( theEpiile tothe galatiana. Chap.4. (blued by like confent:But it is more then a ciuill contra: be- caufe in the makingof it,bcfide the coudent ofthe parties, the authoritie ofGod is interpofed: and therefore Saracs content (in gluing Agar to Abrahâ) is nothing,without the allowance 5 ofGod: and we may not thinke that God will alloweof that which is direaly againft his owne ordinance. Thirdly,itmay bealleadged,that if the hauingofmay wines be afault,then Abraham and thereft were adulterers. Not fo,thc polygamie of the fathers is to be placed in the middle, 10 betweene adulterie,andholy wedlocke. They tooke not wiues of a leude minde , for the (atisfyingof their lull, but ofa con- ` lciencc not rightly informed in thispoint. The tuent vpon the fade of Abrahamwas, that his two wiues,bare him two fonnes. He had indeed more formes by 15 Ketura,Gen.25. . but thefe two , Ifmael and Ifaac are onely here mentioned:becaufe by the fpeciall appointment ofGod, they were ordained as types oftiue bclecuers,ard hypocrites, Read Rom.9,7,S. The condition ofthechildren is let fotth,by a double diffe- 20 rente. The firft is,that one mai borne ofa bonde wernan,& there- forea bondman, the other ofa freewoman , and therefore a free man and the heire. Here it may bedemanded,how the fame perfon canbe both a wife and a bond woman? Anfrp. Among the heathen (as alto among the Iewes) there were to forts of 25 wiues.Ofthe did kinde were they, that were ioynt gouernors of the familywith the husband, and they were called miflreffes ofthehoufe.Of the fecond fort were they,that fettled onely for propayation,and were in all other refpech as feruants or fl ran. gers.Of the firft kind,wasSara , and ofthe fecond,Hagar and 30 Ketura. The fecond difference ofthe children was this . One,that is, Ifmael mu borneafierthe fiejb,that is,by the ftrength of nature, and according to the Heftily counfel ofSara,who did fubflitute Hagar intoher own roome.Theother,-lamely Ifaac,rras borne $5 by thepronnfe,that is , according to the order ofnature,yet not by the ftrengthofnature,but by the vertueofthe protnide of God. In the birth of Ifmael Saras delire was good that the pro- mile ofGodmight be accomplifhed: but the meaneswas car - nall,the fubftitution ofher handmaid,This is the conditionof the 343
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