418 JEWISIH AND CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. Objection II. But was not Paul even when he was a phari- see, a man of morals, aman who lived in allgood conscience, as he testifies of himself; Acts xxiii. 1. and touching the righteousness that was in the law, blameless; Phil. iii. 9. Nor have we any ground to think Peter was really one of those wicked persons, though he says ; 1 Pet. iv. 3. We Walked in laciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelling, banquetting, and abominable ido- latries. Answer I. There is no need among such catalogues, always to apply every single character to every single person, included in theplural number, we. Even among the heathens themselves, there were some who might not be actual gluttons, or given to excess of wine, and to whom every one of these characters could not be literally applied ; but all these characters, in general, must he scattered and distributed amongst the we, of whom they were spoken. There are instances of this sort of speech, in many places of scripture : See, for instance ; Heb. xi. 32, 33. Gide- on, Barak, Sampson, &c. and theprophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms stopped themouths oflions, quenched theviolence o/fire, &c. Not that each of these performed all these exploits, but some did one, and some another. So when the apostle says, we wrought the willof the gentiles, walking in rioting, excess ofwine, idolatry, 8pc. some ofthese predicates must in some sense or another belongto the apostles, at least aspart of thesinful race of mankind, Jews as well as gentiles, in order to secure their veracity; for we must not explain them so, as tomake the apostles yield up the truths of things to complaisance and fair speeds, especially insuch cases, wherein a multitude of their readers would be very liable to mistake them. Answer II. In general, it must be acknowledged, that as weare in a state of depraved nature, the seeds and principles of all iniquities are found in us, both the lusts of the flesh and the mind, and in this sense all men, by nature, have the springs of all sin in them Nor is this a harder censure than theapostlePaul lays upon all mankind, Jews and gentiles, without the exception ofone individual, when he cites out of the Old Testament, the several characters of wicked men ; Rom. iii. 9-19. and pro.. nounces them true in general concerningJews and gentiles ; and some ofthem belong to everyparticular person in the world ; all are under sin, that is, in a state of nature : there is none righteous no not one; there is no fear of Godbefore their eyes, 8¡c. Thus every mouth is stopped ; and all the world, even every individual son and daughter of Adam, is guilty before God, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God., And that this in- cludes every individual person ; because otherwise there would be some persons who need not justification, by grace, through the redemption of Christ, which is the only relief which the apos-
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