Among men, nobody could force a person to adopt another; but it was always an act of the freest choice and liberality: Nor could any one be adopted to inherit an estate, not belong ing to the adopter himself. So, in the spiritual adoption, it is an act of sovereign grace and mercy, and the inheritance,.. consequent upon it, which is heaven and glory, is the adopter's own property, and is granted as such to every adopted child. If therefore the Spirit be, according to his name, the Spirit of Adoption, and brings into the heavenly family any worms of earth, who were aliens to it, constituting them, by that act, the very children of God; it will follow irresistibly, that the Spirit himself is God, or he gives what he has no right to give, and therefore would be erroneously styled, for this purpose, the Spirit of Adoption. But as this last is impossible, because it would overthrow the truth of the Bible; it follows, that the Spirit is the omnipotent Jebovab, who bestows the grace of adoption, in order to convey the inheri tance of glory, which glory is bis own, and therefore freely given by him to whomsoever he pleaseth. Were the Spirit not the everlasting and true God; how could his adoption make the redeemed the children of God? He could not confer that title, nor bear witness to the truth of it in their souls, unless the title GoD were bis own just title. His adoption otherwise might make them indeed the children of a creature, according to his own rank and eminence; but they could not be made by such adoption the children of the Highest. But we read of no angelic adoption, no adoption of creatures by creatures for glory, nor of any adoption for the kingdom of heaven established by any one inferior to the King of heaven: And, therefore, the Holy Spirit, being this Spirit of Adoption, whereby the redeemed cry, Abba, Father; is necessarily and incontrovertibly, from the word of truth and from the fairest and most obvious deduction, true and very God. Here then we see with what delightful propriety it is said, that as many as are led by the SPIRIT of God, they are the sons of God; and that the SPIRIT itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the CHILDREN of God, and if children then HEIRS, Heirs of God, and JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST. We see also. another glorious and comfortable truth; that it was God the Father, who predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself; Eph. i. 5. that it was God the Son, who was made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons; Gal. iv. 4. and that it is God the Spirit, by whose lead ing, or forming, we are the sons of God, and by whom we cry. Abba, Father. Rom. viii. 15. The whole Trinity concurs in bestowing this blessing of adoption; because it it the result Vol. II. B b

of a covenant entered into between the divine persons from before all worlds, and therefore both in prospect and retrospect perfectly everlasting.

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The last cited text furnishes another invincible argument for the Holy Spirit's divinity, He not only gives a title to, but makes us fit for the enjoyment of the inheritance. The words of an excellent friend have furnished the following vavaluable hints upon the subject of this Essay." When a human adopter has raised a poor beggar, he may enrich him "with a princely fortune; but he cannot give him the temper and affection of a dutiful child. The adopted may prove “ungrateful: He may abuse the favor, and be worse for the adoption. But it is quite otherwise, when God gives his Spirit. He, at the same time, creates spiritual life in the adopted son, unites him by his almighty power to Jesus, and thereby enables him to live by faith in and upon Jesus, "through whom he knows and finds the Father's love. Thus "he forms the son for the family. He lives, as Christ does "has the mind of Christ; judges of things as Christ does ; "has the same affections as Christ, 1 John v. 1, 2, 3. has the same relations with Christ, John xvii. 21, &c. has the same "inheritance, Rom. viii. 17. and for the same duration. Rom. "vi. 23. In this view, the Spirit of adoption bestows the highest dignity, which a creature can possibly receive→→ "united by one Spirit to Immanuel, and in him united to the Father, and thereby capable of enjoying the greatest happiness, of which any creature can possibly partake, even to be a partaker of the divine nature."-Can the agent, who effecteth all this grace for such consummate glory, be any other than Jehovah? Could a creature prepare for and bestow crowns and kingdoms in heaven? Is it possible for any being, less than the Supreme, not only to give a right to enjoy heaven, but to change the heart, renew the spirit, and to qualify the believer for heaven? Yet the Spirit of Adoption hath this office to perform; an office as much beyond the power of the creatures, as it is beyond the strength of a mite to move a world. It is a new creation, and consequently the work of an Almighty Creator; a restoration to the image of God, which God only could form at first, and reform when defaced. It is, therefore, said, that God did predestinate his people to be conformed to the image of bis Son; and then it is added, that such He also called, and justified, and glorified; all which is effected by the internal operation of the divine Spirit. The tallen angels, who are great in power and might, cannot recover themselves; nor can all the unfallen spirits round the throne blot out one sin, convert one soul, or confer one grace, upon this polluted globe. The good that is done upon carb, JEHOVAH doct himself; and certainly, then, that

HOLY SPIRIT can be no other than Jehovah, who doeth the greatest good, which ever can be done upon it, in leading souls by his grace to eternal salvation.

Thus it appears, that the great spiritual Adopter, or Spirit of Adoption, is an almighty, free, and sovereign agent; that, accordingly, he bestoweth his adoption, on whom He will, his will being agreeable to the covenant of grace which was framed by himself and the other divine persons; that those, whom he adopts, have his influence upon their souls, renewing, guiding, and inspiring them to call upon God as their Father; that they, therefore, are led in this way from the love of sin to a thirst after more and more righteousness, as an earnest of their inheritance; and that, finally, they are brought, by the same Spirit, to the full enjoyment of that inheritance in his everlasting kingdom, where they reign triumphant kings and holy priests in unutterable glory. From this view, we may perceive that God the Spirit's adoption is not a matter of hypothesis or speculation, but of life, reality, and power; and that they, who are blessed with it, are privileged even here, in some degree, to know it, to feel it, and to enjoy it. An unknown earnest could be no earnest at all, and can answer no end for which any earnest could be given, namely, the assurance or testimony of a future inheritance. A speculative earnest (admitting there could be any sense in the term) would be much the same; for whatever floats only in the fancy, without renewing the soul, may indeed be finely fanciful and extremely curious, and so are many romances; but it could have no effect, but what romances have,-cor rupt and puff up the mind and render the man not one tittle the better for it. On the contrary, God's Spirit fills the soul, at times, with the sense and impression of his adoption, makes the man alive to God, serious, devout, and thankful, gives him a taste of heaven in his affections, opens the evidence and truth of his own word to the mind, and yields him that faith and hope of glory, by which he hates sin, overcomes the world, and at last is a conqueror and more than a conqueror over hell and death itself. Now as Christians are men like others, endued with the same senses and appetites, carrying the same corrupt hearts and affections, and naturally loving ease, and pleasure, and honor, and riches, like all the rest of the world: Can it be a mere notion or idea, which enables them, in any degree, to turn from these things, to consider them as lying vanities, to desire that these inbred corruptions should be subdued, to deny the flesh and its lusts, and to pant for (what will crucify them entirely) the enjoyment of a spiritual good beyond the reach of all animal gratification? Is it a mere whim, a fond chimera, by which they rise and have risen superior to the world, and long

for the presence of Christ and the communion of his Spirit? -Surely, there must be something more in the case, strengthened as it is by a wonderful uniformity of this principle in all ages, against the current maxims and sentiments of the world: And it might seem a matter of surprize (were the reason unknown,) that our inquisitive philosophers, who com pass the world in search of plants and butterflies; our acute naturalists and chemists, who attempt to dive into the depths of nature; and our enlarged astronomers, who are for measuring and exploring worlds upon worlds; that all these knowing and ingenious people never enter into a due investigation of this far more interesting phenomenon in that little great world, called man. Till this be done, it is absurd and unworthy of them, as men of science, to call it by an ill name, and so get rid of the matter by writing enthusiasm upon the back of it. The refuge of ignorance in occult qualities has been so much and so justly exploded, that it is rather extraordinary that philosophers, at this time of day, can venture to contradict their own principle, by making use of it. For if they be asked, what this enthusiasm is, which has been so long exemplified in prophets, apostles, martyrs, and believers in every age, they are generally honest enough to confess, that they never felt, or experienced, or knew this strange thing, this OCCULT quality, in themselves. Will they term it Madness? Madness is a deviation from all rule: And if we prove what they venture to call enthusiasm to be strictly agreeable to the rule of God in his word; what must that principle be called (let it be adorned with the name of reason or any other fine title) which not only deviates from this perfect rule, but dares to oppose and contradict it? Either the rule revealed is no rule; or their's is the madness, who wander from it. And if we ask, how it can possibly be rational in these great masters of reason to call by any name a subject, with the properties of which they are confessedly unacquainted, and whether, without ground, they may not sooner impose a wrong name than a right; their ratiocina tion is, to justify themselves by holding up. their knowledge in other things, and bearing us down with them. But is this more correct than the conduct of Phidias's cobler, who, because he knew how to cover a man's foot, would presume to know the anatomical structure of a man himself?- We will only add, that it may be honest for a person to confess what he doth not know, though not quite so wise to CONDEMN it: And, therefore, Phidias's proverb may be applied to these reasoners, and to reason itself, upon spiritual things-ne sutor ultra crepidam. When it pleases God to impart the knowledge of his truth, as in mercy he hath sometimes done, to the great and learned of this world; they first feel, that

they must become fools in order to be wise; and they soon after know, that the wisdom and grace of God are not to be called by hard and opprobrious names, without a very high measure of spiritual presumption and folly. They then perceive and are ready enough to own, that, as the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, a man may reckon himself and be esteemed by the world for very wise and knowing, and yet, after all, be a magnificent fool, or elevated madman, fond of mere tinsel, and satisfied with mere sounds.

But, leaving these, hath God the Spirit, O believer, been graciously pleased to communicate his blessed adoption to thee; and what is thy language and frame? The psalmist will describe it exactly, and with a divine pathos, which it is thy privilege likewise to feel: "What shall I render unto ibe LORD, for all bis benefits towards me? What shall I offer to him, who hath had such pity, such tender love and pity, on so poor and despicable a worm as me?". -Render! Thou like David, canst render nothing. Do, then, as he did-receive more; take the cup of salvation, that full cup of grace and truth, and call upon the name of the LORD, that he may enable thee to take still more and more from it. Thou hast not grace of thine own so much as to thank him for grace given; and, therefore, He giveth more grace to grace received, that thou mayest praise and bless his holy name for thy free reception of it. O what a gracious Spirit of Adoption is this! He not only confers a blessing, but suffers it not to be lost upon us, nor sunk into the corruption and unthankfulness of our nature: He works the praise in our hearts, which is due to him for his adoption bestowed 66 upon our souls. Thus all our works," every thing exerted in us, and carried on by our instrumentality, "are begun, continued, and ended in him." He gives both will and power, defends us in all operations, and crowns them with eventual success by his effectual blessing.

How deeply, how inconceivably, art thou indebted to this almighty Spirit, O thou, who art one of his first-born and first-fruits for glory! Know, as much as thou mayest, of his grace; taste, as much as thou canst, of his love; enjoy, as much as thou art able, of his power; thou mayest say more strictly than the queen of Sheba said to Solomon, that not only not the balf, but not the ten thousandth part of his wisdom and goodness hath ever been told thee. And it never can be told thee. Angels pry into this unsearchable love; but, still finding it unsearchable, cannot express it: And when thou. hast enjoyed it for myriads of ages, and comprehended worlds after worlds of his communicable glories; thy finite faculties must yet view an infinite profound of ineffable love, wisdom, and truth; ever to be dived into, but never to be fathomed or