174 SERMONS Ul'ON El'HESIANS Y. [SeR. I.
accordiug to the former lusts in your i^niorance ; bui as he wliich hath called you is holy, so be ye holy iu all maimer ofconversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, as I am holy.' And })resently, in the l7Lh verse,
* If ye call on the Father,' &c. Well, then, our adoi)tion into Gods family calleth for a likeness between God and us. Good men may beget children no way like them ; as under the law, though tlie father was ciicumcised, yet the child was boru uncircumcised ; they cannot propagate grace. Yea, where we are more at liberty, we may adopt children that may not answer expectation, but show themselves unthank- ful, and unworthy of favour ; for men cannot i)ut a towardliness into them. But God changeth and reneweth the heai-t, as well as adopteth. Therefore there should be, and will be, such a conformity between God and all his children that they plainly resemble him. I shall strengthen tlie argument by this additional notion, that in morals, he is accounted our father whom we imitate ; as Gen. iv. 20, Jabal is said to be * the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle ; ' that is, of all such as followed his course of life, whether they were lineally descended from him, yea or no. And ver. 21, Jubal is said to be ' the father of such as handle the harp and organ ; ' that is, the first inven- tor. So in matters spiritual, there are two sorts of children in the world, the children of God and the children of the devil. The children of God are such as imitate God, and the children of the devil are such as have a satanical nature in them, and are like the devil : John viii. 44, ' Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do ; he was a liar and a murderer from the beginning, and the father of it.' He is an envious, malicious, proud spirit, a cruel enemy of truth and goodness, and whosoever imitaleth him in this is a child of the devil ; as the apostle calleth Elymas the sorcerer : Acts xiii. 10, ' Oh, full of all subtilty and mischief, thou child of the devil, and enemy of all righteousness ! ' On the other side, the children of God are such as are influenced by God, and imitate God in all purity and goodness. Now there should be a broad and manifest difference between the children of God and of the devil, 1 John iii. 10 ; therefore as children be followers of God.
2. The love that accompanieth and goeth along with this relation,
* As dear children.'
[1.] There was a great deal of love showed in giving us our new nature in regeneration, and taking us into so near a relation to himself as that of children : 1 John iii. ], ' Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God ! ' ' Behold' serveth sometimes to excite our faith, that we may believe the certainty of things so strange and unusual ; sometimes our wonder and reverence, that we may consider the worth and value of them. Be it for one end or other, surely it is a great grace and favour that he would take such poor creatures into his family, that God will be our own Father, and look upon us as his own children. All is from love, great love, which we may admire, but cannot sufficiently express. Now this love should beget love in us again ; we should love him and own him as our Father ; and what will follow ? Love will beget sludium imitandi, and endeavour to be like him in benignity and holiness ; for we love him not only as a good God, but as a holy God.
VeR 1.] ' SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 17.>
Object. But you will say, If I knew that lie did thus love mc, and had adopted me to tliis grace, this might the sooner be done. I answer.—
(1.) He maketh you the offer of this privilege, as great as it is, and it is your fault if you do not apply it and make it your own. The terms are gracious enough : John i. 12, ' To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.'
(2.) God hath a title to our dearest love before we can assure a title to his choicest benefits. He made you out of nothing, provided a saviour ibr you without your thought or asking, hatli offered pardon and life to all that will accept of it in and wdth Christ to gospel ends. Now this should attract and draw our love to him. Our first motive to love God is not the persuasion of his special love to us, but the tendering of the new^ covenant, the offered happiness by Christ : 2 Cor. V. 19, 20, ' To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them ; and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.'