was like to his blessed Lord and Master the good Samaritan that had compassion on him that fell among thieves and was wounded who went to him and bound up his wounds pouring in oyle and wine that so he might both cleanse and cure Now we come to fix upon the words of our Text That we may see clearly what is intended in them let us observe a few particulars by way of general division that are comprehended in them First To whom this is spoken it was to the Jews who were then met together out of many Nations at the Feast of Pentecost ver 5. and there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews devout men out of every nation under heaven Some of these nay many of them were effectually touched at the heart by the penetrating Sermon of Peter or rather by the irresistible compunction of the Spirit of God cooperating with the preaching of Peter as it was at another time when this excellent Apostle was preaching Acts 10.44 While Peter yet spake these words the holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word When the holy Ghost doth fall upon the heart and into the heart of those that hear the word then the power and authority of it shall be found and that by the most perverse and obstinate sinner it is he that makes the word to be quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and to be a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 Secondly By whom they were spoken Viz. by Peter in the name of all the rest of the Apostles It pleased the Lord at this time and upon this occasion to constitute him to be the mouth of all he was great in utterance it is very probable the rest of the Apostles might be willing to chuse him to be their Spokesman However the Spirit of the Lord did order it that it should be so that Peter should be the man that should preach this excellent Sermon all the Apostles were concerned in it and did even speak in and with him ver 14. But Peter standing up with the Eleven lift up his voice and said unto them ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem be this known unto you and hearken to my words c. Peter spake in the company and in the authority of the rest those awakened sinners judged that in the speaking of Peter all were concerned therefore when they were pricked to the heart they said not only to Peter but to the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do One Minister of Christ that speaks the word of God preacheth in the same authority that all the Ministers of the Gospel do Thirdly Why these words in the text were spoken and affirmed It was by way of Motive to press on the exhortation we have in ver 38. the Jews had lived under the former administration of the Covenant of grace in the which the Messiah that was to come was exhibited in the promise and shadowed in many Types and Figures by which they were taught to expect and to look for the coming of the Messiah in Person At last in the time appointed he is come to bring and to establish a new and a more glorious administration not to dissolve the Covenant as some would have it but to establish it under a more eminent and excellent dispensation than ever it was before his incarnation suffering and ascension But because he came not with external pomp and state That the carnal Jews expected him in he was by them despised rejected persecuted to death which the infinitely wise God did overule to the accomplishment of his eternal purpose as to the Salvation of the elect yet their sin and wickedness was never the less who took the blessed Son of God the only Messiah and by wicked hands did crucifie and slay him though he was delivered by the determinate councel of God the eternal purpose and councel of the everlasting and infinitely wise God took place in the Jews perpetrating their enmity and malice upon our blessed redeemer Acts 4.27 28. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy councel determined before to be done Though all was managed by the adored wisdom of the eternally wise Jehovah who brought his Son into the world and delivered him up to be crucified yet the wickedness of his implacable murdrers was never the less The Apostle finding some of their hearts to be bleeding relenting and greatly affected at their amazing impiety he labours to set conviction home upon their Consciences to drive the nail up to the head he perswades them to repentance and to submit to Christ his dispensation of the Gospel and to declare their submission by their being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Fourthly we are to consider what is here affirmed this is the matter that we are most to be concerned about viz. this promise is to you and your children What this promise is imports the Emphasis of this text there are two acceptations I find to be of these words I will mention both of them 1. Some would have the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to point at the Promise before-mentioned cited out of the Prophet Joel ver 16 17. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams This say some doth relate to the extraordinary effusion of the Spirit of God that some should enjoy But I find that there are Expositors that encline not to this I shall lay down two or three Reasons why I judge that the Promise in this Text doth not refer to that of the pouring out of the Spirit in great measure 1. The interposition of a large discourse between the mention of that promise and the Text seems to break off all connection between the discourse concerning the Counsel of God in giving up Christ to death and then to give him a Glorious resurrection revealed at large in the Psalms which had been now accomplished by them tho' with wicked intentions This interposeth so that here the Apostle seems to be upon a new matter altogether distinct from that promise of the extraordinary and plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost 2. Because they that did believe and were baptized did not receive these extraordinary gifts therefore it is not to be supposed that the Apostle would deceive and delude them in making such a promise unto them which was not to be performed and never to be imparted unto them The holy Preacher did
chiefly because unto them were commited the oracles of God This the Lord himself declares to be one of their singular Prerogatives Deut. 4.8 And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day Psal 147.19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and judgements unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any nation as for his judgements they have not known them Therefore from the sense of this wonderful Blessing the Psalmist cries out Praise ye the Lord. To have the custody of Gods Ordinances and the use of them the Word Sacraments Worship Ministry Pastors after Gods own Heart and all the Service of God Who can express or declare how happy the People are that have such Depositions and are so distinguish'd and magnify'd as to have the Means of Grace in and by which they may come to know and learn the Mind of God to have Ordinances wherein they may draw nigh to God to have a Membership and visible Standing in that Society where Salvation is ordinarily dispensed John 4.22 For salvation is of the Jews There were the Means and no where else not among the Samaritans hence the Law was called the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob Deut. 33.4 Certainly those that understand in any competent measure the Excellency of this Priviledge cannot but adore and admire God in it and magnifie his Name for it 2. Such that be but outwardly in covenant are part of and go to make up the Vineyard of the Lord they be planted in the Lords Vineyard they be part of the Garden of the Lord hedg'd in and separated from the rest of the World and God doth own them to be so It is no small benefit to be within the Pale of the Church and to have a fix'd Standing in Zion Isa 5.7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant plant 3. They have the Proposals and the Offers of the highest Mercy they live under the Overtures of the richest Grace they be in the Kingdom and are the Children of the Kingdom therefore have the highest Tenders and the choicest Invitations to the best of Mercies They are in the Kingdom and Salvation is nigh unto them the Bosom and the Arms of Grace and Love are always before their Eyes and ready to receive and embrace them After the Days of the Messiah the Jews being in covenant with God their happy Estate was not to be overlook'd but to be honourably respected therefore they had the first offer of Life and Salvation by Christ after his Ascension So it was in Acts 2. and in other places Acts 3.25 26. 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 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 They were yet in covenant and the Lords Vineyard and had this precious Tender of Christ and Salvation by him sent unto them to bring them to Faith and Repentance before it was sent unto the poor out-cast Gentiles Acts 13.46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said It was necessary that the word of God should have first been spoken unto you but seeing ye put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life lo we turn to the Gentiles Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles did not betake himself to them till his Embassy was rejected by the Jews unto whom he was to make his Application Our gracious Lord when he gave Commission to his Apostles to Preach Repentance and Remission of Sins in his Name directed that they should begin at Jerusalem Oh! how was his Heart upon his Covenant-people and how unwilling was he that their Covenant-State should expire therefore he waited upon them to the utmost period of the time set for the Patience of God to attend them Oh! Go said he break up and execute your Commission in that bloody City see if they will Repent and Believe that I may not lay them wast The Jews as is well observed by one had a double Priviledge before Christ came they were Soli they were alone they were the only Church and People of the Lord and inclosed from all the Nations of the World there was a Partition-wall erected between them and the spurious part of the World And at the Ascension of Christ and the Tenders and Exhibitions of the Grace of Life and Salvation they were Primi they had the first Effort of Mercy sent and directed unto them 4. Such have their dwelling and residence where the gracious and peculiar Presence of the Lord is to be enjoy'd such have an Habitation where God hath fixt his Throne of Grace and where are his delightful Walks the gracious presence of the Lord is with his Church and People those that are his Covenant-Ones they have the Signs and the Symbols of his residence in the midst of them His general Presence by a glorious Extension diffuseth and disposeth it self every where but This is the alone Happiness of his select People to enjoy Deut. 4.7 For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them Great because nigh Psal 76.1 2. In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel In Salem also is his tabernacle and his dwelling-place in Zion Viz. His peculiar place of residence Rev. 21.3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God Where the Tabernacle of God is himself is and there he will dwell How happy are they that dwell where God in a distinct manner doth dwell And this is the Happiness of all those that dwell within the Bounds of the Covenant 5. Those that be in covenant and are Members of the Church are always comprehended in and have the benefit of having a share in the Prayers that are continually ascending up unto God for all Israel As it is the Duty of every sincere and true Believer to make Supplications for himself and to offer up this Sacrifice to God with the publick Assembly so to be sure to be very mindful of Zion and to be very importunate with the Lord for all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Psal 122.6 7. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces There is a continual Cloud of Prayers going up to Heaven for those that are the Lords Inclosure for all that are the Dwellers therein every one that is internally in covenant will be sure to pray for all that are any way in Federal Relation to God Psal 137.5 6. If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my
Vindiciae Foederis OR A Vindication of the INTEREST that the Children of Believers as such have in the Covenant of Grace with their Parents under the GOSPEL-DISPENSATION BEING The Substance of Two Sermons with Addition Preached to a Congregation in Wapping ALSO Some seasonable Reflections upon various unsound and Cruel Passages Taken forth of two Furious Books of Mr. H. Collins Printed against Infants-Baptism By FRAN. MENCE some time of Pembroke Colledge in Oxford now an unworthy Pastor of a Church of Christ in Wapping near London Magna est veritas praevalebit LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey by Mrs. Mary Gurnel in Wapping-street near Bell Alley and Mr. William Wingod in King-street in Wapping 1694. The Epistle Dedicatory To a Church of Christ in Wapping near London Grace Mercy and Peace be Multiplied I Could not dearly beloved but judge it my Duty to Dedicate these Sermons unto you partly because you are my peculiar Care and Charge in the Lord unto whom I do ow my Labour and Pains and also by reason of that joint Request you were pleased to Attack me withall viz. that they might be made Publick giving me good assurance that they might be of great use for the good of Christians in this place I have here though it be against my own inclination answered your desire Let this undertaking be attended with your serious and solemn Prayer that your hopes of good may be accomplished What I have wrote in my Epistle to the Readers many of you can testifie you well know what a long time of Silence I have had how desirous I was to live in peace that alwaies being esteemed a Jewel of great price with me hoping that the dust that hath been raised to the darkening of the Air among us might have fallen without any attempt of mine to suppress it but the violent effort of the Pulpit and the furious Reports of the Press have something awakened me from that ease and quiet I should have been glad longer to have solaced my self withall But alas it was time to be something alarmed when the flames were inkindled about us and our little Field in danger of being consumed here is one that hath put this place even into a Conflagration I shall I doubt not fall under the lash of many censuring Tongues for this small endeavour to vindicate this one exploded though precious Truth of Christ You have had experience of my spirit and deportment and cannot from the strictest observations you have made of me but say that so far as may be I have been willing to live in peace with all men and what care I have taken to preserve peace in the midst of and round about you It would be matter of much comfort to me may this little Essay be instrumental to reduce this place into somewhat a more sedate and calm temper My Practice ever since the Lord was plased to call me amongst you hath been to give perpetual demonstrations that I live and can walk with all that are sound in the Faith and of an unblameable Conversation I found you fixed upon that Noble Evangelical Foundation which I have endeavoured to build upon Your laudable Principle is that Union with Christ is the great ground of our Communion one with another let us magnifie God for what we have found of his Gracious Presence and Blessing since we came together and stand in that relation as we do one to the other I do with much importunity request your Prayers that I may daily have a remembrance from you at the Throne of rich Grace Watch against all designs of men that lye in wait to deceive and to disturb our peace Study much the Covenant of Grace blessed be the Lord that he hath not only ingrafted you but also your Seed into it You that have Children plead the Promises of the Covenant with God for them Take heed of such Principles that do inevitably exclude your dear Babes out of the Kingdom of God and render their Salvation provided they expire in their infancy not only improbable but in any ordinary way impossible Beg the Lord to put a stop and to give a Check to that lying malicious spirit that like a spiteful Ghost walks in this poor disturbed spot I doubt not but what I have here transmitted from the Press will be attended with the same opprobrious Censure it met withal from the Pulpit many ignorant and rash hot-headed Professors did severely judge me and my Sermons that never heard them and so I do expect many will that shall never read them pour out their profound invectives against them I must expect no better quarter than honest Mr. Giles Shute who by many was cast and condemned that never read his Books neither were able to pass a right Judgment upon them I do heartily wish that a greater number of my Anabaptist Neighbours would labour more after the life and power of Religion and Study to know their own hearts better then I promise my self they would not be so prompt and ready to undervalue and condemn others as they be I cannot but admire to see what a change is upon their spirits words and actions in our late times of restraint they could be glad many of them to partake of my poor pains and sometime since but I do not so much wonder at them as at their Teacher who ever since the last breaking forth of our Liberty hath so much inveighed against all that are not of his opinion and hath laid so much stress and weight upon his Notion about Baptism that hath distilled such bitterness into the spirit of many that they be turned very sowre and morose to those that cannot imbibe their Sentiments I bless the Lord that I can say I have not been the Incendiary among us I lay still Six or Seven years till all was from Pulpit and Press by Mr. Collins put into Flames about us It is next to a wonder to me that any should be so impudent as to accuse me to be the Author of all the trouble that doth annoy us notwithstanding my long silence and that little opposition that yet I have made against a turbulent spirit that he might discover the uttermost of his bitterness I must have him several times to pronounce in his Pulpit before all his Congregation an open Challenge against me I do expect that so soon as these Sermons shall have an access to his hands that we shall hear sufficiently of his tumultuous spirit I have made a few remarks as you may see upon his bold and undigested Doctrine rashly and ignorantly thrust forth into the World giving you but a few Gleanings to that Harvest I may if occasion be offered present you withall I make no question but my challenger will quickly fill our Ears with his Answers be it so the Lord I hope will enable us to make our reply I desire that he would
the Spirit of the Lord which is a Spirit of might and strength that did animate and support him One would think that this bloody Congress that were skilful in and scarce cool from the effusion of blood yea of the best of blood would immediately have dispatched him and emptied his Veins That the Apostle might fasten their execrable sin upon their consciences in murdering the Messiah he doth from the Word of God prove him to be so He did not only propound his assertion but he proved it that so he might involve his hearers into a full and through conviction This doth evidently instruct those that take upon them to preach the truths of Christ to prove them and to be able to defend them The Suitable mediums and arguments the Apostle insists upon to prove this his Doctrine concerning Christ as how God raised him from the dead and concerning David a tipe of him I must not stand to shew but must come to the next general part I observe in this Chapter Thirdly The good effects and gracious fruits of this the Apostles Sermon After he had fixed the charge he drew up against the Jews for murdering the Messiah whom he proved to be so then he comes with a sharp arrow of application and strikes it deep by the efficacy of the holy Spirit into the hearts of his sinful Auditors ver 36. therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ He told them how eminently he was exalted by God whom they had vilified and abased unto the greatest contempt and shame and had put him to the most painful shameful and cursed death that ever could be Oh! to deal thus with the Son of God the Lord of all the only Messiah so highly exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high and made both Lord and Christ what a cut might this be to those that heard the Apostle being guilty of so great sin of such Scarlet impieties Tunc ingens est stimulus quo Petrus mirâ libertate et sinceritate pupugit corda Judaeorum See and behold what wickedness ye have committed the guilt of what blood you have contracted what maliciously and cruelly to murder the Lord Jesus the Saviour of the world who is the Lord of all who is over all God blessed for over This had by the blessing of the most high gracious effects and fruits upon those that heard him First They were pricked at the heart they were troubled and grieved at their heart because of their horrid sin they had committed in their detestable murder of Christ Doluerunt animis quod crucifixissent Christum Pisca Ver. 37. Secondly They ask Peter and the rest of the Apostles what they should do ver 37. Now they were brought into a miserable plunge the bloudy colour of their sin and their Consciences boiling hot within them pronouncing fiery Sentences against them the very sting of the damned was crucifying them this might well make them as amazed and confounded rebels to cry out what shall we do what course shall we take to get free from the charge of this crying sin no sooner were these poor wretches convinced and begged councell of the Apostles as to their escaping that dreadful wrath that was due unto them for their greatly meritorious sin but Peter gives them suitable advice directing them how they might obtain eternal Salvation by the bloud of him whom they had wickedly crucified and slain as in ver 38. he doth exhort and direct them to repent to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ that they might receive remission of sin and the gift of the holy Ghost then they may be well assured that through him whom they crucified they should obtain a discharge from their foul-confounding guilt and eternal Salvation I shall proceed no further in the parts of this Chapter neither shall I add any thing more as to the happy effects and events of the Apostle's most excellent Sermon in the hearts and lives of these wonderful converts that heard him who though never so wicked before were the prinitiae evangelij shewing the glorious efficacy of the sufferings of Christ that those that were his inveterate enemies and did so insatiably thirst for his pure and spotless bloud that nothing could satisfie but their washing their hands in the same by a violent effusion should partake of the first fruits of it The Apostle discerning what a miserable condition they saw themselves to be in and into what a direful abiss of divine wrath they apprehended themselves to be swallowed up he does not only nakedly call upon them to repent and turn to God and to fly unto him for mercy but gives unto them one of the most gracious Motives and incouragements thereunto telling them the promise is unto them and their Children He did well understand that their horrible sin did not only extend unto them but also unto their off-spring for they had not only poured out the sacred bloud of Christ themselves but also had involved their Children in the guilt of it Mat. 27.25 When Pilate had said I am innocent of the bloud of this Person see ye to it then answered all the people and said his bloud be on us and our Children Surely a lively sense of this made a deep wound in their Consciences To relieve and support them in this miserable plunge when they could not but see the wrath of a just revenging God ready to invade both them and their Children they could not but be in a deplorable case saying we have eternally destroyed and ruined both our selves and posterity The Apostle presents them with a Plaister broad enough for their Sore q. d. well though your sin be so grievous and damnable as to your selves and little ones yet repent and turn to God and it shall be happy both with you and your Children also for said he the promise is to both and will reach you and your dying infants you shall not be cast out of Covenant but you and your little ones shall continue in the same that you were in before the actual exhibition and death of your Saviour whom ye did impiously crucifie and slay Oh what a full breast of consolation was here from the infinite grace of God exposed for these miserable creatures to suck and hang upon the very marrow and quintessence of the Gospel is proposed to them for their effectual inducement to repent and believe Here was the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness in which these poor trembling sinners might wash and bathe their guilty and filthy Souls these were those that now look upon him whom they had pierced and did mourn over him as one mourneth for his only Son and they were in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born Zech. 12.10 Peter gave them such a Cordial that could not but greatly refresh and comfort them here he
the Apostle should here mention the Children if children here the Seed of the faithful that be in Covenant should not be meant of the Gentiles Those two Members of the distinction you that are nigh and those that are afar off would take in all persons in the world and frustra sit per plura c. the Children of these would be found either afar off or nigh one of those terms would have involved them all the mentioning of the Children must be an impertinency if it were not for some other reason There are some I know for a shift this bearing hard upon them will urge that imprecation Mat. 27.25 but it is improbable that all that were the hearers of this Sermon did joyn in that dreadful wish for many of them were strangers and lived remote from Jerusalem However the Apostle presseth them all alike to repent and to yeild subjection to Christ by an argument from the Covenant which carries weight enough with it though they had never been guilty of that horrid imprecation This argument of the Covenant hath been pressed at another time to prevail upon the Jews to the same duty of repentance Acts 3.19 20 25. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you In this verse he doth incourage them from a promise and observe the rare Motive 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 kindred of the earth be blessed This extends to them that were afar off not only the kindred of the Jews but also the kindred of the Gentiles should partake of the blessing of Abraham viz. of the Covenant made with Abraham Gal. 3.14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles the blessing of Abrahams Covenant through Jesus Christ whose blood was the blood of the Covenant 3. The Apostle doth here fix his argument in the benefit that will redound unto them and to their posterity by their submission to the Gospel Administration by this he doth Emphatically press them to it Oh! what an incouraging and cogent Argument doth this Apostle by a divine instinct urge them withall such a one that poor awakened souls ready to sink into desperation could not tell how to reject or withstand This seems to be the genuine sense of it you are greatly troubled for sin in general and some of you have been guilty of that dreadful sin of a malicious pouring out of the incorruptible and sacred blood of the Son of God and crucifying the Lord of Glory therefore have highly deserved that his blood should be upon your heads and upon the heads of your Children for ever and since you have instead of reverencing killed the Lord of the Vineyard you have dreadfully provoked God to turn you out of it for ever but if after all you will but submit to him that you have crucified it shall not be so your deserts though never so great and crying shall never be given unto you but you shall still be to the Lord a chosen and a peculiar People the Church and the People of God to you and your Children the Promise shall still continue and all under a better Administration than ever because there is now abundance more of grace and of the Spirit to be poured out you and your Children shall have the first experience of it Oh how sweetly doth the Apostle here entice and allure them to accept of the Seasonable offer made unto them 4. That interpretation certainly that renders this Argument of the Apostle to the Jews to prevail upon them to the duty exhorted unto to be a discouragement unto them and to dishearten them in their submitting to the Gospel-Administration rather than an incouragement is not to be admitted That which doth contradict or at leastwise greatly impede and obstruct the design of the Apostle must not be entertained What was the design of the Apostle but to perswade these poor lost creatures to accept of Christ and his Administration that was taking place Therefore that he might obtain his end said he the Promise is to you and your Children for both were concerned in the blood of Christ and we may rationally suppose these weeping bleeding sinners were not only concerned for themselves but for their Children also They might well deliberate in themselves thus what will become of us I and of our miserable off-spring too Why saith the Apostle here is that that may allay all the amazing and confounding tumult of your self-condemning hearts the Promise is to you and your Children The Apostle did see that their Soul-disease had so sunk their Spirits and they were so ready to faint that they wanted the highest Cordial that could be poured into them and without this ingredient of their Children it could never have revived them This was the opening of a comfortable door of hope in their pinching and affrighting valley of Achor I have wondered sometimes how our Friends the Anabaptists can support their minds when they behold their dear dying Infants ready to expire and to give up the ghost to restrain the interest of the Children of these Jews in the Promise to the time of their calling could not but be a considerable discouragement unto them from coming under this Administration rather than an encouragement That it would have been so I shall give two Reasons to prove it 1 This would make their exchange to be for the worse and not the better for the Covenant under which they were before did run to them and their Seed but this runs otherwise to the great disadvantages of the Children and the great discouragement of the Parents Children by this way of Interpretation are excluded and dismist the Covenant till their call This could not but have a deep regret upon the hearts of these Parents that were well instructed into their Childrens Covenant-right with them and did so strongly depend upon it as they did 2. This would put their Children into the same condition with those afar off the restriction equally taking hold of the Children of the Jews with the Gentiles and Heathens yet afar off which would sound harshly in the Ears of the Jews If it were so of what import must the Argument be but of this Viz. If ye will now ye awakened trembling Jews believe in Christ and come under his Administration the Promise shall continue unto you but your Children shall be cut off and turned out of this priviledge they shall be in the same condition of the rest of the Pagan world when they hereafter and any of the Heathen shall be called then they may have a part in the same Promise too and not till then This being contained in that Interpretation whether it would not in the nature of the Argument rather drive
less Priviledges now under the New than under the Old Testament Hath Grace contracted the Covenant more now than before Hath Grace no Covenant-Blessings for the Children of Believers now And must their poor Off-spring suffer a cutting off of the Entail of the Covenant Hath Jacob carried away all the Blessing and none left for the Children of the inchurched and incovenanted Gentiles Surely Grace is not now straitned Our dear Lord and Saviour hath the same Bowels of Mercy to poor tender Babes that ever he had and as he had then when he said Suffer them to come unto me and forbid them not and declared that of such are the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19.13 14. He took them up into his Arms and put them into his Bosom as we may well suppose when he laid his Hands upon them and blessed them Hath not Grace the same effects as to Children as when he sent his Apostle to tell the poor awaken'd and bleeding Sinners that the Promise was to them and their children As when it graffed in the Gentiles among the Jews to partake with them of the Juice and Fatness of the Olive-tree it hath not spent all its Fatness upon them but if there be any Fatness Nourishment Satisfaction and Comfort to have hope in God from the Covenant for poor Little Ones we have it and the Apostle comforts trembling Creatures in our Text with it and so the Apostle Paul in telling the Gentiles that they be inserted in this Covenant among the Jews and are Partakers of the same Fatness with them This therefore doth Answer them that demand and question How natural generation can entitle a Man to Covenant-Priviledges I demand How doth natural generation entitle a Man to the Curse A corrupt Man under the Curse of the First Covenant begets a Child in his own likeness as corrupt and as accursed as himself How comes this to pass but through the Justice of God in imputing to Children the Curse of that Covenant under which they were born So é contra a Believer under the Covenant of Grace begets a Child though corrupt as from him yet by vertue of the Grace of the New Covenant under which he is born he hath a Foederal Holiness and is a Partaker of the Priviledges of the same Covenant So Grace in the appointed time shall re-assume the Jews that be cast out and graff them again into their Old Stock and they shall be a Glorious People 2. Reason Shall be taken from the final Cause there is a double final Cause of it 1. That the Lord may have and reap the Glory of his Grace of this high expression and signification of his grace Viz. in taking Infants into Covenant with their Parents which they do rob him of that deny this grace to Infants they do greatly abbreviate extenuate and vail the grace of God that will only admit the Adult believing and repenting Parent into Covenant but by no means will their Seed and Little Ones This is the way to congeal the divine bowels that be full of inward yearnings to inclosed Little Ones That the Apostle in my Text might administer the best and so the most expedient Cordial to the broken and afflicted Jews who were greatly concerned not only about their own but the safety and Salvation of their Children tells them That the promise was to them and their children The belief and exercise of faith about this matter is the ready way to promote an excellent Revenue of praise and honour for the grace of God What wrong and indignity is offered to the grace of God by shutting of poor Infants that cannot plead for themselves for whom the grace of God and blood of the Covenant of the eternal Son will effectually plead out of this Covenant Let men talk what they will of the Spiritual Seed of the grace of God in Christ yet so long as they labour to abandon an innumerable multitude of the Subjects of it they are great Prevaricators from and perverters of that grace and so become grand obstructers of that Crop and harvest of praise and honour that he expects from his Covenant-transactions of grace with Parents and their Children 2. That so by this means he might allure and graciously intiee men and women to accept of and to come under this Covenant This is indeed a sweet decoy that a gracious God is pleased to make us of in this affair this is to insinuate the minds of men into a well liking of and acceptation of the Covenant and the Gospel administration of it This is the scope of the Apostle in my Text. Here the Apostle was alluring his pensive and weeping Auditory to accept of this therefore he milks out of this breast of Consolation that which might taste sweet upon the Palates of them whose Sins were now bitter as Wormwood and Gall and were under Soul-sinking fears about their own and their Childrens eternal welfare and condition Well said the Apostle I discern your trembling and aking hearts your overwhelming doubts and fears but be still sedate and compose your minds and thoughts accept of the Gospel dispensation and for your comprehensive encouragement and compleat satisfaction I say unto you The promise is to you and your children Oh! methinks how did this revive their disconsolate and dejected hearts and drooping sinking spirits quickly melting their wills into a ready complyance with the Apostles Exhortation as we find presently after our Text. If this priviledge were cut off the Jews would have little incouragement to leave Moses to follow Christ to forsake the Old and to cleave to the New Dispensation of the Covenant which was then setting on foot and which they were exhorted unto They well knew before that they themselves and also their Children were in Covenant with God and the Apostle speaks unto them as so instructed and established therefore said he The promise is to you and your children As if he had said I know that this is an Article of your Faith that which all the Jews do very tenaciously adhere unto and this shall be continued unto you This the Apostle doth firmly assure them of to win them over telling them that they should be no losers by coming under this Dispensation seeing the priviledge of having the Promise to them and their Children should not be taken from but confirmed unto them This removed all impediments out of their way and so they did readily and unanimously fall in with the Apostles Exhortation 3. Reason Because the Lord would discover his peculiar love to and care of the Children of his own People This is a peculiar priviledge and it is to demonstrate peculiar love and affection It is also as I shall shew you presently that the Lord may discover his peculiar love to the believing Parents Here is the distinguishing love and kindness of God to them both God hath such a love for pious Parents and their Children that he hath not for the rest of the World
therefore he takes them both into Covenant with himself Covenant Love is alwayes exprest in the Scriptures to be peculiar Love that God might shew even to the face of all the World that distinct and special Love which out of infinite and special Grace and Favour he had lodg'd in his heart to Abraham and his Seed he was pleased to take them both into Covenant with himself and so they came under a blessed Marriage Bond which doth not only denote a near Relation but also Conjugal Affection God hath a peculiar Love for them will make them his Church and People therefore brings them under a Covenant Bond and Compact and Engagement Deut. 4.37 And because he loved thy fathers therefore he chose their seed after them This hath been the way of the Lord to express his peculiar love that he hath to and care over a People to enter into Covenant with them which is of a distinguishing and of a discriminating nature from the rest of the World and their Seed Ezek. 16.8 I entered into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Mine and Covenant do alwayes go together 4. Reason Because the Lord may lay a good and sure foundation for the hope comfort and joy of pious Parents concerning their Children God knows how much the hearts of good men are concerned about their little ones the Lord is pleased to bestow upon them how much and how deeply they be taken up in their considerate and studious minds about their Eternal State Religious Parents know what immortal and never dying Souls their Children are inspired withal that must be everlastingly happy or miserable that must live with Saints and Angels or Devils for ever they know not how soon it may please the Lord to demand them back again from them and consign them to an unalterable station they know that they have conveyed and communicated to them a sinful Nature and as they are descended from them they be plunged in the filthy labyrinth of Sin and that they be born under the guilt of Sin by Nature Children of Wrath These and such like matters cannot but oftentimes sink and overwhelm the thoughts of good Parents and occasion pensive meditations about their little ones Now for them to sit down and contemplate what grounds of hope God hath been pleased to give them in relation to the Souls of their Children oh how comfortable is it And they find that all their hopes must center in this blessed Covenant which the Lord hath been graciously pleased to make with Parents and their Children A Covenant abundantly inriched with all Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Blessings and Priviledges which may give full solace and acquiescing content and satisfaction to godly Parents that are thus concerned about their Children There is enough in that promise of the Covenant I will be thy God and the God of thy seed By reason of the Covenant of Grace Believers may look upon their Children to be the gracious gifts of God unto them So did Jacob Gen. 33.5 said he unto Esau These are the children which God hath graciously given thy servant and by reason of this Covenant they may hope and believe that God will graciously take care of and provide for them If Parents did believe that their Children were not in Covenant with the Lord and that the promises and priviledges did no more appertain unto them than unto the Children of Pagans and Infidels as some do too impiously assert I know not what joy and comfort they can conceive in their minds about their Children nor what can feed their Faith in crying unto and wrestling with God for them What comfort can poor grieved Parents take concerning that miserable state they receive their Children into the World in unless they find sweet and comfortable support and relief from the everlastingly gracious Covenant which doth wonderfully magnifie the Grace of God to Parents in that he hath taken their Children with them into it and makes abundantly for their peace and consolation This was that which satisfied and even ravished the heart of David with joy concerning his Family and Children 2 Sam. 12.23 when his Child was dead he was greatly comforted and satisfied saying I shall go to him but he shall not come to me which words as I apprehend denote the good hopes that quieted his mind through the thoughts he had of the eternal happiness of his Child and that he should shortly go to him and injoy the same happiness with him This good man David did meet with great disappointment in his House and Family but from the consideration of the Covenant he had a never-failing spring of joy and comfort which did exhilarate his Spirits in their depressing sinkings 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow This is a full breast of consolation upon which all godly Parents may hang and suck and draw a fullness of peace and comfort for themselves and Family in their most discouraging and dying dispensations 5. Reason Because by this means the Lord may provide for a perpetual and an uninterrupted succession for his Church and Kingdom in the World That God will have a Church unto the end of the World is founded upon his Eternal Purpose the Mediatory Transactions of his ever blessed Son and upon the infallible Promises of the never-failing Word But this is the way and expedient that he is pleased to pitch and fix upon for the preservation and perpetual propagation of it he hath taken his Church into Covenant with himself the Parents and their Children the latter of which are to promote and to provide for its continual succession that so when Parents have finisht the work of their generation and shall descend the stage of the World their Children may take place and fill up the vacancy in the Church of God This was one great reason why the Lord did take Adam Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob into Covenant with their Children that out of their Loins might issue a Seed to populate and to secure the Church as to a perpetual succession in Gods Family House and Kingdom So the Covenant in the new Dispensation of it takes in the Parents and their Seed for the same end and purpose For the great built of the Elect and body for the future provision of the Church are provided from the Covenanâ— Seed Therefore as it hath before been proved that Children are Members of the Kingdom and Church of God this is one great end why the Lord hath instituted Marriage for Covenant Parents that he might provide a constant Seed for his Church The Metaphors by which the Church is illustrated described and lively represented do abundantly demonstrate this sometimes the Church is compared to a Vineyard sometimes to an Orchard and sometimes to a Garden see Cant. 4.13 Psal