the Gentiles have greater priviledge in Gospel times then they had before Isa 42. 6. Acts 10. 45. Rom. 11. 11 12. Gal. 3. 14. and who dare say that it is diminished let them prove it It s clear that not only the natural fleshly Seed of Abraham but those born in his house and bought with his money which were Gentiles were to be circumcised even Infants at Eight days old not of his Seed Gen. 17. v. 12 13 14. and this is an everlasting Covenant and if they were not circumcised the Covenant with Abraham was broken v. 14. and therefore those Sons of strangers Gentiles were within the Covenant made with Abraham how else could they be under circumcision the token of it and so as it was violated if it were neglected Yet these Gentiles had no right to the Land of Canaan which argueth that Abrahams Covenant was not meerly for the Land of Canaan or meerly typical as some would have it nor only for Abrahams fleshly Seed but extended to some Gentiles Indeed the Church was then Domestical in Abrahams family he would have none there but such as owned the true Religion such only were to be in his house and bought with his money as were then Church members for he commanded not only his Children but his Houshold after him Gen. 18. v. 19. and they shall keep the way of the Lord. And afterward such of the Strangers Gentiles who became Proselites and owned the Jewish religion were to be circumcised Ex. 12. v. 44 48. 49. when a stranger shall sojourn with thee and will keep the passover to the Lord let all his males be circumcised one Law shall be to him that is home-born and unto the stranger So then upon a profession of faith or true religion strangers Gentiles were in the Covenant with Abraham in that day and came under the token of it Circumcision and their Infant seed as well as upon a profession of the faith of the Gospel any are owned in Covenant now their Infant seed must be in it with them unless any can shew a repeal or that they are less priviledged then they were And methinks we have the contrary Act. 2. 39. the promise is to you your Children i. e. to the Jews to as many as the Lord our God shall call i. e. of the Gentiles answerable to the Proselites of old so Isa 56. v. 5 6. 2. The Blessings of Abraham in Gospel Times are come upon the Gentiles by Faith Gal. 3. 14. Therefore the Infant Seed of the Gentiles are in Gospel Times in the Covenant which God made with Abraham For Abraham had no other to communicate but Covenant Blessings and not the Land of Canaan for that is not given to the Gentiles and therefore the Blessings are Gen. 17. 7 8. I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee in their Generations And this for many Generations did extend to Parents and their Infant Seed v. 9 10 11. So as they passed under Token of the Covenant and were intended thereby all the time of the Old Testament He speaketh indefinitely and in general of the Blessings of Abraham not a parcel of them but in the Latitude and as amply as of Old And therefore by Faith God is visibly a God to the Gentiles and to their Infant Seed unless any can prove that God hath repealed that part of the Covenant which concerns the Infant Seed in Gospel Times 3. The Infant Seed of the Jews were in the Covenant made with Abraham in Gospel Times after the Death of Christ after all Legal Observations were abolished Therefore the Infant Seed of Believing Gentiles are in the Covenant made with Abraham in Gospel Times For there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles in Gospel Times Rom. 10. 12. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek i. e. the Gentile for the same Lord over all is Rich unto all that call upon him So Rom. 3. 22. Act. 15. 9. Putting no difference Gal. 3. 8. The Jews and Gentiles then are equal in respect of Gospel Priviledge yea there is no difference in respect of External Priviledge and Covenant Intrest for the Partition Wall is broken down that was between us and both made one Eph. 2. 14. And the same Olive Tree which the Jews are broken off from that the Gentiles are grafted into Rom. 11. v. 17 19 23 24. So that the Jews are not Priviledges above the Gentiles Now that the Infant seed of the Jews were in the Covenant made with Abraham in Gospel Times I prove 1. From Act. 3. 25. Ye are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenants which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be blessed This was after the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ after the abrogation of all Legal Sacrifices and Ceremonial Observations yet still these Jews were within the Covenant made with Abraham Children of it yea before their repentance for he saith v. 19. repent therefore c. and their being still in Covenant is used as an argument to it they were not yet cast out of that Covenant and that included not only the Parents but the Infant seed as I have proved already so Act. 2. 38 39. 2. The Jews and their Infant seed were in the Covenant made with Abraham the day before the Gospel came to them therefore they were in it in Gospel times after unless God repealed it or cast them out which let any prove who can I run it up to the Primitive times to determine this question thus In the Apostles days immediatly before their Preaching the Jews and their Infant Seed were unquestionably in the Covenant made with Abraham and under the token of it Circumcision therefore the Infant seed were in that Covenant after or else undeniably the coming of Christ and the Jews believing on him and being Baptized was exceedingly to their damage injury and disadvantage For this is to say that the day or moment before a Jew did believe and was Baptized his Infant seed were in Covenant with God the day or moment after the Infant seed was out of that Covenant Dare any say that to be out of Covenant with God or to be cast out is no damage no disadvantage is it not mentioned as a mystery to be strangers to the Covenants of promise Ephes 2. 12 it is the misery of the Jews to be broken off from being externally in Covenant and a mercy to the Gentiles to be graffed into the Olive Rom 11. v. 17 19 22 24. as promoting a partaking of the fatness of the Olive If it was a priviledge to be in that Covenant then it must needs be a loss and damage to be out of it When the question was Rom. 3. 1. What advantage then hath the Jew or what profit is there of Circumcision God by the Apostle answereth v. 2. much every way Is it not then great
Instituted without it v. 14. whilst it continued nor without Baptism now a token of the same Covenant and connected with the promise Act. 2. 38 39. in like manner and so Infants being in Covenant as Abrahams seed of faith are to be Baptized Obj. 3. There is no kind of Covenant holiness in the natural seed of Believers more than in the seed of Unbelievers now under the Gospel for no person is to be accounted common or unclean by nature more than others and so no person to be accounted clean or holy by nature more than others Act. 10. 28. God is no respecter of persons Typical Ceremonial holiness is abolished of the seed as well as of Beasts Birds Garments Temple c. A. The Typical ceremonial holiness abolished is not said to be by Nature Act. 10. 28. it was by the Law such as of Birds Beasts Garments Temple c. and this is at an end nothing now unclean or holy in that sense but that is nothing against the relative federal holiness of persons long before the Law by the Covenant with Abraham visibly having God their God and being his People Gen. 17. 7 8. otherwise then other People being separated to the Service of God and not afar off but nigh to him Ezek. 16. 8 9. Eph. 2 3 14 19. and this is not meerly by nature but as in the force of Gods Covenant Galat. 2. 15. As to Act. 10. 28. It declares that no person is common or unclean so as to bar him from the Preaching of the Gospel the Gentiles are as clean and holy now as the Jews in that respect Peter might go in to Cornelius no difference of Nation or outward state or condition to hinder it Col. 2. 11. all on equal terms and alike the means of grace may be extended to the Gentiles the offer is larger then it was not straiter here is no excluding or casting out of Infants from any priviledge Indeed the Jews of old were forbidden Marriage and Covenants with the Gentiles Deut. 7. 3. but not keeping company with them as Calvin saith we find no clear prohibition of the Jews going in to the Gentiles from the Law but from the observation of the Fathers However there can be no pretence for such uncleanness of Persons as Peter meaneth till the Law and the abolishing this by the Gospel is nothing against the federal holiness of Infants or others long before the Law by the Covenant with Abraham As to Act. 10. 34 35. it importeth that God is no respecter of persons as to acceptance with him be he Jew or Gentile of what Nation soever he may be accepted of God if he be a fearer of God and a worker of righteousness else not whatever privilege he enjoyeth Church-membership Baptism Lords Supper c. what is this against the federal holiness of their seed who are fearers of God and externally in Covenant with him 2. In Gospel times there is a relative federal holiness whereby some are differenced from other by a Separation from the world for God Rom. 11. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 9. ye are a holy Nation yea this reacheth Infants 1 Cor. 7. 14. Else were your Children unholy but now are they holy It cannot be meant of legitimation for if both the Parents be unbelievers yet the Children are legitimate Heb. 13. 4. the marriage bed is undefiled in all It is not barely a being sanctified to use for so are the unbelieving Husband or Wife to the Believer v. 14. yet are not holy Tit. 1. 15. It is not qualitative holiness if it were to be sure they may be Baptized it must then be relative or federal holiness Obj. 4. If the Children of the flesh are not the Children of God Rom. 9. 8. then Infants are not the seed of Abraham they may be by Election not by Calling Abraham hath two seeds a fleshly seed who had promises of the Land of Canaan and a spiritual seed Heirs of eternal Life the Heavenly Inheritance this was never given to the fleshly seed Ans Children of the flesh by degeneracy and a legal Birth are not the Children of God Of these he speaketh Rom. 9. v. 8 31 32. Gal. 4. v. 29 30. This is nothing against Infants Priviledge Also Children of the flesh Infants or adult are not internally and savingly the Children of God so as to inherit the Heavenly Inheritance only by fleshly descent but Infants of Believers are externally and visibly the Children of God as well as others Gen. 17. 7 10 11. Exod. 4. 22. Rom. 9. 4. To them pertaineth the Adoption and so they are externally and visibly Children if not by regeneration yet by dedication and separation for God from others This rendreth it probable and hopeful they shall afterwards share in the spiritual and eternal Blessings until they evidence the contrary by rejecting the Covenant as Ishmael and Esau did Thus the Infant seed of Believers are not the spiritual seed of Abraham only by fleshly descent but they are ecclesiastically and externally the seed of Abraham with their Parents by vertue of the Covenant But to clear this Text and Matter I shall add these things 1. Here is no repeal of any Covenant Interest which Infants undoubtedly had before the coming of Jesus Christ without which all said is nothing to the purpose it is not said those that of old were the seed of Abraham now are not so any longer but rather the contrary for till actually cast out he concludeth them highly priviledged Rom. 9. 4. Who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the Adoption and the Glory of the Covenants and the Promises So that still in Gospel times till cast out for positive Unbelief externally they had an Intrest in the Covenants and Promises as in former days and so their Infants shared with them 2. The Children of the Flesh which here are denyed to be the Children of God are an adult corrupt degenerate seed seeking Justification by a Legal Righteousness Rom. 9. v. 8 31 32. Israel which followed after Righteousness hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law. Such are a fleshly seed Gal. 4. 29. and obstinately erring in such a Fundamental in matter of Faith in any Age were not the Children of God they are adult ones that thus advance their own Righteousness Infants do not so and therefore are not the Children of the flesh here intended Indeed the Parents may so forfeit their Covenant Interest and consequently their Infant seed may loose it also because their Right was by their Parents 3. The Children of the Flesh whether adult or Infants are not the Children of God spiritually or are not the spiritual seed of Abraham only by a fleshly descent so as to be Heirs of Salvation Eternal Life the Heavenly Inheritance but yet may be the seed of Abraham ecclesiastically and externally as of old and nothing is here against it Mr.
boldness for any Man to contradict God and say it is a mercy rather than a misery to be broken off from it If any abuse the Covenant made with Abraham and Circumcision to the denying that Christ is come and to the seeking Justification by their own works or righteousness on such a false legal ground as Christ profiteth nothing and so as they oblige themselves or are bound to keep the whole Law and hinder their being justified what is all this to the proving that it is no damage or disadvantage for any to be cast out of the Covenant with Abraham even as to external Interest in it If after the Jews believing and being Baptized their Infant seed remained in that Covenant then consequently the Infant seed of believing Gentiles are in it also for now there is no difference 4. The Seed of Abraham are the same for species or kind in all generations and therefore the Infant seed of believing Gentiles are in the Covenant made with Abraham It s true there is a numerical difference Abraham hath a greater number than he had for his seed in the Nations of the Gentiles Mat. 28. 19. Galat. 3. 14. and in Gospel times there are great alterations in the outward state and condition of the Church and in the outward administration of the Covenant but as the Covenant it self so the seed in it are for substance the same in all ages of it The Seed internally in that Covenant so as to obtain justification and Salvation they were and are the same He saith to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made even one seed 430 years before the Law and so the Covenant cannot be disanulled Gal. 3. v. 15 16 17. the stress of the Apostles argument is laid upon the sameness of the seed admit one of another kind and his proof would fail Also as to external Interest in the Covenant the seed is for kind the same It is true Abraham was so far priviledged as to have a promise that of his natural seed concerning the flesh Christ should come Rom. 9. 5. yet after Gen. 17. 7. when persons rejected the Covenant though they were of the fleshly seed of Abraham yet they were cast out and also some strangers Gentiles becoming Proselites and owning the Covenant with Abraham though not of his fleshly seed yet were admitted to the external priviledges of his Covenant v. 12 13. Ex. 12 48 49. and their Infant seed came under the token of it and so were Covenanters If any rase out the Subjects of any Covenant without their forfeiting their priviledge it is presently null and void If the Infant seed were rased out of the Covenant with Abraham who undoubtedly for many hundreds of years were Subjects of it then the Covenant with Abraham were disanulled which the Apostle saith it cannot be Gal. 3. 17. but cometh upon the Gentiles v. 14. so as they injoy what the Jews were broken off from Rom. 12. v. 17 19. and seeing the promise of being a God to Abraham and his Seed by Divine Warrant intended the Infant Seed with the Parents in all the time from Abraham to the coming of Christ hence that must be the meaning of it still if Jesus Christ hath not repealed it and consequently the Gentiles being now in that Covenant the Infant seed of the believing Gentiles must be visibly and externally in the Covenant which God made with Abraham I omit other Arguments insisted upon by others least I should actum agere As to the antiquity of the practice of Infant Baptism besides what Justin Martyr and Irendus say Cyprian who flourished about Ann. 250. or 255. in his Epistle to Fidus who questioned whether Infants might be Baptized before the 8th day Cyprian with Sixty six Bishops in a Council unanimously declared to Fidus that they might be Baptized before the Eighth day which very question presupposeth that the Baptizing of Infants was then a thing granted and unquestionable only the particular day doubted of by some Neither may any conclude Cyprians testimony to be spurious seeing he is cited and approved not only by August but by Hierom. Contr. Pelag. lib. 3. and Christ saith out of the Law Joh. 8. 17. the testimony of two Men is true i. e. is to be received as true Neither doth the unsoundness of Cyprians judgment about Baptism otherways invalidate this for I do not alledge him to make his opinion an Argument for Infant Baptism but only to prove matter of fact that it was then a common practice in the Church when they might as easily know what was practised in the Apostles days as we may know what was a Custom a 100 or a 150 years ago And seeing the doubt of Fidus was grounded on the antient Law of Circumcision on the Eighth day hence the Antients then made the Covenant with Abraham an Argument for Infant Baptism and also thought Baptism came in the room and place of Circumcision It cannot be denyed that Origen Augustin Theodoret and others were for Infant Baptism § 2. Objections against Infants Covenant Interest and Baptism answered That the Covenant which God made with Abraham was of grace and in the Substance of it continuing in Gospel times is evident for the Apostle establisheth Justification even of the Gentiles the Romans by faith in a way of grace by the example of Abraham Rom. 4. 1 2 3 4 11 12 16 17. and by his being the Father of many Nations now if the Covenant with Abraham had been expired his arguments had been easily evaded by saying that Abraham was justified in one way we in another and that Abrahams Covenant was at an end its true some appendixes relating to its administration as Circumcision are abolished but the Apostle from the date of it 430 years before the Law concludeth peremptorily that it cannot be disanulled Gal. 3 16 17. and carefully observe that when the Scripture speaketh of an old Covenant which is disanulled it always is the Law at mount Sinai Jer. 31. v. 32. Heb. 8. v. 9. it never saith that the Covenant made with Abraham is abolished but the contrary declaring that the Law coming 430 years after could not disanull it Also in Gospel times they are said to be Children of the Covenant Act 3. 25. And hence all those notions that the Covenant made with Abraham was a Covenant of works a legal temporal one or mixt his natural seed having but temporal promises by it in the land of Canaan or a typical Covenant I say these as not true vanish and come to nothing And it is very considerable that in that Covenant with Abraham the Lord promiseth to be a God to him and his Seed after him Gen. 17. 7. and then a Second time with that temporal promise of the Land of Canaan to his Seed he twisteth this v. 8. and I will be their God. So that visibly he is a God to the same Seed which he promiseth the Land of Canaan too and for him to