to theE PH E S1AN S. In rhe Third place obferve rh is concerning it; He doth nor fay, To the pr ufo r-...A----, of" his glory, b:>: words and by. thankfgiving cnly; but to be to the prm(e ~ of" btsg!ory. It "real thmgs, thmgs that have bewg, that God reqUJreth. My meaning is this that your bemg, all you are and have lhould be to hts glory, not on!y in word f~ the force of the word will carry it; that we jhotJ!d be, faith he, that all you a;e, that all you have, thould be facrificed and given up to God,to the ·p>·ai(e of hisglory. Now, though I might !hew you how this is inforced from. all the former, yet I {hould be too long. I wiJJ pafs that by. So much for the lir!l thmg, Secondly, He comcth to the Perfons to whom he applieth this to, defigned out by • fpecial Priviledge, namely thofe who firj/tru(ledw Chnfl. He hath flre– deflinated us,called us Apo!lles and .7ews, but to whom he vouchfaled tlus pnvt– ledge, that wr/houtdfir{I tr11fl in Chri{f. He fpeaks (as I take it) efpecially of t11at We, that is, we Apo{l!es. Pattl was an Apofile you know, they were all .!ews; but in their na'?e', and under them he meaneth all the .7ews too ~hat were Believers.He appheth It to themlelves lir!1, and unto the .Jews, ascontamed under them: As likewife when he applieth it ro the Ephrfiam, (!"whom)'' alfo trtifled ;) he !peaks but to the Ephrjifl1JS only, but he meaneth all Ge11tiles. I fpeak this to reconcile two Opinions of Interpreters: Some fay, that the A– poflles are meant; Others fay, that the .Jews are meant, The Apo{fles had the honour to be the Fir{l-fruits of the Chri!1ian Church, of the Church of the ~c Rom. 8.' New Te!1ament; and therefore as Chri!l preached to them fir!1, and called them Flrf\.(ruu~ lir!l himfelf, (for fo you know he did.) So when he praycth for his Church, how doth he pray? For the Apoflles lir!l, and then for all them that }hall believe ort him through their word,]oho~7.2o. For the Apo{f!es,they were the Ftrf/-frttits; therefore we are faid to be 6uilt up01z the ;jozmdatio1J of the Prophets a11d Apojlles, Ephef.2.2o. They were laid as the lir!l Stones of this great building. The word which we tranllate Truf/rd, is in the Original (and you may fee it in your Margents) Hoped; whofirj/Hoped i11 Chr1fl; for, my Brethren, hope is fometimes put for faith, as Joh.)·4'i· Mofes, ill whomyr trtt{f, in the Original it isit~whom;·ehope. Forth,truthisthis, I do not fay thegraceof Hope is the Seerhediffe– foundation ofFairh,but it is mo!1cercain that a hopefulnefs that it may be I,found- ''~"or Fai<h ed upon the indefinite Promile, is the foundation of Faith. And take the very '" Hope. Apof/lrs Faith, it was but at fir{[ a hopi11g in Chri!l; who firjl, faith he, hopedm Chri{f. · Now the thing I would have you obferve is this, that he mentioneth it as a priviledge to be thejir{f tnif/ers or hopers in Chri{f, and he applieth it to the .!ews and to the Apofllei. You /hall fee paralld Scriptures taJJ in with this; Rom.1,16. The Go(pel, f.•ith he, u the power of" Godto jalvatiorttoevery one that be!ievrth, to the Jew fir(/, mark! fl1ld alfo tt1Jto the Greek; but eo the .few lira. Take another place, AEf. ~.26. When Peter there fir{[ preacheth to the .!ews, [peaking of the RefurreCl:ion of Chri!1, he faith, God hcwi11g raifed ttp his Sou, .te[u;, jmt him ti1Jtoyou firfl, to bleflyou i11 lt<rui11g away every "'" ofJ'Otl from hu l"iquities, The .Jews therefore and the Apo{fles were the fir{[ that tru!1ed in Chrifi; and then afterwards it was defufed from the .7rws, by the 4po{fles, unto all Nauons; Preach thr GofPel, faith he, to everyCreatttre, 6ttt to the Jew firfl; they were to believe fir!1, whofirfl tru{fed iu him, I have wondred, when I conlidered this one thing, which wiJJ further open the Tfxt. That God lhould call fo manyJnvs, and call them fir!1,(for [o he did, C_ompm i< and there was Multitudes of them, if you read the fiory of the AEfs,) and after ~~h Vcrf< 7· ' that ca!1 off that Nation; and why were they, when he meant to convert no 'P·'· more of them afterwards, to have this great priviledge the Apoille mentioneth here? I will give you one Reafon of it; It is, becaufe they were the Fir(/-frttits of the .'lews, to be caJled afterwards in the fulnefs of time. Becaufe God meant to call them afterward (as it is certain to me he meanerh to do,) therefore he called fo great atlufl1 of them at fir!1; and called them fir!!, ro !hew that they lhaJJ be the eldo· Breihreu under the Gofpel, though rhey be ca!1 off for fo many hun– dred ot years. That which makes me think fo, i> that whtch the Apo!lle faith, 1'TJm.
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