make us of the new creation. When Rachel called to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I die;" he answered her sufficiently with this question, "Am I in God's stead?" (Gen. xxx. 1, 2.) And if he only openeth the womb, who else can make the soul* to bear? Hence hath he the name of Father, and they of sons who are born of him; and so from that internal act of spiritual regeneration another title of paternity redoundeth unto the Divinity.

Nor is this the only second birth or sole regeneration in a Christian sense; the soul, which after its natural being requires a birth into the life of grace, is also after that born again into a life of glory. Our Saviour puts us in mind of "the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory." (Matt. xix. 28.) The resurrection of our bodies is a kind of coming out of the womb of the earth, and entering upon immortality, a nativity into another life. For "they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, are the sons of God, being the sons of the resurrection," (Luke xx. 35, 36.) and then as sons, "they become heirs, coheirs with Christ," (Rom. viii. 17.) "receiving the promise and reward of eternal inheritance." (Heb. ix. 15. Col. iii. 24.) "Beloved, now are we the sons of God," saith St. John, even in this life by regeneration, "and it doth not yet appear, or, it hath not been yet made manifest,+ what we shall be; but we know, that if he appear, we shall be like him:" (1 John iii. 2.) the manifestation of the Father being a sufficient declaration of the condition of the sons, when the sonship itself consisteth in a similitude of the Father. And "blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us." (1 Pet. i. 3, 4.) Why may not then a second kind of regeneration be thought a fit addition of this paternal relation?

Neither is there only a natural, but also a voluntary and civil foundation of paternity; for the laws have found a way by which a man may become a father without procreation: and this imitation of nature is called adoption, taken in the general signification.§ Although, therefore, many ways God be a Father; yet, lest any way might seem to exclude us from being his sons, he hath made us so also by adoption. Others are

• Οὐ γὰρ ἀντὶ Θεοῦ ἐγώ εἰμι, τοῦ μόνου δυνα μένου τὰς ψυχῶν μήτρας ἀνοιγνῦναι, καὶ σπεί ρειν ἐν αὐταῖς ἀρετὰς, καὶ ποιεῖν ἐγκύμονας καὶ τίκτουσας τὰ καλά. Philo de Alleg. 1. iii. p. 122. ed. Mang. 1742.

+ Καὶ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη.

Adoptio nature similitudo est, ut aliquis filium habere possit, quem non

generavit.' Caii Inst. 1. tit. 5. §. 1. Tí ἐστιν υἱοθεσία ; νομίμη πρᾶξις μιμουμένη τὴν φύσιν πρὸς παίδων παραμυθίαν ἐπινενοημένη. Theoph. Inst. 1. t. 11.

§ Η υἱοθεσία Ρωμαϊκή φωνῇ λέγεται ἀδοπο τίων· αὕτη οὖσα γενικὸν ὄνομα εἰς δύω διαιρεῖται, εἰς ἀδρογατίονα, καὶ τὴν ὁμώνυμον ἀδοπτίονα. Theoph. ibid.

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wont to fly to this, as to a comfort of their solitary condition, when either nature had denied them, or death bereft them of their offspring. Whereas God doth it not for his own, but for our sakes; nor is the advantage his, but ours. what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God;" (1 John iii. 1.) that we, the sons of disobedient and condemned Adam by natural generation, should be translated into the glorious liberty of the sons of God by adoption; that we, who were aliens, strangers, and enemies, should be assumed "unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all the family+ of heaven and earth is named," (Eph. iii. 14, 15.) and be made partakers of "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." (Eph. i. 18.) For as in the legal adoption, the father hath as full and absolute power over his adopted son as over his own issue; so in the spiritual, the adopted sons have a clear and undoubted right of inheritance. He, then, who hath "predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself," (Eph. i. 5.) hath thereby another kind of paternal relation, and so we receive the "Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Rom. viii. 15.)

The necessity of this faith in God as our Father appeareth, first, in that it is the ground of all our filial fear, honour, and obedience due unto him upon this relation. "Honour thy father is the first commandment with promise," (Eph. vi. 2.) written in tables of stone with the finger of God; and," children obey your parents in the Lord," is an evangelical precept, but founded upon principles of reason and justice; " for this is right," saith St. Paul. (Ephes. vi. 1.) And if there be such a rational and legal obligation of honour and obedience to the fathers of our flesh, how much more must we think ourselves obliged to him whom we believe to be our heavenly and everlasting Father? "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts."

Spadones autem qui generare non possunt, adoptare possunt; et, licet filios generare non possint, quos adoptaverunt filios habere possunt.' Caii Inst. 1. tit. 5. §. 3. Hi qui generare non possunt, velut spado, utroque modo possunt adoptare. Idem juris est in cœlibe.' Ulp. tit. 9. §. 5. Τυχὸν οὐκ ἔχοι τις παῖδας διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ γάμων, ἢ ἐλθεῖν μὲν, μὴ παι δοποιῆσαι δὲ, ἢ παιδοποιῆσαι μὲν, ἀποβάλλε σθαι δὲ τούτους, τὸ ἐκ τῆς φύσεως ἐλάττωμα ἢ τὸ συμβὰν δυστύχημα βουλόμενος ἐπικουφί σαι, ἔλαβεν εἰς υἱοθεσίαν τινά. Theoph. Inst. i. tit. 11. Τοῖς ἀτυχοῦσιν ἀπαιδίαν λύειν βουλόμενος τὸ δυστύχημα νόμος υἱοθετεῖσθαι προστάσσει, καὶ γνώμῃ ἐκεῖνο κτᾶσθαι, ἃ μὴ εὔπορον λαβεῖν παρὰ τῆς φύσεως. Leonis

Novel. 27.

In alienam familiam transitus,' is the description in Agellius, 1. 5. 19. Cum in alienam familiam inque liberorum locum extranei sumuntur, aut per prætorem fit, aut per populum: quod per prætorem fit, adoptio dicitur; quod per populum, arrogatio.' Ibid.

As appears out of the form of Rogation yet extant in this manner: Velitis, jubeatis, Quirites, uti Lucius Valerius Lucio Titio, tam jure legeque filius sibi siet, quam si ex eo patre matreque familias ejus natus esset, utique ei vitæ necisque in eo potestas siet, uti patri endo filio est?' Ibid.

(Malac. i. 6.) If we be heirs, we must be coheirs with Christ; if sons, we must be brethren to the only-begotten: but being he came not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him, he acknowledgeth no fraternity but with such as do the same; as he hath said, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother." (Matt. xii. 50.) If it be required of a bishop in the church of God, to be" one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;" (1 Tim. iii. 4.) what obedience must be due, what subjection must be paid, unto the Father of the family?

The same relation in the object of our faith is the life of our devotions, the expectation of all our petitions. Christ, who taught his disciples, and us in them, how to pray, propounded not the knowledge of God, though without that he could not hear us; neither represented he his power, though without that he cannot help us; but comprehended all in this relation, "When ye pray, say, Our Father." (Luke xi.2.) This prevents all vain repetitions of our most earnest desires, and gives us full security to cut off all tautology, for "Our Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask him." (Matt. vi. 8.) This creates a clear assurance of a grant without mistake of our petition: "What man is there of us, who if his son ask bread, will give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If we then who are evil know how to give good gifts unto our children; how much more shall our Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him.” (Matt. vii. 9-11.)*

Again, this paternity is the proper foundation of our Christian patience, sweetening all afflictions with the name and nature of fatherly corrections. "We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?" especially considering, that "they chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness:" (Heb. xii. 9, 10.)† they, as an argument of their authority; he, as an assurance of his love: they, that we might acknowledge them to be our parents; he, that he might persuade us that we are his sons: " for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." (Heb. xii. 6.) And what greater incitement unto the exercise of patience is imaginable unto a suffering soul, than to see in every stroke the hand of a Father, in every afflic

tion a demonstration of his love? Or how canst thou repine, or be guilty of the least degree of impatiency, even in the sharpest corrections, if " thou shalt know with thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee?” (Deut. viii. 5.) How canst thou not be comforted, and even rejoice in the midst of thy greatest sufferings, when thou knowest that he which striketh pitieth, he which afflicteth is as it were afflicted with it? "For like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." (Psal. ciii. 13.)

Lastly, the same relation strongly inferreth an absolute necessity of our imitation; it being clearly vain to assume the title of son without any similitude of the father. What is the* general notion of generation but the production of the like; nature, ambitious of perpetuity, striving to preserve the species in the multiplication and succession of individuals? And this similitude consisteth partly in essentials, or the likeness of nature; partly in accidentals, or the likeness in figure,† or affections. "Adam begat a son in his own likeness, after his image:" (Gen. v. 3.) and can we imagine those the sons of God which are no way like him? A similitude of nature we must not, of figure we cannot pretend unto: it remains then only that we bear some likeness in our actions and affections. "Be ye therefore followers (saith the apostle), or rather§ imitators, of God, as dear children." (Ephes. v. 1.)|| What he hath revealed of himself, that we must express within ourselves. Thus God spake unto the children of Israel, whom he styled his son, Ye shall be holy, for I am holy." (Lev. xi. 44. xix. 2. xx. 7.) And the apostle upon the same ground speaketh unto us, as to "obedient children :" "As he that hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." (1 Pet. i. 14, 15.) It is part of the general beneficence and universal goodness of our God, that "he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. v. 45.)¶ These impartial beams and undistinguishing showers are but to shew us what we ought to do, and to make us fruitful in the works of God; for no other reason Christ has given us this command, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. v. 44, 45.)** No other command did he give upon this

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Πᾶν τὸ γεννῶν ὅμοιον ἑαυτῷ γεννᾷ. S. Epiphan. Har. lxxvi. §. 6.

†' Τὰ ὅμοια γίγνεσθαι τοῖς γεννήσασι τὰ Enyova, eüλoyov. Aristot. de Generat. Animal. l. i. c. 9.

Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis: Est in juvencis, est in equis patrum Virtus; nec imbellem feroces Progenerant aquila columbam.'

Hor. Carm. I. iv. Od. iv. v. 29.

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ground, but, "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father is merciful." (Luke vi. 36.)

So necessary is this faith in God, as in our Father, both for direction to the best of actions, and for consolation in the worst of conditions.

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But although this be very necessary, yet it is not the principal or most proper explication of God's paternity. For as we find one person in a more peculiar manner the Son of God, so must we look upon God as in a more peculiar manner the Father of that Son. I ascend unto my Father and your Father," (John xx. 17.)* saith our Saviour; the same of both, but in a different manner, denoted by the article prefixed before the one, and not the other: which distinction in the original we may preserve by this translation, I ascend unto the Father of me, and Father of you; first of me, and then of you not therefore his, because ours; but therefore ours, because his. So far we are the sons of God, as we are like unto him; and our similitude unto God consisteth in our conformity to the likeness of his Son. "For whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren." (Rom. viii. 29.) He the first-born, and we sons, as brethren unto him: he " pointed heir of all things," (Heb. i. 2.) and we "heirs of God, as joint-heirs with him." (Rom. viii. 17.) Thus God "sent forth his Son, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Gal. iv. 4-6.)† By his mission are we adopted, and by his Spirit call we God our Father. So we are no longer " servants, but now sons; and if sons, then heirs of God, but still through Christ." (Gal. iv. 7.) It is true, indeed, that " both he that sanctifieth, that is, Christ, and they who are sanctified, that is, faithful Christians, are all of one, the same Father, the same God; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren :" (Heb. ii. 11.) yet are they not all of him after the same manner, not the " many sons like the Captain of their salvation :" (Heb. ii. 10.) but Christ

:

̓Αναβαίνω πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου, καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν. Had πατέρα in both places had its article, there would have seemed two Fathers had the article been prefixed to πατέρα ὑμῶν, he would have seemed first ours, then Christ's: but being prefixed to πατέρα μου, it shews God to be principally and originally Christ's, and by our reference unto him, our Father. Πατέρα μου μὲν κατὰ φύσιν ἐν τῇ θεότητι, καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν διὰ χάριν ἐν τῇ υἱοθεσία. S. Epiphan. Hæres. Ixix. §. 55. Oun eiπv πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὑμῶν, ἀλλὰ διελών, καὶ εἰπὼν πρῶτον τὸ οἰκεῖον, πρὸς τὸν πατέρα μου, ὅπερ ἦν κατὰ φύσιν· εἶτ ̓ ἐπαναγαγὼν καὶ πατέρα ὑμῶν, ὅπες ἦν κατὰ θέσιν. S. Cyril. Hieros,

ap

Catech. 7. Ετέρως οὖν αὐτοῦ πατὴς, καὶ ἑτέρως ἡμῶν ; πάνυ μὲν οὖν. Εἰ γὰρ τῶν δια καίων ἑτέρως Θεὸς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ ἡμῶν. Ἐπειδὰν γὰρ εἶπε, Εἰπὲ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, ἵνα μὴ ἀπὸ τού του ἴσον τι φαντασθῶσι, δείκνυσι τὸ ἐνηλλαγ Mévov. S. Chrysost. ad locum.

+Hoc facit Deus ex filiis hominum filios Dei, quia ex filio Dei fecit Deus filium hominis.' S. August. in Psal. lii.

Dicimur et filii Dei, sed ille aliter filius Dei.' S. August. in Psal. Ixxxviii. Ἔστι τοίνυν ὁ Θεὸς πολλῶν μὲν καταχρηστικῶς πατὴς, ἑνὸς δὲ μόνου φύσει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ τοῦ Movoyevous vioũ. S. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. 7.