200 Tl:r: Text exp'/ained. Stqte NI. He compares, l fay, (1,) himfelf to a vioe· fiock, 1a~ ..the vine. He had been celebrating, with his difcipl~s, the f.1crarrent of his {upper, that fign and feal of his peo~le's u· nion wrth himfelf; and had ·told them, HettviJuld drit;k n'<J more 'o/ the fruit .of the vine:. ·till he jhr;u/d drin,k it ne·w · n.uith thev.t , in hir Father'J kingdl)t!l : and now 'he lhews· himfelf to be the vine, from whence the wine of their con• folation fhou!d come. , The vi·ne hath · lefs beauty than ma· n.y other trees, but is exceeding fruitful; fitly r·eprefenting the low cooJitiou our Lord was then in, yet bringing man-y jom to glory . But that which is chiefly · a-imed at, in hts companng hirpfelf to a vi11e, is -to reprcfent himft!f as ·th-e· fuppor~ e r and nourifuer of his -people, in whom they Jiv;e 1 ... and bring for1h fruit • . (2.) He compares them to the branches, ve are the branches of t•hat vine, Ye are the branches knit to , and growing on thi!i Hock, drawing ~all your l ite and fap from it. his a beautiful comparifon; as if he h.ad faid, I am as ·a ,vine, ye ~ne as the .branches of · that vine . Now there are two fort.s oi branches, (I.) Na– tural br:H•ebes. ·which at firfl: fpriog OUt of the UOCk: thefe are the brar:ches that are in the tree, and were never out · of it. (2.) There .are ingrafted branches, which are· branches cut ofF fl'om the tree ' that firi1 gave th~m life,. and pdt into ;Joother to g·rO''i upon it. Thus branches come • to be on-a tree, which ~ originally wert> not 9n ·.it~ The· branches me ntioned in tb~ text aFe of tbe latter fort ; branche.s broken off ~ 2s d1c: word.io the original language depote-s) namely , from the tr.ee that fir-H gave them_life. None of the children of men •are natu·ral branc.hes of the ~cond Adam, ·viz . JefL:Is Chrifl: the true vine; theyare -all the natural ,branches of the firft ~1dam, that degenerate vine; bm the ele6l ,are all ,of them f-ooner or 1'.1ter b·roken off from tb~ natural flo ck, and ingraft~d into ChriH. the true vi·n·e~ ' D:o ~:r. 7 he;• who are in theflate 'ofgrace, are ingrafi· ad in,. and united ftJ, the Lord. Je(uJ Chrifl. They.a.re ta– k.en outofthd·r natural fiock, cut ~offfrorn ''i't; antlare ·no\V iogr.afted into Cbrift. as .the new ftock. In. handling of this;. l fhall fpeak to the .myfiical union, (I.) More ge~erally:. ~ 2·.) MOre panicularl y•.
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