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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	father_n	heaven_n	holy_a	10,196	5	5.1385	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46336	A sermon preached in the year of our Lord 1650, January 9, at the baptizing of Theophilus (then Lord Hastings) now Earl of Huntington by John Joynes.	Joynes, John.	1668 (1668)	Wing J1161; ESTC R28958	24,411	60

and contempts as these are cannot be offered to such an Ordinance as this is by any Ver. 19. without treading under foot the son of God who ordain'd it nor without counting the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctifyed the Benefit of which is consign'd to him in this Sacrament an unholy thing and without doing despite to the spirit of Grace Not only the Jew but the Gentile not the old Synagogue alone but the old Pagan world shall rise up in Judgment against this generation of prophane Saints and condemn them for they were true to the Religion they profest and held all that related to it sacred and worthy of their highest veneration 'T is true the Pagan Religion and Rights thereof were impious and idolatrous but they looking upon it as divine and knowing no better if they should have trampled upon the Temples Sacrifices and Rights of those that they held for true Deities they ought to have been look'd upon in all reason not so much for Idolaters as Atheists To despise the sacred Rites of Christianity which are the known and confest Institutions of Christ can proceed from nothing else then a Tincture at least of the spirit of Atheism which is notoriously known to have been very predominant in some of the Apostles of that Sect. Secondly Vse 2 since this Ordinance of Christ has so high holy and beneficial an influence upon all that are ingrafted into him thereby Since therein Heaven is opened the Holy Ghost is given and the grace of Adoption conferred It highly concerns all those who know themselves to have been incorporated into the Church Col. 2.24 which is the Body of Christ by this means to consider the obligagation that lyes upon them to labour to walk worthy of this vocation wherewithall they are called Think what a horrible Apostacy it is after we have sworn Allegiance to God to revolt to the Devil 2 Cor. 7.21 Consider what zeal what care what vehement desire to use the Apostles words we ought alwayes to have to correspond with this Vow and Obligation of ours yea what Indignation and Revenge we ought to entertain against our Sins which are the deleteryes and defacers of our Baptismal Innocence Every single Act of Sin is a Receding from this Vowe But a confirm'd Habit therein unsettles our calling disascertains our condition as being a Relapse and Apostacy from our Allegiance a treacherous Revolt from our Leige Lord and Soveraign and a running over to his open and profest Enemies a divorcing the Dove to espouse the Serpent which must needs throw us into great and horrible if not sometimes into irrecoverable dangers 'T is better in the judgment of St. Peter not to have been washed then after they have been so to return with the Sow 2 Pet. 2.22 to her wallowing in the mire Let all of us then that have been made partakers of this Grace see that we walk circumspectly 2 Pet. 1.10 redeeming the time and giving diligence to make this our high calling and holy election sure by adding to Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience Vers 5 c. to Patience Godliness c. that we may not be barren and unfruitful members but may go on from strength to strength and from virtue to virtue that so our Adoption through Grace may have its consummation in glory and that in the day of the Restitution of all things we may be own'd by the character imprinted upon us in the day of our entrance into the body of Christs Church and communion of the Faithful Lastly with respect unto the occasion of our present meeting I shall onely add That since it is the acknowledg'd duty of all Christians as being all baptized into the same hope and thereby made fellow Members of the same mystical Body to have a fellow-feeling and Christian sympathy in each others concerns whether of weal or wo to rejoyce with them that rejoyce and to weep with them that weep Ro. 12.15 I conceive it no less then the duty of all that fear God here present to joyne in their Gratulations and to offer up their thanksgivings unto God for this his great mercy and signal favour at this time bestowed upon this noble Family in that he has been pleased to give them beauty for ashes Isa 61.3 and the oyl of gladness for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness so that now they may invert those sorrowful words of Job Deus dedit Deus abstulit which was all that lately they had to comfort themselves withal The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken Job 1.21 blessed be the name of the Lord. And now Blessed be the name of the Lord Deus abstulit Deus dedit The Lord has taken and the Lord has given For one and that then an onely Son lately taken into the Kingdom of Glory he has given them another this day to be admitted into the Kingdom of Grace Which we being now solemnly going to do give me leave solemnly to move and beseech you all That since the Prayers of the faithful are the means of Gods own appointing and hallowing for effectuating through the merits and Intercession of Christ Jesus of this his own Ordinance and for procuring the sacred energy and influence of the Holy Spirit to the pouring forth of those various graces convey'd in the Administration of this Holy Sacrament you would joyn in the contribution of your unanimous and hearty prayers that God would be pleased to open at this time the Heavens so as that the Holy Ghost may descend to sanctifie these waters to hallow this Infant to wash away his original guilt and stains to enrol him for a Souldier of Christ and a Son of God And further that if God in his infinite mercy shall please to prolong his life and give him length of dayes and we pray that his dayes may be many and happy that he would throughout his whole life prevent him with his goodness pouring out upon him those Graces that may be needful for the holy and happy conduct of it through the waves of this troublesome world till such time as he arrive at the land of everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That He may never break or recede from this his Baptismal Vow but that being stedfast in faith joyful through hope and rooted in Charity He may grow from Grace to Grace and strength to strength till he become as eminent in his moral and religious as he will be if God bless him with life in his civil and politick capacities And may these our Prayers upon Earth be ratified in Heaven by God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the holy Ghost in the unity of the same Godhead be all Honour Praise and Thanksgiving world without end Amen The End

right hand of God It is sufficient to believe that the Phoenomenon or extraordinary Apparition of light that was then beheld by the spectators did appear or shew it self to them as if the Heavens had really opened But beside this there appeared another wonder which was 2. The Holy Ghost like a Dove descending and lighting upon him The Heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him Waving all frivolous Questions about this matter As Whether this was a Dove really or in appearance onely Whether seen by our Saviour and the Baptist alone or by the Company also with some others more bold and extravagant then these As Whether or no this Dove was assum'd by the Holy Ghost into the unity of the same Suppositum as the Schooles use to speak It will be sufficient for us to take notice that God at this time was pleased to honour the solemnity of his Sons baptisme by so glorious and visible a Miracle which though it was a sufficient Attestation that our Saviour was a Divine and extraordinary Person yet was it not an infallible conviction or Demonstration that he was the Son of God And therefore as a full testimony of that this visible was succeeded by an audible but in all respects as great a Miracle and that was 3. Miraculous effect 3. A voice from Heaven pronouncing him to be the Son of God And there came a voice from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Certainly this was the greatest solemnity that ever happened upon Earth where the mysterious Cabinet as a late Author speakes of the sacred Trinity was opened and exposed to the view of Mortalls God the Son in person of a Man God the Holy Ghost in the likeness of a Dove And though no shape of God the Father was seen yet was his voice heard audibly attesting the Divinity of our Saviour This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased There remaines onely now the third and last Particular which the Text proposes as observable in this story of our Saviours baptisme And that is The means whereby these Miracles were procured And that is here said to be The Prayer of our Saviour Now it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying the Heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon Him and a voice came from Heaven which said Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Concerning which it will be as proper to speak in the Review or Application of this Text unto the present occasion unto which I shall now address my self The Review When I consider how our Saviour was baptized not for himself but for us and how he did submit himself to this Rite that by his Example as well as Precept and Institution he might consigne the use of this holy Sacrament unto his Church to the end of the world I doubt not at all to affirme that one main End of the happening of these great Miracles and Ostents at this time was That they might serve as so many Predictions and Significations of the spiritual Effects and Influences that in all future Ages should accompany the use of this Sacrament in the Church especially it being assented to as an undoubted verity by all Christians That there is nothing ritually prescribed or supernaturally happenning in Scripture but relates either to something of duty or something of benefit in the Church Insomuch that St. Paul speaks of the Baptism of the Israelites under Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea 1 Cor. 10 1. as referring to Christ nay he sayes that the Rock that followed them was Christ v. 4. An expression to be understood like that of Gen. 41.26 where 't is said The seven Kine are i. per figure seven years as the Rock being struck yielded them water so Christ percussus ad mortem Spiritum Sanctum suis obtinuit being struck to death purchased the gifts of the Holy Spirit for his Church And as the Rock in effect that is the water that came out of the Rock followed them in all their Journeys so Christ by his Spirit accompanies his Church to the end of the world That Rock was Christ 1. was a lively figure of Him But I return to the matter in hand this being only a short Digression in order to my present Design which is to shew that the same Spirit which did accompany Christ in his Baptism does still accompany the Baptism of Christ and that in the right use of that Sacrament Christ is by his holy Spirit according to his promise stil present with his Church and will be so to the end of the world And that the same miraculous effects that were performed when he was Baptiz'd are still perform'd in the due Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism though not in a visible yet in a real manner That therein or thereby Heaven is opened That therein the Holy Ghost is conferr'd and lastly that as Christ in his was proclaim'd to be the Son so Christians in their Baptism are receiv'd admitted and taken into the number Roll or List of the Children of God 1. Of the opening of Heaven Ir It is a known passage in the Song of St. Ambrose commonly called the Te Deum where speaking of Christ he sayes When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Without looking after Limbus Patrum which some pretend to find in this passage the sense of it is very obvious to any that shall consider it thus That though it was our Saviours business in his life time to make known the will of his Father to his Disciples and to let the whole Nation of the Jews understand that the Kingdom of Heaven was come among them Luk. 17.21 yet the fuller Revelation of the mysteries thereof was reserved till after his death Then it was that he did expound the Scriptures unto his Disciples concerning himself Luk. 24.27 and opened their understandings so as sully to make them perceive the drift and meaning of what was written both in Moses and the Prophets concerning Him v. 45. For forty dayes together after his Resurrection Act. 1.3 speaking unto them of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Then it was that he instituted the Sacrament of Baptism as a Dore of Admission and Entrance into that Kingdom Mat. 28.19 20. commanding them to baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and to teach them to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded Thus when he had overcome the sharpness of death he did open the Kingdom of heaven to all believers But that you may be more fully satisfied how Baptism is said to open the Kingdom of heaven you must understand that the Kingdom of heaven in the New Testament is taken in