Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	apostle_n	doctrine_n	spirit_n	2,517	5	4.9028	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33967	The improvableness of water-baptism, or, A discourse concerning the gravity and seriousness of the action and the usefulness of the sacred institution of baptism instructing all parents how great a thing they do when they bring their children to that holy ordinance, and all persons, whether young or old, what obligations their baptism hath brought them under, what wrath it hath exposed wicked and impenitent persons to, and what use they may make of their baptism for confirmation of their faith, and quickening them to repentance and an holy life : discoursed from Rom. 6:3,4, by way of sermon / by John Collinges ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1681 (1681)	Wing C5321; ESTC R5112	38,449	47

them Friends I cannot I am ingaged Every baptized person as you have heard is an ingaged person because he is baptized into Christ When Nehem. 6. 2. Sanballat and Geshem thinking to do Nehemiah a mischief sent to him saying Come let in meet together in the Villages he sent back messengers to them saying I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down why should the work cease It was Nehemiah's advantage there that he was engaged at that time every tempter to sin intends to do the soul a mischief and tempters are ever and anon treating and sending to the best of souls Baptism furnisheth the soul with a weapon to repel the fiery dart The soul hath this to say I am pre-ingaged in the service of my Lord and Master Jesus Christ I am dedicated to him I am bound over to his service Mark how Joseph resisted the temptation of his Mistris Gen. 39. 9. How shall I do this great Evil and sin against God So should the soul say I am baptized I am listed in the service of Christ How should I do this thing and break my vow break my ingagement in Baptism to be the Lords steal away my self from God to whom I long since was dedicated 2. A second thing which I shall insist upon to shew you the exceeding usefulness of this sacred Institution is the advantage the soul may have from it to quicken it in and to the exercises of some habits of grace and the performance of some duties I shall instance in four 1. The first I shall instance in stedfastness in the faith of the Gospel To quicken the soul to the exercises of Grace It is an exercise of grace very often called for in holy Writ We have indeed a liberty and it is our duty to prove all things but we must hold fast that which is good My beloved brethren saith the Apostle be you stedfast 1 Cor. 15. 58. 1 Pet. 5. 9. Whom resist stedfast in the faith and in many other texts Now I say our Reflection on our Baptism must needs have a great force in it to oblige us to this stediness which it must needs have if we consider it as an Oath or solemn Covenant and ingagement under which it brings us to God Religion hath little force upon that man or womans conscience whom an Oath will not oblige to do that which he hath sworn to do It is said of Herod after he had sworn to give Herodias what she should ask though she asked John Baptists head in a Charger which Herod had no mind to give her nevertheless for his Oath-sake he commanded it to be given her It is true in that case Herod was under no obligation for the Rule is That an Oath cannot be a bond of iniquity But where the thing we have sworn to or engaged for is such that we may do or are otherwise bound to do an Oath layeth a great hold upon the conscience and makes the soul to see a further obligation to it than what it before lay under to the doing of it Hence you shall observe that Paul both to the Churches at Corinth Ephesus and Galatia argues to stedfastness from this Topick There were in the Churches of Corinth some giddy-headed persons of which one said I am of Paul another said I am of Apollos another I am of Cephas How doth St. Paul endeavour to reduce them 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is saith he Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul I pray saith he consider your baptism Were you baptized into the profession of my Doctrine or into the profession of the Doctrine of Christ Are you under Temptations to waver in the profession of the great Truths and Doctrines of the Gospel Think with your selves Into what Doctrine or into the profession of what Doctrine was I baptized Was it not the Doctrine of Christ Doth this appear to me from holy Writ to have that stamp upon it So in Gal. 3 2 3. This only saith the Apostle I would learn of you Received you the spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith Some of that Church were at that time running away from their profession of the Gospel being seduced by those who in those days insisted upon Justification by the works of the law The Apostle is attempting to reduce them he doth it by this argument Received you the spirit saith he by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith I shall not dispute whether the Apostle there intends by receiving the spirti the receiving peculiar to those times in the extraordinary gifts or manifestations of it Or such a receiving of the spirit as is common to all believers either of which were then generally received or appeared to be received about the time of their Baptism Now saith the Apostle in all reason you ought to receive that Doctrine upon the imbracing of which you had such an eminent evidence of the truth of it that you received the spirit as a seal of it and were baptized into Christ upon your first profession and owning of it So as I say our Baptism and reflections upon it will and must engage us to stedfastness unless it evidently appeareth to us that that Doctrine was false and erroneous 2. A second thing which our Baptism is useful to quicken us to is The keeping of the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace A Keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace duty mentioned in Ephes 4. 3. and mark by what argmments the Apostle perswades it v. 4 There is one body and one spirit as you are called in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism There is but one body compare that with that 1 Cor. 12. 10. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body That one body is the universal Church as appears by the next words Whether Jews or Gentiles and upon this argument which the Apostle would not have used if he had not judged there had been a force in it the Apostle perswades Vnity an unity of Doctrine and Affections for an Vnity in words and syllables and in rites and ceremonies is a stretching of that text beyond the staple there having never at that time been such a thing in the Church of Christ and it being what can never be attained nor was ever commanded by the Apostle But to perswade an unity in faith and love he minds them of the Oneness of their Baptism by which they were united to the Church which is but one body Those that you divide from or quarrel with are of the same body with you and you as well as they were baptized into one and the same body Divide not therefore nor quarrel each with other fall not out by the way for you are brethren It will sometimes put us upon agreeing with and loving of one another to consider that we are fellow

will call that Justification but not as to remission of sins or the actual Justification and Acceptation of his Soul by and before God in this life he makes his boast of Christ and rejoyceth in him and hath no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3 3. Thus much as to the putting on Christ as to Justification As for the putting on Christ with reference to Sanctification let me add a few notes by which we may judg of that 3. He that hath thus put on Christ hath put him on not only for his upper but for his inward garment He is not sanctified in body only but throughout in mind and in spirit he doth not only offer up his body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God but he is transformed through the renewing of his mind he hath not only a demure countenance an holy look or tougue but his thoughts are in a great measure holy his will his affections are holy with allowance to such infirmities as attend even the best of Saints he saith the Apostle is a Jew that is one inwardly so he is a Christian that is one inwardly St. Paul delighteth in the Law of God after the inward man Rom. 7. 22. Many put on a face and outward appearance of Religion The Pharisees Luke 11. 39. made clean the outside of the cup and platter but our Saviour tells them that their inward part was full of ravening and wickedness So many are outwardly very fair and religious but inwardly they are vain and filthy had you a window into their hearts there you would see vain and idle and sinful thoughts and those not rare and crouded in but frequent constant and feasting their Souls A blind understanding a will stubborn and rebellious against the will of God especially if cross to their natural bias and inclinations and humours or interest sensual and carnal affections not set on heaven and heavenly things but meerly feeding on earth and earthly things 4. If you have put on Christ you have put off what is contrary unto him Rom. 13. 12. Let us therefore saith the Apostle cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light Eph. 4. 22. And be you renewed in your mind that you put off concerning your former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts v. 25. Wherefore pntting away lying speak every man the truth to his neighbour v. 26. Be you angry and sin not v. 28. Let him that hath stollen steal no more c. v. 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers v. 30. Grieve not the holy Spirit c. v. 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be you kind one to another tender hearted c. Col. 3. 8. But now you also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth v. 9. Lye not one to another seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is created in knowledge after the image of him that created him This is to be baptized into the death of Christ This is the picture of him who hath put on Christ 5. Who so hath put on Christ hath put on both his robes and his sackcloth and crown of thorns As there is a dying to sin so there is a living to righteousness in every soul that hath put on Christ As he puts off what I mentioned before so he also puts on as one of the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering he for bears others and forgives others if he hath a quarrel against any even as Christ forgave him so also doth he he puts on Charity which is the bond of perfectness the word of Christ dwelleth in him richly in all wisdom he doth all he doth in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ whether in word or deed giving thanks to God and the Father by him Col. 3. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. He puts on habits of universal righteousness and holiness which the Apostle calleth the Image of God he puts on meekness and patience in suffering Being reviled he revileth not again he is led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers he openeth not his mouth c. 6. He who hath put on Christ hath put on the whole armour of God It all goes along with Christ to a soul such a soul stands with its loins girt about with truth having on the breast-plate of righteousness and its feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace He takes the shield of faith whereby he is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked he takes the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God c. 7. Finally If the soul hath put on Christ its face its garments will shine That soul will look like Moses when he came from the Mount Its light will shine before men that they shall see its good works How beautiful must that soul be that is cloathed with light as with a garment It s faith its holiness its humility its meekness will be every where reported of If now you find these things in you in sincerity and in some measure though not in the perfection of degrees you may conclude you are baptized into Christ because you have put on the Lord Jesus Christ Vse 3. I shall stand once more on this foundation and give you a few words of Exhortation with which I will conclude I shall speak 1. to you that are Parents 2. To you that are Children or who have been baptized while you were Children 3. To all in general whether Parents or Children First I speak unto you Parents I have two words to speak to you upon occasion of this discourse 1. That you would be very grave and serious when you bring your Children to this great Ordinance of God It was indeed one of the ends I proposed to my self in undertaking this discourse to correct that woful levity which I generally observe in this most grave and weighty action And here were I in a Congregation proper for such a discourse I would beseech my brethren in the Ministry to restrain that slightness and desultory levity that is so ordinary in this Administration by their more grave and thoughtful performance of this part of their Ministry I perswade my self much of this hath been occasioned by that groundless fancy That Baptism is necessary to salvation not only by a necessity of precept as the fulfilling of every command of God is necessary and by a necessity of the mean as it is a divine mean which in its season and under due circumstances we ought not to neglect we freely grant both