Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	holy_a	prayer_n	6,254	5	6.1558	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80854	The vertue and value of baptism: in which the dignity and duty of [baptism], the due right of infants to [baptism], and their right above that of grown persons by [baptism], the degrading and destructive principles and practices of [baptism] are / catechetically propounded, plainly preached, and now published as an antidote to the baptism-despising dictates of John Simpson. By Zachariah Crofton ... ; Imprimatur, Edm. Calamy.	Crofton, Zachary, 1625 or 6-1672.	1658 (1658)	Wing C7003B; ESTC R174314	79,234	315

that such as were not first sanctified by Circumcision must not touch the Passeover and it is given in charge to the keepers of the Sanctuary that the uncircumcised enter not into it to pollute it unhallowed things much lesse unhallowed persons might not come nigh to God under the Law the holinesse of God is the same under the Gospell and therefore such as will come nigh unto him most be consecrated for he will have acceptable Sacrifice to be offered by a chosen Generation a Royall Priesthood an holy Nation 1 Pet. 2.5.9 Men must be brought out of the high wayes and hedges and in his house be cloathed with a wedding garment that with any confidence willex pect a welcome to his wedding Super Mat. 22. And the only Ordinance of Consecration to God is Baptisme This is the badg of distinction and bar of division between the holy and prophane if the Lord Jesus will present his Church to God he Sanctifieth it by the washing of water through the Word Ephes 5.26 And if ever we will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born of the water and spirit by Baptisme we are purified from the corruptions that are in the world through lust and solemnly dedicated unto the name of Father Son and Holy Ghost hereby we are separated from the world and added to the Church and the Baptized continue together in the Apostles doctrine in prayer and breaking of bread and all acts of worship so that being thus consecrated called out of the masse of mankind and constituted a peculiar and holy people to the Lord Let us draw nigh in full assurance having our bodies washed with pure water 3. Baptisme is an Ordinance of Confaederation with God two cannot walke together except they be agreed God is a consuming fire to man if he condescend not a Covenant as a shreene to prevent its scorching heat I will be your God and ye shall be my people is the onely argument of encouragement to Abraham to walk with God and assurance of Believers acceptance with God guilty man cannot come nigh offended God without some assurance that wrath is appeased and God Reconciled none since Adams fall can come nigh to God as a Creator and Redemption must be transmitted by a Covenant and the Administrations of the Covenant must be the onely pledge of assurance and encouragement unto access to God the Covenant of God with Levi is the onely liberty of the Priests entrance in the Sanctum Sanctorum the Covenant of Mediatorship is the confidence of Jesus Christ his intercession and the Covenant of Circumcision the Israelites title to the Passeover and freedom of the Sanctuary and the Covenant of Baptisme Christians Right to the Lords Table and freedome of drawing nigh to God the Baptized do confaederate with God you have heard before that they must be faederati in Covenant that are subjects of Baptisme the promise is to you is the ground and reason why any is Baptized Baptisme is the mutuall act of sealing the Covenant between God and the soule by this outward sign and pledge God assureth us he will be our God pardon our sin subdue our Corruption by the blood of Christ and we answerable stipulate with God that we will accept him to be our God in Christ we will be called by his name and become his servants so that Baptisme is an argument pleadable in prayer for the remission of sin and Sanctification and an engagement unto duty against all impiety to be urged under all temptation as it is a Sacrament it is a reciprocall bond between God and the soule when Paul would check the Corinthians schisme he doth it by this quaery were ye Baptized into the name of Paul importing you are to call your selves by his name with whom you confaederated in Baptisme so that the Baptized being Gods faederates the Covenant being in their flesh they must needs be qualified with confidence to come nigh to God having such a ground of faith whereupon to claime the promises as is the Seales of the Covenant the most encouraging argument that ever Gods people urged in access to God is Lord remember thy Covenant we are thy people We see then that if we will be guided in our drawing nigh God by the way of Christ his appearance to his Church or approach to his Father as a Mediator or if we observe the succession of Baptisme to Circumcision or nature of Baptisme as an Ordinance of confaederation with God consecration to God conjunction to the Church of God we must needs be convinced that Baptisme or the body washed with pure water is an especiall qualification that fits us for accesse to God And now we proceed to the application of the Doctrine The first use then that we should make of this point is of information and that teacheth us this Lesson Baptisme is an Ordinance of exceeding dign●●y and absolute necessity to be pursued and highly prized by the people of God that will draw nigh unto him for it is the especiall qualification that fits us with confidence to draw nigh unto him as it is an Ordinance of God it is the object of reverence and esteem and indispensably necessary by reason of Divine command no● to be sleighted by such as pr●fesse subjection to him but of much more value when considered as the Ordinance of incorporation into Christs body matriculation into the houshold of faith and consecration unto an holy God and so it doth not onely call for affection esteem honour and reverence but also it presents it selfe unto our reason and imposeth it selfe on our conscience as usefull and indispensably necessary whilst it appeares not onely as an act of worship but Organ of Grace and instrument of much good unto the soule the which though it doth doth not conferre opere operato by meer application as by any Physiciall power in it selfe yet it is a morall instrument offering matter to the rationall argumentations and discourses of a believing soule either to the encouragement of his faith or enforcement of duty and is by divine institution Gods method and instrument whereby he hath graciously confirmed these priviledges and so it is necessary not onely ratione precepti a commanded duty but also medii as a morall meanes to be managed by meditation and Divine method prescribed by the Lord as that whereby we may claime his promise and conclude a relation to and fitnesse for Communion with him and without which we cannot ordinarily expect his blessing and be accounted his people and what he doth in extraordinary cases where he providentially supersedeth an Ordinance as by untimely death and the like doth no way abate the dignity or abstract from the necessity of washing the body with pure water by the Sacrament of Baptisme the conviction of this truth will call for a constant and reverent attendance on Baptisme and conscientious use of it in all covenient opportunitie that God shall give us and check the

contempt and profane negle●t thereof that is not a little abounded to our shame and with grief of heart be it spoken in the midst of us were men but rightly affected with the nature of Baptisme they would see in it beauty and of it a great necessity Was not washing of the flesh necessary and the holy Garment glorious in Israel because they fitted for approach to God and entrance into the holy place if men were but really convinced that the body washed with pure water was a ground of assurance because a qualification of access to God that B●ptisme is the onely band of union and doore of admission into the Church the formall consecration to the service of the living God what an esteem of Baptisme must needs possesse their hearts and make them not content without but carefull to pursue it as seeing into Gods presence there is no approach to such as are not sanctified by the washing of water through the Word but a pressing unto Gods Ordinances not thus prepared must be a presumption no less then damnable nay how would the sence of Baptisme affect the heart with joy whilst thereby we are made Members of Gods Church an higher priviledg then the Coronation of a King C. and made fit for the worship of an holy God the ground of all alacrity and boldnesse in the use of his Ordinances How must such a soule say what a happy condition am I now in who through Grace have my body washed with pure water and joyned to the houshold of faith and sanctified for the service of that consuming fire and Holy God whom to approach unto it 's the greatest happinesse man can enjoy whilst others are a far off debarred the Holy things of Grace and dare not intermeddle with the Holy things of God nor draw nigh unto his Holy place I come with freedome into his Sanctuary and claim the liberty and priviledges thereof by virtue of Baptism that Covenant of God which is upon my flesh in this therefore I will rejoyce before the Lord. Nay the sense of Baptisme as a qualification for accesse to God would set our hearts into a reverent use and dreadfull attendance on the administration of it to others whilest the Element is weak and simple its use and end must make it glorious and powerful whilst common washing is contemptible a bathing the flesh at the door of the Tabernacle in order to an entrance into the Holy place and appearance before God is dreadful ●●●●●gh Wax and parchment a●● poor and viile base and common Commodities most Shops afford Commodities much higher prized yet these conjoyned by the hand of Majesty to make a Patent Deed or Magna Charta to secure some Grant priviledge or great revenue is of much more worth and value and received with more reverence and esteem if we look on water we see it is an Element as low as common as me●n in our esteem as ordinary in men● use and this is ready to raise in our hearts contemptible thoughts and make us say what a beggerly Element and base Administration is this What profit can be in the Application of an handfull of water But when we shall consider that water is applyed by vertue of Gods Command as a most sacred Ordinance to signifie the blood of Christ whereby we are cleansed from all sin to seale unto us the Covenant of Grace and all its priviledges of Salvation to set us in union with the Church to the enjoyment of all Gospel Ordinances and Sanctifie us as a peculiar people that may and must draw nigh to God in assurance of faith what lustre doth there appear in the Ordinance what reverence doth then raise our Spirits what high and honourable regard doe we then see we ow unto this common and contemptible act of Baptisme oh what prayers for efficacy what prayses for enjoyment what pleasure in administration must the consecrating qualifying and soule-encouraging assuring nature of Baptisme effect in all such as are seriously affected with Gods Holiness and the order of approach to him unto all such Baptisme is no carnall beggarly and unprofitable Element but a Glorious Spirituall Evangelicall Administration of exceeding dignity no Church complement and matter of indifferency that may or may not be used without any damage but a compleat duty by reason of Divine command and its own due nature disposing man into such a devout relation to God and so of indispensable necessity Vse 2. Is of reproofe justly to blame that disesteeme and disregard of Baptisme that is to be found among us our age of liberty hath set us so loose to Gospell Ordinances that many can be not onely content wi●hout them but also readily run into the contempt of them how few in the midst of us understand the nature and seek the use of Baptisme as a ground of ●aith and Ordinance of Consecration and so of confident access to God mens principles and practise doth proclaim their palpable ignorance of such priviledges possessed by the body washed with pu●e water How many to our shame and with griefe be it spoken do use Baptisme as a meere Church complement and convenient Ce●emony to the content of their wives kinsfolke friends or neighbours bring their children to be Baptised without any awe of an Ordinance of God upon their spirit or apprehension of advantage to be by Baptisme conferred or design and intention of solemne dedication of their children to God and his service and so to have Gods name and Covenant stamped upon their flesh and them fi●ted for accesse to God in the Assemblies of his people and hence it is that they are at cost and care for the civilities that attend the Baptisme of their children but as for the Solemne praises of God for the blessing of the Covenant prayers for a blessing on an Ordina●ce and carefull instruction of their Baptized children in the consecrating nature of Baptisme the boldnesse it creates and the duty of access to God it imposeth these come not into his thoughts cost him no care or pains his friends gone and work done he thinks himselfe well rid of a piece of trouble and pursues that dayes enjoyments to no more advantage nay how many sit so luke-warme in minds and affections to Baptisme that they think it to be a meer Ceremony and matter of indifferency if their body be washed they are content but they know no good it hath done them and if it be not washed they are as well pleased they see no losse they undergoe by the want of it and they can accompany with the Baptized or unbaptized in the Assemblies of Gods people and Administrations of Grace they matter not an outward Ceremony but look after the inward and hidden Man of the heart true and reall Grace without any outward Ordinance shall be the ground of their communion but say Circumcision or Uncircumcision avails not to them must it not be concluded that these men yet need to be

nature of Baptisme Understand its end use and effects Labour we to know the holiness it stamps on any the priviledges it confers and how it confers them see the divine institution enforcing the duty of subjection to it and the dignitie received by it Ignorance is the Nurserie of Error and Guard of all Prophaneness All those O●dinance degrading and vilifying notions that are conceived in mens mindes blasphemies belched out of their mouthes and contemptible carriage under and towards Baptisme and the baptized which we have before taxed are no other than the mists and filthie fogs of a blinde mind to be dispersed by a right apprehension of the holy nature thereof Ignorance is noted in Scripture as the ground of Is●aels impiety very often doth God complain they know not me and are a people who will not understand my people perish for lack of knowledge Knowledge is the propounded cure of all prophaneness and contempt of holy things it is the principle of Regeneration to be renewed in the spirit of the minde Our Saviour corrects the prophanation of the Temple by an it is written my house shall be called an house of prayer and dispels all rude traditions which made the Law of God of none effect by an exposition of the Law And the Apostle corrects the prophane use of the Lords Supper by explaining the nature form and use thereof telling them sometime this is not to eat the Lords Supper and other times pointing to the Ordinance by a The Cup of blessing which we bless is the Communion and an I received from the Lord what I delivered unto you The same is to be the cure of the prophaneness of every Ordinance of God viz. the understanding of its use and nature They that know not the benefit of a Denison of England or a Freeman of London must needs disesteem disregard and despise the priviledges thereof Is it any marvel to hear men speak and see men carry contemptibly towards a sealed parchment whose use and nature he doth not understand but such as know thereof the use and value will purchase them at a dear rate and prise them above many things simply and in themselves more considerable In a word I must say if men knew that Gods image and authority was set on Baptisme they would not dare to despise its simplicity and meanness If they understood it to be the dore of admission into the Church incorporation into Christs body and method of matriculation into the houshold of faith they could never scorn it or sit indifferent to it but must see as ever they will put on Christ Jesus and be united to his body they must be baptized nay further such as are sensibly affected with it as a seal of the Covenant of Grace and so ground of faith as a sacred qualification of approach to God without which we may not come nigh unto him and as the ordained Ark of Salvation wherby we stand separated from the world unto so great advantages he could not but set on it an high esteem rejoycing in his Baptisme blessing God for such distinguishing grace and thankfully improve the same to his encour●g●ment in and ingagement unto duty Let it therefore be your care with all diligence to studie the nature of the Ordinance and understand its use vertue and value that by ignorance you lose not its effects or be led into erronious notions luke-warm affections to and prophane expressions towards so holy and necessary an Ordinance The second exhortation is To act our conversation as sensible that the body washed with pure water must qualifie us with confidence in access to God Let your knowledge of the right use and nature of Baptisme appear in your lives and carriage under and towards so holy an Ordinance Take heed of prophaning holy things disesteeming high priviledges and contemning special grounds of faith and priviledges of grace and more particularly 1. Direct Admit not men into communion with the Church in other Ordinances and acts of worship that have not been baptized Let them enter at the right dore that receive Gods alms Call not them the Lords people who weare not the Lords livery communicate not the priviledges of the Saints with them who stand Aliens Strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel Let not them approach the presence of an holy God who were never sanctified by the washing of water by the word And in a word take heed of running into the abhomination of bringing into Gods Sanctuary the unbaptized in flesh Invert not Gods order and the Gospel method of approach to God These might have seemed needless exhortations heretofore but now doe not for that many in the midst of us doe not onely disown their own baptisme but bring up their Issue unbaptized And great is the present and greater will be the future danger of admitting to sit at the Lords table such as never were baptized I could heartily wish we could keep a Register of the unbaptized as we doe of the baptized However let the administrators of holy things make it their first enquiry Were you baptized and take heed they pollute not Gods Sanctuarie by admitting thereunto the men whose bodies were not washed with pure water Be not deceived with a pretence of reall grace for grace must needs be pretended where any of Gods Ordinances are despised and Christs prescribed order is neglected but if it were reall it is not the Churches guide who cannot know it Outward qualifications must be their direction and Gospel order in peoples approach to God is their charge and must be their care 2. Direct Attend with reverence and affection the administration of Baptisme unto others Turn not your backs on so holy an Ordinance and eminent action but consider it is an act of worship and Ordinance of God as well as preaching or prayer and our attendance on all acts of Religion is duty it is a solemn and sacred action separating persons unto God sanctifying them for God stamping upon men holiness to the Lord setting them as members of Church the body of Christ and solemnly dedicating them to the service of Father Sonne and holy Ghost And doth not this call for the attendance of all the Lords people Shall not the worth of union with Christs Church and consecration to God be witnessed to be of weight by the reverent attendance of the assemblie Are not all concerned in and to be edified by the Ordinance and shall they sleight it and turn back on it Consider the reproof of the guilt of such neglect let it quicken you to duty let your presence at and reverence in the administration of Baptisme bespeak your sense of its sacred nature and sanctifying use making a Church Ordinance privat by confining it to your houses or running from its administration in the publique place must needs be the result of low th●ughts Cland●stine Baptism is the cloud of Baptisme and the rude out-●unning that Ordinance runs it into cont●mpt be witnesses

of their incorporation with whom you must live in communion in Gods Ordinances 3. Direction Argue your Baptisme to your engagement to and encouragement in drawing nigh to God Your bodies are washed with pure water provoke your spirits to draw nigh in the assurance of faith Consider that by your baptisme you are singled out of the world and set in a capacity of Salvation You are placed in the Ark will you perish in the common deluge of mankinde You are sanctified unto God by the washing of water will you stand at a distance from God as strangers to him You are in the order of his own appointment suited for divine society will you live as without God without hope in the world You are the sealed sonnes and subjects of the covenant and will you pass away your time as Bankrupts that possess nothing You have put on Jesus Christ his livery will you not doe him homage with all cheerfull loyalty You are entred into the houshold of Faith and Church of God shall not their communion be to you comfortable Is not Baptisme a ground of faith and encouragement why are you then so dispondent in appearing before God Is it not your solemn Bond unto divine service why are you then so dull and backward unto duty Was your baptisme a meer complement that you doe not minde it or make use of it now it is past Is it not a moral instrument to be improved by meditation affording matter of counsel and comfort Nay is it not Gods Ordinance a ground of faith pledge of love badge of relation to be argued into the awe and encouragem●nt of our access to God Is not Baptisme an initiating seal assuring us of i●●tiating graces hath it not planted us into the Olive that we might extract ●p and juyce to the bringing forth fruits of Righteousness In a word Baptisme is greatly advantagious to hope and holyness if but duly improved by acts of Faith We find no profit in it because we look for none from it If right assured be never claimed how shall it be possessed If sin-mortifying engines be never used sin must needs have dominion over the soul I would to God I cou●d but perswade Ch●istians to sit down and seriously contemplate their Baptisme in order to their holyness and thus reflect it I am baptized Surely then I am under some more than ordinary engagement Thereby I was washed from my old sins shall I then live in them or so far forget my self as not to let vertue knowledge temperance brotherly kindness patience godliness all the graces of God to abound in me Is not Baptisme the dew of Heaven that waters the Garden of God Hath it been distilled on me and shall I be found idle and unfruitfull 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8 9. I have been baptized into the death of Christ buried with him in Baptisme planted into the similitude of his death that my old man might be crucified and the body of sin destroyed that I should not serve sinne but as he was raised up from the dead I should walk in newness of life and shall sin reign in my mortal body that I should obey the lusts thereof or shall I give my members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sinne Rom. 6. I have by Baptisme been consecrated unto God and shall I not come nigh him in duty I am incorporated into the Church ought I not then to be conversant in the assembly of the first born I have stricken Covenant with God will not my neglect of duty and course of impiety be charged on me as the breach of the oath of God All the promises of grace are to me sealed shall not I then cleanse my self from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness In a word Baptisme is the seal of the Covenant set in my flesh and the causing me to see the evil of my wayes and doings and to be ashamed and forsake them the taking away the stony heart and giving an heart of flesh the putting Gods spirit within me that I may walk in his wayes are the promises of the Covenant why then doe not graceless I claim them and by prayer plead my Baptisme for the obtainment of them For he is faithfull that hath promised but will not perform until they be asked in faith And as our Baptisme is thus a moral argument of holiness to our selves it is the more helpfull hereunto because it answers all temptations unto sin When we are saluted with the pollutions that are in the world through lust we may answer we are washed in pure water and may not be again defiled The cogencie of custome must give place to the Covenant we have made in Baptisme The violent temptations of Satan recoile upon the returns of B●ptisme I am bapt●z●d silenceth all suggestions to sinne I am baptized into the Name of Fath●r Sonne and holy Gh●st is the only Spel to speak with reverence that charms the Devil For it imports thus much Shall the children of God co●verse with his enemies the confederates of God break his commands the separated out of the world be subject to the Prince of the world O● doth malicious Satan think the sealed of the Lord shall be so much sleighted by their Lord as to be taken captive at his will Oh! play the man in a rational m●nagement of your Baptisme it will much advance your Christianity all your dayes As Baptisme is an help to holinesse so also to hope to be improved by due acts of Faith as it is an Ordinance of God for our encouragement in accesse to him many soules stand at a distance from divine Ordinances or draw nigh with much trembling which would be dispelled by due apprehensions of Baptisme Let such therefore consider that under the want of speciall they ought to rejoyce in generall expressions of Gods love and arguments of hope and immediate assurances of divine favour are not to bee expected whilest we have mediate Ordinances on which to act our Faith Our Hope must come into the Soule in the same way with holynesse by a morall improvement of Gods Grace in his Ordinances to us extended let therefore the desponding Christian that trembles to converse with Gods people to come nigh Gods table or claim any of Gods promises sit down and seriously discourse his Baptisme I am Baptized Was this an emptie Ordinance Shall my unbeleeving heart imagine any divine Institution to be emptie and in vain imposed No All the wayes of God are Truth hee never subjected Soules to any falacie nor can doe Why then art thou so sad Oh my Soule Trust still in God in him will I hope for he hath established a Covenant of peace extended to my Parents and through them to mee and set the Seale thereof Baptisme in my flesh and is not Baptism a pledg of his affection to mee a badge of my relation to him Why then doe I say he knowes mee not or I belong not to him Doe all

the Sons of Adam weare this liverie Is there a specialty in the application of water and hath it extended to mee shall I say I have received no favour peculiar to the Lords people and distinct from the mass of mankinde Nay I am by Baptism a matriculated Disciple in Christ his Schole an incorporated Member of the houshold of Faith Why then doe I feare to feede on childrens Bread and to use those priviledges that doe belong to the Citizens of the new-Jerusalem Why am I as an alien and stranger from the Commonwealth of Israel I have by Baptisme put on Jesus Christ and shall I feare to come before the Father is not hee his beloved Sonne in whom hee is well pleased Is not Baptisme a Seale of Gods Covenant Why then doe I not claime the promises What though I see not Gods privie Seale the Spirit of adoption is the broad seal of the Covenant of no force and value doth it in vain bear on it divine authority why then i● it called th● A●k of Salvation why hath God said he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved Shall I lose my Salvation for not joyning faith to my baptisme What though I finde many rude Christians and p●ophane persons in the Church claiming priviledges by their Baptisme can I deny in some things their claim to be good though they be wicked And wherein it is not good to them breaking the Covenant may it not be good to me poor me that desire to keep the Covenant of my God In a word hath not God sanctified me to himself by the washing of water and doth he call men to draw nigh to him in assurance of faith having the body washed with pure water and shall I be dismayed in access to him Oh! the wickedness of my doubting that doth spring from ignorance of Gods holy O●●inances the sin of my despondencie that de●ers me from duty and exposeth my baptisme to contempt I will sure cast off this estate and hence forward continue with the Church in the Word breaking of bread and Prayer and use of all other priviledges of grace and composedly prize the benefit of Ordinances that by rational acts of faith in them I may at length arrive at the fulness of assurance Thus then Christians argue to your selves the duty and dignity of your Baptisme enjoy with comfort the priviledges thereby conferred Know and approve your selves as baptized and thereby Singled out of the world by Baptisme and set in a capacity of Salvation as was Noahs family in the Arke 1 Pet. 3.21 Sanctified unto God Baptisme being the solemne form of consecration Ephes 5.26 Sons and Subjects of the Covenant invested with Christ incorporated into his Church the seal of which is in your flesh by Baptisme Suited for divine society by the expiation of guilt extirpation of sins power and exact confederation with God all which the Scriptures note to be the effects of Baptisme or the washing of the body with pure water In the apprehension and argumentation of these priviledges let me guide your judgements by propounding to your consideration these several rules 1. Rule Salvation and sanctification and the like priviledges are naturally argued from Baptisme as it is an Ordinance of God ordained to that end Therefore the effects are to it attributed It in all things necessary bears an analogie with Circumcision and propounds moral considerations to that end to the reasonable soul of man to be argued by contemplative acts of faith 2. Rule All that will be sanctified saved and enjoy the before noted priviledges must be baptized All that will in an ordinary way possess them for extraordinary providences are beyond the reach of our debate must be baptized not only on the necessity of a command from God but the nature of the Ordinance being the means appointed rightly constituted and readily conclusive to such an end So that none unbaptized can on any ground expect to enjoy nor may warrantably be admitted to the priviledges of a sanctified and saved people of the Lord. 3. Rule Some baptized enjoy these priviledges of salvation sanctification and the like visibly and symbolically others really sincerely and savingly Some are seemingly saved and sanctified in the sight of men and esteem of the Church These enjoy the outward Ordinance only and that is the guide and ground of humane censure and the judgement of the Church Hence the term Saint Beleever Disciple Brother is in Scripture given and must be by the Church yeilded to hypocrites yea to visible prophane persons but baptized but others are sincerely and savingly possessed of these priviledges not only in the judgement of the Church but by the testimonie of their own conscience and spirit of adoption These enjoy not only the outward signe but also the inward grace of Baptisme have not only the body washed with pure water but also the heart spri●kled from an evil conscience The outward Ordinance and inward grace are sometimes divided according to the visible and invisible ministration of the Covenant Baptisme is to all the same in its nature but not in its effects it is in it self efficacious to all but in some not meeting with due capacity acts of faith to improve it it becomes not effectual Many baptized and by the Church called heirs of Glorie lose their hopes holiness and heaven it self not because Baptisme did not seal it and confer a ground or right but because the soul acted not faith in the right unto the claim of what was conferred None so deservedly lose their inheritance as those who improve not their sealed evidence to a due claim Take heed lest there be among you a prophane Esau heir of his fathers blessing who for a mess of pottage sold his birth right Men in the Church contented with Creature-comforts claim not the priviledges of the Covenant conferred by their Baptisme and so lose their birth-right 4. Rule The outward priviledges of Baptisme enjoyed visibly and in the judgement of the Church may be forfeited and by the censures of the Church taken away A brother may be made as a Publicane and Heathen a member of Christs body may be cut off and a servant of God may be delivered unto Satan the Citizens of Jerusalem may be disfranchised private persons may not at pleasure disown baptized souls but the publique censure of the Church if unworthy their received Baptisme may discharge them Church communion and divest them of salvation sanctification interest in the Covenant which clave non errant the Church not Erring is ratified in Heaven as well as in the Church visible upon earth 5. Rule Salvation sanctification and the priviledges of the Covenant may by Baptisme be conferred on them who are not sensible of the Ordinance or in a present capacity of using them Right may be formally conferred where it is not presently acted The King may be crowned in the cradle the crown be set on his head as a token of right before his hand can