---------------O~j~--~T-,~k~fi~io-n-. --------------~ tbimrs mig'lt have a peculiar fcruple about their communion with their HufbJnds, wnen not cl their Childrens uncleanncfs who h2d hitherto bet n be. ~~ getten by them. And 1t •s alfo very hl<dy , that the Apoflle might thus ar- ~ guc !fom the common received pract1ce andopinion of that and other Churches about their Children; ond fo make ufe of it, os o reafon to fettle their Confcienccs in thnt other parr of communion with idolatrous Husbands. For fo in like manner he argucth, Chap. 11. We htrve 110 jttch ct~flom, 11or the Churches of Cod, ver(e 16. l"or the Churches receiving all their cufloms or practifcs from the Apof\les, what was a general cuflom of Churches in thofe rimes might fafdy be taken for a rule and warrant ; for elfe the ilpofl les would no~ generally and umverfally have eflabllfht lt. We find the Apoflle in like manner taking advantage of the hke r<eeJved principles and practices, to argue for the B.efurrection, r Cor. 15.14- Jfthert6e1JoRefttrre{/io1l,thmiJ)'Ourfaith ill vai11: he argues from what he knew they would not call in quellion, and from the expenence and evtdence ?f the1r own former faith and believing.' And further ( fo11h he) verfe_ 29. -Elfe wh"t fla/J they do th.11are 6apt1zed for tbe dw n, if the dead rl{e 1101, why ".rnhey thm baptizedfor the dead? You fee he thcrun argues from a known Prrnc1ple about Baptifm, ( whatev<r t he meaning of the place b•) rece1ved among them. I therefore will not ex- . elude this fcope of the connexion here, in the word Elfe. And indeed, if it hath this connexion and meaning, it were the more exprefs for the point in hand. Notwithflanding I have thought that if their confciences fell into doubts a– bout the defilement of their communion with fuch husbands, they then were Lke to fcruple as much the flare of rhofe Children begotten by them. It be· ing alfo (as we fee a fcruple .apt to rife in Believers hearts u·nto this day· whe– ther the curfe of their Unbelieving husbands or wives fhould not rather' come .upon their Children, than a bleffing from themfelves. And this of the two, is ufually the greater Scruple, And I!JS very hkely that among thofe queries they fent to the ilpof\le, they had mentioned_ this of their Childrens unc!ear.– nefs , as an Argument agamfl theJt abtdmg wJth fuch husbands; in that this inconvenience would alfo follow, that all theJr Chrldren would be unclean. But that which efpecially moves me, is, that there was the fame ground for the fcruple about their Children$ unclean !hte, thor was for their husbands defilement to them: Seeing in that cafe of the Jews, ( which thele fcruples were founded upon ) both wives and Children were alike accounted unclean , and fo to be put away. Hence tl1erefore I mclme to take thefe words, Elf! yo 11 r Chrildrmwrre tmcletw , but 11ow are thry holy , to be intended as rhofe former words arc in the fir(\ part of the verfe, even both together and alike to be a direct and immediate anfwer unto two feveral fcruplcs, both about their Childrens ef\ate, as likewife about their communion with their husbands, about both which the Co>inthians had written alike unto him : And fo to be rather a di(\inct part of the refolution of the cafe, than only a reafon of that former fentence, Tht tmbeiievi11g /;nubandu (an{/ified, &c, and to be as po· !itive and as plain and dired an explication, and declaration of his judgment conce;ning the flate of their Children, upon occa!ion of their fcruple therein, as in that other part in the words afore there is a declaration of his judgment about the fanctified ufe of the lmsband; even that the ChildrerJ are holy, as well as that the husband is ja11[/z(ied: thereby alike to take away the fcruple about both, and che more to fot forth the priviledge of Believers , which his [cope was to advance and illu(\rate. Only thefe particles, [ El{e J your Ch1l· drwwere uuciean, and [But 11ow J thry are holy, are put in fJrther, to thew, that it was a fingular privtledge; and that it was an exception to fome other rules which generally indeed hold true, and which otherwife would have held true, as they imagined. And unto fuch • fcnfe or purpofe as this will thefe two pHticles [elfe] and [ brtt 110'-"] as litly ferve in the common ufe and accep– tion of them, as to any other. For m fpoc1alcafes that fall our, and are as ,exceptions to general rules, and wherein there is but fome one peculiar fpecial · confi~erarion that caufeth the varymg from tl10fe rules ; we ufe fuch plrtJcles as thefe are to exprefs thofe exceptions by. And fo we clear thofe cafos the Gg g 2 better,
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