Addresses to old men, and young men, and little children. In three discourses ...…

Secondly, Gracious little Children would not be without an assured Knowledge, that in the furthest and the sweetest sense, God is indeed a Father to them; they would have an Assurance of their being Adopted and Regenerated by the Lord. They look upon God, as the best Father in the World; and as the son of Jesse sometimes could say, in I Sam. 18. 23. Seemeth it unto you a light thing to be a Kings Son-in-law? So 'tis not a light thing in the Opinion of these, to become the Children of that God, who is a great King, and whose Name is Dreadful. Gracious little Children are sensible, that they have been the children of wrath, and the Children of Hell, and that while they were in their sins they have had the Devil for their father; but when they read the eighth Chapter to the Romans, they count it a thing of inexpressible importance for them, to get into the liberty of the Sons of God. It affects them to see how the children of men are divided, in 1 Joh. 3. 10. Either the children of God, or the children of the Devil; and they can by no means bear to continue the children of so black a father as the Devil ⟨p. 102⟩is. Hence they do most heartily, readily, cheerfully close with the motions which the Son of God makes unto them; and as it is said in Gal 3. 26. Ye are all the children of God, by faith in Jesus Christ; so, these Children do by faith accept of the Lord Jesus Christ as offered unto them in the Gospel; 'tis the language of their Souls, Blessed Lord Jesus, be thou mine, and let me be Thine; […] thou bestow Righteousness, and grace, and life upon me; and let me be for Thee and not for another.

Secondly, Gracious little Children would not be without an assured Knowledge, that in the furthest and the sweetest sense, God is indeed a Father to them; they would have an Assurance of their being Adopted and Regenerated by the Lord. They look upon God, as the best Father in the World; and as the son of Jesse sometimes could say, in I Sam. 18. 23. Seemeth it unto you a light thing to be a Kings Son-in-law? So 'tis not a light thing in the Opinion of these, to become the Children of that God, who is a great King, and whose Name is Dreadful. Gracious little Children are sensible, that they have been the children of wrath, and the Children of Hell, and that while they were in their sins they have had the Devil for their father; but when they read the eighth Chapter to the Romans, they count it a thing of inexpressible importance for them, to get into the liberty of the Sons of God. It affects them to see how the children of men are divided, in