are born and are a part of the Church in Adam's Family Even Cain was so Gen. 4.1 3. till cast out from the Presence of God therein for the Murder of his Brother ver 14. being now manifestly one of the Seed of the Serpent 1 John 3.12 and so becoming the Father of a wicked unchurch'd Race But then God appointed unto Eve another viz. Seth in whom to continue the Line of her Church-seed Gen. 4.25 And how it did continue in his Seed in their Generations is shewed in Gen. 5. And hence the Children of the Church are called the Sons of God which is as much as Members of the visible Church in contradistinction to the Daughters of Men the Progeny of unchurched Cain Gen. 6.2 Again if righteous Noah be taken into the Ark then the only preserving Place of the Church to which the Apostle applieth Baptism as having a mystical Relation to it his Children also are taken in with him Gen. 7.1 though one of them viz. Ham after proved degenerate and wicked but till he so appears he is continued in the Church with his Brethren And as the Race of Ham or his Son Canaan Parent and Children are cursed Gen. 9.25 26 27. So likewise Shem Parent and Children is blessed and continued in the Place of Blessing the Church As Japhet also or Japhet's Posterity still Parent and Children shall in time be brought in And the holy Line mentioned in Gen. 11 10 26. shews how the Church continued in the Seed of Shem from him unto Abraham And when that Race grew degenerate as it is plain they did Josh 24.2 then God called Abraham out of his Country and from his Kindred and established his Covenant with him which still took in Parents and Children Gen. 17.7 And here was a Token or Sign ordered for the Confirmation of this Covenant which was to be applied to Children in their Infant-state even at eight Days old ver 10 11 12. Here indeed we have the first mention of Infants as owned by God and taken into Covenant by him together with their Parents as here we read of the first Token of the Covenant that was to be applied to them But the same is also to be held of those that are spoken of before though it be not particularly mentioned because there was no Sign then appointed for the confirming of this Covenant to them as there now was Yet forasmuch as they are reckoned still to be and continue in their Church-state till by their Wickedness or Apostacy they were cut off and are reckoned to be in this Church-state as coming and proceeding from such Parents as God had chosen and called into so near a Relation to himself they are therefore to be reckoned even from their Infancy to have been in this State And as for the Covenant made with Abraham and his Infant-seed I shall briefly observe for the preventing of Objections that it was the same which in the Gospel is called the new Covenant And Circumcision which was ordered to be the Token or Seal of it and to be applied to the same Infant-seed was a Token and Seal of it as such as appears by the Terms which in the main Article of it are the same with those which are reckoned by the Apostle to belong to the New Covenant Gen. 17.7 For I will establish saith God my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee This is the main Point And thus that which the Apostle calls the New Covenant runs in the same Terms in that main Article likewise Heb. 8.10 I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People And the Psalmist hath taught us that this imports and signifieth much more than any kind of outward Prosperity whatsoever or all together For howsoever a People may be look'd upon happy that is in such a Case yet this is the chief Point the all in all the Sum of that Blessedness that can belong to a People Psal 144.15 Happy is that People whose God is the Lord. And our Saviour hath deduced the Promise of the Resurrection it self from God's being the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob Matth. 22. So that consequently the Resurrection of all others to whom God is a God may be concluded from the same Covenant-relation likewise So that the Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed in their Generations was the Gospel-Covenant for the main Articles of it and contained in it the greatest Gospel-Blessings The Promise and Giving of Canaan was but an Appendix or Appurtenance to it and not the principal thing respected but under that a better Country was intended And so Abraham understood it for he looked for a City which had a Foundation whose Builder and Maker is God Heb. 11.10 But he sojourned in that earthly Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise ver 9. So that neither he himself nor many others to whom the Promise was made did enjoy the earthly Canaan for an Inheritance But they confess'd themselves that they were Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth and they desired a better Country that is an heavenly ver 13 16. which they did no doubt by virtue of the Promise as they understood it And this the Apostle looks upon a verifying and making good that Relation that God engaged himself in to them for therefore saith he he was not ashamed to be called their God because he had prepared for them a City ver 16. So that Abraham had that which the Apostle calls the Promise of eternal Inheritance Heb. 9.15 For if the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise but now the Apostle saith God gave it to Abraham by Promise Gal. 3.18 So that the Promise of eternal Life and Happiness in Heaven is contained in the Covenant that God made with Abraham and his Seed together with those that were born in his House Gen. 17.12 13. who yet had never any share with his Seed in the Land of Canaan as an Inheritance at all nor was the Messiah to descend from their Loins And what was this then less than the Gospel-Covenant And it the Promise of eternal Life was contained in this Covenant then we may be sure it contained also the Promise of Justification or Remission of Sin And if so then what was it less than the gospel-Gospel-Covenant And thus the Apostle assures us likewise it was and that the Gospel was preached unto Abraham Gal. 3.8 For the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Heathen through Faith preach'd the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed It is true this Clause which the Apostle quotes is not in Gen. 17. wherein the Covenant is made with Abraham and his Seed which we have insisted upon but in
Gen. 12.3 and elsewhere But yet this Promise which the Apostle deduceth from these Words must likewise be contained in this Covenant and so those Words must be also a Part of it though spoken at another time Because Circumcision that was the Token of this Covenant was a Seal to Abraham of this Promise Rom. 4.11 And he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised Which must be founded on the Promise so that that Promise likewise belongs to this Covenant and therefore is sealed by it And this Covenant as delivered to Abraham the Apostle tells us also was confirmed in Christ Gal. 3.17 and therefore can be no other than the Gospel or New Covenant Yea and the Promise of divine Assistance for fulfilling the Conditions of the Covenant was contained also in the same Covenant with Abraham For so we find it was understood by the Church formerly Mic. 7.19 20. He will subdue our Iniquities and thou wilt cast their Sins into the Depth of the Sea Thou wilt perform the Truth unto Jacob and the Mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn to our Fathers from the Days of old Which must needs have Respect to God's Oath and Covenant with Abraham And so also the Apostle reckons that God's sending his Son Christ to bless them and to turn them from their Iniquities was a great Instance of the Accomplishment of the Covenant that God made with Abraham Acts 3.25 26. For the great Design of God in this Covenant at first as appears by the first Call that was given him Gen. 12.1 was to separate him and his Family and Seed from the rest of the Nations which were fallen into the vilest Idolatry and to preserve Religion and the Worship of the true God in his Family And the Promise of the Messiah in whom the Covenant is founded had this Design in it Luke 1.72 73 74 75. The Oath that he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies might serve him without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the Days of our Life So that the Covenant with Abraham was a Church-Covenant and contained in it all the Terms and Design that belonged to such a Covenant and was made with all the Family of Abraham in which his Infant-seed was also comprehended and were to partake of the Promises and Privileges that appertained to it It belonged to all his Family in the external Dispensation of it and none were excluded from the Benefits of it that did not exclude themselves by their own actual Unbelief and Disobedience to the Terms of it And Circumcision was a Seal of it to all with whom it was made as the visible Church of God and to the Infant-seed of Abraham as Parts or Members thereof For Sacraments or Signs are not appointed to the Church Invisible for who shall judg then to whom they are to be administred but to the Church as Visible Thus having cleared up the Nature of the Abrahamical Covenant which God made with him and his Seed even in their Infant-state I shall now go forward and shall observe how God hath shewn the same gracious Respects to Infants in the Progress of his Dispensations towards the Jewish People And thus we find afterwards that the whole Body of the Jewish People in Jacob's Line amongst whom Children also were contained are collectively stiled by God himself his Son Exod. 4.22 23. Say unto Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord Israel is my Son even my First-born And I say unto thee Let my Son go that he may serve me Thus God speaks of them before they were formed into a Political Commonwealth only because he had chosen and called them out of the Nations to be a peculiar People to himself And in this Appellation their little ones were comprehended as appears because they were of the Number of those that were to go also For Pharaoh would have let the Men of Israel go but not their little ones Exod. 10.10 But we will go saith Moses with our Young and with our Old ver 9. So that the whole Body of Israel including little ones also was God's Son for God had chosen and called all the Seed of Israel to be his Covenant-People And therefore thus also Moses afterwards enters and engages all into Covenant with God one as well as another taking in the little ones likewise Deut. 29.10 11 12 13. Ye stand this Day all of you before the Lord your God your Captains of your Tribes your Elders and your Officers with all the Men of Israel your little ones your Wives and the Stranger that is in thy Camp from the Hewer of thy Wood to the Drawer of thy Water that thou shouldst enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God and into his Oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this Day that he may establish thee to Day for a People unto himself and that he may be unto thee a God as he hath said unto thee and as he hath sworn unto thy Fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. So that this was but the renewing of the Abrahamical Covenant with the People as appears by the latter Clause of it running in the same Terms for the Accomplishment of the Promise and Oath made to Abraham and his Seed Deut. 3â— â— And in the next Chapter the Grace signified by Circumcision is there promised to Parents and Children to enable them to perform the Terms of it And it being promised to both it imports that the Covenant which Circumcision sealed belongs to both For the Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed And after this again even when the People were fallen off also to the Worship of other Gods yet retaining still the Acknowledgment of the God of Israel though they joined others with him God challengeth and owns their Children for his Ezek. 16.20 21. Thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed thou hast slain my Children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the Fire Now it was upon this Account viz. by virtue of God's choosing and calling the Seed of Abraham and separating them from the rest of the World to the Knowledg and Worship of the true God that they were stiled his peculiar People and Children and not upon a mere Political Account or upon the Account of other carnal and temporal Respects For in this manner we find Moses speaking to them Deut 14.1 2. Ye are the Children of the Lord your God and therefore are not to follow or comport with the Customs and Practices of the Heathen For thou art an holy People unto the Lord thy God and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar People to himself above all the Nations that are upon the Earth And so chap. 7.6 For thou art an
keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him It was with Abraham as a Believer and true Worshipper of God that God treated and made this Covenant and so took his Children also into that near Relation to himself when the Children of the Heathen were neglected as their Fathers were And so this Blessing in like manner was to be continued to his Children and Posterity to successive Generations as Believers or Children of Abraham's Faith still continuing to believe in and worship the God of Abraham In this Respect God promised to be their God and the God of their Seed upon condition that they keep his Covenant and his Statutes But if they refused to do so they were to be cut off and to have no Part or Inheritance in God or the Blessings of his Covenant neither they nor their Seed But on the other side they that were not of the natural Seed of Abraham but were bought with his Money or were born of Gentile Parents in his House they being brought into this near Capacity to be instructed and brought up in the true Religion were likewise to share in this Covenant and to partake of the same spiritual Privileges with the natural Seed of Abraham and were to be reckoned and numbred with them as the People and Children of God and God promised to be their God likewise as well as of Abraham's natural Seed And so also afterwards all those Gentiles that were at any time proselyted and brought over to the Faith and Religion of Abraham were with their Children admitted to the same Privileges So that it appears that it was with Abraham only as the Father of the Faithful and consequently with all those that are the Children of the Faith of Abraham was this Covenant made that God would be their God and the God of their Seed though they are not Abraham's Children or Seed according to the Flesh by natural Generation The Covenant was made with Abraham and all his spiritual Seed and not with his Seed meerly according to the Flesh The Apostle hath cleared this to us Rom. 9.6 7 8. Not as though the Word or Promise of God hath taken none effect because he will reject and cast off those that were descended of Abraham for their Unbelief and rejecting the Gospel to whom you think that the Promises were made For they are not all the true Israel of God to whom the Promise belongs which are descended of Israel neither because they are the Seed of Abraham by natural Generation only are they all Children of God's Covenant but in Israel shall thy Seed be called and chosen to whom the Covenant and Promises shall belong That is All they which are the Children of the Flesh as proceeding from Abraham only by natural Generation these meerly as such are not the Children of God that he reckons amongst his Covenant-People but the Children of the Promise only as Isaac was that is that are Abraham's spiritual Seed are accounted for the Seed that God took into that near Covenant-relation to himself and these he will own still in the same Capacity as ever both they and their Seed And therefore the Covenant of God to Abraham and his Seed stands firm against all the vain Objections of the unbelieving Jews From this Discourse of the Apostle then it followeth that it was not with the Nation of the Jews only as being that natural Seed of Abraham that the Covenant was made and that the Adoption did belong to them and to their Seed but it was and is a Benefit belonging to all Believers as the Children of Abraham's Faith that did or ever should join themselves to the People of the God of Abraham All such are still an holy and peculiar People to God both they and their Seed till they cut themselves off by their own actual Rebellion and Apostacy as the Jews did in our Saviour's and the Apostles times by their not receiving him that was sent of God The same spiritual Privileges do belong to all believing Parents and to their Seed and Family or those they become Guardians or Tutors to to bring them up in the true Religion now in the Gospel-Ministration as did belong to the Children and Family of Jewish Believers formerly This appears yet further by the Apostle's Discourse Acts 2.39 For the Promise or Covenant for these are Terms that do mutually infer each other is unto you and to your Children Compare Acts 3.25 Gal. 3.16 17 18 29. Rom. 4.16 Heb. 6.17 upon your Faith and also to all the Gentiles that are afar off Yet even as many as the Lord our God shall call to the receiving and owning of the same Faith and so consequently to their Children and Seed also as well as unto your selves Here the old Grant to them and to their Seed is declared to be continued and so by Consequence to the Offspring of all those that should hereafter believe But this Matter may be rendred yet more clear from several Passages in the Apostle's Discourse in Rom. 11. for it appears there by the Apostle that the Jewish and Christian Church are radically and fundamentally the same Church the same Stock and Root and the same Terms and Conditions of Church-membership or Dischurching do belong to both Nor is the Christian Church any new Constitution distinct from the Jewish nor is the way of Church-membership in it any other now than what was before The Laws are indeed altered in many things but in this Matter there is no Alteration there is the same Covenant and the same Church and the Church is still constituted of Abraham's spiritual Seed as it was before so that the same Church-members also keep their Place in it as there did then And consequently as Infants or little Children of Believers were Members of it before their Parents became Christian so they continue to be still after they became so And so the Children of all Gentile Believers for the future For consider ver 17. the believing Gentiles are but grafted in amongst them and with them partake of the same spiritual Privileges and ver 20. it is because of Vnbelief that any of the Branches are broken off and they that believe are always in it So that the Church is the same and still remains without any Discontinuance or Dissolution of it only Unbelievers are broken off from it and others that believe are grafted in their room It is the same Olive-tree or the same Church still but some of the Branches are broken off sc the unbelieving Jews and others that is believing Gentiles are grafted in And none are shut out but only through Unbelief They that believe continue still of it and so also their Children in the same manner as before they having no Unbelief of their own by which they should be broken off nor yet any imputed to them from their Parents they being Believers And ver