is the exemplar the Spirit impressing upon us the similitude of that exemplar we become the Children of God I shall open this a little and shew you what influence Christ has into our Adoption God gives the Elect to Christ as his Children as the Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Christ they lostt-heir Inheritance in the first Adam and recovered it in the second Adam they now stand in the same relation to God in their measure as Christ does I and the children thou hast given me Heb. 2. 13. The Son of God must become the Son of Man that we might be made the Sons of God in him Gal. 4 4 5. Here comes in our Adoption by vertue of our relation to Christ our elder Brother as one with him Gal. 3. 28. All God's Adopted Children are found in his natural Son mystically united to him deriving from him that filial relation which they have to God Al God's Chidren are of one mould of one shape and fashion all conformable to the image of his Son this is the Mark by which they are known and distinguished from others The great enquiry that God makes is What of Christ there is in us what of Christ there is held forth by us God owns none for his Children but such as resemble Christ Christ is the express Image of the Father and Christians are the express Image of Christ. The reason why God the Father is so well pleased with the man Christ is because he sees his own Image in him he sees himself his own essence in Christ not so in the Saints the Image of the Father in Christ and the Image of Christ in the Saints do agree in many things yet they differ in some the Image of Christ in the Saints is not the essence of God for that is incommunicable to any mere Creature but it is a lively resemblance of all the communicable attributes of God in some degree and measure drawn from the very face of Christ upon the faces hearts and lives of all Christians yet still Christ is the original by eternal Generation the Saints are but so many Copies drawn in time from that Original and they are drawn to the life not only in a way of outward resemblance but by a real inward participation of the Life and Spirit of Christ according to their finite capacity As the humane Nature does subsist in the Divine Person of Christ so our humane Persons so far as we are new Creatures do Subsist in Christ in whom we spiritually live move and have our Being as New Creatures the Divine Graces of Christ do subsist in the Saints by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them i. e. They act the same Graces finitely which Christ acts infinitely they receive of his fulness but cannot contain all his fulness they have not a capacity for that they enter into his fulness but all his fulness cannot enter into them 3. Our Adoption is brought about not only by the Father and the Son but also by the Spirit bearing Witness with our spirit to the truth of the Image of Christ drawn upon the Soul inferring from thence our Adoption The same Image bears the same name implies in a measure the same nature and Spirit to be in us that is in Christ puts us into the same relation to God that the Man Christ stands in the names of things would never occur to our memories if the likeness of the object we look upon did not teach us what to call it conveniunt rebus Nomina c. The Spirit witnesses by inward impressins tho no voice be heard and these impressions are always according to the word the Spirit does not speak from himself suggesting any thing to us not contained in the word but of this more hereafter I am now shewing how Adoption is carried on by the Spirit therefore called the Spirit of Adoption because given only to the Adopted and because he bears witness to them of the good Will of God wherewith the Father hath accepted them in the beloved that he might be a Father to them Tho the Spirit works all other saving Graces in us yet because Adoption is the prime and chief work of the Spirit therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption 2. The manner of it This is clearly set down Gal. 3. 25. ad finem 'T is Faith makes us the Children of God by joyning us to Christ our union to and communion with Christ the natural Son of God is the Foundation of our Adoption Gal. 3. 29. Christ by coming into the World in our Nature made way for our Adoption of which Baptism is the symbol or sign we are Baptized into Christ we put on Christ are incorporated into him by Faith are all one in him Gal. 3. 27 28. If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise Gal. 3. 29. All Abraham's believing Posterity are blessed in Isaac i. e. in Christ Gal. 3. 16. They are Children and remain in the House of God i. e. in the Church for ever John 8. 35. 3. The time of it 1. From Eternity in the purpose of God This is virtual Adoption Eph. 1. 5. Hence the Elect not yet called are said to be the Children of God John 11. 52. compare with John 10. 16. God intended Adoption in Predestination and in the fulness of time sent Christ to effect it Gal. 4. 4 5. And his Spirit to evidence it Gal. 4. 6. We were Adopted in the purpose of God before we were born this is virtual Adoption 2. At our effectual vocation then actual Adoption begins we receive the first fruits of it here it follows Faith at least as to our sense of it Ephesians 1. 13. 3. At our Glorification then will our Adoption be compleated and perfected in our Bodies and Souls we shall actually enjoy all the Priviledges of it then there will be a clearer manifestation of the Sons of God the glorious Liberty of the Children of God will more fully appear then now it does Rom. 8. 19 21. Hence the Consummation of our Redemption at the last day is called Adoption Rom. 8. 23. 24. But I now speak only of the present fruits of Adoption which the Saints enjoy in this life CHAP. II. Thirdly How it differs from humane Adoption 1. DIVINE Adoption presupposes a Title to the Heavenly Inneritance by Justification John 1. 12. Humane Adoption gives all the Title that a Man otherwise a Stranger to the Blood hath to the Inheritance of him who adopts him 2. Humane Adoption conveys only outward goods to a person does not change his nature but the Father communicates to us the Spirit and likeness of his natural Son Rom. 8. 29. 3. Humane Adoption is for want of a natural Son 't is an act of law imitating nature for the comfort of those who have no Children But Divine Adoption is from the abounding love of God to us making us joint heirs with his well-beloved Son Though God
we may taste and see how gracious the Lord is We never suck the sweet of a Promise till then Therefore judge of your Faith by your Hope and judge of your Hope by your Faith Whether it be well grounded upon the Word if it be it can never rise too high otherwise Hope is an aspiring Passion and usually flies too high when it is not fixed upon a right Object the Soul is overset by it How are some men intoxicated and drunk with their vain hopes There is no fear of any such excess in true Christian Hope No man was ever questioned by God for having too much Grace we may all complain of too little More Grace is the constant Desire of every holy Soul as there is a Propensity in God to give it To him that hath more shall be given God loves to accumulate his Favours to load us with his Benefits he gives liberally that he may draw out our Hope to follow him for more and more still Let us then abound in Hope holding fast our Confidence firm unto the End What it is to KNOW GOD in CHRIST JOHN VIII 54 55. Of whom ye say That he is your God yet ye have not known him but I know him CHAP. I. EVery one of you in this Assembly may be ready to say That the God of Abraham is your God but what if I prove to the faces of some Professors that they have not yet known the Lord I am from these words to shew who among you do and who among you do not yet savingly know the Lord. This Enquiry will be as Comfortable to some as it may be Terrible to others the Lord make it an Awakening Word to us all There is no dallying in this matter 't is Life Eternal to know God and Eternal Death not to know him Ye say he is your God yet ye have not known him A likely matter indeed That God should be your God and you not know him I am sure you know him not because you know not me I know him but you do not I know him and none else do but such as I reveal him to Since you refuse to learn of me I do pronounce you a company of ignorant formal Professors quite beside the Truth and Power of Religion aliens and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel without God in the world worshipping you know not whom doing your devotions to an unknown God The Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ are often put together in Scripture because we cannot know one if we do not know both 2 Pet. â— 2. Joh. 14. 6 7 9. No man cometh unto the Father but by me If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And through the knowledge of both there is a multiplication of grace and peace to us 2 Pet. 1. 2. Some seek to know every thing but Christ Paul desires to know nothing but Christ 1 Cor. 2. 2. The Lord grant that may be the unfeigned desire of every Soul here present The Coherence Because the sense of the Text depends very much upon what goes before in this and the 7 th Chapter therefore I shall give you a brief Analysis of both these Chapters down to the very Words of the Text. In these two Chapters there are hot Disputes and Contests between Christ and the Jews about the Divinity of his Person and the Truth of his Doctrine Christ maintains both In the beginning of the 7 th Chapter Christ and his Brethren have a consultation about his going up to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles which was at hand verse 2. The Point they deliberate upon was this viz. Whether he should go up at the beginning of the Feast his Brethren who did not yet believe in him verse 5. were for it tho upon very slight grounds vers 3 4. Christ is against it refuses to go then verse 8. I go not yet unto this feast but go ye I will go when I see my time my time is not yet full come vers 8. Christ knew the proper seasons and moments for every part of his Work so he sends 'em away but himself abode still in Galilee vers 9. Upon this there were great Enquiries after Christ where he was and why he was not there This occasioned a murmuring among the people concerning him verse 12. About the middle of the Feast Jesus appears among 'em Teaching in the Temple to the admiration of all that heard him vers 14 15. The Points of Doctrine that he there handles with his Answers to all their Cavils and Objections I shall for brevity sake omit you may read 'em in that Chapter from the 16 th to the 37 th verse so ends his Sermon at the midst of the Feast Verse 37. He begins another Sermon at the end of the Feast for the Feast lasted Eight days and in the last day that great day of the Feast wherein there used to be the greatest Assemblies Lev. 23. 36 On the eighth day shall be a holy Convocation a solemn Assembly And upon this day that the people might have something to meditate on by the way and to carry home with 'em Christ prâ—aches an excellent Sermon about Spiritual Water vers 37 38 c. which had different effects upon his â—earers some believed and some believed not as it was then so it is now The Feast being over Christ continues Preaching in the same place you have him early in the morning teaching the people in the Temple Chap 8. 2. But the Scribes and Pbarisees purposely to interrupt his Preaching put an ensnaring question to him about a woman taken in the very Act of Adultery what his Judgment was concerning her Whether she should be put Death according to Law in that case Levit. 20. 10. How he managed himself in acquitting the Woman to the Shame and Conviction of all his Opposers I refer to your own reading from the 1 st verse of this 8 th Chapter to the 12 th verse Having dispatched that business he falls to Preaching again of many weighty and very useful Points suited to the present condition of his Auditors First He preaches himself to be the true light of the world vers 12. which occasioned a long Dispute between him and the Pharisees about the validity of that Testimony which he gave of himself Christ vindicates both himself and his Doctrine and proves both to be from Heaven 'T is observable how in the close of one Point Christ gives occasion for another which he knew their Objections would lead him into vers 32 33. about Spiritual Freedom declaring what that is and that the Jews had not yet attained to it because they were the servants of sin vers 34. in bondage to their own Corruptions and Lusts this he urges close upon 'em notwithstanding their vain-glorious boasting of their descent from Abraham Now because my Text comes in upon this Discourse I shall give you some account
is Let me tell you the wisest among you cannot comprehend God you cannot know him to Perfection but the weakest among you may be made to Believe what you can't Comprehend If there be any Atheists or Scepticks here who either deny or doubt of the Being of a God let them be persuaded for once to make trial of Christ to cast themselves upon the Infinite Almighty Incomprehensible God held forth by Christ in the Gospel We stand in need of that which none can do for us but an Infinite God let us not then be startled when we hear of such a God but get under the shadow of the Almighty as fast as we can then we shall count our selves safe to Eternity We may as soon comprehend the Trinity of Persons as the Infinite Essence of God both are alike incomprehensible Three finite Persons have each of them an Essence numerically different from each other but the Three Persons in the Trinity have but one and the same numerical Essence of the Godhead among them all else there would not be One only God but as many Gods as Persons From what hath been said it appears that God in Christ is the true God God indeed Which is the first thing implyed in a saving-knowledge of God The second is this viz. CHAP. V. God in Christ the ONLY True God 2. WHat it is to know him as the only true God They know not God aright who do not know that there is and can be but One only God none like him this takes us off from all Idolatry and directs our Worship to the true object of all Divine Worship This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17. 3. The Lord our God is one Lord Deut. 6. 4. I even I am he and there is no God with me i. e. none besides me none equal to me Deut. 32. 39. Who is God save the Lord Who is a rock save our God Psal. 18. 31. We are strictly commanded to have no other gods before him Exod. 20. 3. Because there is none other God but one To us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8. 4 6. There is one God and one Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. To Worship many gods as the Heathens did is to Blaspheme them all to ascribe Impotency and Insufficiency to them one hand is too weak where many are required there can be but one infinite Supreme God What we ascribe to other gods we detract from the true God we are commanded to Love God with all our hearts soul and strength Luke 10. 27. If all be due unto one God What remains for any other We never truly rely upon God when we put confidence in any thing else He only is my rock and my salvation my soul wait thou upon God Psal. 62. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Psal. 77. 25. God is one there is none like him therefore to be worshiped with a peculiar singular Worship appropriated to him only which for the height and spirituality of it belongs to him and to none else he will not give his Glory to another There is a Glory belonging to God that is truly Divine that is too much and too great to be ascribed unto any Creature When we come before the Lord if our hearts are not enlarged and extended to a further Degree of Zeal and Fervency deriving some elevation more than ordinary from the greatness and excellency of the object that inflames our Devotions makes us to be otherwise affected towards God than we find our selves to be towards other things we are not under a true sense of the Greatness and Majesty of God neither do we know him as we ought to know him they who know God in Christ do love him more fear him more rejoyce in him more than we do in other things they are carried out in an extraordinary manner towards him from the high apprehensions they have of his glorious Majesty What made the Angels and Elders Rev. 5. 12. ad finem raise their Note so high in that Doxology but because they thought him worthy of the highest Honour more worthy than all Creatures in Heaven or Earth So Rev. 4. 8. ad finem There is that in God that calls for the highest Adoration and Worship Thou art worthy i. e. It is most decent fit and convenient to pay this just Reveretce to the great God 'T is highly rational the worth and excellency of the Object calls for it 't is injustice towards God to rob him of his Glory by not rendring to him the Praises due unto his Name How was Paul affected with the consideration of God in Christ Jesus 1. Tim. 1. 17. We shall be apt to come in a slight common Spirit to the worship of God till we apprehend it to be a special peculiar Service of a higher Nature requiring more intenseness of Spirit more zeal and ardency of Affection then we exert and put forth upon any other occasion because we have to do with God who is above all If your Hearts are not now fixed upon God wholly taken up with serious thoughts of God Trembling at his Word You do not behave your selves wisely in the House of God This one only true God is known by this distinguishing Character as the Father of Jesus Christ to be convinced of the truth of a Deity and of the Mystery of Christ's Incarnation holding forth this God unto us are the Two points upon which all our Religion hangs every Gospel-truth hath relation to both these depending upon 'em and naturally flowing from them Since we all profess our selves to be Worshippers of God it highly concerns us to know that true God and that this God is but one even he who hath appeared in Christ Jesus To Worship God out of Christ is to Woiship as the Heathens do in plain English 't is to Worship the Devil 1 Cor. 10. 20. The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God I would not you should have fellowship with devils I am afraid there is a great deal of Heathenish Worship among us the Devil carries away all that Worship that is not directed to God in Christ. There is no other medium of Worship but Christ 't is not the intention of Worshipping the True God in or by an Image that will justifie Image-worship from being down-right Idolatry We may be mistaken in Worshipping one God if that prove a False one Nay if we intend the True God yet as represented by that which by nature is no God Gal. 4. 8. 't is a false object of Worship All Creatures but the Devil do pay a Worship to something which they call God he only is a constant Blasphemer though he be no Atheist yet