deprive them of the seale of it is in a spirituall sense farre more heavy And I dare appeale to the tender bowels of any beleeving Parents whether it were not easier for them to thinke that their Infants should be dashed against the stones and yet in the meane time to die under Christs wing as visible Members of his Kingdome Church and Family rather then to have them live and behold them to have a visible standing onely in the Kingdome of the Devill These men know not how much they provoke Christs displeasure against themselves He was greatly displeased with his owne Disciples for forbidding little children to come unto him one day such men will know that he is much more displeased with them who with so great violence oppose the bringing of beleevers children unto his holy Sacrament that with unspeakable wrong injury and slander they prosecute all the Ministers of Christ who give Infants this their due condemning them for Ministers of Antichrist and limbes of the Beast yea some of them proceeding so farre as condemning all the Churches of Christ to be no Churches who cast not their children out of the Covenant of Grace and the seale of it and doe cry out upon the Baptizing of Infants as one of those great sinnes which bring and continue all our judgements upon us The Apostate Emperour Julian is justly cryed out upon for his cruelty against the Christians for denying to their bodies humane Sepulture how much more cruell is it to deny to the souls of Infants the just priviledge and benefit of the Covenant of Grace We know he did it out of hatred to Christianity which I am farre from charging upon these men but if we compare the sentence and fact of the one with the other we shall find the latter be their principle what it will farre more injurious to the Church of Christ then the other The Lord in mercy give them to see how unjust that sentence and how heavy that doome is which they thus passe not only upon Infant Children but upon all the Churches of Christ and seriously to consider whether the Lord who once in his displeasure threatned to dash their Infants against the Stones who had dasht the Infants of the children of Israel against the Stones will indure it at the hands of any to expunge the Seed of the faithfull out of his Covenant and to drive them from his City and Kingdom after this cruell manner Secondly how much may this comfort the Soule of every beleeving Parent to behold this great love and goodnesse of God in his Covenant of Grace to them and their posterity that not only themselves but even their Infants for their sakes should be reckoned to the household of God put into the Arke wrapped up in a Covenant of love brought under the wing of God When God had promised to David that he should have a son to whom God would be a Father and that all his posterity should after such a gracious manner be regarded his heart was even ravished with it O Lord God said he what am I and what is my house that thou hast brought mee hitherto and this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken also of thy servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of men O Lord God And even so should Christian Parents break out into admiration of his goodnesse in taking their children into that gracious Covenant which is not only the womb and vessell but also the well-head of so many mercies which are terminated not in themselves but flow down to their posterity from generation to generation And this is yet more admirable in our eyes when we seriously consider how uncleane and filthy how viperous a brood they are as proceeding out of our loines empty of all goodnesse full of all wickednesse an uncleane leprosie having bespread them from the crown of the Head to the sole of the Foot fit only to be cast into the open field to the loathing of their persons in the day that they are born as all the rest of the world are and that God should set his heart upon such as these to take them thus neere unto Himself when he passes by both Parents and Infants of all the world beside now would our hearts melt in his praises if we could consider these things 2. How should this ingage all Christian Parents to look to the education of their Children to bring them up in the nurture and feare of the Lord It 's a wofull thing to consider the wretched carelesnesse of many Parents yea not onely carelesnesse but ungodlinesse of many Parents who prostitute their children to the Devill and his service after they have consecrated them to Christ by baptisme train them up in ignorance profanenesse c. To whom God may say as he did to that Harlot Ezek. 16. Thou hast taken my Sonne and my Daughter whom thou hast born unto mee and these thou hast sacrificed unto Devils A generation of wretched men who take more care of their Hogs and Dogs then they doe of their Infants immortall soules nourishing the former murdering the latter that we may say of them as Augustus did of Herod that it is better to be Herods Dog then his Son I have often heard a sad Story of a wretched Woman who perswaded her Daughter to yeeld to the lust of a rich man in hope he would marry her as he had promised to doe which she did and presently after fell sick and died The wretched mother hereupon grew distracted and in her madnesse cryed out O my Daughters soule my Daughters soule I have damned my Daughters soul Verily thus may many Parents cry out upon themselves for murthering their childrens soules and their children may wish that they had beene either dogges or swine rather then their Sons or Daughters miserable children of miserable Parents what will such Parents answer God when he comes to demand his children of them Suppose a Prince or Noble man should put a Child to Nurse unto some mean man and pay them well for the education of it or rather suppose a Great man should adopt the child of a poor man to be his own and should say unto this poore man as Pharaohs daughter said to Moses mother Bring up this Child for mee and I will give thee thy wages afterward comming to see this Child should find they had lamed the Child and taught it nothing but to speake evill of them and to fight against them thinke I pray you what they would say or doe to this wretched man How much more abominable is the sin of many Parents who by their own carelesnesse and vile example leaven their children with principles and lead them in wayes quite contrary to the Covenant of grace tending to nothing but to dishonour God and to their own destruction If any of you have
alledge that though Circumcision was to be applyed to their Infants yet it was not as a seale of the spirituall part of the Covenant of Grace but as a nationall badge a seale of some temporall and earthly blessings and proviledges as of their right to the land of Canaan c. and that Ishmael though he was circumcised for some temporall respects yet he was not thereby brought under the Covenant of Grace which was expresly said to be made with Abraham in relation to Isaac and his seed I answer there is nothing plainer then that the Covenant whereof Circumcision was the signe was the Covenant of Grace Abraham received Circumcision a signe of the righteousnesse of faith and the Jewes received it not as a Nation but as a Church as a people separated from the world and taken into Covenant with God It is true indeed that Circumcision bound them who received it to conforme to that manner of administration of the Covenant which was carried much by a way of Temporall blessings and punishments they being types of spirituall things but no man can ever shew that any were to receive the Sacrament of Circumcision in relation to these outward things onely or to them at all further then they were administrations of the Covenant of grace sure I am the Prosolytes and their children could not be circumcised in any relation at all to the Temporall blessings of the Land of Canaan as they were temporall because notwithstanding their Circumcision they were not capable of receiving or purchasing any inheritance at all in that Land sojourne there they might as other strangers also did but the inheritance of the Land no not one foot of it could ever bee alienated from the severall Tribes to whom it was distributed as their possession by the most High For all the land was divided unto twelve Tribes and they were not any one of them allowed to sell their lands longer then till the yeare of Jubilee Levit. 25.13 c. Yea I may boldly say that their Circumcision was so farre from sealing to them the outward good things of the Land that it occasioned and tyed them to a greater expence of their temporall blessings by their long and frequent and chargeable journeyes to worship at Hierusalem And as for what was alledged concerning Ishmael the answer is easie God indeed there declares that Isaac should bee the type of Christ and that the Covenant of grace should bee established and continue in his family yet both Ishmael and the rest of Abrahams family were really taken into Covenant untill afterward by Apostasie they discovenanted themselves as also did Esau afterward though he were the Son of Isaac in whose family God had promised the Covenant should continue Fifthly and lastly the priviledges of beleevers under this last and best administration of the Covenant of grace are many wayes inlarged made more honourable and comfortable then ever they were in the time of the Jewes administration many Scriptures speake of the inlargement of their priviledges not one for the diminishing or depressing or extenuating of them that yoke that hard and costly way of administration which neither they nor their Fathers were able to beare is taken off from our shoulders our Covenant is said to be established upon better promises the glory of theirs had no glory in respect of ours they were under the bondage of Infants under age in comparison of our freedome we as well as they are called a holy Nation a peculiar people a chosen generation separated to him from all other people to whom as well as to them belongs the adoption the Covenant the promises we as well as they injoy him to be our Father and with his dearest Son our Lord are made Co-heires of the Kingdome of glory we have all these things with advantage not onely in the clearnesse of the administration but in some sense in greater extent to persons with us there is neither male nor female Some indeed goe about to shew that in some things the Jewes had greater priviledges then Wee have as that Abraham had the priviledge to be called the Father of the faithfull that Christ should bee borne of his flesh Mary had the priviledge to be the Mother of Christ and the whole Nation this priviledge that God will call in their seed againe after they had been cast off for unbelief many hundred yeers which priviledges say they none of the Gentiles have or can have Answ. But these things have no weight we are inquiring for priviledges which are branches of the Covenant of grace which every man who is in Covenant with God may expect from God by vertue of the Covenant were he a Jew or a Proselyte not for any particular or peculiar favour to a particular man or woman or family or tribe All these forementioned things and many other of the like kind as the Ministery of the Tabernacle and Temple to belong to one Tribe the Kingly office to one family such and such men never to lack a man of their house to stand before God proceeded indeed from Free-grace but were no parts of that Covenant of grace which God made to Abraham and all his Seed For could every man in Covenant challenge these things at Gods hand and that by vertue of the Covenant Could every one of them promise to himself that Christ should be born of his flesh Or every one of their women that she should be the Mother of Christ Could every one whom God owned to be in Covenant with him promise by vertue of the Covenant that their children if cast off by unbeleefe should after many hundred yeers be again called in We speake only of such priviledges as were universall and common to all who were in Covenant for which by vertue of the Covenant they might relie upon God Let any man shew out of the Scripture where our priviledges under the Gospel are cut short in any of these things and he saith somwhat and in particular for the Case in hand concerning our Infants right to the Covenant of grace and the seale of it once we are sure the Infant Children of all Covenanters were within the Covenant and the seale also belonged to them and by vertue of the Covenant which is still the same we plead their interest in it Let any man shew when and where this was taken away when the Infant-children of beleevers were expunged out of the Covenant of grace certainly whoever will go about to deprive them of it to cut off such a great part of the comfort of Beleeving parents must produce cleare testimonies before they can perswade beleevers to part with either of them either their right to the Covenant or to the seale of the Covenant For first their Infants interest in the Covenant next to glory of God and the salvation of their own souls is the greatest benefit of the Covenant of grace even this I say to have
been guilty of it in time past be deeply humbled for it crave mercy and pardon and for time to come indeavour to do the part of a nursing Father or Mother for Christ looking upon thy children as being Christs more then thine yea as not being thine but Christs to whom thou hast consecrated them and therefore as wise and loving Nurses use to doe carry them often to their father for his blessing and he will blesse them and reward thee also we find in the second of Joel that in the day of their Fast they were to bring their children and set them before the Lord that he might be moved to compassion for the childrens sake whom he used to call his owne set thou thy children often before him intreat him as Joseph did his father for his two sonnes and as they did our Saviour Marke 10. that he would put his hands upon them and blesse them Doe it heartily humbly frequently tell him how deare they are to thee and the dearer because he is pleased to owne them tell him their wants and thy own inability to supply them in any thing and how easie it is for him to doe it by his Spirit and Grace Oh that Ishmael might live in thy sight said Abraham Say thou so also Lord let these children live before thee thine they are and thou gavest them me to bring up for thee Oh blesse my labour among them and make them such as thou wouldest have them to be And doe not onely pray for them but discipline them and instruct them acquainting them with the Scriptures and Catechising them in the Principles of Religion as the Mother and Grandmother of Timothy did him training him up from his infancy in the knowledge of the holy Scripture and be assured if thy children may learne from thee to know their heavenly Father to beleeve in him to love him and feare him betimes that being taught the trade in their youth they may not forsake it when they are old they will then more blesse God for thee then if thou couldest leave them all the world for their inheritance it was for this that Solomon gloried in his father and mother Prov. 4.2 3. and for this will thy children rise up and call thee blessed Thus shalt thou approve thy selfe a true sonne of Abraham Thus shall thy children be blessed with faithfull Abraham Thus shall the Covenant the spirituall part and benefit of it as well as the outward rest upon thy posterity from generation to generation Thirdly and lastly This serves for use to all children whom God honours so farre as in their Infancy to bring thus neare unto himselfe and to use them thus as his owne and that three severall wayes First to incourage and comfort them to beleeve in him and rest upon him for all the good things which he hath promised in the Covenant of Grace The Papists as in some things they give and ascribe too much to Baptisme making it to take away originall sinne ex opere operato So in other things they rob Gods people of the comfortable use of it because they say that when once we commit actuall sinnes we make shipwracke of Baptism and then Penance must be secunda tabula post naufragium a Cockbot after our shipwrack but this blessed Sacrament seekes for a more durable and comfortable use even to be an Arke as my Text cals it to carry to heaven Know then that whensoever thou findest thy selfe at a losse sensible of thy undone condition findest thy guilt and filth and bondage through sinne and flyest unto Christ and thy conscience witnesseth with thee that thou wouldest walke for time to come according to the rule of the Covenant in uprightnesse to make God in Christ thy portion and his word thy guide So often I say as thou doest this maiest thou fly to thy Baptisme and plead it for thy comfort as we may plead the Rainbow in foule weather against the worlds destruction by water I have often heard a story of a great Queen who gave a Ring to a Nobleman while he was her Favourite and willed him to send it to her when he should stand in greatest need of her favour who afterward falling into her displeasure sent the Ring which through the treachery of the bearer was not delivered till it was too late But it shall never happen so to thee doe thou in all thy extremity shew or send by the hand of faith thy Seale which God hath given thee plead it confidently and to thy dying day it may be an Arke unto thy soule in all cases of relapse desertion temptation or whatever else may betide thee upon the renewing of thy repentance and faith in Christ Jesus Secondly This great love of God in taking us thus neare into his own Family as his own Children should make many of us blush to remember our unworthy conversation in times past yea it might make our very hearts to bleed and make us not only wish we had been unbaptized but even unborn rather then to pollute the holy Covenant and the seale of it as we have done with our unhallowed lives Can it seem a light thing in our eyes that when God hath left the greatest part of the world as strangers from his Family and Kingdom to be under Satans kingdom and taken us no better by nature than they are to be his peculiar ones into Covenant with him that he should sweare unto us to be our God and hitherto to train us up under such heavenly Ordinances and we to walk in the meane time as rebels and enemies unto him like the unbaptized world can we think our condemnation not to be greater then theirs Let me a little reason the case with you Doe you know into what a Covenant the Lord hath taken you what he hath done for you and expects from you have not your Ministers and Parents instructed you in it Now tell me what is the reason of your unanswerable conversation is it because you renounce the Covenant as being made when you understood it not if so that you do indeed renounce it Take your course serve the God you have chosen yet tell me I beseech you what iniquity is in the Lords Covenant what hurt is there in it what disadvantage have you met withall or where and how do you hope to find better things then God to be your Father Christ Jesus to bee your Saviour the Spirit to bee your Comforter to have your sins pardoned and healed to be adopted justifyed sanctifyed and every way comfortably provided for here and saved for ever Doe the Gods you have chosen to serve provide better things then these that you renounce Christ for their sakes If you say God forbid you should renounce Christ No you hope to bee saved by Christ as well as any other Then tell me in good sadnesse doe you expect that Christ should stand bound to perform his part of the