482 Reflections on the foy that we may have in CHRIST. Sect. 178. of a Power infinitely fuperior to it, I will make John XVI. 33. John xvi. 16. Ver. 21. Ver. 20. Ver. 22. Ver. 23. Ver. 24. V. 26, 27. Ver.-27. Ver. 33 Ver. 32. Ver.-33. you Partakers in my Victory over all its Terrors, W IMPROVEMENT. E are, perhaps, often regretting the Abfence of Chrift, and looking back with Emulation on the happier Lot of those, who converfed with him on Earth in the Days of his Flesh: But if we are true Believers in an unfeen Jefus, it is but a little while and we shall also See him; for he is gone to the Father, and will fo fuccessfully negotiate our Affairs there, that whatever our present Difficulties and Sorrows are, they shall end more happily, than thofe of a Woman, who after all the Pangs and Throws of her Labour, thro' the merciful Interpofition of Divine Providence, is made the joyful Mother of a living Child. In the mean Time, we have furely no Reafon to envy the World its Joys and Triumphs: Alas, its Seafon of weeping will quickly come! But our Lamentations are foon to be turned into Songs of Praife, and our Hearts to be filled with that folid, facred, and peculiar Joy, which, being the Gift of Christ, can never be taken away. While we are in this State of Distance and Darknefs, let us rejoice that we have Access to the Throne of Grace thro' the prevailing Name of Chrift. Let us come thither with holy Courage and Confidence, and afk that we may receive; and fo our Foy may be full. With what Pleafure may we daily renew our Vifits to that Throne, before which Jefus ftands as an Interceffor; to that Throne, which is poffeffed by the Father, who himself loveth us, and anfwers with Readinefs and Delight those Petitions, which are thus recommended? May our Faith in Chrift, and our Love to him, be ftill on the increafing Hand; and our Suppli cations will be more and more acceptable to him, whofe Loving-kindness is better than Life! (Pfal. Ixiii. 3.) Surely we fhall be frequently reviewing thefe gracious Difcourfes, which Chrift has bequeathed us as an invaluable Legacy. May they dwell with us in all our Solitude, and comfort us in every Diftrefs! We fhall have no Reason to wonder, if Human Friendship be fometimes falfe, and always precarious: The Difciples of Chrift were fcattered in the Day of his Extremity, and left him alone, when they were under the highest Obligations to have adhered to him with the moft inviolable Fidelity. May we but be able like him to fay, that our Father is with us; and that delightful Converfe with GOD, which we may enjoy in our most folitary Moments, will be a thousand times more than an Equivalent for what foever we lofe in the Creatures. In the World we must indeed have Tribulation; and he that has appointed it for us, knows that it is fit we should: But fince Jefus, the Captain of our Salvation, who was made CHRIST prays to the Father, that he may be glorified: 483 made perfect thro' Sufferings, has overcome the World, and difarmed it; Sect. 178. let us feek that Peace which he has established, and prefs on with a chearful Affurance, that the leaft of his Followers fhall fhare in the Honours and Benefits of his Victory. CHRIST offers up a folemn Prayer to the Father, that he himself might be glorified; and that those who were given him, might be kept thro' his Name. John XVII. 1,---- 1 2. TH JOHN XVII. 1. HESE Words spake Jefus; and lift up his Eyes to Heaven, and faid, Father, the Hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son alfo may glorify thee. JOHN XVII. 1. John XVII. UR Lord Jefus fpake thefe Words which Sect. 179. Eyes O are recorded in the preceding Chapters, and then lifted up his Eyes to Heaven, and poured I. out a moft affectionate and important Prayer to his Father; an excellent Model of his Interceffion in Heaven, and a moft comfortable and edifying Representation of his Temper both towards GOD and his People. And that it might more effectually answer these great: Ends, he uttered it with an audible Voice, and faid, Oh my Heavenly Father, the appointed and expected Hour is come, in which I am to enter on my Sufferings, and to compleat the Work for which I came into the World; and therefore I pray, that thou wouldst glorify me, thy Son, in those fignal Appearances for my Honour and Support in Death, in my Recovery from the Grave, and mine Afcenfion into Heaven, which thou haft promised to me, and which I know that thou wilt punctually fulfil (a); that thy Son alfo, in the (a) Glorify thy Son.] All the Circumftances of Glory attending the Sufferings of Chrift; as, the Appearance of the Angel to him in the Garden, his ftriking down to the Ground thofe that came to apprehend him, his curing the Ear of Malchus, his good Confeffion before Pilate, his extorting from that unjust Judge a Teftimony of his Innocence, the Dream of Pilate's Wife, the Converfion of the penitent Robber, the aftonishing Conftellation of Virtues and Graces which fhone fo bright in Chrift's dying Behaviour, the fupernatural Darkness, and all the other Prodigies that attended his Death; as well as his Refur rection, Ppp 2 484 John XVII. And pleads bis having glorified his Father on Earth. Sect. 179. the whole Series of his Conduct, both in this World, and in that to which he is now returning, may fuccessfully glorify thee, and accomplish the 2 Purposes of thy faving Love; According as thou haft, by the Engagements of thy Covenant, given him that Power over all Flesh, that abfolute Dominion over all the Human Race, which he will e'er long receive and exert; that he may give Eternal Life, to all that thou haft given him by 3 that Covenant to be redeemed and faved. And this is the fure Way to that Eternal Life (b), even that they may know thee, who art the only living and true GOD, in Oppofition to the Idols they have ignorantly worshipped; and may know alfo and believe in Jefus Chrift, whom thou haft fent into the World as the only Saviour: And to this therefore thou wilt bring them, and wilt make use of what I have already done, and fhall yet farther do, as the Means of effecting it. 4 It is with unutterable Pleasure that I now reflect upon it, oh my Father and my GOD, that I have eminently glorified thee on Earth during the whole of my Abode here; that I have been faithful to the Trust that was repofed in me, in all that I have faid and done thro' the Courfe of my Ministry: And greatly do I rejoice, that I have now gone fo far, as to be juft upon the Point of having finished, by my Sufferings and Death, the important Work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now therefore, ob my Heavenly Father, do thou glorify me with thine own felf, with the original Glory which I had with thee before the World was created (c), and which for the Salvation of thy People I have for a while laid afide, that I might clothe myself in this humble Form. I have 2 As thou haft given him Power over all Flesh, that to as many as thou haft given him. he should give eternal Life 3 And this is Life eterthee the only true GoD, nal, that they might know and Jefus Chrift, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the Earth: I have finifhed the Work which thou gavest me to do.. 5 And now, O Father, own felf, with the Glory glorify thou me with thine which I had with thee before the World was. rection, and Afcenfion, and Exaltation at GoD's Right Hand, and the Miffion of the Holy Spirit, and the confequent Success of the Gospel; are all to be looked upon as an Answer to this Prayer. (b) This is Eternal Life.] Christ might infert this Claufe, (tho' neither a Petition, Plea, nor any other Part of Prayer,) on Purpose to remind his Apostles of the Importance of their Office; as they were fent to fpread that Knowledge, which he here calls Eternal Life, because the Eternal Happiness of Men depends upon it. (c) The Glory, which I had with thee before the World was.] To fuppofe with the Socinians, that this refers only to that Glory, which GOD intended for him in his Decrees; or with Mr. Fleming, that it refers only, or chiefly, to his being clothed with the Shekinah, feems He had faithfully inftructed thofe that were given him : John XVII, 485 I have manifefted thy Name, and revealed the Sect. 179. Glory of thy Power and Grace, to the Men whom thou gavest me out of the World: They were ori- 6. ginally thine, the Creatures of thine Hand, and the happy Objects of thy fovereign Choice (d); and in Confequence of thy gracious Purposes thou gaveft them to me, that they might be inftructed, and fanctified, and formed for the Kingdom prepared for them before the Foundation of the World: And fuch accordingly has been the Influence of my Doctrine on their Hearts, that they bave readily embraced it, and hitherto have refolutely kept and retained thy Word and Gospel. And notwithstanding the mean Appearance I have 7. made to an Eye of Senfe, their Faith has owned me thro' this dark Cloud; and even now in this my humble State they have perceived and known, that all Things whatfoever which I have faid and done, and all the Credentials which thou hast in Fact given me, and which fo many overlook, are indeed of thee; and that I am truly what I profefs myself to be, a Divine Meffenger to the Children of Men, and the Saviour that was promised to come into the World.. This plainly appears 8 to be their firm Perfuafion; for the Words which thou gavest to me, I have given to them, I have revealed already much of my Gofpel to them, and begun to depofite it in their Hands; and in the midst of great Difcouragement and Oppofition, they have received with Pleasure and Thankfulness what I delivered to them; and fo have made it manifeft by their embracing and adhering. to my Doctrine, that they have known in Truth the Divinity of my Miffion, fo as to be fully fatisfied in their own Minds, that I came out from thee, defcending from Heaven with a Commiffion to reveal thy Will; (compare John xvi. 27, 30.) and feems to fink, and contract the Senfe, far fhort of its genuine Purpose. See Fleming's ChriAtology, Vol. ii. pag. 247. and Whitby in loc. (d) They were originally thine.] There can furely be no Reason to imagine from the Sacred Story, that the Apostles were chofen to their great Office, on Account of any extraordinary Degrees of Piety and Virtue, previous to their being called to follow Chrift. So that I can fee no natural Senfe of thefe Words, but what I have expreffed in the Paraphrafe. () And 486 John XVII. 9. not 9 I pray for them: I pray for the World, but for them which thou haft given me, for they are thine. TO And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, And prays the Father to keep them thro' his own Name. Sect. 179.and have made it to appear, that they have firmly believed that thou didst indeed fend me on the great Errand of their Salvation. I therefore pray for them, who have attended me as my Apoftles, and for all those who are, or fhall be brought to the fame Faith, and the fame Temper, that thou wouldft fupport them under every Trial, and wouldft regard them in a peculiar Manner as the Objects of thy Care: I pray not thus for the unbelieving World, but for those whom thou haft graciously given me; and I am confident that my Prayer for them fhall not be in vain; for they are not only mine, but thine too, chofen by thy 10 Grace, and devoted to thy Service. And indeed all mine Interefts, and my People are thine, and m glorified in them. and thine are alfo mine; and while thy Glory is advanced by their Establishment, I likewise am, and finally shall be, glorified in them: So near and intimate is our Relation to each other; fo fincere and active thy paternal Affection to me, oh my Heavenly Father, and my filial Duty to thee. II And now I am to continue no longer in the World; but these my faithful Servants are yet in the World, and fome of them are to remain a confiderable Time in it, expofed to various Hardships and Dangers: Whereas I, (delightful Thought!) fhall foon have done with this weary Wilderness, and am coming to thee, who art the Center of my Soul, and the fupream Object of my Complacency and Defire (e). But while I am separated from these my Servants, fo dear to thee and to me, vouchfafe, oh holy Father, to keep thefe whom thou haft thyfelf given me, and let them be preserved by thy Name; let them be kept in Safety by thy mighty Power, and be established in the Faith by a conftant Regard to thee, and a Sense of thy Prefence impreffed on their Hearts; that they may ftill continue united to us, and to each II And now I am no more in the World, but these are in the World, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep thro' thine own given me, that they may be one, as we are. Name thofe whom thou haft (e) And I am coming to thee.] It is very plain, that this Claufe could not be intended as an additional Argument to introduce the following Petition; for Chrift's coming to the Father was the great Security of his People: But it seems rather to be a fhort Reflection on that dear Subject, fo familiar to his Mind, with which he for a Moment refreshed himself in the Course of this humble and pathetic Addrefs. This I have endeavoured to represent in the Paraphrafe. (f) Unless |