Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	work_v	worship_n	worship_v	47	3	7.7324	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45181	Infants faith, and right to baptism, proved from Scripture with the chief objections against it answered. By John Hunt, pastor of a particular congregation in Northampton.	Hunt, John, fl. 1704.	1682 (1682)	Wing H3739A; ESTC R221348	61,988	172

attribute the Work to Christ in such a manner as may not in the least savour of Sin or carry in it the least absurdity or contradiction But now Christ can no ways be chargeable with Sin in bringing a Soul from Sin nor is it the least contradiction to say a Man of unwilling is now changed and made willing or for a Dead Man when made alive to act and move it would have been strange to see Lazarus have risen and walked while Dead but not strange at all to see him walk when Christ had quickened him So in this case 3. But say some when we press Sinners to come to Christ in their Sins we do not mean that they can so come but that they ought so to come And forasmuch as this Reply hath the fairest shew of truth I shall consider what of truth it really hath in it Now to this I answer by making this necessary distinction 't is one thing for it to be the Duty of Sinners to come to Christ another thing to come in their Sins to Christ And though I readily grant 't is the Duty of such as are in their Sins to come that is to cease to do Evil and to learn to do Well and by the strength of God's Grace to leave the Sins they now are in yet I absolutely deny 't is their Duty to come in their Sins Though I do not expect all should reach this who are not used to distinctions I shall endeavour therefore to illustrate this to you thus t is one thing for it to be the Duty of an unchanged Person to come another for that Person to come unchanged 'T is the Duty of Sinners to keep the Law but not to keep it in their Sins 'T is the Duty of a Man Drunk to praise God because he is not in Hell but 't is not his Duty to praise him Drunk His praising denotes the Work his praising of him Drunk would denote the manner how he should perform the Work and if this should be granted it would as much be such a Person 's Duty to be Drunk when engaged in that Work as to be engaged in that Work To illustrate this God hath made it our Duty to Praise him and to Worship him in Spirit and Truth the Worship denotes the Work to do it in Spirit is the manner of Working and one is a Duty as well as the other so that tho' it is the Duty of a carnal Man to Worship God yet not to Worship him carnally So though it is the Duty of Sinners to come yet not to come in their Sins for this would make Sin a Duty there may be a great difference in Sence when there may be but little in Sound To give you an Instance whole Christ is one thing the whole of Christ is another thing the Protestants own whole Christ to be every-where but Hundreds have chose rather to burn at a Stake than to own the whole of Christ to be every-where But I suppose the Patrons of this Opinion will never suffer much for Truths no clearer distinguished than thus though to any understanding Person the difference is exceeding great but unless a Man can find some Mens Understandings as well as Truths the Truths they prepare and explain to them will be but assom any Pearls cast before Swine which will rather Enrage them make them turn again and rend them than be profitable unto them So Christ assumed the Nature that was Polluted but not the Pollution of that Nature But to put all out of doubt I shall come in a more familiar Stile to prove that though it is undoubtedly the Duty of Sinners to come to Christ or believe in Christ yet it is not so much as their Duty to come in their Sins to Christ the great difference between which I hope by what hath been said you now will understand For as I have hinted when I say 't is the Duty of a Sinner to come it denotes no more than thus that it is his Duty to come from Sin to Christ but for any to come in their Sins to Christ denotes they must bring their Sins to Christ which is as impossible as to bring the East and West into one Point the disagreement between Christ and Sin not being so little as many do imagine What Communion hath Light with Darkness Christ is well pleased to see a Soul come from Sin but it is impossible for a Soul to come in Sin nor is it his Duty so to come which I prove from these following Arguments Argument 1. That which no Man was ever able to do is not so much as our Duty to do but no Man was ever able to come to Christ in his Sins therefore 't is not so much as our Duty so to do My Major I conceive will be granted only carefully observe I say that which no Man ever was able to do I do not say that which no Man is now able to do is not his Duty For if we consider Man in his fallen State so many things are his Duty to which he hath no strength to do and God may justly condemn him for not doing them because his Inability was procured by himself but God commands us to do nothing now but what Adam had Power to perform if God had but made it known to be his Duty And for any to deny my Major Proposition would be to affirm that God hath given Man a Law which was absolutely impossible to be kept and damns his Creatures for not obeying of it which hath too harsh a sound to be received for a Truth Minor Proposition But no Man ever was able to come to Christ in his Sins That we who are in a fallen and unregenerate State cannot come to Christ while such I hope I have sufficiently proved and it is impossible that Adam should have Power to come in Sin before he had committed Sin Therefore I conclude that tho' it is the Duty of Sinners to come from Sin to Christ or to believe in Christ because Thousands have by Grace been so enabled to come and Adam had once a Power to believe any thing that God should reveal yet because never any was able to come to Christ in his Sins therefore 't is not so much as a Duty so to do for tho' God hath sent many Sinners to Hell for not coming to Christ yet I am confident he never sent one Soul to Hell for not coming to Christ in his Sins for this would be to damn Souls for not continuing in Sin Argument 2. He that ought to come to Christ in a sinful State ought to continue in him in the same State but no Man can continue in Christ and a sinful State Therefore no Man ought to come in a sinful unrenewed State to Christ The former part of my Argument is clear from Col. 2.6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him Now you know the present Enquiry is what

is more easily eradicated than a Grown Tree so in this Case Sin by Custom and Continuance gets root and though all things are equally possible to God yet to change an Old Sinner is most difficult in it self We may conceive a greater opposition in the Heart of Grown Persons to a Work of Grace than in Infants The longer we have been wedded to Sin the more unwilling we shall be to give it a Bill of Divorce and put it away So that Infants are as capable of Grace as Adult and more capable as to the Humane Conception of any unless Arminians And though 't is said Faith comes by hearing yet that only points out the ordinary way of God's Working Faith in Adult This directs us to our Duty but sets no bounds or limits to his Power God can work Faith other ways than by the hearing of the Ear if he will Thus having cleared my Proposition that Infants are capable of Faith I now come to confirm the Minor Proposition of my Argument which was this That the Infant Seed of Believers are such as we have good ground from Scripture to hope are Believers Before I proved Infants were capable of Faith now I come to prove some Infants have Faith which I prove thus Argument If some Infants get to Heaven then some Infants have Faith But some Infants do get to Heaven therefore some Infants have Faith 'T is possible that the Anabapatists may say That there is no necessity for Infants to have Faith in order to their getting to Heaven but I am loth to resign up such a Gospel Truth meerly because they have said it I shall lay down nothing but what I shall prove from plain Scripture and I shall expect the same of them especially in Matters of such grand Import And sure I am the Scripture no where affirms any such thing that any can get to Heaven without Faith-Nay Nay I am certain the whole Currant of Scripture doth in most express terms run directly contrary thereunto as I shall shew anon So that we cannot open our Mouths in Defence of such a Notion unless we dare even fight against God I grant indeed there are some Secrets in God's working in Infants yet this makes nothing against the Truth of the thing because we cannot comprehend it We cannot conceive the manner how God works Grace in Adult unless very imperfectly As John 3.8 the Wind Bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the Sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every one that is Born of the Spirit Mind every one Adult as well as Infants where Christ himself makes it as hard to know how God Regenerates as to give Account of the Wind which hath puzzled our wisest Philosophers We may feel the Wind refresh us and see the effects of it but cannot tell exactly how it is caused So in this Case we may find and feel the refreshing Influence of the Spirit in our selves and may see the effects of it in others yet can no more comprehend the manner of his working than we can conceive how the Body is formed in the Womb of her that is with Child Eccles 11.5 There you have these two compared Why then should it be thought incredible that God should Work Faith in Infants Though we cannot fully comprehend his way of Working God can make use of various ways to effect one and the same thing though in the mean time he gives us no account of his Matters His ways are in the deep Waters and his Footsteps are not known And sure I am if we must believe nothing but what we can fully comprehend the Articles of our Faith may stand in less room for what can we say as to the Trinity we are bound to believe such a thing because God hath revealed it but alas how little can we comprehend of Three in One or to the Hypostatical Union of Two Natures Personally united What shall we say as to the Resurrection of the Dead Of the Joys of Heaven or the Torments of Hell If nothing must be Believed but what we can comprehend we must blot out these and many more Articles of our Creed Is not this the way to Atheism if we must not believe God to be unless we can comprehend him since 't is but a little portion we have heard of him Job 26.14 and since none can by searching find out God to Perfection This is to prefer the Light within or Carnal Reason above the Word of God if we must not believe God's Word unless we can comprehend it Nay this is to make a Man worse than a Beast while he must not believe that which he sees Hence we must not believe such a thing as the Tide or Sun since though it is easie to see both yet we cannot fully comprehend either Nay at this rate we must not believe our selves to be Creatures since we cannot tell how we were formed in the dark Recesses of the Womb for we are said to be wonderfully made In a word by this Rule we must believe nothing because there is nothing but what doth in some respect or other exceed our shallow Understandings This is a Rule to be observed among all that profess themselves Christians whatever God reveals we are to believe though it be as far above the reach of our Reason as the Heavens are above the Earth since 't is impossible for God to Lie and Blasphemous for us to suppose he should and worse to suppose God to Lie than to suppose him not to be As once Plutarch said Malo de me dici nullum esse Plutarchum quam malum Plutarchum I had rather said he Man should say I am not than say I am wicked And therefore since God hath in his Word set forth the necessity of Grace and Faith in order to our getting to Glory we ought to Believe the one or to Despair of the other Some time since I was reading a Book put out by one of the most Learned of the Anabaptists and in that he owns the Sins of Children are done away and that some such if not all such do go to Heaven but most boldly affirms they are not done away in Regeneration But sure that Gentleman would have done well to have told us which way they are cleansed and not to leave so many tender-hearted Parents mourning for their deceased Infants as those without hope as they must needs do if they are not capable of Regeneration or if they cannot tell some others way how they may be fitted for Heaven But I perceive that Gentleman was resolved none should know his new-found way but himself let the effects be what they will But though he is thus unkind his Dear Brother Mr. C. seems to be a Man of a better Spirit and though he seems to agree with him in the former yet he tells us if we will believe him how Sin comes to be destroyed in Infants and that is saith he