88 SERMON UPON PSALM CXXVII. 3.
and treasures of the east, lie hath not his denomination from them, but from the children of Eber ; a people a long time kept under, before they could grow into a nation, but they were the people of God, who retained his true worship ; theirs were the promises, the adoption, and the glory. See that place, 1 Cor. vii. 14, ' For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband ; else were your children unholy ; but now are they holy.' Reasons are a notiorihus, from some things plainer than the things they are to prove. The scope of it is to hold forth some privilege to believers not common to others who are infidels ; for it is for the be- liever's sake that the other is sanctified. If it were a common privi- lege, the unbelieving husband had been as much sanctified in himself as in his wife. Well, then, it is some special privilege, not common to the marriage of an unbelieving couple. Again, whatever this privilege be, it is something of importance ; for therefore is it mentioned neg- atively and positively, which the Holy Ghost useth not to do but in weighty cases. Negatively, they are not as other children, unclean ; but positively, they are holy. Again, mark the gradation : ' The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband ; else were your children unholy, but now are they holy.' To be sanctified is more than to be lawful, and to be holy is more than to be sanctified. All things, as meats, drink, marriage, estate, are lawful to an infidel, but not sanctified, for they are sanctified by the word and prayer ; and many things are sanctified which are not holy ; as gold, silver, goat's hair, when they were dedi- cated to God ; they were changed in use, not in nature. The unbeliev- iog husband, to whom all things are impure, he is sanctified, that is, set apart to serve God's providence to this holy end and use, that the believing wife may bring forth children to God; as a nobleman marrying a beggar conveyeth nobility to the children. Now, having laid this foundation, let us see what is the meaning of ' not being unclean, but holy.' The unclean under the law were those that might not come into the sanctuary or into the temple. Holiness qualified for worship, and made capable of ordinances: 'What God hath cleansed call not thou common or unclean,^ Acts x. 15, saith God to Peter, speaking of the gentiles as capable of gospel privileges. And 80 we have found out the sense. The children are holy; though sinners by nature, yet dedicated to God, and by virtue of the parents' covenant accepted into the visible church. This agreeth with the exact rules of friendship, to be a friend to us and our families ; as David was to Mephibosheth, for Jonathan's sake : 2 Sam. ix. 7, ' Fear not, for I wil I show thee kindness for Jonathan th}"- father's sake.' So Rom. xi. 28, ' As concering the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but as touch- ing the election they are beloved for the fathers' sake.' For so many thousand years. This is a friendship like God, whose kindness is expressed in a way becoming himself. Well, then, every child is capable of dedication to God in the solemn way of an ordinance. It was a grief to Gehazi to have the leprosy cleave to him and his posterity ; it is a comfort to you that your children are holy ; another leper was born of him, another child is born to God of you.
More especially when the covenant breaketh out, then children are
SERMON UPON PSALM CXXVII. 3. 89
a blessing indeed, an heritage from the Lord : Gen. ix. 25, 26, ' Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.' Ham is cursed in the person of Canaan, whose progeny was excluded from the grace of the ordin- ances. Instead of blessing Shem, as he had cursed Ham, Noah blesseth and praiseth God : ' Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.' God is his God ; that is happiness enough, which is to be ascribed to his grace. But to return • God hath implanted an affection in parents to their children ; he hath a Son himself, and he knoweth how he loveth him, and he loveth him for his holiness: Heb. i. 9, 'Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' So many times, in a condescension to good parents, he bestoweth this privilege, that they shall have godly children. Look, as to a minister, those whom he converts to God, they are 'his glory and his joy, and his crown of rejoicing at the day of the Lord,' 1 Thes. ii. 19, 20 ; so as to those whom we have been a means to bring into the world, if they are in the covenant of grace, it is a greater blessing than to see them mon- archs of the world.