A Brief and Plain DISCOVERY OF THE Falseness and Unscripturalness OF ANABAPTISM As the same is now Practised by those of that Perswasion Wâ—â—â—â—in are plainly Proved from God's Word the Five Particulars here Handled I. That God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace whereby all God's Elect are Saved II. That Circumcision was the Initiatory Seal of that Covenant to Abraham and his Church-Seed during that Dispensation III. That Water-Baptism is now under the Gospel succeeded in the room thereof IV. That the Gentile Believers and their Infant-Seed have as Real a Right to the same Covenant of Grace and the Seal thereof as had Abraham and his Infant-Seed V. That Sprinkling or Pouring-out Water on the Subject of Baptism is the Undoubted Right Way of Administring Baptism under the Gospel By Ja. Barry an Unworthy Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for the Author 1699. TO THE Impartial and Unprejudiced READER Who desires to be Rightly Inform'd in the Nature and Design of God's Covenant with Abraham his Friend in the behalf of Himself and all his Ecclesiastical or Church Seed both among Jews and Gentiles to the End of the World Courteous Reader IF the Spirit of Grace Reigns in thy Heart thou wilt I doubt not readily believe me especially when I most Solemnly Profess as if I were immediately to be call'd to the Bar of the Great Judge that no Prejudice ' or Hatred against the Persons of the People who without any Warrant from God's Word Style themselves Baptists and Baptiz'd Churches of Christ hath stirr'd me up to appear in Print in Opposing those Pernicious Principles which the Men of that Perswasion do with so much Violence and unscriptural Zeal Teach and Maintain I sincerely Bless God that his good Spirit hath taught me to distinguish between Persons and the Errors which they hold and maintain Their Persons I love and am really griev'd that I love them no more than I do And I hope neither they nor any others will be Angry with me for so doing But their Errors in Religion I do from my Heart abominate and loath because hateful to God and all good Men who know and understand them so to be And for thus doing I neither fear a Frown from God nor yet Blame from any Man truly-wise who is able to distinguish Truth from Error That I shall be Censur'd and uncharitably Reflected on for what I have done in Printing this small Tract I am not Insensible I am very sure none will thus do but such as eitheir know not or care not what they say These kind of Blows I am taught to ward off with a Religious Scorn and a Holy Contempt resoluing in Christ's Strength to pursue and hold fast the Truth of God let who will Bark and Cavil against it It was the saying of Valerius Maximus Aequo Animo ferenda sunt Imperitorum Convitia ad Honesta vadenti Contemnendus est Iste Contemplus The Reproaches saith he of the Ignorant and Unskilful are to be born with an even or patient Mind And he that intends to advance towards Good and Honest things must Contemn their Contempt That somewhat will come out in answer hereto I question not if the Men of that Principle have not lost their old Wont but my Comfort and Confidence being built on the Rock of Ages I never fear a Confutation from any nay all of that Perswasion who Breath on the Earth until they procure from Heaven another Gospel which is Diametrically opposit to the Gospel delivered by the Son of God which I am sure will never be I have made no Deviation from the good old Way chalkt out by Abraham's God wherein the Prophets and Apostles with all the Primitive Churches who are gon to Heaven walkt in that I know of If I have I do faithfully promise that upon the discovery of my Error I will own my self therein mistaken I have been for several Years past importun'd by many Serious and Godly Christians to Print what now I expect to be Blam'd for but never found my self thereto inclin'd till of late not that I Question any part of what I have Printed being God's Truth but indeed the variety of Tryals and sharp Afflictions which haâ—e Incessantly followed me since call'd to the Sacred Office both in my Native City Dublin and also in England have kept me back together with my own great Aversion to appear in Print in any Matters Controversal But observing of late how strangely Anabaptism spreads both in City and Country and being fully convinc'd that Ignorance of and Vnacquaintedness with the Covenant of Grace was and still is that which hath given advantage to the Preachers of that Way in drawing Proselites after them I have in Conscience of my Duty both to God and Men Improv'd my poor Talent in Explaining and Opening up the Nature and Design of the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 in hopes that God will Bless the Plainness and Brevity therein us'd to inform poor Ignorant and Vnthinking Souls how wretchedly they are imposed upon by Preachers of that Perswasion who have themselves as great need to be Instructed and Taught what the deep Mysteries of the Covenant of Grace be as the poor Tongue-ty'd Bades whom they in vain Labour to exclude and shut out from the Benefits and Seal of that Covenant in the Visible Churches of Christ As their denying Abraham's Covenant to be the Covenant of Grace administers just ground of suspecting whether they have any other than dark and confus'd Notions about the Doctrine of God's Free Grace so much spoken of in Pulpit and Print So their Vnmercifulness and Hard-heartedness to the Infants of Believing Parents in not allowing such to be accounted of the number of God's Elect meerly because of the Incapacity of such to make an open Profession of Faith and Repentance themselves administers just ground of suspecting whether they be Orthodox in the Doctrine of Election I am very sure the State of Infancy can neither null or make void the Electing Decree of God nor yet render the Elect Infant any way uncapable of that Grace of God's Covenant to which he is Elected or of the Seal of that Covenant of Grace in the Church Visible for any to hold or say it doth is to Reflect on the most High God and to make him a mutable Agent like to a Fickle Man contrary to Mal. 3.6 Rom. 11.29 and unavoidably to send all Elect Infants to Hell who Die Infants contrary to Mar. 10 14. Jo. 6.39 Rom. 11.7 All that I shall farther say is only to â—eg and Pray thee for the Lord's sake for thy own Souls sake and for that Love and Tenderness which the Law of Nature especially that of Grace obliges thee to have for poor Infants if thou be a Parent consider well and weigh Judiciously in the Ballance of God's Sanctuary the Arguments laid down in this small Tract to prove what I have therein undertaken If
present thee Blameless before the Throne of my Glorious Holiness in the Third Heaven is Subjectively Inherent in the Person of God-Man thy Mediator and Surety to this Mediatorial Righteousness of his thou shalt add nothing neither thy own Personal qualifications nor yet the Holiness of Saints or Angels as if thereby thou couldest be made more Acceptable than that Righteousness of his doth make thee Thou shalt keep my Covenant both thou and all thy Ecclesiastical or Church Seed throughout your Generations till my Son comes to Judge the World at the last day Thou and all thy Church Seed which Springs from thee by Fleshly Generation shall observe to have all your Males mark'd with Circumcision the visible Token and Seal of this my Gracious Covenant which I have now entred into with thee for thy self a stipulating Father and for all thy Children who are to be the Members of my Sons Mediatorial Kingdom or Visible Church on the Earth And when Christ my Son shall come in the Flesh and shall enter upon his Mediatorial Kingdom whatever visible Token or Seal he shal appoint to Succed in the Room of Circumcision thy Gentile Church Seed as well as Jews who are to believe in him shall carefully observe to be Sealed therewith both they and their Infants And that by Virtue of this my Covenant I now make with thee for thy self and them And to the end that neither thou nor thy Children in succeeding Ages may Be Ignorant of what my Will and Pleasure is concerning the Non-Elect who are to come and spring from Believing and Holy Parents in my visible Church or Churches I notifie to thee and thy Church Seed after thee throughout their Generations that my Soveraign Will and Pleasure is that all the Infants of my Believing Professing Church Membrs shall be markt with the Visible Token or Seal of this my Covenant in the Church whereof the Professing Parent or Parents are Members and that without any regard had to the Elect or Non-Elect For seeing that the Secrets of my Decrees and Counsels are known to my self alone I Will that thou and thy Church Seed after thee to the end of the World do in the Judgmâ—nt of rational Charity Judge all the Seed and Infant Posterity of my Professing People who have laid hold on my Covenant by an Eternal Visible Profession to belong to the Election and to own them for such untill they by open Apostacy and final Impenitency do manifest the contrary For albeit my Visible Churches do consist of Elect and Non Elect and the one as well as the other do partake of the Seal of my Covenant and are partakers of all Church Priviledges yet none shall ever partake internally and savingly of the inward Grace and Mercy Signified and Sealed by the Token and Seal of my Covenant in the Church Visible but the Elect only whose Names are particularly Registred in the Lamb's Book of Life And altho' the Non-Elect in my Church do fall short of the saving Benefits of my Covenant of Grace yet shall they find that I am no way behind with them for altho' I the Absolute Soveraign of the World be no way obliged to the Creature especially fallen Rebels yet seeing it is my Pleasure to Employ the Non-Elect in the Service of my Church while it is in a Militant State that those common Gifts of my Spirit wherewith they are to be endowed might be laid out and improved for the good and wellfare of my Elect and Chosen I will give them a Place in my Church that they shall be called by my Name and shall have an equal Right with mine Elect to the Seal of my Covenant and all outward helps and means of Salvation in the Church Visible whereby it shall plainly appear in the day of Judgment that their missing Heaven and falling short of Eternal Life was of their own Procurement Notwithstanding As is the Service wherein they are Employ'd in my Church I will give them a plentiful Recompence viz. a Temperal Reward in Lieu of a Temporal Service Such as Bodily Health Worldly Wealth Pleasures and Honours c. which are every way more suitable to their Spirit and are more sought and delighted in by them than are the things laid up for my Chosen Plain Instances hereof I have seen fit to leave on Record in the Persons of Ishmael and Isaac both born of Abraham according to the Flesh the one a Reprobate the other Elect both must be of the Church Visible and Sealed with the Visible Token and Seal of Gods Covenant with Abraham Of the same Nature is that of Esau and Jacob both born of Isaac according to Fleshly Generation yet the one a Reprobate and the other Elect both must be of the Visible Church and Sealed with the Seal of the Covenant and pass currant for Church Members before men untill they themselves make the contrary to appear As did Ishmael Esau c. And thus having as plainly and as briefly as I could for the information of those who are yet Ignorant of Abrahams Covenant Explained and shewn the Substance and Tenure of Gods Covenant with Abraham for himself and all his Ecclesiastical or Church Seed both Jews and Gentiles to the end of the World I come now to lay down some Scriptural Arguments to Prove that Gods Covenant with Abraham as now Explained is the Covenant of Grace which God Propounded to Abraham in Gen. 17.7 And not a Covenant of Works as the Anabaptists Teach it is That it is the Covenant of Grace and no other will evidently appear to any who look not asquint on the Arguments following Arg. 1. The first Argument is this If God never yet made a Covenant of Works with any meeâ— Man but that which he made with sinless Adam the Natural and Federal Head of all Mankind in the State of Innocency before the Fall Then God's Covenant with Abraham is the Covn ant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But God never yet made a Covenant of Works with any meer Man but that which he made with sinless Adam the Natural and Federal Head of all Mankind in the State of Innocency before the Fall Therefore Gods Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and no other Plain it is and none without Lying against God can deny it that God made a Covenant of Works with Adam and in him with all Mankind The Condition whereof was do and Live sin and Dye And as plain it is that Adam Fell by Transgressing that Covenant by which Fall he lost the Blessed Image of God to himself and all his Posterity whereby he and his Posterity became utterly uncapable of Life and Salvation by that Covenant Now Abraham being by natural Birth a Son of the first Adam and as such born under the Curse of Adam's Covenant and partaker of a sinful and polluted Nature which rendred him as uncapable of performing any Work which as a condition can Answer
who shall embrace the Son of God by Faith and their Infant-Seed if any they have That this is the true sense and meaning of Christ in that place is clear to any who do not wilfully shut their Eyes for evident it is and none can deny that he there commands to Baptize all Nations not excepting against or forbidding the Disciples to Baptize little Infants He knew that he spake to Men who after the sending of the Holy Ghost should know and consider that Abrahams Covenant with Believers and their infant-Infant-Seed was to remain and continue the same to the end of the World And this together with the sharp rebuke he gave to his Apostles for offering to hinder Little Ones being brought to him and his laying before them such a convincing reason wherefore such should not be kept from coming to him Mar. 10.14 was the principal if not the only reason wherefore his infinite Wisdom saw it not needful to mention Infants in particular they being most certainly included in the general term all Nations All Men who know any thing of Learning understand that Omne majus continet in se minus every greater includes or contains in it the lesser is a sure and standing Rule both in Logick and Divinity Agreeing with this sense I have given off the Grand Commission is that of Peter Acts 2.39 For the Promise is to you and to your Children c. which affords an invincible Argument to prove that there is now under the Gospel no change of Abrahams Covenant any other than in the external administration of it The Covenant in its substance abides the same for ever By the Grace thereof all Gods Elect both of the Jewish and Gentile Race are to be Saved Rom. 3.29 What I have said will yet receive farther confirmation by what is laid down by Paul in Gal. 3.14 That the Blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ c. The places now quoted out of Acts 2.39 and Gal. 3.14 presuppose a command to all whether Jew or Gentile who by Faith receives Jesus Christ for a Saviour that they shall be Signed with the Seal of Abrahams Covenant according to Gen. 17.9 For if the Gentiles who believe in Abrahams Saviour do expect that they and their Infants should be made actual Partakers of the Blessings of Abrahams Covenant they must be sure to observe and keep Gods Covenant with Abraham throughout their Generations Secondly seeing that Christ himself words the Commission so in general terms which undoubtedly includes the particular not excepting against Infants It must necessarily follow that if Infants be a part of those Nations which the Apostles c. are commanded to Baptize that Christ commands them to Baptize Infants as well as any others Reader observe the Words of the Commission Go and Teach all Nations c. Here is no more mention of grown Persons Men or Women than there is of Infants If then Anabaptists cannot deny that Infants are a part of Nations and that they can no way prove how Abrahams Blessing can come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus any other way than by and through the Covenant of Abraham It will unavoidably follow all the Wit in Man cannot oppose it with success that Infants as well as adult Persons are as the proper Subjects of Baptism intended by Christ in the Grand Commission Object 2. None are the proper Subjects of Baptism but such as are first taught Go and Teach c. Infants are not capable of Mans Teaching therefore they are not the proper Subjects of Baptism Answ This with the Objection already spoken to seems to weak and injudicious People to be unanswerable for excluding Infants from Baptism but he that looks into it with a Spiritual Eye will find nothing in it against Infants In order to discover the weakness and mistake of the Objector let it be observed with care that the Word Teach is twice mentioned in the Words of the Commission Go and Teach all Nations Baptizing them c. And in Ver. 20 Teaching them to observe c. The first Teach is in the Original Matheteusate and the other is Didaskontes which I choose to set down in the English rather than in the Greek Character to the end the Unlearned may Read them and in Reading observe the great difference which is between the two Words and that both in the Letters and Sound of the Words if this be taken notice of it will afford to the Unlearned who would not be impos'd upon ground to suspect not only the Skill in Tongues but also the Honesty and Faithfulness of those Guides whom they Judge come nearer to Infalibility in what they Teach than do the other eminent Servants of Christ who differ from them and at whose Labours the ablest Preachers of that Party are glad to Light their Candles As these two Words differ in Letters and Sound as the Unlearned themselves will find if they be but Faithful to themselves so they differ also in their Sense and Signification as the Orthodox and Learned well know I begin with the first viz. Matheteusate which signifies properly to Disciple or to make Disciples in all Nations where the Gospel shall be gladly received How is this to be done Answ Even as God Taught Abraham when he Instructed him in the great Mystery of the Covenant The which when Abraham Embrac'd for himself and his Infant-Seed he received gladly the Visible Token or Seal of that Covenant of Grace viz. Circumcision and marks out his Infant-Seed by putting the same Seal of the Covenant on them and that in compliance with God's Command It is but Rational to suppose and grant that the first Subjects of an Ordinance should be Persons Adult and Grown up to the use of Reason that they may be capable of Acting for not only themselves but for their Off spring and Posterity also who are not while Infants capable of Acting for themselves This was God's Way and Method with Abraham his Friend he Propounds his Covenant of Grace to him and in him to his Seed as their Stipulating and Covenanting Head and Representative In Instructing Abraham God in Abraham's Person Instructs his Infants so as by that Instruction his Infant-Seed became Disciples and were accordingly Sign'd with the Seal of their Stipulating Father's Covenant This undoubtedly was the Method which the Apostles went in when they were sent forth to make Disciples to Christ in every Nation They Instructed Adult and Grown Persons in the Mystery of God's Grace by Christ and when such laid hold on Christ in the Covenant by an External Profession of Faith in him they were Baptized with their Infants if any they had Hence we Read of the Jaylor in Acts 16.33 who on his Believing was Baptized he and all that were of him viz. His own Personal Off-spring so the Greek Word signifies Hence also we Read of whole Families who were Baptized by the Apostles on the Faith of such as were
it self The Covenant is briefly comprehended in these Words I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee For in these Words God Engages himself by free and absolute Promise to Abraham and to his Elect Church-Seed that he will be a God to him and them to do all things for them which are needful to compleat their Happiness both here and hereafter Secondly The Land of Canaan was promised not as it was any Essential part of the Covenant of Grace or as if real Blessedness consisted in the actual Enjoyment thereof But as the same was a Temporary Type of Heaven And for want of understanding and considering this very thing many who have thought themselves Wiser in the Mysteries of the Gospel than their Neighbours have prov'd themselves short of true Wisdom in this Particular at least To convince of this Mistake let that of our Saviour in Mat. 6.33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness there of and all these things shall be added to you be weighed in the Ballance of an unprejudiced Consideration and to an Impartial Eye that looks not Asquint at these two places of Holy Scripture Gen. 17.7 and Mat. 6.33 it will most plainly appear that Temporal Blessings are held forth in one as well as in the other And if it must needs be granted that because God made the Promise of the Land of Canaan to Abraham c. that therefore God's Covenant with him and his was a Covenant of Works It will as necessarily follow that Believers to whom Christ directs his Speech in Mat. 6.33 are now under a Covenant of Works as well as Abraham was And so neither Abraham the Father of the Faithful nor any of his Seed the Elect I mean either of the Jewish or Gentile Race are like to be Saved or Enjoy God for their Portion And by this way of Arguing it will evidently appear to any seeing Man who shuts not his Eyes for fear of being convinced that while the Adversaries I now Oppose in this Controversy were employed in devising this Shift to prove God's Covenant with Abraham to be a Covenant of Works and that on purpose to exclude poor Infants from that Covenant and from Baptism the now Seal thereof they have insensibly shut both Abraham and themselves too out from being Saved And what advantage will hereby accrew to their Cause let it be improved to the utmost Object 2. It is again Objected If the Covenant in Gen. 17.7 be a Covenant of pure Grace and not a Covenant of Works and that all Abraham 's Children be alike Interested therein then doth Grace come by natural Generation contrary both to Scripture and Reason Answ The ground of the Objectors mistake Lyes in two things First His not distinguishing or considering that the Children of Believing Abraham are said to be in Covenant two Ways or in a twofold Respect First Internally by Virtue of God's Election And thus none are or ever shall be in Covenant but Abraham's Seed viz The Elect who are in Scripture by way of distinction styled the Children of Promise Typ'd out in the Person of Jsaac Gal. 4 28. These and they alone Partake in the saving benefits of the Covenant and have also a right to the visible Sign or Seal of the Covenant in the visible Churches of Christ under the Gospel Dispensation Secondly Externally by Virtue of the External Profession made in the Church And thus the Non-Elect as well as the Elect are said to be in Covenant with God in his Churches Visible here on Earth These Albeit they never partake in the saving Blessings of the Covenant yet by Virtue of the External Profession made they and their Infant-Seed though not Elect have an External Right in the Church Visible to the Token or Seal of Abraham's Covenant and to all other Priviledges and Ordinances in the Church whereof they are capable according to the Revealed Will of God By Virtue hereof it is that God calls such his People and he will have his Church to call and own them for such too until they manifest themselves to be otherwise and that by a voluntary Defection and final Apostacy Plain Instances hereof are Graphically set down in God's Word in the Persons of Ishmael and Esau in whose Persons the Reprobate Seed of Abraham were Allegorically typ'd out as the Elect Seed were Allegorically and Typically represented in the Persons of Isaac and Jacob The former of these Sprang from the Flesh of Abraham as well as the latter And on this account they had a place in the Visible Church and were marked with the Seal of God's Covenant as well as the latter They were esteemed and reckoned as God's Children and true Members of the Church until by Defection and Apostacy they discovered themselves to be otherwise If this Distinction be not allowed I cannot see how God can be orderly Worship't by any Visible Church on Earth This is the Summ and Substance of God's Covenant made with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 and with his Elect Seed c. And by Virtue of this Promise Abraham and with him all his Elect Seed would have been most Happy and eternally Blest had no Promise been made of the Land of Canaan So in like manner shall all true Believers with their Elect Seed be eternally Happy and Blest being made Partakers of the Righteousness of Christ intended in Mat. 6.33 Albeit such Believers and their Elect Seed should with Lazarus Die on a Dunghil for want of those Temporal Blessings held forth by Christ in the above-mentioned Promise which plainly demonstrates that the Promise which God made to Abraham of giving to him and to his Seed the Land of Canaan was no more an Essential part of the Covenant made with him and his Seed than the Promise held forth by Christ in the place above-named proves that Believers and their Elect Seed are now under a Covenant of Works All the difference which I can find between these two places is that the Promise in Gen. 17.7 was Typical of the Kingdom of Heaven The other is not so Were this Covenant of God made with Abraham the Father of the Faithful as he was a Stipulating and a Covenanting Representative in a Church Visible but rightly understood and believ'd with Application to Mens own Souls I am perswaded there would be neither Anabaptists nor Arminian in the World The Church of Rome Holds and Teaches that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion I am not ashamed to say it is the Mother of all Errors in Religion Neither am I afraid to affirm it to be both the Mother and Nurse of Anabaptism and Arminianism CHAP. II. Proving that Circumcision was a Seal of Gods Covenant of Grace made with Abraham and his Seed Arg. 1. EIther Circumcision was the external Token or Seal of Abraham's Covenant of Grace mentioned G. 1â— 7. Or else that Covenant had no Seal at all The Adversary cannot avoid here H must either Grant or Deny
Principle on which all sound Protestants do maintain and justifie the Right of Believers Infants to Baptism is beyond contradiction When the Most High and Soveraigne Lord God saw fit to make known his Will and Pleasure to be that his Covenant of Grace agreed on between himself and his Son Christ in Eternity should be Dispensed in an Ecclesiastical or Church way he singles out above all other men Abraham his Friend on whom he Confers the Honourable Title of the Father of the Faithful Rom. 4.11 Not that Abraham did or could possibly Beget a Believer as such or could convey into the Children he Begat according to Fleshly Generation that Noble Grace of Faith wherewith God's Free-Gift had Blessed himself But God opens and propounds his Everlasting Covenant of Grace and Salvation to him as a Publick Person who was to Personate all true Believers who in after Ages were to be Members of his Visible Churches to the second coming of Christ The Sum and Substance of that Covenant is briefly comprehended in the Words of Gen. 17.7 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 to thee and to thy Seed after thee This Covenant hath Two Essential Parts as all Right Covenants have 1. God's part held forth in the Words I will be a God to thee c. The meaning whereof according to the Analogie of Faith must be thus understood Tho' thou Abraham whom I now call to become my Friend and Favoright and a Publick Head or Representative of all believing Church Members to the end of the World be'st an undon and guilty sinner polluted in thy Nature and born under Adam's Covenant of Works liable and obnoxious to its Curse and to the Wrath to come unable to recover or help thy self out of that deplorable Condition into which thy natural Birth as Adam's Child hath put thee And albeit thou be no way worthy of any Favour yet I think fit to let thee know what thoughts and purposes of Mercy and Kindness I have in store for thee Abraham And for the Rest of mine Elect whom I have Chosen to my self in Christ the Promised Messiah of whom that Son which I have Promised thee is to be a Type And in whose Person all mine Elect are to be Allegorically or Typically Represented and that as thy Son is to be a Type of mine in whom I have Elected and Chosen them I frankly and freely Pardon and Forgive thee all those Transgressions and Sins wherewith as Adam's Child thou standest Chargeable for breaking that Covenant of Works I made with Adam thy and all Mankinds Natural and Faederal Head I Account thee perfectly Just and Righteous in my sight not by or for that Principal of Inherent Holiness which the Spirit of Grace in effectual Calling hath wrought in thee which Inherent Holiness is ever the fruit and effect of a Justified State but never the Procuring or Meriting Cause But I account and esteem thee as Just and Righteous as if thou hadst in thy own Person exactly performed that Legal Righteousness which the Law Moral requires on the alone account of my Sons righteousness which as the Mediator and surety of this my Covenant of Grace he is to perform in the behalf of thee and all mine Elect I most freely impute to thee I Sanctifie and Renew thy vitiated and poluted Nature by my Sanctifying Spirit that thou maiest be capable of Communion and Fellowship with me both here in my Church Militant And here after in my Church Triumphant I Adopt thee to be my Son by Grace and by virtue hereof thou art restored to all the Blessings Rights and Priviledges which Adam thy Natural and Federal Head lost and forfeited by his Apostacy and Defection Hereby thou art Admitted as a Free Denizon into the Family and Houshold of God from whence thou wast cast out in Adam when he was ejected and cast out for his Rebellion witness his expulsion out of Earthly Paradice a lively Type of the Heavenly I Promise to Establish thee in Grace so as thou shalt never more be in danger of loosing thy self or forfeiting my Love and Favour any more For ever I will be a Sun and a Shield to furnish and supply thee with all necessary Accomodations for Life in this World I will Protect and Defend thee from all adverse Powers Spiritually and Bodily which shall contrive and seek thy Ruin And finally I will receive thee into Heaven when by Death thou goest hence where thou shalt Live and Reign with me Eternally And the very same Mercy and Favour which I have now expressed and shewn to thee I do oblige my self by the promise of this my Covenant that I will do to all mine Elect who are to spring from thy Loyns As also to all mine Elect who are to come of the Gentile Race to the end of the World 2. Man's Part As for thee Abraham this thou must do on thy part thou must walk Humbly and Uprightly before me thou must make the Moral Law Engraven by the Finger of my Spirit on the heart of Adam thy Natural and Federal Head the standing Rule of thy Obedience both Negatively and Positively In all the parts of thy Obedience thou must look exactly to three things 1. To the Subject Matter of thy Obedience let it be what I Command and Require not what Creatures Devise or Enjoyn 2. To the manner See that thou do it in Faith keeping thine Eye on Christ my Son for Acceptance and Acting all by Strength derived from him 3. To the end See that my Glory be that thou aimest at and designest in all thou goest about Thou shalt not do my Work and Service in a Mercenary way as a Servant that Works for Wages but thou must obey my Command as a Son with freedom of Spirit and from a Principle of Love and Gratitude knowing and considering that my Grace and Love hath made Provision of all that is needful to make thee every way Eternally happy both here and hereafter The dreadful Curse and Eternal Death to which by Sin thou becamest obnoxious My Son Christ Typ'd out by the Ram hath set thee for ever Free from it And that by his being made a Curse and undergoing Death for thee as being thy Sponsor or Surety at his Hands I have Received the full of that Debt whereto thou becamest liable by breaking my Law there remains not the least Mite for thee to pay so that now thou hast no cause to fear my Vindicative Justice the many and sharp Afflictions wherewith thou shalt meet in thy way to Glory shall be but the gentle Chastisements of thy dearly Loving and Reconciled Father who by them will Purge out the remains of thy indwelling Corruption and sweetly wean thee from the enticing Objects of the vain and bewitching World thou Livest in That Perfect and Spotless Righteousness which must Recommend thee to me and
the Laws demand as a man naturally dead is uncapable of raising or quickening himself or as a Sparrow is uncapable to remove or carry on its Back the greatest Mountain in the World To what end should the only Wise God make a Covenant of Works with such a fallen sinner Arg. 2. If to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is a Covenant of Works and not a Covenant of Grace be a high Reflection on God and also destructive to the Souls of Men then is God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17.7 is a Covenant of Works and not a Covenant of Grace is a High Reflection on God and destructive to the Souls of Men. Therefore God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works For rendring this Argument Unanswerable Two things want confirmation First That to hold and Teach that God's Covenant with Abraham is a Covenant of Works is a high Reflection on God And Secondly That the same is Destructive to the Soules of Men. The First of these will evidently appear to the unprejudic'd and Impartial Reader if he seriously consider how Inconsistent it is with the Divine Attributes of God to make a Covenant of Works with a Lapsed Polluted Sinner whom he knows to be altogether Dead in Trespasses and Sins and every way as unable to will or do any Work that is Spiritually good as a Dead Man is able to quicken and raise himself For Illustration sake let it be considered How unbecoming a Wise and Prudent Man it would be to strike a Covenant or Bargain for ten or twenty thousand Pounds with an Insolvent Person who is well known not to be worth ten Farthings in the World and which is yet worse who hath neither Wit to contrive nor Health or Limbs to Work to get a Penny towards paying such a vast Sum. I cannot so much as doubt of any worldly Wise Mans unwillingness to be guilty of such an oversight as this And shall the Unerringly Wise God be guilty of so great an Absurdity Sâ—condly As this Principle Reflects on God so it is Destructive to the Souls of Men. This appears beyond all contradiction in that it raseth the very Foundation of Men's Salvation by denying that Covenant to be a Covenant of Grace which Abraham and Isaac with Jacob and all the Old-Testament Believers depended on for Eternal Salvation and by which we Gentile Believers hope to go to Heaven For most plain it is that by this pernicious Principle Abraham is lost with all who died trusting to the Grace exhibited in that Covenant And if Abraham the Father of the Faithful be trusting to a Covenant of Works I cannot see how any of his Eccelsiastical Church Seed can be Saved any more than he is For by a Covenant of Works no meer Man ever was or shâ—ll be justified and Saved Arg. 3 If the Scripture no where either directly or by consequence calls God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17.7 a Covenant of Works then it is a Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works But the Scripture no where either directly or by consequence calls God's Covenant with Abraham a Covenant of Works Therefore the Covenant of God with Abraham is the Covenant of Grace and not a Covenant of Works If it cannot be Demonstrated from the written Word or by Arguments Deducible therefrom that Abraham's Covenant Gen. 17.7 is called or can be proved a Covenant of Works They who so hold and Teach will be found ranked among those who call good evil and evil good and who put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light Esa 5.10 For Men to take on them to term Abraham's Covenant a Covenant of Works without any Warrant Divine is to me an Argument of an ignorant rash and presumptuous Spirit from which Charge let such Men see how they can Acquit and free themselves Arg. 4. If Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by Works then the Covenant which God made with him is the Covenant of Grace and not of Works But Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by Works Therefore the Covenant which God made with him is the Covenant of Grace and not the Covenant of Works That Abraham was Justified by Faith and not by works the Scripture is express and clear Rom. 4.2 3 4. Gal. 2.5 6 7. Arg. 5. If God hath made no other Covenant of Grace with Abraham distinct from that in Gen. 17.7 then that Covenant in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace but God made no Covenant of Grace with Abraham distinct from that in Gen. 17.7 Therefore that Covenant in Gen. 17.7 is the Covenant of Grace and not the Covenant of Works That which will determin the Point in Controversie is this let those who herein oppose me lay down a Scriptural definition of the Covenant of Grace and that in such Terms as best please themselves and in Case their own definition do not agree at least for Substance with Gen. 17.7 if it be according to God's Word then am I freely willing to own my self herein mistaken If they refuse to comply with so fair a Proposal let the Judicious and Impartial Reader Judge who is at the Loss herein they or I I conclude this Chapter with this Dilemma viz. Abraham the Father of the Faithful he is eâ—ther Sav'd or else he is Damn'd one of these two the Adversaries I now oppose must grant for there is no middle State for Souls Departed If they say he is Damn'd then is there no ground left us to hope that any of Adam's Posterity ever were or shall be Sav'd for we have no other Covenant whereby to expect Salvation but that of Abraham And if he Perished under that Covenant so must we If they grant that Abraham is in a State of Salvation as they must if they speak by the Spirit of Christ then Abraham was Justified and Saved by a Covenant of Grace and if by a Covenant of Grace then that Covenant mention'd in Gen. 17.7 must needs be the Covenant of Grace for besides that Covenant the Scriptures know no other Against what I have said and all Orthodox Protestants constantly â—old and affâ—â—m conceâ—ning Abraham's Covenant being a Covenant of pure and absolute Grace this is Objâ—cted by the Adversaries Object The Land of Canaan was a Temporal Blessing therefore such was the Covenant of which Circumcision was a Temporary Seal I Answer in two Particulars First The Promise of the Land of Canaan is no Essential part of the Covenant of Abraham Let the Words in the 7th Verse be Read without prejudice The last Clause of the Verse doth fully comprehend the sum and substance of the Covenant of Grace made with Abraham The Promise of the Land of Canaan is only by way of Addition or Overplus No Essential part of the Covenant