Secondly, God is represented under the title of a father : * And God, even our Father.' God is a word of power ; Father expresseth his good- will and love. God standeth in both relations to us, as he did also to Christ : John xx. 17, ' I go to my God and your God, my Father and your Father.' Both joined together signify his power and readi- ness to do good. He that is our Father is true God also, and he that is true God is also our Father ; and therefore we may depend on him. That which we are to open is the term Father, which speaketh both comfort and duty to us.
1. Comfort. For God's dealing with us will be very fatherly; as a fiither loveth his children, so will God love his people : 2 Cor. vi. 18, ' I will be a father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saitli the Lord.'
[1.] He will pardon our sins and frailties, and spare us and pity us, notwithstanding our ill-deservings : Ps. ciii. 13, 'Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him ;' Mai. iii. 17, ' They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.' Surely this is a grace we stand in need of, Ijecanse of our manifold infirmities and daily failings.
[2.] He will give grace, that we may serve him better : Luke xi. 13, ' If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ?' Do but cry to him, as an hungry child to his father for bread, and God will not deny this great gift to you.
[3.] God will provide for us, and give such an allowance of tem- lioral mercies as are convenient : Mat. vi. 2.5, ' Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your ])ody, what ye shall put on ;' and ver. 32, ' For after all these things do the Gentiles seek ; for your heavenly Father knoweth that jq have need of all these things.' The belief of adoption and particular pro- vidence kills all distrustful fears and cares at the very root.
[4.] He will protect you and preserve you against temptations : 1 Peter i. 3, 5, ' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Cin-ist from the dead, &c., who are kept by the power of God through faith unto sal- vation.'
144 THE FOUUTKKNTH SKHMON. [2 ThE8. 11. IC, 17.
[').] lit' will i^'ive you the kiii<!;(.loin : Luke xii. 32, * Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.'
2. On the other iSide, this relation bespeakelh duty. For if God be a father, we nnist carry ourselves as children by our subjection, to him ; that is. by submission to his disposing will, and obedience to his governing will.
[1.] By an absolute submission to his disposing will. For if you would enjoy the privileges of God"s family, you must submit to the discipline of his family: Heb. xii. 6-1), 'For whom God loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you entlure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons : for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not y But if you are without chas- tisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastartls, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathei-s of our flesh, which chastened us, and we gave them reverence ; shall we not much rather be in subjec- tion to the Father of spirits, and live ?' In heaven, where there is no danger of sin, there is no use of the rod ; but while we are in the flesh, we need correction, and if God should not give it us. we are voOol, not legitimate, but degenerate sons. But in the 10th verse, the apostle argueth from God's paternal authority : ' For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.' Children, though they take it ill to be beaten by others, yet not by their parents, who (under God) are the cause of their being, and love them, and in correction of them seek their good ; much more do we owe this respect to our heavenly Father, who hath a more absolute right over us. Parents may err through want of wisdom — their chastisements may be arbitraiy and irregular ; do much in passion rather than compassion ; but all Goil's chastise- ments come from purest love, and are regulated by perfect wisdom, and tend to and end in holiness and happiness.
[2.] Obedience to his governing will. The great duty of children is to love, please, obey, and honour their father : Mai. i. 6, ' A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master. If I be a father, where is mine honour ? If I be a master, where is my fear ?' 1 Peter i. 14, 15, ' As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your igncn-ance. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ;' John xv. 8, ' Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.' There should be a great tenderness upon us not to do anything that may be a breach of God's law, or tend to God's dishon- our. What diligent oljservers were the llechabites of the institutions of their family : Jer. xxxv. (3, ' But they said, We will drink no wine : for Jonadab the son of Ptechab our father conunanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever.'