Of ElefJion. ~ that which was ordained to convey the Image of God, w•s now by fin found Bool{ V. to convey the Image of Sm, Gene[. 5· ~· Adam begets in his own (namely ~ tinful) Image, yet fo far as this Infiitution may be ref€ued out of the hands of fin, and be ufed by Grace, God will refiore it , and efiabldb it again under ~race, What was God's primitive In{\itution Grace will keep to, ond make n fubferve 1t [elf for the propagatmg of 1ts own Covenant, fo far as it is not derogatory unto Grace it felf. And tkerefore God faollitieth Marriage fiili and maketh an improvement of it in holy Men and Wom~n to the fame end that it w~s at firfi ordained to. So as, the fame In{\itution of God's which was t.hat of Nature, does fiill hold; That zj the Root be holy fi; are rh~ Bra 11• ches, Rom. ~~~ 16. ~nd! lwillbethtGodo{thu, a11d of z'hy Sud, Gene[. '7· 7: Now tlus contmumg of the Infiauuon of Marnage to fuch a holy end in People who are holy, was evtdently held forth m the Nation of the Jews who were A6raham'sSeed, (It is an lnfiance which I urged before and there: fore will now only mention it) in that 2, Mal.t6. The Prophet to c'onvince th" Jews (made mz holy Peoplt, or holmejf to the Lord, as he tells thcm,ver. 11 .) of thole two tins, the puttmg away the lawful Wtves of their own N8 rion verf. 1 l> '4.• and their marrying flrange Wive.s, the daughters of flrrmg; Gotls, vtr{e ''· he rcduceth them to the pnmmve In!lnunon of Marriage in Innocency (whereunto God would have his Peoples Marriages conformed) when firfi, he made Adamand Eve one flefb, and fo to cltave to each other as not to part. .And fecondly, ordained their Marr.iage, and their being thu; made On•, to Jerk r1 godly Sad; whtch end he fitll atmed at, and intended in the Marriages of his People : And this end had they perverted by their MiK· tures with the Heathens, whofe Marriages God had faid he would not blefs to that end, but curfe them in an ungodly Ilfue. So that it appears, that God infiituted Marriage to the Jews then, for the fame end that at fir!\: So as God ordained it then, and HOW cloth ordain it to the fame end, only with f~ch a difference, as that Grace may appear Grace : Which difference is apparent by thefo Partiwlarr. For, " TheoHolinefswasthus by Oeneration conveyed, by virtue of a Natural necelfary Covenant: But now, though out of a Covenant too, [J wtll bt tht God of thte, and th} Seed] yet out of a free Covenant with his E– lect: Not as a due to the Father, as then, by the L1w of Nature; by which it was a due, that if he begat, he lbould beget in his kind ; but as a meer grant of Grace now; yet fo, as that whoreas God might have marfhal'd his Elect to come out of other Mens Loins, he freely choofeth rather to draw them out of their Loins who are his Elect. And to fhew, that it is nor as a due, but of Grace, he therefore takes not all his Elect thence, or all their Children, but only for the moll part out of that rank; fo at once to lhew- 1 that he keeps to his old In!litution, and that Grace is £\ill Grace notwithfianding, and-not Na– ture, So as that remains flill true that was faid by John [They are6orn tzot of flefh (or blood) 6ttl of God] .7obn I. q. yea, and of hisow:r mur wi/J does God beget us, Jamts 8. I8. He begets thofe Children of his Eled as freely as any other; only his will was to take out of that Lump ande:Mafs of the ChiJ· drtn of Elect, (as Rom. I 1. 16. the Phrafe. is) rather than of any o~ber. And, 1.. Holinefs was then conveyed wtth, and by Generation It felf, as Namral Endowments are: It was fiampt in, and with the very Conception; the fame Mould that lbaped them Men, !tamped God's Jmzge aJfo; but not fo now: ltz ji11 (fays 'IJ,:roid) my mother conuivtd mt, Pjal. )I. 5· ( whofe Mother yet was a godly Wcman, and hea godly Man, and_ this by virtue of her Covenant •lfo; for in '?{al. 116.16, he pleads it, [Truly I am thy·Servant, I am .h)' ava11t, .So11 of thy Handm,1id] and fo in refped of his Propagation from her, who had devoted her felf to be God's Servant, he aekrowlrdgeth himfelf to be fuch in a double Obligation.) So as, !till by virtue of their F'a– thers and Mothers Generation, theyart conceived i11 ji11, and that l.l(h ich that Ad conveys is nothing but fin; for necelfarily thofc Children that are fanct1fied in the Womb, mull fir!\ be flefh, and wholly fldb, e're t(Jey be fant!:ified: . Elfe
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