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The first and great Duty of a Child, is to love his Parents with a filial Affection: We have had Fathers in the Flesh, faith the Apostle, and we loved them, and gave them reveThis then, in the highest degree, is to be given to our Heavenly Father, loving him with all our Heart, with all our Soul, &c,

rence.

Again, A Son honoureth his Father, and a Servant his Mafter: If I then be a Father, where is my Honour? If a Mafter, where is my Fear? faith the Lord of Hefts; Mal. 1. 6. This Relation then must engage us to study and live to his Honour; and whether we eat or drink, to do all to the praise and glory of God, 1 Cor. 10. 31. This is no more than he expects, and challenges from us.

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Moreover, Children, you know, are to obey their Parents, to hearken to their Counsel, and kindly to receive their Admonitions and Corrections, and to amend upon them. This Obedience is in the highest measure to be paid to our Father in Heaven; for his Commandments are never grievous, and his Corrections are always for our good.

Laftly, Children are wont to truft and rely upon their Parents, to depend upon their Care and Provifion for them; this we fhould do in a more eminent manner upon our heavenly Father, cafting our Care upon him who careth for us, and relying upon his Providence withour Anxiety and Diftruit. This Leffon our Saviour teaches, Matth. 6. where he wills us, not to be follicitous about Food and Raiment, because our heavenly Father knows that we have need of these things; and if we feek firft his Kingdom, and the Righteoufnefs thereof, he will not fuffer us to want them,. for they fhall be added unto us: Ver. the laft.

In a word, as we are the Children of God, we are to pray to him for all that we lack, and praife him for all that we receive; and in fo doing, we shall be heard and accepted in both.

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DISCOURSE IX.

ROM. viii. 17.

If Children, then Heirs; Heirs of God, and Joint-heirs with Chrift.

I

Difcours'd the last time concerning the fecond Privilege promis'd and convey'd in Baptifm, viz. our Adoption; in these words, Wherein I was made a Child of God. Which I told you was a Privilege, which we have not by our natural Birth; for we are born the Children of Wrath and Difobedience, a degenerate Race, a Seed of Evil-doers, and the corrupt Offfpring of Flesh and Blood: but by the Water of Baptifm, this Guilt and Pollution is wa fh'd off, and we are fo purify'd, as to become the Sons and Children of God: Of which before. I come now the

ΤΟ

Third and laft Privilege mention'd in our Catechism, and contain'd in those words; Wherein I was made an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven. This our Apostle here makes to be a Confequent of the former: For if Children, then Heirs; Heirs of God, and Foint-beirs with Christ. From which, therefore, I fhall difcourfe to you concerning the last and great Privilege: To which end I muft enquire,

I. What we are to understand here by the Kingdom of Heaven.

II. What it is to be an Inheritor of this Kingdom of Heaven.

III. How this Privilege is promis'd and convey'd in Baptifm.

I. The Kingdom of Heaven is varioufly understood in the New Teftament; but 'tis chiefly us'd to fignify, either the Kingdom of Grace here in this Life, or the Kingdom of Glory in the World to come.

By

By the Kingdom of Grace here we are to underftand the happy State of the Gofpel, begun at Chrift's coming into the World, and continu'd by preaching the glad Tidings and Means of Salvation ever fince. Of this is to be under. ftood that of John the Baptift, who gave the firft notice of the Approach of it; faying, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, Mat. 3. 1. meaning the Kingdom of the Meffias, or the State of the Gofpel. Thus is it underftood likewife in Mat. 11. 12. where the Kingdom of Heaven is faid to fuffer violence. And generally in all the Parables of our Saviour, where the Kingdom of Heaven is liken'd to various and fundry things, it is to be understood of this Gofpel-Difpenfation, or the Kingdom of the Meffias.

Now the Kingdom of Heaven, in this fenfe, being the fame with the Chriftian Church, into which we are admitted by our Baptifm, cannot be meant in this place of our Catechifm, becaufe this is included in the firft Privilege, before treated of; by which we are made the Members of Chrift, that is, of Chrift's Church, and are thereby admitted to all the Grace and Favour of this Gofpel-Adminiftration. But the being made an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven, being mention'd here as a diftinct Privilege, and indeed the top and completion of all the reft, must be underflood of the Kingdom of Glory hereafter; which is that happy and glorious State of Saints and Angels with God in the World to come. In this Sense we are to understand it, in all thofe Places where the Entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, is promis'd as the Reward of the Righteous; and the Exclufion from it, is threaten'd as the Punishment of the Wicked: as Mat. 25. 1 Cor 6. So is it meant likewife in that of our Saviour, Not every one that faith, Lord! Lord! fhall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven, Mat. 7. 21. That is, not they that barely profess Christianity, fhall be admitted to a State of future and eternal Happiness; but they that practife and live accordingly. Indeed the Profeffion alone is fufficient to gain admittance into the vifible Church or Kingdom of Grace here on Earth; but nothing less than a furable Life and Practice can procure an Entrance into the Church Triumphant, or Kingdom of Glory hereafter in He ven.

In this fenfe we are to take these Words in our Catechifm, when we are faid to be made Inheritors of the King

dom

dom of Heaven; namely, of a future State of eternal Blifs and Glory, a State of the greatest Joy and Bleffednefs that our Natures are capable of receiving; a State, in which all the Crowns, Kingdoms, and Glories of this World, fall vaftly fhort of the Happiness of it; yea, are but Shadows and Trifles, if compar'd with it. In a word, a State of that unfpeakable Happiness, that Eye hath not feen, nor Ear beard, nor bath it enter'd into the Heart of Man to conceive the great things that are prepar'd and to be injoy'd in it. This then is the Kingdom. But,

II. What is it to be an Inheritor of this Kingdom of Heaven? Why, in fhort, 'tis to be an Heir to it, as a Son is to the Inheritance of his Father: Hence our Text tells us, If Children, then Heirs, Heirs of God; that is, he makes us Heirs to this Kingdom; and Joint-Heirs with Chrift, his only Son, and our elder Brother. So that this is not like earthly Kingdoms and Inheritances, that go only to the elder Brother: no, God makes all his Children Heirs and Joint-partakers of his heavenly Kingdom: for if Children, then Heirs, &c. and if a Son, then an Heir thro' Chrift, Gal. 4. 7. For which reafon, all the People of God are styl'd Heirs of Salvation, Heb. 1. 14. that is, 'tis fecur'd to, and entail'd upon them. And our Catechifm calls them Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now this fhews us the Tenure by which we hold this heavenly Kingdom, which we are here, and frequently elsewhere told in Scripture, is by Inheritance, which gives us the title of Heirs; and in the laft Sentence, we are bid to inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for us. Of all Tenures, you know, that of Inheritance is reckon'd the best, because 'tis unlimited and perpetual: that which is held by Leafe, expires and that which is held by Lives, dies likewife and falls away but what is held by Inheritance, or, in Fee, is our own for ever. Now this is the Tenure by which we hold this heavenly Kingdom to which we are Heirs; 'tis by Inheritance for ever: Come ye blessed of my Father, inkerit the Kingdom of Heaven, &c.

And as Inheritance is the best Tenure: fo that of a Kingdom is the highest and best Inheritance. A fmall Cottage, or a little Spot of Earth, may be held by Inheritance; but this is not to be nam'd with the noble Inheritance of a Kingdom, which affords all that heart can wifh. Again,

All

All that we hold of this World by Inheritance, must be left to our Heirs, becaufe we cannot live always here to enjoy it; but the Kingdom of Heaven, of which we are made Inheritors, will be everlafting; and we fhall always live ourfelves, and be happy in the Enjoyment of it: Hence St. Peter ftyles it an Inheritance immortal, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away; but referv'd for ever in Heaven for us: i Pet. 1. 4. And as the Inheritance is incorruptible; fo he tells us, ver. 23, 24. That we are born of an incorruptible Seed, and begotten again to a lively Hope of poffeffing and enjoying it for ever.

Moreover, all earthly Inheritances may be forfeited or loft, they are liable to Violence, Rapine and Confifcation, with many other Difafters. Yea, all earthly Kingdoms may be fhaken, the Crowns may be taken from the Heads of Princes, and their Honour laid in the Duft. Yea, we read of fome who have voluntarily refign'd their Crowns, to be rid of the Cares, Fears, and Troubles that lay under them. Whereas this Heavenly Kingdom, which Chriftians are made to inherit, is never to be loft or forfeited; 'tis above the Violence, Malice, or Malignity of Enemies; 'tis entirely free from all Fears and Cares, and out of the reach of all Miffortunes. We receive a Kingdom, faith the Apostle, that cannot be mov'd, Heb. 12. 28. a Kingdom that can neither be mov'd from us, nor we from it. This is indeed the principal Flower of this Crown of Glory, that it fadeth not away, but is eternal in the Heavens; 'tis the chiefeft Jewel in this Heavenly Diadem, that 'tis everlafting, and fuffers not Diminution or Decay; we hold it by Inheritance for ever, and by a Right that fhall never be taken from us. But how is this Inheritance convey'd to us in our Baptifm, wherein (our Catechifm tells us) we are made Inheritors of this Kingdom of Heaven? This is the

III Thing propounded to be spoken to, which will lead us from the Tenure, to confider our Title to this heavenly Kingdom. For the better understanding whereof, we must

note,

1. That we are not born to this Inheritance, and fo can have no natural Right to it, for we are all born in Sin, and come into the World Heirs of Hell and Damnation. That firft Sin which fhut our firft Parents out of Paradife, had for ever excluded all their Pofterity out of the Kingdom of Heaven, if fome other way had not Vot. I

F

been

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