that performed it not but plainly demonstrated that none could perform it and so left all under a curse and these words Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things c. conclude both So that the Law was not given for justification but to be subservient to the Covenant of Justification not to cross the Covenant but to serve it not purposely to leave under the curse but to shew the curse and to drive men to get from under it So that men might live in it but not by it It was the way in which men were to go to seek for Justification but it was not the cause or means whereby they were justified See Gal. 3. 5. The Jews made the Moral Law cross to the Covenant of Grace whilst they sought to be justified by works and they made the Ceremonial Law cross the Moral whilest they resolved all duty into Ceremony and so the Law which in it self was holy and pure and good they turned to death unto themselves by their abuse They might have lived in the Moral Law had they used it aright though not by it for the more a man sets himself to the exact performance of it the more he sees he cannot perform it and therefore he is driven the more to Christ But they resolved all into Ceremonious performance and so lost sincerity toward the Moral and hereupon the Ceremonial Law good in it self became to them Statutes not good and Judgments wherein they could not live Exek 20. 25. From Rome also and reasonable early in this year Paul wrote THE EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY and in it urgeth Timothy to come to him before Winter Timothy was now at Ephesus when this Epistle was directed to him as may be observed out of the Epistle it self by these collections 1. In that he willeth him to salute the houshold of Onesiphorus Chap. 4. 19. who was an Ephesian Chap. 1. 16 18. 2. In that he biddeth him take Troas in his way as he comes to him Chap. 4. 13. which had been the way that Paul himself had gone from Ephesus 2 Cor. 2. 22. and to Ephesus again Acts 20. 5. 3. In that he warneth him of Alexander Chap. 4. 14. who was an Ephesian 1 Tim. 1. 20. Act. 19. 33. There is one passage in this Epistle which hath caused some to doubt about the time of its writing for about the place there is no doubt and that is what he saith Chap. 4. 6. I am now ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand which would make one think that he was now ready to be martyred and taken away and it hath made some believe that this was the last Epistle that ever he wrote but when we compare his own words again in ver 17 18. and Phil. 1. 25. and Philem. ver 22. it maketh it past controversie that he speaketh not of his sudden Martyrdoom but that he is to be understood in some other sense But what is that Baronius giveth this gloss The words of Paul concerning his speedy death seem not possibly otherwise to be understood then that God had revealed it to him that he should suffer death under Nero. For that time might very well seem near which was to be fulfilled under the same Prince I but Nero for his age might have reigned 50 or 60 years after the Apostles writing of this Epistle and so the last words of this gloss are but a very poor salving And indeed the resolution of the difficulty lieth open and conspicuous in the text it self Paul looked upon Timothy as the prime and choice man that was to succeed him in the work of the Gospel when he himself should be dead and gone as being a young man not only of singular qualifications for that work but of whom there had been special Prophesies and predictions to such a purpose 1 Tim. 1. 18. as was observed before He exhorts him therefore in this place to improve all his pains and parts to the utmost to do the work of an Evangelist and to make proof of his Ministry to the full for that he himself could not last long being now grown old and worn with travel and besides all this in bonds at present and so in continual danger therefore must Timothy be â—itting himself daily to take his work up when he was gone With Timothy he desires that Mark may come along with him to Rome whom we observed to be at Corinth at Pauls last coming thither and one clause in this Epistle seemeth also to speak to that matter Chap. 4. 20. Erastus abode at Corinth but Trophimus I left at Miletum sick Erastus abode at Corinth Why that Timothy knew without any information for he was with Paul all along that journey when Erastus went to Corinth and staied there And Trophimus I left at Miletum sick Why Timothy could not but know that too without Pauls telling him so from Rome Miletum and Ephesus were so very near together nay it is more than probable that Timothy was left at Miletum too when Trophimus was left there But when was he left Not when Paul went towards Jerusalem and sent for the Elders of Ephesus to Miletum Acts 20. for Trophimus went and was with him at Jerusalem Acts 21. 19. But it was when Paul returned from Jerusalem in bonds to Rome as hath been said though it be not particularly mentioned that he touched there Some would have the word Miletum to be read Mileta among whom is Beza who is ever one of the forwardest to tax the Text for corrupt when he cannot clear it Poâ—ius conjicio legendum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he quod vocabulum facile fuit in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 depravare Luke saith plainly that at Pauls coming away from Judea in his voyage to Rome it was their resolution to sail by the coasts of Asia Act 27. 2. which had been a far fairer ground to have concluded upon that Paul was at Miletum in that voyage since that was a part of those Asian coasts then to change Miletum into Melita upon no ground at all And certainly the very scope of the Apostle in that passage will not admit of that change for he is not telling Timothy of Erastus his abode at Corinth or of Trophimus his sick stay at Miletum as things unknown to him but as things very well known yet mentioned to him as making to the Apostles present purpose He had sent for Timothy and Mark to come away to him to Rome and to forward them to that journey he doth these two things 1. He sheweth how all his company was scattered from him ver 9. 10. and therefore he had need of them in that destitution 2. He telleth how supply might be made in their places though they came away for though Mark should come from Corinth yet Erastus might be a supply for Erastus abode there And Timothy come away from Ephesus yet Trophimus is there ready to supply his place for
prove that he was admitted to Communion with the Church by Circumcision That stamped him for an Israelite and joyned him to Israel In Exod. XII 44. But every mans servant that is bought for money when thou hast circumcised him then shall he eat thereof Circumcise him and thou bringest him into Communion then he may eat nay then he must eat the Passover III. Now as he was a member of the Church of the Jews as a Jew and admitted to the full Communion with it by Circumcision so there were two things besides ingaged him that he did not that he might not depart from that Communion 1. The obligation of the Law was upon him for things of Divine Institution And 2. The tenderness of his own Heart not to give offence in things indifferent First The Apostle tells us Gal. IV. 4. That he was made under the Law He was under the Moral Law as Man bound to observe it upon duty as all men are He was also put under it as Mediator that he might fulfil it and so he saith himself Matth. V. 17. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil It is a strange quotation the Apostle makes in Heb. III. to prove that Christ was not ashamed to call his Saints brethren vers 12. I will declare thy Name amongst my brethren that is plain and pregnant but vers 13. And again I will trust in him How doth the proof speak to the thing proposed Why very properly thus As the Saints trusted in God so did he as it was their duty so it was his he being bound as Man to the obedience of the Moral Law as well as any of his and to it as Mediator for the fulfilling of it in behalf of his Nay he was put under the whole Law and oeconomy of Moses the Ceremonial Law which was the great Law of their Religion as well as the Moral Take their Ceremonial Religion in all its relations and he was under the bond of all 1. As it was a badge of distinction to difference an Israelite from all other Nations so he was bound under it as being a Jew 2. As it was a way of Gods instituted Worship so he was bound under it as one Religious 3. As it was the bond of Israels Communion in Gods Worship so he was bound under it as a member of that Church True you will say he was bound to these rites that were of Divine Institution but a great part of their Religion consisted then of Humane Inventions which neither were of Divine Authority nor some of them seemed of any great Solidity Yet Secondly Even in these things whilst they were not sinful in themselves he would not break off Communion from the way of their Religion because he would not give offence That reason that he gives about paying the half Shekel went along with him in other things Matth. XVIII 27. Lest we give them offence He might have stood upon the argument that he useth in vers 26. his own immunity from such payments as being the great Kings Son to whom they were paid He might have stood against the present imployment of the mony so paid It was for the repair of the Temple and now the Temple was become a den of thieves It was for buying things for the service at the Altar and he might have pleaded the corruption of the Priests and of the service but he stands not out but complies upon this account lest we should give them offence When he had healed a Leper in Matth. VIII 4. He commands him to go and shew himself to the Priest and to offer his gift due upon such occasions And why should he injoin him the ordinary observance when his cleansing was extraordinary Why should he send him to undergo the common rites of cleansing when he was intirely cleansed already And these rites also seeming not to carry much solidity with them For he must stand in the Court gate of the Temple and not himself go in but thrust his head in that the blood of his offering might be put upon the tip of his ear For neither might the blood be brought out of the Court because it was holy nor might he go into the Court because he was not yet cleansed but thus standing and thrusting in his head he saved both cautions A strange rite and posture you will say yet will Christ for all that have the man to undergo those common rites used in that part of Service because he would not give offence either by crossing or hindring His own precept speaks not only his own practise but even his own mind and sence and he would never go contrary to that to which he exhorted others in Matth. XXIII 1. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chair they are the chief Magistrates and sit in the Legislative chair therefore whatsoever they command you in things not sinful do And it was a great deal easier to bring in sinless humane inventions into Divine Worship then than it is under the Gospel For when even their whole Religion given and appointed by God himself consisted namely of Ceremony it was less to add Ceremony to Ceremony than it is now under the Gospel whose simplicity hath excluded such Ceremoniousness altogether God by Moses had given general rules for Sacrifice Purifications Worship and other things Now there were some particulars necessary for the carrying on of those generals which either were not at all or not plainly set down by Moses Now if the Learned Leaders of that Nation finding it needful that something should be stated in those particulars and did according to their best judgment determine such and such things it was but helping forward Ceremoniousness by Ceremoniousness and stating particular practises suitable to the general end and intent which how any Ceremoniousness may be to the Gospels is not so easie if possible at all to find out or digest And therefore although I would set before you the great example of our Lord and Master of holding Communion with the Church yet upon this very thing that we are now speaking of it may give every one a time to consider whether Humane Inventions do so well and sinlesly comply with Divine Worship now as they might do then And thus having considered Christs obligations to hold Communion now let us come to observe his practise And that we shall take up in these two heads His Publick Devotions and his Gospel Institutions And the former in observing his demeanor at the Festivals in Jerusalem and in the Synagogue As to the first God appointed the three Festivals Passover Pentecost and of Tabernacles for Religion and for Communion and for Communion the rather I say for Communion the rather For the Services that Israel were to perform at them at Jerusalem might have been done by them there had they severally gone up thither but God would have them to go up and meet there altogether and to do those things altogether that he might tie them
that Royal Father that said All power is given to me in Heaven and Earth and it is a copy of her father He himself hath drawn his own picture in it in little as he sitteth in his Royal Domination and given that image of himself to you to wear always about you Let me therefore only tell you the story of a King that always wore his Fathers picture who had been a worthy Prince about him and ever and anon would look on it and say Ne quid unquam faciam indignum tali patri O may I never do any thing unworthy such a father Your wisdom and worth will make the Application A good Magistrate hath one part of the image of Christ more than other good men as Adams dominion over the Creatures was part of the image of God upon him as well as holiness and righteousness was the image of God in him So is his Power and Commission to rule Kingdoms in the World the very image of Christ ruling and judging if Righteousness and Holiness be added and Adam in all his glory was not arraied like such a Person I am unwilling to insist and spend time to prove that Magistracy is Christs ordinance lest I speak but as he did at Rome who had written a large discourse in praise of Hercules he was but jeered for his pains and folly to go about so seriously to commend Hercules whom none said they did ever discommend What sober man does or can deny Kingship and Magistracy to be of Christs ordaining and I am unwilling by being urgent in the proof of it so much as to seem to undervalue the judgment of any in the Congregation so far as to think this great and important truth needs any proof to him Only let me say this to those that do deny it That it is a very strange Logick they make when they conclude thus Jesus is King Jesus and he is Lord and Ruler of all therefore he will endure no Kingship else no Potentates no Civil Government Thou thoughtest me like unto thy self is the complaint of God against the prophane in Psal. L. 21. Men that would Rule and would have none to Rule but themselves would perswade you Christ is of that mind and so make that perswasion a stalking-horse to their ambition I am sure God himself concludes after another manner in the second Psalm I have set my King upon my holy hill of Sion what infers he thereupon Not Therefore O ye Kings give up your Kingship Nor O ye Judges of the Earth judge the Earth no more But therefore be wise O ye Kings c. and do your duty in your places When our Saviour Christ came to set up his Kingdom of the Gospel as among the Jews he took away and abolished only that of their Laws and Ordinances that were Ceremonial and that that related only to them as peculiar people but let that stand that was Moral and that that was not of that peculiar relation so among them Gentiles when he made them his Church he took away and destroyed only that that was sinful and abominable among them and which did most properly denominate them Heathenish as strangers and enemies to all Goodness and Religion but that that was innocent useful and necessary he perpetuated among them Among the Jews he abolished the worship at the Temple as purely Ceremonious but he perpetuated the Worship of the Synagogue Reading the Scriptures Praying Preaching and Singing of Psalms c. transplanted it into the Christian Church as purely Moral So among the Gentiles he destroied their ignorance Idolatry corruption of manners delusions of Satan as purely Heathenish But he perpetuated Kingship Magistracy civil Government as useful and profitable and taken up upon the very pure light of nature and inevitable necessity I may compare what he did in this to what he did about Baptism He found when he came that it had been in use among the Jews for admission of Proselytes to their Church many hundred of years before he himself or John Baptist were born and hence he was not sollicitous to give rules what persons and ages were to be baptized nor in what manner now for that was known both then and many generations before he came as well as we know it now but he took up Baptism as he found it continued in the Christian Church only he inhanced the dignity of it by Sanctionating it for a Gospel Sacrament So when he came among the Gentiles he found that Magistracy and Civil Government had been among them in all generations and he takes it up as he found it and continues in the Christian Church only he inhanced the dignity of it in Sanctionating it now for a Gospel Ordinance And I must add for a Gospel Mercy II. And that is it that I observe from the second clause in the Text They sat upon them A Christian Magistracy is a Gospel Mercy Christian Kings are Inthroned and Christian Magistrates are Impoured for a mercy unto Christians The context for several verses together speaks of several things as Gospel mercies and my Text coming in the midst of them speaks of that that is of the same nature and qualification It was a Gospel Mercy that the Devil was chained up that he should deceive the Nations no more as he had done in the verse before the Text. It is a Gospel Mercy that those that suffer for Christ and die for Christ are not lost but reign with him in glory in this same verse with the Text. It was a Gospel Mercy that the Heathen that had been so long dead in ignorance and all manner of sinfulness should have a Resurrection and come to the life of grace and glory in the fifth verse And it is a Gospel Mercy in the Text that Christians are set up to be Kings Rulers and Judges among Christians We need not go far for proof of this for the flourishing condition of England both in Church and State under such Government and Governors gives evidence and example sufficient in this case And vox populi the universal joy and acclamations of all the Nation upon the happy restoring of his Sacred Majesty speaks the sense and attestation of the whole Nation nay of the three Nations unto the truth and their sensibleness of this mercy The shout of a King of a most Christian King was among them I know your own thoughts prevent me in the proof of this and read the truth of it in this days occasion who is here that is a lover of right and honesty that is a son of peace and order and deserves indeed the name of a Christian whose heart rejoyceth not within him to see such occasion as these Justice looking down upon us from Heaven Deputies sent us from our great King in Heaven as well as from his Sacred Majesty and they of our own Nation Religion Profession of the same Body Church and Nation with our selves administer Judgment among us to relieve the
are Seals Obligations and Privileges And upon every one of these children are capable of the Sacrament of Baptism First Why is it not lawful to imprint a Seal of Gods truth upon babes Memorials of Gods truth and faithfulness have been imprinted upon liveless and insensible things Thus the Bow in the cloud was set for a token of a Covenant between God and the Earth IX Gen. 13. And Joshua wrote Gods Law on the stones of the Altar VIII Josh. 32. It was imprinted on children by Gods appointment in circumcision why not now Why do we seclude children from that honour now Why uncapable now Mistake not in thinking that Sacraments seal his righteousness or interest in God that receives them no they seal Gods truth whosoever receive them Simon Magus received baptism and Judas the Lords Supper they were seals of Gods truth though not to their profit Peter Paul received them for advantage How As Seals Yes but not sealing their righteousness but as seals of Gods truth and so they confirmed their faith T is ignorance and a blind cavil to assert the Sacraments seals of his righteousness that partakes of them and therefore that Infants are not to be baptized Secondly Infants are capable of an Obligation A man may bind his heir though an infant So infants were bound by circumcision Why not now Nay see Deut. XXIX 11 15. You stand this day all of you before the Lord your Captains of your Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the men of Israel your little ones c. That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God and into his oath c. Neither with you only do I make this Covenant and this oath But with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God and also with him that is not here with us this day Where you see that those that were unborn and distant when Moses made this Covenant were bound to this Covenant and children are no further off than these For the equity of the obligation lies not in the parties understanding the thing but in aequitate rei in the equity of the thing it self How come all men liable to Adams sin Aequitas imputationis the equity of imputing it to them makes them liable as they are in Adams loins and Covenant How do men become bound to perform their duty Not because able but ex aequitate rei because it is so equal and fit that they should So children at baptism may come under obligation not because they are able to perform their duty to know it but the equity of the thing lays it on They have this natural bond upon them as Creatures to Homage God if the Sacramental bond be added they are bound as Christians to Homage Christ. Why should this be so monstrous since they are as much capable to know one as the other I may add they are part of their Parents and therefore to be brought under the same Bond. So I would answer an Anabaptist I baptize my child because I am baptized my self A strange reason will he say Let him give me the reason of those two passages Gen. XVII 14. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my Covenant And Exod. XX. 5. I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children Alas what hath the poor child done Why doth God visit the iniquity of the Father upon the child He is part of his Parent and in the punishment of the child the Parent is punished Here then is the reason why Parents ought to bring their children to Baptism because they themselves are not whole under this bond and introduction if part of them viz. their children be out of it This is the reason of baptizing whole families Act. XVI 15. 33. c. Where you may see how they were first discipled by Baptism in a minute after hearing of Christ and also how the whole Family was baptized with the Parent It is childish to say it may be there were no children in those families and shews their ignorance that plead it For if never so many children they must be baptized For so was the Custom of the Jewish Nation in their use of Baptism when a Proselyte came in his children were baptized with him and all this upon this ground that all that were related to the Parent might come into Covenant But were succeeding generations of Proselytes children baptized I answer No but only the first generation was baptized Why then are we baptized after the conversion of our Nation I answer They had the Sacrament of admission Circumcision for true Israelites and that continued from generation to generation and Baptism being of the same nature and use requires the same continued practise Thirdly Baptism is for privilegial ends And a child is capable of privilege A child in the cradle may be made a King Children were capable of Circumcision that was a Privilege to be admitted into the Jewish Church why are they not capable of the like privilege now Talm. Bab. in Jeramoth Cap. 4. disputes this case and so resolves That one may be privileged though he know it not As one at a distance may be chosen Fellow of a College Why is not a child capable of receiving a badge of the privilege of being under the Covenant with his Parents Object But these Privileges come by birth of Christian Parents Answ. No not any privilege further than Baptism Birthright intitles to that and that admits to the rest of the privileges He that was uncircumcised was cut off though of circumcised parentage Gen. XVII 14. This argument the Apostle handles 1 Cor. VII 14. So that children are not only capable of Baptism as a Privilege but bound to Baptism as an Introduction to privileges and cut off without it as it was in circumcision We conclude with that remarkable passage Matth. XIX 14. But Jesus said suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Who brought these children Not unbelievers such to be sure would not they must therefore have been such as believed on him But what did believers bring them for Not to heal for if it were for that end why should the Disciples hinder them rebuking those that brought them vers 13. Christs answer to the Disciples shews that they brought them as children of Disciples and that Christ would own them as his Disciples which he by his words concerning them professeth them capable to be And the Disciples rebuked those that brought them not that they were ignorant that children were introduced into the Gospel bond and profession with their Parents but they thought this too much that they should desire so particular admission by Christ. It is observable that Baptism in the first times was the badge of Preservation from destruction See
shouldest value or think of him and the Son of man that thou shouldest make account of him Man is like to vanity his days are like to a shadow that departeth away Psal. CXLIV 3 4. And yet upon such an one God setteth his eye upon such an one he setteth some value He was to offer God half a shekel for his Soul God lays not this Tax to rate men according to their worth for that was nothing nor to lay any heavy burthen upon them for the tax was small but it was to instruct them That God requires some tribute of men for their preservation Men must not think to live on free cost and that God maintains their lives for nothing but rather let them know that he looks for some pay and tribute from them The Apostle tells us that what was written aforetime was written for our learning and so what was written for them is written for us too Only the punctual rate and payment of half a shekel lies not upon us as it did upon them but what is intimated by the payment of this rate is intimated to us as well as it was to them The intimation was that they Men owe God a debt and payment for the preservation of their lives and he expects it from them This payment of half ashekel mony ceased when the Jews ceased to be a Nation but the equity and intimation that it read and carried with it ceased not but takes hold upon us as it did on them The Ceremonial appointments of the Jewish Nation did not only prescribe the external action but also enjoyned the signified Duty too They were enjoyned to offer sacrifice The outward action was killing a beast and offering him upon the Altar for an attonement for their sins The thing siynified was the sacrificing of Christ the great oblation for the sins of men The Duty intimated was that they should look to the death of Christ and by that believe to obtain the forgiveness of their sin and not barely by their sacrifice So that they were bound both to the moral Duty to believe in the death of Christ for the attonement of sin and they were to offer sacrifice too thereby to signifie his death in which they believed And the like might be said of the other ceremonious burthens that were laid upon them But we will only take instance in that before us They were enjoyned to offer this half shekel yearly to God for the preservation of their lives The thing signified was that their lives depended upon God and to him they must look for their preservation The moral Duty intimated and required was That they were bound to pay atribute of obedience to God for his preserving them For it was not mony that God looked after but to obey is better than sacrifice The ceremonial part of their work was laid down long ago but the moral Duty that it signified lays still upon all of us and all men in the World By the way let me tell you this out of the Roman Histories that when Vespasian had conquered and destroyed Jerusalem he commanded that the Jews should pay this half shekel that they used to pay to God for their lives to his Idol Jupiter Capitolinus at Rome A sad thing to pay that that was to be paid to God their Preserver to the Devil the Destroyer For his God Jupiter Capitolinus was no better than a Devil And I wish in the parallel it be not too true with too many that they pay what they owe to God for their lives and preservations to the Devil Well the first thing taught in the payment was That we should learn and observe that God doth not preserve and take care of mens lives for nought but that he expects some tribute and payment for it And truly that he may in all reason in the World if we will but compare his case and mens together Every shepherd every shepherds boy must be paid for keeping another mans flock and must the great shepherd have no pay for keeping and leading Israel like a flock Nay Satan himself sees it all the reason in the World though he speak it with a venomous intent that if God have hedged Job round about as he had done and taken such care of him that he pay him with fear and careful walking before him Doth Job fear God for naught Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side I. Chap. 9 10. Therefore it is no wonder if he fear thee it is all the reason in the World he should There is no care in the world taken of one person by another but it is repayed with some fair repayment or other Even the care of Parents to their Children which you will say nature it self binds them to yet they expect to be paid with their obedience That challenge of God is but most just Mal. I. 6. A Son honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master if then I be a Father where is mine honour and if I be a Maste where is my fear It is the very title and profession of God that he is the Preserver Keeper Saviour of men and no pay to him from men for all this Job VII 20. O thou preserver of men The word signifies Observer too As God looks to men so he looks after men to see what they do and how they demean themselves to him that looks to them So Samuel hints to Saul and Nathan to David I have done thus and thus to you kept you dignified promoted prospered you and is this the requital you make to me Need I to tell you that God is called the Watch man of Israel that never slumbereth nor sleepeth but continually takes care of them But the Apostle 1 Tim. IV. 10. goes further and tells you that he is not only the Preserver of Israel but even of all men We trust in the living God who is the Saviour of all men specially of those that believe Some from the word Saviour would conclude universal grace and redemption but the word means as in the Book of Judges a Preserver or Deliverer and so God is to all especially those that believe Though he preserve not unbelievers in the very same manner and degree that he doth believers yet he preserveth them and looks for requital from them for their preservation Now that in all equity some payment is due to God in this case let us a little consider of these things First The preciousnes of life that very thing may argue that it is not a small debt we owe to him that preserves it It hath the proper name of precious Prov. VI. 26. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adultress will hunt for the precious life And do you not think that Solomon speaks very true when he calls life precious and do you not think that even the father of lies speaks
is very tender and loving to our Souls It is the great dispute Whether an Infant in Baptism be capable to have a Vow and bond laid upon him And thereupon some deny Infant baptism because he is not able to stipulate or take any bond upon him for he knows not what a bond or a Vow means Man is born as a wild Asses colt saith Job and a wild Asse colt little understands any religious concernment and an Infant when he is baptized as little Very true and yet Anabaptists cannot say A wild Asse colt is as fit to have a bond laid upon him as an Infant An Infant hath a Soul and ows duty to God a wild Asse colt wants both which moves God to deal after another manner with an Infant than with an Asse colt An Infant hath sin and guilt upon it and so hath not an Asse colt and upon this account also God deals in another manner with an Infant than an Asse colt An Infant is born a child of wrath as the Apostle saith all are Ephes. II. 2. God surprizes it as soon as born and makes it enter into bonds with him that it may come out of the state of wrath But further in answer to this objection consider these three things I. The child indeed then understands not what it does and cannot stipulate again in words to God as God by his Word doth to it but the very equity of the things that God lays upon it doth tie the child in the bond and wrap him in the obligation as justly and forceably as if the child had said Amen to every particular For it is the equity of Gods commands that lays the obligation of obedience upon men and not their own consent For as the Prophet speaks whether they hear or whether they forbear yet the obligation lies upon them Because it is so meet fit and just that they should do what God commands them By this equity God lays his obligations upon us in our baptismal bond And though as Infants we cannot understand nor consent to it yet by the justness of the things enjoyned we are inwrapped in it And Gods Vows are upon us and the more because he lays them on for our good viz. to deliver us from the wrath under which we are born The bond is to forsake the Devil and his works to believe in God and to serve him And can there be any thing more just and equal And though we are not then able to give consent to the bond and obligation and though none others should undertake for us yet doth not the very equity of the thing required oblige us II. God by the continual preaching of his Word minds us of the obligation We know not what we did nor what it was laid upon us but he all along now teaches us to know it and daily is refreshing to us the sight and sense of our bond and as it were anew tying it on It is considerable that the Commands are called the Covenant and the two Tables of the Ten Commandments the Tables of the Covenant And whose Covenant Both Gods and Mans. Gods because God hath indented with man upon such conditions And Mans especially because the condition of the obligation is his And God is continually warning him that it is his obligation There is a voice behind him continually telling him this is his duty III. As God in Baptism lays his obligation upon us when we knew not of it and in preaching of the Word is continually urging of us to know it so in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper he would have us willingly and knowingly to take it upon us They know not what the Lords Supper means that own not an obligation in it As in that Sacrament there is taught living by Christ so there is challenged a living to him The Sacrament reads that Christ died for men and that very thing reads that men are not to live to themselves There is a benefit pertaking of Christ to live by him but there is an obligation also a bond to live to him For as the Covenant is obligatory so this seal or administration of the Covenant is so too Now he that in receiving the Sacrament owns not such an obligation and takes not that bond upon him understands not what he does And if his heart do not engage to live to Christ as much as he desires to live by Christ he seeks to serve his own turn and not Christs A SERMON Preached upon 1 KINGS XIII 24. And when he was gone a Lion met him by the way and slew him and his carcass was cast in the way And the Asse stood by it the Lion also stood by the carcass IN this Chapter there is mention of one or two miracles and there is intimation of two wonders The miracles are the Altar at Bethel renting and Jeroboams head withered and at the Prophets prayer restored again The wonders are that so brave a Prophet should be deceived as he was should be destroyed as he was and its wondrous that the Lion that destroyed him should not also destroy his Asse I know you know the story He was sent to cry out against the Idolatrous Altar at Bethel and so he did He is commanded not to eat or drink in that place and he did not though the King kindly invited him home But by the deceiving of another Prophet he is brought back again when he was got out of Town he eats and drinks in the Town contrary to what he was commanded and when he goes out again a Lion meets him by the way and kills him There is no difficulty at all in the wordsof the story it is very easie to be understood but there is mysteriousness in the providential disposal of God that appears in the story I. The good Prophet to be so destroyed How would this incourage Jeroboam and the Idolaters at Bethel in their Idolatry Oh! this man was but a false Prophet all he said against our golden Calf and Altar was but a scarbabe for otherwise he would never have come to such an end And how might they boast that their new God at Bethel had met with him for his sauciness against him II. And how might this discourage other Prophets to go on the message of the Lord when this poor man sped no better than to be killed with a Lion III. That one Prophet should so deceive another as the old Prophet at Bethel deceived this poor man to his undoing by telling a lye and making him transgress the command of God How might this disadvantage the function and credit of the Prophets for who will believe them when they lie one to another and deceive one another IV. A poor man to be cheated and deceived into a transgression having that fair excuse The old Prophet did deceive me and I did it And yet to be so dreadfully punished for it as that it must cost him his life and in such a manner too as to be
and obtained life Let us now in the next place view the means of their believing II. A New Covenant was made with them They were under two Covenants in one day As Noah saw two Worlds so Adam saw an old Creation and a new As it was said of him Idem dies vidit Consulem exulem The same day saw him Consul and a banished man So the same day saw Adam under two vastly different conditions according to the tenor of the two Covenants The form of either Covenant was not exprest plainly but resulting The Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works both somewhat obscure to him But I. The enjoyment of God was necessarily intimated in both not the enjoyment of the Creature Adam was made a reasonable Soul for this purpose II. Obedience was the way This is a Duty to God and this is the way of the enjoyment of him when we conform to God III. He saw he had now lost obedience and the power of obedience He had lost God and the power of the enjoyment of him IV. God held out one that should recover him And he 1. A root of a seed as Adam was 2. Of an infinite Righteousness and Obedience beyond Adam 3. One that should by Obedience destroy the works of the Devil for his own seed V. Adam saw no way of recovery but by trusting in him God must be satisfied he could not do it obeyed he could not obey Therefore he had no way but to cast himself on Christs obedience VI. The Covenant only held out Christ to be trusted and believed on Obedience was required even by the Law of Nature and creatureship Faith was therefore enforced because they could not perfectly obey VII The Promise given in the curse of Satan that God would put enmity between the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent and that the Womans seed should bruise the Serpents head this had that effect upon them that they set themselves to defy Satan and cleave to the seed promised VIII That Mercy that created them in an instant so perfect recovered them in an instant Let us now in the third place view their condition under believing III. I. They were now representative no more as they were of mankind before the Fall They were stated in another representative Christ. Now they acted for themselves and he for them Hence their Faith was not imputed to posterity though their sin was II. They were built on another foundation than they were before Then it was on Nature Self-holiness Freedom of Will sandy foundations because changeable Now on a Rock Grace and the Righteousness of Christ. III. Now they have the Spirit of God working in them With Christ God gave his Spirit whereas before they had only natural abilities IV. Now they were under a Promise before not That Christ should break the head of the Serpent contained the promise of all good things V. They were under such Evangelical revealings that they wanted nothing needful for Salvation The Improvement of this discourse shall be in two or three Uses I. This magnifies Gods Grace to them and mankind How great is this Grace which will appear if you consider these things 1. There was as much done to provoke God for ever as was possible Compute the sin of Adam with all its circumstances 2. Here was greater Mercy than to the Angels that fell 3. Nay than to the Angels that fell not 4. Grace restored man to a better condition than he was in before We may admire all this and resolve all into Grace What comfort then is here to poor sinners Look on an Example that of St. Paul who was the chief of sinners yet Grace was exceeding abundant towards him 1 Tim. I. 14 15. He was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious Here were sins like scarlet yet forgiven You that are under the pangs of conscience consider this Grace Thou canst not sin so hainously as Adam did if thou addest not wilfulness and impenitency nor fall so high nor damn posterity as he did and yet he obtained pardon Take one Example more There were some pardoned that Crucified the second Adam II. See the wretchedness of the sin of Devils that is beyond pardon Their unpardonableness in what lay it In these two things 1. They sinned of pride and malice Adam and Eve of ignorance and weakness Take heed of sinning proudly and presumptuously 2. They were in the state of Eternity therefore their change to evil was unchangable Man carried the plea of weakness in his nature they not III. There is the same Grace Christ Promise Covenant from the beginning A SERMON PREACHED upon 1 JOHN III. 12. Not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his Brother and wherefore slew he him Because his own works were evil and his Brothers righteous THESE words refer to vers 11. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning that we should love one another and indeed to the tenor of all John's Epistles every where exhorting to love and not to be as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his Brother He had given two marks of one not born of God vers 10. Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his Brother They are both here in Cain Who was so far from love and righteousness that he hated his Brother and slew him Wicked mens sins are set down that we may avoid them as Rocks 1 Cor. X. 6. These things were our Examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted But Cain's sin reads more It is the first story after the Fall And it shews I. The enmity 'twixt the seeds II. What poison Satan bad breathed into mans nature The Holy Ghost in that story bids us look on him Thou art the Man This is Man fallen Of Seth it is said Gen. V. 3. that he was begot in Adam's image here it needs not be said it is so plain In the words we have a description of the Father and the eldest son viz. the Devil and Cain I. The Devil described by a most proper denomination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wicked one II. Cain by his extraction and action He was of the wicked one and slew his Brother We will first clear these and then make some observations from them I. The denomination of the Devil That wicked one So he is stiled Matth. XII 45. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other Spirits more wicked than himself Eph. VI. 16. Taking the shield of Faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the siery darts of the wicked So some understand that petition in the Lords Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deliver us from Evil that is the Evil one Nay Ephes. VI. 12. the Devil is called Wickedness in the Abstract We wrestle c. against spiritual wickedness in high places First He is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
best because each thought his course and faculty best Some thought best to spend the time in singing Psalms others thought the time better spent in delivering some doctrine others in speaking with strange Tongues c. 2. Or indeed rather in both these practises they Judaized As in Chap. XI they followed the customs and opinions of the Jews in praying vailed in wearing long hair and in their misconstruction of the Holy Sacrament so they did here both in speaking in a strange Tongue and in thus crowding to prophesie together The Jews read the Scriptures in the Hebrew Tongue and although it were unknown yet they would so read it and have an Interpreter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Doctor in his School whispered in the Hebrew If you conceive the strange Tongue here used by them to be Hebrew as there is the most reason to do so being a Church that Judaized in many other things and consisting in a great measure of Jews I need say no more to shew they Judaized in this So for many of the publick Ministers in their Synagogues to speak together to read interpret together their own records do so far assert it that they set the number how many together in each and in some allow good store In like manner you see in the Text how they thus crowded many speaking together confusedly in five distinct administrations One hath a Psalm others a Doctrine others a Tongue others a Revelation and some an Interpretation And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one means not that every one had all these but every one their something of these So every one must signifie if you read 1 Cor. I 12. Every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas i. e. some for one and some for another not each one for all And thus the second question is answered And now to proceed in the Explanation of the Text. The extraordinary gifts of the the Spirit are comprized under two heads in Scripture Tongues and Prophesie XIX Act. 6. The Holy Ghost came upon them and they spake with Tongues and prophesied And vers 1 2 3 c. of this Chap. Desire spiritual gifts but rather that ye may prophesie For he that speaketh in an unknown Tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God c. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort Where you see the Spiritual gifts in the first verse are divided into Tongues and Prophesie Now all these five are thus reduced to these two I. Speaking with Tongues That which is meant by it is couched under those two words Hath a Tongue hath an Interpretation That is Either to speak with strange Tongues himself or to Interpret them that do II. Prophesying What is comprized under that is explained by those three words Hath a Psalm hath a Doctrine hath a Revelation 1. The word Prophesying is taken for singing and praysing So 1 Sam. X. 5. Thou shalt meet a company of Prophets coming down from the high place with a Psaltery and a Tabret and a Pipe and a Harp before them and they shall prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chald. They shall praise him And Chap. XIX 24 25. And the Spirit of God was upon him also and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Rama 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he went on and praised And he stript off his cloths i. e. his royal robes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and praised 2. Prophesying means preaching declaring to the people the Doctrine of the Gospel So here hath a Doctrine The Apostles by the Imposition of hands ordained Ministers and gave them Spiritual abilities to prophesie or preach and unfold the Doctrine of Christ and Salvation So the Chaldee most commonly renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Scholar one learned and able and that taught the people So even that in 1 Sam. XIX ult Is Saul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Scholars or Ministers It is usually said of these extraordinary gifts that they are Tongues and Prophesie but see Act. X. 46. They heard them speak with Tongues and magnifie God This magnifying God is to the same sense with prophesying For they magnified God these two ways viz Singing or praysing and preaching the glorious things of the Gospel 3. Prophesying means speaking some heavenly Revelation So here hath a Revelation and thus the word Prophesie is taken in its proper sense as some had in those times either a Revelation of something to come for a warning to the Church as Agabus Act. XI 28. who signified by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout all the World which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. And he is called a Prophet in 27. vers And you meet with him again in XXI Chap. 10. Or the Revelation was of something that God would have his Church to do as in Act. XIII 2. As they ministred unto the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Hence we may understand that in vers 29. Let the Prophets speak two or three That is one to sing prayse and one or two to preach But vers 30. If any have a Revelation let the first that had the Psalm give place and let him rather be heard as remembring that God might intend some special admonition to the Church by so special a Declaration To discourse of all these five would take five times as much time as is allotted me I shall therefore only meddle with the first at present Hath a Psalm and speak something concerning that great and heavenly work of singing of Psalms in Christian Congregations And that the rather because it hath been spoken against in the cross times that have gone over our heads wherein all Religion has been brought into dispute Although it is a question whether these Psalms mentioned in the Text were of their own dictating or penned by others the former whereof seems more probable yet the very mode and work of their singing Psalms shews that it was a practise in the Christian Church from its very beginning Nay though this place speak it not clear yet others do That it was the practise to sing Davids Psalms in the publick Congregation the whole Congregation together You know what arguments are brought against this our practise 1. That the Congregation is not holy enough to joyn with in the performance of this Duty the very same argument which some urge against the reception of the holy Sacrament 2. That they being set forms are too narrow to express our particular wants and thanksgivings 3. That every one doth not understand and we should sing with understanding vers 15. Therefore I shall take up this Discourse the rather to shew that singing of Davids Psalms is a Duty incumbent upon Christians For the clearing of this I shall First speak something
of the nature of this work which will speak it moral and upon that account fit to be used in the Christian Church And secondly the Evidence of the use of it in the first times And first of the Nature of this Duty Many things are spoken of the excellency of the book of Psalms and many may be spoken of the Excellency of singing Psalms I may allude to that expression Many daughters have done virtuously but thou excellest them all So may I say in reference to this Duty all Duties are excellent but this includes all In singing of Psalms there is what is in other Services and more Prayer is our duty Praise speaking of Gods works singing are our Duties but this last is all it is like the holy Incense mixt of all these perfumes The excellency of this duty will appear further under these four heads First It is an action that helps up and keeps up the heart in a Spiritual frame as much as any See the Apostle arguing for singing upon this account V. Ephes. 18 19. Be filled with the spirit Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. And V. James 13. Is any among you afflicted Let him pray Is any merry Let him sing Psalms If the heart would be up in mirth use this to help it up being not yet come into frame If it be up use this to keep it that it be not transported The Heart by spiritual musick is called up to beat in the right mean As David by his Harp calmed Sauls spirit so this is proper to beat down immoderate mirth And so on the other hand it is proper to free the mind of lumpishness and sadness as Elisha being put into a passion and disturbance at the sight of the King of Israel called for Temple Musick to pacifie and allay his discomposed mind 2 King III. 14 15. And Elisha said as the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehosaphat the King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee But now bring me a Minstrel And it came to pass when the Minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon him See a strange passage in Jer. XX. at the 12. vers the Prophets heart is quite down O Lord of Hosts that tryest the righteous and seest the reins and the heart let me see thy vengeance on them for unto thee have I opened my cause At the 14 vers his heart is lower yet Cursed be the day wherein I was born let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed But in the midst of these sorrows and dejections he falls to praising and singing unto God At the 13 vers Sing unto the Lord praise ye the Lord. He strives to wind up his heart to a right pitch with Sing unto the Lord. As God requires outward and inward worship so a spiritual frame for inward worship may be forwarded by the outward composure Gazing drowsiness hinders the activity of the Soul but the contrary temper furthers and helps it Singing calls up the Soul into such a posture and doth as it were awaken it t is a lively rowzing up of the heart Secondly This is a work of the most meditation of any we perform in publick It keeps the heart longest upon the thing spoken Prayer and hearing pass quick from one Sentence to another this sticks long upon it Meditation must follow after hearing the word and praying with the Minister for new sentences still succeeding give not liberty in the instant well to muse and consider upon what is spoken But in this you pray and meditate praise and meditate speak of the things of God and meditate God hath so ordered this duty that while we are imployed in it we feed and chew the cud together Higgaion or Meditation is set upon some passages of the Psalms as IX Psal. 16. The same may be writ upon the whole duty and all parts of it viz. Meditation Set before you one in the posture to sing to the best advantage eyes lift up to Heaven denote his desire that his heart may be there too hath before him a line or verse of prayer mourning praise mention of Gods works how fairly now may his heart spred it self in Meditation on the thing while he is singing it over Our singing is measured in deliberate time not more for Musick than Meditation He that seeks not finds not this advantage in singing Psalms hath not yet learned what it means Thirdly This is a Service in which we profess delight in the thing we have in hand Yea even in sad mourning ditty we delight so to mourn Psal. C. 1. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye Lands serve the Lord with gladness T is a noise of joy and gladness It speaks that we delight in Gods Ordinances that we are about As Musick at Table shews we make a Feast of delight of what God hath provided Solatur voce laborem He that sings at his work shews that his work goes on with contentedness David at his harp and composing Psalms to the honour of God what delight did he take therein So that in singing there must be two things I. The Ditty to be applied by Meditation And II. Tuning the Voice to it in the best liveliness we can as delighting in the work Nay Fourthly This is a Service wherein one is cheared from another It is a joynt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One takes mirth life and warmth from another a holy servor and emulation as the Seraphins Esa. VI. strive to outvy one another in praising God Who is there but while he is joyning with the Congregation in this Duty feels such an impression and excitation his own string wound up by the consort of the Quire T is a story goes of St. Austin that it was one means of his conversion the hearing the heavenly singing of Psalms at Milan As all our Duties here in publick carry some bond and badge of communion we come to pray together hear together and so profess our selves Christians together we being all Scholars in the School of Christ so this of singing together more especially speaks it out But herein is not only a sign of communion but also mutual excitation As David speaks when he was at this work Psal XXXIV 3. O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together We do as it were joy one another to put on all as much as we can to joyn together in the praise and honour of God I need to say no more to shew that so excellent a Duty could not but be setled by Christ with others in the Christian Church the very nature of the thing may speak it I shall therefore only speak to three things I. The warrant of Christ for the observance of this Duty II. The admonitions of the Apostle for the same purpose And