047. Sermon II: Ephesians 2:1-2

SERMON II And you hath he quickened, who were dead in sins and trespasses; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, &c.—Ephesians 2:1-2, &c. The coherence of these words I did largely give the last day. For the general scope, they are the application of the common misery of mankind unto these Ephesians, and unto the Jews also, Ephesians 2:3. And it is a description of it under all sorts of considerations: both of sin—they were ‘dead in sins and trespasses;’ and, secondly, of punishment—they were ‘by nature children of wrath.’ Or else, to take a more particular division, here is—

I. The internal state, condition, and constitution of every man by nature: he is in a state of death, and he is ‘dead in sins and trespasses.’

II. Here is his misery, in respect of his outward conversation and his constant course: ‘walking,’ Ephesians 2:2; ‘having his conversation,’ Ephesians 2:3. And this outward conversation of theirs, and the sinfulness and misery thereof, is set forth to us by three causes of it.

I opened the last day the first, the inward state expressed here by death; and it is a death, you see, in sin. It is not a physical death of the soul, for the soul is immortal, and all things immediately made by God never die; that is a certain truth: and therefore the soul and the faculties of it remain still, as we all see by experience. It is therefore a moral death; namely, in sin, as here the Apostle distinguisheth it, in respect, not of the being, but of the well-being. The life of the soul is in God, and it is sin only that separateth between God and us: and as death is the separation of soul and body, so sin, being the separation of God and the soul, hence it is called a death, a death in sin, or by sin. For God, he is ‘the fountain of life;’ you have that expression, Psalms 36:9. And of his Son Jesus Christ it is said, 1 John 5:12, ‘He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son, hath not life.’ You must know this, that the soul of man lives not in itself, it was made to live in another, and it was made to live in God; and the truth is, when God shall take not only himself away, but all things else, the soul dies, as the fire does when the fuel is taken away; therefore men die in hell. Now then, this death is but cutting off God from a man, and all influence from God. And look, how many ways that God had or hath an influence into men’s souls by a spiritual way, so many lives a man had whilst he had the image of God in him, and so many deaths he hath by sin, and in sin. Now there is a threefold life from God, that I mentioned not last day, though the heads of the death I mentioned then.

There is, first, the favour of God, the good-will of God towards a man, that God doth bear good-will to one, and accepteth him; and therein lies his life: Psalms 30:5, ‘In thy favour is life;’ the word is, ‘in thy good-will,’ or ‘in thy acceptation is life.’ And therefore now to be out of favour with God is to be a dead man. So great a God is God, so great a sovereign, as his favour or disfavour kills or makes alive.

Then, secondly, to have comfort and joy in God, therein life lieth likewise, spiritual life: Psalms 63, ‘That I may see thy glory,’ Psalms 63:2. So it follows, ‘Thy loving-kindness is better than life,’ Psalms 63:3. The seeing and enjoying of the glory of God and his loving-kindness is called life, yea, better than life: Psalms 22:26, ‘Your heart shall live for ever.’ And compare it with Psalms 69:32, ‘Your heart shall live;’ the words before interpret it, ‘shall be glad.’

Then, thirdly, there is a life of grace and holiness, the image of God, which is communicated from God, by which we are enabled to enjoy him, and for want of which carnal men cannot enjoy him. Ephesians 4:18, ‘They are strangers from the life of God.’ It is clear that the special meaning of the ‘life of God’ there is the life of holiness, the image of God; for he speaks of corruption, the contrary to it, in the verses before; and in the same verse he saith that they are strangers from the life of God, through ignorance, and the hardness of their hearts, being given up to all uncleanness. And in the 24th verse, he saith that the image of God is created in righteousness. So that indeed the image of God is there especially the life of God, in Ephesians 4:18.

Now then, as there is a threefold life from God, which is the fountain of life, so answerably there is a threefold death by sin.

There is, first, a death of guilt. Every sin casteth a man out of the favour of God, and that is death, bindeth a man over to the wrath of God. If that the wrath of a king be as messengers of death, as it is, Proverbs 16:14,—that is, it is as good as a warrant sealed up for a man condemned, for his execution,—then much more the wrath of God. ‘Thou art but a dead man,’ saith God to Abimelech, Genesis 20:3; that is, thou art guilty of death, by reason of this fact of thine.

Then, in the second place, there is a death in respect of the power of sin, and that answereth to that life of holiness we have from God, the image of God. In Colossians 2:12, he saith they were ‘dead in the uncircumcision of their flesh;’ that is, in respect of the power of sin, corruption of nature derived by birth, and increased by actual sin: for both are meant, putting the sign for the thing signified. For the changing of the heart and mortifying corruption is called circumcising the heart; and, on the contrary, the corruption itself is called the ‘uncircumcision of the flesh.’ The one you have in Deuteronomy 10:16, the other in that Colossians 2:12.

Thirdly, there is a death in respect of joy and comfort. Now though wicked men live in respect of comfort from God—that is, from the creature—whilst they are here in this world, yet they are dead in respect of receiving any comfort in God. ‘Not only so,’ saith the Apostle, ‘but we joy in God,’ Romans 5:11, or pursue after that joy; either the one or the other every Christian doth, as after his life. But now every carnal man is cut off from God, both from the comfort that is in God himself, or the pursuit after it. And though they have comfort in the creatures, and therefore do as it were sit but in the shadow of death, as the phrase is, Luke 1:79; yet when hell cometh, then all comforts, all creatures, all their ‘good things,’ as it is said, Luke 16:25, their pomp departs from them, and then men die, and that sin in the comfort of which they live will be their greatest executioner, as I shewed the last day.

Now then, if the question be, Which of these deaths are meant when he saith of these Ephesians, they were ‘dead in sins and trespasses?’ I answer, the first and second; that is, a death in respect of guilt, being under the disfavour of God, and in respect of the power of sin; but not the third death, or as the Scripture calleth it, in reference to our natural dying, the second death. He doth not mean they were dead in that respect, for they could not be dead in that respect, because they were not yet in hell, had not execution done upon them; only by way of inchoation, by way of beginning, they were dead in that respect, they were under the beginnings of it, they were under the fear of death all their life long; and they were cut off from receiving comfort in God, and so in that respect they were privatively dead, though the fulness of the execution of it was not come. Now then, the text speaks here especially of those two first deaths, and more especially of the second. And that is clear, as I shewed in the former discourse, because this death refers to that quickening power which raised them up in their conversion, the same that raised up Jesus Christ, as appears by the coherence both in the 5th verse following, and in the 19th verse of the former chapter.

Now when it is said, they were ‘dead in sins and trespasses,’ there is this question moved by interpreters: What distinction there is between sins and trespasses? Or whether actual sins only, or corruption of nature be also meant?

Zanchy upon the place saith, actual sins are only meant. And his reasons are these: First, because, saith he, the word παραπτώμασι, which is translated ‘trespasses,’ doth signify actual sins; manu aberrare, to err with one’s hand in working, or the like. Secondly, because in the second verse it is said, ‘in which ye walked.’ Now you do not walk in original sin, but in actual sin, saith he. And his third reason is, because it is said, ‘sins and trespasses’ in the plural, whereas original sin is one great sin. But to me it seems—I shall give but my judgment in it—that both are meant, and my reasons are these (I shall answer his by and by):—

First, From the coherence; for the death here must needs answer to the quickening. Now the quickening is the infusion of a new habit, a new spirit of life; therefore the death of sin must needs be in respect of corruption, and the power of sin in a man. Sin is opposite to that new life, as a death, which not only was traduced from Adam, but is increased by every actual sin; every actual sin makes a man anew a dead man, in respect of the power of it; I mean one that is in an unregenerate condition, for I speak of such a man.

Secondly, That original sin is meant and intended appears by that in Colossians 2:13, which epistle interprets this, where he saith they were ‘dead in the uncircumcision of the flesh.’ And then, thirdly, as in Ephesians 2:3 he saith they were ‘children of wrath by nature;’ so when he saith in this first verse they were ‘dead in sins and trespasses,’ his meaning is, in respect of their natures also. And then again, if that actual sins were only meant, I do not see how the power of sin here at all should be intended, which yet it is evident is principally intended, because it is opposed to a spiritual life infused into the soul.

Now to answer his reasons. He saith, ‘in which ye walked,’ therefore actual sins are intended. It is true they are, but not only: that makes that actual sins are intended, but other things make that original sin or corruption of nature is intended.

Secondly, Whereas he saith that the word translated trespasses signifies actual sins only, yet let me add this. In Romans 5:17, there speaking of Adam’s sin, he calls it τῷ παραπτώματι, that sin which we are all guilty of, original sin. No author useth this word παράπτωμα for sin, but only the Scripture; and, as I take it, the first time the Scripture useth it, is applying it unto Adam’s sin. It signifies a fall properly, as some would have it, or an aberration with the hand, for the derivation may be from both. Hence you call it Adam’s fall. And then, whereas he saith it is sins in the plural, therefore not original sin, I answer, that original sin is sins in the plural; for original sin and the corruption of nature hath all sins in it; it is the guilt of Adam’s sin, and it is the guilt of a body of sin; so it is called, Romans 7. And if the first word, translated trespasses, should be only meant of actual sins, yet notwithstanding, the word translated sins is general, and will include both.—So much for the clearing of that.

Obs. 1.—I gave an observation or two the last day. One was this: That the soul could die by nothing but by sin. I will not enlarge upon that. Satan himself could not kill it; only it was in man’s will to sin against God, and so to kill himself. It was and is self-murder in every man, which of all sins else is accounted the greatest, next to the sin against the Holy Ghost, as certainly it is the greatest sin that can be committed: yet every man killeth himself spiritually whenever he sinneth.

Obs. 2.—And then, again, the second thing I observed was this: That in every sin, in a man’s natural estate, there is a killing virtue. He doth not say, ‘dead in sin,’ but he saith, ‘dead in sins and trespasses,’ of all sorts. And the truth is, the word translated trespasses is in its signification oftentimes lighter sins, sins of ignorance, of infirmity. ‘If a man fall by occasion into a fault,’ saith the Apostle, it is the same word, in Galatians 6:1, from παρὰ and πίπτω, manu aberrare, when a man doth a thing unawares, doth it with his hand, and his hand slippeth. So that it is not only Adam’s sin that kills us,—that is the observation I make,—but it is every sin that a man committeth; I mean, that is a natural man. That a man’s sin who is in the state of grace is not unto death, is by reason of the death of Christ, and the Holy Ghost in him, though in itself it tendeth unto death. But every sin, the least a man committeth, makes a man a dead man in all those respects mentioned; it binds him over unto death, casteth him out of the favour of God yet more; and not only so, but it adds a new power, it makes him the child of death more than he was before. And so I shall solve that question which necessarily falleth into the words,—for I shall still profess to handle but what is necessary to open them,—Whether there be degrees of this spiritual death, yea or no? I answer, Yes, there are, as there are degrees of life. Saith Christ, John 10:10, ‘I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.’ So, though a man is born dead, yet he is capable of being dead more abundantly, and that in respect of the power of sin, and that of death in it. But you will say unto me, for the privative part, death is the privation of life, and one man cannot be said to be dead more than another.

I answer, it is true here, in respect of life that he hath been deprived of, one man is as dead as another; but in respect of raising again unto life, in order unto that, one man may in that respect be more dead than another,—even the privative part of original corruption,—that is, further off from being raised again, that there must be a greater power to restore that man than another. As for instance, a man may be killed with one wound that strikes him to the heart, or otherwise, and that takes away his life, as much as ten thousand wounds; but if you should give him so many wounds after he was dead, if this man were to be raised again, here was so much the more power; he had in this respect so many deaths, which the power of God must salve, and cure, and supply, and overcome, and heal all these wounds, the least whereof were mortal. And so likewise, as it is in the body, one man is not more dead than another, yet in order to raising again such a one as Lazarus, that had been dead four days and did stink in the grave, it is, and so Martha thought, harder to raise such a one. So it is of men that continue in sin. And therefore now our thankfulness should be the greater, by how much the more we continued longer in sin, or had our souls more wounded.

Then again, as there are degrees of this death in respect of privation, so likewise in the positive part; for there is a positive part of this death. You know it is called a ‘body of death,’ Romans 7:24. A dead carcass hath no similitude to express this positive part of this original sin, as it is a death: my reason is this, because there is no active living principle still remaining in a dead carcass, but there is an active living principle still remaining in the soul; that lives a natural life still, only, being deprived of the life of God, it positively works into all ways of death and sin. Now then, there may be degrees of this death, one man may still increase the power of sin, and he doth so by every actual sin he commits, a proneness to dead works; so you know actual sins are called, as I opened it before.—And so much for the second observation.

Obs. 3.—A third observation I give, and I shall but touch it, is this: There is a great deal of difference between a regenerate man and an unregenerate, and that in respect of this expression, ‘dead in sins and trespasses.’ ‘Even when ye were dead,’ saith he, Ephesians 2:5. And ye being ‘dead in sins and trespasses,’ when sometime ‘ye walked in them,’ saith my text. So that now to be dead in sins and trespasses is proper to an unregenerate man. But now take a regenerate man, and you cannot say he is dead in sins and trespasses; this you may say indeed, that he hath a body of death in him,—‘Who shall deliver me from this body of death?’—but the man is quickened, he hath life in him, he hath a state of life, he is passed from death to life. He hath indeed a body of death, as the living, you know, were joined to the dead, or as if a man should have a body that is half-dead. But it is clear by the context here that it is proper to the state of unregeneracy to be dead in sins and trespasses. Therefore you shall find the expressions that the Scripture useth of regenerate men to be otherwise. As he saith he hath a ‘body of death,’ so he calleth it a sleep, not a being dead, Ephesians 5:14, ‘Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.’ For my part, I have long since thought that scripture meant and spoken to regenerate men; and my reason is this, because before and after he speaks to the Ephesians, as children of light, not to have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but to reprove them rather, Ephesians 2:11. And in the 15th verse, the verse after the 14th, ‘See ye walk circumspectly.’ And between these two he interposeth, ‘Awake thou that sleepest,’ &c. That is, Thou that art a child of light, and art a regenerate man, if there be any such amongst you, and that are fallen amongst the dead, and that converse with carnal people in their carnal way; lie not among graves, saith he, but rise, and Christ shall give you life. I quote it for this, that they are said to be asleep; as there in the Canticles, ‘I sleep, but my heart waketh.’ She waked, but yet so as she might be said to be asleep; as the five virgins slept, but dead they were not. And in a regenerate man things may be ready to die, as in Revelation 3:2, ‘Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die;’ but still they never come to be ‘dead in sins and trespasses,’ but if they be once alive in Christ, as death hath no more dominion over them, no more hath this death dominion over them.—And so I have done wholly with this first verse.

I now come to the second verse. There is one thing I forgot to mention, that is this. There is a very great controversy upon that first verse; Whether, yea or no, every unregenerate man be a dead man, in respect of all ability to do good? Whether there be no principle of life in him, yea or no? Whether he be not as a man asleep or wounded? It is a controversy both with the Papists and with the Remonstrants. But because I have slipped it, I will refer it to the 5th verse, where I shall meet with it; and therefore I will now go on to the second verse:—

Dead in sins and trespasses; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world.

Now in this second verse here is—

I.A continued course of life; expressed by ‘walking.’ II.The path in which they walked; ‘in sins and trespasses.’ III.The guides which they were guided by in walking:—

1. The world, the ‘course’ of it.

2. The devil, the ‘prince of the power of the air.’

3. The flesh, which in Romans 8 is called ‘walking after the flesh.’

First, Their continued course, expressed by ‘walking.’ It is strange that dead men should walk; we call it, if a dead man appear, walking; it would affright us all to see a dead man walking; yet, you see, dead men here are said to walk. Walking, therefore, first of all, importeth life: though it be a death in sin, yet it is a life in sin too, Colossians 3:7, ‘In which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.’ And so, in 1 Timothy 5:6, ‘She is dead whilst she liveth.’ That I may open this unto you, you must know that sin is in itself but a mere privation of spiritual life, yet it is a privation in a positive being that liveth. The soul is alive as it is a soul, all the activity of it remaineth still, no naturals are taken away; it is dead only in respect of God and spiritual good. It is not in this as it is in the death of the body, that there is no life remaining; yes, here is a life remaining, but it is not life spiritual. It is as if you should suppose the reasonable soul only left a man, and that the fancy of man, the sensitive soul, remains still such as in beasts, or higher, for it is higher raised in a man, which hath all the powers of reason in it still. So it is here. Now then, walking in sin follows upon being alive; for this soul having all its inclinations, all its desires still, only it is cut off from the life of God and communion with him, must live; in itself it cannot live, God hath so ordered the soul of man that it should not live in itself, it must live in something else; it is like the stomach, if it hath not meat it dies; or as fire, if it hath not fuel it dies; in respect of the well-being of it. Now this soul that liveth a natural life, being cut off from the life of God, estranged from it, its activity must work somewhere; therefore now it falls upon the pleasures of sin, and all its comfort lies in sin. Therefore, Ephesians 4:18-19, we read that the soul being estranged from God through the ignorance that is in them, they have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. The soul must have comfort, therefore having it not in God, it will run out some other where. And hence now, they are not only said to be dead in sin, but to be alive in sin too, which is a strange contradiction, but it is not in the same respect. They are dead in sin in respect of God, being cut off from life in him; but they are alive in sin too. Why? Because all the comfort of their lives lies in what comes in by sin, and by inordinate affections, even as it is distinguished by our Saviour Christ, John 9:40. When he told the Pharisees they were blind, say they, ‘Are we blind?’ Blind they were, utterly blind, there was a sight in respect of which they were utterly blind; for the natural man perceiveth not the things of God; yet saith Christ, ‘If you did not see, you had no sin.’ So you may say here, they are dead in respect of God, but if they were not alive, they would have no sin. And therefore as they are dead in sin, so they are alive in sin too; yea, and it is their life; and the more life, the more activity any one’s soul hath, the more sinful he is. In that Colossians 3:7, the place I quoted even now, saith he, ‘in which ye walked, whilst you lived in them.’ They are dead in sin, as here, and they are there said to be alive in sin too. And you see likewise that their having life, and having all the comfort of their lives lying in sinning, and all their activity running out that way, it is the cause of their walking in sin; ‘in which ye walked,’ saith he, ‘whilst ye lived in them.’ The Apostle indeed speaks philosophically; as we say, there is the operation, and power from which it flows; there is actus primus, and actus secundus. So here, the reason, saith he, why ye walk in sin is because you live in sin. The one is the cause, the other is the effect.

As, on the contrary, why doth the godly man walk in the Spirit? Read Galatians 5:25, ‘If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.’ Hence, therefore, because whilst a wicked man is dead in one respect, he is yet alive in sin, (all his life, his comfort—for life is taken for comfort, as in Luke 12:15—lieth in sinning,) he is said to walk in it. There is only this difference: they need no exhortations to walk in sin, but we need exhortations to walk in the Spirit, though we live in the Spirit. Why? Because we are naturally dead in sin, and we have a body of death in us, and we have no more life nor actings of life than is infused into us. It importeth then, you see, a life; for that the soul hath, notwithstanding it is thus dead; yea, and a life in sin, though it is dead in sin, because it is cut off from the life of God. And, indeed, their being dead in sin is the cause of their living in sin; and their living in sin, or having a life of sin, is the cause of their walking in sin. Therefore the Apostle fitly joins these together, being dead in sins and trespasses, in which you walked.

I will only add this, that their living in sin is only in this life, this walking in sin is only while they are in viâ, while they are viatores, while they are in their way; therefore, it is said, they shall perish in their way, or from their way, Psalms 2. I do not say they do not sin hereafter; but in hell, though men sin,—that is, though their actions are contrary to the law,—yet it is not their life; and the reason is this, because then they are stripped from all objects whatsoever; therefore the soul dies, for it cannot live in itself. And though men set up themselves here, yet in hell they are lost in themselves: therefore they are said to be lost creatures; not only dead creatures, in respect of living in any thing else, but they are lost to their own ends, there is no way to accomplish any end in hell; therefore the creature is lost, it is undone, the creature dies there. Only whilst it liveth here in this world it may live in sin and walk in sin; hereafter it shall not.

Now then this word, ‘in which ye walked,’ sets out their miserable condition. We may consider it in a twofold notion. First, as it sets out their miserable estate in respect of sin, how sinful it was, for that is one scope of it; the Apostle would let them see how sinful their lives had been. And this phrase of walking doth exceedingly express the sinfulness of a man’s condition in his conversation. Secondly, it may be considered as it is an infallible character and sign of an unregenerate estate. And both are intended; for his scope is to humble these Ephesians under the sight of their sinfulness; and to do it, he doth express their lives to be a walking in sin. And the other is as clearly expressed and held forth; ‘in which ye walked sometime,’ implying that now they did not; and therefore it is a proper character of an unregenerate man for to walk in sin. For the first; as this phrase, walking in sin, is here put to express the abundancy of sin that was in them, it implies, in the first place, that all their life and every act thereof was sinful; they could not act or walk out of sin; there was not a step in their way but was sinful. And, my brethren, every thought is a step, every power, and faculty, and motion is a step; a man walketh by every desire, by every thought, by every purpose, by every end and passion that stirreth in him. I may compare the ungodly soul of a sinner to those black worms that walk upon so many feet: so doth the soul walk; every power and faculty of it is a foot, and there is not the least motion but it is a step. Now, did they walk in nothing but sin? Could they not get out of it? What abundance of sin must then this rise up to, as the Apostle here representeth it? Every thought and every imagination in the heart was evil, continually evil; for it was a walking. This is that which the Apostle here expresseth; they were never out of sinning in some path or other, they were never out of that circuit, go whither they would. In the second place, walking implieth that as every action of theirs was a sin, every thought, and the like, so it implies that they were never idle, they never stood still; but this soul of theirs was continually doing something, and all that was sin. Saith the first Psalm, ‘Blessed is the man that walketh not in the way of the ungodly;’ the Hebrew word that is there put for ungodly or sinner signifies restless. The word is opposed unto quietness in Job 34:29. And therefore walking and restless are in Psalms 1 joined together; ‘walk in the way of the restless,’ that is, of the ungodly, that are continually restless, continually going up and down. In Isaiah 57:20, the wicked are like the troubled sea, that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. So that now the meaning is this, they hurried up and down, for indeed it is not an ordinary walking, it is but a tumbling up and down. As Seneca said well of a man that had done no good in his life, that he had but tumbled up and down in the world, like a ship, saith he, that hath been tossed up and down in the sea, but never sailed; so this walking is not a proper walking, it is but a restlessness, a continual activity. And in Ecclesiastes 6:9, you shall find there that the word walking is put for restlessness. ‘Better,’ saith he, ‘is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the spirit;’ the word in the original is, than the walking of the spirit; his meaning is this, than for a man to be always desiring, and his spirit continually wandering up and down for new desires and objects; he speaks of the restlessness of a covetous man, that is continually looking down for more, walking up and down. And then again, ‘in which ye walked;’ he saith not, in one sin only, but ‘in sins and trespasses,’ that is, in all sorts of sin.

And, fourthly, walking with the greatest security, for so walking implieth, as men that walk in the highway, or in their gardens, thinking nothing. He knoweth not, saith Solomon, Proverbs 7:23, speaking of the foolish man, that it is for his life. ‘Walking’ implies a secure condition too, and such was yours, saith he. And, fifthly, delighting in nothing else, that the word implies too; as men walk for recreation, as they walk up and down in their gardens to refresh themselves, so, saith he, do you. It is an observable thing that in Scripture men’s continuing in sin is expressed by all sorts of postures. In Psalms 1, you have three, ‘walketh in the counsel of the ungodly, standeth in the way of sinners, and sitteth in the seat of the scornful.’ And elsewhere it is called ‘wallowing in the mire,’ and the ‘world lying in wickedness;’ the phrase there, lying, is put for lying down, as in Luke 2:12. For variety of postures is that which causeth delight and ease in man, he could not be always in one posture; and here walking is put for them all. And then again, sixthly, ‘in which you walked’—that is, you walked in them as those that would not be put out of their way, you went on obstinately and perversely, for so an unregenerate man doth. In that first Psalm, as he is said to ‘walk in the counsel of the ungodly,’ so to ‘stand in the way of sinners;’ one would think that walking and standing are opposite, but the meaning is, he persisted in it; it implies only a firmness and steadiness, he would not be put out of it. And then again, walking implies a going from strength to strength. In Psalms 84:7, it is said that the godly go from strength to strength, till they appear before God in Zion; so the wicked go from strength to strength, and increase in it.

Then, eighthly, walking, they departed from God all the while. I remember once a man that was turned to God, when he had considered his miserable condition, this was the sum of all that was set upon his spirit: ‘I have run from God,’ saith he, ‘all my days.’ A man in sin still goes from God all his days, and there is still a further elongation; it is therefore called a departing from the living God, a turning the back upon him, and not the face. Lastly, it is called a walking, because at last they should have arrived at a miserable journey’s end. The end, saith the Apostle, is death. It is therefore called the way of death, Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 5:5. ‘Their steps,’ saith he, ‘take hold of death.’ And therefore now they are fitly joined here, dead in sin, and walking in sin; for the issue of all sin, the end of the journey, is death; they walk but as men do through a green meadow to execution.—And so much now for that part of the phrase, walking in sin, as it expresseth their sinfulness and their misery.

Secondly, We are to consider it as it is a character of an unregenerate condition. It is proper to men whilst unregenerate to walk in sin; afterwards they walk in good works, as the expression is in the 10th verse of this chapter; they ‘walk in the Spirit,’ as elsewhere it is. That this is his scope, to set forth the character of an unregenerate man in this expression, is clear too. You see he coupleth it with being ‘dead in sins and trespasses:’ so that he that is dead in sin walketh in sin; and he that walketh in sin is dead in sin. And it is evident, likewise, by the word of distinction, ‘sometime ye walked,’—for this observation now explaineth only the word sometime,—but not now that God hath turned you. The first Psalm was on purpose made to distinguish carnal men from godly men in David’s time. The world then magnified others, and thought those that had riches and estates, &c., blessed. ‘Blessed is the man,’ saith he, ‘that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners;’ whose way shall perish, saith he in the latter end of that psalm; but the way of the godly is known to the Lord. Now, a carnal man walketh in sin, not only because all his actions are nothing else, because he performs all with delight, securely, and the like, but because there is usually some one way, some one tract in his life which may discover him an unregenerate man to himself, if he narrowly search his way. ‘Search me,’ saith David, Psalms 139:23, ‘and know my heart, and see if there be any way of wickedness in me,’ implying that there is in unregenerate men; and if he had had it, he had been an unregenerate man. And the reason is this: look, whatsoever principle of life is within, the walking and way of a man will be such; for no man can live without delight, and delight is his life; if his life lie in sin, he will certainly walk in some sin or other. And though he may be scared out of his way, and fall into the ways of God for a while, yet notwithstanding, as it is in Psalms 125:5, there are crooked ways maintained, for which God leads them forth at last with the workers of iniquity. A godly man may fall into the ways of sinners, yet he walketh not in them. And a wicked man may strike into the ways of godly men for a while, as Judas did, yet walketh in the ways of sin. Like to the planets, as Jude compares them, though they go with the common motion of the heavens, yet they have a secret motion of their own, so it is with carnal professors. You may know it likewise by this: what a man sets up for his chiefest end,—and it is a certain thing that a carnal man’s end is carnal,—that is his way; so it is called in 2 Peter 2:15, ‘They follow the way of Balaam.’ What was that? He ‘loved the wages of unrighteousness.’ And so much now for the opening of that. Although every action of an unregenerate man is sinful, and it is a walking in sin; yet, to discover him to be an unregenerate man to all the world at the latter day, and unto himself now, if he would search himself, God leaveth him to walk in some way. Therefore let every man examine the haunts of his heart, which for recreation’s sake he walketh in, and the like.—And so much for that phrase.

Now I come to the guides; for all this is but still proper to the text. Here are three guides. Here is—

1. The world; ‘according to the course of this world,’ saith he.

First, What is meant by world here? Some interpreters say the things of the world are here meant; as often in Scripture the world is taken for the things of the world, as 1 Corinthians 7:31, ‘using the world, as not abusing it;’ 1 John 2:15, ‘Love not the world, nor the things of it.’ And so, they say, the meaning is this: men that are worldly, and seek after worldly things. That was your case and your condition whilst you were in unregeneracy. But certainly that is not the meaning of it; because following the world—that is, worldly objects, and worldly pleasures, and the things of the world—is evidently included in the 3d verse, where he saith, ‘fulfilling the lusts of the flesh;’ for to fulfil the lusts of the flesh and to walk after the world is all one; for the objects of a man’s lusts are the world, and some things in it or other. Therefore you shall find in that 1 John 2:15, when he had said, ‘Love not the world, nor the things of it,’ he adds, ‘All in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.’ He calleth the objects of the world the lusts, because that they are the objects of lusts; as the doctrine of faith is called faith, because it is the object of faith. Therefore here now ‘world’ is to be taken strictly for the men of the world; as when he saith, ‘The whole world lieth in wickedness,’ 1 John 5:19; and, ‘The world will love its own,’ John 15:19. It is usual in Scripture. And so now, my brethren, by the way, do but take notice of this: that there is a mistake, I have perceived it often in many men’s speeches; they say they love not the world, and they are not for the world, and they are not worldly, because, say they, we love not riches, and the like. But world is not only nor chiefly taken—when flesh and devil are joined with it, as here; and, as you know you use to say, there are three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil; by flesh are meant all the lusts that are set upon the things of the world,—now world is not taken in this division for the things of the world, but it is taken for the carnal men of the world. Therefore, if thou joinest with the carnal men of the world, thou art a man worldly in that sense; thou art a man under the power of that enemy, therefore under the power both of flesh and devil too. Men understand not that vow they made in baptism, to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil: the world is not only the things of the world, but it is the men of the world; yea, it is strictly and properly so taken, and not for the other, in that vow, and so not here.

Now then, by world here is meant all carnal men, live they where they will, in the church, or wherever else; all the heap, the fry, and the cluster of them. These are the world, and these will all join together, as I shall shew by and by. And there doth arise a strength from the union of one with another in their ways and courses, and in their rage against godliness and the power of it. As in coals, though every coal hath fire in it, yet lay all these coals together and the fire is strengthened: so there is an intension from the union of all the parts, from the connexion of this world. So that now the collection of all carnal men in one and the same principles, practices, and ways, these are meant here by the world.

Then, secondly, for that word, course of the world, I shall open that briefly. You must know this, that that word in the Greek which is here translated, ‘the course of the world,’ itself in the original signifies the world—‘according to the world of the world;’ both these words, both αἰὼν and κόσμος, signify the world in Scripture. God hath ‘delivered us out of this evil world,’ Galatians 1:4; it is the same word that is here translated course. ‘Be not conformed to the world,’ Romans 12:2; it is the same word that is translated ‘course of the world’ here. Now when that word which is translated ‘course’ is distinct from the word ‘world,’ it implies two things. First, it implies an age, or a time in which men live, and the word ‘world’ implieth persons. And so then here is one meaning of the text. They lived according to the course of the world,—that is, according to the time, according to the age of the world that then was, or of men in the world that then were. Every age hath almost a new dress, though it is the same world, and still carnal men live according to it. But yet, secondly, it signifies that custom, that manner, that mould and trade of life, that the world, or generality of carnal men,—take the stream, the gang, as I may call it, of men in a cluster,—walk by and hold forth; the opinions and practices that are in the world. Thus, in Romans 12:2, ‘Be not conformed to the world;’ it is the same word that is translated ‘course’ here; it is the custom of the world,—and the Apostle speaks it in matter of worship,—the shape of the world. First, the word there, ‘be not conformed,’ is, ‘be not cast into the figure of the world.’ Therefore, in 1 Corinthians 7:31, it is said, ‘The fashion’—the schema, it is the same word—‘of the world passeth away.’ There is a fashion, a mould, that the world is cast into, and every age almost casts the world into a new mould, and men conform themselves to it, and are apt so to do. So that now clearly the meaning is but this: that these Ephesians, whilst unregenerate, walked according to the custom of the world; they did de facto as the most of the world did; for their judgments, they were ruled by the same principles the world were ruled by; they judged as the world did, they cried up what the world magnified, walked in the same counsels, framed their lives to the same pattern, configured themselves to the fashion of the world; and the stream, and course, and tide of it carried them, being dead men, as the stream useth to carry dead fish. This is plainly and clearly, in a word, the meaning of this here, ‘they walked according to the course of this world.’ Look what the world then was, such were they, and that in two respects, as interpreters well observe:—

First, they were such for their morals; they walked in the same sins, the same vices, that the Gentiles walked in. Ephesians 4:17, ‘Walk not as other Gentiles;’ so they had done. And therefore they are called by Peter, (2 Peter 2:20,) ‘the defilements of the world;’ because the world defile themselves and live in them. And then again, secondly, in respect of religion, which, Zanchy saith, is principally here meant and intended; that worship, that idolatry, which then they were zealous for, and were carried away with the stream. And how the world went with Ephesus in this respect you may read at large in Acts 19:34-35. There you may see how the gang went. ‘They all with one voice, for the space of two hours together, cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.’ And all the world knows, saith the town-clerk, that this city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter. Now this is that the Apostle aims at, and Zanchy gives some three or four reasons for it: because afterwards, in this epistle, which he wrote to these Ephesians, he saith they were strangers from God, aliens from the promise, and now made nigh; they were then Gentiles. ‘Remember that ye were Gentiles,’ saith he, not only Gentiles for your morals, but for idolatry, and for all sorts of idolatry. You may see in that Acts 19 what a mighty torrent there was, what zeal for their false worship; they broke through with rage. ‘They rushed,’ saith the text, ‘with one accord’—uno impetu—‘into the theatre.’ Thus the world went at Ephesus, and thus the Ephesians were carried. You have the like in 1 Corinthians 12:2; for when he tells them of their unregenerate estate, still he hath an eye unto that: ‘You know,’ saith he, ‘that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.’ The word is emphatical, you were carried away with madness, with the stream; and, saith he, in point of religion men are easily led. So that now you have clearly what the Apostle here intendeth, when he saith, ‘In which ye walked, according to the course of the world,’—viz., all the principles of the world that then were, the things that the world then cried up, the ways of the world, and the sins that the world then lived in. Now then, to come to some observations from hence, for all this is for exposition.

Obs. 1.—The first observation is this, That in all ages, there is and will be a combination of carnal men, in a uniformity and conformity of ways and courses. They will all cling together; these Ephesians did so, and the course of the world, the stream runs still, and will do while the world is. And the reason of it in one word is this: in every man there is the same common nature and the same lusts and the same corrupt principles; originally there is in every one the seeds of them all. And therefore in 1 Peter 4:2, the lusts that are in every man’s heart are called the lusts of men; not only a man’s own lusts, but the lusts of others: ‘That ye should no longer live to the lusts of men,’ saith he. And the hearts of men savour the same things that one another do. In Matthew 16:23, ‘Thou savourest the things of men,’ saith Christ, speaking to Peter, in whom the devil had then stirred up an unregenerate part. Now what was in him in part is in all mankind; they savour the things of men, one of another. It is the same like phrase that is used in Romans 8:1, they savour the things of the flesh, and therefore ‘walk after the flesh;’ so they savour the things of men, therefore they walk after men and the course of the world. What most men are for and relish in their judgments, that every carnal man is for, and they all agree in their judgments. Now, in 1 Corinthians 2:12, saith the Apostle, ‘We have not received the spirit of this world.’ Mark it, there is a common spirit of the world in every man, not the spirit that is in him, but the spirit of the world, that doth possess one and the same, and all sorts of men more or less. But, saith he, ‘we have received the Spirit of God.’ Now as that Spirit leadeth the saints into the same truths, for the substance; so the spirit of the world leads wicked men, in their judgments, in their principles, practices, and opinions: therefore you shall have them cry up the same thing, magnify the same thing, one that another doth. There is a spirit in them that is presently capable of what the world saith, of worldly understanding; therefore the children of the world, as they are called, Luke 16:8, are said to be wiser in their generation than the children of light; because they have another kind from the children of God, and they are wiser in that kind, and with the like kind of wisdom. I shall not need to enlarge upon it. Now all these men, meeting with the same kind of principles one with another, from the collection of them together cometh a union, a strength, and a prevalency. As I said before, a company of coals laid together, what a mighty heat do they cause! The sea being a collection of waters, from the union of the sea what a vast body is it! how it tumbleth up and down! You shall have it tumble this way, and then that way, and all the waters will go that way. And thus it is with the world. And their being thus joined together in one corporation or body, as I may call it, it makes that mighty rage against the power of godliness, and their zeal, for they are zealous, not only for themselves, but one for another, for their own principles.

And, my brethren, you must know this, that the reason why this world is thus combined together in all ages is this: because it is under the power of Satan; so it follows in the text, ‘according to the course of the world,’ and, ‘the prince of the power of the air.’ For it is the devil that makes that gang, though they do not see it. They are a sea, being united together, and of themselves they tumble one way; but if the wind comes and bloweth upon that sea, how it rageth, how strong are the streams then! There is a breath, a spirit; the spirit of the power of the air, the word signifies,—as I shall open when I come to it,—viz., the devil sendeth forth an influence whereby, as the wind that boweth the trees which way it bloweth, so he boweth and swayeth the hearts of the multitude one way. For he is a monarch, a prince; therefore he doth not divide, but the world is subject to him as to a monarch, therefore they are still carried one way; there is one course, one stream, which still the world hath, for he is the god and prince of the world. And the devil is cunning in it so to do; you know he doth not divide his own kingdom, and he can do no hurt upon men but by the world, or at least he doth a great deal of hurt that way; therefore he carries them in one stream, sways them, bows them one way. I shall give you an instance for it. When Popery was to be set up, it is said, Revelation 13:3, that ‘all the world wondered after the beast.’ Nay, in Revelation 17:13, it is said, that the kings of the earth did agree to give their power to the beast; the maddest act that could be, for kings to subject their power to the Pope. They were no way constrained to it, it was but a tacit agreement. What was the reason? Why, the devil was in it. So Revelation 13:4, the dragon, the devil, gave that power he had in the Roman empire unto the Pope, and made the kings of the earth thus to agree, to be all of one mind; and so he swayed the world thus one way, that the whole world ran wondering after the beast. The devil, I say, hath a mighty hand in this. When all the coals lie together, they make a great fire; but if bellows come, they make the fire much more intense.

Obs. 2.—In the second place, you may consider these words not simply, but as the world is a great cause of prevailing upon the hearts of men. Take you Ephesians singly; you walked, saith he, according to the course of the world. Every carnal man squareth his course to it, he is carried down with the stream. The world, as I said, is a sea, wherein all men may find themselves to be of a like nature, and agree in the same lusts. Now, take a carnal man, when he grows up in this world from a child, he is as a drop in that sea, he mingleth in that sea; and which way the sea goes, he goes with it; he finds them suitable to his principles, and the world finding him suitable to them, hugs him, embraces him: and thus it comes to that mighty power and prevalency, especially Satan working together with it. And men are apt to please others, to live to the lusts of men, 1 Peter 4:2; to receive honour one from another, John 5:44, and the examples of the most: for what the most do, all will do; these have great influences upon men. Therefore, man being a sociable creature as he is, he goes with the drove of the rest of mankind; and the world being before him, and having been always before him, he grows up to it, is moulded into it, and so is carried with the stream that carrieth to perdition and destruction. It is a hard matter therefore, my brethren, to be converted and turned to God; it is hard for a man to come out of this world, to swim against this stream, to bear the contradiction of sinners, as it is said of Christ, Hebrews 12:3; to be a man alone, a wonder to the world, for the world will observe anything that differs from them. It is a hard matter to be crucified to this world; the meaning is, the world, when a man leaveth it, and forsaketh it in any of the common courses of it, looks upon him as a lost man, let him have never so much learning, as Paul had.—And so much for a second observation.

Obs. 3.—A third observation is this, That the general course of most men in the world, they are courses which if a man will live by, he shall be an unregenerate man. Let the world be never so refined, let a man be made never so much a temporary believer,—for the truth is, the world hath had many refinements, and new fashions and dresses, put upon it since this Ephesian world, wherein the devil was worshipped,—yet still there shall be so much of carnal principles left, which if a man walk by, he shall be no better than an unregenerate man; for here he describeth their unregeneracy by walking according to the course of this world. Christ distinguisheth, in that Luke 16:8, the children of this world from the children of light. It is therefore called the present evil world. Therefore Christ, that made a prayer for his disciples to the end of the world,—for he prayed not only for his apostles, but for all that should believe in his name,—‘Keep them,’ saith he, ‘from the evil that is in this world.’ And, in 1 John 5:19, ‘The whole world lieth in wickedness.’ And, therefore, everywhere you have opposed the things of God and the things of men. ‘Thou savourest not the things of God, but the things of men,’ saith Christ to Peter, Matthew 16:23. The spirit of the world and the Spirit of God are opposed, 1 Corinthians 2:12. ‘The things that are in great esteem with men are an abomination unto God,’ Luke 16:15; that is, not but that the world may turn to many things that are good, but still there shall be something left, that if a man will walk according to the latitude, according to the most, he shall be an unregenerate man, he shall cry up that which is abominable unto God. Therefore, my brethren, take it for a certain sign of an unregenerate estate, to be carried thus along with the stream, and to be moulded to the same principles the generality of the most of men are; and the generality of the most of men are civil men. It is a sign, I say, of death; ‘dead in sins and trespasses, wherein ye walked according to the course of this world.’ A fish that is alive will and can swim against the stream, but a fish that is dead the stream carries it along with it. And the truth is, he that walketh in the world, walketh with Satan. Why? It is clear, ‘according to the course of the world, according to the prince,’ saith he. As those that walk with the saints walk with God, so he that walketh with the world, certainly he walketh with Satan, though he sees it not, nor knows it. I might likewise enlarge upon this, that men that are holy walk contrary to the world, but I will not stand upon it.

Obs. 4.—Another observation is this, and it is proper to the text, for I shall give you no other. It is one of the greatest mercies in our salvation and redemption, to be delivered from this world, to be turned out of it, to be turned from the opinions and practices of it, from the stream of it. This is clearly the Apostle’s scope here, for all this is but to magnify the mercy and the grace of God. God, saith he, Ephesians 2:4, who is rich in mercy, according to his rich grace quickened us, and raised us, and pulled us out of this world. I will give you but a scripture for it, and so pass from it: Galatians 1:4, speaking of Christ, saith he, ‘who gave himself for our sins.’ What to do? Surely some great matter? ‘That he might deliver us from the present evil world.’ There is never a vain tradition that thou suckest in,—and there are I know not how many traditional sins that men receive in, traditional ill opinions that men have of the ways of God, a company of apocryphal sins, as I may say, received from their fathers down from one age unto another, which men suck in,—to be delivered from any of these cost the blood of Christ. Therefore now, not only thy being pulled out of the world at first, when first converted, but to be turned from any carnal principle the rest of the world goes on in, and perhaps some godly men too, is a fruit of the redemption of Christ. I will give you a clear place for it: 1 Peter 1:18, ‘Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.’ He speaks to the Jews, for Peter wrote to the Jews that were dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, &c. Now they had received a world of traditions from their fathers, which had made their conversation, even in the worship of God, in many particulars, vain; they had washings and the like, in religious respects. Bless God, saith he, that he hath redeemed you from all these traditions, and hath shewed you the mercy to clear up your judgments in them. This is the fruit, saith he, of the blood of Christ; nothing else could have done it. Our Lord and Saviour Christ therefore spent a great deal of time to work out these traditions; as he spent his blood for it, so he spent a great deal of his breath for it, as appeareth by many of his sermons, especially that in Matthew 5.

I have but a word to open, and that is this: ‘according to the course of this world;’ and so in other places still you shall find it, ‘from this present evil world,’ &c. Now there is a double sense of it, which will afford us an observation or two, and so I will end.

Either it is called this world in opposition to that to come, as in the former chapter; ‘this world,’ saith he, ‘and that to come.’ Or else, ‘this world’ hath a relation to that present age, because he speaks of these Ephesians, they lived according to the course of that world then, as other unregenerate men afterward; let the world alter never so much, they live still according to the most, and the most will still be corrupt. And there is something besides: that which is translated now, signifies the age, the spirit that now works, that is, in this age. I shall join both in one observation, and it is this:—

Obs.—That though the world do alter in several ages in the course and the fashion of it, yet still it will be the world. And it will be so far the world, for the generality of the principles of it, that if men should live according to them, they would be unregenerate. Let the world alter never so much,—as indeed since Christ’s time the world hath had mighty alterations,—yet still it will be the world. They lived according to the age of that world, and were unregenerate men, and others will do so too, still as the world alters, as it puts on new dresses, new fashions; one generation cometh, and another passeth; there is no new thing under the sun for substance, still the same corruption goes on. You must know this, my brethren, that Christ, when he went up to heaven, he had a kingdom to come, he meant to make a new world, and step by step to alter that world that was then when these Ephesians lived, to alter it by degrees, till he take the kingdom unto himself, and make ‘a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.’ Saith Christ, in John 12:31, ‘Now is the judgment of this world;’ that is, now I begin it. The world had continued before in one way for three thousand years, and there had been no alteration in matter of religion; but ‘now is the judgment of this world;’ that is, the reformation of it. And Christ did then begin to mould it, to fashion it, to throw down heathenism, and set up Christianity; and he will be still doing of it to the end of the world, whilst it is Satan’s world. There is a world to come, which is called ‘new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,’ 2 Peter 3:13. And the kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms of Jesus Christ, as Revelation 11:15. But it is spoken at the end of the world, and of the end of the world, for it is spoken at the end of the seventh trumpet, which ends all, and the history of the church begins at the next chapter.

Now though Christ hath taken to himself the kingdoms of the world fully and completely, though he make mighty alterations and judgments in it, and is still throwing out Satan by degrees, yet it is Satan’s world still, that which the Apostle here speaks of in opposition to that which is to come. Now, I say, this world, let it turn Christian world, as it did, yet it will still be the world, it will still be an evil world, it will still lie in wickedness, it will still so far hold forth unregenerate principles, that if a man will walk according to the common stream, he will be damned, that is certain; and let the world be refined never so much, so it will be, till Christ make new heavens and a new earth. When the empire turned Christian, one Christian said to another,—it is a famous speech in ecclesiastical history,—‘Oh now,’ saith he, ‘we shall have persecution cease, for the Emperor and all the world is turned Christian.’ ‘But,’ saith the other, ‘the devil is not turned Christian for all this.’ And this world is the devil’s world, believe it, brethren, for the generality of men. And therefore, in Revelation 12, when heathenism was thrown down, the dragon and all his angels with him were cast out of heaven; one would have thought there would have been much joy; but, saith the text, Revelation 12:12, ‘Woe to the inhabitants of the earth!’ Why? Because ‘the devil is come down amongst you,’ with a new rage; and he went on still to persecute those that lived according to the commandment of Jesus. And therefore now, notwithstanding all refinements, though there come new schemes, yet you shall still have the generality so far corrupt that they will be the world still, and they will oppose the power of religion still. In Romans 12:2, the Apostle did lay a very strict injunction upon the Church of Rome—who did little keep it, but the Holy Ghost did it by way of prophecy beforehand—that they should not conform themselves unto the world; he speaks it principally in respect of their worship; yet they did not observe that injunction. When heathenism was gone, and the world was turned Christian, then all the world went wondering after the beast, except those whose names were written in the book of life, Revelation 13:8. And when there is a reformation from Popery, as the Holy Ghost prophesied of Popery itself, and that apostasy, in 1 Timothy 4:1; therefore he saith, ‘that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, which speak lies in hypocrisy.’ Which place a learned man hath most excellently opened to be meant of the Popish times. So, in 2 Timothy 3:1, he speaks of another fry, when Popery was off the stage, at least when it was declining, and he distinguisheth it from the other, which were to be in the latter days, but these are to be in the last days. ‘In the last days,’ saith he, ‘perilous times shall come;’ and so he names a company of men—covetous, boasters, &c.—that shall set up a form of godliness, and deny the power of it. The fry still, even of those, will be of them that are naught; and then, saith he, as in respect of the power of religion, they will resist the truth, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses. So that now still, as the world alters, let it alter its principles, by reason that Christ will still get ground of the world; yet it will still retain so much, that if men will walk according to the common principles most of the world go by, they will be unregenerate men. Therefore every man is to learn to be, as Noah was, ‘righteous in his generation.’

I have but one or two things more to say, and so I will end. ‘According to the course of the world, and the prince of the power of the air.’ I shall not now go about to shew you simply why he is called the prince of the power of the air, and the like. I will but make one general observation, and which is necessary for me now to make, because of the coherence of the former matter:—

Obs.—The world under the gospel, you see, was to have a great deal of alteration. The cunning of Satan is, still to apply himself to this world and the course of it, and secretly and cunningly to rule by the course of it, or with the course of it. In all the changes of the world, let there be never so many, still Satan will fall in: as you know he did, when he was thrown down from heaven. When heathenism was gone, and Christianity came up, the devil in appearance turneth Christian too, all the vogue runneth for Christianity. But what doth he? Then he goes and gathers all the seminals of heresy that had been sown in the primitive times, and hatcheth them all up, and makes Antichrist. When he could not uphold himself under the heathenish world, then he comes and giveth his throne to the beast. Still the devil’s design is to creep in, and to turn as the world turneth, and to be dealing still with unregenerate men, to hold up so much carnality as he may still maintain a persecution against the saints, if possibly he may obtain so much. This is his manner, and this hath been his way in all the turnings of the world.