Certaine plaine, briefe, and comfortable notes vpon euerie chapter of Genesis Gathered and laid downe for the good of them that are not able to vse better helpes, and yet carefull to read the worde, and right heartilie desirous to taste the sweete of it. By the Reuerend Father Geruase Babington, Bishop of Landaph.

Chap. 17. (Book 17)

The generall heads in this Chapter are these.

• The change of Abrahams name, from the 1. verse to the 7.
• The institution of circumcision, from the 7. to the 15.
• The promise of a Childe to Sarah, from the 15. to the ende.

PArticular thinges worthye our noting, may bee these,* 1.1 and such others. First the mentioning of his age,* 1.2 wherefore it was. Surelye to teach two things: First, that the Seede which God gaue him, was not by strength of nature, but by extraordinary grace, for Sarah and he bothe were of these great yeares.

Secondly to shew how long in patience and faith Abraham ex∣pected that gratious promise, not doubting as the Apostle sayth of the same, but strengthned in the faith, giuing glory to God,* 1.3 and being fully assured that he which had promised was able to doo it.

2 The words I am God all sufficient,* 1.4 haue been obserued before to contayne a most strong and sure stay to a christian hart,* 1.5 in all perplexities and distresses: for if his promises be great, this power of his assureth vs hee is able to pay and performe them. If wee pray and aske any thing be it neuer so hard in flesh and blouds conceipt, this assureth vs we shall obtayne it if it bee good for vs. For what cannot hee giue that is all-sufficient, if it be his good pleasure to doo it? and so in all things as I say it is a maruellous fortresse to shield a mans faith from the battring shot of Satans assaulting feares and doubts. In iourneying on the way, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers,* 1.6 in perils in our owne countrey, in perils in forren countreys, in perils in the Citie, in perils in the wildernesse, and euery euery way it is a stay to vs, that God will either deliuer out of them, or in them, as shall be best, for he is all-sufficient.

3 Obserue wee the couenant betwixt God and Abraham,* 1.7 how it containeth first a condition of Abraham to be performed, and then a promise of God vppon that condition to be expected. The condition that Abraham must performe▪ is this, walke be∣fore me, and be thou perfect or vpright. Gods promise is this, I will be God to thee, and to thy seed after thee, vers. 7. This couenant standeth still to all the seede of Abraham after the spirit, that is, to all those that are ingrafted into Christ by a true faith.* 1.8 And therefore as then hee and all his seede according to the flesh, if they would inioy the promise, were to performe the condition, so still it is with vs, and shall be with all Gods chil∣dren to the ende of the world. True religion in the hart of man or woman, shall euer finde God a gratious guide, staffe, and stay, and want of the same a iust neglecter of vs, because wee haue broke the condition. For this cause it is sayde by the blessed A∣postle,

that gayne is not godlynes,* 1.9 but godlynes is great gayne, and profitable to all things, as that which hath pro∣mise both of this life, and that to come. For this cause was God euer so carefull by his Prophets and Preachers to call vpon the people for sinceritie in worship and holy obedience, that they performing their part, hee might performe his to be their God, and their childrens after them for euer. And for this cause againe were all those exhortations made by good Fathers to their chil∣dren, and charge that we reade of in scripture, that they shoulde feare God, knowe God, and serue God. That they seeking him, he might be found of them, they louing him, he might loue them, they seruing him, he might serue them with his mercy and fauour, with his prouidence and blessings needfull to this life, and with his kingdome and comforts for euer and euer when this life is ended. Maruell not then if either your selfe, your seede, or others and their seede whome you know be reiected of God, and taste of his wrath by sundry iudgements, if you knowe that you and they do not walke before hym as heere hee commandeth Abraham, nor performe the condicion with any care, wherevnto you see God maketh his promise in this place.

* 1.104 The change of Abrams name was for confirmation of his faith touching the promise,* 1.11 that in all hope & assurance hee might expect and recken of what in all truth and certayntie would bee performed on Gods part if hee beleeued, yea euen as surely and verely as now he was called Abraham of Abram, and Sarah of Sarai: so carefull was God euer to vnderprop the faith of his children by all good helps, that it might abide.

5 Concerning Circumcision, which is the second head in this Chapter,* 1.12 note what it was, a cutting away of the foreskin of the flesh of euery male childe.* 1.13 Consider why in that part of the body, to shew, that whatsoeuer is begotten and procedeth of the seed of man issuing from that part, [ 1] is corrupt and sinfull, [ 2] vtterly vncapable of grace and life, except it be renewed and borne againe by the spirit of God through a gracious receiuing it into a graci∣ous couenant, freely made with man and his seed by a gracious

God that would not the death of a sinner, but that he should know him, serue him, loue him, and liue for euer. [ 3] Consider how long it indured, but vntill Christ, and no longer of necessitie. What was afterwards done, was in regard of weakenes in the Iewes, till the truth of Christ and the effect of his comming might be better knowen. For what ende, to confirme this promise that now you haue seene, [ 4] that if they walked befo••e God, and were vp∣right, verely and verely, yea euen so verely as that signe was in their flesh, would God be their God, and the God of their seed after them.

6 Note how the signe is called by the name of the thing sig∣nified. This cut in the flesh is called Gods couenant,* 1.14 when it was but the signe: and the couenant as you haue seene this,* 1.15 I will be thy God, &c. This is no new kinde of speaking with God, but vsuall euer in his sacraments: heere you see it in the circum∣cision, afterward in Exodus when he commeth to the Passeouer, he calleth the Lambe the Passeouer, which was but the signe of the Angells passing ouer all those houses that were stricked with the bloud vpon the dore cheekes.* 1.16 In the new testament the rock is called Christ, the seed is called the word, the water is called the washing of the new birth. And yet may not God bee alowed by some men in the sacrament of his last supper to speake as euer he did in all sacraments? but because there he sayth the bread is his body, &c. therefore it must be so really, carnally, sub∣stantially and grossely by transubstantiation deuised of them∣selues. But by these examples of like speach and phrase you well see that their assertion is a reall lye, a carnall lye, a substantiall lye, and a grosse lye: and truly sayd the Father if they woulde re∣gard him, Christus non dubitabat dicere hoc est corpus meum, cum fignum daret corporis sui. Christ doubted not to say this is my body, when he deliuered but a signe of his body.

7 That the child was not circumcised before the 8. day, it teacheth vs that God hath not tyed saluation to the sacrament,* 1.17 for it had bin a hard thing in the Lord to deferre it an houre if the childe had perished without it.* 1.18 This answereth the feare of some

good ones, and the false bouldnes of some bad ones in these dayes touching children that dye without baptisme, for God is not worse to vs vnder the Gospell, then hee was to them vnder the Law, neither lesse able to saue now without baptisme, then in those dayes he was without circumcision, the seede of the faith∣full. This grace was not then free and now bound, then more and now lesse, then stronger, and now weaker, farre be it from vs so to dreame. Dauids childe when it died before the eight day, he yet for all that iudged not damned, neither cryed out for it as he did for Absolon that was circumcised, but sayd that he should go to it, refreshed himselfe, cheered his wife, and made his ser∣uants to wonder at his comfort. And when he sayd he should go to it,* 1.19 we knowe he meant not that it was in Hell, or any hellish Limbus, and that thither himselfe looked to go to it, but rather comfortably he conceyued it was with the Lord, because the pro∣mise extended it selfe both to the godly and to their seede: if fur∣ther we desire to thinke of this matter, consider we this and the like reasons. [ 1] No elect can be damned, wee knowe it a principle whatsoeuer foolish men do prattle, but some vnbaptized are elect (a thing that no man will deny) therefore some vnbaptised cannot be damned: which if it be true, then see you plainly that saluatiō is not tyed to baptisme, as some imagine. [ 2] Againe, he that heareth my word, sayth Christ, and beleueth in him that sent me, shal be saued, cannot be damned, Iohn. 5.24. but this may one doo before he be baptised, therefore before a man be baptised, he may stand in the state of saluation, and out of all danger of damnation. The assumption is euident in the Eunuch, Act. 8· and others. [ 3] Fortie yeares it was omitted in the wildernesse,* 1.20 and yet hard to say that whosoeuer so dyed was damned, since God in that omis∣sion intended no crueltie, but mercie and pitie to his people. [ 4] How do not these men consider that they put life and death, saluation and damnation in the hand of a mortall man, yea of any Minister, that if he be disposed for malice to the parents to hurt the childe, may be absenting himselfe, and seeking delayes in the weakenesse of the childe, so farre hurt it, as to damne it for euer out of the king∣dome of God, and company of all faithfull. O fearefull doctrine, fearefull to all good parents, iniurious to thousands of poore in∣fants,

and blasphemous against the bottomlesse mercy of a sweet and tender father, who hath sayd, I will be thy God and thy childes, not adding any condition of baptisme, if it cannot be had as it ought. [ 5] How much sweeter is it that Luther obserued, and long before him Bernard, Epist. 77. in the words of our Sauiour. He that beleeueth and is baptised, shall be saued,* 1.21 and he that beleeueth not shall be damned. Marke sayth Luther how in the affirmatiue he mencioneth baptisme, but not in the negatiue. For he doth not say, he that is not baptised shall be damned, but he that beleueth not, he shall be damned. Are couenants made by Sacraments, or only sealed by them? [ 6] Did not the Primitiue Church examine those of yeares in the faith before they baptised them. Why so I pray you, but that they might shewe it was the couenant, not the seale, their faith, and not the sacrament, which chiefely was to be regarded, though the seale also in no case to be neglected, much lesse contemned. [ 7] How many in times past defer∣red their baptisme for many yeares, as Constantine, Nectarius, Nazianzene, &c. not therein doing so well as they ought, but yet euidently shewing the faith of the Church then, that God without baptisme is able to saue, and hath not tyed his grace to any signe. [ 8] If he can saue men of yeares, why not infants? but I will go no further, only this will I say, that if saluation depen∣ded vpon the sacrament, it were not only fit that women who are neerest in time of weakenesse, should baptise (who yet are forbid∣den by God and well ordred Churches) but also that all sorts of persons, and not only Ministers, should dispense that holy myste∣rie, to the end that no poore creature might be cast away for want of it. But blessed be God that hath neither thus inthralled his grace, nor taught his Church in his word, but quite contrary as we see in this place, both by telling Abraham his couenant rea∣ched to his seed, and by deferring the seale of the same, to wit, circumcision to the eight day, which hee would neuer haue done, if the want of it simply had bin damnation. Conclude wee there∣fore with Austen, Inuisibilis sanctificatio sine visibili signo esse po∣test, the inuisible sanctification may be without the visible signe,* 1.22 with Ambrose, who comfortably speaketh of Valentinian dead without baptisme, with Bernard, that not want, but contempt of

baptisme hurteth, and euen with Lumbard himselfe Gratia Dei non est alligata sacramentis, The grace of God is not tied to the sacrament, beside many others that I omit.

* 1.238 In your generations sayth the text: And why so? Surely to shew the vse of the sacrament to be,* 1.24 not to take sin away quite, that it be no more in the party circumcised, but only the imputatiō of it, that thogh the venom of it remaine so rooted in our nature, that but by death it cannot quite bee rooted out, yet layde to our charge it is not for Christ his sake. As therefore you see the corne cleane wynowed from his chaffe,* 1.25 yet hath in it nature to yeelde chaffe agayne to that which groweth of it when it is sowen: so doth this nature of ours to those that spring of vs yeelde corrup∣tion and originall sinne, though we our selues were circumcised or baptized and so purged thereby from it. Because that pur∣gation is euer to be vnderstoode thus, Non vt non sit in nobis pec∣catum, sed vt non imputetur, Not that wee are cleared from the being of anye euill in vs, but from the imputation of it to vs. Therefore then in your generation, saith the text, shall this signe and sacrament of circumcision be continued, that is, from father to sonne, and then to his sonne againe, and so to euery male, for∣asmuch as sinne like chaffe being propagated from the father to the son, the chaffe of that is now sprung vp must be fanned away as well as his was of whome this blade sprung vp.

* 1.269. Marke in the foureteenth verse, the punishment of them that shoulde contemne this ordinaunce of God,* 1.27 and remember howe God neuer coulde abide the contempt of his sacramentes, and that hee taketh the wrong doone to the outwarde signe as if it were doone vnto the thing it selfe signifyed by it. Be∣cause (sayeth hee) such an one hath broken my couenaunt: when he had but neglected the signe of his couenaunt. This may leade vs both to the consideration of that Popish follie, and also to a true answere vnto it that concludeth out of the eleuenth chapter of the first Epistle of Paule to the Corinthians, that be∣cause the Apostle sayeth, They that eate and drinke vnwoor∣thely are guiltie of the bodie and blood of Christ, &c,

Therefore needes it must be, that the wicked eate the body and drinke the bloud of Christ. which they coulde not doe except they were there really, for by faith they can not eate that are voyde of faith. Therefore there is a reall presence by transubstantiation. When all this in very deede prooueth no more then euidently we see in this place, namely, that God attributeth the abuse of the signe to the thing signified, saying, that because the wicked come vnreuerently and vnpreparedly to those holy signes, and receyue them vngolilie wythout fayth, therefore they shall bee guiltie e∣uen of the body and blood it selfe, that is, euen as guiltie by abu∣sing the signe, as if they had abused the thing signified it selfe: for the contempt of the one redoundeth vnto the other. Circum∣cision was a signe of his couenaunt, and here hee sayeth, hee that contemneth that being the signe, is guiltie, and shall bee guiltie of the breach of his couenaunt, which was the thing signified: so are bread and wine the signes of the Lordes bodie and blood, and therefore sayeth the Apostle by the same manner of speaking, hee that abuseth them by eating and drinking vn∣woorthily of them, hee shall bee guiltie euen of abuse doone vnto the thing it selfe, the true body and blood of Christ. No more proouing hereby that the signes are chaunged and become really the thing it selfe, than here it is to bee prooued that circumcisi∣on was really the couenaunt it selfe, because it is sayde, hee that omitteth the one, breaketh the other. Weake proppes therefore you see Poperie hath, if they bee with a godly indiffe∣rencie examined and considered, casting away that most wicked wilfulnesse and preiudice that hurteth so many, and wil let them see nothing.

10 In the fifteenth verse you see God chaungeth also the name of Sarai as well as hee had doone to Abraham,* 1.28 and sayeth her name shall be no more Sarai, but Sarah, and hee will blesse her, &c. Where wee may note, howe it being a great honour to Abraham, so to haue his name chaunged by God,* 1.29 hee woulde haue his wife also partaker of the same with him, as teaching thereby that what befalleth the husband, eyther to weale or woe, reacheth it selfe also in some sorte to the wife as a partaker

with him in the same.* 1.30 No question but some part of this doctrine soundeth well to women, and they readely catch at it, but I doubt twise, whether all of it doo so or no. My meaning is, they most gladly heare that any honor of their husbands should reach vnto them, and exalt them also, but to pertake with their husbands in affliction and crosses, in sorowes and cares, in reproches and ignominie causelesse, in bitternesse and vnthankefulnesse of an vn∣kinde world, is it as sweet a doctrine to them? I doo but moue the question, let all women answere it in their hearts to them∣selues in stead of mee.

* 1.3111 In the 18. verse, but O that Ismael might liue in thy sight,* 1.32 sayth this great Patriarke. See and see the heart of a fa∣ther to his childe. Though God heere promised more seede vnto him, and that he should be a Father euen of many Nations, and his progenie like the Starres of heauen for number, yet all that remoueth not his affection from that one that hee had alreadie, to wit, Ismael, but still his hart is to him, and O that he may liue also. So are Fathers, but God knoweth so are not euer children to them againe.* 1.33 The parent cryeth for life to the childe, and the childe for death to the parent.

O that Ismael may liue sayth A∣braham, that I may inioy my childe:

but O that Abraham may dye will Ismaell say, that I might inherit his land and goods, and be a yong mayster or mistresse, and ruffle it out: yea, when will this ould Father and Mother of mine be gone, I thinke they will liue euer. Too true this is, and let it teach parents wisedome, to moderate affections, though they retayne nature, to doo what shall be necessary and fit for their children.

12 Wee haue heard the commandement of God touching Circumcision,* 1.34 now in the 23. verse marke wee the obedience of Abraham to the same,* 1.35 how much soeuer flesh and bloud might startle and stagger at it, marueling why God should inioyne such a thing, and in such a part of the body, &c. Abraham I say casteth no stops, neither admitteth of any humane obiections, but obedi∣ently circumciseth both himselfe and his sonne, and all that were in his house, yea euen the same day did he it that God com∣manded

him, where we thinke it great readynesse, if after many and many biddings, admonitions and warnings, we be brought to doo some thing that God biddeth vs doo. Againe somewhat consider wee heere of the conditions of Abrahams familie, that so willingly suffred their mayster to circumcise them,* 1.36 without ei∣ther resistance or imagination that their mayster was mad to seeke such a thing at their hands, as to vncouer all their shames, and to cut them there, as some others woulde haue thought. Surely it is a notable token of that instruction and discipline that was in Abrahams family, for had they not bin well trayned in the way of godlynesse, they woulde sooner haue mocked then o∣beyed their mayster.

Lastly, but alas why spared hee not his owne sonne, and his onely sonne in this hard action of cutting?* 1.37 surely because the commandement reached to all males, and therefore to him aswell as others. Learne then parents that in obedience to God you must be no more partiall to your owne children then to others, but as streitly require dutie of them, as of any others, yea rather rather though many do it lesse. But I say no more.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Verse. 1.
• * 1.2

  Theyr age noted for 2. causes.
• * 1.3

  Rom. 4.19.
• * 1.4

  Verse 1.
• * 1.5

  A comfort by Gods omnipo∣tencie.
• * 1.6

  2. Cor. 12.26.
• * 1.7

  Verse 1.
• * 1.8

  Godlynes gayneth God to vs and our children, vngodly∣nes l••seth him to both.
• * 1.9

  1. Tim. 4. & 6.
• * 1.10

  Verse 5.
• * 1.11

  His name why chan∣ged.
• * 1.12

  Verse 7.
• * 1.13

  Circumci∣sion what, and why there, &c.
• * 1.14

  Verse 10.
• * 1.15

  The sygne hath the name of the thing signifyed.
• * 1.16

  Exod. 12. 1. Cor. 10. Luc. 8.11. Tit. 3.
• * 1.17

  Verse 12.
• * 1.18

  Saluation not tyed to the Sacra∣ment.
• * 1.19

  2. Sam. 12.23.
• * 1.20

  Note.
• * 1.21

  Ma••. 16.16.
• * 1.22

  〈…〉〈…〉
• * 1.23

  Verse. 12.
• * 1.24

  Not sinne, but the im∣putation of it.
• * 1.25

  Note.
• * 1.26

  Verse. 14.
• * 1.27

  Contempt of sacra∣ments.
• * 1.28

  Why Sarai her name was also changed.
• * 1.29

  Verse. 15.
• * 1.30

  Women thinke of this.
• * 1.31

  Verse 18.
• * 1.32

  Fathers affection to chil∣dren, and childrens to fathers.
• * 1.33

  Note.
• * 1.34

  Verse 23.
• * 1.35

  Great obe∣dience.
• * 1.36

  A godly family.
• * 1.37

  Duties to God binde all.