Gal. iv. 6. Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
IF we were to judge by the exterior of men's lives, we should be ready to think that Christianity had done but little hitherto for the world : for it must be confessed, that, of those who profess our holy religion, the greater part differ very little from heathens. But then it must be recollected, that there is much wrought by the Gospel, which, though to a certain degree visible in its effects, is seen clearly only by God himself. TheYe is in every one, who receives the Gospel aright, a change, both in his state before God and in the secret habit of his mind. From an enemy
to God, he is made a friend and a son ; and from serving God by constraint, as a slave, be comes to him with a spirit of adoption, as a beloved child. Now, the acts of this person may be, in many respects, what they were before ; so that one who looks only on the outward appearance, shall see no great difference between him and others : but God, who has made all this difference, discerns it ; and appreciates the obe- dience that is paid to him, not according to the mere act, but according to the motive or principle from which it flows. Now, taking this view of Christianity, we must say, that it has been, and yet is, productive of incalculable good : for still, as well as in the apostolic age, God begets sons to himself by means of it ; and " when they are made sons, he pours forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
In illustration of these words, I will shew,
I. The relation which every true Christian bears to God—
Every Christian, from a rebel and an enemy, be- comes " a son."
In this we have the advantage of those under the law —
[The Jews, though God's peculiar people, were not his sons, but his servants : or, if we call them his sons, (for doubt- less he was a Father unto them,) still they were only as " mi- nors, who differed very little from servants." They were under severe and burthensome restraints : they had but a small portion of their inheritance in actual enjoyment ; and they performed their duties altogether in a servile spirit*. But under the Gospel we are regarded as adult sons, who are freed from those restraints, and enjoy a spirit of liberty in the whole of our life and conversation. This is not only affirmed in our text, but taken, as it were, for granted, and assumed as the ground of those further blessings which are bestowed upon us.]
And to this we are introduced by our Lord Jesus Christ—
a ver. 1 — 3. M 2