Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	aaron_n	body_n	mystical_a	13	3	10.6205	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67284	A modest plea for infants baptism wherein the lawfulness of the baptizing of infants is defended against the antipædobaptists ... : with answers to objections / by W.W. B.D.	Walker, William, 1623-1684.	1677 (1677)	Wing W430; ESTC R6948	230,838	470

on the place we are made one that is one body by one spirit and the same laver or washing that is by Baptism By the Spirit as the principal efficient of by Baptism as the instrumental Agent in that Union Hence is Baptism by St. August called Ecclesiae ja●ua and porta gratiae primus introit us D. Aug. de Cate. chizand rudib l. 2. c. 1. sanctorum ad aeternam ' Dei Ecclesiae consuetudinem the gate of the Church and the door of grace and the first entrance of Saints to an eternal Society with God and the Church So St. Bernard calls it Sacramentum initiationis intrantium Christianismum investituram the Sacrament of Initiation and the Investiture of such as enter into Christianity And by the Council of Florence it is called Primum omnium Sacramentorum locum tenet baptismus quod vitae spivitualis janua est ● per ipsum enim membra Christi ac de corpore efficimur Ecclesiae Concil Flor. apud Caranz sol 391. the gate of spiritual life in as much as by it we are made members of Christ and to be of the body of the Church And hence very significantly Baptisteries or Fonts are said to have been placed at first without but after within the Church near the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Porch of the Church to signifie undoubtedly the Sacrament there celebrated namely Baptism to be a Rite of initiation or entrance into the Church as it were that door by which they that are baptized are let in and have admittance unto the priviledges of Christians which is to be Members of Christ § 3. This benefit I say Men have by Baptism And why not Infants whom the Scripture no where shuts this door of grace against whom it no where excludes from this benefit by it In consideration whereof St. Aug. proceeds to say of the Baptism of Infants that it is of efficacy and doth avail Ad hoc valet baptismus ut baptizati Christo incorporentur D. Aug. l. 1. de Bapt. Parvul Haec gratia baptizatos quoque parvulos suo inserit corpori D. Aug. l. 1. de Pecc Merit Remiss c. 9. Pueri sicut adulti in Baptismo efficiuntur membra Christi Aquin. 3. q. 69. a. 6. Hac de causa insantulos baptizamus ut ejus membra sint omnes D. Chrysost Hom. ad Neophytos to their incorporation into Christ And again that This grace doth ingraft and put in even the little ones that are baptized into his body So Aquinas Children as well as Adult persons are made members of Christ in Baptism And for this cause saith St. Chrysostom do we baptize Infants that they may be members of him that is of Christ § 4. And the reason is the same for the one and for the other Because it is not several Baptisms but one and the same Baptism that is administred unto the one and unto the other For there is but one Baptism for all One as well as the other Men and Children all that are baptized are baptized into Jesus Christ as the Apostle expresses it Rom. 6. 3. § 5. Now this being so what can be more visible than that Baptism is hugely beneficial to Infants For being by Baptism made Members of Christ they have union with him as the Members have with the Head and by that Union much benefit is derived to them § 6. For first there is great honour comes to them thereby The Members partake of the honour of the Head To be the Members of such a Head as is Head over all things Ephes 1. 22. the Head of all principality and power Coloss 2. 10. what an honour must this needs be to them Like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his garments so the honourableness of Christ the Head hath a descending influence on his in●erior members so as to render them also in some measure and degree honourable By vertue of the Union of Christs natural body with God there is a great honour comes to that his body so by vertue of the Union of the mystical body of Christ with Christ its Head there is a great deal of honour coming also to that body of his His natural body is not the mere body of a man but the body of God so his mystical body is not a mere humane body but the body of Christ 2 Cor. 12. 27. As it is with an imp or scion that is taken off from any stock of a meaner kind and ingrassed or inoculated into a nobler stock and partakes with the stock into which it is ingrassed of its honourable appellation so it is with Christians though by nature they be wild olive trees yet being by Baptism ingrafted into Christ the good olive tree made members of his body they do partake with Christ in some degree of that honour which is given unto him They have his name called upon them by others Acts 11. 26. He himself is not ashamed to call them brethren Heb. 2. 2. 11. Not the least Infant Christian but is a Brother a Branch a Member of Christ and so is honourable in its Relation to him and hath an honourable respect due unto it upon account of the Union that it hath with him § 7. But secondly they do not only receive honour by Christ but also influence from Christ by vertue of their Union with him The Head hath an influence upon the whole body and every member of it Sense and motion is by the animal spirits communicated to the whole body and every member of it from the head so hath Christ an influence upon his whole body and every the least member of it From him by his spiritual grace is communicated to his body and every the least member of it suitable to the manner and measure of its receptivity a principle of sense of God and Goodness and of motion to attain the enjoyment of the one by the practice of the other which though for a while it give forth no indications of its presence in them yet will in due time exert its proper efficacy and in the mean time it lies at the heart like the sap at the root predisposing it unto a future fructification Of his fullness saith St. John we have all received and grace for grace John 1. 16. There is a fullness of grace in Christ for and an influence of grace from Christ to all that are in him Of his fullness we all receive By partaking of the root we participate of the fatness of the olive tree Rom. 11. 17. There goes vertue from him to all that are his Not the least member of him but has an influence of grace from him There is from him an emanation of quickening efficacy to the smallest Infant member in him being united to him it partakes with him according to its condition and capacity and that seminal grace communicated