VER. 7. Epheflans,Chap. t. fpeakingof Chrift : Sometimewe arefaid tohave things in him, fome- time for him, as Phil. 2. Toyou it isgivenfor Chrifi hisfake, not onely to beleeve, but tofufer : fometime weare faid to have things through him, as I Cori». 5. Rom. 7. Bleffed beGod, who highgiven MS viFfory, through Chrifl. Now the reafon of the firft is, becaufe that in Chrift as a com- mon ftore- houle, every thing is firft placed, which afterward is to be imparted to any ofus : As in ,4dam our bring naturall, our hopesof lifeand death, and in event our condemnation, wasreceived, before ever they cameto beapplied and received afually intous. The fecond is laid that Chrift doth by hisobedience obtaine every good thing, which intime is communicated to us: for as Adam hath procured all the guilt,condemnation, mifery, which in time we know; fo Chrift the fe- condAdam in regardof the contrary. The thirdphrafe is fpoken in re. fpef that Chrift is a mediator, not onely ofimpetration,but execution ; that is,not onely obtainingand receiving from grace all good for us, but executing,and byefficacy applying the fame in us:as the firft Adam doth effe&uallypropagatehis being,finne,guilt,condemnation. The Vfe ofthis Doctrine is to fir us up to feeke this 'above all, that we may be by faithin Chrift. We love to thruft amongft them with whom we may finde benefitand profit ; yea,we muttftriveby faith to grow up in him : the more neerely weare united with any thing, the more we partake inthe vertue and operation of it : Thofewhoare nee- reft the fire,partake in the heat of it more then thofe who are further re- moved : So it is here ; alas,men feeke to be madeone perfon in Law, to bemolt neerely joyned to fuch asmaybring them inwealth, Allies be- neficiall, but who doth feeke by a fpirituall marriage to becomeone with him in whom is every good bleffing C See above the end ofthe third verfe. Obferve fecondly from this , that he faith , We have redemption in Chrifi ; what all ofus arebynature, vq. no better then in a fpirituall captivity or bondage. Werewe no way taken or held captive, there could be no place for ranfoming or redeeming ofus. Now captivity or bondage is a flare oppofite to liberty, wherein men live under the powerof hard Lords, deprivedofliberty, and grievoufly intreated manywaies. The bondage ofcaptives is in this ; firft,that they are in hands of fuchasrule feverely over them : fecondly, theyhave not free - dome to doe any thing which formerly they might, when they were at liberty : thirdly,they are forced to endure many things moft grie- vous : Thus it is in the fpirituall confideration , which I will briefly unfold. What Lords as it were teigne over a man, they are of two forts, the principal], or minifteriall ; the principal) is the molt juft God, whole jufice we havewronged by finne, ergo,we are laid to be redeemed from under the Law,thatis,from under the revenging juftice oftheLaw : Lookeas fubjeis taken in murder,robery, and committed, are the Kings prifoners principally,nothis who keeps them;fo it is with us. Minifteriall,the Devil,) and his angels ,the confcience accufing and condemning for frn.vsas .2.Menare faid before their converfionto be I under Yfe. Doo.
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