+I. As the rule of life.+--Thus angels are under the law. Adam was
before his fall, and the saints in heaven are so now. None yield more
subjection to the law than they, and this subjection is their liberty.
+II. As a grievous yoke which none can bear.+--1. It bound the Church
of the Old Testament to the observance of many and costly ceremonies.
2. It binds every offender to everlasting death. 3. It is a yoke as
it increases sin and is the strength of it. The wicked nature of man
is the more to do a thing the more he is forbidden.--_Perkins._
_Adoption._
+I. In what adoption consists.+--1. The points of resemblance between
natural and spiritual adoption. (1) We cease to have our former name
and are designated after the name of God. (2) We change our abode.
Once in the world, now in the Church and family of God. (3) We change
our costume. Conform to the family dress: garments of salvation.
2. The points of difference between natural and spiritual adoption.
(1) Natural adoption was to supply a family defect. God had hosts of
children. (2) Natural adoption was only of sons. No distinction in
God's adoption. (3) In natural adoption there was only a change of
condition. God makes His children partakers of His own nature. (4) In
natural adoption only one was adopted, but God adopts multitudes.
(5) In natural adoption only temporal advantages were derived, but in
spiritual the blessings are eternal.
+II. Signs of adoption.+--1. Internal signs. Described in ch. iv. 6;
Rom. viii. 14-16. 2. External signs. (1) Language; (2) Profession;
(3) Obedience.
+III. Privileges of adoption.+--1. Deliverance from the miseries of
our natural state. 2. Investiture into all the benefits of Christ's
family. 3. A title to the celestial inheritance.
+Learn+--1. _The importance of the blessing._ 2. _Seek the good of
God's family._ 3. _Invite strangers to become sons and heirs of
God.--Sketches._
_Adoption and its Claims._--Among the American Indians when a captive
was saved to be adopted in the place of some chieftain who had
fallen, his allegiance and his identity were looked upon as changed.
If he left a wife and children behind him, they were to be forgotten
and blotted from memory. He stood in the place of the dead warrior,
assumed his responsibilities, he was supposed to cherish those whom
he had cherished and hate those whom he had hated; in fact, he was
supposed to stand in the same relation of consanguinity to the
tribe.--_Bancroft._