Of Eietlion. W bebever, becaule an Unbeliever 'l'o j,mt:hfi'ed in thr BeJievrr, &c. No, he BooK V, would have them know, that though 1t botrue, Ftl/Jum Vlllrt the Marri– ~ age being made ( which was the Cafe as they had put it) bQlds go~d and valid, · and that they need not to fcruple either a defiling themfelves in conjugal Acts, ora ddilementtraducedtotheir Children : Yet Fun 11on drbuit· it ought not to have been made: And fo this he fays, would not warrant ;hofe who were to Marry, to cake liberty fo to Marry, by reafon thereof: That this i; his meaning thus tocaution and !late it appears by_his words, verfe 12, [if ll brothtr bath awife] that ts, already hath , whtch he puts in , as it were on purpofe to prevent and exclude tins corollary or conclufwn that any might make out of it, that if he were to Marry a wife, he might Marry one that Be– lieverhnot. Itappearsalfo tohave been·his meaning by that in vrr(t , 7 , where the ground upon which he re[olv_es it thus (concerning perfono already Marned ) IS thts, chat God by convenmg and calltng Men to the Faith, would have no Civil, Natural bonds broken, or diffolved: He intends not to make fuch alteratiens in the World, as to break the bonds of wedlock, or of Sub– jection already entred into; but lets all things fiand as they did , and ordains the courfes of things to run on their own wheels. Thus in thcfe words, .As the Lord hathca/Jedevtry ont, Jo Jet himwalk; that is, look in what fiat i– on God hath fet any , whether of a Servant, or wife, let them continue flill therein : And this he doth for peacr fake, verfe 15. for what a difiurbance and confufion would this make in the World, if Converfion lhould diffolve fuch bonds? Onl.Y, God fanC!:ifies all thefe fiations and coAditions unto Believers when converted, which before converfion they are nor, unto them; And hence his Scope is to !hew that a Believer being already.indeed Married to an UnbelieYer, and that knot knit, and he or !he convened after fuch Marriage, or elfe repenting afterwards of fuch a Marriage, then God fanctifies .th~ unbe– lieving husband or wife, in, and to that Believer, to all the holy ends of Mar– riage , as truly, as if both parries were Believers, God takes all fuch like cond ,tions and fiations, and fanctifies the courfe of things in this World, even as he takes our fpirits. and the feveral confiitutions natural in them, and fan– ctifies them without altering the eourfe thereof. And further, that this is his meaning , appears by the conclufion of all, wrfe ~9· where fpeaking of one that is at liberty to Marry where !he pleafe , he yet limits her thus onJ;• ill the L ord; if there be choice of fuch. And when it falls out that a Believer is Married to on Unbeliever, it~ by a gracious difpenfation that the Unbeliever is fanC!:ified, for it is not fot iheir fakes, or from them at all, limply confider– ed as husbands (though lawful ones) but in, and to, and for the fake of the Believer. And foalfofor the Believers fake it is, that.their Children are holy, which elfe were unclean. Thefe things being premifed concerning the occalion, and the Apofiles fla– ring of the cafe; let us fecondly confider the folution it fel f he here gives. For the elearing of which , and the Apofiles meaning hcrein,let us take notice of tWO thing•. 1. That his intention is to declare fomepriviledge properly and peculiarly belonging to a Believers Marriage, and which is not common toall other Marriages , nor belonging to unbelievers of themfelves. This is «vident , :\ 1. By thofe words in the firfi part of the vcrfe, tht U1Jbeluvi11g hUI!JiliJd is frln/Jified by :h~ wife! mtd tht u~16dirvi~g wtjtis Ja11t:lijied by thr hm6a11d: In which It IS mamfefi he attnbutes this fanctificauon fpol1en of (let tt be underfiood how it will) of the unbelieving Perfon in Marriage tobe;, and for the fake of the Believing Party: Now if it had been but fome common Priviledge of Marriage, common to all forts , both unbelievers, as well as to Believers, in their marriages, which he had inte11ded; then the unbeliev– ing husband had been as much fanllified in his Marriage of himfelf, as in and by his wife that was a Betuvtr, Or 2. If his mean10g had been tha t both had been fanctified in one another mutually, and each equally in and from each other without the fpecial priviledge of the one Party; then he would have fa id ill the fecond fentcnce, that tbe BetievitJg wifr, had been fiwt:lified 6_;· the hllf•
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