2. There are some that are yet worse, by the virulence and bitterness, and rage of heart against the ways of God ; they are possessed with an opposite seed — the seed of the serpent : Gen. iii. 15, ' I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed.' There is a seed that is full of envy and enmity against the people and ways of God: Mat. iii. 7, ' 0 generation of vipers ! ' the very spawn and seed of vipers.
3. There is the holy seed, against whom all the powers of darkness are armed : Kev. xii. 17, ' And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to war with the remnant of her seed, which kept the com- mandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.' The generation of men that worshipped God in Jesus Christ, those are they that are hated by the world, and yet they are the pillars of the earth, Isa. vi, 13. Therefore, look to yourselves whose seed you are. If the Spirit of Christ hath not been shed out upon you, to new form you through the word ; if you are not formed more and more into the image of the Lord Jesus, you are none of his seed. Consider who is your root ; your fall lieth in this. God doth not deal with single men, but with the common root and author of the whole seed. Adam was a miscarrying root, but Christ is not.
Use 2. Here is a word to the seed of Jesus Christ, to believers. You may say indeed, Ps. c. 4, ' It is he that made us, and not we ourselves ; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.' You are of the Lord's making, and therefore of the Lord's keeping. The seed of Jesus Christ are preserved in him. The whole work of Christ is the workmanship of God in Christ Jesus, Eph. ii. 10. Therefore, look up to him. Children's dependence is upon the parents, and yours i.s upon the supplies of Christ, for your heavenly Father knoweth what he hath made. Here is —
1. Direction to you to whom to look for increase of grace. It is the rule of nature, all things are nourished by those things by which they are begotten. God maketh the next causes to be the convey- ances of sujiport to his creatures. God begettetli you by his Spirit, actuating and quickening the word, and so he keepeth you : 1 Peter ii. 2, ' As new-born babes, desire the sincei'e milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.'
392 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [ISA. LIU. 10.
2. Exhortation to press you to conform to Jesus Christ. You are his seed, and therefore it is an eng;af;;enient to hkeness : chikh'en are to bear and show forth the image and likeness of their parents. Christ makes imitation an argument of parentage : John viii. 37, ' I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill me.' A degenerate cfispring are a shame to their ancestors. They were children of God, that came of an ancient royal family, but yet were unworthy of their extraction, 1 Chron. iv. 22, ' Who had dominion in Moab and Jashubi- lehem: and these are ancient things.' Base powers came of them that preferred sordid drudgery work to the king of Babylon before working in the temple. What doth it avail to speak of the ancient honour of our family when we are degenerated from it ? Oh, take heed you be not a stain to Jesus Christ. You came of a noble seed, the whole family of God is named of him. Ishmael came of Abraham ; but ' cast out the bondwoman and her son.' God will have no bond- slaves to inherit this honour. To be enslaved to sin, and to pretend sonship by Christ, will provoke to a casting out. Children, unless de- generate, will hold out the honour of their parents, and walk in the high steps of their ancestors ; and so must you show from whose loins and life you came by a worthy walking before God.
Use 3. Here is a word of consolation. A great deal of comfort it is to be of the seed of Christ ; as —
1. Consider what an honour is done you. By this you have a title and claim to the whole Godhead : ' He gave you power to become the sons of God.' You belong to his care, being the seed of Christ. As some living fathers among the em})erors did make their children co- partners with them in their dignity, so are you sharers with Christ in all his privileges: Rom. viii. 17, 'And if children, then heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ' Our Saviour saith, John xx. 17, ' I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.' As if you were in the same rank with Christ. And therefore it is said, Heb. ii. 11, ' He is not ashamed to call them brethren.' Christ doth not think it a disgrace to him that they should be invested in his honours and privileges.
2. This relation engageth affection.
[1.] It engageth Christ's delight to Christians. As parents' joy is in their seed, so is Christ's in your thriving and welfare. God hath made love naturally descending and running down to them that come from us. Christ is brought in as a type of Isaiah, Heb. ii. 13, rejoic- ing over his children : ' Beli<»ld I and the children which thou hast given me.' Believers are a pleasure and glory to him. To look upon the numerousness of the saints is a pleasant sight to Christ ; as to a fother to see the increase of his loins: Isa. Ixii. 4, 'For the Lord delighteth in thee.' Christ rejoiceth over his seed. It is promised as a privilege that he should see his seed, implying it should be a delight to Christ. And what a comfort is this, that we should be Christ's joy ! Therefore Paul saith, Phil. i. 8, ' God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ ; ' that is, as the bowels of Jesus Christ did yearn after you, with such like bowels do I yearn for you.