III. We shall consider the reference the sonship of believers has to the superior and more glorious Sonship of Jesus Christ; and how it is said to be for his sake. IV. The privileges conferred on, or reserved for them, who are the sons of God by adoption. I. We shall consider the various senses in which persons are called the sons of God. 1. Some are called the sons of God, as they are invested with many honours or prerogatives from God, as a branch of his image: thus magistrates are called the _children of the Most High_, Psal. lxxxii. 6. 2. Others are called God’s children, by an external federal relation, as members of the visible church; in which sense we are to understand that scripture; wherein it is said, _The sons of God saw the daughters of men_, &c. Gen. vi. 2. And when Moses went into Pharaoh, to demand liberty for the Israelites, he was ordered to say, _Israel is my son, even my first-born_, Exod. iv. 22. This privilege, though it be high and honourable, by which the church is distinguished from the world; yet it is not inseparably connected with salvation; for God says, concerning Israel, when revolting, and backsliding from him, _I have nourished and brought up children; and they have rebelled against me_, Isa. i. 2. and many of those who are called the _children of the kingdom shall be cast into utter darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth_, Matt. viii. 12. 3. The word is sometimes taken in a more large sense, as applicable to all mankind: thus the prophet says, _Have we not all one father, hath not God created us?_ Mal. ii. 10. And the apostle Paul, when disputing with the Athenians, speaks in their own language, and quotes a saying taken from one of their poets, which he applies to the great God, as _giving to all life and breath, and all things_; upon which account men are called his _off-spring_, Acts xvii. 25. compared with 28. 4. They are called the sons of God, who are endowed with his supernatural image, and admitted to the highest honours and privileges conferred upon creatures: thus the angels are called the _sons of God_, Job xxxviii. 7. 5. Our Lord Jesus Christ is called the Son of God, in a sense not applicable to any other; as his Sonship includes in it his deity, and his having, in his human nature, received a commission from the Father, to engage in the great work of our redemption, as becoming surety for us; which is the foundation of all those saving blessings which we enjoy or hope for.