rightly calls defrauding one another, becauſe he had before q.. Clared it a debt ; and further declared, that neither the hughy,q nor the wife had a power over their own bodies, but the pow. er of either of their bodies was in their correlate. + He add;,;y. cept it be with conſent, mutual conſeat, and then it is indeed ng defrauding. i And for a time, for a religious end, that they mis; give themſe]ves ro Faſting and Prayer, not that this abſtinence is neceſſary to us by any Divine precept, to prepare us for ſol Prayer, (for ſuch only is here ſpoken of) for rhen the Apoſtle would not have made conſent neceflary in this caſe, buttheſews were commanded it, Exod. 19. 15. as a Preparation totheir hezr. ing of the Law,and it was a piece of the legal purification,asappexr. eth from 1 Sam. 21. 4. as to which Chriſtians were at liberty, and might obſerve or nor obſerve it, as they agreed. 1 Then he re quires, that they ſhould return to their former courſe, not de. frauding one another, leſt the Devil obſerving their abſtinence, ſhould rempr them to unlawful mixtures, ſeeing their inability to contain themſcls within the bounds of temperance and chaſtity,
6 But I ſpeak this by permiſſion, andnotof cwn-
mandment. 2.
- Some refer theſe words to all that had gone beforeinthis Chapter ; but the beſt Interpreters rather refer them to what went immediately befors in the preceding verſe, declaring, that he hal no expreſs command from Ged, as to thoſe things of abſtaining for a time for Faſtiug avd Prayer, and then coming together axaix, but he ſpake what he judged equitable and reaſonable ; but az to
CHAP. VIL The Apoſfille anſwereth a Queſtion they had ſent him : whether it be good to marry? better mt © unleſs to avoid fornication : the Duty of Mar- ried Perions toeach other : and they muſt not part : no not Believers om Unbelievers : unlcſs th:'ſe require tt : then are Believers no longer obliged : Reaſous and motives to this Duty. I=—16. Every. one miſt be content with hs Eſtate” 17 —— 24. 1t is better not mar. 73 : but to marry 3s no Sin. 25—28, How marriage and all other things of this world muſt be uſed. 29--=-31. The preference of a ſmgle to a marricd Eſtate; yet this no ſin, 32-»--38. The Marriage Band tif Death 39. x Ow concerning the things whereof ye wrote _unto me 4, 1t 7s good for a man not to touch
a woman 6,
@ It ſeemeth, that though this Church was very much corcupted, yet ſome of them retained a reverence for this great Apoſtle, and had wrote oneor more Letters to him about ſome points, to which he returneth anſwer. 6 Ir ſeemeth that one thing they had wrote to him about, was about Marriage, not about the lawfulneſs of marrying(that Do&rine of Devils was not broached ſo early in the World) but concerning the adviſableneſs of marriage, and mens uſe of their wives in that afflicted ſtate of rhe Church. 4 The A- _ anſwereth, That it is good for a man mot totouch a woman. When
e ſaith, it is good, he means only more convenient or better, with reſpe& to the Troubled ſtate of the Church, or that perſons might be more at liberty for the ſervice of God and the duties of Reli- gion, Upon theſe accounts it were more convenient for a man not to marry (for that he meaneth by fouching a woman.)
2 Nevertheleſs 7 avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have herown
husband c.
c In the Greek it 1s, becauſe of fornications ; the ſence of which can be no other than this which our Tranſlators give. The word iS in the Plural! number, to ſignifie that that which he meaneth by thisterm, 1s all ſorts of impurities and uncleanneſles, which are the produQts of the luſts of the fleſh. Theſe are fins of that na- ture and ſpecies, that if we cannot chuſe what in reſpe& of ſome circumſtances would be more convenient, we muſt baulk it, rather than run into ſuch a guilt. The Apoſtle doth therefore deter.
particular perſons, they ought ro judge and govern themſelyes according to their particular circumſtances. 7 For *1 would thar all men was even as I am ny'!
ſelf 2 : but * every man hath his proper gift of God? one after.this manner, and another after that 0.
» I would, in this place can ſignifie no more, than I could wid or deſire (if it were the will of God) that all Chriſtians had the gift of continency, which God (bleſſed be his Name) hath g\ ven me : that this is meant, 1s plain by the next words, and ». , it 15 apparent, that Pau! did not will this abſoJurely ; for that had been to have willed the diffolution of the World, as well as the Church, within the compaſs of that Age. o Bur, faith the A- poſtle, every one hath not the gift of continency, one hathit, another hath it not, which is the ſame thing which our Saviour ſaid in reply to his Diſciples, ſaying, 1f ths caſe of the manteþ with his wife, it is not good to. marry, Mat. 19. io. All men cams receive this ſaying, ſave they ro whom it i; given.
8 I fay therefore to the unmarried and widows, i
is good for them if they abide even as I p.
2 By the unmarried and widows, it is apparent that Pai means Virgins that werenever married, and ſuch as having be! once married, had loſt their husbands ; though the firſt word intie Greek had been ſignificative enough of perſons in both theſe ſiatss, yetthe Apoſtle's uſing of two words, makes it paſt diſpute, when he ſairh, 1t is good for ſuch to be as he was ; his meanings, that it was better with reſpe& to the preſent circumſtances 0 Chriſtians, or i: was convenient, in which notion good is offi taken, not for what is abſolutely good, and indeed thenatur'© all good lieth in the conveniency or ſuitableneſs of the thing called to us; and though in the Divine precepts there is 892)" ſuch a ſuirableneſs, ſo as they muſt be always good, puny ther things, which God hath left to our liberty (fach as in tl of marriage) a thing may be good or evil, as the circumſtance ſeveral perſons, yea, of the ſame perſon may vary. St. Pau! po dereth only the circumſtances of the World common to all r ſtians, and upon them determines this goodneſs, ſuppolins circumſtances of the particular perſon nor to rule otherwiſe. : not ſaying, It 5s good for them not to marry, but to be as he w%,
. . a T vel hath bred a queſtion of no great import to be determined, p
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