Here [in the Lord's Supper] we may receive adoption of sons. The covenant of grace not only frees us from the doom of criminals, but advances us to the dignity of children: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, in order to this, that "we might receive the adoption of sons." The children's bread given us in this ordinance is, as it were, livery and seisin, to assure us of our adoption upon the terms of the gospel, that if we will take God in Christ to be to us a Father, to rule and dispose of us, and to be feared and honoured by us, he will take us to be his sons and daughters. "Behold, what manner of love is this!" Be astonished, O heavens! and wonder, O earth! Never was there such compassionate, such condescending love! God here seals us the grant both of the privileges of adoption, and the Spirit of adoption.

Here is a grant of the privileges of adoption sealed to us.—Here we are called the children of God, and he calls himself our Father, and encourages us to call himself so. "Seemeth it to you a light thing," saith David, "to be a king's son-in-law, seeing I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?" And shall it not seem to us a great thing, an honour infinitely above all those which the world can pretend to confer, for us who are worms of the earth, and a generation of vipers, children of disobedience and wrath by nature, to be the adopted children of the King of kings? "This honour have all the saints." Nor is it an empty title that is here granted us, but real advantages of unspeakable value.

The eternal God here saith it, and seals it to every true believer: Fear not, I will be a Father to thee, an ever-loving, ever-living Father: leave it to me to provide for thee; on me let all thy burdens be cast; with me let all thy cares be left, and to me Jet all thy requests be made known; "the young lions shall lack and suffer hunger," but thou shalt want nothing that is good for thee, nothing that is fit for thee; my wisdom shall be thy guide, my power thy support, and "underneath thee the everlasting arms. As the tender father pities his children, so will I pity thee, and spare thee as a man spareth his son that serves him." Thou shalt have my blessing and love, the smiles of my face, and the kisses of my mouth, and in the arms of my grace will I carry thee to glory, as the nursing father doth the sucking child. Does any thing grieve thee? Whither shouldst thou go with thy complaint, but to thy Father? saying to him as that child, "My head, my head;" and thou shalt find that "as one whom his mother comforteth, so will the Lord thy God comfort thee." Does any thing terrify thee? "Be not afraid, for I am thy God; when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Art thou in doubt? Consult me, and "I will instruct thee in the way that thou shouldst go: I will guide thee with mine eye." Acknowledge me, and I will direct thy steps. Dost thou offend? Is there foolishness bound up in thy heart? Thou must expect fatherly correction: "I will chasten thee with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from thee;" thine afflictions shall not only consist with, but flow from covenant love; and but for a season, when need is, shalt thou be in heaviness.

"I will be a father to thee; and, son, thou shalt be ever with me, and all that I have is thine; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are thine," as far as is necessary to thine happiness; nor shall any thing ever be able to separate thee from my love. I will be a father to thee, and then Christ shall be thy elder brother, the prophet, priest, and king of the family, as the firstborn among many brethren. Angels shall be thy guard: with the greatest care and tenderness shall they bear thee up in their arms, as ministering spirits charged to attend the heirs of salvation.

Providence shall be thy protector, and the disposer of all thine affairs for the best; so that whatever happens, thou mayest be sure it shall be made to work for thy good, though as yet thou canst not see how or which way. The assurances of thy Father's love to thee, in his promises and communion with him in his ordinances, shall be thy daily bread, thy continual feast, the manna that shall be rained upon thee, the water out of the rock that shall follow thee in this wilderness, till thou come to Canaan.

Now art thou a child of God, but it doth not yet appear what thou shalt be. When thou wast predestinated to the adoption of a son, thou wast designed for the inheritance of a son; if a child, then an heir. Thy present maintenance shall be honourable and comfortable, and such as is fit for thee in thy minority, while thou art under tutors and governors; but what is now laid out upon thee is nothing, in comparison with what is laid up for thee; an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away. If God be thy Father, no less than a crown, a kingdom, shall be thy portion, and heaven thy home, where thou shalt be for ever with him. In thy Father's house there are many mansions, and one for thee, if thou be his dutiful child. It is thy Father's good pleasure to give thee the kingdom.

Here is a grant of the Spirit of adoption sealed to us.—As the giving of Christ for us was the great promise of the Old Testament, which was fulfilled in the fulness of time, so the giving of the Spirit to us is the great promise of the New Testament, and a promise that is sure to all the seed: this promise of the Father, which we have heard of Christ, we in this ordinance wait for, and it follows upon the former; for, whereever God gives the privileges of children, he will give the nature and disposition of children; regeneration always attends adoption—"because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." Great encouragement we have to ask this gift, from the relation of a Father, wherein God stands towards us: if earthly parents "know how to give good gifts to their children," such as are needful and proper for them, "much more shall our heavenly Father give, the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." He will give the Spirit to teach his children, and, as their tutor, to lead them into all truth; to govern his children, and, as the best of guardians, to dispose their affections, while Providence disposes their affairs for the best. He will give his Spirit to renew and sanctify them, and make them meet for his service in this world, and his kingdom in a better; to be the guide of their way, and the witness of their adoption, and to seal them to the day of redemption.

An earnest of this grant of the Spirit to all believers in this ordinance, Christ gave, when, in his first visit he made to his disciples after his resurrection, having showed them his hands and his side, his pierced hands, his pierced side, (which in effect he does to us in this sacrament,) he breathed on them, and said unto them, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." What he said to them, he says to all his disciples, making them an offer of this inestimable gift, and bestowing it effectually on all believers, who are all "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."Receive then the Holy Ghost, in the receiving of this bread and wine; the graces of the Spirit, as bread to strengthen the heart; his comforts, as wine to make it glad. Be willing and desirous to receive the Holy Ghost, let the soul and all its powers be put under his operations and influences: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and then this King of Glory shall come in," to all that invite him and will bid him welcome.

"But will God in very deed thus dwell with men," with such men. upon the earth? And shall they become temples of the Holy Ghost? Shall he come upon them? Shall the power of the Highest overshadow them? Shall Christ be formed in me, a holy thing? Say, then, my soul, say as the blessed virgin did, Here I am, "be it unto me according to thy word." I acknowledge myself unworthy the being of a man, having so often acted more like a brute, much more* unworthy the dignity of a son; I have been an undutiful, rebellious prodigal; I deserve to be turned out of doors, abandoned and disinherited, and forbidden my Father's house and table. But who shall set bounds to infinite mercy, and to the compassions of the Everlasting Father? If, notwithstanding this, he will yet again take me into his family, and clothe me with the best robe; though it is too great a favour for me to receive, who am a child of disobedience, yet it is not too great for him to give, who is the Father of mercies. To thee, therefore, O God, I give up myself, and I will "from this time cry unto thee, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth." Though I deserve not to be owned as a hired servant, I desire and hope to be owned as an adopted son. Be it unto thy servant according to thy promise.

—The Communicant's Companion