Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	apostle_n	church_n	prove_v	3,145	5	6.1841	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96995	The covenants plea for infants: or, The covenant of free grace, pleading the divine right of Christian infants unto the seale of holy baptisme. Against the rusticke sophistry, and wicked cavillations of sacrilegious Anabaptists: being the summe of certaine sermons had in the parish-church of Cranham, neere the city of Gloucester, in Gloucester-shire, with the exceptions of certaine Anabaptists against the foresaid sermons, and the authors answers thereunto. Very seasonable for weake consciences in these unsettled times of schisme and apostacie. By Thomas Wynell minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.	Wynell, Thomas, b. 1599 or 1600.	1642 (1642)	Wing W3778; Thomason E115_17; ESTC R8440	86,631	137

And they put on the businesse with such peremptory boldnesse as if all the world had beene unable to gain-say their practice or refute their doctrine VVhereupon to clear my selfe and to satisfie others I undertooke the controversie at Cranham where they had left their poyson And when I undertooke it the Anabaptists from Gloucester and Painswicke came to heare mee and set upon mee in the open face of the Congregation as soone as I came downe out of the Pulpit I desired them to forbeare publique tumults and to send in their exceptions against what I had laid downe for Poedobaptisme And at first they sent mee in a paper with no hand to it but this I rejected and delivered back to them againe because I knew no one of them would stand to it when once the folly thereof was declared At length I received about two sheetes of paper and yet though it came in the names of them all there was but one hand unto the same and this Champion doth so stoutly mannage the matter that surely if his cause were suitable to his stomacke neither men nor Angels could stand before him It is high time then for us to bestirre our selves when condemned heresies shall find such bold abettours and that in the Land of light and truth The Lord put it into the heats of our Parliament to settle a Government among us with speed that out-facing impudencie may be called to an account that truth and peace may dwell in our Land And now Gentle Reader peruse the ensuing tractate wherein if thou find any benefit give God the glory and afford mee thy help at the Throne of Grace And so I have done and do thou begin Thine in the Truth T.W. ERRATA PAg. 6. line 1. for Cor. read King p. 8 l.7 for up r. upon p. 10. l. 21. r. Gods Covenant of Grace p. 11. l. ult adde of Gods command but because p. 16. l. 31. for their God r. th● God p. 36. l. 22. for under r. of p. 42. l. 16. dele not p. 81. l. 4. let Petitio principii be put in the Margin Ib. for disputationibus r. disputations Ib. l. 20 for well by r. well as p. 107. l. 14. for profession in the r. profession of faith in the. p. 110. l. 16. for as whatsoever r. as if whatsoever p. 111. l. 20. dele or p. 114. l. 17. dele saved and. p. 115. l. 22. for certifie r. rectisie p. 116. for to r. of p. 119. l. 6. ●or hearts 6.1 heart p. 122. l. 28. for not r. not the. THE COVENANTS Plea for INFANTS MATTH 28.18 19 20. All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth Goe yee therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all whatsoever I have commanded you And loe I am with you alwayes even to the end of the world AMEN THE monstrous brood of Anabaptists in former ages and now in these our dayes have made and doe make this portion of Scripture their maine Fort and strongest Barricado to beat back poore helplesse and harmlesse infants from being consecrated into Gods peculiar by baptisme though born of Christian parents Now against these unjust oppressours and sacrilegious theeves I am now come into the field to maintaine the christian birth-right of infants whose parents are sealed unto God and of His Family And to set them into their own border possession and inheritance And because some of Satans troopers of late in mine absence have made an in-rode into this Parish and by perverting of this Scripture have carried away some and staggered many others therefore I have chosen to insist upon this Text to let all men see how it makes nothing at all for the establishing of their wicked purpose This whole Chapter contains the History of our Saviours resurrection and a Rehearsall of what He did on earth between the time of His triumphant resurrection and His glorious Ascension The former we omit for brevities sake In the latter the Spirit of God relates how Christ being risen from the dead by vertue of His resurrection possessed of all power and authority over all things and persons in heaven and in earth gave a command and commission unto his Apostles to goe out among the Pagan-Gentiles and plant the Gospell among them and not confine themselves any longer within the precincts of Iudea And why Because all power is given unto Christ in heaven and in earth which before was not given unto him This is our Saviours preface and it is a materiall passage and the ground of our Saviours sending of His Apostles to plant the Gospell among the Pagan-Gentiles Now all power and authority concerning the Church of God was conferred on Him for ministring the kingdome of heaven among Jewes and Gentiles And hence observe this point for your instruction Doct. Viz. That all power and authority concerning the Church of God was given unto Christ and conferred on Him by vertue of His meritorious death and triumphant resurrection from the dead Eph. 1.19 23. Ps 2.6 9. compared with Acts 13.33 Heb. 2.9 10. Luk. 24.46 47. Reason And the reason is because thereby Christ vanquished the enemies of our salvation led captivity captive received gifts for men and became the head of the Church among Jewes and Gentiles Quest But had not Christ this power from the beginning Ans 1. He had it in the mind and decree of His Father for we were chosen in Him and He was still the head of His the Church 2. He had it vertually in His sufficiency to vanquish enemies and to deliver His chosen for Hee was a lambe slaine from the beginning 3. Actually and by way of execution among Iewes and Gentiles without difference He had it not untill the time of His glorious resurrection Acts 2.32 36. For then was Hee declared to be the sonne of God and the Jewes Messiat Rom. 1.4 Now this point may be put to sundry good uses Vse 1 It may serve to pierce the hearts and soules of all wicked men and move them to repentance and amendment of life Acts 2.36 37. Vse 2 It may serve to deterre all Church-enemies from their furious and vaine attempts against Christ and His Gospell Psal 2.1 8. Vse 3 This should teach us to yeild divine honour and worship unto Christ We are to set him up as the Lord of our faith having His warrant for what wee doe in His worship under the Gospell making Him our King and Law-giver and obey him in all things that He shall say unto us depending upon him alone for salvation as our All-sufficient Saviour Vse 4 Let us then labour to be so qualified and so to live as that all this power of Christ may be improved for our advantage Now if we would bee so qualified wee must see that wee are true members of Jesus Christ And the truth of this may be discerned by our threefold

thing is to bee required of the children of baptized parents but as holy by birth being borne of such parents are to be baptized in their infancy because in their infancy God hath made them holy and declared so much unto us The Covenant under which children are borne makes them capable of the initiall seale according to the ministration under which they are borne whether of a Saviour to come or of a Saviour already come Anabaptist Againe there is difference in the persons for there were none but males circumcised but wee have example of male and female baptized Further c. ut infra Answer This is no argument at all against paedo-baptisme for males were circumcised in their infancy and the Covenant with the Jewes and us Christians is the same spirituall and eternall Covenant binding to divine faith and obedience assuring us and them of eternall happinesse through Gods mercy in the merits of Jesus Christ Now if Male Infants had the seale of such an inheritance and Covenant upon such spirituall grounds in Such a Saviour binding the circumcised Infant to divine faith universall obedience though he could discern none of these matters then Male-Infants of Christians being borne under the same holy Covenant of grace are subjects capable of the initiall seale thereof as children of parents in Covenant with God and of the holy seed by birth So then to exclude females grant males to bee capable of Baptisme upon the ground of circumcision is to conclude against your owne principle But all Israelites females as well as the males stood in Gods acceptation for circumcised as appears in the story of Sampson who seeing a woman of the daughters of the Philistines in Timnath fell in love with her and spake to his Father and Mother to get her for him to wife Then his Father and his Mother said unto him Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all my people that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines Judges 14.1 2 3. Now if the women of Israel had been reputed uncircumcised then as good for Sampson to chuse one as well as the other as good a woman of the daughters of the Philistines as a woman of the daughters of his brethren What cause then had his Father and his Mother to blame him for his choice As good one uncircumcised woman as another More of this is to be seen in our Sermon-notes to which as yet I have received no answer But I beleeve that this concerning females is none of your maine foundations you build your Religion upon Anabaptist Further they differ in the time for they were to bee circumtised the eighth day but we have no set time for Baptisme but when they doe beleeve then they are to be baptized And therefore if you rightly consider these things and the maine differences hereof I think there is no reasonable man that understands himselfe and the Scripture will goe about to parallell circumcision with Baptisme in respect of the practising of it Answer We shewed you out of Levit. 12.2 3. that there was a speciall reason why the man-childe should not be circumcised till the eighth day And this reason you passe by untouched because you couldnot answer it And I finde no such reason why baptisme now should be forborne untill any set time Now if circumcision had beene forborne untill the eighth day because till then infants could not and then they could beleeve this were to the purpose But I see you faulter in all things You say much and prove nothing If you aske Physitians why in time of the Law infants were not to be circumcised till the eighth day They will tell you that untill the seventh day being a criticall day and so a dangerous day were past no wound was to be made in the flesh of a tender infant But you say that under the Gospell when persons beleeve then they are to be baptized But I say that Infants of Christians in their infancie are not Insidels but Saints and of the holy seed and therefore beleevers and so are to be baptized in their infancy unlesse you can shew where the Scripture calls the Infants of Gods people in Covenant Vnbeleevers And therefore if you rightly consider these things and the substantiall agreement betweene Circumcision and Baptisme I thinke there is no reasonable man that understands himselfe and the Scripture but will judge your exceptions to be frivolous and that this Argument stands firme which is that Baptisme is unto us as Circumcision was to the Jewes Col. 2.11 The Covenant the same the ends and significations the same for substance Infants were admittable there Ergo here else children in worse case since Christ than before Reason 3 The third Reason Anabaptist Thirdly you seeme to draw a reason from divine Authority for Infants baptisme and you seeme to prove it out of Mat. 28.19 But here give us leave to tell you plainly that you are foulely mistaken and you wrest the Text For Christ bids them goe and teach all Nations and them that are taught must be baptized For Christ doth not say goe and teach all Nations and so baptize all the Nation but goe teach them Now you know there is great difference betweene preaching to a people and teaching of a people for you may preach to a thousand people and it may be not above two or three of all those taught And therefore Christ bids teach them first and then baptize them But however c. ut infra Answer My third Argument for Paedo-baptisme from Mat. 28.19 runs thus The Commandement of baptizing is universall to the whole Church but Infants of Christian parents are members of the Church and therefore the command of baptizing is to be extended unto them as before we have amply declated Now if Infants of such parents be not members of the Church then so dying they cannot be saved sithence none can be saved but by Christ and Christ came to save his Church onely Ephes 5.26 Wherein now I pray am I so fouly mistaken and wherein doe I wrest the Text Christ saith indeed that such as are taught must be baptized but Christ saith not that none must be baptized but such as are taught Prove that or let this Text alone The Text saith baptize all in the Church therefore Infants of baptized parents unlesse you can shew a place that exempts them Christ doth not say goe teach all Nations and so baptize all the Nation Neither did I nor will unlesse the whole Nation shall embrace the doctrine of Christ And then the whole Nation must be baptized and their seed after them in their infancy as Christians by birth Ob. But the baptized must believe and repent Acts 2. Matth. 3. c. Sol. Those Texts must bee restrained to the persons in hand So 1 Thess 3. He that labours not must not eate i.e. men that can labour Children though they cannot labour yet must eate Infants