(3.) He signally gave out the first promise, that great foundation of the covenant of grace; and afterwards declared, confirmed, and ratified by his oath, that covenant wherein all the means of bring- ing the elect unto glory are contained, Gen. iii. 15; Jer. xxxi. 31-34; Heb. viii. 8-12. The person of the Father is considered as the prin- cipal author of the covenant, as the person covenanting and taking us into covenant with himself; the Son, as the Messiah, being con- sidered as the surety and mediator of it, Heb. vii. 22, ix. 15, and the purchaser of the promises of it.
(4.) He gave and sent his Son to be a Saviour and Redeemer for them and unto them; so that in his whole work, in all that he did and suffered, he obeyed the command and fulfilled the will of the Father. Him did God the Father “send,” and “seal,” and “ give,” and “set forth,’ as the Scripture everywhere expresseth it. And our Lord Jesus Christ everywhere remits us to the consideration of the love, will, and authority of his Father, in all that he did, taught, or suffered ; so seeking the glory of God that sent him.
(5.) He draws his elect, and enables them to come to the Son, to believe in him, and so to obtain life, salvation, and glory by him. “No man,” saith our Saviour, “can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him,” John vi. 44. No man, no, not any one of the elect, can come to Christ, unless the Father, in the pur- suit of that love from whence it was that he sent the Son, do put forth the efficacy of his grace to enable him thereunto: and accord- ingly he reveals him unto some, when he is hidden from others, Matt. xi, 25; for the revelation of Christ unto the soul is the imme- diate act of the Father, Matt. xvi. 17.
(6.) Being reconciled unto them by the blood of his Son, he re- conciles them unto himself, by g giving them pardon and forgiveness of sins in and by the promises of the gospel; without which they
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cannot come to glory. He is in Christ reconciling us unto himself, by the non-imputation or forgiveness of our sins, 2 Cor. v. 18-21; forgiving us all our trespasses for Christ’s sake, Eph. iv. 32. There are many things concurring unto the pardon of sin that are peculiar acts of the Father.
(7.) He quickens them and sanctifies them by his Spirit, to make them “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light;” that is, for the enjoyment of glory. “ He that raised up Jesus from the dead quickens us by his Spirit,” Rom. viii. 11; so “saving us by the wash- ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us richly by Jesus Christ,” Tit. ui. 5, 6. This renovation and sanctification by the Holy Ghost, and all supplies of actual grace, enabling us unto obedience, are everywhere asserted as the grant and work of the Father, “who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.” And so in especial is the saving illu- mination of our minds, to know the mystery of his grace, and dis- cern the things that are of God, 2 Cor. iv. 6; Col. 11,2; Eph. iii. 14-19; Matt. xi. 25.
(8.) As the great Father of the family he adopts them, and makes them his sons, that so he may bring them unto glory. He gives them the power or privilege to become the sons of God, John i. 11; making them heirs and co-heirs with Christ, Rom. viii. 14-17; send- ing withal into their hearts the Spirit of adoption, enabling them to ery, “ Abba, Father,” Gal. iv. 6. The whole right of adopting children is in the Father; and so is the authoritative translation of them out of the world and kingdom of Satan into his own family and household, with their investiture in all the rights and privileges thereof.
(9.) He confirms them in faith, establisheth them in obedience, preserveth them from dangers and oppositions of all sorts, and in manifold wisdom keeps them through his power unto the glory pre- pared for them;/as 2 Cor. i. 21, 22; Eph. ii. 20, 21; 1 Pet. i 5; John xvii. 11.
(10.) He gives them the Holy Ghost as their comforter, with all those blessed and unspeakable benefits which attend that gift of his, Matt. vii. 11; Luke xi. 13; John xiv. 16, 17; Gal. iv. 6.
In brief, in bringing the elect unto glory, all the sovereign acts of power, wisdom, love, and grace exerted therein, are peculiarly assigned unto the Father, as all ministerial acts are unto the Son as mediator; so that there is no reason why he may not be said, by the way of eminency, to be the dywyedz, the leader or bringer of his sons unto glory.
_ And herein lies a great direction unto believers, and a great sup- portment for their faith. Peter tells us that “by Christ we do be- lieve in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory;
382 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. IT.
that our faith and hope might be in God,” 1 Pet.i.21. Jesus Christ, considered as mediator, is the newt, but not the wltimate object of our faith and hope. We so believe in him as by him to believe in God, that is, the Father, whose love is the supreme fountain and spring of our salvation; which the apostle manifests in that double instance of his raising up Christ and giving him glory, thereby declaring himself the principal author of the great work of his mediation. This he directs us unto, so to believe in Christ as that, discerning in and by him the grace, good-will, and love of the Fa- ther himself towards us, we may be encouraged to fix our faith and hope on him, seeing he himself loveth us. So that Christ himself had no need to pray for the love of the Father unto us, but only for the communication of the effects of it, John xvi. 26, 27. And this is the work of faith, when, as we are directed, we pray to the Father in the name of Christ, John xvi. 23, 24; and we thus place our faith in God the Father, when we conceive of him as the sove- reign leader of us unto glory, by all the instances before mentioned, And then doth faith find rest in him, delight, complacency, and satisfaction, as we have elsewhere declared.