8 An Expojition of the epijlle --=------- ~ Serm. I. ~ H. Here is the Dutward conflant C01wje of thefe Men in their Converfation that was the concomitant of that,State : And that, that is intended in th~ 2d and 3d Verfes, is clear by the very words ; for he .calleth the one walkjng, and the other, having our Converfation: Therefor,e I difiinguifh it as the Apo!He himfelf doth:. Now that is aggravated by three things :is the Caufes of their evil Converfation : ' i:. There is the e~emplary Caufe, which. is ~he weakecf; a.rid yet it is a Caufe :. In wh1ch we wal4ed, (namely, m Stns, for of that he bad fpd– ken before,) according to the Courfe of this World. 2. There is the outward efficient Caufe, that is Satan, the .Prince of the 'Power of the .Air. . 3· There is the inward efficient moving Caufe, their own Lufis, jitljil/;,,g the DeJires of the Flejb, and of the Mind, which you have in the third Verfe. And therein you fee how exaCt he is: He defcriheth both the . Corruption of Man's Nature under one general .Term, as it is called Flcjb: Had our Co11ver[ation ( f.1ith he) in the VtjiJ ofthe Flejb; that is, of corrupt Nature, taken in the general with all the Lufts of it : But then he doth fubdivide them, there is, the Dejires of the Flcjb, Whtch are the fenjital Lufts of the Body; and there is, the Lufls of the Mind: Which two do part all the Wickednefs ofMan's Nature they divide it between them. ' IH. And then lafily; Here is the 'P1111ijhment that is due to each ofthefe Sins the Wrath of God ; Children of Wrath by Nature. And this, faith he, i~ the general common Condition ; you were fo that are Gentiles, and we were thus that are Jews: he turns it from one to the other, and there is no difference between either the one or the other ; this is our condition, we were Children of Wrath as well as you, and you were Children of Wrath as well as we were. And fo you have the Divifion ofthe Words. 1 I now come to open the Fir!l, their inward State and Condition, [ Dead in Sins.] I will not mention many Scriptures to prove it to you, you know enough al– ready: Let the Dead b11ry the Dead, &c. I !hall only inllance in that one Text, Cot•. 2. 12. And, as I obferved long ago, in opening the firfi Chapter, the Epifile to the Coi"Jfians is to the Epifile to the Ephejians, like .711arl{ to MAtthew, almo!l in all fort of Paffages. He had !aid in this fecond Chap. to the Ephejans, Te are dead, he did not fay, in Sins and TrcJPa./Jes, for [ '<v J in the Original is not ~n; and it might have born, Dead to Sins and Trejpa./Jes, as fome have been millaken tn it. Rut now compare it with Col. 2. 13. There you have the Particle [ l•] in the Greek exprefly, Dead in Sins. And fo the one, as in other Paffages, fo in this, explains the other. Now in opening and handling this, I !hall not run out into a large Common– place, (for that is not to expound) of what are the Symptoms of Spiritual Death ; you have had them in Books printed, Stiffnefs, and Coldnefs, and Senfe– lefnefs, and the like. I fhall not enlarge upon thefe at all, but I fhall !peak as an Interpreter; and therein, becaufe it is themoll: comprehenfive exprellion, I mu!l therefore open what the Apo!lle intendeth, what is comprehended in this word, [Death.l And Firft ; Let me obferve this upon it, that tho there are many other Expref– fions which Mans natural Eftate ts fet forth by, yet (as I fatd afore) there was no Exprel!ion.fo full for the Apofile's purpofe, !peaking of the Power that raifed up Jefus from Death to Life, and fo ratfed us up too, to follow the Metaphor; Co there was no exprcllion would fo fully have laid open the Mifery of Man by Na– ture, the inti'infical State and Condition of Man, in a comprehenfive way, all fotts
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