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this right; they have fellowship with one another, and that fellowship with the Father and the Son Jefus Chrift: they set forth the Lord's death till he come: they are intrufted with all the ordinances of the house, and the administration of them: and who fhall deny them the enjoyment of this right, or keep them from what Chrift hath purchased for them: and the Lord will in the end give them hearts every where to make ufe of this title accordingly; and not to wander the mountains, forgetting their refting-place.

2. They have a title to the future fulness of the inheritance that is purchased for this whole family by Jefus Chrift. So the apoftle argues, Rom. viii. 17. If children then heirs, &c. All God's children are firft-born, Heb. xii. 23. and therefore are heirs: hence the whole weight of glory that is prepared for them, is called the inheritance, Col. i. 12. The inheritance of the faints in light: if you be Christ's then are you Abraham's feed, and heirs according to the promife, Gal.iii. 29. heirs of the promise, that is of all things promifed unto Abraham in and with Christ. There are three things that in this regard the children of God are faid to be heirs unto.

1. The promife as in that place of the, Gal. iii. 29. and Heb. vi. It. God fhews to the heirs of the promife the immutability of his councel: as Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, are faid to be heirs of the fame promife, Heb. xi. 9. God had from the foundation of the world, made a moft excellent promife in Christ, containing a deliverance from all evil; and an engagement for the bestowing all good things upon them: it contains a deliverance from all the evil which the guilt of fin, and dominion of Satan had brought upon them, with an inveftiture of them in

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all fpiritual bleffings in heavenly things in Christ Jefus: hencè, Heb. ix. 15. the Holy Ghost calls it a promife of the eternal inheritance. This in the first place are the adopted children of God heirs unto. Look whatever is in the promise which God made at the beginning to fallen man, and hath fince folemnly renewed, and confirmed by his oath; they are heirs of it, and are accepted in their claim for their inheritance in the court of heaven.

2. They are heirs of righteousness, Heb. xi. 7. Noah was an heir of the righteoufnefs which is by faith: which Peter calls a being heir of the grace of life, 1 Pet. iii. 9. and James puts both thefe together, James ii. 6. heirs of the kingdom which God hath promifed: that is, of the kingdom of grace, and the righteoufnefs thereof, and in this refpect it is that the apostle tells us, Eph. i. 11. that we have obtained an inheritance; which he also places with the righteoufnefs of faith, Acts xxvi. 13. now by this righteousness. grace, and inheritance, is not only intended that righteoufnefs which we are here actually made partakers of, but also the end, and accomplishment of that righteousness in glory, which is alfo affured in the

3. Place. They are heirs of falvation, Heb. i. 14. and heirs according to the hope of eternal life, Tit. iii. 7. which Peter calls an inheritance incorruptible, 1 Pet. i. 4. and Paul the reward of the inberitance, Col. iii. 24. that is, the iffue of the inheritance of light, and holinefs which they already enjoy. Thus then diftinguish the full falvation by Chrift, into the foundation of it, the promises and means of it, righteousness and holiness, the end of it eternal glory; the fons of God have a right and title to all in that, that they are made heirs with Christ.

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And this is that which is the main of the faints title and right which they have by adoption: which in fum is, that the Lord is their portion, and inheri tance, and they are the inheritance of the Lord; and a large portion it is that they have, the lines are fallen to them in a goodly place.

2. Befides this principal, the adopted fons of God have a fecond confequential right: a right unto the things of this world: that is, unto all the portions of it, which God is pleafed to entrust them here withal. Chrift is the heir of all things, Heb. i. 3. all right, and title to the things of the creation was loft, and forfeited by fin. The Lord by his fovereignty, had made an original grant of all things here below for man's ufe; he had appointed the refidue of the works of his hands in their feveral ftations, to be ferviceable unto his behoof. Sin reverfed this whole grant, and inftitution: all things were fet at liberty from the fubjection unto him: yet that liberty being a taking them off from the end, to which they were originally appointed, is a part of their vanity, and curfe. It is evil to any thing to be laid afide as to the end, to which it was primitively appointed: by this means the whole creation is turned loofe from any fubordinate ruler; and man having loft the whole title whereby he held his dominion over, and poffeffion of the creatures, hath not the least colour of interest in any of them, nor can lay any claim unto them; but now the Lord intending to take a portion to himself, out of the lump of fallen mankind, whom he appointed heirs of falvation, he doth not immediately destroy the works of creation, but referve them for their use in their pilgrimage. To this end he invests the whole right and title of them in the fecond Adam,

which the first had loft; he appoints him heir of all things. And thereupon his adopted ones, being follow heirs with Christ, become also to have a right and title unto the things of this creation.

To clear up this right what it is, I must give fome few obfervations.

1. The right they have, is not as the right that Christ hath: that is fovereign, and fupreme, to do what he will with his own; but theirs fubordinate, and fuch as that they must be accountable for the use of those things whereunto they have a right and title. The right of Christ, is the right of the Lord of the house, the right of the faints in the right of fervants.

2. That the whole number of the children of God have a right unto the whole earth, which is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, in these two regards.

1. He who is the fovereign Lord of it, doth preferve it merely for their use, and upon their account: all others whatever being mala fidei possossores, invading a portion of the Lord's territories, without grant or leave from him.

2. In that Chrift hath promised to give them the kingdom and dominion of it, in fuch a way and manner, as in his providence he fhall difpofe; that is, that the government of the earth shall be exercifed to their advantage.

3. This right is a fpiritual right, which doth not give a civil intereft, but only fanctifies the right and interest bestowed. God hath providentially difpofed of the civil bounds of the inheritance of men, Acts xvii. 26. fuffering the men of the world to enjoy a portion here, and that oftentimes very

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full, and plenteous, and that for his children's fake, that those beafts of the forreft, which are made to be destroyed, may not break loofe upon the whole poffeffion. Hence,

4. No one particular adopted perfon, hath any right by vertue thereof, to any portion of earthly things, whereunto he hath not right and title upon a civil interest given him by the providence of God. But,

5. This they have by their adoption, that,

1. Look what portion foever God is pleased to give them, they have a right unto it, as it is reinvested in Chrift, and not as it lies wholly under the curfe and vanity that is come upon the creation by fin, and therefore can never be called unto an account for ufurping that which they have no right unto, as fhall all the fons of men, who violently grafp thofe things which God hath fet at liberty from under their dominion because of fin.

2. By this their right, they are led unto a fan&tified ufe of what thereby they do enjoy: inafmuch as the things themselves are to them pledges of the Father's love, washed in the blood of Christ, and endearments upon their fpirits to live to his praife, who gives them all things richly to enjoy.

And this is a fecond thing we have by our adoption: and hence I dare fay of unbelievers: they have no true right unto any thing of what kind foever, that they do poffefs.

They have no true unquestionable right, I fay, even unto the temporal things they do poffefs; it is true they have a civil right in refpect of others, but they have not a fanctified right in respect of their own fouls. They have a right and title that will hold plea in the courts of men, but not a right

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