II. 1. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

And you hath he by his Spirit quickened, who were in the state of your corrupt nature, dead in your sins and trespasses: having therefore no more power to raise up yourselves, than the dead man hath to raise himself from his grave, now he hath wrought powerfully in you, and hath freed you from those your sins;

II. 2. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

Wherein ye lived in times past, framing yourselves according to the wicked course and trade of the world; and according to the will of him, who is the prince of those wicked spirits, which exercise their power in the air; even that Evil Spirit, which now worketh and ruleth in them, who are wilfully disobedient.

II. 3. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Fulfilling the sinful desires of their corrupt nature, both in carnal, and in mental or spiritual sins; both in bodily uncleannesses, and in the errors and exorbitances of the mind; and were naturally such, as could expect nothing from the hands of God, but wrath and damnation; even as other heathens justly may, and are.

II. 5. Hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)

Having raised Christ, the Head, hath, together with and in him, quickened us his members, by virtue of his Resurrection; and that merely out of his own good will towards us, for by grace, and not by any merits of ours, are we saved. So also verse 6.

II. 7. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

That not only the present age, but those that are to come also, might see and feel the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards the Gentiles also, in calling them home to him through Jesus Christ.

II. 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

For, out of the mere favour and mercy of God, are ye saved, through Faith in Christ: ye cannot merit any thing, as of yourselves; it is the free gift of God.

II. 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.

This salvation is not of Works, lest any man should find cause of boasting in himself, that he hath earned it at God's hand, and therefore is not beholden to his mercy.

II. 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

For all that we are and have is his: we are his workmanship, created not only in Adam to a natural life, but in Christ to a spiritual life of new obedience, that we should do all manner of good works, which God hath, in his eternal counsel, prepared and fore-ordained for us to walk in.

II. 11. Who are called Uncircumcision, by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands.

Who are scornfully called, The uncircumcision, by those Jews which boast themselves to be called by the title of a fleshly circumcision; as if in this right they were accepted of God, and ye in the defect thereof were forlorn and rejected.

II. 12. That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

That, at that time, ye had neither knowledge of Christ, nor any interest in him; being mere foreigners from the holy Church of God, and strangers from the gracious Covenant which he hath made with all his faithful ones; having neither any hope of salvation, nor any just ground of hope; and living, as without the acknowledgement of a God in the world.

II. 14. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken the middle wall of partition between us?

For he is our perfect Peace-Maker; yea our very Peace and Reconciliation itself; who hath conjoined, in one body of the Church, both Jews and Gentiles: and, whereas there was a wall of partition set up betwixt these two, so as they could not come together, he hath broken down that pile of division; so as now, we are one family, as it were, in one room of the same Church;

II. 15. 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;

Having, in his suffering of death in his body, utterly abolished the cause of this division and enmity, which was the Law Ceremonial, consisting of divers rites and ordinances; for to make those two kinds of people, Jews and Gentiles, one new creature, in and to himself; so, by this gracious union, making peace betwixt them;

II. 16. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.

And that, having made them up into one body, he might reconcile them, not to themselves only, but to God also, by that propitiatory sacrifice, which he made of himself upon his cross; having utterly extinguished thereby the enmity betwixt God and us.

VOL. IV.

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II. 20. And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

And are the living stones of that holy Church of his, which is built upon the foundation of the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ himself being that Chief Corner Stone, in whom both the walls of Jews and Gentiles are conjoined ;

II. 21. In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord.

In whom alone, all the whole building, being compacted and cemented together by love, is made up into one Evangelical Church, whereof the Temple was a type.

III. 2. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward.

If ye have heard of my Apostleship, and charge to preach unto you the tidings of grace and salvation; which is committed unto me for your behoof.

III. 9. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, &c.

And to make manifest unto all men the communication of this wonderful mystery of the saving of mankind, which God, the creator of all things by Christ, reserved, from all eternity, in his own secret counsel.

III. 10. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.

To the end, that now, the glorious angels of heaven, after that God had once vented and declared that his good purpose to mankind, might see, in this wonderful redemption and blessed union of the Church, a clear proof and demonstration of the manifold and infinite wisdom of God.

III. 12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

In whom we have boldness, and free and confident access to the throne of God's grace, by that faith, which gives us a right in him, and assures us of a gracious acceptation.

III. 13. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Wherefore, I desire you, that ye be not discouraged at the sight of those tribulations which I suffer, for preaching the gospel to you: yea, rather, ye ought to account them your glory and rejoicing; in that ye have an Apostle, who is thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.

III. 15. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

Of whom that whole united family of Saints, both in heaven

and earth, and here below of Jews and Gentiles, is named to be the One Universal Church of Christ.

III. 19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. That ye may be able with all his Saints, to conceive the absoluteness, and infinite perfectness, and exactness of the work of that Reconciliation, which he hath wrought for mankind, in all the dimensions of it; and may be affected with it accordingly.

III. 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

And, that ye may apprehend that unspeakable love of Christ towards us, the full knowledge whereof passeth all finite capacity; and that ye may be filled with all perfection of the graces of God.

IV. 3. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Endeavouring to preserve that holy and Christian unity, which the Spirit of God hath wrought in you, by a peaceable disposition and carriage one to another.

IV. 8. When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. See Psalm lxviii. 18.

IV. 9. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

Now, in that David says, that Christ ascended, what doth it imply, but that he had before descended, both from heaven to the earth, which is the lowest part of the world, and from the surface of the earth, into the bowels thereof, the grave? IV. 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

He, that thus descended, &c. that he might fulfil all that was fore-said of him; and all that is or should be requisite for the full glorification of his Church.

IV. 11. And some, pastors and teachers, &c.

And some he gave to be pastors and teachers of his Church, to lead forth his people, and to feed them with wholesome doctrine and holy government.

IV. 12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ :

All which he hath given and ordained, for the perfecting of the grace of his Saints; and for the full and exact discharge of the great work of the ministry, which could not be sufficiently managed by any one rank of gifts or men; and, in general, for the full edification of the Church, which is the mystical body of Christ:

IV. 13, Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the

knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ :

Till all those, yet unbelievers, which belong to God's election, be brought to one and the same saving Faith, and to the true knowledge and acknowledgement of the Son of God, together with us; and so the whole Church, as if it were one body, grow up to be a perfect and divine grown man, even to that full stature of grace, and full knowledge, which it is ordained unto, in and by Christ; yea, until that Christ, who accounts the Church to be no other than his body, and holds himself not perfect without it, have in us attained to that full growth, as that no degree of perfection shall be wanting to this mystical body of his :

IV. 14. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, &c.

That, henceforth, we be no more children, unstayed and unconstant in our good courses and purposes; tossed to and fro with every wind of false doctrine, in the tottering cockboat of our weak irresolution; and cheated, through the sleight and cunning craftiness of insinuating false teachers.

IV. 16. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love.

That, as in the natural body, we see that it is knit together by joints and sinews, to make up one complete living frame, which receiveth virtue and power of motion from the head, which is diffused into all the several parts according to the use and occasion of the divers members thereof; so as the whole body, by this means grows up together in strength and stature: so it is spiritually in the mystical body of Christ, the Church; it receiving virtue and grace from Christ, the Head, which is distributed to every faithful soul, as a limb and member of this body, grows up to the full state of perfection in Christ; and is in the whole bulk and frame thereof edified by the mutual love of each believer unto other.

IV. 18. Being alienated from the life of God.

Being estranged from that course of life, which God hath prescribed unto us.

IV. 20. But ye have not so learned Christ;

But ye have not so learned Christianity, as to give yourselves over, under that pretence, to riot and disorder;

IV. 21. If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

If, at least, ye have given ear to the doctrine of Christ, and have been taught in his school, so, as ye ought, according to the truth of this heavenly discipline: which is this,