as does appear in particular by the Ninevites as also by the Sacrifices for the Atonement of the Deity which have been in use in all Nations Not but all the World is under the same Law as Adam was the Law that was for our Nature cannot be altered but we are not under it on the same terms We are under it as a Rule of Life but we are not under it as a Rule of Judgment We are under it so as we are bound to live according to it but we are not under it so that if we do not we shall be justified or condemned by it There is one Religion therefore Law or Rule for all Mankind to obtain Life by which being the Law of our Lapsed Nature or Remedying Law containing God's Grace administred to all the Earth in a threefold State of such as were or are without the Law or before it and under the Law and under the Gospel as this Administration is threefold so hath the Faith which is the Condition thereof been diversified But now is the Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith The Righteousness of God is the Righteousness of this Law which hath ever been afoot in the World And though a Heathen hath not that Faith as is required of the Christian under the Third Edition of it or that which was required of the Jew under the Second yet hath he such a Faith as belongs to the First such as the Antients before Abraham had and so long as that Faith he hath does work by Love or by Sincere Obedience to God according to his Light it will justifie him as well as that which is now further required of us under the Gospel It follows that this Law being that which is given for Life and so the one only true Measure of Religion to all the World must belong to the Government of God which is Vniversal and that is the Natural Government of God The Government of God which is Conventional is that Government which He hath taken over some certain Persons as they are gather'd or joyned together into Societies unto which they are called out of the World for the Glorifying his Name in that Worship and Service of Him which He hath Instituted by his Positive Law Precepts or Ordinances I mean such as He hath any way revealed to be his Will whether they be such as belong to the Law of Nature also or such as do not in order to the taking owning and acknowledging Him for their God in a peculiar manner that is in opposition to the Worship of any other God or Idols and the serving Him the true God in any other way but what He hath appointed and their becoming thereby a peculiar People to Him and so being under his Favour and Blessing in regard to all the good things of this Life and that which is to come I do observe here the Government of God which is Natural is over all the World this Government which is Conventional is over some Persons only called out of the World into a peculiar Relation to God That the One is over All but consider'd as Single Persons taking in every Individual in the World the Other is over some and so over Singulars also but consider'd as Incorporated for the Publick Service of God That the One Government is by the Law of Nature I mean both of Lapsed and Innocent Nature the Other is by his Positive or Revealed Laws That these Laws and Ordinances of God therefore which He hath revealed as they are more and as they are revealed otherwise or farther than by the Light of Nature or Natural Reason only are a high Priviledge to such as they are vouchsafed to What Advantage thâ—n bath the Jew above the Gentile Much every way chiefly because that unto them was committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.1 2. That this giving to a People his Oracles or Positive Institutions are advantageous upon this Account that they are Means for obtaining his blessing or else there could be no such Advantage in them That this Blessing of God must not be look'd on only to concern Temporal Things but Spiritual and Eternal For seeing Man consists of a Body and a Soul and that Soul is Immortal he cannot be happy but in Both. That the great and principal Advantage therefore that we have by these Ordinances or Government of God which is Conventional must and does lie in being Means for the bringing Men up to the Performance of the Terms of that Law which God by his Government which is Natural and Vniversal hath made to be the Rule of Judgment to all Men for Everlasting Life or Condemnation There are some Learned Men that will not have Adam nor any in the World to have been in Covenant with God before Abraham understanding it of a Covenant of Life But so long as God had a Government in the World before Abraham and that Government must be by a Law and that Law to Adam fallen to Seth Enoch Melchisedeck must be a Law of Grace or else no Man of them could have been saved it is but a Matter of Words whether they call this Law of Grace and Life a Covenant or not This we must have a Care of that we distinguish this Law of Grace or Law for Life and Salvation which is contained in these Words Walk before Me and be Vpright belonging out of question to Adam Seth Enoch as much as to Abraham and the Covenant which God made with Abraham hereupon being such an upright Person in regard to himself and Posterity I will make my Covenant between Me and Thee and I will multiply thee exceedingly I I will establish my Covenant between Me and Thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations to be a God to Thee and thy Seed after Thee This is my Covenant Every Man-child among you shall be Circumcised There is the Covenant of Life therefore and Covenant of Advantage The Covenant of Life I scruple not to call it Law or Covenant was made with faln Adam and in him with all the World and is all one with the Law of Grace I say that belongs to God's Natural Government which is Vniversal and according to this Law or Covenant must every Man be judged at the last Day The Covenant of Advantage is the Covenant which God made with Abraham and with the Israelites for his sake beginning it with him by Circumcision unto which were added other Rites and Ordinances by Moses together with the Declaration of the Moral Law and in regard hereunto that People are said to be a holy People a peculiar People and preferred before all the Nations in the World Among all the Multitude of People Thou hast gotten Thee one People and unto this People whom Thou lovedst Thou gavest a Law that is approved of all says Esdras 2 Esd 5.27 Ye stand this Day all of you before the Lord to enter into Covenant with the Lord thy God Deut. 29. Thou art
no otherwise than as they are reputed Members of the Invisible upon this Reason which is therefore to be look't on as the Stating and all the Stating he has of the Point because they become Members by their Voluntary Covenanting by Baptism It is a Contradiction For their Voluntary Covenanting by Baptism is in the common Account Professing themselves Members of the Church Invisible I am very sensible that this Notion of a Visible Member which he opposes as the Independent Notion is the Notion of our Protestants in general and when he hath said so much to Confute it in the Independent he must not go back upon his Knowledge that the Presbyterian and the Church of England as well as the Congregationalist agree in the same Nay so long as he but uses the Term Visible and tells us That the Vnregenerate are Members of the Church only as Visible or only Visible Members the Cause is given up for to be a Visible Member and no more is to be a. Member of Christ in the Account of Men when they are not so in the Sight of God which is That they who oppose us would have according to the received Opinion even of all sorts of Protestant Divines as I said but now As for this Author then and Mr. Blake I see no Foot-steps leading them out of this Difficulty having had no Inckling of any Difference between God's Government over all Mankind for Eternal Life and that Kingdom which He set up over the Jews and committed to the Messiah to be spread over all Nations by the Gospel as subservient to that End and consequently between the Condition necessary to bring Men into a State of Salvation according to the Covenant of Grace and That which serves to make Men Subjects to this Voluntary Government or Kingdom and capable of Entring the Covenant belonging thereunto as Means to the Other and so to distinguish of a Saving Faith and One Short of it accordingly I do much less remember in these Authors any thing of Solidity about the Measure or Stint of that Faith which does Entitle to Baptism and not to Justisication If a Faith less than Saving do suffice to give this Right it must be known to what Degree that Faith must come to have this Virtue and what That is which gives it But I should never have found Light in their Books about the General Grace of God from whence that Virtue springs and whereupon it is certainly founded Or of that Degree which specifies this Faith which is short of Saving and yet gives Right upon the Account thereof to Admission I let thus much be yet but a Riddle till the Book be read over and that all of it for the Notion is not compleat till you come to the very End Whosoever will let him take the Water of Life freely I do not forget that all Men know but in part and I am conscious how little I know in respect of Others and that there is like to be a great deal wanting in my Papers and perhaps something of Inconsistency too as in these Worthy Persons especially in offering some Variety for Men to choose where if I stuck to One thing they could not have it And I do therefore give the like Liberty to Others to open those Defects with all my Heart if it be to the same End of helping Them and compleating the Notion It is but little a Man can do with his single Strength It is but little Light that any sow usually at first which must grow up by the blowing of Others That which I sow I know can but be a Seed so small as the Mustard-seed which yet if it be look't to watered and cultivated by other Hands may spread into a Tree for the Time to come to gather Fruit of it In the mean while I will give warning That no Body make this Discourse a Pretext for Impiety in the neglect either of his Exhortation of Others or of his Care to his own Soul in sitting themselves for Baptism or the Supper if they come to them That a Man repent of all his Sins and dedicate himself unto God in sincere Obedience or entire measured by Grace and particularly the more solemnly when he comes to these Sacraments is his unquestionable Duty And for as much as this is the usual Theme of our Practical Books and Sermons I do declare by these Presents my Approbation of such Labours and that there is nothing in this Discourse to be understood to the contrary but rather to press the same thing upon all Persons as ever they expect to have the Remission of their Sins and obtain Salvation Nevertheless in regard that it is Sathan's Policy to make Holiness and Peace oftentimes to become Stumbling-Blocks one to the Other while some Men by secking the Purity of the Church do themselves take and more often give occasion to others to break the Peace of It it is the Endeavour of these Sheets to let Men understand That though such Lessons are well taught and urged on all that come yet is it their Duty still to come and of the Church to receive those that come And if such be Admitted that come not as they ought when yet they ought to come it is not for any upon that Account to Separate from Vs We are indeed to take heed we be not levened by any one's Sin and to Admonish the Guilty if it be not casting Pearl before Swine and to tell the Church if a Brother be refractory But our Communion with evil Men does not maculate any says St. Austin by partaking of the Sacrament with them unless we joyn in or consent to their Deeds In the Threshing of the Wheat the Corn parts from the Chaff but Both of them keep the same Floor And however the Devil would be setting Holiness and Peace at distance it is our part to keep to both not willingly letting One intrench upon the Other And such Doctrine is to be taught and to be so tempered as most conduces to make them Meet I shall not therefore be concerned much at those Men who will be apt to say That my Larger Way will bring in too many into the Church and confound the World with it For besides that this is a Mistake so long as a Christian and a Pagan are not confounded and it is not the Vngodly but the more tender Godly that would stick at what they are put to profess supposing them once willing to come in I am not sensible of any such great Hurt in this when according to the Prophecies of Scripture it is the Glory of the Church under the Gospel that the Kingdoms of the World do become the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Seek ye Me says God and seek not Bethel That Publick Worship which God hath Instituted for Himself as the only True God in opposition to Idols and False Worship is a Means which we are to use in order that we may Live for This hath
a holy People unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special People unto Himself above all the People that are upon the Face of the Earth Deut. 7.6 So again Chap. 14. Vers 2. A Special People a Peculiar People from whence this Covenant we speak of is called by some the Covenant of Peculiarity as by me the Covenant of Advantage from the Words before of the Apostle What Advantage then hath the Jew He hath shewed His Mind unto Jacob his Statutes and Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any other Nation Psal 147.19 20. To whom pertaineth the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving the Law and the Service of God and the Promises Rom. 19.4 By the Adoption I understand that Sonship only which they had by their Admission into this outward Relation of being God's peculiar People By the Covenants I understand nothing but this same Covenant of Advantage given at first to Abraham and renewed after by Moses and so called Two Covenants the Covenant of Circumcision and the Covenant which God made with the Jews when He took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt Act. 7.8 Heb. 8.9 By the Promises likewise we must understand either those that were made only to that People or if the great Promise of Salvation by Christ be included also we must understand that they belonged to the Israelites in regard to the Revelation that is they only had the Revelation of them but the Matter revealed belong'd alike to all the World It is true that Abraham was the first Man with whom God entred Covenant understanding it of this Covenant of Advantage or Peculiarity and he is the first Elect therefore we read of in Scripture Thou art the Lord the God who didst choose Abraham and broughtst him out of Vr of the Châ—ldees Nehem. 9.7 It is an Election into this peculiar State or relation to God in regard to his Conventional Government we are speaking of and as all the Israelites are said to be his Chosen People It is not to be understood of that Decree of Election which Divines dispute of from other Texts but is equivalent with his Call Get thee out of thy Countrey unto a Land that I will shew thee Gen. 12.1 God's choosing Abraham and calling him into this peculiar Relation is but the same thing but it is One thing to be Chosen in regard to that Election which is unto Everlasting Life and Another to be only Called Many are called says Christ and few chosen This is indeed here very certain and to be observed that it was in Abraham and his Family God was pleased to lay the First Foundation of any Corporation formed under distinguishing Laws or Institutions for his Solemn Service or Worship which is properly to be a Church A Church from the Word in the Greek is a Number of the Called that is called out of the World as it is Idolatrous or given to false Worship unto the owning the true God and his Government according to his own Institutions which was begun in the Commonwealth and Polity of Israel Circumcision being preliminary to it and is now and shall be continued in the Congregations of Christians to the end of the World This Covenant then which God made with the Jews when He brought them out of Egypt appears to be no other than such a Covenant as passes between a Prince and his Subjects that is a Political Covenant God undertaking to be their Ruler and they promising him Allegiance so that the Common-wealth of Israel was indeed a Theocracy insomuch as when the People chose Saul for their Prince they are said to reject God for the Lord their God was their King 1 Sam. 12.12 Not but He continued this Conventional-Government of His for all that allowing of their Kings as his Vicegerents having his House or Temple to dwell amongst them where he kept also his Servants or Houshold the Priests and Levites receiving their Offerings as Rents for maintaining his Attendants This Kingdom was not to cease untill Christ his Son the Messiah should come into the World and then indeed he broke up House and delivered up the same to him The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his Feet untill Shiloh come and to Him shall the gathering of the People be Gen. 49.10 We read therefore when Christ had finished the Work of Man's Redemption and Rose from the Dead He takes upon Him the Administration of this Government All Power is given me in Heaven and Earth Go ye into all the World and preach the Gospel Matth. 28.18 Mar. 16.15 What is that but Go and gather all those that will come in and Incorporate as the People who are to be gathered to Me that is that will embody as Christians who then are to be Baptized and so to continue in Doctrine in Fellowship breaking Bread and Prayer which are Laws and Institutions of his Government I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion Ask of Me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the utmost Parts of the Earth for thy Possession That Kingdom which God had over the â—ews in regard to this voluntary Government He hath now given to his Son and all the World that will are to be brought into it Upon this account is the State of the Church under the Gospel that is the Christian Church so often called the Kingdom of God And Jesus began to Preach Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of the Messiah fore-told in the Prophets and the Terms were not strange to the Jews They thought indeed the Messiah would come for the Restauration of the Kingdom to Israel by Conquering the Romans and subjecting all the Nations and so reigning in outward Glory but they were deceived not in the Matter it self nor in the Greatness and Extent of his Dominions but they were deceived in the Manner of it which was not to be of this World that is not from it or to be set up by Worldly Means by Armies or the Sword but by the Word yet is it a Kingdom in the World and as other Kingdoms comprehends the Bodies as well as Souls of Men and Women living under Subjection to his Government in that External way of Worship and Discipline as by his own Officers and Ordinances He hath appointed in the Gospel It is therefore a mistaken Notion which our Divines have ordinarily taken up of the Church accounting it to be the Number only of the Regenerate and Elect which in the first Apprehension is the Number of the Called and the Called are ex intentione vocantis more than the Chosen It is true that the Church in some Scriptures speaking of it to other Purposes is to be understood of the Elect only So we read of the Church of the
Live but were Dead Rev. 3.1 Some that had Defiled their Garments Vers 4. Some Luke-warm and so to be Spewed out of God's Mouth Vers 16. Some that Minded earthly things Phil. 3.19 Some Carnal 1 Cor. 3.4 One that was Incestuous 1 Cor. 5.1 Many if the Apostle's Fear was not vain who had Sinned and not Repented of their Vncleanness Fornication and Lasciviousness which they had committed 2 Cor. 12.31 Such finally whose God was their Belly and whose End was Destruction Phil. 3.19 And if This be the Complexion of the Primitive Christian Churches who does not see but this Matter is Mixt Matter these Churches even under the Gospel Mixt Churches Who is there I say unless he cannot see Wood for Trees but must see it It is true when the Scripture stiles them Elect Sanctified Justified and the like that which is Divinitùs dictum must be So and some of them must be Such But when the same Scripture says these things of them likewise both must be true and some of them must also be otherwise The Church of Christ while 't is on Earth is must and will be Mixt and the Objection shall be Answered farther in its place And again yet look I pray where do we find any such thing as imports Regeneration to be required of God to the Admittance of Persons unto Membership in the Old Testament so that for want of that Qualification they were not Admitted Nay where do we find any one Man put off on that Account in the New 'T is true that Repentance and Faith and such as is Sound is required of those that come and that as necessary to Remission of their Sins by Baptism But is it of Necessity to Baptism If it be then must the Baptism of those Persons whose Faith and Repentance is unsound be invalid null and no Baptism If a due Subject be not of the Essence of Baptism what is But is there any of our Divines think such Baptism void Is there any will re-Baptize such if they come after to be Savingly Converted And if there be none then let no Man I say until he can prove that Wood is more than Trees or Trees are less than Wood go to impose upon me That which they have Devised but acknowledge that what Christ only hath Appointed must be the Rule of Church-Admission The Truth is That the Matter of Christ's Church or Kingdom upon Earth is made up of Good and Bad is so open in the Scripture so even under Sight and pronounced to be so by the Blessed Mouth of our Lord in several Parallels on purpose that I should not need to write a Book to tell any This but only for the Difficulties that attend it And they are either in respect to the Nature of the Church as called out of the World to a Peculiarity in God which hath caused my chief Labour therefore in the Stating and Explication of our CAUSE in the First Section Or in respect to the Darkness and Sophisticated Notions that are on our Vnderstandings about the same which I have endeavoured to Obviate and Heal in the Second Section now Finished Or in respect to the many Scruples and Objections that are raised and agitated concerning it which are to be Answered and Satisfied and that brings me to the Last Part of my Work which remains now on my Hands in the Section ensuing SECT III. THUS much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Stating our CAUSE and Confirming it I descend now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Answering Objections But how can an Vnregenerat Man be Admitted Into the Church that is not Of it How can he that is not In Christ be Received as a Member or into his Body How can he that is Out of Covenant be Admitted to Enter Covenant How can a Sealed Pardon be delivered to him whose Faith is not sound and Repentance sincere How can one be a Christian that hath no Grace These Objections and the like which are multiplied do receive their Solution by the Preceding Thread of this Discourse If the Government and Covenant we have been speaking of be understood aright and that the Church is the Number of those directly that be brought under That Government and into That Covenant we see all the way how the Vnregenerate as well as the Regenerate may be of it and that they who say That Such are only In the Church and not Of it do but mistakingly allude to St. John's Words in this Case We see how the Vnregenerate may be In Christ as they are of his Political Body and as Christ himself says expresly That there are Branches in Him that bring forth no Fruit. We see how the Vnregenerate may Enter into the Covenant of Peculiarity when yet he hath not brought his Soul to a Full Decree and Purpose of Constant and Entire Obedience which is required of him also in the Covenant of Life We see how he may Enter it in the Precise though he does not as he ought to do also in the Complex Consideration thereof We may understand also how that Vniversal Conditional Pardon which God hath passed in the Gospel may be Delivered or Sealed to a Man though a Simon or a Judas as well as to a Philip himself or to a John We see likewise how that a Man who hath not one Spark of that Grace that is Saving may have his Share in the General Grace of God or of the Gospel as well as others The Acute and Profound Mr. Baxter in one of his Books hath these Words You must first believe that Common Grace and Love mentioned Joh. 3.16 2 Cor. 5.19 20 14 15. 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 And you must believe your Interest in this that is that God hath by Christ made to All and to You an Act of Oblivion and free Deed of Gift that you shall have Christ and Pardon and Eternal Life if you will believingly accept the Gift and not finally â—â—ject it And the Belief of This even of this Common Love and Grace must first perswade your Hearts accordingly to accept the Offer and then you have a Special Interest Life of Faith pag. 152. Mark here There is the General Grace of God and a Particular Interest in that General Grace the Belief whereof is the orderly way to a Special Interest that is to the putting a Man upon the Performance of the Condition that he may have Interest in the Benefit Let me ask then Whether the Confirming and stirring up this Belief of a Man's Particular Interest in God's General Grace is not to be endeavoured in order to this End the getting the Special Interest And if it be how shall the Word Baptism and the Lord's Supper which are Ordinances that do indeed directly and immediately nothing else howsoever People may mistake but Declare Seal and Confirm the Particular Interest of every Man in this General Grace of the New-Testament and so are delivered to all alike