From what has been said concerning adoption, we may take occasion to observe, how, in some respects it agrees with, or may indeed, be reckoned a branch of justification, and in other respects it includes in it something that is an ingredient in sanctification. We have before observed, in treating on the former of these, _viz._ justification, that when God forgives sin, he confers on his people a right to life, or to all the blessings of the covenant of grace, in which are contained the promises that belong to the life that now is, and that which is to come. These are the privileges which God’s adopted children are made partakers of; and in this respect some divines suppose, that adoption is included in our justification.[68] And if justification be explained, as has been before observed, as denoting an immanent act in God, whereby the elect are considered, in the covenant between the Father and the Son, as in Christ, their federal head; so they are considered as the adopted children of God, in Christ, and accordingly as they are described as chosen in Christ, unto eternal life, they are said to be _predestinated unto the adoption of children_, Eph. i. 6. which is a privilege to be obtained by Jesus Christ: in this respect all the elect are called Christ’s _seed, that shall serve him_, Psal. xxii. 30. whom he had a special regard to, when he made his soul an offering for sin, and concerning whom he had this promise made to him in the covenant, that passed between the Father and him, _that he should see them, and the pleasure of the Lord_, with respect to their everlasting salvation, _should prosper in his hand_, Isa. liii. 10. Now when Christ is considered as the head of the elect, who are in this sense called his sons, whom he has engaged to bring to glory, faith is the fruit and consequence of adoption; accordingly the apostle says, _Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father_, Gal. iv. 6. But as justification is a declared act, and is said to be by faith, so adoption agreeing with it, is of the same nature; and accordingly we are said to be the _children of God by faith_, chap. iii. 26. that is, it is by faith that we have a right to claim this relation, together with the privileges which are the result thereof. Moreover, as adoption includes in it a person’s being made meet for the inheritance, which God has reserved for him, and so is endowed with the temper and disposition of his children, consisting in humility, heavenly-mindedness, love to him, dependence upon him, and a zeal for his glory, a likeness to Christ; as the same mind is said to be in us, in some measure as was in him; in this respect adoption agrees with sanctification, which is what we are next to consider. Footnote 67: Vide Vol. I. page 279, in note. Footnote 68: _Vid. Turrett. Theol. Elenct. Tom. 2. Loc. 16. § 7._ Quest. LXXV.