1. They are, by their own original right, of another family than that whereinto they are adopted. They are “by nature the children of wrath,” Eph. ii. 3, — sons of wrath, — of that family whose inheritance is “wrath,” — called “the power of darkness,” Col. i. 13; for from thence doth God “translate them into the kingdom of his dear Son.” This is the family of the world and of Satan, of which by nature believers are. Whatever is to be inherited in that family, — as wrath, curse, death, hell, — they have a right thereunto. Neither can they of themselves, or by themselves, get free of this family: a strong man armed keeps them in subjection. Their natural estate is a family condition, attended with all the circumstances of a family, — family duties and services, rights and titles, relations and observances. They are of the black family of sin and Satan.