Page images
PDF
EPUB

the former rests upon a sure foundation, and is preceded by sor-, row for sin, a sense of misery, a hunger and thirst after grace, diligent self-examination, and a sense of his union with Christ. 2dly, The latter makes a man well pleased with, and to have an inward joy on account of that imaginary good, tho' in other respects he neglects God; whereas the former ravishes the soul with admiration of the divine goodness, and makes him confess himself unworthy of so great an honour and favour. 3dly, By the latter men are swallowed up in pleasure, are dull and heavy in that which is good, and unhappily give themselves up to an irregular life, thinking " they shall have peace though they walk in the imagination of their heart," Deut. xxix. 19. But the former keeps the heart in safety, Phil. iv. 7. that they may be in the fear of God continually; and this is what neither can be obtained, nor preserved without a strict exercise of godliness. 4thly, Tho' the latter falsely imagines, that he is the object of God's love, yet he himself is destitute of all love to God. But the former consists in mutual friendship. The same Abraham, who Jam. ii. 23. is called the friend; is Isa.

xli. 8. called the lover of God.

XXVIII. As spiritual peace is the consequence of justification, in was a blessing of the Old, as well as it is of the New Testament, as we shall shew in its proper place, and consequently the ancient fathers were also partakers of it; who by an unfeigned faith, believed that they were reconciled to God, on account of the surety, the Messiah, that the enmity caused by sin was removed; they had a most delightful and experimental sense of this, and often gloried in the Lord. We indeed cannot deny, that peace was eminently promised to the New Testament-church, Psal. lxxii. 3. Isa. ix. 5, 6. Hag. ii, 10. Zech. But we are not to understand this of peace and friendship with God absolutely, which is a benefit of the covenant of grace, and not of the New Testament alone: But, 1st, Of the more abundant sense of the divine favour, with respect to believers in general. 2dly, Of the agreement between the believing Israelites with the Gentiles, "having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, Eph. ii. 15. 3dly, Of the peace of God granted likewise to the Gentiles. This is expressly mentioned Zech. ix.10.

ix. 10.

VOL. I.

3K

CHAP.

CHAP. X.

Of Adoption.

I. WHOM God has admitted into a state of peace and friendship with himself, he has also adopted for his sons; that they may enjoy the benefits both of grace and glory, not only by the favour of friendship, but also by a right of inheritance. There is no friendship more familiar than that between a father and his children. Or rather that natural affection between these exceeds in familiarity and sweetness, every thing that can be signified by the name of friendship. There is not any one word, any one similitude, borrowed from human affairs that can sufficiently express or represent this most happy band of love; which can hardly be explained by a great number of metaphors heaped together. To express tranquillity of conscience, the scripture calls it peace: to shew us the pleasantness of familiarity, it calls it friendship: and when it illustrate s a right to the inheritance, it speaks of adoption; which is to be the subject of this chapter.

II. We assert that believers are the sons of God. The Apostle John proclaims it, saying, "behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: beloved, now are we the sons of God," 1 Epist iii. This is God's covenant with them: " and I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty," 2 Cor. vi. 18.

I, 2.

Ill. But they are not so, only on this account, that God, as creator, gave them being and life, Mal. ii. 10. and as preserver, supports and provides them with all necessaries, Acts xvii. 25, 28.

IV. Neither are they called the sons of God, on account of any external prerogative only; whether political, as magistrates are called the children of the most high, Psal. lxxxii 6.; or ecclesiastical, in respect of an external federal communion; according to which some are called the sons of God, Gen. vi. :. and the children of the kingdom, Mat. viii. 12; in this sense also the Lord commanded Pharaoh to be told concerning Israel, Israel is my son, even my first born, Exod. iv. 22. For this regarded that national covenant which God entered into with the children of Israel, according to which he preserved them above all other nations, and heaped many blessings upon them, both of a corporal, and spiritual kind, which he did not vouchsafe to other people, Deut. vii. 6. He called them his sons, because he managed their concerns with as much sollicitous care as any father

father could possibly do those of his own children. Deut. xxxii. 10, 11: Nay he called them his first born, not only because he loved them far better than other people, beyond the measure of common providence, shewing his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel, Psal. cxlvii. 19. as the first born had a double portion in the paternal inheritance, Deut. xxi. 17; but also because he had appointed them to have a kind of dominion over other people, let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee, be Lord over thy brethren, &c. Gen. xxvii. 29. Though these words were indeed spoken to Jacob, yet they were to be chiefly verified in his posterity of which we have illustrious evidences in David's time, 2 Sam. viii.

V. But however excellent these things were, yet they are very far below that dignity for which believers are called the sons of God: for most of those, who were called by the name of Israel and the first born, were such, with whom God was not swell pleased, and never were promoted to the inheritance of the land of Canaan, much less the heavenly inheritance, but were overthrown in the wilderness, I Cot. x. 5. That very people to whom Moses said, " is not Jehovah thy father, hath he not magnified [established] thee?" Are in the same breath called a foolish people and unwise, Deut. xxxii. 6. Nay, there are of "the children of the kingdom, who shall be cast out into utter darkness," Mat. viii. 12. For that national covenant, without any thing else, did not bestow saving grace nor a right to possess the heavenly inheritance.

VI. The elect and believers are therefore in a far more eminent sense, the sons of God: wherein John observed a love never enough to be commended, 1 John ii. 1. Angels indeed, have the glorious appellation of sons of God, Job xxxvi: 7. with which the Lord honours them, not only because he formed them, but also because he imprinted upon them the image and resemblance of his own holiness, Job iv. 18. and because, as children of the family, they familiarly converse with God in his house, which is heaven, Job i. 6: in fine, because something of the dignity and authority of God is vouchsafed unto them, as we have just said that magistrates are also called the children of the most high. These are thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, Col. i. 16: nay they are also called Gods, Psal. xcvii. 7. compared with Heb. i. 6.

VII. In almost the same sense, Adam seems also to be called the son of God, Luke iii. 38. for seeing that name, which has the article set before it, denotes father in all the foregoing verses, as the syriac in place of TM always puts ; no reason can be assigned why here, altering the phrase, we should,

3 K 2

translate

translate with Beza, who was of God; in which he has followed the Syriac, who translated it who is of God. For no doubt can be made, that Adam may be fitly called the son of God, the reasons of which Philo elegantly explains in the passage adduced by the illustrious Grotius on Luke iii. 38; in the manner Josephus has also written, that men were born of God bimself: namely, 1. God created Adam. 2. In his own image. 3. Eminently loved him, 4. Gave him dominion over the creatures. For these reasons he is deservedly called the son of God, though God had not yet declared him heir of his peculiar blessings. Nor does he seem without reason to mention Adam, as the son of God. For, this tends, as Grotius has learnedly observed, to raise our mind, by this scale, to the belief of the birth of Christ, For he, who from the earth, without a father could produce man, was able in like manner to make Christ to be born of a virgin without a father,

VIII. But Adam did not long maintain that dignity, on ac count of which he was called the Son of God; for neglecting holiness, and losing that excellency in which he has created, and suffering himself to be overcome by the devil, he became the servant of Satan by whom he was foiled, 2 Pet. ii. 19; and at the same time, a child of wrath, Eph. ii. 3. together with all his posterity. But what the elect have lost in Adam, they recover in Christ; namely, the same, nay a far more excellent degree, or rank among the children. For let the disparity between Christ and believers be ever so great, yet he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Heb. ii. 11.

IX. But the Elect obtain this degree of children of God several ways. First, they become the Sons of God by a new and spiritual generation, descending from above: John speaks of this, chap. i. 12, 13. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." This illustrious passage, which is variously explained by interpreters, requires some particular consideration.

X. The Apostle describes this generation, or birth, whereby the Elect become the sons of God, both negatively and positively: he denies it to be of blood, that is, natural or ordinary, like that, whereby the children come to be partakers of flesh and blood, Heb. ii. 14. and which is judged to be of blood: neither is it of the will of the flesh, that is, from any carnal desire of having children by any means; hence it is, that one, by giving too much indulgence to the corrupt reasoning of the flesh, makes use of means for that end, which God never prescribed: something

something like this we may observe in Sarah, when from a desire of having children she gave Hagar to Abraham : nor in fine is it of the will of man, who, for certain reasons of his own, loves one above others, and so appoints him to the principal part of the inheritance: just as this was the will of Isaac with respect to Esau. Nothing human can give being to this spiritual generation, which is only of God, who decreed it from eternity and actually regenerate at the appointed time.

XI. To those, who are thus born of God, he gave power to become the sons of God. Esia here denotes right and power, Rev. xxii. 14. that they may have a right to the tree of life. But it may seem strange, how they who are born of God, may have a right to become sons of God; seeing, by their very nativity from God, they are already become his children. To remove this difficulty, three things chiefly have been observed by very learned men: 1st, As yvistai, to become, is the second Aorist, it may fitly be taken for the preterperfect; to this effect, he gave them that power, that right, that dignity, that they might become the sons of God, and enjoy the privileges, which are suitable to that condition. 2dly, Γινεςθαι τοιᾶτον denotes in Scripture phrase, to be such a one, or to behave, as becomes such a one. Thus it is used, Mat. v. 45. us yoursts vier Te Halpe; p that ye may be the children of your father, that you may behave yourselves, as becomes the children of God, see 1 Thess. ii. 7, 10. 3dly, It might also be referred to that perfect filial state, which shall be conjoined with the redemption of our body, and which the Apostle, Rom. viii. 23. enjoins us to wait for: and so the meaning may be, that God has granted those who are born of him, a right to the heavenly inheritance, and that unparalleled honour, by which, both in scul and body, they shall rejoice, as children of the family, in the palace of their father: in such a manner, that it shall not be in the power of any creature to strip, diminish, or cut them off from that dignity. The reader may chuse which expositions, he has a mind. We are not a little pleased with the last; but wherein this new birth consists, we have explained at large, Chap. VI. of this book.

XII. And this is the first foundation of that glorious state. Secondly, We become the children of God by marriage with the Lord Jesus; for when we become his spouse, then we pass with him into his father's family, and the father calls us by the endearing name of daughter, Psal. xlv. 10 and the Lord Jesus calls her also his sister, whom he names his spouse, Cant. v. I, 2. God had provided by his law, that if a man betroth his maid-servant unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner

of

« PreviousContinue »