visible Covenant-Priviledges and they are for the bringing the Elect home unto Glory Eph. 4. 10 11 12. Object But this is no Covenant-Priviledge for the heathen have this Liberty we keep them not away from coming to the Ordinances Answ From the Word Preached we exclude none any may come that will But still 1. There are no other Ordinances which we admit them to till they do embrace the Covenant and that by a visible profession of Faith and Repentance and so they subject themselves to the Covenant of God we Baptize them not we admit them not to the Lord's Table exercise not Church watch cover or discipline to them till then So that the Covenant is unto them a necessary Medium of Perticipation there must be a visible conversion wrought in them from the heathen to the Christian Religion 2. Though the Word may be preached to the Heathen yet it is committed to the Church or Covenant People of God Rom. 3. 2. It is a depositum that God put into their hands a gift of God's favour which He hath given His Church possession of Quest But it may then be demanded why then do you not admit all the Children of Beleevers to all the Ordinances If they be theirs wrong is done them by debarring them of their Right Answ That any of the Children of the Covenant being adult do not enjoy all the Ordinances is their own fault in a great measure The Door of the House of God stands open unto them and if they are willing to come in to it and are regularly fit for it there is no reason they should be prohibited nay all encouragement is or ought to be set before them that they may according to our Saviours manner of expression be compelled to come in i. e. By the force of argument and perswasion Thus we see it is a great priviledge to have a Title to the Ordinances for all that is needful to eternal Salvation as to means is therein afforded them The Word Preached is a perfect Rule able to make the Man of God so 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. The Sacraments administred have abundance of grace in them and afford great relief and sttength to the Soules of those who know how to make use of them The Church censures are Medicinal and appointed by God For healing and not for destruction 3. By vertue of the Covenant they are priviledged with much more of the presence and striving of the Spirit of God than others ordinarily enjoy The Spirit speaks directly to the Churches He walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks Church Officers are Stars in Christ's own right Hand and where God hath Recorded His Name He hath engaged His Presence Exod. 20. 24. He speaks more darkly obscurely weakly to Heathen by the light of their natural consciences then He doth to those who sit under the Word and Means the Word being the Chariot in which He chuseth to Ride most eminently and with which He insinuates Himself into the Souls of His People These to be sure shall have the first profers of Salvation made to them Act. 13. 46. And if they embrace and accept them to be theirs herein they greatly please God In a Word they are advantaged to have as much done with them for their good as can be as to Meanes the care the cost the pains of the Husband-Man is is not laid out upon the open Forrest or wild Wilderness but upon His Vineyard Isa 5. begin Prop. 3. That the Children of the Covenant stand in a very difficult and hazardous relation Many are prone to be proud of their priviledges and say The Temple of the Lord are These They boast themselves and are confident in their Church relations but how few are there that do solemnly consider their dangers As it is a precious so it is a very awfull thing to be in visible Covenant with God The name of Covenant relation viz. The Lord our God is a great and dreadfull Name Deut. 28. 58. There are none upon the face of the earth that stand upon more dangerous Precipices then the Children of the Covenant The truth of this assertion may be made clear if we consider these few things I. That visible-Covenant-interest will not afford Man sufficient security against eternal Damnation Many there are who fondly think the Covenant shall save them but they do but put a Cheat upon their own Souls Keeping of Covenant will save a man according to God's promise who will be true to his Word but barely being outwardly in Covenant will not do it The Covenant indeed hath saving Mercies in it but they are exhibited or propounded to us with an IF if you keep it There are many are admitted to tread in the Holy Place who shall never be entertained inthe most Holy If some Men shall be so bold as to plead the Covenant with Christ at the last day he will counterplead them yea and condemn them by the same Covenant by which they think to be saved because it will be found that they did not keep it This position is so notoriously true that there are manifold examples of those who have not only forfeited the visible Priviledges of it but also have fallen from it into the depth of Hell What got Ishmael by being a child of the Church and circumcised when he turned a mocker but rejection from the Church and exclusion out of Heaven What got Esau when he became profane or Absalom when he proved a Rebel If Children grow Loose Light Vaine wicked c. There is no hiding of themselves in the Church or under the Covenant from the wrath of God He will search Jerusalem with Candles and His wrath find out all those who say in their hearts God seeth us not Zeph. 1. 12. When dying David takes upon him to instruct his Son Solomon about the Covenant he opens the Nature and Hazards of it 1 Chron. 28. 9. If thou seek Him He will be found of thee but if thou forsake Him He will cast thee off for ever A noble Vine may degenerate and the Children of Godly Parents may prove Apostates and if they do What can be expected but Destruction A Man must be something more than outwardly a Jew or Church-member or Child of the Covenant else this will deceive him and give him no sure Title to Heaven and Glory 2. That Godly Parents cannot by their Faith nor all endeavours work no not so much as secure the Regeneration and Salvation of their Children It hath been a question moved by some whither godly Parents doing their duty to their children faithfully and using their outmost endeavours in bringing them up for God may not rely on the Covenant-promise and positively believe their Children shall be saved and that although for the present they see no change wrought in them but they walk in vain courses In answer to which I shall propound a few things to be considered 1. That the Soveraignty of Divine Grace which can
neither be prevened nor obliged by any thing in or for us is a Pillar-truth of Christian Religion Rom. 9. 16. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth c. So far as we detract from God's Soveraignty in the dispensation of converting and saving Grace we so far make God a debtor to the Creature before he makes Himself so by a free Promise 2. That all which Parents can do for their Children in attendance to the Precept viz. In bringing them up for God instructing them in His knowledge and fear exercising their Authority in keeping them in from leud courses and causing them to serve God in a visible attendance on the means of Grace c. It is no more then their duty and is in no wayes to be counted meritorious Luk. 17. 10. Hence for their own Souls safety they must do it except they will hazard the displeasure of God 3. That it out-does the power of Moral-means and endeavours though never so sincerely used to Plant or infuse Grace into any Souls The Work of Conversion is not wrought by the will of Man but of God only Joh. 1. 13. If good Men could Will could Pray could Labour Faith into any according to their desire their would none of their Children none of their Servants none of their Neighbours none in the World perish 4. That Divine Faith is not only a confidence but a grounded confidence The Rule doth not only command and bind us to believe but it also tells us what we are to believe The Hold of Faith is the Promise and therefore it can be assured of any thing no further then that goes Faith must have a clear Word for its Trust else it is but vain All our Plea is in the Covenant-Promise and if we cannot find that we look for There we have nothing to build upon but are at uncertainty 5. That Beleevers have no absolute and illimited Promise in the Word of God that all their Children or this or that Child shall be saved no nor limited neither to their care and faithfulness that if they do their best He will infallibly add saving Grace This will appear by two Arguments 1. Because God is faithfull to every Promise which He hath made He is a God that cannot lie or repent I know godly Parents may be remiss but they are not alwayes so and yet have had their Children whom God hath rejected Abraham his Ishmael Isaack his Esau David his Ahsolom and Adonijah Eli his Hophni and Phinehas Now of Abraham we read that he was Trusty and Faithfull in teaching his children Gen. 18. 19. And therefore he instructed and disciplined Ishmael he circumcised him and prayed earnestly for him 2. Because the faithfull People of God have themselves thus interpreted the Promise they judged it to be upon Supposition to carry a Condition in it Eminent for this is the forementioned instance of David that he thus understood it is evident not only by that forecited warning which He gave to Solomon 1 Chron. 28. 9. But also by that knowledgment which he makes of it to God Himself Psal 132. 11 12. Object But we shall find that God makes an absolute Promise to David that He will establish His Covenant with His seed and not Violate it Psal 89. 28 29. Ans It is to be observed that in that place David represents or typifyes Christ the Head of the Church and by His Children we are to understand only those that are given to Christ of God in the Covenant of Redemption concerning whom it is certain they shall obtain Salvation for as the Apostle saith 2 Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth who are His. But a Man may be a subject of the visible Covenant who hath no right to the Covenant of Redemption Que. But you will say then What encouragement is there for Parents to Pray for to instruct and take pains with their Children and give them up to God in the Covenant if they cannot do all this in Faith What is not of Faith is of Sin Ans There are other wayes for Faith to act us in our Duty besides this particular confident perswasion of this fruit and effect Consider then 1. That Faith is to eye the Precept as well as the Promise Faith is to influence our duty as well as our assurance Faith is the principle of our obedience And if we believe this is our duty to perform because God commands it and are hereby animated to our duty this is Obedience of Faith it is our duty to sow our Seed in the Morning c. Although we know not which shall prosper this or that because Faith workes by Love 2. That a Beleever is to be engaged to his duty not only by a promise but also by the precept it is true the promise is our Encouragement but the precept is our Rule in submission to the command therefore he is to go about his Work and to leave the success of it to Divine dispose and so doing he performes his duty in Faith and he that is not acted by this principle but doth all meerly as he thinks it may succeed is truly mercenary 3. There are other Promises which may encourage a Beleever in this duty viz. That if he doth it in Truth and sincerity it shall be accepted and rewarded by God God will some way or other make him to find that his labour hath not been in vain The Husband-man is in duty to sow his Seed in Faith but he is not sure he shall have a good Crop The Fig-tree may not blossom though he manures it with care but this is his encouragement that in a way of doing duty God hath said that He will bless him 4. Faith also teacheth us that attending the means is nearer to the particular blessing than not attending but neglecting them God oftner meets His people in the way of his ordinary then in the way of His extraordinary providence nor doth God alwayes though He may sometimes in Soveraignty deny the desired Blessing to His people yea and although He may sometimes worke there where we are guilty of shameful neglect as in Converting Josiah the son of a wicked Amon yet our neglect is inexcusable because we have despised the Command Such a Parent as hath faithfully done his duty may die in Hope that although he see not the desired Fruit of his Pains and prayers yet they may appear when his head is laid in the dust To be sure he may with this comfort leave the World that he hath been faithfull in his place 3. The provocations of Covenant-Children are most hainous and consequently most provoking to God The Sins of none are so offensive in His sight as theirs You shall find therefore that the Scripture sets a Note observable upon this consideration Amos. 3. 2. so Deut. 32. 19 The provokings of Sons and Daughters are bitter Jer. 5. 7. Thy Children have
transient rebuke may be enough other things may be more deliberate and Men are led into them more gradually they may also be eminently reproachful to Religion and a dangerous snare to the Souls of them that are so tempted our connivance in such cases may not only blemish our profession but be a great hazard to it also At such times and in such a case you break your Covenant if you suffer Sin in your Brother without using all the means which Christ hath prescribed and in the order He hath prescribed them till the end be obtained If private admonition followed with gentleness and Patience will not gain but they still presist in evil courses or are not humbled for such faults you must proceed by steps as farr as Christ hath bid you And I believe there is no one thing wherein the Covenant is more universally broken then in the neglect of this duty and if the use of these Ordinances shall once come to cease among the Churches and the sins of Church-members be not regularly suppressed by reason of the unfaithfulness of Brethren Religion will languish and the power of Godliness fail It is not the extending of the Covenant to Christians as some dream but it is the neglect of Covenant-duties towards them that is like to be the bane of our profession if any thing Eli indulged his Sons and one professour indulgeth another and it is to be feared that if this were searched to the root and bottom of it it would be found that the original of it is self-indulgence and that when men wink at scandals in their Brethren it is because they expect the like in way of retaliation and if things once come to this pass let any sober and prudent Man conjecture whither this be not the way to cherish Apostasy and what then will be the end of these things 4. Take diligent care to secure the interest of Religion unto posterity There is not only a natural ty lying upon Parents to their Children but there is also a Covenant-ty lying upon the Churches of Christ to take care for the propagating of the Covenant to after Ages As God hath taken the Children of His People into the same Covenant with their Parents so hath He likewise taken care and made it a Duty that they be owned acknowledged and looked after as His. And though I know there are various apprehensions among the People of God in this matter yet I would not be altogether silent in it I do verily believe that besides the family care which is due from Parents to their Children there is something also which the Churches of Christ do ow to them as they are the Lambs of His Flock And that is 1. That they be owned and acknowledged as such and that not only in their Infancy and Minority by applying the Ordinance of Baptisme to them but also in riper and more grown years Some there be that acknowledge them not at all to have any visible Covenant relation and interest if not in Word yet in effect they deny it though possibly they may confess it to be Parents duty to instruct them that they may be capable of it But this is plainly Anabaptistical Others that own them in minority yet look upon them to grow out of that relation practically when they grow up to years but that such as are related should ordinarily lose this relation any other wayes then by a course of discipline seems a Paradox and hath been elaborately confuted by many viz. That any Person should cast himself out I doubt not but many contrary minded to us have very good intentions and are acted by a zeal of Holiness but that there may be a mistake and a misguided zeal in the People of God themselves is not to be doubted and whither they or we are in an errour the day shall discover mean while as we believe so we speak Many believing Jews in Paul's Time had their doubts and Controversyes about Circumcision But as for those who yeeld no relation to Children at all but do account of and carry it to them as Strangers under pretence of preserving Holiness in the Churches let any serious and understanding man judge whether that be a way to propagate Holiness I cannot but think that the serious solemn Speech of the Two Tribes and Half to their Brethren speakes somthing to our Times and Churches Josh 22. 24 25. If we have not rather done it viz. built the Altar for fear of this thing saying in time to come your Children might speak unto our Children saying What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you ye children of Reuben and children of Gad ye have no part in the Lord so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord. It is not in the nature of fallen Man spontaneously to own and acknowledge God It is worth our serious thoughts whether not to acknowledge our Children to be of the visible People of God be not in effect to say they have no part in the Lord and so puts an occasion in them to reject His fear Or whether such an expression as that of the Apostle doth not carry more of encouragement in it Act. 3. 25. Ye are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenant God made with our Fathers It is doubtless let men say or think what they please some priviledge to be Children of the Covenant there is in it great motive and perswasive to them although we know that there is none but the Spirit of God is able to make this or any other argument to be effectual with them for their Conversion and Salvation 2. That they may be made Possessours of the priviledges of the Covenant according as they are capable Doubtless the visible priviledges of the Covenant are not only an Honorarium to the People of God but they are also and principally means appointed and sanctified by God for the begetting and encreasing of Faith And it is one end of God's conferring these priviledges upon any of the Children of Men that His chosen may thereby in His way be brought to partake in the invisible The work of Conversion since the planting of Churches by Apostles and Apostolical Men is ordinarily to be expected within and not out of the visibe Church It is the Church unto whom the Ordinances and Offices are given 1 Cor. 12. 28. And that for all those ends which are there needful Nor are we to presume or thereupon to ground the visible Covenant-Interest of Children upon a presumption that they are born Converted or have received saving Grace in the womb since we know that for the most part it is otherwise and that God has reserved this work to be ordinarily performed by the means instrumentally in such as live and grow up to years of knowledge Though we believe He doth it in a secret way for those that dy in
forsaken me How shall I pardon thee for this God hath taken such as these very near to Him He hath given them such priviledges and so many advantages Hence for a child of the Covenant to live like the Children of heathen and those whom God hath not known this is a Sin of a deep Dye yea far deeper than theirs who only abuse the light of nature and common goodness of God If you read Ezek. 16. per totum You shall there see what a course God takes to make Jerusalems Sin to appear unparrellel'd viz. By declaring what Covenant priviledges and favours they had enjoyed and prophanely abused Verily God can endure to see that in Sodom which He cannot bear to see in Zion 4. Hence to perish from under the Covenant will be a most astonishing perdition If Judah provoke God to destroy her She comes down wonderfully even to the astonishment of all her Neighbours Let me tell you there are none that leave the World with such amazing Fears and Terrors that close their Lives with such dreadfull agonies and horrours as such do who have been related to the Covenant and enjoyed the priviledges of it and slighted them The remembrance of their Church state their Baptisme the Ordinances they have sat under the Threatnings Warnings Counsels and Encouragements of the Covenant which they have despised will fill their Consciences with most dreadfull regrets and reflections and if any have been so seared as to stifle and suppress all these remorces and to depart this Life under a sullen and desperate hardness or a self-cheating hope yet in the great Day when the Righteous Judge shall give to every one according to their deeds then woe and ten thousand woes to those Children of the Church that shall have despised their priviledges and slighted the Grace profered in the Covenant that have sold themselves to profaneness or liv'd in desperate hypocrisie that have forgotten their Covenant-engagements to God and brought themselves under the Curses of that Covenant Thus you see the relation of Children to the Covenant what are their Priviledges and what are their Dangers God of His mercy grant both to Parents and Children Grace and Wisdom to make a right improvement of these solemne Considerations VSE II. For Exhortation to all such as stand related to God in the Covenant to be very carefull and watchfull to your selves that you keep it You are not so much to boast of or confide in your Covenant Relation as to see to your own part and duty in which you are nextly concerned Take these things for Motive 1. It is no little or light matter to keep Covenant with God It is true Evangelical duty is easie if it be compared with those rigid and strict yea impossible to be performed demands of the Covenant of Works Impossible I mean by the Children of fallen Adam God gives acceptance to such weak Duties and withall gives strength to do them But still if we consider what it is that is required in the Covenant of Grace we shall find that it is for Matter very large and for difficulty exceeding all our own power in our selves and cannot be performed without special Grace from Jesus Christ There is a great deale comprehended in those two short Words Believe and Obey Perseverance in the Faith maintaining it against all the shocks of Temptation which assaults it And constancy in Obedience continuing faithfull unto Death waiting till afterwards for our reward these are great Works To do all we do for God as being His Servants to devote all our time to Jesus Christ as those who are Bought with a Price requires Care Diligence Vigilance Agen there are a great many Duties laid upon us in the Covenant the Precept is of great latitude Psal 119 96. Every Command is full There are Duties to be done Sins to be avoided there are Afflictions Tryals to be undergone God is to be believed in and worshipped Our Neighbours are to be honoured and loved There are a great many relations which a Christian stands in and every one hath its particular respective Duties Moreover the whole Man and all in it stands engaged in these Covenant Duties Every faculty and member owes Obedience to the Will of God We have our hearts to look after and keep with diligence for God and His Glory Prov. 4. 23. Our tongue to order and keep within bounds which must be well looked after Psal 39. 1. And all our bodily actions must be conformed to Divine prescripts All our Natural Civil and Religious actions must be squared by the right Rule and directed to their proper End 1 Cor. 10. 31. Finally that which makes it so great a Work to keep Covenant is the weakness of our Grace and strength of our Corruption and force of the Temptation we are exposed to We have every one of us a Traitor in our Bosome besides a sollicitous and diligent Enemy waiting all opportunities to tempt and draw us aside And there must be great vigilancy and resolution to resist a subtile Devil holding correspondence with a treacherous heart Put all these things together and they will speak thus much that it is a very great Work for a Christian to keep Covenant with God 2. It is not a thing indifferent whither you keep Covenant or no. If you would enjoy the comfort of the Promise you must have the witness of your own consciences unto this It is one thing to be in visible Covenant and another to have the promise of the Covenant positively engaged to you Men deceive themselves greatly with this opinion that they think if they are in Covenant they have Christ for their Surety and Vndertaker And hence can maintain strong confidence in the midst of their own careless and carnal neglects abusing and perverting many Scriptures and particularly that 1 Joh. 2. 1. If we sin we have an Advocate They promise themselves that Christ shall answer for all their breaches of Covenant and hereupon it is no great matter with them to neglect Duty and live carelesly and irregularly but we must beware of deceiving our selves for God will not be mocked 1 Thes 4. 7 Consider then 1. We may be in visible Covenant and yet not have Christ for our engaged Vndertaker it is only Beleevers that have truly placed their souls trust in Him that He stands engaged to and for to others He is only propounded All in the visible Church have not saving Faith wrought in them they have not cordially closed with Christ as their Prophet Priest and King though they have outwardly and verbally promised so to do and His Mediation and Redemption will not be profitable to such These have Pardon Peace and Salvation promised to them only with this proviso if they believe and that with such a caveat annexed to it too that if they believe not they shall be damned God indeed bestowes upon them all visible means and helps to believing but if they improve them not unto the
must go to Him that He may worke your Workes in and for you the Life of a Christian is a Life of Faith Heb. 10. 38. Consider therefore 1 As long as you remain in unbelief you are on that very account Covenant-breakers for it is the first thing required in the Covenant viz. that we believe It binds and obligeth us to go to Christ and make an absolute choise of Him and place the Hope and Trust of our Souls upon Him Think of this you that live ly in a State of Vnregeneracy you break your bond as long as you thus live and are not therefore under the Promise but the threatning at the present When you shall be put upon tryal whether you have kept Covenant with God the first question will be whither you have believed and if this cannot be made good there needs no more enquiry to be made but the Case is cast against you all the pleas you can possibly make from your Moral Obedience or Legal Workes done by you will not in the least salve it but you will be found among and pronounced to be workers of iniquity 2. Without this Faith we cannot perform Gospel-Obedience which is also required of us As it is the first thing called for on our Part so it is the root and Principle of all the rest without which no service can be received To acceptable Obedience Three things are required 1. That the Person doing it be accepted in Christ 2. That it be performed by strength derived from Christ 3. That it come to God through His hands Now to each of these Faith thus embracing of Christ is requisite Hence without it no pleasing God Heb. 11. 6. III. Though we cannot go savingly to Christ before Faith be wrought in us because Faith is the first saving Grace yet it is our duty to be diligently using all those means which are appointed to this End and therein to be waiting upon Him for it Sense therefore of our own inability and utter insufficiency to do this Work in and of our selves is not a just ground of discouragement but may be improved to excite and direct us to go there where sufficiency is to be had Christ therefore sends His gracious invitations to such as these Isa 55. 1. Mat. 11. 28. 4. Those that have believed are to exercise Faith daily going to Christ for renewed Grace and strength Faith is the great help and the only help we have in us to fetch in that strength by which alone we can do that which is well-pleasing unto God It is not for a Beleever to say I am weak and dare not stir lest I fall No but he is to say Christ is strong and He hath bid me to wait on Him and believe in Him This I may assure you of That when a Child of God in tender sense of his own inability to do his duty as he should hath believingly cast it upon and committed it to Christ the bigger better part of his duty is done and he may chearfully and stedfastly go through the rest Let none hope or think to keep Covenant in his own strength nor let any despair of it as long as there is strength in Christ especially considering that if we believe in Him He stands Surety for us and is in the Covenant not only our High-Priest to make satisfaction for us to his Father but our King too to Rule in us and lead us in His fear and not to suffer us to depart from Him all the dayes of our Lives When we finding our selves to be of no Strength go to and Lean upon Jesus Christ we are carried forth happily and shall serve God acceptably It is then alone when we are too presumptous of our own strength and rely on that that we fail and dishonour the Name of God by breaking His Covenant 2. Labour to get a good understanding of and acquaintance with the Nature Tenor and Extent of your Covenant-Duty and keep it upon your thoughts Many are very forward and critically inquisitive after the Nature of Covenant-Priviledges And indeed it is one great Study and discourse of the Times But that which is for our Practice or in which we ought to be most of all conversant we are prone to be most backward in viz. Our duty whereas it ought to be the Servants constant Care to know his Lord's Will How else should he do it God affords us many means of knowledge our Ignorance therefore if we are guilty of it will not be any part of an excusing Plea for us Ignorance of Duty under means of Knowledge will not be acknowledged for Ignorance nor procure us any fewer stripes What Men are wilfully or unnecessarily ignorant of Through their own heedlesness will be charged not as Ignorance but contempt Neither can we do acceptably except we know Let us therefore be industrous to get a right understanding of the Will of God and what are the Rules of Faith and Practice that so we may be furnished for every good Work The Lord expects more in these Dayes and Places of Gospel-Light than where it is wanting The Duties of Christians are many and their Calls to Duty are diversly circumstanced Now God affords you many both publick and private helpes be not you negligent in using of them David by frequent Meditations attained to a large knowledge of God's Precepts Psal 119. 99. And if we could ponder upon these things as much and with as much intensness of mind as we are wont to do upon our Worldly Concernes we should in time grow good proficients in them 3. Get a Love to and delight in the wayes of God There is no such help to a chearfull and constant keeping of Covenant as a heart taken with and delighted in the Command Fear of Wrath may do something to restrain the outward Man from many gross Enormities which otherwayes sinfull Men would boldly and unreclaimably run into And hope of reward may put Men upon it to do many things which otherwise they would not be so forward to engage in And it is certain that both fear and hope acting in their due Places and managed by an higher principle are of no little use to a Child of God whom his heavenly Father is pleased to train up in a great measure by threatnings and promises But still there is nothing of such efficacy as Love Fear and hope invite us to close with the Command for our Own sake but Love allures us to embrace it for Its sake for the preciousness of it Love constrains It is a forcible and irresistible Impetus by which it carries us to our dnty Many waters cannot quench it persecutions cannot obstruct prosperity cannot inveigle it It makes the Command precious above all things Gold and fine Gold are not comparable to it c. Psal 19. 9 10. Now there is very much argument and reason to make us in Love with Covenant-duties They are the revealed will of God and if we
it no great matter to despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities Jude 7. In particular how are God's Ambassadors trampled upon It is no new observation but of a considerable standing Many there are now at rest in Glory who living were openly and plainly branded for the troublers of our Israel and the culpaple cause of many awfull Judgements But they shall trouble us no more and if still it must be so that all the Apostasy or declension or corruption that growes upon us must be laid to their charge and they must be accounted the Porters that open the door to let in calamity upon us they must for the present bear it but God knows if these things are so though they be silent He will speak for them This also is a Sin the times greatly labour of and a notorious breach of Covenant it is and ought to be laboured against 5. Great Sensuality It is a most prevailing iniquity and contradicts that sobriety which the Gospel-Covenant obligeth us unto What abundance of drunkenness It is an Epidemical and infectious disease Excess in meats growing up almost into riot Excess in ordinary entertainments excess in apparrel c. I know it is no easie matter to set bounds and prescribe certain and determinate Rules in these things and there ought to be a latitude of charity extended by Christians one to another but doubtless there is great excess and that it should be and so abound in such times wherein God hath been many wayes bringing His People low argues a great deal of the contempt of the hand of the Lord which hath been upon us Be ye sober is a precept often urged and enjoyned in the Gospel There are other Sins also that have gotten footing and extend too far which it concerns God's Covenant-People to eye observe and avoid Your Covenant with God engageth you to withstand all sins and your own prudence will teach you to fortifie most there where the assault of temptation is like to be the most furious Examples Especially of our Fellow-Christians and Professours are of great force and the efficacy of them will not be avoided without great resistance Put but a Vessel into the stream and if you do not row against it it will readily enough run down with it The stream of the times will undoubtedly carry those Men away that will not take up a resolution to stem it And know it it will be your Glory to have stood it out and weathered evil times For you to stand true to the Covenant when there are so many that prove false will be recorded to your honour and commendation When many Disciples went away from Christ it was the credit of the Twelve that they stood by Him and would not go I know many will account you giddy nice whimsical over-precise to be ready to fall foul upon you with calumnies and reproaches for it hath ever been the guise of loose Professours and by this note you may know them that they count it a strange thing that others cannot comply with them and draw out their consciences to such a latitude as for companies sake to run into the same excess with themselves But know and be assured that if to keep other men company you go their pace and slip aside into their irregularities when God shall come to plead the controversie of His Covenant you must not think it hard measure if you be made then also to keep company with them But if you lay out your lives by the straight Line of Scripture Truths and not by the crooked line of such examples God will remember you with favour in such a time when it will be not only a safety but a glory and a happiness so to be remembred If you stand to your Covenant-oath against such Temptations He will never fail of His Covenant-Promise 3. Make conscience of discharging your Covenantdutyes one to another Man is made a sociable Creature and the main end of society is designed for the bettering of the Estate of Mankind by giving them opportunity to be mutually helpfull each to other And the particular end of Christian societyes considered as such is for the better promoting of spiritual good This duty is a Covenant-engagement which you stand under not only by vertue of a voluntary Promise plighted explicitly and engaged in mutually but by the will of Christ it being a New Govenant-Command Joh. 13. 34. A New Command I give you that you love one another It is a Debt which you owe each to other for Christ's sake Love is a very large and comprehensive-duty Christians being bound up together in a society ought to express this Love by a fedulous endeavour to carry on the Glory of Jesus Christ and foreward the Salvation one of another I shall comprimize what I have to present as particular advice in this Case to two Heads 1. Encourage one another to holiness in Life and Conversation We are called to Holiness and it is the way to Happiness Heb. 12. 14. The Covenant of God is an holy Covenant and God is honoured and His Covenant established in a way of Holiness It is then the duty of such as fear God frequently and sedulously to quicken to it and provoke one another to good Works Do this I. By the light and shine of a godly Conversation The example of Christians is very prevalent whither it be good or bad God sometimes pleaseth to make a godly conversation convictive of gainsayers and that which stops the mouths of the most spiteful Enemies and so brings from Men the tribute of Glory to Him Matt. 5. 16. Much more then may it be expected to be quickening and exciting to the graces of Beleevers and put them much foreward that truly fear God The zeal of one Saint if it blaze it may heat even a great many and indeed there is great need to be put upon this especially in these dayes wherein a lukewarm-Profession is much in credit being very fashionable but forwardness and zeal for God is almost out of date and when there are also so many evil examples carrying much of inticement in them to draw men away from God and turn them out of the right way be therefore very wary that you do not add to the number of such 2. By readiness and forwardness to relieve one another with good and wholsome Counsel and Christianhelp at every lift and time of need God is wont for the most part so to order it that in a Church there are some strong and others that are but weak and it is His Will that the strong should help the weak Ga. 6. 1. Are any not so well instructed in the Truth Be willing to take pains with them Are any overpowered with grief sorrow c Comfort and strengthen them Open your hearts one to another have you any thing laid up in your Cabinet of experiences and prudent observations which another stands in need of be not nigardly but readily and
infancy God gives Men Ordinances not only because they are converted though they are also for the perfecting of the Saints Eph 4. 12. but also that they may be converted Mat. 3. 11 It is therefore our duty to take care that they may want nothing of that which God hath appointed for them for their good We cannot give saving 〈◊〉 to our Children that God reserves to 〈…〉 Work but the means of Grace we ought to 〈…〉 As 〈…〉 Works so have 〈…〉 Children is to deny them to be 〈…〉 Kingdome of Christ for this is 〈…〉 He hath appointed all His Subjects to wear and a sign and token of our initiation into His Kingdome To exclude them from Church-watch is to refuse them that help for their spiritual good which Jesus Christ hath allotted them and exspects we should afford them as a part of the body Touching their admission to the Lord's-Table I know there are besides their birth-right such qualifications requisit to be found in them as may give satisfaction to a well grounded Charity that they are spiritually fit for it and to thrust or force them upon it though without these requisit preparations were cruel charity But 3. That all means be used whereby they may be brought to such a fitness and so encouraged and helped in comming to this Ordinance is also a Duty the Churches ow them Touching the great care and pains which were taken upon this score by the primitive Gospel-Churches Ecclesiastical History will give us a plentifull account God makes a great complaint Ezek. 16. 20. Thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters which thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured Now this is done in God's account when they are neglected and not brought up for God Peter had one particular charge given him by Christ to seed His Lambs Now the care which the Church ows to the Children of it in order to their being fit to receive and maintain the purity of Gospel-Priviledges is 1. That they be instructed in Knowledge I know the first care and endeavour upon this account lyes upon Families where it is to be begun but because Parents ow their fidelity in this point not only to their Children but to the Church also in respect of their Children Hence inquiry is to be made into their proficiency and Parents are accordingly to be further quickned or encouraged Yea when they have done their best there may more be needed to be done for their further proficiency Publick Catechizing was a great business of our first and best times and it was blessed with no small success and I believe it one part of the unhappiness of our time that it is laid aside And could it be revived agen it would certainly be an acceptable service to God and profitable to this and after Generations This is training up Children in knowledge according to Scripture and the neglect of which is so condemned Hos 4. 6. And it would be a sad loss if Religion should be lost in New-England a Place of so great Light and Means for want of attending upon this Duty 2. That a due and careful inspection be made into their Lives and Conversations that what there is of good may be encouraged and what is otherwise may be faithfully reproved It is a temptation by which Satan gains much advantage that we are affraid of incurring the censure and title of busybodies in other Men's matters and hereupon neglect the charge and duty of watching one over another And it much discourageth Children on the other hand from minding that which is good at least is a great encouragement to follow their natural and corrupt inclinations in the pursuit of evil when they see no notice is taken of them but they are looked upon as strangers they are not regarded but they live and do as they list I am perswaded nay I know there are some Children of the Covenant would thankfully accept of faithful admonitions and serious counsels from them that fear God and there is great hope were this practised God would bless it with good success 3. That the wayes and orders and Ordinances of God's House may be left to them not depraved or polluted but pure and intire according to the Orders of the Gospel and instructions of Jesus Christ If we shall through neglect suffer corruptions to creep in in our dayes we may expect that they will grow a-pace upon our Posterity Apostasy hath alwayes been observed to grow much faster than Reformation There are some publick Church dutyes which if practically neglected when once lost will hardly be recovered some evil practices which if once grown into a custom will soon plead prescription and not without great difficulty be suppressed Something of this New-England's experience will attest to what bickerings controversies and disputes have been What oppositions have been broken thorough in redeeming our Childrens interest And there are many Ex orbitances standing at the door ready to thrust in The Rule left us by Christ must be stood to if we will have His Peace and it will be no little comfort to you when you leave this World that you leave behind Religion setled upon the right Basis and unpolluted and this will be a good argument of hope that God intends a blessing to succeeding Generations However it will afford great peace to your Consciences that though Religion should dye decay suffer in the World yet you have been true to your Covenant with God have been faithful observers of it in this your Generation and have done the best to leave it nothing worse than you found it and can therefore quietly depart out of the World yea go hence with a solid hope and grouded expectation to receive the Promise and take possession of everlasting Mercyes II. Give me leave in the next place to speak a few words in particular to those that are the Children of the Covenant and so I shall close this discourse And let these carefully receive and lay up in their hearts these few things You here see the way for you either to keep or lose these Covenant-Mercyes Be therefore perswaded to know your Duty and carefully to set your selves to perform it If you would have your Father's God continue to be yours you must make it your study and business to know and serve Him Solemn was David's advice to his Son Solomon 1 Chro. 28. 9. Besides the general motives which were propounded at the beginning of this Vse I would leave a few special Considerations with you God grant you may receive the impression of them 1. The main errand which brought your Fathers into this Wilderness was not only that they might themselves enjoy but that they might settle for their Children and leave them in full possession of the free pure and uncorrupted libertyes of the Covenant of Grace They have made this Profession openly to the World yea let reason speak and say what else was there which could have