The high

1. Distinguished honour is included.-The Lord puts his name upon them. They are described as "his people, called by his name." If this be your privilege and mine, we need envy none. sounding names and titles which men assume and confer have no real glory attached to them. The name of the ungodly, whatever rank they hold, whatever exalted station on earth they fill, shall be "blotted out." "The memory of the wicked shall rot ;"-that is its end: it shall be covered with infamy, and sink in eternal disgrace; "but the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." honour is at once substantial and permanent. are "the children of God;" and "this honour have all the saints."

Their

They

2. The privilege includes peculiar affection.There is no feeling so congenial to the heart of a father as affection for his children. That man is not a father, he has not the heart of a father, who does not tenderly love them. And is God a Father? Surely, then, his children share in his special love! a love worthy of himself-worthy of his own heart to exercise; a love the most kind, steady, and tender. A child may be dissatisfied with the conduct of the wisest and best parent; the petulence of the child may be the reason of this dissatisfaction. Thus the children of God may not always be pleased with the conduct of their heavenly Father: the fretfulness, the discontent, the petulence of their temper, may lead them to murmur and repine, but this does not prove their Father unkind: he no less loves them, and is no less uniform in the expressions of his love, whatever the dealings of his providence may be. Have you not heard, and do you not believe; "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every

son whom he receiveth. If, then, ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?"

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3. The privilege of sonship is expressive of constant care.—Yes; this Father has himself always the care of his whole family. He says to each of them, "I will be with thee in all places, whithersoever thou goest; and I will surely do thee good." He engages in the most solemn and emphatic terms, "I will never, never, leave thee; I will never, no never forsake thee." What a Father is this! and what a privilege to be his sons and daughters! Let us try and trust his care: let us ever exercise a filial confidence, and cherish that good hope through grace which maketh not ashamed. "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence; and his children shall have a place of refuge." "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry." And still more; "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust."

4. The privilege farther denotes and includes the most liberal kindness.-We sometimes hear it said; Such a father has not done well for his children. Men are charged with unjust partiality, and with injuri us caprice: no charge of this kind can be brought against God. All other fathers are cruel and niggardly, compared with this Father. give how does he give? He gives "liberally and upbraideth not." He gives grace and glory." He gives us "all things richly to enjoy." What a tender appeal is that to the feelings of earthly parents; "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto

He

your children; how much more shall your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him ?"

And look at the text, in connection with what immediately follows:-"We are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ." What words are these! To be "heirs of God," is to be entitled, by right of sonship, to all that he is, and all that he has, adapted to make us rich and happy! To be "joint-heirs with Christ," is to share with him in all his fulness; to be blessed in him, and through him, and at last to be glorified with him. He says, by his servant John, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." And being "begotten again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," it is "to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven." No father ever reserved such an inheritance for his children; no children, except these, ever possessed such a portion! "I will say of the Lord," says the Psalmist, "He is my refuge, and my fortress; my God: in him will I trust. And the apostle John," Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." And the liberal kindness of this Father shines still more, in training up his children for this felicity; in teaching them, forming their minds, and gradually preparing them for the full enjoyment of all that he has prepared for them. We exclaim with the Apostle, and may we do it with the

same admiration and gratitude, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!"

II. The WAY by which the KNOWLEDGE of this privilege is ASCERTAINED, and the COMFORT OF IT

ENJOYED.

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." The Apostle and his friends were not ignorant of their adoption: they had good evidence that they belonged to the household of faith, the family of heaven; and here is stated the method by which believers in all ages may pursue the inquiry, and gain the important satisfaction.

By" the Spirit itself," is meant the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. There is peculiar emphasis in the expression: it is used by way of pre-eminent distinction" the Spirit itself." And by "our spirit is meant Conscience, the inward principle, the mind of man, deliberating concerning its own state, and passing judgment on itself.

There are then some among the sons of men, who are "the children of God." To prove who these are and whether we ourselves be of the number, two witnesses come forward, and the testimony of each is carefully to be heard and examined.

Our

First, here is the testimony of Conscience; spirit." Let each professor look into himself, and appeal to his own heart. Have you, or have you not, a persuasion in your own breast, that you are a child of God? Observing attentively that, "if our heart condemn us," that is, if the verdict of conscience be clearly against us, "God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. But if our heart condemn us not," if its verdict be impartially

in our favour, "then have we confidence towards God *."

But, secondly, here is the testimony of the Spirit of God; and this is more particularly to be regarded. Let it be observed, the testimony of these witnesses may be separated: there may be one, when there is not the other: but when both agree; when the attestation of the Spirit of God comes in to corroborate and confirm the deposition of conscience; then the case is clear, and put beyond all reasonable doubt. Many a man, it is feared, sinfully partial to himself, and superficial in the scrutiny of his heart, his temper, and life, hath the witness of his own spirit that he is a Christian, while the Spirit of God witnesses no such thing. He thinks well of his own state and character; but private opinion is not satisfactory proof. He speaks peace to himself; but there is One above him who denounces condemnation and. wrath. It is the concurrence, the agreement, of these witnesses which favourably decides the point.

Let us, therefore, consider the witness of the Spirit of God. This is given in, if I may so speak, in two ways: we have it in the written word; and also by supernatural influence, or direct impressions on the mind. The first of these is by far the most safe, and easy to be understood.

"The Spirit itself," then, in the holy Scriptures, witnesseth with our spirit;—that is, the word of God describes the children of God by certain marks and characters; the mind compares itself with such marks and characters;-and so far as an agreement really exists, and is actually discerned, an inference friendly to ourselves is fairly drawn; and this, in an import.

1 John iii. 20, 21.