• to tbe E P H ES I A N S. My Brethren, the Ufe or Obfe~vation , call it which ydu will;) ilu!J be id a ~ word this, Never be alhamed ol your father_, you that ore theSons of God, Jer.XX(I, you are the highdl born in the world; no Nob1hty nf~th to glory, your father is ~ the father of glory ; and the~j~:fore walk worthy of h1m,and let your good works fo lhine before men rhat you may glonfie your Father, the father of glory,wh1ch is in Heaven. Thatisthefirfl. He is Secondly, caJ!e~ the father of ~lory, that is; the father of the Deiry, taking Father for the fpnng, the fountam ; the head as It IS of~en taken m the Scripture. He is not the Father of the God-head of Chnfl, as If he d1d beget the Godhead of Chrifl; No, the ObjeCl: of his Father-hood in that fenfe is only of the Perfon of Chrifl. But we may fay he IS Fon.t Vettatrs, he IS the foun– tain of the Deity; and fo Divines exprefs it and the word father will import ir. We find that glory in Scripture is put tor the Deity for the Divine nature. ExDd. B• 1 8, Nomm1 cm1[eemyglory (that is my Deity,) andtivr. Now my llrethren, to conlicler that G!>d is the Father of the Deity that he ls Fo11s Vritatis, when we come to pray to the Father, (and therefore indeed all prayers are put up to him in a more fpecial manner,) it is a mighty flrengthning of a man's faith. Why 1 He that is the fountain of glory, ofthe Deity it felf, communicated that Deity to the Son and unto the Holy Ghofl, that is to flrength– en a man's faith that he will communicate grace and glocy to a poor Creature ; therefore he prayethhere for grace and glory, glorious grace, he prayeth to him as the father of glory in that fenfe as I take it now. My Brethren, it is a great firengthning to our faith, that thofe things which are only in God himfelf; be• twoen himfelfand himfelf, yet may be props to our faith, that he will be our God and do that for us in our meJ~fure that he hath done to the Perfons and to himfelf. For example. One of the greate!l and !lrongefl Arguments we have to fuppor't our faith is, that God is the Father of Chri!l. But how is he the father of Chrifi? By Eternal generation; yet tllis is put in as an Argument to flrengthen faith, that he will be the father of all thofe that are Chri!l's. When you come likewife to pray for grace at his hands, confider it, he is able to give me a poor Creature grace, for he was the fountain of the Deity it felf , he \\!aS the father ofglory, taking in that fenfc. He that is able to communicate the God-head to the Son and Holy Ghofl, he is able to communicate grace and glo~y to me. You know that God is jufl, it is an Attribute in him, we may plead this Attribute as it is in him– felf, he having declared himfelfto be our God; if he be jufl he mufl forgive lins now, if he be God he mij!l forgive lins. So tha all thofe intrin(ical things in God himfelf, all his i\ttributes, thofe ways which indeed were natural between him and his Son, to b.e the father of glory, they are all made ingagements, (we be– ing in Chrifl,) and flrcngthners to our faith to obtain and feek things at his hand. A Third Reafon, why he calleth him Father of glory is. He had fpokcn here you fee of riches of glory,and riches of glory as his Inheritance, fo he calleth it. Now what fo proper, (if he fpeaks of a rich glorious Inheritance, which is God's Inl)eritance given by him,) then to call him when he putteth this into his prayer, the Father of glory ? That is, the Author of all that glory, the contrition of all that g lorywhich the Saints have in Heaven, Likewife in his difcourfe following he menrioneth all the glory that Jefus Chri!l hath, he faith he had raifed him from rl:e dea?,he hath fet him at his right hand, far above all Principalities and Power, given him a name above every name, given him to be the head over aH things to the Church. He wasthe father of the glory of Chri!l, Becaufe he was to fpeak of our glory, andof the glory of Chrifl, and was to in(ifl upon it in the following words, therefore he premifeth and calleth God the Father of glory. My Brethren, this is the honour that God the father bath, that (Take Chri!l as he is Man and Mediator,) all the glory he hath the father bas given him by an aCl: of his will,and fo in that fenfe he is 1110re peculiarly the father of glory; he is the father of all the glory Chrifl hath, of all the glory the Saints have. And becaufe the Apoflle fpeaks of both thcfe, therefore he men:ioneth this in his title, fat he~ of glory. Look in Matt.16. 27. he faith that the Son of Man fl1atl come tnthe glory of his Fath~rwithhis Angols, though Chri!lcalleth the Angels his, 0 o 2 as
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