The Covenant of God Entered with Mankind, Chapter 60
CHAP. LX.
The application of the whole in ſeveral inferences.
TO winde up the whole of this diſcourſe of the birth-priviledge of the ſeed of Beleevers in ſome practical application.
Firſt,1. All poſſible engagements and obligations to holineſſe. All poſſible engagements and obligations unto all holineſſe of converſation neceſſarily follows and flowes from this royal priviledge, and high advancement of birth-holineſſe; If we contend for their dignity, and minde them not at all of duty, of the honour of their birth, and call them not to a ſuitable life; In the neglect of duty they may ſoon make forfeiture of their dignity, and turn this ſingular mercy into the higheſt aggravation of their miſery: we blame thoſe of noble and generous birth, that betake themſelves to ſordid and ignoble wayes, Thus degenerating they are a blot to their families, a diſgrace and reproach to their race; no birth equal in honour to that of Chriſtians. Theodoſius worthily eſteemed it a greater honour that he was a Chriſtian, than that he was an Emperour: None degenerate ſo foully and blame-worthily, as they when their converſation is unchriſtian, wayes of ſin are for ſinners of the Gentiles, a way proper for Turks and Pagans, let the holy ſeed be holy, their demeanour ſuited to their honour. Sardanapalus the King may with leſſe infamy ſpin among women, or Domitian the Emperour ſpend his time in catching of flies, works farre below their dignities, than a Chriſtian may ſin with a Heathen. The Martyrs in Primitive times being moved to ſwear by the fortune of Caeſar, thought that the anſwer was full, and fair, to ſay they were Chriſtians: Such anſwer ſhould he have that would tempt to ungodlineſſe, ſhould ſuch a one as I fly? ſaith Nehemiah, Nehem. 6. 11. his honour would not ſuffer him to be ſo baſe; ſhould ſuch a man as a Chriſtian (the leaſt of whom is greater than Nehemiahs better, Mat. 11, 11.) be for ſin? He that is not a ſinner by birth, ſhould be no ſinner in his life. Baptiſme is the greateſt honour, ſuch bear Chriſts name, and weare his livery; they have that title in which Jude and James with other of the Apoſtles gloried, A ſervant of Jeſus Chriſt. Baptiſme is the greateſt engagement, Let every one that nameth Chriſt depart from iniquity, 2 Tim. 2. 19. To talk of Baptiſme, and to live in ſin, is to wear the colours of one, and plot and fight for another; to wear Chriſts colours, and fight for Satan. Baptiſme renders a ſinner up to the heavieſt puniſhment. The high favours ſhewed to the Jewes, made a Jew to fare worſe in the wayes of ſin than an Heathen, Amos 3. 2. The high favours ſhewed to Chriſtians make Chriſtians to fare worſe in ſinful wayes than Heathens, Heb. 2. 3. All in a Chriſtians calling beſpeaks this holineſſe. God by whom he is called, 1 Pet. 1. 15. The work to which he is called, 1 Theſ. 4. 7. The company unto which he is joyned, Epheſ. 2. 19. The attendants by whom he is guarded, Matth. 25. 31. The rule whereby he is guided, Rom. 1. 2. The Seale by which he is confirmed, Epheſ. 1. 13. And the place whither he makes and tends, Heb. 9. 8. all are holy.
Secondly,Parents muſt ſee that their childrens breeding do anſwer their birth. Let the parents of ſuch ſeed, now ſee what education is expected. Breeding muſt anſwer birth and deſcent; A Chriſtian is of the nobleſt birth, he muſt therefore have the moſt noble education; and the Apoſtle calls upon parents to bring up their Children in nurture and admonition of the Lord, Epheſ. 6. 4. God may call on them thus to bring up his children, in nature theirs, in covenant Gods. Every Chriſtian parent, hath a childe of God committed to his care and tuition: How great a ſoloeciſme is it, that Parents ſhould dedicate children, ſo ſoon as borne unto Chriſt, profeſſing to the world that they belong to him; and that with Hannah concerning Samuel, they intend them for him, when nothing appeares in their education, but that they might have been given to Molok, ſomewhat worſe than the mongrell ſeed that ſpoke halfe in the language of Canaan, and halfe in the language of Aſhdod, Nehem. 13. 24. Scarce a word can be heard out of their mouths, to argue that they are Chriſtians, liſping out oaths as ſoone as words; put to learne trades, and little regard had that they might know Chriſt Jeſus. And how much is it to be deſired, that authority would take order, for more careful catechiſtical teaching of youth in the wayes of Chriſtian Religion, that God may not complaine of England, as of Iſrael, My people periſh for want of knowledge, Hoſ. 4. 7. A people of God, and a people ignorant to perdition and deſtruction; England is highly honoured of God by this gracious call, with Capernaum lifted up to heaven; England would highly honour God, if care might be taken, that all might know God from the higheſt to the loweſt; we ſhall never be a Goſpel-like people, till we be a knowing people, … we take care, that as we are Jewes by nature, ſo we may be Jewes in qualification, ſo borne, ſo bred, that as our youth is deſcended, ſo alſo they may be trained; That as God honours our children with his name, calling them his children, ſo they may honour his name, and advance his glory in all holineſſe of converſation.
Thirdly,The danger of perſecution. Thoſe may yet ſee whom they oppoſe, that ſtand in oppoſition of a people thus intereſſed, a people ſo ingratiated to God in covenant, that there is not the leaſt infant in whom God hath not his title, and right of challenge. The aggravation of the Pſalmiſts complaint is, that the Heathens are come into thine inheritance, the dead bodies of thy ſervants have they given to be meat unto the foules of the heaven, the fleſh of thy. Saints unto the beaſts of the Earth, Pſalme 79. 1, 2, 3. The whole body of ſuch a people, root and branch, ſtand in relation to God as the inheritance, the ſervants, the Saints of God; ſuch inſcriptions we finde in Saint Pauls Epiſtles, not one of the whole body is excluded, but they are ſuch by covenant, and ſuch by calling. Enough hath been ſaid to make it to appeare that the denomination reaches even infants who are the Lords heritage, Pſalme 127. 3. and Chriſts name is upon them, Matth. 18. 5. As it is accounted an happy work to daſh the little ones of Babylon againſt the wall, Pſalme 137. 9. becauſe of the hoſtility of that Nation againſt God and his people: ſo it is a like execration to intermeddle with the little ones of Sion, by reaſon of the holineſſe of ſuch a people, their covenant-relations in which they ſtand intereſſed, 2 Kings 8. 12. Much is ſpoken in Scripture againſt the enemies of the righteous, the haters of them ſhall be deſolate, he that offends againſt them ſhall not be innocent, Pſalme 34. 21. God obſerves every carriage of the adverſary towards them in miſery, they ſpeak not a word but God hath it againſt them; when Ammonites, Tyrians, cry Aha, againſt the people of God, they are witted with it, and threatned for it, Ezek. 26. 2. 36. 2. Not a proud word that they utter but it is brought in, to fill up the charge againſt them, Obad. 12. Pſalme 137. 7. yea, every eye that is caſt with approbation of the adverſary, Obad. 13. 14. Every encouraging word they ſpeak, and every act they do againſt ſuch a people, yea injuries of elder times are kept in the deck, and laid to them, Deut. 25. 17. And all becauſe they ſtand in this relation to God as his in covenant, which you cannot limit onelyonly to the perſonally righteous, but all that are of a Society and fellowſhip, that is, ſuch as are intereſſed in a righteous cauſe. The holy anointing oile did make ſacred when yet too often the man was wicked, and therefore David looked upon Saul as the Lords Anointed. It holds in Analogy and proportion unto all that have any unction from God, as all the called of God have. When they were but a few in number, yea very few, and ſtrangers; when they went from one Nation to another, from one Kingdome to another people, he ſuffered no man to do them wrong, yea he reproved Kings for their ſakes, ſaying, Touch not mine Anointed, Pſalme 105. 12, 13, 14, 15. All the people of God have that Anointing from God, that none may dare to intermeddle for their harme. God promiſes his people that dwell in Sion, that the burthen of Aſſyria ſhall be taken from off their ſhoulder, and his yoke from off their neck, and that the yoke ſhall be deſtroyed, becauſe of the Anointing, Iſaiah 10. 27. Some will ſay, as this is carried, The danger of intermeddling with any is with us a like: Even Papiſts and the worſt of men that are called Proteſtants, are thus of a people that are called Gods people, and go by the name of Chriſtians. For anſwer I ſhall not enter upon that controverſie, what there is of the being of a Church under the Papacy. The Papacy it ſelf is none of it, but onelyonly a botch bred in it, and cleaving to it; onelyonly this I ſay, That he that ſhall oppoſe a Papiſt, under the notion of a Chriſtian, ſhall bear his ſinne, and that upon the grounds that have been given. Though a Papiſts damnable errors in the faith ſhut him out from the happineſſe of Chriſtians, yet ſuch an adverſaries perſecution renders him guilty of oppoſing the faith of Chriſt Jeſus. And he that follows with injuries a carnal Proteſtant, becauſe of profeſſion of the ſincerity of Religion, in oppoſition to Antichriſtianiſme, is formally guilty of perſecution. The hearers reſembled to the rocky ground ſuffer perſecution for the Word, as doth the good ground that brings forth fruit with patience, Mat. 13. 21. But to come home with more cleare ſatisfaction. A people of foully polluted Ordinance, ſtanding in oppoſition to a people of a pure and untainted way, are as a people void of Ordinances, are as a people without God in compariſon. The oppoſition of the purity of his ſervice, God accounts as the oppoſition of his great name, though it be by a people that go under that name of his people. And therefore though Elijah take ſo much to heart the pulling down of Altars ſet up by Jeroboam, looking upon them as Gods Altars, when it was done by Iſrael apoſtatizing and turned to Baal, 1 Kings 19. 10. and in oppoſition to the worſhip of Baal, makes that way of worſhip at Dan and …achel a following of God; yet we know how the Prophet from the mouth of God did cry out againſt that Altar, which Jeroboam erected, and foretold the deſtruction of it, and the ſlaughter of the Prieſts that offered upon it, 1 Kings 13. 2. and with what honour that act of Joſiah is mentioned in accompliſhment of this prophecy, 2 Kings 23. 15. and the brand that lies upon Jeroboam himſelf in bringing in that worſhip of his, 2 Kings 15. 9. ſcarce the like on any man in Scripture, the man of ſinne onelyonly excepted, the high phraſes alſo in which this worſhip is ſet out, making Prieſts for the high places, and devils, 2 Chron. 11. 14, 15. with the heighth of guilt to which he roſe, in caſting the Levites out from executing the Prieſts office, Hoſea 4. 6. And howſoever God often calls that people of the ten tribes by the name of his people as having Ordinances, though miſerably polluted, yet in oppoſition to Judah where more pure Ordinances were enjoyed, they are ſaid to be without God, without a teaching Prieſt, and without the law, 2 Chron. 15. 3. And fighting againſt Judah (who could reckon up the particulars of the Ordinances of God in their purity) they are charged to fight againſt the Lord God of their fathers, 2 Chron. 13. 12. To come nearer home in an inſtance. If the Turkiſh power ſhould fall upon a Popiſh State, under the name and notion of Chriſtians, they were guilty with Saul of perſecuting the Lord Jeſus. If this Popiſh State fall upon a reformed Nation, they are much more guilty; A fouler ſinne for a people of God in name and title, to perſecute his people in truth, than for a people, ſtrangers to God, to perſecute a people onelyonly in name and title. Scripture prayers againſt Heathens we may fitly apply in our ſufferings under the hands of Papiſts. Pilate might have been guilty of perſecution of a Phariſee, under the notion of a Jew, and yet that Nation was much more guilty in delivering up Chriſt into the hands of Pilate, though Chriſt had been no greater than the meaneſt of his Diſciples. A Papiſt perſecuting a formal carnal Proteſtant, under notion of a man proteſting againſt Idolatrous wayes, blaſphemes and perſecutes that faith which he holds in oppoſition againſt thoſe Antichriſtian tenents. This man being thus perſecuted, perſecuting another for the power of godlineſſe, profeſſing the ſame truth is equally, ye more guilty. The very ſinne of Cain againſt his brother Abel, 1 John 3. 12. their Religions were both one and the ſame, but Cains was onelyonly, in forme, and Abels in power. The reſult of the whole is to let us ſee what it is to oppoſe a people under any notion of Gods people, upon any ſuch account as belonging to Chriſt. A man may have his reward, giving to any in the name of a Diſciple, though he to whom he gives be ſuch as God will never owne for a Diſciple, and anſwerably may incurre vengeance in oppoſition of one under ſuch a name, though (with thoſe on the rocky ground) he be nothing leſſe than ſuch in deed and truth.
Fourthly,Conſolation. Abundance of ſweet conſolations yet flow from this birth-priviledge and covenant-holineſſe, and that in ſeveral ſtreames.
1. In regard of Nations.
2. In regard of Perſons.
In regard of Nations they have royal tranſcendency above all others as alone worthy the name of a people:1. To Nations thus honoured. Nigh unto God: A people of hope: Enjoying light; when others are darkneſſe, without hope, and without God in the world. The Pſalmiſt reckons up many and ſweet-bleſſings of a Nation. That our ſons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as corner-ſtones poliſhed after the ſimilitude of a palace, that our garners may be full, affording all manner of ſtore, that our ſheep may bring forth thouſands, and ten thouſands in our ſtreets, that our Oxen may be ſtrong to labour, that there be no breaking in nor going out, that there be no complaining in our ſtreets, Pſalme 144. 12, 13, 14. All theſe are ſingular National favours, but onelyonly ſerving to make up a comparative, not an abſolute bleſſedneſſe. This one riſeth higher and makes it compleat, Bleſſed are the people whoſe God is the Lord. The glory pertaines to a Nation thus honoured, Rom. 9. 4. Of ſuch a people (though otherwiſe mean and deſpicable, as was Iſrael in the Wilderneſſe, comparative to other Nations) it may be ſaid, What Nation is there ſo great, who hath God ſo nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? Deut. 4. 7. No people can ſo bottome their prayers againſt adverſaries, as they who are the people of Gods holineſſe; This mercy is a birth-mercy to al ſuch perſons whoſe parents with Timothy from one to another have been Beleevers, 2 Tim. 1. 5. and while national provocations break not forth (which alone with God have ſeparating and deafning power) his eare is ready to hear, and his hand to help, while he ſees not iniquity in Jacob, nor perverſeneſſe in Iſrael, (which I underſtand of National out-breaches from God, which by Balaams counſel preſently followed to Iſraels danger) ſo long God is among them, as the ſhout of a King, and there is no ſorcery nor divination againſt them, Num. 23. 21, 23. A Nation faſt to God hath God faſt to them, The Lord is with you, while ye are with him, 2 Chron. 15. 2.
In regard of perſons, for
Themſelves.2. To ſingle perſons.
Poſterity.
For themſelves,1. Reſpective to themſelves. it is much to be able with the Pſalmiſt to ſay, Thou art he that took me out of the wombe: Thou didſt make me to hope when I was upon my mothers breaſts. I was caſt upon thee from the wombe, thou art my God from my mothers belly, Pſal. 22. 9, 10. This puts upon confidence in prayer (as an argument drawn from long continued acquaintance) as there follows, Be not farre from me, for trouble is neer, Ver. 11. Such have timely knowledge of God, ſucking in ſomewhat of him while they ſuck milk from the breſts. An expreſſion of height ſetting out this birth-happineſs that hath ſure more in it, then can be applied to ſinners of the Gentiles; ſee how the Pſalmiſt yet farther pleads it with God, O Lord, truely I am thy ſervant, I am thy ſervant, and the ſon of thy hand-maid, Pſal. 116. 16. an alluſion to the law of ſervants who were the inheritance of the Maſter in whoſe houſe they were, Exod. 21. 4. Levit. 25. 16. I am ſuch, ſaith the Pſalmiſt (thy ſervant, thy ſervant) with all earneſtne… of affection, I am of thine inheritance, I am one of thoſe that are thy houſe-borne-ſervants, my mother was thy hand-maid, I have therefore this relation to plead; and this he pleads again and again in the ſame words, Pſal. 86. 16. This great priviledge Iſaiah in like manner takes notice of, Iſa. 49. 1. The Lord hath called me from the wombe, from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. The Apoſtle mindes the Epheſians of their former condition, and will have them to remember the time paſt, when they were without Chriſt, being aliens from the Common-Wealth of Iſrael, and ſtrangers from the covenants of promiſe, having no hope, without God in the world: But there never was a time in which men of this birth-priviledge were in that condition, theſe are Gods heritage from the wombe, and with Timothy (ſome in greater, ſome in leſſe meaſure) from children have the knowledge of the Scriptures, if not with John Baptiſt full of the Holy Ghoſt from the wombe, Luke 1. 15. which yet doubtleſſe is the happineſſe not of few, who are eminent in ſanctification, whoſe growth in grace is ſeen, and yet the beginnings not known. Howſoever it is with them for perſonal qualifications, yet they are nigh when others are afarre off, Epheſ. 2. 13. at the pools brim waiting the Angels moving of the water, John 5. 3. Salvation is of the Jewes, ſaith our Saviour, John 4. 22. Saving Ordinances are their inheritance; They are happily ſeated under that joyful ſound which is able to ſave the ſoul, Jam. 1. 21. Salvation is of his houſe, who is the ſonne of Abraham, Luke 19. 9.
As it is full of conſolation to Beleevers in reſpect of themſelves,2. Reſpective to their poſterity. ſo alſo in reference to their poſterity, their children are Gods children; they being the Lords inheritance, their children are his heritage in like manner, they bring …orth children to God; and he ownes and challenges their ſeed as his, Ezek, 16. 20. An infinite love in God, an unſpeakable comfort to a perent, when the Infant who by corruption of nature, is in Satans jawes, and in no leſſe danger of hell than Moſes ſometimes was of the water, and not ſo much as ſenſible of his condition, God pleaſes in this ſad ſtate to look upon him, and to make it the time of love, finding out wayes for his freedome. What the Apoſtle ſpeaks from the Prophet, Rom. 10. 10. of Gods care of the Gentiles, is certainly true being applied to infants, I was found of them that ſought me not, and made manifeſt to them that enquired not after me. Had we that hopeleſſe opinion of our children, as Papiſts have of theirs that die without Baptiſme, what a wretched caſe were it with David to part with an infant out of the world? How could ſuch mourne in any other way than as thoſe that are without hope, parting with an infant without any part in Chriſt, and in no better poſture towards God than the ſeed of the ſinners of the Gentiles doomed both by the Pſalmiſt and the Prophet Jeremy, Pſalm. 79. 6. Jerem. 10. 25. Pour out thy wrath on the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the families that call not upon thy name; they might with Rachel weep for their children, and refuſe to be comforted, becauſe for eternity they are not. But we finde God more rich in mercy, entring covenant with his and their ſeed, Chriſt himſelfe imbracing them in their infancy, and taking them into his ſpecial love, as thoſe that bear his name: and though death ſhould prevent their Baptiſme, whereby they have an actual intereſt in viſible Church-priviledges, yet he that hath appointed Ordinances is not tied to them, but where he hath entered covenant can ſave without them. Bellarmine confeſſeth that the deſire of Baptiſme in one that is in the number of the Catechumoni (inſtructed in the principles of Chriſt, and not baptized) doth ſave, though the text John 3. 5. ſo much urged by that party againſt the ſalvation of infants, underſtood with their Comment be in the letter againſt it; why then ſhould not that grace which would ſhew it ſelfe in like deſires, when the perſon is of capacity, qualifie for ſalvation in like manner? Finding this love in God, theſe bowels in Chriſt, we may ſafely conclude, that children have bliſſe, parents have comfort, parents and children have their intereſt in Church-Ordinances and Adminiſtrations.
And let God have the glory.
FINIS.