A Christian, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. How any perſon may be ſaid to be in the Covenant; the divers conſiderations about it.
TO the former let this be added, becauſe it ſeems ſtrange how any can be in Covenant, and yet not partake of ſalvation: In opening of this, the common diſtinctions of all Divines muſt be repeated, that according as there is an internal and external adminiſtration of the Covenant, ſo there is a two-fold being in the Covenant:
1. Secundum propoſitum electionis, According to the purpoſe of election in Gods heart, and his eternal decree; ſo only the elect, and theſe which have ſaving faith, are in Covenant: this ſome call, and not improperly, to be intentionally in Covenant, God principally intending the Covenant to them; others call it ſpiritually and ſavingly from the effect.
2. There is a being in Covenant In facie viſibilis Eccleſiae, In the face, or according to the judgement of a viſible Church, where judgement and charity are mixt together, Rom. 9.4. Deut. 29.10, 12, 13, 14. Iohn 15.2. Iohn 1.11. Pſal. 50.5. with variety of Scripture: And of ſuch there are two ſorts.
1. Such as ſtand by their own viſible profeſſion, as all firſt Covenanters doe, ſo all viſible Saints now, and ſo many Proſelytes in the Old Teſtament, Exod. 12.44, 45. Deut. 29.10, 11. Gen. 12.5. Or elſe,
2. As in a Political Moral conſideration, as in the right of another through a free promiſe; as if a Prince give a title of honour, or a piece of land to one and his heirs, they are all intereſted it, yet ſome prove fools, or traitors, and are afterwards incapable: It's ſo in this, and was with Abraham and his ſeed: Now that this diſtinction holds in the New Teſtament, I ſhall thus diſcover to you.
1. If men deny an external, as well as internal being in Covenant, none can adminiſter an external Ordinance, an outward ſign to any; for we muſt go by external rules in theſe actings.
2. Viſible Profeſſors will have the worſt of it; for we muſt adminiſter no Ordinance to theſe which are not internally in Covenant; and we have no proof but their own expreſſions, and our good hopes, and preſent probable judgement to warrant us, and many viſible miſcarriages to contradict our judgements and hopes at ſpecial times.
3. We ſet a ſeal to a blank to all grown perſons who are baptized, or receive the Lords Supper, without we know them certainly in the Covenant; and that who knows? for our judgement will no more hinder the ſeal from being a blank to grown Profeſſors, then to Infants, without they prove real at laſt.
4. The beſt evidence you can have from any, of their being in Covenant, is but viſible expreſſions, ſuppoſitions, and hopes, and probabilities, all which you muſt help out by your own charity, and fallible obſervation; for God hath promiſed no ſeal on my ſpirit for another mans condition; it's a bleſſed mercy if I get the ſeal on my own heart for my ſelf.
So that the great Queſtion will be anſwered from this, which Mr. Tombes and they all urge, That if God made the Covenant with believers, and their ſeed, they muſt all be ſaved, &c. With which I ſhall but thus parly.
1. Doth God make the Covenant of ſalvation with every viſible Profeſſor whom they baptize? or with every viſible Saint? or do they baptize them out of Covenant? Then how come any to fall off, and be damned? or what rule have they to baptize by?
2. Why ſhould it be thought more hainous to ſet a ſeal on Infants, as in the Covenant, then on theſe Profeſſors which afterwards prove not to be in Covenant?
3. Or do they baptize, becauſe that perſons are in the Covenant? If not, then upon no ſpiritual account; if upon their being in Covenant, then either internally or externally; on the firſt it cannot be abſolutely, but as manifeſted externally; not upon a meer external being in Covenant; for then they may ſet a ſeal to a blank: if upon both together, the one externally demonſtrated by the other, then it is ſtill by the external being in Covenant that we judge with hopes of the other. There is a trick that ſome have got, whereby they think to evade this being in Covenant, as the fundamental ground of Baptiſm, by this diſtinction; That it is not being in Covenant, but being an actual Believer, gives right: To which I anſwer,
1. That the Covenant, take it ſpiritually, is the ground of faith, not faith of the Covenant.
2. If the Covenant be the ground of faith (for who can believe without a promiſe?) it may well be the ground of an outward priviledge.
3. To ſeparate the Covenant from the conveyance of actual priviledges, is almoſt as dangerous as to ſeparate actual faith from the Covenant; for the one gives a right as well as the other.
4. Infants in the Old Teſtament were thus as really to be eſteemed in the Covenant as actual viſible Believers are now; and under the external adminiſtration of the Covenant, as the Proſelytes, who came in to the Jewiſh Church, and were the firſt fruits of the Gentiles.
For that there is an external adminiſtration of the Covenant of Abraham, or rather of God in Chriſt, even in the New Teſtament, is clear; for that many were baptized who proved hypocrites, and many believed viſibly likewiſe, as Simon Magus, Hymenaeus, Alexander, Philetus, &c. many in all the Churches: and yet theſe muſt be accounted the ſpiritual ſeed, though moſt wicked, becauſe they can profeſs their own preſent ſudden faith: and poor Infants of believers muſt be accounted the carnal ſeed, though ſo long under a Goſpel promiſe; of which you ſhall not want proof hereafter.
Now that all which are baptized, or have any Ordinance, have it adminiſtred fundamentally on the ground of the Covenant externally adminiſtred, I prove thus.
1. God adminiſters all his graces by Covenant, much more outward Ordinances.
2. Souls can have no challenge, or intereſt in God, but by ſome Covenant or other; God is tied to none, but as he ties himſelf.
3. If there were not a viſible and external adminiſtration of the Covenant, none ſhould know of the inviſible deſign of it unto any; all things would be in the dark to us, as to Gods Covenant, in a viſible diſpenſation.
4. If this inviſible deſign were not ſecretly carried on in an outward viſible diſpenſation, there could be none condemned by an outward rule; for who can condemn theſe who are intentionally and inviſibly in Covenant, or for Re? And if every one viſibly in Covenant be intentionally and ſpiritually in Covenant, it's juſt the ſame.
The whole is this; None are in Covenant (ſay they) but real believers, the ſpiritual ſeed, ſo none to be baptized but ſuch: when it comes to application of the Ordinance, then none are the ſpiritual ſeed but viſible believers; and theſe viſible believers can be judged by no way but by an external profeſſion to be in Covenant; and Infants are no viſible believers, therefore no ſpiritual ſeed; when as the one is as viſible by promiſe, as the other by profeſſion.