537 / 808
V
a
R.18.
Ephefianr,
Chap.
4.
517
of
our
firft
Parents,
we lye
before him guilty, from the wombe we
re-
bell
:
God hath
his fpirituall darknefre, he
giveth men into the
hands
of
Satan
his
jaylor
, he
takethaway
his fpirituall
light from them,let-
ting the Devill hold them
in
chaínes
of
ignorance, luft,
fearfull
expo
elation
of
judgement.
o6je.l.
But we feele
no fuchthing.
llnf
v.
That
is
becaufe we are
all
darkneffe,and never
faw
nor heard
.
fome
of
us
other, that
maketh
us
think there
is
no
fuch
matter;
thofe
that
are in
hell
wot there
is
no
other
heaven.
Our
firft
Parents
were
leire
miferable then
we
in
this
regard; for they knew that the
glorious
light
of
God
was
gone from them
,
and that
their
foules
were
in all
kind
of
darknefie
,
becaufe
they had left
that
lightfome
and blefred
condition
;
but
we
that
never knew
other,
we
think there
is
no ocher.
If
men at
ho.yeares
of
judgement
fhould
be
Phut
up
in
a
dark
dungeon,
they
could perfcétly know what
a
comfortable world
,
what goodly
heavens,
what
a fruitfull
earth, they were deprived
of:
But fay
they
fhould
get
a
child
in
this
dungeon,
hee could
not
tell
further then
hee
were told,
and fo conceive
by
hearefay
that
there were
fuch
a
matter
So it
is
with
us,
becaufe wee are
borne
and
bred
up
in
fpirituall
dark
-
neffe, we
think there
is
no
other light. Thefe Heathens
were fome
of
them
fuch
as
had great knowledge
in
Nature,
in
Policy,
in
the do-
6-trine
of
Civill
verrues,
in
Arts, Hiftory,nay
in
curious
Arts,
judicial!
Aftrologie, Alchymie,
Magick, for
the Ephefians,
vlits
19. are no-
ted
for
curious
Arts,
and
Magick
by name, yet the Apoftle pronoun
-
ceth
of
them, that
in
regard
of Gods
things
,
their
thoughts
were
dark.
ned,
there
is
none
that
underftandeth by nature, which the knowledge
of
them
did lead
them to
fee in
fome
fort, for
fome knew
that
they
did
know nothing,and
fome exclaimed,
.P.Ltantum
c.ee
nellu!
&c.How
great
a
night
is
there
in their
under_
fanding
!
The
reafoning and
dif-
courfe of the natural! man,the
devil!
bath conjured it
in
fuch
a
Circle,
that
it
cannot turne
it
frlf
to
any
thing but what
is
evill, or
bath
an
ap-
pearance
of
good onely.
This then
mutt let
us
fee
what
wee are
by
nature, and
what
in
part weare, for
we are
regenerated but
in
part,
we may fay there-
fore that
our underflanding
in
fome meafure
is
darkened,
that
wee
know
nothing
as
we ought
to
know it. In which confideration wee
mull
lecke
to
Chriftto
help
us
with
eye-
falvc, and
cry
as
the
poorc
blinde man did
for
mercy inthis behalfe.
a.
Wee
fee,
how
by
nature
wc are
all
void
of
the
lift
of
God
;
though
we
live
this naturali life
which the
foule prefent
with the body
eau
-
feth,yet
we
want that
life
which the
Spirit
of
Godbegetteth
in
prefent
in
the
foule.
For the
life
of
God
is
fometime put for
that
life
where-
with God
livech in
himfclfe.
a.
The
life
of
nature
is
in a
fort Gods
life.
The
Spirit
of
God
doth
efficiently
worke it
in us
; and therefore
líls
57.
thefe
Gentiles are
faid
to
live,
move
andhave
their
being
in
God
;
fay,
in
regard of
life natural!. 3.
It
is
alfo put for
the lifeof
grace wrought by the
Spirit of
God,
and thus thofe
that
lived
is
God
are
fe.
De
void
by
nature
of
the life
of
God.
The
lift of
God
is
three
fold.
The
life
of
na-
ture in
Come
fort
is
the life
of
God.