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
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
concerning Infants Baptism from the Covenant of Evangelical Blessings which you say was there made with Abraham and his Seed after him And from the Interest which as you say the Children of Believers have together with themselves in that Covenant you thence Argue they are to be Baptized Because all that are in the Covenant ought to have the Seal thereof When the invalidity of this Plea is made manifest you then fly to a Covenant of outward Priviledges which you say the Children of Believers are concerned in with themselves But then we would willingly know what Scripture is it that makes mention of this Covenant of outward Priviledges Gen. 17. 7. makes not mention of it For that you have often told us is to be understood of the Covenant of Grace containing purely Spiritual and Everlasting Blessings and therefore cannot be understood of outward Priviledges or concerning the bare Administration or Susception of an outward Ordinance which is the thing driven at Where then shall we find this Covenant of outward Priviledges mentioned or Recorded Besides both Circumcision and Baptism also according to your former Reckoning are but Seals of the Covenant and not the Covenant it self All that are in Covenant say you must have the Seal thereof that is ought to be Baptized Whereas after this Rate the Seals and the Covenant it self are strangely confounded together The Children of Believers say you are in Covenant equally with themselves not in the Inward but in the Outward part of it in respect of External Priviledges that is Baptism But then what becomes of the Seal so much contended about Unless we must take it for granted that the Seals of the Covenant and the Covenant it self are the same thing and no Distinction at all to be made between them So that upon the whole it clearly appears that your Arguments from the Covenant however set forth or managed by you are no other than a darkning of Counsel by Words without Knowledge And therefore while you do Labour to fasten such Dismal Consequences on our Doctrine who deny the Children of Believers to be taken into Covenant with themselves in the sense expounded We say they are unduly charged on us forasmuch as we do not exclude the Infants of Believers from the ordinary way of Salvation For though we say not that they are in Covenant by their Parents Faith And though we deny that they have any Right to Church Priviledges till they are capable of making an Actual Profession of Faith and Repentance according to the Gospel Rule yet we say they may be by Gods Election saved and may be sanctified by the Spirit of God and Parents may have ground of Comfort in their Death as much or more than according to your Doctrine which tells them that their Children are in the Covenant only in respect of outward Priviledges the Enjoyment of which nevertheless can give us no undoubted Assurance of their Salvation Ninthly And Lastly as to this whereas you tell us that Christian Baptism is come in the Room Place and Use of Jewish Circumcision So as that the Institution of that should be our Rule about Baptism To answer this doubt let us consider the great difference between Circumcision and Baptism Circumcision was a Legal Ordinance appointed to the Jewish Males Reprobate as well as Elect by a positive Command to distinguish them from the rest of the World as a Token of the Covenant God made with Abraham and signified that the Messiah should come of his Loins according to the Flesh But Baptism is an Evangelical Ordinance whereby Jew or Gentile Male or Female upon a Profession of Faith and Repentance is Baptized in Water in token of Regeneration and to signifie the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ the Messiah already come and so added to the Visible Church and admitted to all the Priviledges thereof The Consideration of the great difference in their Institution illustrates this also For when Christ instituted Baptism he says Go Teach and Baptize and in the Administration they confessed and were Baptized not a Word of Infants And in the Precept of Circumcision not a Word of Teaching or Faith but of Infants the command expresly notes the Time Age and Sex And therefore since things become Ordinances to us by Vertue of a Word of Institution and no such Word is to be found to make out that Baptism succeeds Circumcision in its Room Place and Use We think it safe to be sober and advance no further than the Scripture guides And indeed to make Circumcision Institutive of Baptism is no other than to send us to School to the Law and that First Old Vanishing Covenant as it is stiled Heb. 8. 13. as if the Lawgiver in the New Testament had not by a positive Institution establish'd his Ordinances nor left us any warrant for our Gospel Duties without that Retrogression to Moses and assimulating them to the Paedagoggy and similitude of Types Besides when you tell us that Christian Baptism is come in the Room Place and Vse of Jewish Circumcision so as that the Institution of that should be our Rule about Baptism This is not right For First then Infant Females should not be Baptized as hath been already noted And to say that Females were Virtually and Reputatively Circumcised in the Circumcision of the Males is frivolous For if so by Analogy the Females should be only Virtually and Reputatively and not Actually Baptized And if Infants out of Abraham's Family were not Circumcised though the Parent believed in God as a Proselyte of the Gate e. g. Cornelius Then neither should an Infant of a Believer in Christ not in a National or other Constituted Church be Baptized And if Circumcision were of the Use of Baptism the Circumcised Infant needed not to be Baptized Secondly it appears from Col. 2. 17. That a Principal Use of Circumcision was to signifie Christ to come of Abraham which Baptism not doing hath not a Principal Use of Circumcision Thirdly though Baptism distinguish between Believer and Unbeliever yet it doth not make a Partition Wall between Nation and Nation as Circumcision did which was not to be imparted to all Believing Males of the Gentiles as is manifest in the Case of Cornelius who though fearing God was not Circumcised nor to be Circumcised unless joyned as a Member of the Jewish People Fourthly Circumcision bound Men to keep the whole Law of Moses or else was Unprofitable Rom. 2. 25. Gal. 5. 3. But Baptism Witnesseth that the whole Ceremonial Law of Moses is now made void and only Christ's Law is to be kept Fifthly Circumcision was Administred to Abraham's Natural Seed without any Profession of Faith Repentance or Regeneration whereas Baptism is only to be Administred to the Spiritual Seed of Abraham upon an Actual Profession of Faith Repentance and Regeneration Mark 16. 16. Acts 8. 36 37. It is granted that in some things there is an Analogy betwixt them both signifying Heart Circumcision and
all just Contradiction and which hath accordingly been urged by multitudes of Protestant Divines by way of Opposition to the Papal Usurpation That in respect of all Positive or Instituted Worship such as Baptism is that hath no other Rule nor Reason than the meer Will of the Law-giver there must be something in the Scripture either by way of Precept or Example that alone can justly warrant our Practice therein The Reason is obvious because Baptism being a part of Instituted Worship not found in Natures Garden hath of it self no vertue but what it receives from the Institutor It being a right Note That Moral Laws are good and therefore commanded But Positive Worship is commanded and therefore good And accordingly though Moral Duties are easily deducible from their proper Premises yet we cannot possibly arrive unto any certain Knowledge of our Duty in reference to Positive Worship without some express signification of God's mind unto us therein True it is that in some Cases if an express Precept be wanting we may justly enough recurr to the Example of the Apostles as a sufficient Authority for our Practice As for Instance in the Case of the Observation of the Lord's day concerning which though we have no express Precept to warrant our Practice therein we are yet justifiable enough upon that Account in that we have the frequent Examples of the Apostles recorded in the Scripture to that purpose whose steps we are bid to follow But when Precept and President do both fail us as is most evidently the case with us in respect of Infants Baptism and which hath been accordingly ingeniously owned by some of the chiefest of the Paedobaptists themselves We do certainly step aside into a wrong Path in our Practices of that kind And justly enough therefore may our common Adversaries the Papists twit us in the Teeth with the Guilt of a Self condemned Practice while we blame that in them which yet we our selves do allow in other Cases And how can we call upon them to produce something oâ— other by way of Precept or President from the Scripture for the justification of their Ceremonies without the one or the other of which we justly condemn them as unlawful when we our selves are found highly guilty of the same Transgression and that in a greater degree in other Respects Object 18. But it is yet further Objected That Infants by God's express Command were to be Circumcised under the former Administration and all God's Commands about His Institutions then according to the Rules of Analogy or Proportion are equally binding unto us as well as to the Jews As in the case of the Christian Sabbath unto which the Fourth Commandment binds us as it did the Jews to the former And thus it is in reference to Infants Baptism in respect of which though there is no express Command to that purpose recorded in the New Testament yet we cannot but conclude that God's Command unto the Jews to Circumcise their Infants carries with it the force at least of a virtual Command unto us to Baptize ours To this we reply That certain it is that that which concerns the Worship of God which hath not an express Institution in the New Testament is now to be rejected by us which is to be understood as we have said before in respect of Positive Worship consisting in outward Rites such as Circumcision Baptism and the Lord's Supper are which have nothing Natural or Moral in them but are meerly Ceremonial For as for that which is Natural or Moral in God's Worship we allow that an Institution or Command in the Old Testament is Obligatory to Christians under the New And such do we conceive the Sabbath to be as being of the Law of Nature For outward Worship being due to God Days are due to God to that end and therefore even in Paradise appointed from the Creation and in all Nations in all Ages observed enough to prove so much to be of the Law of Nature And therefore the Fourth Commandment is justly put among the Morals which proves that at least a seventh Portion of time is to be dedicated more immediately to the Service of God Now Circumcision hath nothing Moral in it it is meerly Positive Neither was it so from the beginning nor observed by all Nations in all Ages nor is it in the Decalogue And therefore the Observation of the Lord's Day may stand though Circumcision fall and though there be no other Ordinance come in the room of it that bears Analogy or Proportion with it Secondly When we require express Institution in the New Testament in respect of the Matters of God's Worship now to be practised by us We do not mean that in all Positive Worship there must always be of necessity a positive Command in so many Words in form of a Precept But we conceive that the Example of the Apostles which hath not a meer temporary Reason is enough to prove that Institution from God to which that Practice doth relate And in this therefore as we said before in Answer to the foregoing Objection we reckon it a sufficient Warrant for the Justification of our Practise in the Observation of the Lord's Day that such was the Practise of the Apostles according to those plain Testimonies thereof recorded in the Holy Scripture though it be not expresly commanded Now if the one half of this Evidence could be brought for the Baptism of Infants we should make no question but readily subscribe unto it But Infants Baptism not consisting with the Order of Christ in the Institution being contrary to the Practice of John the Baptist and the Apostles there being no Foot-steps of it at all in the Scripture nor till about 200 years after Christ's Incarnation we dare not assent unto the Practise of it upon a supposed Analogy or Proportion between that and Circumcision And evident it is that it is a most dangerous Principle upon which they go that so argue to wit that in meer positive things such as Circumcision and Baptism are we may frame an Addition to God's Worship from Analogy or Resemblance conceived by us between two Ordinances whereof one is quite taken away without any Institution gathered by Precept or Apostolical Example For if we may do it in one thing why not in another Where shall we stop Certain it is that this very Principle hath brought in all the Popish Ceremonies into the Romish Church That which Christ and his Apostles have taken from the Jews and appointed unto us we are to receive as they have appointed But if any others shall take upon them to appoint to Mens Consciences any Rite in whole or in part on their own conceived Reason from Analogy with the Jewish Ceremonies It is an high Presumption in such against Christ and against the Apostles Command to yield to it Col. 2. 20. Though it hath a shew of Wisdom verse 23. And the Apostles Example binds us to oppose it Gal. 2. 3 4 5.
Baptism as Men are We Answer If God had pleased He could have made them by an Institution capable of some sacred Usefulness yea capable of Relative Holiness as well as Aaron's Bell Or the Bells mentioned Zech. 14. 20. upon which it was written Holiness to the Lord. But it is well known there are those in the World who think themselves as wise as others that judge Bells capable Subjects of Baptism and have done so diverse Ages § 3. Thus you see what Absurdities follow this Position That those things are lawful in God's Worship which are not forbidden by any express Word dropt from Christ or his Apostles But surely God is more jealous of his Honour and tender of his Worship than to leave it to Our Pleasure And that God hath in all Ages testified his dislike yea Abhorrence of Will-Worship and that for this very Reason because he hath not Commanded it is too evident to be denied For this cause God threatens Judgments upon his People of Old Ezek. 43. 8. They have set their Thresholds by my Threshold and their Posts by my Post wherefore I have Consumed them in mine Anger Wherein we cannot but observe that God discovers his severe displeasure against them not for neglecting any part of his Worship that he had Commanded them But for their Presumption in adding something thereto which he had not Commanded them § 4. And indeed Will-Worship must needs be a great Sin when the same Person who is to perform the Obedience shall dare to appoint the Laws Implying a peremptory Purpose of no further Observance than may consist with the Allowance of his own Judgment Whereas true Obedience must be grounded on the Majesty of that Power that Commands not on the Judgment of the Subject or Benefit of the Precept proposed Divine Laws such as are the Positive Institutions concerning God's Worship require Obedience not so much from the Quality of the things commanded as from the Authority of him that commands them We are all Servants of God and Servants are but living Instruments whose Property is to be governed by the Will of those in whose Pessession they are Will-Worship and Superstition well they may flatter God they cannot please him He that requires us to deny our selves in his Service doth therein teach us that his Commands stand rather in fear than in need of us In fear of our Boldness lest we abuse them not in need of our Judgment to Polish or Alter them The Conquest of an Enemy without the Command of the General cost a Roman Gentleman his Life though his own Father were the Judge So the over-wise Industry of the Architect in bringing not the same but as he thought a fitter piece of Timber than he was commanded to the Roman Consul was rewarded with nothing but a Bundle of Rods. So jealous and displeased are even men themselves to have their Laws undervalued by the private Judgments of those who rather Interpret than Obey them Much more Impious then will it be for us to mix Humane Inventions and Appointments of our own with the Institutions of God and to Impose them as Divine Duties with a necessity of Obedience whilst by that means we take Christ's Divine Prerogative out of his Hands and make our selves joynt Authors of his Ordinances or rather the Destroyers of them For to practise an Ordinance otherwise than Christ hath Instituted is not to honour Christ's Appointments but an Idol of our own making Now this the Apostles durst not do They tell us that they declared the Counsel of God but nothing else And Paul tells the Corinthians he delivered nothing unto them but what he had received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 23. And sure he did not receive Insants Baptism from the Lord For he never declares it to them § 5. This therefore should be a Boundary to all Christ's Ministers that they deliver nothing to the People but what they have recieved from the Lord. That Faith that was once delivered to the Saints must be Preached and contended for but nothing else And if Christ's Ministers have not received Infants Baptism from the Lord and if they cannot prove that it was once delivered to the Saints it is not to be Preached As for all humane Mixtures in God's Worship they are useful only for these two purposes either to slacken and abate something that is Excessive or to supply something that is Deficient And so all Heterogenious Mixtures do plainly intimate either a Vitiousness to be Corrected or a Defect to be Supplied Now it were a great Impiety to charge either of these upon the pure and perfect Word of God and by Consequence to use Deceit by Adulterating of it either by such Glosses as diminish and take away the force of it or by the Addition of Humane Traditions as may argue any defect So that to stamp any thing of a Humane Original with a Divine Character and obtrude it upon the Consciences of Men to take any dead Child of ours as the Harlot did and lay it in the Bosom of the Scripture and Father it upon God to build any Structure of ours in the Road to Heaven and to stop up the Way is one of the greatest Presumptions that the Pride of Man can aspire unto To Erect a Throne in the Consciences of his Fellow Creatures and to counterfeit the great Seal of Heaven for the countenancing of his Forgeries is a Sin most severely provided against by God with special Prohibition and Threatnings See Deut. 12. 32. What thing soever I Command you observe to do it Thou shalt not add thereunto nor diminish from it Deut. 18. 20. The Prophet that shall speak a Word in my Name that I have not Commanded even that Prophet shall die Prov. 30. 6. Add not unto his Words lest he Reprove thee and thou be found a Liar § 6. And yet further to demonstrate That Will Worship is a Sin of no small Magnitude consider the following Particulars First It clearly proceeds as the Fruit of Pride Men Love to have something of their own in God's Worship They are not content with what the Infinite Wise God commands them but will Presumptiously be adding something of their own thereto The Second Commandment shews that Man is prone to be medling and making something in Worship till he marres all Israel provoked God with their Inventions Psal 106. 29. Secondly Will Worship is a Sin greatly displeasing to God For God is not pleased with any thing in Worship which is not his own Nay the contrary is that which he hath signified to be greatly provoking to him In this Respect it is not the Work of Mens Hands nor their Heads that can be at all Acceptable unto God That which pleases God must come from God what he Appoints he Approves and nothing else Thirdly Will Worship and Mixtures of Mens Inventions with Gods Pure Ordinances are the great Canons that batter Cities and the Gun-Powder that blows them up Those
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
therefore said to have Obtained a more Excellent Ministry viz. than that of Moses by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant which is established upon better Promises Heb. 8. 6. Besides we are expresly told Jo. 1. 17. That the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ From whence it plainly follows that the Covenant insisted on was not a Covenant of Grace properly so called not only for as much as Moses was the Mediator of it But also forasmuch as the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ is here so plainly Contradistinguished or opposed thereunto § 4. But that this Covenant which by the Mediation of Moses was thus Solemnly renewed and afresh transacted between God and them in the land of Moab was plainly a Covenant of Works or a Legal Covenant will be yet further undeniable by comparing Exod. 1◠5. with Deut. 29. 9. and both with Lev. 18. and Rom. 10. 5. For as in Exod. 19 Where that Covenant is first mentioned which God made with Israel by the Mediation of Moses in Horeb or at Mount Sinai which the Apostle speaks of Heb. 8. when God took them by the hand to lead them out of Aegypt He there tells them ver 5. Now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all People for all the Earth is mine So in like mannner upon the same terms and by the hand of the same Mediator is the same Covenant afterward renewed with them Deut. 29. 9. Keep therefore saith God there unto them the words of this Covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do Now that both these were but two several Repetitions of the same Covenant of Works the Apostle plainly shews Rom. 10. 4. 5. Christ saith he there is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth For Moses describeth the Righteousness of the Law that the man which doth these things shall live by them which he citeth from Lev. 18. 5. Where the Lord tells them you shall therefore keep my Statutes and Judgments which if a man do he shall live in them The same with Exod 19. 5. and Deut. 29. 9. And the same Apostle also assures us Gal. 3. 10. that as many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse for it is written saith he Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are in the Book of the Law to do them § 5. Now it having been thus proved that the Covenants Mentioned in both these forenamed Scriptures were made by the hands of the same Mediator Moses And that they were both also of one and the same tenor requiring perfect Obedience as the Condition of Obtaining the Promised Mercy And forasmuch as St. Paul doth so plainly assure us that this was no other than a Covenant of Works and that which he Contradistinguisheth or opposeth to the Righteousness of Faith or the Gospel Covenant which he afterward speaks of ver 6 7 8 9. of the same 10th to the Romans From hence it plainly follows That the formentioned Covenants both that in Deut. 29. as well as that in Exod. 19. which were but two several Repetitions of the same Covenant of Works are now Repealed and done away in Christ For so he doth plainly assure us Heb. 8. 8 9 13. where he tells us That if that first Covenant had been faultless then no place should have been sought for the second For finding Fault with them he saith Behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the Day when I took them by the Hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not And verse 13 In that he saith a New Covenant he hath made the first Old Now that which decayeth saith he and waxeth old is ready to vanish away From whence it is plain that the old Covenant he there speaks of which God made with his People when he took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt mentioned Exod. 19. 5. and Deut 29. 9. for the faultyness thereof is now Abollished For there is verily saith he Heb. 7. 18. a disannulling of the Commandment going before for the Weakness and unprofitableness thereof Upon which Account a New Covenant was to take place which was to be Established upon better Promises § 6. And therefore though 't is true in Deut. 30. 6. which Mr. Baxter urgeth and alledgeth to prove that the Covenant mentioned Chapter 29. is a Gospel-Covenant The Lord then promiseth that he will Circumcise their Heart and the Heart of their Seed to love the Lord their God with all their Heart and with all their Soul that they might live Which are plainly Gospel Promises yet it is evident that that is a distinct Covenant from that mentioned Chapter 29. the one being Conditional the other Absolute And it is as evident that the Promises therein contained were not to be fulfilled till after the Lord had turned their threatned Captivity for their Breach of the Covenant he now made with them and till after he had returned and gathered them from all the Nations and from the outmost Parts of Heaven whether they should be scattered and from whence the Lord there promiseth to gather and to fetch them as it is plainly Expressed in the 1 2 3 4 and 5th Verses of that Chapter compared with the 24th and 25th Verses of the 29th Chapter which was never yet fulfilled § 7. But saith Mr. Baxter Did God Promise Spiritual Grace to the Jews after the Captivity and not before Was not the Promise made to them that then were Were not they Captivated oft in the time of the Judges and so might at least be made good then If God would do as much for them before they forsook him and broke the Covenant by Rebellion as he would do afterward when they Repented then he would Circumcise their Hearts before as well as after But the former is true therefore the latter Besides some Divines say that the Promise Deut. 30. 6. is Conditional And if it be on Condition of Obedience than it was made to more than the Elect and if it were not performed to any but the Elect no wonder when it was a Conditional Promise and the rest performed not the Condition which God will Cause the Elect to perform §8 To this we Reply That as it is evident that the Promises mentioned Deut. 30. 6. are Absolute and therefore Essentially different from those mentioned ch 29. which were Conditional so they are as clearly to be understood in Reference to a time to come and cannot without palpable streining be applied unto the time then present nor indeed unto any
be Referred the several Passages that lie dispersed up and down the Scriptures concerning the Blessedness of the Seed of the Righteous For though no doubt God hath a Gracious Respect unto many that are the Natural Descendants of Believers now and we may probably hope that the Grace of Election is for the most part continued in their Race yet as God hath made no such Covenant with us That he will be a God unto us and to all our Natural Off spring during the present Administration of things in the Heavens and the Earth that now are So whatever Blessedness of that kind God hath designed for his People we have no Scripture ground to expect the Accomplishment thereof nor the Jews neither till the time of the New Heavens and the New Earth before spoken off wherein as Peter tells us Righteousness shall dwell For then indeed the People or Subjects of that state shall be all Righteous the Branch of Gods planting that he may be glorified both they and their Off-spring also And therefore then and not till then may we expect the fulfilling of those Gospel Promises before mentioned concerning the Circumcising of the Heart both of them and their Seed also to Love the Lord their God with all their Heart and with all their Soul Which bespeaks no other than a time and state of Perfection when they shall have no need any more to Teach every Man his Neighbour nor every Man his Brother as now we must and therefore not to be understood of the present state of things Saying Know the Lord for they shall all know him from the least unto the greatest of them § 16. From all which it clearly appears that the Promises mentioned Deut. 30. 6. are of a vastly different Nature from what they have been generally imagined to be And indeed are so far from being a part of the Legal Covenant at Mount Sinai or of that Covenant which the Israelites with their little ones were entred into Deut. 29. That they remain as yet to be fulfilled They might be Fulfilled saith Mr. Baxter in the time of the Judges But why then were they so oft Captivated in the time of the Judges as well as afterward by the Philistiues Ammonites c And why were the Ten Tribes after carried away Captive by Salmanazer King of Assyria So as that they have never since been hear'd of in the World that we can understand And why were the two Tribes afterward also carried away Captive by the Babylonians and since Dispersed by the Roman and Turkish Powers and so still remain in a State of Dispersion as also in a State of Impenitency and Opposition to the Gospel unto this day A few indeed were Converted by John the Baptist and Christ in the day of his first Appearance But the Generality of the Jews were in Blindness after that in Paul's time Rom. 11. and still so rémain And what was the Conversion of a few to the Fulfilling of the All of these Promises to the All of the Jews But as sure as God is True and his Word most Faithful there must be a time when the forementioned Promises shall be Accomplished When as the Fulness of the Gentiles shall come in and be brought under the Obedience of Christ So the Jews also must be Called and the Fulness of them by that Deliverer whom God hath promised shall yet come out of Zion to turn away Vngodliness from Jacob. For this is my Covenant unto them saith God when I shall take away their Sins § 17. And therefore though Mr. Baxter saith true when he tells us p. 58. That Deut. 3◠is a Gospel Covenant since the Apostle Rom. 10. 5 6 7 8 9. shews it in Express Words For saith he when the Apostle had shewed that the Righteousness of the Law lieth in Perfect Obedience He that doeth these things shall live by them He then sheweth the Difference thus But the Righteousness which is of Faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thine Heart who shall Ascend up to Heaven to bring down Christ from Above c. But what saith it The Word is nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach Now these words of Faith saith he the Apoststle Citeth out of this very Covenant Deut. 30. 11 12 13 14. But then it doth not therefore follow that the Covenant mentioned Deut. 30. and that Chap. 29. is one and the same Covenant Mr. Baxter indeed takes it for granted that they are one and the same And therefore to prove that that mentioned in the 29th Chapter is a Covenant of Grace or a Gopel Covenant he Alledgeth these words in the 6th ver of the 30th Chapter for the Confirmation thereof and hereon Bottoms his Argument That because the Jews with their little Ones were entred into Covenant with God in the 29th Chapter and consequently were all Church-members and forasmuch as the Covenant which the Infants who were then Church-members did pass into was a Covenant of Grace or a Gospel Covenant as distinct from the Law which is Repealed therefore neither it nor their Church-membership is Repealed § 18. It cannot be denied but this is a Principal Argument which Mr. Baxter urgeth for the support of his New Doctrine of the Church membership of Infants and consequently their Baptism under the Gospel But how unjustly Urged and how little it signifies to the Proof of what he intends it for may by this time be easily Discerned since by what hath been said it plainly appears that the forementioned Scriptures in Deuteronomy which he Bottoms it on are by him greatly Abused and Mis-represented contrary to the plain Scope of the Spirit of God in them The Covenant mentioned in the 29th Chapter and that in the 30th being not one and the same as he would have it but two Distinct and Essentially differrent Covenants The one being a Covenant of Works as hath been plainly proved from Rom. 10. 5. which had Moses for the Mediator of it Deut. 29. 1. For the Faultiness whereof it is now Abolished Heb. 8. 13. The other a Covenant of Grace Rom. 10. 6 7 8. Deut. 30. 11 12 13 14. which hath Christ alone for the Mediator of it Heb. 8. 6 7 8 9. And shall therefore never be Abolished Psal 89. 34 35 36. The one being plainly of a Legal Stamp the other Evangelical The one Conditional the other Absolute The one having its Existence but for a time upon an Occasional Temporary Principle the other suited to answer a Principle Existing from Everlasting to Everlasting The one being appointed only for the time then present till the Incarnation of Christ the other respecting a time that is as yet to come From all which it plainly follows that the Covenant spoken of Deut. 30. 6. is Essentinlly different from that which the Jews with their Little Ones were then entered into Chap. 29. as being Established upon better Promises So that there can
24. For so it vvas to the Jevvs that is to shevv them the Nature of Sin and the Holiness and Righteousness of God to convince them of their Sin and Misery vvithout Christ and their necessity therefore of a Saviour Rom. 7. 7 12. 13. And for this purpose it still serves to all Men in an unregenerate State Rom. 3. 19. But though the Lavv doth indeed shevv us our Necessity of Christ and our Misery vvithout him yet it doth not bring us to Christ as our Translation hath it for that is the Work of the Covenant of Faith only Rom. 10. 6 7 8 9. And that as it stands opposed unto the Legal Covenant ver 5 6 c. § 4. There is a double Enquiry made by the Apostle saith Dr. Owen on Gal. 3. vvith respect unto the Law or the Covenant of Sinai 1. Vnto what end in General it served 2 Whether it were not contrary to the Promise of God Unto both these the Apostle ansvvereth from the Nature Office and Work of that Covenant For there vvere tvvo things in it First a Revival and Representation of the first Covenant of Works vvith its Sanction and Curse Secondly A Direction of the Church unto the Accomplishment of the Promise From these tvvo doth the Apostle frame his Ansvver unto the double Enquiry laid dovvn And unto the first Enquiry Vnto what â—nd it served He Ansvvers It was added because of Transgressions The Promise being given there seems to have been no need of it Why then vvas it added to it at that Season It was added because of Transgressions The fulness of time vvas not yet come vvherein the Promise vvas to be Fulfilled Accomplished and Established as the only Covenant wherein the Church was to Walk with God or the Seed was not yet come as the Apostle here speaks to whom the Promise vvas made In the mean time some Order must be taken about Sin and Transgression that all the Order of things appointed of God vvere not Overflovved by them And this vvas done tvvo vvays by the Lavv. 1. By Reviving the Commands of the Covenant of Works vvith the Sanction of Death it put an Avve on the minds of Men and set Bounds unto their Lusts that they should not dare to run forth into that Excess vvhich they vvere Naturally inclined unto It vvas therefore added because of Transgressions that in the Declaration of God's Severity against them some Bounds might be fixed unto them For the knowledge of Sin is by the Law 2. To shut up Vnbelievers and such as vvould not seek for Righteousness Life and Salvation by the Promise under the Povver of the Covenant of Works and Curse attending it It concluded or shut up all under Sin saith the Apostle ver 20. This vvas the end of the Lavv for this end vvas it Added as it gave a Reviveal unto the Covenant of Works Dr. Owen's Exposition on the Hebrews 3 d. Vol. p. 231. § 5. It is true that Scripture Gal. 3. 24. vvhere the Apostle tells us that the Law was our School-Master to Christ that we might be Justified by Faith is strongly urged by some to prove that the Law must needs be therefore a Covenant of Faith But it is Evident that the School mastership of the Lavv and the Covenant of Faith are tvvo quite different things as appears by the Words before and after ver 23. Before Faith came saith he we were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterward be Revealed ver 24. Wherefore the Law was our School-master to Christ that we might be justified by Faith ver 25. But after that Faith is come we are no longer under a School-master So that the Schol mastership of the Lavv is one thing and the Covenant of Faith another For vvhen the one cometh the other ceaseth When the one takes place the other vanisheth The Lavv therefore could not be a Covenant of Faith it being here so plainly Opposed or Contra distinguished thereunto Accordingly the Apostle elsevvhere assures us that the Law Written and Engraven in Stones was a Ministration of Death and Condemnation 2. Cor. 3. 6. 7. 9. And consequently gave no hopes of Relief to the Miserable Sinner as the Covenant of Faith doth It convinc'd him indeed of the dreadful Nature of Sin and of the Infinite Purity and Holiness of Gods Nature and Being against whom it had Sinned but it left no Room for Repentance For Cursed is every one saith the Law that Continueth not in all things which are Written in the Book of the Law to do them Therefore it is calld the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us which Christ took out of the way nailing it to his Cross Col. 2. 14. So that the Law could not possibly be a Covenant of Faith It being constantly represented to us in the Scripture as being of a vastly different Nature therefrom and that in the very Essence or Substance thereof The one being a Ministration of Death and Condemnation the other a Ministration of Life and Peace SECT III. WE are told indeed by Mr. Obadiah Segdwick in his Discourse upon the Covenant of Grace p. 175. That the Covenant made with the People of Israel at Mount Sinai was at least subserviently the Covenant of Grace a Covenant of Grace for the Substance of it though propounded in a more dark way and in a manner fitting for the State of that People and that present time and condition of the Church § 2. But this is but an Evasion and serves for no other purpose than to darken the Truth For the thing is plain that the Law was as much a Covenant of Works as that made with our First Parent The Jewish Legal Covenant saith Dr. Annesly in his Sermon upon the Covenant of Grace Morning Exercise p. 122 Neither admitted of Faith in the Redeemer nor Repentance of Sin For Pardon of sin and Curse for Sin are Inconsistent Gal. 3. 10. As many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse For 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 As many as depend upon the Works of the Law for Justification are under the Curse And the Law saith he discovered no other way of Justification but by Works Mr. Cooper also in the same Morning Exercise p. 117. tells us That Moses his Law is opposed to the Covenant of Grace as another Covenant upon this very distinguishing account of Obedience and Faith Works and Grace as you may see saith he at large among other Places Heb. 8. 6 7 8 9 10 c. § 3. The Law therefore was not so much as Subserviently a Covenant of Faith much less for the Substance of it so for it is quite another thing and is constantly so represented unto us in the Scriptures The Apostle saith indeed The Law was our School-master to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He doth
not say to bring us to Christ as our Translation hath it For as we have already said that is the Work of the Covenant of Faith only And therefore that Notion that the Law was Subserviently a Covenant of Faith hath no Foundation Those Words to bring us being unduly added to the Original Text and are accordingly put in a Different Character in our Translation thereof But saith the Apostle in the words immediately following After that Faith is come we are no longer under a School-master But how can that be if the Law was a Covenant of Faith Must the Covenant of Faith cease at least in this World Must the Covenant of Faith Vanish be Blotted out taken out of the way and done away as the Apostle speaks of the Law Or was the Covenant of Faith against us and contrary to us as he speaks of the Hand-writing of Ordinances that is now Blotted out And indeed therefore neither could the Law be so much as Subserviently a Covenant of Faith For if it had the Apostle would never have described it as hath been now declared § 4. And 't is in vain to say That the Law was a Covenant of Faith though propunded in a more dark way and in a manner fitting for the State of that People and that present Time and Condition of the Church as Mr. Sedgwick speaks For the Apostle Expresly affirms that the Law is not of Faith It is not of Faith Absolutely not Comparatively but the man that doth them shall live in them Gal. 3. 12. The Law therefore was no other than a Covenant of Works since not only the Apostle doth here assure us that it is not of Faith but also the same Rule Do this and Live is that still retained therein as at first And it is therefore different from the Covenant of Faith not barely in respect of the Degrees or clearness of the Revelation of Gospel-Grace as is commonly Suggested For the Law as hath been already proved discovers none at all but leaves the guilty Sinner wholly Remediless without the least glimps of Light or Comfort The Law therefore differs from the Covenant of Faith Specifically in respect of the whole Nature or Essence of it In which respect the Law could never be appointed as a School-master to bring us to Christ Well it may convince us of our Necessity of him but bring us to him it cannot § 5. So that then these are the Reasons which the Holy Spirit himself Suggesteth why the Law was added Or why the Covenant of Works was Revived after Man's Fall and even after the Proclaiming of the first Promise concerning the Womans Seed Gen 3. 15. which was renewed to Abraham Gen. 22. 18. It was added saith the Apostle because of Transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made And it entered that the Offence might abound It being appointed as a School-master to Christ to convince the Jews of their necessity of a Saviour And since it cannot be denied but that all the Sons and Daughters of Adam must of Necessity be under one or another of the two Covenants either that of Works or that of Grace And since all Men by Nature are Children of Wrath Eph. 2 3. And since it would be utterly absurd to affirm that such are under a Covenant of Grace till-Converted It of necessity follows that unto such the Covenant of Works is still in force and under it they are till wrought upon by the Grace of the Gospel the Law abating nothing but still exacting the utmost Farthing Neither from the Impossibility of Man's yielding that perfect Obedience which that Covenant requires can we justly conclude that therefore it is not still in Force For God hath not forfeited or lost his Right of Dominion though we have lost our Strength or Capacity of Obedience So that it is evident that the Law given upon Mount Sinai to the People of the Wilderness or the Law written in Stones which was a plain and clear Manifestation of the Law written in the Heart of Man at the first was no other than a Covenant of Works Thus it was to the Jews and thus it still continues in its full Power Force and Virtue to all Men in an Unregenerate State For what things soever the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law that every Month may be stopped and all the World may become Guilty before God Rom. 3. 19. SECT IV. NEither was the Law by the Jews only Interpreted as a Covenant of Works but as it is evident by Moses himself and by Paul also We are told indeed by Mr. Sedgwick in his fore-mentioned Discourse upon the Covenants p. 173. That we must distinguish between the intention of God in giving the Law and the Abuse or Perverting of the Law We grant saith he that many of the Jews did set up a Legal Righteousness for their Justifications and rested upon the Works of the Law as if Life came by them against which Paul doth notably Argue in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians But this saith he was not the intention of God in the Sanction of Law They could never find a justifying Righteousness by the Law or Works of the Law under the Notion of a Covenant of Works nor did God ever propound it for that end § 2. For Answer hereunto we say That since by Mr. Sedgwicks own confession the Jews could never find a Justifying Righteousness by the Law or by the Works of it From hence it inevitably follows that it could not be a Covenant of Faith Sure it is that the Covenant of Faith Justifies all that are under it For being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God c. Rom. 5. 1. That Covenant therefore that could never Justifie any that were under it could never be a Covenant of Faith But the Scripture is Express that by the deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be Justified in God's sight Rom. 3. 20. Therefore that Covenant could never be a Covenant of Faith And yet again that Covenant under which though many were Justified yet none were ever Justified by it or by virtue of it could never be a Covenant of Faith But such was the nature of the Law that though many were Justified under it yet none were ever Justified by it or by virtue of it Rom. 3. 20. Therefore that Covenant could never be a Covenant of Faith And if the Law was not a Covenant of Faith then â—t must of necessity follow that it could be no other than a Covenant of Works And indeed so it was appointed and declared by God himself Lev. 18. 5. Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and Judgments which if a man do he shall live in them And this the Spirit of God by the Apostle Paul takes special notice of Rom. 10. 5. For Moses saith he describeth the Righteousness which is of the Law That the man that doth these things shall live by them And what
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
in quite another Dialect It is plain there is a difference between them toto Genere or in the whole Kind or Substance thereof and not barely in the several Degrees of Manifestation as is suggested For as the Apostle Reasoneth concerning Election Rom. 11. 6. So it is here If it be of Works then it is no more Grace otherwise Work is no more Work And if by Grace then it is no more of Works otherwise Grace is no more Grace Either therefore the Law was a Covenant of Grace or it was a Covenant of Works If it was a Covenant of Grace then according to the scope of the Apostle's Reasoning it was not a Covenant of Works or it is no more of Works that is it is not of Works at all And consequently Moses doth not describe the Righteousness which is of the Law as he doth that the Man that doth these things shall live by them But if this be absurd and it be evident that it is as it is indeed a Covenant of Works For the same Reason therefore neither can it in any Sence be a Covenant of Gospel-Grace otherwise as the Apostle speaks Work is no more Work For these two Grace and Works or Faith and Works are constantly in the Scripture opposed the one unto the other in point of our Justification before God's Presence which is our present case and admit of no Mixture § 6. So that though the Law even as it is a Covenant of Works is not against the Promises that is there is no Repugnancy between them there being a sweet Harmony and Conjunction of all the Blessed Attributes of God in Christ in the way of the Salvation of Sinners yet the Law is constantly in the Scripture represented in a way of Contradistinction to the Promises and so it is in the words foregoing as hath been already observed ver 18. If saith the Apostle the Inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise but God gave it to Abraham by Promise And which is yet clearer the same Apostle doth also assure us Rom. 4. 14. That if they which are of the Law be heirs Faith is made void and the Promise made of none Effect Therefore the Law could not possibly be a Covenant of Faith but of Works SECT VI. ANd whereas the Apostle doth also tell us Rom. 3. 31. That we do not make Void the Law through Faith but Establish it This also is true and no way Contradicteth but is Consistent enough with what hath been Asserted viz. That the Law is no other than a Covenant of Works Forasmuch as Christ our surety hath fulfilled it for us given it its due Honour and satisfied its Penalty on our behalf So that we are so far from making void the Law through Faith that it is rather thereby Established as having received greater Honour by the obedience and Sufferings of Christ than ever could have been given it by us § 2. And yet further which is also Objected to the same purpole as before whereas the Apostle doth also tell us Rom. 10. 4. That Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth The Sence is Evident Forasmuch as what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of Sinful Flesh and for Sin or by a Sacrifice for Sin Condemned Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fullfilled in us that is in the Person of our surety for us Rom. 8 3 4. And thus Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth by fulfilling its Commands and answering its Penalty on our behalf But doth it therefore follow that the Law is a Covenant of Faith It is Evident that Christ Submitted to it as a Covenant of Works And if it was so to Christ it was so to us and would have been so and the Curse thereof had accordingly lighted on us had not Christ Interposed for our Relief But saith the Apostle when the Fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Gal. 4. 4 5. From whence it clearly appears that the Law was not a Covenant of Faith For if it had what necessity was there for Christ to have Redeemed us from under it Can we imagine that Christ ever shed his Blood to Redeem us from being under a Covenant of Faith or from being under a Gospel Covenant The Law was therefore no other than a Covenant of Works from which Christ hath now Redeemed us by his Blood and Sufferings for us The Law indeed shews us our Sin and Misery without Christ but Relieves us not Rom. 7. 7 8 9 10. which the Covenant of Faith doth Rom. 10. 6 7 8 9. Nay the Law instead of Relieving or Curing us it brings us under the Curse which the Covenant of Faith delivers us from Gal. 3. 8 9 10. But though we are delivered from the Law as a Covenant of Life Do this and live yet it is also as true that All true Believers are still under the Law to Christ as a Rule of Life 1 Cor. 9. 21. SECT VII MR. Sedgwick doth indeed also tell us in his forementioned Discourse upon the Covenants p. 174. That that Covenant which God made with Moses and under which Moses stood was no Covenant of Works But Moses and the People of Israel were both under the same Covenant Exod. 34. 27. I have made a Covenant with thee and with Israel If any doubt under what Covenant Moses stood whether of Works or Grace let him peruse Heb. 11. 26. What a Description he shall there find of Moses He shall there find him to be a Choice and Eminent Believer in Christ Esteeming the Reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Aegypt and having respect to the Recompence of Reward c. Now certainly such a Choice Believer in Christ was not under a Covenant of Works And p. 175 176. speaking of the immediate Introduction unto the giving of the Law Exod. 20. 2. I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt Why saith he there is the very Covenant of Grace Here is God as our God And Blessed are the People who have the Lord to be their God And here is Jesus Christ the Mediator of the Covenant implied for in Christ doth God become our God And there is our Redemption from Sin and Satan intimated by their Deliverance out of Aegypt And presently there is the Worship of God Instituted and Appointed which if Acceptable to God must be performed with Faith For without Faith it is impossible to please God And saith he upon the Breaking of the Tables of the Covenant before they were Written again there is such a Preface made by God as can no way fit any Covenant but that of
the words of this Law to do them The promises I now make you are full and Glorious enough But these are the Terms on which you must Expect if ever you come to the Fruition of them This is the Substance of the Preface and after Explication that God himself makes unto and concerning the Covenant which he now made with Moses and with Israel even with the whole Body of that People which was by the Finger of God himself Written and Ingraven in Stones And is accordingly mentioned at large Exod. 20. In the several ten Branches Commandments or main Heads thereof § 4. In the next place if we Enquire into the Nature of this Covenant What sort of Covenant it was Whether a Covenant of Grace or a Covenant of Works As it is Evident that it could be no other than a Covenant of Works since we see it required perfect Obedience as the condition of obtaning the mercies therein promis'd wherein the very Essence of that Covenant Consisted So in order to a further discovery of the true nature of the Covenant in question We must compare some passages in Exod. 34. with 2 Cor. 3. and Col. 2. 14. In Exod. 34. 1. The Lord said unto Moses hew the two Tables of Stone like unto the first And I will Write upon these Tables the words that were in the first Tables ver 4. And he hewed two Tables of Stone like unto the first And Moses went up unto the Mount Sinai as the Lord Commanded him and took in his hand the two Tables of Stone ver 28. And he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights and he Wrote upon the Tables the words of the Covenant the ten Commandments And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two Tables of Testimony in Moses's hand when he came down from the Mount that Moses Wist not that the Skin of his Face shone while he talked with him And when Aaron and all the Children of Israel saw Moses behold the Skin of his Face shone and they were afraid to come nigh him If we will know therefore the true Nature of the Covenant we shall find that the Spirit of God by the Apostle doth give us a clear determination thereof in the fore-mentioned 2. Cor. 3. 5 6. Our Sufficiency saith he is of God who hath also made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit that is not of the Law but of the Gospel For the Letter Killeth but the Spirit giveth Life But saith he ver 7. If the Ministration of Death Written and Engraven in Stones was Glorious so that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the Face of Moses for the Glory of his Countenance which Glory was to be done away how shall not the Ministration of the Spirit be rather Glorious So again ver 9. If the Ministration of Condemnation be Glory much more doth the Ministration of Righteousness exceed in Glory Wherein we cannot but observe that the Apostle doth evidently Reflect upon the fore mentioned Passage in Exod. 34 28 29 c. Where we are told that Moses Received from God the two Tables of Stone wherein the words of the Covenant even the Ten Commandments were Written and Engraven by the Finger of God himself and this Expresly under the Denomination of the Covenant which God then made with Israel Deut. 4. 13. Which made Moses his Face to shine so that Aaron and all the Children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him 'T is clear then that this is the Covenant that Paul hear speaks of And what Character or Description doth he give thereof Why saith he The Law Written and Engraven in Stones how Glorious soever it was in it self was of a Killing Nature it was the Ministration of Death and Condemnation and that which was to be done away To which same purpose the same Apostle also tells us Col. 2. 14. That Christ hath Blotted out the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and hath took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross Where the Apostle speaks plainly of the same thing and to the same purpose as he doth to the Corinthians for there he speaks of the Law Written in Stones which saith he was a Ministration of Death and Condemnation And hereof the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us and contrary to us as the Law must needs be if it was indeed no other than a Ministration of Death and Condemnation as the Apostle describes it But is the Covenant of Faith of this Nature Or was the Covenant of Grace a Ministration of Death and Condemnation as the Apostle Affirms the Law written in Stones to be Was the Covenant of Grace against us Contrary to us and therefore now Blotted out done away taken out of the way and Nailed to the Cross of Christ as the Apostle speaks of the Hand-writing of Ordinances or the Law written in Stones These are Solâ—cisms too strong for Digestion It can never be imagined And yet all this must needs follow if the Law was a Covenant of Grace as is Affirmed 'T is true there was a Covenant of Grace that ran Current therewith as hath been before declared whereby Moses and all the Elect among that People were delivered from the Curse of that Fiery Burning Law that was thus given them But shall we therefore call the Ministration of Death a Ministration of Grace Or the ministration of Condemnation a Ministration of Life and Righteousness which the Apostle doth so plainly set in Opposition thereunto Or shall we say that that which was against us and contrary to us was a Covenant of Grace or for the Substance of it such The Apostle as we have already seen tells us the quite contrary And so he doth Rom. 7. 9 10. When the Commandment came saith he Sin Revived and I Died And the Commandment which was Ordained to Life I found to be unto Death And how then can it be justly Affirmed that the Law was a Covenant of Gospel-Grace or that it was such for the Substance thereof when the Apostle found it by Experience to be a Ministration of Death § 5. Indeed the World Groans under the Burthen of such Subtile Sophistical Distinctions whereby the Truths of the Gospel have been so long Obscured as they have been and are in respect of the present Point a Point of such vast Consequence and Concernment to the Church of God For what can be of greater Moment than the Two Covenants the Truths concerning which are as the two Master Veins that branch themselves forth and lye dispersed up and down throughout the whole Body of the Scriptures If therefore it shall be found that we have been all this while Mistaken in our Notion about the Covenants what they are and which they be or that we have given the Appellation of the Covenant of Grace to a Covenant of Works and hereon
of Faith must of necessity according to the Apostles Reckoning be desirous of Returning to that old Bondage which Christ hath deliver'd us from and which the Apostle doth so earnestly Exhort us to avoid Gal. 5. 1. Stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not Intangled again with the Yoke of Bondage § 8. But though Mount Sinai Covenant which answered to Jerusalem that then was is a Bondage Covenant The Gospel Covenant saith the Apostle which answereth to Jerusalem that is above is free which is the Mother of us all The Gospel Covenant therefore being a free Covenant It must not it ought not to be Blended or Mixt with that from Mount Sinai as if the one were the other and no difference at all to be made betwixt them onely in Respect of the different Degrees of the Discovery of Gospel Grace No saith the Apostle What saith the Scripture Cast out the Bond-Woman and her Son For the Son of the Bond-Woman shall not be Heir with the Son of the Free-Woman So then Brethren we are not Children of the Bond-Woman but of the Free In the 30. and 31. Verses of the forementioned 4th to the Galatians And this we must be And thus we must do as the Apostle here adviseth us unless we shall mingle Law and Gospel together Bondage and Liberty Works and Grace Death and Life And a ministration of Condemnation with that of Righteousness and Peace Which would be no other than as much as in us lies to overthrow the whole Gospel and to obscure darken and confound those truths that are of highest Importance And which ought therefore to be carefully and distinctly handled by us according to the different Services they are designed and appointed for SECT VIII BUT then we are yet further told by Mr. Sedgwick in his forementioned Discourse pag. 174. That that Covenant which was Confirmed by Bloud and Sprinkling which Typified the Bloud of Christ Gonfirming and Ratifying the Covenant was no Covenant of Works But the Covenant which God made then with the Israelites was Confirmed by Blood Exod. 24. 7. Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the Audience of the People And they said All that the Lord hath said we will do and be Obedient Vers 8. And Moses took the Blood and Sprinkled it on the People And said Behold the Bloud of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words Now this very place is quoted by the Apostle Heb. 9. 19. He Sprinkled both the Book and the People Vers 20. Saying This is the Bloud of the Testament which God hath Enjoyned you And expresly Interprets it and applies it to the Blood of Christ Vers 14. and Vers 23. And therefore that Covenant with that People was not a Covenant of Works which never was nor shall be Confirmed by the Bloud of Christ § 2. To which we Reply First That it is Evident that the Covenant the Bloud whereof Moses Sprinkled on the People in the forementioned Exod. 24. 7 8. Could not possibly be the Law Written in Stones which will appear in a diligent Examination of the words before and after Vers 3 4. Moses came and told the People all the words of the Lord and all the Judgments And all the People Answerd with one Voice and said All the words which the Lord hath spoken we will do And Moses Wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the Morning and builded an Altar c. Vers 5. And be sent Young Men of the Children of Israel which offered burnt offerings and Sacrificed Peace offerings of Oxen unto the Lord Vers 6. And Moses took half of the Bloud and put it in Basons And half of the Bloud be Sprinkled on the Altar Vers 7. And he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the Audience of the People And they said All that the Lord hath said we will do and be Obedient Vers 8. And Moses took the Bloud and Sprinkled it on the People and said behold the Bloud of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words Now that the Book of the Covenant here spoken of the Bloud whereof was thus Sprinkled on the People could not be the Law Written in Stones appears most evidently from the following words Vers 9. Then went up Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu and Seventy of the Elders of Israel And they saw the God of Israel c. Vers 12. And the Lord said unto Moses Come up to me into the Mount and be there And I will give thee Tables of Stone and a Law and Commandments which I have Written that thou mayst teach them Wherein first we cannot but observe That whereas the words of the Covenant the Bloud whereof was Sprinkled on the People Vers 8. are expresly said Vers 4. to be Written by Moses So on the other hand the Law Written in Stones is here expresly said to be Written by God himself And Secondly It is also as evident that Moses had not as yet so much as received the Law Written in Stones from God till after he had Sprinkled the Bloud of the forementioned Covenant wherein the Statutes and Judgments were contained upon the People So that the Law Written in Stones therefore could not possibly be the Covenant the Bloud whereof was so sprinkled but was indeed another Covenant and delivered at a distinct Season and in a distinct Method the one uttered and declared by â—he Mouth of God himself in the Audience of all the People the other delivered unto them by the Mouth and Ministration of Moses onely The one Written with Gods own Finger in the two Tables of Stone the other Written in a Book by the Hand of Moses which is accordingly here called the Book of the Covenant by way of distinction from the Tables of Stone From whence by the way it clearly appears That that Covenant which as Moses elsewhere assures us God himself with his own Immediate Mouth and Voice declared unto Israel and that in the Audience of all the People Deut. 4. 10 11 12 13. was in this as well as in other respects as much a Covenant of Works as that made with our first Parent For if the Covenant made with Adam had no Mediator so neither had this 'T is plain indeed that God made use of the Ministration of Moses in the delivery of the Ceremonial Covenant but not so in the Promulgation of this For this was both Written and declared Immediately by the Hand and Mouth of God himself § 3. But to return Whereas Mr. Sedgwick tells us That that Covenant with that People which was Confirmed by Bloud and Sprinkling which Typified the Blood of Christ Confirming and Ratifying the Covenant was not a Covenant of Works which never was nor shall be Confirmed by the Blood of Christ and makes no distinction thereon between the Ceremonial Covenant that was Dedicated with Bloud
3. 10. And is it not as plain that from hence even that from hence it is that the Apostle calls it as he doth a Ministration of Death and Condemnation Against us and Contrary to us c. Besides it ought to be duly considered that the Gospel and Covenant of Grace it self was liable to aâ— great an abuse as the Law by being turned into Lasciviousness as the Scriptures tells us it was and yet the Apostle never thunders against the Gospel as he doth against the Law because Men had abused it 'T is true he tells us concerning the Gospel that to some it is the savour of death unto death to others it is the savour of life unto life that is to those that Reject it it is the savour of death unto death to those that Receive it it is the savour of life unto life But this is vastly different from the character he gives of the Law For saith he By the deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be justified in his sight Rom. 3. 20. And therefore whether it is Received or Rejected it is as the Apostle calls it a Ministration of Death c. Whereas the Gospel is such only to those that Reject it and do not give a saving entertainment to it So that the Distinction we now oppose is altogether without Scripture Warrant and is indeed no other than to impute unfaithfulness to Paul and Moses also in declaring the Nature of the Law as they do And accordingly hence we have just reason to conclude that the Law was never instituted as a Covenant of Faith or as a Covenant of Grace that hath such Epethites fixed thereon by the Spirit of God himself § 3. 'T is true as you say the Law was our School-master to Christ to Convince us of our Necessity of him And Christ is also said to be the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth that is he was the accomplishment thereof he having perfectly fulfilled its Commands submitted to its Curse and answered its Penalty on our behalf whereby it received the Greatest Honour that could be given it a greater by far than ever could be given it by us in our own persons For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for sin or by a Sacrifice for Sin condemned Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us that is in the Person of our Sureâ—y for us Rom. 8. 3 4. But then it is so far from being true that the Law was therefore a Covenant of Faith that it is so much the more Convincingly Evident that it was no other than a Covenant of Works For as much as it is plain that as such Christ himself submitted thereunto on our account And it is as plain that as such it would else have lighted on us in our own Persons in the Execution of its most dreadful Curses and Threatnings But if we will rather have the sense of the words to be as you suggest it is that Christ was the End or Scope of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth that is that it was God's design thereby to drive them to Christ their only Remedy by Convincing them of their Necessity of him It still comes to the same Reckoning For though 't is true there is a plain subserviency in the Law towards the promoting of the Designs of the Covenant of Grace yet as we have already seen it no way follows that the Law is therefore the Covenant of Grace it self or the Handmaid the Mistress her self For saith the Apostle Gal. 4. 24. 25 26. These are the two Covenants the one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to Bondage and is in Bondage with her Children The other Answereth to Jerusalem that is above which is free and is the Mother of us all And if these were the two Covenants and those two essentially different the one from the other in the nature and tendency of either as it is plain by the Apostles scope they are so they must be kept Two they were and two they still remain to be so as what the one is the other is not Hagar had indeed a plain subserviency to Sarah But yet as were the Types so are the Antitypes themselves Essentially different so as that the Bondage Covenant can with no more Sense nor Justice be called a Covenant of Faith because it hath a subserviency thereunto than the Covenant of Faith can wish any shadow of pretence be called a Covenant of Bondage § 4. Besides when the Apostle speaks of the two Covenants these were the two Covenants the one from Mount Sinai meaning the Legal the other the Gospel Covenant He doth sufficiently Intimate that there were never but two General Covenants made with Mankind in all that is the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace And if so then if there were any such thing as a Covenant of Works made with our first Parent before the Fall as we all affirm there was it must of necessity be Included in the Sinai Covenant And that both Materially Considered and Intentionally also Else there were three Covenants and those Specifically different each from other whereas the Apostle tells us but of two To say it was Included in the Gospel Covenant is wholly Absurd Therefore it must of necessity be Included in the Sinai Covenant so as that both together make up that first or old Covenant which the Scripture speaks of For when the Apostle Heb. 8. calls the Sinai Covenant by the Name of the first or Old Covenant as he there doth several times over it cannot possibly be understood that it was therefore the first Covenant that God ever made with Men in respect of time for there had been an Express Covenant made with Abraham and with Noah also long before And we also acknowledge that there was an Implicite Covenant of Works made with our first Parent upon his first Creation besides the Promise of Grace that followed soon after the Fall Therefore the Sinai Covenant must of necessity be called the first or old Covenant because of its Congruity Harmony and Identity with the Covenant of Works made with our first Parent And that both in respect of the matter and Intention thereof also Or else iâ— could never with any Propriety or fitness of Expression be called the first or old Covenant as by the Apostle divers times over it is in the forementioned 8th to the Hebrews § 5. The Law therefore could not possibly be a Covenant of Gospel Grace as by many the most Learned and Worthy Divines and it may be the far greater part of Moderns at least it hath been confidently affirmed to be For as we have before acknowledged though there was never any Covenant that God ever made with Men but hath more or less of Grace therein Since it is an Infinite Condescention
in God that he will have to do with Men at any Rate yet that the Covenant from Mount Sinai was in any Sense or is by vertue of any proper Scripture Distinction to be understood as a Covenant of Gospel Grace whereof Christ alone is the Mediator This is that which for all those forementioned Reasons we utterly deny And this is the Point the onely Point which in the beginning of this Discourse we undertook to disprove And that as being of no small Consequence to the Church of God For upon this Hypothesis or Supposition That the Covenant at Sinai was indeed a Covenant of Grace or a Gospel Covenant for any other Notion of it will not serve the turn and consequently that the Covenant of Circumcision made with Abraham Gen. 17. 7 8 9. is of the same Nature the greatest part of the most plausible Arguments for the support of Infants Baptism are founded But if we have or câ—â— substantially prove that neither of these forementioned Covenants were Gospel Covenants no wonder if we make an Answerable Improvement thereof in its proper place by way of opposition to the forementioned Practice § 6 As for the Scripture before alledged 1 Tim. 1. 8. We know that the Law is good if a Man use it Lawfully It is indeed highly observable For as much as there is a Lawful as well as an unlawful use that Men may make thereof that is if we make use of it as the Rule of our Obedience then we make that Right Just Proper and Lawful use thereof which God requires For we know that in this Respect we are still under the Law to Christ And in this Respect it is true enough as the Apostle tells us that thâ— Law is Holy Just and Good For there is therein a Spiritual Discovery of the Holiness and Righteousness of Gods Nature and Being whose Image must be Ingraven upon us if ever we arrive unto true Blessedness But if we Preach it up or endeavour to Establish it as a Covenant of Life or as a Covenant of Faith and Grace which are Equipollent terms Let us distinguish as we please between a Covenant of Grace Absolutely and subserviently such and consequently are desirous in that Respect to be under it as the Apostle tells the Gallatians and which we cannot avoid if we reckon it to be a Covenant of Grace then according to the Apostles plain Scope in the whole Epistles to the Romans and Gallatians instead of using it lawfully we make an unlawful use thereof by perverting it to such a service as God never Intended it for And are guilty of mingling Law and Gospel together Life and Death and as we have said before a Ministration of Condemnation with that of Righteousness and Peace which would be no other than to overthrow both the Law and Gospel And this is the Apostles own Distinction given us as a Key to open this Controversie by Gal. 1. 6 7. SECT XIII BUT whereas it is yet further Objected That after this Rate both Moses and Abraham and all the Old Testament Saints were under two contrary Covenants at one and the same time from whence many Absurdites do follow As to this we dare not Impeach or Controle Infinite Wisdom We have onely declared plain matter of Fact so far as the Scriptures themselves do inform us For therein it is Evident as hath been already proved that both Moses and the whole Body of that People of Israel in the Wildernest were under the forementioned Covenant from Mount Sinai and that expresly as the Covenant which the Lord Commanded them to perform Deut. 4. 13. And that under the severest Penalties of a dreadful Curse upon every one that Confirmed not all the Words of this Law to do them unto which all the People were to say Amen Deut. 27. 26. This Covenant therefore they were absolutely under as being expresly made both with Moses and the whole Body of the Children of Israel without Exception of any Exod. 34. 27. which we have already argued at large could be no other than a Covenant of Works A Ministration of Death and Condemnation A hand writing of Ordinances that was against us contrary to us And therefore now Blotted out and taken out of the way being Nailed to the Cross of Christ When yet it is also as Evident from the same Holy Scriptures of Truth That at the same time both Moses and all the Elect among that People were under a pure Covenant of Gospel Grace as we have already proved when the Lord told Moses that he had found Grace in his Sight and that he knew him by Name and would make all his Goodness to pass before him and would Proclaim the Name of the Lord before him Saying I will be Gracious to whom I will be Gracious And I will shew Mercy to whom I will shew Mercy And when accordingly the Lord descended in the Cloud and stood with Moses there And Proclaimed the Name of the Lord The Lord God Merciful and Gracious Long-suffering and Abundant in Goodness and in Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Now we have already proved that these were two Distinct Covenants The one made with Moses and the whole Body of that People The other with Moses and those that were Elected among them onely And if these were two contrary Covenants and in themselves just opposite the one unto the other of them â—s indeed they were we have nothing to say but to Conclude with the Apostle in another case concerning the Call of the Gentiles and Rejection of the Jews that were once Gods onely Beloved People to whom pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways pâ—st finding â—ut Rom. 11. 33 34. § 2. However though 't is true New Testament Saints are absolutely freed from the Law as a Covenant of Works by the Sacrifice of Christ yet it is Evident that during the time thereunto appointed by the Father those before were under the Power and Tyranny thereof notwithstanding those Discoveries of Gospel Grace that were otherwise Revealed unto them To this purpose the Apostle tells us Expresly Gal. 3. 23. c. Before Faith came we saith he that is we Jews not we Gentiles for thess passages agree not with the Gentiles at all but we Jews were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterward be revealed â—or as he had said before The Law was added because of Transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise 〈◊〉 made Wherefore the Law was our School-master to Christ that we might be Justified by Faith But after that Faith is come we are no longer under a School-master So again Chap. 4. 1 2 3. c. Now I say that the Heir as long as he is a Child
differeâ—h nothing from a Servant though he be Lord of all But it under Tutors and Governours until the time appointed of the Father Even so we when we were Children were in Bondage under the Elements of the World But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Law that we might Receive the Adoption of Sons So that upon the whole it is plain matter of Fact evident and undeniable Resolve we the Mystery thereof how we will That the Jews even the whole Body of that People without exception of any were for the time appointed of the Father under the Dominion and Tiranny of the Law and that as a Covenant of Works or a Bondage Covenant when yet it is equally as evident that at the same time all the Elect among them were under a Covenant of pure Gospel Grace whereby they were saved § 3. Wherefore we must grant that God's People were then under two distinct or essentially different Covenants We say we must do so provided always that the way of Reconciliation and Salvation was the same under both But it will be said and with great pretence of Reason for it is that which is the sole Foundation they all build upon who affirm the Legal and the Gospel-Covenants to be only a twofold Administration of the same Covenant That this being the Principal End of a Divine Covenant If the way of Reconciliation and Salvation be the same under both then indeed they are for the Substance of them but one And we grant that this would inevitably follow If it were so equally by vertue of them both If Reconciliation and Salvation by Christ were to be obtained not only under the Old Covenant but by vertue thereof then it must be the same for substance with the New But this is not so For no Reconciliation with God nor Salvation could ever be obtained by vertue of the Old Covenant or the Administration of it For by the Deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be justified in his sight as our Apostle disputes at large Rom. 3. 20 c. though all Believers were Râ—â—oncâ—led Justified and Saved by vertue of the Promise whilst they were under that Covenant § 4. And how absurd soever it may seem to be to affirm that God'â— People were under two Contrary Covenants at one and the same time yet as we see the Scriptures do plainly assure us they were so it is evident that the absurdity is by far the greater on the other hand to affirm that the Sinai Covenant was purposely so dispensed as to tender Life and Happiness upon two Opposite and quite Contrary Conditions viz. Works and Faith Perfect Doing and Believing as if the same Foundaiâ—â—â— could at the same time yield forth bitter waters and sweet Which absurdity all those must of necessity run into that affirm the Sinai Covenant to be a Covenant of Faith in Christ Jesus As hath been already shewn SECT XIV ANd here we should have drawn up the sum of what hath been already offered on the present Subject but that there are four Arguments yet behind pretending to prove that the Sinai Covenant and that made with Adam in Paradise were not the same but widely different Covenants which remain therefore to be Answered Only by the way it must be remembred that two Arguments to the same purpose have already been dispatcht The First was That though the Sinai Covenant materially Considered is the same with Adams yet intentionally it is vastly different The Second was That the Sinai Covenant had a Mediator which Adams wanted Both which we hope have been Satisfactorily Answered in the foregoing parts of this Discourse It remains therefore that we proceed to the Consideration of those that follow The first whereof runs thus Arg. 1. Those Covenants that differ in the Subjects or Parties with whom they are made are not the same but different Covenants But so doth that at Sinai and that in Paradice The Covenant made with Adam was made with Innocent and Perfect Man able to keep it This with Lapsed Sinful Man utterly disabled to keep any one Precept of it Reply To which we Reply That the difference betwixt the Subjects makes no alteration in the Substance or Essence of the Covenants Especially since we have already by several Arguments substantially proved not only that they were Materially the same which your selves cannot but acknowledge but intentionally also And forasmuch as 't is undeniable That God hath not forfeited or lost his Right of Sovereignty or Dominion over us though we have forfeited and lost our strength and capacity of Obedience the Covenants in question therefore may very well be the same notwithstanding the difference betwixt their Subjects Arg. 2. Those Covenants that vastly differ in their Dedication are not the same but divers But so doth the Covenants with Israel and with Adam The Covenant with Adam taught no way of the Expiation of Sins by the Dedication of it so did that with Moses Exod. 24. 8. And Moses took the Blood and sprinkled it on the People and said Behold this is the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words Reply To this we Reply That it hath been already proved That though the Ceremonial Covenant was indeed dedicated with Blood and Sprinkling yet the Law written in Stones was noâ— So that if Adam's Covenant wanted Confirmation or Dedication with Blood shewing the Remission of Sins so did that written in Stones also And therefore in this respect there is no difference at all betwixt them True it is that the Ceremonial Covenant was â—o dedicated in which respect there is a plain difference betwixt that and the Covenant made with Adam But this alters not the Case For it is evident that the Law written in Stones was not so dedicated and that is enough to prove what we have all along asserted That the Covenant of Works made with our First Parent was renewed to that People in the Wilderness And though 't is true the Ceremonial Covenant being dedicated as it was did point unto Christ and the way of Salvation by him yet nevertheless it hath been already proved that it was a Covenant of Works as well as that written in Stones and therefore both of them now Repealed to make way for the New Covenant which was established upon better Promises And it having been proved that they were both no other than two several Editions of the same Covenant of Works and that neither of them can with any shadow of Truth or Justice be stiled a Covenant of Grace or a Gospel Covenant which cannot be affirmed without contradicting the whole Scope of the Scriptures it sufficiently serves the design we level at whether there be a Perfect Identity in every Circumstance between either of these and Adam's Covenant or no. For as Dr. Owen well observes Whatever variations
tells them Vers 45. That he would for their sakes remember the Covenant of their Ancestors whom he brought forth out of the Land of Egypt This must of necessity have Reference either to the forementioned Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob Or the Promises mentioned Exod. 33. 34. And cannot possibly have any Reference to the Sinai Covenant For that was a Bondage Covenant Gal. 4. 21 22 c. A Ministration of Death and Condemnation 2 Cor. 3. 7 8 9. Against us and contrary to us And therefore now Blotted out Col. 2. 14. And is accordingly by Moses himself represented as a fiery Law that Proceeded from Gods Right Hand Deut. 33. â—â— So that that could not possibly yield any comfort unto them Whereas the forementioned Covenants did plainly give them hopes of Relief and Pardon But say you see Vers 46. and all is ended We have therefore accordingly Examined that Text But cannot discern that it speaks any thing by way of opposition to what we have Asserted For thus run the words These are the Statutes and Judgments and Laws which the Lord made between him and the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai by the Hand of Moses which can have no other Sense than this That this being the last Verse of the last Chapte save one of Leviticus wherein the Statutes and Judgments or the several branches of the Ceremonial Law had been particularly Rehearsed unto them These words in this 46th Verse contains therefore onely the general Sum thereof So that we cannot discern that it makes off or on as to the present Argument Arg. 4. The Fourth and last Argument runs thus Those Covenants which have Seals annexed of vastly different Nature are not Absolutely or just the same but widely different Covenants But so have these two Covenants Ergo not the same The Tree of Life was the onely Sacrament Annext to the first but the Passover and Circumcision to the last Both holding forth Christ and Salvation by him The first a plain Type of Christ in the Paschal Lamb. The other a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Reply First as to what concerns the Tree of Life which you say was the onely Sacrament annext to Adams Covenant That it was either a Sacrament or a Seal annext to that Covenant the Scripture gives us no Account thereof that we can find And as the Passover and Circumcision which you make to be the Seals of the Sinai Covenant the Scripture is as silent even in that Respect also As for the Passover it was indeed as you say a plain Type of Christ as many other things then were But we do not find that it is ever called a Seal of the Sinai Covenant Nor do we find that Circumcision is ever called the Seal thereof It is indeed called a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith that Abraham had yet being uncircumcized Rom. 4. 11. But the same Apostle expresly tells us Gal. 3. 12. That the Law is not of Faith And if the Law is not of Faith then neither can it be a Covenant of Faith And then it doth also as plainly follow that Circumcision which is by the Apostle termed a Seal of the Righteousness of Abrahams Faith could not be the Seal thereof And in this Respect therefore it is highly observable That though Circumcision is frequently called a Token of the Covenant mentioned Gen. 17. 7 8 9. to the generality that were under it yet the Scripture no where tells us That it was a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith but unto Abraham onely For indeed none else had ever before or after their Circumcision such a Faith that Entituled them to such Singular Promises and Prerogatives as Abraham had But of this we have already said so much toward the Resolution of the present Point in the Seventh Branch of our Answer to the Eleventh Objection in the Second Part of this Discourse foregoing and have yet so much to say in what follows where we shall have a further occasion purposely to handle this Argument that we shall need to say the less of it here SECT XV. FOR a Conclusion of the present Point we shall onely Collect the sum of the foregoing Arguments already Insisted on proving that the Legal Covenant was not a Covenant of Faith But was indeed and in truth no other than a Covenant of Works For First That Covenant that is not of Faith cannot possibly be a Covenant of Faith But the Apostle doth expresly affirm that the Law is not of Faith Gal. 3. 11 12. Therefore neither can it be a Covenant of Faith Secondly That Covenant which is now Repealed could not be a Covenant of Faith But the Apostle doth plainly affirm that the first Covenant for the faultiness thereof is now Repealed Heb. 8. 7 13. 2 Cor. 3. 7 11. Col. 2. 14. Heb. 7. 18. Therefore that Covenant could not be a Covenant of Faith Thirdly That Covenant that could not give Life could not be a Covenant of Faith But the Law could not give Life Gal. 3. 21. 22. Therefore it could not be a Covenant of Faith Fourthly That Covenant that is opposed to the Covenant of Faith as quite another thing could not be a Covenant of Faith But the School-mastership of the Law is by the Apostle plainly opposed and contradistinguished unto the Covenant of Faith as quite another thing Gal. 3. 23 24 25. Therefore it could not be a Covenant of Faith Fifthly That Covenant the Righteousness whereof is opposed to the Righteousness of Faith cannot be a Covenant of Faith But the Righteousness of the Law is plainly by the Apostle opposed to the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 10. 5 6 c. Therefore it could not be a Covenant of Faith Sixthly That Covenant that could never Justifie any that were under it could never be a Covenant of Faith For being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 1. But the Scripture doth expresly Testifie That by the Deeds of the Law there shall no Flesh be Justified in his Sight Rom. 3. 20. Therefore that Covenant could never be a Covenant of Faith Seventhly That Covenant under which though many were Justified yet none were ever Justified by it or by vertue of it could never be a Covenant of Faith But such is the Nature of the Law that though many were Justified under it yet none were ever Justified by it or by Vertue of it Rom. 3. 20. Therefore that Covenant could never be a Covenant of Faith Eighthly That Covenant that saith Do this and Live Or that the Man that doth these things shall Live by them cannot possibly be a Covenant of Gospel-Grace but of Works Since the Apostle Informs us That to him that worketh is the Reward reckoned not of Grace but of Debt Rom. 4. 4. But the same Apostle doth expresly tell us That Moses describeth the Righteousness of the Law that the Man which doth these things shall live by them Rom. 10. 5.
But saith the Apostle the Scripture foreseeing that God would Justifie the Heathen through Faith that is freely and without the Works of the Law Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham Saying In thee shall all Nations be Blessed that is in Christ the Promised Seed And this was indeed plain Gospel A pure Evangelical Covenant wholly free and Absolute containing glad Tydings even unto the Gentiles also as well as to the Jews And is the very Language of the Gospel Covenant before Rehearsed out of Gen. 12. 2 3. and Gen. 22. 17 18. And not a word or Syllable of the Expression or terms of the Covenant of Circumcision That being plainly a Legal Covenant and the Promises therein Contained bounded with Conditions impossible to be performed And in this respect it is that he speaks as he doth in what follows So then saith he Vers 9. they which are of Faith are Blessed with Faithful Abraham still the Language of the Gospel Covenant They which are of Faith saith he are Blessed But how are they Blessed Why they are Blessed a◠Faithful Abraham was Blessed And how was that Was it in the way of Faith or Works In the way of Doing or Believing Not in the Way of Doing but in the way of Believing And accordingly the Apostle tells us Rom. 4. 13. That the Promise that he should be the Hear of the World was not to him or to his Seed through the Law but through the Righteousness of Faith 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 Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the Seed To which same purpose the Apostle further adds Vers 13 14. of Gal. 3. That as many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse For it is Written Cursed is every one that Continueth not in all things that are Written in the Book of the Law to do them But Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ The Reason of which last Clause through Jesus Christ He renders Vers 16. to be forasmuch as all the Promises of the Gospel Covenant were first made unto Christ the Inheriting Seed by and through whom alone they are to be Communicated to all his Members Now saith he to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made He saith not Vnto Seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ In all which we have the very words and Language the Tenor and Terms not of the Covenant of Circumcision I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee in their Generations as it is there plainly expressed in the Plural Number and restrained onely to Abrahams Natural Posterity and that upon Condition of Obedience impossible to be performed which was the Tenor of that Covenant But of the Gospel Covenant before mentioned which as it was every way free and Absolute and therefore sure and certain to all the Seed therein concerned Rom. 4. 13 14 15 16. So it was as Vniversally Extensible through Christ the Promised Seed taking in both Jews and Gentiles For in thy Seed saith God to Abraham shall all the Nations of the Earth be Blessed Wherein as Gods Heart and Mouth seems to be filled with Blessings through Christ toward both Abraham himself and all the Seed therein concerned So doth the Apostle Recite the very same Expressions of Blessing and Blessedness over and over again and that in the same Evangelical Style pointing out unto us as with his Finger what was that Covenant from whence all the Blessedness he speaks of was to descend upon the Gentiles which therefore is Represented unto us as the great Charter of the Gentiles hope and which being Confirmed as it is and that both by Word and Oath shall therefore never be dis-annulled § 2. 'T is true the Covenant of Circumcision is called also an Everlasting Covenant But that can be understood in no other sense than that wherein the Priest-hood of Aaron and his Sons under the Law was called an Everlasting Priest-hood Exod. 40. 15. which yet we know to be now Abollished And as likewise the Covenant made with Phineas was called the Covenant of an Everlasting Priest-hood Numb 25. 13. which yet is now also done away being onely intended during the Continuance of the then present Administration For as Mr. Pool tells us the word Olam rendered for ever doth not always signifie Eternity But a long Continuance as is evident saith he from Gen. 17. 13. and Exod. 21. 16. And thus was it in respect of the Covenant of Circumcision which forasmuch as it was not Confirmed both by Word and Oath as the Gospel Covenant made with Abraham was and forasmuch as Circumcision it self which was the very Sign and Token of it is now Repealed and more especially forasmuch as though God did indeed promise to Establish his Covenant between him and them for an Everlasting Covenant yet still it was provided they kept his Covenant and fulfilled the Condition thereof on their part in which respect it was as much a Covenant of Works as any of the other Covenants were that have been before Discoursed of From hence it inevitably follows that it is now revoked and done away Acts 15. 24. Col. 2. 14. Heb. 8. 7 13. whereas the Gospel Covenant being every way Free and Absolute it is therefore unchangeably sure and certain to all the Seed thereunto belonging as it is expresly affirmed by the Apostle Rom. 4. 13 14 15 16. And as it had been for the same Reason before asserted by the Prophet David 2 Sam. 23. 5. and by God himself Isa 55. 1 3. SECT X. BUT whereas we are told That it must needs have occasioned many clamours among the Jews and have been a great Bar against their Reception of the Gospel had they been told that the Covenant they so much trusted in was now repealed and their Seed cast out of the Church It is manifest to those whose Eyes are open that the Repeal of the Covenant of Circumcision which the Jews could not but sufficiently understand by the Removal of the very Sign and Token of it did indeed occasion no small Dissatisfaction unto them as is evident from sundry places in the Acts as well as also in the Epistle to the Galatians More particularly Acts 21. 20 21. where James and the rest of the Elders present tell Paul That many thousands of the Jews which believed and were all zealous of the Law had been informed of him that he had taught all the Jews which were among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying That they ought not to Circumcise their Children neither to walk after the Customs And it is plain that he had taught this Doctrine unto them which had occasioned no
it is strange that all Flesh should so soon have corrupted its way that God saw Cause to bring the Flood upon the World of the Vngodly And surely if there had been any such Covenant Holiness as is imagined before the Flood there would have been some Godly Society some greater Number of Believers to have been preserved beside Noah and his Family Who were not all Godly neither there was a Cham even among them which would not have been if there had been such a Lineal Conveyance of Grace and Covenant Holiness from the Father to the Son as is affirmed § 5. Fourthly Though Infant Church-membership did indeed take place as an Ordinance of God before the Ceremonial Law was instituted It doth not therefore follow that it was a Moral Institution and therefore not to be Repealed For so did Sacrifices also and the building of Altars for the Worship of God as is evident in what is related concerning Abel and Noah and yet there is none but take it for granted that they are now abolished Nay even Circumcision it self was in use in the Church of God 400 years before the Proclaiming of the Law to that People in the Wilderness and yet there is none that reckons it therefore to be a Moral Institution or that questions the Repeal thereof together with the rest of those Ceremonies which were imposed on them till the time of Reformation § And whereas we are told that if Infant Church-membership be Repealed it must be either in Justice or in Mercy It may be neither in Judiciary Justice nor in Favourable Mercy but from a pure Act of God's Soveraignty who as he is highest Lord of all may do with his own what he listeth having an Unlimitted and Boundless Right to Bestow or Revoke what he pleaseth according to the Counsel of his own Will For though the Gifts and Callings of God are without Repentance in respect of Inward and Spiritual Blessings yet not so in respect of outward Priviledges But that the Repeal in question is not to the Loss but rather to the Spiritual Advantage of Parents and Children and consequently in Mercy to both hath been already sufficiently manifested in the foregoing parts of this Discourse § 7. So that it clearly appears that the Novel Opinion which hath been lately started concerning the Morality of Infants Church-membership hath no Scripture Foundation for the support thereof it being evident that as it came in with the Law of Circumcision so it went out and was Repealed with it For the Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the Law Heb. 7. 12. Which must needs include Circumcision with all the Appurtenances and Priviledges thereunto belonging as hath been before abundantly proved SECT XVII § 1. FOR a Conclusion therefore unto the whole of what hath been offered on this Subject in this and the foregoing parts of this Discourse It is now at last with all Humility presented unto God's People to consider whether it be not their high Concernment Speedily and Effectually to endeavour a thorow Reformation of so great an Abuse in the Divine Service as the Practice of Infant-Sprinkling hath been now proved to be It being no other than the Change of a Divine Institution and that not only in respect of the Subject Infants being substituted in the Room of Professed Repenting Believers But also in respect of the due Form or Manner of its Administration Sprinkling being used instead of Dipping And so in both Respects making void the Commandment of Christ It was the Commendation that Paul gave the Corinthians 1 Corinth 11. 1 2. That they had kept the Ordinances as they were delivered unto them Certainly Jesus Christ is very Punctual in things of this Nature and he will one day call men to an account for their Deviations in matters of such importance If men are careful to see that their Laws be strictly obeyed without which they reckon their Authority slighted What may we think of the Laws of the Great King And whether or no will he not reckon his Authority slighted in our present case when he cometh to make Inquisition concerning such as have not demeaned themselves according to the Divine Prescript We know with what severity God proceeded against Nadab and Abihu for their presuming to Change his Ordinance of Old by Offering up Strange Fire which he had not Commanded Lev. 10. 1 2. We know also what befel David and the People of Israel who had made a New Cart for the Carriage of the Ark which was to have been born on the Priests shoulders only They might have pleaded as well as you that this was not expresly forbidden But yet nevertheless For this Cause the Lord made a Breach upon them for that they did not seek him after the due Order 1 Chron. 15. 13. In reference whereunto let that Scripture also be duly considered Isa 24. 5 6. Because they have transgressed the Laws changed the Ordinance broken the Everlasting Covenant 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 § 2. That Infants Baptism hath no Footing nor Foundation at all in the Word of God hath been already at large demonstrated And that it is made use of to the Justling out and making void the Commandment of Christ in reference to the Baptism of Believers hath been also evinced and all the most Material Arguments which are usually urged for the support thereof have been with Scripture Evidence Refuted The Lord grant a hearing Ear and an understanding Heart and an obedient Mind that the present Testimony rise not up at last as a Witness against you For the Lord the God of gods even the Lord the God of gods he knoweth and Israel at length also shall know if it be in Rebellion or if it be in Transgression against the Lord that the present Witness is born and if it hath not rather been done with his Approbation and at his Commandment in order to the stirring up all that truly love and fear God's Name to a sincere endeavour after the Primitive Purity and that both in respect of Doctrine and Worship § 3. Certain it is that these things will be found at length to have been of Highest concernment unto us and must therefore be our most Serious Practise and Faithful Endeavour as BOOKS Printed for John Harris at the Harrow against the Church in the Poultrey 1. A Discourse of Divine Providence 1. In General That there is a Providence Exercised by GOD in the World 2. In Particular How all Gods Providences in the World are in order to the good of his People By the late Learned Divine Stephen Charnock B. D. sometimes Fellow of New Colledge in Oxon. Price bound Three Shillings 2. THe Balm of the Covenant Applied to the Bleeding Wounds of Afflicted Saints First Composed for the Relief of a Pious Worthy Family Mourning over the Deaths
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