to the E P H ES I A N S. uickning them, and favingthem, wh? wer~ Heathens,. and ferved Idois,) and ~ ;lfo for the efftCl: ; as oftenttmes both m Scnpture, and m our ordmary Phrafe it Ser. XVIII. is ; we ufually fay, I t,?ank you for your ki~dnefs, ~hat is, for the Love that you ~ have befiowed. In .thole Benefits fore-mennoned, m the Verfes before, (faith he ) he bath held forth a Pattern of that exceeding Riches of his Grace, which he meaneth to communicate to others, even as he had done to them. And then again, this is confirmed, in the fourth place, by this : That it is the manner of God to make the lirfl: in any kind Examples to others : Thus he made Sodom andGontorrah, and the old World, (as Peter bath it) to be Ex3mples, to confirm all his Threatnings, and to !hew how ju!l: a God he would be under the Old Tefl:ament, and founder the New too, to them that continue in the fame Sins againfr the fame Means. So. n?~ unde.r ~he New Te!l:ament; (it being Regnum Grati£) he makes thefe Pnmmve Chrdhans to be Patterns and Examples of the exceeding abundant Riches of his Grace, ( as the other were of his Jufrice) which he meaneth afterwards, under the New Te!l:ament, to communicate in all Ages to the end. · La!l:ly; There is thisalfo to confirm it: That God in after Ages meant to have a ehurch Catholick in all the World; and the Converts of the Primitive Chrifrians, both,Jews and Gentiles, being the Fir!l:-fruits, they !hould be Exam– ples unto us, to confirm that Promife, both to Jews and Gentiles. And this is exceedingly frrengthl_led by this, That the Apo!l:le,. throughout the for?'er pa~t of this Epi!l:le, bothm the fir!l: Chapter, and alfo m thts fecond, had frill earn– ed equally both Jew and Gentile in his eye. In the firfr Chapter, when he fpeaks of the Benefits we hawe by Chri!l:, Elettion, and the like, and applies them to Men whom they belong to : Fir!l:, he applies them to the Jews, chap. I. verf r r, I·~. In whom we have obtained an Inheritance, ·who firIt tmjled in Chrift: In whom ye alfo trujled, v. 13. that is, ye Gentiles. When he comes to lay open the State of Nature, chap. 2, verf I. re were dead in TrcJPajJes and Sins ; that is, ye Jews. Then, v. 3· Among whom alfo we had Oltrconverfation, (that is, we Gentiles,) and were hy Nature Children of Wrath even as others, And fo now, when he comes to !peak of their Converfion, he tells them, that God had quickned them all both together: both ye Gentiles, By Grace ye are faved; and 'us, he bath quicftned us. And he hat)! herein made us Patterns ofthat Mercy and good Will, which he means to befrow upon Jews and Gentiles in the Ages to come. Wherefore it follows, v. I I. Remember, that ye being in time paft Gen· tiles in the Flejh, ye were then without Chrijl, &c. And he would have all Pofre· rity remember what their Fore-fathers were. The only ObjeCtion againfr this Interpretation, and which I confefs is a !l:rong one too, is this: That the Jews 'were not an example of the like Grace to be communicated to their Po!l:erity that followed; for we fee, that hitherto in the Ages to come, it bath not yet fallen out, that any of the Jews are called and converted unto God, but even in the Apo!l:le's time they were broken off. But let me tell you, that in the latter Days, in the Ages to come, they !hall be called; and altho indeed they were broken off for many .A'gu, yet in the latter days there !hall be the greatefi breaking open of the Riches of free Grace, of any other. He jhewed Mercy unto me jirjl, faith Pa11l. That fame [firjl J as many think, is fpoken in relation to his own Countrymen, the Jews, .who fhould be fmmd Injurious, Blafphemers, Perfecutors, as he himfelf was ; and fhould al[o be converted in that manner, namely extraordinary, as he ,wa•. And, my Brethren. the Riches of Grace here in the Text, ferveth to illufl:rate this ex– ceedingly; for when is it that the Riches of God's Grace, and his Mercy is held forth in the Scripture, but when the calling of Jews and Gentiles are mentioned? 'Rom. 10. I~. There u no ilifference between the Jew and Greek..; for the fame Lord over aU, is rich 1111to aU that c•U upon him. Therefore now, when he !peaks of the breaking up of that Grace which fhould continue both to Jew and Gen– tile inAges to come, whereofthefe were Pawns, and Pledges, and the Fir!l:-fruits, he calls it, the jhewing forth of the exeeeding Riches of his Grace. And in Rom. 11.12. theConverfionof the Jews iS called the Riches ofthe World. For, my
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