Of Eletlion. it was, that thefe Corinthia11s Jhould take up thefe their fcruples and fears ~ which occafioned this refolution of the Apollle;.forthey had read the Old Law; Chap. 4· and received and embraced the Canon ol It as Scnpture. Therefore in this E- ~ pif\le he often retcrreth them to the rules and inf\ances of it, as 1 Cor. 10 . 1 • fo I Co>-. 9· 9, 1 l· and Chap. 1 o. 1 8. he argues from fomething thor was moral in the R.ules of the Ceremonial Law, as !till binding. And therefore the cafes being in view the fame, and they making thefc que!lions about them, (which occalioned his writing about them) it feems clear to me, that they were thereby Humbled, as knowing this to have been the law and manner among the Jews. And this is !lrengthned further by this, that in that cafe of Divorces in the words before this, their fcruple about that did arife from the pradife of the Jews, and what they ufually did under the Old Tellament; who ordinari· ly put away choir Wives; and fo the Corinthi.;ns might rhink,rhat they therefore in like manner might: And therefore he refers to what the Lord Chrift had faid umo the Jews thernfelves in that cafe, when he interpreted the Law to them ,that it wi/J 1101 fo, ab initio,from tht hgilrning. And indeed no other ground can be imagined to have occafioned this fcruple : Some would have the Scruple arife from theChal'.aforc;in that theApo{Ue had there faid,that in FornictJtion one becomes onejlefbwith an Harlot;and fo that they might from thence imagine, tl!at in their Marriage communion, they 6eing o1u jlejh with an Idolater were defiled thereio. But it is plain tbnt thefe cafes here about Marriage, were propounded to him by them, before this Epifile was written to them, as the firft Ver{t of this Chapter. tells us, and therefore could not be any thing which fhould arife from what he had faid, Chap. 6. of this Epiftle; whicb he was now a writing of. And further, That tbefe Jewith cafes were the ground of their fcruple, appears alfo by this, that he profeffeth his refolurion was fuch as he had no former ruled cafe, inftance, or warrant for, from the word; that is, It was a cafe to which neither Chrifi had fpoken, nor the Old Law; yea, the inllances therein were rather againft it. And therefore whereas for the determination of that other cafe about Divorces,he refers them to what Chrift had faid to the Jews : On the contrary far this ( whereofChrift had not fpoken, nor had occafion to fpeak ,) the 1\pofile by his Apoftolick Spirit declares to thefe Gentiles, (whom the Ceremonial Jewifh Law did not concern) that this Jewifh Law about unbelieving Wives , was not in force to them , that no believing Husbands, fhould, or might put away their unbelieving Wives, as the Jews were commanded to do; nor account the Childrea unclean: And to put the more obfervation upon it,he ufeth the Jewifh phrafes to exprefs hirnfelfby, even then when he fpeaks point blank againll the determinarion of their Law. Yea, affirms that the Gofpel afforded a priviledge to a Believer, which that Ceremonial ftridnefs allowed not; even this, that by the Believer, and for his fake, the Unbeliever is fanE1ified to all ends of Marriage; and that the Covenant with the Believer is fo 1\rong and full of grace, that it prevails to convey thcCovenantofGracetothe Children, even in this cafe wherein the Law pronounced them unclean. Now the reafon of this difference is evident, and lies in this, that Marriages among the Jews came under a peculiar Law, both Judicial and Ceremonial, proper to th~t ftate. Their Church and Common· wealth being·of one and the fame extent: The Laws of their Commonwealth were accommodated to the Rules of Church !l~te; and fo the Laws of Marriage, and the Children begotten by them were accordingly fuited thereunto; fo as·Children ·and .Pe.Cons, who according to the Church Law, were in a Type, or otherwife unclean, and unholy, even the Mamages with them were alfo made unlawful Marriages by the Law of the State, and the Chii• dreu illegitimate, as being unclean in their Church State, wherein they were to be pure, or not Members: But this Polity of the Jews reGch· d not to the Gentiles, to bind them at all, as the Ceremonial La IV likewife did not : And therefore the Rules about their Marriage !lat~, and their Children, muft run upon other grounds; than did thofe of the Jews ; and fo the Apofile intimates they did, · And
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