unto Isaac saying Vnto thee will I â—ive the Land of Canaan for an everlasting inheritance This promise concerning the Land of Canaan which may as I think with more colour than any other clause of the Covenant be questioned whether it belong to the New-Testament is said to be a Covenant for ever a word commanded for a thousand Generations and for all everlasting inheritance or possession This must needs extend to the times of the Gospel and by Canaan promised for an everlasting possession to Abraham's seed we must understand all that of which Canaan and the good things thereof were a Type viz. all the blessings of the New Testament Church and of heaven it self There is an oneness or sameness of God's Covenant given to Abraham and Believers in the Old Testament and to Abraham's seed believers in the New Testament and though we read of a First Testament Heb. 9.18 as implying a second and of a New Covenant as standing in opposition to an old one Heb. 13.24 yet this truth inferred from our Doctrine is not hereby shaken for there is a various acception of the term Covenant sometimes it is taken for the Covenant it self and sometimes for the dispensation of the Covenant Now we have not in the forequoted Texts Testament opposed to Testament but one dispensation is set against another in respect of the different dispensation or administration the same Covenant is called Old and New 3 If the Covenant confirmed Infer 3. to Abraham be confirmed to Abraham's seed to all his seed and only to his seed then the Seals of the Covenant appertain to this seed and are limited to this seed and belong in an extension to all this seed The Seal is nothing without the Covenant but together with the Covenant it is of great importance and necessary use to confirm and ensure the Covenant where it is given You know the use of a Seal in Covenants among men when a Bargain Grant or Covenant is made without fraud and truly drawn up in writing and signed and scaled we account it sure and the Seal for assurance goes along with that which is to be assured and is nothing worth separated from the written contract or Covenant and will do no good to him that hath nothing else to shew Now by the Seals of the Covenant of Grace I understand the New Testament Sacraments which are God's Seals confirming his Covenant to his covenanted ones Divines do generally affirm the Sacraments to be seals of the Covenant of Promise this is in the very definition and it is the received Opinion and concurrent judgment of the Orthodox agreeable to the Word of God that Sacraments are instituted to signifie and seal up to us Gospel Grace serving to strongthen our Faith in the promises being seals of the Covenant of Promise Now where God gives his Covenant he gives his seal for confirmation so that all in Covenant have a right to the seals or seal of the Covenant and none but they so that to give the seal to those that have no Covenant given them is indeed to set a seal to a blank that which Anabaptists do frivolously urge against the baptizing of Infants and to deny the Seal where the Covenant is given is very injurious and a great sin against God and his covenanted ones I do not now make it my business particularly and fully to declare how far the right to the seals extendeth nor within what compass it is to be limitted as to particular subjects I do only now draw up a general inference from the Doctrine inferring thence the extent of such a right to all Abraham's seed and the limitation of it to this seed only as having an interest in the Covenant and my drift herein is to shew how our Doctrine and inference from it lays a clear ground for Infant Baptisme for the baptizing of Insants in the Church of Christ Baptisme the seal of the Covenant belongs to Abraham's seed who are included in the Covenant made with Abraham and Heirs of the same Promise But all Elect Infants in the Church are Abraham's seed included in the Covenant of Promise The Promise is to you and to your children Acts 2.39 Ergo Infants in the Church are to be baptized Baptisme being come in the room of Circumcision as well as Infants in Abraham's time and afterward in the Church of the Jews were to be circumcised upon account of Covenant Interest And I pray mark this which will serve to make good our Major Proposition in Acts 2.39 The Promise is made the ground of Baptisme and the command to baptize reacheth as far as the Promise Be baptized every one of you for the Promise is to you and to your children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those that are brought forth by you the word noteth children of each Sex and every Age Look to Genes 17.9 and you shall find that children are Abraham's seed included in the Covenant to whom the Token and Seal of the Covenant is to be given Gen. 17.9 Thou shalt keep my Covenant thou and thy seed after thee in their Generations This command concerneth the same seed that is spoken of ver 8. to which the promise is made and that he there meaneth a spiritual seed is apparent from the matter of the Promise which is Canaan to be an everlasting Inheritance to his seed which everlasting Inheritance must be understood to be Heaven which was figured by the earthly Canaan and this is not promised to all Abraham's seed after the flesh but to all his spiritual seed so that the command of keeping the covenant lies upon all Abraham's seed throughout all Generations And look I pray into ver 10. This is my Covenant c. every Man-child among yâ—u shall be circumcised Thou shalt keep my Covenant i.e. shalt observe the Token of my Covenant Every Man-child shall be circumcised and you know that every child of eight daies old was appointed to circumcision Are not children here accounted Abraham's seed included in the Covenant to whom the token of the Covenant is to be applied by an express and strict command from God And are not children of believers in Covenant now as well as then the Covenant being given for an everlasting Covenant to Abraham and his seed and is not the command of keeping the toke of the Covenant still obliging to Abraham's seed so that what is now the token of the Covenant must be observed instead of Circumcision as the token then was circumcising of the child so the token now is baptizing of the child Well here is the business all Elect Infants in the Church are included in the Covenant or Promise and so have right to the token and seal of the Covenant Baptisme and therefore are to be baptized upon account of Covenant Interest and we are to baptize all the Infants of baptized Church members and visible Professors because we are bound in the judgment of charity to judge
will not make thy condition better than the Word makes it to be 3. If it be the testimony of a carnal heart speaking peace to a man it will make him careless of duty and give him much liberty but if it be a true spiritual Witness it will make him more careful more studious to honour God more diligent in the service of God Serve thy God honour thy God strive to please thy God who hath given the Covenant of his love to thee saith the new Regenerate Spirit taking up the evidence of Gods love and telling the Christian that he hath an interest in the Covenant of Grace Thus you have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proofs and evidences of the truth of assurance whereby we may be able to discern between it and presumption well now to resume and a little further to press this perticular exhortation Exhortation resume the fourth counsel which I suggested to you from the Doctrine Labour truiy and thorowly to apply the Covenant strive to a certain knowledge of your spiritual estate real and relative to know whether you belong to God or no and whether the Covenant of his love doth belong to you Take two or three swasives or incentives hereunto Incentives besides those which you have had already 1. Mistakes herein are most dangerous for such a mistake of ones condition judging it to be good when it is naught is a very great strengthner of sin making a man regardless of bettering his condition and causing him to misapply Scripture to apply promises and comforts when threatnings and terrours belong to him 2. The commonest cause of souls undoing is this that they would not be perswaded to try their estate but gratifie Satan joyning with him to deceive themselves being perswaded by him to pass a way their years in security and a careless oscitancy not once questioning their condition or spending any time at all to prove what their estate is Godward if any man think himself to be something when he is nothing be deceives himself and this self deceiving is self-undoing 3. A certain knowledge of a Covenant interest in God will set the soul on working sweetly toward God with its affections and graces 1. Such a soul will sorrow after a godly sort bewailing his finning against God whom he now knows to be his God who dearly and tenderly loved him even while he was sinning against him and dishonouring him 2. Psa 18.1 2. Such a soul will love the Lord when he knows his near relation to God and God's affection toward him 3. Desire will be drawn out after God when the soul apprehends its interest in him O Lord Psa 63.1 thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee 4. A known interest in God will be a ground of continual rejoycing I will rejoyce in the Lord Hab. 3.17 I will joy in the God of my Salvation 5. This is that which will strengthen the souls confidence in God even in the greatest straights Such are the fruits and effects of assurance of an interest in God Psa 46.1 2 3. and the examination of our selves the tryal of our estate is the way to this assurance Thus you have had a 4th branch of the use of exhortation a fourth counsel from the point apply the Covenant of Gods love truly and thorowly You have seen how and why you should labour to make such an application I proceed now to a Fifth Counsel Couns 5. Meditate on the Covenant having laid hold on the Covenant Meditate on it and on your interest in it that frequently and seriously viewing your relative estate your relation to God and interest in his Covenant you may be deeply affected with it and enjoy the sweetness of it This is that which I would perswade you to not only to think of this Covenant and of an interest in it of the preciousness of the Covenant and of the souls happiness in such an interest it is not a bare work of the understanding and memory that is here called for but to get these things from the head to the heart from the understanding to the affections that there may be heart as well as life in the soul that by acting our understanding and affections upon the Covenant and upon God in Covenant with us we may have a sweet enjoyment of him To Meditate is diligently and intently to think upon and consider a thing Meditation brings God near sets him full in the eye of the soul and presents him with his Covenant of Grace in the most afflicting way serious and deep meditation will draw up arguments to affect us from every Attribute of God and from the consideration of our former estate when we were without God in the World and without Christ and without Hope and from the happines of our present estate in having and apprehending the Lord to be our God and from the preciousness of the promises in which we are interessed and from the confirmation of the Covenant and from the present fruits of it and its future priviledges and advantages Thus Meditation is a means to affect the soul with the goodness and sweetness of the Covenant that we may take much comfort in it And further a due diligent serious meditation of the power and wisdom and mercifulness and faithfulness and satisfactoriness of God in whom we have interest through Christ of his everlasting love toward us and of the freeness of his grace in making a Covenant with us becoming our God and taking us to be his people and of the riches of his grace held forth to us in the Covenant of Promise and the consideration of the tender love of Jesus Christ who undertook to be the Mediator of this Covenant for us reconciling us to God by his Death making peace for us by his Bloud bearing the Curse which should have come upon us and restoring us to the blessing which we had lost purchasing for us eternal Salvation pleading his Bloud with his Father and making continual intercession for us that we may be kept in favour with God notvvithstanding our many sins and provocations vvho is become our head and the immortal husband of our souls vvho kisseth us vvith the kisses of his mouth and embraceth us novv in the armes of his love and vvill take us to a perpetual abode and Communion vvith himself hereafter I say a due Meditation hereof vvould be a means to stirr up in us holy affection toward God 1. This would be a means to enflame us with holy love to God and Christ who have loved us with such a free preventing tender abounding fruitful and everlasting love 2. This would be a means to excite desire and to set the Soul on longing for a nearer uninterrupted communion with and a fuller enjoyment of this God and this Jesus Christ that my Soul may be no longer at a distance from my God but that I may dwell with
to be sought Christ our Reconciliation taking away all enmity betwixt God and us Christ that becomes to us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption by whom we are enlightned iustified sanctified and glorified Christ in whom the promises of God are yea and amen to us who will be to us if we have him as a seale and an earnest to assure us that we shall enjoy all that good which is carried in them Christ that will support us in every temptation and trial and be a comfort to us in every condition hrist that will be the death of sin in us and will bring in the life of Grace into us that will bring such a happy liberty to us making us of Satans slaves to become the Lord's freemen Christ with whom other things are given and that graciously in love and good will Christ that will bring us into the bosome of God to live with him for ever in Glorie Is not this Christ I say worth the looking after wherfore let your aim be at Christ and above all things labour to get him to be possessed of him and to be assured that he is yours and you are his You invite friends to come to your houses and tell them that you shall be glad of their company and ready to give them the best entertainment that the house affords and heartio welcome though oft times with some persons this is but a complement Ah beloved do you in reality invite Christ to come to your soules entreat him to come and dwell with you in you Tell him that he shall have the command of every roome in thy heart the whole house of thy soule shall be at his disposing that all the faculties of thy soul and all the members of thy bodie shall be at his his service thus begg of him woe him to come and make his abode with thee and in the vse of Ordinances and in Duties wait for his comming to thee and when he shall come and knock be ready according to thy invitation to open the door of thy heart and receive him in with joy for surely he will prove a good Guest indeed that will feast thee with his love and vvill fill thee vvith delights and make even the worst condition on Earth to be a very heaven to thee Having urged these incentives to the seeking of Christ I thought not to have proceeded any further in pressing this Counsel but for as much as I am now dealing with people about a business that is of the greatest concernment to them and because I know that souls are not easily prevailed with in such a case I shall begg a little more of the Reader 's patience while I make an essay for the driving of sinners if they will not yet be dravvn unto Christ and I think that having a whip put into my hand by God I must make some use of it I shall therefore now urg some considerations about the vvant of Christ setting forth the miserie of being without him 1. If Christ be the life of the soul Gal. 2.20 1 Joh. 5.12 Col. 3.4 as he is certainly Christ liveth in me He that hath the Son hath life When Christ who is our life shall appear Christ is our life as in this respect that he made us and gave us being and life in the World and because he hath purchased Eternal life for us and will bring us to it and because he vvill in the last day put life into our dead bodies and raise them up So likewise he is our life because by his Spirit he quickeneth our souls vvhen he finds them dead in sins and trespasses I say now if Christ be our life then souls without Christ are dead soules and all their vvorks are dead workes there being nothing of the life of God put forth in any thing that they do Nil dat quod non habe 2. because there is nothing of this life in them Here is the misery of being without Christ the Soule is dead as lothsome in the eye of God and as stinking in his nostrils as a piece of carrion or a dead Corps that hath lien rotting a long time in the grave is offensive to us yea much more loathsome is such a soul unto God 2. Without Christ the soul is like the Would without a Sun so that there is no Light no Heat no fruit no Glory 1. Souls without Christ are in darkness Ye are in darkness faith Paul the believing Thessalonians 1 Thes 5.4 Now ye are not but you were before Christ came to you 1 Pet. 2.9 Col. â— 3. Ephes 5.8 Christ calleth soules out of darkness yea souls without Christ are under the power of darkness yea they are darkness it self Oh do but think what a sad condition we should be in if the sâ—ll should forsake our Horizon so that we should never any more see the light thereof much more sad and dolourous is the condition of a soul without Christ that hath not one glimps of true spiritual and heavenly light hath no saving apprehension of God or Jesus Christ or of any thing that concerns his own â—â—lvation that belongs to his 2. Where Christ is not there is â—o heavenly hâ—at men are hot spiâ—ited in pursuit of the profits and â—leasures of the World are carried with heat of affection to sin vaâ—ity but there is no fire of zeal for God or toward him no fervency of â—pirit in serving the Lord they are â—old spirited yea frozen hearted in â—espect of any affection to that which is good what an indifferent â—hing is it to them that are without Christ whether they do or leave â—â—ndon those duties which God requires of them I say they are not carried to any duty with any warmth of spirit upon any spiritual consideration or to any good â—â—d and so nothing that they do in the way of their dutie finds acceptance with God 3. Where Christ is not the soul is barren and fruitless altogether in respect of that which is good As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self unless it abide in the vine Jo. 15 4 5. no more can ye except ye abide in me be that abideth in me and I in him the same bringtch forth much fruit with me He that abideth in me I in him the same brengeth f rth much fruit without me ye can do nothing Unless Christ be in the soule it bringeth forth no fruit unto God nor is it or can it be profitable to it self And now what is the doom of the barren tree Cut it down why Combreth it the ground Ah the soule vvithout Christ Heb. 6.8 is like that earth vvhich beareth Thornes and Briars that is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burnt 4. Where Christ is not there is no glory nor beauty because no light because no Grace because no Righteousness because no Holiness In Christ Jesus the New man is created after God
Ezek. 16. in Right cousness and holiness of Truth In the state of nature the soule is like a wretched infant in it's blood whose navil is not cut that is unvvashed cast out in the open field to the loathing of its person But Christ maketh the Christian like the King's daughter all glorious within So that he is beautiful through the comeliness which Christ puts upon him but I say there is none of this beautie none of this glory nothing but ugliness and deformitie tilâ— Christ comes into the Soule 3. A soule without Christ is like a house that is without a Master or Governour and so there is no order in it no provision made for it there is none to refresh and comfort it where the reviving consolations of the Spirit of Christ are not 4. A soul without Christ is as a Kingdome without a King as a people without government there all things are in a confusion tending to ruine and destruction Such a heart is not framed to the obedience of Gods lawes there is none to subdue sin and repress rebellious lusts in the heart that rise up against God and fight against the soul which if not quelled by an Almighty power will destroy soul body utterly where Christ is not there is none to seek the good of the Soul efficatiously and to the soules undoubted advantage none that can enrich the soule with Grace here and bring it to Glory hereafter 5. A mans soul without Christ is in such a deplorable condition as is the bodie in which are all the principal defects of Nature like a man deprived of all his senses that can neither see nor hear nor taste nor smell nor feel if we could suppose such a one in life That such a soul is spiritually blinde I have shewed already Further it is Christ in the heart that furnisheth a man with a spiritual eare it is only the ear bored by the Spirit of Christ that can hear the voice of God Multi habent aures audiendi pauci aures obediendi Aug. that so heareth as to understand and believe and obey the Word of God others are as deafe Adders that hear not the voice of the Charmer charme he never so wisely Many reproofs many instructions many admonitions many good counsels and exhortations are dealt out to people yet they are deaf to all and so will be nothing will enter into them till Christ be with their Spirits Souls without Christ are without feeling like a man all over in a dead Palsie we speak of spiritual feeling neither Gods Word nor his works make any impression upon such a heart it is as senseless of the smitings of God in the ministry of the Word as the Anvile is of the strokes of the Hammer That is true of such a soul which Solomon speaks of the drunkard They have stricken me Pro. 23. ult and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not So may such a soul say or we may say of him he hath been smitten with reproofs for his Drunkeness for his Oaths for his Coveteousness for his Sabbath-breaking for his ordinance slighting c. Oh many blows have been given him but he felt them not it appeareth so because he is never the better for these smitings he reformeth not those evils for which he hath been reproved Lastly In a word A soul without Christ savoureth not the things that are of God This term savour is in Scripture applied both to tasting and smelling to tasting so meat is said to be savoury Gen. 27. to smelling and so there is the savour of ointments and the savour of garments spoken of in the Book of Canticles Now as a man that hath not the sense of tasting cannot distinguish meats or drinks all are alike to him he perceiveth no sweetness in Sugar or Honey no tartness in Vinegar no bitterness in Gall and as a man that hath not the sense of smelling senteth neither sweet nor stinking taketh no pleasure in those things which yeild a most fragrant smell nor is offended at that which senteth most noisomely and odiously so is it in a spiritual sense with the soul that is without Christ there is no sence of tasting or smelling no perceivance or apprehension of the sweetness of Jesus Christ and of the doctrine of the Gospel of the deliciousness of the things of grace such a soul savoureth not the heavenly Manna the Word of God is not at all sweet unto his taste but unsavoury unto him nor is sin disgustful he perceiveth no bitterness in it but takes pleasure in it so putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter 6. Till you can find that you are in Christ and Christ in you you cannot look upon your selves but as vessels of dishonour ordained unto wrath Rom. 8.1 There is nâ— condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus but to all out of Christ Christ is wisdome and righteousness and sanctification to those to whom he is made redemption it is Christ in us that is the hope of glory to us Examine your selves 2 Cor. 13. â— saith the Apostle prove your selves know you not that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates If thou hast not Christ who is that best garment which the Father of the returning Prodigal called for to put it upon his Son if thou hast not put on the Lord Jesus Christ who is that Wedding-garment spoken of in the Parable Mâ—t. 22. I say if thou hast not Christ thou wilt be speechless dumb not able to speak one word for thy self in that day when the King of Kings the great Judge of all the World shall ask thee why thou shouldst not be condemned and cast into hell for the sin in which thou was born and the sins in which thou hast lived whereas the soul that hath gotten Christ that hath taken him up by Faith and hath him dwelling in it by his Spirit hath the merits of Christ his death to plead and the righteousness of Christ to hold forth unto God Lord though in my self I am worthy of death and have deserved to die a thousand times though I have no righteousness of my own yet in as much as Christ hath died for me I must not die in as much as thy Son whom thou hast given me hath fulfilled all righteousness for me and is made of God righteousness to me I shall not be condemned but I say he that is without Christ will have nothing to say when it shall be demanded of him what he can plead for himself why he should not die for his sins and what hath the judge then to say to such a Christless wretch Oh he passeth a dreadful sentence Bind him hand and â—oot and take him away and cast him into ouâ—er darkness there shall be weeping and guashing af teeth Ah now dear souls seeing the â—nhappiness of men and women and their misery is so great in the want of Christ labour to