\st. First sign of adoption, obedience. A son obeys his Father, Jer. xxxv. 5., " I set before the sons of the house of the Recha- bites, pots full of wine, and cups, and said unto them, drink ye wine. But they said, we will drink no wine : for Jonadab, the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, ye shall drink no wine." So, when . God saith, " drink not in sin's enchanted cup ;" an adopted child saith, " my heavenly Father hath commanded me, I dare not drink." A gracious soul doth not only be- lieve God's promise, but obey his command. And true child-like obedience must be re- gular, which implies three things :
1. It must be done by a right rule. O- bedience must have the word for its rule, — Lydins lapis, Isa. viii. 20., " To the law and to the testimony." If our obedience be not according to the word, it is offering up strange fire ; it is will-worship, and God will say, who hath required this at your hand? The apostle condemns worshipping of angels which had a shew of humility, Col. ii. 18. The Jews might say that they were loath to be so bold as to go to God in their own persons ; they would be more humble, and prostrate themselves before the angels, desiring them to be their medi- ators to God. Here was a show of humi- lity in their angel-worship ; but it was a- bominable, because they had no word of God to warrant it : it was not obedience, but
idolatry. Childlike obedience is that whicli is consonant to our Father's revealed will.
2. It must be done from a right principle, i. e. the noble principle of faitli, Rom. xy\. 26., ' The olKidicnce of faith.' Qu/cquid de- corum est ex fide pi-fificiscilnr, Aug. A crab-tree may bear fruit fair to the eye, but it is' sour because it doth not come from a good root. A moral person may gi^'e God outward obedience, and to the eyes of others it seems glorious, but his obedience is sour because it comes not from that sweet and pleasant root of faith. A child of God gives him the obedience of faith, and that meliorates and sweetens his services, and makes them come off with a better relish, Heb. xi. 4., " By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain."
3. It must be done to a right end : Finis spec'tjicat actionem, — the end of obedience is glorifying God. That which hath spoiled many glorious serA'ices, is, when the end hath been wrong, INIat. vi. 2., " When thou dost thine alms, do not sound a trumpet, as the hypocrites do, that they may have glory of men." Good Avorks should shine, but not blaze. " If I give my body to be burnt, and have not charity, it profits me nothing," 1 Cor. xiii. 3. The same I may say of a sincere aim ; if I obey never so much, and have not a sincere aim, it ])rofits me nothing. True obedience looks at God in all, Phil. i. 20., " Christ shall be mag- nified." Tliough a child of God shoots short, yet he takes a right aim.
True childlike obedience is uniform, A child of God makes conscience of one command as Mell as another. Qidcqidd propter Deiim fU, ccqualitcr Jit. All God's commands have the same stamp of divine authority upon them; and if I obey one precept because my heavenly Father com- mands me, then bv the same rule I must obey all ; as the blood runs through all the veins of the body, and the sun in the fir- mament runs through all the signs of the zodiac, so true childlike obedience runs through the first and second table, Ps. cxix. 6., " When I have respect unto all thy commandments." To obey God in some things of religion, and not in others, shows an unsound heart ; like Esau, who obeyed his father in bringing him venison, but not
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in a greater matter, viz. the clioice of liis wife. Childlike ohcdience m()ves towards every eoinniand of God, as tlie needle points that way which the loadstone draws. If (jiod call to (luties which are cross to llesh and blood, if we are children, we ohey our Father.
Quest. But ic/io can obey God in all things ?
' Ana. An adopted heir of licaven, th()u<]jh he cannot obey CA'ery precept perfectly, yet he doth evangelically : 1. lie approves of every command, Rom. vii. 16., " I con- sent to the law, that it is good." — 2. A child of God delights in every command, Ps. cxix. 97., " O how love I thy law !"— 3. His desire is to obey every command, Ps. cxix. 5., " O that my ways were di- rected to keep thy statutes !" — 4. Wherein he comes short, he looks up to Christ's blood to make supply for his defects. This is evangelical obedience ; which, though it be not to satisfaction, it is to accepta- tion.
True childlike obedience is constant, Ps, cvi. 3. Blessed is lie that doth righteous- ness at all times. Childlike obedience is not like an high colour in a fit which is soon over; but like a right sanguine com- plexion, it abides ; it is like the fire on the altar, which was kept always burning, Lev. vi. 13.