Secondly, Why we are taught in our Prayers to make ufe of the name of Father rathan any other.

Thirdly, Why we are inftructed to fay our, and not, my Father.

Fourthly, In what refpect God is faid to be in Heaven.

Fifthly and lastly, Why we are taught to make a particular mention of God's refidence in Heaven in our prayers.

One of the refpects in which God is faid to be our Father, is Creation. This is a language ufual even with Heathen writers, who acknowledging God to be the Maker of the world, do frequently stile him the Father of it; fuppofing the act of Creation to be equivalent to that of generation, and that we are as much the children of him who created us in general, as of that individual perfon who begat us in particular. In this

respect,

refpect, God is the Father of all things, and the generations of the Heaven and the earth, confefs his Paternity; the rain claims him for a Father, and the drops of dew declare their having been begotten by him; but in a more eminent and exalted sense he is the father of Man, having created him after his own image; whence Adam is called the Son of God, and Man may more especially fay with the Prophet, Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?

Preservation is another reason for our calling God Father, and the continuation of our existence a perpetual obligation on us to make use of that name. If the first giving of being is a proper foundation of Paternity, the preservation of that Being, which is not improperly ftiled a Continued Creation, must be a foundation of Paternity likewife; fo that God, who is our Father in right of having graciously created us, is still farther fo, in right of having no less graciously preferved us.

Redemption

Redemption is another reafon for our calling God Father. The difobedience of our first parents brought themselves and their pofterity into fo miferable an estate, their nature was fo corrupted, their understanding fo darkened, and their will so perverse, that it was impoffible for them to fulfill the law of nature, and without fulfilling it, it was abfolutely certain, that they must fall into condemnation.

In this deplorable condition, the mercy of God regarded us; he made a covenant with his only begotten Son, that he should come into the world, and die for mankind, and, upon the merit of that, cancel the handwriting of the law, which bore fo hard upon us; that he should afford us easier conditions, greater affistances, and more glorious promises, that he fhould deprive Sin of her ftrength, fwallow up Death in Victory, and lead Captivity captive; that he fhould redeem us from the claim of Hell, and reinftate us in our title to the joys of Heaven.

For

For this reafon therefore it is alfo, that we confess the Paternity of God, that we joyfully look upon our Creator and Preserver as amiably cloathed with the mercies of a Redeemer, and as thereby acquiring a fresh title to the name of Father, in that he hath begotten us from the death of Sin, unto the life of Righteoufnefs.

Regeneration is another reafon for our calling God Father.

In refpect of Creation, and Preservation, all things in general may call upon God by this name; in respect of thofe many excellent endowments by which human nature is exalted above the inferior parts of the creation, and in which the bears the image of God, the whole race of men may with equal propriety make ufe of this appellation; and ' the Paternity arifing from Redemption is as univerfal as the Satisfaction of Chrift, who died for all men; but in respect of regeneration, no one can call God Father, who is not actually entered into the Gofpel Co

venant,

venant, and become a member of Jefus Chrift, who hath not been fprinkled with the laver of Regeneration, and fanctified by the Holy Ghoft; whosoever believeth that Jefus is the Christ, is born of God.

If we confider indeed the wonderful alteration which is made in us by the gracious operations of God's holy Spirit in our Regeneration, how thoroughly we are purified when baptized with the Holy Ghoft and with fire, upon what different principles we think, fpeak, and act, we fhall readily fee that fuch an alteration may justly be ftiled a new birth, we who have undergone it, become new Creatures, and God who hath perfected it in us, and created us in good works unto Christ Jefus, upon this account alfo is a Father to us.

Adoption is another reafon for our calling God Father.

It hath been usual among men, for those who are childlefs to adopt the children of others,