Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	baptize_v	jesus_n	john_n	3,386	5	6.8394	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19506	Three heavenly treatises, concerning Christ [brace] 1. His genealogie, 2. His baptisme, 3. His combat with Sathan : together vvith deuout meditations, for Christian consolation and instruction / by Mr. William Cowper ...	Cowper, William, 1568-1619.	1612 (1612)	STC 5936; ESTC S1075	105,109	365

so that now hee is not another nor a stranger to vs but our owne by diuine ordination ☜ and all that hee does is for vs. These being premitted we come now to the particular historie of his Baptisme as it is set downe by Saint Luke Chap. 3. Ver. 21. LVKE 3. 21. Now it came to passe as all the people were baptised VVHat these people were you may vnderstand out of the 7. Chap. ver 29. 30. for there it is said that the Pharises and expounders of the Law despised the counsell of GOD and would not come to be baptised of S. Iohn Here then comes poore Publicanes and sinners and goes before them into the kingdome of God There are many of euery sort of people as we may read saued in the Gospell but of Pharises wee finde none but one namely Nicodemus no sort of men are further from the kingdome of God then proud iusticiars For as a vessell full of one liquor is not capable of another so the soule which is filled with a vaine conceit of her owne righteousnes is not capable of the grace of Christ. Huiusmodi animum gratia non intrat c. Grace entreth not into such a soule because it is full neither doth grace finde any place to dwell therein And againe Non est quo intret gratia vbi c. There is no place for grace to enter in where merit hath possession what thou attributest to merits is wanting to grace I will none of that merit which excludes grace But that the Lord Iesus comes in among these poore people it shewes his wonderfull loue and rare humilitie his loue for to the end that hee might help vs hee would be like vs he assumed our nature and in it abhorred not the company of poore sinners Tu cum homo esses deus esse voluisti vt perires ille cum esset deus homo esse voluit vt quod perierat inueniret Thou being a man didst presume to be as God and so diddest perish but hee being God would become man that he might saue man who was lost Wee see by experience that if a man fall another cannot raise him vnlesse hee bow himselfe downe vnto him hee that will stand in his statelinesse can neuer raise vp him who hath fallen before him the Lord Iesus that hee might raise vs was content to bow downe vnto vs and like a Phisitian among patients so hath he his conuersation among poore and miserable sinners Thus by a course plaine contrary to Adams course doth the LORD IESVS remedie that euill which Adam brought on himselfe and his posteritie for Adam being in honour aspired foolishly to be like vnto God but he not onely came short of that whereunto hee reached but lost that good also which he had before Then he was clad with the glorious Image of God now hath hee for a garment the skinnes of beasts and being so busked the folly of his presumption is checked and sore rebuked by the blessed Trinitie Ecce Adam factus est quasi vnus ex nobis But what the first Adam lost by his proud transgression to himselfe and his children the second Adam hath recouered by his humble obedience being equall with God hee is found in shape as a seruant Now man may reioyce and say Ecce deus quasi vnus ex nobis behold God is as one of vs. Now Iesus is among sinners Gnimmanuel God with vs now the word is made flesh now the tabernacle of GOD is with men now God is come downe not in the likenesse of men onely as they of Listra thought of Paul and Barnabas but clad with the very nature of man Let vs reioyce in this goodnesse of our God for this cause is hee among men that he might raise vs vp and set vs among Angels in the heauenly places Againe it is said by Saint Mathew that Iesus came to Iohn to be baptised of him hee might haue sent for Iohn but he comes vnto him hee who hath the Baptisme of the holy Ghost to giue vnto all his brethren doth now come and seeke the Baptisme of water from one of his owne seruants Why is this done surely to recommend vnto men the reuerence of that ministrie which GOD hath appointed in his Church no conceit of thy greatnesse should make thee disdaine it since the sonne of God by his example before thee hath honoured it Hee would not teach and baptise the Eunuch by his spirit hee sent Philip to doe it hee would not teach and baptise Cornelius by an Angell hee sent Peter to doe it hee would not baptise Paul by himselfe suppose hee conuerted him by himselfe he sent Ananias to doe it It is an order stablished in his Church by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue them who beleeue now none can beleeue vnlesse they heare they cannot heare but by preaching and none can preach except they be sent let it therefore content men to goe to the base seruants of CHRIST in worldly things far inferiour to themselues and seeke saluation by such meanes as God in his wisedome hath thought good to giue it or else be sure they shall neuer come neere it But now let vs come and see why Iesus is baptised seeing hee had neither sinne to be forgiuen nor nature to be renewed The reasons are many but wee will especially speake of three the first is giuen by himselfe for when Iohn refused to baptise him aledging hee had more neede to be baptised of him hee receiued this answere let alone now for it becomes vs to fulfill all righteousnesse As for the righteousnesse of the Law morall hee had fulfilled it perfectly from his youth for hee was the innocent Lambe of God without spot or blemish neuer guile was found in his mouth But now he will say there is more required of me then the performance of that common Law giuen vnto all men there is the singular law of a redeemer which yet I haue to fulfill a law neuer imposed to Angell nor man but onely to the sonne of God Christ Iesus by which he was bound so to loue his father that hee behoued to vindicate the glory both of his iustice and mercy and so to loue his brethren that he behoued to take the debt of their sinnes vpon him and satisfie his fathers iustice for them this is it will our Sauiour say that high point of righteousnes which yet I haue to fulfill and for which I must be baptised that by receiuing of Baptisme I may become obliged to doe that for my brethren which they could not doe for themselues for as he that receiued circumcision by that same very deede became bound to fulfill the whole law so hee who receiues Baptisme becomes obliged to euery condition of that couenant whereof Baptisme is a seale That wee may the better vnderstand this wee are to know that the couenant of grace whereof

BAPTISME is a seale hath two parts in it to wit GODS part and mans GODS part of the couenant containes promises made to vs of the remission of our sinnes and renouation of our nature comprised in this one word I will be your God Our part againe containes promises made to God by vs of faith and obedience comprised in this one word we shal be his people Now as Baptisme is a seale of God his part confirming the promise of the remission of our sinnes and renouation of our nature vnder which two all other good things are comprehended that way Christ our Sauiour did not receiue it for himselfe seeing as I haue said hee had neither sinne to be forgiuen nor nature to be renewed but as it is a sacrament of the resignation of our selues to God and a band whereby we become obliged to be his by acceptation of his badge and marke vpon vs that way Christ receiued it that by accepting the seale of the promise hee might become obliged in our name as our head to fulfill that which wee promised but first behoued to be performed for vs by himselfe and at last shall in vs all by his grace also be perfected And so we see that sicut nobis natus est ita etiam nobis baptisatus est as hee was not borne for himselfe but for vs so was hee not baptised for himselfe but for vs. Secondly he was baptised that he might sanctifie Baptisme to vs and giue it authority to become a seale of grace vnto vs vt nobis secundae natiuitatis consecraret lauacrum and a lauer of regeneration as the Apostle calles it He was washed saith Ambrose in the water of Iorden non mundari volens sed mundare not to be made cleane by water but to make the water wheresoeuer vsed to this purpose cleane for so holy and heauenly a worke that Baptisme being consecrated by him might be an holy meane to consecrat vs. It is true indeede that Constantine the great deferred his Baptisme till hee might be baptised in Iorden where our Lord was baptised though by reason of sicknesse hee was forced to receiue Baptisme else-where but euen as the Lord Iesus by consecrating bread and wine which grew in Canaan did thereby sanctifie all bread and wine in any part of the world to be a Sacrament of his bodie and blood it being vsed according to his institution so by washing in the water of Iorden he hath sanctified water in any part of the world to be a Sacrament of regeneration and remission of our sinnes if so be it be vsed according to his institution And thirdly he was baptised to seale his fellowship and communion with vs that cognisance and badge whereby he will haue his souldiers and seruants discerned from professed infidels hee first taketh it on himselfe vt in nullo dissimilis esse● fratribus ni●i solo peccato That in no thing he should be vnlike his brethren except in sinne alonelie And indeede it should be no small encouragement to vs to fight vnder this badge in the spirituall warrefare if wee doe consider how vnder this same badge the Prince of our saluation did encounter with Sathan and ouercome him as after shall be shewed And prayed The Euangelist saith that when our Sauiour was baptised he praied but what hee prayed he expresses not Neuerthelesse we may gather it out of other places of holy Scripture wherein we shall finde that he praied for himself for his church and for his enemies Where if it be demanded what needed our Sauiour to pray for himselfe seeing hee is very God the answere is ready that he is also very Man and as man had his owne feares dolours and griefes proceeding from the sense of the heauy burden of sinne not his owne sinne I say for hee knew no sinne but of our sinne which was laid vpon him As also from the sense of that fearefull wrath due to sinne for strength and comfort against these he prayed to his Father as witnesseth the Apostle that in the daies of his flesh he offered vp prayers and supplications crying and teares to his Father and was heard also in that which hee feared Which as we see in the Gospel he did before his Passion so now before his entrie to the worke of our redemption a worke greater then the worke of our first Creation for now he hath to satisfie the iustice of his Father to worke the confusion of Sathan and to effectuate the saluation of his brethren And therefore in the entrie of this great worke he prayes no doubt for an happy successe thereof and as it is euident by the answere he receiues from heauen hee was heard in that which hee prayed for And in this also our Sauiour learnes vs by his example to sanctifie all our actions with prayer When he was baptised he praied when he was tempted he prayed when he brake bread he prayed when he wrought miracles he prayed when he was troubled in the garden he praied when he suffred on the Crosse he prayed As Isaacs mariage could not but prosper because it was begunne with the prayer of Abraham his Father prosecuted with the praier of Eliezar his Seruant and finished with his owne prayer so can it not faile but a blessing must be vpon those honest actions which are begunne continued and accomplished with prayer where otherwise euen those actions which in themselues are good to the doer can not be good where they are done without prayer Vere nouit recte viuere qui recte nouit or are Hee knoweth truely how to liue wel who knoweth how to pray wel But best actions without prayer which obtaines grace to them are like bodies without spirits yea as the body without breathing cannot liue to doe any worke competent to a Naturall life so the soule without prayer can doe no worke that truely is Spirituall Therefore said Macarius that continuance in prayer was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the head of euery good purpose the crown of euery right and honest action But here we are to be warned that wee content not our selues with the shadow of prayer in steed of the substance thereof where we are to take heede of these two things First that our prayer be not by starts without making of conscience whether it be or not but we must continue perseuere in prayer remembring he that sowes sparingly shal reape sparingly Secondly that our praier be not outward but inward made with feruencie of spirit and attention of the minde remembring hee is the God of the spirits of all flesh with whom thou hast to speake in praier It is a godly Meditation of Chrisostomes that as a man who seekes a thing which hee hath lost in his house seekes it with such affection that he forgets all other things yea hee seeth not those things that are afore him so faine is he to see that