--------------.--=~~~~~~-~~~--------~ to the EPHESIANS. 6j Priviledges as thefe are, and will thrufl: them out. ~o· much now for the firfl: thing ~ in the Text, Amo11g wbom we. cr!Jt. V• .. ~ ' I, ' • ., ' · ' Amo11g whom we all. i niufl: [peak a littie to that word [all, J and it {hail bd but a little: that is, all we Jews, or more efpectally all we that are Beltevers,con~ verted of the Jews ;_ faith he, We all, all we Apoflles? we were once unregenerate men, and we lived m that fl:ate and condmon, and m the f.1me lufl:s that ye Gen• tiles did; and all the Converts among the Jews they did fo too. Now you will fay unto me, Were there none ofthefe that were holy even fi·orrl their Infancy ? yes, my Brethren, it may be there were Come; but there were but a very few' You know ]olm Baptijl was; but all, that is, the generality; for the moO: par; even all the Believers that lived among us, they.were for Come time in a natural and unregenerate condition. . . . But there is a fpecial R.eafon why it was fpoken of the Jews in the Apofl:le's time, [We all; J for the truth is this, in the Old Tefl:ament you fhall find very few Converfioos ; you do not reade when lfaac was converted: you reade indeed that Abraham had a Call, for the Text Withbe was a1t Idolater:. but take lflac and Jacob, and ]oftph, and Mofts, and you fhall reade no where of their Converlion; whereas ye have abundance offl:ories of<;onverfions in the NewTelh ment: but in the Old Tefl:ament the truth is God wrought much even from their Infancy ; although that [peaks ofConverfion too; for the Prophet faith rbat Levi 111rncd tJtanyfrom their lniq11ity whilft be kept the Covwant, Mal.2 .8. and in Pfo/.51. David faith, SinnersJba/1 be converted 11nto thee. But yet before the times of the Gofpel, before the time of ]olm Baptijl's preaching, the truth is,there \Vas then fuch a cor– ruption generally am~:mg the Jews, that they were in a manner as it were all left in their natural condition, there wer€ very few Godly among them, that fo the fruit ofthe Gofpd might the more appear. I will give you but one Text for it,' L11ke 1. 17. it is faid there of]ohn that when he fhould come ropr~ach, be Jbould t11rn tbe heart ofthe Childrw to their Fathe?·s; that is, whereas Abraham, lfaac and Jacob, and all thqfe Holy and Godly Fathers, had been for Jufl:ification by Grace, they had refl:ed upon the Meffiah, the Promifc ofGod, and had turned to Gocl, and ferved Him truly; thefe Jews were Co generally corrupted, that the whole Nation needed a new Converfion, to be of the old Fathers Religion; therefore i~ is faid; be jbo11ld t11m the hearts of the Childr~n to their Fathers. . . But then again, there is a third Anfwer, [We aU. J He fhews not.fo much,.de folio, what all were, or in a flriCl' word, or in fl:rill: terms that all the Jews had biri unregenerate for a long while before they were turned; .but ·his fcopc is to fhew what the generality of them were, and what all would have bin ; the f.1me ria• ture would have wrought the fame effeC)", had not the Grace of God come and put the difference. I l.hould likewife (peak a littleto thele words, [In time pajl;] but I fhall meet with it fo often, as in ver. I I. Rem~mber that )'e bei11g ill time paft Gentiles in the Jlefb; and in the next words likewife, and were the Childrm of Wrath: and the Obfervation I hwe upon it I will not now infifl upm1, but rather como t<> wha~ followeth : And fo now I come to thefe other words : We ail had 011r ComJerfotion _in times paft in the l11fts ofthe jiefo,. fi41fing the d~(tm of the Jlejb, dnd ofthe 111md; mtd were b) 1tat11re the Children ofWrath,.evm 111 others; Here is an exceeding exa& defcription of the Corruption ofMan's Heart anci ~onverfauon by nature. And the Apofl:le bath a double [cope iri lt. His [cope IS, Firfl:, To fhew the pedigree of caufes of all that Corruption that is in Men while they are unregenerate ; as he had fhewn the World to be a caufe, and the' Devil to be a caufe:, Co here the F1efh, the caufe ofcaufes, he putting thi's ditfe• rence between the caufes, that Satan and the World are but external caufes; l.Pe walk,_, [according] to the courfe ofthe World, and [ accorditt!, } to the 'Prince if the' power of the Air; but when he fpeaks of the lufl:s ofthe flefh, he [peaks ofthat ag *I 2 *oo
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