41 2 OfEleflion. ~----------~--------- ------------------- ~-/ better, when we thereby grant what otherwife ufcth to fall out; and by exBm·K V. prefflng the.r fwe rving from fuch Rules, do !hew the fpecial ground upon ~which the exe<ption is found ed: And then we ufe to fay (as the llpo!He here) [ elfe it would be rhus: [Bur now] upon this fp"cial confideration it is other· wife. So that , the particle [ elfe] notes out, and implies tacitly ; that it is indeed generally true of all otl1er Children, that t heyare tmclean, by reafon of their !'"rents flatc, being hearhens, and thus much he implicitly grantetl1 to them. And fo this other panicle [ 6t<t now) refers unto fome fpecial confi. d"otinns upon \\'hich their Children , (contrary unto the ordinary rule) be• came holy. I fay, 1. He fecretly grants, that a!J Children of two parmts who are un– believers a~e tmclum: And it is as if he Jhould have faid; That if the cafe had not been fuch , that one of the puents were a Believer, then indeed the Children had certainly been unclean (as others;) Btlt one of them being~ Be– liever ( which is the cafe propofed) [Now) they are holy : [ el(e] that is, if one parent were not a Believer, and God had not fanc!lified the Unbeliever to them , they had been unclean : [ but 1/0W] (this cafe is thus fiated) thry are lol)', He !hews that generally indeed it is true, that Children are unclean. but yet notwithflandingin this cafe their Children are holy. And rhus he no~ only clears t.1e cafe the more di!linllly, while he thus gr1nts fomething; bur furthe r illu!lrates their priviledge by way of dillinc!lion from the Children of others, Idobtersand Unbelievers, WilCO both parents are fuch; In that it is not fimpry related, that their Children were holy ; but with a note of diffe– rence and feparation , comparatively to 0t11ers Children, And this is the rea– fan he ufeth two words and expreiTions, one negative, [not nncltml] and po– fitive [ tb')' are hol)•] whereas otherwife one of thefe exprcffions would have been lullicient. And 2. [ iwo] [ tlje] pointeth unto fome confideration, which in that cafe mal<e<h the exception, and which makes the difference, that Their Children lhotrld be holy, which elfc they !hould not be. And is as if he bad faid, It is not of , and for your felves that a Believer comes to have this priviledge, but from hence, that God bath fanc!lified the unbelieving parent (through grace) to this end. So 'as this fame [ eJft Jimplies a hazard which they narrowly efcap' d; and that if God had conlidered the Unbeliever only in it, their Chil– t!ren would have been unclean: But God looks at his own ordination and purpofe of free Grace unto Believers; having out of that his grace ordain– ed to convey the Covenant to their Children: Whereas otherwife had God lool<c.d at the Unbelievers in it , or their own defert, and had not grac:ou!ly mdained this favour and priviledge to Believing parents, they then would 'have been unclean , becaufe according to the renour of the legal curfc by nature, the. curfe would have fain upon them. But now thry ore ho(y ; the husband being a· Believer fanttified even to this end, And fo the word [ e!fe] notes not out fo much a Logical co11jequmcr, by 1l1ewing what abfurdity In reafon would follow upon it : But rather what otherwife would be the rtal conjtqt1e11t following upon the thing it felf: That the curfe of the Unbeliever would indeed otherwife have prevail– ed to make the Children unclean, did not God in fpecial favour fanllifie him ro this end, by reafon of the Believing party. And fo I judge the former fentence, The h:ulnmd u fanchfied, ~c. to be the reafon of this latter, Tour Cbildrm are holy, rather then this latter of that. And I take this to be the fenfe rather then the former, becaufe the word C:r~J is added to ['7<<] the force of which word is not rendred in our Englifh Tranl1ation. But B rz,, hath done it thus, Elfe Certainly or l11detd , TotJr Childrm were tl'lcletm: He adds certainly or i11dted unto Elfr, fo that thefe words were a tacit conceiTion or grant of Childrens uncleannefs in other cafes; •nd fo came in as a. further amplification or enlargement of a Believers priviledge; not only fhewing what priviledge they have in oppolition to .•Unbelievers, whofc Children are unclean, but Believers holy; but further, 'even in fuch a cafe as this, wherein an Unbeliever ·being joyned in mar· · r.j>{gc with a Bdicver, (and fo would according to the curfe of the law , · bnns
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