ADOPTION.

The Spirit cannot, after he hath come to the soul as a Spirit of

adoption, come again as a Spirit of bondage to put the soul into his

first fear, to wit, a fear of eternal damnation, because he cannot

say and unsay, do and undo. As a Spirit of adoption, he told me that

my sins were forgiven me and I was included in the covenant of

grace, that God was my Father through Christ, that I was under the

promise of salvation, and that this calling and gift of God to me

are permanent and without repentance. And do you think that, after

he told me this, and sealed up the truth of it to my precious soul,

he will come to me and tell me that I am yet in my sins, under the

curse of the law and the eternal wrath of God? No, no; the word of

the gospel is not yea, yea; nay, nay. It is only yea and amen; it is

so, "as God is true." 2 Cor. 17:20.

Sin, after that the Spirit of adoption has come, cannot dissolve the

relations of Father and son, of Father and child. And this the

church did rightly assert, and that when her heart was under great

hardness and when she had the guilt of erring from his ways; saith

she, "Doubtless thou art our Father:" doubtless thou art, though

this be our case, and though Israel should not acknowledge us for

such.

That sin dissolveth not the relation of Father and son, is further

evident: When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son

made of a woman, made under the law, that we might receive the

adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the

Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Father, Father!" Now

mark: "Wherefore, thou art no more a servant;" that is, no more

under the law of death and damnation, but a son; and if a son, then

an heir of God through Christ.

Suppose a child doth grievously transgress against and offend his

father; is the relation between them therefore dissolved? Again,

suppose the father should scourge and chasten the son for such

offences, is the relation between them therefore dissolved? Yea,

suppose the child should now, through ignorance, cry and say, "This

man is now no more my father;" is he therefore no more his father?

Doth not every body see the folly of arguings? Why, of the same

nature is the doctrine, the faith, that after we have received the

Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of bondage is sent to us again to put

us in fear of eternal damnation.

Know then that thy sin, after thou hast received the Spirit of

adoption to cry unto God, "Father, Father," is counted the

transgression of a child, not of a slave; and that all that

happeneth to thee for that transgression is but the chastisement of

a father: "And what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"

Now let not any, from what hath been said, take courage to live

loose lives, under a supposition that once in Christ they are ever

in Christ, and the covenant cannot he broken, nor the relation of

Father and child dissolved; for they that do so, it is evident, have

not known what it is to receive the Spirit of adoption. It is the

spirit of the devil, in his own hue, that suggesteth this unto them,

and that prevaileth with them to do so. Shall we do evil that good

may come? Shall we sin that grace may abound; or shall we be base in

life because God by grace hath secured us from wrath to come? God

forbid: these conclusions betoken one void of the fear of God

indeed, and of the Spirit of adoption too.

Though God cannot, will not dissolve the relation which the Spirit

of adoption hath made betwixt the Father and the sons, for any sins

that such do commit; yet he can and often doth take away from them

the comfort of their adoption, not suffering children while sinning

to have the sweet and comfortable sense thereof on their hearts.

God can lay thee in the dungeon in chains, and roll a stone upon

thee; he can make thy feet fast in the stocks, and make thee a

gazing-stock for men and angels.

God can tell how to cause to cease the sweet operations and blessed

influences of his grace in thy soul; to make those gospel-showers

that formerly thou hast enjoyed, to become now to thee nothing but

powder and dust.

God can tell how to fight against thee with the sword of his mouth,

and to make thee a butt for his arrows; and this is a dispensation

most dreadful.

God can tell how to bow thee down with guilt and distress, that thou

shalt in nowise be able to lift up thy head.

God can tell how to break thy bones, and to make thee, by reason of

that, to live in continual anguish of spirit; yea, he can send a

fire into thy bones that shall burn, and none shall quench it.

God can tell how to lay thee aside, and make no use of thee as to

any work for him in thy generation. He can throw thee aside as a

broken vessel.

God can tell how to kill thee, and take thee away from the earth for

thy sins.

God can tell how to plague thee in thy death, with great plagues and

of long continuance.

What shall I say? God can tell how to let Satan loose upon thee;

when thou liest dying, he can license him then to assault thee with

great temptations; he can tell how to make thee possess the guilt of

all thy unkindness towards him, and that when thou, as I said, art

going out of the world; he can cause that thy life shall be in

continual doubt before thee, and not suffer thee to take any comfort

day or night; yea, he can drive thee even to a madness with his

chastisements for thy folly, and yet all shall be done by him to

thee as a father chastiseth his son.

Further, God can tell how to tumble thee from off thy death-bed in a

cloud, he can let thee die in the dark; when thou art dying, thou

shalt not know whither thou art going, to wit, whether to heaven or

to hell. Yea, he can tell how to let thee seem to come short of

life, both in thine own eyes and also in the eyes of them that

behold thee. "Let us therefore fear," says the apostle--though not

with slavish, yet with filial fear--"lest, a promise being left us

of entering into rest, any of us should seem to come short of it."

Now all this and much more can God do to his, as a father by his rod

and a father by rebukes: ah, who know but those that are under them,

what terrors, fears, distresses, and amazements, God can bring his

people into? He can put them into a furnace, a fire, and no tongue

can tell what, so unsearchable and fearful are his fatherly

chastisements, and yet never give them the spirit of bondage again

to fear. Therefore, if thou art a son, take heed of sin, lest all

these things overtake thee and come upon thee.

Dost thou fear the Lord? "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting

to everlasting on them that fear him."

Child of God, thou that fearest God, here is mercy nigh thee, mercy

enough, everlasting mercy upon thee. This is long-lived mercy. It

will live longer than thy sin; it will live longer than temptation;

it will live longer than thy sorrows; it will live longer than thy

persecutors. It is mercy from everlasting to contrive thy salvation,

and mercy to everlasting to resist all thy adversaries. Now what can

hell and death do to him that hath this mercy of God upon him? And

this hath the man that feareth the Lord.

Take that other blessed word, and O, thou man that fearest the Lord,

hang it like a chain of gold about thy neck: "As the heaven is high

above the earth, so great is his mercy to them that fear him." If

mercy as big, as high, and as good as heaven itself will be a

privilege, the man that feareth God shall have the privilege.