Church amongst the Jews Now none will deny but that wil-worship or adding to Gods Word and his Service was as utterly unlawful amongst them as amongst us Christians Yet the most religious amongst them used that as their bounden duty and necessary to Gods service which hath no original expresly in the word of God For proof hereof we shall offer three things to the readers consideration 1. Repairing to Synagogues amongst the Jews was a necessary part of Gods service 2. The same was not grounded on any expresse of Scripture 3. But consequentially on several places prudentially joyned together For the first It plainly appeareth by Christs constant practice Luke 4. 16. And as his custome was he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day As sure as a seventh day return'd every week so certainly did our Saviour visit the synagogue It is also evident by the continual custome of all pious Jews Acts 15. 21. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues every sabbath day To destroy these synagogues was accounted a wicked work witnesse Gods servants their passionate complaint Psal 74. 8. And again to erect them was an acceptible act alledged by the Pharisees as an argument to endeer the Centurion unto our Saviour Mat. 8. he loveth our nation and hath built us a synagogue Lastly it was esteemed a heavy punishment equivalent to our excommunication John 9. 2â— to be put out of the synagogue Yet repairing to synagogues or the erecting of them was not founded on any positive precept in Gods word Indeed the Tabernacle and afterward the Temple were of Divine institution where all males were commanded to present themselves thrice a year namely at the Passeover the feast of Trumpets and Tabernaclos But these synagogues which I may terme Chappels of ease to the mother-Temple no written law obliged men either to the founding or frequenting of them Yet that the same was grounded on rational deductions from Scripture may infallibly be evinced The text saith Exod. 20. Remember thou keep holy the sabbath day And reason dictated unto them First that peoples presence at publick service was a principal part of sanctifying the sabbath Secondly that it was impossible for them to repair to the Temple and return to their houses such their distance betwixt them Thirdly therefore it was necessary some room of receipt should be provided sequestred from common uses wherein people should meet together Lastly another text affirming That the Priests lips should preserve knowledge It was proper for them and the Levites dispersed in all Israel on the sabbath in the synagogue to read Moses to the people Thus we find the first foundation of synagagues not on the floating sands of humane fancy but firm rock of Gods Word Though not directly yet by consequence collected from the same In a word as chambers and houses were for mens personal family devotions every day or as oft as they pleased as the Temple was for the national service of the Jews thrice every year so Synagogues were interposed in the middle betwixt both for Towns and Cities to serve God on the Sabbath day the whole nation meeting thrice a year every City once a week as private persons every day and as oft as they pleased Suppose now that a Priest amongst the Jews should presse an obstinate Jew to repair to the Synagogue how might he have returned this answer according to the Principles of our Anti-pedo-baptists I will go up to the Temple thrice every year and there I will not appear empty-handed But I will not on the sabbath present my self in the Synagogue which meeting is not JURE DIVINO a meer civil institution groundless on Gods word shew me a place of Scripture injoyning my attendance in a Synagogue and I will become your convert Till which time I will not only my self refrain my appearance there but wil also account it wil-worship in all such as there assemble themselves I believe not one of our Adversaries in our present Controversie which are ingenuous but will condemn such a recusant amongst the Jews for refractory and obstinate Yea they will conceive him if persisting herein to deserve Church-censure for his schismatical singularity Yet give me leave with love grief and anger to say unto him as once Nathan to David thou art the man in denying Infants Baptism which though not in so many words expressed is by necessary consequence infallibly founded on Gods Word Now although I freely confesse no litteral precedent of Pedo-baptism in Scripture yet such an one therein is presented unto us which although it will not confute our opposites it will confirm us in our judgements and though it be not able Titus 1. 9. to convince the gainsayers yet it will strengthen us in the Truth When the principal is known of him self to be sufficient any security with him will be accepted and the following instance may be cast in as over-weight to such minds who already have their full measure of perswasion in this point Namely when it is said Acts 16. 15. Lydia was Baptized and her houshold And again Acts 16. 33. of the Jaylor was baptized he and all his straight way Also 1 Cor. 1. 16. I baptized also the houshold of Stephanas For the Jaylor That Children if he had any were comprised under the expression of all his is sufficiently known by Satans interpretation Job 1. 12. of Gods commission Behold all that he hath is in thy power and Gods consenting thereunto when permitting him by vertue thereof to destroy all Jobs children And whereas in the other two instances the baptizing of whole housholds are exprest we must rationally conceive that some infants were amongst them I must confesse I can tell the time when there were three housholds of young folk in the world and then but three housholds of young folk in the world namely the three sons of Noah and his daughters in law in the Ark and yet not one Infant betwixt them all But this was a rare and mystical accident Again to hold the ballance even I can tell the time when in a large Country every familâ— offered a first-born namely in Egypt Exod. 12. 3. There was not a house where there was not one dead Which S. Austin accounts miraculous God purposely making every family fruitful that it might yield a fit object for his own justice But to wave these instances of extraordinary dispensation take three houses together indifferently numerous such as those of Lydia the Jaylor and Stephanas must be presumed to be considering the garbe of that age wherein most of mens moveable wealth consisted in men and maid servants with the children begotten by them and it is utterly improbable but some infants will be amongst them For a great family is like unto an Orenge tree which at the same time hath buds and blossoms and knobs and green and half ripe and full ripe Orenges on it all together I mean
in a setled condition affording conveniencies for the curing of that sorenesse which otherwise by constant journeying would be chafed and inflamed CHAP. II. Circumcision considered as a Seal of the Gospel Covenant and what spiritual Graces were conveyed and confirmed thereby MAny behold Circumcision with a flighting and neglectful eye as a meer legal Ceremony an outward Type and shadow having nothing Evangelical therein But on serious Enquiry it will appear to have a Gospel ground-work under a Ceremonial varnish The clearing hereof is of great consequence to our Present Controversie For if the Covenant of God made with Abraham at Circumcision was meerly typical then it died at Christs death with the rest of the Ceremonies But if it were a Gospel Covenant then it descendeth at this day to all the faithful It is our present endeavour to evince this Covenant of Abraham was Evangelical eternal and hereditary to all the Faithful For proof hereof take notice that God never made but two grand and spiritual Covenants Though the latter hath been manifested by different degrees and dispensations thereof The old Covenant 1. Made with Adam and Eve and in them as representatives with all mankind 2. In Paradice whilst as yet they persisted in their original innocence 3. On the condition that they should observe Gods law in refraining from the forbidden fruit 4. Promising to the observers thereof a perpetuity only in Paradise Indeed some Divines say but they only say it that Adam on his good behaviour should have been translated from Paradise to Heaven but this is more then can be demonstrated from Scripture The New Covenant 1. Made with Adam and Eve and such only as should succeed them in the visible church 2. In Paradise after their fall when the seed of the woman was promised to break the Serpents head 3. On the condition that with a lively faith they should believe in the promised seed 4. Putting believers into possession of a comfortable subsistance here and the reversion of heaven and happinesse hereafter This second or New Covenant is the sole subject of our present discourse which God made first with Adam without a seal and now renewed it with Abraham with a seal when the sign of Circumcision was affixed thereunto Here we must be cautious not to mistake the several declarations of this New Covenant to sundry personâ— to be so many new distinct Covenants For afterwards the same was repeated to Isaac Jacob Moses the whole body of the Jews at mount Sinai Joshua I wil never leave thee nor forsake thee a promise applied by the Apostle Heb. 13. 5. to all Christians David and others Yea scarce any of the Prophets wherein this new Covenant is not reinforced Now suppose a man causeth his will formerly roughly drawn up in paper to be afterwards ingrossed in parchment then fairly to be transcribed in vellome afterwards to be severally written in Roman Secretary Court and Text-hands so long as the same and no other legacies are on the same termes bequeathed to the same and no other legatees all will acknowledge these no distinct Wils but the same in substance and effect As here the same new Covenant at sundrie times and in divers places was made to the Fathers by the Prophets and at last most plainly by Christ himself Object 1. If this were a new or Gospel Covenant made with Abraham at Circumcision then was there a third and newer then this made afterwards to the Jews For so saith the Prophet Jer. 31. 31. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Answ Nothing more usual and obvious in Scripture then to call that new which is renewed especially if what was but dark and obscure before hath the old impression set forth in a new and fairer edition thereof John 13. 34. A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another and yet this new commandment was from the beginning John 2. 5. though lately almost antiquated and obliterated by mans vindicativeness Christ Heb. 10. 20. consecrated for us a new and living way yet is it the same with the Prophets old path Jer. 6. 16. traced with the feet of Adam and Eve and thorow which alone all the Patriarchs made their passage into heaven yet termed a new way as a new Covenant because after Christs coming more cleared explained and enlarged then before Object 2. It is improbable that this covenant with Abraham at Circumcision should be a Grace-Gospel-new-Covenant because God four hundred years after namely Exod. 20. at Mount Sinai gave the Law or Covenant of Works to the Jews the children of Abraham Now Gods mercy observeth a progressive motion it doth not with the Sun on Ahaz his Dial go backwards but with the master of the feast John 2. 10. He keepeth the best wine unto the last They therefore in a manner degrade Gods goodnesse set it retrograde who make his covenant with Abraham a new-covenant of Grace when He gave an old covenant of Works so many years after it Answ They are much mistaken who account the Law given to the Jews a meer Covenant of works though indeed there was very much of workish-ness mingled therewith The face of the new covenant at the giving of the Law is dressed I confesse in old clothes many old forms are used therein alluding to the covenant of Works made with Adam Yea the erroneous Jews partly through their own Ignorance partly thorow their Rabbins and Pharisees false glosses thereon mistook it for a direct down-right covenant of works resting in the Rinde or outward Bark thereof and depending on the performance of it for their Salvation But let not this Covenant be denominated for the most but the best part thereof let it be expounded not as the blind Jews misinterpreted it but as God graciously intended and the good Patriarchs and Prophets wisely accepted it for a covenant of grace wherein Messiah though obscurely was tendered to such who could not perform what the rigour of the Law required There is one word in the second Commandment which demonstrateth this Law to have Gospel in the bowels thereof namely the word Mercy Exod 20. 6. shewing Mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments Now Mercy is a Shiboleth which a covenant of works can never pronounce as utterly destructive to the very nature thereof and keeping commandments there must be taken for such as desire and endeavour to keep them though falling short of legal exactnesse But we leave the farther prosecution of this point to those learned Divines who have written just Treatises thereof conceiving it more proper for our present purpose to prove this covenant with Abraham a new-Gospel-covenant and the serious perusal of one verse Gen. 17. 7. will afford us three arguments for the evincing thereof And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their
generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Hence we collect it a Gospel-Covenant From 1. The language and expression of it 2. The continuance and duration of it 3. The blessings and benefits conveyed by it For the language and expression the voice is the voice of Jacob. The speech agreeth thereunto not to betray it as it did Peter to his shame and sorrow but to discover this covenant to its honour and our comfort to be an Evangelical Covenant That very phrase to be a God unto thee is a Gospel-phrase Otherwise how cometh he who upon the breach of the covenant of works was left our enemy our inraged judge to be a God unto us I see here Matthew in Moses the New couched in the Old Testament Parallel is the expression Mat. 1. 23. And they shall call his name Emanuel which being interpreted is God with us God with us and to be a God unto us differ something in sound nothing in sence Secondly for the continuance and duration of it An Everlasting Covenant that with Adam was but a short-lasting covenant Some conceive Adam never naturally slept in his Innocency accounting that caused deep sleep Gen. 2. 21. before Eve her creation supernatural but forfeited his Innocency before night As there be some kind of insects called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Naturalists say survive but a day so some conceive Adams integrity of no longer duration And though we dare not certainly close with their opinion the Scripture not acquainting us with the date of Adams perseverance in paradise we may be confident that covenant of works was of no long continuance before it was broken This short-liv'd covenant thus expired it was never reviv'd again on the same conditions but utterly extinguished Yea herein God magnified his mercy that upon any termes he would treat with mankind whom he might have condemned as incapable of any future contract for once breaking of Covenant Yet now he draweth up a second agreement with them being a covenant of grace and that everlasting such his goodnesse that though we if strictly examined break it with him he will not break it with us I confesse everlasting in Scripture is sometimes taken for long-lasting in which sense the Hebrew tongue accepteth of an ever after an ever but here it is taken truly for eternity seeing whom God loveth he loveth to the end without end The third argument to prove the evangelical nature of Gods covenant with Abraham is drawn from the blessings and benefits conveyed thereby whose size and measure is so great they are only of a Gospel proportion to be a God unto thee Could lesse be said then this so short the words yet could more be said then this so large the matter All things herein are comprized a promise to give repentance faith hope and charity patience in afflictions preservation from or in them competency of outward maintenance perseverance unto the end in a word grace and holinesse here glory and happinesse hereafter How tedious are the instruments of our age a span of ground being scarcely passed under a span of parchment in comparison of the concise Grants of our ancient Kings some of whose Charters contain not so many words as they convey Manours therein Yet even those Patents are prolix if compared with Gods Covenant in my text to be a God unto thee promising therein more then what man can ask or desire God hath set us a pattern therefore let thy words be few Eccles 5. 2. not to be babling to him in our prayers seeing he is so plain and pithy to us in his promises couching all things in so short an expression To put all out of doubt this Covenant of Circcumcision made with Abraham and his seed appears to be a Gospel Covenant because S Paul so expoundeth it If any scruple arise about the sence of a Law to whom should people repair for satisfaction but to the makers thereof if alive Thus on the emergency of doubts about the nature of this Covenant we may and must have recourse unto the Author thereof Now the same spirit who indited Genesis by Moses indited the Epistle to the Romans by S. Paul who plainly affirmeth Rom. 4. 11. that Abraham received the sign of Circumcision the seal of righteousness by faith Object It is strange to conceive how in that age there could be a Covenant of faith the word faith appearing properly but once Habac. 2. 4. in all the old Testament and once afterwards with a negation before it in reference to the Jews Deut. 32. 20. Children in whom is no faith Seeing therefore such silence of faith in the Old Testament so frequently resounded in the New this Covenant with Abraham seemeth suspicious to be an old Covenant of Works and to have nothing of Gospel therein Answ The word Faith only not the thing signified thereby is wanting in the old Testament What Christ and his Apostles call faith and believing that the Prophets and pen-men of the old Testament expresse by Trusting The Religion and Creed of the Ancient Patriarchs is briefly drawn up by David Psal 22. 4. Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them they cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded I will not say the Triplication of the word Trust denotes their belief in the Trinity Father Son and holy Spirit but here it plainly appears they had their confidence in and dependence on God though then not so clearly revealed unto them which sheweth the sameness in substance of their belief with ours Vse This serveth to confute such who account the Jews a meer husk shell and shadow of Gods people as if all the promises made unto them meerly terminated in temporal happinesses Thus they feed the Jews bodies with milk and fill their bellies with hony even to a surfeit flowing from the fruitfulnesse of the land of Canaan whilest in the mean time they starve and famish their souls excluding them as incapable of heavenly and spiritual blessings Their uncharitable errour is grounded on this argument because when their blessings are reckoned up Deut. 28. 3. it extendeth only to the city field fruit of their bodie ground cattle kine sheep c. but no mention of their eternal beatitude hereafter in heaven Yea when Isaac cordially blessed Jacob desiring no doubt to make the same as compleat as he could bestow and Jacob receive his expressions Gen. 27. 28. amount no higher then to the dew of heaven the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine On the other side when the Jews curses are solemnly pronounced Deut. 28. 16. they are confined to city field basket store fruit of the body land kine sheep c. Here a deep silence of hell and damnation so that the smiles or frowns of God to the Jews seem to reach no farther then to their well or ill being in this life To this it