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31: iv. 4-14. And that covenant being confirmed of God concerning Christ, 430 years before the covenant of Sinai, and revealed to Abraham 24 years before the covenant of circumcision, is equally distinct and independent of both; for the prominent blessing in Gen. xii. is of blessing all nations in Christ the seed of Abraham; and the distinguishing characteristics of the covenant, Gen. xvii., are the inheritance of Canaan and the multiplying of Abraham's posterity. Circumcision was not attached to the promise, Gen. xii., but to that in the 17th chapter, 24 years afterward. This covenant concerning Christ was afterward confirmed with an oath, Gen. xxii. 16-18. See also Heb. vi. 16-18.

Eight years after the covenant at Gen. xii., God made another covenant with Abraham, Gen. xv., respecting the land of Canaan. Sixteen years after this, Gen. xvii., he made another covenant, called by Stephen, Acts vii. 8, the covenant of circumcision. And yet we are gravely told, that there was but one covenant made with Abraham,-that circumcision was the seal of it, that this covenant and the covenant of grace is the same covenant, under different dispensations, with the form of the seal changed to baptism. Admit, for the sake of argument, all of this, and then inquire what were the promises of the Abrahamic covenant?

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1. "I will make thee a great nation." 2. "I will bless thee." 3. "I will bless the families of the earth in thy seed." 4. "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river Euphrates." 5. "I will make thee the father of many nations." 6. "I will be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee." 7. "I will make kings to come out of thee." 8. "Thy seed shall possess the gate of its enemies." 9. "My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant."

These are the blessings given to Abraham, in the 12th, 15th, 17th and 22d chapters of Genesis. If this is the covenant of Christ's church, then the church, and each individual member of it who receives baptism as the seal of the Abrahamic covenant, may confidently look for each and all of the above things; for God has sealed them to him, on pedobaptist principles. And if God made but one covenant with Abraham, of which circumcision was the seal, then that which is recorded, Gen. xxii., is a mere aliquem in numerum aggregare, forgotten or otherwise neglected when the covenant was sealed and delivered, Gen. xvii., and not added until about 30 years after. Will pedobaptists admit all this, to get proof for infant baptism?

SECTION II.

The Covenant of Redemption.

THIS Covenant is brought to view in the following Scriptures: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between her seed and thy seed, and it (Hebrew HE) shalt bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heal." Gen. iii. 15. "I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Gen. xii. 3. "In blessing I will bless thee," &c. Gen. xxii. 17, 18. "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made; he saith not and to seeds as of many, but as of one: and to thy seed, which is CHRIST." Gal. iii. 16. Isa. liii. 10-12; Eph. i. 4; Zec. vi. 13; Psa. ii. 6-8. "Thou speakest in vision to thy HOLY ONE and said," &c. Psa. lxxxix. 19-36. From the above Scriptures it is evident that this covenant was made by the persons of the Godhead with reference to the salvation of men, and must

have existed eternally. Although it was not made with any man, yet God was pleased to reveal it to Adam, Abraham, David, Isaiah, Zechariah, and all the patriarchs and prophets of old. But the most glorious and full revelation that we find is to David, Psa. ii. 4-8: Ixviii. 14-18: lxxxix.: xci. with others. This is a gracious covenant, but not THE COV

ENANT OF GRACE.

SECTION

III.

The Covenant of Grace.

THIS Covenant is made and exists between God and each Christian; and this being made with a man, he is in grace and grace in him. It is brought to view at Gal. i. 6; Eph. i. 7: ii. 5-10; Gen. xii. 1-4; Tit. iii. 7; 1 Cor. i. 4. "Incline your ear and come unto me; hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Isa. lxv. 3. This class of Scriptures does not refer to the covenant of redemption, for they speak of a covenant made with the man who will incline his ear and hear God. These Scriptures can not refer to the covenant of circumcision, for they are addressed alike to Jew and Gentile. But circumcision was not given to the Gentiles, and the Jews had already been circumcised at eight days old, (See Gen. xvii. 9—14.) and the individual who became interested in this covenant was to enjoy the salvation of God. But the covenant of circumcision gave no such promise; therefore, the covenant spoken of in Isaiah lv. 3, was the covenant of grace. This covenant does not exist between God and the unregenerate. Gen. vi. 5: Mat. xv. 19: John viii. 44: Rom. iii. 10-18: viii. 4: Prov. i. 24: Mat. xxv. 46. This view of the subject does not

militate against the salvation of infants.

We have

Since

no doubt that all who die in infancy are saved. the days of Origen, however, there has been much doubt of this. The churches at Alexandria, Rome, and in Africa were led into error on this doctrine, and some denominations in this age are not free from perplexities. "God doth not leave all men to perish in the estate of sin and misery into which they fell by the breach of the first covenant, commonly called the covenant of works, but of his mere love and mercy he delivereth his elect out of it. Baptism is not to be administered to any out of the visible church, and so strangers to the covenant of promise, till they profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him. But infants descending from parents either both or but one of them professing faith in Christ and obedience to him, are in that respect within the covenant, and are to be baptized." Presbyterian Confession of Faith, pp. 156-287. I see no consitency in raising a scheme to save the infants of church members, and not those of persons out of the church. An infant is an infant, and by nature they are all equal; and I can not believe that the infant child of my neighbor is lost, because its parent is not a member of the church. See Matt. xix. 14. God makes the covenant of grace with each individual at the instant he is regenerated or believes. John iii. 18: vi. 53, 54: Rom. x. 4: iv. 9-13. I can not give an account of all the persons with whom God has made the covenant of grace, but would present a few instances only. "By faith Noah-by faith Abel-by faith Enoch-by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed." Heb. xi. 4—8. Here the Holy Spirit dates the particular time when Abraham exercised faith and began to obey God. This faith is the fruit of regeneration, and regeneration is the act by which men are

brought into the covenant of grace with God. It should never be forgotten that the account of Abraham's entering into the covenant of grace is not recorded, as pedobaptists say, at the 12th, 15th, 17th and 22d chapters of Genesis, but at Gen. xii. 1-4. Previous to this he was a pagan, but here he possessed (Rom. iv. 11,)" the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised." At Isa. lv. 3, God speaks of making the covenant of grace with David, and at 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, David speaks of the same transaction: "Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure." The strong faith of Abraham, David, Noah, Moses and others, is often spoken of in the New Testament, not that these men could believe for us that we might be saved by proxy, but they are set forth as examples for us. See Mat. iii. 9: Luke xix. 9: Rom. iv. 16: Gal. iii. 6-9. The New Testament saints entered into the covenant of grace for themselves in precisely the same manner that Abraham did at Genesis xii. 1-4. God called; they believed and obeyed, and the work was done.

This view of the subject is fully sustained by what is said at Jer. xxxi. 31-33: "Behold the days come that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel;" and when Paul was urging the Jews to believe on Christ and enter into the covenant of grace, he took this prophecy for his argument. Heb. viii. 7—13.

I have dwelt sufficiently on this to show you that the covenant of grace is a separate and distinct thing from the covenant of redemption and the covenant of circumcision. It is not made with nations, but with individuals. It is not made by proxy, but in person; not with Abraham for all his seed, nor with gentile parents for all our children, but must be made between God and every soul that enters heaven. John iii. 3. Therefore if you should be taught that it is

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