Prodigy to me that any should Assert that the Covenant that God made with Abraham was a Covenant of Works and yet Circumcision was the Seal of it for so it is expresly commanded of God to be as we have seen Did we ever read of this Seal amx'd to the Covenant of Works No in the perfect state that Man was in when God enter'd into a Covenant of Works there was no need of nor occasion for this Sacrament or Seal Let us but a little consider the Uses and Words of this Seal and we may see that that must be a Covenant of Grace to which it is affix'd as a Seal for either it holds forth our need of Grace or the merciful provision of Grace prepared for us I shall only mention a very few Particulars 1. This doth intimate unto us that vile polluted State of Sin that we were conceived and transmitted into the World in This may give us the knowledge of our undone State by Nature how God may loath and abhor us for ever The cutting off of the Fore-skin of the Flesh discovers the filthiness of our Flesh and how by Sin we have forfeited our selves and all into the hands of Justice that we be filthy and guilty Sinners 2. This sets forth the gracious Purposes and Intentions of a merciful God to wash and to cleanse and to sanctifie us by his Grace and by the Blood of Sprinkling The Blood that did follow the circumcising Instrument did clearly signifie that therefore cleansing and sanctification are set forth by Spiritual Circumcision When God doth graciously promise to wash and to sanctifie he doth promise to circumcise the Heart Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that thou mayst live Col. 2.11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ viz. By the Sanctification of the Blood and Spirit of Christ Phil. 3.3 For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit We have the inward Spiritual Circumcision of the Heart which was graciously signified by that Seal of the Grace of God belonging to that Covenant of Grace the Lord was pleas'd to make with Abraham and his Seed 3. To denote and set forth the need we have of the Blood of Christ to justifie us and that God would justifie us through his Blood And this Abraham had a special eye unto and his Faith was firmly fix'd upon after God had made this Covenant with him and his Seed and fix'd this significant Seal unto it This might be evidenced by many Scriptures Rom. 14.1 2. In many Verses in that Chapter therefore it is that Circumcision is called a seal of the righteousness of faith of that righteousness that is apprehended received and applied by faith certainly then that Covenant that hath such a significant gracious Seal added unto it can be nothing less or else than a Covenant of Grace 7. Reason To prove that this was a Covenant of Grace may be the great Result and Period of it which is no less than Heaven this is obviously implied in the comprehensiveness of this Promise we have here Gen. 17.7 I will be a God unto thee and unto thy seed after thee I will be a God unto thee and all thine Elect Seed for ever I will be a God to love thee to provide for thee to be with thee and with my self eternally to reward thee How vain and frivolous is our Challenger in Asserting that this Covenant made with Abraham was not a Covenant of Grace Because the great Promises of it were outward Blessings and the greatest of all was the Land of Promise Canaan What is not that a greater Promise for God to promise himself to be a God to Abraham and his Seed Is not an Infinitely Glorious and Blessed God better than Canaan than all the Canaans and Paradises in the World yea than thousands of Worlds But further to see the ignorance of this Man in the Scripture and in such Expressions which denote a higher good intended by God than what they themselves may import as this Promise is explained in the New Testament When God did make the Promise of an Earthly Canaan to Abraham and his Seed he did ultimately intend a better Land than this viz. an Heavenly one when the Lord doth promise this Canaan he doth promise Heaven which this was a Type of the main thing and good that the Lord design'd for his People by this Promise was Heaven and that they should be eternally saved Abraham did so understand it and others of the Fathers and so set their Hearts upon and rais'd up an Expectation of that blessed City and Country that was above that what they had here were but dark Shadows and cloudy Representations of what was to come Heb. 11.10 13 14 15 16. 8. Reason To prove that the Covenant made here with Abraham was a Covenant of Grace is viz. Because of that Obedience the Lord did both require and accept at the hands of Abraham in this Covenant There was Obedience and there was Service that the Lord did command and expected from Abraham this will determine whether this be a Covenant of Works or of Grace If it be a Covenant of Works it requires nothing less than perfect Obedience nothing short of it will or can be accepted therein as it was in the Covenant made with Adam Do this and live I but now here in Abraham's Covenant the Lord doth call for and accept of sincere and upright Obedience as in Gen. 17.1 2. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine the Lord appeared to him and said I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect viz. right or sincere And I will make my covenant betwixt me and thee Every one knows that though Abraham for Grace and walking with and obeying God was an excellent Man yet he was not a sinless perfect Man he had the perfection of sincerity but not a sinless perfection such an one as Adam had in Innocency In this Covenant Abraham did walk before God he did please God and he was accepted by God in vertue of this Covenant which could never have been had it not been a Covenant of Grace that had Christ to be the Mediatour of it in whom he believed and found acceptance Thus Beloved I promise my self that I have given you such Reasons to prove that this Covenant was of Grace which the Lord made with Abraham and his Seed for an Everlasting Covenant as cannot well be denied 2. Quest Whether some only or all the Children of Believers are in this Covenant of Grace with their Parents Whether this Covenant doth inclose and impale them all or not Answ All they that are the Seed of the Faithful the Lord takes into this Covenant with their Parents
remember the nature of his Challenge that it was a single Duel without propounding any Seconds that he hath engaged me in Stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved as ye have received the Lord Jesus so walk ye in him as ye have received how ye ought to walk so walk at all times and abound yet more and more while some and that not a few are crying up an Opinion not necessary to Salvation let your Zeal run out after those Truths of the Gospel in the believing and practising whereof you may obtain Salvation and greatly rejoyce in the day of our Lord Jesus Love one another pity and pray one for the other live in peace and love and the God of Love and Peace shall dwell with you Finally my Brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified that he in order thereunto would be pleased to fulfil all the good pleasure of his Goodness within you and the work of Faith with power is the hearty desire of him that is Your Servant for Christ's sake Fran. Mence The EPISTLE To the Candid and Impartial READERS Especially those unto whom the following Sermons were Preached WE live in a day and Age of Wonders in which the Divine Providence produceth many strange things behold here is presented unto your eyes the substance of two poor Sermons with considerable enlargement that are expos'd through great importunity to the open light in the World I have been very averse to contribute to the grieved and groaning Press that is overcharg'd by such Writings which were only fit after they have been utter'd in the Pulpit to be adjudg'd to the perpetual Grave of Oblivion such I readily confess are these Sermons and deserve no better Censure It is a Prodigy to my self that I should be prevail'd upon to suffer these Papers to appear with an open face and to be expos'd to the view of many I sensibly and feelingly find cause every day more and more to bewail and to blush at my own ignorance and incapacity for the work of the Ministry though I have not been vacant of many Solicitations accompany'd with the Tears of serious Christians that I would admit some of my Labours to be Printed But at the same time a cold damp hath seiz'd my Spirits from a deep conviction of my insufficiency for such an undertaking judging it to be my Duty to be like the Deaf Adder not to hearken to such Charms but to be inexorable You may then demand how comes it to pass that these two Sermons have obtain'd more than all the rest ever could I have not only consider'd the Importunity of dear friends I did formerly withstand which of it self could never have prevail'd but am fallen under a Conviction that the providential Call of my Lord and Master doth oblige me by reason of the great dishonour that is brought to his most sacred and pure Name from various infamous Doctrines that have been divulged amongst us and that with such heat and fervor that we are upon this little spot in an Inflammation yea near unto a Conflagration insomuch that out of consciousness of Duty and the importunity of those whose hearts do bleed within them I could forbear no longer but went unto the Sanctuary to fill my shallow Bucket with some of the cooling and quenching waters that issue from under the Threshold thereof Oh! that there might be a blessing attending this my Essay we are so set on fire round about us by a man of a vehement Spirit that seems to threaten all about him opposite to his Principle quickly to be consum'd and reduc'd to ashes God be pleas'd graciously to allay his heat and quench his false fiery Zeal It is well known that for six or seven years I have born with his unparallell'd Confidence in his frequent inveighing against Infants-Baptism with many insufferable reflections upon us that are in judgment and practice different from him He hath besides his frequent Excursions an anniversary day ex proposito to batter us with his Rams to the ground A long time we have made no resistance against him as many of you that attend upon my Ministry well know but have patiently receiv'd the furious fire of his Broad-sides Good Christians have repair'd unto me begging me to lift up the Standard of Gods Word against him but my reply to them was Wisdom should rest in the Bosom of some and that I knew not how short-liv'd considering the various Threatnings of a Divine Providence for a multitude of crying Sins that abound among us particularly the animosities and dissentions of the Professors of the Gospel our present enjoyments might be adding that I judg'd the Will of my Lord was that I should improve that little Talent he hath pleas'd to intrust me withal to the utmost of my power in preaching upon the weighty and most necessary Truths of the Gospel whereby through Grace I might save my self and those that hear me 1 Tim. 4.16 Some of his followers waxed bold looking upon what he delivered to proceed out of the mouth of an infallible Oracle crying out of me why doth he not answer Mr. C. and preach up his sprinkling of Infants if he had any thing to say he would not be silent Yea some have been so impudent as to say that what he doth as to the baptizing of Infants is against the light of his own Conscience To such bold Accusers and Boasters I shall only return in the words of the Apostle Rom. 14.4 Who art thou that judgest another mans servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth It is common amongst us for those that understand not the right hand from the left in any great point of the things of God to judge and condemn the most judicious and pious that are not of their Measures about Baptism let but a man renounce his Baby sprinkling as they scornfully call it and pass under the Water he is an excellent Christian If some of their Preachers be never so raw crude â—nd illiterate and can lay about them with abundance of Confidence though mingled with a great quantity of Nonsense yet they are admir'd by them being for dipping without which what is all the Learning Experience Piety Pains and sincere endeavours of faithful Ministers in serving souls It may grieve any one that hath a serious consideration of the worth of Souls and the weightiness of the work of the Ministry upon his Heart to hear how all that those deliver that decry the Baptizing of Infants is magnified as flowing from the Spirit of the Lord though much that is vented is but the apparent proles or off-spring of Pride Ignorance and Confidence Oh! let not my soul enter into their Secrets who is sufficient for these things I wish that there be not only contempt heaped
say that what I have here put into your Hands to read in the following Sermons is wrote and designed for the Honour of God the Grace of his Covenant to interpose a little between our poor Children and Little Ones and that Soul-amazing Doom that is pronounced against them to reprove the rash and furious Zeal of our Adversary to Answer the vehement Importunities and longing Expectations of many of my good Friends to commode all that hear me in instructing them in this great and comfortable Truth of the Gospel that I contend for to give a check to that Lying Spirit that is got loose among us to satisfie any that are stumbling and doubting about Baptism and to reduce if the God of Peace shall see good this poor troubled Place to a peaceable tranquil Composure Oh! cry to God that this my Vndertaking sincerely prostituted to the good of Souls may meet with some suitable Blessing thereunto and that all my poor Labours in the Work of the Gospel may obtain good success The Lord be with you and bless you and cause his gracious Face to shine upon you guiding you into the Way of Truth and conducting you to his Eternal Glory My Hearts desire and prayer for you all is that you may be saved I am Your Affectionate Servant in Christ Fran. Mence A Vindication of the Interest of the Children of Believers in the Covenant of Grace c. ACTS ii 39. For the promise is to you and to your children IN this Chapter we have one of the first Sermons that was preached after the Ascension of Christ The very first that we read of unless we take Peter his divine Oration in the Chapter before concerning the apostacy of Judas and the choosing of another in his room to fill up the Number of the Disciples to be the first This indeed is a most excellent Sermon and of divine inspiration in which the holy Scriptures refering to that case were elegantly and opportunely explicated and applyed and the Auditory that he directed himself unto sweetly composed and instructed in the Election of another Apostle to fill up the room of him that betrayed his Lord and Master who through the insufferable anguish of his own Conscience was a most execrable Executioner of himself and by the just judgment of God had his bowels burst out Acts 1.15 c. We come unto the Chapter which my Text is part of in which we may observe four general parts First The Mission of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles who according to the promise and command of Christ were to wait at Jerusalem for the accomplishment of that rare and necessary blessing to fit them for that great and difficult undertaking of preaching and planting the Gospel they were commissionated unto who were to go together and not enter upon this great work until the Spirit did rest upon them Ver. 1 c. we have their obedience to their Lords command chap. 1.13 14. There is one thing very observable that when the Apostles and those that were with them were with one accord waiting for the fulfilling of the promise they did not sit dumb and silent together but they did pour out prayer and supplications to God they did not keep such a silent meeting waiting for the Spirit as the Quakers pretend to do They were not only waiting but praying it may be well supposed that they were making supplications to God for the obtaining that promised mercy they were under the expectation of Secondly The Sermon that Peter by divine assistance did deliver to the Congregation that was about him His Auditory was very great no wonder it was so partly because of the time of it Here was a great Season that might contract a numerous Assembly it was in the time of Penlecost when there was a great resort of people from many places and also because of that wonder that was then wrought in the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles which enabled them to speak in various languages ver 4 5. When this extraordinary thing was noised abroad it brought the Multitude together some were confounded others were amazed and there were those that mocked they thought the Apostles were full of New Wine as if their speaking through the Gift of the holy Spirit so miraculously poured upon them was only the fruit and effect of their excessive drinking Thus we may observe how Satan doth instigate those that be under his conduct and influence to blaspheme the most wonderful and obvious Works of God ver 6 7 8 c. In this Sermon the Apostle Peter undertakes two things 1. To wipe off that foul Aspersion that was cast upon them of being filled with New Wine It was very needful for him so to do otherwise this might be a means to obstruct the good success of his Sermon We may see in many Verses the way the Apostle takes to clear them of this Diabolical Accusation from ver 14 to 22. 2. He comes to the peculiar Subject the Spirit of Christ did lead him unto viz. To set home upon the Consciences of the Jews their great and sanguinary Sin in their cruel and malicious crucifying and murdering the Lord Jesus the Prince of life the only Messiah and Saviour of the World Many of those that heard him were guilty of it as we may see by the round and positive charge he draws up against and fastens upon them verse 22 23. Here we may apprehend how fully and emphatically the Apostle doth fix this Crime upon his Hearers as to him that was barbarously murdered and crucified therefore he called him Jesus of Nazareth to shew that he was the true Messiah promised by all the Prophets and that they might readily understand that he spake of that very Jesus whom they in scorn and contempt called Jesus of Nazareth and upon whose Cross they fixed that Title the Apostle to make the charge the more full he adds that it was that Jesus of Nazareth that was a Man approved of God among them by Miracles Wonders and Signs which God did by him and that in the midst of them as they themselves well knew It was him that they did take and by wicked hands did crucifie and slay It is to be observed that this terrible Accusation is exhibited against all the Auditory of Peter when he saith unto all that heard him Ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain he might deliver himself thus unto them all because in so great a company many were present that actually poured out the blood of Christ Moreover the whole People cried out at the Tribunal crucifie him crucifie him and imprecated that his blood might be upon them and their posterity viz. the guilt of his blood and the direful fruits of it What a wonderful Spirit of Zeal and Courage was the Lord pleased to fill this Apostle withal Even him who out of fear sometime before had denied his Lord and Master he was now full of
the Spirit of the Lord which is a Spirit of might and strength that did animate and support him One would think that this bloody Congress that were skilful in and scarce cool from the effusion of blood yea of the best of blood would immediately have dispatched him and emptied his Veins That the Apostle might fasten their execrable sin upon their consciences in murdering the Messiah he doth from the Word of God prove him to be so He did not only propound his assertion but he proved it that so he might involve his hearers into a full and through conviction This doth evidently instruct those that take upon them to preach the truths of Christ to prove them and to be able to defend them The Suitable mediums and arguments the Apostle insists upon to prove this his Doctrine concerning Christ as how God raised him from the dead and concerning David a tipe of him I must not stand to shew but must come to the next general part I observe in this Chapter Thirdly The good effects and gracious fruits of this the Apostles Sermon After he had fixed the charge he drew up against the Jews for murdering the Messiah whom he proved to be so then he comes with a sharp arrow of application and strikes it deep by the efficacy of the holy Spirit into the hearts of his sinful Auditors ver 36. therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ He told them how eminently he was exalted by God whom they had vilified and abased unto the greatest contempt and shame and had put him to the most painful shameful and cursed death that ever could be Oh! to deal thus with the Son of God the Lord of all the only Messiah so highly exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high and made both Lord and Christ what a cut might this be to those that heard the Apostle being guilty of so great sin of such Scarlet impieties Tunc ingens est stimulus quo Petrus mirâ libertate et sinceritate pupugit corda Judaeorum See and behold what wickedness ye have committed the guilt of what blood you have contracted what maliciously and cruelly to murder the Lord Jesus the Saviour of the world who is the Lord of all who is over all God blessed for over This had by the blessing of the most high gracious effects and fruits upon those that heard him First They were pricked at the heart they were troubled and grieved at their heart because of their horrid sin they had committed in their detestable murder of Christ Doluerunt animis quod crucifixissent Christum Pisca Ver. 37. Secondly They ask Peter and the rest of the Apostles what they should do ver 37. Now they were brought into a miserable plunge the bloudy colour of their sin and their Consciences boiling hot within them pronouncing fiery Sentences against them the very sting of the damned was crucifying them this might well make them as amazed and confounded rebels to cry out what shall we do what course shall we take to get free from the charge of this crying sin no sooner were these poor wretches convinced and begged councell of the Apostles as to their escaping that dreadful wrath that was due unto them for their greatly meritorious sin but Peter gives them suitable advice directing them how they might obtain eternal Salvation by the bloud of him whom they had wickedly crucified and slain as in ver 38. he doth exhort and direct them to repent to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ that they might receive remission of sin and the gift of the holy Ghost then they may be well assured that through him whom they crucified they should obtain a discharge from their foul-confounding guilt and eternal Salvation I shall proceed no further in the parts of this Chapter neither shall I add any thing more as to the happy effects and events of the Apostle's most excellent Sermon in the hearts and lives of these wonderful converts that heard him who though never so wicked before were the prinitiae evangelij shewing the glorious efficacy of the sufferings of Christ that those that were his inveterate enemies and did so insatiably thirst for his pure and spotless bloud that nothing could satisfie but their washing their hands in the same by a violent effusion should partake of the first fruits of it The Apostle discerning what a miserable condition they saw themselves to be in and into what a direful abiss of divine wrath they apprehended themselves to be swallowed up he does not only nakedly call upon them to repent and turn to God and to fly unto him for mercy but gives unto them one of the most gracious Motives and incouragements thereunto telling them the promise is unto them and their Children He did well understand that their horrible sin did not only extend unto them but also unto their off-spring for they had not only poured out the sacred bloud of Christ themselves but also had involved their Children in the guilt of it Mat. 27.25 When Pilate had said I am innocent of the bloud of this Person see ye to it then answered all the people and said his bloud be on us and our Children Surely a lively sense of this made a deep wound in their Consciences To relieve and support them in this miserable plunge when they could not but see the wrath of a just revenging God ready to invade both them and their Children they could not but be in a deplorable case saying we have eternally destroyed and ruined both our selves and posterity The Apostle presents them with a Plaister broad enough for their Sore q. d. well though your sin be so grievous and damnable as to your selves and little ones yet repent and turn to God and it shall be happy both with you and your Children also for said he the promise is to both and will reach you and your dying infants you shall not be cast out of Covenant but you and your little ones shall continue in the same that you were in before the actual exhibition and death of your Saviour whom ye did impiously crucifie and slay Oh what a full breast of consolation was here from the infinite grace of God exposed for these miserable creatures to suck and hang upon the very marrow and quintessence of the Gospel is proposed to them for their effectual inducement to repent and believe Here was the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness in which these poor trembling sinners might wash and bathe their guilty and filthy Souls these were those that now look upon him whom they had pierced and did mourn over him as one mourneth for his only Son and they were in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born Zech. 12.10 Peter gave them such a Cordial that could not but greatly refresh and comfort them here he
the Apostle should here mention the Children if children here the Seed of the faithful that be in Covenant should not be meant of the Gentiles Those two Members of the distinction you that are nigh and those that are afar off would take in all persons in the world and frustra sit per plura c. the Children of these would be found either afar off or nigh one of those terms would have involved them all the mentioning of the Children must be an impertinency if it were not for some other reason There are some I know for a shift this bearing hard upon them will urge that imprecation Mat. 27.25 but it is improbable that all that were the hearers of this Sermon did joyn in that dreadful wish for many of them were strangers and lived remote from Jerusalem However the Apostle presseth them all alike to repent and to yeild subjection to Christ by an argument from the Covenant which carries weight enough with it though they had never been guilty of that horrid imprecation This argument of the Covenant hath been pressed at another time to prevail upon the Jews to the same duty of repentance Acts 3.19 20 25. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you In this verse he doth incourage them from a promise and observe the rare Motive ye are the children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed This extends to them that were afar off not only the kindred of the Jews but also the kindred of the Gentiles should partake of the blessing of Abraham viz. of the Covenant made with Abraham Gal. 3.14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles the blessing of Abrahams Covenant through Jesus Christ whose blood was the blood of the Covenant 3. The Apostle doth here fix his argument in the benefit that will redound unto them and to their posterity by their submission to the Gospel Administration by this he doth Emphatically press them to it Oh! what an incouraging and cogent Argument doth this Apostle by a divine instinct urge them withall such a one that poor awakened souls ready to sink into desperation could not tell how to reject or withstand This seems to be the genuine sense of it you are greatly troubled for sin in general and some of you have been guilty of that dreadful sin of a malicious pouring out of the incorruptible and sacred blood of the Son of God and crucifying the Lord of Glory therefore have highly deserved that his blood should be upon your heads and upon the heads of your Children for ever and since you have instead of reverencing killed the Lord of the Vineyard you have dreadfully provoked God to turn you out of it for ever but if after all you will but submit to him that you have crucified it shall not be so your deserts though never so great and crying shall never be given unto you but you shall still be to the Lord a chosen and a peculiar People the Church and the People of God to you and your Children the Promise shall still continue and all under a better Administration than ever because there is now abundance more of grace and of the Spirit to be poured out you and your Children shall have the first experience of it Oh how sweetly doth the Apostle here entice and allure them to accept of the Seasonable offer made unto them 4. That interpretation certainly that renders this Argument of the Apostle to the Jews to prevail upon them to the duty exhorted unto to be a discouragement unto them and to dishearten them in their submitting to the Gospel-Administration rather than an incouragement is not to be admitted That which doth contradict or at leastwise greatly impede and obstruct the design of the Apostle must not be entertained What was the design of the Apostle but to perswade these poor lost creatures to accept of Christ and his Administration that was taking place Therefore that he might obtain his end said he the Promise is to you and your Children for both were concerned in the blood of Christ and we may rationally suppose these weeping bleeding sinners were not only concerned for themselves but for their Children also They might well deliberate in themselves thus what will become of us I and of our miserable off-spring too Why saith the Apostle here is that that may allay all the amazing and confounding tumult of your self-condemning hearts the Promise is to you and your Children The Apostle did see that their Soul-disease had so sunk their Spirits and they were so ready to faint that they wanted the highest Cordial that could be poured into them and without this ingredient of their Children it could never have revived them This was the opening of a comfortable door of hope in their pinching and affrighting valley of Achor I have wondered sometimes how our Friends the Anabaptists can support their minds when they behold their dear dying Infants ready to expire and to give up the ghost to restrain the interest of the Children of these Jews in the Promise to the time of their calling could not but be a considerable discouragement unto them from coming under this Administration rather than an encouragement That it would have been so I shall give two Reasons to prove it 1 This would make their exchange to be for the worse and not the better for the Covenant under which they were before did run to them and their Seed but this runs otherwise to the great disadvantages of the Children and the great discouragement of the Parents Children by this way of Interpretation are excluded and dismist the Covenant till their call This could not but have a deep regret upon the hearts of these Parents that were well instructed into their Childrens Covenant-right with them and did so strongly depend upon it as they did 2. This would put their Children into the same condition with those afar off the restriction equally taking hold of the Children of the Jews with the Gentiles and Heathens yet afar off which would sound harshly in the Ears of the Jews If it were so of what import must the Argument be but of this Viz. If ye will now ye awakened trembling Jews believe in Christ and come under his Administration the Promise shall continue unto you but your Children shall be cut off and turned out of this priviledge they shall be in the same condition of the rest of the Pagan world when they hereafter and any of the Heathen shall be called then they may have a part in the same Promise too and not till then This being contained in that Interpretation whether it would not in the nature of the Argument rather drive
this Important and Evangelical Proposition 1. Quest What Covenant are we here to understand to be the Covenant made with Abraham that Believers and their Seed are inclosed in together Answ It is the Covenant of Grace This is the Promise or Covenant in our Text that refers to that in Gen. 17.7 It is not a Covenant of Works as some would have it to be Our Brethren the Anabaptists would by all means have this to be a Covenant of Works or a Covenant only relating to carnal and outward Mercies and Blessings and that because should this be granted to be a Covenant of Grace then we have gained the Point as to the Seal of the Covenant pertaining to Infants Our great Champion hath lately laboured extreamly to violate this Text and to pull down that blessed Foundation God hath laid for us to build upon as to our selves and little ones by his so doing he offered bold attempts to subvert many of the choice Texts that appertain to this To promote his Error and Confidence he would have this in substance to be the same Covenant of Works which the Lord made with Adam but I shall have occasion though but a poor Pismire to meet with this great Goliah that hath given me several Challenges in his publick Pulpit in the hearing of his Magnifying Auditory Methinks if Men did but with a serious and impartial Eye view that Text that mine refers unto such is the nature the tenor frame and circumstances of it that they durst not call this into question But how ready are Men to shut their Eyes against that Light that would discover unto them something that they are too tenacious of It is sad to see how some good Men that would be thought great Admirers of the Grace of God and yet do set themselves in this place against this high Expression of his Grace in his Covenant This is the same Covenant of Grace for the substance of it that is now on foot in the New Testament since Christ came and hath sent down his Holy Spirit to enlighten us into the knowledge of his Grace which runs through the Covenant whose Blood was the Blood of the Covenant made with those Fathers according to the Flesh of whom Christ came who is blessed for ever Here because my furious Adversary right or wrong will have this to be but a Covenant of Works or of outward Blessings and will not suffer one Drop of the pure and special Grace of God in a Covenant-way provided for the Salvation of the Elect nor any Emanation of Gods Love to be through this Channel transmitted into the World I shall endeavour to prove by several things that this is a Covenant of Grace if we can out make good this I judge we shall gain a good Point and drive our Opponent out of one of his strongest Posts and shall take that which he runs to as his impregnable Fort. The Lord open our Eyes to see the Truth in this great Affair with this I think a great deal of Building will stand or fall I shall briefly lay down some Reasons that to me do carry the Matter beyond all doubt that the Covenant in Gen. 17.7 was a Covenant of Grace 1. Reason May be taken from Abraham the Person chosen out from the rest of the World to partake of this distinguishing Priviledge God did appear to him and did call him to such a great Favour Thus to take him and his Children and his Family into covenant with himself and to make him the Father of the Faithful in all Ages and Generations What could move the Lord to this but his naked Love Mercy and Grace This is that which God did do for him Infinite Grace did single him out for this blessed Covenant-work calling him out from the midst of a wicked and idolatrous People and Generation Acts 7.2 3. And he said Men brethren and fathers hearken The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran And said unto him Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall shew thee Here we have the Lord selecting through discriminating Grace and Goodness this Father from the rest of the ignorant blind World where he was and it was that he might confer this honour upon him and his in making this Everlasting Covenant of Grace with them He that called him out of Grace did it much for this end and purpose that he might make and establish this Covenant of Grace with him 2. Reason Because of the quality of the Persons betwixt whom this Covenant was made let us but consider the state of Man when this Covenant was made and then we may easily see the quality of those between whom was made this happy Covenant Man was not now in his perfect Station in the which he was set down as he came out of the pure Mint with a perfect Draught and Impression of the Divine Image upon him but in an apostate sinful state and Abraham though call'd and sanctified in an imperfect state Therefore this Covenant must be made between God and Abraham not as God is a Creatour and as Men are innocent thus it was in the Covenant of Works made with Adam But God as gracious merciful pardoning Sin through the Blood of the Covenant and Men as sinful vile indebted to Divine Justice and obnoxious to the Wrath of God If Abraham had been as perfect as Adam was when the Lord made a Covenant of Works with him then we should have some ground to give heed to those that would have this to be a Covenant of Works I demand of my Opponent where God made a Covenant of Works with his Redeemed People since the Fall of Man As God ever dealt with his People in a Covenant-way since the Fall so they are capable of no other way Ezek. 16.5 6 8. None eye pitied thee to do any of these things unto thee to have compassion upon thee but when thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and entred into a covenant with thee thou becamest mine What Covenant can it be but a Covenant of Grace that such polluted Creatures can be taken into And thus it was with Abraham when God found called him appeared unto and enter'd into Covenant with him 3. Reason Because of the matter promised here unto Abraham in this Covenant God doth promise to be a God to him and to his Seed after him for ever Oh! this is the great matter
promised on Gods part this holds forth more than a Legal Covenant Is there a more gracious and a more comprehensive Promise and fuller of the Grace of God in all the Book of God than this Here the Lord doth give and make over himself yea all his glorious Attributes Names Titles Grace Love all Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Blessings here God doth give himself the Father the Son the Holy Ghost the whole Nature of God and all the Persons the Godhead with all the Attributes of that Nature and all the Offices of those Persons Thus saith Judicious Cotton in his Treatise upon the Covenant The Lord through this Covenant gives himself and all his to his covenanted People through all the Generations of the World I would willingly understand what may be the reason if there can be any given when this Excellent Promise is repeated in many other places of Scripture that it is allow'd to be of Grace and not here notwithstanding if I mistake not when this Promise is inserted in other places it is often taken from this Jer. 24.7 and 31.33 and 32.38 Ezek. 11.20 and 34.24 31. and 36.38 and 37.27 Here we have the same Promise and full of Grace and why not in Gen. 17.7 Oh! there would be great ground of fear should this be granted for then the Seal of the Covenant must follow as we shall see in the close of this Discourse This is that Covenant that Believers and their Seed be under since the Ascension of the Messiah and that we may clearly discern it God is pleased to use the old Phrase and Form of the Promise 2 Cor. 6.18 Heb. 8.10 The same Language and Dialect we have speaking of the New Jerusalem Priviledges and Glorious State Rev. 21.3 And I heard a voice out of heaven saying Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he shall dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God There is the other Branch of the Promise here that we must by the Rule of Relatives understand If God doth give himself to Abraham and his Seed then he takes them and chuseth them to be his People and Portion for ever when the Lord is pleased to say I will be thy God and the God of thy seed this must reeds be involv'd thou and thy seed shall be my people for ever and so it is relatively exprest often in the Covenant-Language Now I pray is not all this of pure Grace 4. Reason This is a Covenant made in the Hands of Christ the Mediatour and it was confirmed in him the great Seed of the Covenant and the Head and Foundation of all those that God doth take into Covenant with him This Covenant was ratified and confirm'd by the Efficacy and Blood of the Mediatour otherwise neither Abraham nor Isaac could have been saved and hence the Blood of Christ is called the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ the great sheperd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant c. God in making this Covenant had respect to the efficacious and meritorious Blood of his Son otherwise he could never have made such a Promise here of being such a gracious God to Abraham and his Seed for ever It is judiciously said of a Learned Authour that in this Covenant the Lord taketh the chiefest of the Seed of Abraham viz. the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Mediatour and Surety of it and so through him are all the Promises and Blessings of the Covenant convey'd unto Abraham and his Seed his faithful Seed all the World over therefore he is called the Mediatour of a better Covenant Heb. 7.22 and 8.6 And as it was made with Abraham and his Seed in the Hands of Christ so when it was translated unto the Gentiles it was by and through him and confirmed unto them by him Gal. 3.14 That the blessing of Abraham may come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith The Blessing of Abraham viz. the Covenant of Abraham Rom. 15.8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers He was the Minister of Circumcision the great Instructer of the Jews and did first confirm the Covenant to them and then to the Gentiles Ver. 9. And that the Gentiles might glorifie God for his mercy viz. for the Mercy of God through Christ by and through whom the blessed Covenant was confirmed unto them So that we may see that Christ was the Mediatour of this Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed witness those many Types of Christ which were annexed unto it viz. Their expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifices injoined the whole Congregation in case of Sin also the two Goats one for a Sin-offering for the whole Congregation and the other the Scape-goat over which all the Sins of the Children of Israel were to be confess'd by the Priests c. 5. Reason Because this is a Covenant that freely holds out and offers pardon of Sin without Works therefore then it cannot be a Covenant of Works It holds out pardon of Sin freely by believing in Christ The Covenant of Works we know holds forth no pardon of Sin no Mercy to Transgressors that violate and break the smallest point of it Gal. 3.10 Deut. 27.26 I but this Covenant doth it holds out pardon of Sin to the vilest and worst of Sinners to those that did barbarously and maliciously pour out the Blood of the Mediator of this Covenant Exod. 2.37 38 39. This is a Covenant that did freely offer remission and pardon of Sin without the Works of the Law Abraham himself through this Covenant by believing in the Mediatour and Testator of it was justified and pardoned read Rom. 4.1 2 3 4 5 c. That must surely be a Covenant of Grace that brings in remission of Sin and Justification by Christ through Faith God did promise to be a God to him and his Seed a God to pardon 6. Reason Because of that Seal the Lord did command to be affixed to this Covenant which was Circumcision Who can deny but that the Lord did command this Seal Sign or Token to be set to the Covenant to confirm and establish it Gen. 17.10 This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee Every man-child among you shall be circumcised This God did Institute as the Initiating Ordinance by this they were to enter as visible Persons into this Covenant or to be visibly discovered and own'd such that were in covenant with God and in a covenant way devoted and given up unto him Let me here ask this Question Did not this Seal of the Covenant denote that that Covenant it did appertain unto to be a Covenant of Grace It is next to a
everlasting covenant and there can be no Interest in it nor in himself but by way of Covenant as there can be no Redemption no Reconciliation no Justification no Sanctification nor Salvation but by and through his Blood and that Blood is the Blood of the everlasting covenant Zech. 9.11 As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit where there is no water Some do understand this of a temporal deliverance out of some great and grievous Affliction which the Lord did deliver his People if so then certainly it must be by the blood of the covenant by and through which the Elect are delivered out of all their Pits and Miseries into which their Sins have cast them The Lord Jesus Christ is the Mediatour of the New Covenant and if Infants be not in this Covenant they can have no Interest in him as Mediatour for he is no Mediatour but of such a Covenant His great Business is to confirm a Covenant to all such to whom he is a Mediatour Therefore to deny Infants being in covenant is to shut them out of all hopes of partaking of one Drop of the Precious Blood of Christ which is Covenant-Blood And thus here is a dreadful Rock in the midst of that Ocean of Misery that Sin hath brought them in which poor Infants dying in their Infancy must unavoidably split upon for ever moreover here we may see them all to have suffered Shipwrack without the least part of a Wreck left them to swim to shore on If it be so that the Infints of Believers are excluded from Right in the Covenant and the Promise of the Holy Ghost and Remission of Sin unless they do personally profess their Faith and Repentance as our Challenger would have it then they are out of all the ordinary way of Salvation and desperately exposed to be lost for ever 3. Demonst This hath been the way that a holy and just God hath observed in ejecting and casting out of the Covenant When Parents by their sin have been disinherited and cast out their Children also have been turned out with them we read of the breaking and taking in Rom. 11.17 19. The one must expound the other and one must be commensurate and responsible to the other otherwise the parallel of the Holy Ghost and the harmony of the matter will be broke They which were broken off were called natural branches they and their natural Seed did grow upon this root and both were broken off not only the Parents but the Children God wrote upon them and their Children a Loammi So when the Lord thro' rich grace did fill up their vacancy and inserted the Gentiles in their Room in graffing them into the same Stock making of them to partake of the root and fatness of the Olive tree it was they the adult Parents that did believe and all their Sprigs their Children that sprang from them that were graffed in Here we must observe a meet Similitude in the rejection of the Jews and the implantation of the Gentiles look how the One was by unbelief broken off so the others were taken in by Faith but the one both Parents and Children were broken off thro' the stubborn rejection of the Covenant not submitting to the new Administration of it when it was offered by the Apostles after the ascension of the Messiah which was expressed by the Parents only therefore the Gentiles are inserted with their Children notwithstanding the Parents only express a Beleiving embracement of the Covenant and the Promises thereof 4. Demonst Children are Members of the visible Church where their Parents be in Covenant with God they be initiated by Baptism and admitted into visible Membership the breaking off was the casting out of a visible Church Mat. 19.14 But Jesus said Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Our great Champion will not have these to be little in respect of the smalness of their growth or littleness of their age tho' it be never so ridiculous and absurd to deny it what will not rash men obtrude upon to uphold their crude indigested notions Observe a little here these be not only called Children but little Children Luke calls them Infants Chap. 18.15 And they brought unto him also Infants that he would touch them viz. that he would bless them they were such that were brought or born to Christ they could not come themselves then were there brought unto him little Children nay they were so small and little that the Disciples that attended upon their Lord thought that they could only be a trouble to him therefore they rebuked them that brought them yea and further 't is said that Jesus took them up into his arms when he laid his hands upon them and blessed them he took them out of their Parents arms or the arms of them that brought them when he blessed them Mar. 10.16 Yea one thing more fully to prove that Children are to be taken literally and not allegorically and that from the Greek word that the Evangelist Luke makes use of where 't is said that they brought unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a very little child Infants puer recens natus 1 Pet. 2.2 As new born Babes desire the sincere milk of the word that they may grow thereby The very same word we have for a Babe yet unborn and not injoying any habitation but the Womb Luke 1 41. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the Salutation of Mary the Babe leaped in her womb and so ver 44. the Babe leaped for joy Oh how did our Neighbour lately abuse this precious Text in his endeavouring to prove that which Christ will never thank him for Viz. that Children are not capable of Habitual Faith He would be thought a very great Scholar tho' we well understand what University he was brought up in but had he or could he but have consulted the Original text he would scarce have been so bold with Christ as to have attempted to destroy his Love to Infants and to have vented his cruelty to those that he took up into his arms to bless those that did hang upon the Brest and were also brought in the arms of godly Mothers that brought them forth unto Christ to receive some Spiritual blessing I do prefer the judgment of Learned and Critical Beza before a thousand such Doctors as ours is I will give you his sense of the words in Luke ch 18.5 and how he opens the words There he tells us what these Infants are these are his words Teneri nimirum et adhuc ab uberibus pendentes pueruli very little Children that hang upon the Brest sucking Babes which are carried in the arms Beza adds something more and saith thus Est enim adversus hostes Paedo-baptismi servanda propria significatio verbi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et
nominis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper signification of the words Infants and that they were carried to Christ and also that he took them into his arms when he blessed them must be kept But I may have an opportunity to meet with my Adversary in a more suitable place Thus we see what little things the Seed of Believers be that are Members of the Church visible for by Kingdom of Heaven is by all judicious Divines taken to be the visible Church Now because they be declared by Christ himself to be such Members with their Parents they must also with them be in Covenant with God 5. Demonst The Parents by Covenant do ingage themselves and their Children unto God When Parents do enter into Covenant with the Lord they do by the Bonds of the same oblige themselves and theirs unto the Lord and to be the Lords for ever Every Covenant-Parent does oblige himself and his Seed to God to walk according to the Covenant of Grace to which the Initiating Seal of the Covenant is annext and God doth promise to be his God and the God of his Seed Gen. 17.7 Parents when they do dedicate their Children to God by the Seal of the Covenant then they do ingage to the utmost of their power that they shall observe the Duties of the same So Children when they are Adult ought by Faith to lay a firm hold upon the Covenant and answer the Obligation of their Parents In a Federal Consideration when Parents do ingage for their Children this as it hath always been is accounted among the Judicious the Act of the Children in and by their Parents and they are obliged strictly to the performance of the same That Parents have thus ingaged for their Children in covenant with God might be easily proved Deut. 26.17 18. In which place Parents and their children are comprehended as is more fully and specifically expressed in Chap. 29.10 11 12 13 14. There we have the little ones expressed which are involved with their Parents in the former place Some that are Adversaries herein pretend to wonder how this can be but what is more common among Men In a Mans Covenant do not Men put their Childrens Names in their Writings Obligatory And their Little Ones and those unborn shall stand firmly obliged thereby and the Law doth take it as firm as if the Child had actually bound himself A little to Illustrate and Invigorate this We are to consider that the Children when grown up and prove sinful walking contrary to the Covenant yea and those that never did receive the Token of the Covenant by Circumcision stand accused of the high Charge of breaking the Covenant which is an Evident Proof of their being when but Infants in covenant otherwise this Charge could not be so clearly exhibited against them Deut. 29.25 The men shall say Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers Viz. the Covenant which the Lord God made with their Fathers This you have but a few Verses before to demonstrate that it was that Covenant the Lord made with the Parents and their Little Ones that stood before him to covenant with him 1 Kings 19.10 14. You may see what Covenant this was 2 Kings 13.23 And the Lord was gracious unto them and had compassion on them and had respect unto them because of his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and would not destroy them neither cast he them from his presence Yet they had broken this Covenant and for the Covenant's sake they descending from the Fathers and being the Seed of those with whom he had made this Covenant he would not enter upon them for the breach they made upon it to extinguish or to destroy them as yet It was the Covenant that did bind up and restrain the Hands of Justice from casting off the Jews the Children of the Fathers and of the Covenant therefore the Lord is said Psal 111.5 He will ever be mindful of his covenant Gen. 17.14 And the uncircumcised man-child whose flesh of his fore-skin is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my covenant Surely if the Seed of Parents in covenant are accused for the breaking of the Covenant they themselves must be in covenant and obliged by their Parents to keep it 6. Demonst Such as God is pleased to account and accept as holy are in covenant Those that have a Foederal Holiness must be Foederates and such that be in covenant with the Lord but this is the great Blessing of those that are the Children of believing Parents there is a Holiness attributed to them that is not to the Seed of Pagans and Infidels and it is a Covenant-Holiness therefore it must follow by undeniable consequence That they are in covenant with their Parents What makes Israel and his Seed more holy than the Egyptians or Canaanites and their Seed but God's taking one into covenant and not the other Thus Israel and his Seed are said to be holy Deut. 14.2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God If but one Parent be in covenant the Children be accepted as holy with the Lord 1 Cor. 7.14 Because of this the Children are not unclean as the Canaanites but holy like the Israelites I have spoke something to this in the Explication of this Point therefore shall hasten over it it would be to small purpose to enter into the Miry Labyrinth wherein some have lodg'd this precious Scripture I shall only say this with an Acute Person That commonly Reasons of Positions are brought à notiori to prove a thing doubtful by a thing known yeilded or confest this I judge to be a granted and a well-known Truth as one of the Jews Divine Axioms But that none but Believers Children are Legitimate and that none but Believers have a lawful use of their Children which are the two usual Expositions of the Adversaries on that Text which to me seems very jeiune and spurious those will hardly pass for unquestionable Truths among the wisest of Men And to make the Apostle argue thence to prove the lawful continuance of the Believer in conjugal Society with the Unbeliever would make the Apostle guilty of proving obscurum per obscurius an obscure thing by that which is more dark and obscure But to take Holiness there for that which is Foederal that is a clear Medium to prove that and whosoever shall stand up and oppose it there is the Dispensation of the Covenant with Isaac all along and that continued in the Christian Churches to prove it Your Children are holy Viz. Heirs to the Covenant a known Truth then granted and allow'd by all even like unto our Text That the Covenant was to the Parents and their Children How can the Children of Believers be said to be holy if they be not in covenant with their Parents From whence all the Seed of Believers do receive the denomination Rom. 11.16 For if the
no Gospel Covenant But let us hearken to Christ the best Expositor and applyer of Scripture who is the Substance and infallible Oracle of all divine truths Mat. 22.31 32. But saith he touching the Resurrection of the dead have ye not read what was spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but the God of the living where our Saviour affirms that the present glorification of Abraham's Isaac's and Jacob's Spirits and the future Resurrection of their bodies to live with God both Soul and body for ever to be included in that Promise and the very accomplishment of that promise I am the God of Abraham c. Hence this clearly appears to be a Covenant of grace of Spiritual and eternal Blessings 2. The promise of the Spirit is made to the Children of those Parents that be in Covenant therefore they must be also in Covenant Such unto whom God promiseth his own Spirit their's is the promise and Covenant of grace for that is a Covenant of promise Ezek. 36.26 A new heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you ver 27. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways The promise of the Spirit is one of the most gracious promises that the Covenant of grace is inriched withall Christ and the Spirit are the two Emphatical promises When Christ was upon the earth and hastning towards his ascension this was the great promise that he made to be left behind him and this is the promise that by the gracious gift of God doth appertain to the Children of those that are in Covenant with the Lord Isa 44.3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and flouds upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring Little Children that spring like little twigs from their parents that be graffed into the Covenant Chap. 59.21 As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Here is a blessed Promise to the Parents and the Children of this rare Priviledge of the Spirit with a perpetual Entail Acts. 2.38 39. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost For the promise is unto you and to your children Viz. The Promise of Remission of Sin and of the Holy Ghost The Truth is Dying Infants without this promise could never be saved 3. The Promise of Regeneration belongs to such Children Such to whom the Lord promiseth Regeneration and Renovation must needs be in covenant to them doth belong the Promise and Covenant of Grace for that is a Blessing of the Covenant of Grace Ezek. 36.26 A new heart also will I give unto you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh This doth expresly set forth the Work of the Holy Spirit in renewing and sanctifying and regenerating the Hearts of the Elect this is that which is promised to the Off-spring of those in covenant with the Lord therefore they themselves must also be in covenant Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul The Seal of Circumcision the Token of the Covenant did eminently signifie and Assure this to all the Elect Infants that were in covenant therefore Regeneration and Sanctification are oftentimes set forth by Circumcision and when the Lord calls for them he doth it under the Name and Notion of Circumcision This might have been evidenced by many place 〈◊〉 Without this Promise and the accomplishment of it in the Hearts of dying Infants they can never be saved for those Scriptures that exclude all unsanctified Persons out of the Kingdo◠of Heaven are as applicable to the young Children as to those that are the most Adult I need not stand to call in here any of those many Scriptures that have set an unmovable Barre before the Gate of Heaven against all unsanctified Sinners 4. The Promise of being taught of God is an Excellent Promise of the Covenant of Grace those that do partake of a Standing in this Covenant this is one of the Evangelical Promises that they are entituled unto those shall have a greater Teacher than Man viz. they shall be taught of God and by his Spirit This is the Promise that is made with such Infants that are in covenant with their Parents though some do scornfully say What can they learn Or what are they capable to be taught Let such know that they have reasonable Souls and God by his Spirit can easily teach them and they be under the promise of being taught of God Jer. 31.34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest God can teach the least Infant to know him Isa 54.13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. Let us consider can any but those that be taught of God be admitted unto the Eternal Injoyment of God He will take no ignorant Sinner into the company of the Glorifi'd It is said of Timothy that from a Child he knew the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 Every one of you I presume will readily grant that his Knowledge was saving and that he was effectually taught of God and I must tell you that he was very little when first he was taught and this will appear if we consider the Word in the Text And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his infancy Some that be learned and critical do tell us 〈◊〉 the Word doth signifie the very Embryo 〈◊〉 the Womb. God is able to teach and to sanctifie there propriè dicitur de partu recèns edito a Child so soon as brought forth of the Womb. It is an easie matter for God to fulfil the Excellent Promises of the Covenant and to cause the Babe that falls out of the Womb to fall into the Arms of Grace and he that sucks on the Breast to draw in the Heavenly Knowledge of Christ otherwise how can many be taken from the Breast and the Womb to Heaven as doubtless a Multitude of Coverant-Babes are 5. The Promise of Justification and the Remission of Sin is an Excellent Promise of the Covenant of Grace The Blood of Christ is assured
doth abundantly testifie of this in many Scriptures we have the Old Testament Phrase and Way Mat. 8.11 Many shall come from the east and from the west and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven By the Faith of the Centurion Christ takes an occasion to touch by way of prediction of the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews and the bringing of the Gentiles into the Covenant made with those Fathers and Patriarchs I do not know how to forbear the inserting of an excellent Observation that a Judicious Man makes upon this Text thus Quare non sine admiratione hoc additum fuit domesticos regni Dei haeredes fore qui tunc extranei erant neque id solum sed foedus salutis mox publicandum esse ut totus orbis in unum Ecclesiae corpus coalesceret dum Gentiles qui ad fidem accedunt ejusdem cum Abram Isaac Jacob salutis participes fore dicit Luke 19.9 And Jesus said unto him This day is salvation come to this house forasmuch as he also is the son of Abraham Here our Lord Jesus did preach the Covenant and upon the Faith of this good Man Abraham's Covenant entred into his House himself and whole Family were taken into covenant Exod. 16.31 32 33. This was the happy State of this Man so soon as he did believe God took him into covenant and his whole House and all of them in the same Hour of the Night did partake of the Seal of the Covenant after this Example we practice v. 14 15. This was the case of Lydia upon her believing she and all her House were Baptized 'T is strange if that in all these houses there might not be one Child there might be children in several of them however children be a part and a choice part of housholds So that here is a Rule for us to walk by that when the Master or head of the house doth imbrace the Faith that was never Baptized before both he and his are to receive the token of the Covenant as upon their believing they do enter into it with God This is the right way to be observed that Parents entertaining the Gospel that were never under the bond of the Covenant neither partakers of the Seal of it must be baptized and their Children that are Foederally received with them by God must be also with them Rom. 4.16 Therefore 't is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise or the Covenant might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all Viz. He is the Father of all that do believe both Jew and Gentile Eph. 2.13 14. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ For he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition Now by the blood of Christ the parting Wall that was between the Jew and the Gentile is taken away and both of them that believe are inclosed in one Covenant The Gentile that was afar off being out of Covenant and the Jew that was nigh being in Covenant Now in the New Covenant all our Spiritual and Eternal blessings come swimming to us upon the blood of Christ which blood for ever runs thro' the Covenant We have no other way of remission of Sin of renovation and Regeneration or of Eternal life then Abraham had in the Old Testament John 8.56 Neither doth the Lord require any other obedience from us then he did from Abraham therefore we are to walk in the steps of our Father Abraham 10. Demonst God doth challenge the Children of his people that be in Covenant with him to be his Children There is a special Interest and propriety that God layes claim to have in the Seed of his they be more his children then their's they are brought forth for him and by the Seal of the Covenant are and ought to be devoted and dedicated to God Ezek. 16.20 21. Moreover thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured That thou hast slain my children This is brought in as a great aggravation of their sin in their cruel and wicked Idolatry because their Children were those that God had a propriety in tho' they were their Parents children by generation yet they were his by Adoption and Federal assumption To offer any Creature to an Idol is a great sin but to offer Children is far worse and to offer Gods Children that is worst of all What greater Sacriledge can there be than this to rob God of his Covenant-Seed brought forth unto him and to cast them away upon Idols May not they be said to rob God that endeavour to rend and tear his Children out of the Covenant and refuse by the Administration of the Seal to give them up unto God 11. Demonst Shall be taken from many gross I wish I might not say wicked absurdities that follow the denying Infants interest in the Covenant of grace with their Parents That Doctrine cannot be of God that is cloathed with or attended upon with many absurdities I do find that those that are great zealots in casting Children out of their hold which the great Lord Proprietor hath given them in the Covenant are not apprehensive what absurd things do attend them The Livery of this Doctrine discovers it to be of no good Family its retinue may render it very questionable yea very unsound The truths of Christ admit of no absurdities of no gross Inferences you can infer nothing from any Doctrine of the Gospel but what is pure and precious Men to support their Errors may endeavour to extort and wrest the holy Scriptures to speak their filthy Language and to give countenance to their odious Tenents This is one of the Worst abuses and hellish Rapes that can be offered to the word of God Satan himself hath an exquisite skill herein and he hath taught many of his Disciples a dextrous knack in this black Art Did but the Adversaries of this my Doctrine consider into what absurdities they chase their Game and how the pretended beautiful face of their opinion is scratcht and torn it would make them a little more modest and moderate in their assertions and conclusions I shall touch upon some few of that multitude of absurdities that do inevitably follow shutting Infants out of the Covenant of grace they are included in with their Parents 1. This doth impose a great restraint upon the blessed Covenant contracting the large and copious grace of God that is involv'd in it This clips the wings of the love grace and mercy of God that doth dilate and amplifie themselves in a Covenant way Men may boast and vaunt that they are the great admirers and
Demonstrated 3. Such cannot be supposed by any ordinary prospect to be any of them that God hath eternally given to Christ to Save those that are saved in time are such that are given to Christ before all time When Christ came into the World to suffer to lay down his precious life he openly declared that it was for his sheep for those the Father had given him and for none beside John 10.11 15 17. and 17.6 9. There was an eternal Covenant of Redemption concluded between the Father and the Son in the which the Son did ingage to satisfie Divine justice by being a Propitiation in his blood for the Redemption of those that were given him And the Father promised all grace here and everlasting glory hereafter unto them as the fruit of his own grace and the purchase of their Mediatour that offered up himself as an offering and Oblation of a sweet-smelling savour 2 Tim. 1.9 Tit. 1.2 And all this is conveyed and transmitted to them by and thro' an Evangelical Covenant of grace made unto believing Parents and their Elect Seed For this is the great Sluce thro' which all the blessings of the Covenant of Redemption do run Now to banish Infants out of this Covenant what foundation can we descry to build any hopes upon that they be any of those that be eternally given by the Father to the Son to bring into a State of grace here and mansions of glory hereafter Psal 89.28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my covenant shall stand fast with him Viz. with Jesus Christ 4. We cannot look upon any of the Seed of Believers to be loved by God from the beginning if they be excluded that gracious compact they be in with their Parents Gods love to his Elect before all time is manifested to them in time the establishing of a Covenant of Grace is the great effort and emanation of the love of God to the eternally designed and determinated Subjects of the same God did single out Abraham and his Seed from the rest of the World to make an open patefaction and discovery of the hidden and secret purposes and intentions of his grace and love to them therefore he entered into a Covenant of Grace with them not only with Abraham but also with his Seed that being the great conveyance of all unto them Eternal grace and love streams thro' it from the fountain of grace and love So that if they be thrust out of this they be diverted from the usual current of all gracious designs and purposes and this must of necessity render their condition to be very dangerous and desperate 5. Neither can they be hopefully lookt upon to be redeemed and purchased by Christ and his meritorious blood That which gives believing Parents any good assurance of hopes that Christ extended his mediatory undertakings and sufferings for their Children is the Covenant-interest their Children have obtained with them Take away this Anchor-hold and the Anchor that is cast out will come home and Hope will languish and quickly grow very faint But here in my Doctrine is a good bottom for Faith and Hope in our wrestling with God by Faith in Prayer for the glorious Fruits and gracious Effects of the Effusion of the Blood of the Lamb of God that gave up himself unto death for us The Lord Jesus Christ himself came through the Covenant and was the great Seed of the Promise therefore he hath this Attribute given to him That he is the Mediatour of the Covenant Heb. 8.6 All his Mediation is promoted and transacted through this gracious Covenant therefore also he is called Jesus the Mediatour of the new Covenant Heb. 12.24 And also his Blood is called the blood of the Everlasting Covenant it cometh swimming unto us through the Everlasting Covenant So that to shut the Seed of the Faithful forth of this Covenant you do as much as you can carry them besides the usual passage of this Covenant-Blood 6. Neither can they be capable of Remission and pardon of Sin Infants as well all others be Sinners guilty Sinners and have an indispenfable necessity of the pardon of Sin as well as the Adult they be born with the guilt of Adam Sin lying at their door which is a strong Bar to keep them out of Heaven unless it be by pardoning Grace removed They come into the World and can never go to Heaven though they be never so few Moments in it without pardoning Mercy But where is Forgiveness seal'd Is it not in the Covenant of Grace Are not the Free and Gracious Promises great Branches of yea Essential Parts of the Covenant And are not the Promises of Remission some of the Promises of it Therefore we may see that all those that are or shall be pardoned it must be by and through this Covenant and if so where are the Hope 's placed for the pardon of the Sins of our dying Infants that are shut out of it I need not I hope stand to prove by several Scriptures that pardoning Mercy is Covenant Mercy and is assured by the Promises of it indeed there is not one Promise of this but what is a Covenant one Oh! then let us have a care what we do that we do not dare to disinherit the Children of Believers in that which gives the greatest hopes of their pardon of sin 7. They cannot be the Lords Adopted Children without this Covenant of Grace Adoption is a Covenant Blessing take it in a general and in an especial acceptation there cannot be so much as a general Adoption without this Covenant as I have shewn you because of this all Israel was called Gods Son and his Children this I have proved by many Scriptures which do abound with it much less can there be any special and peculiar Adoption without a Covenant of Grace this being one of the prime blessings of it Gracious Parents are greatly concern'd that their Children should be the Lords that they should be the Adopted Children of the Heavenly Father and Heirs according to promise but this is the peculiar favour and priviledge of such that are concluded within the compass and bounds of the Covenant Act. 3.25 Ye are the children of the Prophets and of the covenant which God made with our Fathers c. It is by Covenant that ye become Children and do partake of the Adoption for unto Covenant-ones doth the Adoption appertain Rom. 9.4 Who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the Covenants Here we see that the Adoption and the Covenant go together he that is shut out of one cannot be a Partaker of the other 8. They cannot be sanctified nor washt from their Sins turn them out of the Covenant and you drive them from the Laver of Regeneration and Sanctification nay you send them away from the very Fountain of Grace that is open'd for Sin and for Uncleanness Zech. 12.10 Infants yea those of the most pious and sanctified
Parents were shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin Psal 51.5 Those that spring from corrupt Parents cannot be clean Job 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one and 15.14 What is man that he should be clean and he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous It is impossible that he should Parents by propagation can only convey Sin to their Posterity not Grace but all the hope that they can have of their Sanctification is lodg'd in a Covenant of Grace where there are Provisions of cleansing and Sanctification treasur'd up and unless Infants be sanctified they cannot be saved nor inherit the Kingdom of God Eph. 5.5 But the Covenant of Grace is eminently adorned with excellent Promises of cleansing and Purification And for this our Lord Jesus poured out his Immaculate Blood which is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant this he did for his Church which Children are a numerous part of Eph. 5.25 26 27. And all the washing and cleansing of Souls is promised in and transmitted through the Covenant so that for Children to be excluded from it they must be bereav'd and depriv'd of all this great Covenant blessing without which they must be lost eternally and be concluded with the abominable and filthy to be the Fuel of inextinguishable Flames of Revenging Wrath. But Parents may encourage themselves from the good Inducements that are administred to them in reference to their little Children from this Heart-supporting and Soul-reviving Covenant Jer. 31.33 Viz. This is one great Branch and Blessing of my Covenant Ezek. 36.25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean 〈◊〉 from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you Infants must be included in these Promises Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul This is a blessed Encouragement vouchsaft by the Covenant of Grace but deny Infants a Title to this and then you have no room left to expect in an ordinary way their Purification and Holiness So that still it appears to be dangerous to exclude them this Covenant 9. They cannot enjoy the Lords gracious Presence without partaking of the Covenant it is his Covenant-Presence that is his peculiar and gracious Presence that he doth enrich his People withal The Church and the Covenant-People of the Lord did partake of this Presence before Christ came it was with them and with their Children 2 Cor. 6.16 I will dwell with them and walk with them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Viz. My peculiar and my Covenant-People for unto such doth this Special Presence appertain God pitcheth his Tabernacle and fixeth his Presence and Residence among his that are in this Happy Compact with him Lev. 26.11 12. And I will set my tabernacle amongst you and I will walk among you and ye shall be my people To turn Children out of this Covenant is the next way to send them from all the Beatifical Shines of this Mercy and to dismiss them from the gracious Presence of the Lord and to make them wandring and perpetually expos'd Vagabonds like unto Cain yea this is the way to bring the Children of Believers under that direful Imprecation Psal 109.10 Let his children be continually vagabonds The worst Vagabonds in the World are those that be stigmatiz'd with the infamous Brand of being Excluded the Covenant and the gracious Presence of the Lord. We see then that Men had need be careful how in respect of the Covenant they deal with poor Infants 10. They cannot be gathered to Christ nor brought under the Wings of his Mercy It is an Excellent Promise of Christ That the gathering of the People viz. of all the Elect shall be unto him Gen. 49.10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come viz. Christ and unto him shall the gathering of the people be But still the gathering of Christ is a Covenant-gathering Psal 50.5 Gather my saints together that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice The Wings of Christ underneath which the gathering must be are lifted up in this Covenant though his gracious Wings be never so receptive and large yet the only way to creep under them is by getting within the Bond of the Covenant Those that be not within the Inclosure of it are not said to be gathered but to be remote and distant from Christ Eph. 2.12 13. That at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world But now in Christ Jesus ye that were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ You be called and brought into the Covenant though you were afar off yet now are brought nigh by the Blood of the Covenant so that all that are not in the Covenant are still afar off and remote from Christ This is the condition that Children of pious Parents must be unavoidably cast into that are banished the Covenant of grace by which a people are brought nigh and gathered into and unto Christ 11. They be by this way of dealing shut out of in a word all Covenant-Blessings and Priviledges and so are represented to be in a most deplorable and miserable condition this strips them naked of all the covenant-blessings they be cloathed and invested with It is the promise of the Lord and it is a promise full of grace that he will shew mercy to thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments Viz. To many generations of their Seed and posterity I shall here inlarge no further Thus by what hath been said you may see that by excluding Infants out of the Covenant of grace they be shut out of all the ordinary ways and means of Salvation For a full confirmation of all these particulars we see our friends the Anabaptists deny to the Infant-Seed of Believers the token of the Covenant which Seals up all the Covenant-mercys that God hath promised and graciously provided For it is to be observed that when the Lord did establish his Covenant with Abraham and his Seed Gen. 17.7 in the 10. ver He instituted and appointed Circumcision the Seal of the Covenant to assure Abraham of the performance of all the gracious promises of it is To deny the Seal then is to break the Covenant and as far as man can to deprive the Seed of all priviledges and benefits of it 4. The next absurdity from the Doctrine of turning Infants out of Covenant is this It doth not only hinder them from being Members of Christ but makes them the miserable off-spring and Members of Satan Those that deny Childrens Covenantship by which they be Foederally holy pretend some kindness unto them in as much as they would not have
therefore he takes them both into Covenant with himself Covenant Love is alwayes exprest in the Scriptures to be peculiar Love that God might shew even to the face of all the World that distinct and special Love which out of infinite and special Grace and Favour he had lodg'd in his heart to Abraham and his Seed he was pleased to take them both into Covenant with himself and so they came under a blessed Marriage Bond which doth not only denote a near Relation but also Conjugal Affection God hath a peculiar Love for them will make them his Church and People therefore brings them under a Covenant Bond and Compact and Engagement Deut. 4.37 And because he loved thy fathers therefore he chose their seed after them This hath been the way of the Lord to express his peculiar love that he hath to and care over a People to enter into Covenant with them which is of a distinguishing and of a discriminating nature from the rest of the World and their Seed Ezek. 16.8 I entered into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Mine and Covenant do alwayes go together 4. Reason Because the Lord may lay a good and sure foundation for the hope comfort and joy of pious Parents concerning their Children God knows how much the hearts of good men are concerned about their little ones the Lord is pleased to bestow upon them how much and how deeply they be taken up in their considerate and studious minds about their Eternal State Religious Parents know what immortal and never dying Souls their Children are inspired withal that must be everlastingly happy or miserable that must live with Saints and Angels or Devils for ever they know not how soon it may please the Lord to demand them back again from them and consign them to an unalterable station they know that they have conveyed and communicated to them a sinful Nature and as they are descended from them they be plunged in the filthy labyrinth of Sin and that they be born under the guilt of Sin by Nature Children of Wrath These and such like matters cannot but oftentimes sink and overwhelm the thoughts of good Parents and occasion pensive meditations about their little ones Now for them to sit down and contemplate what grounds of hope God hath been pleased to give them in relation to the Souls of their Children oh how comfortable is it And they find that all their hopes must center in this blessed Covenant which the Lord hath been graciously pleased to make with Parents and their Children A Covenant abundantly inriched with all Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Blessings and Priviledges which may give full solace and acquiescing content and satisfaction to godly Parents that are thus concerned about their Children There is enough in that promise of the Covenant I will be thy God and the God of thy seed By reason of the Covenant of Grace Believers may look upon their Children to be the gracious gifts of God unto them So did Jacob Gen. 33.5 said he unto Esau These are the children which God hath graciously given thy servant and by reason of this Covenant they may hope and believe that God will graciously take care of and provide for them If Parents did believe that their Children were not in Covenant with the Lord and that the promises and priviledges did no more appertain unto them than unto the Children of Pagans and Infidels as some do too impiously assert I know not what joy and comfort they can conceive in their minds about their Children nor what can feed their Faith in crying unto and wrestling with God for them What comfort can poor grieved Parents take concerning that miserable state they receive their Children into the World in unless they find sweet and comfortable support and relief from the everlastingly gracious Covenant which doth wonderfully magnifie the Grace of God to Parents in that he hath taken their Children with them into it and makes abundantly for their peace and consolation This was that which satisfied and even ravished the heart of David with joy concerning his Family and Children 2 Sam. 12.23 when his Child was dead he was greatly comforted and satisfied saying I shall go to him but he shall not come to me which words as I apprehend denote the good hopes that quieted his mind through the thoughts he had of the eternal happiness of his Child and that he should shortly go to him and injoy the same happiness with him This good man David did meet with great disappointment in his House and Family but from the consideration of the Covenant he had a never-failing spring of joy and comfort which did exhilarate his Spirits in their depressing sinkings 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow This is a full breast of consolation upon which all godly Parents may hang and suck and draw a fullness of peace and comfort for themselves and Family in their most discouraging and dying dispensations 5. Reason Because by this means the Lord may provide for a perpetual and an uninterrupted succession for his Church and Kingdom in the World That God will have a Church unto the end of the World is founded upon his Eternal Purpose the Mediatory Transactions of his ever blessed Son and upon the infallible Promises of the never-failing Word But this is the way and expedient that he is pleased to pitch and fix upon for the preservation and perpetual propagation of it he hath taken his Church into Covenant with himself the Parents and their Children the latter of which are to promote and to provide for its continual succession that so when Parents have finisht the work of their generation and shall descend the stage of the World their Children may take place and fill up the vacancy in the Church of God This was one great reason why the Lord did take Adam Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob into Covenant with their Children that out of their Loins might issue a Seed to populate and to secure the Church as to a perpetual succession in Gods Family House and Kingdom So the Covenant in the new Dispensation of it takes in the Parents and their Seed for the same end and purpose For the great built of the Elect and body for the future provision of the Church are provided from the Covenanâ— Seed Therefore as it hath before been proved that Children are Members of the Kingdom and Church of God this is one great end why the Lord hath instituted Marriage for Covenant Parents that he might provide a constant Seed for his Church The Metaphors by which the Church is illustrated described and lively represented do abundantly demonstrate this sometimes the Church is compared to a Vineyard sometimes to an Orchard and sometimes to a Garden see Cant. 4.13 Psal
Covenant nor have any Habitual Faith and that is to have their Sins done away by an imputed Righteousness This would be something had he given us any Proof of his New Invention but not a word of this Indeed I think he must have a New Gospel to prove this I did say when I Preach'd these Sermons in my Congregations That to talk of a Righteousness of Imputation without a Covenant Interest and inherent Sanctification was Mountebank Divinity And so I say still not doubting but in a short time I shall not only say as he hath but prove what I say as he hath not I am sure the Scripture is abundantly on my side I pass it by at present because I intend if the Lord please suddenly to demonstrate this matter I am a weary of this pitiful trash therefore shall say no more till I shall Epitomize his Books provided I have a further Challenge and Provocation Only I shall give you one branch of his Charity to us that sometimes pretendedly he calls Brethren the Wounds he gives us and the Darts he would strike into our Hearts and the Hearts of our Children discover him to be more like an inveterate Enemy than a kind Brother for his Pen and Pulpit as to us are filled with little less than Wormwood and Gall yea I may add from what I have here discovered even with Poyson But pray take one touch of his Charity to his Brethren as he calls them He saith without the least Proof That not only the Conformists but also the Nonconformists have lost the Door and the Subject that should enter the Door So that we have lost the very Essence of the Ordinance viz. of Baptism we have neither right Form nor right Subject and who are they that enter not in by the Door but climb up and come in some other way We know the Scripture you refer to and apply unto us John 10.7 8 9. 'T is easie here to see your judgment of us that we are the Thieves and Robbers that come not in at the right Door I shall say but little to this now for 't is but the proud and empty sound of a Man that seemeth little to consider what he saith only I do humbly in the Name of the great Shepherd Challenge my bold Challenger to answer this Censure he hath put upon all his faithful Servants that are for Baptizing of Infants at the great Day Here he doth discernably enough Unchurch us Unminister us and Inordinance us the Lord lay not this Sin to his door We have little reason to wonder that he should give us such foul play when he ventures at the same time to deal no more kindly with the Church of England that is guarded by the strong Walls and Fences of the Laws of the Nation for he saith That the Conformists also have lost the Door and the Subject that should enter the Door and the very Essence of the Ordinance and they their Ministers enter not in at the Door Here is a Man that will not only tread over the low Hedge but will venture upon the sharps of the Piltes to vent his Unchristian and Censorious Opinion Christians I hope such pitiful raw spurious and jejune Allegations as these I have presented you withal will rather turn your Stomachs against them than open your Throats to swallow them Alas I have given you but a little to what I might have presented you withal let not such empty Assertions without the least shadow of probation lessen your esteem of this Blessed Doctrine I have been upon Truth is never the less precious because it is calumniated by opprobrious and dirty Pens Look upon this choice Truth by the Light of the Word of God and you cannot but see such a lustrious beauty in it as to cause an inconceivable estimation and value in you for it 2. Word of Exhortation I would press upon you is that you would improve this Doctrine in the best ways and unto the best advantages that you can You and your Children being in covenant ought to be made the best use of that may be There be several ways by which you ought to improve this Doctrine I shall propound some of them unto you begging you to put them into practice 1. By giving up your Children to God in the use of the Seal of the Covenant I mean Baptism When God did make this Covenant with Abraham and his Seed he did so and so it was all along when there was opportunity for it the Covenant is the same still for the Substance of it and the Seal ought to be affixt to the Subjects Let Men never so much vilifie and reproach it calling it Baby-baptism and Sprinkling of Infants without the least soundness of Mind or Judgment That is a pretty Saying for Children to laugh at which our Neighbour in one of his Books brings in thus That it may be very much questioned whether the Jaylor we read of Acts 16. that was baptized and all his House had any Children seeing it hath been observed some Years agoe that for very many Years together not one Child was born to all the Jayl-keepers in all the County of Essex This is a pretty Observation it seems it was some Years agoe I believe he knows not when however he is not minded to acquaint us of the Authour of this Excellent Story Let Men talk their fill pray do you mind your Duty God requires that your Children that be his by covenant should be given up to him by the Seal of the Covenant Christians have many Inducements lying upon them thus in this Ordinance to devote their Children unto God 1. By this they do manifestly own and set forth their Belief of the Doctrine of the Covenant It is Practice that is the best Indication of the Belief of Divine Truth we must not only be Knowers and Professors of the Will of God but must be Doers also that Man discovers but a slender Manifestation of his Knowledge of the Covenant whose Actions are not something comporting with the same 'T is observed by some that the reason why God met with Moses and threatned to kill him when he was sending him for the deliverance of his Brethren into Egypt was because he had not circumcised his Son Exod. 4.24 25. 2. By this means we do openly shew forth the Grace and Goodness of God unto us in making such a Covenant and the wonderful Love and Kindness of Christ in dying for us which Blood is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant as in the other Seal of the Covenant the Lords Supper Christians do shew forth the Death of Christ 1 Cor. 11.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye do openly declare preach and publish it so by the affixing the Seal to your Children you do set out and declare the Infinite Grace Love and Goodness of God in taking you and your Seed into the Covenant 3. By this you do enter your Children visibly into the Church of God or
Ones the Children that the Lord hath graciously given thee to be with thee That thou and thine are become the Children of the Covenant and of the Promise magnifie God for so inestimable an injoyment and improve it to the utmost advantage of thy self and thine but be not ignorantly gull'd and trapan'd out of it as many are in this day 4. Exhortation Teach and instruct your Children so soon as they be capable of it in the right knowledge and understanding of the Covenant As the Lord hath honoured you in taking you and your Children into Covenant you ought to be much in explaining and unfolding the Priviledges and Duties of it to your Children This is one of the Magnalia the great things that God hath written in his Word viz. that we our selves and off-spring should be well versed in and acquainted with This is one great way to discover the high esteem that you have of the Covenant for your selves and Children when you take delight to study to arrive unto a good understanding of it and carefully to instruct and teach your Children the knowledge of it Timothy had Conscientious Parents or Parent that did so teach and instruct him that when he was very little he was well acquainted with the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 Many there be that are very desirous to have their Children to be Baptized and to partake of the Seal of the Covenant but little make it their work and business to admonish and instruct their Children suitable to that Relative Duty which they stand under the obligation of to their poor Children One great reason why many as I find do renounce and reject the Seal of the Covenant is because they were never well instructed into the knowledge of it nor the Duties they were bound unto the performance of by the Seal of it Few Parents no not some that have the root of the matter in them do take that care as they are bound to do to inform their Children into the Gospel-administration of the Covenant since the time of the Incarnation and Ascension of the Messiah and to shew the parallel that there is between the Covenant first openly establish'd with the Jews and their Seed and now with the Gentiles and their Seed Wheresoever the Gospel is sent by Divine Conduct unto any place and Preach'd that never had the Beams of its Glorious Light shining before there those that believe and repent must be Baptized and their Children with them and enter into the Covenant together for saith the Apostle The promise is to you and your children and to those that are afar off and even to as many as the Lord shall cast The promise viz. the Covenant is to you and your children ay and so it shall be with those that are afar off even the poor Children of the Gentiles so many as the Lord shall call they with their believing Parents shall be received into Covenant with the Lord Acts 2.38 39. I shall conclude all with one word of Exhortation unto ungodly and unconverted Sinners It is to exhort them in the name and fear of the Lord that they would convert repent and turn unto the Lord. To Repent is one of the great Doctrines that is charged upon us in our Commissions to Preach to and urge severely upon Men. John the Baptist did much fill up his Ministry in calling upon those that did at any time attend upon it to repent Our blessed Lord began his Ministry in sounding out the same Doctrine This is a Doctrine that we that Preach the Gospel ought to be solemn and instant in How happy would it be if there were no other contention among Ministers than this for every one to strive to bring most Souls to Faith and Repentance It may be matter of lamentation to see how many take upon them the Work of the Ministry such that I fear though they make nothing to condemn and disannul the Ministry of others are scarce able to prove their own Call thereunto how they labour abundantly more to proselyte their followers to their Opinions than to obtain Converts to Christ But to close all I do here intreat and beg all that hear me that be yet out of Christ impenitent Sinners to repent and turn to God and take hold upon the Covenant and the rare Blessings and Promises of it and for your encouragement The promise shall be unto you and your children You and yours will be taken into this Covenant If you are not in it already what will you stand and stout it out against God under the precious means of Grace and the rich tenders of the Gospel proposed unto you and to labour to ruine your selves and Children for ever â—o far as you can After all the terrible threatnings of the Word that have been defeated by you oh let not this be rejected but let it melt your Hearts into Repentance This I say of my Text The promise is to you and your children Amen FINIS
to bedew them with all those Heavenly Blessings thou hast promised those whom thou hast placed and planted in such a capacity so near unto thee These Natural Endowments be great Mercies but hast thou not promised a New Heart a New Spirit also to write thy Law and to put thy fear into their Hearts Oh! be a God to me and mine in the communication of all Covenant precious Blessings in the greatest Latitude of them When God had said he will be a God why may not we hope for the accomplishment of the fullest Sense thereof Say to God Hast thou not made with me an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all my salvation and all my desire 2 Sam. 23.5 We ought to understand believe and plead the Covenant in the greatest Latitude of it for our selves and ours 4. Improve the Covenant to Duty and Obedience let the Promises of the Covenant strictly and for ever bind us to Obedience where there is the greatest Grace dispenced there is the greatest Inducement and Obligation to Duty and Obedience The Covenant that saith God will be our God requires us and ours to be his People there is a Covenant-engagement upon us and ours to be the Lords But alas how little is this thought upon Most covet to have their Children to be baptized and glory in their Baptism but seldom make this to be any part of their care and endeavour that their Children be the Lords How little care have many Parents about the holy Education of their Children How they bring them up in the Fear Nurture and Admonition of the Lord How few command their Children and Houshold to walk in the ways of the Lord What Falsehood and Breach of Covenant is here That Charge may be drawn up and Exhibited against such careless and treacherous Parents Psal 78.36 37. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed unto them with their tongues For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his covenant How many Parents do flatter God and his Ministers Promising great Things at the baptizing of their Children but soon forget all never taking any care according to their Covenant of the Souls of their Children that they may partake of the Blessings of the Covenant they are very earnest for the Outward Seal but little concerned for the Inward Grace What will Baptism avail for you and your Children if you are contented only with the outward Badge and Mark of the Disciples and Followers of Christ Rom. 2.28 29. For he is not a Jow that is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh But he is a Jew that is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God Outward Priviledges and Ordinances will never prove you to be good Christians you and yours must have the Inward Circumcision of the Heart Regeneration the New Birth and Sanctification short of which nothing will avail to Salvation Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature We are said to be baptized into Christ and to put on Christ we must see that we have an Union with Christ and are renewed by the Spirit of Christ if ever we hope or desire to be inriched with the Saving Benefits of Baptism 3. Exhortation is to those that are the happy Possessors of the Incomparable Mercy of the Covenant admire and magnifie the Grace of God herein that he should not be content to ingage his Grace to and for you but to yours with you You and yours were all Rebels and Traitors to God and he hath received both into Favour and Grace with himself God might have taken you into covenant and have left out your Children and that would have been an high Expression of his Grace and Favour unto you but this is confer'd upon you and your Seed too this gives you the fullest occasion and obligation to magnifie him above the Heavens and to cause his Praise to be continually in your Hearts and Mouths How should this alwayes affect and ravish your Hearts To consider many of you that the Lord should be pleased to pass by you when you were polluted in your Blood and should say unto you Live that when you were in your Blood and Filth through your pollution and contamination fit for nothing but to be abhorr'd by God that that should be a Time of Love to you that he should then spread a Skirt of Grace and Favour over you and cover your Nakedness and swear unto you and enter into Covenant with you and not only you but also yours should be taken into the Bonds of the same and become his Ezek. 16.6 8 9 10 c. What Grace is this that we should be taken poor Gentiles and cut off the Wild Olive-tree and graffed into the Good Olive-tree which is contrary to Nature That some of the natural branches should be broken off and we should be taken and grafted in in their place and partake of the root and fatness of the Olive-Tree What matter of perpetual Thanksgiving to God is here administred to us Rom. 11.17 c. Remember oftentimes what you were by Nature into what a miserable plunge of all infelicity you were cast how remote and distant from God many of you before Conversion were without the Covenant having no Promise This might be the condition of sundry of you born out of the Covenant and every way in a desperate condition as to the concerns of your Souls and Eternal Life I cannot present you with a fuller and a clearer description of your former state before the Lord brought you under the means of Grace and effectually called you then you have in Eph. 2.11 12 13. Wherefore remember that being in times past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands That at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world But now in Christ Jesus ye who some times were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ The poor Gentiles of whom we were part were afar off because not within the pale of the Covenant This was the opposition that was between the Jew and the Gentile the former was nigh being in Covenant but the other afar off not being taken into that inclosure ver 17. Oh! magnifie God that thou that wert afar off art brought nigh by the Blood of Christ The Blessing of Abraham is come to the Gentiles and come unto thee and thy Family through Christ Gal. 3.14 What cause hast thou to wonder that art yet within the bonds of the Covenant and thy Little