432 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN II. 12-14. [SeR. VI.
our parents know not whether the child will be male or female, beauti- ful or deformed, cannot tell the number of the bones, muscles, veins, arteries ; this God appointeth. The soul, which was the better part of man, is of his immediate creation ; therefore he is called ' the Father ©f spirits,' Heb. xii. 9, ' Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence ; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits ? ' they do not run in the channel of carnal generation or fleshly descent. In this general sense, by virtue of creation, God is the Father of all men, good and bad.
2. More especially, there is a particular sort of men to whom God is a father in Christ, and they are his children. This title is not by nature, but by grace : John i. 12, ' Bat as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.' As many as believe in his name have this privilege, to be called ' the sons of God.' Although the best that ever lived have reason to judge themselves to be unworthy to be in the rank of servants to the Lord, yet it pleaseth him to advance the meanest that Teceive Christ by faith to the dignity and privilege of being his children. All such, even the meanest believer not excluded, may call God father. The thing itself, nakedly considered, is a greater dignity than the world can afford us ; as a thing to be wondered at rather than told: 1 John hi. 1, 'Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God ! ' Admire it we may, express it to the full we cannot. It was said, 1 Sam. xviii. 22, ' Seemeth it a light thing to you to be a king's son-in-law ? ' We may with better reason say, Is it a small matter to become sons and daughters to the most high God ? But if we consider how it was brought about, it doth more heighten it in our thoughts. The founda- tion of it was laid in the election of God ; for ' we were predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,' Eph. i. 5. But before his decree could be executed and take place, the redemption of Christ was necessary. For we read, Gal. iv. 4, 5, ' But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adop- tion of sons.' Sin needed to be expiated by the Son of God in our nature before God would bestow this honour upon us. Christ was to be our brother before God would be our father ; and to take a mother upon earth, that we might have a father in heaven ; yea, to be made ' under the law,' to endure the law's curse, before we could be instated in this blessing. What need had God to be at such expense for poor worthless creatures ? He had a Son of his own, in whom his soul found full complacency and delight. Men adopt in orbitatis solatium ; it is a remedy found out for the comfort of them who have no children. It was never heard of that a father who had a son should adopt a son. Now that the Lord should adopt and take us into his family, who are the children of the devil by nature, this dignity, as it imports great privilege to us, so it calleth for great duty at our hands.
[1.] It importeth great privilege to us. There are great benefits accrue to us thereby.
VeE. 13, 14.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN II. 12-14. 433
- (1.) The gift of the Holy Ghost. God, as a father by creation, gave us our natural endowments ; but as a father by adoption, he giveth us the supernatural grace of the Spirit. It was given to Christ without measure, that all God's children and the members of Christ's mystical body might receive it from him as the head and fountain of their life :
1 Because we are sons, he hath sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father,' Gal. iv. 6. Whosoever hath this high privilege of adoption conferred upon them, they have the Spirit of God given to them, to reside and dwell in their hearts, as their sanctifier, guide, and comforter, to sanctify and to transform them into the likeness of Christ :
2 Cor. iii. 18, ' But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' To guide them in all their ways : Eom. viii. 14, ' For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' To comfort them with a sense of their gracious estate for the present: Eom. viii. 16, 'The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God;' and to assure them of a blessed estate for the future : 2 Cor. i. 22, ' Who hath sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.' The residence and dwelling of the Holy Ghost in our hearts is most felt in prayer : Eom. viii. 26, ' Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered ; ' Jude 20, ' Building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost ; ' teaching the saints to address themselves to God as a father, with a familiar and childlike confidence, and yet with a holy reverence ; with a humble submission, and yet with a holy vehemency and earnestness, opposite to that careless for- mality and deadness which is in other men's prayers.