[3.] The third policy we should use in prayer is to call him Father in wish : Optando, si non affirmando. If we cannot do it by direct affirmation, let us do it by desire. Let us pray ourselves into this relation, and groan after it, that we mav have a clearer sense that God is our Father in Christ.
Mat. VI. 9.] the lord's prayer, 51
[4.] Faith hath one art more, — it maketh use of Christ Jesus. God hath a Son whose name signifieth much in heaven, therefore if you cannot come to him as your Father, come to him as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ : Eph. iii. 14, ' For this cause I bow my knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Let Christ bring you into God's presence. He is willing to change rela- tions with us. Take him along with you in your arms. Go to God in Christ's name : ' Whatsoever you ask in my name, shall be given to you.'
Thirdly, But what are the evidences by which our adoption may be cleared up to us ? How shall we know that we are taken into a child-like state ?
[1.] Consider how it is brought about. How do we come to be related to God by Christ Jesus ? By receiving Christ, as he is offered in the gospel : John i. 12, ' To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.' It is a prerogative, and special grant to those which receive Christ, even those that believe in his name, that is, those who, out of a sense of their own need, and sight of Christ offered in the promise, do really consent to take him for the ends for which God offereth him, to wit, as Prince and Saviour, that he might give you repentance and remission of sins, not in pretence, but in your hearts. These have full liberty to call God Father, to come to treat and deal with him, though they have not a sense of the blessed- ness of their state, for this foUoweth believing : ' After you believed, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise,' Eph. i. 13, 14.
[2.] There is a witness which is given to the saints, that the thing may not always be dark and doubtful. The Holy Ghost is given as a witness. If you would know whether or no you are the children of God, see that of the apostle : Kom. viii. 16, ' The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.' As under the law, in the mouth of two witnesses every doubtful thing was to be established, Deut. xvii. 6, so here the Spirit beareth witness, together with our spirits, that we are the children of God. Our spirits alone may be lying, deceitful ; we may flatter ourselves, and think we are the children of God, when we are children oif the devil. All certainly comes from the Holy Ghost ; and, therefore, the great ques- tion which is traversed to and fro in the heart, is, whether we be God's children ? What is the Spirit's witness ?
(1.) He lays down marks in scripture, which are the ground and decision of this debate, for the scriptures are of the Holy Ghost's inditing, and so may be said to bear witness : Rom. viii. 14, ' For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God:' 1 John iii. 10, ' In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doth not righteousness, is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.' Thus the Spirit beareth witness to our sj)irits, by laying down such marks as we, by our own spiritual sense and renewed conscience, feel to be right within our- selves. And this is the main thing called the witness of the Spirit.
(2.) He worketh such graces as are peculiar to God's children, and are evidences of our interest in the favour of God ; and therefore it is called ' the sanctification of the Spirit,' 2 Thes. ii. 13 ; and ' the re-
52 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT. VI. 9.
newing of the Holy Gliost,' Titus iii. 5. Look, as John knew Christ to be the Son of God by the Spirit's descending and abiding upon him, John i. 32, so by the Spirit's work, and tlie Spirit's inhabitation, we know whether we are the children of God or no ; whetlier ' we dwell in God, and God in us, because of his Spirit that he hath given us ;' that is, because of those graces wrought in us. And this is called the seal of the Spirit ; for the Holy Ghost, stamping the impress of God upon the soul, working in us an answerable like- ness to Christ, is said to be the seal ; then Ave have God's impress upon us.
(3.) The Spirit goes further: he helpeth us to feel and discover those acts in ourselves. There is a stupid deadness in the conscience, so that we are not always sensible of our spiritual acts. Hagar saw not the fountain near her until God opened her eyes, so we may not see the work of the Spirit without the light of the Spirit. We cannot own grace in the midst of so much weakness and imperfection ; there is a misgiving of conscience : therefore the Spirit of sanctification is also a ' Spirit of revelation :' Eph. i. 17. The author of the grace is the best revealer and interpreter of it : he works, and he gives us a sight of it. As a workman that made a thing can best warrant it to the buyer, he knows the goodness and strength of it, and how it is framed and made ; so the Holy Ghost, which works grace, he reveals and discovers this grace to us.