to the E P H E S I A .N S. Then, Secondly; To have Comfo~t and Joy in God, therein Life lieth like- ~ '(e fpiritnal Life. "Pfal. 63. That I may fee thy Glory, v. 2. So It follows, Thy ~ Luving-k.judnefs is better than Life, v. ~· T~e [eeing and enjoying of the Glory of God, and his Loving-kindnefs, IS called Life,_yea~ better than L1fe. P.fol. 22. 26. Your Hearts foal/live for ever. And compare It With "Pfal. 69. 32. Yo11r Hearts Jludllive · the words before mterpret It, jlJatl beglad. . Then,' Thirdly ; There is a Life of Grace and Holinefs, the !'?age of God, which is communicated fi·om God, by whiCh we are enabled to enJOY H1m, and for want of which canial Men cannot enjoy Him. Ephef 4, I8. They are Stran– gers ji-oi!J the Lift of God. It is clear, that the fpecial meamng of the Lift of God there, is the Life of Holinefs, the Image of God; for he fpeaks of Cor– ruption the contrary ro it, in the Verfes before; and m the Came Verfe he faith, that they are Stra11gers from the Lift o[ God, thro11gh Ignm:ance, and the hardmfs of their Hearts, being given 11p to all Undeannefs. And m the 24th Verfe, he (.1ith, that the liJiage nfGod if created in Knowledg. So that indeed the Image of God is there efpecially the L1fe of God, m verf. 18. Now then as there is a threefold Life from God, which is the Fountain of Life ; (o anf.verably there is a threefold Death by ~in. There is, Firft ; A Death of Guilt. Every Sm cafreth a Man out of the Favour of God, and that is Death, bindeth a Man over to the Wrath ofGod. If that the Wrath of a Kingbe as Me.ffingers of Death, as it is, Prov. 16. (that is it is as good as a Warrant feal'd up for a Man condemned, fot his Execution,) then much more the Wrath of God, Thou . art but a dead Mm, faith God to .Abimelcch, Gen. 20. 3· that is, thou an guilty of Death, by rea(on of this Fact of thine. Then in the fecond place, There is a Death in refpect of the Power of Sin, and that anfwereth to that Life ofHolinefs, we have from God, the Image of God. In Col. 2. 12. he C1ith, They were dead;,, the Vncircmncijion oftheir Ftejh; that is, in refpect of the Power of Sin ; ~orrnption ~f Natur~ derived by Birth, and encreafed by aCtual Sm : for both ·•• meant, puttmg the S1gn for the thmg figni– fied : For the changing of the Heart, and mortifying Corruption, is called, Cir– romcifing the Heart ; and on the contrary, the . Corruption it felf is call~d, the Vncircumcijion of th~ Flejh: the one you have m Deut. ro. r6. the other m that Col. 2. 12. Thirdly; There is a Death in refpeCl: of Joy and Comfort. Now tho wicked Men live in re(pea of Comfort from God, that is, from the Creature, whilft they are here in this World; yet they are dead in refpea of receiving any Com– fort in God. [Not only Ju, faith the Apofile, hut we joy in God, Rom. 5· 1 r. or purfue after that Joy; either the one or the other every Chrifl:ian doth, as after his Life.] But now every c-arnal Man, he is cut off from God, both from the Comfort that is in God Himfelf, pr the Purfuit after it. And tho they have C0mfort in the Creatures, and therefore do as it were fit but in the Shadow of Death, (as the Phrafe is, Luc. I. 79·) yet when Hell cometh, then all Comforts, all Creatures, all their good things, (as it is (aid, Lu~ r6.) their Pomp departs from them, and then Men die, and that Sin in the Comfort of which they live, will be their greatefr Executioner, as I !hewed the lafr day. Now then, if the Qt)dlion be, Which of thefe Deaths are meant, when be faith of thefe Ephcjians, they were dead in Sins a11d Trejpajfes? I anfwer: The firfr and fecond, that is, a Death in refpect of Guilt, being under the Disfavour of God, and in re(pea of the Power of Sin ; but not the third Death, or as the Scripture calleth it, in reference to our natural dying, the fecond Death : he cloth not mean they were dead in that refpefr, for they conld not be dead in that refpeCl, becaufe they were not yet in Hell, had not Execution done upon them, only by way of Inchoation, by way of beginning, they were dead m that refpeCl:, they were under the beginnings of it, they were under the ~ear of Death all their Life long; and they were cut off from receiving Comfort m God, and fo in that refpeCl: they were privatively dead, tho the fulnefs of the Execution ofit was not come. Now then the Text (peakshere e(pecially ofthofe two firfr Deaths,and more efpecially ofthefecond: And that is clear,as I fbewed in the former D•fcourfe,becaufe this Death refers to that ']llick,.ningPower,which raifed them
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