CONCLUSION.

It is not without embarrassment that I attempted this delineation. I felt the difficulty and the delicacy of the undertaking. Years of scrupulous attention to the subject, have persuaded me, that however distinctly different characters are marked in the sacred oracles, it is no easy task so to apply the description to living Christians, as to determine with accuracy, the grade, to which the individual professor in the school of Christ is to be justly referred. Although it is obvious to every one that there is a variety of countenance and complexion in the human family dwelling upon earth, scientific men find it difficult to mark the line, by country or by climate, which in every case serves to distinguish one variety from another. He who would attempt to classify the inhabitants of a city or a township, into several distinct orders, would find, on making the experiment, individual cases upon which he could not satisfactorily determine. Differences, however, there are; and for all the purposes of general utility they are sufficiently distinctly marked. In delineating the different degrees of attainment in Christianity, I have made no invidious application to individuals. I leave you to ascertain, from the description and from the exercise of an enlightened conscience, and also to decide for yourselves, to which class you in fact belong. The features of the Christian character, like the colours of the rainbow, although obviously distinct, run into one another; and it is difficult to put your finger upon the spot, where the one begins or where another absolutely terminates. This will readily account for the diversity of opinions which exist upon this subject among sensible men, although they acknowledge that all the parts belong in general to the Christian character. Far be it from me, to urge my own scheme upon your attention, as the best possible description of the several degrees of piety. I give it to you, however, as that which is most satisfactory to myself; and let the claim to your approbation rest upon its own evidence.

Should you, however, deem the arrangement, which I have adopted, an arbitrary one; still you will allow me to urge, with my last words, the exhortation of the text. It is entitled to perfect confidence and sincere obedience. "As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." AMEN.

THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION.

SERMON IV.

Rом. viii. 15. Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

ALL true Christians, whatever may be their several degrees of attainment in sanctification, are led by the Spirit of God; and are become the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. They have obeyed from the heart the call, to "leave their own people and their father's house;" and have accepted the gracious offer of adoption to the family of the living God. Descended from him, by whose disobedience many were made sinners, our connexion, by corrupt nature, is with a family devoted to destruction, in consequence of the breach of the first covenant. As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. This connexion is set aside by the grace of God, calling us from the service of sin, and enabling us to embrace the offer of salvation through a Redeemer. Those who are born again, and have so entered upon a new and better life, are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. The apparent change in their condition is not very captivating to the senses of men of worldly prudence. The spiritual life does not make them more wealthy, or more honourable in the esteem of sinners. It does not yet appear what they shall be. But when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, their dignity and happiness shall be made manifest. Mortality shall then be swallowed up of life, and the state of the believer shall appear more glorious than we can now conceive or describe. Made perfect in holiness, he shall enter the heavenly sanctuary, and with a beating heart, meet his long looked for Father, and receive from his dear Redeemer an abundant welcome.

In the meantime, brethren, although you are "poor in spirit," you have a certain pledge of an inheritance among them which are sanctified. You may therefore patiently wait until the redemption of the purchased possession: 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. Ye were once strangers and foreigners, fearful and unbelieving, held in durance by the spirit of bondage; not the Spirit of God and of Christ; for this is a Spirit of liberty. It is the spirit of the world and of false religion that reduces to servitude and servility. You have been delivered from that state of slavery and corruption, and are now Christ's freemen, in the family of God. A very different spirit is now communicated and a different effect is produced by him. He is the Comforter of your souls; and by him you are led through Jesus Christ unto the Father.

Let us consider, with attention, the Gift which the children of God have received the spirit of adoption; their Christian liberty the spirit of bondage was not again sent upon them; and the import of their address to God they cry, Abba, Father.

I. We shall consider the gift which God confers on his children, " Ye have received the spirit of adoption."

Adoption is an act, whereby one admits a stranger into his family, in order to deal with him, in all respects, as if he was really a child of his own. Pharaoh's daughter took Moses in this manner into her family, and educated him as her son. Israel, as a body politic, was adopted under the special care of God. To them "pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants."* True Chrisitans shall, at the resurrection, in one glorious congregation, be publicly adopted and put in possession of the heavenly inheritance. "But ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies."† There is spiritual adoption into the family of God, which he bestows upon all those who have embraced the Saviour. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name."‡ They are, by an act of God's free grace, received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. The Holy Spirit, is the earnest of these privileges: He is the gift received. The third Person of the Godhead is present with every creature; but he is in a peculiar manner present with every Christian. The Redeemer, when about to suffer death for the redemp

a

tion of our transgressions, promised to his disciples, as the sum of their blessings, and as a sufficient recompense for his own removal from them, the Holy Ghost to bring all things to their remembrance, and to guide them into all truth.* This divine Person influences the minds of God's children, by infusing into the soul gracious principles, bestowing upon them a pious temper, and directing them to holy exercises. The Spirit of God dwelleth in them, and this Spirit is life because of righteousness. This is the Spirit of adoption, which believers have received. It is a proposition of inspiration, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."†

The third Person in the Trinity, is called "the Spirit of adoption," because he seals believers in their adopted state; assures them of their adoption; and bestows upon them its various comforts.

1. The Spirit of God seals the children of adoption. We are indebted to the riches of divine grace for all the good things we enjoy. To nothing can we claim a right, founded upon our own merit. The Spirit places us among the children, and then seals us in that state. "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."‡ " In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." This serves to mark the particular property God has in believers; to distinguish them from others of the human family: and to preserve them for the end of their election and faith, even the salvation of their souls. To my legal transactions I annex my seal, to confirm it as my own deed; property which I wish to have distinguished from any thing similar to it, I mark also with my seal; and I seal up my letter in order to preserve it for the use of the person to whom it is directed.

God has a special property in believers. "For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel as his peculiar treasure." || The saints are scattered over the earth; mingled in families and in civil society with the wicked of this world; some in the most honourable, and some in the meanest stations. Nevertheless, the eye of the Lord is upon them for good: the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. They are no more their own, they are bought with a price: and although they may be despised by the world; reproached and persecuted;

* John xvi. 7, 15, 26.
§ Eph. i. 13.

† Rom. viii. 9.
Il Psa. cxxxv. 4

+ Gal. iii. 26.
12 Tim. ii. 19.

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though they be distracted with doubts, and sunk in despondency, the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls recognizes them as the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. sends his servants to collect, out of the various tribes of the human race, the members of his body, "that we may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love."*

By the impression of God's seal they are also visibly distinguished from others. They are renewed in the image of God; they profess themselves his servants, and they act in conformity to the vocation wherewith they are called. The servants of the living God are sealed in their foreheads. They bear the mark, which their Master puts upon them, in a conspicuous place.

The prevalence of revealed religion distinguishes Christendom from the heathen world: an assent to the truth of revelation distinguishes the professor of Christianity from the infidel: acquiescence in the doctrines of grace discriminates the orthodox from the heretic; but there are marks more legible than confessions. A conscientious Christian is another name for the sober, the useful, the pious, and the upright character. An openly profane and immoral man is never mistaken for a true Christian. "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?"† "And what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"‡

It must be confessed, however, that a particular examination of the state of the Christian world, in order to ascertain who are God's sealed ones, as distinct from those who bear only the name Christian, is accompanied with great difficulty. Between the two opposite points, undoubted piety and absolute irreligion, you can find all the intermediate steps occupied: so various and complicated are the plans and pretensions of professed Christians. To draw with certainty the line of distinction, is impossible for man. We must be content to let the tares grow with the wheat until the harvest.

But if we meet with some instances in which it is difficult to discern the seal of the living God in the foreheads of his servants; there are many in whom the impression is distinct and lasting. Their shining countenance show that they have