SERMON, I.

EPHES. 2. 12.
That at that time ye were without
Christ, being Aliens from the Common-wealth
of Israel, and strangers
from the Covenants of promise;
having no hope, and without God in
the world.
THis Chapter out of which my
Text is taken, is like a little
Map, containing in it a description
of the little world
Man, and that in a double
capacity; considering man either in the
state of Grace, or in the state of Nature; If
you consider Man in the first capacity, in
the state of Grace, this chapter layes down
a five fold description of bringing Man
into the state of Grace.
1. Here is laid down the efficient cause
of bringing Man out of the state of Nature,
into the state of Grace, and that is
God, in the 4. vers.

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2. Here is laid down the impulsive cause,
and that is the riches of Gods mercy in
the same verse, But God who is rich in
mercy for the great love wherewith he loved
us, &c.
3. Here is laid down the meritorious
cause of it, which is Christ in his sufferings,
in the 7. verse, that in the ages to come,
he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindnesse towards us, through Jesus
Christ.
4. Here is laid down the finall cause of
it in the same verse also, that in Ages to
come, he might shew the exceeding riches of his
grace. And,
Lastly, here is the instrumentall cause of
bringing man out of the state of Nature
into the state of Grace, and that is Faith,
in the 8. verse: For by grace are you saved
through Faith, and that not of your selves, it is
the gift of God.
Now the other part of the Map describes
man in the second capacity, in the
state of Nature, and herein it gives a two-fold
description of Mans condition;
1. Positively, what he is.
2. Privatively, what he wants.
1. It describes Man in the state of Nature
positively what he is, and that in five
particulars;
1. Men in their naturall condition, are
described to bee dead in trespasses and
sinnes.
2. They walk according to the course of this
world, as Pagans and Heathens do.
3. According to the Prince of the power of the
air, that is, the Devill; now the Devill is
called the Prince of the air, either because
he doth reside in the air, or else, because
he hath the power of the winde and of
the air.
4. They are called Children of disobedience;
that is, born in a state of disobedience
quite contrary to the commands of
God.
5. That they fulfill the lusts of the flesh and
of the minde, and are by nature children of
wrath.
Thus far you have the positive description
of Man in the state of Nature.
2. Now in the second place, the Apostle
describes him privatively what he wants;
and that in the words of my Text, in
five particulars, wherein hee plainly
shews that he is the poorest man in the
world that wants Jesus Christ, and the
most miserable: That at that time you
were without Christ; that is the first: You
were Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel;
that is the second: You were strangers to
the Covenant of promise; that is the third:
You were without hope; that is the fourth:
And you were without God in the world;
that's the fift.

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Now these comprehensive expressions,
contain in them the whole misery of
Man, and that in these five particulars
here named; 2. here is described the time
how long, a man is in this condition,
that at that time, that is, the time during
your unconverted estate; as long as you
are unconverted, so long you are without
Christ, and an Alien from the Common-wealth
of Israel, and a stranger to
the Covenants of promise, without hope
and without God in the world.
And now what a dismall Text have I
here to handle, and what a doleful tragedy
am I now to act? but yet out of
every one of these, there is a great deal
of comfort which may flow forth; I shall
only at present make entrance into the
words, and speak more fully to them
afterwards; that at that time you were without
Christ; That at that time: Beloved here
wants something to supply the sense of
the words, and therefore read the foregoing
words, and you will finde what
must be brought in; the verse before runs
thus, Wherefore remember, that you being in
time: past Gentiles in the flesh, &c.
wherefore
remember, these words must be prefixt;
Wherefore remember, that at that time you were
without Christ, and aliens to the Common-wealth
of Israel, &c. I shall here by the
way only draw out this one doctrine
from the coherence of the words, Wherefore
remember that at that time; the Apostle
would have these converted Ephesians to
remember, that they were men without
Christ, and aliens to the Common-wealth
of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of
promise, without hope, and without God
in the world: now from hence I would
commend this observation to you.
That it is the will of God that men in a converted
estate should often call to minde the sinfulnesse
and misery they were guilty of before their
conversion.
Beloved, this is a subject I could never
have occasion to speak to you of before,
and yet it is a point of admirable use,
especially in these times, wherein people
think that when once they are brought
into a state of Grace, they must live in
divine raptures, and revelations, and spirituall
joyes, above duties and ordinances,
and never look back into their former
sinfulnesse and wickednesse they
were guilty of before their conversion:
Why, here the Ephesians were converted
men, and had extraordinary priviledges,
they were brought to sit in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus; and yet the Apostle bids
them remember their former sinfulnesse
and misery, Remember O you Ephesians
that ye were once without Christ, and
you were Aliens to the Common-wealth

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of Israel, &c. therefore you must take
heed of this, to think that when you are
converted, you must be only rapt up into
the third heavens, and never look back
into your former condition; you see here
the Apostle bids you remember what you
were at that time during your unconverted
estate, that you were then without
Christ, and strangers to the Covenants
of promise, &c. So that you see it is
the will of God, that men in a converted
estate should often cal to minde the
sins and miserie they were in before conversion.
Now before I come to give you the
Reasons of the point, give me leave to
promise these three Cautions; when I tell
you, that after your co~version, you should
call to minde your sin and misery before
conversion, you must not do it 1. with
complacency of spirit; nor 2. with stupidity
of heart; nor 3. with despondency of
minde.
1. You must not cal to minde your
former sinfulnesse with complacency of
spirit, to please your humors; you must
not do as some great men use to do, that
have been guilty of great and crying sins;
as adultery, drunkennesse, swearing, and
the like, in their youth; go tell and
boast of them in their age; this is a very
great wickednesse: you must call to
minde your former sinfulnesse not with
complacency, but with bitternesse of spirit,
with grief, sorrow, and perplexity
of heart: Many men will tel you large
stories of the wickednesse, that they have
committed; but they do it with delight,
and if they had strength and abilities, they
would be guilty of the same sins and
wickednesses stil; which is a most ungodly
practise, and that which the Scripture
condemns men for, as in the 23. of
Ezek. 23.19,21. Yet she multiplyed her whoredomes,
in calling to remembrance the dayes of
her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in
the land of Egypt; Thus thou
calledst to remembrance
the lewdnesse of thy youth: the meaning
of this is, she called her sins to remembrance,
but it was so as to play the
whore stil, and to be unclean stil, she
did it with delight and complacency,
with content and joy; now I say you
should call your sins to remembrance
with a great deal of grief and sorrow; and
bitternesse of spirit: and therefore when
young gallants wil boast of their sins,
and tel how often they have been drunk,
and have made others to be so; and how
often they have plaid the whoremaster,
and have drawn others to do so; this is a
most Diabolical remembrance.
2. You must not cal your former sins
to remembrance, with stupidity of

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heart neither: Beloved, there are many
men can remember what lewd courses
they have taken, and what wicked lives
they have lived; how often they have
been drunk and unclean, and the like;
and yet are never troubled at the remembrance
of it; their hearts do not smite
them with remorse and sorrow, but are
like a rock; the sense of sin never troubles
them: this is no way of calling sin
to remembrance, with a blockish and stupid
heart, this is not thanks worthy;
but it must be done with a broken, and a
bleeding, and a contrite heart: And,
3. Take in this caution too, it must
not be done with despondency of minde
neither. There are many converted
ones, that do cal their sins to remembrance,
but it makes them discouraged
and unwilling to come to Christ, it makes
them think that they have no interest in
the covenant of grace; but this should
not be, the true effect that the consideration
of your former sinfulnesse should
produce, should be your laying your
souls low, and making them humble, and
the more sensible of that indispensable
need you have of Christ, of going unto
him for salvation and comfort.
These are the Cautions necessary to be
premised; I come now to give you the
Reasons of the point, why it is the will
of God, that people in a converted
estate, should often cal to minde the sin
and misery they were in before conversion,
and 1. God will have it so, because
by so doing, you will be provoked the
more highly to magnifie and admire the
greatnesse and riches of Gods grace to
you; there are none in the World greater
admirers of Gods grace and mercy,
then those that are most studious of their
own sin and misery: thou wilt never
solemnly and throughly magnifie Gods
mercy, till thou art plunged into a deep
sensiblenesse of thine own misery, till
the Lord hath brought thee to see in what
a miserable and deplorable condition
thou wert in before conversion, thou wilt
then admire and magnifie the riches of
Gods free grace, in bringing thee out of
that condition, into the estate of grace, as
in 1 Tim.1.13. the Apostle Paul when he
would magnifie the free grace of God to
him, saith he, I was a blasphemer, and a
persecutor, and injurious; and yet
through
the abundance of Gods free grace and mercy,
I have obtained mercy: the consideration
of his former sinfulnesse did elevate and
scrue up his heart, to make him admire
the free grace of God to his soul; that man
can never prize liberty as he should do,
that never was in prison: But,
2. Another reason why God wil have
it so is, because this will be as a spur to
quicken and engage men to be more eminent
in grace, after their conversion:
when a man doth frequently and seriously
consider how bad and sinful he was
before conversion, it cannot but provoke
him now to be more humble and holy,
after his conversion. It is very observable
in Paul, that all those sins and wickednesses
he was guilty of before conversion,
he did most of all strive against, and labour
to excell in the contrary graces after
conversion: as first before conversion
he did labour to hale others to prison, for
worshipping of Christ; but after his conversion,
he did labour to draw others to
Christ: Act. 26. 10, 11. Many of the Saints
did I shut up in prison, and gave my voice against
them, and punished them oft in every City, and I
was exceeding mad against them, and banished
them into other Cities: and now you
shall see that after conversion, Paul did labour
to outvie in grace, that evil course
he was in before; as before conversion,
he did imprison those that did belong to
Christ, so after conversion, he was shut
up himself in prison, for the cause of
Christ; before conversion, he gave his
voice against the people of God, but after
conversion, he did pray to God for them;
before conversion, he did punish them
often, but afterward he did preach to
them often; before conversion, he did
compell men to blaspheme Christ, but
after conversion, he was very earnest to
perswade people to beleive in Christ; he
was exceeding mad against them before
conversion, but afterward hee was so
exceeding zealous for the people of God,
that every one thought hee had been
mad: and lastly, before conversion he
did persecute Saints to strange Cities,
but afterwards he did go preaching of the
Gospel to strange Cities: Oh my Beloved,
let Pauls pattern be your rask, cal
to minde your sin and wickednesse in
your unconverted condition, but so that
it may provoke you, that now you are
converted, you may labour to abound
in grace, as formerly you have abounded
in sin.
3. Another reason why God will
have us call to minde the sin and misery
we were in before conversion, is, because
this will be a means to kindle a great deal
of pity and compassion in our souls, towards
those that remain yet unconverted:
this the Apostle exhorts us to in Tit.3.2,3.
Speak evill of no man, sayes he, be no brawler,
but gentle, Shewing all meeknesse unto all men,
for we our selves also were sometime foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lusts and
pleasures, living in malice and envy, hatefull,
and hating one another; as if the Apostle
should have said, I Paul, and thou Titus,
we were sinful as wel as they, and did
serve divers lusts as wel as they once, let
us therefore be pitiful, and merciful,
and compassionate towards them, this
consideration wil greatly provoke us to
commiserate poor sinful souls; the great
reason why we pity them no more then
we do, is because we do not cal to mind
our own sinfulnesse, and what we were before
conversion.
4. Another reason may be this,
because
the consideration of our former misery,
will greatly abate pride in the
hearts of converted men; this will be a
great means to abate and keep under
pride, and advance humility in the hearts
of Gods people: Beloved, a good man
naturally is apt to be proud, we are not
proud of our sins, but of our graces;
pride is apt to grow in the best mans
heart, and therefore God would have us
sometime look back upon what we were
in our unconverted estate, that so that
might abate the pride of our spirits: you
have an excellent place for this in
Ezek. 16.3,4,5. compared with the last
verse of that chapter. Sayes God there to
Jerusalem, Thy Birth and thy Nativity is of
the land of Cannan; thy Father was an Amorite,
and thy mother an Hittite; and as for thy
Nativity, in the day that thou wast born, thy

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Navill was not cut, neither wert thou washed in
water to supple thee, no eye pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, but thou wert cast out into
the open field, to the loathing of thy person in
the day that thou wast born; that thou maist
remember, and be confounded, and never open
thy mouth any more, because thy shame, when
I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast
done, saith the Lord: They must
remember
their guilt and their shame when God
is pacified towards them, and when God
is reconciled to them; and so you have
another place for the same purpose, in
Ezek. 20. 43. And there shall you remember
your wayes, and your doings, wherein you have
been defiled, and you shal loath your selves in your
sight, for al the evil that you have committed.
I remember what Plutarch relates of one
Agathocles, who was advanced from a potters
son, a low, mean, and contemptible
condition, to be King of Sicilie, this man
when he might have been served every
day in golden dishes, yet he would stil
have his provisions brought in earthen
dishes, because sayes he, I may remember
what I was, and what I am, a potters son,
that so I may not be too much lifted up
and exalted: why, so do you remember
what you were, your Father a potter, and
you a poor miserable sinfull creature,
and this will abate the pride of your
hearts.
5. And lastly, God wil have us cal
to minde our former sinfulnesse, because
this wil make us more watchful and
circumspect, that we do not run again
into those sins that we were guilty of
before conversion; God would not have
us do it, to drive us into despair, or
to question our evidences for heaven,
but to make us humble and watchful,
that we run not again into the same sins.
Thou maist thus think with thy self,
Before conversion, I spent my dayes in
sin and wickednesse, and consumed my
years in vanity and pleasures, in fulfilling
the lusts of the flesh and of the mind;
and the consideration of this, will lay an
engagement upon thy soul, to walk
more carefully, and prudently, and holily
in time to come; this the Apostle
makes use of, in Ephes. 5.8. You were sometimes
darknesse saith he but now are you light
in the Lord, walk therefore as children of the
light; we should now hate and abhorre
those sins that formerly we have delighted
in.
These are the reasons of the point; I
shal only make one short use of it;
which shal be of reprehension to those,
that notwithstanding it is the will of
God, that men after conversion should
cal to minde the sin they were guilty of
before conversion do yet crosse this doctrine
either in their judgement, or practice.
1. This reproves those that do contradict
this Doctrine in their judgement, and
think that when once they are converted,
they must never look back upon their
former wretchednesse, but only now live
in Divine raptures, and revelations, and
spirituall joyes, and comforts; for, 1. If
Pauls precept be warrantable, then this
opinion is unwarrantable, for he tels us
that we must remember what we were in
our unconverted estate, that we were at
that time without Christ, and without
hope, and without God in the World.
2. Paul tels the Ephesians, that were an
elected people, who were elected before
the beginning of the world, that they
must remember that they were dead in
trespasses and sinnes heretofore, though
now they were quickened: and if Paul
bids them call to minde their former
sinfulnesse, then why should not we do
it?
2. This reproves those that though
they do not deny this Doctrine in judgement,
yet do not make it their practise, to
call to minde their former sins that they
were guilty of before conversion: I dare
warrant, that many of you can remember
what you have done, and what debts
have been owing you twenty years agoe,
but yet cannot cal to minde what sins
you have committed 20. yeares agoe, it
may be some of you have been cheaters
and swearers, adulterers and prophaners,
and yet now you never think of it, but
imagine all is well: I doe not know
how to expresse what sad, dismall and
deplorable condition thy poor soul is in,
thou that dost never call to mind thy
former sins: But thus much shall suffice
for this first Doctrine.