generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Hence we collect it a Gospel-Covenant From 1. The language and expression of it 2. The continuance and duration of it 3. The blessings and benefits conveyed by it For the language and expression the voice is the voice of Jacob. The speech agreeth thereunto not to betray it as it did Peter to his shame and sorrow but to discover this covenant to its honour and our comfort to be an Evangelical Covenant That very phrase to be a God unto thee is a Gospel-phrase Otherwise how cometh he who upon the breach of the covenant of works was left our enemy our inraged judge to be a God unto us I see here Matthew in Moses the New couched in the Old Testament Parallel is the expression Mat. 1. 23. And they shall call his name Emanuel which being interpreted is God with us God with us and to be a God unto us differ something in sound nothing in sence Secondly for the continuance and duration of it An Everlasting Covenant that with Adam was but a short-lasting covenant Some conceive Adam never naturally slept in his Innocency accounting that caused deep sleep Gen. 2. 21. before Eve her creation supernatural but forfeited his Innocency before night As there be some kind of insects called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Naturalists say survive but a day so some conceive Adams integrity of no longer duration And though we dare not certainly close with their opinion the Scripture not acquainting us with the date of Adams perseverance in paradise we may be confident that covenant of works was of no long continuance before it was broken This short-liv'd covenant thus expired it was never reviv'd again on the same conditions but utterly extinguished Yea herein God magnified his mercy that upon any termes he would treat with mankind whom he might have condemned as incapable of any future contract for once breaking of Covenant Yet now he draweth up a second agreement with them being a covenant of grace and that everlasting such his goodnesse that though we if strictly examined break it with him he will not break it with us I confesse everlasting in Scripture is sometimes taken for long-lasting in which sense the Hebrew tongue accepteth of an ever after an ever but here it is taken truly for eternity seeing whom God loveth he loveth to the end without end The third argument to prove the evangelical nature of Gods covenant with Abraham is drawn from the blessings and benefits conveyed thereby whose size and measure is so great they are only of a Gospel proportion to be a God unto thee Could lesse be said then this so short the words yet could more be said then this so large the matter All things herein are comprized a promise to give repentance faith hope and charity patience in afflictions preservation from or in them competency of outward maintenance perseverance unto the end in a word grace and holinesse here glory and happinesse hereafter How tedious are the instruments of our age a span of ground being scarcely passed under a span of parchment in comparison of the concise Grants of our ancient Kings some of whose Charters contain not so many words as they convey Manours therein Yet even those Patents are prolix if compared with Gods Covenant in my text to be a God unto thee promising therein more then what man can ask or desire God hath set us a pattern therefore let thy words be few Eccles 5. 2. not to be babling to him in our prayers seeing he is so plain and pithy to us in his promises couching all things in so short an expression To put all out of doubt this Covenant of Circcumcision made with Abraham and his seed appears to be a Gospel Covenant because S Paul so expoundeth it If any scruple arise about the sence of a Law to whom should people repair for satisfaction but to the makers thereof if alive Thus on the emergency of doubts about the nature of this Covenant we may and must have recourse unto the Author thereof Now the same spirit who indited Genesis by Moses indited the Epistle to the Romans by S. Paul who plainly affirmeth Rom. 4. 11. that Abraham received the sign of Circumcision the seal of righteousness by faith Object It is strange to conceive how in that age there could be a Covenant of faith the word faith appearing properly but once Habac. 2. 4. in all the old Testament and once afterwards with a negation before it in reference to the Jews Deut. 32. 20. Children in whom is no faith Seeing therefore such silence of faith in the Old Testament so frequently resounded in the New this Covenant with Abraham seemeth suspicious to be an old Covenant of Works and to have nothing of Gospel therein Answ The word Faith only not the thing signified thereby is wanting in the old Testament What Christ and his Apostles call faith and believing that the Prophets and pen-men of the old Testament expresse by Trusting The Religion and Creed of the Ancient Patriarchs is briefly drawn up by David Psal 22. 4. Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded I will not say the Triplication of the word Trust denotes their belief in the Trinity Father Son and holy Spirit but here it plainly appears they had their confidence in and dependence on God though then not so clearly revealed unto them which sheweth the sameness in substance of their belief with ours Vse This serveth to confute such who account the Jews a meer husk shell and shadow of Gods people as if all the promises made unto them meerly terminated in temporal happinesses Thus they feed the Jews bodies with milk and fill their bellies with hony even to a surfeit flowing from the fruitfulnesse of the land of Canaan whilest in the mean time they starve and famish their souls excluding them as incapable of heavenly and spiritual blessings Their uncharitable errour is grounded on this argument because when their blessings are reckoned up Deut. 28. 3. it extendeth only to the city field fruit of their bodie ground cattle kine sheep c. but no mention of their eternal beatitude hereafter in heaven Yea when Isaac cordially blessed Jacob desiring no doubt to make the same as compleat as he could bestow and Jacob receive his expressions Gen. 27. 28. amount no higher then to the dew of heaven the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine On the other side when the Jews curses are solemnly pronounced Deut. 28. 16. they are confined to city field basket store fruit of the body land kine sheep c. Here a deep silence of hell and damnation so that the smiles or frowns of God to the Jews seem to reach no farther then to their well or ill being in this life To this it
in a setled condition affording conveniencies for the curing of that sorenesse which otherwise by constant journeying would be chafed and inflamed CHAP. II. Circumcision considered as a Seal of the Gospel Covenant and what spiritual Graces were conveyed and confirmed thereby MAny behold Circumcision with a flighting and neglectful eye as a meer legal Ceremony an outward Type and shadow having nothing Evangelical therein But on serious Enquiry it will appear to have a Gospel ground-work under a Ceremonial varnish The clearing hereof is of great consequence to our Present Controversie For if the Covenant of God made with Abraham at Circumcision was meerly typical then it died at Christs death with the rest of the Ceremonies But if it were a Gospel Covenant then it descendeth at this day to all the faithful It is our present endeavour to evince this Covenant of Abraham was Evangelical eternal and hereditary to all the Faithful For proof hereof take notice that God never made but two grand and spiritual Covenants Though the latter hath been manifested by different degrees and dispensations thereof The old Covenant 1. Made with Adam and Eve and in them as representatives with all mankind 2. In Paradice whilst as yet they persisted in their original innocence 3. On the condition that they should observe Gods law in refraining from the forbidden fruit 4. Promising to the observers thereof a perpetuity only in Paradise Indeed some Divines say but they only say it that Adam on his good behaviour should have been translated from Paradise to Heaven but this is more then can be demonstrated from Scripture The New Covenant 1. Made with Adam and Eve and such only as should succeed them in the visible church 2. In Paradise after their fall when the seed of the woman was promised to break the Serpents head 3. On the condition that with a lively faith they should believe in the promised seed 4. Putting believers into possession of a comfortable subsistance here and the reversion of heaven and happinesse hereafter This second or New Covenant is the sole subject of our present discourse which God made first with Adam without a seal and now renewed it with Abraham with a seal when the sign of Circumcision was affixed thereunto Here we must be cautious not to mistake the several declarations of this New Covenant to sundry personâ— to be so many new distinct Covenants For afterwards the same was repeated to Isaac Jacob Moses the whole body of the Jews at mount Sinai Joshua I wil never leave thee nor forsake thee a promise applied by the Apostle Heb. 13. 5. to all Christians David and others Yea scarce any of the Prophets wherein this new Covenant is not reinforced Now suppose a man causeth his will formerly roughly drawn up in paper to be afterwards ingrossed in parchment then fairly to be transcribed in vellome afterwards to be severally written in Roman Secretary Court and Text-hands so long as the same and no other legacies are on the same termes bequeathed to the same and no other legatees all will acknowledge these no distinct Wils but the same in substance and effect As here the same new Covenant at sundrie times and in divers places was made to the Fathers by the Prophets and at last most plainly by Christ himself Object 1. If this were a new or Gospel Covenant made with Abraham at Circumcision then was there a third and newer then this made afterwards to the Jews For so saith the Prophet Jer. 31. 31. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Answ Nothing more usual and obvious in Scripture then to call that new which is renewed especially if what was but dark and obscure before hath the old impression set forth in a new and fairer edition thereof John 13. 34. A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another and yet this new commandment was from the beginning John 2. 5. though lately almost antiquated and obliterated by mans vindicativeness Christ Heb. 10. 20. consecrated for us a new and living way yet is it the same with the Prophets old path Jer. 6. 16. traced with the feet of Adam and Eve and thorow which alone all the Patriarchs made their passage into heaven yet termed a new way as a new Covenant because after Christs coming more cleared explained and enlarged then before Object 2. It is improbable that this covenant with Abraham at Circumcision should be a Grace-Gospel-new-Covenant because God four hundred years after namely Exod. 20. at Mount Sinai gave the Law or Covenant of Works to the Jews the children of Abraham Now Gods mercy observeth a progressive motion it doth not with the Sun on Ahaz his Dial go backwards but with the master of the feast John 2. 10. He keepeth the best wine unto the last They therefore in a manner degrade Gods goodnesse set it retrograde who make his covenant with Abraham a new-covenant of Grace when He gave an old covenant of Works so many years after it Answ They are much mistaken who account the Law given to the Jews a meer Covenant of works though indeed there was very much of workish-ness mingled therewith The face of the new covenant at the giving of the Law is dressed I confesse in old clothes many old forms are used therein alluding to the covenant of Works made with Adam Yea the erroneous Jews partly through their own Ignorance partly thorow their Rabbins and Pharisees false glosses thereon mistook it for a direct down-right covenant of works resting in the Rinde or outward Bark thereof and depending on the performance of it for their Salvation But let not this Covenant be denominated for the most but the best part thereof let it be expounded not as the blind Jews misinterpreted it but as God graciously intended and the good Patriarchs and Prophets wisely accepted it for a covenant of grace wherein Messiah though obscurely was tendered to such who could not perform what the rigour of the Law required There is one word in the second Commandment which demonstrateth this Law to have Gospel in the bowels thereof namely the word Mercy Exod 20. 6. shewing Mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments Now Mercy is a Shiboleth which a covenant of works can never pronounce as utterly destructive to the very nature thereof and keeping commandments there must be taken for such as desire and endeavour to keep them though falling short of legal exactnesse But we leave the farther prosecution of this point to those learned Divines who have written just Treatises thereof conceiving it more proper for our present purpose to prove this covenant with Abraham a new-Gospel-covenant and the serious perusal of one verse Gen. 17. 7. will afford us three arguments for the evincing thereof And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their
how it came thither God knowes If we cannot perceive the manner of sins poison no wonder if we cannot conceive the method of graces antidote in Infants souls Let us allow heaven to be as incomprehensibly miraculous in healing as hell hath been insensibly subtile in hurting the same And seeing God hath expressed thus much that Infants are called by him to be Covenanters let us with humility and modesty beleeve them to be enabled with a proportion of grace to discharge their covenant in relation though it transcend our capacity to clear all doubts and difficulties which may be multiplied about the manner thereof In further clearing this Objection know that besides such graces which wee are bound to beleeve in Infants hearts they have three things else which assist them in this Covenant 1. Their Parents faith tendring them to God 2. Gods goodnesse accepting the tender 3. Their own actuall performance of the Covenant if living to years of discretion First their Parents faith in tendering them Appliable to this purpose is that expression recorded by three of the Evangelists brought in a bed by four who finding no door in the side such the presse of people made one in the roof of the house and let him down by cords into the room where our Saviour was Jesus seeing their faith Matth. 9. 2. When Jesus saw their faith Mark 2. 5. And when hee saw their faith Luke 5. 20. Two things herein are considerable first that the faith of the bearers was a motive and inducement to our Saviour the more speedily with favour to reflect on this sick man Secondly that the words their faith are taken inclusively taking in a fift faith to the former four namely the faith of Him who lay sick on the Bed However here we see that the beheste of friends concurred to the expediting of his Cure and though let down but by four cords he was lifted up into Christs favour with a five-fold Cable of faith which cannot be broken Nearer is the Relation betwixt Parent and childe then friend and friend When therefore a pious Father Mother or best then when both shall with the armes of their faith offer an Infant who indeed is a part of themselves to God in Circumcision this must needs bee a main Motive through Gods mercy and no otherwise to induce Him graciously to behold the Present tendred unto Him Thus the faith of Abraham and Sarah advantageth Isaac into Gods love the faith of Isaac and Rebeccah recommended and preferred Jacob at his Circumcision into Gods favour Secondly at Circumcision the childes weaknesse to covenant is assisted by Gods acceptance thereof That is well spoken which is well taken How simple and slender soever a childs performance is at Circumcision how low and little soever his faith is God stoops such his gracious condescension to take it up He makes as I may say a long arm to reach a short one and so both meet together Lastly this strengtheneth the Covenant then made by the childe that afterwards if arriving at years of discretion he publikely ratifieth and confirmeth the same with his own actuall faith evidenced to others in his pious conversation Men used to say of Plato his Scholers That their Masters Precepts did freez in them till they were about fifty yeers old and then began to thaw in them till the day of their death meaning that the good counsels he gave them made no visible impression on the amendment of their manners till the heat of their youth was overpast and they come to their reduced age Circumcision may be said to freez in Infants as to any eminent outward effect thereof during their Minority the vigor and vertue thereof is dormant and seemingly dead in them but when come to the vse of Reason then it raiseth and rouzeth it self namely when the Party makes good the Covenant made by him before and then the strength of that Sacrament had a powerfull influence on their souls all the dayes of their lives And although there ought to be no iteration of outward Circumcision which done once is done for ever yet inwardly to circumcise their souls was the dayly task of all devout Jews and ought to be our constant imployment and a word or two briefly of the nature thereof CHAP. VI. Circumcision considered as a signe and what Mysteries were signified therein THe Principal Mysteries couched under Circumcision as a signe are reducible to seven particulars 1. That our carnall corruption may be spared 2. Cannot be cured 3. Must not be covered 4. Must be cut off 5. This cutting off must be timely 6. Must be totall 7. Will be painfull 1. May be spared Listen not to the suggestions of Satan perswading us that sinne by long custome is grown so essentiall to our souls as if our mindes should be maimed and faculties thereof be cripled should corruption be taken from us Wherefore laying aside saith James 1. 21. all filthinesse and superfluity of naughtiness not that we may still retain in our hearts so much wickednesse as shall fill them onely parting with that which runneth over but all naturall filthinesse is superfluity it may be spared 2. It cannot be curred What is capable of Cure must have some soundnesse though more sicknesse therein for Nature distressed but not wholly destroyed is the subject of Art which must have a sound bottom or foundation to work upon If therefore there were any thing good in our naturall corruption there were some hopes of amendment in the rest But what saith S. Paul Rom. 7. 18. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing It cannot be cured 3. It must not be covered The onely way to make God hide his face from our sins is for us to open and not to hide our sins from him 4. Must be cut off Dream not of curing a gangrean with a lenitive plaister Hophni and Phinehas are too incorrigible to be amended with a few fair words Say not to thy corruption as Eli to them 1 Sam. 2. 23. Why dost thou such things Nay my corruption it is no good report I hear of thee c. All this is uselesse no way but one cut it off 5. The cutting off must bee timely Abels sacrifice had 3. excellent qualities Of what was first fat and faithfull Our service of God ought to be early deferre it not above eight dayes that is do it as soon as it is do-able without danger Indeed the longer Circumcision is delayed the greater will be the pain thereof Witnesse the Shechemites circumcised in their full strength Gen. 24. 25. And disabled by the Arrears of their pain to defend themselves though three dayes after Too blame they who put off the circumcision of their hearts and on frivolous pretences deferre their Repentance We read of Thomas Bourchier Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that the Pope dispensed with him by reason of his state Avocations and other impediments to performe his prayers