Ch. 3.9 of the if'tte of Beleevers. 339 SECT. V. The Apoftle ver. 14. and 16. brings not formal arguments or reafons to conclude the larufulne(fe marriage fociety between a Believer and an In fdel,but removes fcrit. pies concerning their own fate and their iffue. A Nother bottome on which Matter Tombes builds, is, That CI the Apoftle in this text brings a formal argument to prove the marriage - fociety of thefe yoke - fellows to be lawful, which in the two former verfes he had determined,and (as was confeft be fore) they fcrupled ; and it cannot be denied but the words at firft light, feeme to carry fome colour to underftand them fo far in Mailer 1 ombes his fenfea as to make them formal, concluding rea- fons of his former determination, having faid, verf i a 13. If a- ny brother batha wife that beleeveth not, and Jhe be pleated to dwell with bim, let him not put her away. And the woman that bath an husband that beleeveth not, and he be pleated to dwell with her, let her not leave him; then he addes, For the unbelieving husband is fan - tífaed by the wife,and the unbelievingwife t fanîíified by the husband, elfe were your children uucleane, but now are they holy. But the way of inference will as well bear it, that the Apoftle doth firft deter- mine the Controverte by revelation (as Matter Tombes will have it) as an Apoftle; then takes off their fcruples which occafioned their fears, both refpeétive to their poflerity and themfelves; Mr. Tombes indeed challenges this way of interpretation to make the Apoftle immethodical, but what better method then to determine a point,and then anfwer reafons againfl it; The Apoftle meeting with their Bars in refpea of their pofterity and themfelves,it mull needs be that they tgnihed them, and he antwers them; The A- poftles method (it is true) and manner of inference indifferently favours either interpretation ; But the words themfelves cleerely evince, that they are a removal of fcruples againfl their marriage- fociety, and not a formal concluding ,argument flr it : Let us look lira into verfe 16. where the For may lay as fair.a claime to a formal reafon as this in the i,th, and Matter Tombes himfelf faies Xx a is
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