as being without Chrift, and Strangers to the Covenant.

wealth of Ifrael, and Stran

143

and imprints a Mark in the Flesh, of which Sect. 4. as you were deftitute, they who had received and gloried in it, avoided you as unclean. Eph. II. 11. But I am fenfible, your chief Mifery did not confift in the Want of that Ceremony, which can by no Means avail to the Salvation of the Soul, or render it, while the Heart continues uncircumcifed, in any DeYour Wretch- 12 12 That at that Time ye gree acceptable to GOD: were without Chrift, being ednefs was, (and fee that you remember it Aliens from the Common- with the greateft Humility, and with the gers from the Covenants of moft affecting Senfe of the AcknowledgPro- ments you owe to that Free Grace which has delivered you from that deplorable Condition,) that ye were at that Time, while you were unregenerate Gentiles, without any Knowledge of Chrift, or any Intereft in him, and thus were deftitute of all thofe Bleffings which he brings to his believing and obedient People; and indeed were without any Expectations of the Meffiah, and had not those Advantages for enquiring after him and embracing him, which the Jews had by Virtue of their Prophecies, and of the various Means ordained to point him out: Ye were then Aliens from the Commonwealth of Ifrael, and had no Part in any of the Favours granted to them, no Claim to their peculiar Privileges, nor any Right of Citizenship with them; not fo much as knowing that Polity which God had established among his own chofen People, in order to direct their Views to the Gospel, and to prepare them for the Reception of it: And having no Communion with the Church, ye were then unacquainted with the Divine Engagements to it, and Strangers to the Covenants of Promife (b), not having any

Know

(b) The Covenants of Promife.] Though the Covenant for Subftance was one and the fame, the Apostle here fpeaks of it in the Plural Number, (as he does alfo, Rom. ix.

144 Sect. 4.

Eph. II. 12

World.

They had then no Hope, and were Atheists in the World. Knowledge of the Covenant made with If- Promife, having no Hope, rael by Moses, or of thofe better Promifes, and without GOD in the on which the Covenant with Abraham was established, and Affurance given of the Meffiah's Coming, and of eternal Life through him: So that in Confequence of this, ye were then wholly taken up in the Pursuit of earthly Things, without any Profpect of good Things to come, having no well-grounded Hope with regard to a Future State (c), no Hope of fpiritual and eternal Bleffings, about which, immersed as you were in the Cares and Pleasures of this lower World, you had indeed but very little Thought: And though you had fuch an infamous Herd of imaginary Deities, and were fo eager in the Worship of them, and particularly of your great Goddefs Diana, and of Jupiter, whofe Daughter fhe was fuppofed to be, (Acts xix. 35.) yet in Reality ye were Atheifts in the World (d), for ye lived

4.) as it was given out at feveral Times, with various Explications and Enlargements, not only to Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, (Gen. xii. 2, 3. xvii. 7, 8. xxii. 17, 18. xxvi. 3, 4. xxviii. 13, 14.) but afterwards to the whole Church of Ifrael. (Exod. xxiv. 7, 8. Deut. xviii. 15, 18. xxix. 12, 13. and xxx. 5, 6.) And as the Promifes it contained, centered in the great Promife of the Meffiah and of Salvation by him, he therefore fpeaks of them in the Singular Number, but as one Promife, which is agreeable to the Scripture-Style in other Places. Compare Acts ii. 39. xiii. 32. xxvi. 6, 7. Rom. iv. 14, 16. Gal. iii. 17, 22. Eph. iii. 6. and Heb. vi. 17.

little

(c) Having no Hope.] That the Heathens had among them the Doctrine of a Future State, and that it was popularly taught, and generally believed by the common People, muft I think appear inconteftable to any, who are at all acquainted with Antiquity. But it is as apparent, that they reafoned very weakly upon the Subject, that they had no well-grounded Hope of future Happiness, and that they were but very impreffed with it; fo that they had no Deity to which they prayed for eternal Life, as the Fathers often renonftrate. And by far the greater Part of their most learned Philofophers either exprefsly denied, in private Lectures to their Pupils, the Doctrine of future Rewards and Punishments, or taught Principles quite inconfiftent with it: As muft, I think, plainly appear to any, who will impartially perufe what Mr. Warburton has written upon the Subject, fo judiciously defended in the Critical Review.

(d) Atheists in the World.] Both the Chriftians and Heathens, as Dr. Whitby well -obferves here, called each other Atheists, though both worshipped fome Deity, real or imaginary; because each fuppofed the other to reject that which was the true Object of Adoration. But I cannot conceive, that the Apostle would have given to the Heathens the Character of Atheists, if the Worfhip of the one living and true GOD had really prevailed among them to that Degree, which fome Chriftian Divines have

But now they were brought near by the Blood of Christ.

13 But now in Chrift Jefus, ye who fometimes were far off, are made nigh by the Blood of Christ.

14 For he is our Peace, who

145 lived and converfed in the World, ignorant Sect. 4. of the one living and true God, its great Original and Support; and worshipping only Eph. II. 12. fuch as by Nature are no Gods (Gal. iv. 8.) ye had no Conception of any Being that was truly worthy to be fpoken of by any Divine. Title.

13

But let your Hearts reflect with Joy and
Thankfulness on that bleffed Change, which
the Divine Goodness hath now made in.
your Condition, by bringing you to Faith
in Chrift Jefus; for having cordially em-
braced him as exhibited in the Gospel, ye
who were formerly afar off from Go D, and
from all the Hopes and Privileges of his
People, are now brought near to Go D,
and to each other, by the atoning Blood of
Chrift (e), whereby he hath expiated your
Guilt, and made a free and honourable Way
for
your Approach to GOD, and partaking
in all the Benefits of his Church.
For 14
be is the Procurer of our Peace (f), who hath

recon

incautiously maintained that it did. The Truth of the Matter feems to have been, that though feveral of them fpeak of their Jupiter in Terms properly applicable to the one Self exiftent and Eternal Deity only, yet they taught and believed other Things of him quite inconfiftent with fuch Perfections: And those who had fome Knowledge of one Supreme eternal Cause, yet practically difregarded him, and, however they might reconcile it with the Dictates of their Confciences, worshipped inferior Deities, and many of them fuch as were reprefented under the moft fcandalous Characters, to the Neglect of the Supreme Being, and the Deftruction of all true Religion. Compare Rom. i. 20,-26. and confult the Notes on thofe Verfes, Vol. iv. pag. 20, 21.

(e) Are brought near by the Blood of Chrift.] There feems to be an evident Allufion here to the Privilege of thofe Ifraelites, who were not under any Ceremonial Pollution, or who were cleanfed from their Guilt by the Blood of Atonement, and fo had free Liberty of entering the Temple, and converfing with GOD; upon which Account they are called a People near unto him, Pfal. cxlviii. 14. Compare Exod. xix. 4, 6. Lev. x. 3. and Pfal. xv. 4.

(f) He is our Peace.] This Mr. Locke would have to be the fame with your Peace, and to be meant of the Gentile Converts, of whom the Apostle had been fpeaking juft before. But it is evident, the Reconciliation as well as the Enmity was mutual, and the Jews were at least as ftrongly prejudiced against the Gentiles, as the Gentiles against the Jews: The Apofle therefore, with confummate Propriety, goes on to fpeak in Terms which were intended to include all true Believers, whether originally belonging to the one or the other.

VOL. V.

T

(g) Di

146

Sect.

4.

Chrift bath removed the middle Wall of Partition,

reconciled us, whether Jews or Gentiles, to GOD and to each other, and hath fo incorEph. II. 14. porated us into one Church, that it may properly be faid, he hath made both one, as to an Interest in the Favour of GOD, and in the Privileges of his People; and that no Difference might remain between us, he hath thrown down the middle Wall of Separation, which divided us from each other, as the Wall which runs between the Court of the Gentiles and that of Ifrael in the Temple at Jerufalem, divided the Gentile Worshippers 15 from the Jewish (g). This happy Union. between us, the Lord Jefus Chrift hath accomplished, having abolished by thofe Sufferings which he endured in his Flesh, what was the grand Occafion of the Enmity and mutual Alienation which had fo long prevailed; [even] the Law of pofitive Commandments and Ceremonies, [contained] in the Mofaick Ordinances, to which the Jews were fo much attached, and to the Bondage of which the Gentiles were fo irreconcileably averfe: But this Chrift hath now abrogated and taken out of the Way, that fo be might form the Two oppofite Parties, by Virtue of their Union with each other in bimJelf, into one new Man, uniting them toge ther as new Creatures in one Church, under a Difpenfation very different from the former, in which they both fhould equally partake of the fame Privileges; [fo] making an entire Peace between them, and laying a Foundation, not only for Peace, but for mutual Love, by removing the Ground of thofe Prejudices they had entertained a

gainst

who hath made both one, middle Wall of Partition between us

and hath broken down the

15 Having abolished in his Flefh the Enmity, even the Law of Commandments, contained in Ordinances, for to make in himself, of twain, one new Man, fo making

Peace;

(g) Divided the Gentile Worshippers from the Jewifh.] This is that Wall which was called the Chel, which feparated the Court of the Gentiles from that into which the Jews only were allowed to enter; of which we have the most authentick Account in Jofephus. (Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 5. [al. vi. 6.] §. 2.) Compare Note (1), on Aft xxi, 28. Vol. iii. pag. 344.

6

(b) To

and reconciled both unto GOD by his Crofs.

16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one Body by the Cross, having flain the Enmity thereby :

17 And came,

preached Peace to

which were afar off, them that were nigh.

147

gainst each other, and joining them in Sect. 4.
Bonds of fuch Tenderness as became the

Members of one living Body: And that Eph. II. 16.
be might compleat this bleffed Work of
making Peace, and reconcile them both, as
thus united in one Body, and animated by
one Spirit, not merely unto one another,
but unto GOD, he hath took away the
Guilt of Sin, and made Atonement for it
by the Blood of his Crofs, removing by this
Means what was the Caufe of Enmity be-
tween GOD and them, as they were all

Tranfgreffors of his holy Law; fo that he

may be properly confidered, on account of what he fuffered on the Crofs, as having flain the Enmity by it, as he hath thus made up the Breach which Sin had made between GoD and his offending Creatures, by Means of the atoning Sacrifice of himand felf. (Compare Col. i. 20.) And having 17 you procured this Reconciliation by his Death, and to be came to both, after his Resurrection and Afcenfion, in the Person of his authorized Embaffadors, to whom he hath committed the important Trust of fpeaking in his Name and Stead, (2 Cor. v. 19, 20.) and preached the glad Tidings of Peace and Reconciliation, to you that [were] as Gentiles afar off from GOD, and to them alfo of the Jewish Nation that [were] of old regarded as a People near unto him (b); declaring the Foundation he has laid, not only for a fincere reciprocal Affection, but for all other most important Benefits and Bleffings. 18 For through him we For as the happy Fruit and Confequence of 18 the Peace procured by him, as well for the

both

be

(b) To you that were afar off, and to them that were near.] It is fo natural to refer this to what had been faid of the different States of Jews and Gentiles, that one would wonder any fhould have thought of explaining both thefe Characters of the Jews, as fignifying those who lived in diftant Countries, as well as those who dwelt in or near Ferufalem, where our Lord fuffered.