Page images
PDF
EPUB

ality be Propitious to None; No Flesh upon that Footing fhould be Saved.

And thus much is plainly Revealed in the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, both concerning our Relation to God as His Children, and our Acceptance with Him by our Redeemer. I will not here infift on the whole Order of the Sacrifices and Services of the former Dispensation, which were given even for Graphical Defcriptions of this Affair, and upon the Plan of which the Defcriptions, Prophecies, and Precepts of almoft the whole Old Testament were Penn'd; but fhall pafs on to fuch particular Paffages as I find occafionally delivered by the Prophets on thefe Points. Now,

In thefe Paffages, though our Relation to the Deity as His Children, is fometimes mentioned as following our Dependance upon Him as His Creatures, yet are we to take this with due Diftinction, to be spoken, not of our Former, but of our Latter, or New Creation: For, this Creation (to which our Son fhip is fo mentioned as Appurtenant) is at the fame time defcribed to be a New Act even by our Redemp tion fince the Fall intervening, and by the Operation of the Holy Ghoft. Thus the Divine Saviour tells His Spiritual Ifrael, that even by Redeeming them, He hath Called them by their NAME, and they are HIS. Ifaiah 43. 1. Wherefore also thefe Redeemed do Confefs again to Him---Doubtless, Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of Us, and Ifrael acknowledge Vs not. By what Title? By that of Creator properly? No, but by that of ReE 2

deemer,

deemer. For fo, the Reason and Ground, I fay, of this Relation, by which the Deity has Intitled Himfelf to be Our Father, is given in the next Words,----OUR REDEEMER FROM EVERLASTING is Thy Name. Isaiah 63. 16. And the Same is the Reason wherefore the Divine Relation to us as our Redeemer, is elfewhere mentioned in Order before His other Relation to Us properly as Our Creator and Former. Ifai. 44. 24. Thus faith Jehovah thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the Womb, &c. Which is thus Worded to Express that our Redemption, is, in God's Difpofal and Provifion, His First Act with Regard to Man. It was, in This Senfe, Previous, not only to the Formation and Birth of Each particular Perfon, but also to the Creation of the World. So that, both Forward and Backward, This is the Chiefest and most Momentous of the Divine Acts to Us, and, which once Settled, all His Other Acts were, Respectively and in ConSequence, Decreed and Done. Moreover,

That all this is to take Effect in Each of God's Children by the Co-operation of the Holy Ghost, the fame Prophet is no less clear, v. 3. Supr. Where this Divine Redeemer further fays,---I will pour out my Spirit upon thy Seed, and my Bleffing upon thine Offspring: By Means whereof He tells Us, v. 5. One fall fay, I am the Lord's; and Another fhall Subfcribe with his Hand unto the Lord, and furname Himfelf by the Name of Ifrael, i, e. of His People, His Children. But,

On

9.

On this Head the Apostle is yet more Particular and Full,---Te are not, fays He, in the Flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you; Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Chrift, He is none of His. Rom. 8. To which He adds a little Lower, ----For, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, They are the Sons of God; For ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to Fear, but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry ---Abba, Father: The Spirit itself bearing witnefs with our Spirit, that we are the Children of God; And, if Children, then Heirs, &c. So Gal. 4. 4, 5, 6. When the Fulness of Time was come, God fent forth his Son, made of a Woman, made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Malediction of the Law, (which all Mankind, without Chrift, were Subject to) that we might receive the Adoption of Sons: And because ye are fo made Sons (by Redemp tion) He hath fent forth the Spirit of His Son into your Hearts, crying---Abba, Father. Wherefore, Thou art no more a Servant, a Slave under Bondage to Sin and Satan, but Vindicated to Liberty, nay to be a Son, and if a Son, then an Heir of God through Chrift.

We are not therefore in any Propriety by Creation, Sons, Intitled Each to His Inheritance or Portion from God: No, We were Slaves, Sold under Sin; from whence we are REDEEMED by Chrift, and, in Virtue of that Redemption by Him, are made Adopted Sons of God, even by His Communicating of His Spirit Since Shed upon Us, and not Otherwise. But,

In whatsoever Order thefe Relations had Stood; How would it follow from Thefe, that the Deity, as to our Actions, is no farther Concerned with us, than to be as a Looker on? To fee how we Behave merely to one another? To keep Peace and Order among us as Brethren? And, To Interpofe fometimes to do Fuftice upon the Aggreffors, and Violators of certain Civil and Social Rights betwixt One Man and Another? For,

Not to take Ideas of the Divine Right to our Obedience merely from Paternal Power among Men, much less from that Power Mifrepresented and Miftaken from Modern Lam and Ufage; It is certain, the Deity, in being our Creator and Father (whatsoever be the Order of these Relations) hath the absolute Property and Dominion of us. For,

As Man was not the first Agent, but was Made, and Placed in the Station He had; He could neither Have nor Hold any Thing, but what must have been His Munificent Creator's Gift, nor upon any other Conditions nor for any longer Term, than Thofe affigned Him by the Giver and therefore, muft He also, not only as a Son, but likewife as a Servant, be Subject to, and Dependent upon His Creator.

Much more does this hold Now, fince our Creator not only Gave us what we at firft Had, but has alfo Redeemed, and Reftored us to what we had fince Loft; So that, on a double Account may He now expoftulate with us, as it is in the Prophet Malachy 1. 6. A Son honoureth His Father, and a Servant His Master :

If

If then I am your Father, where is mine Honour? If I am your Mafter, your Lord, Or, (as the Word in the Original is Plural, to Exprefs the Plurality of the Perfons in whom This LordJhip is) If I am your Lords, where is my Fear? He, I fay, as our Creator both made us what we are; and as our Redeemer and Saviour hath Reftored us to what we had Forfeited and Loft: Whence alfo (as this Latter Part was from the Beginning Engaged to be done for us) the peculiar Stile of one of the Divine Perfons in the Original of the Old Testament, is Goel. LXX. Ayxısèus, which Words fignify more ge nerally a Surety or Bondfman, more fpecially the next Kinfman, to whom belongs the Right of Redemption in Perfons and Eftates: And, this Act (of Redemption) He now Glories to have Performed for us; He therefore, on Account hereof, claims by an Accumulated Right, as our Saviour and Lord, the whole Regulation and Direction of Us, and of our State. From Him, and under Him only, do we Hold, Enjoy, and Expect, whatsoever we Poßefs in This World, or Hope for in the Next: Against Him, therefore, as we have heretofore been, fo may we much more again be Guilty of certain High Crimes called Treafon and Rebellion; and, confequently, in Refpect purely of Him, (without any Confideration at all of our Behaviour in Respect of thofe Moral and Social Duties) as we have heretofore Incurred, fo may we much more again Incur, fuitable Forfeitures and Penalties. The Original Tranfgreffion Itself, in General, was by an Act of Rebellion and Trea

Son

« PreviousContinue »