaning of Christ but take the Words as having an Eye to that Scripture brought by them ver 24. from whence they raised their Argument against the Resurrection and the Sense may be such as this Ye Sadduces say that there is no Resurrection and you seem very big of your Opinion as if you were in the right and had Scripture on your side and could from the Scripture prove it impossible but I tell you Ye err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God for though that be Scripture which ye have quoted yet ye not comparing it with other Passages of the same Sacred Writings nor Spiritual Things with Spiritual do not hold the Analogy of Faith contained in the Scriptures but speak evil of those things which ye know not whilst what you know naturally as brute Beasts in those things you corrupt your selves For that the Dead are raised even Moses shewed at the Bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob for he is not the God of the Dead but of the Living for all live unto him And though you pretend to know God yet you glorify him not as God nor consider that Power belongs unto him else why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead Neither are your Notions of the future State to which the Dead are raised by his Infinite and Almighty power suitable to those high and excellent Apprehensions which you ought to have of it for in the Resurrection they neither marry nor are given in Marriage neither do they die any more but are as the Angels of God in Heaven Ye therefore do greatly err But taking the Words of Christ as having a respect to the Scripture which he brings to prove the Resurrection by ver 32. and then the meaning may be this or such like Ye deny that there is any Resurrection and conclude that you must be in the right because you find no express mention of it in the Scriptures and as if the Incapacity of the Dead made it impossible with God but do you not therefore err because you know not the Scriptures nor the Power of God For though it be not expresly said that the Dead are raised yet know that there is sufficient Proof for it in Scripture by good and warrantable Inference from Scripture For as touching the Resurrection of the Dead have you not read that which was spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac Mat. 22.31 and the God of Jacob from whence you might have attained unto the knowledg of the Resurrection as satisfyingly as