A Discourse of the Two Covenants, Book 2 · Chapter 4 · Section 3
SECT. III. the Covenant-right of Children applied.
§. 1. HEre is a threefold Uſe of this Point: 1. Of information, and that in two things: Ʋſe 1 1. To ſhew the evil and danger of the Doctrine of the Antipedobaptiſts, who deny unto children an intereſt in their parents Covenant, take parents into covenant without their children, they muſt be left out until they come to be of years, actually to take hold of the covenant for themſelves; but as for a parental right, they acknowledge no ſuch thing; ſuch an entail of the covenant upon Abrahams natural ſeed they cannot deny, but unto the ſpiritual ſeed of Abraham they deny it, becauſe, ſay they, it's every mans own faith makes him a ſon of Abraham. And by this means, (1) they make another covenant than God ever made, a covenant with parents not reſpecting their children, which is ſuch a covenant as God never made, either in the Old or New Teſtament. Before the Floud as ſoon as the covenant was revealed, we have heard that it was unto parents and to their ſeed, Gen. 3.15. and therefore Eve was called the mother of all living, it's ſpoken in reſpect of the covenant, Eve was a covenant-mother, as Abraham is the father of us all, Rom. 4.16. and it was continued in Seth, a ſeed that God gave her not inſtead of Cain, who was caſt out of Gods preſence, that is, out of the Church, but inſtead of Abel, whom Cain ſlew, that is, the covenant-ſeed;Gen. 6.18. & 9.9. ſo to Noah before and after the Floud; afterwards the Lord hews theſe ſpiritual ſtones out of another pit, as the expreſſion is Eſa. 51.1, 2. and then with David and his ſeed. And the Jews being rejected,Pſal. 89.28. Rom. 4.16. Act. 2.39. the ſame covenant was continued, for the Gentiles were grafted into the ſame Root, and that root was Abraham and his covenant, Rom. 11.16, 17. and for this cauſe Abraham is called the Father of the Gentiles; and therefore 'tis ſaid, The promiſe is unto them that are afar off, and to their children as many as the Lord our God ſhall call: and when the Jews ſhall be grafted in again, they ſhall be brought they and their children into the ſame covenant,Rom. 11.24. out of which they were caſt off they and their ſeed. The Scripture ſpeaks of no covenant that doth not comprehend parents and their ſeed; therefore that which leaves out the ſeed of confederate parents is a covenant of mans making, and not of Gods; and it will be good for men to conſider, what a dangerous evil it is to pervert any order of Gods, as we ſee in David, the Lord was provoked againſt him, that he ſmote Ʋzzah with death, becauſe they ſought not God according to the due order; and if matters of order be ſo great, what is it for men to vary in matters of faith,Col. 2. and to change the covenant of God? it's made a great offence, Eſa. 24.5. To change the ordinances of God; much more that which is the foundation of all Ordinances, the everlaſting Covenant. A man could not act upon a more dangerous way of ſinning, than to change the covenant of God that he hath made with his people.
(2) By this means there is a great injury done unto children, which are the Embryo's of the Church of God; and Chriſt ſaith, It's dangerous to offend one of theſe little ones, they ſhall be ſure of a rebuke from Chriſt, for of ſuch is the kingdom of God; to admit any into the Church of God, that the Lord would have ſecluded, is a high provocation and a great unfaithfulneſs in them that have the power of the Keys; but to ſeclude any that the Lord would have admitted, is a greater provocation. The covenant of grace is not only a covenant,Gal. 3.15. but a teſtament, and that is amongſt men accounted ſo ſacred, that no man diſanulleth it or addeth thereunto; and if we could ſay, that children were ſecluded from the covenant becauſe they cannot reſtipulate, then to blot their names out of the laſt Will and Teſtament of Chriſt, is a horrible injury to the perſons, and a very great preſumption in the man.
But there are two ſpecial places that I would name to you for this; one in 1 Cor. 10.1, 2. Our fathers all paſſed under the cloud, and through the ſea, were baptized into Moſes in the cloud, and in the ſea. The ſcope I conceive to be this, where there are the like priviledges of grace, there will be the like puniſhments, but we have the like priviledges of grace that they had, therefore we may expect altogether with them the like puniſhments;Eſtius. ſo Eſtius ſays of the benefits that they received, they were eorum praefigurativa, prefigurative of thoſe which we now receive by Chriſt, and therefore he pitches upon two extraordinary Sacraments of the Jews, in which, if in any thing, they might ſeem to be priviledged; but he ſays, that they were alſo as types and examples unto us; and that the Apoſtle had ſuch an intention is plain to me, and that he intended them as ſacramental types, [1] elſe he would never have called them ſpiritual meats and drinks: [2] Elſe he would never have ſingled out barely theſe two, giving to one the name of Baptiſm, and to the other the name of ſpiritual Meats. The firſt noted protection for them and their children paſſing under the cloud, and direction alſo; for the cloud did not only go before them as a guide, but it was ſpread alſo over them as a covering: it's ſaid,Num. 9.15, 16, 19. That the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and ſo it was always, that the cloud covered it by day; and this was a type of that ſpecial protection that the Lord ſeals unto parents and their children in their Baptiſm, for they are baptized in the cloud: and their paſſage through the red Sea, and their preſervation from Pharaoh doth ſignifie properly our deliverance from all our ſpiritual enemies, and is commonly made a type of it in the Scripture, and this was a mercy that was vouchſafed unto them and unto their children. Now if the Apoſtles reaſon ſhall be of force, we muſt have the ſame priviledges in Baptiſm that they had in theſe, or elſe the Apoſtles reaſon doth nor can not conclude. Again, Baptiſm is typified by the ſalvation of Noah and of his family in the Ark; and the reſemblance ſeems to lye in this, that as the Ark was the Ordinance of God appointed for the ſafety of the Church in the general Deluge, and a family-ſalvation, the father with the child; ſo Baptiſm is the Ordinance that the Lord has appointed for the ſalvation of the Church from the general deſtruction that ſhall befal the world of ungodly, and it doth run by families alſo. Now by this means all theſe incouragements are denied unto the infants and the families of the Saints, which are the great priviledges in the Scripture given unto them, as they were unto Iſrael, and happened unto them but for types only; and therefore have their accompliſhment in their antitypes under the Goſpel.
(3) Hereby the practice and prayers of the Churches of Chriſt and all the ancient Saints of God are without any Scripture-ground cauſleſly condemned and rejected as profanations of the Ordinances of God: Conſuetudo Eccleſiae matris in baptizandis infantibus nequaquam ſpernenda eſt, nec divina credenda niſi Apoſtolica eſſet traditio, Aug. de Geneſ. ad literam, Tom. 3. p. 464. And it is a dangerous thing for men to blaſpheme the Tabernacle of God, and them that dwell in Heaven, Rev. 13.6. it's an expreſſion of the true Church of God, and to have a mouth given to a man for that end, is not the leaſt ſpiritual judgment, as verſ. 5. there was a mouth given him ſo to ſpeak, and he opened his mouth this way.
2. Hereby we may be informed of the cruelty of unbelieving parents, men that do not only exclude themſelves from the grace of the Covenant, but as much as in them lies their poſterity alſo,Non parentes, ſed peremptores, Bern. as far as concerns the ordinary way and means of bringing them into Covenant with the Lord. And theſe are of two ſorts: (1) Some that are actually without the Church of God. (2) Some that are not caſt out through the neglect of the Church, but yet they ought ſo to be.
1. Unto them that are actually caſt out from being a Church unto God; and of this number I look upon the Papiſts to be,Abeſt ut eos baptizemus qui corporis integri membra conſeri negarunt. Quum in hoc ordine ſint Papiſtarum liberi, quomodo baptiſmum illis adminiſtrare liceat non videmus, Calv. epiſt. p. 175. whoſe children are to be ſecluded from Baptiſm, themſelves being not in Covenant, nor owned as a Church of God; for I cannot but aſſert with Doctor Whitaker, and many others of the Worthies of this Nation, Eccleſiam Romanam non eſſe Catholicam, imò ne veram quidem Eccleſiam particularem; ſed deſerendam eſſe dicimus ab omnibus qui ſervari volunt, tanquam Antichriſti & Satanae Synagogam, De Eccleſ. q. 6. (1) That Church which the Lord has caſt off as a Harlot, and as the greateſt enemy to the Church of God that ever was, that he does not owne unto himſelf as a Church; but ſo has the Lord caſt off the Churches of Rome; therefore he does not owne them as Churches unto himſelf; it's Babylon the great, the mother of Harlots; and ſhe is ſet every where in oppoſition to Sion, and her Adherents are thoſe that ſhall make war with the Saints, and they ſhall be joyned unto this Church, whoſe names are not written in the Lambs book of life; the Lord has thus caſt out theſe Antichriſtian Churches, and given them a bill of divorce for ever. (2) That Church from which the Lord calls to his people for a ſeparation, that the Lord does not owne as a true Church; but the Lord calls upon his people for a ſeparation from the Church of Rome: Come out of her my people. And here I conceive with*Oper. Camer. p. 520. Camero: A diſlike and an abhorrency of their idolatry and ſuperſtitions is not ſufficient, for that ſhould be even in a true Church, from which yet a man may not depart, ſo as to hold no communion with them: though Churches be very corrupt, and 'tis a mans duty to ſeparate from the corruptions of them, to touch no unclean thing with them, as Chriſt did in the Church of the Jews, yet he did hold Church-communion with them all in the Ordinances of God, and did not ſeparate from them, becauſe they remained a true Church to God, and the Lord had not yet called them Loammi, and put them away from him; therefore the Lords calling out a people to ſeparate from the Church of Rome, doth plainly give unto them a bill of divorce, and the Lord does thereby manifeſt that he does owne them for a Church unto himſelf no longer; for if they were a true Church, though ye were to ſeparate from the corruptions of it, yet not from communion with it. (3) Where there is no ſalvation to be had, that is not a Church unto God; for extra Eccleſiam nulla ſalus; but in the Church of Rome by the rules of their own Religion there can be no ſalvation, becauſe they make a man to forſake the Lord Jeſus Chriſt the only foundation in point of Juſtification, which whoſoever miſſeth muſt build upon the ſand, and not upon the Rock, as our own Mr. Perkins, &c. has long ſince manifeſted: and where no ſalvation is to be had, ſurely there is no Church in Gods account. They therefore that embrace the Doctrine of Popery, and do fully cloſe with it, they and their ſeed are caſt out, they are no more a Church to God, neither to be looked upon as in Covenant with him, and to have any right to the ſeals of the Covenant.
2. There are another ſort that are not actually caſt out through the negligence of the Church, being able to bear them that be evil, and it's true, while ſuch are owned as members, the priviledges of members cannot be denied to them, who ought to be as a Heathen man and a Publican; and though men do neglect their duty therein, yet there is a kind of ſpiritual Excommunication goes out from God all the while.
Ʋſe 2 §. 2. It ſerves for Exhortation, and that unto three ſorts: 1. Unto parents, it does neceſſarily inforce upon them to take hold of the Covenant, not only for themſelves, but for their poſterity alſo; for (1) he that will embrace the Covenant of God, let him accept of the whole Covenant, not only that he will be thy God, but the God of thy ſeed alſo. There is no part of the Goſpel that ſhould be neglected, or any of the grace of the ſecond Covenant that ſhould be received in vain. (2) Elſe thy faith will be defective therein: the Apoſtle ſpeaks,1 Theſſ. 3.10. foreign 1 Theſſ. 3.10. of a defect of faith, and that lies in two things. [1] When it does not take in the object of faith in its extent, but there is ſomething held forth to be believed, that faith is not exerciſed about. [2] When it does not act in the higheſt degree, there is a defect in reference to the object, and in reference unto the act alſo. (3) The people of God have exerciſed faith upon the Covenant for their children; and Chriſt Jeſus himſelf for his children,Pſal. 102.28. Heb. 1.10, 11, 12. for he ſhall ſee his ſeed, and in them he ſhall prolong his days upon earth; and therefore we read of his children. There was a Covenant made with Chriſt perſonal, and a Covenant made with Chriſt myſtical, with him as Mediator, in regard of what he was to perform, and with him as head for us; and Chriſt takes hold of the Covenant in both theſe reſpects, and all promiſes made unto a poſterity Chriſt has an eye to the accompliſhing of them in the behalf of his poſterity, as well as himſelf, as being part of the promiſe and covenant that the Lord made unto him for himſelf and his ſeed: and ſo ſhould all the Faithful do, look upon all the promiſes that are made unto the ſeed of the Faithful in the Scripture, and put them in ſuit before the Lord for thy ſeed alſo, as being part of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you: we might by this means leave and entail very great bleſſings upon our poſterity, and live to ſee the Covenant accompliſhed unto them, unto the great conſolation of our ſouls:Pſal. 128.3, 4. Thy children ſhall be like olive-plants round about thy table; Behold, thus ſhall the man be bleſſed that feareth the Lord: the Church is called the Olive-tree, as we have ſeen Rom. 11.16, 17. and they as Church-members are as Olive-plants, thoſe that are of uſe and excellency profiting Church and Common-wealth:Eſa. 59.21. This is my covenant, ſays the Lord, my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, ſhall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy ſeed or ſeeds ſeed henceforth and for ever. Whilſt we ſtraiten the Covenant and our Covenant-intereſt unto our ſelves, we are enemies to our own conſolation; the great flouriſhing of the ſoul lies in the inlargement of the faculties, and they are vaſt objects that do cauſe large faculties; it's of admirable uſe unto a mans own ſpirit, to look unto the Covenant in the extent of it to you and to your ſeed.
2. It is matter of exhortation unto children, that they would walk worthy of this mercy, this inheritance that God has entailed upon them, and not deſpiſe the grace of God in their parents Covenant, but actually take hold of the Covenant alſo in their own perſons. (1) Conſider grace hath prevented you, and you are taken in by God into a familiar Covenant with himſelf, meerly out of preventing mercy, whereas thou mighteſt have been born among the uncircumciſed: it's no ſmall priviledge to be born of thoſe that are themſelves in Covenant with God. (2) It will be a great aggravation to thy ſin and judgment, when thou ſhalt with Eſau deſpiſe thy birth-right; the contempt of a ſpiritual priviledge is a great ſin and diſhonour to God, and it will ſurely add to thy judgment:Mat. 8.11. The children of the kingdom ſhall be caſt out into utter darkneſs, Mat. 8.11. and how will that never dying worm gnaw upon thy conſcience, when it ſhall tell thee, I had a godly parent, one within the Covenant of God, by whom I had a right unto all outward priviledges of memberſhip, but I have walked unworthy of them all, and abuſed them all, and therefore now ſome come from the Eaſt and from the Weſt, others are grafted in by their own faith that were born of wicked parents, and I that was as it were a natural branch, grew upon a holy ſtock, and in Covenant, am now rejected and caſt out as an abominable branch. (3) The people of God have exerciſed faith upon their parents Covenant, and have been able ſometimes in diſtreſs to plead that when they have had little to ſay for themſelves, Exod. 15.1. when Moſes prays he ſays, Thou art my God, and my fathers God; and the children of Iſrael, though they could ſay little for themſelves, for they were a wicked and diſobedient people, and their righteouſneſs as a filthy rag, yet they ſay, Remember the covenant that thou madeſt to Abraham, and the land that thou gaveſt unto Abraham thy friend for ever; and ſo David, Thy ſervant and the ſon of thy hand-maid. And Auſtin pleaded his happineſs in his good mother, he was the ſon of her tears and of her Covenant-intereſt, and he glories that in her prayers ſhe did bring forth unto God his own bond, and did plead her Covenant in his behalf; do not walk unworthy of ſuch Anceſtors, and be you not degenerate plants when you grow upon ſuch glorious roots, and thereby become a ſhame unto your father that begat you, and your mother that bare you.
3. It is alſo an Exhortation unto the Church, and the Officers thereof, that they have a ſpecial care and reſpect unto the children of the Church, they being children of ſuch glorious and great hopes, being ſuch as are in covenant with the Lord, and the children of the kingdom, thoſe that the Lord owns for his children,Epheſ. 6.4. foreign. and therefore would have them brought up in the nurture and the fear of the Lord, they ſhould be brought up as becomes the children of God. (1) They are Church-members, and therefore ought to be the care of Church-Officers; for the power of the Keyes being committed to them, they are by them taken into the Church; and if ſo, they come under their care alſo. (2) Out of theſe the Lord does ordinarily gather the number of them that ſhall be ſaved; as you have heard, the greateſt part of the Church comes out of the loyns of his own people; and therefore it is of their ſeed that he will have the viſible Church, out of which he will have the Church inviſible made up. (3) It's the greateſt glory of a Church to be fruitfull, and to bring forth many young ones to God; and the greateſt miſery of a Church, and an argument that the Lord will depart from it lyes in this, that it is barren; and barren Ordinances and a barren Church is the greateſt plague in the world, it's that for which the Lord does threaten to give a people unto ſalt; Ezek. 47.12.the barren has born ſeven, and ſhe that has a husband is waxed feeble; it's happy with the Church, when ſhe can ſay, My bed is green; Cant. 1.16.for the Church of God has a Poſterity, Jeruſalem has her daughters, and the glory of the laſt Church ſhall be, that there ſhall be abundance of fiſh, as thoſe of the great Sea, exceeding many,Ezek. 47.10, 11. that is, abundance of Souls ſhall be begotten to the Lord. And children ſhould come under the ſpecial care of Church-Officers in two things; (1) For matter of Inſtruction; and that in the Ordinances that they are capable of. They had two ſorts of Catechumeni in the Primitive times; ſome Adulti, who were ignorant; ſome Parvuli, who were ſuch as were born in the Church; and they did undertake the Inſtruction of them all; the Scripture hath Milk for ſuch Babes; and the neglect of this makes Miniſters to build without a foundation, and in a great meaſure loſe their labour all their dayes, in preaching things that they never did teach the people when they were young, to underſtand. (2) To lay up conſtant Prayers for thoſe that they receive; and it's not a ſmall mercy for a man to have a ſtock going in the Churches Ship, and to have a daily and a continual intereſt in their Prayers; Chriſt gives an example of it, Math. 19.14, 15. He laid his hands upon them and bleſſed them; Non erat inane ſymbolum nec fruſtra preces. Calvin.ſurely this was not done in vain, they being Members of the Church, Chriſt ſhews that the duty of the Officers of the Church is in this manner to pour out the Prayers of the Church for them, being ſuch as are to grow up, and to hold forth the Name of the Lord in the ſucceeding generations; the people of God their care ſhould extend beyond their Lives;2 Pet. 1.15. and ſo did Peters, and ſo ſhould ours for a Poſterity alſo to the Lord in this world of ungodly men; that he may ſtill have an increaſe of children.
Ʋſe 3 §. 3. It's for conſolation unto Parents, and that in two things, 1. Surely that God, that has out of his free grace to thee, taken thy ſeed into Covenant, alſo out of the overflowing of his goodneſs, will deny thee nothing that is a bleſſing of the covenant; if the Lord ſhew ſo much grace unto another for thy ſake, and he be ſo much beloved, how much more to thee? Nay, it's ſaid of the Jews, when they ſhall be converted, though now they be ſtrangers and enemies for the Goſpels ſake, yet are they beloved for their fathers ſake; there was little lovelineſs in them for their own ſake, but yet there is love for their fathers ſake; and it's this free grace that will at laſt bring them in, that God may accompliſh unto them their fathers Covenant; and if the Lord will do ſuch great things to others for their ſakes, and in love to them, O how may they judge of his love unto themſelves thereby! This may be a great ſtay to the hearts of many ſinking Chriſtians, who doubt of the Love of God toward themſelves.
2. When you are to dye, and be ſolicitous for the little ones you leave behind you, now remember they have a Covenant-Father with whom thou maiſt leave them, and they ſhall not be found to be Orphans who have God for their father; now remember he ſaith, leave thy fatherleſs Children with me; and ſo could Jacob when he came to dye, The Angel that redeemed me from all evil, Gen. 38.16bleſs the lads; and let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Iſaac: and this was the great comfort of David, when he ſaw that there was a decay coming upon his family, the Sword ſhould not depart from his Houſe; yet God had made with him an everlaſting Covenant; 2 Sam. 23.5.though he make it not to grow; it was not ſpoken in reſpect unto himſelf alone, but unto his Family, and his Houſe alſo; and that was Luther's will, I have neither Lands nor Poſſeſſions to leave them; Tibi reddo, nutri, doce, ſerva, ut hactenus me; qui pater es pupillorum, & judex viduarum. And ſo a man may dye in faith, not only in reference unto himſelf, and his own Covenant-intereſt, but the Covenant-intereſt of his Poſterity alſo.