SERMON
VIII.

But left it should be replied.

Are we

not all Servants of Sin both by original Defilement and actual Tranfgreffion? Who then can be faved? Our Saviour therefore adds-If the Son fshall make you free, yeshall be free indeed; i. e. However you are by Nature Children of Wrath, and however you may be, thro' finful Acts and Habits, the Servants of Corruption, and as such can lay no Claim to any Part of the heavenly Inheritance, yet if the Son of God, who is Heir and Lord of all Things, free you from your Bondage and bring you into the Liberty of Sons, then fhall you divide the Inheri tance with Him; for tho' by original Ex traction you are Aliens and out of the true Filiation, yet thro' Grace being made real* Children by Adoption and a vital Participation of the Divine Nature derived from the fecond

Tho' the Adoption of Children among Men be only a nominal or reputed Relation, yet in the Divine Life it confifts in a real and spiritual Birth, and indeed must do fo; for altho' one Man has a natural Fitnefs or Capacity to inherit" the things of another, yet this holds not true with respect to the heavenly Inheritance, for Corruption cannot inherit Incorruption: And therefore in order to our Meetnefs to be made Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light we muft by our Spiritual Union with Chrift the King of Saints receive of his Fullness a Measure of that Holiness without which no Man fhall fee the Lord, and fo by the Sanctification of his Spirit be qualified for Glorification in his Kingdom.

Adam,

J

VIII.

Adam, who is a quickning Spirit, and the SERMON Fountain of a new and holy Life to us; by this new Relation you become Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ. To which purpofe are those Words of our Lord to his Heavenly Father concerning the Children of the Redemption: The Glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. For, He who fanElifieth and they who are fanctified are all of one, for which Caufe He is not ashamed to call them Brethren.

Thus to as many as receive Him into their Hearts by Faith, and continue in his Word, doth the Lord Jesus give fuch precious Promises and Privileges, for these are the true legitimate Seed of faithful Abraham, and rightful Heirs of the Covenant of Grace; nay a greater then Abraham is their Father, for they are born not of Blood, nor of the Will of the Flesh, nor of the Will of Man, but of God. O that this glorious Truth may be impreffed upon our Minds in more durable Characters than if written upon a Rock with the Point of a Diamond! And O! (which is of the higheft Importance to us). that the Experience of it may be fealed upon our Hearts by the Spirit of the Living God!

It

SERMON
VIII.

It is obfervable, that the fame Property or Power, viz. to make us free, which is afcribed to Truth in Ver. 32. of this Chap-. ter, is afcribed to the Son of God in that of the Text, to evidence to us that Christ is what He declares himself to be, the Way, the Truth and the Life, not only as He has outwardly revealed Truth to us, but as He is within us that Principle of living Truth which is the Power of God unto Salvation: And therefore thofe Expofitors who interpret thefe Words of Doctrinal. Knowledge only, however great their Names may be, have not entered into the full Senfeland Meaning of them; for People may have much Headknowledge of the Scriptures, and right Notions of Doctrines, and yet continue the Servants of Corruption. In vain Men boast of the Purity of their particular Church or the the Truth of its Doctrines, whilft they continue fpeculative Believers only, and have not their Hearts purified by Faith, for tho' a Distinction in point of Preference is due to one outward Communion of Chriftians above others, yet fo long as they are not of the People of God, who worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth, and therefore have not Fellowship with the Father, nor with the

Son,

VIII.

Son, whether they worship at Samaria or SERMON Jerufalem, whether they be of the Church of England or the Church of Scotland, of the Church of Geneva or the Church of Rome, 'tis all one, for if any Man have not the Spirit of Chrift he is none of his; he remains a Slave to his Sins or to his Ceremonies, to his Doctors or to his Doctrines, and is no Free-man, for where the Spirit of the Lordis, there is Liberty, and there only.

When Pilate asked our Lord, What is Truth? we do not read that He made any Reply to his Queftion, as an Interrogatory of that Importance feemed to require: And what may we fuppofe to have been the Reafon of this Silence? Why this The Queftion was probably captious or curious in the Defign of the Propofer, and not offered for the fake of any real Inftruction; and therefore it is not to be thought that an Answer, tho' proceeding from the Oracle of Truth, would have had any good Effect upon the Mind of fo ill difpofed a Querift: Hence it was that the Scribes and Pharifees, who were prefent at fo many of our Lord's Di'vine Difcourfes, received no Benefit from them, they came with an infidious Defign to entangle Him in his Talk, and therefore, P

tho'

VIII.

SERMON tho' He fpake as never Man fpake, yet they went away neither wifer nor better for what they heard.

Beware then, my Brethren, how you entertain Prejudices against the Truth, for where this is the Cafe tho' Chrift himself, as in the Days of his Flesh, were your Preacher, you might not profit by Him ; for however it is of the Nature of Truth to fet us free, yet it does not fet us free from wilful Prejudices and determined Opposition to it, because Truth can only operate within us, but this it cannot do if we ftop the Way and shut the Door against it; and if it gain no Admittance into our Hearts that it may exert its Divine Energy there, it can no more help the Soul than Medicines can the Body that does not receive them. We call the Scriptures the Word of God, inafmuch as they teftify of Him who is the Living Word of God that abideth for ever, and as they were spoken and written by holy Men of old as they were moved by the Holy Ghoft; if than we receive their Teftimony, and the Truth which they are appointed to convey, in Demonftration of that fame Power and Inspiration by which they were given, they become really profitable for our Instruction