VeR. 15.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. Ill
wonder of his love and good will to sinners, manifested to us in and by Jesus Christ.
4. Live holily, and obey the motions of the sanctifying Spirit. We deprive ourselves of comfort by falling into sin ; the more tlie Spirit is a sanctifier, the more a comforter. Holiness breedeth a generous confidence : 1 John iii. 2, ' Behold, now we ai'e the sons of God.' Gal. v. 18, ' But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.' If we are not watchful against sin, our bondage returneth ; therefore David saith, Ps. li. 12, ' Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me by thy free Spirit.' The Holy Spirit withdraweth and suspendeth his comforts, when we walk vainly and loosely ; then we cannot serve God with any delight and readiness of mind ; it is not a free spirit, but a servile, that then governeth us, and influenceth our action.s.
SERMON XXIII.
But ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.— UoM. VIII. 1.5.
In the words we have, —
First, A privilege, — ' Ye have received the spirit of adoption.'
Second. One special fruit and effect of it, — ' Whereby we cry, Abba, Father.'
In setting down the effect, the change is emphatical ; ye received ; ive cry ; he includeth himself, and puts in his own name together with theirs, to show that it is a privilege common to all that receive the new testament ; the meanest and least of God's children have an affectionate and child-like way of praying unto God.
Boot. That the spirit which we receive under the new covenant dis- pensation, is a spirit of adoption.
I shall explain these five things :
1. The state of adoption which we obtain under the new testament.
2. Tlie spirit of adoption consequent thereupon.
3. Whether all that live under the new testament dispensation have the spirit of adoption.
4. Whether all that have it, know it.
5. The reasons why this is the fruit of the new covenant dispensation. 1. What is the state of adoption ? Our admission into God's family,
that he will be a father to us, and we shall be his children : 2 Cor. vi. 18, ' I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.' Which is a great privilege, if we consider three things, (1.) His relation to mankind in the general; (2.) His relation to the ancient church under the legal covenant ; (3.) The estate wherein his grace found us, when he was pleased to take us into his family.
[1.] His relation to mankind in general. So he is the father of all
112 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIIl. [SeR. XXIII.
the world, as he created them ; and Adam is called the son of God, Luke iii. 38. He is a father to any, who givelh them being, and hath a right to govern them ; so is God to us ; he made us, and is the sole cause of our being and not being, and so hath a right in us to dispose of us at his own pleasure. But the relation that we have to God by adoption is distinct from the natural being ; this is our new being, which we have from him as his redeemed ones ; our natural being flowed from his benignity and common bounty, but our spiritual being from his special grace and love to us in Christ. By creation we are his children, as he formed us in the womb, and created the soul within us; called therefore the Father of spirits, Heb. xii. 9, in opposition to the fathers of our flesh ; but he is our father by adoption, as wc are regenerated by the Holy Ghost : John i. 12, 13, ' To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God ; being born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' Our new birth and spiritual being in Christ, is the next ground of our adoption, and so we come into a nearer relation to him, that we may be capable of receiving the fruits of his special love ; it is the benefit of our redemption applied by his sanctifying Spirit to all them that shall be heirs of life. By the common relation, God hath a title to our dearest love, hut we have no title to his highest benefits ; and therefore he is our father in a more comfortable sense, as we are his workman- ship in Christ.
[2.] His relation to the ancient church through the legal covenant. So God was a father to them, and they were his children ; for Israel was called his first-born, Exod. iv. 22, in opposition to other nations, who were left to perish in their own ways ; and their descendants are called ' the children of the kingdom,' Mat. viii. 12, because they had the ordinances and means of grace. But the gospel-church is properly ' the church of the first-born,' Heb. xii. 23, as they have a clearer knowledge of the privileges belonging to God's children, and a larger participation, and more comfortable use of them ; and so are freed from that rigour and servitude which belonged to the first administration of the covenant of grace. They have that which answereth the privilege of primo- geniture,/iis sacerdolis, etjus Imreditatis. The right of priesthood, — as they are ' a royal priesthood,' 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; ' made kings and priests unto God,' Kev. i. 5, because they ' offer up spiritual sacrifices accept- able to God by Jesus Christ,' 1 Pet. ii. 5. They are sejiarated by the election of God from the rest of the world, and have au unction from his Holy Spirit, 1 John ii. 20 ; and so are qualified to ofier up them- selves, Rom. xii. 1, and prayers and praises, and alms unto God, Heb. xiii. 15, 16. The other privilege of the birth-right is, jus hcereditatis ; the first-born had a double portion, not only of possessions, but of dignity and honour, above their brethren. All God's children are heirs, and heirs of the heavenly inheritance ; the multitude of co-heirs doth not lessen the inheritance, nor make the privilege less glorious ; they are ' heirs of salvation,' Heb. i. 14.