thofe profefs to believe, who reject the Divinity of our Saviour? That is, that if we believe and obey the Gofpel of Chrift, God will be a Father to us, and deal with us as with Sons, which is our Adoption in Chrift; that he will forgive our Sins, and beftow an Immortal Inheritance upon us; the only Difference feems to be, that this has lefs of Mystery in it, but fignifies the fame Happiness, which we expect by our Adoption in Chrift; that excepting their Miftakes in Faith, they have the fame Hopes and Expectations, and believe all this as firmly as we do.

Now tho' a Miftake of this Nature is of fatal Confequence, (for it is not enough to believe the Forgiveness of Sins and Immortal Life, unless we believe and hope for it in God's Way, and accept of it, as he has offered it) the Jews believed this, but were rejected by God, because they rejected their Meffias; and if God had made Chrift not only a Preacher of Righteousness, to publish his Will for the Salvation of Mankind, but the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him, Heb. v. 9. if this be his Commandment, that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jefus Christ, 1 John iii. 23. if whosoever shall confefs, that Jefus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and be in God, 1 John iv. 15. if this be the Record, that God hath given unto us eternal Life, and this Life is in his Son, and that he that bath the Son bath Life, and he that hath not the Son of God bath not Life, 1 John v. 11, 12. which St. John so often inculcates on us; it is to little purpose to believe other Matters, without believing Jefus to be the Son of God, the eternal Son of the eternal Father; for it is this Son of God alone

in

in whom we receive the Adoption: But, I fay, to fet afide this now, there is a vast difference in the Thing it felf, between knowing and believing God to be our Father in Chrift his eternal Son, in whom he hath adopted us to be his Sons and Children; and God's owning himself to be our Father, and us his Children, without any other Reafon or Foundation for fuch a Relation, but only his Promise for Chrift's Sake to be kind and merciful to us, as a Father is to his Children. For, 1. Here is the Dignity and Glory of the Relation loft; for in this Senfe, God's being our Father fignifies no relation to us, unless that of a Maker, and Sovereign Lord; but it properly denotes the Nature and Adminiftration of his Government, which is kind, affectionate, and merciful, as the Govermment of a Father is or ought to be; and our being his Sons fignifies no more than that we fhall be kindly and mercifully used, as Sons are by their Father; which indeed is great Grace and Favour to Sinners, but no more than what innocent Creatures might expect from God by the right of Creation, and therefore finds no new Relation between God and us. But it is a quite different thing to be united to Chrift as the Members of his Body, to be one with Chrift the Eternal Son of God, and to be owned by God for his Sons, as the Myftical Body of his Son, as the Brethren of his eternal Son, and therefore his Sons by Adoption and Grace; this is a Character not inferior to that of Angels; human Nature is advanced above Angels by its perfonal Union with the Son of God; this Incarnate Jefus is the Lord of Angels,

S 4.

the

the Head of all Principalities and Powers, who are but the Minifters of his Kingdom; and therefore Chriftians, who have a natural relation to the human Nature of Chrift, and are fpiritually united in his Myftical Body, who by their relation to the eternal Son of God have God for their Father, and are owned by him for his Sons, are thereby advanced to the Dignity of Angels, which human Nature in its utmost Glory and Perfection, without fuch a Relation and Character, could never pretend to; but the Dignity of the Relation fets an inferior Nature upon the level with them. And therefore the Scripture fpeaks of our Adoption and Sonship, as the height of Glory and Advancement: To as many as received him, to them gave be Power to become the Sons of God, John 1. 12. and, behold what manner of Love the Father bath bestowed on us, that we should be called the Sons of God, 1 John iii. 1. What this

is now we cannot tell, for though now we are the Sons of God, it doth not yet appear what we fhall be as the Glory of the King's Son is not fo vifible out of his Father's Court and Kingdom; but when we come into the Kingdom of the Son, and appear under the Character of Sons, we shall then shine forth like the Sun in the Kingdom of our Father; whatever our external Glory fhall then be, which we are affured will be very great, the Glory of our Relation and Character of the Sons of God will give the greatest Brightness and Luftre to it. This I hope may fatisfy you what a vast difference there is between being the Sons of God, and having the Title of Sons without the Relation, which we can never have without the Adoption in the eternal Son of God: If

Christ

Christ be not the eternal Son of God, our being adopted the Sons of God in Chrift, founds big, but fignifies nothing great; fo that those muft never part with the Faith of Father and Son, who would not part with the Glory and Happiness of their Adoption.

2. Those who deny Chrift to be the eternal Son of God, and that we are adopted in this eternal Son, lose the best Security of God's Fatherly Love and Affection to them; which yet is all they mean by God's being our Father in Christ.

Besides the Dignity and Glory of the Relation, the great Happiness of having God for our Father is, that it entitles us to his Fatherly Love, Affection, and Care; and gives us as great Affurance of this, as we have of our Relation to him; for Affection fprings from Relalation and is fuch as the Relation is; fo that whatever Promife God makes us of being a Father to us, and of treating us as Sons, if he be not our Father, this cannot give us fuch full Satisfaction of Mind, and fuch a firm Hope in God, as to know that he is our Father. When we are affured of this, we need no other Proof of his Fatherly Affection; and all Mankind prefer the Security of Nature before any Promises, which may have fuch fecret Referves, Limatations, and Conditions, as Nature cannot have. And yet to promise the Love and Affection of a Father without the Relation, is justly thought impracticable; for fuch Affections as are due only to fuch Relations, and naturally refult from them, can never be applied to any other Object. A Man may be extremely kind to a Child that is not his own, and may do as much for it, as if it were his own; but he cannot have the Affe

Affection of a Father for it, which is a very different Paffion from all other kinds of Love, and has a peculiar Tenderness and Concernment in it, which nothing but Nature can give, And therefore fuch a Man wishes, that the beloved Child were his own, and finds a new Pleafure and a new Paffion in fuch a Thought; and fuch a Child, if he have Understanding enough, wifhes that fuch a kind Perfon were his Father, and would think himfelf more fecure in a natural Affection.

This fhews us, what a vaft Difference there is between God's Promife to be our Father, and his being our Father, and our knowing him to be our Father; and yet as I have fhewn you, this is all that God's being our Father can fignify, that he promises to deal as kindly and mercifully by us, as a Father deals by his Children, unless Chrift be his eternal Son by Nature, and we made the Sons of God by our Adoption in Chrift his eternal Son. That God calls himself our Father, and us his Sons and Children, does give us the Security of his Promife, that he will love us, and do good to us, for that is the leaft thefe Names can fignify; but yet if there be no fuch Relation, as that of Father and Sons between God and us, this does not and cannot fignify what we properly call a fatherly Love and Affection, which can never be separated from the Relation, nor fubfift without it; which yet as it is the highest Security, fo it gives the divineft and moft tranfporting Pleasures to the Mind; for the Love of a Father confidered by it felf is a mighty Pleasure to a dutiful Child who loves his Father: It is a great Pleasure to be beloved, especially with the most natural and tender Affection, which is the Love of a Fa

ther.