Sermon XXIV
Wherefore remember, that ye benny in time pat Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called Uncircumcision by that which is allied tlie Circumcision in the flesh made by hands. VER. 11.
I SHALL not open these words by way of exposition ; but shall only single out a point which is of great use, and which I shall handle and finish at this time. And it is this, What use and advantage and improvement believers should make of their having been in the state of nature, as you know all once were, whether converted sooner or later. Wherefore, saith the Apostle here, remember that ye were once Gentiles in the flesh. There are two ways of handling this doctrine : The one is by shewing the end that God hath in leaving his children in such an estate and condition ; and with that I will not at all meddle here at this time.
The second is the use and improvement that is to be made of that condi tion by them. And what use or improvement may be made of a man s sin
ful condition, while he was in the state of nature, the same also may withal be made of those sins a man hath fallen into since he was in the state of
grace.
The Holy Ghost here, you see, doth exhort us to remember. Wherefore remember, saith he. He had discoursed at large of the state of nature in the former verses, and, saith he, Let this for ever stick with you, let it be ever in your eye
* Wherefore remember. And we may make the following improvements of what the Apostle en
joins to these Ephesians
First, It should serve us to this end, to magnify the greatness and freeness of God s grace to us. Do but see what Paul saith for I shall give you his instance and example in 1 Tim. L 12. I thank Christ, saith he, for put ting me into the ministry. Why so ? Because I was a blasphemer, a per secutor, and injurious ; but, saith he,
* I obtained mercy, because I did it
ignorantly through unbelief ; and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abun dant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. If a man had been but in Paul s heart, and but seen when he considered that, I that was a blasphemer,
<kc., obtained mercy, how he brought blaspJiemer and mercy together, and what a mixture of affections it wrought in his heart ! My brethren, that is that which God aims at, to bring contraries at once into a man s soul, cind by them to work the most glorious mixture of affections in us, both of con fusion in ourselves, and of triumph in the freeness of his grace. To that
end, he brings in and preserveth the sense both of his own free grace and of our own vilcuess, to work this mixture of affection in us. In this same 2d of the Ephesians, where the Apostle had discoursed of their having
in this natural condition, you shall find that he saith l\\i . by grace ye are
EPH. II. 11.] TO THE EPHESIAN8. 349
saved ; he contents not himself to have said it once, but he said it again so you have it, ver. 5, by grace ye are saved ; so you have it again ver 8, for by grace ye are saved. If thou hast acknowledged it once, ac knowledge it again. You know that rule, which is an infallible one and everlastingly holds true, -that of the Apostle in Rom. v., where sin hath abounded, there grace aboundeth much more. I will not stand to enlarge any more upon that. For it is one of the ends that God had, which I will not now insist upon, for which he did suffer his children to lie in such a condition.
Secondly, You may improve it too for a help to your faith. Though the guilt of sin is in itself, take it in a direct way, one of the greatest opposite to faith that can be, yet God improves it in the heart of a believer to be the greatest help to faith many ways that could have been. As 1. It helpeth our faith in respect of a sense of our own emptiness. There is nothing that doth move a man to self-emptiness more, or gives him a greater experience of it, than the consideration of that condition he was once in by nature. For, to be sure, then thou hadst not the least power, not the least ability, not the least faculty, to think one good thought, or to put forth one holy aim towards God, to do anything that might help forward thine own salvation, or magnify and advance the glory of God. There was but one mean to salvation, and that was, to believe. God provided a remedy in Jesus Christ, a remedy without us which requireth nothing within us but faith. Take any man that was in his natural estate, let him but remember that, and he must needs remember this, that he had not the least power to believe; for he was dead, he was empty of all grace, and abilities to exercise grace. And therefore the Apostle saith here in ver. 8 of the 2d of the Ephesians,
< By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves neither, it is the gift of God. He makes this a corollary from this, that they had been dead in sins and trespasses, that they had formerly been in an unregenerate state and condition. A man by the consideration thereof hath experience, that though God provided a remedy, yet he had not a hand nor a heart to lay hold upon it, but he should, if left to himself, have perished everlastingly; and that as God found him a Christ, so he must find him hands to lay hold upon him, or he had been undone.
2. It helps forward this persuasion in faith, which is the spirit of faith, that a man can never be justified by any works of his own : and, I say, this doth naturally rise from the consideration of his once being in the state of nature. It is the strongest argument I will not much insist upon it, only so much as may now clear it to persuade or convince the soul that he can never be justified by his own righteousness, though he hath never so much given him
afresh and anew by God. Why? Because he was once in the state of nature He hath saved us, saith the Apostle, in Tit. iii. 3-5, not by works of righteousness which we have done; why? by what doth he prove it? Be cause we were sometimes ourselves foolish and disobedient, &c. (he mentioneth their natural condition in the verses before.) Our once having been in the state of nature, it spoils, it disenableth all holiness wrought inus by Christ ever to justify us before God. My brethren, the argument why we cannot be justified by our own works doth not only lie in this, that our works are imperfect; for know, they shall be perfect one day, and God if he pleased might make them perfect here : but suppose he had made us per fectly holy in this life, yet notwithstanding still we should not be justified by it. Why ? Because we were once in the state of nature, ungodly persons,
.STLE .XIV.
. n , nv is a Kn-,.wed n. | s, by vir: :.nt, the covenant >f i-.nuv. and therefore it avail to justify, as works under the covenant of works did, for f say it i borrowed. And therefore see what the Apostle saith, in this Eph. ii. 9, 10. Do but mark the scope of those two verses; it is punctual to what I drive
...-oiisncps whi.-
at, and now have mentioned. We are not saved by works, saith he, lest any man should boast. Why are we not saved by works ? Have bcli< o works? Yes, but they can never be saved by works. Why? For,
ith he, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works.
* Here is his reason, and his scope is manifestly this : saith he, There was a time when you had no grace, no holiness, nor nothing in you, you were
ittcrly dead in sins and trespasses; so he saith in the former verse. Well, now you have holiness wrought in you, you are a workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good works, but because it is newly created in Christ Jesus, hence therefore you can never be saved by it. This is a manifest and clear corollary and deduction from this truth, that once they were in a natural condition, as we all were. For if we receive a new workmanship created to good works in Christ Jesus, it is then merely by grace; and we therefore receive it by Christ Jesus, because once we were dead in sins and trespasses; we were in our natural condition, hence therefore these works that flow from this new workmanship can never save or justify a man.
. It doth teach us in the way of believing one lesson, which we should never have learned but only for the consideration that we were once in the state of nature. It is the highest lesson in faith s school, so I may call it, and it is this : that whensoever a man comes to Christ for justification, he should look upon himself as an ungodly person ; that although he have never so much grace in him, yet because he once was in the state of nature, and an ungodly person, he is to consider himself, as in himself, so for ever. There is that clear place for it, in Rom. iv. 5. The Apostle had proved, and he doth prove there, that we are justified only by faith; and he proves it from the example of Abraham our father, and he takes the example of Abraham after he had lived long in the state of grace ; for he quotcth that
* He believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness, ver. 3. Now what saith he, Not unto him that worketh, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, he works this out from Abraham s example, his faith is accounted for
.scripture in Genesis,
righteousness. 80 that now Abraham when he did come to believe twenty thirty years after he was converted unto God, he still believed upon that God that justifieth the ungodJy. Saith Abraham, I was an ungodly person once, and an idolater, and whatever grace I have now in me, whatever I have done since, that goes upon another account ; but still as in myself, when I come to look for justification and for righteousness, I look upon myself as an ungodly person, as if I had no works at all. And that is the meaning of
it, To him that worketh not, that is, that regardeth not in the point of
justification, that is, as if he wrought not, but believeth on him that justiheth the ungodly, is his faith accounted unto him for righteousness. This
is the faith that is the faith of righteousness, and we should never have had occasion for such a faith as this, had not it been for that condition in which we all lay in by nature.
4. It may help us against temptations of all sorts. Thou that livedst in thy natural condition, it may be many years, and die,
;<> see thys.-lf a lost man without the Lord Jesus, it was a very bold adventure of t
]>II. II. 11.] TO THE EPHESIAXS. 3-jl
when tliou didst first put forth thy hand to lay hold upon Jesus Christ. Thou earnest then trembling to Christ for pardon of sin, when thou sawest
nothing in thyself, nothing at all, there was not any suspicion of grace to bo
in thee, nothing but the contrary ; and yet thou didst believe then. It may be God fell upon thy soul, assured thee of his love too, upon thy be
lieving and throwing thyself upon him. Mark, thou canst never be put more to it take thy whole course to thy dying day than thou wast then;
for the worst temptation that can befall thee is that thou art in such a state and condition. Why, when thou didst first begin to believe, thou wert in
that condition, that is certain ; therefore now it is but putting forth such an
act of faith now in the midst of such a temptation as thou didst put forth at
first, or as all believers do put forth at first ; it is but to live by that faith at
worst which thou didst at first begin to live by. My brethren, men use to ease
their faith by looking to what is in themselves : but look upon yourselves as-
ungodly ; suppose yourselves so, suppose the worst, I do not say, take it
for granted tliat your state is such, in yourselves you are such ; but suppose
it ; it is but making that venture upon Christ which you made at first. So
that now that first act of faith thou puttcst forth upon the consideration of
thy former state and condition, doth but teach thee and prompt thee what
faith thou art to live by in all temptations whatsoever.
5. It is a great help to strengthen a man s faith for perseverance. Thou
wentcst on perhaps, as many of the saints have done, many years in a way of sin ; thou canst not be, nor art now, in a worse condition than thou wert then in ; the Lord did then, when thou wert broke, set thee up again. "Why, he will do so again though thou art fallen into sin : all the sins of thy whole
life lay upon thee then, and thou earnest to God for^the pardon of them. What doth the Apostle say in Rom. v. ? It is a use he makes of this very
thing. If when we were enemies/ saith he, ver. 10, we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son. Did God pardon you, saith he, when
you first came to him, having lain in your natural condition all your clays
before, being enemies unto him ? Now, saith he, being reconciled, being now entered into an estate of covenant and friendship with him, much more, saith he, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life ; that is, he putteth the emphasis both by comparing the effectualness of Christ s death and
Christ s life in us, as I have elsewhere shewn. But what I quote it now for
is, that if God pardoned you then, when you were enemies, and came to him
out of your natural condition, therefore remember but that condition,
surely now having reconciled you to himself, you shall be saved by the life, by the intercession of Christ. My brethren, if we should remain in a mixed
condition of sinning, such as we have here in this life, even to eternity, God
could pardon us, and he would do it. But relieve your hearts thus, make but a comparison of what you were in your former estate before you were
converted, and make the comparison thus : I went on many years in such a
way of sin, I knew not God ; God all that while loved me, his heart was
upon me, and he relieved himself all that while with this : I will let him alone,
for I shall have him come to me in the end ; and, my brethren, it is certain
that God did so. Before ever Paul was converted, God had an eye upon him all that while ; he had appointed the time in which he would turn him.
Answerably now, thou hast still sin in thee which breaks out again and
xgain, and thou thinkest it will undo thee. How doth God relieve himself now ? There is a tune, saith God, that I will take this soid up into heaven,
free him from all sin, and it is but bearing with him, and pardoning of hiin.
.v POSITION or TIIK mn [SriiMON XXIV.
till then ; I did. it did but !>>ar with liiin, and forbear him till my
| turnrd him to me; now it is Imt lu-unn^ with him so much the
.1 such time as my Spirit shall fully sanctity Mm, and he Utakii
upuntomysel Thus, I say, help thy faith : and the consideration <>f (; (H i s
love to thee and to his children before they were converted, is an evident
strengthening of our faith.
6. And lastly, it may help our faith, by moving us to tevke the faster
hold upon Christ My brethren, though it is the power of the Holy Ghost
that doth help us to believe, and gives us strength to believe, yea, every de
gree of strength, that we take a faster hold upon Christ every day than other,
it is from the Holy Ghost, yet the Holy Ghost useth motives and consi
derations, he deals with a man herein as with a reasonable creaturef Now, when a man shall look back upon his whole life, and consider the sins of his
unregenerate condition, and all his sins since ; may that man think with
himself, If all these sins should now be mine, and I should answer for them
myself, what a condition should I be in ! But here is my Lord and Saviour
Christ, who frees me from them all. This moves a man still to run to him
as to a city of refuge, to lay faster hold upon him, to renew stronger acts of
faith every day than other. And remember it for that end. If a man hang upon the top of a pinnacle, as I may so express it, the further ofif the ground
it is, and the more danger he sees in falling, the faster hold he will be sure
to take ; so is it here. And that is the reason, my brethren, why poor sovds when they come first out of their natural condition, make so eagerly and de
sirably after Christ, and after faith ; it is because they have all the sins of
their unregenerate condition at once before them, which doth drive them to
the Lord Jesus Christy to him they run as unto a city of refuge, the cry of
their bloody transgressions pursuing them. Therefore now that faith should
grow every day stronger and stronger, we have a greater motive unto it, for we have every day before us a greater prospect of sins. And so in all these
respects it may serve to help forward faith. Wherefore remember, saith
the Apostle, &c.
Thirdly, Another benefit Is, love unto Jesus Christ. These advantages which I mention, many of them may arise from sins committed since God
called you, as well as before, and so may this. You know that Mary loved much because, it is said,
* much was forgiven her. I will give you an in
stance of Paul, in that place I quoted even now, 1 Tim. 113, though not to
that purpose I now quote it. I, saith he, before was a blasphemer, and a
l and, saith he, the
persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy,
<tc. ;
grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in
Christ Jesns. What means he here by faith and love 1 Doth he mean the
faithfulness and love of Christ unto him ? No, but faith and love in him
self wrought toward Jesus Christ ; and his meaning is this, that look as I, having been a persecutor, and a blasphemer, and injurious, as I had abounded
in all these before, now when God did turn me, the grace of Jesus Christ
did make this advantage of it, it made me love him the more. The grace
<
>f
our Lord was exceeding abundant in faith and love. And remember this :
the love God shewed thee when he first turned thee to him, all the time
before, as I said even now, his heart and eye was upon thee, himself had ap
pointed a time, a fulness of time, in which he resolved to turn thee ; and as he set a fulness of time for Christ Jesus his Son to come into the world and
to take our nature upon him, so he hath set in his eternal purpose and
decree a fulness of time in which the Holy Ghost shall rome into every man s
EPH. II. 11.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 353
heart to turn him, and he faileth not a moment of the time ; as Christ failed not a moment, but he came in due time, as the text saith, Rom. v. I say, all the while before still his heart was upon thee ; and as he saw Nathanael under the fig-tree, so he saw thee when thou wast in such and such courses, and he thought with himself, Well, this sinner will come home one day, and
oh, as the prophet Jeremiah speaks, when shall it once be ! He longed for that time, for that time in which thy soul should actually be married unto Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit ; and when that time was come which he longed for so much, when that thou didst but begin to think of turning to 1dm, and, as it is said of Ephraim, in Jer. xxxi. 20, didst but smite upon thy thigh, when thou begannest first to express but the least affection to God, the least
purpose of turning to him, his bowels stirred within him : I do remember nim still ; I will have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
Fourthly, It likewise may be a treasury to thee for matter of godly sor row. My brethren, it is a very great error that we may cease mourning for
sin when it is once pardoned. No, it is the fittest season then to mourn ; and of all graces else take your fill of that. As I heard one once say, when he was upon his deathbed, a day or two before he died, and as he did indeed
spend the time before, saith he, I shall not mourn in heaven, and so he took his fill of mourning, out of the sense of the love of God for the sins he had committed here. Therefore now be humbled for sin, mourn for it ; if not in order to the pardon of it, which thou art assured of, yet to the further manifestation of that pardon ; if not in relation to that, yet because it is
* That thou mayest be confounded, saith he, and never open thy mouth more, when I am pacified towards thee
pardoned ; as you have it, Ezek. xvi. 63,
for all thine abominations. It is a very great question whether the love of God should break our hearts more for the sins we have committed since we have turned unto him, or those committed before ? There are aggravations on both sides, which we may take in their proportion, to work upon our
hearts. If we consider the sins since God wrought upon us, there is this to
aggravate them, that we have sinned against that God that hath manifested his love to us, and we have sinned against the manifestation of that love. But then, on the other hand, the sins before conversion have this heighten ing in them too, to make us mourn, that though we knew not then that God loved us, yet certainly he bore a love to us all the while, and out of that love he forbore us, and out of that love he intended to convert us and
to turn us unto him.
Fifthly, We may improve it for this end, to make us more zealous for God.
It is an improvement which may be made either of our living long in our natural condition, (we may remember it for that end, to quicken our zeal for
God,) or it is an improvement also of sins committed since we knew God.
It was this that fired Paul so much, inflamed his heart so much, that made him labour more abundantly than all the apostles. None of the apostles persecuted the church of Christ. Peter denied him it is true, and it was a means certainly to intend his zeal ; but, saith Paul, none persecuted it but I : which, as it laid him low, so it made him labour more than they all ; he
thought he had never done enough. It is the motive which the apostle Peter useth, 1 Pet. iv. 2, 3, That he, speaking of a Christian, should no
longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the
will of God ; for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles. As if he had said, If it were fit for you to have the pleasures of sin, yet you may be content with what you have had ; let VOL. II. Z
AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON XXIV.
ha\< much and so loin; time in it; you
that suffice you, that you
tinflesh, thnvfoiv it may v. TV well suffice that it hath liad
so much of your time already, that for the time past of your life you have
wrniiL ht the will of the Gentiles; that is, have wrought the lusts of the
Gentries. Now, saith he, you should no longer live the rest of your time in
the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. As it is a strong motive to be more holy, the less of a man s time remaineth in the flesh,
* The day is short, saith he, and so in Heb. x.,
that is the Apostle s argument;
* by how much the more the day approacheth, so it is as strong an argu
ment, by how much more of his time past hath been lost unto God. As by how much the less is to come, for the time to come, should be a motive unto
holiness ; so, so much of the time past spent in a vain conversation should be
a motive too. In 1 Pet. L 18, having been redeemed from our vain con
versation, that is the Apostle s expression there, therefore, saith he,
4 pass the time of your sojourning here in fear : therefore be holy, as he is
holy. That is the exhortation he makes, and these are the motives he useth ;
compare but the loth, 16th, and 18th verses together. Such grounds as lie
fallow, when you till them you expect the greater crop from them ; and so
doth God from those who have spent much of their days in sin ; and cer
tainly that soil that doth bring forth weeds most, will also be fruitful of
herbs when it is sown ; and this God expects.
Lastly, You may make this improvement of the remembrance that your
selves were once Gentiles in the flesh, as the Apostle here speaks. Hast
thou any friends that thou hast prayed for long, that are still in their natu
ral condition, and thou thinkest there is no hope of them ? Do but re member what thou thyself once wert, and how long ; remember how long many of those that are now in heaven did lie in that condition ere God
* were some of you. This is a certain truth, that there is never a sermon that hath power in it
called them. Such, saith the Apostle, in 1 Cor. vi 11,
but the devil is afraid of every man in the church that is in his natural con
dition ; he knows not but that the Holy Ghost may seize upon that man at
that time : answerably, have thou hope at every sermon of those whom thou
hast prayed for. In 2 Tim. ii. 24, speaking of the ministers of the gospel, he saith, they must be gentle, apt to teach, patient, in meekness in
structing those that oppose themselves ; if God peradventure, saith he, will
give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. If there be but a
pcradventure that God may do it, and though they oppose too, for so the
Apostle s expression is, yet be patient, saith he, wait ; so the ministers of God should do for those they preach to, and so shouldest thou do for those whom thou prayest for, and hast sought God to turn them. As Paul saith to
wives, he bids them not to leave their husbands, in 1 Cor. viL 16 ; sends them home to them again with a What knowcst thou, wife, but thou mayest be
a means to turn thy husband? So, hast thou prayed, and prayed long, for
a child, for a husband, for a friend, and still they oppose, put the case so,
for so Paul doth in that place of Timothy, yea, suppose they have been
under a powerful means, and have not been won by the word ; the apostle
Peter puts that case too, in 1 Pet. i 3; yet after all this, What knowcst
thou ? Still pray, still use means ; it may be, some little cross, though
they have had many to break then* hearts, shall work more than all the rest ; some by-speech spoken may fall into their hearts, and turn them, when many
pertinent exhortations that respect their conditions avail not, though it m.vy
be thou hast wondered how they could sit under such exhortations without
KPH. II. 11.] TO THE EPHESIANS.
being moved. And when they have not been won by the word, saith Peter, 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2, they may be won by thy conversation. And so much now for this point, which is indeed a point of great use unto us, and which we are apt, when we have lain long in the state of un-
regeneracy, to forget, and sail out of the sight of it. You see the Apostle here exhorts these Ephesians to the remembrance of it, and himself, the
highest Christian that ever was, lived in the continual sight of it. These and such like uses are to be made of it.
EXPOSITION
VAKIOUS POETIONS OF THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.
PKEACHED 02f SEVERAL OCCASIONS.
TO THE READER,
THAT I might not be wanting to your satisfaction, I have here added some sermons of the author, preached on several occasions. I have chose them, rather than other of his treatises, because more congenial to the foregoing
parts of the book ; the first four especially had a right to their place in it,
being sermons on some verses of the second, third, and fifth chapters of the
Ephesians. They do not indeed complete the exposition of it ; nor were they
designed so by the author, who pursued the exposition in his lecture-sermons, which you had before j but being called from it by Providence, he stopped at the llth verse of the second chapter, and never proceeded further after
wards. But these sermons that follow were preached on other occasions. This I thought necessary to inform the reader, lest he should think that the
author had gone through the whole Epistle, and that having lost part of
the Exposition, I had set before him the remaining broken pieces ; but I can
assure him that here is all that ever was preached by him on that Epistle.
To satisfy any one that is so curious as to inquire when the following sermons were preached, since the title of them tells him it was on several
occasions, he may know that the first of them, on Eph. ii. 14-16, was
preached at St Mary s in Oxford, and was formerly printed, and may be found added very often to his works published before. The other sermons on several texts of Scripture were preached in his younger time at Cambridge in his lecture at Trinity Church. Those two on Col. i. 26, 27, an. 1625. The first sermon on Zeph. ii. 1-3, was preached on a solemn fast, 1628, and
the other in the following course of his lecture.
T. G.
" To the Reader/ by Dr Goodwin s son, is given as it appears in the folio edition, though it partly refers to some discourses which, with a view to a more
The above address
perfect classification of subjects than was originally observed, will be given in another volume of this series.
EXPOSITION
VAEIOUS PORTIONS OF THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS,
A SERMON ON EPHESIANS II. 14-16.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the wall
of partition between us ; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances ; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby
[or, in himself].
IT were a manifest folly, in the judgments of most knowing men, to go about
to use in any set way exhortatory motives to persuade to peace and recon
ciliation the people of God amongst us. The provocations are so high, and
exasperations so fresh and increasing, that if I had an audience made up of those alone that have the swaying power of either, and together therewith
their most favourable attention, and interest in affection, without prejudice, I should not know how to attempt it with any hope of success. But though the animosities of men s spirits, augmented by coincident circumstances, are
gone beyond the power of the persuasions of men in this present paroxysm, yet they are not above the power of God s wisdom and providence, nor the
force and efficacy of Christ s blood. You may therefore, in the midst of all
contrary appearances, give me leave, though I cannot hope to persuade, yet to believe, (the Catholic Church, and the Communion of Saints, they are in my creed,) and because I believe, therefore to speak, and so to give you an account of my faith as to this issue. Let your faith but wait, and give God time for it, and leave him to effect it his own way. And to this end I have taken this text, Christus pax nostra :
l For he is our peace, who hath made both one, &c. And my inference is, that therefore the saints shall, and must be one, and reconciled in the end. And this is the best news which in these times can be told you, the seasonablest we can hear of, and is indeed one great part of the glad tidings of the gospel itself, without which it were imperfect, which Christ himself, our peace, who came to purchase it, as these words
shew, so came to preach, as the very next verse, ver. 17, hath it.
302 SiTiox OK YA::I ;- PORTIONS OF [Em. II. 1 1-1G.
The main and principal :.t of these words is. to gta an emini at
! Chri.-fs mediation, in slaving tL are
amongst the people of God themselves, and of his being our peace in
respect ; instancing in that, the greatest that ever was, between Jew and
Gentile, whom yet, as here, he hath made both one, and hath broken down the partition-wall between us. And however he mentions, in the 1 Gth verse, our reconciliation made with God, of which elsewhere he treats mor<
yet here but by way of confirmation of our faith in this other, of reconcilia tion amongst ourselves. For the aim of its introduction here is but to sliev.-, how that Christ, in reconciling us to God himself, carried it so, and did it under such a consideration and respect, as necessarily drew on and involved our reconciliation one with another ; namely this, that he reconciled us unto God in one body, among ourselves. It is a happy clause, that addition, one
l>ody/ and on purpose inserted thereinto, to shew that when God was to
transact our peace and reconciliation to and with Christ hanging upon the
cross, he would not, nor did not, acknowledge himself to him, then reconciled
to us by him, upon any other terms, than as withal we were looked at, and
represented to him by Christ, as one body, and therein reconciled one to an
other, whilst we were reconciled to himself.
The connexion of the IGth verse with the 15th discussed : and how tJiat recon
ciliation to God in one lody, ver. 16, is to be understood ; ivhdlier of tlicd reconciliation ivroughtfor us, or in us.
I meet but with one eminent difficulty in the coherence and contexture of these words, and that is the connexion of these two verses, ver. 15, 1C; as namely of these words, and that he might reconcile us to God, ver. 16, tfec., with the former, ver. 15, having abolished the enmity,
<tc. Now this enmity mentioned, ver. 15, is evidently intended of the enmity between Jew and Gentile, as is clear by its connexion with ver. 14, who hath made of twain one, and broken down the partition-wall; having slain the enmity. Xow the twain, or the two, thus made one, between whom this enmity was, is not God and we, but the Jews and the Gentiles, of whom he had spoken in the former verses, for he adds, that he might create both in one new man/ which could not be said of God and us.
Now then the difficulty is, What reconciliation to God in one body that should be, ver. 1C, which the Apostle makes the consequent of having slain the enmity between these Jews and Gentiles ? For the connexion seems to
import the one a consequent of the other, and the words to run thus : Hav
ing slain the enmity between themselves/ ver. 15, that he might reconcile them unto God/ ver. 1C. Now this reconciliation to God must be either meant of the work of reconciliation wrought in us, whereby we turn unto God, as 2 Cor. v. 20, Be ye reconciled unto God ; or that reconciliation which Christ wrought for m unto God. And whether of these should be
intended, is the question ; and so withal the question is, Whether those words, ver. 16, and that he might reconcile both unto God/ are to be cast unto the 15th verse, as a part of the discourse thereof, or do not rather begin a new and entire discourse, full and complete within themselves ?
For the first stand many interpreters, and the chief reason for that opinion is the coherence of these words with those next immediately foregoing. Having abolished the enmity, that he might create (x.ricfi in himself, of
twain, one new man, and that he might reconcile both unto God/ ttc. The resolve of which seems to be this, that Christ having on the cross wrought
ErH. II. 14-1G.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 3G3
in Limself tliis great work for us, to slay the enmity between us, and make both one, by the sacrifice of himself, and this as the antecedent work ; that
yet there remained two other, as consequent works, as the effects that follow therefrom : namely
1. To create both one new man, so making actually peace between them
selves. And
2. To bring them both into an actual state of reconciliation with God, by working reconciliation in them towards God ; so making them one body. And the reason for this interpretation further is, that both these two are
brought in and yoked in the like tenor of speech
: that he might create, <fec., and that he might reconcile ; as if they were like parallel fruits of that antecedent work, slaying that enmity, mentioned, ver. 15. And according to this parallel, look as creating them both into
( one new man is, and must be acknowledged to be, understood of a work wrought in them, viz., the new creation ; so also that other, the reconciling them to God, must be under stood of the work of reconciliation unto God wrought in them also. And so the new man they are created into, ver. 15, answereth but unto that one body they are reconciled unto, ver. 1C, being one and the same.
And that which increaseth the difficulty is, that if it should be understood of reconciliation unto God himself, wrought by Christ upon the cross, how such a reconciliation should be the consequent of his slaying first the enmity between the saints themselves ; so as it should be said he slew the enmity among the saints, that he might reconcile them to God ? This is not con sonant to reason, seeing rather that, according to the harmony and depend ence of theological truths, his reconciling them unto God upon the cross is the antecedent and cause of his slaying the enmity of them mutually ; be cause our reconciliation one with another is rather depending upon, and the
fruit of reconciliation with God himself, who being first reconciled to us, all
things else are reconciled one to another : as subjects that have been at vari
ance, when reconciled to their prince or head, become reconciled one to an other among themselves.
But yet I rather incline to think that other kind of reconciliation between God and us, wrought by Christ for us on the cross, to be intended, ver. 1 G, and so to be brought in as a parallel with that former reconciliation wrought by him also on the cross, between and on behalf of the Jew and Gentile
: and so this IGth verse to begin a new and entire discourse, apart and sejunct from the other, namely, of our reconciliation with God, as the former verses had discoursed of that reconciliation which is wrought for us between ourselves.
mutually
And so the main proportions of this parallel are these : That as that re
conciliation between Jew and Gentile, wrought by Christ on the cross, had two parts, 1. Positive, making both one ; 2. Privative, the removing the
impediment that caused the enmity, ver. 15, the consequent of which is, the
* one new man : so the Apostle discoursing, ver. 1 6, of this other reconciliation with God, he therein intends to make like two
creating of both into
parts thereof, answerable to the other, only with a transposition of speech.
1. Positive, reconciliation to God in one body; 2. Privative, having slain
that enmity, namely, against God. The resolution of all which is as if he had said, Whereas there was a double enmity, one to God, another among
ourselves, Christ that is our peace hath dealt with both. He having slain the enmity between themselves, hath made both one ; and having slain in
like manner the enmity to God, hath reconciled us unto God.
" WOP [Km. 1L. 14-16.
i osmoN
Now that which clears and confirms this
:<!er> a more full and just analysis of the words,
1. That in ver. 14 he in general proclaims Christ our peace. And then
2. In the next words proceeds to the two particular branches \v
Christ is made our peace
(I.} Between ourselves mutually.
(2.) Between God and us. And then
3. In the handling of either, observeth this parallel in either, namely, be tween a privative part, slaying the enmity, and a positive part, reconciling, and
making one, so enumerating the complete requisites to either.
Then, secondly, To shew that these are indeed two disjunct and complete
discourses, of two such heads of reconciliation, he severs the first, ver. 15, from the second, ver. 16, by adding a full period, and as it were a selah to
the first, thus sealing up the 15th verse, so making peace ; namely, fully and completely, that peace which had been spoken of among Jew and Gentile, that so he might enter anew and distinctly from this, upon that other, of
reconciling both unto God, which he doth, ver. 16.
Then, thirdly, For the close of that 16th verse, that he should in like man
ner bring in a second time these words, having slain the enmity, upon occasion of his mentioning our reconciliation to God, argues still more his aim to be to cut off the 16th verse from the 15th. For if those words, ver.
16, that he might reconcile us to God, had referred to that other, having slain the enmity, ver. 15, as a part of that sentence not made complete; then this second, having slain the enmity, needed not to have been : but doth rather shew that there is another enmity between God and us, distinct from the former intended by him ; and so the slaying thereof, joined pro
perly and genuinely with its fellow-conjugate, namely, reconciliation unto
God, as the former, ver. 15, had in like manner been connected with its con
jugate also, making both one among themselves. If indeed the Apostle had
carried his speech in ver. 15 thus, Having abolished the enmity between
them, that he might create one new man, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body, and so ended his discourse of it, then these two in
their reference could not have been parted ; but he moreover adding to their
reconciling to God, a second time, these words, having slain the enmity,
namely, that between God and us, he so maketh the 1 6th verse an entire
sentence and period of itself, as the 14th and 15th do make in like manner
a full period of themselves : and so the 14th and 15th are to be read and
joined thus : Christ hath made both Jew and Gentile one, having slain
the enmity that was between them ; thus Beza and others : and answerably the 16th to this sense, with an easy and fair transposition, and having
slain, or, and hath slain the enmity, namely, between God and them,
1 that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, on which he also slew that enmity.
And whereas it will be said that the word xa), or and, which the 1 6th
verse begins with, seemeth to cast the reference of this upon the former slay
ing the enmity/ ver. 15, and so the latter to be but an emphatical repetition of the same; I answer, that that and, ver. 16, is but all one with more
over, as it is often used, as introducing a new and distinct discourse, added
to a former. And so
Fourthly, As thus understood, the parallel is rendered yet more full ; for M there is here found a double enmity, and an answerable double slaying of
each, in order to a double reconciliation. M to make up the parallel, which
EPH. II. 14-16.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 3G5
the Apostle intended, yet the more full, there arc two further clauses added
to each, fitly answering one to another. For as of the one he says, having abolished the enmity in his flesh, ver. 15; so of the other, the Latter, in
like manner he speaks, having slain that enmity in himself/ ver. 16, as the Greek bears, and the margin varies it.
Now as to any difficulty proposed, that which is left as material to be con
sidered is only this, How his having slain that enmity between us ourselves
first, should be conceived to be the antecedent to reconcile us to God.
Now for answer hereunto
First, Besides, that according to that connexion which I have given, the 16th verse should thus make up a full period of itself, and doth keep itself
entire within itself, as the fourteenth and fifteenth verses also do, and so riot
at all referring to the slaying enmity, ver. 15, as hath been explained, which coherence doth at once cut off the whole of that objection at first made : but besides this, supposing it might take in, and refer to that slay ing the enmity, ver. 15, among saints, as the antecedent, or at least, ingredi ent unto their reconciliation with God, there may perhaps this just assoilment be given thereto
That, secondly, in order of nature, all enmity must first be supposed re moved ere friendship, or, as here, reconciliation can be supposed to be pro cured : the reason of which is obvious to any judgment ; first, peace, by
slaying enmity, and then good-will. And so upon this and the like grounds, these words, that he might reconcile unto God in one body, may well be
supposed to have a secondary aspect to his having first abolished the enmity between ourselves, ver. 15, as well as our enmity against God, ver. 16. And the Apostle s adding in one body, which he studiously hath done, shews that they being under that notion and respect reconciled unto God by Christ upon the cross, that then withal at the same time, yea, in order of nature,
first their enmities one against another were removed, as well as against God
himself. All sorts of enmities being to be removed ere any sort of reconcilia
tion attained, surely under that notion they cannot be considered reconciled
to God, but withal it must be said, they are at peace, and so made one among themselves at least, these two do mutually argue each the other. If indeed there had been room left for us to conceive that our reconciliation with God had been so wrought by Christ for us, as for each person considered
only single and apart, though even so it was intended, namely, for each and
every person ; and this is involved in that other, then indeed it might have been supposed that their enmities to God had been slain and done first
away, and reconciliation wrought with him first by one primary act, and then
after that, ex conseqiienti, as a secondary work, our reconciliation amongst ourselves had been cast in, and followed thereupon ; or, which is all one, wrought and procured by a second act or intention of Christ s. But if in one and the same very individual act and intention of their being reconciled to God, they were considered as one body, and that this was put in as an involved ingredient thereinto ; so you must necessarily suppose their own mutual enmities done away also, at least, together therewith, by one and the same individual act also ; and this consideration, if there were no other, is a
sufficient salvo to the forementioned difficulty. Now how this reconciliation unto God in one body was performed by Christ on the cross, I shall handle
afterwards.
I shall trouble you no further with untying this knot, or the drawing out into one smooth and continued line the series of this coherence. For, how
ever, take the 16th verse in which of these senses you please, the words in
3G6 i\. ana BTOFYAB .TIONSOF
[Ki>n. II. 14-1G.
the 14th and loth verses are sufhYient bottom f>r the heads of that whole
discourse 1 intend : for these words, ver. 1 1, 1 ". do undeniably, as all m\\s
o-nfos-s triMt of the reoonciliatioD of the people nf God among themieh
aiid sufficiently hold forth these two generals
1. The work of Christ upon the cross to procure it : He hath made both
one, having slain the enmity in his flesh; and hath virtually, in the virtue
of his death, broke down the partition-wall that occasioned it, whieh in his
providence he after ruined. And
2. The work of Christ by his .Spirit in us, creating both one new man in
himself.
And now take the other words, ver. 1C, in either sense, or in both, whirh
are not inconsistent ; however, this is observable even therein, that the Apostle was not content to have setly pursued the saints reconciliation among them
selves, in those two whole verses, the 14th and 15th, but when he speaks of
reconciliation with God also, ver. 1C, he must needs add and put in that
clause also, in one body ; the mutual reconciliation then of the saints is,
upon all accounts, the principal iiitendinent of the Apostle here.
The division of tfie words. The principal heads of this discourse set out, which are four. Now for the division of the words, that will fall according to cither the
larger, or else the more special scope of the words. If we take them in that
first and largest comprehensiveness, as treating of both our reconciliation
with God, and between ourselves also, and how Christ our peace is both, so
they admit of this division and analysis
I. That the general theme and argument of the whole should be premised
in these words, Christus pax nostra, Christ is our peace; which is the inscrip
tion of a proclamation of him under one of his eminent royal titles, Christ
the great and perfect peacemaker. And then
II. Proclaiming him such, in all the branches or particulars thereof that
may argue him such.
First, As a universal peacemaker, as both being a peace between all sort*
of persons at variance, and also extending his mediation to the removing of
all sorts of enmities. First, persons ; as
1. Between us that is, among ourselves abolishing rr,v f^av, that en
mity, ver. 13.
2. Between God and us, slaying that enmity also, ver. 1C ; thus an universal
peacemaker.
Secondly, The cstablishcr of a thorough and perfect peace, both for time
past and time to come.
1. Who hath already made and concluded it, as in his own person, o co/^ac, he hath made it, >.6da;, he hath dissolved and broke down, and so not now
to be done. And
2. The same secured for the future, even for ever ; these enmities being
abolished, ver. 14, 15; that is, utterly abolished, as never to get head ; al
ver. 1 6, never to revive.
Thirdly, Our complete peace, as in respect to all parts that con- -in
and ways of peace to accomplish it, and make it sure. First, in respect of
: both
parts
1. Negative, by removing and destroying even the very OOOMfon of the
enmity, the partition-wall of ordinances, breaking that down; and again.
1 C, slaying the enmity itsel
Ei II. II. 14-16.] THE EPISTLE TO THE KPHESIANrf. 367
2. Positive, expressed in two words, reconciling, ver. 16; making both
one, ver. 14, 15. Then
Fourthly, By all sorts of ways accomplishing it :
1. Representing us in his person, as in one body, ver. 16, personating all
his people, and under that consideration reconciling them to God and one another.
2. Meritoriously, taking on his person, as representing their persons, all their enmities in his flesh, or the human nature, says the 15th verse, hanging on the cross, ver. 16, and so offering up that as one common sacri
fice to God for all; he is said to reconcile all in one body by the cross, ver. 16.
3. Efficiently, by his Spirit, creating both into one man; of all conjunc tions the nearest, and that creation wrought in himself, of all foundations of union the firmest ; for they being both created one new man, and united in and to himself, he is able, and will be sure to hold them for ever together. And to put the more evident notice upon all he had said, or should say of him in this respect, he intermingleth in the midst of his discourse this selah, or note of observation, so making peace
: take notice of it, says he, so, or thus, universally, perfectly, completely, and eternally.
And this is one account of the words, and indeed of the whole, and every part and particle thereof.
But if we single forth that more special and principal aim before men
tioned, Christus pax nostra, as in relation to making peace amongst us, the elect of God; so, instead of any accurate division of them, I shall only draw forth these four propositions, which will suck into themselves the strength of what these words have in them as to this great point. Namely I. The story of the greatness of that enmity the greatest that ever was between Jew and Gentile, before Christ s coming, and a while after, by reason of those Jewish rites and ordinances of the ceremonial law, which the Apostle by a metonymy tenneth therefore the enmity.
II. The story of Christ s transactions on the cross, by which he virtually slew and abolished this enmity, and meritoriously made them both one, and reconciled both in one body.
III. The story of their actual accord, and becoming one, as the records of the Acts of the Apostles, and they in their Epistles, have presented it unto our view; and the principles by which, and the providences whereby, that partition-wall was broke down, and the enmity allayed, chiefly by creat
ing both one new man in himself.
IV. That the instance gf all this was intended by God as a precedent and
leading cause under the New Testament, to assure us that whatever should
fall out in after-ages, of difference amongst the saints, yet still however
they both might and should in the issue be reconciled, and their differences in a like manner allayed and compounded; as also to shew the ways and
principles whereby to effect it.
I. The greatness of that enmity which ivas "between Jew and Gentile, until Christ purchased their reconciliation.
For the first, I have to present you out of this text with an instance of the deepest and most lasting enmity, between two sorts of men, chosen to be one body unto God, that shared as then the whole world between them Jew and Gentile that ever was, or will be in all ages, which yet was com pounded by Christ. View we it first in the general, through those expres sions the text useth of it.
3(58 OSITION OF VARIOUS PORTIONS OF [El H. II. 11-16.
being OIK ii
fvtw a special enmity it was, not that which is common to man against
man, who, as the Holy Ghost that knows our nature tells us, are mutually
hateful to, and hating one another, Tit. iii. 3, but a knotted, twist- <!. tan-
: that the word X6<ra;, dissolved it, ver. 14, imports. A
bined enmity
ring, active enmity, that lay not sleeping ; this the word xaracyfioctf, ver.
15, implies. He made it inefficacious, took away the strength, the en
the operative virtue of it Yea, and if you will take in, and borrow from the
expression, ver. 16, acroxre/wx;, he slew it, it was a living, spriteful enmity,
yea, that had a rage in it ; we on the contrary call such a one deadly, be
cause it aims at life. The word* bears up to this, non tarn occidit, quam
tnicidavit, Christ did not barely kill it, but bloodily, with a rage, as provoked
with the fierceness of the enmity itself: for the rage thereof was cruel, and
reached up to heaven, as the Scripture speaks.
Likewise an old hatred, as the prophet Ezekiel, chap. xxv. 15, in his time
termed it, speaking of that between the Philistim-Gentiles and the Jews ; but
this was now grown much older, in all of two thousand years continuance,
even from the first time wherein God separated the people from the rest of
the nations, as in Abraham by circumcision he did ; a wall of separation, if
I may pursue the metaphor in the text, whose foundation was laid in Abra
ham s time when circumcision was first given, for that began the quarrel ;
reared up higher by Moses rites, further lengthened and stretched out in all
the times of the prophets, throughout all ages, until Christ, who came to
abolish it and break it down.
And, lastly, a universal hatred in the Jews to all nations, and in all
nations to the Jews ; even all that were called k fan capl, Gentiles in
< Uncircumcision, by that winch is called Circumcision, ver.
the flesh, and
11, as all nations were termed and reckoned by them.
Thus God foreordained, that as to honour his Son in reconciling us to
himself, he permits the greatest sins and enmities to be in the hearts and
lives of those he intends to save, against himself; so likewise, that the highest
and toughest animosities should be found amongst those, when he should
come upon earth, that were ordained to be his people, to shew the sovereign
power and efticacy of his mediation, in constituting them one new man in
himself. These but in general for a foundation out of the text.
The story of the particulars of it hath two branches :
1. What it was between them before Christ, ano^ the conversion of either
to the Christian faith.
2. What after conversion, and that both equally had embraced Christ.
First, Take the elevation of it before, both out of the Scripture and other
authentic testimonies : both
1. Of the Jew against the Gentile.
2. Of the Gentile against the Jew. And I shall withal, by the way, make a parallel of the one with tinotto.
1. Of the Jew against the Gentile. The quarrel was begun inl-
them ; they out of their carnal fleshly boasting of their privi e the
only people of God, as they were, loomed and contemned the poor
Gentiles.
< Ye were Gentiles, who were called Unc-ircum-
The 1 1th verse insinuates this,
< irnum .>i..n in the I
cwion by that (nation, namely,) which is called tin
* AirojcTf&fiy, raagia quidpiam quam Qovtvtiv, significat, occiderc cum
Bcza, Matt. x. 28.
EFH. II. 14-1C.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPUESIANS. 3G9
It began in nicknames, and the Jews were they that began to call names
first, as interpreters have observed. And it began early, almost from the time when the seed of Abraham received that first badge of difference. You hear of it in Jacob s time : To give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, that were a reproach to us, Gen. xxxiv. U. And after, amongst all the race of the Jews, both good and bad, in all ages, the same was used as a re proach : as by Samson, Judges xv. 18; by Jonathan, 1 Sam. xiv. G; by David, chap. xvii. 26, 36 ; by Saul, chap. xxxi. 4. They judging it, though but a circumstance, yet far worse than death itself, to die by the hands of the uncircumcised, or have the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph, 2 Sam. i. 20. And in the prophets, uncircumcised and unclean are all one, Isa. lii. 1. When they would accurse one to the most accursed death, as all
nations, according to what they have esteemed the worst of deaths, they have
accordingly expressed such like curses, as Abi in malam crucem, among the Komans, Let him die, said the Jew, the death of the uncircumcised ; as Ezek. xxviii. 10. When they imprecated the most ignominious burial, Thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, Ezek. xxxi. 18. A person ex communicate, accursed, and a heathen, was to them all one : Let him bo as a heathen, Matt, xviii. And they distinguish themselves from the Gentiles, by appropriating the title of sinners wholly to the Gentiles : We that are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Gal. ii. 15. And God, foreseeing how apt their spirits were to grow from hence into an abhorrency of all other nations, made a special law to prevent it, concerning some par ticular nations : Deut. xxiii. 7, Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he
is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wert a
stranger in his land.
Next, see this enmity expressed in their carriages and dealings with the Gentiles. They not only would not communicate with them in sacris, in holy things, but their zeal was such, and this after the light of Christianity appeared to them, that they would have killed Paul, Acts xxi. 31, for no other crime but this : ver. 28, This is the man that hath brought Greeks that is, heathens into the temple, and hath polluted the holy place. Nay, they accounted it an abominable thing, Mipirov, as in 1 Pet. iv. 3 the word is rendered,
< abominable idolatry, and so the Vulgar here, to keep company, that is, familiarly, yea, or so much as to come unnecessarily to one of another nation, founding all this upon that which was a peculiar command, upon a special ground, against the Ammonites and Moabites, Deut. xxiii. 6, Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. This they extended to all nations, and this to that rigidity that they would not do ordinary courtesies of common humanity
Non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti/
says Juvenal, lib. xiv., Satyr. not tell a man s way to a poor wanderer, an act of civility
: non ad fontem deducere, to lead to a well for water, which was an act of charity. The woman of Samaria therefore wonders at Christ : John iv. 9, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria ? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Each one of you, says Christ, will, and that on the Sabbath-day, loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering, Luke xiii. 15. But they would not do this much for a heathen, though ready to perish for thirst ; not shew him a well hard by, says the same Juvenal, hi the same
place
VOL. IL 2 A
EXPOSITION OF VARIOUS PORTIONS OF [EPH. II. 14-16.
Quaxitum ad fontem eoloe deducere verpoB
not give a cup of cold water, which Christ makes fc of courtesies,
save only to their own rerpi,* as we say, vermin, and circumcised ones. So
Juvenal scoffs them, ft hoc Judaicum jus, this is the Jewish law.
And no wonder of all this, for indeed they accounted ail the heathen as
leasts made to be destroyed, upon the mistake of their commission concern
ing those seven nations, Deut. vii. 1, given up by God the judge of the
world, in whose sovereignty it was, into their hands. Even Christ, spenk-
ing in the common language of the Jews, calls the Syrophenician woman, and
all the Gentiles, dogs, Matt. xv. 26, as the Turks call Christians at this day.
Yea, out of their own records, some of the Rabbinical interpreters, upon Deut.
xxi. 11, have delivered that they accounted them/<?m detenoret, worse than
Veasts ; et nuptias eonim innuptas, their marriages no marriages ; and there
fore, nee homicidium, nee adultemim, in eos committi posse, that it was no
adultery to abuse their wives, no murder to kill any of them, no robbery to
take from them, by never so much violence. Which Josephus Albo justi
fies, in his disputation adversus Christianos, giving this reason, that he that
lived without their law, and worshipped false gods, was a common enemy,
et in eitm illicitum nihil,aud nothing can be unlawful that is done against him by them.
Can malice be supposed to rise any higher? And yet in that nation it
did against these poor Gentiles. 1 Thess. ii. 16, 17, Contrary they are to
all men ; and it follows, forbidding us to preach to the Gentiles, that they
might be saved. The Apostle, speaking it by way of aggravation of their
malice, seems to intend it not only consequents, that they denied them the
crospel without which they could not be saved ; but further, rnlentionaltter,
what was in their intentions, that suppose they had thought the gospel a
means of salvation, they would have forbade it to be preached to them, that
they rni^ht not be saved/ Is there not work for a peace-maker now?
This on the Jews part. And can we think the Gentiles were behind-hand with them ? And yet
the truth is, the Gentiles were the more moderate of the two, as the llth
verse here, and the parable of the good Samaritan that poured oil into a
stranger s wounds, and the story of the Samaritan woman, all shew ; for she
lays fault on the Jew, that he would not ask water of a Samaritan, and not
contra. It were too much to reckon up all that might be out of their
poets and historians. I will but so far make mention of some testimonies
of the Gentiles hatred against the Jews, as they make up a parallel with
what hath been said of the Jewish enmity against the Gentiles ; thereby to
manifest that the Gentiles were even with them, if not in malice, yet in jeers
and scorns.
1. Did the Jews reproach them as uncircumcised, as you heard f ine
Gentiles, on the contrary, scorned the Jews as much for circumcision, calling
them apellas, Judceux apdla; curios, so Horace ;t recutitos, so Martial ;|
and Persius, verpos ; as also Juvenal. There is wit in these, but so un
seemly, as I must forbear to English them. They were jeers at their cir-
cumcision. _,
2. Did the Jews abhor the Gentiles, and not converse with them !
Gentiles, on the other side, would hold their noses at the Jews when they
* The woH ignifie both wriiw and rwrm<ui
" vii
tlBerm.,Sat.5.
EPH. II. 14-16.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 371
met them, and cry, foetentes Judceos* stinking Jews. Vel f&rtuitum eorum occursum oculis kotrebant, animo persequebantury\ they abhorred the sight of them, if by chance they met them. And
3. Esteemed them of all nations the worst. So Marcus the emperor, but
passing through Judea to Egypt, and observing their manners, dolenter dicitur exclamasse, Marcomanni, Quadi, Sarmatce, tandem alias vobis
deteriores inveni ; J which was as if, when we would express the wretched ness of any nation we accounted most vile, we should say, O you cannibals,
yea, barbarous savages, that are found amongst the wildest Africans or
Americans, we have at length found and light upon a generation of men worse by far than you. In this manner doth he speak of these Jews.
4. As the Jews turned it into a curse to be a Gentile, as you heard ; so the Gentiles in their cursings turned the like upon the Jews. Jer. xxiv. 9, 1 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth
for their hurt, to be a reproach, and a proverb, and a taunt, and a curse, in
all places whither I shall drive them. It was God s own retaliation upon them, and fulfilled. As we now, so the heathen then imprecated on them
selves, I were a Jew if I did so or so ; and thus in all places, as the prophet hath it ; yea, Jer. xlii. 1 8, they were made an execration, an astonishment, and a curse. What can be more 1
5. As they esteemed all other nations as dogs and beasts, the Gentile doth the like by them, and reckons them but as swine, the most -contempt ible of beasts, and this in a witty retortion from the Jewish practices
Nee distare putant humana carne suillam ;
putting this interpretation upon their forbearance to eat swine s flesh, that mankind and swine were alike to them.
6. As they hated all nations, so the Gentiles resented accordingly this catholic spirit in the Jew against them all, which turned their hearts univer
sally to hate them. Ahasuerus had one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, amongst which the Jews, as we read, had enemies in them all, Esther viii. 9, and ix. 1 6, compared, whom the king s letters restrained with difficulty from
falling on them in every nation. And they accuse and arraign the Jews
1. As hurtful to kings and provinces, Ezra iv. 15 ; as continually moving sedition, in the same place, Ezra iv. 15, They are a people that of old time have moved sedition. And the same aspersion went current among the Romans and Greeks many hundred years after.
l These men being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, Acts xvi. 20, say the Philippians to the
magistrates of the city. They lay their accusation that it was the genius of the nation : it is their known custom so to do.
2. As unsociable to the rest of mankind. Antiochus s friends, in Dio-
dorus, pleaded thus against the Jews : That they alone of all nations were
unsociable, and not capable of any mixture or coalescency with them, no, not at table : f&qdevi aXXw tfat r^acs^Tj; xoivuveTv TO waga-rav. In Esther you have the same intimated, chap. iii. 8, There is a certain people, speaking of the Jews, scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people, whose laws are diverse from all people, &c.
3. The Gentiles accused them as enemies to all nations ; so in that of
* Malvenda Horn, de Antichristo, c. 3. f Baron. An. 72, c. 31. Ammian. de Marco, lib. xi. J Ibid.
Diod., lib. v. : Movovs andvrwv eBvuv aKoivu>vi]Tovs clvai TTJS irpb? oXXo ftivos
! I. 14-1 C.
Diodorus, MOS ffoosA, that they wished well to none ; and not only
aoXj/A/oy; ic/Xa/A/Sem/y craira;, to account all others enemies. So also Tacitus,
lib. v., Adversus omnes alios hostile odium, a hostile and deadly hatred is in them against all others ; yea, /t/<ra>d?w:ro/, haters of mankind ; so also it follows
there in Diodorus. It is strange the Apostle should express it in the very same manner, and near the same words,
* They are contrary to all men, and God they please not, 1 Thess. il 16, 17.
4. As they founded their hatred against the Gentiles on this, that they were worshippers of other gods, so the Gentiles accused and detested tlu m
as hostes immortalium deorum, enemies of the immortal gods. And religion v;as the cause of all this ; these rites here were the partition-wall.
And, lastly, under the notion of such a manner of persons as these, were
they universally hated by all nations, as the books of the prophets do shew,
especially Ezekiel and Jeremiah, where the cup is carried to all nations, for no other crime than their enmity to the Jews ; likewise the books of Esther and Ezra. And accordingly persecuted they were upon that account ; banished out of Rome again and again, as by Claudius, Acts xviii. 2, so by other emperors; and at last they destroyed both their city and common
wealth.
You have seen the enmities of both ; and was there not cause to wish and
pray, as David, Psalm xiv., upon the like occasion, Oh that the Salvation
(or, Saviour and Messiah) were come out of Sion, or, The desire of all nations were come ! This for the story of their enmity before their conversion ; that of their
enmity and dissensions that continued after, though proper to this, yet conies more fitly in, and cannot be disjointed from the third part of this discourse, where it will have its place in order, to shew how those enmities were actually
allayed and composed between them.
EfH. II. 14-16.] THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 373