Consequence of the former it will also naturally follow that it is only by the Actual Faith of both Parents and Children as an Instrumental means by which either of them shall be blessed with that their desired Restauration And this may serve also for a Confutation of that Groundless and Unscriptural conceit of Mr. Allen when he affirms that the Infants of Believers are Abraham's Spiritual Seed and that upon this Account it was that they were admitted to the Priviledge of Church-Membership under the Law For thus he tells us If such Infants are as much of the Church and as much Abraham's Spiritual Seed as ever Infants in the Old Testament-Church were then they can be no more uncapable than they were of a solemn Admission into the Church by the Ordinance of Initiation for the time being as Baptism is now and as Circumcision was then But this which Mr. Allen takes here for granted and is indeed the Foundation of his Argument we utterly deny as not having been at all proved nor indeed can be proved by him or any other to wit That the Infants of Believers have any where in Scripture the Denomination of Abraham's Spiritual Seed This is a most certain Truth that as Abraham himself had a double Capacity one of a Natural Father the other the Father of the Faithful So he had a two-fold Seed For First he had a Seed that proceeded from him according to the Course of Natural Generation only And Secondly some were his Natural and Spiritual Seed also such as was Isaac and all the Faithful who proceeded from Abrahams Loyns To which we must add a Third sort and that is all true Believers or the Elect of God in all Nations who by Vertue of their Interest in Christ have also in Scripture the Denomination of Abraham's Seed who yet can lay no claim to Abraham as their Father according to the common Course of Nature And to imagine that Abraham hath any Seed in any other Religious or Spiritual Consideration whatsoever under the Gospel is to be wise above what is written For whatever the Jewish Children were to say that the Children of Christians are Relatively Holy that they are Church-Members and as much Christians externally as the Children of the Jews were Jews externally as some have suggested All these are but unproved Figments and Unscriptural Dictates And therefore from hence to infer their Relation to Abraham as his Spiritual Seed and thence that they are the proper Subjects of Baptism is no other than to build a lofty Structure upon a Sandy Foundation If then we shall affirm that the Infants of Believers now are Abraham's Seed they must of Necessity come under one or another of these Heads To say that they are so in either of the two former Respects cannot be at all pretended unto if in the latter neither can this with any shadow of Truth be affirmed For thus it was not with all the Natural Seed of Abraham himself as the Apostle expresly affirms Rom. 9. 7 8. Neither saith he because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children but in Isaac shall thy Seed be called that is they that are the Children of the Flesh these are not the Children of God but the Children of the Promise are counted for the Seed So likewise Gal. 3. 29. If ye be Christs then are ye Abraham's Seed and Heirs according to the Promise Therefore to affirm that all the Infants of Believers are the Spiritual Seed of Abraham as there is no Scripture that proves it so it is directly contrary to the Scripture and indeed contrary to our own most common and obvious Experience whilst we consider with all that as for many of Abraham's own Natural Posterity they are so far from being his Spiritual Seed that as hath been already observed together with their Children they are Unchurched broken off and rejected by God because of their Vnbelief to this very day Which yet had not been had they been the Spiritual as well as the Natural Seed of Abraham For sure it is altogether Inconsistent with the terms of the Covenant of Grace the Gifts and Callings whereof are without Repentance that Abraham's Spiritual Seed or that such as are Members of the Invisible as well as the Visible Church should be at all cast off rejected and forsaken as the Jews now are Upon the whole therefore of our Answer to the forementioned Objection That if this Interpretation hold good there would be a great change in the extent of the Covenant narrower under the Gospel than it was under the Law and yet no notice in all the Book of God given of such a Change We say that there is abundant notice given unto us in the Book of God and that both in the Old and New Testament also concerning the change in question viz. the disfranchisement of Infants from their so long enjoyed Priviledge of Church-Membership We grant that under the Law they were admitted thereunto with their Parents But the Scriptures already alledged do abundantly prove their Exclusion under the Gospel Administration Unto which we shall only at present add Heb. 7. 12. For the Priesthood heing changed there is made of Necessity a change also of the Law which Change of the Law there spoken of must needs include Circumcision with all the Priviledges and Appurtenances belonging to it And therefore as Infants Church-Membership came in with the Law of Circumcision so it went out and was Repealed with it Objection 3. If this Interpretation be true the Believing Jews should have loss upon their Repentance and Belief of the Gospel if their Children formerly Church Members should now be Excluded upon the Faith and Repentance of their Parents To this we Answer First It is true that insome Sence a Jew converted to the Gospel should have loss and particularly in that point of Signing his Fleshly Seed by an Ordinance together with the Fall of all the Glory of their Sanctuary and pompous Priest-hood so much and so long the joy and boasting of that Nation Which the Spirit of GOD fore-saw and fore-told Isa 8. 14. And hence it came to pass that Christ became so great an Offence and the Gospel so sore a Stone of Stumbling and Rock of Offence to them all yea even to many of them after they had submitted to the Gospel yea the Gentile Churches were scarce if at all preserved from Stumbling hereat with the Jews But all this Loss well considered would amount to no more than what befals a Man who from the Priviledges of a Servant is Invested into the Priviledges of a Son And this was the very Case Gal. 4. 4. God sent forth His Son c. Verse 5. To redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Verse 7. Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son And the Reason of this Change the Apostle plainly sheweth us Verse 23. He that was after the Bond-Woman was Born after the
full and glorious enough yet those Promises being not absolute but conditional as the Covenant at Mount Sinai was it is therefore represented to us under the same Character and not as a Covenant of Promise or an Evangelical Covenant For that is the Peculiar Character or Denomination which is given by the Holy Spirit himself to the forementioned Covenant Gen. 12. 2 3. which God had made with Abraham long before § 3. Wherefore saith Dr. Owen the Covenant of Grace supposing it a New Real Absolute Covenant and not a Reformation of the Old or a Reduction of it unto the use of our present Condition as some saith he imagine it to be must differ in the Essence Substance and Nature of it from that First Covenant of Works Ibid. ut supra p. 389. § 4. The Covenant of Grace saith Mr. Troughton in a late Discourse of his Entituled Lutherus Redivivus Part. 1. p. 111. is expressed in the Nature and Form of a Promise throughout the Scripture Thus it was to our First Parents soon after the fall a Promise that the Seed of the Woman should overcome the Devil and his Seed No Terms no Conditions added but a bare Declaration of Mercy to their Dejected Self-condemned Consciences Next when the Covenant was Revealed to Abraham Gen. 12 1 2 3. It is a Formal Promise that God would bless him and all Nations in his Seed and accordingly ever after it is called the Promise made to Abraham which Israel waited to see performed And the Apostle Gal. 3. 18. affirms that the Inheritance was given to Abraham by Promise and not by Law and in vers 15 16 17. he maketh the Covenant and Promise equipollent terms The Law saith he which was 420 years after cannot disannul the Covenant with Abraham that the Promise should be of none Effect Neither was this Promise only of Christ's coming in the Flesh but of a Blessing through Christ vers 14. Yea the giving of the Holy Spirit is a part of the Blessing Promised to Abraham That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith § 5. And indeed this is that therefore that renders it sure and certain to all the Seed therein concerned For as it is evident that this Gospel Covenant mentioned Gen. 12. 2 3. was Preached unto Abraham long before the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him So the Addition of the Covenant of Circumcision afterwards as the Apostle speaks of the Law given by Moses because of transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made could not disannul that it should make this forementioned and fore-established Promise to be of none Effect For it being most plainly a Gospel Covenant wholly free and absolute and only to be received by Faith Hence it follows that it is of an Everlasting Unchangeable Nature and consequently sure without any possibility of Miscarriage unto all the Seed thereunto belonging which the Covenant of Circumcision being Conditional was not as is most excellently reasoned and argued by the Apostle to this purpose Rom. 4. 13. where he tells us that the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World which is the same in effect with his being the Father of all them that believe just before spoken of was not to him or to his seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith Not through the Law that is not through the Covenant of Circumcision as shall be afterward demonstrated For that was as much a Covenant of Works as the Covenant at Mount Sinai was and therefore a Legal Covenant But through that mentioned Gen. 12. 2 3. which was purely Evangelical and therefore through the Righteousness of Faith alone Which gives the only Security to the Seed therein concerned as is afterwards asserted vers 14 15 16. of the forementioned 4th to the Romans For saith he if they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none Effect because the Law worketh wrath for where no Law is there is no Transgression Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed not to that only which is of the Law that is the Jews but to that also that is of the Faith of Abraham that is the Gentiles who is the Father of us all as it is written I have made thee Father of many Nations according to that which was spoken so shall thy Seed be SECT II. § 1. IT is indeed suggested by Dr. Burthogg That the forementioned Promise That Abraham should be the Heir of the World which as the Apostle tells was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith is to be understood in reference to Gen. 17. 8. Where God promiseth to give unto Abraham and to his Seed after him the Land of Canaan for an Everlasting Possession From whence he infers that the Covenant there mentioned is a Covenant of Faith and therefore a Covenant of Grace But it doth not follow because Canaan was promised in the Covenant of Circumcision that therefore according to the Apostles reckoning that Covenant should be a Covenant of Faith For as much as the Promise concerning Abraham's Heirship of the World which the Apostle here speaks of is of a vastly different Nature from the Promise of Canaan or indeed any Terrestrial Inheritance whatsoever § 2. It is true as the Apostle tells us That Godliness is profitable unto all things that is in all respects in respect of this World as well as in respect of the other And why so Because it hath the Promise Having the Promise of the Life that now is as well as of that to come In which respect it ought to be duly observed that Abraham was promised Canaan long before the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him For so we are told Gen. 12. 7. The Lord appeared unto Abraham and said unto thy Seed will I give this Land So Gen. 13. 15. All the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever So likewise Gen. 15. 18. In that same day the Lord made a Covenant with Abraham saying unto thy Seed have I given this Land from the River of Egypt unto the Great River the River Euphrates From all which it plainly appears that Abraham was promised Canaan long before the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him And it was indeed therefore a free Promise or a part of that Covenant of Promise which the Apostle speaks of Gal. 3. 17 18. which was afterward ratified and confirmed by Oath so as that it shall never be disannulled For so we are expresly assured Psal 105. 8 9 10 11. He hath remembred his Covenant for ever the Word which he commanded to a thousand Generations which Covenant he made with Abraham and his Oath unto Isaac and confirmed the
that that is to come The other being the Promise of a Terrestrial Inheritance onely and that which concerned Abraham alone and his Natural Off-spring And if this can be substantially proved it will easily be acknowledged that the Doctors forementioned Argument falls to the ground In order therefore hereunto two things must be done and that is First diligently to Examin the Scope of Rom. 4. 13. where the words themselves do lie that are the bottom of his Argument And Secondly to compare that with other Scriptures that give light thereunto § 2. As to the Scope of the place mentioned It ought to be duely observed that in the 11th and 12th Verses it is told us of Abraham That he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcized that he might be the Father of all them that Believe though they be not Circumcised that Righteousness might be Imputed to them also And the Father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision onely but also walk in the steps of that Faith of our Father Abraham which he had yet being Vncircumcised The plain Scope of which is to shew that Abraham was appointed by God as the Common Father of all sorts of true Believers whatsoever whether Jews or Gentiles And that this Divine Priviledge was not conferred on him upon the Account of the Works he had before spoken of Verse 2. 3. or because of his Circumcision which was a main part thereof and which he had been just now insisting on but through Faith Even that Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcised Which self same Argument he further prosecutes in the next following words For saith he immediately Vers 13. the Promise that he should be the Heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his Seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith Now let it be Judged what was the Apostles meaning as to Abrahams Heirship of the World whether it were concerning the Promise made unto him of a Terrestrial Inheritance in Canaan mentioned Gen. 17. 8. that in that respect he should be the Heir of the World Or rather whether it is not to be understood concerning his Common Fatherhood to all them that Believe which he had just before been speaking of For there he had been plainly treating not concerning any Terrestrial Inheritance whatsoever but concerning Abrahams Spiritual Relation as a Father to all sorts of true Believers And in that sense the words in the 13th Verse come in most aptly and Conerently with what he had before told u◠which was that Faith was reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness not in Circumcision but in Vncircumcision even long before he was Circumcised That he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that Believe as well Jews as Gentiles and Gentiles as Jews Vers 10. 11 12. In which respect well might the Apostle tell us as he doth Vers 13. that Abraham was promised that he should be the Heir of the World Since the whole World both of Jews and Gentiles even as many as the Lord our God shall call were now to become his Spiritual Seed by Believing § 3. And that this is the true Scope and Genuine Sence of the place is plain also from the following words when he comes to the proof of what he had Asserted Vers 13. For saith he Vers 14 If they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect because the Law worketh Wrath For where no Law is there is no Transgression Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace that the Promise might be sure to all the Seed not to that onely which is of the Law that is the Jews but to that also which is of the Faith of Abraham that is the Gentiles who is the Father of us all What Promise is it the Apostle here speaketh of No doubt the same Promise he had spoken of just before even the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World or as he here expresseth it The Father of us all But how doth that appear Or where is that Promise As it is Written saith he Vers 17. I have made thee a Father of many Nations before him whom he Believed even God who quickeneth the dead who against hope believed in hope that he might become the Father of many Nations according to that which was spoken so shall thy Seed be Wherein it is evident what was the Apostles meaning when he tells us of the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World that is not that he should be the Heir of Canaan or of any Terrestrial Inheritance whatsoever though that be true too and is a part of the same Gospel Covenant as hath been before proved and shall therefore be gloriously fulfiled in the appointed Season when not Canaan onely shall be the Possession and Inheritance of Gods People but the greatness of the Kingdom and Dominion under the whole Heaven shall be given unto them But that which the Apostle intends in these words is that Spiritual Relation whereunto Abraham was designed and appointed by God as the Father of many Nations Or the Father of all them that Believe according to that which was spoken so shall thy Seed be Wherein he plainly refers to the Gospel Covenant which was first Recorded Gen. 12. 2 3. that God had made with Abraham before his removal out of his own Country and therefore long before the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him For then God first promised that he would make of him a Great Nation make his Name Great and that in him should all the Families of the Earth be blessed which free Gospel Covenant was again repeated Gen. 15. 5. and Gen. 17. 4 5. where it is promised that there should be of the Nations innumerable that should be Abraham's Seed by Believing To which the Apostle plainly refers in the forementioned Rom. 4. 17. As it is written saith he I have made thee a Father of many Nations before him whom he believed according to that which was spoken so shall thy Seed be For in this respect we are told Gen. 15. 6. That Abraham believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for Righteousness § 4. And in respect of this Covenant it is that the Apostle affirms as before that the Promise is sure to all the Seed For as herein was promised a Blessing unto all the Spiritual Seed of Abraham even the whole Family of the Faithful throughout the World whether Jews or Gentiles of whom through Christ he was to be Father whereas there is no such Promise contained in the Covenant of Circumcision So the tenor of it being purely Evangelical which the Covenant of Circumcision was not This therefore and not the other is the Great Charter
him to make his Name Great that he should be a Blessing that in him should all the Families of the Earth be Blessed that he should be the Father of many Nations according to that which was spoken so shall thy Seed be Gen. 12. 2 3. Gen. 15. 5. And it is evident that these were the Promises upon the account whereof we are told that he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for Righteousness Gen. 15. 6. Circumcision therefore was a Seal only unto Abraham and that of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had in respect of the Promises made him long before his Circumcision and that for this very purpose that he might be the Father of all them that believe which was his Prerogative alone For none besides him had ever before their Circumcision such a Faith which entituled them to such singular Promises § 2. Upon the whole though it must be acknowledged that the Objection seems at first very Plausible How can it be but that the Covenant of Circumcision must needs be a Covenant of Faith since Abraham is said to have received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Yet we see when it comes to be duly examined there appears no such matter For the only Argument fairly resulting from Rom. 4. 11. can be no other than this That Covenant or those Promises in respect of which Abraham is said to have received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith must needs be a Covenant of Faith But the Scripture is express that Abraham received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcised which must of necessity be understood in respect of the forementioned Promises that had been made him long before his Circumcision and upon the account of which we are expresly told that he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for Righteousness Gen. 15. 6. Therefore that Covenant or those Promises must needs be a Covenant of Faith But then as hath been already observed it follows not that the Promises made unto him and his Seed after him in their Generations upon Condition of his and their Circumcision mentioned Gen. 17. 7 8 9 10. were any part of the Covenant of Faith since the Apostle is express that Faith was not reckoned to him for Righteousness when he was in Circumcision but in Vncircumcision § 3. Circumcision therefore as we have said was a Seal only to Abraham and that in respect of the Promises made him yet being Vncircumcised whereby he was Confirmed in the Assurance of that Peculiar Prerogative that had been before conferred on him and which the Apostle here expresly mentioneth He received saith he the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe In respect whereof it is evident that Circumcision was that to the Father of the Faithful in its Extraordinary Institution and in his Extraordinary Circumstances that it could not be to any of his Natural Progeny in its Ordinary Vse It was indeed appointed as a Sign or Token of the Covenant Gen. 17. 7 8 9. and that both unto Abraham himself and the rest that were under it and so the Spirit of God himself expresly stiles it vers 11. Whereby they were obliged unto a Perfect and Universal Obedience to the whole revealed Will and Law of God Gal. 5. 3. For I testifie to every man that is Circumcised that he is a Debtor to do the whole Law and hereof 't is true it was a Sign or Token It being no other than the Restipulation of the Covenant on their part Gen. 17. 9. 10. Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations this is my Covenant which ye shall keep Every man-child among you shall be Circumcised But it doth not therefore follow that because it was a Token of that Covenant on their part in respect of their Duty that it was also intended as a Seal unto them of the same Covenant on God's part in respect of God's Promise It being a Seal only unto Abraham and that in respect of those Peculiar Promises made him in Uncircumcision Nor was every ones Circumcision so much as a Token to him of his Right to any of the Promises therein contained as is evident in Ishmael and others the Servants born and bred in Abraham's Family and Strangers bought with Mony who were all to be Circumcised to whom yet nevertheless none of the Promises in that Covenant were made as is plain from Gen. 17. 7 8 20 21 23 27. whereby it is clear that the true Reason why any were Circumcised was the Command not Interest in the Covenant Much less was Circumcision a Seal to all that received it of their interest in the Righteousness of that Faith that Abraham had 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 since many of them were never Possessors of that saying Grace neither before or after as to affirm that it was the Seal of a Paternal Relation to all Believers unto every one that received it this being Abraham's Peculiar Prerogative and Incommunicable to any else And indeed Circumcision was so far from being a Seal of the Gospel Covenant or of their Interest in the Righteousness of Faith to the rest that were under it that it was rather Token unto them of Servitude and Bondage and such a Yoke that as the Apostles tell them neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear it Acts 15. 10 24. Gal. 5. 2. 3. Which yet it had not been had it been to them a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith or of the Gospel Covenant For that brings with it true Christian Liberty and Freedom Gal. 5. 1. SECT VI. AND therefore when the Apostle tells us Gal. 3. 16. that to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made He saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ He could not have the Covenant of Circumcision in his Eye as 't is generally concluded he had For as hath been plainly proved that was no other than a Covenant of Works or a Legal Covenant obliging all that were under it to a perfect Obedience to the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. And therefore as the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World was not derived unto him or to his Seed through the Righteousness of that Covenant So neither was Christ the Mediator of it He having obtained a more Excellent Ministry by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant which is established upon better Promises Heb. 8. 6. Better Promises not for the Substance of them in themselves considered For as God promised to be a God unto that People in
granted by GOD in lieu of Circumcision Object 6. But Circumcision was a Seal of the New Covenant to Believers and their Seed under the Law and therefore so is Baptism to the Seed of Christian Parents under the Gospel the denial therefore of Baptism to Infants is the denial of a great Priviledge which of right belongs unto them To this We Answer in the Negative That neither was Circumcision a Seal to them nor much less a Seal to them of the New Covenant for then they had been all Saved It is true it was a Seal Confirmation or Ratification of the Faith that Abraham had long before he was Circumcised But so it could not be said of Infants that had no Faith It was indeed a Sign put into the Flesh of the Infant but a Sign and Seal only to Abraham Witnessing to Him that he not only had a Justifying Faith but to the Truth of the Promises viz. That he should be the Father of many Nations Rom. 4. 17. Gen. 12. 2. 3. The Father of the Faithful Rom. 4. 11. Heir of the World Rom. 4. 13. Which was no way true of any Infant that ever was Circumcised for none had before their Circumcision such a Faith that entituled them to such singular Promises and Prerogatives The Scope of that place Rom. 4. being to shew that Abraham himself was not Justified by Works no not by Circumcision but by Faith which he had long before he was Circumcised and so but a Seal or Confirmation of that Faith which he had before and to assure him of the Truth of those special Promises then made to him So that though Circumcision is rightly termed by the Apostle A Seal of the Righteousness of Abraham 's Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcised of which see further p. 51. 52. 53. but more especially from p. 205 to p. 206. Yet the Scripture no where affirms that so it was to any others neither indeed could it be a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith to Infants that had no Faith Besides diverse others who as it appears from the Scriptures were utterly destitute of that Saving Grace For some were Circumcised to whom no Promise in the Covenant made with Abraham did belong Of Ishmael GOD had said that His Covenant was not to be Established with him but with Isaac and yet he was Circumcised Gen. 17. 20 21 25. Rom. 9. 7 8 9. Gal. 4. 29 30. The like may be said of Esau Together with which it must be considered That all that were in Abraham's House whether Strangers bought with Money or Born in his House though not of his Seed were to be Circumcised To whom nevertheless none of the Promises of that Covenant were made as is plain from Gen. 17. 7 8 20 21 23 27. So that as far as appears to us from the Scriptures Circumcision was a Seal of the Rightcousness of Faith only to Abraham not so to the rest as all the Jews also were not called the Fathers of the Faithful or the Fathers of many Nations as Abraham was Secondly Neither is Baptism more than Circumcision called a Seal It is indeed called a Figure 1 Pet. 3. 21. And it is a Sign also but a Sign and Figure proper only to Men of Vnderstanding not as Circumcision which was a Sign not Improper for Infants because it left a signal Impression upon their Flesh to be remembred all their Days But so cannot Baptism be to any Infant To affirm Baptism therefore to be a Seal of the Covenant of Grace is groundless for that is the peculiar Work and Office of the Holy Spirit Eph. 1. 13. and 4. 30. And since neither hath GOD any where Commanded Infants to be Baptized the denial therefore of Baptism to Infants cannot be the denial of any Priviledge due unto them Object 7. But Circumcision was Administred to Believers as Believers and to their Seed after them as such to which Baptism was to correspond We Answer That Circumcision was an Ordinance which by the Institution belonged to all the Natural Lineage and Posterity of Abraham good or bad without any such Limitation as was put upon Baptism If thou Believest with all thine Heart thou mayst Acts 8. Or any such Qualification that an Infant capable to receive it must of necessity have a Believing Parent For we know that the Servants Born in Abraham's House and Strangers Bought with Money were also to be Circumcised as well as those proceeding from Abraham's Loins who yet surely could not pretend to be all of them the Off-spring of Believing Parents Which clearly shews that Circumcision was not Administred to Believers as Believers and to their Seed after them as such But though the Natural Posterity of Abraham whether they were Believers or no were to be Circumcised because God had so Commanded it yet this was not sufficient for their Admission to Baptism The main Plea indeed of the Jews in John's time was That they had Abraham to their Father But notwithstanding this he rejects them and bids them bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance as that which alone would give them Admission to the Baptism of Repentance And if you say that this concerns the Adult only We say that it concerns Infants as much who are uncapable of that Faith and Repentance which the Gospel every where requires in those to be Baptized From what hath been already said therefore it clearly appears that the not Baptizing Infants makes not our Priviledge under the Gospel less than theirs under the Law to which Circumcision was annexed inasmuch as they were not Circumcised because they were the Children of Believers but because GOD had Commanded it neither were they by Circumcision Sealed with a New Covenant Seal as being thereby Interessed in the Mercies of God's New and Everlasting Covenant many being then Circumcised as Ishmael and others who had no right or title at all thereunto But they were Circumcised by the Command of God to distinguish them from the Nations and to keep that Line clear from whence Christ according to the Flesh should come and to oblige them to keep the Law c. but no such thing in the Gospel The Body and Substance being come the shadow was to vanish and pass away No common Father now but Christ and if Christâ— then Abraham's Seed and Heirs according to Promise No Birth Priviledge but the New Birth therefore to go back to the National Birth Priviledge is so far from being a Priviledge that it is a Bondage rather and no other than to rtâ—urn to the Type and Shadow the Anti-type and Substance being come Neither ought such a thing to be any more esteemed the loss of a Priviledge than our not enjoying litterally a Holy Land City Temple a Succession of a High Priest and a Priest-hood by Generation or Lineal Descent as it was with them since all these Types are Spiritualized to us the Believers under the Gospel who are now the Holy Nation City Temple and Royal Priest-hood
one and the same In order to the Resolution whereof we must understand that as Abraham by Promise stood in a double Capacity viz. First As he was a natural Father unto the Jews who proceeded from him in a course of Natural Generation Secondly As he was a Spiritual Father in which respect he was the Father of many Nations comprehending the Spiritual Israel whether Jews or Gentiles throughout the World So accordingly the Promises made unto Abraham were of two sorts some respecting his Natural Seed whether Domestick or National which were Typical of the Spiritual as the Birth of Ifaac the Deliverance of his Posterity out of Egypt the possessing of the Land of Canaan with many other temporal Blessings and Benefits Annexed thereunto And others again respecting in a peculiar manner the Spiritual Seed the Family of the Faithful the Elect of whom through Christ he was the Father and which are Evangelical belonging in an especial manner to the Gospel Covenant As Gen. 17. 5. I have made thee a Father of many Nations And that which we find Gen. 15. 5. So shall thy Seed be In which it is promised That there should be of the Nations innumerable that should be Abrahams Seed by believing Rom. 4. 17 18. And again it was an Evangelical Promise that we find Gen. 12. 3. and Gen. 18. 18. And in thy Seed shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed For in these is promised a Blessing to Believers of whom Abraham is Father Gal. 3. 8 9. And by Christ who is the Seed of Abraham Gal. 3. 16. And therefore Secondly It is of great moment in the present Case rightly to distinguish and truly to apply the several Promises God made unto Abraham according to their proper Subjects It being evident from what hath been already said that though under the Domestick or National Promises to Abraham peculiar to him and his Posterity by Sarah Spiritual Blessings in Christ were shadowed yet Circumcision was not a Token to every one Circumcised that the Promises whether National or Spiritual did belong to him Nor was Interest in the Covenant the Adequate Formal or proper Reason of the Circumcising of them For Ishmael was Circumcised and others were to be Circumcised to whom none of the Promises in that Covenant were made as is plain from Gen. 17. 21. Rom. 9. 7 8. Gal. 4. 28 29. It is no good Argument therefore to say they were in the Covenant therefore to be Circumcised For Females were in the Covenant yet not to be Circumcised Nor on the other side Males were to be Circumcised therefore they were in the Covenant For Ishmael and others were to be Circumcised yet not in the Covenant Whereby 't is plain that the true Reason why any were Circumcised was the Command not Interest in the Covenant Much less is it true that is suggested by some That Children are to be Baptized by Vertue of the Promise first to the Parents as Believers and in them to their Seed as subordinates For besides that there is no such Promise in Scripture that God will be a God to every Believer and his natural Seed So the Rule of Baptizing either Parents or Children is not Interest in the Promise by God's Promise to them But their Profession of Faith or being actual Disciples of Christ whom alone Christ hath appointed to be Baptized Thirdly As to what concerns the Covenant of Grace therefore or the Gospel Covenant which according to the foregoing Argument is said to be now made with Believers and their Seed as the ground of their Admission to Baptism We must know that the Covenant of Grace is to be considered either in respect of the Promises of Eternal Life made to all the Elect in Christ the which remains one and the same in all Ages though variously Administred in the times of the Old and New Testament or else in respect of the manner of its Administration For if the Covenant be understood in the first sence of the Promise of Eternal Life and Salvation made to the Elect in Christ That did never belong to all the Children born of Believing Parents as hath been already Instanced in Ishmael and Esau c. but only such as are Elected of them Rom. 9. 7 8 9. Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children c. The Covenant of Grace being first made between God and Christ and all the Elect in Christ And therefore in Scripture it is called The Promise of Eternal Life which was made to the Elect before the World began who are therefore called the Heirs of Promise Which Promise had its first Promulgation to Adam in the Garden of Paradise where we have also the first Discovery of the Mystery of the two Seeds Now the Covenant of Grace in this Sense is not the Ground and Reason of Administring Ordinances to any Person whatsoever But the Law of Institution only is the Ground and Reason of visible Administrations For the Administration of Ordinances belongs not to the substance of the Covenant but depends meerly upon the Law of Institution without any other Consideration And hence we find that from the first Promulgation of the Covenant to Adam until God made the Covenant of Circumcision with Abraham there was no Ordinance to be administred to Infants Though some Infants as well as grown Persons both of Believers and Unbelievers might be comprehended in the Covenant Yet not to be Circumcised and so not to be Baptized for want of an Institution So the Promise Acts 2. 39. is said to be to them afar off in the present tense while uncalled And yet not to be Baptized before calling unless you will Baptize Gentiles in professed Gentilism And so the Jews some not yet born some not called have the Promise of God made to them Rom. 11. 27. For this is my Covenant unto them when I shall take away their Sins And yet they are not to be Baptized ' til Converted Nor indeed can the Covenant considered in its pute Nature be a Ministers Rule to Administer Ordinances by seeing it is unknown who are in the Covenant and who are not But that which is their Rule must be something that is manifest As for the External Administration of the Covenant as you have already heard that hath varied in several Ages according to the Will of the Law-giver for during all that period of time from Adam to Abraham there was no Ordinance to be Administred to Infants In Abraham's time indeed Circumcision was Instituted which Ordinance belongs peculiarly to the Old Testament Administration and was part of Moses's Law which is now Abrogated and done away And this was the first Ordinance that was Administred to Infants and not to all Infants but only to Male Infants Living in Abraham's Family if they did Live to the Eighth Day otherwise they had no right to this Ordinance though many of them doubtless in the Covenant of Grace and so Saved So we say of
through the Righteousness of Faith Whereby he endeavours to prove that the Covenant of Circumcision mentioned Gen. 17. 7 8 9. is that very Covenant of Grace that the Believing Gentiles are now under and from whence all their hopes and Comforts are derived We must of necessity therefore endeavour to overrhrow and remove the seeming strength of what he offers by way of opposition to what we have asserted before any thorow Conclusion can be drawn § 2. The Sum then of his Argument is this It is Evident saith he that the Covenant of Promise made to Abraham which is called the Blessing of Abraham is still in being and is the Covenant of Grace into a Participation of which the true Believing Gentiles are taken which is the true ground and Foundation of all their hopes and Comforts For thus the Apostle carries it when he affirms that God gave the Inheritance to Abraham by Promise And by what Promise but that ratified Covenant of Promise I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed In short saith he this is the Climax If Believers then Christs If Christs then Abrahams Seed If Abrahams Seed then Heirs according to the Promise For the Promise is I will be a God to thee and thy Seed And I will give to thee and thy Seed Nor doth it make any alteration in the case that Faith is now the requisite condition of Salvation or that we must believe to be saved This but Evidences the more clearly that the Gospel is but a Renovation of the Covenant of Abraham For as it is through Faith that we Gentiles do become Christs and by being Christs that we become the Seed of Abraham and consequently Heirs of Salvation according to the Promise so it was through Faith the Righteousness of Faith that Abraham the Father of the Faithful had the Promise himself For so the Apostle Rom. 4. 13. For the Promise that he should be the Heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his Seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith And if the Promise made to Abraham be the ground and Foundation of all our hopes and expectations as we are Christians and it be the true Covenant of Grace to be sure it is still in being or we do but beat the Air and are at a loss our hope is in vain and our rejoycing vain which God forbid I know you take it for a very strong Argument that the Covenant of Abraham Gen. 17. 7 8. cannot be the Evangelical or Gospel Covenant because it is a Mixt one and Composed of a Temporal as well as an Eternal bequest But for that Reason I the rather take it to be Evangelical For this is Gospel that Godliness is profitable unto all things that is in all Respects In respect of this World and in respect of the other And why so Why it hath the Promise Having the Promise of the Life that now is as well as of that to come And what is this but a finger to point you to the Covenant of Promise as the Evangelical Covenant the Promise the Blessing that did descend on the Gentiles And indeed the Inheritance promised to Abraham and which in by and under him is descended on the Gentiles is not onely a Coelestial but a Terrestrial one also For by that Promise Abraham was not onely the Heir of Heaven but also Heir of the World And so the Apostle styles him And the same Apostle tells all is ours And Abraham being Constituted by the Promise Heir of the World he and his descendants according to the Flesh were to take Possession of it and to have Livery of Seisin given in Canaan a Livery of Seisin which was given indeed and taken but in part of the World as Livery of Seisin usually is but in the Name of the whole From the whole of which the Doctor Infers That that Covenant mentioned Gen. 17. 7 8. where this Promise of a Terrestrial Inheritance bequeathed to Abraham and his Seed is inserted which he takes to be the same with his being the Heir of the World must be a Covenant of Grace or an Evangelical Covenant For since the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith Therefore the Covenant mentioned Gen. 17. 7 8. where this Promise is Inserted must of necessity be a Covenant of Grace and such a Covenant as on which all the Hopes and Comforts of Believing Gentiles are Built § 3. This is the substance of what the Doctor offers by which it may be easily perceived that there is a necessity that this now mentioned Argument of his be substantially resolved and removed out of the way before we can draw any thorow Conclusion from the Premises It being true enough That if Abrahams Heirship of the World spoken of Rom. 4. 13. And the Promise of a Terrestrial Inheritance in Canaan mentioned Gen. 17. 8. be one and the same thing and not of a quite different nature then indeed there will be some kind of appearance or some shadow at least of Argument in what the Doctor offers toward the proof of what he asserteth That the Covenant mentioned Gen. 17. 7 8. is the Covenant of Grace Though should it be granted that the Doctors Notion is right That Abrahams Heirship of the World is to be understood of the Promise of a Terrestrial Inheritance in Canaan Yet it will not therefore follow that the Inheritance the Apostle speaks of is derived unto Abraham or to his Seed through the Righteousness of that Covenant and consequently that it is a Gospel Covenant Because as hath been already observed though that be one of the Promises contained in that Covenant yet since the same thing had been before assured unto Abraham and his Seed also by vertue of the free Promise mentioned Gen. 12. 7. c. which the Apostle takes such special notice of Gal. 3. 17. 18. And forasmuch as the Conditional Covenant of Circumcision might be broken as it was and the Mercies therein contained forfeited as they were which the other could not From hence it plainly follows that the free Promise and that alone is that Covenant of Grace or Anchor of Hope that both Abraham and his Seed were onely to trust unto and through which the Inheritance was to be derived SECT IV. HOwever since the Doctor lays the stress he doth upon the Argument before us It is necessary that it be Examined and brought to the Test whether right or no In order whereunto our main business will be to prove that Abrahams Heirship of the World spoken of Rom. 4. 13. And the Promise that was made unto him of a Terrestrial Inheritance in Canaan mentioned Gen. 17. 8. is not one and the same Promise but of a vastly different Nature and Tendency The one being the Great Charter of all the Gentiles hope and blessedness in reference both to this World and
the Covenant of Works made at Mount Sinai and to take them for his Peculiar People upon Condition of their Obedience to the Law So in the Covenant of Circumcision I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed And I will give to thee and to thy Seed the Land of Canaan c. upon the same condition of Obedience Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations In both which the Promises themselves are as large and as full as can be desired And that with Respect to the Blessings of this Life as also of that which is to come So that the Promises of the Gospel Covenant it self cannot be better than were those under the Law for the substance of them or in themselves considered For what doth the Gospel promise more The betterness therefore of this Evangelical Covenant whereof Christ is the onely Mediator and Surety must of necessity consist in the terms of it the Promises thereof being free and Absolute and onely to be Received by Faith which the forementioned Covenants were not And therefore called the Word of Faith which we Preach Rom. 10. 6 7 8. That if thou shalt Confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine Heart that God raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved He had told us before that Moses describeth the Righteousness of the Law that the Man which doth these things shall live by them But saith he the Righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise c. So likewise Gal. 3. 21 22. If there had been a Law which could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law But the Scripture hath Concluded all under Sin that the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that Believe So also Rom. 4. 14. If they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the promise made of none effect Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace that the Promise might be sure to all the Seed The Gospel Covenant therefore we see is free and Absolute Proclaiming Liberty to the Captives c. Isa 61. 1 2. And declareth that to him that worketh not but believeth on him that Justifieth the ungodly his Faith shall be counted to him for Righteousness Rom. 4. 4 5. Whereas the Covenant at Sinai and that of Circumcision was clog'd with conditions of perfect Obedience unto the whole Law of God and therefore Impossible to be performed For the faultiness of both which in that respect they are therefore now Abollished So that Christ was not the Mediator of either of these but of this better Covenant which is Established upon these better Promises § 2. Besides when the Apostle tells us That to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made he saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ He could not have the Covenant of Circumcision in his Eye Because the Promises of that Covenant were expresly made unto Seeds as of many Gen. 17. 7 8. 9. I will Establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations plainly and expresly Plural And I will give to thee and to thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a stranger and I will be their God still expresly in the Plural and not in the Singular Number And so runs the Obligation also Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations Those words of the Apostle therefore Gal. 3. 16. cannot possibly refer to the Promises contained in the Covenant of Circumcision as it hath been generally though mistakingly imagined they do But must of necessity refer to that Evangelical Covenant first Recorded Gen. 12. 2 3. I will make of thee saith God to Abraham there a Great Nation and I will Bless thee and make thy Name Great and thou shalt be a Blessing And I will bless them that Bless thee and Curse him that Curseth thee And in thee shall all Families of the Earth be Blessed Which latter Promise is afterwards more fully Explained Gen. 22. 18. And in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed In which respect well might the Apostle say that to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made he saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ For those Gospel Promises can be understood in no other Sence but as of one For it is plain that it is Christ alone that is the Promised Seed there spoken of In whom God there promiseth that all the Nations of the Earth should be Blessed To him therefore all the Promises of the Gospel were first made Psal 89. 27 28 29. In him they are all yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. And from him alone are they to be Communicated to all his Members Isa 49. 6 8 9. Jo. 1. 16. Jo. 6. 27. Gal. 3. 29. Some refer Gal. 3. 16. to Gen. 17. 7. But I conceive the Apostle hath here a direct and special Eye to that Promise Gen. 22. 18. In thy Seed shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed which runs directly parallel both in Terms and Sence with the Promise given to Abraham Gen. 12. 3. which was before pleaded by him Gal. 3. 8. And if it be Objected that the Promise there is made of or concerning Abrahams Seed and not to his Seed Let it be minded that all the Promises made of this Seed viz. Christ in one respect may be said to be made to this Seed in another because they are Originally Established in the Everlasting Covenant of Redemption that was between the Father and him Mr. Cox in his Discourse of the Covenants page 77. 78 79. SECT VII AND in this respect it is yet further Observable That as God promiseth Abraham Gen. 22. 18. That in his Seed should all the Nations of the Earth be blessed plainly speaking of Christ the Promised Seed So in the words just before he was also Expresly told And thy Seed shall Possess the Gate of his Enemies Not their Enemies but his Enemies expresly in the Singular whereas the Promises of the Covenant of Circumcision were all his Expresly in the Plural Number So that as the Apostle might justly say in Reference to this Gospel Covenant that to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made not a single Promise onely but the Promises So it is as evident that Seed there must of necessity be understood in the Singular Number For as it is by Christs Single Prowess that both his and his Peoples Enemies are vanquisht Isa 63. 3. John 16. ult In which respect Abraham was told And thy Seed shall Possess the Gate of his Enemies So it is as evident that the following Promise And in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed The Seed there spoken of must of necessity also be understood in
which the Scripture gives us of the former we meet with as hath been before noted Gen. 12. 2 3. Where the Lord is pleased to enter into a Solemn Covenant with Abraham saying I will make of thee a great Nation and I will Bless thee and make thy Name great and thou shalt be a Blessing And I will Bless them that Bless thee and I will Curse him that Curseth thee And in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed To the same purpose also the Lord tells Abraham Gen. 17. 2. I will make my Covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly vers 3. And Abraham fell on his Face and God talked with him saying As for me behold my Covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a Father of many Nations neither shall thy Name any more be called Abram but thy Name shall be called Abraham For a Father of many Nations have I made thee And I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make Nations of thee and Kings shall come out of thee Which is a plain Transcript or Rehearsal of the several Free Promises of the Gospel Covenant that God had before made with Abraham Gen. 12. 2 3. Gen. 15. 5 6. which are here gathered up together and plainly Represented unto him under the denomination of a Covenant and such a Covenant as God had made with Abraham himself alone not with his Natural Offspring For saith God vers 2. I will make my Covenant between me and thee And vers 4. As for me behold my Covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a Father of many Nations neither shall thy Name any more be called Abram but Abraham for a Father of many Nationt have I made thee So that this Covenant could have relation to no other it being no way applicable to any other Person whatsoever whether Isaac or Jacob or any else of his Natural Offspring to be Father of many Nations or as the Apostle explains it The Father of all them that Believe as Abraham was his Prerogative herein being singular and incommunicable to any else Whereas the Covenant of Circumcision was as plainly made between God and Abraham and his Natural Seed also as Gen. 17. 7 8 9. declare And saith God vers 7. Or Moreover as 't is in the Old Translation as proceeding to speak of another Covenant than what he had been before insisting on I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee vers 8. And I will give unto thee and to thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a Stranger all the Land of Canaan for an Everlasting Possession and I will be their God vers 9. Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations vers 10. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy Seed after thee every Manchild among you shall be Circumcised § 2. So that though the Promises of the Covenant of Circumcision were indeed made unto Abraham and his Natural Seed also yet the Promises of the Gospel Covenant we see were not and the Apostle expresly disowns it Gal. 3. 16. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made he saith not And to Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ For though God doth indeed tell Abraham Gen. 12. 7. Vnto thy Seed will I give this Land And Gen. 13. 15. All the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever And Gen. 15. 18. In that same day the Lord made a Covenant with Abraham saying Vnto thy Seed have I given this Land from the River of Egypt unto the Great River the River Euphrates Which are all plainly Gospel Promises and made unto Abraham long before the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him and therefore a part of the free Promise or the Covenant of Promise which the Apostle speaks of Gal. 3. 17 18. Yet by Seed in all these Promises we are plainly to understand no other than Christ himself For so it is explained to our hands not only in Gal. 3. 16. but also Gen. 22. 16 17. By my self have I sworn saith the Lord that in Blessing I will Bless thee and in Multiplying I will multiply thy Seed as the Stars of the Heaven and as the Sand which is upon the Sea shore And thy Seed shall possess the Gate of his Enemies Expresly in the singular number not the Gate of their Enemies but the Gate of his Enemies And accordingly it follows vers 18. And in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed Which must of necessity be understood of Christ alone And whereas Christ is here Promised That he shall Possess the Gate of his Enemies It is plainly Synonimous or of the same signification with the forementioned Promises Vnto thy Seed will I give this Land Gen. 12. 6. And all the Land which thou seest unto thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever Gen. 13. 15. For to Abraham and his Seed saith the Apostle were the Promises made He saith not And to Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ And so again Gen. 15. 18. Vnto thy Seed have I given this Land from the River of Egypt unto the Great River the River Euphrates Which is by the Psalmist most plainly applied to Christ in the Person of Solomon Psal 72. 8 9. He shall have Dominion also from Sâ—a to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the Earth They that dwell in the Wilderness shall bow before him and his Enemies shall lick the Dust The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring Presents The Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer Gifts yea all Kings shall fall down before him all Nations shall serve him Where we have a clear Paraphrase upon the Promises made to Abraham and to his Seed when he was told All the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever And thy Seed shall Possess the Gate of his Enemies For as much as God hath by Promise given both unto Abraham and unto his Seed Christ also all those Countreys now possessed by his Enemies which we see is by the Psalmist interpreted not only as having relation to Canaan but unto his Universal Dominion over all the Earth For Christ is here promised not only that he shall have Dominion from Sea to Sea or as God told Abraham from the River of Egypt to the Great River the River Euphrates but from the River to the ends of the Earth That they that dwell in the Wilderness shall bow before him and his Enemies shall lick the Dust That the Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring Presents The Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer
Gifts yea all Kings shall fall down before him and all Nations shall serve him And accordingly he concludes vers 18 19. Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who only doth wondrous things and blessed be his Glorious Name for ever And let the whole Earth be filled with his Glory Amen and Amen § 3. The Promises of the Gospel Covenant made with Abraham therefore we see do all of them run directly to Christ the inheriting Seed To him they are made In him do they Center And from him alone all the Blessings in Promise are derived unto all his Spiritual Offspring Gal. 3. 29. If ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams Seed and Heirs according to the Promise And therefore though God doth indeed Promise in this Gospel Covenant to multiply Abrahams Seed as the Stars of Heaven and as the Sand which is upon the Sea shore Gen. 22. 17. which we are to understand no doubt in reference to Abraham's Natural Offspring as well as of those Multitudes that in all Nations were to become his Spiritual Seed by believing Gen. 15. 5. Rom. 4. 17 18. In which respect Peter tells the Jews Act. 3. 25. Ye are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy Seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be blessed Yet there is not a word of blessing therein immediately Pronounced either upon Abraham's Natural Offspring or those that in all Nations were to become his Seed by Believing All the Blessings being reserved for the First-born among many Brethren Psal 89. 27 28 29. Rom. 8. 29. who is therefore represented unto us as the Hear of all things Heb. 1. 2. Even Christ the Promised Seed Gal. 3. 18 19. To whom the Promises were made Gal. 3. 16. And who must therefore have the single Honour and Prerogative concerning the Distribution of all the Blessings therein Promised among his Members Children and Brethren Isa 49. 6 8 9. Joh. 1. 16 17. Joh. 6. 27. Gal. 3. 29. § 4. 'T is true God pronounced a Blessing upon Isaac and upon Jacob also who were Abraham's Natural Offspring as well as his Spiritual Seed by Believing And accordingly we find God speaking to Isaac Gen. 26. 3 4. Sojourn in this Land and I will be with thee and will Bless thee For unto thee and unto thy Seed will I give those Countreys And I will perform the Oath which I sware unto Abraham thy Father And I will make thy Seed to multiply as the Stars of Heaven And I will give unto thy Seed all these Countreys And in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed I will Bless thee saith God to Isaac But how No otherwise than as the Gentiles are Blessed that is through Christ the Promised Seed in whom all the Nations of the Earth are Blessed Gal. 3. 8 14. For it cannot be imagined that the Gospel Blessing should be derived to any of Abraham's Natural Offspring one-way and to Believing Gentiles another But they must all both the one as well as the other be beholding to Christ for the Blessing if ever they have it For if all the Nations of the Earth are Blessed in Christ then the Jews as well as the Gentiles must all of them if at all be Blessed that way also Gal. 3. 29. § 5. In the Covenant of Circumcision indeed God promiseth Abraham to be a God not only to him but to his Seed after him in their Generations meaning his Natural Offspring wherein a Blessing is immediately pronounced upon them all But that was only upon Condition of their Obedience As was also that at Sinai which Covenant they brake they Continued not in it and God regarded them not Heb. 8. 8 9 And both being of the same Stamp made with the same People and making up one and the same Old Covenant it is therefore now Abolished Heb. 7. 18. Heb. 8. 13. Coll. 2. 14. So that that could not be the Promise that Peter speaks of How are we then to understand those words of Peter before mentioned The Promise is unto you and to your Children Why plainly thus Though the Conditional Covenant of Circumcision is now done away So that you have no further pretence or Plea of that kind left you And though the Promses of the Gospel Covenant do all of them run directly to Christ the Promised Seed yet still he might justly enough assure them that the Promise was to them and to their Children also Because God had therein promised that in Abraham 's Seed that is in Christ All the Families of the Earth should be Blessed And upon this Bottom there was sufficient ground of Comfort not only for the Jews and their Children But for the Gentiles also that were afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call this being a most full and comprehensive Promise every way free and absolute and therefore Ministring Suitable Relief even unto the Jews themselves that had been the Betrayers and Murderers of the Lord of Glory yea and unto their Children also on whom as well as on themselves they had wished his Blood to be And therefore though the Original Grant or Promise was not made unto them or their Children or to any others immediately yet at Second-hand Rate at least it did sufficiently appertain both unto them and their Children also For saith he Acts 3. 26. God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to Bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Which he doth immediately subjoyn upon his Rehearsal of the forementioned General Promise that in Abraham 's Seed should all the Kindreds of the Earth be Blessed Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to Bless you c. Whereby as Peter doth sufficiently intimate that the Promise was both unto them and their Children also so that God would no longer deal with them immediately as he had done in the Covenant of Circumcision and in the Legal Covenant made with their Fathers at Sinai or by any meerly Humane Mediator whatsoever as then But they must expect all their Blessings now at the hand of Christ For saith he God hath sent him to Bless you c And so likewise Act. 5. 31. Him hath God exalted with his own Right hand to be Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance unto Israel and the forgiveness of Sins Hands off therefore from the Old Covenant whether that in Moses his time or the Covenant of Circumcision in Abraham's time For God is a Consuming Fire and there is no dealing with him at that Rate any longer but through the Mediation of Christ alone who hath obtained a more Excellent Ministry by how much also he is the Mediator of a Better Covenant which is established upon better Promises SECT XIII FOR a Conclusion therefore of the present Point It is observable that as the forementioned Covenants both that mentioned Gen. 17. 7
you be hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin And in like manner we are bid to provoke one another to Love and to good Works Whereof this is none of the least and Wherein peradventure upon a due and further Consideration you may find your selves to have been as yet Deficient I Would by no means be understood in all this Discourse as if I intended to lay more than the proper stress upon the Ordinance we are Contending about For most true it is that though the Golden Oyl of the Heavenly Blessing according to the standing Promises of the Gospel is only or for the most part to be Conveyed to us through the Golden Pipes of Gospel Ordinances which should Engage us to the faithful Owning and Practice of them and not to Indulge our selves in any Negligence Deviation or Regardlessness about them yet nevertheless as great would the Errour be on the other hand and it may be greater to take up our Rest here For let the Pipes be never so pure and clean Or let the Ordinances we plead for be never so punctually Observed according to the Divine Institution and the Pattern received in the Holy Mount yet 't is the Fountain must supply the Pipe else it will yield nothing The best Ordinances are dry and barren things in themselves unless by them the Golden Oyl from 〈◊〉 himself be derived unto us It is an undoubted Truth that these he is pleased to make use of and therefore we are bound Conscionably to attend upon the Ministration of them But if our Faith ascend no higher than to fix upon the means no wonder if the best means or the clearest Popes do not yield forth unto us that Spiritual Relief we are seeking after To Conclude I hope therefore it will be our Joynt Prayer and Endeavour to be more than Outward Court-Worshippers Even that we may be such as are got into that that is within the Vail having the Father's Name Written in our Fore-Heads Redeemed from the Earth and being without Fault before the Throne of God The Purity of Divine Institutions we must not forget or be Regardless concerning Otherwise we cannot please our Great Lord and Master But let us be sure to press through all External Mediums whatsoever that we may not fail of being admitted into the Innermost Recesses of the Divine Glory even in that Secret of God's Presence wbich is the proper Receptacle and Habitation of the Blessed Thus prayeth Thy most Unworthy but Affectionate Servant for Christ's Sake Philip Cary. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART MR. Allen's First Argument against Antipaedobaptists from the silence of the Scripture concerning the Baptism of Persons at Age whose Parents were Christians Answered Page 1 His Second Argument from Mat. 19. 14. Suffer little Children and forbid them not to come unto Me c. Answered p. 2 3 4 5 His Third Argument from Rom. 11. 16 17. If the Root be Holy so are the Branches c. Answered p. 6 His Fourth Argument from 1 Cor. 7. 14. Else were your Children unclean but now are they Holy Answered p. 8 9 His Fifth Argument from Acts 2. 38 39. The Promise is to you and your Children c. Answered p. 9 10 His Sixth Argument from Col. 2. 11. Buried with him in Baptism c. Answered p. 10 11 12 13 His Seventh Argument from the Church Member-ship of Infants under the former Administration Answered From p. 11 to 13 14 15 16 The latter part of Mr. Allen's Discourse wherein he Labours to prove the Lawfulness of Imposing other Ceremonies in the management of God's Worship beside what God Himself hath Appointed Answered from p. 17 to p. 3 The Second Part. Containing a distinct and more particular Consideration of the Arguments drawn from Rom. 11. 16. 17. Together with all other the most material Arguments whech are usually urged for the support of Infants Baptism As for the Arguments drawn from Rom. 11. 16 17. From thence it is urged First That the Gentiles have the same Graffing into the true Olive which the Jews formerly had Our Graffing in being Answerable to their present Casting out Now when they were taken in they and their Children were taken in when they were broken off they and their Children were broken off And therefore if our Graffing in be answerable to theirs we and our Children are Graffed in together Answered p. 23 24 Secondly Since our Graffing into the Olive Tree the Church is answerable to that of the Jews Their Infants being Graffed in by Circumcision so must ours by Baptism Answered p. 24 25 Thirdly If the Fruit be Holy the Lump is also Holy And if the Root be Holy so are the Branches Answered p. 26 Fourthly The Church of the Jews and that of the Gentiles is still the same that is it is still the same Visible Church now that it was then And so much the Apostles Simile or Metaphor of Ingraffing will bear or it signifies nothing And if the visible Church be the same why should not the Subjects be the same viz. Children and the Priviledge be the same viz. an External Badge given to the Children of the Church now as well as under the Law Answered p. 27 Fifthly As the same Church continued under the Gospel which did exist or was in being before So the very same Church Members kept their places and standing in it which were of it before except such as were broken off by Unbelief which must not be understood in reference to the little Children of the Believing Jews unless it can be made out that their little Children were guilty also of the same Sin of Unbelief upon the Account of which others were thus broken off Answered p. 32 Sixthly Since the Jewish Infants were under the former Administrataion at the Call Election and Appointment of God admitted with their Parents as visible Members of the Jewish Church And since the Gifts and Callings of God are without Repentance Rom. 11. 29 We have Reason therefore to Conclude that the Infants of Christian Parents have the same right to a visible Church Membership now as theirs had then Answered p. 23. Seventhly If such Infants are as much of the Church and as much Abrahams spirituall seed as ever Infants in the Old Testament Church were then they can be no more uncapable than they were of a Sollemn Admission into the Church by the Ordinance of Initiation for the time being as Baptism is now as Circumcision was then Answered p. 34. Eightly The Believing Gentiles are now graffed in not upon the Legall Branch but upon the Root Olive which affordeth all the Nourishment that either the Jews had or the Gentiles have which Root Olive is the Covenant of Promise that was 430. yeares before the Law Now unto that state of things wherein not the Law but the Gospel preached to Abraham did Obtain God was God not onely to 〈◊〉 Father but to the Children ye◠to all his Family And the Father of the Family did not
of the Supper whatever Circumstances were by the command of God to be Observed in the Celebration of the Type And after the same sort must we Reason if we will Reason aright concerning Circumcision and Baptism also And yet again Thirdly Even in the very Instance of this Argument Supposing a Corespondency of Analogy between Circumcision and Baptism yet there is no Correspondency of Identity For although it were granted that both of them did Consign the Covenant of Faith yet there is nothing in the Circumstance of Childrens being Circumcised that so concerns that Mystery but that it might very well be given to Children and yet Baptism only to men of Reason Because Circumcision left a character in the flesh which being Imprinted upon Infants did its work to them when they came of Age. And such a Character was necessary because there was no word added to the sign But Baptism Imprints nothing that remains on the Body and if it leaves a character at all it is upon the Soul to which also the word is added which is as much a part of the Ordinance as the Sign it self For which cause therefore it is highly requisite that the Parties Baptized should be capable of Reason that they may be capable both of the word of the Ordinance and the Impress to be made thereby upon the Soul Since therefore the Reason of the Parity doth wholly fail there is left nothing to Infer a Necessity of Complying in this Circumstance of Age more then in the other Annexes of the Type Then also the Infant must be precisely baptized upon the Eighth day And Females must not be baptized because such were not to be Circumcised But it were more proper if we would understand it aright to prosecute the Analogy from the type to the Antitype by way of letter and Spirit and Signification That as Circumcision figures Baptism so also the Adjuncts of the Circumcision shall signifie some thing Spiritual in the Adherences of Baptism And therefore as Infants were Circumcised So Spiritual Infants shall be Baptized which is Spiritual Circumcision For therefore Babes had the Ministry of the type to Signifie that we must when we give our Names to Christ become Children in Malice and then the type is made Compleat The Seventh Argument for Infants Baptism and whereon the greatest stress is laid by Mr. Allen Mr Baxter and others is drawn from the Church-member-ship of Infants under the former Administration That because Infants were comprehended with their Parents in the Jews Church state they are so still under the Gospel and therefore to be baptized Reply We know very well that Mr. Baxter and others do Assert the Church-membership of Infants before Abrahams time and that therefore it is a Moral Institution and so not Capable of being Repealed as other Jewish Rites were But that is a groundless Fiction and cannot be at all proved from the Scripture The Discussion whereof shall be reserved for the latter part of this Discourse In the mean season That they were admitted Members of the Jewish Church is Evident And it is also as Evident that God hath now quite pulled down that House of his broke up House-keeping and turned the Servants Infants and all out of Doors Rom. 11. 17. 24. The Natural Branches are broken of and God hath now built him a New house into which God hath admitted none as his Houshold Servants but Believers only or such as Profess so to be Moses saith the Apostle Heb. 3. 5. 9. was faithfull as a Servant in all his house But Christ as a son over his own House Whose House are we if we hold fast the Confidence c. Where the Servants of the new house are discribed te be Beleivers not Infants and therefore called Living stones and a Spiritual House 1. Pet. 2. 3. And that the Old House the Jewish Church with all the Appurtenances and Priviledges of it is pulled down and a new One Built into which Infants are not to be admitted is Evident from the Apostles Reasoning Heb. 7. 12. For the Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law Which must needs Include Circumcision with all the Appurtenances and Priviledges belonging to it And therefore as Infants Church-membership came in with the Law of Circumcision So it went out and was repealed with it They were t is true of the Houshold of Old but it was by a positive Law Shew us the like now or you say nothing Sure it is There is now no Institution that makes Infants fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God neither are they to bo so accounted till they believe and are able to do Service in the House And if you say that among men Infants are counted of the Houshold tho they can do no Service we Answer that as Comparisons do not run upon four feet so it doth not follow that because we count our Infants of our Family therefore they are to be accounted members of Gods Family the Gospel Church unless God by any Institution had made them so The Houshold of God is called the Houshold of faith or a House Consisting of Believers Now unless you can prove Infants to be Believers they are not of this House For all the Servants here must be Believers either Really or at least historically and Professedly which Infants cannot be If it be Objected That as the Jews and their Children are broken off So the Gentiles and their Children are Ingraffed in their Room according to Rom. 11. 20. Because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith We Answer That the Reason why the Jews and their Children were broken off was not because they had not Believing Parents For Abraham Isaac and Jacob were still the Parents of them all They were Abraham's seed when they were broken off as well as before But the true Reason was because the terms of standing in the Church were now altered For before the Gospel came they stood members of the Old Jewish Church though as much unbelievers for many Generations as they were when they were broken off But now Abraham's Church state is at an end and all the Priviledges and Immunities cease The Jewish Church must give way to the Gospel Church The Messiah being come and about to build him a New House into which none are of Right to enter but such as are profest Believers For the Old House or Jewish Church was not intended to abide for ever but only to the time of Reformation And then the Law must be changed the Priesthood changed the Priviledges and Ordinances changed yea the Covenant changed Which they not believing being willing to abide in the Old House still and to remain Church Members upon the account of a meer Fleshly and Natural Birth still crying out Abraham is our Father and we are his Seed and are Free and were never in Bondage Wherefore they were broken off and that whether they would or
not by reason of their unbelief that is because they would not believe that the Old Covenant and all the Priviledges thereof were ended and the Substance come the Lord Jesus who was the true Antitype and Substance of all these Shadows So that thus then the Jews were then broken off by Vnbelief And thou and thine O! Gentile Believer must stand by Faith Mark it thou standest by Faith not by Virtue of any Birth Priviledge whatsoever but thy standing is by Faith yet not thy Seed by thy Faith but thou thy self by thine and they by their own Faith is that by which thou standing and not thy Seed hast right to stand in the Church and not they But if thy Seed have Faith and thou hast none they have right to stand in the Church and thou shalt be Excluded Most certain it is that under the Law the Natural Seed or Progeny of Abraham were all Holy with an External Ceremonial or Typical Holiness and consequently they were then all admitted to an External Participation of Church Priviledges But remarkable to this purpose is that passage of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 16. Wherefore henceforth know we no Man after the Flesh It seems then that heretofore there had been a knowledge taken of Persons after the Flesh And 't is plain there was that because the Jews were of the Natural or Fleshly Seed of Abraham they were therefore all of them admitted to the Priviledge of an External Church-membership while others were Exempted But we see the Apostle resolves henceforth to disclaim any such Cognisance of them or any others upon the Account of a meer Fleshly Descent And to this very purpose immediately subjoins in the following Verse Therefore if any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature Old things are past away all things are become New A new Church State and new Ordinances a new Seed and a new way of Introduction unto the Participation of the Priviledge of Church-membership under the Gospel Dispensation Now nothing but a New Creature will serve the turn for God expects that they that Worship him now do Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth The Priviledge of being admitted into God's House and to stand before His Presence in the Actual Celebration of Gospel Ordinances being now Entailed only upon the Spiritual Seed even such who as lively Stones are built up a Spiritual House a Holy Priesthood to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1. Pet. 2. 3. 4. Or such at least as make a visible Profession thereof And therefore when this New and more Spiritual Dispensation was now about actually to be Introduced into the World John who was the Harbinger of it gives sufficient notice thereof and to this purpose deals plainly with the Jews the Pharisees and the Sadduces that came to be Baptized of him And tells them upon this Account Mat. 3. 9. Think not to say within your Selves We have Abraham to our Father For I say unto you that God is able of these Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham And now also the Axe is laid unto tho Root of the Trees therefore every Tree that bringeth not forth good Fruit is hewn down and cast into the Fire It cannot be denied but that they had Abraham to their Father as much now as before only the terms of their standing in the Church were now changed So that now every Tree of whatsoever Natural Stock or External Production that bringeth not forth good Fruit must be hewn down And the Reason is rendered for that Now the Ax is laid unto the Root of the Trees Mark it Now 't is so It was not so before The Ax was never 'till now laid at the Root of the Trees which must needs be understood in reference to that Birth Priviledge before spoken of which they had so long boasted of as the whole Context shews But now God is resolved to make other manner of Work of it under the Gospel Dispensation than he did before Now the Root of the Trees must belevelled at A bare natural Descent or Extraction from a Religious Root will not now serve turn as in times past it did to give any right or title to Church Priviledges Whereas therefore Mr. Allen doth endeavour to demonstrate that the Jewish Church was as Pure and Spiritual in its Frame and Constitution as that of the Gospel it doth from hence most plainly appear that there is a vast difference between them in respect of the manner of their Constitution or the terms upon which the Members of either were to be admitted And as there is no particular Person in the World whether before or since that can pretend unto the like Priviledge or Prerogative as Abraham had to be the Father of the Faithful whose Natural Seed also were dignified with many External Priviledges So the Dispensation being now changed and the Priviledges that once belonged unto Abraham's Natural Seed being now Repealed or rather expired There is therefore no just claim that hence-forth can be duly made unto any other of a like signification under the Gospel by the Natural Posterity of any Believer whatsoever but such alone as are found actually bearing and bringing forth the same Fruits of Faith and Holiness that Abraham did or such at least as make a visible Profession of the same As for the latter part of Mr Allen's Discourse Wherein he labours to prove the Lawfulness of Imposing other Ceremonies in the Management of God's Worship beside what himself hath appointed In order to the Refutation of this Assertion of his there needs no more to be done than attentively to give heed unto the Words of the Commission given by Christ to his Apostles and in them unto all true Church Guides or Governours unto the end of the World to this purpose as it is Recorded Mat. 28. 19. 20. Go Teach all Nations c. Teaching them to Observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you and lo I am with you alway c. Where we are to Note that he saith not that they should teach them to Observe all things in the matters of his Worship which the Church Governours should hereafter Judge Decent or Convenient But whatsoever I have Comanded that is either by himself or his Apostles Which words must of necessity be Exclusive of all humane Inventions or Additions to the Worship of God For that he hath frequently discovered his severest Displeasure against his People of Old for their Presumption in adding those things to His Worship which He Commanded not A Lively Instance whereof we have in the Case of Nadab and Abihu in their Offering up of strange Fire Lev. 10. 1 2 3 The Punishment Inflicted on whom was not for doing what was Expresly forbidden but for their Presumption in doing that which God had not Commanded In Matters purely Civil 't is true We are to Submit to Every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's Sake and that even in such things as are
is certain God would not have this the Rule according to which outward Ordinances are to be Administred But it is Urged That our Graffing into the Olive Tree the Church is Answerable to that of the Jews Now their Infants were Graffed in by Circumcision and therefore ours are to be Graffed in by Baptism Reply Can we indeed think that the Apostle here means by Graffing in Baptism or Circumcision or an Incision by an outward Ordinance If that were the meaning then breaking off must be meant of Vncircumcising or Vnbaptizing The whole Context speaks of the Election of some and the Rejection of others Of the Breaking off by Vnbelief and the Standing by Faith And therefore the Graffing must be meant of the Invisible Church by Election and Faith which Invisible Church was first among the Jews and therefore called the Olive out of Abraham the Root who is therefore said to bear them And because Abraham had a double Capacity one of a Natural Father and the other of the Father of the Faithful In respect of his former Capacity some are called Branches according to Nature In respect of his latter Capacity others are called Wild Olives by Nature yet Graffed in by Faith And therefore when it is said that some of the Natural Branches were broken off the meaning is not that some of the Branches in the Invisible Church may be broken off But it is plainly to be understood in reference to the Natural Branches only that is of such alone who had nothing but their Natural Pedigree or descent from Abraham as a Natural Father to insist upon And in this respect it is expresly told us that some of the Natural Branches only were broken off For some of them were Branches in both respects and accordingly were not broken off but we Believing Gentiles are said to be Graffed in amongst them and with them are partakers of the Root and Fatness of the Olive Tree If you say then that the Gentiles have now the same Graffing into the true Olive which tho Jews formerly had We must Remember that known and allowed Distinction Concerning the Substance of the Covenant and the Administration of it Now it is true that in respect of the Substance of the Covenant we have the same Graffing in to the Olive the Church of the Faithful of which Abraham is the Root that the Believing Jews had And so we by Faith are said to be made Partakers of the Root and Fatness of the Olive Tree Or in plainer Terms as the Apostle Phraseth it Eph. 3. 6. We are now made Fellow Heirs and of the same Body and partakers of his Promise in Christ through the Gospel In respect of which all Believing Gentiles are Abraham's Seed the Israel of God One in Christ But if you mean it of the Outward Administration of this Ingraffing by Circumcision or Baptism nothing is more untrue For indeed the Outward Administration which then was is utterly taken away removed and changed It being that which whilst it stood was the Ground of a Separation between the Jews and the Gentiles And it is therefore taken away on this very purpose that the Enmity betwixt Jews and Gentiles might be removed and they made One in Christ by his Death And if you say that our present Graffing In must be answerable to their present Casting Out It is true our present Graffing In is answerable to their or rather for their Casting out That is GOD would supply in His Olive Tree the Church the casting away of the Jews by the Calling of the Gentiles who are now by Faith Graffed in among the Remaining Believing Jews who continued as yet unbroken off But it doth not therefore follow that the Infants of Believing Gentiles are Graffed In together with themselves as the Jewish Infants were because uncapable of making that Profession of Faith which the Gospel now requires But it is further Urged that if the Fruit be Holy the Lump is also Holy And if the Root be Holy so are the Branches As for that of the Root it is variously Conceived by Interpreters some understanding thereby the Covenant to be meant some Abraham Isaac and Jacob and some Abraham only which last in its proper Sense I Conceive to be most Genuine Whereas therefore the Apostle tells us that the first Fruit is Holy the Lump Holy The Root Holy and the Branches Holy From whence some would Infer a derivative Holiness from the Parents to the Children that is the Father being Holy and accepted in Covenant with GOD the Children are so too being Beloved for the Fathers Sake The Truth is the Holiness the Apostle speaks of is First in respect of GOD's Election Holiness Personal and Inherent in GOD's Intention He hath chosen us that we should be Holy Eph. 1. 4. Secondly It is also Holiness derivative or descending but not from any Ancestors but from Abraham only and that not as a Natural but as a Spiritual Father or the Father of the Faithful wherein he was a Lively Image or Figure of Christ Himself and is derived from the Covenant of Grace which passed in his Name to him and to his Seed And Lastly It shall be Inherent being actually Communicated by the Spirit of GOD when they shall be actually Called And this is such a kind of Holiness as is more than a bare Adherent or Relative Holiness being also inherent by Faith whereby they are Holy as the Root is Holy Now whereas you understand it to be the Case of any Believers to be a Holy Root to their Posterity This is not true For in the Apostles Resemblance Abraham only is a Holy Root in whose Name the Covenant runs No other Man though a Believer being the Father of the Faithful but Abraham only And the whole Body of Believers is compared to the Olive and each Believer to a Branch that partakes of the Root and Fatness of the Olive Tree not in outward Dispensations only but in Saving Graces also which indeed is mainly here intended For it cannot rationally be Supposed that by the Fatness of the Olive Tree we are to understand any External Priviledge whatsoever in its self belonging to us or ours For that of it self would be but a dry a barren and a sapless Advantage But by the Fatness of the Olive Tree we are certainly to understand that Spiritual Benefit and Advantage that from Christ is to be Communicated or Derived unto us who was indeed herein Represented by Abraham who is to this purpose therefore called the Friend of God and the Father of the Faithful And whose Prerogative herein no other Man though a Believer whether before or since could ever justly pretend unto But whereas it is yet further Urged That the Church of the Jews and that of the Gentiles is still the same that is It is still the same Visible Church now that it was then And so much say you the Apostles Simile or Metaphor of Ingraffing will bear or it signifies nothing
And if the visible Church be the same Why should not the Subjects be the same viz. Children and the Priviledge be the same viz. an External Badge and Cognisance given to the Children of the Church now as well as under the Law We Answer That true it is the Church of the Jews and that of the Gentiles is one and the same in reference to the true Essence or Inward Substance of either In which respect as we have said before the Believing Gentiles according to the Apostles Metaphor are here said to be Graffed in amongst them and with them to be made Partakers of the Root and Fatness of the Olive Tree And in reference hereunto it is rightly added by the Apostle that the Gifts and Callings of God are without Repentance The Inward Substance of the Church and of the Covenant of Grace whereon 't is Founded being Invariable and that which shall remain for ever Immoveable But it doth not therefore follow that there should be no Alteration in respect of the Outward Form or Administration of either For in this Respect as hath been already proved there is a wide Difference between them For barely to be of the Natural Seed of Abraham was sufficient to be admitted a Member of the Jewish Church but not so under the Gospel unless we be of the Seed of Abraham according to the Spirit And till this be Evidenced neither therefore doth the External Badge or Cognisance belong unto us And thus it may appear that this Illustrious Scripture is very much darkened by applying that Holiness and Incision here spoken of to Outward Dispensations only in the visible Church which is meant of Saving Graces in the Invisible by Faith And whilst you make every Believer a like Root to his Posterity as Abraham the Father of the Faithful was to his Since no Believer in the World whether before or since had ever the like Priviledge or Prerogative conferred upon him to be Called the Father of the Faithful as Abraham was But for the further support of Infants Baptism It is Objected First That since Infants stood visible Members of the Church for 2000 Years under the Legal Administration It is unlikely they should be now Excluded To this we Answer First That they stood Excluded altogether as much above 2000 Years before Circumcision as they do now So that an Ordinance for their Church-member-ship was not so from the Beginning but came in by special Institution long since Secondly The other Administration in which they stood was Established with a Seed to be Propagated by Natural Generation according to express Command Gen. 17. 9 10. Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations Verse 10. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep Every Man-Child among you shall be Circumcised But where have we Command for the like in this Administration For though it should be granted that the Believing Gentiles are intended as the proper Subjects of the general Obligation mentioned Verse 9. which yet cannot be for the Reasons given in the latter part of this Discourse upon that Subject Yet the Baptism of Infants cannot thence be justly Inferred For there God only saith Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and tby Seed after thee in their Generations It is true by the Seed there spoken of you understand the Spiritual Seed in the Gospel Day and by keeping the Covenant their keeping it in the proper Sign of it belonging to the Gospel that is Baptism But where lies the Ground for Infants Baptism in all this Is there a Syllable there concerning Infants that they also must be Signed To keep the Sign of GOD's Covenant say you is to wear it themselves and to put it upon all theirs The Believing Gentiles are to keep the Sign of GOD's Covenant Therefore the Believing Gentiles are to wear it themselves and to put it upon all theirs But who told you so Or what Scripture is there that proves that thus stands the Case with the Believing Gentiles That is that they are not only to wear the Sign of the Covenant themselves but to put it upon all theirs All that you can prove is that thus it was with Abraham and His under the former Administration and when you can also prove that thus it must be now you say something otherwise all you say is Impertinent The Covenant of Promise 't is true Gen. 12. 2 3. Gen. 22. 16 17 18. is one and the same to them and to us but the Covenant of Circumcision Gen. 17. 7 8 9 was plainly Typical and Temporary and in a Figure it Ministred unto the ends of the Everlasting Covenant And therefore it sufficed as unto that Administration if the People the Children thereof were of the Natural Seed of Abraham because by that shadowy Covenant Young and Old Good and Bad were all alike Covenanters and all alike in a Capacity to be the Subjects of an Administration which was to serve unto the Example and Shadow of Heavenly things till the Seed should come to whome the Promise was made Gal. 3. 19. But the Gospel Administration that brings Christ and all the Mystery of His Grace in the Truth and Reality and not in the Figure and Example is not Receptive of Children as to the Principle upon which it stands any other way than upon some visible Demonstration of Faith whereby CHRIST comes to be received who are therefore called the Sons of God John 1. 12 13. As many as Received Him to them gave He Power that is the Right or Priviledge to become the Sons of GOD Even to them that Believe in His Name Born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of GOD. Thus the Apostle Gal. 4. 28. Calls the Saints of the Churches of Galatia Children of the Promise in Opposition to the Seed according to the Flesh Verse 7. Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children but in Isaac shall thy Seed be called that is they which are the Children of the Flesh these are not the Children of GOD but the Children of the Promise are counted for the Seed Whereunto many other Scriptures might be added yea the whole Stream of the New Testament witnesseth to a Seed ' according to Calling and as to the 〈◊〉 of their Admission all Living Stones for the Constitution of the Church of GOD and not one Word in Favour of a Seed according to the Flesh as to Admission into the Church upon that Principle of Birth Priviledge We are told indeed that the Believing Gentiles are now Graffed in not upon the Legal Branch but upon the Root Olive which affordeth all the Nourishment that either the Jews had or the Gentiles have Which Root Olive is the Covenant of Promise that was 430 Years before the Law Now into that State of things say you wherein not the Law but the Gospel Preached unto Abraham did Obtain God was a GOD
Age and such also as were exceedingly Debauched and Vitious in their Conversations But then it must be withal considered that we Read of none at Age that were rejected upon any such Account from Corcumcision which is a clear Argument of the Change of the Administration and that the terms of Admission into the Gospel-Church were far stricter now than they were before And to take off their former Plea he deals therefore plainly with them upon that Account And tells them ver 9. Think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father for God is able of Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham And now also the Ax is laid unto the Root of the Trees therefore every Tree which bringeth not forth good Fruit is hewn down which hath been already explained to be clearly Exclusive of a meer Carnal Seed or a Seed barely after the Flesh in respect of Gospel Church Ordinances For upon that Account the Ax is here said to be laid unto the Root of the Trees And as plainly doth the Spirit of God by the Apostle give us an Account of the Exclusion of the Fleshly Seed in that respect when he tells us as he doth 2 Cor. 5. 16 17. Wherefore henceforth know we no Man after the Flesh c. For if any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature Old things are past away all things are become New which hath been already distinctly explained to the same purpose Together with Rom. 11. 17. 24. Where he tells us that the Natural Branches are broken off And that the Gentiles have their Standing in the Church only by Faith And no where doth the New-Testament Countenance that conceit that our Posterity have any Right of standing as Members of the Christian Church by Vertue of our Faith But we our selves must stand by our Faith and they if they have any by their own Otherwise they are of course excluded The Natural Branches being now broken off and no others in their Room barely as such according to Gospel Rule to be admitted to Gospel Ordinances But against this it is Objected That as the same Church continued under the Gospel which did exist or was in being before So the very same Church Members kept their places and standing in it which were of it before except such as were broken off by Vnbelief which must not say you be understood in Reference to the Little Children of the Believing Jews unless it can be made out that their Little Children were guilty also of the same Sin of Vnbelief upon the Account of which others were thus broken off To this we Reply First that as it is Evident that the Children of the Vnbelieving Jews are to this day together with their Parents broken off and unchurched which can be upon no other Account than because of the Personal Vnbelief both of the Parents and Children For they have both of them Believing Abraham to their Father as much now as before So it is as Evident that the same Sin of Vnbelief was as justly Chargeable upon the Children of those of them that did believe until wrought upon as their Parents were by the Preaching of the Word And by Reason hereof it was that all sorts of Little Children as well as those at Age that were destitute of actual Faith were now to be broken off from the Gospel Church For though 't is true the Children of the Believing Jews and the Children of the Vnbelieving Jews also were upon the bare Account of their Relation to Abraham only by the Express Command of God under the former Administration admitted to a State of Church Membership their Vnbelief notwithstanding For whether they were Believers or no was not at all any Matter of Enquiry in Respect either of the Parents or the Children as to a State of Church-Membership then yet as hath been already proved the Case is now altered A New Law and a New Church-State in Respect of the External Administration thereof was now to take place in the World So that the terms of their former standing in the Church would not suffice for their standing now For nothing short of Actual Faith and Repentance or an External Profession thereof could be now sufficient which Qualifications not being to be found in Young Infants whether those of Believers or those of Vnbelievers they were therefore both broken off as well the one as the other of them Secondly In this Respect therefore it ought to be duly considered that the Holy Scripture doth conclude us all by Nature to be in a state of Vnbelief and Children of wrath as well as others and such we continue from our Infancy 'till converted and wrought upon by the Grace of the Gospel A vain thing it is therefore to pretend unto a Faith wrought in us from our Natural Birth as the Seed of Believers For Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10. 17. As the ordinary means by which it is wrought in us And this way of Conveyance little Infants as well those of Believers as those of Vnbelievers being uncapable of they are therefore all of them till then to be reckoned as the Scripture concludes them in a state of Vnbelief Rom. 11. 32. And this being the true state of the Case No wonder if the Children of Believers as well as others were broken off from the Olive Tree the Church the terms of standing therein being now altered as hath been declared Mr. Allen indeed also tells us that since the Jewish Infants were under the former Administration at the Call Election and Appointment of God admitted with their Parents as Visible Members of the Jewish Church And since the Gifts and Callings of God are without Repentance Rom. 11. 29. We have Reason therefore to conclude that the Infants of Christian Parents have the same Right to a Visible Church-Membership now as theirs had then But then Mr. Allen should have considered that though the Gifts and Callings of God are indeed without Repentance in respect of the Inward Substance of the Covenant of Grace Or of an Invisible Membership in the Invisible Church yet it doth not therefore follow that they are without Repentance in Respect of an External Membership in the Visible Church but are and were Repealable as by sad Experience it is found to be too true by the main Body of the Jewish Nation Children and all who by Reason of their Vnbelief are actually and undeniably both Parents and Children also un-Church'd broken off and rejected to this very day True it is as the Apostle also tells us if they abide not still in Vnbelief they shall be graffed in again And he there also tells us God is both able and willing so to do But then we must also remember that as they and their Children were both broken off because of Vnbelief upon which very Account they do both still continue broken off to this very day So therefore as a Just and a Necessary
being all Church Members by Regeneration not Natural Generation And therefore we are so far from being Losers by the Bargain that as far as Christ exceeds Moses and Aaron the Gospel the Law the Anti-type the Type the Spiritual Birth the Carnal and the extent of all Nations the Confines of Judea so far are we better and not worse than they Obj. 8. But since by the express Command of God the Jewish Infants were Circumcised Are not our Infants as capable of answering the ends of Christian Baptism as theirs of Circumcision Reply This is a true and a satisfactory Answer that they are not Forasmuch as the Profession of a saving Faith is expresly required in order to Baptism Mark 16. 16. Act. 8. 37. And in like manner Repentance upon the same Account Mat. 3. 7 8. Act. 2. 38. Whereas neither of them were aâ— all required whether of Children or others in Order to Circumcision Abraham 't is true in his own Person received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith which he had being Vncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe whether Circumcised or no But it follows not that because thus it was with Abraham the Father of the Faithful that therefore it was either a Sign or Seal of the Righteousness of Faith unto others For as Faith was no where required in Order to the Admission of any to a participation thereof so it is as plain that for the greatest part of the Subjects of that Ordinance they were according to ordinary Rule utterly uncapable thereof such as were Infants of Eight Days Old And as for others who were then to be Circumcised that were of Age there is sufficient Evidence in the Scripture that they were many of them not only destitute of the inward Habits of that saving Grace but for ought as we find did not make so much as any Profession thereof For not only were believing Proselytes to be admitted to that Ordinance but Strangers bought with Money also whether Proselyted to the Jewish Religion or no Gen. 17. 30. So that since it is evident that a Profession of Faith and Repentance is indispensibly required under the Gospel of all that are to be admitted to Baptism which was not at all required neither of Children or those at Age in Order to Circumcision from hence it plainly follows that our Infants are not as capable of Baptism as theirs of Circumcision And there being no Institution in the whole New Testament in reference to Baptism but what concerns such only as are so qualified which Infants are uncapable of we cannot therefore but reckon it a great Prophanation of so sacred an Institution as Baptism is upon an ungrounded Supposition of Analogy or Proportion between that and Circumcision to proceed to an answerable Practice without a Divine Warrant Obj. 9. If this be so then how doth the Blessing of Abraham come on the Gentiles according to Gal. 3. 14. which blessing of Abraham was I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed Gen. 17. 7. In this Objection it is supposed that if the Infants of believing Gentiles are not to be Baptized then neither can they pretend to any share in the Blessing of Abraham mentioned Gal. 3. 14. Gen. 17. 7. To which we Reply First That it follows not that because the Carnal Seed of Abraham had a day wherein they were Priviledged under Circumcision that therefore the Carnal Seed of every Believer should in the Gospel Day be admitted into the visible Priviledges of the Sons and Heirs of Christ It is a very undue Supposition that the Proportion between Abraham in the Flesh and his Carnal Seed in the time when Circumcision was in date should be the same to Abraham in the Spirit who is Christ and the Carnal Seed of every Believer in that season when Circumcision is out of date Secondly If we will know what is this Seed of Abraham to whom God doth here promise to be a God according to the Letter indeed Abraham obtained the Blessing and Priviledges of the whole Inheritance which came by the Law to be the peculiar Inheritance of himself his Fleshly Seed and Family together with all the singular Advantages which thereby were ministred among them for calling and gathering a Seed unto Christ in an Everlasting Covenant whereunto that Covenant in which they stood under Circumcision with the Prerogatives of the Inheritance thereof did Minister as an Example Figure and Shadow The Sum of the Covenant of Circumcision See Gen. 17. 10. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy Seed after thee Every Man Child among you shall be Circumcised unto ver 15. That Circumcision was part of the Law is plain John 7. 23. And that it obliged all that were under it to the keeping of the whole Law is also as evident Gal. 5. 3. That the Law was a Covenant Ministring as an Example Figure and Shadow of Heavenly Things to wit of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle whereof Christ alone was the High Priest and Minister See Heb. 8. 1 2. 5. Chap. 9. Vers 1. 9. Chap. 10. Vers 1. That the Covenant of Circumcision fell with the Law See Acts 15. 24. Subverting your Souls saying you must be Circumcised and keep the Law As also Col. 2. 14. In this Sense the Blessing of Abraham was not to come upon the Gentiles neither consequently the Birth-Priviledge which had its Institution from that Covenant only and was a principal part of the Blessing thereby given Thirdly The Blessing therefore of Abraham in the Mystery and according to the Gospel is the Manifestation of Jesus Christ with all the Blessings of the Everlasting Covenant to be the peculiar Priviledge Inheritance and Right of every true Believer who therefore are called the Children of Abraham that the Type and the Substance having a mutual and respective Application each to other the mind of God might be clearly seen in them both for the distinguishing of Shadows and Figures which were to be done away from the Substance that was not capable of any Change Which we are manifestly instructed in by the Apostle Gal. 3. 26. Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jew Greek Bond Free Male Female Mark ye how the Apostle resolves the point in Question at Verse 29. And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abrahams Seed and Heirs according to the Promise not if ye be the Seed of Believers then are ye Abrahams Seed as is suggested And this is the Blessing of Abraham which was to come on the Gentiles even this that Christ with all his Benefits should be given to the Believing Gentiles for a Covenant Objection 10. Then how can Believers be Heirs according to the Promise Gal. 3 29. If their Children should be Excluded from the Promise For the Childrens right to the Promise is a part of the Fathers Inheritance For the Promise unto Abraham was I
will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee We Answer First That we know of none that do affirm that the Children of Believers are Excluded from the Promise But this we say That as the Denial of Infants Baptism imports no Exclusion from the Promise so neither doth every Right to the Promise Instate a Person into the Inheritance The Jew had a Right to the Promise uncalled First As God had his Remnant among them according to Election Secondly He had a Right to the Promise as God gave him a Priority and Precedency in the tenders of the Promise above and before all other People Thirdly They had a right to the Promise as they were lost Sinners whom Christ came to seek and to save But in neither of these Respects was the Jew an Heir in the Promise Such an Interest and Right to the Promise declares the Person to be a Son by Adoption And if Sons then Heirs of God through Christ Gal. 4. 7. a Priviledge which no title to the natural Father could ever prefer a Creature unto whether under the Gospel Administration or before Secondly The Scripture made use of for Infants Baptism in this Objection is this If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's Seed and Heirs according to the Promise How plainly doth this Scripture lay the Title of the Heir upon this conditional Qualification of being Christ's And he that is Christs is an Heir by this Text be the Children never so great Aliens and Strangers Thirdly It is said that the Childrens right to the Promise is part of the Fathers Inheritance For the Promise is to thee and to thy Seed whereby is intended that if the Father be Christ's and so cometh to be an Heir then the Promise carrieth the same Title of the Inheritance down to the Children that is if the Father be a Son of Abraham which in Gospel Construction is a Believer then the Child must be a Son of Abraham and a Believer also even by his Birth Priviledge directly confronting many Scriptures which restrain the Blessing of Sonship to Abraham and the Inheritance in all manner of Persons to Faith in Christ Gal. 3. 9. They which are of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham Not they which are the Children of Believers And in the Text alledged If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's Seed not if ye be the Children of Believers Fourthly As to the Interpretation of that Passage taken from Ver. 16. The Promise is to Abraham and his Seed Besides what hath been said in Answer to the foregoing Objection It ought to be duely considered that the Covenant of Grace or the Gospel Covenant which God made with believing Abraham before his Removal out of his own Countrey Gen. 12. 1 2. was not made with Believers and their Seed but with Abraham and his Seed In thy Seed saith the Text shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Gen. 22. 18. compared with Gen. 12. 2 3. In thy Seed that is Christ For so the Apostle tells us expresly That to Abraham and to his Seed were the Promises made He saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ Gal 3. 16. So that all Gospel Promises run directly to Christ the Inheriting Seed To him they are made In him do they all center and â—â— him alone all the Blessings in Promise are to be communicated to all his Members 'T is true in the Covenant of Circumcision which God made with Abraham Gen. 17. 7 8 9. which was a legal conditional Covenant As God doth therein promise to be a God unto Abraham so he had also a Noble Seed to whom the Blessings therein promised as an Inheritance did inure But under this Qualification as they were his Natural Seed priviledged under that Typical Administration by which this Prerogative was so setled Now to improve this aright the Heavenly Mystery vailed in this Dispensation must be sought out For although Abraham stood a common Father under the Law yet Christ is the only Father the Everlasting Father under the Gospel Administration And this Ancestour hath also his Seed more nobly descended than the Natural Seed of Abraham being all the Sons of God by Faith in Christ ver 16. Yea it is impossible that by any other Qualification men can come to be the Sons of this Ancestour than by being made one with him in the Participation of the Everlasting Grace of the Unchangeable Covenant Now then it is an incompetent Application of Persons to compare every particular Believer and his Children to Abraham the common Ancestour of a whole Administration and the Seed priviledged thereby And no less incompetent is the Application of the Qualification requisite in Persons to be accounted Heirs that because it sufficed to Abraham's Heirs that they were the Sons of his Natural Generation and that they were thereby made capable of an Inheritance in the Figure and Letter That therefore it sufficeth by being the Child according to Natural Generation of any Believer to be upon that account an Heir of God and joint Heir with Christ in the very Substance and Mystery which the former Administration did Prefigure Upon the whole then as to this We say that it is no right Reasoning to infer or suppose that the Infants of Believers are Joynt Heirs with Christ and their godly Parents under the Administration of Grace because of the Birth Priviledge given to Abraham and his Seed by the Law Objection 11. Those to whom the Gospel Covenant belonged to them the Seal thereof appertained But to Believers and their Seed the Gospel Covenant belonged Gen. 17. 7. I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed therefore to them the Seal thereof did appertain For the Faederati were to be Signati that is those that were in Covenant were to have the Seal thereof Gen. 17. 10. By way of Consequence therefore it naturally follows that if Circumcision the Seal of the Gospel Covenant belonged to the Seed of Believers under the Law then doth the Gospel Seal Baptism much more appertain to the Seed of Believers now To this we Reply First That there is no natural Consequence at all from this Scripture to infer the Baptizing of Infants nor any ground to build the Gospel Ordinance Baptism upon the command of the legal Ordinance Circumcision as hath been already manifested by what we have said in our Answers to several of the foregoing Objections wherein it hath also been made evident that neither the one nor the other are Represented in the Scripture as the common Seals of the New Covenant that being the peculiar Office of the Holy Spirit Eph. 1. 13. We shall therefore in Answer to the present Objection take occasion more particularly to consider the Nature and Scope of the Covenant God made with Abraham in the Text alledged Gen. 17. 7. And therein to enquire whether the New Covenant made with Believers under the Gospel and that be
being the peculiar Work or Office of the Holy Spirit as hath been already proved 'T is true Abraham's Circumcision in his own Person is by the Apostle Rom 4. 11. Termed A Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe But so it cannot be said of Infants that had no Faith much less could any of them pretend to that Prerogative that Abraham had Indeed from hence to conclude that Circumcision was appointed by God as a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith or of the Covenant of Grace to the Generality that were the Subjects thereof is groundless For neither Isaac nor Jacob nor any besides had before or after their Circision such a Faith which Entituled them to such singular Promises It cannot be justly affirmed of Isaac Jacob David or any of the other Patriarchs That they received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which they had yet being Vncircumcised that they might be the Fathers of all them that believe as it is of Abraham This being a peculiar Honour that is by the Spirit of God conferred on Abraham alone and is indeed Incommunicable to any else how famous soever for Faith and Holiness much less can it be affirmed of the Generality of the Jewish Infants that were the ordinary Subjects of Circumcision We deny not that the Circumcision of others than Abraham was a Token as the Spirit of God himself expresly terms it of the Covenant then made with Abraham But it doth not therefore follow that every ones Circumcision was to him a Seal of his Right to any of the Promises thereof as is evident in the Case of Ishmael and many others the Servants born and bred in Abraham's Family and Strangers bought with Money who were all to be Circumcised to whom nevertheless none of the Promises in that Covenant were made as is plain from Gen. 17. 7 8 20 21 23 27. Much less was Circumcision a Seal to all that received it of their Interest in the Righteousness of that Faith that Abraham had for then they had been all saved It was therefore intended only as the Restipulation of the Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed after him on their Part or as a Sign or Token of their Duty to God not as a Seal of God's Promise to them Gen. â—7 9. Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations Ver. 10. This is my Covenant or this is the sign of my Covenant which ye shall keep every Man Child among you shall be Circumcised Besides it is evident that by Circumcision they were obliged unto a perfect and universal Obedience to the whole Revealed Will and Law of God Gal. 5. 3. For I testifie to every Man that is Circumcised that he is a Debtor to do the whole Law And that under the Penalty of the Curse upon the least Transgression or Disobedience Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them which perfect Obedience was yet impossible to be performed Gal. 3. 11. Rom. 3. 19 20. So that Circumcision was so far from being a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith or of the Gospel Covenant to the Generality that were under it that it was rather a Token of Servitude and Bondage and such a Yoke that as the Apostles tell the Jews Neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear it Acts 15. 10. Gal. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. Which yet it had not been had it been to them as well as to Abraham himself a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith For that brings with it true Christian Liberty and Freedom Notwithstanding the Promises made in the Covenant of Circumcision faith Mr. Cox in his Discourse of the Covenants p. 152 153 154. and the Separation of Israel to be the peculiar People of God in pursuance of them yet that Covenant did not confine the solemn Worship of God by Sacrifices or otherwise to Abraham's Family Nor were other Holy Men then living under any Obligation to Incorporate themselves thereinto by Circumcision or at all to take upon them that Sign or token of that Covenant that God then made with Abraham which yet without doubt they should have done if it had been a Seal of the Covenant of Grace For then by reason of their Interest in that Covenant both in point of Duty and Priviledge it had equally belonged unto them as to the Seed and Family of Abraham But from the sacred History it is evident that the command by vertue of which Circumcision was Administred extended no further than to Abraham and his Family And therefore we have no ground to conclude that Lot though nearly Allied 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 Abraham's Family For of the Patriarchs Heber Salah and Shem were then 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 were Shem before named or another it concerns not us 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 the Covenant of Circumcision nor to be signed thereby From whence it is manifest that Circumcision was not applied as a Seal of the Covenant of Grace nor did an Interest therein render a man the proper subject of it Again It is no ways difficult saith he to conceive that Circumcision might have a different Respect according to the differing Circumstances and Capacity of its Subject 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 them that believe in Uncircumcision 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 In which respect it is equally absurd to say that Circumcision was a Seal unto all its Subjects of the Righteousness of the 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 And therefore both these must necessarily be resolved into the particular Circumstances of Abraham the particular Relation he had in the Covenants made with him and not into the Nature of Circumcision considered simply and in it self What Circumcision was directly and in its immediate use is one thing and what it was as subordinate to a better Covenant and Promise that had Precedency to it is another And it is easie to conceive that it was that to the Father of the Faithful in its extraordinary Institution that it could not be to the Children of the Flesh or carnal â—â—ed in its ordinary Use Page 189 190 191. 194. Upon the whole therefore it clearly appears That Circumcision was never appointed by God as a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith or of the Gospel Covenant to the Generality of the Subjects thereof It was indeed a Token of the Covenant then made betwixt God and them but a Seal only to Abraham and that in respect of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had being yet Vncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe which cannot be affirmed of any others And so for Baptism it is indeed called a Figure 1 Pet. 3. 21. But a Sign or Figure proper only for men of Understanding not as Circumcision which was a Sign not improper for Infants because it left a signal Impression upon their Flesh when they came to understand the Reason of it But so cannot Baptism be to any Infant And indeed if Baptism be as you say it is a Seal of being already ingrafted into Christ and consequently into the Church then it is a Seal only to Believers who alone are capable thereof Since it is by Faith that men are in Christ and Christ in them 2 Cor. 13. 5. Rom. 11. 20 29. Eph. 3. 17 And therefore it cannot be any Seal at all to Infants that have no Faith But as it is evident that a Profession of Faith is required of all to be Baptized Mark 16. 16. Act 8. 37. which Infants are uncapable of so it is as evident that though Baptism is indeed a Sign or Figure of Regeneration to the Baptized 1 Pet. 3. 21. yet a Seal it cannot be that being the Work which the Holy Scripture assigns unto the Holy Spirit only Eph. 1. 13. In whom also after ye believed ye were Sealed by that Holy Spirit of Promise And no where is it assigned unto Baptism Besides as the true Seal of the Gospel Covenant is not at all at Man's dispose Jo. 3. 8. as Baptism is if that be it So it is as certain that God never sets his Seal to a Blank Which yet it must of Necessity follow that he doth if Circumcision or Baptism either were appointed by God as Seals of the Gospel Covenant or as Seals of their Interest in the Righteousness of Faith to whom soever they were to be Administred 'T is true both serve to represent Spiritual Things and Mysteries and therefore may be justly enough termed Signs Tokens or Figures But yet in a different Respect as well as also in a different manner For though Circumcision might and did signify the Duty of Regeneration or the Necessity thereof to Infants when they came to Years of Understanding Yet Regeneration in Actual being before their Circumcision could not be signified by it for then they had been all saved as it ought to be in the Baptized at least in Profession Mar. 16. 16. Acts 8. 37. Which is all the Baptizer is to require which cannot be expected of Infants However by the Secret Operation of God the great Work of Regeneration may be wrought in them from which they are not excluded by us though they are from Baptism for want of an Institution And if you say you have as much Reason to look upon Infants of Believers to be Sanctified as we have to esteem grown Christians to be such because our owning of these as such depends upon their own Testimony only in a Verbal Profession which may be Counterfeit We Answer That this is not Cogent forasmuch as we have no Testimony of Infants that they are Regenerate but Visible Profession of grown Per sons being Free and Serious is not only in the Judgment of Charity buâ— also of Ministerial Prudence to be taken for a Sign of Regeneration though it may be in God's Sight Counterfeit which belongs to us to examine Eighthly But then at last you tell us That though it cannot be made out that God hath promised to be a God by Regenerating and Justifying every Believer's Child which cannot be affirmed of all the Natural Posterity of Believing Abraham himself without contradicting Rom. 9. 6 7 8. Yet say you they are in Covenant in Respect of outward Priviledges But this we also deny Nor do the Scriptures any where give any Countenance at all unto such a conceit No Scripture in the whole New Testament doth affirm it neither by their Profession nor any other way as a Nation or by solemn Oath or by having Prophets sent unto them or by any other Revelation of Gods Mind or Promise are Infants said to be now at all in Covenant with God upon this Account And if it could be made out that they have an External being in the Covenant yet that gives them no Interest in the Covenant of Grace by God's Promise to be a God to Abraham's Seed Gen. 17. 7. And therefore that Text is in vain alledged to prove Infants to have an Interest in the Covenant of Evangelical Blessings and so of right to be Sealed with the Seal thereof For your Argument if the terms be distinctly opened is nothing else but this Infants of Believers as their Natural Seed are all in the Gospel Covenant not in the Inward but the Outward that is in the Outward Administration that is Baptism and therefore to be Baptized Which is meer trifling as proving that they are to be Baptized because they are to be Baptized and is but a meer Petitio Principij or a pitiful begging the Question in dispute It hath been frequently demanded by us what plain Scripture can you produce for the Warrant of Infants Baptism But for want of a plain Scripture Proof you are driven to make Use of Consequental Deductions And among the rest you seem to have your Principal Reliance upon those drawn from Gen. 17. 7. deriving your Consequence
Blessings and the Eternal Inheritance were first made to Christ Personal and in Him they are made over to his Mystical Body the Church who are united to Him by Faith And in this respect therefore it still lies upon you to prove that God hath made the Natural Birth Priviledge a way under the Gospel Administration to be Ingraffed into Christ Mystical So that upon the whole as to this you may see to how little purpose the Promise in Gen. 17. 7. is alleadged to Prove the thing in Question to wit the Baptism of Infants now under the Gospel That Text speaks of a Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed It doth not say with all Believers and their Seed or all Church Members and their Seed Neither doth it follow by any necessary Consequence that because GOD made a Covenant with Abraham and his Seed therefore He hath made a Covenant with Believers and their Seed Certain it is the Apostle was of another Mind who when he Expounds the Covenant of Grace understands it to be made to Abraham not as a Natural Father but as the Father of the Faithful both Jews and Gentiles Rom. 4. 11. 12. He received the Sign of Circumcision that he might be the Father of all them that Believe and walk in his Steps So Gal. 3. 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of Faith the same are the Children of Abraham And those only are the Seed to whom the Gospel Covenant was made and not to the Natural Seed either of Abraham or any other Believers Which hath been already made appear and that beyond any just Contradiction Object 13. But then it is yet again Objected That in the Commission Mat. 28. The Apostles are there commanded to Teach or Disciple all Nations Baptizing them But Infants are Disciples and therefore to be Baptized To this we Answer That by that very Commission Mat. 28. The Lord hath plainly given a Caution for the leaving out of Infants in this Administration according to ordinary Rule For in that he directs them to Baptize Disciples upon Preaching he doth exclude Infants who are not such Disciples nor according to ordinary Providence can be Infants after an ordinary rate are uncapable of understanding the Gospel when Preached and therefore are uncapable of being made Disciples thereby And there is no other way according to an ordinary Rule of being at all made Disciples but by that means And this the Apostles could easily understand as knowing that under the term Disciple in common Speech and in the whole New Testament those only are meant who being taught Professed the Doctrine Preached by such a one As John's Disciples Christ's Disciples the Disciples of the Pharisees and the Disciples of the Perverters Acts 20. 30. And accordingly they Administred Baptism And in that Christ appoints these to be Baptized he Excludes others For the appointment of Christ is most certainly the Rule according to which we are to Administer Holy things and they that do otherwise follow their own Inventions and are guilty of Will Worship If you say that Infants are Disciples Seminally in and by their Parents as if Believers could beget Believers or Disciples of Christ by natural Generation this hath been already at large disproved The Christian Church being not made up of Persons by meer humane Birth but Spiritual Regeneration And to say that Infants are Born Disciples by a Relation to the Covenant and so may have the Seal set on rhem without any precedent Teaching is but an unproved Dictate as if a Title to Baptism were by a Relation to the Covenant and Baptism were in its Nature a Seal of the Covenant which the Scripture no where Affirms nor is there any Rule for the Baptizing of Persons because of Relation to the Covenant But it is further Urged to this purpose that Infants are called Disciples by the Apostle Acts 15. 10. Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a Yoke upon the Neck of the Disciples Which being spoken of Circumcision must needs say you refer to Infants as the Disciples there spoken of as well as others To this we Answer That there is no necessity nor colour of giving to Infants the Name of Disciples from that Text For though it is true that they are called Disciples upon whose Necks the false Brethren would have put the Yoke of Circumcision yet this proves not Infants to be certainly meant by Disciples since adult Believers of the Gentiles also were required by the Jews to be Circumcised as Timothy Acts 13. 20. And again though it is true that they would have had Infants as well as the converted Gentiles to be Circumcised yet the putting the Yoke of Circumcision is not Actual Circumcision in their Flesh For that the Jews were able to bear for many Ages and that both before and since also to this day But the Yoke of Circumcision is the Necessity of it on Men's Consciences and therewith the whole Law of Moses ver 5. and that as Necessary to Salvation ver 1. And therefore Peter having said ver 10. Why tempt ye God to put a Yoke upon the Necks of the Disciples Adds ver 11. But we believe that through the Grace of the Lord Jesus we shall be saved even as they Plainly implying that the Yoke he meant was the necessity of Circumcision and keeping Moses his Law to Salvation Now this Yoke was not put upon Infants but upon Brethren taught the necessity of it So that upon the whole to insist upon a Command by virtual Consequence from hence for the Baptizing the Infants of Believers according to ordinary Rule is so far from being right and genuine that on the contrary this Text Mat. 28. 19. clearly proves Infants are not by ordinary Rule to be Baptized because Disciples of all Nations and no other are Appointed thereunto Whence it follows that the Baptism of Infants is beside the Institution and Rule of Christ and therefore no other than Will Worship and a Humane Invention Obj. 14. But the Infants of Believers even while they are Infants are capable of being made Partakers of the Inward Grace of Baptism as well as grown Men And therefore they ought to receive the outward Sign of Baptism Reply The Question between us is Whether the Infants of Believers universally or indifferently are to be admitted to the Ordinance of Baptism according to ordinary Rule Now it cannot be supposed that the Infants of Believers indifferently or vniversally have actually the thing signified by Baptism that is the Holy Ghost Vnion with Christ Adoption Forgiveness of Sins Regeneration and Eternal Life For then they are all Sanctified and all Believers And if this could be proved there would be no Question about Padobaptism Those Texts Acts 8. 37. Acts 10. 47. Acts 11. 17. would undeniably prove it And there is no Antipaedobaptist but will grant that all those concerning whom there is any tollerable Evidence given that they are Regenerated Persons Vnited to Christ whose Sins are
bring the Lord of Hosts to War against them It was the Calves that wounded Israel and laid their Cities waste Hâ—sea 10. 5. The Inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the Calves of Bethaven 'T is highly probable Jeroboam might plead that he kept still to the Articles of Faith and Fundamentals of Religion worshipping with Reverence the God of his Fathers Making Alterations in things meerly Ceremonial whereof no Express Law forbidding and being variable as time place and person gave occasion But however he might mince the Matter as others do in like Circumstances yet God being a Jealous God would not admit such Innovation and Varying from his pure Worship but Rejects it And in particular he is Rebuked For Offering upon the Altar which he had made in Bethel the 15th day of the 8th month even in the Month which he had devised of his own Heart 1 Kings 12. 33. So Isa 24. 5 6. Because they have transgressed the Laws and changed the Ordinance therefore hath the Curse devoured the Earth and they that dwell therein are desolate therefore the Inhabitants of the Earth are burned and few Men left Fourthly Will Worship Grieves God Ezek. 6. 9. I am broken with their Whorish Heart Their Superstitious and Corrupt Mixtures did not simply displease God but Oppressed Afflicted and Broke his Heart Great Injuries enter deep and eat up the Spirits of any they are done unto And what greater wrong can be done unto God than to Invent and Impose that he never commanded in the Matters of his Worship Yea it draws away the Heart of Men from God and therefore they are said to go a Whoring from God by their Inventons Fifthly Will Worship is a Work of Darkness Ezek. 8. 12. See what the Antients of the House of Israel are doing in the dark Sixthly Will Worship is that which God will not Honour with his presence Neither Christ nor the Angels will be present at it Teach them saith Christ to Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway If we step out of Christ's way and go a whoring after our own Devices neither can we groundedly expect the blessing of Christ's Preserce Seventhly and Lastly Will Worship such as Infants Baptism is having no Institution in the Word of God is not only Evil in its self but stands aggravated with this Circumstance that it makes void the Commandment of God For Will Worship doth usually oppose or justle out some part of God's true Worship as Infants Baptism doth that of Believers And so Christ told the Pharisees upon another like Occasion That they made void the Commandments of God by their Tradition SECT III. § 1. WHereas Mr. Sidenham affirms that the Covenant made with Abraham Gen. 17. 7 8 9. was a pure Gospel Covenant to which the Seal of Circumcision was annexed From hence he draws this Inference That if that Covenant were a pure Gospel Covenant reaching Gentile Believers and their Children as well as Abraham and his then we cannot be denied the External Sign and Seal of the same Covenant For saith he though the Outward Signs may be changed yet there is no Change of the Priviledges if the Covenant Remain entire p. 9 10. § 2. We Answer First There is no Evidence in all the New Testament of any Seal which God intended should be annexed unto the Gospel Covenant but that of the Holy Spirit only Much less are we left at Liberty to put what Mark Sign or Cognizance we please upon our Infant Seed under the Notion of an Ordinance of Christ or as a Gospel Seal without his Special Direction and Appointment § 3. Secondly It cannot be denied but that Circumcision which was at first the Sign of the Covenant made with Abraham and which was afterward annexed to the Covenant made at Sinai is now Abolished And it is as plain that the Covenant both the one and the other which Circumcision was Annexed unto was a Bondage Covenant For so the Apostle assures us Gal. 4. 24. So likewise Gal. 5. 1 2 3. Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again with the Yoke of Bondage Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing For I testifie again to every Man that is Circumcised that he is a debtour to do the whole Law Now Circumcision being Abolished and the Covenants also whereunto it was Annexed Heb. 8. 7. 13. there can be no just Inference drawn from the manner of God's dealing with them to conclude that thus it must be now it being an undue Supposition to conceive that the Proposition between Abraham and his Fleshly Seed in the time when Circumcision was in date should be the same to Abraham in the Spirit which is Christ and the Carnal Seed of every Believer in that Season when Circumcision is out of date Thirdly Though it is Evident that the Church of the Jews and Gentiles in Respect of the Inward and Spititual part of either are both the same without any Variation as is also the Covenant of Grace on which both are founded yet it doth not therefore follow that there is no Variation or Change in Respect of External Administrations It being Evident that the External Priviledges the Jews once boasted of are now Repealed their former Pretentions to Church-Ordinances upon the Account of their Birth-Priviledge being now broken down Else why doth John the Baptist tell them as he doth Mat. 3. 8 9. Think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father They had Abraham to their Father as much now as before But now it was too late for them to use that Plea any longer And there was good Reason why For now saith he the Axe is laid at the Root of the Trees Every Tree therefore that bringeth not forth good Fruit must be hewn down Now the Axe is laid c. It seems then that the Axe was not laid at the Root of the Trees till now But now the Axe must do its Work of that Kind and so must the Gospel Fan also at an other-guess Rate than formerly they had Experienc'd inasmuch as Jesus Christ was now Resolved throughly to purge his Floor and to gather the Wheat only into his Garner the Church So that from hence it plainly appears that though the Church for the inward Substance of it is still the same that ever it was yet as the Signs are changed so there is as manifest a Change in Respect of the External Priviledges belonging to the one and the other of them SECT IV. § 1. MR. Sidenham doth indeed tell us That the forementioned Scripture Mat. 3. 7 8 9. Concerns only the Adult or Men at Age the Scribes and Pharisees who were degenerated from Abraham 's Faith a Generation of Vipers And therefore rejected by John when they Desired to be Baptized of him So that saith he John did not Refuse them because
Abraham was their Father or upon that Account that Abraham's Seed had no Right to the Promise But only as pretending Abraham to be their Father when they walk'd contrary to the Principles of Abraham's Faith § 2. For the clearing of which there are 3 Questions to be demanded First Why doth Mr. Sidenham say that John did not Refuse them because Abraham was their Father Who ever affirmed that John refused them because Abraham was their Father But as John did not Refuse them on that Score so it is as evident that neither would he now Receive them on that bottom It cannot be denied but that at the command of God this was the ground of their Admission before because Abraham was their Father and this they still insisted on But now saith he Think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father c. whereby he plainly lets them know that that Plea would no longer avail them on that Account Secondly Why doth Mr. Sidenham say that John did not refuse them upon that Account that Abraham's Seed had no right to the Promise We know of none that so affirm But this we say That as their Interest in the Promise was not the Adequate formal or proper Reason of the Circumcising of them for Ishmael and others were to be Circumcised to whom none of the Promises in Abraham's Covenant did belong as is plain from Gen. 17. 21 23. whereby 't is evident that the true Reason why any were Circumcised was the Command not Interest in the Promise The like we say in respect of Baptism Thirdly Why doth Mr. Sidenham say That John refused them because they only pretended Abraham to be their Father For were they not Abraham's Natural Off-spring now as much as ever And was not that the ground of their Admission formerly We do not say they were Abraham's Off-spring in a Spiritual sense so as to walk in the steps of their Father Ahraham For that was not the Ground of their Admission formerly but the ground of their Admission then was meerly by vertue of the Command of God as they were Abraham's Natural Seed The Question between us therefore is only this Whether because Abraham's Natural Off-spring barely as such were by the Express Command of God admitted to Circumcision Therefore without the like Command so must ours to Baptism § 3. 'T is true Mr. Sidenham tells us That John rejected the Scribes and Pharisees from Baptism Because they only pretended Abraham to be their Father when they walk'd contrary to the steps of Abraham 's Faith But then why were not such as these rejected before For certain it is none were rejected from Circumcision how vile or prophane soever There was then no Faith nor Repentance nor Fruits meet for Repentance at all required of any to be admitted into the Jewish Church whether they were Children or Men at Age It was enough in that respect barely to be of Abraham's Seed or Family though only as Servants born in his House or Strangers bought with Money without any other Consideration But now not so Now saith John You must bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance if you expect to be Baptized with the Baptism of Repentance For to this purpose he bespeaks them Verse 10. And now also saith he is the Axe laid unto the Root of the Trees therefore every Tree that bringeth not forth good Fruit is hewn down Plainly intimating that their Birth Priviledge was now to be pulled up by the Roots And God would no longer take it as he had in Times past since now nothing short of their Actual Faithfulness in the Paths of Righteousness would serve the turn A clear Argument that the External Administration of the Covenant or the Grounds of Admission to the Priviledge of External Church-Membership are now quite altered to what they were in Abraham's Time § 4. And indeed for this very Reason is it that the Natural Posterity of Abraham are to this day rejected and Excluded from any Participation of Gospel-Church Ordinanees as it is apparent they have been for many Generations whereby 't is evident that the Birth-Priviledge they formerly so much insisted on and gloried in is now at an end and the Date thereof expired And certain it is that not only are those at Age rejected but their Children also upon the same Ground viz. for want of that Actual Faith and Fruitfulness which the Gospel now requires For otherwise it cannot be denied but that both Parents and Children also have as fair a Title to Abraham their Father as any of their Progenitors ever had But we see this Birth Priviledge of theirs though it stood them instead as to their Admission into the Legal Church their Vnbelief and Vnfruitfulness notwithstanding yet it avails them not under this more pure and Refined Administration of the Gospel But both Parents and Children also are now broken off and have no right upon the former Terms only of standing any longer as Members of the Visible Church § 5. And clear it is that even you your selves would be apt enough to reject an Infant begotten of Jewish Parents from Christian Baptism until capable of making an Actual Profession of the Christian Faith And for the same reason you ought as well to refuse those born of Christian Parents 'till capable of making the same Profession Because in respect of Parentage or Natural Descent the Jewish Infants have as much to plead as ours and it may be more since they are descended from Believing Abraham who is called the Father of the Faithful or the Father of all them that Believe Which is more than any besides can pretend unto SECT V. § 1. AS for Mr. Sidenham's Argument for Infants Baptism from Mat. 19. 13. 14. We deny not but do believe that Jesus Christ hath a most compassionate regard to Children and little Infants and it is our duty therefore to bring them to him by Prayer and Supplication for them But yet notwithstanding this we dare not bring them to such a Gospel Ordinance as Baptism is unless Christ had expresly Appointed and called them to it or signified his Pleasure that this Way they should have come unto him Mr. Sidenham tells indeed That the Reason why the Disciples forbad and rebuked those that brought those Children unto Christ could not be out of any Cruelty to Infants or that they had no Bowels for them or Affections to them But saith he It must be from some such Principle which those of a contrary Judgment take up That they were not capable and were first to be Taught That only grown Men and Professors of Faith were fit for Ordinances And therefore they rebuked or chod them and forbade them to do so any more As if they had said What have we to do with Children as to outward Ordinances They are not capable they cannot Profess their Faith and we must have Persons able to hold Forth Christ's Gospel which must be the visible Subjects of Christ's Kingdom
two great Acts viz. To Preach Teach and Baptize And we may say in the same place That whoever are outwardly Taught or do but hear the Gospel though they walk never so contrary must be Baptized For the Commission is Teach and Baptize Nothing of the Parties Entertainment of it is mentioned in this 28 Mat. nor of the qualification of the Subject with any distinguishing Character If they say This doth not hold forth all the Institutions in every particular as they must grant then we may compare other Scriptures with this to make out the full Institution as these 〈◊〉 Infants are mentioned so much Gracious Consideration◠as hath been formerly express'd § To this we Reply That notwithstanding all the Confidence which Mr. Sidenham here expresseth both the Qualification of the Subjects of Baptism as also the manner or form of Baptizing are sufficiently set forth unto us in the present Institution For First If we enquire after the Subject It is plain by this Commission that none are to be Baptized but such as are Taught so as to be Discipled into the true Faith and Profession of Christianity Go Teach all Nations Baptizing them c. Infants being uncapable of being thus Taught or Disciped they are therefore Excluded But all others that so hear the Gospel as to understand it Believe it and be Discipled by it are according to this Commission to be Baptized But whereas Mr. Sidenham tells us That whosoever are outwardly Taught or do but hear the Gospel though they walk never so contrary must be Baptized inasmuch as in the Commission Mat. 28. nothing of the Parties entertainment of it is there mentioned With what shadow of Truth could Mr. Sidenham utter such a Sentence When he could not but know that as according to that very Institution Mat. 28. Such as are Discipled by the Preaching of the Gospel are there appointed to be Baptized Go Teach all Nations c. That is as your selves have acknowledged Disciple all Nations Baptizing them So in that parallel place Mark 16. 16. which is but a rehearsal of the same Commission by another of the Holy Pen Men our Saviour there tells us He that Believeth and is Baptized shall be Saved Plainly shewing that those that are to be Baptized must be such as so hear the Gospel as to give a Believing entertainment to it He had said before Go Preach the Gospel to every Greature And then it immediately follows He that Believeth and is Baptized shall be Saved And if here be not a plain notice given of the qualification of such as are to be admitted to Baptism Let such Judge whose Eyes are open Secondly if we enquire after the manner or form of Baptizing the very Word it self is plainly significant of Christ's Mind and Meaning therein Go Teach all Nations Baptizing them that is let them be dipt or plunged under Water which is the native Sense and signification of the Greek Word which we Translate Baptize as hath been already proved So that whatever Mr. Sidenham tells us the Commission which Christ gave to his Apostles concerning Baptism doth afford sufficient Direction both in respect of the qualification of the Subject as also in reference to the manner of the Administration thereof § 3. As for the rest of the Arguments made use of by Mr. Sidenham for the support of Infants Baptism from the Nature of the Covenant made with Abraham from Acts 2. 39. From Col. 2. 11 12. From the Analogy between Circumcision and Infants Baptism From the Baptizing of the several Housholds mentioned in the New Testament As also concerning the Signification and Vse of the Word Baptism Enough hath been already said in the first and second Parts of this Discourse for the Refutation of them which needs not here to be repeated Only there are two Arguments in Mr. Allen's Treatise before mentioned which were then omitted but must now be Answered SECT VII § 1. THE first hath Referrence to those several Titles of a Holy and peculiar People which are frequently in the Scripture given to the whole Body of the Jewish Nation Church and People from whence he infers that there is no such difference as we affirm there is between the Old and the New Testament Churches For saith he If those terms are frequently given in the Epistles to Church Members now the same Epethites are frequently given to the Members of the Jewish Church And therefore there is no such Difference as is Imagined in the Constitution of either of them they being both alike Spiritual § 2. To this we Answer First If there be no difference between the Old and New Testament Churches in respect of the Constitution of either of them but that there was the same Purity Holiness and Spirituality in the one as in the other Then what needed or wherein consisted that Reformation which the Apostle tells us was to take place in the Gospel day Heb. 9. 8 9 10. The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing which was a Figure for the time then present In which were offered both Gifts and Sacrifices that could not make him that did the Service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience which stood only in Meats and Drinks and divers Washings and Carnal Ordinances Imposed on them until the time of Reformation Plainly Intimating that there were many things faulty among them and many things defective also which were to be Reformed Rectified and Supplied when the Day-light of the Gospel was to break upon them And upon this account not only doth the Spirit of God find fault with the Covenant it self which they were then under which therefore was now to be done away and a new One to take place Heb. 8. 7 8 13. But for this Reason also was the Seed to be changed The Carnal Seed being rejected and only the Spiritual Seed of Abraham admitted as Members of the Gopsel Church A plain notice of which Change is given by John the Baptist the Harbinger of the Gospel Dispensation Mat. 3. 7 8 9 10. Think not saith he to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father For I say unto you that GOD is able even of these Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham And now also the Axe is laid unto the Root of the Trees therefore every Tree that bringeth not forth good Fruit is hewn down Plainly requiring a personal and actual Fruitfulness in all the Members of this new Church state which is exclusive not only of all those that are such as the Pharisees and Sadduces were whom he was now speaking to who were a Generation of Vipers and were actually debauch'd in their Conversations but of all such also as were either neglective or are uncapable as is the Case of Infants of actual Fruitfulness in the Paths of Righteousness § 3. So that when you tell us that the Legal and Gospel Church are alike
Angel there were great Voices in Heaven saying the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ Which saith he Includes Infants as well as others that were to be the Members of Christ's Church or Kingdom To this we shall only give this brief Reply That this Scripture hath a plain reference to the time of the New Heavens and the New Earth which we have before spoken of wherein all the Kingdoms of the World shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and all the Dominions of the Earth shall actually Serve and Obey him For then indeed God hath promised that his People shall be all Righteous they and their Offspring also the Branch of his Planting that he may be Glorified Isa 60. 21. which cannot be applied unto the present Administration of things in the Heavens and Earth that now are wherein we cannot say that one of a Hundred much less that the whole Race of Believers are subject unto the Scepter of Christ and consequently far from the true Gospel Characters of Church-membership in the Gospel Church § 3. As for Mr Allen's other Instance concerning the Covenant of the Rechabites wherein the Infants as well as those of Age were Included It is altogether as Insignificant in our present Case as the former concerning the Kohathites or his other Instance concerning those little Children who were said to enter into Covenant with God when their Parents did so Deut 29. 11 12 which hath been already Discussed For doth it follow that be-because the Children of the Rechahites were Engaged in a severe Ceremonial Covenant together with their Parents that therefore the Children of Believers are comprehended with themselves in the Covenant of Grace This would be indeed to make Christianity to be Hereditary But certain it is that Grace doth not now run in a Blood what ever it shall do neither is the Grace of God now Tied or Entailed unto any Lineage of Men whtsoever Though if it could be proved that all the Children of Believers were really and absolutely Included in the same Covenant of Grace with their Parents yet it follows not therefore that Baptism belongs unto them till capable of making an Actual Profession of their Faith in Christ as hath been already proved For it cannot justly be denied but that the Administration of Ordinances depends meerly upon the Law of Institution and hath varied in several Ages From Adam to Abraham there was no Ordinance to be Administred to Infants In Abraham's time indeed Circumcision was Instituted which belongs peculiarly to the old Testament Administration and was part of Moses his Law which is now Abolished and done away This was the first Ordinance that was Administred to Infants and not to all Infants but only to Male Infants living in Abraham's Family if they did Live to the Eighth day otherwise they had no Right to it though many of them doubtless in the Covenant of Grace and so Saved For want of an Institution the like may be said of Infants now many of whom are in the Covenant of Grace and so Saved by virtue of the Free-Promise yet not to be Baptized if they do not live to the time of Repenting and Believing the only time appointed for Baptism For none ever had a Right to the Administrations of the Covenant any otherwise than by virtue of a Positive Law Now if the Natural Branches the Seed of Abraham had no Priviledge to be Circumcised though in Covenant with their Father but by virtue of a Divine Law Expresly requiring the same neither can we expect that our Infants should have any Right to Baptism without the same Divine Warrant THE FOURTH PART Wherein the Baptism of Infants is further Disproved By way of Answer to the Arguments made use of by Dr. Burthogge and others for the Support of that Practice Wherein the Covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai Exod. 20. As also the Covenant of Circumcision made with Abraham Gen. 17. 7 8 9. Whereon so much Stress is laid for the Support of Infants Baptism are plainly proved to be no other than two several Editions of the Covenant of Works And consequently that no just Argument can thence be deduced for the Justification of that Practice Together with a clear and distinct Explanation of the true Nature and Difference betwixt the Two Covenants that of Works and that of Grace SECT I. WE should here have put a Period to the present Discourse but that there remains yet something further of great Importance which requires a Solemn Discussion and Determination according to the Light that shall be afforded unto us from the Holy Scriptures And that is Whereas Dr. Burthogge in his late Printed Discourse upon the Subject of Infants Baptism Asserts as many others have done before him that the Covenant made with Abraham and his Seed Gen. 17. 7 8 9. is the Covenant of Grace or that Original Grant and Great Charter by which Believing Gentiles always did and do claim Heaven and Earth and all the Promises they have Title to From whence he infers that they are to keep God's Covenant in the Gospel Sign of it that is Baptism and that both by wearing of it themselves and also by putting it on all theirs as Abraham was commanded to do in respect of Circumcision And forasmuch as the Mistakes which the Generality of the World hath for some season Laboured under in reference to the true Nature of the Covenant made with Abraham in the fore-cited Text have been the very Ground and Foundation of most of the Arguments which have of late at least been insisted on in order to the Justification of Infants Baptism We shall therefore the more Solemnly apply our selves toward a Substantial Discovery or Detection threof additional unto what hath been already offered in that respect in the foregoing parts of this Discourse And if it can be Substantially proved that the Covenant made with Abraham Gen. 17. 7 8 9. was not a Covenant of Grace nor a Gospel but a Legal Covenant or a Covenant of Works and consequently that the Gentiles are not concerned therein From hence it will unavoidably follow that all the Arguments thence deduced for the support of the fore-mentioned Practice howsoever they may be formed or framed do of themselves fall to the Ground § 2. In the first place then though we do acknowledge that God did indeed make a Covenant of Grace with Believing Abraham Which is the Great Charter by which Believing Gentiles always did and do claim both Heaven and Earth and all the Promises they have Title to yet that the Covenant of Circumcision for so it is called by Stephen Acts. 7. 8. which God made with Abraham Gen. 17. 7. 8 9 10. though there was Grace in it as there was in all the Covenants that God ever made with Men as hath been before noted is not a Covenant of Grace properly so called nor a Gospel Covenant whereof Christ is
can be a more plain Description of a Covenant of Works and that of God's own Designation and Appointment And that not in the way of a Partial imperfect Obedience But as it is Written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3. 10. which the Apostle quotes from Deut. 27. 26. Cursed be be that Confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them And all the People shall say Amen § 3. So that the Jews were right enough in their Notion concerning the Law in reference to the true Nature thereof that it was indeed a Covenant of Works For Paul doth plainly acknowledge it to be such and God himself by the Mouth of his Servant Moses as plainly expresseth it so to be in the very first Sanction of it though they were out in respect of its proper use and intention which was not that any should attain unto Life and Righteousness thereby but as we have before observed to shew them the Nature of Sin and the Holiness and Righteousness of God to convince them of their Sin and Misery without Christ and their necessity therefore of a Saviour which they being ignorant of and still going about to Establish their own Righteousness which was of the Law and refusing to submit themselves unto the Righteousness of God which was now Manifested without the Law as it had been before Witnessed by the Law and the Prophets They Stumbled at that Stumbling-stone and were accordingly Broken and Snared and Taken Rom 9. 31 32 33. Chap. 10. 3. And this was the true ground of the Dispute between the Apostle and them § 4. But all this notwithstanding it is evident that the Law was a Covenant of Works still And it is also as evident that it was Appointed and Established by God as a distinct Covenant from the Promise of Grace and essentially different therefrom under which the Natural Posterity of Abraham were for a Season to be Subjected until the time appointed of the Father Gal. 4. 1 2 c. as the Fruit of infinite Wisdom who thought fit to impose this Burthen upon them notwithstanding or rather Additional unto those Discoveries of Grace For the Law is said to have been Added unto the Promise that had been otherwise Revealed unto them and whereby they were Saved So that the forementioned Objection notwithstanding it still remains Firm and Unshaken that the Law was no other than a Covenant of Works So it was designed and appointed by God himself and constantly in the Scripture is it Represented to us under that Character SECT V. BUt whereas the Apostle tells us that the Law is not against the Promises Gal. 3. 21. Mr. Sedgwick will needs hence conclude that the Law was not a Covenant of Works For saith he The Law is not against the Promises nor doth Faith make void the Law Both these can very well agree together but so they could not if the Law had been given as a Covenant of Works For now the Law would be Expresly against the Promises and Faith will certainly make void the Law The Promises of God are contrary to a Covenant of Works and Faith is Destructive to a Covenant of Works If therefore the Promises and Faith and the Law can consist then the Law cannot be set up as a Covenant of Works § 2. To this we Reply First That it ought to be duly Observed that the Law and the Promise having divers ends it doth not therefore follow that there is an Inconsistency between them For although there is nothing that can be clearer than this That the Law was set up and appointed by God as a Covenant of Works to the Jews to convince them of Sin and the necessity of a Saviour yet did God never intend it as a Means to give Life and Righteousness nor was it able so to do The end of the Primise was to give Life Righteousness Justification and Salvation all by Christ to whom and concerning whom it was made But this was not the end for which the Covenant of Works was Revived in the Covenant of Sinai For although in its self it requires a perfect Righteousness and gives a promise of Life thereon He that doth these things shall live in them yet it could give neither Righteousness nor Life to any in a State of Sin Rom. 8. 3. Chap. 10. 4. Wherefore the Promise and the Law having divers ends they are not contrary to one another Nay rather the Law even as it is a Covenant of Works instead of being against the Promise it tends to the Establishment of it by declaring the Impossibility of obtaining Reconciliation and Peace with God any other way but by the Promise For representing the Commands of the Covenant of Works requiring perfect Sin-less Obedience under the Penalty of the Curse it convinced Men that this was no way for Sinners to seek for Life and Salvation by And herewith it so urged the Consciences of Men that they could have no Rest nor Peace in themselves but what the Promise would afford them whereunto therefore they saw a necessity of betaking themselves So that though we affirm the Law to be no other than a Covenant of Works as the Apostle himself doth yet it doth not therefore follow that it is against the Promise it having so Blessed a Subserviency toward the Establishment thereof § 3. Secondly though the Apostle doth indeed tell us Gal. 3. 21. That the Law is not against the Promises The following Words do sufficiently clear his Meaning to be of quite another Nature than Mr. Sedgwick in his forementioned Discourse apprehends it to be Mr. Sedgwick indeed will by no-means allow that the Law was set up as a Covenant of Works and then it must of necessity follow that it is a Covenant of Faith But the Apostle seems to be of another mind For having told us ver 18. That if the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise And having answered the Question or Objection ver 19. Wherefore then serveth the Law To which himself gives this Resolution That it was added because of Transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made He brings in this further Objection ver 21. against what he had before Asserted viz. That if the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise c. Is the Law then against the Promises God forbid saith he For if there had been a Law given which could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law But the Scripture hath concluded all under Sin that the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe In the first place then it is Evident and Undeniable that Abraham's Inheritance was not derived unto him through the Law For saith our Apostle If the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise
same unto Jacob for a Law and to Israel for an Everlasting Covenant saying unto thee will I give the Land of Canaan the lot of your Inheritance And though 't is true Canaan was only promised in the Letter and was inherited only by the Carnal Seed and Descendants of Abraham yet in the mysterie it means the whole World of which Canaan was a part in which he took Possession or as it were had Livery and Seisin given him in the name of the whole § 3. The like is to be said concerning the Spiritual Seed of Abraham even the Gentiles also on whom that self-same Blessing of Abraham as being the fruit of the Free Promise doth also descend For in this respect it is that the Apostle tells us that all is ours But how For we are Christ's and Christ is God's And therefore as God hath promised that the Meek shall inherit the Earth Psal 37. 11. Mat. 5. 5. So he hath also promised that the Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom and Dominion under the whole Heaven shall be given to the People of the Saints of the Most High whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom So likewise Rev. 5. 10. Thou hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall Reign upon the Earth All which are glorious Promises and shall certainly receive their full accomplishment in the appointed Season as being indeed no other than Gospel Promises and of the same Nature with the free Promise of that kind even the Promise of Canaan made unto Abraham long before the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him So that it is no wonder that the Apostle tells as he doth that Godliness hath the Promise of the Life that now is as well as of that that is to come § 4. 'T is true Canaan was promised in the Covenant of Circumcision also as was also the Promise of a Coelestial Inheritance too When God told Abraham I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee I will give unto thee and to thy Seed after thee the Land wherein thou art a stranger All the Land of Canaan for an Everlasting Possession and I will be their God Gen. 17. 7 8. But all these Promises though good enough in themselves yet being Conditional they were therefore failable and still liable to forfeiture as they were contained in that Covenant And therefore the Apostle would have us strictly to observe that the forementioned Promise concerning Abraham's Heirship whatever it signifies was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith For though it should be granted that it hath reference to a Terrestrial Inheritance in Canaan and consequently to his Interest in the whole World in the sense but now mentioned Yet forasmuch as this Promise wa◠made unto him long before his Circumcision and was therefore a part of the free Promise The Apostle doth sufficiently suggest that that was th◠Promise he had most reason to trust unto or to relie upon as being a far surer Promise of the two and that both to himself and his Seed also than was the Promise of the same kind as it was contained in the Covenant of Circumcision which the Scripture doth so plainly represent unto us as a Conditional Covenant The Promise saith he was not to him nor to his Seed through the Law And why not through the Law Because as he also tells us in the very next following words If they which are of the Law be Heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect Because the Law worketh wrath for where no Law is there is no Transgression Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed The like he tells the Galatians also chap. 3. 18. If the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise But God gave it to Abraham by Promise Which clearly argues the Freeness or Absoluteness thereof which the Covenant of Circumcision was not It being evident that it obliged all that were under it to Perfect and Universal Obedience as the Condition of Obtaining thc Mercies therein contained Gal. 5. 3. For I testifie to every man that is Circumcised that he is a Debtor to do the whole Law And therefore though 't is true Canaan was promised in that Covenant as well as in the other as was also the Promise of the Coelestial Inheritance too when God promised to be a God to Abraham and to his Seed yet those Promises there mentioned being bounded as they were with Conditions impossible to be performed and therefore of a Legal Stamp and liable to forfeiture That is not the Way that is not the Channel through which the Blessings in Promise must be derived unto the Heirs of Promise For if ever they be derived it must be through the Free Promise and through that alone Yea if ever they be derived it must be through the Free Promise or not at all For saith he vers 21. If there had been a Law given that could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe § 5. But as we have already said the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World is of a vastly different nature from the Promise of Canaan neither indeed is it at all contained in the Covenant of Circumcision where the Promise of Canaan is inserted For it is evident that the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World hath a single reference to his Fatherhood unto all them that believe that is both Jews and Gentiles or the whole World of Believers Thus Pareus in his Comment upon the Place carries the sense of the Words and so the Apostle himself interprets it vers 11 12. And it is as evident that there is no Promise at all of that kind in the Covenant of Circumcision that Abraham should be the Common Father of all them that Believe That Covenant having a plain reference to Abraham's Natural Posterity only for as much as all those to whom the Promises of that Covenant were made were bound to be Circumcised as the Sign or Token of it which doth not concern the Gentiles at all So that it is the Gospel Covenant therefore which we have before spoken of which we find mentioned Gen. 12. 2 3. and not the Covenant of Circumcision mentioned Gen. 17. 7 8 9. that is the Great Charter by which the Believing Gentiles always did and do rightly claim both Heaven and Earth and all the Promises they have Title to SECT III. § 1. BUT whereas the Doctor lays a mighty stress upon those words of the Apostle before mentioned Rom. 4. 13. For the Promise that he should be the Heir of the World was not to Abraham or to his Seed through the Law but
and only Firm Deed of Gift by which the Believing Gentiles always did and do claim Heaven and Earth and all the Promises they have Title to § 5. Besides that the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World cannot be understood of an Earthly Inheritance but the call of the Gentiles and consequently hath reference to his Universal Fatherhood to all sorts of true Believers whatsoever whether Jews or Gentiles is yet further evident from what the same Apostle tells us Rom. 1◠11 12 13. Have they stumbled saith he speaking of the Jews that they should fall God forbid But rather through their fall Salvation is come unto the Gentiles Now if the Fall of them be the Riches of the World and the Diminishing of them the Riches of the Gentiles How much more their Fulness And so likewise vers 15. If the Casting away of them be the Reconciling of the World what shall the Receiving of them be but Life from the Dead Where the same expression is made use of in reference to the Call of the Gentiles as had been before made use of Chap. 4. 13. concerning Abraham's Heirship For as Abraham by Promise was to be the Heir of the World so the Call of the Gentiles is here said to be the Riches of the World The same expression we have likewise in reference to Christ 1 John 2. 2. And he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole World Not for ours only that is not only for us Jews but for the sins of the whole World that is both Jews and Gentiles because the Partition Wall between Jew and Gentile was now broken down In the same sense therefore that Christ is here said to be the Propitiation for the sins of the whole World In the same sense is Abraham said to be the Heir of the whole World that is he was constituted or appointed to be an Universal Father unto all them that Believe not only Jews but Gentiles also And indeed as the Blessing of Abraham is hereby said to come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ Gal. 3. 14. So had it not been for this Gospel Promise the poor Gentiles had still remained without hope of Relief or ground of Comfort strangers to the Covenants of Promise and without God in the World there being no ground of Relief or hope of Comfort at all afforded unto them from the Covenant of Circumcision § 6. And in this respect therefore whereas the Apostle tells us in the forementioned Rom. 4. 13. That the Promise that Abraham should be the Heir of the World was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith It is yet further observeble that the Law he here speaks of and which he doth so manifestly contradistinguish or oppose unto the Righteousness of Faith cannot be understood concerning the Law given by Moses to that People in the Wilderness 400 years after Abraham's time though it was of the same nature But it must of necessity be understood concerning the Law or Covenant of Circumcision which God made with Abraham himself and his Natural Posterity which was extant in his own time And that this is the Law which the Apostle here intends will evidently appear if we duly attend unto the scope of the Apostie in the foregoing part of this fourth to the Romans which was to shew that Abraham himself was not justified by Works no not by his Circumcision but by Faith which he had long before he was Circumcised For thus he begins vers 1. 2. What shall we say then that Abraham our Father as pertaining to the Flesh hath found For if Abraham were justified by Works he hath whereof to glory but not before God For what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness So then Abraham was not justified by Works before God but by Faith alone But how doth that appear Why thus it appears vers 9. 10. Because Faith was not reckoned to him for Righteousness when he was in Circumcision but in Vncircumcision And so vers 11 12. He received saith he the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe c. For saith he vers 13. the Promise that he should be the Heir of the World or as he had said just before that he should be the Father of all them that believe was not to Abraham or to his Seed through the Law which must needs therefore be understood of the Law of Circumcision but through the Righteousness of Faith From whence as it hath been already made evident the Promise he here speaks of was not derived unto Abraham or to his Seed through the Covenant of Circumcision there being no such Promise at all to be found in that Covenant So it is as manifest that the Covenant of Circumcision was not a Covenant of Faith since it is here so plainly contradistinguished or opposed thereunto SECT V. ANd therefore whereas the Apostle tells us of Abraham in the formentioned Rom. 4. 11. That he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being Vncircumcised From thence to infer that the Covenant of Circumcision was a Covenant of Faith would be point blank to contradict the whole scope and design of the Apostle in the foregoing passages of that Chapter which as hath been alredy shewn as it was in general to prove that Abraham was not justified by Works but by Faith only vers 2. 3 4 5. So in particular to assure us that Faith was not reckoned to him for Righteousness when he was in Circumcision but in Vncircumcision vers 9 10. And what more convincing Testimony or Evidence can we desire that the Covenant of Circumcision was not a Covenant of Faith The Sign of Circumcision was indeed a Seal unto Abraham of the Faith which he had in respect of the Promises made him yet being Vncircumcised But it doth not therefore follow that the Promises Gen. 17. 7 8 9. that God would be a God unto him and his Seed after him in their Generations c. upon Condition that he and his were Circumcised were any part of the Covenant of Faith For otherwise the Apostle would never have told us as he doth that Faith was not reckoned to him for Righteousness when he was in Circumcision but in Vncircumcision The Argument hence resulting therefore is Irresistable That Covenant in which Faith was not reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness could never be a Covenant of Faith But the Scripture is express that Faith was not reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness when he was in Circumcision but in Vncircumcision therefore the Covenant of Circumcision could never be a Covenant of Faith Besides it is evident that long before his Circumcision God had promised Abraham to bless
small Dissention among them For to this same purpose he expresly tells the Galatians Chap. 5. 2 3 4. Behold I Paul say unto you That if you be Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing For I testifie again to every man that is Circumcised That he is a Debtor to do the whole Law Christ is become of no Effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law you are fallen from Grace From whence as we may clearly discern the Nature of the Covenant of Circumcision that it was no other than a Covenant of Works or a Legal Covenant which he doth herein so plainly declare unto them to be now Repealed So it doth as plainly appear that from hence it came to pass that Christ became so great an Offence unto the Jews and the Gospel so sore a Stone of Stumbling and Rock of Offence unto them all yea to many of them after they had submitted to the Gospel Yea the Gentile-Churches themselves were scarce if at all preserved from stumbling hereat with the Jews as appears from what the Apostle writes to the Galatians upon this Subject though all this loss and change of State and Priviledges which they so much repined at well considered would amount to no more than what befalls a man who from the Priviledges of a Servant is Invested into the Priviledges of a Son And this was the very Case Gal. 4. 4. God hath sent forth his Son c. vers 5. to Redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons vers 7. Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Son as hath been before at large explained Neither indeed doth the present Alteration or Change of State occasion any Real or Substantial Loss unto the Children of Believers any more than to themselves but much of Spiritual Advantage rather to both as hath been already discovered in the foregoing part of this Discourse § 2. And indeed what needed the Jews to have been so much startled or offended at the Abollishing of Circumcision as they were if they had not plainly discerned that it toucht their Main Copy hold or the Covenant it self they so much Gloried in and Boasted of Mat. 3. 9. Joh. 8. 33. to which Circumcision was annexed and that the taking away of the One was a plain Sign of the Abrogation of the Other also Else they had no Pretence or Shadow of Reason to make the Clamours they did For if they had understood that the Covenant it self had remained entire and only the Signs changed Or had Paul told them their Children should be Baptized and that Baptism was come into the room of Circumcision which had been absolutely necessary if it had been so In all likelihood they had quietly submitted to the present Alteration But this was plainly therefore the ground of their Quarrel for that the Covenant it self was now broken down which they could not but understand by the Removal of the very Sign and Token thereof from whence they could not but conclude that their so long enjoyed Priviledge of Church-membership for themselves and Children also upon the bare account that Abraham was their Father was now Abollished Mat. 3. 9. SECT XI MOreover That the Gospel Covenant before mentioned Gen. 12. 2 3. and Gen. 22. 16 17 18. is the only ground of the Gentiles hope and indeed of the Jews also The Apostle Peter likewise doth plainly declare unto us when he tells the Jews that were pricked in their Hearts for their Crucifying of Christ as he doth Acts 2. 38 39. Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of Sins and you shall Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost For the Promise is unto you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God sholl call Where by the Promise unto them and to their Children we are not to understand the Covenant of Circumcision For though God did therein promise to be a God to Abraham and to his Seed which was indeed a most Blessed and Comfortable Promise in it self considered and contains in it the Sum of all our Blessedness But how should they come at it It is senced about with a Flaming Sword or a Fiery Burning Law that turneth every Way to keep the Way to the Tree of Life To insist therefore upon that Covenant or that Promise as it is thus Bounded will afford no Relief For according to that Covenant they must be Circumcised and keep the Whole Law Act. 15. 1. 5. Gal. 5. 3. which is impossible to be performed Gal. 3. 10 11 12. And therefore how Sweet or Full or Glorious soever the Promise is in it self Considered yet it is impossible bounded as it is that ever they should come to obtain the Benefit of it Which therefore could be no Proper Remedy for the Ease of their present Misery or the Removal of their present Perplexity And therefore instead of directing them to that Covenant he plainly directs them to another full of Grace and Truth even the Gospel Covenant before-mentioned For the Promise saith he is unto you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Plainly pointing to the Covenant which God made with Abraham Gen. 12. 2 3. long before the Covenant of Circumcision was in being and which was afterward renewed unto him Gen. 22. 16 17 18. Even that Ratified Covenant That Free and Absolute Covenant which had been confirmed both by Word and Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie there might be strong Consolation afforded unto all the Heirs of Promise And that this is the Covenant that he directs them to and not the Covenant of Circumcision is evident from the words themselves For the Promise he speaks of was not only unto them and to their Children But unto all that are afar off as Paul tells the Ephesians Chap. 2. 12. Even unto the Gentiles also as many as the Lord our God shall call Which Promise unto the Gentiles is not to be found in the Covenant of Circumcision For that was made unto Abraham and his Natural Posterity only whereby they were Obliged unto Circumcision and to keep the whole Law and not a word of the Gentiles there For it is plain that as God there promiseth to be a God unto Abraham and to his Seed So the same Seed that are concerned in the Promises there mentioned were also Commanded to be Circumcised Thou shalt keep my Covenant therefore thou and thy Seed after thee in their Generations vers 9. This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy Seed after thee Every man-child among you shall be Circumcised Gen. 17. 10. The same Seed therefore that is the Subject of the Promises vers 7 8. is the Subject of the Obligation vers 9 10. So that it is evident that the
Gentiles are not at all concerned in that Covenant as being no way concerned in Circumcision the Condition thereof The Promise therefore that Peter intends must needs be the Free Promise or the Gospel Covenant before mentioned Whereof as Christ is the Alone and Only Mediator So he is also the only Seed therein immediately concerned From and by whom all Gospel Blessings must be derived unto all his Spiritual Offspring And in this Covenant the Gentiles are indeed concerned as well as the Jews For therein all the Kindreds Families and Nations of the Earth are promised to be Blessed even in Christ the Promised Seed And therefore well might the Apostle tell them as he doth That the Promise he now spake of to them was not only to them and to their Children but to all that were afar off also even as many as the Lord our God shall call For so Paul tells the Galatians also That Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law that the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ Gal. 3. 13 14. Not upon the Jews only but the Gentiles also § 2. And that this is the Gospel Covenant that Peter here Preacheth unto these Bleeding Jews is yet further evident from what he tells them in Chap. 3. 25 26. You saith he there are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy Seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be blessed unto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Where we have the very Words and Terms of the Gospel Covenant recited as it was at first made with Abraham Gen. 12. 2 3. and Gen. 22. 16 17 18. You saith he are the Children of the Covenant What Covenant Doth he mean the Covenant of Circumcision in which God Promised Abraham saying I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee upon Condition that thou and they be Circumcised c. No saith Peter I do not mean that Covenant but the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy Seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be Blessed The Covenant of Circumcision concerned your selves alone and was plainly Conditional and therefore failable But the Covenant that I speak to you of is a Free Covenant Sure and Certain and that which concerns not you alone but all the Kindreds of the Earth Wherein we are duly to observe that instead of directing them to the Covenant of Circumcision made with Abraham Gen. 17. 7 8. whereof there is not the least Word or Syllable expressed in Peters present words to the Jews nor in all the New Testament besides that being no other than a Bondage Covenant Gal. 5. 1 2 3 4 Acts 15. 1 5 10. as the Covenant at Sinai was and so no Proper Remedy for the Removal of their Present Miserie he rather directs them to that most Comfortable Promise first mentioned Gen. 12. 2 3. And afterward by Solemn Oath Confirmed Gen. 22. 16 17 18. That in Abrahams Seed should all the Kindreds of the Earth be Blessed And this was home to the Point it being botâ— a free and a full Promise and therefore an Answerable Remedy for their present Malady For if God hath freely promised that in Christ who is Abraham's Seed all the Kindreds of the Earth shall be Blessed Why then there is ground of hope for you even for you also though you have been the Betrayers and Murderers of the Lord of Glory And not only is there ground of hope for you but even for your Children also on whom as well as on your selves you have wished his Blood to be And accordingly he Preaches Christ unto them in the very next words Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities wherein we are to note That as the Gospel Covenant is a Covenant of Blessing full of Blessings Heaps upon Heaps of Blessings Innumerable Blessings I will Bless thee saith God to Abraham and thou shalt be a Blessing I will Bless them that Bless thee And again Surely in Blessing I will Bless thee and in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed So in pursuance of the same Evangelical Promise and Covenant of Blessing saith Peter here God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to Bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Wherein that which was required before as a Condition is now become a Main Branch of the Promised Blessing For before the Promise was unto them that turn from Transgression in Jacob But God saith he hath sent his Son Jesus to Bless you by turning away ungodliness fom Jacob even in turning away every one of you from his iniquities § 3. It is undeniaby evident therefore that Peter instead of directing them to the Covenant of Circumcision for their present Relief He rather directs both them and theirs to have recourse to that Evangelical Covenant which God had made with their Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy Seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be Blessed For this as it was every way full and extensive so it was as free and absolute And therefore the most Proper Remedy for the Relief of their Wounded Spirits Whereas had he directed them to the Promises contained in the Covenant of Circumcision that had left them still in Despair for that obliged them to Perfect Obedience as the Condition of obtaining the Mercies therein Promised which was impossible to be Performed To tell them therefore of the Promises contained in that Covenant was altogether beside his present Design which was to give I â—elief to their Wounded Spirits which the Promises of that Covenant thus Bounded as they were could never Accomplish SECT XII AND whereas Peter tells the Jews That the Promise was unto them and to their Children We are not to understand it as if the Gospel Covenant that Believers are now under was at all made with Abraham and his Natural Seed and consequently with them and their Natural Seed Or that any of the Promises thereof were immediately made unto him as the Promises contained in the Covenant of Circumcision were In which respect it is highly observable that aâ— the Spirit of God himself doth plainly inform us of a twofold Covenant made with Abraham the one a Covenant of Grace and the other of Works So he is pleased accordingly also to make a plain distinction between them as to the Persons or Parties therein respectively concerned For if we look into Gen. 12. We shall there find that the former is made between God and Abraham only and that with respect unto his Seed Christ and his Spiritual Offering Whereas the latter is plainly made between God and Abraham and his Natural Posterity The first account
respecting an Antecedent Obedience in us so were all those which were peculiar unto the Covenant of Sinai they were indeed also of Grace in that the Reward did infinitely exceed the Merit of our Obedience But yet they all supposed it and the Subject of them was formally Reward onely In the Covenant of Grace it is not so For sundry of the Promises thereof are the means of our being taken into Covenant of our entering into Covenant with God The First Covenant Absolute was Established on Promises in that when Men were actually taken into it they were encouraged unto Obedience by the Promise of a future Reward But these Promises namely of the Pardon of Sin and Writing of the Law in our Hearts which the Apostle expresly Insisteth on as the Peculiar Promises of this New Covenant do take place and are Effectual Antecedently unto our Covenant Obedience For although Faith be required in order of Nature Antecedently unto our actual Receiving of the Pardon of Sin yet is that Faith it self wrought in us by the Grace of the Promise and so its Precedency to Pardon respects onely the Order that God hath Appointed in the Communion of the Benefits of the Covenant and intends not that the Pardon of Sin i◠the Reward of our Faith § 4. We shall Conclude what concerns this Subject with another Passage of the Doctors to the same purpose with the former in his Acurate and Judicious Discourse Entituled The Doctrine of Justification through the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ Explained Confirmed and Vindicated page 156. It is commonly said saith he that Faith and New Obedience are the Condition of the New Covenant But yet because of the Ambiguous Signification and various use of that Term Condition we cannot certainly understand what is Intended in the Assertion If no more be Intended but that these things though promised in the Covenant and wrought in us by the Grace of God are yet Duties indispensibly required of us in order unto the Participation and Enjoyment of the full end of the Covenant in Glory it is unquestionably true But if it be intended that they are such a Condition of the Covenant as to be by us performed Antecedently unto the Participation of any Grace Mercy or Priviledge of it so as that they should be the Consideration and Procuring Causes of them that they should be all of them as some speak the Reward of our Faith and Obedience it is most false and not onely contrary to Express Testimonies of Scripture but destructive of the Nature of the Covenant it self SECT XVI § 1. LAstly Whereas we do affirm That though according to the Law of Circumcision Infants were Admitted and Reckoned as Members of the Jewish Church yet that Old Constitution being now pulled down and all the Appurtenances and Priviledges thereunto belonging being now Repealed a New Church State according to the Nature of the Gospel Administration is now Erected into which none are Admitted a◠Members but Professing Believers onely By way of Reply hereunto we are told That Infants Relation to the Covenant and the Universal Church as Members was not Repealed by Christ because it was not founded onely on the Law of Moses which if it had say you it were as such Repealed But Infant Church-Membership taking place as an Ordinance of God before Circumcision was Enjoyned or the Ceremonial Law Instituted why then should it cease with it To the same purpose we are also further told That it was no part of the Typical Administration but a Moral Institution of God even from the Beginning of the World God ever having made a distinction between the Seed of the Faithful and the Seed of the Wicked as Visibly belonging to the several Kingdoms of God and of Satan § 2. To this we Reply First That this Notion of Infants Church-Membership before the Law of Circumcision is but a bare Affirmation without Proof For if it be so that Infant Church-Membership did indeed take place as an Ordinance of God before Circumcision where is that Ordinance Why are we not directed to some place of Scripture where we may find it Hath God Revealed it to some and to none else Or in what Antient Father shall we find it Did any one ever say so before now Therefore with what Confidence soever we are now told That it was no part of the Typical Administration but a Moral Institution of God even from the Beginning of the World unless we are directed where to find that Institution whatever others do we dare not presume to be Wise above what is Written Mal. 2. 15. is indeed alledged And wherefore one That he might seek a Godly Seed But that can be understood of no other than a Legitimate Seed in opposition to a Spurious Off-spring And thus the Assembly do in their Annotations carry the Sence of the place As likewise doth Calvin Camer and divers others § 3. Secondly Whereas we are told That God ever made a Distinction between the Seed of the Faithful and the Seed of the Wicked What Distinction is it that is Intended Did God single them out and Separate them by any Visible Sign or Character before the Law of Circumcision It is evident he did not Or did God distinguish them by his Providential Care of them or Provision for them more than others The Scripture is silent as to this also Or did God Love them with a saving Love more than the Children of Unbelievers as visibly belonging to the several Kingdoms of God and of Satan so as that all the Children of Believers from Adam to Abraham belonged to the Kingdom of God and all the Children of Unbelievers belonged unto the Kingdom of Satan This is indeed suggested by you but not proved But then if this was always the state of the Case between Believers and Unbelievers as to their Respective Seeds and that both before and since the Flood and that it so continues Then according to this Rule woe unto all the Children of Unbelievers most deplorable and desperate i◠their State without any ground of Comfort or Hope of Relief contrary to the Experience of all Ages whilst we are assured that Grace is now Extended to the Gentiles who were not the Children of Believers whilst the Natural Branches the Children of Believing Abraham are cut off But then we would willingly know when the Sons of God took the Daughters of Men and all Flesh had Corrupted it's way To what Kingdom did the Children of Believers belong then Did not the Seed of Believers grow prophane and wicked as well as others That is undeniable And did not the Seed of Unbelievers some of them prove Pious and Godly This also appears even in Abraham himself whose Father was an Idolater as is probably supposed he himself being bred up in Idolatry § 4. Thirdly Whereas it is suggested that there was always from the beginning a Lineal Successive Conveyance of Grace from the Parent to the Child If so
not only to the Father but to the Children yea to all his Family And the Father of the Family did not only give Himself but all his Children and even his Servants all His to GOD to take his Sign upon them and so it must be now To which We Reply that it is indeed the unspeakable Blessedness of the Believing Gentiles to be Graffed in upon such a Stock not upon the Legal Branch but upon the Root Olive which affordeth all the Nourishment that either the Jews had or the Gentiles have that Root Olive being no other than Christ Himself who was given for a Covenant of the People and a Light to Lighten the Gentiles The Gospel of whose Grace was indeed Preached to Abraham 430 Years at least before the Law was given But what then Doth it therefore follow that the Believing Gentiles are put into that very State of things as under Circumcision Where is that Scripture that affirms it Evident it is that though Circumcision was in use before as well as under the Law and though Jesus Christ Himself is by the Apostle Stiled the Minister of the Circumcision for the Truth of God to confirm the Promises made unto the Fathers yet as it cannot be denied but that it was adopted into the Legal Family And that it was also adopted unto the Nature and Quality of the Legal Dispensation So it is as evident that it is now Abolished And we can meet with no one Text in all the New Testament that tells us that Baptism is appointed to have the same Place and Vse in the Church of God that Circumcision had but rather much to the contrary as hath been already proved And it being manifest that the External Administration of the Covenant is changed to what it was in Abraham's Time it plainly follows that there is an Alteration of the Rule that must direct us in our Practice in that Respect Obj. 2. If this Interpretation hold good there would be a very great Change in the Extent of the Covenant narrower under the Gospel than it was under the Law and yet no notice in all the Book of God given of such a Change We Reply First That the Covenant of Grace hath one and the same Extent before under and since the Law in Respect of the Substance of it or considered singly in its self as hath been already declared In Respect of the Administration of it indeed it is Changedble and hath been often Changed Secondly we say that the Administration under the Gospel is not narrower than that under the Law because it admits not Infants Baptism The Administration under the Law was Circumscribed to a little Land and a small People the Bounds of the other are stretched from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth That was restrained to the Seed and Family of Abraham the other extends to the Seed and Family of Christ That had its Existence but 2000 Years upon an Occasional Temporary Principle the other is suited to Answer a Principle existing from Everlasting to Everlasting That Administration was the Shadow Figure and Example the other the Substance That was the Handmaid the other the Mistress And if the Case be thus between these two Administrations can we Reasonably Charge the Gospel Administration with more narrowness than the Law because of the Discontinuance of the Birth-Priviledge Thirdly Although the Grace of the Gospel be extended far beyond the Grace under the Law yet as to Persons the Children of the Gospel are formed to so strict and refined a Qualification that in that Respect we grant that the Law had a Latitude beyond the Gospel But yet with this Mark that the Indulgence of the Law was one of the great Imperfections which the Gospel came to Reform Mat. 3. 10 11 12. And of this Change the Book of God doth give abundant Notice Gen. 21. 10. Cast out the Bond-woman and her Son c. Shortly after the Institution of the Ordinance of Circumcision for the Priviledge of the Seed according to the Flesh The Lord brings forth a Prophetical Instance in the very Family of Abraham wherein this great Change of Church Priviledge was revealed viz. That it was to be taken from the Carnal Seed and that it should be given to the Seed according to Grace under the Gospel Administration And to put that matter out of Question we have the unvailing of this Prophetical Instance to the very same purpose in Gal. 4. 30. So also Isa 14. 1. Sing O Barren thou that bearest not What she was the Apostle tells us Gal. 4. 26 27. ver 5. Thy Maker is thy Husband the Lord of Hosts is his Name and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel At ver 13. We have the Refined Qualification of her Children and People And all thy Children shall be Taught of the Lord Where we have a Prophetical Description of the Gospel Church State which the People of a Fleshly Extraction only from the most sanctified Saints cannot possible compare unto It must therefore necessarily be understood of another Seed even of a Seed begotten of God by the Word of Truth Jam. 1. 18. the Gospel People And this was a fair Notice given of the Change in Question to wit narrower as to the Qualifications of the Persons but more extended in Grace Another fair warning for the Fleshly Seed is Isa 65. 15. For the Lord God shall slay thee and call his People by another Name In all which we find plain notice given of the Change of the Old Administration which gloried in the Seed of Abraham after the Flesh and as plainly foretelling the Cessation of that Propagation to give place to the New Administration and the true Seed of Abraham the Seed according to the Spirit And indeed the Change of the Administration necessarily removes the fleshly Seed because it hath a standing by no other Right than what it had under that Covenant As for the New Testament it every where abounds with Evidence to the Proof hereof as appears from the several Scriptures that have in part been already opened and discussed in the former part of this Discourse Wherein it hath been proved that though Infants were comprehended with their Parents in the Jewish Church yet none but such as are capable of making an Actual Profession of Faith and Repentance with some competent Measure of Fruitfulness answerable thereunto are to be admitted to the Priviledge of Church-Membership under the Gospel To this purpose we are told Mat. 3. 7. That when many of the Pharisees and Sadduces came to be Baptized of John Though their being of the Natural Seed of Abraham was a sufficient ground why they should be Circumcised yet it was no sufficient ground why they should be Baptized And therefore their Birth-Priviledge notwithstanding John rejects them as a Generation of Vipers and bids them bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance 'T is true those that John had now to deal with were Men at