Election doth Nor yet is this meaning so fully suitable to the sense of the place and force of the Argument For glory was given and doth appertain to our Savior not as man alone but as the Second person in the glorious Trinity as we opened and gave in undeniable evidence thereof in the former Doctrine As our Savior was the subject of this glory which was given so is he the subject of that love which gives it But that Election properly so termed should be attributed to Christ as the second person I do not remember that any Scripture evidenceth Therefore in the. Third and last place I do conceive that this love is attributed to the Father in a personal regard and for the manner of it it doth in a proper and peculiar sort appertain to him and Issues from that inward and intimate relation that is betwixt the Father and the Son The Father gives al to the Son as Son The Son returnes al to the Father as Father Nor a Father because God but because he hath a Son Not Son Because God But because he hath a Father And hence it is they are said to have an In-being each in other Beleevest thou that the Father is in me and I in the Father Joh. 14.8 9. Thou in me and I in thee that they may be one as we are one And for that reason it is the Father is said To dwel in Christ the second person Joh. 14.10 And that cannot in any propriety of speech be said of the Essence because that the person dwels not in the Essence For relations make no impression in the subject Hence it is the Lord Jesus becomes the object of his Father love his heart wholly affects his thoughts are wholly set upon him taken up with him An infinite and eternal Favorite of an infinite and eternal Father Called the express Character of his Fathers person Hebr. 1.3 No such likeness No such Love So that he cannot once look off from him Enamoured with him and with an infinite fulness of Soul-pleasing satisfaction takes contentment in him Hence our Savior professeth Prov. 8.30 I was dayly his Delight The Original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a compound of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intueri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 retinere so to eye blande applicaâ—e fe alteri ut inclusum retineamus in solidum So to Eye and pleasingly to apply our selves to another as to hold keep that other with us for ever So the Father doth gaze upon the infinite beauty of his own image in his Son bestows his affection wholly upon him and holds him to himself for ever The Father and the Son being subsistences of the same Essence they are one with another in regard of the Essence unto which they be adjoined and one in another in regard of the personal relation that is betwen them they are the delight one of another and glorifie each other continually The issue then is In that the Father eyes affects delights in his Son as the brightness of his Glory the express image of his person as his only begotten bearing his similitude and likeness in an unconceivable and unmatchable resemblance This love in this manner is proper to the Father the fountain and first cause of that glory the Lord Jesus had with the Father before the world was and the first cause whence that glory comes to be restored after he had emptied himself of his glory and suffered the shameful death of the Cross Father glorifie me with thy self with the same glory that I had with thee before the world was And hence it is our Savior is said to be in the bosom and to come from his bosom He lay in the bosom of his love and from thence was sent to reveal those bosom secrets of the riches of his free love and Grace which Els had never seen Sun This is the love wherewith the Father loved the Son before the world and this love is the cause why he gave him that glory And that appears by a double Reason REAS. I. Love laies out it self for the behoof and benefit of the thing beloved as much as may be for the furtherance of the good of it to the utmost of that perfection its able to contrive and the other able to receive saies not in wishes but is active and working not desires only in a kind of complementing formality but really procures what may be most useful for the advancement of the thing beloved Let us not love in word and Tongue only 1. Joh. 3.18 But in Deed. The love of the Father being of greatest excellency even of unconceivable vertue efficacy our Savior being of unmatchable likeness to draw out the love of the Father and incomparable worth to deserve it it could not be but so great love should give the greatest good to one of greatest desert and therefore must give him that incomprehensible glory which might be the amazement of the hearts of men and Angels through al eternity Behold here is the incomprehensible glory of the ever blessed Son given out of the unconceivable love of the Father of glory Hence the Evangelist Joh. 3.35 The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand In love there is no lack and its bountiful and studies the advancement of the thing beloved So Jonathan to David I know thou shalt be King in Israel and I shal be second to thee He loved him as his own Soul and could have given that to him and therefore did not grudg him the Kingdom And however it cannot stand with the glory of the Father that his Son should be above him yet he provides for eminency of honor answerable to his excellency He hath so provided carried al things by the counsel of his own wil and course of his providence to bring in al praise to this Christ He hath given power to him even power to have life and to quicken whom he wil and to judg al. Joh. 5.20 to 23. That al might honor the Son and they honor the Father 2. Love is of a cementing Nature desires union and neerness with the thing beloved is not pleased nor satisfied but with the presence of that which it doth affect seeks the fellowship society and company of that in a special manner It s the guise of the Spouse that is sick of Love when she went to seek her Savior Cant. 3. I found him whom my Soul loved I held him and would not let him go So Ruth to Naomi when she perswaded her to depart and go into her own Countrey Intreat me not to leave thee where thou goest I wil go where thou livest I wil live and where thou diest there wil I be Buried Ruth 1.16 17. Now the love of the Father being of infinite purity and perfection must needs have like proportionable operation and therefore must not only affect the presence of his Son but must provide for the injoyment of it in the neerest
under the Soveraignty and Authority thereof it was utterly impossible as being against the Principles of Reason and the Nature of Grace and the Covenant of Truth which the Lord hath left in his Word This ye shal find most plain in the very express words of our Savior when he discovers this Work John 17.6 I have manifested thy Name to the Men which thou gavest me out of the World He gets them out of the hand of the World from the lust of the eyes and lusts of the Flesh and the Pride of Life 1 John 2.16 For that is al which is in the World and from al these whether the vanity of the Creature with which our Eye and Sences are taken from without or the sensual filth and dunghil steams of noysom distempers which arise of our own Concupiscence or whether it be Pride and overweening Self-confidence which ariseth and issues out of al. this is al that is in the World and from al these the Father gains the Souls of those men he gives unto his Son For they had given away themselves unto these Lusts of the World and that must be repealed before this could be tendred afresh And here again by the way ye may observe That this Giving cannot be the Act of Electing for that is an eminent Act and remains in Gods Breast and Bosom and goes not out This is called a Transient Act is an Act which passeth upon the Creature That is without respect and consideration of Mans being much less the being of Sin as ye have fully heard But this supposeth a man in the World that is under the power of the Vanity thereof if he must be given out of the World 2. God the Father doth actually deliver up the Soul into the hand of Jesus commends it to his keeping to rule him in the Kingdom of Grace while here he remains in this World and to bring him to Glory hereafter He gives the Soul and our Savior takes it and undertakes for it as his Charge according to the terms of the Covenant and Agreement made between the Father and him The Expression of Calvin is pat and pleasant God the Father causeth the Soul to pass into the Care and Custody of the Lord Jesus leaves him in the power and possession of his Son Jesus as the Second Adam the Head of the Covenant of Grace that he may see him redeemed As the First Adam neglected the Covenant and destroyed himself and his Posterity There was a Parly and Consultation held between the Father and the Lord Jesus touching the Salvation of his Elect and the Agreement fully transacted and passed But now it comes to be put into Execution and he gives them into the hand of Christ The Soul comes into Christs presence and Christ comes to speech with it Behold the party I wil have redeemed and the Lord takes him as his Charge and provides for him both to bring him to himself and so to Life and Salvation which he hath purchased and possesseth and can communicate The Soul as yet consents not nor hath the powerful impression of Gods Grace come home to the heart God gives the Soul the Soul doth not yet give up it self but God giving to Christ as his charge put and passing under his care He undertakes to get the good wil of the Soul and to bring it to himself and through himself to Life and Glory 3. When the Father hath thus delivered the Soul unto the care of Christ he then gives Christ to the Soul reveals the Lord Jesus as the Surety and Savior that hath covenanted with the Father and hath purchased al from the Father for him so that there is nothing that can stand betwixt Mercy and him This Christ and Mercy so provided and intended for his good is now rendered and given to him Behold thy Savior who is the Head of the Covenant of Grace who hath purchased and procured by the Fathers Appointment al good for thee and can and wil communicate al good to thee This leaves a mighty impression of the sweet of the good upon the Soul Thus God tendring Christ and through him mercy as he that hath covenanted with the Father and undertaken for the soul commended to his care by the Father This tender of a Christ and of Mercy in him makes the Soul take it this offering of Christ as one to whom he was before given to save works the heart to receive Christ and that is beleeving which is thus wrought as ye see by the giving of the Soul to Christ Because Christ gave himself and Mercy to the Soul therefore the Soul comes to him But because the Soul was given to Christ and his care he gave himself and mercy to it Therefore the Soul was given to Christ therefore it comes and beleeves If God the Father had not given the Soul to Christ he ad never taken care of him never given himself to them they never received him nor good from him Hence Beleeving is said to be Receiving and receiving we know as a Co-relative is the cause of giving REASON 2. 1. Because they are the Fathers own and therefore he hath most right and reason to dispose of them and to give them away as he sees sit when it wil be most seasonable to procure the good and comfort therof This is the ground our Savior goes upon Thine they were and thou gavest c. Each man hath most to do with that which is his proper right Now the Father had set his heart upon them before the World and appointed them to be Vessels of Mercy in his everlasting purpose and therefore it 's but equal that he should order al things for the accomplishment of the Counsel of his own Will and the performance of his Soveraign good Pleasure without controul John 6. I came not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me That I should lose none that he hath given me It 's sit that God should do his own Will whose Will is the absolute first-First-Cause of all things that are done 2. As Gods own Right so their own proper and peculiar good is hereby especially if not only procured For had not God the Father given them to his Son he would not nay I may truly say he never could have given Grace and Mercy or Good to them in a righteous way preserving the Right and Honor of his Justice and so the Glory of himself For had not Christ taken the care and charge of us the Justice of God would never have suffered him to have shewed us Mercy we should never have been fitted nor enabled to receive Mercy For we having wronged his Justice and provoked his Anger by reason of our Transgressions his Justice would have stood offended and his Displeasure incensed against us by reason thereof Nay he did give a Commission to our sins under the hand of Divine Justice to take vengeance
prepare a place True there be Mansions enough but how hard to come at them He answers I wil come and bring you to my self USE 4. Of Instruction If God give Glory to Christ how unreasonable is it for us sinful wretches to deny our Savior his own his due If the Father give it we should be ready and careful ever to acknowledg it We do not the work of Angels but the work of God himself And this is the Scope of the Father in al his Counsel and therefore it should be ours He turns the Trade this way The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son that all men might honor the Son as they honor the Father John 5.22 23. As great Princes when they wil advance any Person whom they purpose to make a Favorite they so contrive that all business must come through his hand that al may eye him honor him and have dependance upon him So it is with the Father Christ is his Favorite he hath so ordered it that al must come through his hand al from the Father by him al through him returned to the Father So the Father professeth Phil. 2.10 11. He hath given him a Name above all Names that at his Name all might bow As therefore the Father determined mined so we resolve I have both glorified him and will glorifie him John 11.28 There were Three things as ye have read before in the words 1 The Parties for whom Christ praies such as the Father had given him 2 What he praies for That they might be where he is 3 The end of this their being with Christ That they might see the Glory which the Father had given him Before we could come at the Second of these there was one Point which was supposed and taken for granted which makes way for al those that follow namely That Christ was in Heaven and did enjoy the fulness of Glory there given him of the Father and of both these that is both the Parts of the Point 1. That Christ is in Heaven 2. That he is possessed of the fulness of Glory by gift from the Father at his right hand both as Second Person and as Mediator God and Man Redeemer of the World we have fully written And before we can proceed to the Second Thing which was formerly propounded and wherein the pith of the Prayer of our Savior appears containing the main thing petitioned we shal be enforced to take in the last clause of the Verse as being nothing else but an amplification of the former Doctrine and laies out unto us the cause and reason whence it comes that the Father gave and Christ received this so great Glory The first Original from whence this so great and unconceivable Glory proceeds It is from the Love of the Father towards our Savior his blessed Son And that Love is not of yesterday nor of late or in this last Age of the World occasioned but it issues out of his antient and everlasting Lover wherewith he imbraced the Lord Jesus before the World was and that not only finished and brought to perfection but before the first corner stone before the Foundation thereof was laid I wil not give way to any curious Speculation but I beleeve it 's true and I suppose it 's suitable to the meaning of the words That the Father laid the Foundation of the Love of his Son in his own heart and thoughts in order of Nature before in his everlasting purpose he laid out in his contrivement the first Pillars and Principles upon which the World was founded He understands himself directly al other Quatenus sui imaginem gerunt So Wisdom seems to speak Prov. 8.22 He possessed me in the beginning of his way before his Works of old The first beginning of Gods way is to understand himself But we shal content our selves with that which is taken up with the currant and common consent of al. And then we have two Points 1. The Father loved his Son from everlasting before the Foundation of the World And this we handled formerly in the foregoing verse 23. 2. That which is of fresh Consideration unto which we shal speak a few words very briefly is the force of Argument or Reason here laid forth viz. The everlasting love wherewith the Father embraced his Son is the first cause why he gave him everlasting Glory The Eternal Glory of Christ is a Gift of the Eternal Love of the Father In grows out of this root it issues firstly out of this Fountain Hither our Saviors thoughts arise and here he rests This is the Crown of Glory and the Diadem in the Crown and the lustre and shine of that is The Love of the Father To this our Savior ascends and in this he satisfies himself and he would lead al his as afterwards we shal see Had not the Father given him glory out of his love glory it self would never have given our Savior content Nay Heaven and glory it self had not been worth the loving nor having unless the love of God were in them That is the quintessence of al. We shal open shortly two things 1. What we must understand this love to be 2. How this love is the cause of this glory For the right discovery and discerning of this love that we may come as neer the mind of our Savior and the meaning of the text as we may we shal with warines in some doubtful Seas sound and cast several passages that we may find where the Channel lies 1. It cannot then be taken for the spiritual and special fruits and effects of Gods love which the Lord dispenseth to his according to the good pleasure of his wil of which the Apostle speaks Rom. 5.5 The love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts This rather looks at the fountain that those streames for which Jude Prayes Grace Peace and Love be multiplied Jude 2. For this love is from eternity so are not those fruits and expressions because they are put forth in time Beside the glory of our Savior is one of those fruits which are here said to Issue from that love And I suppose it doth vertually and summarily include those spiritual expressions which makes way for it 2. Somtime the love of God is put by a Figurative speech for Election as that in Rom. 9.13 Jacob have I Loved that is Elected or set apart to be the subject of the expressions of his love And this also seems not to fit the place in hand For it goes somwhat against the grain of the phrase The love in the former and following words in the verse before and after leads us to another apprehension and looks another way Beside the aim of our Savior and his expression would perswade one to think that he eyes somthing in the Father which in a peculiar manner relates to him Not that which equally and indifferently belongs to the Holy Spirit and himself also as that purpose of
in the Deity upon it self then there must be divers manners of being in the Deity But there is such a reflecting therefore For the right understanding of this ye must conceive the Understanding of the God-head being pure act and infinite it must have a proportionable and therefore an infinite Object therefore understand himself conceive an Image of himself this Image of himself must be conceived and look back upon himself or his own conceiving again Now that the shine of this Impression must return again upon it self and look back to the impression is thus made plain by setting a dis-similitude by it When the operative active Wisdom of God fals upon nothing purposing to make a VVorld it breaks through that nothing and brings forth an effect a Creature out of it stinted with bounds of being and time it 's both finite and temporary hath a beginning of time and may have an end But this Understanding falling upon the God-head which is absolutely first and infinite it cannot break through make an effect or give this the Being of a Creature being infinite and first-being The Act of Gods Wisdom fals upon that as his Object and returns again upon it self and so doth conceive and hath an Image of it self conceived an engraven Character from this Impression returned by resemblance upon the Impression As take a beam of the Sun meet with the Glass it finds way by reason of the perspicuity of the body to pass through it But let it fal upon a firm and solid body pierce and pass it cannot and therefore it fals upon the body and returns upon it self from the body the falling is the reflecting of it and by returning it comes to be reflected Here note The Light is one thing but the reflecting and returned or to be reflected upon it self is another These answer each the other stir up the act each of other no reflecting no returning no returning no reflecting They give being to and maintain being each in other mark that The reflecting and being reflected is not the cause of the Light but each of other So here The Wisdom of the God-head is like the Light reflecting upon it self there is a like Image of it self returned again and conceived This being conceived as it had al from the Father so it eyes and answers al in the Father conceiving A man may understand a Truth but when by understanding he darts it upon his mind to enlighten and so teach and rectifie The mind receives and stands rectified and enlightened The Understanding is one thing but the darting by Understanding rectifying and enlightening the mind returning and standing rectified these are divers manners really distinct and directly answering each the other in a peculiar manner Thus our Savior is said to manifest the Name of the Father not his Name as God but as Father As I said before The Light is not the cause of the reflecting or returning but one of these is the cause of the other reflecting is the cause of returning and returning is the cause of reflecting So the Understanding is not the cause of Teaching for that may be where no teaching is but Teaching rectifying the Knowledg is the cause why Knowledg comes to be rectified So that Phrase No man knows the Son but he to whom the Father will reveal him and no man knows the Father but he to whom the Son will reveal him No man knows what the rectifying of the Knowledg is but he who hath his Knowledg rectified And this is to be attended according to the Second Person in the Deity for it 's true both waies as wel of the Father who was never incarnate as of the Son who was 3. Eyes and owns the Impression and the Imprinter of it in an especial manner John 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also Not he that saw him with his Bodily Eyes or saw only the external and visible bodily presence of our Savior but he that saw him as a Son he would own the Father also as expressing the lively resemblance of his Father It answers so fully in al things As we see in Sensitive Creatures the yong can own the Dam by the scent smel or bleating There is somthing of their own there He that hath his Mind rectified by a Truth wil own the rectifying or teaching while he lives John 10.15 The Father knows me and I know the Father 2. How this belongs to our Savior as Man as well as the Second Person For so he looks at himself and in that respect and consideration we must understand his Expression here Answ This Knowledg belongs firstly to the Son as Second Person but to the Humane Nature so far as the Relation of Son-ship leaves some impression according to the Nature and Condition thereof So that the Second Person in the Trinity is no other nor acts any otherwise than he did in himself But this manner of acting in the knowledg of the Father appears in the Humane Nature and leave◠new impressions in an especial manner and the Father also in and by him And that is done in regard of that Union that the Humane Nature hath to the Second Person For as we know the Second Person takes the Humane Nature into personal Union with him so that there is not two Sons but one Son and the Lord Christ remains the same Person after the Union that he was before And therefore being one and the same Person with the Son he may be said to know the Father as the Son in his manner and measure For as the Father gives being to the Son and the Son receives al from the Father so the Humane Nature hath a total dependance upon the Son he only incarnate and so a sole reference with that respect to him and so in him to the Father So that it is said to be one and the same Person one and the same Son with the Son 2. As to be reflected is said to be the property of the Second Person looking back and returning his subsistence to the Father So our Nature having a total dependance upon Christ in the Union and being one Person with him looks as the Second Person wholly to the Father He brings back Jacob. Nay it eyes and owns through the Son al those Fatherly Impressions and Affections which are in the Father and wherein he intimately unbosoms himself to his Son That is the value of the word Prov. 8.30 as we have observed before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as intueri retinere 3. The Reason is taken from that Relation which is between the Father and the Son The Nature whereof is to give total Being only one to another to maintain that Being only one in another and therefore there is a manner of making known each of other in special appropriate to them That which gives a perfect discovery of the thing that makes way for perfect knowing But relates alone give perfect Being No man can
who had his Being from him and so his working In the daies of his Humiliation he laid aside the Dispensation of Power and suffered the Power of darkness to prevail but now he desires al might be restored to him verse 5. Al these belong to Christ God-man in regard of the Union of our Nature with his Person And this is the Love that is here intended Reas 1. Love of the highest strain and pitch of greatest and choycest Excellency is here intended and understood This is the Standard to al the rest But the Love of God to Christ is the cause of other the Blessings and Benefits that are bestowed John 3.35 The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hands Therefore this Love is a peerless and unmatchable Love al other things which are given to our Savior Grace Glory al Power in Heaven and Earth are but the effects of it Again Joh. 17.24 The glory that our Savior hath given him of the Father it is said to Issue from a higher fountain and to be but a stream of it Namely The Father loved him from the foundation of the World Love is from Eternity the fruits are in time Lastly The whol Tenor of the Prayer and expressions of our Savior in this Chapter gives further evidence and argument to confirm it 2. How is this Love said to be in them When this love of God in Christ sets God on work to wil a like or proportionable good to the Creature I would say thus When God wils to have a Creature neer to him in his Son as his Son to communicate intimately with the Creature through his Christ as his Christ Then this love leaves a being like it self upon the Creature It s then in its vertue and efficacy in the fatithful It was with God put forth upon Christ before the World was and therefore much more before they were But our Saviors Prayer is that this love which was expressed upon him might also be extended unto his made effectual and operative in his It s true the expressions of common love and the communication of ordinary good is of larger extent and issues from God as the Creator of al and he that is the first being and so gives being to al Creatures But special union to be so high unto God and to communicate so intimately with him it s firstly here to be seen and from hence therefore must be derived to all such who shal be so Priviledged as to be made partakers thereof 3. The Means and Order how this is done Answ The means by which God doth convey the efficacy of this love wherewith he loved his Son unto his Saints may be thus conceived As the eternal generation of the Son from the Father was the foundation of his love of the Father to the Son as we have shewed he begat him knew and owned and loved him So the vertue of this eternal generation is the Cause whence this love comes to have a being in the Saints For out of this eternal generation it is that God sends his Son The Son being sent acts under that Authoritative Order and doth answer the purpose of the Father And as Second Adam and as Son and as begotten of the Father he assumes ouâ— Nature into personal union with himself becomes Head of the Covenant and as he was begotten of the Father so he begets Children unto God the Father Therefore he is called the eternal Father and the Father is said to beget Children because Christ doth as sent by God the Father 1 Pet. 1.3 The Father begets us through his resurrection Joh. 13. Born of God And thence they have the Spirit of Sons So in the text The love wherewith thou hast loved them may be in them But how is that And I in them That our Savior adds to intimate how this comes about 4. When is this done Answ When the love of God in Christ set Gods love or set God on work to send Christ begotten of him to beget Children to him And then this love through Christ leaves like impression and operations upon the Soul 1. Brings the Soul into neerest union with God through Christ 2. Most intimately communicates of the special operations of the Spirit of the Father through Christ 1. Brings the finner into neerest union to wit Christ is in the Soul Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the Body is dead c. Yea dwelt in the heart Eph. 3.17 And God by and through Christ Rom. 8.9 So Joh. 17.23 I in them and thou in me So 1 Joh. 2.24 Ye shall continue in the Son and in the Father 1 Thess 1.1 The Church which is in God the Father and in our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Leaves like operations the most intimate and special communion of the Spirit of Christ and the Soul So that God doth al through Christ by man he doth nothing of nor from himself Thus Christ is al in al Col. 3.11 And the sinner is wholly now beyond the covenant of works made with Adam and with him in Adam So that as Paul observes I live not but Christ lives in me Gal. 2.20 I work not I but the Grace of God with me 1 Cor. 15.10 And Christ in me Coloss 1. and last Verse When the love of God in Christ sets God on work to send his Son begotten of him to beget Sons unto him so that he brings them to the neerest union God in Christ and Christ he one in them They in Christ and through Christ in God the Father So that the Father in Christ doth al by them they nothing of themselves receives also al from them they take nothing to themselves Then this love of Christ is in them and leaves a like efficacious impression upon them Hence a double Collection 1. We may hence learn how to come to a right apprehension of Gods special love and so to a right explication and understanding of several Scriptures thereby Gods special love is when he purposeth to make the Creature neer to him in his Son as his Son is neer The Father is in his Son Christ in the Faithful and the Father by Christ in them Christ is in the Father the Faithful in Christ and by him in the Father He doth intimately communicate with them through his Christ as with his Christ God by Christ doth al by them they not of themselves He through Christ receives al from them they take nothing to themselves This Love is like the main Hinge upon which the whol Frame of Gods Dispensations turn and many Scriptures seem to be made familiar and somwhat open hereby As this Because I wil make a Creature to me in my Son as my Son therefore I wil Elect him to set out this Love And therefore create and give Grace and because his own Grace cannot bring him so neer as my Son he shal through his default fal and then I wil send my Son and he shal take Humane Nature into Personal