use of Circumcision as to him was not limited to that Covenant of Peculiarity unto which it did immediately belong but must necessarily reach farther and include a Confirmation of all preceding Transactions the Promises given in them especially of that which was repeated immediately before the Institution thereof The Promises of God to Abraham tho' of a different Nature did not interfere one with another but the latter still implyed a Confirmation and Ratification of the former This Covenant therefore did not supplant but confirm the Truth of the Gospel before preached to Abraham it was not added to disannul the Promise but to serve the Ends thereof and therefore Circumcision did not only seal to Abraham the Promises of typical Blessings now given but also was a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all that believe in Vncircumcision 2. It was so tho' more indirectly on this account also Abraham's Faith as we have seen before was much concerned in the Promise of Isaac's Birth and the separating of his Seed from other Nations for the bringing forth of the Messiah and he knew well that the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him in pursuance of the great Promises before given and so the Seal of this Covenant became unto him a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had before and confirmed him in his paternal Relation to Believers in all Nations which was an Honour before conferred on him It is the Discovery of the Subserviency of Circumcision as received by Abraham to the great End and Design of the Covenant of Grace which was confirmed to Abraham before he was circumcised that the Apostle particularly aims at in this Place and he proves that the Covenant of Circumcision is so far from excluding the Gentiles from inheriting the Blessing of Abraham by Faith as that it was to him an Assurance and Seal of the Promise of so great a Priviledg to them as also of his own Justification thro' Faith while uncircumcised And moreover The Covenant of Circumcision not being so compleat in it self as to bring the Church unto that Perfection which in the eternal Counsels of God's Soveraign Grace was intended and therefore not capable to make any thing perfect by it self must needs be established as typical and subservient to the Covenant of Grace in a temporary Dispensation that should usher in and then give place to the Gospel in the fulness of Time and in respect of this Disposition of the Covenant now made the Sign by which it was confirmed became ultimately and in its typical respect a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which Abraham had before § 12. It is no ways difficult to conceive that Circumcision might have a different Respect according to the differing Circumstances and Capacity of its Subject Yea that it had so in another Instance hath been already proved It was a Seal of the Inheritance of Canaan to the Children of Israel and did ensure the Promise thereof to them and their Seed But it gave their Bond-servants no such Right or Claim Even so it was to Abraham a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had c. but this arose from the peculiar and extraordinary Circumstances and Capacity that he was in for it is not possible to conceive that Circumcision should be a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had while uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all that believe in Vncircumcision to one that never had Faith either before or after his Circumcision nor ever had or should have the Relation of a Father to all Believers as Abraham had Now that the Apostle speaks of Circumcision here with respect to the peculiar Circumstances and Capacity of Abraham who received it is evident from the scope of his Discourse in the Context in which the Argument that he manageth is to prove that neither could Circumcision give to any an Interest in that Grace that justifies a Sinner before God nor the want of it hinder any from obtaining that Interest in the way and upon the Terms of the Gospel seeing Abraham himself obtained it not by his carnal Prerogative but was justified before he was circumcised And the whole stress of his Argument lies upon the Supposition of Abraham's being a Believer and justified by his Faith before he received Circumcision Remove this and his Discourse concludes nothing of what he intends And hence he infers that Abraham received Circumcision so as that it was to him a Seal not simply of the Righteousness of Faith or of the New-Covenant but of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised as also of his paternal Relation to all Believers tho' they be not circumcised for so it follows that he might be the Father of all them that believe And it is equally absurd to say that Circumcision was a Seal unto all its Subjects of the Righteousness of Faith which they had while uncircumcised as to affirm that it was the Seal of a paternal Relation to all Believers unto every one that received it Both these must necessarily be resolved into the peculiar Circumstances of Abraham the particular Relation he had in the Covenants made with him and the order of their Disposition and not into the nature of Circumcision considered simply and in it self And moreover it is observable That immediately after in the continuance of his Discourse in Rom. 4. the Apostle refers Circumcision to the Law in contradistinction from the Gospel for when he hath told us that the circumcised Jew could not obtain the Blessing of a spiritual Relation to Abraham by virtue of his Circumcision unless he did walk in the steps of Abraham ' s Faith which he had while uncircumcised ver 12. he assigns this as the reason of it in the 13th Verse For the Promise that he should be the Heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his Seed thro' the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith And I cannot see how the Conclusion which the Apostle makes concerning the Inefficacy of Circumcision is enforced by this Reason if Circumcision immediately and in its own Nature had not belonged to the Law but to the Righteousness of Faith or Covenant of Grace as an ordinary Seal thereof Again The Interpretation made of this Text is farther strengthened by the conference of other Places in the New-Testament where we find that Circumcision is stiled an unsupportable Yoke Act. 5. 10. and is said to lay Men under an Obligation to keep the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. and the compleat Dispensation of Grace in the Gospel according to the New-Covenant is constantly insisted on as that which renders it utterly useless to the Gospel-Church and manifests the Inconsistency of retaining the Practise thereof with the Liberty of their present State See for Instance the Epistle to the Galatians and in Chap. 5. 13.
you may observe in the Genealogy Gen. 11th that as none which were born after the Flood attained to the Years of those that lived before it so most manifestly the ordinary Age of Man was again shortened from the time of this Defection at Babel insomuch that none of the Generations after Heber attained to more than about half the number of his Years Of the Covenant of Grace as revealed to Abraham CHAP. IV. God puts a special Honour upon Abraham by his Covenant-Transactions with him § 1. Abraham's Descent and Contemporaries his seeming Incapacity for that Covenant-Relation which God brought him into § 2. Abraham to be considered in a double capacity the Covenant not made with him as an ordinary believing Parent The Method of the following Discourse proposed § 3. The Covenant of Grace revealed to Abraham Gal. 3. v. 6 7 8 9 16 17. proposed § 4. The time of this Covenant-Transaction exactly noted some Inferences from thence § 5. The Sum of all spiritual Blessings included in it Abraham made the Father of the Faithful by it § 6. This Covenant confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3. 16 17. farther opened why Abraham and David so particularly named in the Genealogy of Christ § 7. Abraham a Root of Covenant-Blessings and common Parent to Believers why Paradise called Abraham's Bosom § 8. An eternal Settlement of the way of Salvation by Faith in Christ in this Covenant § 9. The Promise of this Covenant given to Abraham twenty five years before the Covenant of Circumcision no outward Sign added nor Ordinances of Worship peculiar to it till Christ's time the Seed as well as the Blessing promised their Interest in the promised Blessing compleat and full the Reason of this and a mistake removed the Claim of Believers in the Interest of Abraham's Seed and not as Coordinate with him § 10. § 1. THE next signal Advance that was made of the Discovery of God's Grace to Men was in Abraham's time and by the Foederal Transactions of God with him whereby he was brought into such a Relation to God and the whole Church as was in some respects peculiar to himself and never was the Lot of any other of the Children of Men either before or since his time in respect of which Abraham may be considered as a Type of Christ who is eminently the Head and Prince of the new Covenant And because of that special Grace and Favour that the Lord bestowed upon him in his Transactions with him is he styled The Friend of God And the Covenant is said to be Mercy to Abraham and Truth to Jacob Mic. 7. ult intimating the beginning of it to be with Abraham which was of meer Grace and Mercy tho' when once made with him the Truth and Faithfulness of God was ingaged to make it good to the succeeding Heirs thereof not but that the Covenant of Grace as made with Abraham was the same for Substance that had been more darkly revealed in the Ages before but it pleased God to transact it with him as he had not done with any before him It may be noted also that Abraham is the first Man in the World unto whom God is said to have appeared or been seen Act. 7. 2. with Gen. 12. § 2. This Abraham was of the Posterity of Shem descended from him in the Tenth Generation and chosen of God from amongst all his rumerous Offspring to be in an especial manner the Heir of his Blessing Gen. 11. Yet are we not to imagine that Abraham and his Family were the only People that God had in the World in his Days for altho' there was then a very great Defection of the World from God and his true Worship yet was it not universal as in Noah's time but there were many alive that did truly fear God and were accepted with him besides Abraham and those immediately depending on him for even Shem lived till Abraham was 150 years old and Arphaxad lived till he was 88 which was 13 years after that Covenant was confirmed with him mentioned Gen. 12. Salah lived until Abraham was 118 years of Age which was about 19 years after the Covenant of Circumcision was given to him And Heber lived after his Death even until Jacob was about 19 years old for he was the longest Liver of all that were born after the Flood And there is no doubt but these Patriarchs with their Houses and others joyning with them and under their Conduct did worship and serve the true God yet it pleased the Lord to single out Abraham call him to his Foot and make him an Head of all future Covenants with Men And this notwithstanding such a Bar lay in his way at the time of his calling as to his entering into any such Relation as was impossible to have been removed but by Omnipotent Grace and Power And that both upon a Moral and Physical Account 1. Upon a Moral Account Abraham was not a Person eminent for Holiness and Religion when God called him to inherit Shem's Blessing he was not better or more deserving then any of the rest of his Posterity but was swiming down the Stream of a wicked World being degenerated from the Religion and Piety of his Ancestors unto false Worship and Idolatry Josh 24. 2 3. And therefore it is not without reason that the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 16. 3. upbraids the People of Israel with this that their Father was an Amorite and their Mother an Hittite not properly but metaphorically so called because even they had been involved in the Guilt of like Apostacy from God as these Nations before the Lord graciously called them out of it 2. Upon a natural Account For Sarai the Wife of Abraham was barren and noted to be so before God called him Gen. 11. 30. And yet the Blessing of Shem must have been lost the hope of the Church perished and all Covenant-Transactions with Abraham proved of none Effect if he had not had Seed forasmuch as by virtue of God's Covenant to be established with him the Messiah as concerning the Flesh was to come of him And yet all this was no Impediment or Obstruction in his way who quickeneth the dead and calleth the things that are not as tho' that were Rom. 4. § 3. There is one thing more to be premitted to the Consideration of God's Covenant-Transactions with Abraham in particular which we have most clearly stated in the New Testament viz. That with respect to them Abraham is to be considered in a double Capacity both as the Father of all true Believers and as the Father and Root of the Israelitish Nation and for both these Seeds God did enter into Covenant with him howbeit these Seeds being formally distinguisht the one from the other their Covenant Interest must of necessity be diverse and fall under a distinct Consideration and the Blessings appropriate to either must be conveyed in a way agreable to their peculiar and respective Covenant-Interest And these things may not
then living under any Obligation to incorporate themselves thereinto by Circumcision or at all to take upon them that Sign or Seal of this Covenant of Peculiarity that God now made with Abraham which yet without doubt they should have done if in its first Institution it had been given simply and directly as a Seal of the Covenant of Grace for then by reason of their Interest in that Covenant both in point of Duty and Priviledg it had equally belonged unto them as to the Seed and Family of Abraham § 10. But from the sacred History it is evident That the Command by virtue of which Circumcision was administred extended no farther than to Abraham and his Family And therefore we have no ground to conclude that Lot tho' nearly allyed to Abraham was circumcised seeing there is nothing in the Command of God or first Institution of Circumcision that obliged him thereunto or interested him therein and yet there is no Doubt to be made of his Interest in the Covenant of Grace Neither was Lot the only righteous Man then living in the World besides those of Abrham's Family for of the Patriarchs Heber Salah and Shem were now living and as they had their distinct Families and Interests so there is no Question but the pure Worship of God was maintained in them and they promoted the Interest of true Religion to the utmost of their Power while they lived Yea Melchisedeck was in Being about this time whether he was Shem before named or another it concerns not us to inquire much less to determine but this is certain that it was he who was the Priest of the most high God and King of Salem and in both these respects the most eminent Type of Jesus Christ that ever was in the World a Person greater than Abraham for Abraham paid Tythes to him and was blessed by him Now considering that he was both King and Priest there is no doubt but there was a Society of Men that were ruled by him and for whom he ministred for a Priest is ordained for Men in things pertaining to God and this Society was at this time as much a Church of God as Abraham's Family was and as truly interested in the Covenant of Grace as any therein yet were they not concerned as Parties in this Covenant of Circumcision nor to be signed thereby And hence it is manifest that Circumcision was not at first applyed as a Seal of the Covenant of Grace nor did an Interest therein presently render a Man the proper Subject of it Again To suppose that all good Men then living should have been circumcised as Abraham was and their Offspring bound to keep this Covenant in their Generations as his were would necessarily frustrate one great if not the greatest End of Circumcision and the Covenant thereof which was the separating of one Family and People from all others in the World for the bringing forth of the Messiah that promised Seed of them and among them for the establishing of all the Promises made unto the Fathers And moreover the Promise of this Covenant touching the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan could never have been made good to them all And yet certainly the sealing of that Promise was one thing intended in Circumcision From the whole it appears That as on the one hand there was a positive Command which made it necessary to circumcise many that never had Interest in the Covenant of Grace so on the other hand from the first Date of Circumcision there were many truly intersted in the Covenant of Grace who were under no Obligation to be circumcised So far it is from Truth that a New Covenant-Interest and Right to Circumcision may be inferred the one from the other § 11. I should here have put a close to this Chapter but that I judg it may be convenient in this place briefly to touch upon that Notion of Infant 's Church-membership which is much spoken of with Reference to those Times the History of which we have already past thro' And the rather because of the Light we may receive from the things already discoursed to guide us to a right Understanding of the true State of the Question about it By many such a thing is affirmed to have been from the Beginning and great Weight is laid upon it in the Controversie about the right Subjects of Baptism It being judged to afford a sufficient ground for applying the Seal of the Covenant to the Infant Seed of Believers For my own part I find not in the Scriptures Occasion given for any long Discourses about it and I shall not desire to be wise above what is written And therefore I shall endeavour in few Words to represent some things grounded upon the records of matter of Fact in the Scripture which I conceive may be sufficient to determine our Thoughts as to the Issue of our present Enquiry about it And they are these that follow § 12. First The term Church in the Scriptures is not that I find applyed to any particular Society of Men united in one Body in order to the maintaining of the publick and solemn Worship of God among themselves before the Children of Israel were compleately formed into a Church-state by the Covenant that God made with them in the Wilderness They are called the Church in the Wilderness Act. 7. 38. Yet I doubt not but all good Men before that time did belong to that general Assembly and Church which Christ hath redeemed with his Blood and made the Members of his Body and I grant that we may using the Term in a more laxe sence call any Family or Society of Men truly worshiping God a Church of God Nevertheless if we consider the Circumstances relating to the different State of things in those different Times it will appear that no Society before the Jewish Church was formed can be called a Church in so strict and proper a sence as they might for no other were so formed into a Church-state as they were 2. Before Abraham's time there was no Institution of an outward Sign or Seal of any Covenant to be applyed either to Infants or adult Persons And therefore there could be no Inauguration of this kind or solemn Right of Initiation to Church Priviledg then in Use among them All that can be said of the Children born in those Families and Societies must issue in things of another Nature viz. That they were under a more special and gracious Providence of God than others as being Members of a Family peculiarly interested therein They had also the Benefit of continual Prayers for them and the Advantage of early and diligent Instruction being brought up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord and so preserved from many Snares and Temptations that others are liable to by the Discipline they were under And being provoked to Religion by the pious and holy Example of those they conversed with as soon they were capable of it if when
for the most part as shadowed and figured by outward things And hence That which concerns the State of Israel under the Mosaical Oeconomy is more expresly and fully declared unto Abraham than what concerns his spiritual Seed under the Gospel And therefore tho' this latter be the chief thing intended and aimed at because the perfection of all the rest in all divine Transactions with Abraham yet is it for the most part mystically infolded in and to be inferred from the typical Respect of the other thereunto which leaves the Glory of Gospel-grace still under that Vail which accompanied the Old Testament-state of the Church the full opening of those Promises that did immediately belong to the Covenant of Grace being reserved for another State of things in the Church God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Heb. 11. 40. A dim Light was suited to those Times and it could be but dim so long as the Promises lay so much intangled one within another The like is to be observed in After-times in the Revelation of the Mind of God to Israel by the Prophets For in the prophetick Writings as it appears that the temporal Deliverances of Israel are considered as typical of the spiritual Redemption of the Church so we often meet with sudden and seemingly abrupt Transitions from the Promises of things relating to the present State of Israel after the Flesh unto Promises and Prophecies of those things which are accomplished in the New-Testament by the Ministration of the Spirit which being generally delivered in Terms suitable to the present Dispensation of things and their typical Respect are by the Jews wofully perverted unto this day while they contend that themselves are the only People concerned in them to whom the Blessings promised and prophesied of do belong and that they are to be fulfilled unto them in a way agrecable to their former State and suited to their own carnal Lusts and Imaginations whereby they harden themselves in their Contempt of the Grace of God in Christ and the spiritual Blessings of the Gospel wherein the Accomplishment of those Prophecies according to the true Sence of them is only to be sought And thus Jesus Christ himself became a Stone of stumbling and Rock of Offence to them because the State of his Kingdom suited not their carnal Minds nor answered their groundless Expectation § 3. It is also to be observed That there is not only a singular Congruity and Fitness in this Method of giving forth the Promises in regard of the Time wherein they were made to Abraham and that State of the Church which was next to follow upon these Transactions but there is also in some respect a Necessity of it arising from the Nature of the things promised and their mutual Dependence one upon the other For All the Promises of a spiritual Seed and spiritual Blessings to be bestowed on that Seed which belong to the Covenant of Grace as revealed to Abraham are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus And this Messiah in whom the Covenant was confirmed was to be made of the Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh and for the bringing of him forth according to the Promise was the Seed of Abraham by Isaac and Jacob separated unto God for a peculiar People and kept distinct from all other Families in the World and in this respect the Blessing of Grace and eternal Life given unto Abraham and his believing Seed was suspended upon the Effect and Accomplishment of the Promises concerning his natural Offspring and particularly upon the Promise of Isaac's Birth who was to be begotten by Abraham and brought forth by Sarah at such a time when Nature in them both was so weakned by Age that they were as unapt he to beget and she to conceive a Son as if they had been already dead Rom. 4. 19. And hence it is that the Apostle doth lay so great Weight upon Abraham's Faith in this Particular even in the Business of his Justification before God The Object of justifying Faith the Messiah to come being thus included in the Promise of Isaac's Birth On this account his Parents had the greatest Cause of rejoycing at the Birth of this Son who hath his Name from Laughter and Rejoycing Gen. 17. 17. and Chap. 21. And to this in part may be referred the saying of our Saviour Abraham rejoyced to see my Day and he saw it and was glad Joh. 8. 56. He saw it in the Birth of Isaac and afterwards in the offering of him up who was a Type of Christ and from whom he was to come whose miraculous Birth in the virtue of a Promise when Nature could not have effected it afforded also some Adumbration of and was a Praeludium to the more miraculous Birth of Christ who was conceived and brought forth by a pure Virgin the Power of the most High overshadowing her for the fufilling of that Promise The Seed of the Woman shall break the Head of the Serpent As Isaac in the Type so Christ more eminently sprang up as a Root out of a dry Ground Isa 53. § 4. Now from these things we may collect with Ease and great Clearness wherein the Greatness of Abraham's Tryal and the Eminency of his Faith in offering up Isaac did specially consist To part with a Son an obedient Son a Son grown up as Isaac now was yea an only Son was indeed a great Tryal howbeit Abraham was not only required to part with him but to sacrifice him and for a Father to become the Executioner of his Son the Son of his old Age and the Object of his most endeared Affections for him I say to be appointed the Priest that must slay this Victime adds yet much more to the Tryal And in Abraham's addressing himself to such a Service had there been no more in it without Debate murmuring or delay we have an unparallell'd Instance and Example of Piety and Obedience But alas There is a Concern infinitely greater in this Case than all that hath been yet mentioned Isaac was the Son of the Promise And upon this account the Holy Ghost places it he that had received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son Of whom it was said in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Heb. 11. 17 18. Abraham had no other Son in whom he might expect the fulfilling of the Promise when Isaac was lost and yet upon the Accomplishment of this Promise in the bringing forth of the Messiah in Isaac's Line the eternal Salvation of Abraham and of the whole Church depended and therefore he is called his only begotten not because Abraham had no other Son but because he was the only Hâ—ir of the Promise This might have caused the greatest Anxiety of Mind imaginable in Abraham had he at all consulted with Flesh and Blood in the case but his Faith overcame this Difficulty and silenced all carnal Reasonings about the Impossibility of the Accomplishment of the
and Gracious God who from Eternity foresaw the Fall of Man had also from Eternity a gracious Purpose in himself according to the Counsel of his own Will to redeem 2 Tim. 1. 9 10. Tit. 1. 1 2. and save a Remnant of lost Mankind from their lapsed and fallen State and by his All-powerful Grace thro' the Merits of Christ to recover them from Misery to the Inheritance of a Kingdom and Glory far greater than that set before Adam in his Integrity And these eternal Counsels that were hid with himself were transacted in a way of Covenant between the Father and the Son even in a Covenant of Redemption now revealed in the Scriptures of Truth And to this Covenant belong all the Promises of the Father to the Mediator and the restipulatory Engagements of the Redeemer about the Salvation of Sinners and the way and method of its Accomplishment And with respect to these Counsels the Son of God is said to be the Father's Delights and himself also to have his Delights in the habitable World when the Head of the Dust thereof was formed Prov. 8. 22 31. In which Context the mutual Acquiescence both of the Father and the Son in this admirable Contrivance of infinite Grace and Wisdom is not obscurely set forth 2. In pursuance of this Covenant of Redemption and the Suretiship of Christ taken therein upon the Fall of Man the Government of the World was actually put into the hands of the Son of God the designed Mediator who interposed himself for the Prevention of its present and utter Ruin And by him were all future Transactions managed for the Good of Man and all Discoveries of Grace and Mercy were made to the Children of Men in him and by him And all things in Heaven and Earth were brought into an order subservient to the Ends of the new Creation and the Redemption of lost Man to be accomplished in the fulness of time by the Son of God incarnate Fallen Man could have no more to do with God nor God with him in a way of Kindness but in a Mediator § 11. And from this Design of Love and Mercy it was that when the Lord God came unto fallen Man in the Garden in the cool of the Day and found him filled with Horror and Shame in the Conscience of his own Guilt he did not execute the Rigor of the Law upon him but held a Treaty with him which issued in a Discovery of Grace whereby a Door of Hope was opened to him in the laying of a new Foundation for his acceptance with God and walking unto well pleasing before him For 1. In the Sentence passed upon the Serpent which principally concerned the Devil whose Instrument he had been in tempting Man and who probably was made to abide in his Possession of the Serpent till he had received this Doom Gen. 3. 5. there was couched a blessed Promise of Redemption and Salvation unto Man which was to be wrought out by the Son of God made of a Woman and so her Seed which Salvation thus promised Man was to receive by Faith and to hope in it for in this implyed Promise was laid the first Foundation of the Church after the Fall of Man which was to be raised up out of the Ruines of the Devil's Kingdom by the Destruction of his Work by Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3. 8. 2. In this Commination of the Serpent there is not only implyed a Promise of raising up a Saviour of the Seed of the Woman and sending him into the World for the breaking of the Serpents Head that is the perfect Conquest of Satan and the utter ruining of his Kingdom but also of propagating and preserving a Church in the World that should be Heirs of that Salvation and should maintain a spiritual War with Satan and his Kingdom which on their part should end in perfect Conquest and Victory The God of Peace bruising Satan under their Feet while he is nibling at their Heel and making them to be more than Conquerors thro' him that loved them for the Seed of the Woman is to be understood collectively of Christ and his members as the Seed of the Serpent includes all wicked Men tho' it hath a principal respect to Christ personal who alone hath obtained the Victory over the infernal Power and destroyed the Works of the Devil But altho' this was done by himself alone yet was it not for himself only but for his Body the Church of which every true Believer is a Member and shall certainly obtain Victory thro' the Faith of his Name And against this Church the Gates of Hell can never prevail but a Church there ever shall be in the World so long as the World continues and ever was since the first Promise tho' maligned and persecuted by the Devil and wicked Men as early appears in that Instance of Cain and Abel Gen. 4. compared with 1 Joh. 3. 12. And something of this nature is intimated in the Name of Seth and the Reason given by Eve of her imposing that Name Gen. 4. 25. 3. Hereupon there was a present Restraint and Modification of the Curse in the Sentence pronounced upon Adam and Eve Gen. 3. 16 19. whereby altho' they and their Offspring were necessarily subjected to many Evils and Miseries while they lived and Dissolution by a temporal Death at last yet they were not immediately laid under a Sentence of eternal Death which was the Punishment they had deserved And concerning this Sentence we may farther observe 1. That the Promise of breaking the Serpents Head which was revealed to our first Parents did not give them a Deliverance from all Misery but only an Exemption from eternal Death But notwithstanding this Promise and all that Christ hath now done for the full Accomplishment thereof it is the Will of God that all Men even Believers as well as others shall in this World be exercised with Miseries and remain subject to temporal Death or Dissolution of the Body into Dust 2. The Corruptibility of Man all the Miseries he is subject to while he lives and temporal Death at last are the Fruits of Sin and of the Curse due to it as they are natural Evils or Punishments but yet they are not the Fruit or Result of the Curse only nor the full Wages of Sin As they are evil they flow from the Curse but as temporal only the Evil of them is limited and thus modified by Mercy or compassionate Goodness at least The Position of temporal Death concludes indeed that Sin is in the World but this Limitation of Death doth also prove that there is Mercy reserved for some and that such as obtain not Mercy must be brought to an after reckoning inasmuch as the Fruit of their Doings hath not fully been repaid to them in this World And hence 3. There are none of these Evils but are capable of a Change as to their penal Nature together with the Change of that Man's State upon
which he was building and while his hands were busied in the external Work thereof and his Life secured by his abode in it his Faith was exercised about that spiritual and eternal Salvation that was shadowed and typically represented by it § 6. Upon rhe entrance of Noah into the Ark and also at his coming out thence we find mention made of God's establishing his Covenant with him see Gen. 6. 18. chap. 9. 11. And this is the first Place and Occasion of the explicite mention of a Covenant in the Scriptures and therefore we are the more obliged to a serious inquiry after the true Nature and import of this Covenant some Observations upon it we shall collect according as things are presented in the order of their Narration by Moses only let this be premised That tho' God's establishing of a Covenant with Noah be mentioned at two distant times in the Texts before referr'd to yet they are not two different Covenants that are so mentioned but in substance one and the same Covenant the Benefits whereof are first more generally and afterwards more particularly exprest In Gen. 6. 18. God thus speaks unto Noah But with thee will I establish my Covenant and thou shalt come into the Ark c. God's making of a Covenant is the Establishment thereof because his Promise is a full and sufficient Assurance that he will perform to the end what is engaged for therein The Benefit immediately promised is the Preservation of Noah and all that were with him in the Ark and the Restipulation required of him was A believing Resignation of himself to God in an obedient use of those Means of safety which he had ordained This at first view seems to import no more than an outward and temporal Favour but if diligently looked into we shall discern a great deal more in it for 1. In this Benefit of Noah's Covenant there was not only a temporal Salvation secured to him and his House but moreover his eternal Salvation yea the Salvation of the whole Church was included therein and did wholly depend thereupon seeing the promised Seed which should break the Serpent's Head was not yet brought forth and therefore if all Mankind had been now destroyed that first and great Promise which was a Revelation of the Sum of the Covenant of Redemption had failed and so the whole Covenant unto which it did belong had been evacuated and made of none effect And with respect to this also as well as the Certainty of it in it self the Promise here given to Noah in a foederal way is aptly said to be an establishing of God's Covenant with Noah seeing this Covenant was made with him pursuant of that gracious Design of Man's Redemption before revealed which as it was never suspended upon the Worthiness of Man so God by Covenant assures Noah its Accomplishment should never be prevented by his Wickedness 2. Add to this the typical Respect of the Ark and you will discern that under this Covenant was implyed and darkly shadowed the Covenant of eternal Salvation by Christ even as the Promise of the heavenly Inheritance unto Believers was afterwards couched in the Promise of Canaan to Abraham and his Seed § 7. What past after Noah was come out of the Ark you have recorded in Gen. 8. from v. 20 to the end of the Chapter and in Chap. 9. In which History you may observe 1. That before any farther Transaction of God with Noah there was a Sacrifice offered unto the Lord by him in which the Lord smelled a sweet Savour or a savour of Rest Gen. 8. 21. This Phrase of smelling a sweet Savour signifies the Acceptance of his Offering and this Savour did arise from the typical respect of this Offering to the Sacrifice of Christ Confer Eph. 5. 2. and the Faith of him that sacrificed which was thro' it directed to the same Object And this is to inform us That all which follows was transacted in the * Christ's Mediation and Sacrifice is the cause of God's Forbearance towards the World Interest of this Sacrifice and is some way to be referred to the ends thereof From this Passage you may look back to Gen. 5. 29. and you will find the reason of Lamech's giving the name of * And he called his Name Noah saying This shall comfort us c. Noah to his Son explained thereby 2. The Blessings of Noah's Covenant are first conceived in a gracious Purpose of God's Heart And the Lord said in his Heart I will not again curse c. and are afterwards put into the Promises of the Covenant wherein God ingageth himself to bestow them chap. 9. 8 9 c. And this is reckoned equivalent to an Oath Isa 54. 9. I have sworn that the Waters of Noah should no more go over the Earth 3. The particular Benefits and Blessings given to Mankind by this Covenant were 1. Fruitfulness for the replenishing of the Earth 2. Dominon over the Creatures and the free use of them for Food 3. Assurance that the Judgment which they had now escaped should not be repeated notwithstanding that after-Generations were like to prove as wicked as those that had gone before them seeing the same Root and Spring of Corruption remained in them Gen. 8. 21. And the Rainbow was appointed to be the visible Sign and Token of this Covenant Gen. 9. 12-17 These things I shall content my self to have thus briefly pointed at and farther we have to Note 1. That the Dispensation of Goodness and Forbearance which the World was set under by the first Promise was now ratified by a solemn Covenant wherein also was ensured the Successive Generation of Mankind for the Production of the promised Seed both as * Viz The Messiah and his Members personally and collectively considered And this Assurance raised the Faith of the Church one Degree higher than it had before attained to 2. This Covenant had also its Mystical Use to the Faithful as shadowing the Covenant of Grace by Christ and the Ratification thereof in the Blood of his Sacrifice by which we are saved from the Curse and restored to a sanctified Right in Creature-Comforts and the Hope of eternal Life And the Soveraignty of God's Goodness with the Absoluteness of his Promise in this Covenant are instanced as a singular Incouragement to the Faith of the Church in reference to the Promise of that Grace that reigns in the New Covenant Isa 54. 9. And the Token of this Covenant is made the Emblem of the Stedfastness and eternal Memorial of the other * The Rainbow about the Throne notes God's regard to his Coveannt in the Government of the World All the Administration of Providence is bounded by his Faithfulness Rev. 4. 3. so that in the typical respect of this Covenant the Light of divine Grace and Mercy did dawn upon the Church with some more Clearness then formerly 3. This Covenant is said to be made with Noah and his Sons
and their Seed after them and that for perpetual Generations the Terms are parallel with those we meet with in the 17th Chapter in the Covenant made with Abraham for his Seed in their Generations And yet here two things are evident 1. That remote Generations to the end of the World are as much concerned in this Covenant as their immediate Offspring with whom it was first made and have equal Claim to the Blessings of it with them without any consideration had of their immediate Parents And 2. That altho' the Grace of the New-Covenant was mystically held forth in this Covenant with Noah which was thus stricken with him for all his Posterity yet were not the Grace and Blessings thereof by this means intailed upon all Mankind * The same may be said of the Promises of typical Blessings to Abraham's carnal Seed and their Interest in them They have all indeed an interest in that Covenant that signified and some ways included spiritual Blessings but those Blessings appertain not to all that have the Signs of them but remain the peculiar Right of those that do by Faith receive them Who are born not of Bloods nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God Joh. 1. 13. § 8. In the following Part of this History Gen. 9. 25 c. we may observe 1. That the Curse of Cham upon his Son Canaan prepared the way to the Blessing of Shem in his Posterity by Abraham for by the Execution of this Curse were the Canaanites afterwards disinherited and Israel planted in their room And in this prophetick Curse on Canaan and the Blessing on Shem you may read what is after noted by Moses Deut. 32. 8. It is also worthy of our Notice That the Seal of Israel's Covenant by virtue of which they inherited the Land of Canaan kept alive the Remembrance of Cham ' s Wickedness and was a perpetual warning to them not to degenerate into his Steps He was condemned to servitude for looking upon the Nakedness of his Father and they were circumcised in the foreskin of their Flesh 2. In the Blessing of Shem special Regard is had to the Messiah whose bringing forth into the World was now limited to the Line of Shem and therefore in his Blessing is the Spring of Japhet's Blessing also Shem is the first of whom it is expresly said that the Lord was his God And by the Lord God of Shem Christ who is now over all God blessed for ever is intended whose Name is here celebrated by Noah as the only Hope and Salvation of the Church 3. The Blessing of Japhet in the Interest of Shem's Blessing doth not only signifie his personal Interest in the Messiah who was to come of Shem but also the calling of the Gentiles of his Posterity to be joynt Heirs with the Jews in the Blessings of the New-Covenant yea his dwelling in the Tents of Shem doth intimate moreover the Succession of the Gentile Church unto the Church of the Jews who were to be disinherited of all Covenant-Interest for their rejecting of the Messiah In that Passage God shall * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perswade Japhet there is an Allusion to his Name and the calling of the Gentile Church is prophesied of in like terms Hos 2. 14 15. § 9. Some time after these things viz. about the fourth Generation we find that according to the Blessing of God upon Noah and his Sons Gen. 9. 1. there was a very great Increase of Men in the World and as they increased they evidently drew upon themselves the same Charge that was laid upon the Old World viz. That the Imagination of their Heart was evil from their Youth For in the days of * Gen. 10. 25. Peleg there was a very general Conspiracy and Rebellion against God managed by the Children of Men at Babel in pursuance of which they began to build a Tower there Gen. 11. 1-9 And it is very probable Nimrod that mighty Hunter was one chief Doer in the Business for A Defection from the true Religion and Tyrannous Oppression usually go hand in hand But this their rebellious Enterprize was interrupted by the * This gave the Name to the place Babel signifying Confusion Confusion of Languages that God brought upon them And hereupon the Hebrew Tongue which before was universal remained in its Purity only with the Family of Heber from whom it also had its particular Denomination and such other of the Patriarchs and holy Men then living as had not joyned themselves with these Workers of Iniquity in their cursed Design And on this occasion Heber hath a special Honour put upon him as you may collect from Gen. 10. 21. where Shem is in a peculiar manner said to be the Father of all the Children of Heber And Abraham with his Posterity the Heirs of Shem's Blessing are from him denominated Hebrews § 10. Now by this Confusion of Languages the Children of Men fell under a greater Evil than possibly at the first thought we may be aware of for it did not only frustrate their present Design and also render the means of their civil Converse difficult for the future and the Attainment of all Knowledg in things natural full of Labour and Travel but which is far more 1. It was virtually a kind of Excommunication from the Church then in being with whom the Hebrew Tongue remained that was from this time unintelligible to the greatest part of the World besides And 2. In the after Dispensation of God towards the Hebrews this Diversity of their Language from that of the rest of the World was as the Addition of a natural Fortification to that Wall of Separation whereby the Nations were excluded from the Priviledges of the Church and left destitute of that Blessing which of all other was the greatest Israel had Rom. 3. 1 2. of the Oracles of God which were committed to them in the Hebrew Tongue And therefore for many Ages they remained Strangers to the Covenant of Promise Eph. 2. 12. living in the darkest Cloud of Ignorance and Idolatry and so without Hope and without God in the World And this dismal Effect of the present Judgment remained upon them generally until the times of Restitution and Refreshing even until the last Days wherein God would perswade Japhet and bring him into the Tents of Shem And then a Door was opened for the breaking up of Light to the Gentiles by the Gift of Tongues at Jerusalem whereby the Apostles and Prophets of the New-Testament were enabled to preach the Gospel to all Nations in their own Tongue and thus the Salvation of God in Zion became a Light to the Gentiles whose Darkness was originally brought upon them by the Confusion of Tongues at Babel 3. Neither did the Judgment of God upon this Evil Generation stop here for their Days were also shortned and cut off in Anger for their Sin and that to the half of them for
considered and cleared as also how the Land of Canaan may be said to be an everlasting Possession And in the same fence is this Covenant said to be everlasting Israel could not be finally cut off from the promised Inheritance until the Covenant it self by which it was given to them did expire As was therefore the Duration of the Inheritance and of Israel's Right therein so was the Duration of this Covenant Everlasting not absolutely but with such a Limitation as the Nature of the things spoken of doth necessarily require and as is usual in those Scriptures that speak of things pertaining to the Jewish State There is therefore no more Reason to conclude from this Term That the Covenant of Circumcision was directly and properly a Covenant of spiritual and eternal Blessings than there is to affirm that the Land of Canaan and the good things thereof were a spiritual and eternal Inheritance § 11. Howbeit From the strict Connexion of this 7th Verse with the 6th and the Assurance here given that God will establish his Covenant with the Seed of Abraham to be their God it is evident That the Number of Abraham's carnal Seed and the Grandeur of their civil State is not all that is promised in this Covenant nor yet the principal Blessing bestowed on them therein but rather The forming of them into a Church-State with the Establishment of the Ordinances of publick Worship among them wherein they should walk in a Covenant-Relation to God as his peculiar People understand it still of the old Covenant whereing they had their peculiar Right and Priviledg No less can be intended in this I will be a God unto them in their Generations And it is also made more evident by the following Account that is given of this Transaction with respect to Isaac and Ishmael Gen. 17. 18-21 When the Lord had promised unto Abraham a Son by Sarah whose Name should be called Isaac he thus prays for Ishmael O that Ishmael might live before thee which the Chaldee paraphraseth thus might live and Worship before thee No doubt his Prayer was that Ishmael might also be an Heir of the Blessing of this Covenant But that was not granted to him for the Lord would have his Covenant Seed called in Isaac only with him God would establish his Covenant having appointed and chosen him alone to be the Heir thereof who was to be a Child of Promise and Son of the Free-Woman And yet for Ishmael in special Favour to Abraham whose Seed he was thus much is obtained that he should be made fruitful and multiplyed exceedingly twelve Princes or Heads of great Families should spring of him which imports some Analogy to the twelve Tribes of Israel after the Flesh whose old Covenant-State was typified in Ishmael and God would make him a great Nation And yet all this lay short of the Blessing of Abraham's natural Offspring by Isaac from which Ishmael was now excluded It is plain therefore that the Priviledg of the Ecclesiastical as well as the flourishing of the Civil State of Israel did arise unto them out of the Covenant of Circumcision The like may be observed of Esau afterwards whom the Lord rejected before he was born excluding him from the Priviledg and Blessing of this Covenant which descended upon Jacob only And yet Esau was also the Father of a great Nation and of many Kings and had the Inheritance of many outward Blessings assigned to him Gen. 27. 39. We conclude therefore That notwithstanding the carnal Seed of Abraham could not as such claim a Right in the spiritual and eternal Blessings of the New-Covenant because of their Interest in the Covenant of Circumcision yet their Priviledges and Advantages in their Church-State tho' immediately consisting in things outward and typical were of far greater Value and Use than any meer worldly or earthly Blessing as giving them choyce means of the Knowledg of God and setting them nearer to him than any Nation in the World besides Of the Covenant of Circumcision CHAP. VI. The general design of this Chapter Two Propositions laid down § 1. The first Proposition that the mediate and remote Seed of Abraham in Isaac's Line are included in the Covenant of Circumcision Proved from the Terms of the Promise and the Instance of their Children who fell in the Wilderness § 2. Farther confirmed from Ezek. 16. 20 21. § 3. The Current of sacred History and accomplishment of the Promises pleaded § 4. The Church-State of Israel built upon this Covenant § 5. This proved Circumcision the Door of Entrance into and Boundary of their Communion and an Obligation to keep the whole Law § 6. Rom. 3. 1. proposed How Levi payed Tythes in Abraham § 7. Israel brought out of Egypt and planted in Canaan by virtue of this Covenant An Objection prevented § 8. The second Proposition Some of the immediate Seed excluded proved from Gen. 17. 19 c. An Objection answered § 9. The Instance of Esau insisted on why so particular Mention made of Isaac and Jacob Act. 7. 8. § 10. An Objection from the Application of the Seal of the Covenant stated Answer 1. The express Testimony of Scripture removes it 2. Abraham was bound to circumcise his Servants as well as his Children 3. No Covenant-Interest without Interest in the Promises of the Covenant These not made to all that were circumcised § 11. Circumcision a Seal of the Covenant upon all but not to all the Subjects thereof This farther explained The Command of God not Covenant-Interest the Rule of applying Circumcision § 12. Some Inferences from the Discourse foregoing § 13. § 1. THose Passages in Genesis that have been last discoursed of give me an Occasion of Inlargement upon some things which as they are deduced from the Texts that have been in part considered already so the farther clearing and strengthening of them will not only confirm what hath been already hinted but also contribute very much to the right Understanding of the Nature and End of this Covenant of Circumcision that I am treating of and to a removal of the Grounds of many mistaken Deductions from it by those that would from thence determine the right Subjects of Baptism What I intend is summ'd up in these two Propositions 1. The mediate and remote Seed of that Line to which the Promises of the Covenant of Circumcision did belong were as fully included and interested in them as the immediate Seed 2. From the first establishing of this Covenant some of the immediate Seed of Abraham were excluded from Interest in it § 2. I shall begin with the First The Truth of which appears sufficiently in the express Terms of the Promises now given to Abraham which run to him and to his Seed after him in their Generations and the Covenant it self is said to be an everlasting Covenant which they are strictly commanded to keep in their Generations Gen. 17. 7 9 13. These Terms are used because it was a Covenant in
force as well for the Benefit of more remote as nearer Generations Its Promises did include and its Law did equally bind both during the whole State of the Mosaical Oeconomy The Right of the remotest Generation was as much derived from Abraham and the Covenant made with him as that of his immediate Seed was and did not at all depend upon the Faithfulness of their immediate Parents And therefore the immediate Seed of those Israelites that fell in the Wilderness under the Displeasure of God were made to inherit the Land of Canaan by virtue of this Covenant with Abraham who otherwise could never have injoyed it by virtue of their immediate Parents Stedfastness in the Covenant § 3. I suppose it cannot be denyed but gross Idolatry was a manifest and full Breach of this Covenant on the part of the Idolater And yet when the Israelites in Ezekiel's time became guilty of the vilest Idolatries the Lord still claims an Interest in their Children by virtue of this Covenant Eezek 16. 20. 21. Moreover thou hast taken thy Sons and thy Daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured Is this of thy Whoredoms a small matter that thou hast slam my Children c. The Children of an Apostatize Israelite were God's as well as those of his faithful Servants which could not have been if their Covenant-Interest had been suspended on the good abearing of immediate Parents And to this agrees the Story that we have of Mattathias his proceeding in the Reformation of the Church in his day who finding that many had denyed their God and forsaken his true Worship in that time of Persecution did according to the Law of Moses execute Justice upon as many of the Apostates as he could lay Hands on by slaying them as Josephus witnesseth but the Children that he found to be left uncircumcised in this Time of Apostacy he took and circumcised them The Words of the Author in 1 Maccab. 2. 46. are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This I know hath no farther Strength than of an humane Testimony But it speaks fully what the sence of those Times was concerning the Covenant-Interest of Children viz. That the Apostacy of their immediate Parents could not prejudice it so as to render them uncapable of Circumcision which strongly concludes their Covenant-Right to be derived from Abraham and not suspended upon them And Mattathias who did this was not only a Man zealous for the Law but also one that may be presumed to have understood it better than many others seeing he was a Priest § 4. And not only the Passages before insistted on but the whole Current of Scripture where these things are mentioned runs very smoothly this way but especially that Phrase before touched thy Seed in their Generations will admit no other Sence being by no means capable of a restraint to the immediate Seed but even as the like Expression Gen. 9. 12. secures Noah's Children from drowning by the Waters of an universal Deluge to the end of the World so did this Promise give a Covenant-Interest to the Seed of Abraham till the times of Reformation We exclude not the immediate Seed viz. Isaac but the Promise passeth on much farther and is to be fulfilled in a Seed multiplyed exceedingly and formed into a Kingdom which it was not until Isaac and his immediate Offspring also were laid in the Dust Moreover The Inheritance promised in the Land of Canaan is given to this Seed for an everlasting Possession which was fulfilled in their successive inheriting of it from Generation to Generation therefore the Seed intended was such as should be propagated thro' many Generations the last of which are as directly here spoken of as the first Circumcision being to be observed by them upon the account of the Promise and Command now given for an everlasting Covenant The Relation of the carnal Seed to God in an external typical Covenant the Inheritance of Canaan by virtue thereof and the Seal of Circumcision are all of one Date and did all expire together § 5. That these things may be the better understood we must farther observe This Covenant of Circumcision was the Foundation upon which the Church-State of Israel after the Flesh was built I do not say that their Church-State was exactly and compleatly formed by this Ordinance alone But this I intend That in the Covenant of Circumcision were contained the first Rudiments of that in the Wilderness and the latter was the filling up and compleating of the former yea it was made with them in Pursuance of it and for the full Accomplishment of the Promises now made to Abraham And therefore the Priviledge of the carnal Seed of Abraham by virtue of the Covenant of Circumcision can rise no higher than the Advantage and Priviledg of a Jew by virtue of the Covenant in the Wilderness § 6. For the Confirmation of this I shall offer these things First Circumcision was the Entrance into and Boundary of Communion in the Jewish Church and it was made so by the express Command of God himself who straightly injoyned that whosoever brake the Covenant by the neglect of Circumcision should be cut off from his People Gen. 17. 14. And as it was to them a Gate of Priviledg so was it no less a Bond of Duty not only obliging them to obey the Will of God so far as it was now made known to Abraham but also to the Observation of all those Laws and Ordinances that were after delivered to them by Moses when so delivered For the circumcised Person was a Debtor to keep the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. And this Obligation did result from its proper Vse and End in its primitive Institution for we read not of its Appointment to any new End by Moses nor of any Vse it was assigned to de novo which it had not at least virtually from its first Appointment It was from first to last a visible Character upon this People as separated unto God from other Nations and as such they made their Boast of it And therefore it may be concluded to belong unto that Covenant from which all their Rights and Priviledges as such a People did spring and where the Sign was not varied there was no essential Variation or Change in the Covenant it self § 7. Secondly All the Advantage and Priviledg of Israel after the Flesh is in the New Testament expresly referred to the Covenant of Circumcision For thus the Holy Ghost speaks by Paul Rom. 3. 1. What Advantage then hath the Jew Or what Profit is there of Circumcision You see these Phrases The Advantage of the Jew and The Profit of Circumcision are set down as Convertible they import the same thing what belongs to the one belongs to the other And wherever Circumcision is mentioned in the New-Testament it is spoken of as no less belonging to the Mosaical Oeconomy tho' the first Institution was not of Moses but of the Fathers
Oeconomy built thereupon 2. Their Notion who assert this Covenant-Interest to be the Basis of such a foederal Holiness of Believers Children under the New-Testament as gives them a Right to Baptism doth moreover labour under these Inconveniencies 1. They generally straiten the Terms of Covenant-Interest if we consider it as derived upon Isaac's Line by restraining it to the immediate Offspring which in this Covenant was not so restrained but came as fully upon remote Generations and also by excluding the Servants and Slaves of Christians with the Children born of them from that Priviledg which they suppose them to have enjoyed under the Old-Testament in being sealed with the Sign or Token of the Covenant of Grace But then 2. On the other hand according to what hath been already proved they make a Believer's Interest in this Covenant of larger Extent than ever Abraham's was in Truth For they will have all the immediate Seed of Believers to be included in it whereas we see of all the Sons of Abraham according to the Flesh but one only Isaac was admitted to the Inheritance of the Blessing and Promises of this Covenant Of the Covenant of Circumcision CHAP. VII The great Promise Gen. 17. 7 8. proposed in order to a more strict Enquiry into the proper meaning and extent thereof What some collect from it § 1. Several things are premised in order to a right Vnderstanding of it § 2. Israel to be considered in a twofold Respect under the Mosaical Oeconomy 1. As the whole Body of the People was constituted in a typical Church-state 2. As many of them were by Faith Members of the spiritual Church § 3. The Israel of God in Israel remained under the Law till Christ came Tho' they obtained eternal Life in Circumcision and under the Law yet not by Circumcision nor by the Law The Promise inquired into belongs to the Jewish Church and was fulfilled to the Body of that People § 4. The Promise fully opened It was an Engagement of God to make good the Covenant It gives no particular Good beyond what is contained in particular Promises § 5. The sence given farther confirmed This Promise added both to the Old Covenant and the New No proof that the Covenant of Circumcision was the Covenant of Grace deducible from it § 6. A brief view of the History of its Accomplishment to Israel § 7. All the Blessings of Israel after the Flesh as such fall short of the Blessings of the New-Covenant The first Tender of the Gospel belonged to the Jews Act. 2. 38 39. opened § 8. The Covenant of Circumcision was not that Covenant of Grace which God brings all the Elect into nor immediately a Covenant of spiritual Blessings The solemn Worship of God not presently confined to Abraham's Family thereby § 9. The Patriarchs and other holy Men then living were not bound to be circumcised tho' interested in the Covenant of Grace as well as Abraham The Consequence hereof § 10. The Question about Infants Church-membership considered § 11. Five things proposed in order to the clearing of it No Argument for Paedo-Baptism can be taken from thence § 12. § 1. IT will be expedient in the next Place more fully to search out the true meaning and extent of that great Promise in the Covenant of Circumcision which was before but briefly touched upon viz. I will establish my Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee Gen. 17. 7. And again The Promise of Canaan to Israel for an everlasting Possession is backed with the same Assurance and I will be their God v. 8. This Enquiry is the more necessary because many conceive That the intire Blessing of the New-Covenant is comprehended in these words seeing the like Promise is given forth as the Summary and Assurance of that Covenant in Jer. 31. and Heb. 8. And hereupon they conclude it is the Covenant of Grace that God is now making with Abraham and which he sealed with Circumcision and that spiritual Blessings are thereby directly bequeathed to him both for himself and his Seed and consequently it was no other than Interest in the Grace and Promise of the New-Covenant that was sealed to his Infant Seed by Circumcision This Notion militates against diverse things that have been before pointed at in the Account we have given of this Transaction But I conceive upon a more thorough Disquisition it will be found without sufficient Strength to shake those Principles that are already laid down and must yet be built upon in the Progress of our Discourse In order therefore to free you from any Intanglement by Objections raised from hence I shall proceed gradually to the Solution of the doubt moved § 2. And that I may not be misunderstood in what is to follow I shall prepare my way by offering these things to serious Thoughts 1. A considerable time before this Transaction recorded Gen. 17. the Covenant of Grace was by God confirmed unto Abraham in Christ Jesus and that not only in the Capacity of a private Believer but as one bearing the Relation of a Father to all Believers And this Relation is peculiar to himself none can claim a Partnership with him therein 2. In the establishment of this Covenant there was a Seed promised unto him that should certainly inherit the spiritual and eternal Blessings thereof for the Promise was sure unto all the Seed But this was a Seed of Believers collected out of all Nations and united to Christ by Faith and not the Children of Abraham according to the Flesh as is manifest almost in every Page of the New-Testament And 3. It hath been moreover proved That God did choose Abraham to be the Root and Father of a typical People even of a Nation the whole Body of which he would take into a peculiar Relation and Nearness to himself and upon whom he would bestow many great Favours and Priviledges until the fulness of Time came for the bringing forth of that Seed unto which the Promises of the New-Covenant did eminently appertain 4. One great End of this Separation of Abraham and his Seed by Isaac from all other Families in the Earth was the bringing forth of the Messiah in his Line and the evident Accomplishment of the great and first Promise therein This was a Priviledg that Abraham had in the Flesh and his Seed derived from him That they were set apart as a special Channel thro' which the promised Seed should be derived and brought forth into the World Rom. 9. 4 5. And therefore 5. On this account their Priviledg and Covenant-state was secured unto them so as they could never See Dr. Owen's Exercitations on the Heb. Vol. 1. be utterly divested of it in their Generations until the great End of it was accomplished by the Messiah's being come in the Flesh And that then it was to cease the Nature of the thing it self sufficiently demonstrateth in that it was now brought to the limited Time
and End appointed to it And hereupon all the carnal Priviledges and Ordinances of Worship suited to that State did necessarily cease and become useless also 6. During the time wherein their Covenant retained its full Vigor and all their carnal Priviledges remained good to them in their utmost extent all their Advantage lay short of Interest in the Covenant of Grace This they could never claim by virtue of a carnal Descent from Abraham Mat. 3. 9. For it was not a carnal Relation to Abraham but walking in the steps of his Faith that alone could interest them in this Covenant and the Blessings thereof This the Apostle professedly discourses in Rom. 4. and many other places So then § 3. 7. The carnal and the spiritual Seed as also the Covenants wherein their respective Priviledges are stated were from the Beginning in their own Nature distinct the one from the other Altho' during the Minority of the Church under the Mosaical Oeconomy these different Blessings did ordinarily meet in the same Subjects For in that time the Seed of Abraham after the Flesh comes under a twofold Consideration 1. The whole Body of them is to be considered as a People separated unto God for the Ends before mentioned and formed into a typical State by the Law of Moses vested with carnal Priviledges and having an earthly Inheritance which things were typical of spiritual Blessings under the Gospel 2. As a great number of them were made the true and real Members of the spiritual Church and Assembly of the redeemed of the Lord who did by Faith inherit and enjoy those spiritual Blessings which the outward Priviledg of the carnal Jew was but a shadow of For that Nation was so made a typical Church as that they were also the only true visible Church that God then had i◠the World And therefore while the Wall of Separation stood betwixt them and the Gentiles the Oracles of God were committed to them and his true Worship wa◠settled among them the Covenants of Promise were given to them and the way of Salvation by a Covenant of Grace thro' the promised Seed was made known tho' but darkly among them and the Blood of God's special Elect did generally run in their Veines that People who were savingly interested in God and truly holy being for the most part found amongst them while the Gentiles lived without God in the World Thus I say it was ordinarily for even then the Grace of God might superabound to some few among the Gentiles And therefore that Church that was really and not only typically Holiness to the Lord was found within the Compass of their Enclosure Thus as Isaac was not only a Type of the Children of Promise in the New-Testament but was also one of them that did by Faith truly inherit the spiritual Blessing of Abraham and Jacob was not only a Type of the Elect Seed but also a real Part thereof so the like may be said of all that came after of the Circumcision who were not of the Circumcision only but did also walk in the Steps of the Faith of their Father Abraham which he had being yet uncircumcised They were in one respect a Type and in another true Members of the general Assembly and Church of the First-borne Tho' the one of these they found as pertaining to the Flesh the other they obtained by Faith § 4. And of this Israel in Israel two things are to be observed 1. That notwithstanding their Interest in the Promise by Faith they were not freed from the Yoke and Discipline of Moses his Law until Christ came They were indeed Children even the Children of Abraham on a spiritual Account and by the Grace of a free Promise which the Law could not disannul they were relieved from its Rigor as to their spiritual and eternal State but being Children under Age the Paedagogy they were under differed nothing from that of Servants neither could they be discharged of this School-Master before Christ came 2. They were blessed with spiritual Blessings and had Interest in eternal Life in Circumcision and under the Law but none of them obtained this by Circumcision or by the Law That whole Oeconomy that Israel after the Flesh was under was in and by it self insufficient and weak as to the End of eternal Happiness and the Justification of a Sinner before God in order thereto It could not make the Comers thereunto perfect nor make the carnal Seed Heirs of spiritual Blessings But a Right to them was evermore grounded upon a spiritual Relation to Abraham and Interest in that Promise which the Covenant of Circumcision was but an Hand-maid to And therefore those that rested in their carnal Priviledges and sought eternal Happiness from them did pervert their true End and could never obtain what they followed after Lastly To conclude The Covenant of Circumcision did belong to the Body of the carnal Seed even to the Jewish Church The Foundation of their State is laid therein and their Right and Priviledg is thereby expresly stated in their Generations And therefore as we readily grant the Promise now under consideration to belong to the Seed of Abraham after the Flesh so we do with good Reason affirm that it must be taken in such a sence as we may find verified in that People and Nation unto whom it did belong and that shall no ways contradict or interfere with the general Design of the Gospel or the plain and indisputable Sence of other Texts of Scripture § 5. These things being premised we shall now come more close to the Words themselves and enquire what that Good and Blessing is which by them is ensured unto this Seed of Abraham That this Promise I will be their God with that foregoing in Gen 17. 7. do give a general Assurance of some Good to the People in Covenant is evident but that they are Promises of some particular Good or Blessing that is of an higher Nature then is comprehended in any other Promises of the Covenant is not to be supposed For the true Import of this general Promise is That God hath ingaged himself and all the Properties of his Nature for the exact fulfilling of all the Promises of the Covenant now made with them according to the true Tenor and Conditions of the said Covenant All the divine Perfections See Mr. Whist Prim. Doctr. p. 124. are laid in as Pledges that the Promises shall not fail on God's Part seeing as need requires they shall be all exerted for the Good and Advantage of this People in fulfilling the Promises given to them But still these Communications of God to them and Actings for them both in respect of the Blessings he will bestow as also the Terms and Conditions on which they shall be bestowed are limited by the Covenant he hath made with them and the Nature and Extent of the Promises thereof And this will more plainly appear to be the true Sence if we duly weigh the Terms