The Covenant of God Entered with Mankind, Preface – Imprimatur
A Preface to the READER.
BEing by the good providence of God heretofore engaged, in the vindication of ſeveral truths, which were of concernment to his Church, eſpecially, the Birth-priviledge and Covenant-holineſſe of the iſſue of beleevers, I was unwilling to be ſilent, when a ſpirit of oppoſition prevailed, leſt the truth (for which I had ſtood, and make it may glory ever to own) ſhould ſuffer. In a deſigne of this nature, the greateſt queſtion with me was how to proceed to the beſt advantage of truth▪ perſonal conflicts are highly weariſome, and ungrateful, there is much time ſpent with very little ſatisfaction to the Reader, even where moſt ſatisfaction is given to an adverſarie He muſt be followed in ſuch paths that he goes, which often are not very acceptable to the Reader to accompany. And for the buſineſſe in hand, viz. the vindication of a beleevers faederall holyneſſe till the ground work be right laid, and well underſtood, the ſuperſtructure in any ſuch diſpute (managed in the moſt dextrous way that is conceivable) will ſcarce ſettle thoſe that are weak, and not yet well informed or eſtabliſhed. I judged it therefore a way moſt ſatisfactory, and of greateſt and moſt probable hopes, for the clearing, not only of this Controverſie, but many more now in agitation, to adventure upon a full Treatiſe of the Covenant, which God hath entered with man, and the various diſpenſations, and diverſifications of it; whether ſuch as were occaſioned by mans fall, or that God according to his Sovereignty, by his juſt Prerogative hath been pleaſed to order; where this is not in ſome meaſure clear, many truths of great weight muſt needs lie obſcure. Maſter Baxters words in his Preface to the Reader before his Aphoriſmes of Juſtification are very remarkable: It is not in ſtudies (ſaith he) as it is in manifactures, that one man may begin where another left; but every man muſt fetch it from the very principles himſelf, neither can we take the words of thoſe that have ſtudied it before us for that is neither a ſound nor ſatisfactory knowledge (quoting Mr. Pemble,) thence it comes to paſſe that while we are buſie in examining our fore fathers inventions, and poſterity imployed in trying our Examinations, neither we nor they have much time to adde any thing for the encreaſe of learned knowledge. Now the Covenant muſt needs be the principle where we muſt begin to get knowledg of the ſeals of the Covenant; This way therefore (reſting on divine aſſiſtance) I have choſen, quickened to it as by the excellency and great concernment of the ſubject, ſo alſo by the deſires of many that this thing in a juſt Treatiſe might be handled; And when my thoughts were moſt full of it, and buſieſt about it, and ſome preparations made for the work; the Stationer by letter ſolicited, that I would enlarge my Birth-priviledge, and ſit it to theſe preſent times, and he would ſee it publiſhed; Hereupon I went on in the work (a Scheme of which follows here in an Analytical Table) in which I have received help from many (as my ſlender furniture, and ſtrength with leaſure to attend the peruſal of them would give leave) yet I have tied my ſelf to follow none; I think there is ſcarce any thing in which I am ſingular, I have ſo much childiſh fear as ſcarce to dare to wall in publick where I am alone, yet in ſeveral things I ſhall be found to diſſent from others, and thoſe of eminent name with whom I ſhould bluſh to have any thoughts of compariſon: There are diſſentings among thoſe that are of higheſt repute. In ſuch caſe no inferior can agree with both parties, and therefore it muſt not be deemed any piece of arrogance or ſingularity, to leave the one: where I am put to it to differ, the Reader ſhall finde my reaſon, together with my opinoin. If better light lead him another way, I ſhall never deſire that he ſhall go with me blindfold, or leave the truth to have me his companion, yet leaſt in leaving me, he ſhould let go the truth it ſelf, I ſhall only requeſt an unprejudiced and unbyaſs'd judgement; If he bring a blood-ſhot eye, all will appear of a wrong colour. It cannot be hoped but that wading through ſo many particulars, I ſhall meet with oppoſition frō ſome hands; I would only let ſuch know firſt, that I have made no man my adverſary out of will,The Authours diſſent from ſome. … as deſirous to be a man of contentions. I ſometimes cloſe with my greateſt adverſaries, and ſometimes diſſent from my moſt honoured, and admired friends: I think I have as ſtrong an antipathy againſt quarrels, as Luthers againſt covetouſneſs: I only leave where that light that for preſent I enjoy, leads me another way. 2. That I have wrote nothing but that which as I beleeve, ſo I reſolve (God aſſiſti…g) to hold, till a more clear light detect my errour. There are few things that have vented, but many yeers have held my thoughts, words or ſhews, will not work me out of them. 3. That I am not yet ſo wedded to an opinion, but am ready to yeeld up my ſelf to be over-ruled by reaſon; He is the happieſt man that lies under the conqueſt of truth. 4. That no man ſhall diſpleaſe me that will deal argumentatively with me either by the clear immediate teſtimony of Scripture, or arguments by juſt conſequence derived from them; but in caſe I ſhall meet with ſuch dealing as I have found, to have my words by enterchange made not mine, but the adverſaries own, my Arguments miſrepreſented, and held out to the halves; I ſhal give thoſe leave to hold up and purſue quarrels with their own fancies. My years and employments, together with my weakneſſes, will be a ſufficient Apology to hold me back from intermedling in ſuch trifles. And for the Reader that would read for ſatisfaction, I would acquaint him,
Firſt,Advertiſemē …s to the Reader concerning the preſent work. that I have made it my buſineſſe to caſt the whole mould and Series of the work; that he may find method and order in it, & if at any time through inadvertency or otherwiſe, he be at loſſe, and eſpecially if he take not the whole work before him (as I ſhould deſire) he may ſoone have recourſe to the Analytical Table, and ſee in what order that which in preſent his eye is upon, ſtands in the whole diſcourſe; If he gaine no advantage by the method into which it is caſt, much paines and induſtry of mine is loſt.
Scondly, That I have made it my ſtudie to leave out no piece or part, which may be fairly looked for within this Verge, but have endeavoured to take the whole into conſideration, ſtudying to avoid two extreams, the one much prejudicial to the Reader in Treatiſes of this nature, to give us a bare skeleton of bones and ſinewes, leaving their Readers to clothe them with skin and fleſh: Theſe ſerve better to help their memories that are already ſeen in the ſubject, then to help thoſe with ſatisfaction that are not already verſt in it, Memoriae mater ingenii noverca. I would learned Ameſius in his Medulla Theologiae, Caſes of Conſcience, and other learned Works, had not, affecting brevity, herein been defective. Sure I am, the Reader might well wiſh, that learned Camero's work De triplici foedere had by his own hand been more inlarged, & that he had ſpoken more fully; where his Reader may ſee cauſe juſtly to cloſe with him, and given in his Reaſons eſpecially in ſeveral differences (which he aſſigns beteewn the Old (which he calls the ſubſervient Covenant) and the Covenant of Grace, where many ſuppoſe they have cauſe to diſſent from him. The other extream might be the Readers benefit, but would have been my burthen, and that is an enlarged full diſcourſe on every particular Divinity-head, that may occur in the handling of this Subject, a way which reverend Maſter Ball intended, I have heard it from thoſe that received it from his own mouth, that his purpoſe was to ſpeak on this Subject of the Covenant, all that he had to ſay in all the whole body of Divinity; a work that the whole Church might wiſh (had not Divine providence determined otherwiſe) that he had enjoyed life to finiſh. That which he hath left behinde gives us a taſte of it, and the advantage the Church might have received by it. I have thought it enough to handle each particular, ſo as might well anſwer expectation in reference to the preſent ſubject: To ſpeak of Chriſt as a Mediatour of the Covenant, and to ſet forth the diſtinct parts of his work in ſuch mediation without handling the whole of the work, and all the Offices incident to his Mediatorſhip: To ſpeak of his death ratifying the Covenant of grace, waving the controverſie of the extent of it, in the intention of God, or purpoſe of Chriſt; It is ſufficient to me to aſſert Faith to be a condition of the Covenant neceſſary to be put in by us to attain the mercies in the Covenant, to ſpeak of it ſo far as is here concerned without a large Treatiſe of the nature, requiſites, and life of it; ſo I may ſay of godly ſorrow, ceſſation from ſin, ſincerity of obedience, and the like.
Thirdly, Thoſe particulars relating to this ſubject, which are moſt controverted, and in this age diſputed, I have ſpoke to more at large; to inſtance in ſome. The conditions of the Covenant of Grace, as well to the an ſint? whether there be any ſuch conditions at all? which in our times by ſeveral hands out of ſeveral Principles is denyed; Or the Quae ſint? what theſe conditions be? laying down rules and helps for the better diſcovery of them. The ſuppoſed differences between the old and new, Whether ſuch that offer injurie to the Covenant, under which the Fathers lived, under Moſes his adminiſtration, or before his dayes, making it a meer carnal Covenant, conſiſting of temporal promiſes, as the poſſeſſion of the Land of Canaan, and protection there, or at the leaſt a mixt Covenant, and no pure Goſpel-Covenant, and the ſeals ſuitable? Or ſuch that put too great a limit to the Covenant in Goſpel-times veſting it onelyonly in the elect regenerate, excluding all profeſſed ones not yet regenerate, not onelyonly from Covenant-mercies, but all Covenant-terms, not admitting any to ſtand in any relation to God, but thoſe only whom his Spirit hath changed, making the call of God in the largeſt ſenſe convertible with Election, and the ſeal of Baptiſm to be of no greater latitude (unleſſe by miſtake miſ-applied) than the ſeal of the Spirit, and determining it in the perſons of the elect (about which the meer congregational men and the Antipoedobaptiſts agreeing in the former, do differ) that they excluding the ſeed, and leaving them in the ſame condition (hope of education excepted) with the Heathens: In theſe and ſome others, as the Reader may meet withall, I have been more large, in ſuch things where all agree, or where it much skills not, whether we agree or differ (as in what place, whether on earth, or heaven, man had enjoyed immortality in caſe he had not ſinned) what need we to adminiſter matter of contention, our work is to make up breaches (were it poſſible, ſo far as it may ſtand with truth) and not to widen them.
Fourthly, I have not ſo tied up my ſelf to the expreſſe immediate doctrine of the covenant, but that I have occaſionally drawn Corollaries or Inferences leading to other things of neer relation to, and neceſſary dependance upon this of the Covenant; I ſhall not need to give inſtance, the Reader all along will meet with them, ſuch as I thought would be uſeful, and to the judicious not ungrateful, ſome of them practical, that the whole of the Book might not be found to be Polemical, ayming at leaſt at that which the Poet ſo cries up—Omne tulit punctum, qui miſcuit utile d…lci.
Fifthly, For that part in which Infant-Baptiſme and its grounds are particularly vindicated from Antipoedobaptiſts, the Reader may ſee their arguments and corrupt gloſſes are examined, onelyonly as (according to my method laid down) I have been neceſſitated, and ſo, that the Covenant had not been vindicated according to my duty, in caſe that had been neglected; And here thoſe that pleaſe to heed may ſee; Firſt, the dependance that this Controverſie about Infant-Baptiſme hath on the doctrine of the Covenant; that a Scripture Covenant cannot be aſſerted, but Infant-Member-ſhip, Infant-Baptiſme in the latitude, as now generally uſed by Paſtors in their Congregations, muſt be upheld. Secondly, the order in which this controverſie is here carried, may ſo much the rather invite the Reader to it, ſeeing what is in oppoſite Authors laid down ſcatteringly, without regard to any head of doctrine in the Covenant to which it doth relate, here it is reduced to its proper place, and carried on in that manner as an orderly Treatiſe, and not a perſonal conflict; following adverſaries no farther than as they ſtand in the way, to cloud the truth that is there proſecuted▪ and though many advantages are hereby neglected, that might have been taken, which adverſaries uſe to proſecute to the uttermoſt, and theſe adverſaries would to the height have improved; yet I am very well pleaſed, making it my buſineſſe, that my Reader may not be troubled, but edified. Thirdly, the Scriptures that are produced, and ordinarily agitated in this controverſie of Infant-Baptiſm, are not only urged, but a juſt Analyſis of the context opened, the full ſcope and drift laid down, ſo that it may appeare that the words are not enforced, but of themſelves in their native ſtrength commend that doctrine to us; that of Jerome, Apol. adverſus Jovinian much takes with me, Commentatoris officium eſt, non quod ipſe velit, ſed quid ſentiat ille quem interpretatur exponere; Alioqui ſi contraria dixerit, non tam interpres erit quàm adverſarius ejus quem nititur explanare; And let the impartial and learned judge whether ſomewhat more cleare light is not here added to their full meaning and the adverſaries▪ Sophiſmes more cleerly detected. Fourthly. The leaſt blow which Mr. Tombes received (purpoſely intended for him) was from Mr. Baxters hand, which work contains many irrefragable Arguments to aſſert Infants Church-Memberſhip, and Baptiſm from ſeveral Scripture-Texts, if not of themſelves plain, yet made plain, ſo that he needs not bluſh at his Title; but he doth not make it: his buſineſſe fully to anſwer Arguments on the contrary, where he is moſt full, I have been moſt brief; where he is moſt brief, I have been more large; he hath ſatisfied his Reader, I hope the Reader will ſay that I have in that part done ſomewhat for ſatisfaction of my adverſary.
Sixthly, The laſt part of this Treatiſe (as the advice on the top of the leaf may ſignifie) is no more than a new Edition of, with an ample addition to my Birth-priviledge, which above my expectation found ſo good acceptation, onelyonly handling it there Sermon-wiſe, as fixt on a proper Text, and here by way of Treatiſe, as a branch of this doctrine of the Covenant, I was put to it in a great part to change the methodand texture of it, ſo that it may rather ſeem to thoſe that compare them, a new frame, with much borrowed from it, than the ſame reprinted and enlarged; and there I have endeavoured ſatisfaction to that which ſome have ſaid in the way, admitting Infants not according to their Parents-priviledges, but qualification: not as they ſtand in relation to God, but as they fill up their relation, which new limit I hope I have diſcovered to be unwarrantably put, caſting thoſe out which the Church (according to the mind of God) from Abraham to this time hath received, to the diſquiet of our Congregations, and multiplication of our ſad, and deplorable differences.
Seventhly, I have made it my buſineſſe to avoid all impertinencies and unneceſſary dilatations, being ambitious to ſpeak multa in paucis, and not to put the Reader to paines to finde out a little which may ſerve his purpoſe in much, affecting brevity ſo farre as may be without obſcurity: In all which, I ſhall only requeſt two things of the Reader, and both of them ſuch that God himſelf commands.
Firſt,A double requeſt made to the Reader. Not to have the faith of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, the Lord of glory with reſpect of perſons, that he do not take an eſtimate of doctrinal points, or controverted opinions, according to the outward garb in which men appear, by reaſon of any dignity, relation power, or any ſuch circumſtance whatſoever; If this once prevail, opinions will be taken up, not according to the ſtrength of truth, that is ſeen in them, but according to the quality of him that vents them; they will judge of the faith by the men, not of the men by the faith, and upon this account on all hands truth is in danger: And as men in their reputations ebbe and flow, their judgements of things muſt hold up or fall. Truths ſometimes will be caſt off, barely on the low repute, and meane condition of ſuch that do deliver them: Though Chriſt ſpake as never man ſpake, and al treaſures of wiſdome were hid in him, yet it was enough againſt him that he was a Carpenters ſon, Matth. 13. 55: that none of the Phariſees and Rulers beleeved in him, or ſided with him, John 7. 48. A poor man may ſave a City, and never the leſſe his wiſdome deſpiſed, Eccleſ. 9. 16. ſometimes becauſe they are not men of our intereſts that hold it, they make not up a party for us. The more conſiderable the intereſt is, the greater the hazard (in theſe caſes) truth runnes. Paul being brought before a Councel, Acts 23. had not a man of whom we can read for him, but all againſt him, for this reaſon, becauſe it did not appear that his opinions ſerved any of their Intereſts; when he obſerved this, and ſaw their Intereſts divided, and that his adverſaries made two parties, he declares himſelf to be for the Intereſt of the one againſt the other, and in point of the Reſurrection to be for the Phariſees againſt the Sadduces, bred up in that way, and ſo perſiſted; hereupon having not a friend before, now he hath many: There aroſe a great cry, and the Scribes that were of the Phariſees part aroſe, and ſtrove, ſaying, We find no fault in this man, but if a ſpirit, or an Angel hath ſpoken to him, let us not fight againſt God, Verſe 9. now and not before he muſt be heard. Upon the ſame terms that truth is caſt off, errour is received and taken in, nothing muſt be gainſaid, that men of name, & men of Intereſt will appear to own; yea, relations, kindred, and affections this way gained, are mightily prevalent, to work into Faction and take up Tenents. As diſeaſes many times run in a blood; ſo alſo opinions where they take in a kindred, often very few eſcape. Twenty Sermons, were Paul, yea, Jeſus Chriſt in the Pulpit, would not ſo take to ſettle men in the truth, as one poor Letter, or ſimple ſenſeleſſe three-pennie Pamphlet from the hand of a childe, a brother, or ſiſter will work to draw into Errour. I will not here undertake to determine who are meant by children in that ſpeech of our Saviour Chriſt, Matthew 12. 27. It appears that it ſpake ſome relation, that drew affections, and therefore whereas Chriſt is cenſured to caſt out Devils by Beelzebub the chief of Devils, when any of theſe do ſuch a work, they are cryed up in another manner. It was a true Obſervation of him that ſaid, Omnia diota tan… aſtimantur, quantum eſt ipſe qui dixerii, nectam dictionis vim, atque virtutem, quam dictatoris cogitent dignitatem.
The ſecond requeſt of mine is, that men take heed of having mens perſons in admiration, becauſe of advantage; we have ſeen the miſchief that reſpect of perſons works, and advantages will work men in the height of it. That way that men can either ſave themſelves from danger, and hold where they are, or riſe up to a greater height, the world is apt to take, and the Religion of that ſide ſhall be theirs. Hence it is, that when godlineſſe ought to be the chiefeſt gain, gain with theſe is their whole godlineſſe; and ſtate Religion is almoſt the faith of every man. Thoſe of that party ſtill … for … depart the leaſt from the very height of their own principles for it, but they will have all others upon account of their prevalency come into it: ſo that ſelf is no other than their unity paraphraſed, and ſo long as providence holds them up, they are not much miſtaken: Re…ſians will become Jewes, when Mordecai a Jew is the man that rules. Saul ſaw that that was a mighty motive to draw a party in war, to have the gift of vineyards, and oliveyards, to be the fountain of honour, able to make Captaines over thouſands, hundreds, fifties. It is no leſſe to draw on a party in Religion, as every turne of State reſpective to Religion is a clear evidence: If theſe ſtumble upon truth, they yet, hold it upon ſuch carnal motives, that they are neither true to it, nor receive the comfort of it: Make truth then the greateſt advantage, there is glory enough in it, without any farther garb to have it in admiration: own it though with a ſcracht face where you find it; though you be otherwiſe at loſſe, it will bring an hundred-fold with it. If I can but gain theſe things at thy hands, I ſhall not feare that this piece ſhall run the hazzard of thy cenſure; ſpare no errour in it, ſo that thou wilt gladly take up, and reſt ſatisfied in all the truths that thou findeſt. That truth may have the firſt place in thy ſoul, is the deſire and prayers of him that can do nothing againſt, but for the truth,
Thomas Blake November 27. 1652
Imprimatur,
EDM. CALAMY.