the Apostle Rom. 10. 6. applyeth to the Gospel in opposition to the Law as in it selfe considered without the Gospel or as a covenant of works Before the Fall the Law was given by God as Lord of his Creature but since the Fall it hath been the Law of the Kingdom of Christ which maketh it cease to be a covenant of works 1. Because Christ in his Kingdome is so our Lord as he is also our Head and we the members of his body and quickened by his spirit and therefore part of our duty therein required is that it be done by his strength Joh. 15. 5. Philip. 1. 11. In the covenant of works the Law was Do this and live but in the covenant of grace it is Do this in the strength of Christ and live 2. Because our state and condition as subjects of his Kingdome dependeth not upon our keeping the Law but upon free grace in Christ by faith although our comfort in that Kingdom and State be much according as we keep or break that Law Joh. 14. 21. He that hath my Commandements saith Christ and keepeth thē he it is that loveth me he shal be loved of my father and I wil love him and will manifest my self to him So we are to understand those words when the Apostle saith we are free from and dead to the Law and are not under the Law but under Grace that is in respect of our state and condition or of the justifying of our persons In the state of innocency Do this and live was the covenant in respect of state therefore Adam had no sooner sinned but he was in a state of eternal death but to us onely in respect of the comforts in that state wherein we are as subjects of the Kingdom of Christ and members of his body Therefore although we are punished for sin yet not with eternal death but with temporal punishments whether corporal or spiritual and that out of love to do us good as from a Father our state in Christ continues still Therfore although we are bound by this Law as subjects of his Kingdome yet we are free from the law in respect of that legal state as under a covenant of works 3. Because however we are punished by Christ for sinne yet the matter is wholly taken up by him in his Kingdom and we are not carried out thence to be punished or thrown to hell Therefore are we free from the Law as to the eternal curse 4. In that when he punisheth for sinne he proceedeth therein according to the nature of the justice of his Kingdom which is the justice of a Father which obligeth him in punishing to aime not only at the glory of his justice but also at the good of the person punished which end if he can attain by sparing he is engaged even in justice and that he may be a righteous Father to spare or if a lesser affliction will do it to take a lesse and although sometimes when he sees cause he will not spare and when a lesser affliction will not do the work he takes a greater and comes with seven times more Levit. 26. yet never to punish any of his children according to the full desert of any sinne He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Psal 103. 10. Now this is not according to the tenour of a covenant of works for there is no such liberty taken there is no sparing because the end of punishment therein is not the good of the person punished but onely the glory of his justice Thus we see that although one ingredient in the general nature of the Law both before and since the coming of Christ be that it is a command under penalties yet it follows not that either they were or that we now are under a covenant of works I have made so large a digression upon this subject because some do insist so much upon this point against Infant-baptisme alledging that the new Testament is so silent in it for by that which hath been said of the general nature of the Law to be one and the same to the people of God under both Testaments we see clearly the reason of these two things First how God could make the time of the old Testament to be the season wherin he would instruct his people in his Law and that for all ages afterwards according to that of our Saviour The law and the Prophets were until John and since that time the kingdom of God is preached implying that the doctrin of the Law was unfolding until then Secondly why the Lord Christ who is the Apostle of our profession and was faithful to him that appointed him as Moses also was faithful in all his house Heb. 3. 1. that is in all the service of it should speak so little in his new Testament concerning the Law which is the rule which he hath set for the service of that his house namely because he could look upon that for the greatest part to be done already And should he have been more particular therein he had taken his people off from the study of the old Testament which he would not doe since it was written for our learning yea he purposely avoyds it that he might oblige his people to that study His faithfulnesse in the house of God did bespeak it of him Therefore whoever shall confine himself only to the new Testament to finde out the law of Gods worship and service he shall never finde it not onely as to Infant-baptisme but also to all other Ordinances whatsoever because as I said the new Testament speaks of things only by hints here and there for the most part and as supposing many things then already known when that was written and commonly received among his people As for instance he saith of his Church even that Church wherein Timothy was instructed touching his behaviour 1 Tim. 3. 16. and therefore meant of a visible Church that it is his House See p. 28. and the Church of Corinth is said to be the Temple of God 2 Cor. 6. 16. But where is the nature of the house or Temple unfolded in the new Testament For that we must goe to the old and there we finde that a Temple or an house of God must be separated from that which is common and made sacred to his presence and such must a people be who are now his House and Church which presence of his when he totally withdraws he calleth it a profaning or defiling of his Sanctuary Ezek. 24. 21. I will profane my sanctuary the excellency of your strength that is he would make it common and to be as any other place Again the word separate is sometimes used in the new Testament as Acts 13. 2. 2 Cor. 6. 17. which is of necessity to be understood by him that would understand the Ordinances of God and service of his house or the house it selfe for
upon the same account when after the travaile of his soule in the new creation he entred the second time into his rest as it is declared that he did Heb. 4. 9. 10. as was shewed p. 11. 12. as also appeareth by what he saith of himselfe Mark 2. 28. that he is Lord also of the Sabbath which he could not be unlesse he also had a rest which he entred into as God did into his Because that was upon the first day of the week when he rose from the dead therefore by vertue of that command Remember the rest-day to keep it holy the first day of the week is now to be remembred and kept holy in as much as that is now the rest-day of the Lord our God as formerly the seventh day was As for his Ascention I confesse it is not so clear although very probable to be upon that day from Acts. 1. Acts 1. 3. 12. by the computation of the forty days from his Resurrection and the mention of a Sabbath dayes journey from mount Olivet to Jerusalem occasioned as is likely from their making that journey then upon that day vers 12. But albeit his rest was not compleated till he passed into the Heavens and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high yet he first entred into it at his Resurrection in as much as he was raised in incorruption with a spiritual body and in glory 1 Cor. 15. 42. 43. 49. 20. And because he did then first cease from the travaile of his soul Which I say being upon the first day of the week there needeth no more to fix that command upon this day as a day which God hath sanctified and blessed because it comes within the general rule prescribed that the rest-day of the Lord must be remembred and kept holy and that the Lord blessed the rest-day and sanctified it So as if we should analyse that fourth commandement we may take it thus In that commandement we have 1. A duty commanded namely that the Lords rest-day that is the day wherein he entred into his rest be remembred that is that the memorial of it be solemnized and that by keeping of it holy In that sense the word remember is used Exod. 13. 3 4. to 9. Remember this day in which ye came out of Egypt c. So Hester 9. 27. 28. The Jewes ordained and took upon them and their seed and upon all that joyned themselves unto them that they would keep these two days according to their writing every year and that these dayes should be remembred and kept and that these days of Purim should not faile from among the Jews nor the memorial of them perish from their seed So the Lord here commands the memorial of his rest-day to be preserved by keeping that day holy 2. The duty explained by shewing 1 The nature of it 1. As to the day 1. In general one in seven six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but c. 2. In particular for that season it is declared of the week the seventh day to be the day The seventh day is the Sabbath or the rest of the Lord thy God 2. As to the manner of observing and keeping of that day namely thou shalt do no manner of work therein thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man-servant nor thy maid-servant nor thy cattell nor thy stranger that is within thy gates In which by a Synecdoche all other Sabbath days duties are commanded 2. The reason of it 1. Because God made the world in six days and rested the seventh 2. Because he therefore blessed the rest-day and sanctified it because therein he had rested So as by this analysis we see that the seventh day was commanded to be kept in this manner not as the seventh but as the rest day of the Lord for that we see is the reason of the duty because God had rested therein and because he therefore blessed and sanctified the rest-day I have been the longer upon this point concerning the Sabbath because it receives so much a like measure in the world with this of Infant-Baptisme and the clearing of the one will help us in the other For in like manner also in this of Abrahams Covenant there is 1. A duty commanded viz. to keep that covenant viz. the token sign or seal thereof which is a part of it which Abraham and his seed were and are to keep 2. A declaration or explication what was then the token of it namely that the man-child be circumcised and in case the Child was not circumcised that the covenant was broken By all which we see that notwithstanding the token of the covenant was specified then to be the circumcising of the child which is now abolished Yet the command of keeping the covenant in performing that which is the token of it is still in force and lieth on the seed of Abraham even his spirituall seed to this day Secondly For answer further it is to be considered that baptisme is now in the roome of circumcision and is the very same for substance to us as circumcision was to them before Christ namely the token and seale of that covenant made with Abraham and his seed as appeareth Gal. 3. 27 29. As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ And if ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams seed and heires according to the promise By which we see as was before observed that whatever we have as Abrahams seed we have it all in Christ and what we have in Christ we have it all as Abrahams seed and that we are baptized into Christ that is our initiation into Christ and whatever we have in Christ and whatever we have as Abrahams seed is sealed unto us in baptisme By which it is evident that as circumcision was to them so baptisme now to us is the token and seale of that covenant made with Abraham and his seed A further proofe of this we have also Coll. 2. 11. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sinnes of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ being buried with him in baptisme wherein also ye are risen with him Where we see First that the thing signifyed or sealed or the spirituall fruit of circumcision was the circumcision of the heart in putting off the body of the sinnes of the flesh And that the very same is the spirituall fruit of baptisme signified and sealed thereby namely a death and buriall to sinne and a spirituall resurrection which is the same with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sinnes of the flesh Secondly that whereas Christ was circumcised and that not because he had a body of sinnes of his owne to be put off but the body of the sinnes of the flesh of the members of his mysticall body those only who are in Christ receive this benefit because they
his covenant for ever the word which he commanded to a thousand Generations saying unto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of thine inheritance If any branch of Gods promise unto Abraham may seem to be meant onely of the Old Testament and not of the New it is this of the Land of Canaan Gen. 17. 8. I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a stranger all the Land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I wil be their God Yet is it expresly said that this promise was a Covenant for ever a word commanded for a thousand Generations and for an everlasting possession which needs must extend to the times of the Gospel because else it had been only for thrice fourteen Generations Matth. 1. 17. And we know that Canaan hatâ— long since ceased to be the possession of Abrahamâ— natural seed Thus also the Apostle sayth here That the promise and oath which we have Gen. 22. 16. By my selfe have I sworne that blessing I will blesâ— thee and multiplying I will multiply thy seed as thâ— stars of heaven and as the sand which is by the Sea shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies which cannot but refer to the conquest of that land of Canaan is made and so confirmed unto us that we might have strong consolation If the Question be what that is which is contained in that promise concerning Canaan to be an everlasting possession to Abrahams seed and the Lord to be their God which is to be fulfilled in the times of the New Testament I answer It is all that of which Canaan and the good things thereof was a type namely the spirituall blessings of the heavenly Canaan the Church of the New Testament yea of Heaven it selfe And for the proofe hereof First something we have in that of Ezek. 47. where the Prophet speaketh of the Church of the New Testament under the type of Canaan and saith The Strangers are appointed the lot of their inheritance with the children of Israel Verse 22. They shall have inheritance with you among the Tribes of Israel Not in the Earthly Canaan but the Heavenly represented by it So Esai 65. 9. Mine Elect shall inherit it and my Servants shall dwell there and Sharon shall be a field of Flocks Speaking of the Church of the New Testament Secondly Observe that Abraham accordingly did by faith embrace that promise of Canaan to be an everlasting possession to him and his seed as a promise referring to and including not onely an earthly but also an heavenly inheritance Heb. 11. 8. 9. 10. The reason there rendred by the Apostle why by faith he left his own country went into the Land of promise and lived there with Isaac and Jacob in Tents as strangers is given v. 10. because he looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God So v. 13. 14. 15. 16. in what they did and said when they counted themselves strangers and pilgrims upon earth saith the Apostle they declared that they did seek a better country that is to say an heavenly Then mark what followeth Wherefore he is not ashamed to be called their God namely in that which he did in fullfilling of his promise implying that if it had been onely an earthly Canaan which by promise they received from him it had not been worthy of him to give as their God In this the Apostle interprets that promise to Abraham Gen. 17. 8. To thee and to thy seed will I give the Land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God That is by the Apostles interpretation he would be so in giving them not onely an earthly but also an heavenly Canaan so as together with those earthly blessings he would bestow himselfe upon them Therefore also when the Israelites brought their first fruits to the place which God did chuse to place his name there and were there to make their acknowledgment before the Priest of the fulfilling of that promise and were required to rejoyce there before the Lord their God for every good thing which the Lord their God had given them Deut. 26. 1. to 11. Interpreters do well refer it not onely to temporal but also to the spiritual good things whereof they were a type because the good things were such as God is there supposed to give them as their God And because not onely their first fruits thus given to God but also the whole lump was holy Rom. 11. 16. which implyeth that they had not onely a natural but also a sacred and religious use of their estates in Canaan And because this whole action was an act of solemne worship in which the type and the thing typified always go together Hence also is it that Esau is branded for a profane person for selling his birthright to this promise Had it been onely of a temporal and not of a spiritual Canaan also there had been nothing of profanesse in it which alwayes is a contempt or neglect of something spiritual And his sin is made the same with theirs who sell their birthright now for a morsel of meat Heb. 12. 16. which those beleevers do who for worldly advantages forgo their priviledges in the Church and house of God and of such the Apostle meaneth it as is evident by the scope of the place and of the whole Epistle as was shewed before and not of wicked men for their birthright is nothing else but death and hell To this I may add what the Apostle saith Heb. 3. 4. chapters namely that the Lords offer to the children of Israel in the Wildernesse to carry them into Canaan and to destroy the inhabitants before them and that in performance of his promise unto Abraham Exod. 2. 24. with 3. 6. 8. 6. 8. Numb 14. 23. Matth. 11 29. was a preaching of the Gospel to them chap. 4. 2. 3. And whereas the Gospel is a promise of rest in God through Christ to every beleever he saith also that it was an offer to them of an entrance into Gods own rest And when he sware that they should not see the good Land concerning which he sware unto their Fathers and that their carcases should fall in the wildernesse this by the Prophet David Psal 95. and by the Apostle in that place is called a swearing against them in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest Which could not have beene said unlesse in that promise the spiritual blessings of the heavenly Canaan also had been comprehended Which albeit I suppose by that which hath been said is evident to an impartial mind yet because so many stumble at this mistake that this promise concerning Canaan was no Gospel promise nor to be in any part fulfilled in the times of the New Testament and because the vindication of this truth is of concernment to our work in hand I shal stay a little in opening this
for the Sabbath day and so the blessing of the house of God is set forth Psal 23. 5 6. As for instance In prayer our heavenly father giveth the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luk. 11. 13. And by one Spirit are we baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12 13. In the supper of the Lord we have the communion of the body of Christ namely in partaking with our head in the same anointing with the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 10 16. are all made to drink into one spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. And so in all the rest The worke therefore to be done in this also of hearing the Word is that by the hearing of Faith we receive the Holy Ghost Gal. 3. 2. and that upon our beleeving we are sealed by the holy spirit of promise Ephes 1. 13. that is that there be First A powerful impression by the word upon the soule from the spirits witness to it setting of it home with life and vigour begetting and confirming faith changing the heart subduing it unto the power of the truth of God so making it unto the soul a creating word without which work it is but a dead letter to it Secondly The Image of Christ as it were stamped upon the soule in that impression elsewhere called his being formed in us Gal. 4. 19. in reference to which the word is called an immortal seed that liveth abideth for ever by which we are begotten in the new birth 1 Pet. 1. 23. called also an ingraffed word James 1 18 21 because it turneth us into its own nature and makes us like to Jesus Christ which image consisteth in our likenesse to him in his death and resurrection Philip. 3. 10. in the mortification of sinne and a spiritual resurrection unto newnesse of life Rom. 6. 5. Thirdly A witnesse of the spirit to the soule of our interest in God upon this new birth and giving us the earnest of our inheritance Ephes 1 14. in our enjoyments of him in communion with all the persons of the Trinity Father Sonne and Holy Ghost 1 Joh. 5 6 7 8. Rom. 8. 16. 17. Vse 3. A third use of the point may be a confutation of that opinion entertained by some that there are not now in being any true Ministers of Christ who can as Ambassadours from Christ in the name of God and in his authority speak unto the people because there are none that can take upon them to preach by an infallible spirit The reason alledged is because those who speak so in the name of God as his Ambassadours or as in his stead must do it by a Word which is wholly undoubtedly and meerly true that so they may be certainly known both to themselves and others to be so commissioned from the Lord and that both preachers and hearers may be infallibly assured that it is indeed the word of God which they preach Thus say they the first lawful preaching of the Gospel was performed by word of mouth and that such as was syncere 1 Pet. 2. 2. Sound Doctrine Titus 1. 9. Such as was received not as the word of men but as it was indeed the word of God 1 Thes 2. 13. And therefore since God hath nowhere commanded nor licensed that what was begun by such a word of truth should afterwards be carried on by a word not wholly and meerly true that those who now take upon them to perform that office of a Minister in the worship of God speaking in the name of God and as his Ambassadours unto the people in as much as they cannot pretend to such infallibility do act without commission and are guilty of will-worship and are not to be reputed the ministers of Christ in as much as all Administrations in the Church are to be by his institution and command Now from that which hath been said in opening this point we have a full and satisfying answer unto this namely First that however in laying the foundations of the Church of the New Testament and in setting down the institutions of the worship it was necessary that God should make use of persons of infallible gifts which accordingly was done in Christ and his Apostles and Evangelists yet that it was never intended that the work should be carried on by such but that in building upon those foundations and in the Churches growing up even to the measure of the stature to which it is intended in this world Ephes 4. 12 13. the work of God should goe on and prosper in the hands of his servants by the use of ordinary gifts in studying the Scriptures and in teaching and instructing one another in the knowledge of the Gospel and so as each teacher in the Church hath need to be taught and is supposed to be subject unto errour as hath been shewed from 1 Thes 5. 19. pag. 145. which will yet be more clear from that place if it be considered that those duties there mentioned by the Apostle in that golden chaine from vers 16. to 21. are linked together in such order as they are depending one upon another in a Christians practice as if we should read them thus That ye may rejoyce evermore pray without ceasing for that end in every thing give thanks for that end quench not the Spirit and so of the rest as you would not quench the Spirit despise not prophesie and for that end prove all things and hold fast that which is good for he that proves them not despiseth his teachers doctrine as not worthy to be considered or examined Now this connection betweene these duties being the Apostles scope it appears that the Spirit is quenched by despising that prophesying wherein there may be some errours and mistakes Therefore however the Apostles and Evangelists who were to write the Scripture had an infallible gift yet ordinary Elders of Churches even in the Apostles time had it not but were subject to mistakes as we see in the Angels of the seven Churches Rev. 2. 3. And of the Elders of Ephesus it is said that even from amongst themselves should men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Acts 20. 30. Secondly We see also that the state and condition of the Church of the New Testament bespeaketh as much that the Church should be built up by the use of such gifts onely and that extraordinary gifts should cease as hath been shewed in the third Reason of the point God had otherwise in part lost his end in speaking to us by his Sonne of which his speaking one end was that he might bring down the knowledge of himself so farre to our capacity as that in the use of ordinary gifts by search and study of the Scriptures we might understand the great and deep things of God without the help of gifts infallible and extraordinary Thirdly the nature of the office of a Pastour and Teacher in the Church speaketh no lesse in as much as they are