you be carried down the stream with the times and with the places where you live if you have fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness hear what the Apostle says 1 John 3.10 you have discovered whose you are and to whom you appertain By this the children of God are manifest and the châ—ldren of the Devil He that doth not righteousness is not of God he is none of Gods children If God be your Father and you be his children you have a dear affection to those who are his children as your selves are There is a tender Love a sweet agreement between you and your fellow brethren If any difference fall out then say as Abraham once to Lot Let there be no strife between us for we are brethren Gen. 13.18 Let brotherly love continue Hebr. 1.12 And the defect of this affection on the other side is an apparent evidence of non-adoption as you may see 1. Joh. 3.10 he that doth not righteousness is not of God saith the Apostle the meaning is he is not the childe of God and he that loveth not his brother what think we then of those whose sons are they who hate and trouble and disquiet those who are indeed the Sons of God and work them all the woe and mischief they can and that because they are so like God because they bear the image of God and the clear impressions of his Holiness upon them If they will know their pedegree they are the Children of the Devil they are the seed of the old Serpent between whom and the womans seed the Lord hath put an unreconcileable and Endless Enmity and Opposition And therefore let not such while they continue in this way of opposition to the Saints presume to come to God and call him Father For if they do they fall into the sin of Ananias in another way Acts 5.4 they lye to God And they have cause to fear that he will even strike them dead before him But if you find within you working and warm affections to your fellow-brethren if your hearts be mightily and vehemently carried out to such and that because you see the Image of your Father shining in them and even as God is even such are they in this world They are so like him whom you love transcendently and incomparably more then all the world besides that you cannot choose but love them and affect them dearly too for his sake and in reference to him So that your delight is in them yea all your delight is in them You find no pleasure or complacency in any other Company but such as theirs is I say my brethren if you love them thus and upon this account it is a comfortable sign that God is a Father to you and you may look upon him as a Father when you are making your petitions to him John 17.1 The hour is come c. ANd thus far of the object of our Saviours prayer or the person to whom he presents it to and that as you have heard is God the Father Proceed we to the parts of it which have been noted to be two according to the paties whom he prayes for In the first place he prayeth for himself the Head of the Church And in the second place he prayes for the inferiour Members of the Church First For himself the Head of the Church he desireth glorification Then for the Members of the Church he desireth confirmation and that for the Apostles and Disciples then about him the Members of the present Church or else for those who were after to believe by their word or to be called by their preaching the Members of the Church to come as I have shewed you formerly when I drew up a short Analysis or resolution of the whole Chapter We are at this time to begin with that part of our Saviours prayer which concerns himself In which you may take notice with me of these three things the rise of it the matter of it and the reasons of it First You have here the rise of it from whence our Saviour takes occasion to present it to his Father The hour is come Secondly You have the matter of it or the thing which he desireth of the Father and this is that he may be glorified Father glorifie thy Son Thirdly you have the reasons of it with which he presseth and enforceth this request of his and they are many and of great importance as God assisting you shall see at large hereafter At this time I shall fasten on the first Particular the rise of this Petition of our Saviour from whence he takes occasion to present it to his Father The hour is come The hour is come What hour is come the hour in which the Father had decreed and fore-appointed to glorifie his Son Christ that hour was come and therefore he desires his Father to execute his purpose now seeing this was his own time But you will say the hour which was now at hand was the hour of Christs Passion in which he was abased and humbled as you may see he was betrayed almost as soon as he had done this prayer And how then could this be the hour in which he was appointed to be glorified of the Father To this I answer that Christ was glorified in some respect even while he suffered he triumphed upon the Cross as the Apostle Paul speaks Col. 2.15 blotting out the hand-writing that was against us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross And having spoyled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it that is in the same Cross The word that the Apostle uses there alludeth to the fashion of the Roman Conquerours whose manner was to lead their vanquished Captives bound before their Chariots in a glorious way the people gratulating their heroick acts and Victories with loud and joyful acclamations Our Saviour having spoyled Principalities and Powers did somewhat Analogical to this and hence the terms by which those ancient Roman Triumphs were expressed are attributed to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he made a shew of them openly that is he brought them to extream dishonour and made them spectacles of ignominy and reproach and gazing-stocks of shame to men and Angels and this he did upon the very Cross It s true that to a carnal Eye this was the place of his humiliation but to an eye of faith it was the place of his triumphant Exaltation The world sees nothing but dishonour in the Cross of Christ but they that are enlightned see the great work of mans redemption finished there sin and his kingdom broken there and the Devil vanquished and led captive there to Christs eternal honour and their eternal ignominy and confufion So that even with respect to this this time of suffering on the Cross our Saviour Christ might say The hour is come Father glorifie thy Son Or if you look a little further to the time of his ascention and
get from him or to bring to him Till you know God in Jesus Christ you can have no assurance to enjoy him neither in this life nor in that which is to come By nature we are all afar off we are without God in the world as the Apostle speaks Ephes 2.12 But now in Iesus Christ they who were far of are made nigh through his blood as it is added there in that place yea they are made one with God as Jesus Christ himself insinuates Iohn 17.21 I pray for them that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee so that they also may be one in us Well then you see my Brethren we are near to God in this world but it is in Christ We shall be nearer to him in the world to come and that shall be in Christ too We shall enter into the holiest into heaven into the place where God is whereof the holiest in the Temple was a figure but that shall be by the blood of Jesus as the Apostle shews Heb. 10.14 So that if we know not Christ we may know God at a distance as one that we shall never be partakers of He and we must keep asunder But if we know him in Christ we know him then as one who is our own and whom we shall enjoy for ever JOHN 17.3 That they might know thee the only true God AND thus far of the twofold object of the knowledge wherein Eternal life consisteth as they are both of them united and conjoyned by the connective particle And. Thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Proceed we now to handle each of them apart and distinctly by it self beginning with the first Thee the only true God God in opposition to the creature True God in opposition to the false Only true God in opposition to any other true God Others are creatures he is God Others are false Gods he is true And he is the only true all the rest let them be what they will are but pretenders There is no other true God but he only What then is Jesus Christ excepted here from being God Is this appropriated to the Father So it seems this saith our Saviour here is life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This place was the great Fortress of the Arrians heretofore it was sedes dogmatis from whence they peremptorily concluded that the Father only is the true God and so by consequence that Jesus Christ whom he hath sent is but a meer man a meer creature And because this wicked Tenent which overthrows the Divinity of Christ and with it the whole work of mans redemption hath been revived and set afoot in these times which seem to be the common sink whereunto all the errours and heresies of former ages empty out themselves there must the greater care and pains be taken in resolution of this great scruple The Fathers of the Church who lived in or near the days of Arrius perceiving how that errour spred it self for all the world became an Arrian as one of their own expressions is laboured exceedingly in this business And truly my Beloved if some of them had not been so over-busie the truth had not been so exceedingly entangled as it is But now it is become much like a piece of silk that hath been in many hands to be unravelled and every one almost hath left it in a worse condition then he found it I shall not trouble you with their perplexities but come as briefly as I can to that which I conceive to be the intention of the words Some have essaied to clear the doubt in such a way as this say they These words are so to be applyed to God the Father as to involve and comprehend the Son with him Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ So that the Son is not excluded here from being God but included with the Father And Chrysostom alledgeth such another manner of expression 1 Cor. 9 only I saith the Apostle there and Barnabas where Barnabas is not excluded but comprehended in the word only as if he should have said I and Barnabas and no other So in this speech of Christ to God the Father thee the only true God and Jesus Christ q.d. This is life Eternal to know the only true God thee and I and no other Or to make it yet more plain as if the words had run thus to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent to be the only true God This would do very well as to the God-head of the Son against the Arrians But then the self-same scruple will arise as to the God-head of the Holy Ghost which some others have denyed for he is evidently left out And there will be no help for that exception For if it be admitted that Christ is comprehended with the Father in the word only Thee and Christ the true God yea the only true God the Holy Ghost is plainly shut out By this account he is not God at all if this be the intention of the words that God and Christ the Father and the Son be the only true God We have maintained the God-head of the Son indeed but we have clearly yielded up the God-head of the Holy Ghost And therefore we must needs shake hands with this and look after some other Exposition And that as some have apprehended may be this That God the Father is not said to be the only true God in opposition to the Son or Holy Ghost but to the Idols of the heathen They are all false gods he only is the true God So that the meaning of our Saviour is but this as if he should have said this is Eternal Life to know thee who art the only true God and not the Idols of the heathen who are false gods To turn from all those vanities and to serve the living God And I confess if God essentially taken for the whole God-head as comprehending all the persons were said to be the only true God in opposition to the heathen Idols it would bear a clear construction Or if God personally taken for the Father only were said to be the true God in opposition to those heathen gods that would hold extreamly well and there would be no cause of scruple But how shall God the Father as distinct from the Son and Holy Ghost be the only true God If he be the true God this hinders not but that the Son may be the true God the Holy Ghost may be the true God Because though they be divers persons yet they are but one Essence But if the Father be the only true God how can the Son how can the Holy Ghost be true God If either of them be the true God then he which is another from them as he is another person though he be not another substance is not the only true God For that which is affirmed of him
as he calls Christ so so Christ makes him to call all true believers so He will have them to share with him by any means in this honour Is God the God of Christ why Christ makes him the God of all believers Is God the Father of Christ why Christ makes him the Father of believers Is he the God that brings again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ why he is the God too that will surely bring again from the dead all true believers as the Apostle tells us them that sleep in Jesus will he also bring with him 1 Thess 4.14 Me thinks it is as if Christ should have said to him That which thou art to me thou shalt be to them too That which thou dost for me thou shalt do for them too I will have none of this honour unless they partake with me The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in that he sets him at own right hand in the next place to himself Why now the self same glory doth the Son bestow upon the Church in that he sets her at his own right hand in the next place to himself If Jesus Christ be raised so high how high is the Church raised If Jesus Christ be so transcendently exalted in this that he is set in the next place to God how is the Church exalted then that she is set in the next place to Christ Look upon Christ and you shall see that God hath highly exalted him and set him at his own right hand Ephes 1.21 and then look upon the Church and you shall see that Christ hath highly exalted her and set her at his own right hand Psal 45.9 On thy right hand did stand the Queen i. the Church Now my beloved is the place of Christ high How high then is the Churches place Is Christ at the right hand of God She is at the right hand of Christ Is Christ in the next place to God She is in the next place to Christ Is there none above Christ but God None is above the Church but Christ and God Is he exalted far above all principality and powers might and dominion not only in this world but in that which is to come not only above all principalities and powers on earth but even above all principalities and powers in heaven too above the very Angels yea the highest orders of them She is exalted far above them As Christ comes between them and God so she comes between them and Christ she is neerer Christ in union nature and dignity The Angels are but Ministers and servants whiles the Saints the members of the Church are heirs Yea they are Ministers to these heirs They are all the best of them ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. ult So that no marvail though our Saviour tells his Father here The glory which thou gavest me I have given them The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the vast authority and power which he hath vested him withall Why now the same power he dispenseth to the Church to be executed by her Officers And therefore having said All power is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately to his Apostles in the very next verse Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them q. d. the power which is given me I give you in some measure As God the Father hath given me all power so I give you some power so much as you are capable of And as the government is put upon my shoulders by the Father as the Prophet speaks Isa 9.6 so I put over some part of this Government to you my under-Officers whom I depute to manage and negotiate the affairs of my Kingdom As God the Father hath set me over his house so I set you to be my Stewards under me to whom I give the Keyes of this house As God the Father hath given me the King-key of Davids Princedom which I keep my self so that I shut and no man openeth I open and no man shutts so I give you the Ministerial Keyes which I intrust with you who are the Stewards and the guides of my houshold To whom I give a special power to open and to shut the doors of my house to let in and put out And though it be my own prerogative and a chief flower of that Imperial Crown which God the Father hath been pleased to set upon my head to seal pardons and to forgive sins viz. to do it in the Court of heaven and Conscience yet I commit to you my Viceroyes and my under-Officers a Ministerial power both to remit and to retain sins in the outward Court that is the face and presence of the Church in regard of declaration Verily I say unto you whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven c. Mat. 18.18 19. And in another place whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins you retain they are retained And in a word as God the Father hath committed all judgement unto me so I commit some judgement to you And hence it is my brethren that the Church assisted by her Officers iudgeth them that are within although she judge not them that are without as Paul speaks 1 Cor. 5.22 over whom no power is given her by the Lord Christ But those that are within she judgeth and condemneth too if there be cause and casts them out and gives them over to the Executioner There take them Satan disquiet them afflict them for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced him to Why now the self same glory hath the Son communicated to believers in that he hath advanced them to the self same Offices to which he is himself advanced by the Father As God the Father hath made Jesus Christ a King a Priest and a Prophet to himself so Christ doth make all true believers Kings and Priests to God his Father for both those Offices are mentioned Apoc. 1.6 He makes them to become a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 A Priesthood and a royal Priesthood And as he makes them Kings and Priests so he makes them Prophets too to teach their families and make known his wayes to them to teach their neighbours and acquaintance and to admonish one another within the compass of their own Spheres Col. 3.16 In which respect it is the Counsel of the Apostle in the cited place Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in you the people of Colosse not in the learned Doctors only but in the private members of the Church So that you see Christ hath advanced all true believers with him to all the offices to which he is advanced by the Father and so hath made
For we never loved him till he loved us first the love began on his side But we may truly say that Jesus Christ hath loved us and therefore we have cause to love him For he prevented us with mercy and with loving kindness as the Prophet speaks and this should win our hearts to him We love him saith the Apostle in the name of all the faithfull 1 John 4.19 Why so what is the cause of this love you have it in the following words because he loved us first Our love is not the cause of his but his love is the cause of ours 4. Survey what Christ hath done for you and see if it deserve not at the least a return of love from you He hath made you that is little in comparison I mean all things were created by him Col. 1.16 but more then this he hath redeemed you from sin from death from hell it self You had been utterly undone and lost for ever had it not been for Jesus Christ But he hath saved that which was lost He hath raised you from nothing to a Kingdom from poverty to matchless riches yea from death to life it self we were dead but are alive all this is Christs doing We use to love them who have saved our lives and surely we have cause to love Christ for he hath saved our lives and that not from a temporal but from eternal death Not from the first alone but from the second death where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched And therefore he is called our life that is the cause and fountain of it Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear So that we may truly call him in the Prophets words the God of our life And therefore we have cause to make him the object of our love and wholly to bestow our hearts upon him to love him by whom we live the life of grace and look to live the life of glory Is it so that God the Father dearly loveth Jesus Christ The more Vse 3 it is to be admired and wondred at that he should use him as he did for our sakes That he should be angry with him that he should hide his face from him and forsake him in a sence that he should load him with such a burthen of his wrath as made him weep and cry and sweat and faint Ah my beloved what an admirable thing is this who can reach the utmost of it in his thoughts had he not cared for Jesus Christ had he born no affection to him it had not been so strange that God the Father should deal with him in this manner But that he should be so extreamly harsh to him in whom his very soul delights that he should handle him so roughly whom he loves so dearly whom he hath ever loved from all eternity this is an admirable thing indeed And that you may the better see the wonder of it the miracle of mercy that is in it let us consider a little more particularly and distinctly how the Father used him and for whose sake he used him so who was so infinitely dear c. 1. Consider how the Father used him who is so infinitely dear to him he gave him up into the hands of sinfull men to deal with him as they pleased There take the darling of my bosome saith the Father revile him mock him beat him spit upon him scourge him pierce him nail him stretch his limbs upon the Cross crucifie him kill him shed his blood take away his life from him wreak all your malice on him to the utmost and though he cry and roar I will not save him I will be far from helping him and from the words of his roaring as the expression is Psal 22.1 Though God doth love him infinitely he left him in the hands of vile men to use him at their own pleasure and they used him bad enough as you may see if you survey the Gospel story Oh the indignities reproaches and contempts that sinfull wretches poured out upon the Lord of glory In which respect the Prophet saith he was despised and rejected and men hid their faces from him as if they were ashamed of him Isa 53.3 I am a reproach of men saith holy David as a type of Christ Psal 22.6 and despised of the people all that see me laugh me to scorn Oh the abasures that he suffered from persons viler then the earth they trod upon and God the Father who so dearly loved him stood by and made as if he saw nothing Nay more then so he suffered much even from his Fathers own hands q He made him sin that is a sacrifice for sin and he made him a curse for us that there was nothing visible upon him for a season but the severest and feircest wrath of a revenging Judge as if he had been utterly accursed from his Father He scourged him most bitterly even till he blead and roared and sunk away under his hand Thus it pleased the Father to bruise him He spared not his own Son Rom. 8.22 Though he were his own Son he laid on and did not spare him He remitted not to Christ the least jot of those exquisite unsufferable tortures that were in justice due to our transgressions He drank off at his Fathers hands the cup of fury he drank the very dreggs and wrung them out All this the Father did to Jesus Christ and more then I am able to express and yet he loved him infinitely all this while and did from eternity and therein lies the great wonder 2. But secondly if we consider for whose sake the Father used him so who is infinitely dear to him the wonder will be yet greater It had not been so admirable had it been for friends but it was for enemies This raises and commends the Love of God saith the Apostle Rom. 8.10 that we being sinners yea being enemies he reconciled us to him by his Son He used a means by giving up his Son to shame to make up all the breaches between us and him and herein lies the quintessence of this business the sparkle in the jewel of the grace of God That he should prefer the good the glory the salvation of his enemies who lived in open opposition and hostility against him before the ease refreshment safety life of his own Son whom he so dearly loved from all eternity That he should rather choose that one whom he loved so exceedingly should die then they should be made a curse then they should undergo the tortures and the pains of hell then they justice resolves they must be undergone either by his beloved Son or his hatefull enemies It must and will be satisfied either by the one or by the other Well then if it must be so his dearest Son shall suffer and his enemies go free yea he shall suffer to the very death rather then they shall be punished saith the Father There go my poor harmless Lamb to