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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	answer_v	believe_v	word_n	2,445	5	4.2826	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65465	The pious communicant rightly prepar'd, or, A discourse concerning the Blessed Sacrament wherein the nature of it is described, our obligation to frequent communion enforced, and directions given for due preparation for it, behaviour at, and after it, and profiting by it : with prayers and hymns, suited to the several parts of that holy office : to which is added, a short discourse of baptism / by Samuel Wesley ...	Wesley, Samuel, 1662-1735.	1700 (1700)	Wing W1376; ESTC R38528	120,677	302

it was the way among the Iews to make Proselytes of whole Families small and great together if the whole Church of God has in all Places and Ages for almost Seventeen Hundred Years together baptised Children and continue it now and were never opposed till the last Century by some in Germany who were far from being of the best Characters and if they were in the right and we mistaken it would follow that there has been no true Church since our Saviour and his Apostles and that all the old Fathers and Bishops and our first Protestant Reformers and Martyrs were either deceived themselves after their most diligent search for the Truth or else did delude wilfully and deceive others Lastly if there are so many high and inestimable Benefits conferred in Baptism no less than washing away the damning Guilt of original Sin and weakning the Power of it by the application of our Saviour's merits the engrafting us into Christ by making us Members of his Church and thereby giving us a right to all the Graces and Promises of the Gospel the beginning of Regeneration the solemn early sacramental Dedication of us to the Service of the blessed Trinity all which Infants are capable of as well as grown Persons If all this be true as I hope I have made it out from the Word of God from good Reason and from the Iudgment and Practice of the universal Church then surely it follows that Infants may be baptised that they ought to be baptised that our Church does well in baptising them that the Universal Church has done well in baptising them that those do extremely ill who neglect it that those are dangerously mistaken who forsake the Church because she continues in the true Faith Doctrine and Practice of the Apostles and yet deny not to communicate with those who hold dangerous and damnable Heresies who some of them deny the Lord that bought them by denying the Divinity of our Saviour who many of them believe affirm and too many teach that the Soul sleeps till the Resurrection As on the other side it will follow that those are in a safe and happy Condition who lead a Holy Life and continue in the Fellowship of the regular established Church of this Nation a sound Member of the Universal Church of Christ and therefore tho' some may leave it tho' many live unworthy of it yet we are assured Christ will not forsake his own he will not forget his Promises it is founded on the Rock of Ages and we trust the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it § XXII Having thus established the Truth in Controversie I come to answer those Objections which are commonly brought against it tho' indeed they may be all or most of them easily answered from what has been already said and an honest and well meaning Christian may be well established in the Faith and yet not fit for doubtful Disputations which are to be left to those who have more Learning Time and Ability to manage them § XXIII I think their main Objection and which they most frequently make use of is drawn from the mistaken Interpretation and Application of our Saviour's words to his Disciples in the 28 of St. Matthew and 19. Go and teach all Nations baptising them in the Name of the Father c. Here say they Teaching is put before Baptising whence they argue that all Persons ought to be taught before they are baptised and that since Infants are uncapable of being taught they are also uncapable of Baptism In answer 1. The Order of Words is no certain Rule for the Order of things either in common Speech or in Scripture We usually say a Man was bred and born in such a place and the Latins accordingly nutrit peperitque by a common Figure and many Instances of the same nature might be given from the Scripture which as the Rabbies tell us speaks with the Tongue of the Sons of Men. Instances we have of this in the first of St. Mark v. 4. Iohn did baptise in the Wilderness and preach the Baptism of Repentance Again v. 5. They were baptised of him in Iordan confessing their Sins Now either the Order of Words in Scripture does not always infer the same Order of Things or else it follows that St. Iohn did baptise before he preached and before his Hearers Confession and Repentance Again it is said in St. Mark 1. 15. Repent and believe the Gospel But Repentance does not always go before Faith for Faith rather in order of Time as well as of Nature precedes Repentance because the Belief of the Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel is that which induces Sinners to repent Last of all the place is certainly mistranslated For whereas we read Go and teach all Nations baptising them And again Teaching them to observe all things c. which makes a plain Tautology or improper and undecent Repetition of the same Word in the same Sense it ought to be render'd Go and make Disciples of all Nations by Baptising them This is plain from the very Construction of the Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 included in the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but if it had only been teach or preach to all Nations baptising them it might have agreed with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and must have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to proselyte or make Proselytes Disciple or make Disciples has been sufficiently proved by Learned Men who have wrote on this Controversie This is now owned by the Antipedobaptists themselves for Dr. Russel in the late Dispute at Gosport renders the word Disciple or make Disciples the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same signification being here used by the Syriack but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 20 v. which answers the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly rendered Teaching But that Children are capable of being made Proselytes has been already proved as they are of being further taught when they are by Baptism entred into the School of Christ. § XXIV Their next Objection is taken from those Expressions in Scripture Repent and be baptised believe and be baptised He that believes and is baptised shall be saved and the like whence they argue as before that Faith and Repentance are to go before Baptism In answer as to the order of the words we have already proved that there is nothing in it tho' it is not denied but that where a Person is capable of making an actual Declaration of Faith and Repentance he is obliged to do it before Baptism And such were those adult or grown Persons to whom the Gospel was at first preached as Oral Profession was required by the Iews of adult Proselytes and the same does our Church require in the most solemn manner of those who are

and Blood and thereby assures us of his Favour and Goodness to us and renews his Covenant with us and gives us leave to do the same with him § XXII But we confirm this Covenant by a most solemn Oath as well as a Feast in this Holy Communion for it partakes of both The very Word Sacrament originally signified that Military Oath which Soldiers took to their General to bear Faith and true Allegiance to him to obey his Commands In the Lords Supper we swear Fealty and Homage to the great King of Earth and Heaven and as well as in Baptism engage to be his faithful Servants and Soldiers to our Lives end Which Oath as all others does imply an Imprecation as did the ancient Sacrifices used at the Ratification of Leagues wherein the Beast being cut in pieces the Parties agreeing went between them wishing that their Blood might be so poured out and they themselves cut in pieces if they ever brake their Vow and Covenant To which the breaking of the Bread and pouring out of the Wine does answer in the Communion as it may farther signifie that we resolve to be faithful even to the Death to our great Lord and Master and if there be occasion are ready to shed our Blood for him as he did for us The Commemoration whereof is indeed the main End of the Sacrament and the principal Notion wherein we are to represent it to our Minds but there are subordinate Ends and other useful Notions under which we may consider it in order to profit by it Among which is § XXIII The next thing in our Description of this Sacrament That we therein praise God for all his Goodness As much as this is included in that very ancient name of it the Eucharist which is used in the Scripture for giving of Thanks in general ‖ Eph. 5. 4. but applied to this most solemn Act of Thanksgiving in the blessed Sacrament not only by the earliest Ecclesiastical Writers but even by an ancient Version of the New Testament For the Syriac retains the Word Eucharist both in the 2d of the Acts 42. and in the 20th v. 7. In both of which places what we render breaking of Bread is with them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breaking the Eucharist And a Word of the same Original is used both by the Apostle and the Evangelists in the Description of its Institution † 1 Cor. 11. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Luke 22. 19. and where our Saviour is said to give thanks over the Bread by St. Luke and St. Paul and to bless it by St. Matthew ‖ St. Mat. 26. 26. the same thing is intended for he blest and praised God for his Gifts and by that Thanksgiving did sanctifie the Bread both derive God's Blessing upon it and set it apart to a sacred use to be the thankful Memory of his own Death till he come to Judgment And accordingly in this Sacrament the Church does render most solemn Thanks and Praise to God the Father for his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of his dear Son and to Christ himself who gave his Body to be broken and his precious Blood to be shed for us as well as for all the Benefits of his Passion especially the Pardon of our Sins and Eternal Life § XXIV The next thing to be taken notice of in this Sacrament is That we do therein testifie and express our unfeigned Union with all our Christian Brethren with all those that bear the Image of the Heavenly This was doubtless one great end of its Institution that thereby all the followers of our Saviour might be united together in the most sacred and indissoluble Bands and that all men might know them for his true Disciples by their Loving one another * St. Iohn 13. 35. and thus the Apostle argues The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Body for we are all Partakers of that one Bread where he hints at the Mystical Union between Christ and his Church and of all the Members thereof one with another ‖ 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. Feasting in common has been always esteemed both a Token of Amity and Friendship and the way to increase and preserve it In the Holy Communion we may be said to renew our Covenant with one another † Pliny ad confaederandam disciplinam coetus Chrianorum as well as with God and seem yet further even to imprecate his Wrath upon our selves if we break that sacred Band. And to the same purpose were the Agapae or Love-Feasts among the Christians both in the Apostles times and a Century or two after * Vid. Tertul. Apol c. 39. p. 105. And the frequent reception of the Communion must needs render Christians more charitable and increase a holy Love among them because without this Charity they know they ought not to communicate as the too general neglect of this Sacrament may well be reckoned one great cause of the great decay of that Grace amongst us For the partaking of this Divine Feast and the consideration of Christs wonderful Love to us in laying down his Life for us even when we were Enemies must needs constrain us to forgive all those that trespass against us and with a pure heart servently to love one another § XXV Hitherto we have for the most part discoursed of what we our selves are to do in the Reception of the Holy Sacrament To commemorate and represent the Sacrifice of our Saviours Death according to his Institution by eating of Bread and drinking of Wine therein renewing our Covenant with God praising him for his Goodness and testifying and exercising our Unity and Charity towards all our Christian Brethren § XXVI I proceed in the last place to that which we are to receive from God in the conscientious discharge of our Duty and devout Reception of this Holy Communion Which is contained in the last part of our Description That thereby all the Benefits of our Saviour's Death are sealed and applyed to every faithful Receiver § XXVII The Sacraments are Seals of God's Covenant with us The Apostle expresly affirms it of Circumcision * Rom. 4. 11. Galat. 3. 14. as it was a Sign of the Evangelical Covenant made with Abraham and all his faithful Children that is all that should believe in God as he did In the room whereof Baptism was introduced by our Saviour as another Seal of the same Covenant and means our Initiation into it And one Sacrament being a Seal it follows by parity of Reason that the other must be so also The Holy Symbols when duly received do exhibit and convey unto us divine Virtue and assistance and all the inestimable Benefits which were purchas'd for us and reached out unto us

to be willing to sacrifice all to make them better That there is need of a general Reformation of Manners has not been denied even by those who have had the most need of it themselves And that the Governours both in Church and State do most earnestly desire it we can no less doubt without the highest Affront to both when they have by so many repeated Acts solemnly declared as much to the Nation That a firm Combination of good Men is the best way to bring this Design to a good Issue we may more than guess by what has been already done by such methods And for all the Objections which have been brought against those who have embarkt in this pious and generous Undertaking I believe there is no unprejudiced Person who has read the Right Reverend Bishop of Glocester's Defence of them but are fully satisfied that they have but very little weight and are there fairly answered And as it is known that the late Archbishop was a hearty Friend of them and their Design so his most Reverend Successor has given them a just and noble Commendation in his Letter to the Bishops of his Province wherein he requires them To press the Clergy of their respective Dioceses to invite their Church-wardens and other pious Persons among the Laity to ioyn with them in carrying on the Reformation of Manners after which he adds We may very reasonably expect the happy Effects of such a Concurrence from the visible Success of that noble Zeal wherewith so many about the great Cities do promote true Piety and a Reformation of Manners Thus far our most Reverend Metropolitan and since that time the same Design has been publickly espoused and recommended by several others of the highest Character And indeed if the General Reformation of Mens Manners be ever effected by the Terror of the Laws without Execution or those Laws be ever effectually executed by the straggling Endeavours of a few good Men who charge singly against such infernal Hosts of Infidelity and Lewdness if any thing considerable herein be accomplished unless by such a Combination I shall own my self happily mistaken but whether I am or no the Event will teach Posterity I shall conclude this long Letter with the remarkable words of the excellent Author of the Whole Duty of Man in his Causes of the Decay of the Christian Piety the close of the Twentieth Chapter That Scandal says he which we have brought upon our Religion as it was not contracted by the Irregularities of one or two Persons but by associated and common Crimes so neither will it be removed by a few single and private Reformations There must be Combinations and Publick Confederacies in Virtue to balance and counterpoise those of Vice or they will never recover that Honour which she acquired by the general Piety of her Professors He goes on In those Primitive Days there was such an abhorrence of all that was ill that a vicious Person was lookt upon as a kind of a Monster or Prodigy and like a putrified Member cut off as being not only dangerous but noisome to the Body But alas the Scene is so changed that the Church is now made up of such as she would then have cast out and 't is now as remarkable an Occurrent to find a Good Christian as it was then to see a Bad. I shall add no more but that it was well the Worthy Author concealed his Name when he published such disobliging Truths At least if he had been now living he would scarce have escaped the Censure of Forwardness and a Zeal not according to Knowledge SIR I am Your obliged Friend SAM WESLEY APPENDIX Of BAPTISM § I. CONCERNING which I shall briefly enquire what it is what Benefits we receive by it what are our Obligations from it whether our Saviour designed it to remain always in his Church and lastly who are the proper Subjects of it § II. First What it is and Baptism may be thus described 'T is the first Sacrament of the New Testament instituted by our Saviour in the room of Circumcision and the Iewish Baptisms to continue to the End of the World wherein by sprinkling dipping or washing with Water in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost the damning Guilt of original Sin is washt away we enter into Covenant with God are taken into the Church of Christ and made partakers of all the Privileges thereof God's Grace here and endless Bliss hereafter on our performing the Conditions of the Covenant § III. 'T is the first or initiatory Sacrament entring us into that Covenant which we renew in the Lord's Supper 'T was instituted by our Saviour who alone has Power to institute a proper Sacrament or Sign Seal Pledge and means of Grace perpetually obligatory on all Christians We know not indeed the express time of its Institution for Iesus made and baptised more Disciples than Iohn St. Iohn 4. 1. long before he enlarged the Commission of his Apostles to go and make Disciples out of all Nations by baptising them St. Matt. 28. 19. see below of the right Translation of the words But we know 't was in the room of Circumcision for as that was a Figure Sign Rom. 4. 11. and Seal of God's Covenant and means of admission into the Church so is this It seems also to have had respect to the way of admitting Proselytes among the Iews which both formerly was and still is by Baptism Lightfoot Grotius c. Ammian Epictet and perhaps also to the Lustrations or Purifications among the Heathen which Grotius thinks with great Reason were the remains of a Patriarchal Tradition in memory of the universal Flood which the Apostle also seems to intimate when he calls Baptism the Antitype to the Ark or the Deluge 1 St. Pet. 3. 20 21. § IV. The matter of this Sacrament is Water which as it has a natural Power of cleansing is in it self more fit for such a symbolical and sacramental Use. Some of the ancients have thought that God gave the first Blessing to the Waters Gen. 1. 10. because they were designed for Baptism Which is performed by Washing Dipping or Sprinkling the Person in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost That is by this Ceremony the baptised Person is obliged to believe in the Holy Trinity and to receive and obey the Gospel The Gentiles therefore were generally baptised in the Name of the whole Trinity because they did not before believe aright of any of the Three Persons Tho' the Iews and Proselytes who before did believe aright of God seem to have been sometimes baptised only in the Name of the Lord Iesus Acts 10. 42. 19. 5. § V. I said Washing Dipping or Sprinkling according to our Catechism was the manner of Baptism tho' neither of them are I think expresly determined in Scripture either by Precept or such Example as clearly proves it or by the force or meaning of the word Baptise Nay there are several

baptised when of riper Age. But neither God or Man require more of any than they are capable of performing Nor is therefore such an actual personal Declaration of their Faith and Repentance required of Infants Repentance indeed they need none for any actual Sin Faith they may have in Principle tho' they cannot outwardly express it This is therefore done by the Church in their Names by the intervention of Sureties who may lawfully and usefully stipulate for them and they remain obliged by such a stipulation Parents being naturally these voluntarily bound to see to the pious Education of such Children towards which they cannot have too many helps And would all who have undertaken this solemn and weighty Charge be but truly careful to perform it which without grievous Sin they cannot neglect would they do what they promised for them which surely is not impossible or very difficult to be done would they call upon these Children to hear Sermons see that they learned their Catechism and do their best to have them brought up in the Fear of God and fitted for Confirmation and brought unto it when of sufficient Age and Understanding there to discharge their Sureties and to take the baptismal Vow upon themselves in order to receive the other Sacrament we should soon see another Face of Christianity among us and I believe few things would go further in silencing the Objections which are brought either against baptising Infants or against our peculiar Form of Baptism § XXV Another Objection against Infant-Baptism is that there is no express Command for it in Scripture one positive Text say they would End all the Dispute On which they argue farther that God was angry with his own People because they did that which says he I commanded them not neither came it not into my Heart and the like in other places Ier. 7. 31. In Answer as to what they so often affirm that one positive Text for Infant-Baptism would end the Controversie we have great Reason to question the Truth of it for it is as positively commanded in the New Testament tho' were it only in the Old and not a part of the ceremonial or political Law none but Manichees would deny it or a fair Consequence from it it is I say as positively commanded that Christians should teach and admonish one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing to the Lord with Grace in their Hearts Ephes. 5. 14. as it is to Honour our Father and Mother But yet these Persons absolutely refuse to do it and they not only object against our way of singing but they are against any outward singing at all and never practise it in Religious Worship but are angry with us and with some few of their own who still keep up that most heavenly part of God's Service See Grantham's Works and Axe to the Root So strange a Power has an inveterate Prejudice which will neither yield to the Practice of all the Churches of God nor to plain Scripture Experience or Reason But to let that pass as to their requiring an express Command for Infant-Baptism we answer it is unreasonable to ask it when they themselves do practise some things for which there is neither Command nor so much as any clear Example in the Holy Scripture as for Instance the change of the Sabbath the admitting Women to the Lord's Supper and even to Baptism for which last they have no express Command and I think but one Example For Baptism they say that Women are included under all Nations and we say the same of Children but neither are expresly named As for admitting Women to the Lord's Supper we are not sure from express Words of Scripture that ever any Woman did receive it They have in vain attempted to bring one express Text for it tho' there is no more doubt that they did receive than that the Apostles did baptise Infants Nor can they evince any Example of Womens receiving from the first and second Chapters of the Acts where it is said That the Apostles continued in Prayer and Supplication with the Women and afterwards ' That those that believed continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread from House to House For that place where the Women are expresly mentioned relates only to Prayer and Supplication not to the Lord's Supper and for the latter place where those that believed are said to be together breaking Bread it s all along spoken of Men in the original See this Matter fully clear'd in Mr. Walker's Appendix to his Discourse of Infant-Baptism as St. Peter when he preach'd that Sermon which converted so many Thousands addressed himself to the Men only Men of Israel ver 22. and Men and Brethren ver 29. And if Women and Sisters were included under Men and Brethren may not we as well argue that some of the twelve Apostles were Women because those who were convinced by St. Peter's Sermon said to him and to the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do ver 37. Nor is there any more express Command for admitting Women to the Communion than there is Example The place that is pleaded for it comes short of proof Let a Man examin himself and so let him eat of that Bread 1 Cor. 11. 28. For tho' the word Men does in the original include both Sexes yet what follows binds it to the Masculine only the word Himself being of the Masculine Gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Since then they admit Women to the Communion without any express Command or Example but only by Consequences from Scripture they can never show any Reason why Infants should not be admitted to Baptism when there are so many Scriptures which as has been proved do by fair Consequence show they have a right unto it and are capable of it As for those places wherein God reproves his People for doing what he never commanded them it is evident that it is only a way of Speech common to the Hebrews which signifies his express forbidding them to do such things particularly that in Ieremy as what goes before makes fully evident They have built the high places of Tophet to burn their Sons and their Daughters in the Fire which I commanded them not Now God had expresly forbidden them to do this and that on pain of Death Lev. 18. 21 29. and Deut. 13. per tot But surely there is a difference between the Iews offering their Sons and Daughters to Devils and Christians offering theirs to God which even those do who will not Baptise them tho' they have no more express Command for it than we have for their Baptism or than they themselves for admitting Women to the Communion § XXVI Having thus given a short Account of the Nature of Baptism laid down the Grounds of the Churches Practice in baptising Infants and given I hope a satisfactory Answer to the most plausible Objections against this Practice I shall conclude this small