CHAPTER NINE
Circumcision Proved to be No
Covenant of Eternal Life,
But a Typical and Carnal
Covenant.
Now I come in the
next place to prove that the Covenant of Circumcision is no Covenant of Eternal
Life, but a typical covenant, yea a Covenant of Works. It is also
called by the Lord, a Covenant in the flesh, Gen. 17:13. Therefore, to be sure,
it is no Covenant of Eternal Life.
How the Word Everlasting is
Used in the Law
But for the
better clearing of the this truth I shall first expound some words in the
covenant. First are the words Everlasting Covenant. They seem to some to hold
it forth as a Covenant of Life because it is said to be everlasting. Whereas
the word everlasting used in this Covenant is to be understood only for the
Ever of the Law for the time of the Jewish State. Always the word is to be
understood this way when it is applied to the Jews in their generation. For
example in the 16th chapter of Leviticus it is said, "the Priest should
make an atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, an atonement for the Tabernacle of
the Congregation, and for the Altar, and he shall make an atonement for the
Priests, and for all the people of the Congregation, and this shall be an
everlasting Statute to you to make an atonement for the children of Israel for
all their sins, once a year:"
Everlasting here
must needs be understood but till Christ comes. So in Num. 25:13. "He
shall have it, and his seed after him, even the Covenant of an Everlasting
Priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the
Children of Israel," speaking here only of a Ceremonial Priesthood typing
out Jesus Christ the substance Who was to put an end to it.
This Covenant of Circumcision is as
Everlasting as Canaan
So this Covenant
of Circumcision is to be understood as everlasting as Canaan, and the
possession thereof, which was until Christ's coming. He was the substance
thereof. This being a Maxim, that wheresoever the word Everlasting or
Ever has this joined with it, to you, or to your seed in their
generations; that then it is to be understood only, for the Ever of the Law; and the
time and period of that Ministration, till Christ come, and no longer, Exo.
40:15. "Thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their Fathers, that
they may minister unto me in the Priest's office; for their anointing shall
surely be an everlasting Priesthood throughout their generations." And so
you have it in Exo. 30:20,21. Moses saying, "When they go into the
Tabernacle of the Congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not;
and when they come near the altar to minister, to burn offerings made by fire
unto the Lord, so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die
not; and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him, and to his seed
throughout their generations."
Objection
"I Will Be to
Thee A God"
The next
expression that I would speak to, is, "I will be to thee a God, and to thy
seed after thee," which to some seems to hold forth a Covenant of Grace,
in that He gives Himself as a God in this Covenant.
Answer
To which I
answer, that God either gives and makes Himself over in a Covenant of Works,
which is upon a condition of works done in the creature; or else He gives
Himself in an absolute Covenant of Grace in Christ Jesus the Mediator without
any condition of works to be fulfilled in the creature.
First Argument
To Prove Circumcision Is A Covenant Of
Works, It Was Conditional
I shall make it
clear that God only gives Himself conditionally in the Covenant of
Circumcision. This is the first argument that I shall use to prove the Covenant
of Circumcision to be a Covenant of Works and not a Covenant of Eternal Life,
it is conditional. What God promises to be or to give to Abraham and his
fleshly seed in their generations, was upon a
condition that
Abraham and his seed should keep his covenant on their parties, as
clearly appears in Gen. 17:7,8, to verse 14. Here you find the Lord engages
Himself to Abraham and his fleshly seed to be their God and to give them the
whole Land of Canaan. In that sense He would be their God, to possess them of
that good land, and all the blessings of the same, upon condition that they
should keep His covenant on their part, both Abraham and his generation after
him.
The Subject Matter of the First
Covenant is Circumcision
The subject
matter of the covenant that they should keep is, that he should be circumcised,
and circumcise all born in his house and bought with money.
The Old Covenant Was a Yoke
of Bondage
But though
circumcision only be here mentioned yet all the works of the Law, at that time
made known to Abraham, are there included. The Apostle, who best understood
that Scripture, expounds it in Rom. 2:25. "For circumcision verily
profiteth, if thou keep the Law; but if thou be a breaker of the Law, thy
circumcision, shall be made uncircumcision," and so you have it, Gal. 5:1-3.
The Apostle says, "Stand fast, in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made
you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage," which in
Acts 15 it is said, "Neither they, nor their Fathers were able to
bear;" but verse 2, "Behold I Paul say unto you, That if you be
circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing, for I testify again to every man
that is circumcised, that he is a Debtor to do the whole Law." So much is
clearly held forth in Gal. 6:12, 13. Here the Apostle says, "As many as
desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised,
only lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ; for neither they
themselves who are circumcised keep the Law, but desire you to be circumcised,
that they may glory in your flesh."
Here you may
observe that for men to be circumcised, and not to keep the Law, or otherwise
to press it upon others; the Apostle holds it to be absurd, if withal
they did not keep the Law that were thus circumcised.
In the Text
before quoted it is clear that Circumcision (in the nature of it) binds them
over to keep the Law. To this purpose you find in Acts 15, "There were
certain teachers that taught the Brethren, that except they were circumcised
they could not be saved." Upon which the Apostles come together and in the
10th verse Peter says, "Why tempt you God to lay a yoke upon the Disciples
necks, which neither our Fathers, nor we are able to bear?" What was this
yoke but that they were to be circumcised and to keep the Law?
Stand Fast in Liberty from the
Yoke of Bondage
So that
Circumcision was that which did comprehend under it the Covenant of Works or
the yoke of bondage that Paul, in Gal. 5:1-3, bids Christians to stand fast in
their liberty or freedom from which covenant or yoke of
bondage Jesus
Christ had freed them from.
Liberty from the Observation
of the Law
So that you may
see that all the observation of the Law which we are set at liberty from by
Christ Jesus' death, was included in the Law of
Circumcision. So
that in effect here you have the covenant.
"Abraham (as
if God should say) I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee in their
generations, to protect, defend, and deliver thee, to bless thee, and thy seed
with the blessing of Canaan, to bless thee, and the fruit of thy womb, in the
Basket, and in their store, in all their outward blessings; upon condition that
thou and they will be circumcised and keep the Law."
God makes a covenant
upon condition, so that if they fail on their part,
then He is left
at liberty to fail on His part, as that notable expression in Jer. 11:2-5. "Hear the
word of this Covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, to the Inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God o Israel, cursed be
the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, which I commanded unto
your Fathers, when I brought them from the Land of Egypt, from the Iron
Furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do according to all these things which I
command you, so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God, that I might
confirm the Oath that I have sworn unto your Fathers, to give them a Land which
floweth with Milk and Honey, as appeareth this day."
Blessings Conditioned Upon Law Keeping
Whence you may
clearly observe that God gives Himself to be their God, and to give to them the
blessing of Canaan, upon condition that they would keep the Law, So shall ye be
my people, and I will be your God.
Covenant of Grace Made to Abraham 24 Years
Before Covenant of Circumcision
Now you must mind
that Abraham had a New Covenant of Life made with him when he was 75 years old,
Gen. 12:4, which was 24 years before this time he had the Covenant of
Circumcision. His happiness with all his spiritual seed was and is in that
absolute covenant confirmed of God in Christ, which stands in force still to
believers in all Nations. But this Covenant of Circumcision was conditional and
not absolute. Therefore, it is no Covenant of Life but a Covenant of Works.
Second Argument
To Prove Circumcision Is A
Covenant Of Works,
It Was A National, Fleshly
Covenant
The second ground
why the Covenant of Circumcision must needs be a Covenant of Works, a Typical
Covenant, is because it was a National Covenant, a covenant in the flesh, as in
Gen. 17:13. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money,
must needs be circumcised, so my covenant shall be in your flesh for an
everlasting Covenant. To be sure such is not the Covenant of Grace to eternal
life, for that was confirmed of God in Christ, as you hear, to all Nations.
"In thee shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed," Gen. 12:3,
and "in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed," Gen.
22:18, as I have formerly spoken to.
But the Lord says
of this Covenant of Circumcision that it shall be in their flesh for an
Everlasting Covenant. It is manifest by the Apostle Paul that this is therefore
a Covenant of Works, Rom. 4:1, 2. He says, "What shall we say then, that
Abraham our Father as appertaining to the flesh hath found? for if Abraham was
justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God."
Objection
That The Gospel Was Not
Effectual To Most Jews
These words are
inferred by the Apostle Paul for the prevention of an objection that
might justly be in the mind of the Romans occasioned by the Apostle's former
answer. For though the Apostle had granted in the beginning of the third
chapter that the circumcised Jews were in some respect privileged above other
Nations, and that chiefly in those eminent tenders and offers that the Gospel
held out amongst them which, though it proved not effectual to all, he minds to
some that it was effectual. But, yet, after in verse 9, the Apostle begins to
manifest his understanding that to be a Jew after the flesh and to be in the
Covenant of Circumcision, did not free men from the guilt of damnation any more
than other men who were Heathens and not Jews after the flesh, neither
circumcised.
The Question of Jewish
Privileges
To this purpose
he states a question, "What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise.
For we have before proved, that both Jew and Gentile, are all under sin, as it
is written, there is none righteous, no not one." Here the Apostle goes on
to prove that the Jews, after the flesh, (in the Covenant of Circumcision) were
equally in a damnable and sinful condition with the poor Heathenish Infidels,
all equally guilty before God, verse 19. His inference is in verse 20 that by
the works of the Law no flesh should be justified in His sight. This clearly holds
forth that to be a Jew, and circumcised, and to be under the Law, is the
self-same thing, and when the Apostle had concluded that being a Jew in the
Covenant of Circumcision did in no way difference him from the Heathen as to
life, he now shows how both Jews and Gentiles come to the Justification of
life, that is freely by God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his
blood. Therefore he excludes the Law of Works wholly in the matter of
justification, and brings in the Law of Faith. This shows clearly that he has
but one way to justify both Jew and Gentile, which is by Faith in Jesus Christ,
the true Promised Seed in the New Covenant.
Were The Jews No Better Than The Pagans
and Other Infidels?
Upon these words
in Romans 4:1 the Apostle seemed to argue, is it so that a man may be a Jew,
and have interest in the Covenant of Circumcision entailed upon the fleshly
line, and seed of Abraham, and yet be not better than Pagans or Heathens, as to
the matter of life? "What shall we then say, that Abraham our Father, as
appertaining to the flesh, has found?" As if they should say; if a man may
be a Jew of the seed of Abraham, and so of the Covenant of Circumcision, and as
to the matter of justification and eternal life, be no nearer than a profane
Gentile who is not Abraham's seed, nor has any interest in the covenant? What
privilege did Abraham find in the Covenant appertaining to or entailed on the
flesh?
Abraham's Fleshly
Privileges
The Apostle
answers in the second and third verses, and so along in the 4th chapter of the
Romans, clearly distinguishing two covenants, the one of Circumcision a
Covenant of Works; the other a promise of Jesus Christ, made to the faith of
such as believe. Therefore, the Apostle says in the 2nd verse and so forward
that if Abraham were justified by works, he has whereof to glory, but not
before God. Paul plainly interprets that the covenant our Father Abraham had
interest in, as appertaining to the flesh of him and his seed after him in
their generations, was a Covenant of Works in which Abraham had nothing to
glory in before God. The reason given, because he was justified before God in
another Covenant or promise, Gen. 15:5,6. For what saith the Scripture?
"Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
Justification Only By Faith As Held
Forth in the New Covenant
The Apostle goes
on showing that justification was not in the Covenant of Works entailed on
the flesh of Abraham, but by faith in the promised seed in the Covenant of
Grace, which he proves by David's testimony in Psalm 32:1-8.
Whether this Grace of Justification
Came Upon the Jews Only Now thus much
being said, he states the question Whether this grace of justification
came upon the Circumcision only, or the uncircumcision also for he said, that
faith was reckoned unto Abraham for righteousness.
The Question of the Two
Covenants,
Which One Included Justification
unto Eternal Life
Here is the
question, seeing that Abraham had two covenants made with him, one the Gospel
of Faith, and the other a Covenant in the Flesh, in which of these had he
justification to eternal life?
The Answer is Plain That Abraham was
Justified While in Uncircumcision
The answer is
plain, for the Apostle says it was not in circumcision. He was not justified in
or by the Covenant of Circumcision, but in the promise of the promised seed
which God is said to give as a Covenant for His people, by faith in that seed.
Even in uncircumcision was Abraham justified. That (as I said before) was 24
years before the Covenant of Circumcision was made with him. He was justified,
believing in the promise of the Messiah Who was to come out of his loins
according to the flesh, "In whom all Nations of the Earth should be
blessed."
Now, God
promising that the Messiah, according to the flesh, should come out of Abraham,
viz. out of his loins or flesh, this was then a great article of his faith. He
was to believe unto righteousness, not only that justification and blessedness
were to be had, but they must be had in that seed Who was to come out of
Abraham according to the flesh.
The Visible Seal of the Covenant Showing the
Coming Incarnation of Christ As a confirmation
and seal of this public righteousness confirmed in Abraham as a Father of all
Nations, God elects that flesh and blood to Himself, I mean the family of
Abraham in an external Covenant, to point out to all the world that as verily
as God did take this nation (according to the flesh) to Himself by this
external covenant, so God would be incarnate in this flesh.
Circumcision Showed the Suffering and
Death of Jesus
Christ As the flesh of
the fore-skin of the member of Generation must be cut or bruised and the blood
shed, by which the Jew according to the flesh was bound to keep the Law, this I
understand did figure out how Christ, the true seed of Abraham descending out
of his loins by Generation, should, (considered as male and not female) by
breaking His flesh, and shedding His blood, fulfill and satisfy the Law.
The Sealing Use of Circumcision Proved to
be Peculiar unto Abraham.
So that this
Covenant of Circumcision was of sealing use to Abraham to confirm this
other covenant and a School Master to lead to Christ, as all other Branches of
that old covenant were, therefore, Paul says in Rom. 4:11, "Moreover he
received the sign of Circumcision, a seal of the Righteousness of faith, which
he had, being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those that
believe."
Here observe that
the Apostle calls circumcision not a seal, but a sign, "He received the
sign of Circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had being
uncircumcised." Here are the reasons that restrain the sealing use of
Circumcision only to Abraham.
Reasons Why It Was Peculiar Only
Unto Abraham
First, because he
had this righteousness of faith before he was circumcised.
Therefore, it
might be sealed or confirmed because he had it before he received the sign
of Circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had
being uncircumcised. But his posterity after him, at eight days old, cannot be
said to have this righteousness of faith to seal them, having it not before
their Circumcision.
The second reason
is, that he might be the Father of all that believe. This is the main reason
the Apostle insists upon, "He received the sign of Circumcision, a seal of
the righteousness of faith, that he might be the Father of all that
believe."
The Covenant of Works Was Visible to Confirm
the Covenant of Grace Which
Was Invisible
This reason
cannot be applicable to any of Abraham's posterity besides himself. They
were not the Fathers of all that believe. It was proper only to Abraham to be a
high Father, or a Father of all nations. Therefore, (as I said before) God
promising in Abraham that public righteousness, as a father of all Nations in
the Covenant of Grace, adds to that Covenant an external covenant to be
entailed in his line, and in his flesh, as a confirmation of the same.
A third reason is
this, here is the Spirit of God affirming the sealing use of Circumcision to
Abraham only, and not to any one of his fleshly seed, and as before upon a
reason special to Abraham. Now where the Scripture has not a Mouth to speak we
must not have an Ear to hear. The Scripture here affirms Circumcision only to
be a seal of the righteousness of faith to Abraham and affords no such thing as
to his seed.
A fourth reason
lies in verse 13. The promise of Abraham to be the heir of the world, was not
to him nor his seed through the Law, that is, through the Covenant of
Circumcision, but through the righteousness of faith.
For if they who
are of the Law be heirs, then faith is made void and the promise of none
effect. This is because the Law works wrath. Therefore, it is of faith, that it
might be by grace to the end that the promises might be sure to all the seed.
Not sure to that only who is of the Law, but to that also who is of the faith
of Abraham who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made thee a
father of many Nations, before him who believed, even God Who quickeneth the
dead.
So that there is
not in all the Scripture a place which more clearly proves the Covenant of
Circumcision entailed on the fleshly line of Abraham to be a Covenant of Works
than this in Rom. 4. Paul's clearing and setting the Covenant of Circumcision
and Faith in opposition holds forth that Abraham and all his spiritual seed had
their Justification in another covenant and not in the Covenant of
Circumcision. He clearly holds forth the Covenant of Circumcision to be works
and not Grace. This does sufficiently prove that the Covenant of Circumcision
had no promise of Justification or eternal life in it.
An Appendix to the Second
Argument to Prove
Circumcision Was a Covenant
of Works.
But further, that
the covenant entailed on the flesh must needs be understood to be
a Covenant of Works, viz. that of Circumcision, appears in Phil. 3:2-4. Here
the Apostle says, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil Workers, beware of the
Concision; for we are the Circumcision, that worship God in the Spirit, and
rejoice in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence in the flesh." By flesh he
means the covenant entailed upon the flesh, the Covenant of Circumcision. He
says, "If any man thinketh he hath whereof to trust in the flesh, I more,
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the Tribe of Benjamin,
an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the Law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the Church, touching the righteousness of the Law, blameless."
The Righteousness of The Old Covenant
is No Better Than Dung
Paul holds the
Old Covenant to be no more than dung or dross in comparison to the other
Covenant or Promise of Christ, holding righteousness and salvation by Him,
which he received by faith. Paul suffered the loss of all things for the sake
of Jesus Christ. He did account all the whole privilege of Circumcision, and
the Covenant of Works, to be but as dung that he might win Christ. If the
promise of Christ, salvation and justification by Him, had been given in the
Covenant of the Flesh and line of Abraham, then it had been very improper for
Paul to account this as dung, and to cast contempt upon it as that which was
wholly void of Christ. It would be very sinful for any man in such a case to
cast such contempt upon the Covenant of Grace itself and the privileges
thereof.
Galatians 3 Shows
Two Covenants
But you see Paul
does here clearly distinguish between two covenants, the one of Faith and
the other of Circumcision. This will further appear in Gal. 3:3 "Are ye so
foolish, that having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the
flesh?" He again distinguishes two Covenants, the one spiritual, the
other a fleshly covenant. The Galatians, having at the first hearing of Him,
began to embrace the Gospel or the Spirit or Spiritual word of the New
Covenant. Now they would join the Covenant of Works in the flesh with the
Gospel. It is evident that he means the Covenant of Circumcision, which they
would seek to be perfected by.
Galatains 4 Shows
Sarah and Hagar as the Two
Covenants
In Galatians 4
Paul clearly distinguishes between two Covenants and two seeds under the
figure of Sarah and Hagar. He holds forth the Covenant of Circumcision to
be the Covenant of Works as that bond-woman (as it were) in chapter 5:1-3 and
6:12,13. If you will seriously mind these Scriptures the do most evidently
prove that the Covenant of Circumcision made in the flesh or fleshly line of
Abraham is a Covenant of Works. It is that Covenant which the Gospel or
Covenant of Grace is set in opposition unto. This Covenant of Circumcision is
set in opposition to the Covenant of Eternal Life, as having all the Works of
the Law included in it. So consider, the New Covenant speaks thus, "I will
put my Law in your hearts, and in your minds will I write them." But
Circumcision is a covenant, not in the heart but in the flesh only, as you have
heard. This is the second ground why the Covenant of Circumcision cannot be a
Covenant of Eternal Life but a Covenant of Works only.
Third Argument
To Prove Circumcision Is A
Covenant of Works,
The Old Covenant Held Forth Temporal
Blessings In The Land of Cannan
The third reason
to prove circumcision to be a Covenant of Works and not of eternal life is,
Hebrews 8:6 Shows That Christ is the
Mediator of The Better Covenant Because there is
no promise of eternal life in it but only of temporal blessings in the
Land of Canaan. God, promising to be a God is only in respect to
outward Protection and Provision in the Land of Canaan and other like
privileges. This is noted by the Apostle in Heb. 8:6, "But now hath he obtained
a more excellent Ministry; by how much also he is a Mediator of a better
covenant, which was established upon better promises."
Jeremiah 11:2-5
Herein he clearly
does show that the Covenant waxing old and vanishing away, was grounded upon
worse promises, which must needs be understood as temporal promises, Jer.
11:2-5.
"Hear ye the
words of this Covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and Inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Cursed be
the man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant, which I commanded your
Fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the Iron
Furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command
you. So shall ye be my people, and I will be your God, that I may perform the
Oath that I have sworn unto your Father, to give them a Land flowing with milk
and honey, as it is this day; then answered I and said, So be it, O Lord."
The Land of Cannan is Annexed to the
Works of the Law
Here you have
this Covenant in which God, being the God of His people, gives them Canaan as
being in all one covenant and is annexed to the works of the Law, Observe the words
in the text, "So shall ye be my people, and I will be your God, that I may
perform the covenant which I have sworn to your Fathers to give them a Land
flowing with Milk and Honey."
The Promises of Cannan
You shall see
that the promises of Canaan and the blessings thereof, are annexed to the
Law of works, Deut. 30:15:
"See, I have
set before thee life and good, and death and evil, in that I command thee this
day, to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his
commandments and statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayst live and
multiply, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the Land whither thou goest
to possess it."
Deut. 7:12, 13
So in the last
verse he presses the people to obey his voice that they might dwell in the Land
that the Lord swear unto their Fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give
them. So in Deut. 7:12,13: "Wherefore
it shall come to pass, that if you hearken to those judgments to keep and do
them, that then the Lord shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy that
he swear to thy Fathers; and he will love thee and bless thee, and multiply
thee, he will also bless thee in the fruit of thy womb; and the fruit of the
Land, thy Corn, and thy Wine, and thine Oil, the increase of thy Kine, and the
flock of thy Sheep in the Land which he swear unto thy Fathers to give
thee."
The Covenant of
Works
So that you see
that in the Covenant of God, God gives Himself to be their God, to the National
people of the Jews in relation to the blessing of Canaan, this blessing was
still upon obedience to the works of the Law. This covenant in which God
elected to Himself the body of Israel and by which He separated them to Himself
from all the Nations of the Earth, is clearly a Covenant of Works. In this
Covenant the people were bound to outward observance, worship, and service to
God. Upon this Condition God would be their God and give them Canaan.
The Absolute Covenant Is
In Christ
For there is a
vast difference in God's making over Himself to be a God to a People in a
conditional Covenant of Works out of Christ, and in an absolute covenant
established of God in Christ. For in such a covenant He was never the God of
the whole family of Abraham, or Church of Israel. The elect obtained that and
the rest were hardened, as in Rom. 11:17.
Fourth Argument
To Prove Circumcision Is A
Covenant Of Works.
In the New Covenant Money Cannot Buy
Privileges As it Did in the Old Covenant
The fourth ground
is this, that a man might have brought a Person into this Covenant and
interested him thereby into all the Privileges of the same by laying out a
little money which, if this were a Covenant of Life wherein the Spirit and
Spiritual gifts of the Lord had been given, a man might not say as Peter did
say to Simon Magus, "Thy money perish with thee."
But for that
reason, most certain it is, this Covenant of Circumcision is no spiritual
covenant. This will appear from the words of the Covenant in Gen. 17:12,13. "And
he that is eight days old, shall be circumcised among you, every man child in
your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any
stranger, which is not of thy seed."
"He that is
born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be
circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh, for an everlasting covenant." Here observe that
all bought with money must be circumcised. If an Israelite should buy a black
Moor, or the most savage Heathen in the World, he was bound to see him
circumcised. Being circumcised, he was now in that covenant. The truth is,
circumcision was one of those carnal Ordinances that the Author to the Hebrews,
in Heb. 9:9, does speak of as being appointed till the time of Reformation.
Now the person
whom the Lord would have circumcised must be of the family of Abraham. That is
all the qualifications required: For God does not require a person to be
spiritually qualified, as he does now under the Gospel. The Lord gave, in
general, a Law and Commandment unto Abraham that all his Family must be
circumcised, and that he must see it performed.
The Minister of
Circumcision
It is not in the
institution enjoined that the person who does circumcise must be a
believer. Neither is it enjoined that the person upon whom it is done, must
have Discipleship or the work of grace, but this only, He must be one of the
Family of Abraham, either born in his house, or bought with his money. So, the
slave bought with money was as truly interested into the Covenant of God and
the right eating of the Passover as one born in the house of the seed of
Abraham.
Fifth Argument
To Prove Circumcision Is A
Covenant of Works,
Men outside of the Covenant Might
Be Saved While Men
in the Covenant Might Be
Damned
A fifth ground is
this, that men (out of this Covenant) might be saved, and such as were really
interested in it, might be damned.
Lot and his Fleshly Line were not
in this Covenant
For example, Lot
dwelling in the City of Sodom and all the godly that day in the whole world,
excepting Abraham and his house or family, were no way interested in the
Covenant or Circumcision, yet were saved. Israel, who for the multitude of
them, were as the Sand on the Seashore and interested in this Covenant, yet
only a Remnant of them were saved, Isa. 10:23. Lot is commended to be a just
and righteous man. Yet, this covenant was never made to him nor his seed and
posterity, the Ammonites and Moabites. They were as truly the seed and children
of a believer as the seed of Abraham were.
Job and His Four Friends and Other Godly
Persons Who Lived Then
So you find Job
in the Land of Uz, in the Book of Job, and his four friends. Besides those of
Job's friends, one of his friends does intimate several other ancient and godly
persons in those times, as Job. 8:8,10; Job 15:10. Here he says, "Ask the
Ancients and they will tell thee." We have those with us much more elder
than thy Father, who do argue. These were very ancient and godly men fit to be
inquired of about those heavenly mysteries. They were much older than Job's
father in that East Country. It is plain that neither they, nor any of their
children or families, had right to Circumcision and the blessing of Canaan. But
most sure it is, they had an interest in the Covenant of Life. This plainly
shows that Circumcision was but an earthly, typical covenant such as good and
godly men might not have an interest in and such as wicked men had an interest
in.
King David's Wicked and Ungodly Sons and Many
Others Were in this Covenant
Do we not find
that all David's sons were in this covenant? But how many except Solomon
had any right to the Covenant of Life? Yea, Abraham himself had eight Sons.
Each of them had a Generation. God did not make the Covenant of Circumcision with
them, but only Isaac. The rest were as truly the Sons of believing Abraham as
was Isaac. Ishmael, and the six Sons Abraham had by Keturah, with their
generation, were all the children of the same believing Abraham just as Isaac
was. Yet, this covenant ran not upon either of their posterity. But in Isaac,
the text says, shall thy seed be called. Though we may not be so uncharitable
but to think that many of the seed of those who went into the East Country
might be the elect of God and in a Covenant of Grace, yet to be sure, they had
not an Interest in this Covenant of Circumcision, and the Inheritance of
Canaan.
God's Old Covenant
Remnant
Isaiah tells us
in Isaiah 1:9, that if God had not left Himself a very small Remnant, Israel
would had been as Sodom and Gomorra.
So there was in
the whole Nation of Israel (who were in the Covenant of Circumcision) but
a very small Remnant selected out from the rest into the Covenant of Life, Rom.
9. The Apostle so makes use of the words, and in Rom. 11:5, 7 the Apostle says,
"the election in and amongst Israel have obtained it, and the rest were
hardened or blinded." The rest, some may say, "what rest," the
rest of Israel in the Covenant of Circumcision. But, it is plain that all
Israel were elected, one as much as another in the Covenant of Circumcision, by
which they were separated to God from all other nations, as I have said.
The Gospel Covenant Confirmed and Tendered to
Natural Israel By the Holy Prophets But it is plain
that there was a Gospel Testament confirmed of God in Christ held out and
tendered to the Jews by the Holy Prophets and Pen-men of God. The election
obtained that and the rest were hardened. They remained still in the literal
and old Covenant of Circumcision which they had right to only by natural
generation.
Isaiah 8:28 Shows of Christ
and His People
But none had a
right to the Gospel Covenant but by the regeneration and new birth. Therefore
God says in Isa. 8:28, "I and the children that thou hast given me, are as
signs and wonders in Israel," implying clearly that a little handful of
Israel were given to Christ in the Covenant of Grace out from amongst the body
of Israel. The rest of the multitude of Israel
remained without
being given to Christ, making signs and wonders at such as were given to Him,
by being admitted into a Covenant of Eternal Life through faith. This shows
that the whole body of Israel were not admitted into, but some a few only. So
that you see Souls may be in this Covenant of Circumcision and be damned. Souls
may be out of it, and saved. Therefore, this cannot be a Covenant of Eternal
Life, but only a Typical Covenant of Works.
Sixth Argument
To Prove Circumcision a
Covenant of Works Is,
This Covenant Might Be Broken And
The Male Cast Off
The sixth ground
to prove that the Covenant of Circumcision was but a Covenant of Works, an
outward Typical Covenant, is:
That this
Covenant of Circumcision might be broken, as the Lord says in Gen. 17:14. The
uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, shall
be cut off from My people, because he hath broken My covenant.
Here observe,
though he were born of the Family and of the seed of Abraham and so had an
interest in the Covenant, yet he might forfeit his right, and break this
covenant so as to be cast off from God's people.
The New Covenant Cannot Be Broken
Because It is Not Conditional Which the Old Covenant
Was
This is that Old
Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31, "I will make a New Covenant with the house of
Israel, not like that Covenant which I made with their Fathers, which
they broke, and my soul had no pleasure in them." For, as I have shown
before, it is impossible that the New Covenant can be broken because it is an
absolute covenant made on no condition to be fulfilled by the creature. But the
Lord works "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" in this
covenant. Therefore, "it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that
runneth, but in God Who shows mercy." The Lord says, speaking of the New
Covenant, in Jer. 33:15: "In those days and at that time, I will cause the
branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, he shall execute judgment and
righteousness in the Land; in those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely, and this is the name wherewith he shall be called, the Lord
our righteousness; for thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit
upon the Throne of the house of Israel." "Neither
shall the Priest the Levite, want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to
kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
And the word of
the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, If you can break my
covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, that there should not be day
and night in their seasons, then may also my covenant be broken with David my
Servant, that he should not have a Son to reign upon his Throne." Where
you see the spiritual covenant cannot be broken, as Psalm
89:34. "My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out
of my mouth."
A Covenant of Works is
Conditional
It must needs be
a Covenant of Works, that is, conditional. He made such a covenant with the
Priest mentioned in I Sam. 2:30 where the Lord saith to this purpose:
"Wherefore
the God of Israel said, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy
Fathers, should walk before me for ever. But now saith the Lord, be it far from
me, for them that honor me, I will honor, and they that despise me, shall be
lightly esteemed."
You must still
mind those conditional promises the Lord makes. Here the creature who is
not walking in the performance of the condition on his part, God is set free or
at liberty whether He will perform such conditional promises yea, or no.
The Glories of the Absolute Covenant
Confirmed by God in Christ
But it is not so
in the absolute promises confirmed of God in Christ, Gal. 3:17. Those promises
are all Yea and Amen as you see in 2 Cor. 1:20. But the Covenant of
Circumcision is only a Covenant of Works wherein a poor creature truly
interested in that covenant, might break it and forfeit his interest and be
cast out and rejected out of that covenant from amongst his people.
This is clearly
confirmed in Isaiah 50:1. "Thus saith the Lord? where is the Bill of your
Mother's Divorcement, which I have put away? or to which of my Creditors, have
I sold you? behold, for your iniquities have you sold your selves, and for your
transgressions is your Mother put away."
No Bill Of Divorce in The
New Covenant
Now (beloved) a
divorce argues a breach and forfeiting of the covenant which the body of all
Israel was in. We know that the National Covenant was of Circumcision. They
that know in the least measure the nature of the Covenant of Grace, cannot but
know it to be such a covenant out of which a soul cannot be
divorced from the
Lord.
Objection:
There are many
who are visibly in a Covenant of Grace now, under the Gospel, and yet may be
cast out from God's people
But some may say,
it follows not but that it is a Covenant of Grace, and so then, they might be
visibly in a Covenant of Grace and yet be rejected.
Answer
In the New Covenant We have No
Infallible Rule of Judgment as to Who is In that
Covenant
Persons may now
profess to be in Christ and so in a Covenant of Grace, by an outward
profession, but this being barely a profession, and not in truth in them who
profess the same; they profess they were in that, which in truth they never
were. For, under the Gospel, we have no infallible rule to know who is in the
Covenant of Grace and who is not, because we have only the confession of
themselves, who may deceive themselves and us.
The Infallible Rule of Judgment
Under the Old Covenant
But we have an
infallible Rule to judge that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the seed forward in
their Loins or their generations, were in this Covenant of Circumcision.
Therefore, it is a great mistake for any to evade what has been said upon such
a groundless objection.
Saints Now Have a Rule to
Disown the Ungodly
Now consider, it
is that great and faithful God Who said and professes that Abraham and his seed
and family after him from Jacob forward, were in this Covenant with him. But
now, it is only poor unfaithful Man, hypocritical, dissembling, proud man, who
say they are in the Covenant of Life. When it proves not so, or when it visibly
proves the contrary the Saints have a Rule to disown such. This is a most
certain truth, God did never put a soul away and make a divorce between Himself
and any one Soul in a Covenant of Life. It is as certain that the whole Church
of Israel were in reality and truth in the Covenant of Circumcision, Gen.
17:10,11. Here Abraham, and those born in his house, are to be circumcised. So
Psalm 105:9-11, which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath with Isaac and
confirmed the same to Jacob by a Law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant
saying, "Unto thee have I given the Land of Canaan, the Lot of your
inheritance."
No Hypocrites are in the
Covenant of Grace
Now it would
plentifully appear, (if further proof needed) that God, His own Self, testifies
to His making and entering into covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and
their seed forward. Therefore, let no man please himself with such a poor,
groundless objection, that the family of Israel were only visibly or in the
judgment of Charity, in the Covenant of Circumcision as Hypocrites are now in
the Covenant of Grace.
All Natural Israelites Were Never Visibly
in the Covenant of Grace
For there is nothing
more clear than this, Israel were in truth and reality in the Covenant of
Circumcision expressed by the Mouth of God Himself, and nothing more certain
that Israel were never (all of them) so much visibly in the Covenant of Grace.
Natural Israel Fulfilled the
Fruits of the Flesh
If it were
necessary I could multiply places of Scripture,to prove the most part of Israel
were visibly unbelievers living in those manifest fruits of the flesh as
Drunkenness, Swearing, Lying, Whoring, Stealing, Covetousness, and palpable
Ignorance. They were without faith and knowledge. All these notorious sins were
constantly in the greatest part of the Church of Israel. They neighed (as fed
horses) after their neighbors' wives and were given to oppression and horrid
idolatry. All these sins being such manifest fruits of the flesh, that such as
live in them, the Apostle says, cannot enter into the Kingdom of Christ and of
God. They are visibly the children of the Devil. Therefore, to say the whole
body of Israel were visibly godly, and so visibly in the Covenant of Grace, is
a most gross mistake. They were really in the outward National Covenant of
Circumcision, but not the generality so much as visibly in the Gospel Covenant
of Life.
The Mass of Ignorance and Blindness
Mix and Confound
The Two Covenants God Made
to Abraham
It cannot be
denied but that those Jews in John 8:30, and so forward, were Abraham's
children and interested in the Covenant of Works. Yet, Christ is far from concluding
their right to the covenant of Sonship and the heavenly adoption. But rather,
in that respect Christ concluded that they are of their father the Devil, whose
works they did. They also were Liars and enemies to Christ, as the Devil was
from the beginning. Therefore, he excludes them from being the children of God.
So that the main mass of blindness and darkness lying upon men's minds is this,
they mix and confound the two covenants made to Abraham, the one is a
spiritual, heavenly covenant made to him as a Father of the faithful. This
Covenant is to those only who walk in the steps of faithful Abraham. The temporal
Covenant of Circumcision was to the seed according to the flesh from Jacob
forward, and those joining themselves to that family. So then, in a word, the
Covenant of Circumcision must needs be a Covenant of Works, and not of
eternal life, because it might be broken, which the Covenant of
Eternal Life cannot be.
Seventh Argument
To Prove Circumcision Is A
Covenant of Works
If we Make it a Covenant of Eternal
Life We Overthrow Many Fundamental Points of
Religion
The seventh
ground to prove the Covenant of Circumcision is not a Covenant of Grace is,That if we maintain
the Covenant of Circumcision to be a Covenant of Grace to eternal life, therein
we overthrow many fundamental points of Religion. This is a strong ground to
prove that it is not of Grace but an outward typical covenant. For it is
impossible that such an understanding of Scripture which crosses plain
fundamental points of religion can be true.
Examples
To give you some
examples, first you must needs confess that the Covenant of Circumcision was
made to Abraham and his seed after him, in their generations Gen.
17:7, from Isaac and Jacob forward. So that being born in the house or Family
of Israel, or being bought with the money of one of the Israelites, interested
a person in that covenant because he came forth out of that line and was born
heir to that Covenant and the privileges of the same.
To Say That The Covenant of Grace is
Entailed On The Flesh, Overthrows The Main Fundamental
Points Of Our Religion.
The chief and
precious privileges of the Covenant of Grace are adoption of Sonship,
Justification and the inward work of sanctification. All these privileges the
natural generation must needs be born heirs to if they were born heirs of a
Covenant of Grace. This must be asserted by those who defend children's
baptism.
Total Depravity and Total Inability Is A
Fundamental Point of Religion
This fundamental
point of Religion, that all mankind are by nature the children of
wrath, Eph. 2:2, and that all, both Jews and Gentiles, are charged under sin,
Rom. 3:9 must needs be denied. "There is none righteous, no not one,"
be it known to you that this is a fundamental doctrine of truth generally
acknowledged by all the godly, "that we are dead in sins and trespasses,
wherein in times past, we walked according to the course of this world,
according to the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience; among whom also we had our conversation in times
past, in the lust of the flesh, and of the mind, and were children of wrath by
nature as well as others."
Paul's Testimony As To Total Depravity
and Natural Inability
The Apostle Paul
affirms this to be equally the state of himself, who was born in the
Church of Israel, as well as the Gentiles. David does affirm this of all in
general, Psalm 14:2,3, which the Apostle Paul urges in Rom. 3:9 forwards,
speaking of himself and the rest of the National Churches of the Jews, "What
are we (he says) better than they? meaning than the Gentiles No, in no wise,
for we have before proved that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, as it
is written, there is none righteous, no not one; there is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they are all gone out of
the way, they are together become abominable, there is none that doeth good, no
not one."
David's Testimony in
Psalms 51
In Psalm 51 David
says, "I was conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity;"
who was a child of the Church of God, as it is usually termed.
Evils of Affirming Those Who Are In
Abraham's Natural Covenant Are Also In the Covenant
of Grace
But beloved, this
doctrine is clear in Scripture and clearly experienced by every Godly
Christian. This truth must needs be overthrown if the whole body of Israel
were:
born adopted Sons
and heirs of a Covenant of Eternal Life,
born heirs of
Justification,
then, they were
never heirs of wrath,
nor in a state of
damnation,
nor never proved
nor charged under sin,
nor never all unrighteous,
because both
heirs of a Covenant of Grace, and of righteousness, nor never born dead in sins
and trespasses. That is inconsistent with being in a Covenant of Grace and
Life.
This opinion of
holding the Covenant of Grace to be entailed in the flesh opposes itself
directly against this aforementioned foundation of Religion and must needs be a
gross error so considered.
This View Would Also Deny Stability in
the Covenant of Grace
The second
fundamental point of Religion that this error opposes itself against is,
stability in a Covenant of Eternal Life. It cannot be imagined that I should
much insist upon proving this Doctrine of stability in grace to be a
fundamental truth. I shall take that for granted from the nature of the New
Covenant as seen in several Scriptures before recited, as in Psalm 125.
"They that
trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but as
the Mountains are round about Jerusalem, so shall the Lord be about them, from
this time forth, and for ever."
And in Psalm
89:33, "If thy children sin, I will afflict them, with the rods of men,
but my loving kindness will I not utterly take from them, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail; My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is
gone out of my mouth." But, taking this
for granted to be a truth that all born in the Church of the Jews, were
born heirs of this stable Covenant, and so were really and in truth in the
Covenant of Grace, then most of the Church of Israel who were in a Covenant of
Grace, were damned and not saved, as Isaiah 10:22,23. Though Israel were as the
sand of the Sea, yet a Remnant of them were saved only. So Isaiah with Rom.
9:27,28,31. "But Israel which followed after the Law of righteousness,
hath not obtained to the Law of righteousness." Paul says, Rom. 11:5,
"There was a Remnant according to the election of grace," and in
verse 7 how "they obtained it, but the rest were hardened," all but the
remnant, were blinded, and hardened.
Therefore, if
such multitudes as the sand of the Sea, were all really in a Covenant of Grace,
most of them must be understood to fall out of the covenant and so
to fall out of the Covenant of Life.
Souls Cannot Be Truly In The Covenant of Life
and Grace and Fall Out of It
This is another
fundamental truth that this opinion is fully against, that souls may be truly
in a Covenant of Eternal Life and yet perish and be damned.
The Third Foundational Point this
Overthrows is,
the Necessity of Conversion or
Regeneration
The third
foundation this error overthrows is, the necessity of Conversion or
Regeneration. This doctrine is eminently confirmed by Christ in the Gospel as a
fundamental truth in John 3:4, 5 where Christ, speaking to Nicodemus, tells
him, "that except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." Likewise in John 8:24, "Except
ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." In John 3, the two
last verses, "He that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on Him, and
he shall not see life."
If The Carnal Seed Were In the Covenant
of Grace and Life, then Why Did Christ Command Them to Believe
to Receive Eternal Life
The
before-mentioned errors hold to a Covenant of Life running in the flesh upon the
carnal seed, opposes itself against this. For might the carnal seed of Israel
say to Christ, why do you preach such a doctrine to us, "That except you
be born again, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven?" They could
well say, "we affirm the contrary seeing by the first birth we have an interest
in the Covenant of Grace and eternal life already without believing and being
born again, and so are entered into the Kingdom of God, and the privileges
thereof." Whereas you say "except you believe that I am He," you
shall die in your sins? Why does Christ pronounce death without believing, seeing
we are acquainted with another way to enter into life, than the way of
believing, which is to be begotten of one of the church members or of a believer?
We find the Holy
Ghost says in 1 John 5, "He that hath Christ hath life, he that hath not
Christ hath not life." "No," says this error, "there were thousands
who were interested in life, without having Christ, by carnal generation."
The Apostle says, "There is no other name under heaven by which we can be
saved but by the name of Jesus."
This Opens Another Door Of Entrance Into the
Covenant of Grace and Life
Yea, this error
says, "There is another name by which we may come into a Covenant of
Eternal Life and so to be saved." So that here lies the case where Christ, in
the Gospel, powerfully affirms no other way to life but by believing,
regeneration, and coming to Jesus Christ. This opinion destroys all these
testimonies. It opens another door of entrance into the Covenant of Life, that
by fleshly generation, though Christ says to Nicodemus in John 3, "That
which is born of the flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit, is
Spirit;" as if souls were infatuated, and had no ears to hear His plain
word.
If this Contrary Opinion Be True
then There is
No Need to Seek the
Conversion of Anyone
They who are of
this opinion do defend the contrary. To what purpose should any man seek the
conversion of any Believer's children, whether formerly of the nation of the
Jews, or now the nations of the believing Gentiles; seeing they are born heirs
of a Covenant of Eternal Life, and so are in as good a state without conversion
and believing and being born again as any other soul is by believing, and by
the new birth?
This Contrary Doctrine Justifies the
Jews and Their Arguments
Against John the Baptist and
Jesus Christ
This doctrine
tends to justify the rebellious Jews against John the Baptist and Christ. The
Sadducees and Pharisees came to John's Baptism, Matthew 3. John says, "O
ye Generation of vipers, who hath forewarned you to fly from the wrath to come?
bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our Father." John would have this people to be
converted to entitle them to this Covenant of Grace and to baptism which is an
Ordinance of the same covenant. They are not to think so erroneously because
they are children of Abraham according to the flesh, that should entitle them
to the same. Therefore, he says "think not within yourselves, we have
Abraham to our Father," and we are his children according to the flesh.
Therefore, we need not a work of conversion or true Repentance to entitle us to
the privileges of the Covenant, as was baptism. Also in John 8:31, Christ says
unto some Jews, "If you abide in my words, then are you my Disciples
indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, and
then you shall be free indeed." They answered him, "We be Abraham's
children, and never were in bondage to any, How sayest thou then, We shall be
made free?"
Here you may
observe that these wicked, obstinate Jews were of the same opinion that they
were in a state of happiness and good enough by generation, by being Abraham's
seed according to the flesh. Jesus answers, "Who so committeth sin, is the
servant of sin, and the Servant abideth not in the house for ever." We
find Christ tells these Sons of Abraham, that they were so far from being the
adopted sons of God, in a Covenant of Life, that they were of their Father the
Devil. These same persons Christ speaks to in verse 24 and tells them,
"Except they believed Christ was He, they should die in their sins."
Christ Did Not Believe the Covenant of Circumcision
Was A Covenant of Life
Christ was far
from this opinion. He did not think that the Covenant of Circumcision was
a Covenant of Life. He does thoroughly reprehend them for this groundless
confidence. This error was the main obstacle that hindered the Jews from faith
and repentance. They thought the Old Covenant entitled them to happiness only
by being of the stock of Abraham and born heirs of the Covenant of
Circumcision. This very rotten opinion was one of the Devil's sleights to lull
them asleep in a carnal and unconverted condition. They thought they needed not
the New Birth; which thought of theirs would have been true enough provided all
the children of Abraham had, by generation, interest in the Covenant of Life
which other men could have no interest in without regeneration. But Christ, you
see, presses a necessity of conversion to these children of Abraham who at the
present, were as fully interested in the Covenant of Circumcision as Abraham
himself. Even to Nicodemus, who was a Ruler of the Jews, Christ presses a
necessity upon him, and also labors by a parable in Luke 16 to convince those
sottish Jews that one might be the seed of Abraham according to the flesh and
yet be irrecoverably damned. Therefore, he brings in the rich man in Hell, speaking
thus, "Father Abraham, I pray thee, send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger
in water to cool my tongue." Abraham is brought in owning him to be his
Son, speaking thus, "My Son remember, that thou in thy lifetime, receivest
good things."
Luke 16
Here you may
observe that the man in Hell, irrecoverably damned, owns Abraham to be his
Father, and Abraham also does acknowledge him to be his Son. Here you clearly
see that a man may be a Son of Abraham and yet damned, "thou hadst thy
good things in this life, but Lazarus his evil things. Ezekiel 18:9,10 shows
where a just man is presupposed to beget a son who is a robber, and a shedder
of blood, and who goes out in all manner of wickedness, and that in Israel.
Wherein observe,
Abraham owns no other privilege belonged to the rich man by virtue of being the
Son of Abraham, but what was in this life, or in this world. Hell was his best
portion in the world to come. But, if he had been born heir to the Covenant of
Life, how then could Abraham's affirmation have been true?
Beloved, let all
ingenuous Spirits who are not willing to walk blind-fold consider how
contrary to the whole tenor of the Gospel this opinion is and how it is
destructive to these fundamental principles of the Gospel, the necessity of
Christ, and of Regeneration, and destroys all sense of the necessity of
conversion, and helps to harden men to destruction as it did the blind Jews,
who (as it appears) were fully blinded in the receipt of that opinion, that being
Abraham's seed, according to the flesh, interested them in happiness and
eternal life.
This Concept Destroys the Doctrine of
the New Covenant and Its Many Visible
Points
Fourthly, this
opinion destroys the doctrine of the New Covenant, and the nature of it, and
the manner of how God makes it with the soul. For, to make a New Covenant with
the soul, is to write the Law of God in a man's heart and in his mind, and to
infuse saving knowledge and faith. By this God unites the soul to himself, and
so pardons all his sins. Without any condition
considered in the creature, God binds over Himself to be their God freely in
Christ, and binds over Himself to own them to be His people. Only in this way,
and in no otherwise, is God said to make His New Covenant with a poor soul.
Whereas, this dream would seem to bear you in hand, that a whole nation may be
in a New Covenant and have it made with them, and yet have none of this work
wrought in their hearts.
This Concept Destroys the Doctrine of
Justification by Faith in Christ
Fifthly, this
opinion destroys the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. Seeing that
it does hold out another way than by faith to come to justification, which is
by the carnal birth of believing parents. For, if a soul is admitted into a
Covenant of Life, I hope you are not ignorant that justification is a great
privilege in the New Covenant, and really the portion of all that are in that
covenant.
This Concept Destroys the Doctrine and Foundation
of A Gospel Church
Sixthly, this
opinion destroys the Doctrine and foundation of all Gospel Churches where it
is held, which will appear by two things:
It Destroys the Matter of the
Gospel Church
First, it
destroys the matter of the Church, you know that this is a fundamental truth,
that the matter of the Church ought (now under the Gospel) to be Saints by
calling, 1 Cor. 1:2; Spiritual worshippers, John 4:23; Lively stones, 1 Pet.
2:5; Such as are redeemed from their vain conversation, 1 Pet. 1:13; Such as
are brought out of darkness into His marvelous light, 1 Pet. 2:9.
This Concept Brings into the Gospel Church
the Nation of Natural Seed
Now this error
destroys the truth, or opposes itself against the truth of God lying in all
these Scriptures. It brings in the nation of believers, all born of their body,
their seed's seed in their generation. For the Covenant of Circumcision was not
only to the next generation immediately flowing from Abraham, "But to thy
seed after thee in their generations." We see in that generation during
Christ's time, they were as well called Abraham's seed, as Isaac himself was,
and they did call Abraham their father.
This Concept Produces a
National Church
Therefore, if the
Covenant of Circumcision shall be a man's pattern, we must necessarily have a
Church that is national, consisting of succeeding generations for many hundred
years, coming out of believing persons' loins, and so set up the partition-wall
again between the natural branches and those who are wild by nature.
How This Destroys the
Gospel Church
So that this
tenet does of necessity destroy the true matter of a Church, because it
unavoidably admits into the Church all the unconverted and unregenerate
children, born of the bodies of such persons, that either are or have been
accounted believers.
Causes a Neglect of Gospel
Baptism
As it destroys
the matter of a Church in admitting such that are not made Disciples, so it
occasions such as do believe, remaining in that opinion, to live in that sin of
neglect of the Lord's Baptism, contenting themselves with that counterfeit of
Baptism which they had in their infancy.
This Evil Opinion Causes the
Constitution of a Church To Be
By Both Good and Bad
Persons
This evil opinion
occasions the constitution of a Church or Congregation of good and bad
promiscuously, and all these unbaptized both the good and the bad. What light
in the Gospel have you to justify such an Assembly, to be the true Church of
Christ that does consist of some Religious people in the judgment of charity
and a world of carnal children admitted and received in among them and all,
both the carnal and the religious, never baptized with the Lord's baptism?
This Type of an Assembly Cannot be a True,
Orderly Church of Christ
I do deny such an
Assembly can be owned as an orderly Church of Christ. Thus you see, what a
great error this is, that opposes itself against so many fundamental points of
the Gospel.
Objection
But may some say,
though we receive in children by baptism into our Church, we do not admit them
unto the Supper.
Answer
The Question is,
when will you admit them? See what an untrodden path you are run into? Do
you own your children to be in a Covenant of Grace and eternal life, and
enrighted into the privileges of the same? Is Baptism the privilege of the New
Covenant, and not the Supper also? If it be, how dare you keep them from their
right and privilege, I pray you? How long did the Apostles baptize their
members, before they admitted them to the Supper?
The Gospel Order
If you look in
Acts 2:41, 42 you shall find as many as gladly received the word of God, were
baptized, and presently they continued in the Apostles' doctrine, fellowship,
breaking of bread, and prayer, as soon as they were baptized.
This Also is a Groundless
Practice
Therefore, you have
no ground at all, upon any pretense, to suspend from the Supper such members
whom you own as privileged in all the other Ordinances of God, which you have
received into your Church, by your supposed baptism.
Thus you may see
what horrible Consequences flow naturally from maintaining a Covenant of
Eternal Life in the flesh.
This Concepts Holds That Persons May
Have Eternal Life
Without Union With Christ
By Faith
Seventhly, this
opinion defends another gross error, that persons may have right to a Covenant
of Life, without union or in-being in Christ by faith.
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