Use 1. To peisuade us to look after the spirit of adoption. We never do seriously and closely christianize, till we get it ; but either have a literal Christianity, a form of knowledge in the gospel, without the life and power ; or a legal, old-testament spirit. To quicken you, consider these motives or privileges which j'ou will have by it, —
[1.] Peace of conscience, — a rest from those troubled and unquiet thoughts which otherwise would perplex us : Rom. xiv. 17, ' For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; ' and Rom. xv. 13, ' Now the God of hope lill you with all joy and peace in believing.' This calm of mind dif- fereth from the deadness and benumbedness of a stupid conscience ; that is a thing we never laboured for, groweth upon us we know not how ; it is maintained by idleness, rather than by watchfulness and diligence ; and is inconsistent with serious thoughts of God and our eternal condition ; but this is the fruit of our reconcQiation with God, and those blessed privileges we enjoy in his family; it stirreth up admiration and thankfulness.
[2.] Liberty in prayer. For the great help we have in prayer is from the spirit of adoption : Zech. xii. 10, ' I will pom- out upon you the spirit of grace and supj)lication.' That Spirit which cometh from the grace and free favour of God, stirring up child-like addresses to God, Rom. viii. 26 ; Jude. 21, ' Building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.' Without this, our prayers are but a vain babbling.
[B.] Readiness in duty : 2 Cor. iii. 17, ' Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' They serve God with a free spirit ; the holy life is carried on with more sweetness and success ; not by compulsion, but ■with ready mind : Ps. li. 12, ' Uphold me with thy free Spirit ; ' John viii. 32, ' If the truth shall make you free, then are you free indeed.' Men are under shackles and bondage if they have not the spirit of adoption ; they drive on heavily, have not largeness of heart, and love to God, heaven, and holiness : Ps. cxix. 32, ' I will run the ways of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.' When the heart is suited to the work, there needs no other urgings ; but if we force a course of religion upon ourselves, contrary to our own inclination, all is harsh, and ingrate, and cannot hold long.
[4.] Comfort in afHictiosis. Their true consolation and support in afldictions is the spirit of adoption : Heb. xii. 5, ' Have you forgotten the exhortation whicli speaketh unto you as unto children ? ' and therefore he pursueth it all along. They that enjoy the privileges of the family, mu.st submit to the discipline of the family ; God will take his own course in bringing up his children ; ' he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth,' Heb. xii. 6, 7, 8. While we have flesh in us,
120 SEBMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. XXIII.
there is use for the rod ; if God should suffer us to go on in our sins, we were not Icsfitiraate, but degenerate children ; children take it patiently if beaten by their parents for their faults. Parents may err through want of wisdom ; their chastisement is arbitrary and irregular ; there is more of compassion than passion in God. God's I'od is regu- lated with perfect wisdom, ordered by tlio highest love, and tends to the greatest end, our holiness here, and happiness for ever ; and we have Christ's example, John xviii. 11, 'The cup which ray Father hatlv given me, shall I not drink it? ' The bitterest potions come not from God as a judge, but as a father ; are tempered by a father's hand.
[5.] Hope of the benefits of the new covenant, pardon and life. First, Pardon. We often forget the duty of children, but God doth not forget the bowels of a father ; our adoption givetii us hope that ho will not deal severely with us, Mai. iii. 17 ; Ps. ciii. 13. The relation of a child is more durable, not so easily broken off, as that of a servant ; a child is a child still, and therefore allowed to remain in the family, when a servant must be gone. Secondly, For life everlasting and glory: Rom. viii. 17, 'And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may aLso be glorified with him.' 1 John iii. 1, 2, The spirit of adoption doth both encourage, and incline ns to wait for it, Rom. viii. 2.5. But what shall we do to get this sjiirit of adoption ?
(1.) It is certain that the gift of the Spirit is the fruit of our recon- ciliation with God. The general reconciliation with mankind, was evidenced by pouring out the Spirit; personal and particular reconcili- ation with God, is the ground of giving the spirit of adoption to us : Rom. v. 11, ' We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement.' Therefore do what God requireth in order to reconciliation ; enter into conditions of peace ; enter into covenant with God ; abhor your former disobedience ; cast away the weapons of defiance ; and love God, and delight in him.