Wee read of no such increase of any Congregation since Christs time But suppose that all the children in a Nation were baptized yet that of it self will not make a Nationall Church but many Churches in one Nation Besides if one Family should grow a Nation as the house of Jacob did and all the children being received into Covenant and unto the seal thereof the whole Nationall Generation should become members of the Church as they did in Israel Yet that will not bring the godly into bondage and into scorn and contempt nor put the power of Government to rest in the hands of the wicked For the faithfulnesse of God who keepeth Covenant and mercy with his People prevented that in the House and Church of Israel Where though the whole Nation was in Covenant with God yet ordinarily the Government was kept in the hands of such as either were Godly or for the most part favoured godlinesse Or if they failed herein God was wont to deliver both them and their Governours into the hands of their Enemies that they might learn to rule with God and to bee faithfull with his Saints But furthermore this above all may justly satisfie you That in the state of the Churches of the New Testament God hath instituted such an order therein that though all the Infants of the Church-members bee baptized yet none of them are received by the order of the Gospel unto Communion at the Lords Table nor unto liberty of power in the Government of the Church untill they doe approve themselves both by publick Profession before the Church and also by their Christian conversation to take hold of the Covenant of their Fathers and of the Church and to walk in the steps of their Faith and professed subjection to the Gospell of Christ For it is an expresse Commandement given as to all Christians in their place so especially to the Officers and Brethren of the Church Not to cast holy things to dogges nor Pearles before Swine Mat. 7.6 Nor to receive such to the Lords Table as have not on a Wedding Garment But in such a case the Servants and Ministers of Christ are to â—inde such hand and foot to wit by the censures of the Church and to cast them out unto outer darknesse Matth. 22.11 12 33. that is to say into such an estate of darknesse and misery wherein they live that are without For without are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whore-mongers and Murtherers and Idolaters and Lyars Rev. 22.15 And there want not holy and judicious and faithfull witnesses of the Gospel of Christ and of the wayes of pure Reformation who doe so expound the principles of the Apostles Catechisme Heb. 6.1.2 That none of the Members of the Church were admitted to the fellowship of the Lords Table but such as were inlightned to Repentance and had tasted of the Heavenly gift of Faith and were partakers of the Holy Ghost in some kinde and had tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come through the acknowledgement of the Resurrection of the dead and of the last judgement Of these six Principles of the Apostles Catechisme the Lords Supper is not mentioned for one amongst them because these chiefely concerned the baptized members of the Church to bee trained up unto the knowledge and taste at least of them before they could bee admitted to the Lords Table And if their savoury profession of these things were approved before the Church then they were received as confirmed Members by laying on of hands Which holy order was a long time preserved pure in the purer sort of Primitive Churches But afterwards it as all other the Institutions of Christ were abused and adulterated in the Papacy this profession and confirmation of baptized Infants being translated from the Church whereof they were members to the Bishop and their holy Profession of the principall Doctrines and Duties of Christianity transformed into a Catechisme touching the Faith and Promise of their God-fathers and God-mothers And the Imposition of hands upon them by the Pastour or Bishop was finally transformed into a Sacrament But all these grosse superstitions were but super-additions to the first primitive holy institution And yet as by the straw and stubble you may gather what kinde of Grain grew in the field So by these abuses of this Ordinance it may easily bee gathered what was the practise of the Primitive Apostolick Churches in this case Let then this primitive practise bee restored to its purity as it is in some of the first Churches planted in this Countrey and then there will bee no more feare of pestering Churches with a carnall Generation of members baptized in their Infancy then of admitting a carnall company of Hypocrites confessing their Faith and Repentance in the face of the Congregation Either the Lord in the faithfulnesse of his Covenant will sanctifie the hearts of the baptized Infants to prepare them for his Table or else hee will discover their hypocrisie and profanenesse in the presence of his Church before Men and Angels and so prevent the pollution of the Lords Table and corruption of the Discipline of the Church by their partaking in them CHAP. VII THe Fourth Argument Silvester that I finde against the Baptisme of Infants is That it is a ground both of ignorance and errour for it holdeth people in blindnesse that they cannot come to know the nature of the holy Ordinance nor what the same requireth in the subjects thereof and also it causeth the simple to conceive that Baptisme is of necessity to salvation Doe you think that the Circumcision of Infants in the dayes of the Old Testament was any ground of ignorance or errour Silvanus that it held people in blindenesse that they could not come to know the nature of that holy Ordinance nor what the same requireth in the subjects thereof Surely God was of another minde when hee said hee knew Abraham who had lately circumcised his children and household That hee would command his children and houshold to keep the way of the Lord c. Gen. 18.19 which how could he possibly doe unlesse he first taught them to know it In like sort the Baptisme of a mans children doth not allow him to keep them in blindnes and error but rather bind and charge him to traine up his children in the knowledge and faith and obedience of the Father Sonne and holy Ghost into whose name they have been baptized It is not the baptisme of the children of believers but of the children of carnall and ignorant and prophane persons that holdeth or keepeth men in the blindnesse of ignorance and error When you say that Baptisme of infants causeth the simple to conceive that Baptisme is of necessity to salvation I would know whether the Circumcision of infants did cause the simple to conceive the necessity of Circumcision to salvation If not why should the Baptisme of infants rather cause such an errour then the circumcision of
is to performe his Covenant and all that he promised to them in their father Abraham with reference to Christ in whom as the root God established his Covenant for these his holy branches Rom 11.12 verse 26. Now the lump generally considered comprehends all both the first fruits and the latter For except the first fruits were part of the lumpe it could not give testimony that the lumpe was holy which lumpe is Gods elect in Christ with reference to their believing in him and so the approved subjects of Gods gracious Covenant and heires aprarent to the Kingdome of Christ as were Abraham Isaac and Jâ—cob believing the first fruits of that lumpe They first appearing in the Covenant of grace in a visible way by faith they were holy And so that remnant which God had still among them was holy with reference to the same estate the first fruits were in The same consideration is to bee had of the lumpe with reference to that estate which God in his time shall call them unto by his Gospel and so are holy also for this must respect a visible holinesse suitable to that in the first fruits otherwise it maketh nothing to the thing in hand Now a word or two also of the root and branches the root here is that from which the Jewes were cut off and the Gentiles graffed in And that is not onely believing Parents and so the same with the first fruits but Christ mystically considered with reference to the rules of Order Ordinances and Government laid downe in the New Testament for all such to believe and submit unto whom God approveth true subjects of the same In which respect Christ is called a vine a root and the foundation Joh. 15.1 Rom. 15.12 Rev. 5.5 22 16. Isa 28.16 1 Cor. 3.11 Ephes 2.20 That the root is meant Christ as aforesaid appeareth First in that he is the root or olive tree out of which the Jewes are cast and the Gentiles graffed in Rom. 11.17 19 23 24. Secondly in that the Apostle chargeth the Gentiles that if they boast themselves against the Jewes they beare not the root but the root them vers 18. That is thou appearest not to have the truth of grace and so not the true nature of the truth and life of Christ in thy heart but onely an outward forme of the profession of him as John 15.2 Thirdly from the consideration of that which the Jewes refused and the Gentiles received which was Christ aforesaid Therefore it is Christ in his mysticall Order and Government amongst his Saints that is here the root and olive tree with his Spirit in his Ordinances issuing forth sap and fatnesse of life and comfort into every believing heart as a branch of the same This will yet more clearly appeare if we consider what was the Jews owne naturall root and olive tree whereof they were naturall branches onely by faith as the Apostle so declares them Vers 20 21 24. which was union and communion onely with God in all his Divine Ordinances and Worship which in the Old Testament was Mosaicall and typicall in which respect the Jewes were the first that ever God tooke in communion with himselfe in such an holy way of Worship and therefore called the first fruits of his love and naturall branches which order and manner of Worship but not the matter was changed at the comming of Christ in the flesh and a new forme and order set up by him called the Gospel or New Testament which order the Jews opposed and were rejected Christ the sure foundation laid in Zion becomming a stumbling stone and rock of offence to the Jews the Kingdome of God was taken from them that is they were cast out of fellowship and communion with God in respect of his Worship for their unbeliefe and the Gentiles that did submit to the Gospel were taken in by faith in Christ to bee his worshippers and heires both of grace â—â—d glory And when God pleaseth to call the Jews by the Gospel to beleeve in his Son and to submit to him as he is the Mediator of the New Testament then shall they be received in againe into their old fellowship and communion with God according to the order of Moses And thus the Apostle proves their first estate to be holy as the first fruits of thâ—t holy and blessed relation wherein they stood towards God by faith From which they for their unbelief are cut off and the Gentiles by faith admitted in of meere grace and not to boast And yet there is a remnant of them to be called as the Lumpe and a second fruit which are also holy in reference to the same holy root as aforesaid And as the root is holy so shall these branches be when they come to bee graffed in againe to their own root and olive tree as at the first which is union and communion with God in his holy way of Worship And so much of the root or olive tree which must bee understood of Christ mystically considered and not of beleeving Parents as aforesaid Now a word of the branches which being holy are believers onely in the Apostles sense First they are branches onely as they subsist and grow in the root or vine and so beare the true nature of the same by which they appear to be holy by the fruits therof Christ being the root or vine as aforesaid the branches can no way be said to subsist and grow in him as their root but onely by faith and hee in them by his Spirit without which there is no holinesse in the Apostles sense who speaketh of such an holinesse as is produced in the branch by the holy root in which it ingrows and so partakes of the nature of the root by vertue of union and communion which it hath with the same All which is by faith as the word revealeth Secondly there is no branch that is alive in the vine but partakes of the sap and life of the same by vertue of which the branch though never so young and small is discovered to be alive and inabled to bring forth in its season such fruit as whereby the same may be discerned So it is hereby the spirituall branches they cannot properly bee called branches in the Apostles sense but as they partake of the life and grace of Christ their true vine and olive tree by which they appeare at the least to bee alive in him by faith and enabled by the same to bring forth such fruits as may discover them to bee in Covenant of grace and so to be admitted â—â—to the priviledges thereof as John 15.1 7. Nature it self teacheth as much for no man will admit of dead plants to be set in his vineyard or graffed into a stock but onely such as are capable to comply with the same in the sap and nourishment thereof to the end it may grow and bring forth fruit and so it is with Christ who commeth not short of nature And
argument from the lesse ver 12 15. Secondly he proveth their conversion is to bee expected by the end of his owne Ministery which he professeth to bee to save the Gentiles for this end that so hee may provoke the Jewes to the emulation of the Gentiles in receiving of the Gospel and by that meanes save some of them ver 13 14. and thereby also bring on a greater increase of light and life to the Gentiles ver 15. Thirdly he proveth their rejection is not irrecoverable but rather that there is certain ground of their conversion from the holinesse of their Ancestors which deriveth in like sort holinesse to them as the first fruits being holy derive holinesse by Gods institution to the whole lump and the root being holy deriveth holinesse by Gods Covenant to the branches ver 16. Whereupon by the way he inserteth a grave admonition to the Church of Rome to beware of boasting either against the Jewes for their Apostasie or within themselves for their owne stability in the saith For the Holy Ghost did foresee that the Church of Rome above all the Churches of the Gentiles would bee most forward to boast of their infallibility and stability in the faith by reason of the promise pretended to be made to Peters Chaire above all the promises made to Hierusalem of old which boasting the Apostle represseth 1. By calling them to consider their former state they were branches of the olive tree wilde by nature vers 17. 2. By putting them in minde they received the Gospel from the Iewes not the Iewes from them thou bearest not the root but the root thee v. 18.3 By the greater danger or possibility of apostasie and rejection of the Romans then of the Iewes for if God spared not the naturall branches to wit the Iewes take heed lest he also spare not thee v. 19. to 22. 4. He both together represseth the Arrogancy of the Romans and withall proveth that the Rejection of the Iewes is not irrecoverable but their conversion more hopefull then the conversion of the Romans was by an Argument taken both from Gods power v. 23. and also from the naturall estate of the branches v. 24. which maketh their conversion more easy If thou Roman wert cut off the Olive Tree which is wild by nature and wert by a power above nature graffed contrary to nature into a good Olive Tree how much more shall these which be naturall Branches bee graffed into their owne Olive Tree 5. He Represseth the same Arrogancy of the Romans and with all proveth the conversion of the Iewes by a word of prophecy both by his owne Testimony v. 25. and by the Testimony of the Prophet Isay v. 26 27. 6 Hee prosecuteth the same conclusion of the conversion of the Jewes and demonstration that their rejection is not small and irrecoverable by an argument taken from the immutability of Gods electing love to the children of such whose fathers he hath given an effectuall calling unto in the fellowship of his Covenant of grace v. 28 29. 7 He proveth and amplifieth the same by an argument à Pari from equalls thus As you when you were unbeleivers have now obtained mercy through their unbeleife so they now not beleiving shall obtaine mercy through your mercy v. 30 31 32. Finally he concludeth all with an holy and Affectionate Admiration of the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisedome of God in these his unsearchable Iudgements and wayes v. 33. to 36. I have the more fully opened to you the Analysis of this whole chapter that you may the better discern both the true scope of the Apostle and withall your owne fallacy in perverting the Apostes scope to such a meaning as will not suite with his words For you so carry the Apostles scope as if he wholly intended throughout all this discourse to defend a remnant of faithfull Iewes against the generall Apostasie and rejection of that Nation And lest it might appeare that the Apostle had a principall ayme in the latter halfe of the chapter to prove as he evidently doth the conversion and restoring of the Nation from the state of Apostasie and infidelity unto the Faith of Christ and his Gospell you would have the Apostle understood to speake of the Iewes in a state of faith and holinesse and the whole lumpe of them to be holy by faith as their first fruits Abraham Isaac and Iacob And lest it should be thought that God will convert and restore the Iewes as some of the Apostles Arguments carry it out of respect to his Covenant with their holy Ancestors Abraham Isaaoc and Iacob out of whom they descended as branches out of a root you would have the root not to be meant their holy Ancestors but Christ and themselves to be holy not by vertue of any Covenant of God with their Ancestors for that you see would fetch in Infants and others of their Naturall seede within the bounds and benefit of the Covenant but by vertue of their actuall Union and Communion with Christ through faith in his Name And lest it should be humbled at as justly it might why the Apostle should spend so many Arguments to prove the restoring and ingraffing of the Iewes into Christ after â—â—â—y have come to injoy Union and Communion with Christ you would have Christ to be understood not personally as a Redeemer and Saviour but mystically as he is the head of the Church and one body with it and so their restoring to be nothing else but receiving into Church-fellowship in the Order and Worship and Government thereof Such hard shifts the wits of men will make to seek any evasions to avoid the light and power of the truth of the word when it will not stand with their owne forestalled imaginations But let us consider how you goe about to make these imaginations of your owne to stand with the Apostles words The lumpe say you generally considered comprehendeth all both the first fruits and the latter for except the first fruits were part of the lump it could not give Testimony that the whole lump was holy which lump so considered is Gods elect in Christ with reference to their beleivinâ— on him and so the apparent Subjects of Gods gracious Covenant a remnant according to Gods election with reference to Faith appearing in Abrahams Isaacks and Iacobs beleeving as the first fruits of the same Where 1. It may be marvelled why you should make the holy Ancestors of the Jewes Abraham Isaac and Iacob the first fruits of the Jewes and yet not make them in like sort the roote also For the Apostle putteth no difference between the first fruits and the Roote but speaketh of them as two similies to expresse one and the same thing If the first fruits be holy so is the whole lumpe If the roote be holy so are the branches v. 16. And as Christ is in some other places of Scripture called a Roote so is he also called the first fruits
is called a vine a root and foundation Answ I know no reason why the root in this Text should bee meant not onely their believing parents their holy Ancestors but Christ also as hath been touched afore Onely it seemeth you were afraid that if believing Parents or holy Ancestors were brought in as any means of the conversion of their posterity unto faith and holinesse it would establish the vertue and continuance of the Covenant of grace from Parents to children now in the dayes of the New Testament the which you carefully shun And therefore though you cannot but see that the first fruits and the root are used and applyed in one and the same sense and to the same purpose and so are forced to confess that as by the first fruits so by the root is meant believing Parents yet you will have the root to be meant not onely believing Parents but Christ and indeed you bring such arguments for Christ as doe seeme to restrain it wholly to Christ and in a manner to exclude believing Parents But all in vaine for neither will your Arguments evince Christ to be here expresly intended by the Apostle but onely by consequence neither will we deny that Christ and fellowship with Christ is intended in their fellowship with the root though by the root bee here expresly meant their holy Ancestors It is true Christ is called in Scripture phrase the vine the root the foundation and so indeed he is primarily and eminently But neverthelesse the Church also is called a vine Esa 5.1 Psal 80 8. And Abraham called a root Mat. 3.10 and the rock out of which the house of Israel was hewed Esa 51.1 And the Apostles are called foundations Ephes 2.20 Rev. 21.14 yea every righteous man is called an everlasting foundation Prov. 10.25 And therefore it is not the name of a root that will cast the root to be here meant of Christ and not of Abraham Yes say you for first Christ is here the root or olive tree ouâ— of which the Jews are cast and the Gentiles graffed in Rom. 11.17 19 23 24. Answ The Church is called an olive tree as well as a vine yea and the branches of it are said to be broken off Jer. 11.16 And when the Axe is said by John Baptist to bee laid to the root of the treeâ— Mat. 3.10 It is his meaning to threaten the Jewes that God is about to cut them off from the Covenant of their father Abraham of whom they were the off-spring and the branches And thereby he confirmeth his admonition to them in the former verse vers 9. thinke not saith hee to say with your selves wee have Abraham to our Father for God is able even of these stones and so of stony hearted Gentiles to raise up children unto Abraham And lest they might object that themselves were the children of Abraham rooted in him not onely by naturall generation but by an everlasting Covenant he strengtheneth his admonition with this threatening verse 10. Now is the Axe laid to the root of the trees to wit to cut off barren branches from the Covenant of Abraham every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen downe and cast into the fire And therefore it is proper enough according to Scripture phrase to interpret the root to be meant of Abraham and surely as fitly in this place of Paul as in that of Matthew but whether more proper wee shall see anon Secondly say you it appeareth Christ here to bee meant the root in that the Apostle chargeth the Gentiles that if they boast in themselves against the Jewes Thou bearest not the root but the root thee v. 18. that is say you thou appearest not to have the truth of grace and so not to have the true nature of the root and life of Christ in thy heart but onely an outward form of thâ—â—â—ofession of him Job 15.2 Answ This interpretation the words of the Text will not bear for if this were the meaning of the Apostles words Thou bearest not the root but the root thee that is thou appearest not to have the truth of grace and so not the true nature of the root and life of Christ in thine heart Then it will follow that if the Gentiles did not boast but had indeed the truth of grace and life of Christ in their hearts then it might be said to the Gentile the root beareth not thee but thou bearest the root which is indeed contrary to the truth of Religion yea to the principles of grace The absurdity of this interpretation may give good light to shew that indeed Christ is not properly meant to bee the root here spoken of For if Christ were here intended to bee the Root the Apostle would not apply this as a check to the arrogancy of the boasting Gentile the root beareth thee For it is no check but a comfort yea the greatest comfort and safety of a true and humble believer not so much that he beareth Christ as that Christ beareth him But take the Apostle to meane Abraham to be the root of the Jewes as the context carryeth it and then his admonition is grave and weighty against the arrogancy of the boasting Gentile If some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wilde olive tree wer 't graffed in among them that is among the Jewes boast not thy self against the branches But if thou boast take this for a check thou bearest not the root Thou art not the stock or root into which they were engraffed but theirs is the root into which thou art engraffed For salvation is of the Jews John 4.22 thou receivedst it from them not they from thee Hierusalem as a mother bare Rome not Rome Hierusalem Abraham as a father by his faith begot thee as a root by his Covenant he beareth thee not thou him nor the Church of his Covenant But thirdly you argue from the consideration of that which the Jewes refused and the Gentiles received that it is Christ in his mysticall Order and Government amongst his Saints that is here the root and olive tree who by hâ—â— Spirit in his Ordinances issueth forth sap and fatnesse of life and comfort into every very believing heart as a branch of the same Answ The weaknesse and fallacy of this Argument will easily appeare if you cast it into the forme of an argument thus it proceedeth That which the Jews refused and the Gentiles received that is the root here spoken of to wit that root which being holy the branches also are so too But Christ mystically considered is that which the Jewes refused and the Gentiles received And therefore Christ mystically considered is the root here spoken of which being holy the branches are also so too But here the Major or former Proposition is justly denyed For though Christ himselfe be a root which the Jewes refused and the Gentiles received yet hee is not that root here intended whose holinesse inferreth and concludeth the
conversion of the Jewes to holinesse But the Apostle here speaketh of such a root who being holy argueth that his branches though now broken off will come on againe to holinesse which cannot bee argned from the holinesse of Christ For take Christ for the root and will the Apostles Argument then follow If Christ be holy then the Jews though now broken off are or shall be holy also Is there any soundnesse in such an inference If you say Nay but all that you would infer from thence is this that if Christ the root bee holy then the Jewes when they shall come to bee graffed into him againe they will be also holy That is true indeed and needs no proof But that is not the Apostles scope to shew that they shall be holy when they are engraffed into Christ but to prove that they shall be engraffed into Christ and become holy because their root is holy which will indeed strongly follow by vertue of the Covenant with Abraham and his seed if Abraham bee here taken for the root but not so if Christ What then will you say is Abraham better then Christ Not so neither but Christ doth more delight to communicate his grace rather in the way of the Covenant of his grace then out of it Neither will it appeare though you say it will that Christ is here meant by the Apostle to be the root of the Jews if we consider what was the Jews own naturall root and olive tree whereof they were naturall branches onely by faith as the Apostle so declareth them 〈◊〉 20 21 24. which was union and communion with God in all his Divine Ordinances of Worship the manner and forme whereof was Mosaicall and typicall in the Old Testament which is now changed in the New but not the matter c. as above Answ It is utterly untrue which you say that the Jews were the naturall branches of their owne naturall root onely by faith and that the Apostle so declareth them v. 20 21 22. For it is evident the Apostle expressely declareth the naturall branches not to be spared of God but to be broken off for their unbeliefe v. 19 20 21. And therefore unbeliefe was found in the naturall branches and then they were not naturall branches onely by faith for then no naturall branches could have been broken off Neither could the naturall branches bee said to bee graffed in againe much more readily then the Romans v. 24. for the Romans standing by faith had equally as ready accesse unto union and communion with Christ in his Ordinances which you take to bee the root as the Jewes when they shall bee converted to the faith It is readily granted and needed no proofe that the Jewes of old enjoyed union and communion with Christ in the Mosaicall Ordinances of the Old Testament whereof some were typicall and some morall And it is a confessed truth also that God changed the Order and manner of that Worship but not the matter in the New Testament But that the Jewes were broken off for their opposing and rejecting that new order is not safely spoken For they were broken off for resisting and opposing the righteousnesse of Faith in Christ Iesus Rom. 10.3 which was no new order brought in by Christ in the New Testament but was the principall matter of all their Typicall and Mosaicall Worship which your selfe confesse was not changed Besides it cannot be denyed That the faithfull and their seede was the subject matter of the Church and so part of the Order of the Worship in the Old Testament And this was neither Mosaicall nor Typicall but before both And if the matter of the worship bee not changed though the manner be then as the faithfull and their seede whether Iews or proselyte Gentiles were the subject matter of the Church and a Morall part of church order of old then are they so still and neither of them to be excluded It was wholly needlesse and impertinent to prove that the Iews were cast off from Communion with God in his worship for their unbeleife and that the Gentiles who submitted to the Gospell of Iesus Christ are taken in and doe stand in relation to God by Faith in him And that the Iews when God shall please to call them by the Gospell to beleive in his Son they shall be received in againe to fellowship and Communion with God in his service as worship as of old But take all this for granted and yet it reacheth not neare the Apostles Words and discourse in this chapter who proveth that the Iews shall be called in againe to Faith and Holinesse by reason of their relation as branches to their root Which though they be broken off from it by their enmity against the the Gospell yet they still belong to it according to the Election of God and according to his love which by his everlasting Covenant he bare and promised to beare to their Fathers and to their seed after them throughout all Generations To proceede then As your discourse of the roote hath not hitherto proved Christ to be the roote So neither will your discourse of the Branches prove either Christ to be the root or the Branches to be such and can be no other then such as doe subsist and grow in Christ onely by Faith For 1. It hath beene as I conceive cleared already that Christ is not the roote here meant by the Apostle 2. If the branches be such and can be no other but such as doe subsist and grow in Christ onely by Faith how then came it to passe that the branches were broken off can such as doe subsist in Christ as in a roote onely by Faith can they be broken off What is then become of Christs prayer for all that doe or shall beleive on him Joh. 17.20 21 22 23 24. But say you the Apostle speaketh of such branches as are in him by faith and he in them by his spirit without which Faith and Spirit there is no holinesse in the Apostles sense Answer It is true the Apostle speaketh of such an Holinesse in the branches v. 16. as proceedeth from the Spirit and Faith But that is an holynesse which is not found in all Branches for then no branches should be cut off but which shall be found in the Iews at their conversion as the Apostle proveth by reason of their relation to Abraham as their root through the grace of his Covenant But will not prove that there is no way for the branches to subsist in the root but onely by Faith and Spirit For these branches who shall be converted to holinesse were in Abraham before by Naturall Generation and did pertaine to Abrahams Covenant by the grace of Election by vertue of both which both of the Election of grace and of the Covenant of grace they shall come at last to be converted to the fellowship of the Spirit and of the faith of Abraham But 2. Say you There is no branch that is