in this Foederal Mercy not only to wash away the Filth but also to remove the guilt of Sin Pardon of Sin is one of the most desirable Branches of this Covenant there can be no obtaining the pardon of one Sin without it all the Promises of pardon are founded upon the Grace of God and satisfaction made to Divine Justice by the Blood of the Son of God whose Blood is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant I shall not stand to mind you of the many Promises that we have of Remission the Word of God doth abound with them and wheresoever you find any of them you may conclude that they do relate to the Covenant of Grace Now the Covenant-Seed of those that be Believing Parents have a share in those Promises that hold out a Free and Full pardon of Sin Acts 2.38 39. Repent and be baptized every one c. for the remission of sins For the promise is to you and your Seed Viz. That Promise and Covenant that hath made provision for the Remission of your Sin and the Sin of your Children for they had involved their Children into the guilt of their Sin but in the Covenant there is pardon for both Isa 45.24 25. Surely shall one say In the Lord have I righteousness and strength In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and glory The rich Provisions of the Covenant of Grace have laid up for the Justification and Remission for the Seed of Israel 6. Such to whom God is pleased to promise Blessedness theirs is the Promise and the Covenant of Grace But the Children of those that are in covenant are promised Blessedness Such that be under such a Promise as this is have right to be lookt upon to be in the Covenant of Grace In the Covenant of Works there are the terrible Cursings of a Just and Righteously angry God But in the Covenant of Grace there you may hear the Soul-comforting Voice that pronounceth all Blessings yea Blessedness it self and this Blessed Voice is sounded out to the Little Ones of those Parents that are in covenant Psal 37.25 26. I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread He is ever merciful and lendeth and his seed shall be blessed What Blessedness is there which is not in and from that Covenant Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord thy blessing is upon thy people Thus I have done with this Demonstration of the Doctrine by which I have endeavoured to shew that the Seed of those that are in covenant must be so because the precious Promises do belong unto them 8. Demonst To Evidence the Truth of this Point those from whom God demands Covenant-Duty and doth challenge the same from them to them the Promise and the Covenant doth appertain The same Covenant that saith You shall be my people saith I will be your God Now the Covenant requires of the Children of Gods People that they be Gods People too therefore they be in covenant Look as the Parents do covenant for their Children in their Infancy so 't is their Duty so soon as may be to counsel and to instruct them as Covenant-children to know to love to fear to serve and obey God These are Covenant-Obligations Those that the Lord is pleased to take into Foederal-relation with himself to be his People it is that they may be found in the constant and persevering discharge of Relative Duties Thou shalt be my people What only to partake of Priviledge No but also to perform Duty Abraham was very sensible of this and therefore did command and oblige all of his what he could to be conversant in all necessary and incumbent Covenant Duties See what observation the Lord did make of him and what a Commendation he fastens upon him Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment All Parents in covenant ought to see to this they are ingag'd in covenant with and for their Children and are under an indispensable Obligation to see that their Children walk and act suitably to the Priviledges and Duties of it God expects a Revenue of Honour from covenant Children therefore he doth command their Parents to bring them up in the Fear and Admonition of the Lord Eph. 6.4 And ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Thus Timothy was educated and brought up from a little child Children are to be dedicated unto God by the Seal of the Covenant by which they be bound to fear God to serve to obey him to keep his Word and to walk in his Way as Abraham did instruct and command his to do Believers Children must be under Gods discipline bound to Gods Worship kept in Gods Way they be the Lords People Must this be and no Covenant-priviledge belong unto them and be what Pagans and Heathens only be This is the Covenant-Dispensation first Priviledge and then Duty therefore Children that are in covenant with the Lord are called Disciples Acts 15.10 Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples They are in a peculiar manner to be instructed and taught as those from whom God expects early Service 9. Demonst The same Covenant is transferr'd unto the Times of the Gospel since the Actual Exhibition and Ascension of the Messiah the same for Essence and Substance though in the Administration of it it may vary in some circumstances the believing and the covenanted Gentiles stand in the very same Condition by Faith and in the very same Kingdom-state for the Essentials of it out of which the Jews through unbelief were broken and cast off for they were graffed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place and room of those broken Branches as Beza hath it Rom. 11.17 And it hath its first rise from that seasonable and never-failing Promise Gen. 3.15 which will run through all the Ages of the World wheresoever God hath his Elect by the preaching of the Gospel to call into and to inclose within the limits of the Covenant It was the Saying of a great Man that Adam and Eve when they entred upon a new Covenant bottom were seminally a Visible Church for by them the World as well as the Church as to be built Here when the Lord did reveal his Grace and gracious Covenant he took in the Seed also in the very downing and first day-spring of the Gospel God takes in the Seed of the Woman so afterwards to Abraham and so all along until the Time of the calling of the Gentiles Now in the Times of the Gospel those that be called be the Children of Abraham they and their Seed have a happy admittance into the Covenant of Abraham and are Heirs according to promise and blessed with that ever-living Father The New Testament
them off then draw them on let any impartial person judge Was this a probable way to comfort and support these self-condemned finners to deliver such a heavy message unto them as to wrest from out of their bosoms and to rend all their Children out of the Covenant of grace and turn them into the herd of those that are afar off that were out of Covenant without God and having remaining in that condition no hope in the world Eph. 2.12 This would be but to add affliction to the afflicted and to cast a wonderful stumbling Block in the way of these Jews But the true and sound Interpretation gives them choice relief and removes all impediments out of their way leaving them no remora to obstruct or retard the Apostles exhortation unto them The Promise is already to you and to your Children as you are Jews which Promise shall be confirmed to you and your Children if you now believe I the Apostle that he might give them the highest incouragements tells them furthermore that the Promise shall be extended to those that are afar off even to so many as the Lord in any part of the world shall call and they and their Children shall partake of the Covenant made with them Here is the full breast of the Gospel laid open for to hang upon to suck and be satisfied here is the fountain opened and not only the Parents but the Children also invited unto it It is a good observation that a learned Man here observes saith he hic enim Judaei aliis praeferuntur quia sunt velut primogeniti in Dei familia imo singulari privilegio Segregati tunc erant a reliquis omnibus ergo legitimum ordinem Petrus observat quin Judaeis assignat priores honoris partes Quod illis filios adjungit pendet ex verbis promissionis Ero Deus tuus et seminis tui post te Gen. 17.17 Having spoke thus much to clear up my way for a Doctrine I come to propound that great truth that is obviously comprehended in this text for our comfort and improvement There be indeed two eminet doctrines in the text I shall name both but fix only upon one First Doctrine That the Children of believing Parents as such are taken into Covenant with God with their Parents Second Doctrine the Covenant being made with Believers and their Children is a very great obligation and inducement to repent and to accept of the new Administration of the Covenant This the Apostle doth strongly and aptly urge upon the convinced Jews unto this great duty But I shall not stand upon this truth my business is with the other This is the Doctrine I would by the help of God treat of That the Children of believing Parents as such are taken into Covenant with their Parents This the Apostle positively and comfortably asserts the Covenant of Promise that is to the Parent is also to the children they be both involved in one and the same gracious Covenant God doth not take in the Parent and exclude the child but he admits both into this blessed holding by the golden rod of his grace This inheritance hath a grant with an irrepealable Intaile upon the Seed and off-spring Believers and their Seed are in the Covenant of grace with God by this the Child holds in capite from him from whom he doth descend This is a Doctrine that is violently opposed by those that venture something boldly to contract and restrain the Covenant into a narrower compass than ever the Grace of God in constituting of it intended by turning what they can covenanted Infants into the same miserable Wild Field with the Seed of Infidels and Pagans But this is very plain to every Eye that will observe the Scriptures that when ever the Lord was pleased to enter into a Covenant of Grace with the Parents he did also with the Children Gen. 12.1 2 3. Now the Lord said unto Abram Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy fathers house into a land that I shall shew thee And I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing And I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed Gen. 17.7 And I will establish my covenant betwixt me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee This is not to last for a time or for an Age only but for ever even to the utmost point of time until the Mediator in whose hands this Covenant is shall perfectly accomplish his Work Ver. 19. And God said Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shalt call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him Acts 3.25 Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy seed shall all the children of the earth be blessed viz. All Nations here we see He was not to be a Covenant-Father only to the Nation of the Jews but also to those of the Gentiles all of them that should be called and converted unto God by the preaching of the Gospel they were to be impaled in Abraham's Covenant and he was to be their Father Rom. 11.17 And if some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wild olive-tree wert graffed in among them and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree Here must be a graffing in suitable to the casting out or breaking off that cannot be unless the Gentiles and their Children their Spriggs be graffed in as the Jews and their Children were broken off Gal. 3.14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit Viz. The Blessing of Abraham in his Covenant might through Christ be brought over unto the Gentiles The Lord Jesus was the great Seed of the Covenant and the Mediator of it and through the offusion of his Blood this Covenant is conferred upon the Gentiles according to many Evangelical Promises made before the Actual Exhibition and Incarnation of the Son of God our Emmanuel God with us These are a few of that Cloud of Witnesses that might have been brought to prove this Doctrine let them suffice for the present many more will occur in our Discourse In the handling of this Point I would do these things I. Open the Doctrine something more II. Lay down the Demonstrations of it to prove it III. Give some Reasons of it IV. Make a little suitable Vse of it The First General Particular The opening the Doctrine To do this I shall propound some Questions and give the Answers unto them This may tend very much to clear up
nominis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper signification of the words Infants and that they were carried to Christ and also that he took them into his arms when he blessed them must be kept But I may have an opportunity to meet with my Adversary in a more suitable place Thus we see what little things the Seed of Believers be that are Members of the Church visible for by Kingdom of Heaven is by all judicious Divines taken to be the visible Church Now because they be declared by Christ himself to be such Members with their Parents they must also with them be in Covenant with God 5. Demonst The Parents by Covenant do ingage themselves and their Children unto God When Parents do enter into Covenant with the Lord they do by the Bonds of the same oblige themselves and theirs unto the Lord and to be the Lords for ever Every Covenant-Parent does oblige himself and his Seed to God to walk according to the Covenant of Grace to which the Initiating Seal of the Covenant is annext and God doth promise to be his God and the God of his Seed Gen. 17.7 Parents when they do dedicate their Children to God by the Seal of the Covenant then they do ingage to the utmost of their power that they shall observe the Duties of the same So Children when they are Adult ought by Faith to lay a firm hold upon the Covenant and answer the Obligation of their Parents In a Federal Consideration when Parents do ingage for their Children this as it hath always been is accounted among the Judicious the Act of the Children in and by their Parents and they are obliged strictly to the performance of the same That Parents have thus ingaged for their Children in covenant with God might be easily proved Deut. 26.17 18. In which place Parents and their children are comprehended as is more fully and specifically expressed in Chap. 29.10 11 12 13 14. There we have the little ones expressed which are involved with their Parents in the former place Some that are Adversaries herein pretend to wonder how this can be but what is more common among Men In a Mans Covenant do not Men put their Childrens Names in their Writings Obligatory And their Little Ones and those unborn shall stand firmly obliged thereby and the Law doth take it as firm as if the Child had actually bound himself A little to Illustrate and Invigorate this We are to consider that the Children when grown up and prove sinful walking contrary to the Covenant yea and those that never did receive the Token of the Covenant by Circumcision stand accused of the high Charge of breaking the Covenant which is an Evident Proof of their being when but Infants in covenant otherwise this Charge could not be so clearly exhibited against them Deut. 29.25 The men shall say Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers Viz. the Covenant which the Lord God made with their Fathers This you have but a few Verses before to demonstrate that it was that Covenant the Lord made with the Parents and their Little Ones that stood before him to covenant with him 1 Kings 19.10 14. You may see what Covenant this was 2 Kings 13.23 And the Lord was gracious unto them and had compassion on them and had respect unto them because of his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and would not destroy them neither cast he them from his presence Yet they had broken this Covenant and for the Covenant's sake they descending from the Fathers and being the Seed of those with whom he had made this Covenant he would not enter upon them for the breach they made upon it to extinguish or to destroy them as yet It was the Covenant that did bind up and restrain the Hands of Justice from casting off the Jews the Children of the Fathers and of the Covenant therefore the Lord is said Psal 111.5 He will ever be mindful of his covenant Gen. 17.14 And the uncircumcised man-child whose flesh of his fore-skin is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my covenant Surely if the Seed of Parents in covenant are accused for the breaking of the Covenant they themselves must be in covenant and obliged by their Parents to keep it 6. Demonst Such as God is pleased to account and accept as holy are in covenant Those that have a Foederal Holiness must be Foederates and such that be in covenant with the Lord but this is the great Blessing of those that are the Children of believing Parents there is a Holiness attributed to them that is not to the Seed of Pagans and Infidels and it is a Covenant-Holiness therefore it must follow by undeniable consequence That they are in covenant with their Parents What makes Israel and his Seed more holy than the Egyptians or Canaanites and their Seed but God's taking one into covenant and not the other Thus Israel and his Seed are said to be holy Deut. 14.2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God If but one Parent be in covenant the Children be accepted as holy with the Lord 1 Cor. 7.14 Because of this the Children are not unclean as the Canaanites but holy like the Israelites I have spoke something to this in the Explication of this Point therefore shall hasten over it it would be to small purpose to enter into the Miry Labyrinth wherein some have lodg'd this precious Scripture I shall only say this with an Acute Person That commonly Reasons of Positions are brought à notiori to prove a thing doubtful by a thing known yeilded or confest this I judge to be a granted and a well-known Truth as one of the Jews Divine Axioms But that none but Believers Children are Legitimate and that none but Believers have a lawful use of their Children which are the two usual Expositions of the Adversaries on that Text which to me seems very jeiune and spurious those will hardly pass for unquestionable Truths among the wisest of Men And to make the Apostle argue thence to prove the lawful continuance of the Believer in conjugal Society with the Unbeliever would make the Apostle guilty of proving obscurum per obscurius an obscure thing by that which is more dark and obscure But to take Holiness there for that which is Foederal that is a clear Medium to prove that and whosoever shall stand up and oppose it there is the Dispensation of the Covenant with Isaac all along and that continued in the Christian Churches to prove it Your Children are holy Viz. Heirs to the Covenant a known Truth then granted and allow'd by all even like unto our Text That the Covenant was to the Parents and their Children How can the Children of Believers be said to be holy if they be not in covenant with their Parents From whence all the Seed of Believers do receive the denomination Rom. 11.16 For if the
first-fruit be holy the lump is also holy and if the root be holy so are the branches The Root is Abraham and the Fathers and they may be said to be the First-fruits because they were first consecrated to God and the Branches are denominated from the Root Exod. 19.6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation Here the whole Nation was called holy How could it be called so Not because all the Individuals of the Nation were personally holy partaking of a saving Work of Holiness upon their Hearts There were but a few such But because as a Nation the Adult and Children were in covenant with the Lord for the Children were no small part of the Nation We have this very Phrase conferred upon the Christian Church in the Times of the Gospel 1 Pet. 2.9 But ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people Believing Gentiles with their Seed were ingrafted into the same Place from whence the Jews were broken off and are become a holy nation unto God 7. Demonst Those unto whom the Promises of the Covenant are made and do appertain they are in Covenant with the Lord Some time the Covenant is exprest by the Promise as in our Text and the Covenant of Promise the gracious promises of the word are the branches of the Covenant of grace Some do stile the Covenant a Collection or bundle of Promises which God hath bound up and conferred through Christ upon his People unto which there are annext the duties of the Covenant unto the performance Of which there is provision made in the same Covenant of grace and divine assistance But the promises of the Covenant are made to the Children of those that are themselves in Covenant as well as to the parents it seems to be very cruel and irrational to turn those out of the Covenant unto whom are assured the gracious promises of it not only Temporal and external but Spiritual and eternal blessings are promised unto the Children of Believers Those that are the opposers of this truth must first Obliterate all the Promises that are comprehended in the Covenant as the inheritance of the Seed of the Parents that themselves are in Covenant with the Lord. As to any common ordinary rule appointed to us belonging to our duties and hopes concerning our off-spring we have nothing as I know to build upon but Covenant promises What an excellent one is our Text unto pious Parents as to their Children and in this it is founded for the Promise is to you and your Children To illustrate and amplifie this I shall in several particulars shew you some of the Ranks of Covenant-Promises that are extended unto such little Ones that are the undoubted Proprietors of them 1. That great and Capital promise of the Lords being their God this comprehends all the rest and is instar omnium Is not this Promise made to the Seed of Believers wrote in Capital Letters in many places in the word of God This is Gods great record in the Covenant of grace and the great foundation the Church of God is built upon viz. this of Gods promising to be the God of his people and of their Seed in every age and generation of time yea to the end of the World usque ad consummationem omnium unto the compleating and fulfilling of all things Thus the blessed constitution and promulgation of the Covenant hath alwayes run this is wrote with a Noverint universi That which every one under the sound of the Gospel should know and understand yea even those that are but raw and rudely instructed in the very Principles and Rudiments of Religion This gracious promise is the golden Frontis-piece of this Covenant The heart of God was so full of grace and love to the Seed of the faithful that when he called Abraham to establish his Covenant the fountain of his grace did immediately emit this sacred sweet and most refreshing Stream Viz. That I will be thy God and the God of thy Seed and that in all Successions and periods of time unto the utmost bound and period of all read the Scriptures following Gen. 17.7 Jer. 24.7 and 31.33 and 32.38 Ezek. 11.20 and 34.24 31. Chap. 36.28 Chap. 37.27 Mat. 22.27 2 Cor. 6.17 18. These rare promises must be expung'd out of the Book of God before I can unless left by God to fall into error put this Article out of my Creed that the Children of Believers naturally Springing from their Loins are in the Covenant with them I have spoke much already to prove that the Covenant in Gen. 17.7 made unto Abraham did referre to the Covenant of Grace Some may be making of some Query about that because they see what must be the Consequence of granting of it Wherefore I would desire them to return back unto what hath been said upon that Point Only I will add one or two things here 1. In this form run the promises which are acknowledged by all that know any thing of the Gospel-Covenant or Covenant of grace let all the places of Scripture immediately here before mentioned be examined as to the Phrase of them I will be a God to you or your God and you my people which includes Believers and their Seed Now in as much as this in the 17. of Gen. runs in the same Phrase of the Covenant of grace that we see in other places that are allowed to be such we may conclude that such is this also Doctor Ames saith thus against Bellar. Omnia illa quae spectant ad novum foedus eadem phrasi summatim explicantur So that when we are challenged to prove the Covenant with Abraham to be a Covenant of grace and Circumcision to be a Seal of the Covenant of grace Note that in this Point we have to do with our old Adversaries the Papists tho' marching forth under the banner of a People of another Denomination for their Doctrine as to the Covenant made with Abraham in the place mentioned is thus that it was a Covenant of outward blessings this is indeed the Doctrine of the worst of them thus saith Bellar. Legimus Deum promisisse Abrahamo quando illi injunxit Circumcisionem terrena tantùm ad literam i. e. propagationem posteritatis terram palestinae Again Illis verbis ero Deus tuus significat totum promissum peculiaris protectionis Thus we may see that our great disputant doth sweetly lick up the Doctrine of this great Doctor of the Church of Rome tho' to give him his due I believe he is not overmuch versed in him to which Doctor Ames answers Legimus benedictionem illam Abrahamo promissionem fuisse plane eandem cum illâ quâ jam fideles ex gentibus justificabantur Gal. 3. Now when the Holy Ghost testifies in Scripture every where that the Gospel-Covenant runs in that form why should we fall in with the Papists and take their word for it that that is
Baptized are not tanght of God nor made Disciples of Christ This is directly against the express Word of God Isa 54.13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord Is not this giving God the lye so in saying They be not the Disciples of Christ is also directly opposite to the Word of God Acts 15.10 Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which Disciples are evidently Children Here still you may see what fatal Doctrine this bold Asserter delivereth about poor Infants can they be saved without their being taught of God Though they be not capable of the teaching of Men yet they are of Gods and must be taught of him otherwise I understand not how there can be any possibility of their Salvation Thus I have given you a few hints of many that might be brought out of this Authors Works I think such sanguine sayings as these are about Infants in Covenant with God do loudly call for trembling from me and Repentance from him 8. This Doctrine doth inform us that a great part of the Scripture was written for the good and sake of Children God did greatly design and intend them in the choicest part of his Word The Covenant of Grace doth comprehend the most precious and gracious part of the Word of God though our late Author and my Confuter tells us That they were writ for the Adult and not for the Infants His Reason I suppose is because of their present ignorance This is some of this excellent Divines New Doctrine We may as well say that their Mothers Womb and Breasts that the Heavens and the Earth and all the Elements that Meat Drink and Rayment do not belong unto them that Eating Drinking and Sleeping do not belong unto them But we may ascend a great deal higher if the Scripture was not wrote for their sakes what will become of these poor Creatures for ever Can God can Christ can any special Grace be theirs What are the Scriptures relating to the Covenant the Blood of it and the gracious Promises of Remission Union with Christ Adoption and Sanctification not appertaining to them Were not the Scriptures wrote for their sake when there are so many Directions and Commands abounding concerning their Parents Duty to them in all things and all for the good of them and to demonstrate the great concernedness of a gracious God for them and the value he hath of them Surely if we do but confider what is wrote of Children in the Word we may easily see that God did greatly intend them in writing of it I will name a few places Psal 78.6 That the generation to come might know him even the children which shall be born Psal 127.3 Lo children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward Prov. 20.7 The just man walketh in his integrity his children are blessed after him Deut. 4.37 And because he loved their fathers he chose their seed after them Isa 61.9 Psal 18.50 A multitude of Scriptures might be brought to show how that in many Predictions and Promises and other wayes the Scripture was eminently wrote for the sake of Infants and Children and the Seed of Gods People What doth not those precious Scriptures of Christ taking little children up into his arms and blessing of them appertain unto Children Is it not left upon Divine Record for their sake But that which is beyond all may make us all to be amazed which is this If the Scriptures were not wrote for the sake of Infants what shall we say of all those Blessed Scriptures that were wrote about the Holy Child Jesus of his Conception Birth and Infancy If it be as this bold Asserter would have it then all Scriptures relating to the same must not be the subject matter of our Faith and Hope but all of them should be expunged out of the Word of God or stand upon its record as idle insignificant Stories It is clear that if the Scriptures were not wrote for the sake of Infants then our Lord Jesus Christ must come in for a share in this Doctrine which well may be called the Doctrine of Devils This Man is greatly skilled in propounding such Doctrine that hath a direct tendency to exclude poor Children and Infants out of the Kingdom of God not only out of the Kingdom of Grace here but also the Kingdom of Glory hereafter If the Scripture be not wrote for their sake I know not the Duties that are incumbent upon Parents concerning them neither any hopes of any good here and hereafter can be conceived about them But one would think the very naming of this should be more than sufficient to baffle it and its Author from the stage of his Presumption and Confidence 2. Vse of the Doctrine and all that furthermore I shall make of it shall be of solemn and serious Exhortation and that to those Pious and Godly Parents who are inriched and honoured with this transcendent priviledge of being in Covenant with God they and their Children also As your Mercy is great so those Duties that do refult from hence are very great God hath bestowed much upon you and he doth expect much from you Where much is given from thence much is expected The Lord hath done more for you than he hath for others therefore he doth expect more from you than he doth from others A few of these many Duties that this Covenant and your Interest in it do call for from you I would set before you and exhort you to a diligent observation and practise of 1. Make a great account of the priviledge of this Covenant State esteem it very high tho' some and that too many reproach and trample upon it yet let it be a matter of wonderful valuation with you God hath revealed much unto you if he hath but revealed unto you a right understanding of his Covenant Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant or he will make them to know to understand the Covenant in its Nature and Latitude this is a secret that God reveals All those that enjoy this Blessing had need to esteem it very highly What a blessed entail is here upon your Children Those look upon themselves to be very happy that be the Heirs of great Estates in the World though they have not a present possession yet there is a sure and certain entail upon them and theirs But what is this to the entail of the Covenant and unto the being Heirs to the Promise How glad would some be should they be assured that such a great Lordship was continued to them and their Children Ay but here is the incomparable and for ever to be esteemed dignity viz. The promise is to you and your children Some good Parents when they shall come to dye are like to have but little of the World to leave their Children but this is
the Apostle should here mention the Children if children here the Seed of the faithful that be in Covenant should not be meant of the Gentiles Those two Members of the distinction you that are nigh and those that are afar off would take in all persons in the world and frustra sit per plura c. the Children of these would be found either afar off or nigh one of those terms would have involved them all the mentioning of the Children must be an impertinency if it were not for some other reason There are some I know for a shift this bearing hard upon them will urge that imprecation Mat. 27.25 but it is improbable that all that were the hearers of this Sermon did joyn in that dreadful wish for many of them were strangers and lived remote from Jerusalem However the Apostle presseth them all alike to repent and to yeild subjection to Christ by an argument from the Covenant which carries weight enough with it though they had never been guilty of that horrid imprecation This argument of the Covenant hath been pressed at another time to prevail upon the Jews to the same duty of repentance Acts 3.19 20 25. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you In this verse he doth incourage them from a promise and observe the rare Motive ye are the children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed This extends to them that were afar off not only the kindred of the Jews but also the kindred of the Gentiles should partake of the blessing of Abraham viz. of the Covenant made with Abraham Gal. 3.14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles the blessing of Abrahams Covenant through Jesus Christ whose blood was the blood of the Covenant 3. The Apostle doth here fix his argument in the benefit that will redound unto them and to their posterity by their submission to the Gospel Administration by this he doth Emphatically press them to it Oh! what an incouraging and cogent Argument doth this Apostle by a divine instinct urge them withall such a one that poor awakened souls ready to sink into desperation could not tell how to reject or withstand This seems to be the genuine sense of it you are greatly troubled for sin in general and some of you have been guilty of that dreadful sin of a malicious pouring out of the incorruptible and sacred blood of the Son of God and crucifying the Lord of Glory therefore have highly deserved that his blood should be upon your heads and upon the heads of your Children for ever and since you have instead of reverencing killed the Lord of the Vineyard you have dreadfully provoked God to turn you out of it for ever but if after all you will but submit to him that you have crucified it shall not be so your deserts though never so great and crying shall never be given unto you but you shall still be to the Lord a chosen and a peculiar People the Church and the People of God to you and your Children the Promise shall still continue and all under a better Administration than ever because there is now abundance more of grace and of the Spirit to be poured out you and your Children shall have the first experience of it Oh how sweetly doth the Apostle here entice and allure them to accept of the Seasonable offer made unto them 4. That interpretation certainly that renders this Argument of the Apostle to the Jews to prevail upon them to the duty exhorted unto to be a discouragement unto them and to dishearten them in their submitting to the Gospel-Administration rather than an incouragement is not to be admitted That which doth contradict or at leastwise greatly impede and obstruct the design of the Apostle must not be entertained What was the design of the Apostle but to perswade these poor lost creatures to accept of Christ and his Administration that was taking place Therefore that he might obtain his end said he the Promise is to you and your Children for both were concerned in the blood of Christ and we may rationally suppose these weeping bleeding sinners were not only concerned for themselves but for their Children also They might well deliberate in themselves thus what will become of us I and of our miserable off-spring too Why saith the Apostle here is that that may allay all the amazing and confounding tumult of your self-condemning hearts the Promise is to you and your Children The Apostle did see that their Soul-disease had so sunk their Spirits and they were so ready to faint that they wanted the highest Cordial that could be poured into them and without this ingredient of their Children it could never have revived them This was the opening of a comfortable door of hope in their pinching and affrighting valley of Achor I have wondered sometimes how our Friends the Anabaptists can support their minds when they behold their dear dying Infants ready to expire and to give up the ghost to restrain the interest of the Children of these Jews in the Promise to the time of their calling could not but be a considerable discouragement unto them from coming under this Administration rather than an encouragement That it would have been so I shall give two Reasons to prove it 1 This would make their exchange to be for the worse and not the better for the Covenant under which they were before did run to them and their Seed but this runs otherwise to the great disadvantages of the Children and the great discouragement of the Parents Children by this way of Interpretation are excluded and dismist the Covenant till their call This could not but have a deep regret upon the hearts of these Parents that were well instructed into their Childrens Covenant-right with them and did so strongly depend upon it as they did 2. This would put their Children into the same condition with those afar off the restriction equally taking hold of the Children of the Jews with the Gentiles and Heathens yet afar off which would sound harshly in the Ears of the Jews If it were so of what import must the Argument be but of this Viz. If ye will now ye awakened trembling Jews believe in Christ and come under his Administration the Promise shall continue unto you but your Children shall be cut off and turned out of this priviledge they shall be in the same condition of the rest of the Pagan world when they hereafter and any of the Heathen shall be called then they may have a part in the same Promise too and not till then This being contained in that Interpretation whether it would not in the nature of the Argument rather drive
rested upon I shall here lay down Two Positions that shall conclude this present Matter in hand 1. That as God by the Election of Grace doth make the distinction among the Natural Seed of Covenanters with God accordingly is their Childrens participation of the Promise The Elect have the Promise in the extent the other in the external part only which in it self is a Priviledge and a great Advantage There might have been given great Instances of this in Abraham's Family and others but I forbear and shall not need to stand upon it There is the Elect Isaac the Covenant was establisht with him in all its Spiritual and External parts and Ishmael the Son of a Bond-woman in covenant and must be circumcised too and participate of the Seal and become a great Nation and have a Standing till his time come to be cast out 2. That there is great ground and very good foundation for a Parent in covenant with God to pray and to hope for the accomplishment of the Covenant in the extent of it Pious Parents in covenant with God should labour to lay hold upon the gracious Promises thereof and put them daily in suit at the Throne of Grace pleading of them for their poor Children with God Ay and this should be done with a great deal of hope and that partly because the Purpose of God is secret and not to be the Rule of our covenant-Covenant-Duties and the Promise is open in the full and ample Extent of it and also because Gods gracious Promise is so full copious and comprehensive as to be the God of the Seed of those Parents he hath highly gratified and graced in taking them into covenant with himself which Faith ought in the largest sence to take hold upon and swallow down and to be warmly and comfortably exercised about the inward spiritual and eternal Blessings of the Covenant for Children But somewhat more of this if the Lord please in the Use of this Doctrine Thus much for the first General Thing Viz. The opening of this Point Now we come unto the II. General Head proposed in my Method which is to offer some Demonstrations to Evince the Truth of my Doctrine and so we shall insist upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this Great Truth 1. This hath ever been Gods way in covenanting with his People this way God hath observed ever since the Fall yea this was the way that he took in the first Covenant that ever was concluded between him and Man viz. The Covenant of Works that he made with Adam in innocency in his perfect State Adam and all his Posterity were strictly included in that Covenant so that as it fared with him it was to be with all that were to descend from his Loyns or all his Seed he falling all fell in him and with him Upon his Fall the blessed Covenant of Grace that was eternally provided through Christ the great Channel of the Grace of God took place and was published with Gods own Lips Gen. 3.15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Here we have the Seed immediately comprehended this I take to be the very same Covenant for substance that was made and more fully explicated confirmed and established with Abraham where was the first emanation and springing forth of the inexhaustible Fountain of Grace through a Covenant for apostate and trembling Adam who was capable of no other Covenant in that his miserable State It was only naked and pure Grace that could support him from sinking into eternal desperation and destruction Ever since the Fall of Man God hath been pleased to gather a Church and People to himself by covenant and he evermore hath taken in the Children with the Parents when ever he hath made a Covenant with a Family with a People and with a Nation he never excluded and shut out the Children and Seed accounting the Children to be of that Family People or Kingdom This might be abundantly proved were it needful We have fully seen it in the Lords covenanting with Abraham taking in all his Natural Seed with him a famous and obvious Instance hereof we have in Deut. 29.9 10 11 12. One would think that this should for ever silence the Opposers of this Truth Here we have the Adult and all their Little Ones standing before the Lord to enter into covenant with him the Little Ones were confederate with their Parents and entered into covenant in and with them thus when the Covenant was carried over to the Gentiles Children were still involved as in our Text Acts 2.39 For the promise is to you and your children And so it shall be unto all that are afar off when they shall be called and brought home unto God they shall come with their Children with them and enter into covenant with the Lord Rom. 11.17 19. If here Children of the Gentiles be not taken into the Covenant with the Jews in the place of those that were broken off then there would be no Analogy or Proportion between the rejection of one and the acceptation of the other 2. Demonst This hath been Gods way in his conveying all saving Good unto the Elect this is Gods ordinary way of communicating unto the Salvation of the Infants of Believers they being actually in the Visible Church and in covenant with God out of which ordinarily no Salvation can be expected and hoped for All the Promises that be made to Infants of any Spiritual Blessing conducting to their Eternal Happiness are lodged in the Covenant and the Promises are the Instruments of the Spirit of God in its great Covenant-work of distilling and infusing Grace into the Hearts of the Elect dying Infants Even before the World began God ordained and instituted all Good to be conveyed to us in a way and by vertue of a Covenant therefore 't is called the everlasting covenant and the everlasting gospel Heb. 13.20 Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant Rev. 14.6 And I saw another angel flie in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell upon the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people This everlasting gospel I think may here be though not exclusively yet eminently meant the Everlasting Covenant of Grace through which in the preaching of it is transmitted all saving Good to all the Elect in all the Nations Kingdoms Kindreds and Languages in the World Nay Christ himself that unspeakable Gift is all the Elects both Infants and Adult in a way of a Covenant Isa 42.6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people and for a light of the Gentiles His Blood is the Blood of the
visibly declare and set them out to be such Christ hath declared them to be of the Kingdom of Heaven that is of his Church and Parents ought by this Ordinance to represent and openly to declare them to be such This is a visible incorporating of them into this body and a listing them under the Banner of Christ to serve and to cleave unto him They must be put into Christ's List and brought under his Banner though they do him at present but little service Thus we find in the Scripture when God hath called his People solemnly to enter into covenant with him to love him to serve him to obey him they have appeared before the Lord with their Little Ones with them Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. Children that are brought under the Bonds of the Covenant and Listed for the Lord it is their Duty when they attain to understanding to be very sensible of the same and to do and manage themselves accordingly for God will require their dedication and Parental obligation at their Hands 4. By this way Parents do shew their right understanding of and do give a good testimony unto the covenant which the Lord has been pleas'd to gratifie them withal Thus did Abraham by his immediate complying with the Lord in the Seal of it by this they do openly declare their well liking of and their great pleasure they take in the covenant and how joyful and ready they are that their Children should obtain and be made the happy partakers of the Blessings and Priviledges of it and be the open and visible Proprietors with them in it methinks Parents should commend and set out the excellency of this covenant and what sweetness and comfort they have had in it by being very willing and desirous that their children should be within the compass of it and as they have done partake of the rich and eminent Blessings of it Pious Parents do not know how to live in any condition without the covenant and the suitable and seasonable Promises of it and how can they chuse then but be very solicitous and desirous that their children should succeed them in such an Enjoyment and Tenour 5. By this they do testifie their belief of the Truth and of the Faithfulness of God and the Veracity of all the gracious Promises comprehended and lodg'd in the Covenant Indeed the Seal and Token is to assure and to confirm all therefore when the Lord was pleased to establish his Covenant with Abraham and his Seed there was Circumcision as the Seal affixt to be a great Incouragement unto the Faith of Abraham to believe and expect the Accomplishment of all the Covenant-Promises that God had made with him and his Seed for ever Now when Parents that be in covenant do suddenly by this Seal devote and give up their Children to God they do signifie and declare their firm and unboubted Faith in all that God hath promised to them and their Children and in this Matter they put up their Requests to God exercising Faith in the Promises for their Children and so also after in their frequent Requests for Covenant-Mercies for them 6. By this means Parents do as they ought to do lay great Obligations upon themselves unto the greatest care and diligence that may be that their Children may partake of the Internal Part and saving Blessings of the Covenant What a strict Tye and Bond must this be to Parents to be greatly concerned for the Souls and Eternal Salvation of them They have given them up unto God as his Children in a Covenant-Obligation and have ingag'd for them now they must look to their Charge and Trust that the Souls of their Little Ones do not perish through their default by their carelesness and negligence in their discharge of their weighty and incumbent Duty that the Living God in this gracious Covenant hath imposed upon and injoined them Abraham had a great respect unto this which caused the Lord to give him this commendation Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment It was but in the Chapter before this that he did enter into covenant with the Lord for himself and his Oh! said God I know that he hath a sence of his Covenant-Obligation upon him that he hath lately received from me and he will observe it being careful of his Houshold that they may perform the Duties and injoy the Blessings of the Covenant What a close and strict Engagement is this to Parents that they bring up their Children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord How doth this call upon us to prayer to educate carefully and to instruct our Children in the knowledge and fear of the Lord 3. Improve this great Blessing of the Covenant for the Encouragement of your Hopes as to the Spiritual Birth of your Children This is the great Concern of pious Parents about their Children so soon as they see that they be once born that they may be born again that they may not only be born of the Flesh but also of the Spirit that they may not only have a Natural but also a Spiritual Birth It is for this that godly Parents do groan and travail You that are thus concerned for your Children 't is the Covenant of Grace that must be your great Encouragement in besieging the Throne of Grace for them your Fangs for the New Birth in your Children must be covenant Ones it is the Covenant and the Mediatour and Blood of it that must animate quicken and support your Hopes in this great Affair you must put the Promise in suit and plead them with that God of Infinite Grace Love and Faithfulness that hath put you and yours into this Feederal Compact You may humbly go to God and tell him that he hath promised to be your God and the God of your Seed to teach you and your Children and to circumcise your Heart and the Heart of your Children to love and to fear him that he hath promised to pour out his Spirit upon your Off-spring and that your Children shall be taught of God Gen. 17.7 Deut. 30.6 Ezek. 36.26 27. Isa 44.3 and 59.21 and 54.13 And many such Golden Promises of rich Grace comprehended in the Covenant as Food for the Faith of Parents that make conscience daily to pursue and wrestle with God for the renewing and sanctifying of their Children Wherefore go to God and plead his Covenant after this manner Hast thou not promised to be a God to me and mine Is not the Promise to me and my Children Thou hast shewn abundance of Mercy in giving them all Natural Parts of the Body and Endowments of Mind Ay but Blessed Lord thou hast confer'd greater Mercy than this upon them Thou hast put them in thy Covenant and hast planted them in thy House and Family they have a Standing in thy Church Lord be pleased
Ones the Children that the Lord hath graciously given thee to be with thee That thou and thine are become the Children of the Covenant and of the Promise magnifie God for so inestimable an injoyment and improve it to the utmost advantage of thy self and thine but be not ignorantly gull'd and trapan'd out of it as many are in this day 4. Exhortation Teach and instruct your Children so soon as they be capable of it in the right knowledge and understanding of the Covenant As the Lord hath honoured you in taking you and your Children into Covenant you ought to be much in explaining and unfolding the Priviledges and Duties of it to your Children This is one of the Magnalia the great things that God hath written in his Word viz. that we our selves and off-spring should be well versed in and acquainted with This is one great way to discover the high esteem that you have of the Covenant for your selves and Children when you take delight to study to arrive unto a good understanding of it and carefully to instruct and teach your Children the knowledge of it Timothy had Conscientious Parents or Parent that did so teach and instruct him that when he was very little he was well acquainted with the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 Many there be that are very desirous to have their Children to be Baptized and to partake of the Seal of the Covenant but little make it their work and business to admonish and instruct their Children suitable to that Relative Duty which they stand under the obligation of to their poor Children One great reason why many as I find do renounce and reject the Seal of the Covenant is because they were never well instructed into the knowledge of it nor the Duties they were bound unto the performance of by the Seal of it Few Parents no not some that have the root of the matter in them do take that care as they are bound to do to inform their Children into the Gospel-administration of the Covenant since the time of the Incarnation and Ascension of the Messiah and to shew the parallel that there is between the Covenant first openly establish'd with the Jews and their Seed and now with the Gentiles and their Seed Wheresoever the Gospel is sent by Divine Conduct unto any place and Preach'd that never had the Beams of its Glorious Light shining before there those that believe and repent must be Baptized and their Children with them and enter into the Covenant together for saith the Apostle The promise is to you and your children and to those that are afar off and even to as many as the Lord shall cast The promise viz. the Covenant is to you and your children ay and so it shall be with those that are afar off even the poor Children of the Gentiles so many as the Lord shall call they with their believing Parents shall be received into Covenant with the Lord Acts 2.38 39. I shall conclude all with one word of Exhortation unto ungodly and unconverted Sinners It is to exhort them in the name and fear of the Lord that they would convert repent and turn unto the Lord. To Repent is one of the great Doctrines that is charged upon us in our Commissions to Preach to and urge severely upon Men. John the Baptist did much fill up his Ministry in calling upon those that did at any time attend upon it to repent Our blessed Lord began his Ministry in sounding out the same Doctrine This is a Doctrine that we that Preach the Gospel ought to be solemn and instant in How happy would it be if there were no other contention among Ministers than this for every one to strive to bring most Souls to Faith and Repentance It may be matter of lamentation to see how many take upon them the Work of the Ministry such that I fear though they make nothing to condemn and disannul the Ministry of others are scarce able to prove their own Call thereunto how they labour abundantly more to proselyte their followers to their Opinions than to obtain Converts to Christ But to close all I do here intreat and beg all that hear me that be yet out of Christ impenitent Sinners to repent and turn to God and take hold upon the Covenant and the rare Blessings and Promises of it and for your encouragement The promise shall be unto you and your children You and yours will be taken into this Covenant If you are not in it already what will you stand and stout it out against God under the precious means of Grace and the rich tenders of the Gospel proposed unto you and to labour to ruine your selves and Children for ever â—o far as you can After all the terrible threatnings of the Word that have been defeated by you oh let not this be rejected but let it melt your Hearts into Repentance This I say of my Text The promise is to you and your children Amen FINIS