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Show Cant.2.15. 'fall! Ul the fo~!l, the ~ittle foxu; for they fp•ilthe Vintl' and ou~ Vmu have tender Grape~. V VE. are come to the t!)ird Precept or Marion which our Lord maketh to his Spoufe. ~·II.! ust.he f~xet, ~c. For the full underfiandingofour Lord 5 meanmg m whtch, we u ll enquire, 1 '[0 whom tbit JPmh if dire lied : d ~· What it if be faith: Where we muLl enquire, whom o~r Lad her; intendeth, r. By the Vinll, ~- What h~ means by t e ten er G Whom he means by Foxet and little Foxu, 4- What .Ja~~;, .~;Lord herecallt for. I !hall invert my uf~a.l orde~, ~n~ lirfi open the!e terms before I come to the Propo mons o o drine which I !hall raife and handle from the words. It i; our Lord that fpeaketh (that is plain: ) But J, To whom Jot~":t If~~~~ An cis though fame have fo interpreted it ; they · !hall indeed have fom~ employment of t~a~ natube he~e~f~j,' ::::~~ 13· 1-9• The Angels jhaU carne forth, an ,evert e "'" e ro jujl: but this is not till the end of the World. h h db f< e cal· z \ln ue!lionably hefpeaketh to her whom e a e or led iJis v!e to his Spoufe, by which we have ~II along ~nderfiood h U , . 'b d f the Church or the partzcular beltevmgjottl. t e co e.,zve o !Y o ' c, h" k" our There is a great variety among!l Interpreters: om[. t m m~ to Lord herefpeaksto the whole body of the Cht~rcbj. om~~~o~;ate the Officert of the ChNrch; Others. to the. Chr~ t~nll !l ~titud; You know my manner to take Scnptures m t e u e f< e which the Analogy of other Scriptures will bear. I fha~ th~e or f. underlland it of the whole Church and evehy ~em er t de;~~/; When I come to !hew you what is meant by t e oxer, an I II · Foxu and thefeveral ways of taking them for the Lord,(ou!ha .fee w~ !hall find a work for every Chrifiian. Let us ~e~e ~r~co~; fider what it is our Lord faith, Take"' the Foxu, 1 e 111 e ox which fpoil the Vi~<u, &c. b Vinet which we are fir !I to enquire what are here meant Y 1 , fl f will not be difficult if we confider , . how often ~o~isn::~::,J: ~:d the notion of a Vineyard, and a Vme to expre h B h ld and people, Pfalm 1lO.I4, & I 5· you have both toget cr: e o , vifit What are tendel' Graper. 371 l!!flt tblt Vine lnd tbe Vineyard n>hieh thy right-haad hath pi allied, apparently to be undertlood of the Church of the Jews. So in that famous Parable Efay 5· where God compareth Ifrael to a Vineyard on~ fruitful hiU. .If the Church be the Vineyard, the members of It mull be the Vtnes, ( for they are the plants in this Vineyard.) Indeed Chri!l faith ofhimfelf, I am the tme Vine John 15. 1. But then Believers are compared to branchet. If you ~onfi-der the notion of the Vine,as a llock relating to branchu. So Chri!l 'is the Vine, he from whom they derive all their life, and the juice from which they live. If you confider a Vine as the adjund of the Vineyard; fo the Believer is the Vine,he is the plant in the Church ofChri!l that brings forth fruit.Of this there is not muchquellion. This being determined , There can be as little di[pute concern- ftu. 2 • lng the tender grapet of which rhe Text fpeaks: For as grapes are the (ruitt oft he Vine, Co exercifes of grace are the Believert [ruitr, called by rhe Apo!lle, Rom. 6; 22. the fruitt of bolinefs unto lift. And Gal. 5· 2 2. tbe fruit of the Spirit. The fpoiling then of the ten4er grapu, or of the Vinet while they have tendtr grapu, is the preJudicing of Chri!llans in rbe exercifes of holinefs, while rhey are yet imperfed in the exercifes of it. The 3d ~e!lion is,Whothe[e are thatthut {poi/ thevinn while they ~· 5• have temler grapu, reprefentcd nnder the notion of Foxet, little Foxu. Here again Interpreters abound in their various fenfes. Bernard interprets it ofTentationr, Corr~<ptiont,fal[e Teachert,and rrroneottt per[onr, Moll interpret the term concerning[alfe TeacberJ,to which fame add Perfecutors. I am fure Herod (who was no falfe Teacher) is by our Lord called a Fox: Go teUthat Fox, faith Chrill. [ will not fall out wirh any Interpreters, but !hall interpret it more generally of whatfaever it be; that (as the biting of rhe Fox fpoilerh the Vines,) fo bJ a1ry means prejttdice tbe fruit ofholinefs in the [oulr of Chriftiant. This general will, ( when we come to handle that particular) as you will hear, bring in all their particulars. . The lafi Quellion is about Tak._ing, what Takj11g tbe Lord 9<;! 4 meant. I !hall interpret this as largely as the or her, concerning · · the ufe of all lawful ways or means, for the delivering of our ~elv_es from the mifchiefs of any things or perfons which may pre· )Udtce us as to our fruits of holinefs. So then the general fenfc of this Text is, Thar it is the will ofChri!l that his Church the Officers and members therein !hould dilige;tly, as well with rc-fpeli ~o his glory as their own good, fupprefs, remove, or as mllch Bbb2 ~ |