Selected quad for the lemma: word_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
word_n father_n ghost_n trinity_n 3,600 5 9.6701 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A79503 Moderate message to Quakers, seekers and Socinians, by a friend and well-wisher to them all, or Some arguments offered to clear up three points in difference betwixt them and others ... By John Child. Child, John, 1638?-1684. 1676 (1676) Wing C3850; ESTC R171309 24,333 83

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

his Ministry unless we shall suppose that Confession of Sinne Repentance and owning the Mesiah as well as Baptism was to decrease then which there can be nothing more absurd to conclude we think and say further then with much more probabillity that not Johns Ministry but the great fame and Master-ship of John was to decrease as to the having disciples call'd by his name the disciples of John and the like for after Christs publique enterance upon his Ministry as John did point and direct men to Christ as their chiefe leader so they were afterwards taught by Christ to call no man Master but soly to own him and be called the disciples of Jesus not of John And for this there is good reason to be given but for the other if there was no more reason then that it is uncertain it were sufficient but we further say to conclude Johns ministry was to decrease and be made Null upon the appearance of Christ as there is no reason to be plainly shewed from this Text and as it is very unsafe to violate and reject a sacred duty upon so uncertain a ground as a private interpretation of a particular text that the Interpretation is for me and a stranger and therefore deservedly to be cast out and have no inheritance for the dispossessing of Johns Ministry which we dismiss with this Argument Arg. 34 Those Duties that have been ratified and confirmed by many signal and weighty circumstances ought not to be violated or rejected upon so slender a ground as the meer Interpretation of a particular Text. But the Baptism and Ministry of John hath been so Ratified and confirmed Ergo the Baptism and Ministry of John ought not after so slight and careless a manner to be rejected and made void And as to the Commission of Christ Mat. 28. we Answer If any shall suppose that thereby the Baptism and Ministry of John was made void 1 That it doth not plainly appear from thence but is at most but Interpretatively so therefore unsafe to rely upon in the ruin of a plain part or Precept of the Gospel 2 That the Commission aforesaid did not make void the Baptism and Ministry of John for these Reasons 1. It 's not congruous to suppose that Christ should institute and set up one part of the Gospel to Enervate and make void another part of it which Johns Baptism and Ministry hath been proved to be 2. It doth not infallibly appear that the Baptism given in the Commission of Christ was different from that of Johns as to matter form and subject which are the main parts of Baptism and if there was some small difference in point of circumstance it will not be sufficient to prepondrate and out-weigh a plain and clear duty and there can no plain difference be made to appear betwixt the Baptism of John and that given in our Saviours Commission unless it be in the use of words viz. In the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and this amounts to these three things 1. The setting forth the Existency of the Trinity that Three such were 2. The capacity and dignity of the Trinity they were to Baptize in their Names which was a Witness or Testimony on the Ministers part and a subscription on the Submitters part to the preheminence of this holy Trinity in opposition to the Instruction of any other either as a Third Person to seclude any one of these or as a fourth to be equal with them in their United Dignity 3. The work and opperation they joyntly intended to be concern'd in and more than this is no subject of Baptism bound to believe and acknowledge in or upon their Baptism that is to say The Being of Father Son and Holy Ghost The Dignity of Father Son and Holy Ghost the work and opperation of Father Son and Holy Ghost in carrying on the great design of the Gospel and if these words were not used by John in the Act of Baptizing yet the thing was set forth in his Ministry and at the same time while the Minister and Submitter were together and therefore we do affirm that John did in his Baptism and Ministry direct into the same Faith as the Apostles by their Commission were to Teach and Baptise into viz. the Being Dignity and opperation of the Trinity And no man can be certain that our Saviour did injoyne more in his great Commission or that the Apostles did make use of that very form of words in the Act of Baptising The conclusion then is that for any thing that yet appears the Baptism contained in the Commission was and was to be the same in all points with the Baptism of John and therefore from thence appears no certain ground of an Abrogation Indeed our Saviour did do three things in reference to Johns Baptism by his great Commission 1 he confirm'd it by commanding his Disciples to keep it up and carry it on 2 he adds perfection and clearness to it by his great Authority his short and plain Instruction about the design of it which was to bring his followers to subscribe to the Doctrine of the Trinity in th●ir submission to it 3 he did further extend it by ordering of it into all the world which John did not do our Result is that neither the words of John I must decrease nor the Commission of our Saviour to his Disciples to Baptize doth fairly make Null the Baptism and Ministry of John from whence we offer this Argument Arg. 35 That which is fairly and infallibly proved once to be Gods Ordinance and Mans duty ought not without a fair and infallible ground to be accounted Null and void But the Baptism and Ministration of John is fairly and infallibly proved to be Gods Ordinance and mans duty Ergo it ought not without the like ground to be accounted Null and void and if any shall still oppose what hath been contended for I shall only state this question to be debated with them and end this first point by two short Arguments Quest Whether the Baptism commanded by God Administred by John submitted to by Jesus and after his Death owned and practised by his extraordinary Ministers be put an end to or made Null Arg. 36 If the Baptism and Ministry of John was by the Holy Ghost reputed and owned to be the way of the Lord after the Ascention of our Saviour then 't is in force still but it was so Ergo Acts 18.25 26. Arg. 37 If Baptism with Water be not in force still as well as other parts of Johns ministry then it is somewhere exempted But Baptism with Water is no where Exempted Ergo. And now let us see if we can find an Administrator In this Enquiry after a Minister we will propose Three things 1. To state what a Minister is in his make and constitution 2. What doth warrant him to Act or Perform the Work and Office of a Minister 3. And then put it upon this fair Issue viz.