a Zeal doth Faith stir up for the Worship of God and no less for the Truth of God this is a precious jewel a secret out of the Fathers bosom a beam come down from Heaven to light us thither if this be subverted Zeal will stand up and vindicate it Secundus when he was commanded to deliver up his Bibles to be burnt answered Christianus sum non traditor In the first General Councils how earnest were the Fathers for the Faith they would not exchange a letter or syllable of it The Arrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not pass instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor the Nestorian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applied to Christ as man instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applied to the blessed Virgin With what an heroical and gallant spirit did Luther cleave to the Evangelical Truth Pia est sancta hac in re nostra pertinacia in this ours is a pious and holy obstinacy saith he Such a Zeal for truth doth Faith ralse up In sum Faith hath a single eye at Gods Glory and so endears all things tending thereunto that upon the least violation thereof Zeal will be ready to break forth in that behalf Moreover Faith gives a further advance thereunto by looking on the unparallelled Love of God O what a Zeal hath he for our Salvation Hath he not writ our poor names in the book of Life and shall we neglect his glorious one Hath not he sent his own Son in the flesh to be the great Ordinance of our Salvation and to fill all the under-Ordinances with his Spirit and Grace and shall we not be zealous in and for his Worship Are not his holy Truths the day-star in our bearts seeds of the New Creature and Cordials of rich Comfort and shall we not earnestly contend for them Will he not glorifie us to all eternity above and shall we not glorifie him in our little span of time here below Whilest Faith is thus musing the fire of Zeal must needs kindle in our Hearts Another Grace actuated by Faith is Meekness which is as cool in our own cause as Zeal is hot in Gods This is the great Moderatrix of Anger that it breaks not out Preter squum bonum not unjustly for a light occasion as that Pope's did who raged upon the missing a cold Peacock and blasphemously added If God was so angry for an Apple he might justly be so for a Peacock Nor upon a just cause excessively as it did in that great Conqueror Stephen King of Poland who was so angry with the Rigenses about the Gregorian Calendar that he sell into Epileptical sus and died Natural Meekness is a beautiful thing and so is Moral but neither is a Grace Natural being but the result of a sweet temper of Body and Moral but the improvement of Reason neither levels so high as Gods Glory In Natural we do but comply with our Temperament and in Moral but sacrifice to our Reason But the Grace of Meekness is a portion of that Dove-like Spirit which rested upon Christ and aims at his Glory whose Goodness is resembled thereby Hence it is observable that where the Meekness is only Natural or Moral Men will be angerless and sintully meek even when Gods Glory lies at the Stake their Meekness being as opposite to holy Zeal as to rash Anger but where the Grace of Meekness is Men in their own concerns glorifie God by a cool converse and in Gods call for Zeal to vindicate his Glory To promote this Grace Faith doth many things as first it looks at the infinite Long-sufferance of God O what doth he bear from Men His Laws are violated Blessings abused Name blasphemed Glory stained and all by his own Creatures and in his own World and day after day year after year nay one age after another and yet the axle-tree of his Patience breaks not under it 〈…〉 a look at this will much meeken us Excellent Melincton under great Calumnies was still of a cool spirit and when his Enemies said That they would not leave him a footstep in Germany all hi◠reply was That he should have one in Heaven And what made him so meek we may gather from his own words Nullum hominem tantum sustinere malorum quantum contumeliarum Deus No man bears so many evils as God doth contumelies And if we will be followers of God we must be meek and as a further motive hereunto Faith looks unto Christ in whom Meekness is exemplified in our own Nature that we may not say flesh and blood cannot be so under reproaches injuries contradictions bloody sufferings He was as a lamb not opening his mouth when he was reviled be reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not 1 Pet. 2.23 And the Believer must follow him and the rather because he hath a spirit of Meekness from him to do so Such a spirit shewed it self in Beza who when in a Dispute about the Eucharist the Jesuits called him and his Colleagues Foxes and Serpents only replied Nos non magis credimns quà m Transubstantiationem We believe it as much as we do Transubstantiation Again this Grace is much advanced by Reslections without Faith a man is a stranger at home and knows every thing better than his own Heart as St. Bernard faith of Petrus Abailardus He knew every thing better than himself but where Faith is there is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a Man looks in wardly into his own Heart and there finds such a black nest of Corruptions that upon reproaches and injuries ostered he is ready to commune with himself and say Are not such Sins with me even with me at least seminally if not actually Have not I done worse to God and may I not do so to Men Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est such Reflections wonderfully meeken us Hence St. Bernard saith That he never saw another man sin but he was jealous of his own Heart Ille heri tu hodie ego cras he did it yesterday and thou to day and I to morrow St. Paul exhorts the Gà latians in the Plural number to restore the lapsed in the spirit of Meekness and adds the reason in the singular considering thy self Gal. 6.1 He changes the number as the Judicious Interpreter observes That every one in particular may deseend into himself and there find an Argument for Meekness towards others Moreover Faith promotes this Grace by viewing the Promises made thereunto which are as large as heart can wish Would we have the things of the World The meek shall inherit the earth and to sweeten it They shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace Psal 37.11 Would we have the things of God The meek shall be beautified with salvation Psal 149.4 And all the good tydings in the Gospel are to be preached to them Isa 61.1 For the true Way They have God to teach them and guide them
of grace and breaths beams of light and utters sparkles of glory nothing but mysteries and rectitudes and words of eternal life ever came from him and to make these come home to thee he is an inward Ecclesiastes one who can unlock thy secrets and come into the midst of thee and there express himself in words of life and power and all the while his Majesty shall not swallow thee up He speaks through an humane nature and vail of flesh in rare condescension and compassion towards thy weakness Whilest faith is in the high praises of this great Prophet the heart cannot chuse but be upon the wheels ready to run to him and say speak Lord for thy servant heareth Secondly It doth it by humbling and softning the heart Before faith a man is in the ruff of pride and there 's no speaking to him his heart is as a stone or Adamant and beats off holy truths but after it the man becomes as a little child and Christ may say any thing to him his stony heart is turned into flesh and so made ready for God to be manifested in it Faith doth so meeken the heart that it will sit down at Christs feet and hear him even in his hardest Lectures Let Christ talk of racks and bloody persecutions for the Gospel and the believer will be ready to get up the cross on his back Let Christ preach of high and transcendent mysteries such as reason cannot fathom and the believer will subscribe in silence what ever reason mutter against it Secondly Faith having discipled the soul yields it up to Christ to be taught And because now he doth not teach in person as once in the days of his flesh faith yields up the soul to him to be taught by his spirit The discipled believer loves to stand as Adam in the wind of the day in the gales of the holy spirit And this will appear in two-things First Faith waits upon the Spirit in the Means and when the spirit comes in holy motions it welcomes him into the soul Faith waits upon the Spirit in the Means there it cries out as Elisha at Jordan where is the God of Elijah here 's the mantle but where 's the God here are the Scriptures but where 's the Spirit that endited them to make holy impressions and seal divine truths upon the heart here are the ordinances but oh for the moving of the waters awake O North wind and come thou South blow upon the garden that the spices may flow out And when the spirit comes in holy motions faith opens the everlasting doors and welcoms him in as Laban did Abrahams servant come in thou blessed of the Lord stand not only without in the Scripture-letter come in thou that comest in the name of the Lord. Take the throne of my heart and bid the world go down and sit at thy footstool Take the keys of the soul and unlock every faculty set up thy lamps in every dark corner and discover the accursed things there Speak O heavenly Rabbi speak in words of life and power and shew me the path of life and righteousness Secondly Faith is very chary and loth to lose the teaching spirit Like the Spouse in the Canticles it holds him and and will not let him go Cant. 3.4 This is to the believer as the apple of his eye he would not have a dust of earth fall into to lest it grieve and weep out some of the holy light and as the fire in the Temple it must not go out if there be but a live coal or single spark it must be brown up into a flame Holy motions are very precious to the believer as it were beams of heaven better in Faiths account then the great Sun which quickens the animal world and like so many good Angels sent from God to give the soul a visit rather then these should be violated and abused faith will offer all its worldly comforts as Lot his daughters to be defloured If the holy spirit depart faith writes scabbed upon all other things and the believer becomes as a dead man unable to breath in prayer or walk in holiness or live or have a being in the spiritual world The Sun is down and it is night with him the dew is off and his fleece dry the gales are wanting and he is at a stand in his voyage to heaven Thus faith yields up the soul to be taught by the spirit Secondly In and through Christ the Mediator faith yields up the soul to God to be taught by the spirit I say in and through Christ the Mediator Without a Mediator God will not speak to a sinful creature unless out of the fire in words of wrath like those at the last day Go thou cursed one If he speak and commune with us in words of peace and salvation it must be from the mercy-seat that is through Christ who is called Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or propitiatory Rom. 3.25 Hence Christ is called the wisdom of God because through him that wisdom doth manifest it self and as God speaks so faith hears and resigns both are in and through the Mediator I say in and through the Mediator faith yields up the soul to God to be taught by the spirit the very same teaching spirit as it was procured by the Mediator so it is given out by God Therefore faith for the teaching thereof resigns up the soul as to the Mediator the procurer so to God the donor of it And in this resignation faith climbs up to him by that noble Attribute of his infinite wisdom Are there transcendent mysteries in Scripture Faith will resign and cry out with Zophar Oh! that God would speak and shew me the secrets of wisdom Whilest the Scripture is in its hands it sighs and looks up for the key to unlock and shew forth this and that truth in its spiritual glory or at least in some such beams of it as it is capable of the Original Languages will not serve its turn without the Original Author nor the Learned Commentators without the great Interpreter that only wise God who endited the Scripture can illustrate the heart and whilest the believer reads the one he waits for the other Is there a practical case dubious and perplexed like an intricate Labyrinth or way-less wilderness and when the believer goes about to put all circumstances into the ballance doth he tremble and demurr like Origen at the Idol-incense and cannot be satisfied In such a case Faith runs and Esra-like hangs upon God for a right way the All-wise can make a way in the wilderness and guide thee with his eye saith Faith one cast or glance from his wisdom will disintricate thy doubts and make thy way plain before thee Doth the outward world grow stormy and tempestuous is the sky of the times overclouded with troubles and dangers faith stands in the posture of Jehoshaphat we know not what to do but our eyes are upon thee 2
imprisoned in unrighteousness then there is precious faith indeed the heart which before was shut up now opens it self to the truth as we see in Lydia Acts 16.14 When the Genoese vanquished the Venetians in a sea-sight and took the Island of Chioggia the Venetian Senate sent them a blank Charter bidding them write down their own conditions and they would accept thereof when God by his word and spirit makes a conquest on the heart and it yields up it self as a blank for him to write all his wills and pleasures in then there is true faith wrought in the soul Thirdly That faith stands in resignation will appear from the titles given unto faith in Scripture 'T is a leaning or rolling upon God Cant. 8.5 Psal 37.5 which are postures of resignation the believer doth not stand upon his own bottom nor bear up his own weight but layes all upon God 'T is a committing ones self to God 2 Tim. 1.12 which is an act of resignation a believer pawns his soul to God and as a pawn he leaves it upon God as the expression is Psal 10.14 well knowing that it cannot be in a surer hand as it were going out of the possession of himself that he may be altogether in the custody of God 'T is a submitting to the righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 which is the resignation of a subject to his Prince a believer casts off his own righteousness as rags and will be under no other righteousness but Christs 'T is a casting our burden on the Lord Psal 55. a believer finds sins and wants too weighty for him to bear and he throws off all upon God who is able to pardon and supply him In the Old Testament we have it called a trusting in God and in the New a believing in Christ a believer is not as Adam his own trustee he hath not his estate in his own hands but all in a way of dependance upon God Moreover it is called a giving ones self unto the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 a resigning up the property a man hath in himself that Christ may be all in all A believer as to his being is not a man in himself but a man in Christ as to his living it is not he that liveth but Christ in him and as to his working it is not he that labours but the grace of God with him and to name but one more it is a resting on God 2 Chron. 14.11 a believer is not at rest in himself or the creature but under perpetual tossings and fluctuations till he come to lay himself stedfastly upon God as the Center of souls and Sabbath of eternal rest Fourthly That faith stands in resignation may appear from the obstacles of faith Look what of sin is an obstacle to resignation is also an obstacle to faith and what of sin may consist with resignation may also consist with faith For the clear understanding whereof I must first premise some distinctions there is original sin and actual there is actual sin known and unknown there is actual sin of meer infirmity and incursion and actual sin which hath will and deliberation in it there is actual sin in one single act and actual sin in a series and succession of acts These distinctions premised I shall lay down this point in divers propositions First The meer in-being of original sin doth not impede resignation and consequently it doth not impede faith whatever the actual outflowings of it may do while the orisice of lust is open the meer in-being of it doth not impede is is an inmate in the heart when the first work of faith is wrought there only God by his Almighty grace doth suspend and bridle it that it doth not put forth but lye hid in its own root Thus say our famous Divines in the Synod of Dort touching conversion Divina haec actio non laedit voluntatis libertatem neque tamen extirpat radicitùs vitiosam resistendi possibilitatem quamvis enim Deus in ipso regenerationis opere adeo potenter in voluntatem agat ut actualiter resistendi potentia proxima pro illo tempore suspendatur remotam tamen in actu prima positam resistendi potentiam ne tum funditus extirpat sed in suâ amarâ radice delitescere permittit God layes the precious foundation of faith and the new-creature as it were in mighty waters in the very same heart in which there is a fountain of sin only he doth as those that build upon great Rivers do put back the fountain to make room for the heavenly structure which is set up in the heart in a very wonderful way as the stones were in Jordan corruptions as the waters of that river standing on an heap on this side and as it were cut off on that whilest free-grace is a doing the great work On the other side the indulgence of original sin doth impede resignation and by consequence faith A man that foothes up the old man and earthly members and upon the view of his heart returns omnia benè all is well as it is the heart is good enough cannot whilest such believe and why to believe is to resign and why or how should he resign to Christ for grace who feels no want such an one really poor but opinionatively rich turns off all the rich offers of grace as Esau did Jacobs present I have enough and goes away empty from all the treasures of Christ Secondly All unknown actual sins are not obstacles to resignation and so are not obstacles to faith Who can understand his errors Psal 19.12 who so knowing as to know his intellectual errors It hath been observed by some Papists that there are above 200 errors in the Commentaries of Cardinal Cajetan Dr. Reynolds de libr. Apoc. in the Master of the sentences whom the Papists extol as more worth then one hundred Luthers two hundred Melanctons three hundred Bullingers four hundred Martyrs five hundred Calvins they have yet noted more then twenty erroneous Articles unto which they add this hic Magister non tenetur who so holy as to understand his practical errors no man ever searched the gulf of corruption in his own heart to the bottom no man ever fully measured the breadth of the pure Law there are in the best reliques of self-love which cover a multitude of sins blinds of custom which hinder the sight of sin what with carnal profits which blow dust into our eyes and what with carnal pleasures which because brutish and bestial hinder reflection there is a great deal of sin unseen to us which is plain to the pure eyes of God On the other side where unknown sins are obstacles to resignation they are also obstacles to faith of which I shall give some instances Some unknown sins are therefore unknown because they arise out of an Abyss of darkness out of a gross ignorance of fundamentals in the heart and so in respect of their origine are inconsistent with faith
Head and Advocate and will not cannot condemn the Believer being a piece of himself standing in his image and righteousness Sin and Satan have nothing at all to say against him The Law cannot object the breach of the least jot or tittle he comes to the Judgment only to be absolved before Men and Angels and after an Enge of praise to enter into the joy of his Lord which is an happiness beyond all expression CHAP. VIII Of Adoption the third fruit of Faith the peculiar Priviledg of sound Believers The Excellency thereof demonstrated under several Considerations THus far of the second fruit of Faith being Justification The next fruit thereof is Adoption Justification and Adoption are twin-Graces brought forth by Faith at once only in order of nature Justification goes first and then follows Adoption as presupposing the other hence the new name is said to be written in the white stone Rev. 2.17 Alexander the Great Conqueror of the World was by the flattering Oracle saluted as a Son of Jupiter but the Believer who overcomes the World in a more noble Spiritual way is by the true Oracle stiled a Son of God As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God Joh. 1.12 The Believer in the instant of believing is no longer a meer Son of Adam but a Son of God he is in unity with the natural Son of God and so becomes an Adopted one The Human nature is in the natural Son by Hypostatical union and so is taken into the natural Sonship and the Believer is in him by a Mystical union and so becomes a Son by Adoption Neither is this a meer empty title He is born not of blood in a way of carnal Generation not of the will of the flesh in a way of Concupiscence not of the will of man in the way of Moral Virtues and Excellencies but he is born of God he is one of the seed-Royal of Heaven the blood of God runs in his Conscience a Divine Spirit breaths in him Christ is formed in his heart and that in the very same manner as he was in the Womb that is by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost Nay further as Aquinas observes Tertia pars Quest 23. Art 2. Filiatio Adoptiva est quaedam similitudo filiationis aeternae Adoptive Sonship is a shadow of the eternal one The natural Son is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or brightness of his Father and in the Adopted there is a splendor of Grace resembling God in a measure The natural Son was begotten from Eternity and is still a begetting and in the Adopted the holy thing is begotten And yet in respect of the successive supplies of Grace afforded for its preservation it is as it were still a begetting hence the Adopted Son as well as the Natural abides for ever Joh. 8.35 The Natural Son is the image of Gods Nature and the Adopted the image of his Will Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth Jam. 1.18 The Excellencies of this Priviledg are unutterable I shall express them only in some Considerations First Adoption is a very glorious thing it redounds to the glory of Free-grace and puts a lustre upon the Believer it redounds to the glory of Free-grace Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God 1 Joh. 3.1 That the indefectible God who hath a Son of his own lying in his bosom as an eternal joy should Adopt that the great Creator who as such hath all possible right to his Creature should Adopt that the Immortal One to whom by reason of his Immortality there can be no succession should yet Adopt that such a Majesty as he is should Adopt such as we are worms and sinful dust and Adopt us to such an Inheritance as Heaven is and by putting a new nature into us make us meet for the same is stupendious and wonderful beyond expression Such Considerations as these made the great School-man Durandus as Medina relates affirm That God did not Adopt properly but Secundum Translationem in a Metaphorical way But to pass that these things signally demonstrate that Divine Adoption is full of rich Grace and in a transcendent manner above Humane Moreover Adoption puts a lustre upon the Believer such as is not to be found upon the Princes and Potentates of the Earth Par. Medulla hist The proud Sultan Achmet used in his Letters to arrogate these high Titles to himself I Achmet head of Prophets Emperour of Emperours Lord of Europe Asia and Africa Lord of the White Black and Red Seas subjoining a long Enumeration of all the Provinces under him But to be a Son of God is incomparably more than all these All that train of Titles whereby Potentates spread out their Glory is fumus seculi the smoke of this lower World and glitters only in the eyes of flesh and blood but Adoption is radius Caeli a ray of Heavenly Glory and makes the Believer shine to the eyes of Angels who as they rejoice over a repenting Sinner cannot but wonder to see such an one transfigured into a Son of God Nay Adoption puts such a glory upon the Believer as was not upon Adam in Paradise Adam was a Son of God only by Creation but the Believer is one by Mystical Union and Communion with Christ the Natural Son hence Christ calls him Brother Heb. 2.11 a Compellation not used to Angels and he is one of the first-born Heb. 12.23 a title in an eminent way given to Christ Secondly Adoption carries with it an excellent spirit of Prayer Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba father Gal. 4.6 This praying Spirit is the breath of the New-creature and as much excels all meer modes and gifts of Prayer as a pair of natural Lungs doth artificial ones others may pray artificially and as it were mechanically but the Adopted man prays naturally without this Spirit all words and expressions in Prayer are but poor low things like the Vrim and Thummim made under the second Temple by which the Jews could not tell how to ask counsel of God because the holy Spirit was not present with it In the Adopted that Spirit makes the Prayer issue forth with life and power when the Blood and Merits of Christ plead above and the holy Spirit makes intercession in the heart for the same blessings there is such a Harmony that the Almighty sloops and bows down his car to it Thus the sweet Singer In waiting I waited for the Lord and he enclined unto me and beard my cry Psal 40.1 God himself enclines and stoops down at the Prayer of Faith Vacula Pater that little word Father spoken in the heart is more than all the Eloquence of Cicero and Demosthenes Com. in Gal. cap. 4. saith Luther No sooner doth the Child of Grace cry but God says
Here am I Isa 58.9 as if he were always at hand to answer the request Thirdly Adoption ushers in an Heavenly freedom whilest the Law is only without in the letter and the terrors of Sinai flash in the Conscience the man with his old heart of enmity drudges in the ways of God and brings forth all his Duties as the Bond-woman did her Son in the power of nature in a dead carnal servile manner Moses with the cords of Hell and Death drags the outward man to this and that Duty but old Adam with his lusts reigning within holds back the love and the joy and the delight from the work all renders to bondage till Adoption come and spirit him for holy things Because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts Gal. 4.6 The same Spirit which led the Humane Nature of Christ into all Sinless Obedience leads the Adopted into a true willingness to all the Ways of God that Spirit engraves a Law within answering the outward one and inspires such a Divine Love as casts out the Bond woman and her Son I mean the servile fears and services the Will is set upon the wheels of Faith and Love and the Duties are brought forth in the power of Grace and of the Promise that Promise I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36.27 is sweetly experimented in every act of Obedience this glorious and almost Angelical freedom grows upon Adoption and no where else no will of man ever seemed out such a thing should any man go about to strike it out of his own power it would fare with him as it did with the person reported of by one of the Jewish Rabbies who in the night lighted his Candle and it went out lighted it again and again and still it went out at last weary of such vain labours he resolved with himself to wait for the Sun Such an one may strike and strike again to fetch such a liberty out of his own will but at last the Conclusion must be If the Son make us free we shall be free indeed Joh. 8.36 and Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 Fourthly Adoption brings us into sweet Communion with God thus the Apostle I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people 2 Cor. 6.16 I will dwell in them and walk in them who can express it In the Sons of God there is an Ark with the Tables of the Law in it and a Sanctuary with the Shechinah or Divine Majestly in it Gods gracious presence is Spiritual shew-bread and his Love burns upon the heart as the fire that came down from Heaven upon the Altar when they are sacrificing in holy Duties God doth wonderfully by his quickening and elevating influences and when they are suffering in the briers and flames of affliction God is in the Bush supporting and preserving them if Conscience breaths sweetness and peace God is in the still voice if their Graces be set forth God is a supping with them nay if there be but a poor spirit and weak desires God will sup with these the holy light and integrity in their heart is a kind of Vrim and Thummim to direct them and the Heavenly motions and inspirations are as it were a Bath Kol a voice from Heaven for their instruction in a word all the appearances of God in the worldly Sanctuary and outward Symbols of Glory under the Old Testament are spiritually accomplished under the New in the Adopted who are an habitation of God through the Spirit Fifthly Adoption assures protection and provision Israel Gods own People had a Pillar of Cloud and a Pillar of Fire to defend them and these Pillars are still in the Church though not always visible God hath said it That he will create upon her a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night upon all the glory shall be a defence Isa 4.5 Rather than his Adopted ones who carry his Glory about them shall want a defence he will put forth an act of Creation Israel when in the Wilderness had Bread from Heaven and Water out of the Rock and to the upright God saith Their Bread shall be given them and their Waters shall be sure Isa 33.16 Rather than fail He will make rivers in the desert to give drink to his People Isa 43.20 When there 's a pinch in the Kingdom of Nature his own Family and Houshold shall be provided for The young Linons may lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing Psal 34.10 That Distich Est Deus in coelo qui providus omnia curat Credentes nusquam deseruisse potest Was a Cordial to Musculus in his streights Faith fears no Famine neither shall the Adopted feel any Sixthly Adoption carries with it Perseverance Once a Son of God by Adoption and ever so One of the Jewish Doctors Commenting on that excellent passage With thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light Psal 36. saith That the Israelites were made free by Moses and then brought into bondage again and made free by Barak and divers others and yet brought into bondage again at last they shall be saved by the Lord their God with an eternal Salvation that is by the Messiah If meer notions make us free we shall be in bondage again if Church-priviledges make us free we shall be in bondage again but if Adopting Grace make us free we shall ever be so God hath said nay sworn to Jesus Christ His seed and such are all the Adopted shall endure for ever and his throne part whereof is in their hearts as the Sun before me Psal 89.36 and to make them endure the holy Spirit is in them a well of water springing up to everlasting life Joh. 4.14 and to secure the abode of the Spirit with them Christ is a Priest after the power of an endless life Heb. 7.16 Nay though they break his statutes and thereby bring the rod upon their backs yet God hath promised Not to take away his loving kindness nor suffer his faithfulness to fail Psal 89.33 Upon such unshaken foundations do the Sons of God stand Seventhly Adoption makes them heirs of Heaven Though they may lye among the pots and in the eyes of the World be the refuse and off-scouring of all things yet are they heirs of Glory thus the Apostle If children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 That Glory which Christ hath purchased shall they be brought into that Heavenly Inheritance which is sealed without in the Promise is inwardly assured to them by the Seal of the Spirit which by holy impresses marks them out for Heaven and is a sure earnest in their hearts that the whole sum of glory shall be paid to them above each of them