John 17 commentary

Our Lord prayed as a man, and as the Mediator of his people; yet he spoke with majesty and authority, as one with and equal to the Father. Eternal life could not be given to believers, unless Christ, their Surety, both glorified the Father, and was glorified of him. This is the sinner's way to eternal life, and when this knowledge shall be made perfect, holiness and happiness will be fully enjoyed. The holiness and happiness of the redeemed, are especially that glory of Christ, and of his Father, which was the joy set before him, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame; this glory was the end of the sorrow of his soul, and in obtaining it he was fully satisfied. Thus we are taught that our glorifying God is needed as an evidence of our interest in Christ, through whom eternal life is God's free gift.

Christ prays for those that are his. Thou gavest them me, as sheep to the shepherd, to be kept; as a patient to the physician, to be cured; as children to a tutor, to be taught: thus he will deliver up his charge. It is a great satisfaction to us, in our reliance upon Christ, that he, all he is and has, and all he said and did, all he is doing and will do, are of God. Christ offered this prayer for his people alone as believers; not for the world at large. Yet no one who desires to come to the Father, and is conscious that he is unworthy to come in his own name, need be discouraged by the Saviour's declaration, for he is both able and willing to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him. Earnest convictions and desires, are hopeful tokens of a work already wrought in a man; they begin to evidence that he has been chosen unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. They are thine; wilt thou not provide for thine own? Wilt thou not secure them? Observe the foundation on which this plea is grounded, All mine are thine, and thine are mine. This speaks the Father and Son to be one. All mine are thine. The Son owns none for his, that are not devoted to the service of the Father.

Christ does not pray that they might be rich and great in the world, but that they might be kept from sin, strengthened for their duty, and brought safe to heaven. The prosperity of the soul is the best prosperity. He pleaded with his holy Father, that he would keep them by his power and for his glory, that they might be united in affection and labours, even according to the union of the Father and the Son. He did not pray that his disciples should be removed out of the world, that they might escape the rage of men, for they had a great work to do for the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind. But he prayed that the Father would keep them from the evil, from being corrupted by the world, the remains of sin in their hearts, and from the power and craft of Satan. So that they might pass through the world as through an enemy's country, as he had done. They are not left here to pursue the same objects as the men around them, but to glorify God, and to serve their generation. The Spirit of God in true Christians is opposed to the spirit of the world.

Christ next prayed for the disciples, that they might not only be kept from evil, but made good. It is the prayer of Jesus for all that are his, that they may be made holy. Even disciples must pray for sanctifying grace. The means of giving this grace is, “through thy truth, thy word is truth.” Sanctify them, set them apart for thyself and thy service. Own them in the office; let thy hand go with them. Jesus entirely devoted himself to his undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially the offering up himself without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. The real holiness of all true Christians is the fruit of Christ's death, by which the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased; he gave himself for his church, to sanctify it. If our views have not this effect on us, they are not Divine truth, or we do not receive them by a living and a working faith, but as mere notions.

Our Lord especially prayed, that all believers might be as one body under one head, animated by one soul, by their union with Christ and the Father in him, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. The more they dispute about lesser things, the more they throw doubts upon Christianity. Let us endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, praying that all believers may be more and more united in one mind and one judgment. Thus shall we convince the world of the truth and excellence of our religion, and find more sweet communion with God and his saints.

Christ, as one with the Father, claimed on behalf of all that had been given to him, and should in due time believe on him, that they should be brought to heaven; and that there the whole company of the redeemed might behold his glory as their beloved Friend and Brother, and therein find happiness. He had declared and would further declare the name or character of God, by his doctrine and his Spirit, that, being one with him, the love of the Father to him might abide with them also. Thus, being joined to Him by one Spirit, they might be filled with all the fulness of God, and enjoy a blessedness of which we can form no right idea in our present state.

1. These words spake Jesus. After having preached to the disciples about bearing the cross, the Lord exhibited to them those consolations, by relying on which they would be enabled to persevere. Having promised the coming of the Spirit, he raised them to a better hope, and discoursed to them about the splendor and glory of his reign. Now he most properly betakes himself to prayer; for doctrine has no power, if efficacy be not imparted to it from above. He, therefore, holds out an example to teachers, not to employ themselves only in sowing the word, but, by mingling their prayers with it, to implore the assistance of God, that his blessing may render their labor fruitful. In short, this passage of the Lord Jesus “Du Seigneur Jesus.” Christ might be said to be the seal of the preceding doctrine, both that it might be ratified in itself, and that it might obtain full credit with the disciples.

And lifted up his eyes to heaven. This circumstance related by John, that Christ prayed, lifting up his eyes to heaven, was an indication of uncommon ardor and vehemence; for by this attitude Christ testified that, in the affections of his mind, he was rather in heaven than in earth, so that, leaving men behind him, he converted familiarly with God. He looked towards heaven, not as if God’s presence were confined to heaven, for He filleth also the earth, (Jeremiah 23:24,) but because it is there chiefly that his majesty is displayed. Another reason was, that, by looking towards heaven, we are reminded that the majesty of God is far exalted above all creatures. It is with the same view that the hands are lifted up in prayer; for men, being by nature indolent and slow, and drawn downwards by their earthly disposition, need such excitements, or I should rather say, chariots, to raise them to heaven

Yet if we desire actually to imitate Christ, we must take care that outward gestures do not express more than is in our mind, but that the inward feeling shall direct the eyes, the hands, the tongue, and every thing about us. We are told, indeed, that the publican, with downcast eyes, prayed aright to God, (Luke 18:13,) but that is not inconsistent with what has now been stated; for, though he was confused and humbled on account of his sins, still this self-abasement did not prevent him from seeking pardon with full confidence. But it was proper that Christ should pray in a different manner, for he had nothing about him of which he ought to be ashamed; and it is certain that David himself prayed sometimes in one attitude, and sometimes in another, according to the circumstances in which he was placed.

Father, the hour is come. Christ asks that his kingdom may be glorified, in order that he also may advance the glory of the Father. He says that the hour is come, because though, by miracles and by every kind of supernatural events, he had been manifested to be the Son of God, yet his spiritual kingdom was still in obscurity, but soon afterwards shone with full brightness. If it be objected, that never was there any thing less glorious than the death of Christ, which was then at hand, I reply, that in that death we behold a magnificent triumph which is concealed from wicked men; for there we perceive that, atonement having been made for sins, the world has been reconciled to God, the curse has been blotted out, and Satan has been vanquished.

It is also the object of Christ’s prayer, that his death may produce, through the power of the Heavenly Spirit, such fruit as had been decreed by the eternal purpose of God; for he says that the hour is come, not an hour which is determined by the fancy of men, but an hour which God had appointed. And yet the prayer is not superfluous, because, while Christ depends on the good pleasure of God, he knows that he ought to desire what God promised would certainly take place. True, God will do whatever he has decreed, not only though the whole world were asleep, but though it were opposed to him; but it is our duty to ask from him whatever he has promised, because the end and use “La fin et l’usage.” of promises is to excite us to prayer.

That thy Son also may glorify thee. He means that there is a mutual connection between the advancement of his glory and of the glory of his Father; for why is Christ manifested, but that he may lead us to the Father? Hence it follows, that all the honor which is bestowed on Christ is so far from diminishing the honor of the Father, that it confirms it the more. We ought always to remember under what character Christ speaks in this passage; for we must not look only at his eternal Divinity, because he speaks as God manifested in the flesh, and according to the office of Mediator.

2. As thou hast given him. He again confirms the statement, that he asks nothing but what is agreeable to the will of the Father; as it is a constant rule o prayer not to ask more than God would freely bestow; for nothing is more contrary to reason, than to bring forward in the presence of God whatever we choose.

Power over all flesh means the authority which was given to Christ, when the Father appointed him to be King and Head; but we must observe the end, which is, to give eternal life to all his people. Christ receives authority, not so much for himself as for the sake of our salvation; and, therefore, we ought to submit to Christ, not only that we may obey God, but because nothing is more lovely than that subjection, since it brings to us eternal life.

To all whom thou hast given me. Christ does not say that he has been made Governor over the whole world, in order to bestow life on all without any distinction; but he limits this grace to those who have been given to him But how were they given to him? For the Father has subjected to him the reprobate. I reply, it is only the elect who belong to his peculiar flock, which he has undertaken to guard as a Shepherd. So then, the kingdom of Christ extends, no doubt, to all men; but it brings salvation to none but the elect, who with voluntary obedience follow the voice of the Shepherd; for the others are compelled by violence to obey him, till at length he utterly bruise them with his iron scepter.

3. And this is eternal life He now describes the manner of bestowing life, namely, when he enlightens the elect in the true knowledge of God; for he does not now speak of the enjoyment of life which we hope for, but only of the manner in which men obtain life And that this verse may be fully understood, we ought first to know that we are all in death, till we are enlightened by God, who alone is life Where he has shone, we possess him by faith, and, therefore, we also enter into the possession of life; and this is the reason why the knowledge of him is truly and justly called saving, or bringing salvation. “Salutaire, ou apportant salut.” Almost every one of the words has its weight; for it is not every kind of knowledge that is here described, but that knowledge which forms us anew into the image of God from faith to faith, or rather, which is the same with faith, by which, having been engrafted into the body of Christ, we are made partakers of the Divine adoption, and heirs of heaven. “Nous sommes fkits participans de l’adoption Divine, qui nous fait enfans et heritiers du royaume des cieux;” — “we are made partakers of the Divine adoption, which makes us children and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.”

To know thee, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. The reason why he says this is, that there is no other way in which God is known but in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the bright and lively image of Him. As to his placing the Father first, this does not refer to the order of faith, as if our minds, after having known God, afterwards descend to Christ; but the meaning is, that it is by the intervention of a Mediator that God is known.

The only true God. Two epithets are added, true and only; because, in the first place, faith must distinguish God from the vain inventions of men, and embracing him with firm conviction, must never change or hesitate; and, secondly, believing that there is nothing defective or imperfect in God, faith must be satisfied with him alone. Some explain it, That they may know thee, who alone art God; but this is a poor interpretation. The meaning therefore is, That they may know thee alone to be the true God

But it may be thought that Christ disclaims for himself the right and title of Divinity. Were it replied, that the name of God is quite as applicable to Christ as to the Father, the same question might be raised about the Holy Spirit; for if only the Father and the Son are God, the Holy Spirit is excluded from that rank, which is as absurd as the former. The answer is easy, if we attend to that manner of speaking which Christ uniformly employs throughout the Gospel of John, of which I have already reminded my readers so frequently, that they must have become quite accustomed to it. Christ, appearing in the form of a man, describes, under the person of the Father, the power, essence, and majesty of God. So then the Father of Christ is the only true God; that is, he is the one God, who formerly promised a Redeemer to the world; but in Christ the oneness and truth of Godhead will be found, because Christ was humbled, in order that he might raise us on high. When we have arrived at this point, then his Divine majesty displays itself; then we perceive that he is wholly in the Father, and that the Father is wholly in him. In short, he who separates Christ from the Divinity of the Father, does not yet acknowledge Him who is the only true God, but rather invents for himself a strange god. This is the reason why we are enjoined to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, by whom, as it were, with outstretched hand, he invites us to himself.

As to the opinion entertained by some, that it would be unjust, if men were to perish solely on account of their ignorance of God, it arises from their not considering that there is no fountain of life but in God alone, and that all who are alienated from him are deprived of life. Now, if there be no approach to God but by faith, we are forced to conclude, that unbelief keeps us in a state of death. If it be objected, that persons otherwise righteous and innocent are unjustly treated, if they are condemned, the answer is obvious, that nothing right or sincere is found in men, so long as they remain in their natural state. Now, Paul informs us that

we are renewed in the image of God by the knowledge of him, (Colossians 3:10.)

It will be of importance for us now to bring into one view those three articles of faith; first, that the kingdom of Christ brings life, and salvation; secondly, that all do not receive life from him, and it is not the office of Christ to give life to all, but only to the elect whom the Father has committed to his protection; and, thirdly, that this life consists in faith, and Christ bestow, it on those whom he enlightens in the faith of the Gospel. Hence we infer that the gift of illumination and heavenly wisdom is not common to all, but peculiar to the elect. It is unquestionably true that the Gospel is offered to all, but Christ speaks here of that secret and efficacious manner of teaching by which the children of God only are drawn to faith.

4. I have glorified thee. His reason for saying this is, that God had been made known to the world both by the doctrine of Christ, and by his miracles; and the glory of God is, when we know what he is. When he adds, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, he means that he has completed the whole course of his calling; for the full time was come when he ought to be received into the heavenly glory Nor does he speak only of the office of teaching, but includes also the other parts of his ministry; for, though the chief part of it still remained to be accomplished, namely, the sacrifice of death, by which he was to take away the iniquities of us all, yet, as the hour of his death was already at hand, he speaks as if he had already endured it. The amount of his request, therefore, is that the Father would put him in possession of the kingdom; since, having completed his course, nothing more remained for him to do, than to display, by the power of the Spirit, the fruit and efficacy of all that he had done on earth by the command of his Father, according to the saying of Paul,

He humbled and annihilated himself, “It s’est humilie et antanti soy-mesme.” by taking the form of a servant. Therefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, (Philippians 2:7, 10.)

5. The glory which I had with thee. He desires to be glorified with the Father, not that the Father may glorify him secretly, without any witnesses, but that, having been received into heaven, he may give a magnificent display of his greatness and power, that every knee may bow to him, (Philippians 2:10.) Consequently, that phrase in the former clause, with the Father, is contrasted with earthly and fading glory, as Paul describes the blessed immortality of Christ, by saying that

he died to sin once, but now he liveth to God, (Romans 6:10.)

The glory which I had with thee before the world was. He now declares that he desires nothing that does not strictly belong to him, but only that he may appear in the flesh, such as he was before the creation of the world; or, to speak more plainly, that the Divine majesty, which he had always possessed, may now be illustriously displayed in the person of the Mediator, and in the human flesh with which he was clothed. This is a remarkable passage, which teaches us that Christ is not a God who has been newly contrived, or who has existed only for a time; for if his glory was eternal, himself also has always been. Besides, a manifest distinction between the person of Christ and the person of the rather is here expressed; from which we infer, that he is not only the eternal God, but also that he is the eternal Word of God, begotten by the rather before all ages.

John 17:6-11

6. I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou hast given me out of the world; thine they were, and thou hast given them to me, and they have kept thy word. 7. Now they have known that all things which thou hast given me are from thee; 8. For I have given to them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known truly that I came out from thee, and have believed that thou hast sent me. 9. I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine; 10. And all that is mine is thine, and thine is mine; “Et tout ec qui est mien est tien, et ce qui est tien est mien;” — “And all that is mine is thine, and what is thine is mine.” and I am glorified in them. 11. And I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep in thy name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

6. I have manifested thy name. Here Christ begins to pray to the Father for his disciples, and, with the same warmth of love with which he was immediately to suffer death for them, he now pleads for their salvation. The first argument which he employs on their behalf is, that they have embraced the doctrine which makes men actually children of God. There was no want of faith or diligence on the part of Christ, to call all men to God, but among the elect only was his labor profitable and efficacious. His preaching, which manifested the name of God, was common to all, and he never ceased to maintain the glory of it even among the obstinate. Why then does he say that it was only to a small number of persons that he manifested the name of his Father, but because the elect alone profit by the grace of the Spirit, who teaches inwardly? “Pourquoy donc dit-il qu’il a manifeste le nom de son Pore seulement a quelque petit nombre de gens, sinon d’autant qu’il n’y a que les eleus qui profitent par la grace de l’Esprit qui les enseigne an dedans?” Let us therefore infer that not all to whom the doctrine is exhibited are truly and efficaciously taught, but only those whose minds are enlightened. Christ ascribes the cause to the election of God; for he assigns no other difference as the reason why he manifested the name of the Father to some, passing by others, but because they were given to him. Hence it follows their faith flows from the outward predestination of God, and that therefore it is not given indiscriminately to all, because all do not belong to Christ. “Au Fils de Dieu;” — “to the Son of God.”

Thine they were, and thou hast given them to me. By adding these words, he points out, first, the eternity of election; and, secondly, the manner in which we ought to consider it. Christ declares that the elect always belonged to God. God therefore distinguishes them from the reprobate, not by faith, or by any merit, but by pure grace; for, while they are alienated from him to the utmost, still he reckons them as his own in his secret purpose. The certainty of that election by free grace “La certitude de ceste election gratuite.” lies in this, that he commits to the guardianship of his son all whom he has elected, that they may not perish; and this is the point to which we should turn our eyes, that we may be fully certain that we belong to the rank of the children of God; for the predestination of God is in itself hidden, but it is manifested to us in Christ alone.

And they have kept thy word. This is the third step; for the first is, the election by free grace, and the second is, that gift by which we enter into the guardianship of Christ. Having been received by Christ, we are gathered by faith into the fold. The word of God flows out to the reprobate, but it takes root in the elect, and hence they are said to keep it.

7. Now they have known. Here our Lord expresses what is the chief part in faith, which consists in our believing in Christ in such a manner, that faith does not rest satisfied with beholding the flesh, but perceives his Divine power. For when he says, They have known that all things which thou hast given me are from thee, he means, that believers feel that all that they possess is heavenly and divine. And, indeed, if we do not perceive God in Christ, we must remain continually in a state of hesitation.

8. And they have received them. He expresses the manner of this knowledge. It is, because they have received the doctrine which he taught them. But that no one may think that his doctrine is human or is earthly in its origin, he declares that God is the Author of it, when he says, The words which thou gavest me I have given to them. He speaks according to his ordinary custom, in the person of the Mediator or servant of God, when he says that he taught nothing but what he had received from the Father; for, since his own condition was still mean, while he was in the flesh, and since his Divine majesty was concealed under the form of a servant, under the person of the Father he simply means God. Yet we must hold by the statement which John made at the beginning of his Gospel, that, in so far as Christ was the Eternal Word of God, he was always one God with the Father. The meaning therefore is, that Christ was a faithful witness of God to the disciples, so that their faith was founded exclusively on the truth of God, since the Father himself spoke in the Son. The receiving, of which he speaks, arose from his having efficaciously manifested to them the name of his Father by the Holy Spirit.

And have known truly. He now repeats in other words what he had formerly mentioned; for that Christ came out from the Father, and was sent by him, has the same meaning with what went before, that all things which he has are from the Father. The meaning amounts to this, that faith ought to cast its eyes direct on Christ, yet so as to form no conception of him that is earthly or mean, but to be carried upwards to his Divine power, so as to believe firmly that he has perfectly in himself God, and all that belongs to God.

And have believed. Let it be observed, also, that in the former clause he employs the verb know and now he employs the verb believe; for thus he shows that nothing which relates to God can be known aright but by faith, but that in faith there is such certainty that it is justly called knowledge.

9. I pray for them. Hitherto Christ has brought forward what might procure for the disciples favor with the Father. He now forms the prayer itself, in which he shows that he asks nothing but what is agreeable to the will of the Father, because he pleads with the Father in behalf of those only whom the Father himself willingly loves. He openly declares that he does not pray for the world, because he has no solicitude but about his own flock, which he received from the hand of the Father. But this might be thought to be absurd; for no better rule of prayer can be found than to follow Christ as our Guide and Teacher. Now, we are commanded to pray for all, (1 Timothy 2:8) and Christ himself afterwards prayed indiscriminately for all,

Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do, (Luke 23:34.)

I reply, the prayers which we offer for all are still limited to the elect of God. We ought to pray that this man, and that man, and every man, may be saved, and thus include the whole human race, because we cannot yet distinguish the elect from the reprobate; and yet, while we desire the coming of the kingdom of God, we likewise pray that God may destroy his enemies.

There is only this difference between the two cases, that we pray for the salvation of all whom we know to have been created after the image of God, and who have the same nature with ourselves; and we leave to the judgment of God those whom he knows to be reprobate. But in the prayer which is here related there was some special reason, which ought not to be produced as an example; for Christ does not now pray from the mere impulse of faith and of love towards men, but, entering into the heavenly sanctuary, he places before his eyes the secret judgments of the Father, which are concealed from us, so long as we walk by faith.

Besides, we learn from these words, that God chooses out of the world those whom he thinks fit to choose to be heirs of life, and that this distinction is not made according to the merit of men, but depends on his mere good-pleasure. For those who think that the cause of election is in men must begin with faith. Now, Christ expressly declares that they who are given to him belong to the Father; and it is certain that they are given so as to believe, and that faith flows from this act of giving. If the origin of faith is this act of giving, and if election comes before it in order and time, what remains but that we acknowledge that those whom God wishes to be saved out of the world are elected by free grace? Now since Christ prays for the elect only, it is necessary for us to believe the doctrine of election, if we wish that he should plead with the Father for our salvation. A grievous injury, therefore, is inflicted on believers by those persons who endeavor to blot out the knowledgeof election from the hearts of believers, because they deprive them of the pleading and intercession of the Son of God. “D’autant qu’ils les privent de la recommandation et intercession du Fils de Dieu.” These words serve also to expose the stupidity of those who, under the pretence of election, give themselves up to the indolence, whereas it ought rather to arouse us to earnestness in prayer, as Christ teaches us by his example.

10. And all things that are mine are thine. The object of the former clause is to show that the Father will assuredly listen to him. “I do not,” says he, “plead with thee for any but those whom thou acknowledgest to be thine, for I have nothing separated from thee, and therefore I shall not meet with a refusal.” In the second clause, and thine are mine, he shows that he has good reason for caring about the elect; for they are his in consequence of their being his Father’s. All these things are spoken for the confirmation of our faith. We must not seek salvation anywhere else than in Christ. But we shall not be satisfied with having Christ, if we do not know that we possess God in him. We must therefore believe that there is such a unity between the Father and the Son as makes it impossible that they shall have anything separate from each other.

And I am glorified in them. This is connected with the second clause of the verse, and thine are mine; for it follows that it is reasonable that he, for his part, should promote their salvation; and this is a most excellent testimony for confirming our faith, that Christ never will cease to care for our salvation, since he is glorified in us.

11. And I am no longer in the world. He assigns another reason why he prays so earnestly for the disciples, namely, because they will very soon be deprived of his bodily presence, under which they had reposed till now. So long as he dwelt with them, he cherished them,

as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, (Matthew 23:37;)

but now that he is about to depart, he asks that the Father will guard them by his protection. And he does so on their account; for he provides a remedy for their trembling, that they may rely on God himself, to whose hands, as it were, he now commits them. It yields no small consolation to us, when we learn that the Son of God becomes so much the more earnest about the salvation of his people, when he leaves them as to his bodily presence; for we ought to conclude from it, that, while we are labouring under difficulties in the world, he keeps his eye on us, to send down, from his heavenly glory, relief from our distresses.

Holy Father. The whole prayer is directed to this object, that the disciples may not lose courage, as if their condition were made worse on account of the bodily absence of their Master. For Christ, having been appointed by the Father to be their guardian for a time, and having now discharged the duties of that office gives them back again, as it were, into the hands of the Father, that henceforth they may enjoy his protection, and may be upheld by his power. It amounts therefbre to this, that, when the disciples are deprived of Christ’s bodily presence they suffer no loss, because God receives them under his guardianship, the efficacy of which shall never cease.

That they may be one. This points out the way in which they shall be kept; for those whom the Heavenly Father has decreed to keep, he brings together in a holy unity of faith and of the Spirit. But as it is not enough that men be agreed in some manner, he adds, As we are. Then will our unity be truly happy, when it shall hear the image of God the Father and of Christ, as the wax takes the form of the seal which is impressed upon it. But in what manner the Father, and Jesus Christ “Le Pere, et Jesus Christ son Fils.” his Son, are one, I shall shortly afterwards explain.

John 17:12-13

12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those whom thou hast given to me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13. And now I come to thee, and speak those things in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

12. While I was with them in the world. Christ says that he hath kept them in the name of his Father; for he represents himself to be only a servant, who did nothing but by the power, and under the protection, of God. He means, therefore, that it were most unreasonable to suppose that they would now perish, as if by his departure the power of God had been extinguished or dead. But it may be thought very absurd that Christ surrenders to God the office of keeping them, as if, after having finished the course of his life, he ceased to be the guardian of his people. The reply is obvious. He speaks here of visible guardianship only which ended at the death of Christ; for, while he dwelt on earth, he needed not to borrow power from another, in order to keep his disciples; but all this relates to the person of the Mediator, who appeared, for a time, under the form of a servant. But now he bids the disciples, as soon as they have begun to be deprived of the external aid, to raise their eyes direct towards heaven. Hence we infer that Christ keeps believers in the present day not less than he formerly did, but in a different manner, because Divine majesty is openly displayed in him.

Whom thou hast given me. He again employs the same argument, that it would be highly unbecoming that the Father should reject those whom his Son, by his command, has hept to the very close of his ministry; as if he had said, “What thou didst commit to me I have faithfully executed, and I took care that nothing was lost in my hands; and when thou now receivest what thou hadst intrusted to me, it belongs to thee to see that it continue to be safe and sound.”

But the son of perdition. Judas is excepted, and not without reason; for, though he was not one of the elect and of the true flock of God, yet the dignity of his office gave him the appearance of it; and, indeed, no one would have formed a different opinion of him, so long as he held that exalted rank. Tried by the rules of grammar, “Selon la reigle tie grammaire.” the exception is incorrect; but if we examine the matter narrowly, it was necessary that Christ should speak thus, in accommodation to the ordinary opinion of men. But, that no one might think that the eternal election of God was overturned by the damnation of Judas, he immediately added, that he was the son of perdition By these words Christ means that his ruin, which took place suddenly before the eyes of men, had been known to God long before; for the son of perdition, according to the Hebrew idiom, denotes a man who is ruined, or devoted to destruction.

That the Scripture might be fulfilled. This relates to the former clause. Judas fell, that the Scripture might be fulfilled But it would be a most unfounded argument, if any one were to infer from this, that the revolt of Judas ought to be ascribed to God rather than to himself; because the prediction laid him under a nccesslty. For the course of events ought not to be ascribed to prophecies, because it was predicted in them; and, indeed, the prophets threaten nothing but what would have happened, though they had not spoken of it. It is not in the prophecies, therefore, that we must go to seek the cause of events. I acknowledge, indeed, that nothing happens but what has been appointed by God; but the only question now is, Do those things which it has foretold, or predicted, lay men under a necessity? which I have already demonstrated to be false.

Nor was it the design of Christ to transfer to Scripture the cause of the ruin of Judas, but he only intended to take away the occasion of stumbling, which might shake weak minds. “Les consciences infirmes;” — “weak consciences.” Now the method of removing it is, by showing that the Spirit of God had long ago testified that such an event would happen; for we commonly startle at what is new and sudden. This is a highly useful admonition, and admits of extensive application. For how comes it that in our own day, the greater part of men give way on account of offences, but because they do not remember the testimonies of Scripture, by which God has abundantly fortified his people, having foretold early all the evils and distresses which would come before their eyes?

13. And these things I speak in the world. Here Christ shows that the reason why he was so earnest in praying for his disciples was, not that he was anxious about their future condition, but rather to provide a remedy for their anxiety. We know how prone our minds are to seek external aids; and if these present themselves, we eagerly seize them, and do not easily suffer ourselves to be torn from them. Christ, therefore, prays to his Father in the presence of his disciples, not because he needed any words, but to remove from them all doubt. I speak in the world, says he; that is, within their hearing, or, in their presence, “En leur presence.” that their minds may be calm; for their salvation already was in no danger, having been placed by Christ in the hands of God.

That they may have my joy fulfilled. He calls it HIS joy, because it was necessary that the disciples should obtain it from him; or, if you choose to express it more briefly, he calls it his, because he is the Author, Cause, and Pledge of it; for in us there is nothing but alarm and uneasiness, but in Christ alone there is peace and joy.

John 17:14-19

14. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them; because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15. I ask not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17. Sanctify them by thy truth: thy word is truth. 18. As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

14. I have given them thy word. He employs a different argument in pleading with the Father on behalf of the disciples. It is, because they need his assistance on account of the hatred of the world. He likewise declares the cause of that hatred to be, that they have embraced the word of God, which the world cannot receive; as if he had said, “It belongs to thee to protect those who, on account of thy word, are hated by the world.” We must now keep in remembrance what we have lately heard, that the end of this prayer is, that Christ’s joy may be fulflled in us As often, therefore, as the rage of the world is kindled against us to such an extent that we think we are very near destruction, let us learn suddenly to ward it off by this shield, that God will never forsake those who labor in defense of the Gospel.

Because they are not of the world. He says that his disciples are not of the world, because all those whom he regenerates by his Spirit are separated from the world God will not suffer his sheep to wander among wolves, without showing himself to be their shepherd.

15. I ask not that thou shouldest take them out of the world. He shows in what the safety of believers “Des fideles.” consists; not that they are free from every annoyance, and live in luxury and at their ease, but that, in the midst of dangers, they continue to be safe through the assistance of God. For he does not admonish the Father of what is proper to be done, but rather makes provision for their weakness, that, by the method which he prescribes, they may restrain their desires, which are apt to go beyond all bounds. In short, he promises to his disciples the grace of the Father; not to relieve them from all anxiety and toil, but to furnish them with invincible strength against their enemies, and not to suffer them to be overwhelmed by the heavy burden of contests which they will have to endure. If, therefore, we wish to be kept according to the rule which Christ has laid down, we must not desire exemption from evils, or pray to God to convey us immediately into a state of blessed rest, but must rest satisfied with the certain assurance of victory, and, in the meantime, resist courageously all the evils, from which Christ prayed to his Father that we might have a happy issue. In short, God does not take his people out of the world, because he does not wish them to be effeminate and slothful; but he delivers them from evil, that they may not be overwhelmed; for he wishes them to fight, but does not suffer them to be mortally wounded.

16. They are not of the world. That the heavenly Father may be more favourably disposed to assist them, he again says that the whole world hates them, and, at the same time, states that this hatred does not arise from any fault of theirs, but because the world hates God and Christ.

17. Sanctify them by thy truth. This sanctification includes the kingdom of God and his righteousness; that is, when God renews us by his Spirit, and confirms in us the grace of renewal, and continues it to the end. He asks, first, therefore, that the Father would sanctify the disciples, or, in other words, that he would consecrate them entirely to himself, and defend them as his sacred inheritance. Next, he points out the means of sanctification, and not without reason; for there are fanatics who indulge in much useless prattle about sanctification, but who neglect the truth of God, by which he consecrates us to himself. Again, as there are others who chatter quite as foolishly about the truth and yet disregard the word, Christ expressly says that the truth, by which God sanctifies his sons, is not to be found any where else than in the word.

Thy word is truth; for the word here denotes the doctrine of the Gospel, which the apostles had already heard from the mouth of their Master, and which they were afterwards to preach to others. In this sense Paul says that

the Church has been cleansed with the washing of water by the word of life, (Ephesians 5:26

True, it is God alone who sanctifies; but as

the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth, (Romans 1:16,)

whoever departs from the Gospel as the means must become more and more filthy and polluted.

The truth is here taken, by way of eminence, for the light of heavenly wisdom, in which God manifests himself to us, that he may conform us to his image. The outward preaching of the word, it is true, does not of itself accomplish this, For that preaching is wickedly profaned by the reprobate; but let us remember that Christ speaks of the elect whom the Holy Spirit efficaciously regenerates by the word. Now, as the apostles were not altogether destitute of this grace, we ought to infer from Christ’s words, that sanctification is not instantly completed in us on the first day, but that we make progress in it through the whole course of our life, till at length God, having taken away from us the garment of the flesh, fills us with his righteousness.

18. As thou hast sent me into the world. He confirms his prayer by another argument; namely, because the calling of Christ and of the apostles is the same calling, and is common to both. “I now,” he says, “appoint them to an office, which I have hitherto held by thy command; and, therefore, it is necessary that they should be furnished with the power of thy Spirit, that they may be able to sustain so weighty a charge.”

19. And for their sales I sanctify myself. By these words he explains more clearly from what source that sanctification flows, which is completed in us by the doctrine of the Gospel. It is, because he consecrated himself to the Father, that his holiness might come to us; for as the blessing on the first-fruits is spread over the whole harvest, so the Spirit of God cleanses us by the holiness of Christ and makes us partakers of it. Nor is this done by imputation only, for in that respect he is said to have been made to us righteousness; but he is likewise said to have been made to us sanctification, (1 Corinthians 1:30,) because he has, so to speak, presented us to his Father in his own person, that we may be renewed to true holiness by his Spirit. Besides, though this sanctification belongs to the whole life of Christ, yet the highest illustration of it was given in the sacrifice of his death; for then he showed himself to be the true High Priest, by consecrating the temple, the altar, all the vessels, and the people, by the power of his Spirit.

John 17:20-23

20. And I ask not for these only, but for those also who shall believe on me through their word; 21. That all may be one; as thou, rather, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22. And I have given to them the glory which thou gavest to me; that they may be one, as we are one: 23. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, “Et que tu los aimes;” — “and that thou lovest them.” as thou hast loved me.

20. And I ash not for these only. He now gives a wider range to his prayer, which hitherto had included the apostles alone; for he extends it to all the disciples of the Gospel, so long as there shall be any of them to the end of the world. This is assuredly a remarkable ground of confidence; for if we believe in Christ through the doctrine of the Gospel, we ought to entertain no doubt that we are already gathered with the apostles into his faithful protection, so that not one of us shall perish. This prayer of Christ is a safe harbour, and whoever retreats into it is safe from all danger of shipwreck; for it is as if Christ had solemnly sworn that he will devote his care and diligence to our salvation.

He began with his apostles, that their salvation, which we know to be certain, might make us more certain of our own salvation; and, therefore, whenever Satan attacks us, let us learn to meet him with this shield, that it is not to no purpose that the Son of God united us with the apostles, so that the salvation of all was bound up, as it were, in the same bundle. There is nothing, therefore that ought more powerfully to excite us to embrace the Gospel; for as it is an inestimable blessing that we are presented to God by the hand of Chrisb to be preserved from destruction, so we ought justly to love it, and to care for it above all things else. In this respect the madness of the world is monstrous. All desire salvation; Christ instructs us in a way of obtaining it, from which if any one turn aside, there remains for him no good hope; and yet scarcely one person in a hundred deigns to receive what was so graciously offered.

For those who shall believe on me, We must attend to this form of expression. Christ prays for all who shall believe in him. By these words he reminds us of what we have sometimes said already, that our faith ought to be directed to him. The clause which immediately follows, through their word, expresses admirably the power and nature of faith, and at the same time is a familiar confirmation to us who know that our faith is founded on the Gospel taught by the apostles. Let the world then condemn us a thousand times, this alone ought to satisfy us, that Christ acknowledges us to be his heritage and pleads with the Father for us.

But woe to the Papists, whose faith is so far removed from this rule, that they are not ashamed to vomit out this horrid blasphemy, that there is nothing in Scripture but what is ambiguous, and may be turned in a variety of ways. The tradition of the Church is therefore their only authoritative guide to what they shall believe. But let us remember that the Son of God, who alone is competent to judge, does not approve of any other faith “Qui seul en peut et doit prononcer, n’approve point d’autre foy.” than that which is drawn from the doctrine of the apostles, and sure information of that doctrine will be found no where else than in their writings.

We must also observe that form of expression, to believe through the word, which means that faith springs from hearing, because the outward preaching of men is the instrument by which God draws us to faith. It follows, that God is, strictly speaking, the Author of faith, and men are the ministers by whom we believe, as Paul teaches (1 Corinthians 3:5.)

21. That all may be one. He again lays down the end of our happiness as consisting in unity, and justly; for the ruin of the human race is, that, having been alienated from God, it is also broken and scattered in itself. The restoration of it, therefore, on the contrary, consists in its being properly united in one body, as Paul declares the perfection of the Church to consist in

believers being joined together in one spirit and says that apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors, were given, that they might edify and restore the body of Christ, till it came to the unity of faith; and therefore he exhorts believers to grow into Christ, who is the Head, from whom the whole body joined together, and connected by every bond of supply, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of it to edifcation, (Ephesians 4:3, 11-16.)

Wherefore, whenever Christ speaks about unity, let us remember how basely and shockingly, when separated from him, the world is scattered; and, next, let. us learn that the commencement of a blessed life is, that we be all governed, and that we all live, by the Spirit of Christ alone.

Again, it ought to be understood, that, in every instance in which Christ declares, in this chapter, that he is one with the Father, he does not speak simply of his Divine essence, but that he is called one as regards his mediatorial office, and in so far as he is our Head. Many of the fathers, no doubt, interpreted these words as meaning, absolutely, that Christ is one with the Father, because he is the eternal God. But their dispute with the Arians led them to seize on detached passages, and to torture them out of their natural meaning, in order to employ them against their antagonists. “Et les ont tirees hors dc leur simple sens pour s’en servir contre les adversaires.” Now, Christ’s design was widely different from that of raising our minds to a mere speculation about his hidden Divinity; for he reasons from the end, by showing that we ought to be one, otherwise the unity which he has with the Father would be fruitless and unavailing. To comprehend aright what was intended by saying, that Christ and the Father are one, we must take care not to deprive Christ of his office as Mediator, but must rather view him as he is the Head of the Church, and unite him with his members. Thus will the chain of thought be preserved, that, in order to prevent the unity of the Son with the Father from being fruitless and unavailing, the power of that unity must be diffused through the whole body of believers. Hence, too, we infer that we are one with the Son of God; “Avec le Fils de Dieu.” not because he conveys his substance to us, but because, by the power of his Spirit, he imparts to us his life and all the blessings which he has received from the Father.

That the world may believe. Some explain the word world to mean the elect, who, at that time, were still dispersed; but since the word world, throughout the whole of this chapter, denotes the reprobate, I am more inclined to adopt a different opinion. It happens that, immediately afterwards, he draws a distinction between all his people and the same world which he now mentions.

The verb, to believe, has been inaccurately used by the Evangelist for the verb, to know; that is, when unbelievers, convinced by their own experienc, perceive the heavenly and Divine glory of Christ. The consequence is, that, believing, they do not believe, because this conviction does not penetrate into the inward feeling of the heart. And it is a just vengeance of God, that the splendor of Divine glory dazzles the eyes of the reprobate because they do not deserve to have a clear and pure view of it. He afterwards uses the verb, to know in the same sense.

22. And I have given to them the glory which thou gavest to me. Let it be observed here, that, while a pattern of perfect happiness was exhibited in Christ, he had nothing that belonged peculiarly to himself, but rather was rich, in order to enrich those who believed in him. Our happiness lies in having the image of God restored and formed anew in us, which was defaced by sin. Christ is not only the lively image of God, in so far as he is the eternal Word of God. but even on his human nature, which he has in common with us, the likeness of the glory of the Father has been engraved, so as to form his members to the resemblance of it. Paul also teaches us this, that

we all, with unveiled face, by beholding THE GLORY OF GOD, are changed into the same image, (2 Corinthians 3:18.)

Hence it follows, that no one ought to be reckoned among the disciples of Christ, unless we perceive the glory of God impressed on him, as with a seal, by the likeness of Christ. To the same purpose are the words which immediately follow:

23. I in them, and thou in me; for he intends to teach that in him dwells all fullness of blessings, and that what was concealed in God is now manifested in him, that he may impart it to his people, as the water, flowing from the fountain by various channels, waters the fields on all sides.

And hast loved them, “Et que tu les aimes;” — “And that thou lovest them.” He means that it is a very striking exhibition, and a very excellent pledge, of the love of God towards believers, which the world is compelled to feel, whether it will or not, when the Holy Spirit dwelling in them sends forth the rays of righteousness and holiness. There are innumerable other ways, indeed, in which God daily testifies his fatherly love towards us, but the mark of adoption is justly preferred to them all. He likewise adds, and hast loved them, As Thou Hast Loved Me. By these words he intended to point out the cause and origin of the love; for the particle as, means because, and the words, AS thou hast loved me, mean, Because thou hast loved me; for to Christ alone belongs the title of Well-beloved, (Matthew 3:17; 17:5.) Besides, that love which the heavenly Father bears towards the Head is extended to all the members, so that he loves none but in Christ.

Yet this gives rise to some appearance of contradiction; for Christ, as we have seen elsewhere Vol. 1: p. 122. declares that the unspeakable love of God towards the world was the reason why he gave his only-begotten Son, (John 3:16.) If the cause must go before the effect, we infer that God the Father loved men apart from Christ; that is, before he was appointed to be the Redeemer. I reply, in that, and similar passages, love denotes the mercy with which God was moved towards unworthy persons, and even towards his enemies, before he reconciled them to himselfi It is, indeed, a wonderful goodness of God, and inconceivable by the human mind, that, exercising benevolence towards men whom he could not but hate, he removed the cause of the hatred, that there might be no obstruction to his love. And, indeed, Paul informs us that there are two ways in which we are loved in Christ; first, because the Father

chose us in him before the creation of the world, (Ephesians 1:4;)

and, secondly, because in Christ God hath reconciled us to himself, and hath showed that he is gracious to us, (Romans 5:10.) Thus we are at the same time the enemies and the friends of God, until, atonement having been made for our sins, we are restored to favor with God. But when we are justified by faith, it is then, properly, that we begin to be loved by God, as children by a father. That love by which Christ was appointed to be the person, in whom we should be fiercly chosen before we were born, and while we were still ruined in Adam, is hidden in the breast of God, and far exceeds the capacity of the human mind. True, no man will ever feel that God is gracious to him, unless he perceives that God is pacified in Christ. But as all relish for the love of God vanishes when Christ is taken away, so we may safely conclude that, since by faith we are ingrafted into his body, there is no danger of our falling from the love of God; for this foundation cannot be overturned, that we are loved, because the Father hath loved his Son. “Pource que le Pere a aime son Fils.”

John 17:24-26

24. Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me may also be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the creation of the world. 25. Righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26. And I have declared to them thy name, and will declare it; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

24. Father, I will. To will is put for to desire; “Quand il dit, Je veux, c’est comme s’il disoit, Je desire;” — “When he says, I will, it is as if’ he had said, I desire.” for it expresses not a command but a prayer. But it may be understood in two ways; either that he wills that the disciples may enjoy his eternal presence, or, that God may, at length, receive them into the heavenly kingdom, to which he goes before them.

That they may behold my glory. Some explain beholding his glory to mean, partaking of the glory which Christ has. Others explain it to be, to know by the experience of faith what Christ is, and how great is his majesty. For my own part, after carefully weighing the whole matter, I think that Christ speaks of the perfect happiness of believers, as if he had said, that his desire will not be satisfied till they have been received into heaven. In the same manner I explain the Beholding of the glory. At that time they saw the glory of Christ, just as a man shut up in the dark obtains, through small chinks, a feeble and glimmering light. Christ now wishes that they shall make such progress as to enjoy the full brightness of heaven. In short, he asks that the Father will conduct them, by uninterrupted progress, to the full vision of his glory.

For thou lovedst me. This also agrees better with the person of the Mediator than with Christ’s Divinity alone. It would be harsh to say that the Father loved his Wisdom; and though we were to admit it, the connection of the passage leads us to a different view. Christ, unquestionably, spoke as the Head of the Church, when he formerly prayed that the apostles might be united with him, and might behold the glory of his reign. He now says that the love of the Father is the cause of it; and, therefore, it follows that he was beloved, in so far as he was appointed to be the Redeemer of the world. With such a love did the Father love him before the creation of the world, that he might be the person in whom the Father would love his elect.

25. Righteous Father. He compares his disciples to the world, so as to describe more fully the approbation and favour which they had received from the Father; for it is proper that they who alone know God, whom the whole world rejects, should be distinguished above others, and most properly does Christ plead with peculiar warmth for those whom the unbelief of the world did not prevent from acknowledging God. By calling him Righteous Father, Christ defies the world and its malice; as if he had said, “However proudly the world may despise or reject God, still it takes nothing from him, and cannot hinder the honor of his righteousness from remaining unimpaired.” By these words he declares that the faith of the godly ought to be founded on God, in such a manner that, though the whole world should oppose, it would never fail; just as, in the present day, we must charge the Pope with injustice, in order that we may vindicate for God the praise which is due to him.

But I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. Christ does not merely say that God was known by the disciples, but mentions two steps; first, that he has known the Father; and, secondly, that the disciples have known that he was sent by the Father But as he adds immediately afterwards, that he has declared to them the name of the Father, he praises them, as I have said, for the knowledge of God, which separates them from the rest of the world. Yet we must attend to the order of faith, as it is here described. The Son came out of the bosom of the Father, and, properly speaking, he alone knows the Father; and, therefore, all who desire to approach God must betake themselves to Christ meeting them, and nmst devote themselves to him; and, after having been known by the disciples, he will, at length, raise them to God the Father.

26. And I have declared to them thy name, and will declare it. Christ discharged the office of Teacher, but, in order to make known the Father, he employed the secret revelation of the Spirit, and not the sound of his voice alone. He means, therefore, that he taught the apostles efficaciously. Besides, their faith being at that time very weak, he promises greater progress for the future, and thus prepares them to expect more abundant grace of the Holy Spirit. Though he speaks of the apostles, we ought to draw from this a general exhortation, to study to make constant progress, and not to think that we have run so well that we have not still a long journey before us, so long as we are surrounded by the flesh.

That the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them; that is, that thou mayest love them in me, or, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be extended to them; for, strictly speaking, the love with which God loves us is no other than that with which he loved his Son from the beginning, so as to render us also acceptable to him, and capablc of being loved in Christ. And, indeed, as was said a little before, so far as relates to us, apart from Christ, we are hated by God, and he only begins to love us, when we are united to the body of his beloved Son. It is an invaluable privilege of faith, that we know that Christ was loved by the Father on our account, that we might be made partakers of the same love, and might enjoy it for ever.

And I in them. This clause deserves our attention, for it teaches us that the only way in which we are included in that love which he mentions is, that Christ dwells in us; for, as the Father cannot look upon his Son without having likewise before his eyes the whole body of Christ, so, if we wish to be beheld in him, we must be actually his members.

CHAPTER 18.

John 18:1-6

1. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kedron, where was a garden, into which he entered, and his disciples. 2. And Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place; for Jesus often resorted thither with his disciples. 3. Then Judas, having received a band of soldiers, and officers from the chief pricsts and Pharisees, came thither with lanterns, and torches, and weapons. 4. Now Jesus, knowing all the things which were coming upon him, went forward and said to them, Whom seek ye? 5. They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith to them, It is I. And Judas also, who betrayed him, stood with them. 6. As soon therefore as he said to them, It is I, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

CHAPTER 17

Joh 17:1-26. The Intercessory Prayer.

(See on Joh 14:1). Had this prayer not been recorded, what reverential reader would not have exclaimed, Oh, to have been within hearing of such a prayer as that must have been, which wound up the whole of His past ministry and formed the point of transition to the dark scenes which immediately followed! But here it is, and with such signature of the Lips that uttered it that we seem rather to hear it from Himself than read it from the pen of His faithful reporter.

1-3. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes--"John very seldom depicts the gestures or looks of our Lord, as here. But this was an occasion of which the impression was indelible, and the upward look could not be passed over" [Alford].

Father, the hour is come--(See on Joh 13:31, 32).

glorify thy Son--Put honor upon Thy Son, by countenancing, sustaining, and carrying Him through that "hour."

4-5. I have glorified thee on the earth--rather, "I glorified" (for the thing is conceived as now past).

I have finished--I finished.

the work which thou gavest me to do--It is very important to preserve in the translation the past tense, used in the original, otherwise it might be thought that the work already "finished" was only what He had done before uttering that prayer; whereas it will be observed that our Lord speaks throughout as already beyond this present scene (Joh 17:12, &c.), and so must be supposed to include in His "finished work" the "decease which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem."

6-8. From praying for Himself He now comes to pray for His disciples.

I have manifested--I manifested.

thy name--His whole character towards mankind.

to the men thou gavest me out of the world--(See on Joh 6:37-40).

9-14. I pray for them--not as individuals merely, but as representatives of all such in every succeeding age (see on Joh 17:20).

not for the world--for they had been given Him "out of the world" (Joh 17:6), and had been already transformed into the very opposite of it. The things sought for them, indeed, are applicable only to such.

15-19. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world--for that, though it would secure their own safety, would leave the world unblessed by their testimony.

but ... keep them from the evil--all evil in and of the world.

20-23. Neither pray I for these alone--This very important explanation, uttered in condescension to the hearers and readers of this prayer in all time, is meant not merely of what follows, but of the whole prayer.

them also which shall believe--The majority of the best manuscripts read "which believe," all future time being viewed as present, while the present is viewed as past and gone.

24-26. Father, I will--The majesty of this style of speaking is quite transparent. No petty criticism will be allowed to fritter it away in any but superficial or perverted readers.

be with me where I am--(See on Joh 14:3).

that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me--(See on Joh 17:5). Christ regards it as glory enough for us to be admitted to see and gaze for ever upon His glory! This is "the beatific vision"; but it shall be no mere vision, for "we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is" (1Jo 3:2).

These words spake Jesus - That is, what is related in the preceding chapters. We may consider our Lord as still moving on towards Gethsemane, not having yet passed the brook Cedron, Joh 18:1.

Our Lord, who was now going to act as high priest for the whole human race, imitates in his conduct that of the Jewish high priest on the great day of expiation; who, in order to offer up the grand atonement for the sins of the people: -

1. Washed himself, and put on clean linen garments. This Christ appears to have imitated, Joh 13:4. He laid aside his garments, girded himself with a towel, etc. There is no room to doubt that he and his disciples had been at the bath before: see Joh 13:10.

2. The high priest addressed a solemn prayer to God:

1. For himself this Christ imitates, Joh 17:1-5.

2. For the sons of Aaron: our Lord imitates this in praying for his disciples, Joh 17:9-19.

3. For all the people: our Lord appears to imitate this also in praying for his Church, all who should believe on him through the preaching of the apostles and their successors, Joh 17:20-24. After which he returns again to his disciples, Joh 17:25, Joh 17:26. See Calmet's Dict. under Expiation; and see La Grande Bible de M. Martin, in loc.

I. Our Lord's Prayer for Himself, Joh 17:1-5

Father - Here our Lord addresses the whole Divine nature, as he is now performing his last acts in his state of humiliation.

Glorify thy Son - Cause him to be acknowledged as the promised Messiah by the Jewish people, and as the universal Savior by the Gentile world; and let such proofs of his Godhead be given as shall serve to convince and instruct mankind.

That thy son also may glorify thee - That by dying be may magnify thy law and make it honorable, respected among men - show the strictness of thy justice, and the immaculate purity of thy nature.

As thou hast given him power - As the Messiah, Jesus Christ received from the Father universal dominion. All flesh, i.e. all the human race, was given unto him, that by one sacrifice of himself, he might reconcile them all to God; having by his grace tasted death for every man, Heb 2:9. And this was according to the promise of the universal inheritance made to Christ, Psa 2:8, which was to be made up of the heathen, and the uttermost parts of the land, all the Jewish people. So that he got all from God, that he might give his life a ransom for the whole. See 2Cor 5:14, 2Cor 5:15; Rom 5:21; 1Tim 2:4, 1Tim 2:6.

That he should have eternal life, etc. - As all were delivered into his power, and he poured out his blood to redeem all, then the design of God is that all should have eternal life, because all are given for this purpose to Christ; and, that this end might be accomplished, he has become their sacrifice and atonement.

This is life eternal - The salvation purchased by Christ, and given to them who believe, is called life:

1. Because the life of man was forfeited to Divine justice; and the sacrifice of Christ redeemed him from that death to which he was exposed.

2. Because the souls of men were dead in trespasses and sins; and Christ quickens them by his word and Spirit.

3. Because men who are not saved by the grace of Christ do not live, they only exist, no good purpose of life being answered by them. But when they receive this salvation they live - answer all the Divine purposes, are happy in themselves, useful to each other, and bring glory to God.

4. It is called eternal life to show that it reaches beyond the limits of time, and that it necessarily implies -

1. The immortality of the soul;

2. the resurrection of the body; and

3. that it is never to end, hence called αιωνιος ζωη, a life ever living; from αει, always, and ων, being or existence. And indeed no words can more forcibly convey the idea of eternity than these. It is called ἡ αιωνιος ζωη, That eternal life, by way of eminence. There may be an eternal existence without blessedness; but this is that eternal life with which infinite happiness is inseparably connected.

The only true God - The way to attain this eternal life is to acknowledge, worship, and obey, the one only true God, and to accept as teacher, sacrifice, and Savior, the Lord Jesus, the one and only true Messiah. Bishop Pearce's remark here is well worthy the reader's attention: - "What is said here of the only true God seems said in opposition to the gods whom the heathens worshipped; not in opposition to Jesus Christ himself, who is called the true God by John, in 1Jn 5:20."

The words in this verse have been variously translated:

1. That they might acknowledge thee, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, to be the only true God.

2. That they might acknowledge thee, the only true God, and Jesus, whom thou hast sent, to be the Christ or Messiah.

3. That they might acknowledge thee to be the only true God, and Jesus Christ to be him whom thou hast sent. And all these translations the original will bear.

From all this we learn that the only way in which eternal life is to be attained is by acknowledging the true God, and the Divine mission of Jesus Christ, he being sent of God to redeem men by his blood, being the author of eternal salvation to all them that thus believe, and conscientiously keep his commandments.

A saying similar to this is found in the Institutes of Menu. Brigoo, the first emanated being who was produced from the mind of the supreme God, and who revealed the knowledge of his will to mankind, is represented as addressing the human race and saying: "Of all duties, the principal is to acquire from the Upanishads (their sacred writings) a true knowledge of one supreme God; that is the most exalted of sciences, because it ensures eternal life. For in the knowledge and adoration of one God all the rules of good conduct are fully comprised." See Institutes of Menu, chap. xii. Inst. 85, 87.

I have glorified thee - Our Lord, considering himself as already sacrificed for the sin of the world, speaks of having completed the work which God had given him to do: and he looks forward to that time when, through the preaching of his Gospel, his sacrifice should be acknowledged, and the true God should be known and worshipped by the whole world.

Before the world was - That is, from eternity, before there was any creation - so the phrase, and others similar to it, are taken in the sacred writings; see Joh 17:24; Psa 90:2; Eph 1:4. See Joh 1:1. Let the glory of my eternal divinity surround and penetrate my humanity, in its resurrection, ascension, and in the place which it is to occupy at thy right hand, far above all creatures, Phi 2:6, Phi 2:9.

II. Our Lord's Prayer for His Disciples, Joh 17:6-19

I have manifested thy name - Εφανερωσα, I have brought it into light, and caused it to shine in itself, and to illuminate others. A little of the Divine nature was known by the works of creation; a little more was known by the Mosaic revelation: but the full manifestation of God, his nature, and his attributes, came only through the revelation of Christ.

The men which thou gavest me - That is, the apostles, who, having received this knowledge from Christ, were, by their preaching and writings, to spread it through the whole world.

Out of the world - From among the Jewish people; for in this sense is the word κοσμος to be understood in various parts of our Lord's last discourses.

Thine they were - Objects of thy choice; and thou gavest them to me from among this very unbelieving people, that they might be my disciples and the heralds of my salvation.

And they have kept thy word - Though their countrymen have rejected it; and they have received me as thy well beloved Son in whom thou delightest.

I have given - them the words - I have delivered thy doctrine to them, so that they have had a pure teaching immediately from heaven: neither Jewish fables nor fictions of men have been mingled with it.

And have known surely - Are fully convinced and acknowledge that I am the promised Messiah, and that they are to look for none other; and that my mission and doctrine are all Divine, Joh 17:7, Joh 17:8.

I pray not for the world - I am not yet come to that part of my intercession: see Joh 17:20. I am now wholly employed for my disciples, that they may be properly qualified to preach my salvation to the ends of the earth. Jesus here imitates the high priest, the second part of whose prayer, on the day of expiation, was for the priests, the sons of Aaron: see on Joh 17:1 (note). These words may also be understood as applying to the rebellious Jews. God's wrath was about to descend upon them, and Christ prays that his own followers might be kept from the evil, Joh 17:15. But he does not thus pray for the world, the rebellious Jews, because the cup of their iniquity was full, and their judgment slumbered not.

I am glorified in them - Christ speaks of the things which were not, but which should be, as though they were. He anticipates the glorifying of his name by the successful preaching of the apostles.

I am no more in the world - I am just going to leave the world, and therefore they shall stand in need of peculiar assistance and support. They have need of all the influence of my intercession, that they may be preserved in thy truth.

Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me - Instead of οὑς δεδωκας μοι, Those whom thou hast given me, ABCEHLMS, Mt. BHV, and nearly one hundred others, read ᾡ, which refers to the τῳ ονοματι σου, thy name, immediately preceding. The whole passage should be read thus: Holy Father, keep them through thy own name Which thou hast given me, that they may be one, etc. By the name, here, it is evident that the doctrine or knowledge of the true God is intended; as if our Lord had said, Keep them in that doctrine Which thou hast given me, that they may be one, etc. This reading is supported by the most ample evidence and indisputable authority. Griesbach has admitted it into the text, and Professor White in his CRISEΩS says of it, Lectio indubie genuina, "It is, without doubt, the genuine reading."

That they may be One - That they, and all that believe through their word, (the doctrine which I have given them), may be one body, united by one Spirit to me their living head. The union which Christ recommends here, and prays for, is so complete and glorious as to be fitly represented by that union which subsists between the Father and the Son.

I kept them in thy name - In thy doctrine and truth.

But the son of perdition - So we find that Judas, whom all account to have been lost, and whose case at best is extremely dubious, was first given by God to Christ? But why was he lost? Because, says St. Augustin, he would not be saved: and he farther adds, After the commission of his crime, he might have returned to God and have found mercy. Aug. Serm. 125; n. 5; Psa 146:1-10. n. 20; Ser. 352, n. 8; and in Psa 108:1-13. See Calmet, who remarks: Judas only became the son of perdition because of his wilful malice, his abuse of the grace and instructions of Christ, and was condemned through his own avarice, perfidy, insensibility, and despair. In behalf of the mere possibility of the salvation of Judas, see the observations at the end of Acts 1 (note).

Perdition or destruction is personified; and Judas is represented as being her son, i.e. one of the worst of men - one whose crime appears to have been an attempt to destroy, not only the Savior of the world, but also the whole human race. And all this he was capable of through the love of money! How many of those who are termed creditable persons in the world have acted his crime over a thousand times! To Judas and to all his brethren, who sell God and their souls for money, and who frequently go out of this world by a violent voluntary death, we may apply those burning words of Mr. Blair, with very little alteration: "O cursed lust of gold! when for thy sake

The wretch throws up his interest in both worlds,

First hanged in this, then damned in that to come."

That the scripture might be fulfilled - Or, Thus the scripture is fulfilled: see Psa 41:9; Psa 109:8; compared with Act 1:20. Thus the traitorous conduct of Judas has been represented and illustrated by that of Ahitophel, and the rebellion of Absalom against his father David. Thus what was spoken concerning them was also fulfilled in Judas: to him therefore these scriptures are properly applied, though they were originally spoken concerning other traitors. Hence we plainly see that the treachery of Judas was not the effect of the prediction, for that related to a different case; but, as his was of the same nature with that of the others, to it the same scriptures were applicable.

My joy fulfilled in themselves - See on Joh 15:11 (note).

I have given them thy word - Or, thy doctrine - τον λογον σου. In this sense the word λογος is often used by St. John.

And the world hath hated them - The Jewish rulers, etc., have hated them. - Why? Because they received the doctrine of God, the science of salvation, and taught it to others. They knew Jesus to be the Messiah, and as such they proclaimed him: our Lord speaks prophetically of what was about to take place. How terrible is the perversion of human nature! Men despise that which they should esteem, and endeavor to destroy that without which they must be destroyed themselves!

That thou shouldest take them out of the world - They must not yet leave the land of Judea: they had not as yet borne their testimony there, concerning Christ crucified and risen again from the dead. To take them away before this work was finished would not answer the gracious design of God. -

1. Christ does not desire that his faithful apostles should soon die, and be taken to God. No: but that they may live long, labor long, and bring forth much fruit.

2. He does not intimate that they should seclude themselves from the world by going to the desert, or to the cloisters; but that they should continue in and among the world, that they may have the opportunity of recommending the salvation of God.

3. Christ only prays that while they are in the world, employed in the work of the ministry, they may be preserved from the influence, του πονηρου, of the evil one, the devil, who had lately entered into Judas, Joh 13:27, and who would endeavor to enter into them, ruin their souls, and destroy their work. A devil without can do no harm; but a devil within ruins all.

Sanctify them - Ἁγιασον, from α, negative, and γη, the earth. This word has two meanings:

1. It signifies to consecrate, to separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and his service.

2. It signifies to make holy or pure. The prayer of Christ may be understood in both these senses. He prayed -

1. That they might be fully consecrated to the work of the ministry, and separated from all worldly concerns.

2. That they might be holy, and patterns of all holiness to those to whom they announced the salvation of God.

A minister who engages himself in worldly concerns is a reproach to the Gospel; and he who is not saved from his own sins can with a bad grace recommend salvation to others.

Through thy truth - It is not only according to the truth of God that ministers are to be set apart to the sacred work; but it is from that truth, and according to it, that they must preach to others. That doctrine which is not drawn from the truth of God can never save souls. God blesses no word but his own; because none is truth, without mixture of error, but that which has proceeded from himself. Our Lord still acts here in reference to the conduct of the high priest, to whom it belonged to sanctify the priests, the sons of Aaron: see on Joh 17:1 (note).

As thou hast sent me - so have I also sent them - The apostles had the same commission which Christ had, considered as man - they were endued with the same Spirit, so that they could not err, and their word was accompanied with the same success.

I sanctify myself - I consecrate and devote myself to death - that I may thereby purchase eternal salvation for them. There seems to be here an allusion to the entering of the high priest into the holy of holies, when, having offered the sacrifice, he sprinkled the blood before the ark of the covenant. So Jesus entered into the holiest of all by his own blood, in order to obtain everlasting redemption for men: see Heb 9:11-13. The word, ἁγιαζω, to consecrate or sanctify, is used in the sense of devoting to death, in Jer 12:3, both in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint: the Hebrew קדש signifies also to sacrifice.

III. Our Lord's Prayer for His Church, and for All Who Would Believe on His Name, Through the Preaching of the Apostles and Their Successor. Joh 17:20-26. See on Joh 17:1 (note).

Neither pray I for these alone - This prayer extends itself through all ages, and takes in every soul that believes in the Lord Jesus.

And what is it that Christ asks in behalf of his followers? The greatest of blessings: unity, peace, love, and eternal glory.

That they all may be one - This prayer was literally answered to the first believers, who were all of one heart and of one soul: Act 4:32. And why is it that believers are not in the same spirit now? Because they neither attend to the example nor to the truth of Christ.

That the world may believe - are have already seen that the word, κοσμος, world, is used in several parts of this last discourse of our Lord to signify the Jewish people only.

Christ will have all his members to be one in spirit - one in rights and privileges, and one in the blessedness of the future world.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them - That is, the power to work miracles, and to preach unadulterated truth, say some; but as our Lord is not here praying for the disciples, but for all those who should believe on him through their word, Joh 17:20, it is more natural to understand the passage thus. As Christ, according to his human nature, is termed the Son of God, he may be understood as saying: "I have communicated to all those who believe, or shall believe in me, the glorious privilege of becoming sons of God; that, being all adopted children of the same Father, they may abide in peace, love, and unity." For this reason it is said, Heb 2:11, Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren. However, our Lord may here, as in several other places, be using the past for the future; and the words may therefore be understood of the glory which they were to share with him in heaven.

That the world may know - That the Jewish people first, and secondly the Gentiles, may acknowledge me as the true Messiah, and be saved unto life eternal.

That they may behold my glory - That they may enjoy eternal felicity with me in thy kingdom. So the word is used, Joh 3:3; Mat 5:8. The design of Christ is, that all who believe should love and obey, persevere unto the end, and be eternally united to himself, and the ever blessed God, in the kingdom of glory.

The world hath not known thee - Has not acknowledged me. See on Joh 1:11, Joh 1:12 (note).

And these have known - Here our Lord, returning to the disciples, speaks: 1st. Of their having received him as the Messiah; 2dly. Of his making the Father known unto them; 3dly. Of his purpose to continue to influence them by the Spirit of truth, that they might be perfectly united to God, by an indwelling Savior for ever.

I have declared unto them thy name, etc. - I have taught them the true doctrine.

And will declare it - This he did: 1st. By the conversations he had with his disciples after his resurrection, during the space of forty days. 2dly. By the Holy Spirit which was poured out upon them on the day of pentecost. And all these declarations Jesus Christ made, that the love of God, and Christ Jesus himself, might dwell in them; and thus they were to become a habitation for God through the eternal Spirit.

Our Lord's sermon, which he concluded by the prayer recorded in this chapter, begins at Joh 13:13, and is one of the most excellent than can be conceived. His sermon on the mount shows men what they should do, so as to please God: this sermon shows them how they are to do the things prescribed in the other. In the former the reader sees a strict morality which he fears he shall never be able to perform: in this, he sees all things are possible to him who believes; for that very God who made him shall dwell in his heart, and enable him to do all that He pleases to employ him in. No man can properly understand the nature and design of the religion of Christ who does not enter into the spirit of the preceding discourse. Perhaps no part of our Lord's words has been less understood, or more perverted, than the seventeenth chapter of St. John. I have done what I could, in so small a compass, to make every thing plain, and to apply these words in that way in which I am satisfied he used them.

Father - This simplicity of appellation highly became the only - begotten Son of God; to which a believer then makes the nearest approach, when he is fullest of love and humble confidence. The hour is come - The appointed time for it; glorify thy Son - The Son glorified the Father, both before and after his own glorification. When he speaks to the Father he does not style himself the Son of man.

As thou hast given him power over all flesh - This answers to glorify thy Son. That he may give eternal life, &c. - This answers to that thy Son may glorify thee. To all whom thou hast given him - To all believers. This is a clear proof that Christ designed his sacrifice should avail for all: yea, that all flesh, every man, should partake of everlasting life. For as the Father had given him power over all flesh, so he gave himself a ransom for all.

To know - By loving, holy faith, thee the only true God - The only cause and end of all things; not excluding the Son and the Holy Ghost, no more than the Father is excluded from being Lord, 1Cor 8:6; but the false gods of the heathens; and Jesus Christ - As their prophet, priest, and king: this is life eternal - It is both the way to, and the essence of, everlasting happiness.

I have finished the work - Thus have I glorified thee, laying the foundation of thy kingdom on earth.

The glory which I had - He does not say received - He always had it, till he emptied himself of it in the days of his flesh.

I have manifested thy name - All thy attributes; and in particular thy paternal relation to believers; to the men whom thou hast given me - The apostles, and so John 17:12. They were thine - By creation, and by descent from Abraham. And thou hast given them me - By giving them faith in what I have spoken. So John 17:9.

Now they know that all things - Which I have done and spoken, are of thee - And consequently right and true.

They have received them - By faith.

I pray not for the world - Not in these petitions, which are adapted to the state of believers only. (He prays for the world at John 17:21,23, that they may believe - That they may know God hath sent him.) This no more proves that our Lord did not pray for the world, both before and afterward, than his praying for the apostles alone, John 17:6 - 19, proves that he did not pray for them also which shall believe through their word, John 17:20.

All things that are mine are thine, and that are thine are mine - These are very high and strong expressions, too grand for any mere creature to use; as implying that all things whatsoever, inclusive of the Divine nature, perfections, and operations, are the common property of the Father and the Son. And this is the original ground of that peculiar property, which both the Father and the Son have in the persons who were given to Christ as Mediator; according to what is said in the close of the verse, of his being glorified by them; namely, believing in him, and so acknowledging his glory.

Keep them through thy name - Thy power, mercy, wisdom, that they may be one - with us and with each other; one body, separate from the world: as we are - By resemblance to us, though not equality.

Those whom thou hast given me I have guarded, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition - So one even of them whom God had given him is lost. So far was even that decree from being unchangeable! That the Scripture might be fulfilled - That is, whereby the Scripture was fulfilled. The son of perdition signifies one that deservedly perishes; as a son of death, 2Sam 12:5; children of hell, Mt 23:15, and children of wrath, Eph 2:3, signify persons justly obnoxious to death, hell, wrath. Psalm 109:8.

In the world - That is, before I leave the world. My joy - The joy I feel at going to the Father.

That thou wouldest take them out of the world - Not yet: but that thou wouldest keep them from the evil one - Who reigns therein.

Sanctify - Consecrate them by the anointing of thy Spirit to their office, and perfect them in holiness, by means of thy word.

I sanctify myself - I devote myself as a victim, to be sacrificed.

For them who will believe - In all ages.

As thou art in me - This also is to be understood in a way of similitude, and not of sameness or equality. That the world may believe - Here Christ prays for the world. Observe the sum of his whole prayer, Receive me into thy own and my glory; Let my apostles share therein; And all other believers: And let all the world believe.

The glory which thou hast given me, I have given them - The glory of the only begotten shines in all the sons of God. How great is the majesty of Christians.

Here he returns to the apostles. I will - He asks, as having a right to be heard, and prays, not as a servant, but a Son: that they may behold my glory - Herein Is the happiness of heaven, 1John 3:2.

Righteous Father - The admission of believers to God through Christ, flows even from the justice of God.

I have declared to them thy name - Thy new, best name of love; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me - That thou and thy love, and I and my love, may be in them - That they may love me with that love.

THese words spake Jesus; and lift up his eyes to heaven, and said , Father , the hour is come b, glorifie thy Son, that thy Son also may glorifie thee .

When our Lord had finished his Discourses, of which we have had a large account in Chap 14, 15, 16. he goes to prayer, as he taught us when we pray, to direct our petitions to the father; so in this he setteth us an example, and before he speaketh, it is said he lifted up his eyes to Heaven, as his Fathers Mansion-house; who tho he filleth Heaven and Earth, yet doth in Heaven most manifest his glory; and therefore teaching us to pray, he commandeth us to say, Our Father which art in Heaven; not exclusively, as if God were not on Earth also: but eminently, as Heaven is the place where he most gloriously manifests himself. Lifting up of the eyes was an usual gesture in prayer, and but an indication of the Souls being lifted up, Psal. 121.1. and 123.1. yet no necessary gesture: for we shall at another time find our Saviour falling upon his face when he prayed, Mat. 26.39. Mark 14.35: The lifting up of the Soul to God, wherein the main and Spiritual part of prayer lyes; doth not necessarily require the lifting up of the eyes. The Publican cast down his eyes upon the Earth, in the sense of his unworthiness. Our Lord lifts up his eyes, and said, Father, the hour is come; that is, the hour of my Passion, the time wherein thou hast determined that I should die:

now make thy Son glorious, by raising me from the dead, by taking me up to Heaven; or by giving me assistance from thee to do the work which I have to do, to drink this bitter cup: that so I being risen again from the dead, and ascending up to Heaven, may make thy name famous, by publishing thy Iustice, Goodness, and Truth, upon the Preaching of the Gospel to all Nations.

Marginal references: Chap. 12.23. and 13.32.

2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh , that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him .

I see no reason for any to contend here, that by all flesh, the Elect onely who shall be eternally saved, are to be understood: Christs power undoubtedly extendeth further than to the Elect, (tho to them onely for Salvation) he hath a power over Reprobates and Unbelievers, to condemn them, as well as over his Elect to bring them to Eternal Life and Salvation. The former part of the Text speaketh of the more general Power and Authority, by which the Father had already made Christ Glorious; putting all things under his feet, and causing all knees to bow down unto him; which are other phrases by which the same things are expressed, 1 Cor. 15.27. and Phil. 2.10. This general Power our Saviour executeth according to the Counsels of God, with respect to their faith or unbelief.

As to those given to Christ, that he should die in their stead, and with the price of his blood, purchase Eternal Life for them: Christ executeth his Power in giving them Eternal Life, under which notion, (as appeareth from many other Scriptures) is comprehended, not the end onely, which is Eternal life and happiness, but all the necessary means in order to that end: from whence we are to observe, that Eternal Life is a free-gift, that the Son gives onely to such as the Father hath given him by his Eternal Counsels, so that all shall not be saved; for the term [as many as, &c.] is plainly restrictive, and limits the gift to a certain number. And to examine our right to it, we need not ascend up into Heaven, to search the rolls of the Eternal Counsels; for all whom the Father hath given him, shall come unto him, and not onely receive him as their High Priest, but give up themselves to be ruled and guided by him, by the efficacious working of the Spirit of his grace; by such a receiving of Christ, and giving up of our selves to his Conduct and Government, we shall know whether we be of the number of those that are given to Christ; and till we find this, we have no reason to conclude it, but to fear and suspect the contrary.

Marginal references: Mat. 11.27. and 28.18. Chap. 3.35. and 5.27. Heb. 2.8.

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the onely true God , and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent .

Those who deny the Divine Nature of Christ, think they have a mighty argument from this text; where Christ (as they say) speaking to his Father, calleth him the onely true God. But Divines answer, That the term onely or alone, is not to be applied to thee, but to the term God; and the sense this; To know thee, to be that God which is the onely true God; and this appeareth from 1 Iohn 5.20. where Christ is said to be the true God, which he could not be if the Father were the onely true God, considered as another from the Son. The term onely or alone, is not exclusive of the other two persons in the Trinity, but onely of Idols, the Gods of the Heathen, which are no Gods; so 1 Tim. 6.15, 16. and in many other Scriptures, so Matth. 11.27. where it is said, that none knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any the Father, but the Son; where the negative doth not exclude the holy Spirit. Besides, the term alone, is in Scripture observed, not always to exclude all others as Mark 6.47. Our Saviour saith, it is life eternal to know him who is the onely true God; that is, it is the way to Eternal Life, which is an ordinary figure used in holy Writ.

He adds, and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent; by which he lets us know, that the Father cannot be savingly known, but in and by the Son. Knowing in this Verse, signifieth not the meer comprehending of God, and of Christ in mens Notions, but the receiving Christ, believing in him, loving and obeying him, &c.

Marginal references: Isa. 53.11. Jer. 9.24.

4 I have glorified thee on the earth : I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do .

By Preaching the Gospel, by living up to the rule of thy Law, by the Miracles which I have wrought; God could not be glorified by Christ, by the addition of any thing to his Essential glory; onely by manifesting to the World his Fathers goodness, justice, mercy, truth, wisdom, and others of his Attributes.

One way by which he had glorified his Father, is exprest, viz. by finishing the work which he had given him in Commission. But how could Christ say this, who had not yet died for the sins of men, which was the principal piece of his work? Ans. It was so nigh, that he speaks of it as already done; so ver. 11. he saith, I am not in the world, because he was to be so little a time in the world. Again, he speaks of what he was fully resolved to do, as if it were already done.

Marginal references: Chap. 13.32. and 14.13.; Chap. 4.34. and 19.30.

5 And now, O Father, glorifie thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was .

Let the glory which as to my Divine Nature I had with thee before the foundation of the World, be communicated also to my Human Nature, that my whole person may be made glorious; from hence is easily concluded against those which deny the Godhead of Christ, that Christ was glorified with his Father before the World was, which he could not have been, if he had not been Eternal God; he here begs of his Father, That that glory might shine upon his Person as Mediator.

Marginal references: Chap 1.1, 2. and 1[illegible: 1 letter].30. and 14.9.

6 I have manifested thy Name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world : thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word .

There he openeth this former phrase, I have glorified thee upon earth; it was done by manifesting the Lords Name, proclaiming his goodness and mercy, publishing his Will, making famous all whereby God can be made known; this Christ did both by his words, and by his works.

This he had done (as he saith) to all those whom the Father had given him, whom the Father had given him by an Act of his Eternal Counsel; and by inclining their hearts to own and receive him when he came into the World; he tells his Father, that his they were. His chosen ones, and he had given them unto Christ, that he should redeem them with his blood, and take the care of their Salvation; and he saith, When I came and revealed thy Will unto them, they have not stubbornly and obstinately, as the generality of the Iews, shut their eyes against the light, and rebelled against thy Will revealed; but they have heard, received, imbraced, and obeyed thy word.

Marginal references: Cha 6.37, 39. and 10.29.

7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee .

They have thus far made proficiency in the Doctrine which I have taught them; that tho the Pharisees say, that I cast out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils, yet they believe, and are perswaded, that the Doctrine which I have taught them is from thee, and that it is by a Divine Power that I have wrought those miracles which I have wrought; and so I have manifested thy Name unto them, and they have received the manifestation and Revelation of thy Name unto them.

8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me ; and they have received them , and have known surely that I came out from thee , and they have believed that thou didst send me r.

Our Lord here doth both justifie himself, and commend these whom in this former part of his Prayer he is commending to his Father; he justifieth himself, that he had not delivered any thing to them, but what he had from his Father; thereby teaching all those who claim the Name of his Ministers what is their duty, viz. to give to their hearers no word, but what God hath given them. If Christ confined his discourses to words which his Father had given him, certainly we ought to do so also. We are not to speak what we list, nor what men would have us; we are tied up to Gods word

He commendeth these his Disciples, that they had received them, not onely the sound of them in their ears, not onely the Notion of them in their understandings, but they had imbraced and believed them;

and had from the force and authority of them, given credit to him as the true Messias, who came out, and was sent from God. Tho they were not yet come up to a perfect faith in him as the Eternal Son of God; yet they believed him one that came from God, and was sent of God as the promised Messiah, which seemeth to have been that degree of faith which Christ most insisted upon as to his Disciples, until by his Resurrection from the dead, he declared himself to be the Son of God with Power; tho all along this Gospel, his discourses, and the miracles which he wrought, had a particular tendency to prove himself one with the Father, and the Eternal Son of God; and the Disciples had some weak perswasion of this also.

Marginal references: Chap. 8.28. and 12.49. and 14.10.; Chap. 16.27, 30.

9 I pray for them, I pray not for the world : but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine .

The World seemeth here to signifie all mankind, for whom Christ in this place doth not pray; tho some Interpret it of Reprobates, others of Vnbelievers. Christ afterward prayeth for the World, ver. 20. that is, for such who, tho they at present were Unbelievers, yet should be brought to believe by the Apostles Ministry; but to teach us to distinguish in our prayer, our Saviour here distinguisheth, and prayeth for some things, for his chosen ones, which he doth not pray for on the behalf of others; these

he describeth to be such as his Father (whose they were) had given him, either by an Eternal donation, or by working faith in them.

10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in thee .

In the Greek, the Adjectives are of the neuter gender, so as the sense is not, All my friends, o[illegible: 1 letter] all my Disciples are thine also; but, all my things are thine, and all thy things are mine; which is no more than he hath before often said. Christ and his Father have all things common, neither of them have any thing that is not the others. They are one, and they agree in one; they have the same Essence, the same Will, the same Attributes, the same Friends:

and I am (saith our Saviour) glorified, or made glorious in them, by their owning, receiving, and imbracing me, and accepting me as their Saviour. So as this Verse containeth two arguments more, inforcing his Petition on the behalf of his Elect. 1. His Fathers propriety in them, as well as his. 2. Their love to him, and the glory which redounded to him from their Faith and holiness.

Marginal references: Chap. 16.15.

11 And now I am no more in the world , but these are in the world , and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name , those whom thou hast given me , that they may be one , as we are .

The term World in this Verse, signifies not the men of the World, nor any particular party of them, (as it often signifieth) but the habitable part of the Earth. Our Saviour saith, he is no more in the World, because he was to continue on the Earth but a very small time; but (saith he)

these my Disciples are like to abide in the World when I have left it; they will stand in need of this help, to be armed against all the temptations they will meet with from the World. I am coming to thee,

therefore I commend them to thee, beseeching thee, that thou through thy Power wouldest keep those, who in giving themselves up to me, have also given themselves up to thee; let their owning thy Name (which is as a strong tower, Prov. 18.10.) keep them from all the temptations and dangers, to which they will be exposed in the World, wherein they are to live and converse.

That they may be one, one body, and in one Spirit, that they may own one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, &c. that they may be one in love and affection, as we are, in some proportion to that Union which is betwixt thee and me, tho not in an equality. This Prayer of our Saviours doth both oblige all those who in any sincerity own Christ, to study Union both in Opinion and Affection; and also give us ground of hopes, that there is a time coming, when there shall be greater measure of it than we have seen in those miserably divided times wherein we have lived, and do yet live.

Marginal references: Ver. 21. &c.; Chap. 10.30.

12 While I was with them in the world , I kept them in thy Name : those that thou gavest me, I have kept , and none of them is lost , but the son of perdition : that the scripture might be fulfilled .

Christ speaks here of himself as one who had already dyed, was Risen, and Ascended, tho none of all these things were past, because they were so suddenly to come to pass. I have (saith our Saviour) for all the time that I have abode in the World, and conversed with them, kept them in thy Name, i. e. in the steady owning and profession of thy truth; or (if we read it through thy Name) it signifieth through thy Power, and the influence of thy Grace.

I have not so kept all that came to hear me, but all those whom thou gavest me by the act of thy Eternal Counsel; or whom thou gavest me to be my Apostles:

and none of them is proved an Apostate, but the Son of Perdition: none of them is lost whom thou gavest me by thy Eternal gift, none of them whom thou gavest me to be my Apostles, but one, who tho he was my Apostle, and in that sense given to me, yet was never given me by thy Eternal gift, as one to be by me Redeemed, and brought to Eternal life and Salvation; for he was a Son of Perdition: we have this term applyed to Antichrist, 2 Thes. 2.3. As the Son of Death, 2 Sam. 12.5. signifies one appointed to die, or that deserveth to die. And the child of Hell, Matth. 23.15. signifieth one who deserveth Hell. So the Son of Perdition may either signifie one destinated to Perdition, or one that walketh in the high and right road to Perdition, or rather both; one who being past over in Gods Eternal Counsels, as to such as shall be saved; hath by his own wilful Apostacy brought himself to Eternal Perdition, or into such a guilt as I know thou wilt destroy him.

And by this the holy Scripture is fulfilled. Psal. 109.1, 8. for that is the portion of Scripture here intended, as is apparent from Acts 1.20. where the Apostle applyeth that text to Iudas, who is here spoken of. Other Scriptures also were thus fulfilled, Psal. 41.9. compared with Iohn 13.18.

Marginal references: Chap. 6.39▪ and 10.28. Heb. 13 5, 6.; Chap. 18.9.; Chap. 6.70. and 13.18▪; Psal. [illegible: 1 letter]09.81

13 And now I come to thee , and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves .

He speaketh still in the present tense. These words were not fulfilled six weeks after this; for Acts 1.3. he conversed with his Disciples forty days after his Resurrection; but Christ was now shortly coming, therefore he saith I come.

And saith he, while I am in the World, I speak these things; I put up this prayer, that the joy of my people may not be diminished by my going from them, but that when they can no longer (as hitherto) rejoice in my bodily presence with them, they may yet rejoyce, that I am ascended to my Father, that they stand commended to the care of thee my Father, by this my last Prayer.

14 I have given them thy word , and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world , even as I am not of the world .

I take more to be understood here, by Christs giving his word unto his Disciples, than his Preaching the Gospel in their ears; otherwise Christ had no more given these his Disciples his word, than he had given it to many thousands of others who were yet in the World, and whom the World hated not. The sense therefore is, I have not onely Preached thy word in their ears, but I have opened their hearts to receive, and believe it, and bowed their wills to a complian[illegible: 2 letters] with it; so a[illegible: 1 letter] the word dwelleth in their hearts, is ingraffed in them, and they are turned into the likeness of it. And here it is observable, That when any Soul is given to Christ by his Father, Christ will most certainly first or last give unto that Soul his word in that sense; that is, so as it shall receive, believe it, and be turned into the likeness of it.

And for this the World hath hated them, for thy word hath made them to be of another Spirit, from carnal, loose, and Worldly men; they have other affections, other inclinations, other designs and studies; they are not of the World

in that respect, as I am not of the World: tho in other respects not so; for Christ as to his Original, was not of the World, which they were, of the Earth, Earthly.

Marginal references: Chap. 15 18, 19.

15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil .

Christ doth not pray that his Father would take up his Saints out of this sinful and troublesome World into Heaven, because he knew that they were to be of use to him for a time in the World; but he prays that the Lord would keep them from the evil one (so some would have it translated) or from the evil thing; by which we must not understand what is penally and afflictively evil, but onely what is sinfully evil: and by his example he hath directed us how we ought to pray; not for death, nor absolutely for a deliverance from the evils; and miseries of this life, but that we may be delivered from those temptations to sin, to which a multitude of sharp tryals and afflictions will expose even the best of men.

Marginal references: Mat. 6.13. 1 John 5.[illegible: 1 letter]18.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world .

This is the same thing which he had said before, ver. 14. which he again repeateth, either to fix it in their memories, that they calling it to their minds, might direct their lives accordingly, or be thereby fortified against the hatred and malice of the World; for which purpose he told them so before, Chap. 15.19. and again in this Chapter, ver. 14. (see the notes on Verse 14.)

17 Sanctifie them through thy truth : thy word is truth .

It is doubted amongst Interpreters, whether Sanctifying in this place, signifieth the consecrating, deputing, or setting the Apostles apart, and preparing them for the work of the Ministry in which they were to be imployed; as the word signifies, Ier. 1.15. or the strengthning and confirming their Habits of Grace, so as they might be able to encounter the temptations they should meet with from the hatred or opposition of the World; or 3. the perfecting of them in Holiness. Mr. Calvin saith, our Saviour here Prayeth, that God would appropriate them unto himself:

and he sheweth how this is done, through, or in the truth; that is, (some say) through thy truth ingraven, and imprinted upon their hearts by thine Holy Spirit, which was promised to lead and to guide them into all truth, Chap. 16.13. (say others) through thy Spirit, which indeed is the Sanctifier; and we have met with twice, called, The Spirit of truth, Chap. 14.17. Some say, Sanctifie them in thy truth, is no more than Sanctifie them truly, in opposition to that legal Sanctification of Priests, &c. of which we read in the Books of Exodus and Leviticus. Others would have it to thy truth; that is, to the Preaching of thy Gospel. But our Translation seems to come nearest the meaning, through thy truth, that is, through the knowledge of thy truth; as the Gentiles are said to have had their hearts purified by faith, Acts 15.9.

He opens what he meant by truth, adding, thy word is truth; that is, thy word and Gospel, which I have Preached to them, is truth; (the abstract, as some think, for the concrete) that is, it is most true; it is not like the Doctrine of false Prophets, nor like the Doctrine of the Pharisees, which is partly true, partly false; but it is truth it self: and tho indeed it is the blood of Christ which cleanseth and purifieth the heart, yet this is applyed to the conscience by the Spirit, which is the Sanctifier, in and through the word of God Preached and applyed to the Soul.

Marginal references: Chap. 8.46.

18 As thou hast sent me into the world: even so have I also sent them into the world .

That is, My Father! they have not thrust themselves into their imployment, they have not run without sending; for as I am thine Apostle, as I was sent by thee, so I have sent them. The Apostles indeed were not sent for the same end in all things that Christ was sent; who was sent to purchase Salvation for men, as well as to Preach the Gospel: but they were sent in part for the same work for which Christ was sent, and they were sent by him who had authority to send them; and as it is but reasonable for Princes to protect those whom themselves send upon their Embassies; so it was but reasonable that God should defend and protect those whom his Son had sent out as his Embassadors.

Marginal references: Chap, 20.21.

19 And for their sakes I sanctifie my self , that they also might be sanctified through the truth .

I Sanctifie my self, here, is no more than I set my self apart, as a Sacrifice acceptable, and well-pleasing in the sight of God: and indeed sanctifying in the ancient notion of it under the Law, did ordinarily signifie the setting of persons and things apart to the special Service of God, which was done legally, by certain ritual performances and ceremonies, and is still done inwardly and Spiritually by Regeneration, and renewing of the hearts of men and women by the efficacious working of the Holy Ghost. Christ saith, that for his Disciples [illegible: 1 letter]ake he sanctified himself, being both the Priest and the Sacrifice.

Christ set apart himself as a Sacrifice for his people, that they might be sanctified, not onely our Eternal life and Happiness, but all the means to it fell within the Counsel of God; hence we are said to be chosen of Christ, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love; and within the purchase of Christ; hence the Apostle saith, Eph. 5 25. That he gave himself for his Church, that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water: and our Saviour here saith, that he set apart himself for a Sacrifice for our sins, that his people might be Sanctified through the truth; that is, by receiving the truth, not in their ears onely, but in their hearts, in the love of it, and bringing forth the fruits of it in all Holiness of life and conversation.

Marginal references: 1 Cor. 1.2, 30. 1 Thes. 4.7.; Or, truly Sanctified.

20 Neither pray I for these alone: but for them also which shall believe on me through their word :

Two things are evident from this Verse. 1. That Christ did not pray for any Reprobates, not for any that were and should die unbelievers; he prayed before for those who actually did believe; he prayeth here for them that should believe; but we never read that he prayed for any others: Now whether he laid down his life for those for whom he would not pray, lyeth upon them to consider, who are so confident, that he died for all and every man. 2. That by persons given to Christ, cannot be understood believers as such; for Christ here prayeth for those that were no actual believers, but should believe. 3. That [illegible: 1 letter]aith cometh by hearing; Christ here prayeth for those that should believe through their word, that is, the Apostles Preaching the Gospel.

21 That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and [illegible: 1 letter] in thee ; that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me .

Our Saviour here prayeth on the behalf of such as should believe on him, That they might be one in faith, and one in brotherly love; who so considereth this as a piece of Christs prayer for Believers, and that St. Paul hardly wrote one Epistle to the Primitive Apostolical Churches, in which he did not press this by most potent Arguments, cannot but nourish some hopes, (how improbable soever it appears at present) that all the sincere Disciples of Christ, shall one day arrive at the keeping of the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; and likewise look upon themselves in point of duty, obliged to indeavour it. To which pitch of perfection possibly Christians might soon arrive, if Superiors would after the Example of the Apostle, Acts 15.28. lay upon their Inferiors no more than necessary things; and equals would learn to contend for truth in love, and to walk with their brethren so far as they have attained; and as to other things, to forbear one another in love; and wherein any of their brethren are otherwise minded, then they are to wait till God shall reveal it to them, Phil. 3.1[illegible: 1 letter].

But this is not all the Union which Christ prayeth for; he also prayeth that they might be one in the Father and the Son; that is, that they might believe; for Faith is that Grace by which we are united to, and made one with God and Christ; tho others interpret it of obedience, or such things wherein God the Father and Christ are one, &c. For, altho so many as are ordained to Life shall believe, yet that they might believe, is matter of Prayer:

this our Saviour prayeth for, for the further glory of God, which is that which he meaneth by the Worlds believing that God had sent him; there being no greater evidence that Christ is the true Messiah, than the general acceptance of the Doctrine of the Gospel, which he brought throughout the World; for who can imagine, that a new Doctrine brought into the World by one of no greater reputation than Christ had in the World▪ and propagated by persons of no greater quality than the Apostles were, should obtain in the greatest part of the World, if he that first introduced it, had not been first sent by God into the World, and the Apostles had not been extraordinarily influenced and assisted by God as to the propagation of it, after Christ was Ascended into Heaven?

Marginal references: Ver. 11.22, 23. Ga[illegible: 1 letter]. 3.28.; Chap 10.38. [illegible: 1 letter]nd 14.11.

22 And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given them : that they may be one, even as we are one .

By glory here, some understand the Heavenly glory; but then they must understand the Oneness mentioned in the latter part of the Verse, of the Union which the Saints shall have with Christ and his Father in glory, in another World. Others understand the Divine Nature, of which the Apostle, 2 Pet. 1.4. saith; believers are made partakers; this seemeth to come nearer for the more men and women are made partakers of that, the more they will study the unity of the Spirit. Others understand the power of working Miracles, by which Christ is said to have manifested his glory, Chap. 2.11. and the the effect of this Power, Chap. 11.40. is called the glory of God. Others understand the preaching of the Gospel, in which the ministration of the Spirit is glorious, 2 Cor. 3.8, and the faithful Ministers of the Gospel are called the glory of Christ. 2 Cor. 8.23.

Our Saviour either again repeats his prayer, that they might be one; or else declareth that he had communicated his power, his glory to them, that they might be one, as he and his Father are one.

23 I in them , and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one , and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me z.

I in them, not onely as my Divine Nature is united [illegible: 1 letter]o their fles[illegible: 1 letter], but as I have made them partakers of my Spirit, and of the Divine Nature; as I have loved them with a special and peculiar love, and am the head, they the Members; I the Vine, they the Branches:

that they may be made perfect in one, (the Greek is, [non-Latin text not transcribed] into one) In one body, whereof Christ is the Head; which body is the Church, keeping an unity of faith; All believing the same things in matter of faith, and those things no other than what thou hast revealed, and I have revealed as from thee.

and thou in me, the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in me bodily; I being the brightness of thy glory, the express image of thy Person. Thou also doing whatsoever I do, and accepting and approving of it, as Chap. 14.10.

This, O Father! will be a great evidence, b[illegible: 1 letter]th that thou hast sent me, when the World shall see thee bowing mens hearts to the obedience of the truth of thy Gospel, and that thou hast loved them with a tender and everlasting love, as thou hast loved me.

24 Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world .

Here our Saviour willeth his Disciples Eternal Life or rather prayeth to his Father, that he would preserve his Disciples unto, and at last bestow upon them Eternal Life and Salvation; so as the phrase, whom thou hast given me, is not to be restrained to the Apostles, but to be extended to all those who belonging to the election of Grace, shall hereafter be made heirs of glory, and have everl[illegible: 2 letters]ting life and Happiness. This he expresseth under the notion of being with him where he is, as Chap. 14.3. which is called a being ever with the Lord, 1 Thes. 4.17. and certain[illegible: 1 letter]y this must be the highest Happiness to be where the Son of God is:

that they may behold my glory, is the same thing with, that they may be made partakers of my glo[illegible: 1 letter]y; as to see death, is in Scripture-phrase to die; and to see life, is to live; so to behold the glory of God, is to be glorified.

For saith our Saviour, thou hast loved me before the foundation of the World, both as thy onely begotten Son, and as the person in whom thou hast chosen all them, and whom thou hast set apart to be the Mediator between God and man, and therefore I know that thou wilt glorifie me, and that thou wilt in this thing hear my Prayers, and glorifie them also, whom thou hast given to me to be Redeemed by my blood.

Marginal references: Chap 12.26.

25 O righteous Father , the world hath not known thee ; but I have known thee , and these have known that thou hast sent me [illegible: 1 letter].

It is observed, that the servants of God in Holy Writ, have used in their Prayers to give unto God such compellations as have been suitable to the things whi[illegible: 2 letters] they have begged of God in their Prayers, and proper to express their faith in God, for the hearing of such their prayers: Christ here calls his Father by the name of Righteous, with relation to the argument which he here useth, which is from his Disciples knowledge of him; under which term (as very often before) is comprehended, their acceptance of him, believing in him, love to him, &c. Father (saith he) thou art Righteous; It is a piece of thy Righteousness to render to every man according to his work, Iob 34.11. Psal. 62.12. Prov. 24.12.

The men of the World hate thee, are ignorant of thee, rebellious against thee;

but I have known thee; I have known thee, and have made thee known, and I have been obedient to thy Will, and these my Disciples have known me, and known, that is, received, imbraced me, as one sent by thee, as the Messiah.

Marginal references: Chap. 15.21. an[illegible: 1 letter] 16.3.; Chap 7.29. and 8.55. and 10.15.; Chap. 16.27. Ver. [illegible: 1 letter].

26 And I have declared unto them thy Name, and will declare it : that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them .

By the Name of God, is to be understood God himself, and whatsoever God hath made himself known by his word, and Gospel, his Attributes and Perfections. And after my Resurrection, I will yet further declare it to them, who are yet in a great measure ignorant and imperfect in their notions of thee;

that thy love wherewith thou hast loved me▪ may be further communicated to them, and be derived to them, and abide in and upon them for ever; because I am in them▪ (so some would have it read, tho the word be [non-Latin text not transcribed], which properly is, and I, we translate it) The words are but a repetition of what our Lord hath often said, and illustrated Chap. 15.9. by the parable of the Vine and the Branches; and teach us this lesson; That Christ must be in those Souls who can pretend to any share in that love of God wherewith he hath loved Christ, 2 Cor. 13 5. Know ye not your selves, that Iesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates.

Christ's Intercessory Prayer.

1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Here we have, I. The circumstances of this prayer, v. 1. Many a solemn prayer Christ made in the days of his flesh (sometimes he continued all night in prayer), but none of his prayers are recorded so fully as this. Observe,

1. The time when he prayed this prayer; when he had spoken these words, had given the foregoing farewell to his disciples, he prayed this prayer in their hearing; so that, (1.) It was a prayer after a sermon; when he had spoken from God to them, he turned to speak to God for them. Note, Those we preach to we must pray for. He that was to prophesy upon the dry bones was also to pray, Come, O breath, and breathe upon them. And the word preached should be prayed over, for God gives the increase. (2.) It was a prayer after sacrament; after Christ and his disciples had eaten the passover and the Lord's supper together, and he had given them a suitable exhortation, he closed the solemnity with this prayer, that God would preserve the good impressions of the ordinance upon them. (3.) It was a family-prayer. Christ's disciples were his family, and, to set a good example before the masters of families, he not only, as the son of Abraham, taught his household (Gen. xviii. 19), but, as a son of David, blessed his household (2 Sam. vi. 20), prayed for them and with them. (4.) It was a parting prayer. When we and our friends are parting, it is good to part with prayer, Acts xx. 36. Christ was parting by death, and that parting should be sanctified and sweetened by prayer. Dying Jacob blessed the twelve patriarchs, dying Moses the twelve tribes, and so, here, dying Jesus the twelve apostles. (5.) It was a prayer that was a preface to his sacrifice, which he was now about to offer on earth, specifying the favours and blessings designed to be purchased by the merit of his death for those that were his; like a deed leading the uses of a fine, and directing to what intents and purposes it shall be levied. Christ prayed then as a priest now offering sacrifice, in the virtue of which all prayers were to be made. (6.) It was a prayer that was a specimen of his intercession, which he ever lives to make for us within the veil. Not that in his exalted state he addresses himself to his Father by way of humble petition, as when he was on earth. No, his intercession in heaven is a presenting of his merit to his Father, with a suing out of the benefit of it for all his chosen ones.

2. The outward expression of fervent desire which he used in this prayer: He lifted up his eyes to heaven, as before (ch. xi. 41); not that Christ needed thus to engage his own attention, but he was pleased thus to sanctify this gesture to those that use it, and justify it against those that ridicule it. It is significant of the lifting up of the soul to God in prayer, Ps. xxv. 1. Sursum corda was anciently used as a call to prayer, Up with your hearts, up to heaven; thither we must direct our desires in prayer, and thence we must expect to receive the good things we pray for.

II. The first part of the prayer itself, in which Christ prays for himself. Observe here,

1. He prays to God as a Father: He lifted up his eyes, and said, Father. Note, As prayer is to be made to God only, so it is our duty in prayer to eye him as a Father, and to call him our Father. All that have the Spirit of adoption are taught to cry Abba, Father, v. 25. For it will be of great use to us in prayer, both for direction and for encouragement, to call God as we hope to find him.

2. He prayed for himself first. Though Christ, as God, was prayed to, Christ, as man, prayed; thus it became him to fulfill all righteousness. It was said to him, as it is said to us, Ask, and I will give thee, Ps. ii. 8. What he had purchased he must ask for; and shall we expect to have what we never merited, but have a thousand times forfeited, unless we pray for it? This puts an honour upon prayer, that it was the messenger Christ sent on his errands, the way in which even he corresponded with Heaven. It likewise gives great encouragement to praying people, and cause to hope that even the prayer of the destitute shall not be despised; time was when he that is advocate for us had a cause of his own to solicit, a great cause, on the success of which depended all his honour as Mediator; and this he was to solicit in the same method that is prescribed to us, by prayers and supplications (Heb. v. 7), so that he knows the heart of a petitioner (Exod. xxiii. 9), he knows the way. Now observe, Christ began with prayer for himself, and afterwards prayed for his disciples; this charity must begin at home, though it must not end there. We must love and pray for our neighbor as ourselves, and therefore must in a right manner love and pray for ourselves first. Christ was much shorter in his prayer for himself than in his prayer for his disciples. Our prayers for the church must not be crowded into a corner of our prayers; in making supplication for all saints, we have room enough to enlarge, and should not straiten ourselves. Now here are two petitions which Christ puts up for himself, and these two are one—that he might be glorified. But this one petition, Glorify thou me, is twice put up, because it has a double reference. To the prosecution of his undertaking further: Glorify me, that I may glorify thee, in doing what is agreed upon to be yet done, v. 1-3. And to the performance of his undertaking hitherto: "Glorify me, for I have glorified thee. I have done my part, and now, Lord, do thine," v. 4, 5.

(1.) Christ here prays to be glorified, in order to his glorifying God (v. 1): Glorify thy Son according to thy promise, that thy Son may glorify thee according to his understanding. Here observe,

[1.] What he prays for—that he might be glorified in this world: "The hour is come when all the powers of darkness will combine to vilify thy Son; now, Father, glorify him." The Father glorified the Son upon earth, First, Even in his sufferings, by the signs and wonders which attended them. When they that came to take him were thunder-struck with a word,—when Judas confessed him innocent, and sealed that confession with his own guilty blood,—when the judge's wife asleep, and the judge himself awake, pronounced him righteous,—when the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple rent, then the Father not only justified, but glorified the Son. Nay, Secondly, Even by his sufferings; when he was crucified, he was magnified, he was glorified, ch. xiii. 31. It was in his cross that he conquered Satan and death; his thorns were a crown, and Pilate in the inscription over his head wrote more than he thought. But, Thirdly, Much more after his sufferings. The Father glorified the Son when he raised him from the dead, showed him openly to chosen witnesses, and poured out the Spirit to support and plead his cause, and to set up his kingdom among men, then he glorified him. This he here prays for, and insists upon.

[2.] What he pleads to enforce this request.

First, He pleads relation: Glorify thy Son; thy Son as God, as Mediator. It is in consideration of this that the heathen are given him for his inheritance; for thou art my Son, Ps. ii. 7, 8. The devil had tempted him to renounce his sonship with an offer of the kingdoms of this world; but he rejected the offer with disdain, and depended upon his Father for his preferment, and here applies himself to him for it. Note, Those that have received the adoption of sons may in faith pray for the inheritance of sons; if sanctified, then glorified: Father, glorify thy Son.

Secondly, He pleads the time: The hour is come; the season prefixed to an hour. The hour of Christ's passion was determined in the counsel of God. He had often said his hour was not yet come; but now it was come, and he knew it. Man knows not his time (Eccl. ix. 12), but the Son of man did. He calls it this hour (ch. xii. 27), and here, the hour; compare Mark xiv. 35; ch. xvi. 21. For the hour of the Redeemer's death, which was also the hour of the Redeemer's birth, was the most signal and remarkable hour, and, without doubt, the most critical, that ever was since the clock of time was first set a going. Never was there such an hour as that, nor did ever any hour challenge such expectations of it before, nor such reflections upon it after. 1. "The hour is come in the midst of which I need to be owned." Now is the hour when this grand affair is come to a crisis; after many a skirmish the decisive battle between heaven and hell is now to be fought, and that great cause in which God's honour and man's happiness are together embarked must now be either won or lost for ever. The two champions David and Goliath, Michael and the dragon, are now entering the lists; the trumpet sounds for an engagement that will be irretrievably fatal either to the one or to the other: "Now glorify thy Son, now give him victory over principalities and powers, now let the bruising of his heel be the breaking of the serpent's head, now let thy Son be so upheld as not to fail nor be discouraged." When Joshua went forth conquering and to conquer, it is said, The Lord magnified Joshua; so he glorified his Son when he made the cross his triumphant chariot. 2. "The hour is come in the close of which I expect to be crowned; the hour is come when I am to be glorified, and, set at thy right hand." Betwixt him and that glory there intervened a bloody scene of suffering; but, being short, he speaks as if he made little of it: The hour is come that I must be glorified; and he did not expect it till then. Good Christians in a trying hour, particularly a dying hour, may thus plead: "Now the hour is come, stand by me, appear for me, now or never: now the earthly tabernacle is to be dissolved, the hour is come that I should be glorified." 2 Cor. v. 1.

Thirdly, He pleads the Father's own interest and concern herein: That thy Son may also glorify thee; for he had consecrated his whole undertaking to his Father's honour. He desired to be carried triumphantly through his sufferings to his glory, that he might glorify the Father two ways:—1. By the death of the cross, which he was now to suffer. Father, glorify thy name, expressed the great intention of his sufferings, which was to retrieve his Father's injured honour among men, and, by his satisfaction, to come up to the glory of God, which man, by his sin, came short of: "Father, own me in my sufferings, that I may honour thee by them." 2. By the doctrine of the cross, which was now shortly to be published to the world, by which God's kingdom was to be re-established among men. He prays that his Father would so grace his sufferings, and crown them, as not only to take off the offence of the cross, but to make it, to those that are saved, the wisdom of God and the power of God. If God had not glorified Christ crucified, by raising him from the dead, his whole undertaking had been crushed; therefore glorify me, that I may glorify thee. Now thereby he hath taught us, (1.) What to eye and aim at in our prayers, in all our designs and desires—and that is, the honour of God. It being our chief end to glorify God, other things must be sought and attended to in subordination and subserviency to the Lord. "Do this and the other for thy servant, that thy servant may glorify thee. Give me health, that I may glorify thee with my body; success, that I may glorify thee with my estate," &c. Hallowed be thy name must be our first petition, which must fix our end in all our other petitions, 1 Peter iv. 11. (2.) He hath taught us what to expect and hope for. If we sincerely set ourselves to glorify our Father, he will not be wanting to do that for us which is requisite to put us into a capacity of glorifying him, to give us the grace he knows sufficient, and the opportunity he sees convenient. But, if we secretly honour ourselves more than him, it is just with him to leave us in the hand of our own counsels, and then, instead of honouring ourselves, we shall shame ourselves.

Fourthly, He pleads his commission (v. 2, 3); he desires to glorify his Father, in conformity to, and in pursuance of, the commission given him: "Glorify thy Son, as thou hast given him power, glorify him in the execution of the powers thou hast given him," so it is connected with the petition; or, that thy Son may glorify thee according to the power given him, so it is connected with the plea. Now see here the power of the Mediator.

a. The origin of his power: Thou hast given him power; he has it from God, to whom all power belongs. Man, in his fallen state, must, in order to his recovery, be taken under a new model of government, which could not be erected but by a special commission under the broad seal of heaven, directed to the undertaker of that glorious work, and constituting him sole arbitrator of the grand difference that was, and sole guarantee of the grand alliance that was to be, between God and man; so as to this office, he received his power, which was to be executed in a way distinct from his power and government as Creator. Note, The church's king is no usurper, as the prince of this world is; Christ's right to rule is incontestable.

b. The extent of his power: He has power over all flesh. (a.) Over all mankind. He has power in and over the world of spirits, the powers of the upper and unseen world are subject to him (1 Peter iii. 22); but, being now mediating between God and man, he here pleads his power over all flesh. They were men whom he was to subdue and save; out of that race he had a remnant given him, and therefore all that rank of beings was put under his feet. (b.) Over mankind considered as corrupt and fallen, for so he is called flesh, Gen. vi. 3. If he had not in this sense been flesh, he had not needed a Redeemer. Over this sinful race the Lord Jesus has all power; and all judgment, concerning them, is committed to him; power to bind or loose, acquit or condemn; power on earth to forgive sins or not. Christ, as Mediator, has the government of the whole world put into his hand; he is king of nations, has power even over those that know him not, nor obey his gospel; whom he does not rule, he over-rules, Ps. xxii. 28; lxxii. 8; Matt. xxviii. 18; ch. iii. 35.

c. The grand intention and design of this power: That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Here is the mystery of our salvation laid open.

(a.) Here is the Father making over the elect to the Redeemer, and giving them to him as his charge and trust; as the crown and recompence of his undertaking. He has a sovereign power over all the fallen race, but a peculiar interest in the chosen remnant; all things were put under his feet, but they were delivered into his hand.

(b.) Here is the Son undertaking to secure the happiness of those that were given him, that he would give eternal life to them. See how great the authority of the Redeemer is. He has lives and crowns to give, eternal lives that never die, immortal crowns that never fade. Now consider how great the Lord Jesus is, who has such preferments in his gift; and how gracious he is in giving eternal life to those whom he undertakes to save. [a.] He sanctifies them in this world, gives them the spiritual life which is eternal life in the bud and embryo, ch. iv. 14. Grace in the soul is heaven in that soul. [b.] He will glorify them in the other world; their happiness shall be completed in the vision and fruition of God. This only is mentioned, because it supposes all the other parts of his undertaking, teaching them, satisfying for them, sanctifying them, and preparing them for that eternal life; and indeed all the other were in order to this; we are called to his kingdom and glory, and begotten to the inheritance. What is last in execution was first in intention, and that is eternal life.

(c.) Here is the subserviency of the Redeemer's universal dominion to this: He has power over all flesh, on purpose that he might give eternal life to the select number. Note, Christ's dominion over the children of men is in order to the salvation of the children of God. All things are for their sakes, 2 Cor. iv. 15. All Christ's laws, ordinances, and promises, which are given to all, are designed effectually to convey spiritual life, and secure eternal life, to all that were given to Christ; he is head over all things to the church. The administration of the kingdoms of providence and grace are put into the same hand, that all things may be made to concur for good to the called.

d. Here is a further explication of this grand design (v. 3): "This is life eternal, which I am empowered and have undertaken to give, this is the nature of it, and this the way leading to it, to know thee the only true God, and all the discoveries and principles of natural religion, and Jesus Christ whom, thou has sent, as Mediator, and the doctrines and laws of that holy religion which he instituted for the recovery of man out of his lapsed state." Here is,

(a.) The great end which the Christian religion sets before us, and that is, eternal life, the happiness of an immortal soul in the vision and fruition of an eternal God. This he was to reveal to all, and secure to all that were given him. By the gospel life and immortality are brought to light, are brought to hand, a life which transcends this as much in excellency as it does in duration.

(b.) The sure way of attaining this blessed end, which is, by the right knowledge of God and Jesus Christ: "This is life eternal, to know thee," which may be taken two ways—[a.] Life eternal lies in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ; the present principle of this life is the believing knowledge of God and Christ; the future perfection of that life will be the intuitive knowledge of God and Christ. Those that are brought into union with Christ, and live a life of communion with God in Christ, know, in some measure, by experience, what eternal life is, and will say, "If this be heaven, heaven is sweet." See Ps. xvii. 15. [b.] The knowledge of God and Christ leads to life eternal; this is the way in which Christ gives eternal life, by the knowledge of him that has called us (2 Peter i. 3), and this is the way in which we come to receive it. The Christian religion shows us the way to heaven, First, By directing us to God, as the author and felicity of our being; for Christ died to bring us to God. To know him as our Creator, and to love him, obey him, submit to him, and trust in him, as our owner ruler, and benefactor,—to devote ourselves to him as our sovereign Lord, depend upon him as our chief good, and direct all to his praise as our highest end,—this is life eternal. God is here called the only true God, to distinguish him from the false gods of the heathen, which were counterfeits and pretenders, not from the person of the Son, of whom it is expressly said that he is the true God and eternal life (1 John v. 20), and who in this text is proposed as the object of the same religious regard with the Father. It is certain there is but one only living and true God and the God we adore is he. He is the true God, and not a mere name or notion; the only true God, and all that ever set up as rivals with him are vanity and a lie; the service of him is the only true religion. Secondly, By directing us to Jesus Christ, as the Mediator between God and man: Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. If man had continued innocent, the knowledge of the only true God would have been life eternal to him; but now that he is fallen there must be something more; now that we are under guilt, to know God is to know him as a righteous Judge, whose curse we are under; and nothing is more killing than to know this. We are therefore concerned to know Christ as our Redeemer, by whom alone we can now have access to God; it is life eternal to believe in Christ; and this he has undertaken to give to as many as were given him. See ch. vi. 39, 40. Those that are acquainted with God and Christ are already in the suburbs of life eternal.

(2.) Christ here prays to be glorified in consideration of his having glorified the Father hitherto, v. 4, 5. The meaning of the former petition was, Glorify me in this world; the meaning of the latter is, Glorify me in the other world. I have glorified thee on the earth, and now glorify thou me. Observe here,

[1.] With what comfort Christ reflects on the life he had lived on earth: I have glorified thee, and finished my work; it is as good as finished. He does not complain of the poverty and disgrace he had lived in, what a weary life he had upon earth, as ever any man of sorrows had. He overlooks this, and pleases himself in reviewing the service he had done his Father, and the progress he had made in his understanding. This is here recorded, First, For the honour of Christ, that his life upon earth did in all respects fully answer the end of his coming into the world. Note, 1. Our Lord Jesus had work given him to do by him that sent him; he came not into the world to live at ease, but to go about doing good, and to fulfill all righteousness. His Father gave him his work, his work in the vineyard, both appointed him to it and assisted him in it. 2. The work that was given him to do he finished. Though he had not, as yet, gone through the last part of his undertaking, yet he was so near being made perfect through sufferings that he might say, I have finished it; it was as good as done, he was giving it its finishing stroke eteleiosa—I have finished. The word signifies his performing every part of his undertaking in the most complete and perfect manner. 3. Herein he glorified his Father; he pleased him, he praised him. It is the glory of God that his work is perfect, and the same is the glory of the Redeemer; what he is the author of he will be the finisher of. It was a strange way for the Son to glorify the Father by abasing himself (this looked more likely to disparage him), yet it was contrived that so he should glorify him: "I have glorified thee on the earth, in such a way as men on earth could bear the manifestation of thy glory." Secondly, It is recorded for example to all, that we may follow his example. 1. We must make it our business to do the work God has appointed us to do, according to our capacity and the sphere of our activity; we must each of us do all the good we can in this world. 2. We must aim at the glory of God in all. We must glorify him on the earth, which he has given unto the children of men, demanding only this quit-rent; on the earth, where we are in a state of probation and preparation for eternity. 3. We must persevere herein to the end of our days; we must not sit down till we have finished our work, and accomplished as a hireling our day. Thirdly, It is recorded for encouragement to all those that rest upon him. If he has finished the work that was given him to do, then he is a complete Saviour, and did not do his work by the halves. And he that finished his work for us will finish it in us to the day of Christ.

[2.] See with what confidence he expects the joy set before him (v. 5): Now, O Father, glorify thou me. It is what he depends upon, and cannot be denied him.

First, See here what he prayed for: Glorify thou me, as before, v. 1. All repetitions in prayer are not to be counted vain repetitions; Christ prayed, saying the same words (Matt. xxvi. 44), and yet prayed more earnestly. What his Father had promised him, and he was assured of, yet he must pray for; promises are not designed to supersede prayers, but to be the guide of our desires and the ground of our hopes. Christ's being glorified includes all the honours, powers, and joys, of his exalted state. See how it is described. 1. It is a glory with God; not only, Glorify my name on earth, but, Glorify me with thine own self. It was paradise, it was heaven, to be with his Father, as Prov. viii. 30; Dan. vii. 13; Heb. viii. 1. Note, The brightest glories of the exalted Redeemer were to be displayed within the veil, where the Father manifests his glory. The praises of the upper world are offered up to him that sits upon the throne and to the lamb in conjunction (Rev. v. 13), and the prayers of the lower world draw out grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in conjunction; and thus the Father has glorified him with himself. 2. It is the glory he had with God before the world was. By this it appears, (1.) That Jesus Christ, as God, had a being before the world was, co-eternal with the Father; our religion acquaints us with one that was before all things, and by whom all things consist. (2.) That his glory with the Father is from everlasting, as well as his existence with the Father; for he was from eternity the brightness of his Father's glory, Heb. i. 3. As God's making the world only declared his glory, but made no real additions to it; so Christ undertook the work of redemption, not because he needed glory, for he had a glory with the Father before the world, but because we needed glory. (3.) That Jesus Christ in his state of humiliation divested himself of this glory, and drew a veil over it; though he was still God, yet he was God manifested in the flesh, not in his glory. He laid down this glory for a time, as a pledge that he would go through with his undertaking, according to the appointment of his Father. (4.) That in his exalted state he resumed this glory, and clad himself again with his former robes of light. Having performed his undertaking, he did, as it were, reposcere pignus—take up his pledge, by this demand, Glorify thou me. He prays that even his human nature might be advanced to the highest honour it was capable of, his body a glorious body; and that the glory of the Godhead might now be manifested in the person of the Mediator, Emmanuel, God-man. He does not pray to be glorified with the princes and great men of the earth: no; he that knew both worlds, and might choose which he would have his preferment in, chose it in the glory of the other world, as far exceeding all the glory of this. He had despised the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, when Satan offered them to him, and therefore might the more boldly claim the glories of the other world. Let the same mind be in us. "Lord, give the glories of this world to whom thou wilt give them, but let me have my portion of glory in the world to come. It is no matter, though I be vilified with men; but, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self."

Secondly, See here what he pleaded: I have glorified thee; and now, in consideration thereof, glorify thou me. For, 1. There was an equity in it, and an admirable becomingness, that if God was glorified in him, he should glorify him in himself, as he had observed, ch. xiii. 32. Such an infinite value there was in what Christ did to glorify his Father that he properly merited all the glories of his exalted state. If the Father was a gainer in his glory by the Son's humiliation, it was fit the Son should be no loser by it at long run, in his glory. 2. It was according to the covenant between them, that if the Son would make his soul an offering for sin he should divide the spoil with the strong (Isa. liii. 10, 12), and the kingdom should be his; and this he had an eye to, and depended upon, in his sufferings; it was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross: and now in his exalted state he still expects the completing of his exaltation, because he perfected his undertaking, Heb. x. 13. 3. It was the most proper evidence of his Father's accepting and approving the work he had finished. By the glorifying of Christ we are satisfied that God was satisfied, and therein a real demonstration was given that the Father was well pleased in him as his beloved Son. 4. Thus we must be taught that those, and only those, who glorify God on earth, and persevere in the work God hath given them to do, shall be glorified with the Father, when they must be no more in this world. Not that we can merit the glory, as Christ did, but our glorifying God is required as an evidence of our interest in Christ, through whom eternal life is God's free gift.

Christ's Intercessory Prayer.

6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

Christ, having prayed for himself, comes next to pray for those that are his, and he knew them by name, though he did not here name them. Now observe here,

I. Whom he did not pray for (v. 9): I pray not for the world. Note, There is a world of people that Jesus Christ did not pray for. It is not meant of the world of mankind general (he prays for that here, v. 21, That the world may believe that thou hast sent me); nor is it meant of the Gentiles, in distinction from the Jews; but the world is here opposed to the elect, who are given to Christ out of the world. Take the world for a heap of unwinnowed corn in the floor, and God loves it, Christ prays for it, and dies for it, for a blessing is in it; but, the Lord perfectly knowing those that are his, he eyes particularly those that were given him out of the world, extracts them; and then take the world for the remaining heap of rejected, worthless chaff, and Christ neither prays for it, nor dies for it, but abandons it, and the wind drives it away. These are called the world, because they are governed by the spirit of this world, and have their portion in it; for these Christ does not pray; not but that there are some things which he intercedes with God for on their behalf, as the dresser for the reprieve of the barren tree; but he does not pray for them in this prayer, that have not part nor lot in the blessings here prayed for. He does not say, I pray against the world, as Elias made intercession against Israel; but, I pray not for them, I pass them by, and leave them to themselves; they are not written in the Lamb's book of life, and therefore not in the breast-plate of the great high-priest. And miserable is the condition of such, as it was of those whom the prophet was forbidden to pray for, and more so, Jer. vii. 16. We that know not who are chosen, and who are passed by, must pray for all men, 1 Tim. ii. 1, 4. While there is life, there is hope, and room for prayer. See 1 Sam. xii. 23.

II. Whom he did pray for; not for angels, but for the children of men. 1. He prays for those that were given him, meaning primarily the disciples that had attended him in this regeneration; but it is doubtless to be extended further, to all who come under the same character, who receive and believe the words of Christ, v. 6, 8. 2. He prays for all that should believe on him (v. 20), and it is not only the petitions that follow, but those also which went before, that must be construed to extend to all believers, in every place and every age; for he has a concern for them all, and calls things that are not as though they were.

III. What encouragement he had to pray for them, and what are the general pleas with which he introduces his petitions for them, and recommends them to his Father's favour; they are five:—

1. The charge he had received concerning them: Thine they were, and thou gavest them me (v. 6), and again (v. 9), Thou whom thou hast given me. "Father, those I am now praying for are such as thou hast entrusted me with, and what I have to say for them is in pursuance of the charge I have received concerning them." Now,

(1.) This is meant primarily of the disciples that then were, who were given to Christ as his pupils to be educated by him while he was on earth, and his agents to be employed for him when he went to heaven. They were given him to be the learners of his doctrine, the witnesses of his life and miracles, and the monuments of his grace and favour, in order to their being the publishers of his gospel and the planters of his church. When they left all to follow him, this was the secret spring of that strange resolution: they were given to him, else they had not given themselves to him. Note, The apostleship and ministry, which are Christ's gift to the church, were first the Father's gift to Jesus Christ. As under the law the Levites were given to Aaron (Num. iii. 9), to him (the great high priest of our profession) the Father gave the apostles first, and ministers in every age, to keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation, and to do the service of the tabernacle. See Eph. iv. 8, 11; Ps. lxviii. 18. Christ received this gift for men, that he might give it to men. As this puts a great honour upon the ministry of the gospel, and magnifies that office, which is so much vilified; so it lays a mighty obligation upon the ministers of the gospel to devote themselves entirely to Christ's service, as being given to him,

(2.) But it is designed to extend to all the elect, for they are elsewhere said to be given to Christ (ch. vi. 37, 39), and he often laid a stress upon this, that those he was to save were given to him as his charge; to his care they were committed, from his hand they were expected, and concerning them he received commandments. He here shows,

[1.] That the Father had authority to give them: Thine they were. He did not give that which was none of his own, but covenanted that he had a good title. The elect, whom the Father gave to Christ, were his own in three ways:—First, they were creatures, and their lives and beings were derived from him. When they were given to Christ to be vessels of honour, they were in his hand, as clay in the hand of the potter, to be disposed of as God's wisdom saw most for God's glory. Secondly, They were criminals, and their lives and beings were forfeited to him. It was a remnant of fallen mankind that was given to Christ to be redeemed, that might have been made sacrifices to justice when they were pitched upon to be the monuments of mercy; might justly have been delivered to the tormentors when they were delivered to the Saviour. Thirdly, They were chosen, and their lives and beings were designed, for him; they were set apart for God, and were consigned to Christ as his agent. This he insists upon again (v. 7): All things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee, which, though it may take in all that appertained to his office as Mediator, yet seems especially to be meant of those that were given him. "They are of thee, their being is of thee as the God of nature, their well-being is of thee as the God of grace; they are all of thee, and therefore, Father, I bring them all to thee, that they may be all for thee."

[2.] That he did accordingly give them to the Son. Thou gavest them to me, as sheep to the shepherd, to be kept; as patients to the physician, to be cured; children to a tutor, to be educated; thus he will deliver up his charge (Heb. ii. 13), The children thou hast given me. They were delivered to Christ, First, That the election of grace might not be frustrated, that not one, no not of the little ones, might perish. That great concern must be lodged in some one good hand, able to give sufficient security, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Secondly, That the undertaking of Christ might not be fruitless; they were given to him as his seed, in whom he should see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied (Isa. liii. 10, 11), and might not spend his strength, and shed his blood, for nought, and in vain, Isa. xlix. 4. We may plead, as Christ does, "Lord, keep my graces, keep my comforts, for thine they were, and thou gavest them to me."

2. The care he had taken of them to teach them (v. 6): I have manifested thy name to them. I have given to them the words which thou gavest to me, v. 8. Observe here,

(1.) The great design of Christ's doctrine, which was to manifest God's name, to declare him (ch. i. 18), to instruct the ignorant, and rectify the mistakes of a dark and foolish world concerning God, that he might be better loved and worshipped.

(2.) His faithful discharge of this undertaking: I have done it. His fidelity appears, [1.] In the truth of the doctrine. It agreed exactly with the instructions he received from his Father. He gave not only the things, but the very words, that were given him. Ministers, in wording their message, must have an eye to the words which the Holy Ghost teaches. [2.] In the tendency of his doctrine, which was to manifest God's name. He did not seek himself, but, in all he did and said, aimed to magnify his Father. Note, First, It is Christ's prerogative to manifest God's name to the souls of the children of men. No man knows the Father, but he to whom the Son will reveal him, Matt. xi. 27. He only has acquaintance with the Father, and so is able to open the truth; and he only has access to the spirits of men, and so is able to open the understanding. Ministers may publish the name of the Lord (as Moses, Deut. xxxii. 3), but Christ only can manifest that name. By the word of Christ God is revealed to us; by the Spirit of Christ God is revealed in us. Ministers may speak the words of God to us, but Christ can give us his words, can put them in us, as food, as treasure. Secondly, Sooner or later, Christ will manifest God's name to all that were given him, and will give them his word, to be the seed of their new birth, the support of their spiritual life, and the earnest of their everlasting bliss.

3. The good effect of the care he had taken of them, and the pains he had taken with them, (v. 6): They have kept they word (v. 7), they have known that all things are of thee (v. 8); they have received thy words, and embraced them, have given their assent and consent to them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and have believed that thou didst send me. Observe here,

(1.) What success the doctrine of Christ had among those that were given to him, in several particulars:—

[1.] "They have received the words which I gave them, as the ground receives the seed, and the earth drinks in the rain." They attended to the words of Christ, apprehended in some measure the meaning of them, and were affected with them: they received the impression of them. The word was to them an ingrafted word.

[2.] "They have kept thy word, have continued in it; they have conformed to it." Christ's commandment is then only kept when it is obeyed. Those that have to teach others the commands of Christ ought to be themselves observant of them. It was requisite that these should keep what was committed to them, for it was to be transmitted by them to every place for every age.

[3.] "They have understood the word, and have been sensible on what ground they went in receiving and keeping it. They have been aware that thou art the original author of that holy religion which I am come to institute, that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee." All Christ's offices and powers, all the gifts of the Spirit, all his graces and comforts, which God gave without measure to him, were all from God, contrived by his wisdom, appointed by his will, and designed by his grace, for his own glory in man's salvation. Note, It is a great satisfaction to us, in our reliance upon Christ, that he, and all he is and has, all he said and did, all he is doing and will do, are of God, 1 Cor. i. 30. We may therefore venture our souls upon Christ's mediation, for it has a good bottom. If the righteousness be of God's appointing, we shall be justified; if the grace be of his dispensing, we shall be sanctified.

[4.] They have set their seal to it: They have known surely that I came out from God, v. 8. See here, First, What it is to believe; it is to know surely, to know that it is so of a truth. The disciples were very weak and defective in knowledge; yet Christ, who knew them better than they knew themselves, passes his word for them that they did believe. Note, We may know surely that which we neither do nor can know fully; may know the certainty of the things which are not seen, though we cannot particularly describe the nature of them. We walk by faith, which knows surely, not yet by sight, which knows clearly. Secondly, What it is we are to believe: that Jesus Christ came out from God, as he is the Son of God, in his person the image of the invisible God, and that God did not send him; that in his undertaking he is the ambassador of the eternal king: so that the Christian religion stands upon the same footing, and is of equal authority, with natural religion; and therefore all the doctrines of Christ are to be received as divine truths, all his commands obeyed as divine laws, and all his promises depended upon as divine securities.

(2.) How Jesus Christ here speaks of this: he enlarges upon it, [1.] As pleased with it himself. Though the many instances of his disciples' dulness and weakness had grieved him, yet their constant adherence to him, their gradual improvements, and their great attainments at last, were his joy. Christ is a Master that delights in the proficiency of his scholars. He accepts the sincerity of their faith, and graciously passes by the infirmity of it. See how willing he is to make the best of us, and to say the best of us, thereby encouraging our faith in him, and teaching us charity to one another, [2.] As pleading it with the Father. He is praying for those that were given to him; and he pleads that they had given themselves to him. Note, The due improvement of grace received is a good plea, according to the tenour of the new covenant, for further grace; for so runs the promise. To him that hath shall be given. Those that keep Christ's word, and believe on him, let Christ alone to commend them, and, which is more, to recommend them to his Father.

4. He pleads the Father's own interest in them (v. 9): I pray for them, for they are thine; and this by virtue of a joint and mutual interest, which he and the Father have in what pertained to each: All mine are thine, and thine are mine. Between the Father and Son there can be no dispute (as there is among the children of men) about meum and tuum—mine and thine, for the matter was settled from eternity; all mine are thine, and thine are mine. Here is,

(1.) The plea particularly urged for his disciples: They are thine. The consigning of the elect to Christ was so far from making them less the Father's that it was in order to making them the more so. Note, [1.] All that receive Christ's word, and believe in him, are taken into covenant-relation to the Father, and are looked upon as his; Christ presents them to him, and they, through Christ, present themselves to him. Christ has redeemed us, not to himself only, but to God, by his blood, Rev. v. 9, 10. They are first-fruits unto God, Rev. xiv. 4. [2.] This is a good plea in prayer, Christ here pleads it, They are thine; we may plead it for ourselves, I am thine, save me; and for others (as Moses, Exod. xxxii. 11), "They are thy people. They are thine; wilt thou not provide for thine own? Wilt thou not secure them, that they may not be run down by the devil and the world? Wilt thou not secure thy interest in them, that they may not depart from thee? They are thine, own them as thine."

(2.) The foundation on which this plea is grounded: All mine are thine, and thine are mine. This bespeaks the Father and Son to be, [1.] One in essence. Every creature must say to God, All mine are thine; but none can say to him, All thine are mine, but he that is the same in substance with him and equal in power and glory. [2.] One in interest; no separate or divided interests between them. First, What the Father has as Creator is delivered over to the Son, to be used and disposed of in subserviency to his great undertaking. All things are delivered to him (Matt. xi. 27); the grant is so general that nothing is excepted but he that did put all things under him. Secondly, What the Son has as Redeemer is designed for the Father, and his kingdom shall shortly be delivered up to him. All the benefits of redemption, purchased by the Son, are intended for the Father's praise, and in his glory all the lines of his undertaking centre: All mine are thine. The Son owns none for his that are not devoted to the service of the Father; nor will any thing be accepted as a piece of service to the Christian religion which clashes with the dictates and laws of natural religion. In a limited sense, every true believer may say, All thine are mine; if God be ours in covenant, all he is and has is so far ours that it shall be engaged for our good; and in an unlimited sense every true believer does say, Lord, all mine are thine; all laid at his feet, to be serviceable to him. And what we have may be comfortably committed to God's care and blessing when it is cheerfully submitted to his government and disposal: "Lord, take care of what I have, for it is all thine."

5. He pleads his own concern in them: I am glorified in them—dedoxasmai. (1.) I have been glorified in them. What little honour Christ had in this world was among his disciples; he had been glorified by their attendance on him and obedience to him, their preaching and working miracles in his name; and therefore I pray for them. Note, Those shall have an interest in Christ's intercession in and by whom he is glorified. (2.) "I am to be glorified in them when I am gone to heaven; they are to bear up my name." The apostles preached and wrought miracles in Christ's name; the Spirit in them glorified Christ (ch. xvi. 14): "I am glorified in them, and therefore," [1.] "I concern myself for them." What little interest Christ has in this degenerate world lies in his church; and therefore it and all its affairs lie near his heart, within the veil. [2.] "Therefore I commit them to the Father, who has engaged to glorify the Son, and, upon this account, will have a gracious eye to those in whom he is glorified." That in which God and Christ are glorified may, with humble confidence, be committed to God's special care.

Christ's Intercessory Prayer.

11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

After the general pleas with which Christ recommended his disciples to his Father's care follow the particular petitions he puts up for them; and, 1. They all relate to spiritual blessings in heavenly things. He does not pray that they might be rich and great in the world, that they might raise estates and get preferments, but that they might be kept from sin, and furnished for their duty, and brought safely to heaven. Note, The prosperity of the soul is the best prosperity; for what relates to this Christ came to purchase and bestow, and so teaches us to seek, in the first place, both for others and for ourselves. 2. They are such blessings as were suited to their present state and case, and their various exigencies and occasions. Note, Christ's intercession is always pertinent. Our advocate with the Father is acquainted with all the particulars of our wants and burdens, our dangers and difficulties, and knows how to accommodate his intercession to each, as to Peter's peril, which he himself was not aware of (Luke xxii. 32), I have prayed for thee. 3. He is large and full in the petitions, orders them before his Father, and fills his mouth with arguments, to teach us fervency and importunity in prayer, to be large in prayer, and dwell upon our errands at the throne of grace, wrestling as Jacob, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

Now the first thing Christ prays for, for his disciples, is their preservation, in these verses, in order to which he commits them all to his Father's custody. Keeping supposes danger, and their danger arose from the world, the world wherein they were, the evil of this he begs they might be kept from. Now observe,

I. The request itself: Keep them from the world. There were two ways of their being delivered from the world:—

1. By taking them out of it; and he does not pray that they might be so delivered: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world; that is,

(1.) "I pray not that they may be speedily removed by death." If the world will be vexatious to them, the readiest way to secure them would be to hasten them out of it to a better world, that will give them better treatment. Send chariots and horses of fire for them, to fetch them to heaven; Job, Elijah, Jonah, Moses, when that occurred which fretted them, prayed that they might be taken out of the world; but Christ would not pray so for his disciples, for two reasons:—[1.] Because he came to conquer, not to countenance, those intemperate heats and passions which make men impatient of life, and importunate for death. It is his will that we should take up our cross, and not outrun it. [2.] Because he had work for them to do in the world; the world, though sick of them (Acts xxii. 22), and therefore not worthy of them (Heb. xi. 38), yet could ill spare them. In pity therefore to this dark world, Christ would not have these lights removed out of it, but continued in it, especially for the sake of those in the world that were to believe in him through their word. Let not them be taken out of the world when their Master is; they must each in his own order die a martyr, but not till they have finished their testimony. Note, First, The taking of good people out of the world is a thing by no means to be desired, but rather dreaded and laid to heart, Isa. lvii. 1. Secondly, Though Christ loves his disciples, he does not presently send for them to heaven, as soon as they are effectually called, but leaves them for some time in this world, that they may do good and glorify God upon earth, and be ripened for heaven. Many good people are spared to live, because they can ill be spared to die.

(2.) "I pray not that they may be totally freed and exempted from the troubles of this world, and taken out of the toil and terror of it into some place of ease and safety, there to live undisturbed; this is not the preservation I desire for them." Non ut omni molestia liberati otium et delicias colant, sed ut inter media pericula salvi tamen maneant Dei auxilio—Not that, being freed from all trouble, they may bask in luxurious ease, but that by the help of God they may be preserved in a scene of danger; so Calvin. Not that they may be kept from all conflict with the world, but that they may not be overcome by it; not that, as Jeremiah wished, they might leave their people, and go from them (Jer. ix. 2), but that, like Ezekiel, their faces may be strong against the faces of wicked men, Ezek. iii. 8. It is more the honour of a Christian soldier by faith to overcome the world than by a monastical vow to retreat from it; and more for the honour of Christ to serve him in a city than to serve him in a cell.

2. Another way is by keeping them from the corruption that is in the world; and he prays they may be thus kept, v. 11, 15. Here are three branches of this petition:—

(1.) Holy Father, keep those whom thou hast given me.

[1.] Christ was now leaving them; but let them not think that their defence was departed from them; no, he does here, in their hearing, commit them to the custody of his Father and their Father. Note, It is the unspeakable comfort of all believers that Christ himself has committed them to the care of God. Those cannot but be safe whom the almighty God keeps, and he cannot but keep those whom the Son of his love commits to him, in the virtue of which we may by faith commit the keeping of our souls to God, 1 Pet. iv. 19; 2 Tim. i. 12. First, He here puts them under the divine protection, that they may not be run down by the malice of their enemies; that they and all their concerns may be the particular care of the divine Providence: "Keep their lives, till they have done their work; keep their comforts, and let them not be broken in upon by the hardships they meet with; keep up their interest in the world, and let it not sink." To this prayer is owing the wonderful preservation of the gospel ministry and gospel church in the world unto this day; if God had not graciously kept both, and kept up both, they had been extinguished and lost long ago. Secondly, He puts them under the divine tuition, that they may not themselves run away from their duty, nor be led aside by the treachery of their own hearts: "Keep them in their integrity, keep them disciples, keep them close to their duty." We need God's power not only to put us into a state of grace, but to keep us in it. See, ch. x. 28, 29; 1 Pet. i. 5.

[2.] The titles he gives to him he prays to, and them he prays for, enforce the petition. First, He speaks to God as a holy Father. In committing ourselves and others to the divine care, we may take encouragement, 1. From the attribute of his holiness, for this is engaged for the preservation of his holy ones; he hath sworn by his holiness, Ps. lxxxix. 35. If he be a holy God and hate sin, he will make those holy that are his, and keep them from sin, which they also hate and dread as the greatest evil. 2. From this relation of a Father, wherein he stands to us through Christ. If he be a Father, he will take care of his own children, will teach them and keep them; who else should? Secondly, He speaks of them as those whom the Father had given him. What we receive as our Father's gifts, we may comfortably remit to our Father's care. "Father, keep the graces and comforts thou hast given me; the children thou hast given me; the ministry I have received."

(2.) Keep them through thine own name. That is, [1.] Keep them for thy name's sake; so some. "Thy name and honour are concerned in their preservation as well as mine, for both will suffer by it if they either revolt or sink." The Old Testament saints often pleaded, for thy name's sake; and those may with comfort plead it that are indeed more concerned for the honour of God's name than for any interest of their own. [2.] Keep them in thy name; so others; the original is so, en to onomati. "Keep them in the knowledge and fear of thy name; keep them in the profession and service of thy name, whatever it cost them. Keep them in the interest of thy name, and let them ever be faithful to this; keep them in thy truths, in thine ordinances, in the way of thy commandments." [3.] Keep them by or through thy name; so others. "Keep them by thine own power, in thine own hand; keep them thyself, undertake for them, let them be thine own immediate care. Keep them by those means of preservation which thou hast thyself appointed, and by which thou hast made thyself known. Keep them by thy word and ordinances; let thy name be their strong tower, thy tabernacle their pavilion."

(3.) Keep them from the evil, or out of the evil. He had taught them to pray daily, Deliver us from evil, and this would encourage them to pray. [1.] "Keep them from the evil one, the devil and all his instruments; that wicked one and all his children. Keep them from Satan as a tempter, that either he may not have leave to sift them, or that their faith may not fail. Keep them from him as a destroyer, that he may not drive them to despair." [2.] "Keep them from the evil thing, that is sin; from every thing that looks like it, or leads to it. Keep them, that they do no evil," 2 Cor. xiii. 7. Sin is that evil which, above any other, we should dread and deprecate. [3.] "Keep them from the evil of the world, and of their tribulation in it, so that it may have no sting in it, no malignity;" not that they might be kept from affliction, but kept through it, that the property of their afflictions might be so altered as that there might be no evil in them, nothing to them any harm.

II. The reasons with which he enforces these requests for their preservation, which are five:—

1. He pleads that hitherto he had kept them (v. 12): "While I was with them in the world, I have kept them in thy name, in the true faith of the gospel and the service of God; those that thou gavest me for my constant attendants I have kept, they are all safe, and none of them missing, none of them revolted nor ruined, but the son of perdition; he is lost, that the scripture might be fulfilled." Observe,

(1.) Christ's faithful discharge of his undertaking concerning his disciples: While he was with them, he kept them, and his care concerning them was not in vain. He kept them in God's name, preserved them from falling into any dangerous errors or sins, from striking in with the Pharisees, who would have compassed sea and land to make proselytes of them; he kept them from deserting him, and returning to the little all they had left for him; he had them still under his eye and care when he sent them to peach; went not his heart with them? Many that followed him awhile took offence at something or other, and went off; but he kept the twelve that they should not go away. He kept them from falling into the hands of persecuting enemies that sought their lives; kept them when he surrendered himself, ch. xviii. 9. While he was with them he kept them in a visible manner by instructions till sounding in their ears, miracles still done before their eyes; when he was gone from them, they must be kept in a more spiritual manner. Sensible comforts and supports are sometimes given and sometimes withheld; but, when they are withdrawn, yet they are not left comfortless. What Christ here says of his immediate followers is true of all the saints while they are here in this world; Christ keeps them in God's name. It is implied, [1.] That they are weak, and cannot keep themselves; their own hands are not sufficient for them. [2.] That they are, in God's account, valuable and worth the keeping; precious in his sight and honourable; his treasure, his jewels. [3.] That their salvation is designed, for to this it is that they are kept, 1 Pet. i. 5. As the wicked are reserved for the day of evil, so the righteous are preserved for the day of bliss. [4.] That they are the charge of the Lord Jesus; for as his charge he keeps them, and exposed himself like the good shepherd for the preservation of the sheep.

(2.) The comfortable account he gives of his undertaking: None of them is lost. Note, Jesus Christ will certainly keep all that were given to him, so that none of them shall be totally and finally lost; they may think themselves lost, and may be nearly lost (in imminent peril); but it is the Father's will that he should lose none, and none he will lose (ch. vi. 39); so it will appear when they come all together, and none of them shall be wanting.

(3.) A brand put upon Judas, as none of those whom he had undertaken to keep. He was among those that were given to Christ, but not of them. He speaks of Judas as already lost, for he had abandoned the society of his Master and his fellow-disciples, and abandoned himself to the devil's guidance, and in a little time would go to his own place; he is as good as lost. But the apostasy and ruin of Judas were no reproach at all to his Master, or his family; for, [1.] He was the son of perdition, and therefore not one of those that were given to Christ to be kept. He deserved perdition, and God left him to throw himself headlong into it. He was the son of the destroyer, as Cain, who was of that wicked one. That great enemy whom the Lord will consume is called a son of perdition, because he is a man of sin, 2 Thess. ii. 3. It is an awful consideration that one of the apostles proved a son of perdition. No man's place or name in the church, no man's privileges or opportunities of getting grace, no man's profession or external performances, will secure him from ruin, if his heart be not right with God; nor are any more likely to prove sons of perdition at last, after a plausible course of profession, than those that like Judas love the bag; but Christ's distinguishing Judas from those that were given him (for ei me is adversative, not exceptive) intimates that the truth and true religion ought not to suffer for the treachery of those that are false to it, 1 John ii. 19. [2.] The scripture was fulfilled; the sin of Judas was foreseen of God's counsel and foretold in his word, and the event would certainly follow after the prediction as a consequent, though it cannot be said necessarily to follow from it as an effect. See Ps. xli. 9; lxix. 25; cix. 8. We should be amazed at the treachery of apostates, were we not told of it before.

2. He pleads that he was now under a necessity of leaving them, and could no longer watch over them in the way that he had hitherto done (v. 11): "Keep them now, that I may not lose the labour I bestowed upon them while I was with them. Keep them, that they may be one with us as we are with each other." We shall have occasion to speak of this, v. 21. But see here,

(1.) With what pleasure he speaks of his own departure. He expresses himself concerning it with an air of triumph and exultation, with reference both to the world he left and the world he removed to. [1.] "Now I am no more in the world. Now farewell to this provoking troublesome world. I have had enough of it, and now the welcome hour is at hand when I shall be no more in it. Now that I have finished the work I had to do in it, I have done with it; nothing remains now but to hasten out of it as fast as I can." Note, It should be a pleasure to those that have their home in the other world to think of being no more in this world; for when we have done what we have to do in this world, and are made meet for that, what is there here that should court our stay? When we receive a sentence of death within ourselves, with what a holy triumph should we say, "Now I am no more in this world, this dark deceitful world, this poor empty world, this tempting defiling world; no more vexed with its thorns and briars, no more endangered by its nets and snares; now I shall wander no more in this howling wilderness, be tossed no more on this stormy sea; now I am no more in this world, but can cheerfully quit it, and give it a final farewell." [2.] Now I come to thee. To get clear of the world is but the one half of the comfort of a dying Christ, of a dying Christian; the far better half is to think of going to the Father, to sit down in the immediate, uninterrupted, and everlasting enjoyment of him. Note, Those who love God cannot but be pleased to think of coming to him, though it be through the valley of the shadow of death. When we go, to be absent from the body, it is to be present with the Lord, like children fetched home from school to their father's house. "Now come I to thee whom I have chosen and served, and whom my soul thirsteth after; to thee the fountain of light and life, the crown and centre of bliss and joy; now my longings shall be satisfied, my hopes accomplished, my happiness completed, for now come I to thee."

(2.) With what a tender concern he speaks of those whom he left behind: "But these are in the world. I have found what an evil world it is, what will become of these dear little ones that must stay in it? Holy Father, keep them; they will want my presence, let them have thine. They have now more need than ever to be kept, for I am sending them out further into the world than they have yet ventured; they must launch forth into the deep, and have business to do in these great waters, and will be lost if thou do not keep them." Observe here, [1.] That, when our Lord Jesus was going to the Father, he carried with him a tender concern for his own that are in the world; and continued to compassionate them. He bears their names upon his breast-plate, nay, upon his heart, and has graven them with the nails of his cross upon the palms of his hands; and when he is out of their sight they are not out of his, much less out of his mind. We should have such a pity for those that are launching out into the world when we are got almost through it, and for those that are left behind in it when we are leaving it. [2.] That, when Christ would express the utmost need his disciples had of divine preservation, he only says, They are in the world; this bespeaks danger enough to those who are bound for heaven, whom a flattering world would divert and seduce, and a malignant world would hate and persecute.

3. He pleads what a satisfaction it would be to them to know themselves safe, and what a satisfaction it would be to him to see them easy: I speak this, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves, v. 13. Observe,

(1.) Christ earnestly desired the fulness of the joy of his disciples, for it is his will that they should rejoice evermore. He was leaving them in tears and troubles, and yet took effectual care to fulfil their joy. When they thought their joy in him was brought to an end, then was it advanced nearer to perfection than ever it had been, and they were fuller of it. We are here taught, [1.] To found our joy in Christ: "It is my joy, joy of my giving, or rather joy that I am the matter of." Christ is a Christian's joy, his chief joy. Joy in the world is withering with it; joy in Christ is everlasting, like him. [2.] To build up our joy with diligence; for it is the duty as well as privilege of all true believers; no part of the Christian life is pressed upon us more earnestly, Phil. iii. 1; iv. 4. [3.] To aim at the perfection of this joy, that we may have it fulfilled in us, for this Christ would have.

(2.) In order hereunto, he did thus solemnly commit them to his Father's care and keeping and took them for witnesses that he did so: These things I speak in the world, while I am yet with them in the world. His intercession in heaven for their preservation would have been as effectual in itself; but saying this in the world would be a greater satisfaction and encouragement to them, and would enable them to rejoice in tribulation. Note, [1.] Christ has not only treasured up comforts for his people, in providing for their future welfare, but has given out comforts to them, and said that which will be for their present satisfaction. He here condescended in the presence of his disciples to publish his last will and testament, and (which many a testator is shy of) lets them know what legacies he had left them, and how well they were secured, that they might have strong consolation. [2.] Christ's intercession for us is enough to fulfil or joy in him; nothing more effectual to silence all our fears and mistrusts, and to furnish us with strong consolation, than this, that he always appears in the presence of God for us; therefore the apostle puts a yea rather upon this, Rom. viii. 34. And see Heb. vii. 25.

4. He pleads the ill usage they were likely to meet with in the world, for his sake (v. 14): "I have given them thy word to be published to the world, and they have received it, have believed it themselves, and accepted the trust of transmitting it to the world; and therefore the world hath hated them, as also because they are not of the world, any more than I." Here we have,

(1.) The world's enmity to Christ's followers. While Christ was with them, though as yet they had given but little opposition to the world, yet it hates them, much more would it do so when by their more extensive preaching of the gospel they would turn the world upside down. "Father, stand their friend," says Christ, "for they are likely to have many enemies; let them have thy love, for the world's hatred is entailed upon them. In the midst of those fiery darts, let them be compassed with thy favour as with a shield." It is God's honour to take part with the weaker side, and to help the helpless. Lord, be merciful to them, for men would swallow them up.

(2.) The reasons of this enmity, which strengthen the plea. [1.] It is implied that one reason is because they had received the word of God as it was sent them by the hand of Christ, when the greatest part of the world rejected it, and set themselves against those who were the preachers and professors of it. Note, Those that receive Christ's good will and good word must expect the world's ill will and ill word. Gospel ministers have been in a particular manner hated by the world, because they call men out of the world, and separate them from it, and teach them not to conform to it, and so condemn the world. "Father, keep them for it is for thy sake that they are exposed; they are sufferers for thee." Thus the psalmist pleads, For thy sake I have borne reproach, Ps. lxix. 7. Note, Those that keep the word of Christ's patience are entitled to special protection in the hour of temptation, Rev. iii. 10. That cause which makes a martyr may well make a joyful sufferer. [2.] Another reason is more express; the world hates them, because they are not of the world. Those to whom the word of Christ comes in power are not of the world, for it has this effect upon all that receive it in the love of it that it weans them from the wealth of the world, and turns them against the wickedness of the world, and therefore the world bears them a grudge.

5. He pleads their conformity to himself in a holy non-conformity to the world (v. 16): "Father, keep them, for they are of my spirit and mind, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Those may in faith commit themselves to God's custody, (1.) Who are as Christ was in this world, and tread in his steps. God will love those that are like Christ. (2.) Who do not engage themselves in the world's interest, nor devote themselves to its service. Observe, [1.] That Jesus Christ was not of this world; he never had been of it, and least of all now that he was upon the point of leaving it. This intimates, First, His state; he was none of the world's favourites nor darlings, none of its princes nor grandees; worldly possessions he had none, not even where to lay his head; nor worldly power, he was no judge nor divider. Secondly, His Spirit; he was perfectly dead to the world, the prince of this world had nothing in him, the things of this world were nothing to him; not honour, for he made himself of no reputation; not riches, for for our sakes he became poor; not pleasures, for he acquainted himself with grief. See ch. viii. 23. [2.] That therefore true Christians are not of this world. The Spirit of Christ in them is opposite to the spirit of the world. First, It is their lot to be despised by the world; they are not in favour with the world any more than their Master before them was. Secondly, It is their privilege to be delivered from the world; as Abraham out of the land of his nativity. Thirdly, It is their duty and character to be dead to the world. Their most pleasing converse is, and should be, with another world, and their prevailing concern about the business of that world, not of this. Christ's disciples were weak, and had many infirmities; yet this he could say for them, They were not of the world, not of the earth, and therefore he recommends them to the care of Heaven.

Christ's Intercessory Prayer.

17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

The next thing he prayed for for them was that they might be sanctified; not only kept from evil, but made good.

I. Here is the petition (v. 17): Sanctify them through thy truth, through thy word, for thy word is truth; it is true—it is truth itself. He desires they may be sanctified,

1. As Christians. Father, make them holy, and this will be their preservation, 1 Thess. v. 23. Observe here,

(1.) The grace desired—sanctification. The disciples were sanctified, for they were not of the world; yet he prays, Father sanctify them, that is, [1.] "Confirm the work of sanctification in them, strengthen their faith, inflame their good affections, rivet their good resolutions." [2.] "Carry on that good work in them, and continue it; let the light shine more and more." [3.] "Complete it, crown it with the perfection of holiness; sanctify them throughout and to the end." Note, First, It is the prayer of Christ for all that are his that they may be sanctified; because he cannot for shame own them as his, either here or hereafter, either employ them in his work or present them to his Father, if they be not sanctified. Secondly, Those that through grace are sanctified have need to be sanctified more and more. Even disciples must pray for sanctifying grace; for, if he that was the author of the good work be not the finisher of it, we are undone. Not to go forward is to go backward; he that is holy must be holy still, more holy still, pressing forward, soaring upward, as those that have not attained. Thirdly, It is God that sanctifies as well as God that justified, 2 Cor. v. 5. Fourthly, It is an encouragement to us, in our prayers for sanctifying grace, that it is what Christ intercedes for for us.

(2.) The means of conferring this grace—through thy truth, thy word is truth. Not that the Holy One of Israel is hereby limited to means, but in the counsel of peace among other things it was settled and agreed, [1.] That all needful truth should be comprised and summed up in the word of God. Divine revelation, as it now stands in the written word, is not only pure truth without mixture, but entire truth without deficiency. [2.] That this word of truth should be the outward and ordinary means of our sanctification; not of itself, for then it would always sanctify, but as the instrument which the Spirit commonly uses in beginning and carrying on that good work; it is the seed of the new birth (1 Pet. i. 23), and the food of the new life, 1 Pet. ii. 1-2.

2. As ministers. "Sanctify them, set them apart for thyself and service; let their call to the apostleship be ratified in heaven." Prophets were said to be sanctified, Jer. i. 5. Priests and Levites were so. Sanctify them; that is, (1.) "Qualify them for the office, with Christian graces and ministerial gifts, to make them able ministers of the New Testament." (2.) "Separate them to the office, Rom. i. 1. I have called them, they have consented; Father, say Amen to it." (3.) "Own them in the office; let thy hand go along with them; sanctify them by or in thy truth, as truth is opposed to figure and shadow; sanctify them really, not ritually and ceremonially, as the Levitical priests were, by anointing and sacrifice. Sanctify them to thy truth, the word of thy truth, to be the preachers of thy truth to the world; as the priests were sanctified to serve at the altar, so let them be to preach the gospel." 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. Note, [1.] Jesus Christ intercedes for his ministers with a particular concern, and recommends to his Father's grace those stars he carries in his right hand. [2.] The great thing to be asked of God for gospel ministers is that they may be sanctified, effectually separated from the world, entirely devoted to God, and experimentally acquainted with the influence of that word upon their own hearts which they preach to others. Let them have the Urim and Thummim, light and integrity.

II. We have here two pleas or arguments to enforce the petition for the disciples' sanctification:—

1. The mission they had from him (v. 18): "As thou hast sent me into the world, to be thine ambassador to the children of men, so now that I am recalled have I sent them into the world, as my delegates." Now here,

(1.) Christ speaks with great assurance of his own mission: Thou hast sent me into the world. The great author of the Christian religion had his commission and instructions from him who is the origin and object of all religion. He was sent of God to say what he said, and do what he did, and be what he is to those that believe on him; which was his comfort in his undertaking, and may be ours abundantly in our dependence upon him; his record was on high, for thence his mission was.

(2.) He speaks with great satisfaction of the commission he had given his disciples "So have I sent them on the same errand, and to carry on the same design;" to preach the same doctrine that he preached, and to confirm it with the same proofs, with a charge likewise to commit to other faithful men that which was committed to them. He gave them their commission (ch. xx. 21) with a reference to his own, and it magnifies their office that it comes from Christ, and that there is some affinity between the commission given to the ministers of reconciliation and that given to the Mediator; he is called an apostle (Heb. iii. 1), a minister (Rom. xv. 8), a messenger, Mal. iii. 1. Only they are sent as servants, he as a Son. Now this comes in here as a reason, [1.] Why Christ was concerned so much for them, and laid their case so near his heart; because he had himself put them into a difficult office, which required great abilities for the due discharge of it. Note, Whom Christ sends he will stand by, and interest himself in those that are employed for him; what he calls us out to he will fit us out for, and bear us up in. [2.] Why he committed them to his Father; because he was concerned in their cause, their mission being in prosecution of his, and as it were an assignment out of it. Christ received gifts for men (Ps. lxviii. 18), and then gave them to men (Eph. iv. 8), and therefore prays aid of his Father to warrant and uphold those gifts, and confirm his grant of them. The Father sanctified him when he sent him into the world, ch. x. 36. Now, they being sent as he was, let them also be sanctified.

2. The merit he had for them is another thing here pleaded (v. 19): For their sakes I sanctify myself. Here is, (1.) Christ's designation of himself to the work and office of Mediator: I sanctified myself. He entirely devoted himself to the undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially that which he was now going about—the offering up of himself without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. He, as the priest and altar, sanctified himself as the sacrifice. When he said, Father, glorify thy name—Father, thy will be done—Father, I commit my spirit into thy hands, he paid down the satisfaction he had engaged to make, and so sanctified himself. This he pleads with his Father, for his intercession is made in the virtue of his satisfaction; by his own blood he entered into the holy place (Heb. ix. 12), as the high priest, on the day of atonement, sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice at the same time that he burnt incense within the veil, Lev. xvi. 12, 14. (2.) Christ's design of kindness to his disciples herein; it is for their sakes, that they may be sanctified, that is, that they may be martyrs; so some. "I sacrifice myself, that they may be sacrificed to the glory of God and the church's good." Paul speaks of his being offered, Phil. ii. 17; 2 Tim. iv. 6. Whatever there is in the death of the saints that is precious in the sight of the Lord, it is owing to the death of the Lord Jesus. But I rather take it more generally, that they may be saints and ministers, duly qualified and accepted of God. [1.] The office of the ministry is the purchase of Christ's blood, and one of the blessed fruits of his satisfaction, and owes its virtue and value to Christ's merit. The priests under the law were consecrated with the blood of bulls and goats, but gospel ministers with the blood of Jesus. [2.] The real holiness of all good Christians is the fruit of Christ's death, by which the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased; he gave himself for his church, to sanctify it, Eph. v. 25, 26. And he that designed the end designed also the means, that they might be sanctified by the truth, the truth which Christ came into the world to bear witness to and died to confirm. The word of truth receives its sanctifying virtue and power from the death of Christ. Some read it, that they may be sanctified in truth, that is, truly; for as God must be served, so, in order to this, we must be sanctified, in the spirit, and in truth. And this Christ has prayed for, for all that are his; for this is his will, even their sanctification, which encourages them to pray for it,

Christ's Intercessory Prayer.

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Next to their purity he prays for their unity; for the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable; and amity is amiable indeed when it is like the ointment on Aaron's holy head, and the dew on Zion's holy hill. Observe,

I. Who are included in this prayer (v. 20): "Not these only, not these only that are now my disciples" (the eleven, the seventy, with others, men and women that followed him when he was here on earth), "but for those also who shall believe on me through their word, either preached by them in their own day or written by them for the generations to come; I pray for them all, that they all may be one in their interest in this prayer, and may all receive benefit by it." Note, here, 1. Those, and those only, are interested in the mediation of Christ, that do, or shall, believe in him. This is that by which they are described, and it comprehends all the character and duty of a Christian. They that lived then, saw and believed, but they in after ages have not seen, and yet have believed. 2. It is through the word that souls are brought to believe on Christ, and it is for this end that Christ appointed the scriptures to be written, and a standing ministry to continue in the church, while the church stands, that is, while the world stands, for the raising up of a seed. 3. It is certainly and infallibly known to Christ who shall believe on him. He does not here pray at a venture, upon a contingency depending on the treacherous will of man, which pretends to be free, but by reason of sin is in bondage with its children; no, Christ knew very well whom he prayed for, the matter was reduced to a certainty by the divine prescience and purpose; he knew who were given him, who being ordained to eternal life, were entered in the Lamb's book, and should undoubtedly believe, Acts xiii. 48. 4. Jesus Christ intercedes not only for great and eminent believers, but for the meanest and weakest; not for those only that are to be employed in the highest post of trust and honour in his kingdom, but for all, even those that in the eye of the world are inconsiderable. As the divine providence extends itself to the meanest creature, so does the divine grace to the meanest Christian. The good Shepherd has an eye even to the poor of the flock. 5. Jesus Christ in his mediation had an actual regard to those of the chosen remnant that were yet unborn, the people that should be created (Ps. xxii. 31), the other sheep which he must yet bring. Before they are formed in the womb he knows them (Jer. i. 5), and prayers are filed in heaven for them beforehand, by him who declareth the end from the beginning, and calleth things that are not as though they were.

II. What is intended in this prayer (v. 21): That they all may be one. The same was said before (v. 11), that they may be one as we are, and again, v. 22. The heart of Christ was much upon this. Some think that the oneness prayed for in v. 11 has special reference to the disciples as ministers and apostles, that they might be one in their testimony to Christ; and that the harmony of the evangelists, and concurrence of the first preachers of the gospel, are owing to this prayer. Let them be not only of one heart, but of one mouth, speaking the same thing. The unity of the gospel ministers is both the beauty and strength of the gospel interest. But it is certain that the oneness prayed for in v. 21 respects all believers. It is the prayer of Christ for all that are his, and we may be sure it is an answered prayer—that they all may be one, one in us (v. 21), one as e are one (v. 22), made perfect in one, v. 23. It includes three things:—

1. That they might all be incorporated in one body. "Father, look upon them all as one, and ratify that great charter by which they are embodied as one church. Though they live in distant places, from one end of heaven to the other, and in several ages, from the beginning to the close of time, and so cannot have any personal acquaintance or correspondence with each other, yet let them be united in me their common head." As Christ died, so he prayed, to gather them all in one, ch. xi. 52; Eph. i. 10.

2. That they might all be animated by one Spirit. This is plainly implied in this—that they may be one in us. Union with the Father and Son is obtained and kept up only by the Holy Ghost. He that is joined to the Lord in one spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17. Let them all be stamped with the same image and superscription, and influenced by the same power.

3. That they might all be knit together in the bond of love and charity, all of one heart. That they all may be one, (1.) In judgment and sentiment; not in every little thing—this is neither possible nor needful, but in the great things of God, and in them, by the virtue of this prayer, they are all agreed—that God's favour is better than life—that sin is the worst of evils, Christ the best of friends—that there is another life after this, and the like. (2.) In disposition and inclination. All that are sanctified have the same divine nature and image; they have all a new heart, and it is one heart. (3.) They are all one in their designs and aims. Every true Christian, as far as he is so, eyes the glory of God as his highest end, and the glory of heaven as his chief good. (4.) They are all one in their desires and prayers; though they differ in words and the manner of expressions, yet, having received the same spirit of adoption, and observing the same rule, they pray for the same things in effect. (5.) All one in love and affection. Every true Christian has that in him which inclines him to love all true Christians as such. That which Christ here prays for is that communion of saints which we profess to believe; the fellowship which all believers have with God, and their intimate union with all the saints in heaven and earth, 1 John i. 3. But this prayer of Christ will not have its complete answer till all the saints come to heaven, for then, and not till then, they shall be perfect in one, v. 23; Eph. iv. 13.

III. What is intimated by way of plea or argument to enforce this petition; three things:—

1. The oneness that is between the Father and the Son, which is mentioned again and again, v. 11, 21-23. (1.) It is taken for granted that the Father and Son are one, one in nature and essence, equal in power and glory, one in mutual endearments. The Father loveth the Son, and the Son always pleased the Father. They are one in design, and one in operation. The intimacy of this oneness is expressed in these words, thou in me, and I in thee. This he often mentions for his support under his present sufferings, when his enemies were ready to fall upon him, and his friends to fall off from him; yet he was in the Father, and the Father in him. (2.) This is insisted on in Christ's prayer for his disciples' oneness, [1.] As the pattern of that oneness, showing how he desired they might be one. Believers are one in some measure as God and Christ are one; for, First, The union of believers is a strict and close union; they are united by a divine nature, by the power of divine grace, in pursuance of the divine counsels. Secondly, It is a holy union, in the Holy Spirit, for holy ends; not a body politic for any secular purpose. Thirdly, It is, and will be at last, a complete union. Father and Son have the same attributes, properties, and perfections; so have believers now, as far as they are sanctified, and when grace shall be perfected in glory they will be exactly consonant to each other, all changed into the same image. [2.] As the centre of that oneness; that they may be one in us, all meeting here. There is one God and one Mediator; and herein believers are one, that they all agree to depend upon the favour of this one God as their felicity and the merit of this one Mediator as their righteousness. That is a conspiracy, not a union, which doth not centre in God as the end, and Christ as the way. All who are truly united to God and Christ, who are one, will soon be united one to another. [3.] As a plea for that oneness. The Creator and Redeemer are one in interest and design; but to what purpose are they so, if all believers be not one body with Christ, and do not jointly receive grace for grace from him, as he has received it for them? Christ's design was to reduce revolted mankind to God: "Father," says he, "let all that believe be one, that in one body they may be reconciled" (Eph. ii. 15, 16), which speaks of the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in the church; that great mystery, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body (Eph. iii. 6), to which I think this prayer of Christ principally refers, it being one great thing he aimed at in his dying; and I wonder none of the expositors I have met with should so apply it. "Father, let the Gentiles that believe be incorporated with the believing Jews, and make of twain one new man." Those words, I in them, and thou in me, show what that union is which is so necessary, not only to the beauty, but to the very being, of his church. First, Union with Christ: I in them. Christ dwelling in the hearts of believers is the life and soul of the new man. Secondly, Union with God through him: Thou in me, so as by me to be in them. Thirdly, Union with each other, resulting from these: that they hereby may be made perfect in one. We are complete in him.

2. The design of Christ in all his communications of light and grace to them (v. 22): "The glory which thou gavest me, as the trustee or channel of conveyance, I have accordingly given them, to this intent, that they may be one, as we are one; so that those gifts will be in vain, if they be not one." Now these gifts are either, (1.) Those that were conferred upon the apostles, and first planters of the church. The glory of being God's ambassadors to the world—the glory of working miracles—the glory of gathering a church out of the world, and erecting the throne of God's kingdom among men—this glory was given to Christ, and some of the honour he put upon them when he sent them to disciple all nations. Or, (2.) Those that are given in common to all believers. The glory of being in covenant with the Father, and accepted of him, of being laid in his bosom, and designed for a place at his right hand, was the glory which the Father gave to the Redeemer, and he has confirmed it to the redeemed. [1.] This honour he says he hath given them, because he hath intended it for them, settled it upon them, and secured it to them upon their believing Christ's promises to be real gifts. [2.] This was given to him to give to them; it was conveyed to him in trust for them, and he was faithful to him that appointed him. [3.] He gave it to them, that they might be one. First, to entitle them to the privilege of unity, that by virtue of their common relation to one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, they might be truly denominated one. The gift of the Spirit, that great glory which the Father gave to the Son, by him to be given to all believers, makes them one, for he works all in all, 1 Cor. xii. 4, &c. Secondly, To engage them to the duty of unity. That in consideration of their agreement and communion in one creed and one covenant, one Spirit and one Bible—in consideration of what they have in one God and one Christ, and of what they hope for in one heaven, they may be of one mind and one mouth. Worldly glory sets men at variance; for if some be advanced others are eclipsed, and therefore, while the disciples dreamed of a temporal kingdom, they were ever and anon quarrelling; but spiritual honours being conferred alike upon all Christ's subjects, they being all made to our God kings and priests, there is no occasion for contest nor emulation. The more Christians are taken up with the glory Christ has given them, the less desirous they will be of vain-glory, and, consequently, the less disposed to quarrel.

3. He pleads the happy influence their oneness would have upon others, and the furtherance it would give to the public good. This is twice urged (v. 21): That the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And again (v. 23): That the world may know it, for without knowledge there can be no true faith. Believers must know what they believe, and why and wherefore they believe it. Those who believe at a venture, venture too far. Now Christ here shows,

(1.) His good-will to the world of mankind in general. Herein he is of his Father's mind, as we are sure he is in every thing, that he would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Tim. ii. 4; 2 Pet. iii. 9. Therefore it is his will that all means possible should be used, and no stone left unturned, for the conviction and conversion of the world. We know not who are chosen, but we must in our places do our utmost to further men's salvation, and take heed of doing any thing to hinder it.

(2.) The good fruit of the church's oneness; it will be an evidence of the truth of Christianity, and a means of bringing many to embrace it.

[1.] In general, it will recommend Christianity to the world, and to the good opinion of those that are without. First, The embodying of Christians in one society by the gospel charter will greatly promote Christianity. When the world shall see so many of those that were its children called out of its family, distinguished from others, and changed from what they themselves sometimes were,—when they shall see this society raised by the foolishness of preaching, and kept up by miracles of divine providence and grace, and how admirably well it is modelled and constituted, they will be ready to say, We will go with you, for we see that God is with you. Secondly, The uniting of Christians in love and charity is the beauty of their profession, and invites others to join with them, as the love that was among those primo-primitive Christians, Acts ii. 42, 43; iv. 32, 33. When Christianity, instead of causing quarrels about itself, makes all other strifes to cease,—when it cools the fiery, smooths the rugged, and disposes men to be kind and loving, courteous and beneficent, to all men, studious to preserve and promote peace in all relations and societies, this will recommend it to all that have any thing either of natural religion or natural affection in them.

[2.] In particular, it will beget in men good thoughts, First, Of Christ: They will know and believe that thou hast sent me, By this it will appear that Christ was sent of God, and that his doctrine was divine, in that his religion prevails to join so many of different capacities, tempers, and interests in other things, in one body by faith, with one heart by love. Certainly he was sent by the God of power, who fashions men's hearts alike, and the God of love and peace; when the worshippers of God are one, he is one, and his name one. Secondly, Of Christians: They will know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Here is, 1. The privilege of believers: the Father himself loveth them with a love resembling his love to his Son, for they are loved in him with an everlasting love. 2. The evidence of their interest in this privilege, and that is their being one. By this it will appear that God loves us, if we love one another with a pure heart; for wherever the love of God is shed abroad in the heart it will change it into the same image. See how much good it would do to the world to know better how dear to God all good Christians are. The Jews had a saying, If the world did but know the worth of good men, they would hedge them about with pearls. Those that have so much of God's love should have more of ours.

Christ's Intercessory Prayer.

24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Here is, I. A petition for the glorifying of all those that were given to Christ (v. 24), not only these apostles, but all believers: Father, I will that they may be with me. Observe,

1. The connection of this request with those foregoing. He had prayed that God would preserve, sanctify, and unite them; and now he prays that he would crown all his gifts with their glorification. In this method we must pray, first for grace, and then for glory (Ps. lxxxiv. 11); for in this method God gives. Far be it from the only wise God to come under the imputation either of that foolish builder who without a foundation built upon the sand, as he would if he should glorify any whom he has not first sanctified; or of that foolish builder who began to build and was not able to finish, as he would if he should sanctify any, and not glorify them.

2. The manner of the request: Father, I will. Here, as before, he addresses himself to God as a Father, and therein we must do likewise; but when he says, thelo—I will, he speaks a language peculiar to himself, and such as does not become ordinary petitioners, but very well became him who paid for what he prayed for. (1.) This intimates the authority of his intercession in general; his word was with power in heaven, as well as on earth. He entering with his own blood into the holy place, his intercession there has an uncontrollable efficacy. He intercedes as a king, for he is a priest upon his throne (like Melchizedek), a king-priest. (2.) It intimates his particular authority in this matter; he had a power to give eternal life (v. 2), and, pursuant to that power, he says, Father, I will. Though now he took upon him the form of a servant, yet that power being to be most illustriously exerted when he shall come the second time in the glory of a judge, to say, Come ye blessed, having that in his eye, he might well say, Father, I will.

3. The request itself—that all the elect might come to be with him in heaven at last, to see his glory, and to share in it. Now observe here,

(1.) Under what notion we are to hope for heaven? wherein does that happiness consist? three things make heaven:—[1.] It is to be where Christ is: Where I am; in the paradise whither Christ's soul went at death; in the third heavens whither his soul and body went at his ascension:—Where I am, am to be shortly, am to be eternally. In this world we are but in transitu—on our passage; there we truly are where we are to be for ever; so Christ reckoned, and so must we. [2.] It is to be with him where he is; this is not tautology, but intimates that we shall not only be in the same happy place where Christ is, but that the happiness of the place will consist in his presence; this is the fulness of its joy. The very heaven of heaven is to be with Christ, there in company with him, and communion with him, Phil. i. 23. [3.] It is to behold his glory, which the Father has given him. Observe, First, The glory of the Redeemer is the brightness of heaven. That glory before which angels cover their faces was his glory, ch. xii. 41. The Lamb is the light of the new Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 23. Christ will come in the glory of his Father, for he is the brightness of his glory. God shows his glory there, as he does his grace here, through Christ. "The Father has given me this glory," though he was as yet in his low estate; but it was very true, and very near. Secondly, The felicity of the redeemed consists very much in the beholding of this glory; they will have the immediate view of his glorious person. I shall see God in my flesh, Job xix. 26, 27. They will have a clear insight into his glorious undertaking, as it will be then accomplished; they will see into those springs of love from which flow all the streams of grace; they shall have an appropriating sight of Christ's glory (Uxor fulget radiis mariti—The wife shines with the radiance of her husband), and an assimilating sight: they shall be changed into the same image, from glory to glory.

(2.) Upon what ground we are to hope for heaven; no other than purely the mediation and intercession of Christ, because he hath said, Father, I will. Our sanctification is our evidence, for he that has this hope in him purifies himself; but it is the will of Christ that is our title, by which will we are sanctified, Heb. x. 10. Christ speaks here as if he did not count his own happiness complete unless he had his elect to share with him in it, for it is the bringing of many sons to glory that makes the captain of our salvation perfect, Heb. ii. 10.

4. The argument to back this request: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. This is a reason, (1.) Why he expected this glory himself. Thou wilt give it to me, for thou lovedst me. The honour and power given to the Son as Mediator were founded in the Father's love to him (ch. v. 20): the Father loves the Son, is infinitely well pleased in his undertaking, and therefore has given all things into his hands; and, the matter being concerted in the divine counsels from eternity, he is said to love him as Mediator before the foundation of the world. Or, (2.) Why he expected that those who were given to him should be with him to share in his glory: "Thou lovedst me, and them in me, and canst deny me nothing I ask for them."

II. The conclusion of the prayer, which is designed to enforce all the petitions for the disciples, especially the last, that they may be glorified. Two things he insists upon, and pleads:—

1. The respect he had to his Father, v. 25. Observe,

(1.) The title he gives to God: O righteous Father. When he prayed that they might be sanctified, he called him holy Father; when he prays that they may be glorified, he calls him righteous Father; for it is a crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give. God's righteousness was engaged for the giving out of all that good which the Father had promised and the Son had purchased.

(2.) The character he gives of the world that lay in wickedness: The world has not known thee. Note, Ignorance of God overspreads the world of mankind; this is the darkness they sit in. Now this is urged here, [1.] To show that these disciples need the aids of special grace, both because of the necessity of their work—they were to bring a world that knew not God to the knowledge of him; and also, because of the difficulty of their work—they must bring light to those that rebelled against the light; therefore keep them. [2.] To show that they were qualified for further peculiar favours, for they had that knowledge of God which the world had not.

(3.) The plea he insists upon for himself: But I have known thee. Christ knew the Father as no one else ever did; knew upon what grounds he went in his undertaking, knew his Father's mind in every thing, and therefore, in this prayer, came to him with confidence, as we do to one we know. Christ is here suing out blessings for those that were his; pursuing this petition, when he had said, The world has not known thee, one would expect it should follow, but they have known thee; no, their knowledge was not to be boasted of, but I have known thee, which intimates that there is nothing in us to recommend us to God's favour, but all our interest in him, and intercourse with him, result from, and depend upon, Christ's interest and intercourse. We are unworthy, but he is worthy.

(4.) The plea he insists upon for his disciples: And they have known that thou hast sent me; and, [1.] Hereby they are distinguished from the unbelieving world. When multitudes to whom Christ was sent, and his grace offered, would not believe that God had sent him, these knew it, and believed it, and were not ashamed to own it. Note, To know and believe in Jesus Christ, in the midst of a world that persists in ignorance and infidelity, is highly pleasing to God, and shall certainly be crowned with distinguishing glory. Singular faith qualifies for singular favours. [2.] Hereby they are interested in the mediation of Christ, and partake of the benefit of his acquaintance with the Father: "I have known thee, immediately and perfectly; and these, though they have not so known thee, nor were capable of knowing thee so, yet have known that thou hast sent me, have known that which was required of them to know, have known the Creator in the Redeemer." Knowing Christ as sent of God, they have, in him, known the Father, and are introduced to an acquaintance with him; therefore, "Father, look after them for my sake."

2. The respect he had to his disciples (v. 26): "I have led them into the knowledge of thee, and will do it yet more and more; with this great and kind intention, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." Observe here,

(1.) What Christ had done for them: I have declared unto them thy name. [1.] This he had done for those that were his immediate followers. All the time that he went in and out among them, he made it his business to declare his Father's name to them, and to beget in them a veneration for it. The tendency of all his sermons and miracles was to advance his Father's honours, and to spread the knowledge of him, ch. i. 18. [2.] This he had done for all that believe on him; for they had not been brought to believe if Christ had not made known to them his Father's name. Note, First, We are indebted to Christ for all the knowledge we have of the Father's name; he declares it, and he opens the understanding to receive that revelation. Secondly, Those whom Christ recommends to the favour of God he first leads into an acquaintance with God.

(2.) What he intended to do yet further for them: I will declare it. To the disciples he designed to give further instructions after his resurrection (Acts i. 3), and to bring them into a much more intimate acquaintance with divine things by the pouring out of the Spirit after his ascension; and to all believers, into whose hearts he hath shined, he shines more and more. Where Christ has declared his Father's name, he will declare it; for to him that hath shall be given; and those that know God both need and desire to know more of him. This is fitly pleaded for them: "Father, own and favour them, for they will own and honour thee."

(3.) What he aimed at in all this; not to fill their heads with curious speculations, and furnish them with something to talk of among the learned, but to secure and advance their real happiness in two things:—

[1.] Communion with God: "Therefore I have given them the knowledge of thy name, of all that whereby thou hast made thyself known, that thy love, even that wherewith thou hast loved me, may be, not only towards them, but in them;" that is, First, "Let them have the fruits of that love for their sanctification; let the Spirit of love, with which thou hast filled me, be in them." Christ declares his Father's name to believers, that with that divine light darted into their minds a divine love may be shed abroad in their hearts, to be in them a commanding constraining principle of holiness, that they may partake of a divine nature. When God's love to us comes to be in us, it is like the virtue which the loadstone gives the needle, inclining it to move towards the pole; it draws out the soul towards God in pious and devout affections, which are as the spirits of the divine life in the soul. Secondly, "Let them have the taste and relish of that love for their consolation; let them not only be interested in the love of God, by having God's name declared to them, but, by a further declaration of it, let them have the comfort of that interest; that they may not only know God, but know that they know him," 1 John ii. 3. It is the love of God thus shed abroad in the heart that fills it with joy, Rom. v. 3, 5. This God has provided for, that we may not only be satisfied with his loving kindness, but be satisfied of it; and so may live a life of complacency in God and communion with him; this we must pray for, this we must press after; if we have it, we must thank Christ for it; if we want it, we may thank ourselves.

[2.] Union with Christ in order hereunto: And I in them. There is no getting into the love of God but through Christ, nor can we keep ourselves in that love but by abiding in Christ, that is, having him to abide in us; nor can we have the sense and apprehension of that love but by our experience of the indwelling of Christ, that is, the Spirit of Christ in our hearts. It is Christ in us that is the only hope of glory that will not make us ashamed, Col. i. 27. All our communion with God, the reception of his love to us with our return of love to him again, passes through the hands of the Lord Jesus, and the comfort of it is owing purely to him. Christ had said but a little before, I in them (v. 23), and here it is repeated (though the sense was complete without it), and the prayer closed with it, to show how much the heart of Christ was sent upon it; all his petitions centre in this, and with this the prayers of Jesus, the Son of David, are ended: "I in them; let me have this, and I desire no more." It is the glory of the Redeemer to dwell in the redeemed: it is his rest for ever, and he has desired it. Let us therefore make sure our union with Christ, and then take the comfort of his intercession. This prayer had an end, but that he ever lives to make.

CHAP. XVII.

THis and the like outward geſtures in prayer, as they iſſue from the fervency of the good heart, ſo they reflat upon the ſoul, whoſe inviſible affections by theſe viſible actions, in the Saints, are the more inflamed. Howbeit hypocrites, though they have their hands elbow-deep in the earth, will ſeem to pierce Heaven with their eyes lift up in prayer, videntur torvo aſpectu coelum ad ſe attrahere, ſaith Calvin ſomewhere: they ſo fix their eyes in publike prayer, as if they would leave them on the roof of the Church: when as all is but hiſtrionicall, [non-Latin text not transcribed], to be ſeen of men, Matth. 6. theatricall, counterfeit. The eagle, when ſhe ſoareth higheſt, hath ever an eye to the prey below: ſo hath the hypocrite, to profit, credit, &c.

The hour is come] q. d. I aske not before the time is come, and ripe and ready for thy kingdom. Some would be in Heaven, ere they have done their worke upon earth. But what ſaid that Ancient? Domine, ſi tibi ſim neceſſarius, non recuſo vivere: Lord, if thou have any further ſervice for me to do, I am willing to live longer. When we come to Heaven, the reward will be ſo large, that we ſhall repent us (if it were poſſible there to repent for any thing) that we have done no more worke. It is not lawfull (ſaith one) to wiſh for death ſimply, neither to be ſet free from the troubles, fears and cares of ſin, Capell of Tempt. par 3. nor that we would not conflict, nor wreſtle any longer (for this were to ſerve our ſelves, and ſeek our own eaſe and ends) but in hatred to ſin, as it is ſin, &c.

Verſe 2. That he ſhould give eternall life] And what more free then gift? Note this againſt our Merit-mongers, who not only cry with Novatus, Non habeo, Domine, quod mihi ignoſcas: I have done nothing that thou ſhouldſt forgive me; but with Vega. Vitam aeternam gratis non accipiam. I will not have heaven for nothing. How much better S. Auguctine, Homo ignoſcat, ſaith he, ut Deus ignoſcat. And William Wickam, Act and Mon. founder of New-Colledge, who, though he did many good workes, yet he profeſſed that he truſted to Jeſus Chriſt alone for ſalvation.

Verſe 3. That they may know thee] To know God in the face of Chriſt, is Heaven afore-hand, Qui non habet Chriſtum in horoſcopo, Bucholcer. non habet Deum in medio Coeli. By his knowledge ſhall my righteous ſervant juſtifie many, ſaith God concerning Chriſt, Iſa. 53.11. that is, by faith; which infolds aſſent of the judgement, conſent of the will, and affiance or aſſurance of the heart. Papiſts place faith in the will only, and exclude knowledge. Nay, Bellarmine affirmeth that faith may be better defined by ignorance (that mother of devotion) then by knowledge. They dig out mens eyes (as they dealt by Samſon) and then make ſport with them; they confine faith to the will, that they may doe what they will with the underſtanding and the heart; as the Friers ſend men on pilgrimage, that they may lie with their wives the while. Heyl. Geog. 288

Verſe 4. That thou gaveſt me to doe.] Our Saviour counts his work a gift: So ſhould we take it for a favour, that he employes us, that we may have any office about him, that we may magnifie him with our bodies, whether by life or death, Act. and Mon. Phil. 1.19. As an heretike I am condemned (ſaid Mr Bradford) and ſhall be burned, whereof I ask God heartily mercy, that I doe no more rejoyce then I doe, having ſo great cauſe, as to be an inſtrument, wherein it may pleaſe my dear Lord God and Saviour to ſuffer. And the greateſt promotion (ſaid Latymer) that God giveth in in this world, is, to be ſuch Philippians to whom it is given, Ibid. 1565. not only to believe, but alſo to ſuffer. Ignatius profeſſed he had rather be a Martyr then a Monarch. Ibid. 1831. John Noyes took up a Fagot at the fire, and kiſſed it, ſaying, Bleſſed be the time that ever I was born to come to this. The Apoſtles rejoyced that they were graced ſo, to be diſgraced for Chriſt, Act. 5.41.

Verſe 5. With the glory which I had, &c.] Our Saviour then is no up-ſtart-God, and of a later ſtanding, as the Arians and Mahometans would make of him. Mahomet ſpeaks very honourably of Chriſt, except only in two things. Firſt, he denied that he was crucified, but that ſome other was crucified for him. Secondly, he took up the opinion of the Arians, to deny his Divinity. Arius at Conſtantinoply ſitting upon the cloſe-ſtool purged out his guts. Mahometiſme is now there in that place, as it were the excrements of Arius.

Verſe 6. I have manifeſted thy name] The Jews ſeek to detract from the glory of our Saviours miracles, by giving out, that he did them by I know not what ſuperſtitious or Magicall uſe of the Name Jehovab. Bern. But that name of God that he is here ſaid to manifeſt, is that nomen Majestativum, that holy and reverend name of God, ſet down, Exod. 34.6, 7. A name that would fill our hearts with heaven, and anſwer all our doubts, had we but skill to ſpell out all the letters in it.

Verſe 7. Now they have known &c.] That the Goſpel is a plot of Gods own contriving, and no device of man; as that Evangelium regni was, ſet out by the Family of Love: and thoſe Fanatikes mentioned by Irenaeus, that were ſo beſotted with an opinion of themſelves, that they accounted their own writings to be Goſpels. In the year 1220. certain Monkes at Paris ſet out a Goſpel full of all filthineſſe and blaſphemy, Rec. hive of Rome, p.30. naming it, Evangelium aeternum. And in the book called Conformitates S. Franciſci, made in the year 1389. it is written, that the ſame book is better then the Goſpel, and S. Francis ſet in Lucifers chair above Angels. The Councel of Constance comes in with a non obstante againſt Chriſts inſtitution, Caranz. ſum. Concil ſeſſ. 13. withholding the cup from the Laity. And when the Pope ſets forth any Buls, commonly he concludes thus; Non obſtantibus conſtitutionibus & ordinationibus Apostolicis, caeteriſ que contrariis quibuſcun que . And the Popes interpretation of Scripture, be it what it will, ſeem it never ſo contrary to the Scripture, is, Ipſiſſimum Dei verbum, the very word of God, ſaith Hoſius.

Verſe 8. For I have given unto them] A ſweet and precious gift. [non-Latin text not transcribed], Primarium quided & res magns mementi. It was the Jews primary priviledge, that unto them were committed the oracles of God. There is a (chiefly) ſet upon it, Rom. 3.2. See my Grue Treaſure.

Verſe 9. I pray for them.] Chriſt hath left us this prayer here recorded, as a patern of that interceſſion he unceſſantly maketh for us, 1 King. 2. at the right hand of his heavenly Father. Joab was heard for Abſolom: ſhall not Chriſt for us? Solomon denied his mothers requeſt: God will not deny Chriſts. The Prodigall came without out a mediatour to his Father, and was embraced: Much more ſhall we, preſented by Chriſt.

Verſe 10. And I am glorified in them.] It will be a ſingular prop to our prayers, if we ſo carry our ſelves, that Chriſt in his daily interceſſion may give this teſtimony of us to the Father. He undertakes for us, as it were, and gives his Word, that we, being mindefull of our reconciliation by him, ſhall ſhun ſin by his grace, and not provoke him as before. This ſhould cauſe us to live ſo as Chriſt may have credit by us, and we may have courage to come to God by Chriſt.

Verſe 11. Keep through thine own Name] The Name of the Lord is a ſtrong Tower, Prov. 18.10. A munition of rocks, Iſa. 33.18. Hither the Saints run for the ſecuring of their comforts, and ſafeguarding of their perſons, as Coneyes doe to their burroughes, all creatures to their refuges, 2 Sam. 5.6, 7[illegible: 1 letter] as the Schechemites fled to their Tower, when their City was beaten down to the ground, Judg. 9. The lame and blinde, the moſt ſhiftleſſe creatures, when they had gotten the ſtrong hold of Sion over their heads, thought then they might ſecurely ſcoru David and his hoſt, and yet their hold fail'd them. So doth not God, thoſe that flee to his Name. Pray, to be kept by it.

Verſe 12. But the ſonne of perdition.] This exception ſhews, that Judas was never of Chriſts body: for, can he be a Saviour of a ſon of perdition? But why is he then excepted? Firſt, by reaſon of his office the ſeemed to be of his body. Secondly, our Saviour ſpeaketh here in particular of the twelve; and to be an Apoſtle, was in it ſelf but an outward calling.

Verſe 13. And theſe things I speak in the world.] Not for his own or his Fathers ſake, but for the comfort of his Diſciples; to cure them of their anxiety and anguiſh, when they heard him praying and providing ſuch things for them. For this alſo it was, that he prayed thus in their preſence (when at other times he went apart) for their conſolation doubtleſſe and inſtruction. Mr Bradford Martyr, when he ſhifted himſelf in a clean ſhirt, Act. and Mon. ſol. 1548. made for his burning, he made ſuch a prayer of the wedding-garment, that ſome of thoſe that were preſent, were in ſuch great admiration, that their eies were as truly occupied in looking on him, as their cars gave place to hear his prayer.

Verſe 14. I have given them thy Word, &c.] I have put my word into their mouth, therefore the world hateth them: Perſecution being the black Angel (as Calvin ſaid) that dogs the Goſpel. When our Saviour preached at Nazareth, ſo long as he was opening his Text they admired him, but when he came to apply it cloſe to their conſciences, Luk. 4. they pulled him out of the Pulpit, and would have broken his neck down the hill. The book that the Angel gave John to eat, Revel. 10.9. Brightman. Pare[illegible: 1 letter]. was ſweet in his mouth, but bitter in his belly, to note, that the knowledge of divine truths is pleaſant, but the publiſhing of them, whereby the fruit thereof might come to the reſt of the members (like the concoction and diſtribution of meat digeſted in the ſtomacke) is full of trouble.

Verſe 15. That thou take them out of the world.] Many godly men, weary of the worlds ill-uſages, are found ort ſitting under Elias his Juniper, and wiſhing to die: for what are they better then their Fathers? Iob 6.8, 9. Oh that I might have my request! ſaith Job, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for: And what was that, trow you? Even that it would pleaſe God to deſtroy me; that he would let looſe his hand and cut me off. But was that well pray'd, Ion. 4 3, 8. Job? Or was that wiſely done, Jonas? to fret, one while, at Gods goodneſſe to the Ninevites? to faint, another while, at the loſſe of the gourd? And both times to wiſh to die, Act. 13, 2 Tim 4. Iob 14. 1 Iob. 5.18. ſaying, It is better for me to die then to line? Were it not better to ſerve out your time, with David? To finiſh your courſe, with Paul? to wait till your change ſhall come, weil aſſured that that wicked one ſhall not touch you, as St John hath it, that is, tactu qualitativo (as Cajetan ſenſeth it) with a deadly touch?

Verſe 16. They are not of the world, &c.] Here indeed they have their commoration, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Tim. [illegible: 1 letter].21. Revel. 13 1. but their converſation is in heaven: they are cloathed with the Sun of righteouſneſſe, and have the Moon (all earthly things) under their feer. Pearls, though they grow in the ſea, yet they have affinity with the heaven, the beauty and brightneſſe whereof they reſemble: ſo here. It is Chryſoſtomes compariſon.

Verſe 17. Sanctifie them by thy truth.] Affect their hearts therewith, that they may the better affect others: ſpeaking à corde ad cor, which is the life of preaching, Quod juſſit & geſſit, ſaith Bernard, Bern. epiſt 42. Baſil. n Pſ. [illegible: 1 letter]3. of one, [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaith Baſil, of another. A Miniſter had need to pray, as Eliſhad did, for a doubled and trebled ſpirit; that he may out of the good treaſure of his heart, bring forth good things new and old for the peoples uſe.

Verſe 18. Even ſo have I ſent them, &c.] Therefore they have need, that there be put upon them of my ſpirit, that they may be fit for the work. This boon none are to expect, but they that are ſent of Chriſt, and ſuch are ſure to be gifted.

Verſe 19. And for their ſakes doe I ſanctifie] As both Prieſt, Altar and Sacrifice: and this Chriſt did from the womb to the Tomb; at his death eſpecially, when this Paſchall lamb was roſted in the fire of his Fathers wrath, that his people might be made partakers of his holineſſe, Heb. 10.10. Here alſo it is worch the noting, that theſe Petitions in our Saviours prayer, doe ſo ſweetly depend one upon another, that if you take away one, you deface the other. Phavorinus in Gellius, comparing between the ſtile of Lyſias and Plato, obſerves this difference, Quod ſi ex Platonis oratione aliquid demas muteſ que , de elegantia ta et ùm detraxeris; ſi ex Lyſiae, de ſententia.

Verſe 20. Neither pray I for theſe alone] Loe here a ſure and ſweet haven for all believers to have recourſe to, where they may ſit and ſing away care of miſcarrying: for here Chriſt doth as much as if he ſhould ſolemnly ſwear to ſecure and ſet them ſafe from danger, ſith the Father denies him nothing. John. 11.42.

Verſe 21. That they all may be one] Though not by the ſame kinde of union, whereby the Father and Sonne are one, yet by an union every way as reall and indiſſoluble; ſuch, as whereby the world may be convinced that Chriſt is the very Meſſiah, and the faithfull, the true Church. So it was acknowledged in the Primitive times, Act. 4 32. But what a ſad thing was it, that a Heathen ſhould ſoon after have cauſe to ſay, Am Marcellinus l 2. c. 2. Triſt iſſima illa perſecur to ſub Diocletiano, poreſſ. or ta eſt a petulantia, ſuperbia & rixis ſacerdotum. Euſeb. 2 Cor. 3 ul[illegible: 1 letter]. Epheſ. 2 6. Heb 6, 2. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Nullae infestae hominibus beſtiae, ut ſunt ſibi ferales pleri que Christiani; No beaſts are ſo miſchievous to men, as Chriſtians are one to another. They had not ſo learned Chriſt. Love and humility are his cognizances. Why then ſhould the Turk have occaſion to ſay, that he ſhould ſooner ſee his fingers all of a length, then Chriſtian Princes all of a minde? Why ſhould the Jew ſtumble at our diſſenſions, which is one of the main ſcandals they take from Proteſtants?

Verſe 22. And the glory which thou, &c.] That is, the grace, which is glory begun, as glory is grace perfected: we are here tranſfor med into the ſame image from glory to glory; and ſet together in heavenly places in Chriſt Jeſus. Such honour have all his Saints. Such things are found in them as doe accompany or comprehend ſalvation.

Verſe 23. I in them, and thou in me] Chriſt was the only fit Mediatour: as being God for the buſineſſe with God, and man, for the buſineſſe with man. He is the bridge that joyneth Heaven and Earth together, ſaith Gregory. He is that ladder of aſcenſion to God: faith firſt laies hold upon Chriſt, as man: and by it, as by a mean, makes way to God; and in it embraceth the Godhead, which is of it ſelf fire conſuming. We may ſafely fail through Chriſts bloud into the boſom of the Father.

Verſe 24. Be with me, Where I am.] It is part of Chriſts joy, that we ſhall be where he is. He will not therefore be long without us. David is ſent by God to Hebron to be crowned: he will not up alone, but takes with him all his men with all their houſholds. They ſhall take ſuch part as himſelf, not withſtanding their late mutiny at Ziklag. So dealeth the Lord Chriſt with all his; and this ſhould digeſt all their ſorrows. Chriſt will not be happy alone: as a tender Father, he can enjoy nothing, if his children may not have part with him.

Verſe 25. O righteous Father.] Gods righteouſneſſe is either, 1. Of equity, to puniſh offences. Or, 2. Of fidelity, to make good his Promiſes. Act and Mon. tol. 15 53. In which refpect it is no arrogancy nor preſumption (ſaid M. Glover, Martyr) to burthen God, as it were, with his Promiſes; and of dutie to claime his aid, helpe and aſſiſtance.

Verſe 26. That the love, &c.] Clarit as in intelle ctu parit ardorem in affectu. Igxoti nulla cupido

These words. The words addressed to them in the preceding chapters. They were proceeding to the garden of Gethsemane. It adds much to the interest of this prayer that it was offered in the stillness of the night, in the open air, and in the peculiarly tender circumstances in which Jesus and his apostles were. It is the longest prayer recorded in the New Testament. It was offered on the most tender and solemn occasion that has ever occurred in our world, and it is perhaps the most sublime composition to be found anywhere. Jesus was about to die. Having expressed his love to his disciples, and made known to them his last desires, he now commends them to the protection and blessing of the God of grace. This prayer is moreover a specimen of the manner of his intercession, and evinces the interest which he felt in behalf of all who should become his followers in all ages of the world.

Lifted up his eyes. This was the common attitude of prayer. Comp. Lk 18:13.

The hour is come. That is, the appointed time for his sufferings and death. Comp. Lk 12:27.

Glorify thy Son. Honour thy Son. See Jn 11:4. Give to the world demonstration that I am thy Son. So sustain me, and so manifest thy power in my death, resurrection, and ascension, as to afford indubitable evidence that I am the Son of God.

That thy Son also may glorify thee. This refers clearly to the manifestation of the honour of God which would be made by the spread of the gospel among men, Jn 17:2. Jesus prayed that God would so honour him in his death that striking proof might be furnished that he was the Messiah, and men thus be brought to honour God. By his death the law, the truth, and the mercy of God were honoured. By the spread of his gospel and the conversion of sinners; by all that Christ will do, now that he is glorified, to spread his gospel, God will be honoured. The conversion of a single sinner honours God; a revival of religion is an eminent means of promoting his honour; and the spread of the gospel among all nations shall yet do more than all other things to promote the honour of God among men. Whatever honours the Saviour honours God. Just as he is exalted in view of the mind, so will God be honoured and obeyed.

(a) "the hour is come" Jn 12:28, 13:32

As thou hast given him power. It was on the ground of this power given to Christ that the apostles were commanded to go and teach all nations. Mt 28:18,19.

All flesh. All men, Mt 24:22, Lk 3:6.

That he should give eternal life. Jn 5:24.

To as many as thou hast given him. Jn 10:16, 6:37. To all on whom the Father has purposed to bestow the blessings of redemption through his Son. God has a plan in all he does, extending to men as well as to other objects. One part of his plan was that the atonement of Christ should not be in vain. Hence he promised him that he should see of the travail of his soul and should be satisfied (Isa 53:11); and hence the Saviour had the assurance that the Father had given him a portion of the human family, and would apply this great work to them. It is to be observed here that the Saviour in this prayer makes an important distinction between "all flesh" and those who were "given him." He has power over all. He can control, direct, restrain them. Wicked men are so far under his universal dominion, and so far restrained by his power, that they will not be able to prevent his bestowing redemption on those were given him--that is, all who will believe on him. Long ago, if they had been able, they would have banished religion from the world; but they are under the power of Christ, and it is his purpose that there shall be "a seed to serve him," and that "the gates of hell shall not prevail" against his church. Men who oppose the gospel should therefore feel that they cannot prevent the salvation of Christians, and should be alarmed lest they be found "fighting against God."

(b) "that he should give" Jn 5:27, 16:24

This is life eternal. This is the source of eternal life; or it is in this manner that it is to be obtained. The knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ is itself a source of unspeakable and eternal joy. Comp. Jn 11:25, 6:63, 12:50.

Might know thee. The word know here, as in other places, expresses more than a mere speculative acquaintance with the character and perfections of God. It includes all the impressions on the mind and life which a just view of God and of the Saviour is fitted to produce. It includes, of course, love, reverence, obedience, honour, gratitude, supreme affection. To know God as he is is to know and regard him as a lawgiver, a sovereign, a parent, a friend. It is to yield the whole soul to him, and strive to obey his law.

The only true God. The only God, in opposition to all false gods. What is said here is in opposition to idols, not to Jesus himself, who, in 1Jn 5:20, is called "the true God and eternal life."

And Jesus Christ. To know Jesus Christ is to have a practical impression of him as he is that is, to suffer his character and work to make their due impression on the heart and life. Simply to have heard that there is a Saviour is not to know it. To have been taught in childhood and trained up in the belief of it is not to know it. To know him is to have a just, practical view of him in all his perfections--as God and man; as a mediator; as a prophet, a priest, and a king. It is to feel our need of such a Saviour, to see that we are sinners, and to yield the whole soul to him, knowing that he is a Saviour fitted to our wants, and that in his hands our souls are safe. Comp. Eph 3:19, Tit 1:16, Php 3:10, 1Jn 5:20. In this verse is contained the sum and essence of the Christian religion, as it is distinguished from all the schemes of idolatry and philosophy, and all the false plans on which men have sought to obtain eternal life. The Gentiles worshipped many gods; the Christian worships one --the living and the true God; the Jew, the Deist, the Mohammedan, the Socinian, profess to acknowledge one God, without any atoning sacrifice and Mediator; the true Christian approaches him through the great Mediator, equal with the Father, who for us became incarnate, and died that he might reconcile us to God.

(c) "this is life eternal" 1Jn 5:11 (d) "know thee" Jer 9:23,24 (e) "the only true God" 1Thes 1:9

Have glorified thee. In my instructions and life. See his discourses everywhere, the whole tendency of which is to put honour on God.

I have finished the work. Comp. Jn 19:30. When he says "I have finished," he probably means to include also his death. All the preparations for that death were made. He had preached to the Jews; he had given them full proof that he was the Messiah; he had collected his disciples; he had taught them the nature of his religion; he had given them his parting counsel, and there was nothing remaining to be done but to return to God. We see here that Jesus was careful that his great and important work should be done before his dying hour. He did not postpone it to be performed just as he was leaving the world. So completely had he done his work, that even before his death he could say, "I have finished the work." How happy would it be if men would imitate his example, and not leave their great work of life to be done on a dying bed! Christians should have their work accomplished, and when that hour approaches, have nothing to do but to die, and return to their Father in heaven.

(g) "I have glorified" Jn 14:13 (h) "I have finished" Jn 19:30, 2Ti 4:7

With thine own self. In heaven, granting me a participation of the same honour which the Father has. He had just said that he had glorified God on the earth; he now prays that God would glorify him in heaven.

With the glory. With the honour. This word also includes the notion of happiness, or everything which could render the condition blessed.

Before the world was. There could not be a more distinct and clear declaration of the pre-existence of Christ than this. It means before the creation of the world; before there was any world. Of course, the speaker here must have existed then, and this is equivalent to saying that he existed from eternity. See Jn 1:1,2, 6:62, 3:13 Jn 16:28. The glory which he had then was that which was proper to the Son of God, represented by the expression being in the bosom of the Father (Jn 1:18), denoting intimacy, friendship, united felicity. The Son of God, by becoming incarnate, is represented as humbling himself (Greek, he "emptied himself"), Php 2:8. He laid aside for a time the external aspect of honour, and consented to become despised, and to assume the form of a servant. He now prays that God would raise him up to the dignity and honour which he had before his incarnation. This is the state to which he is now exalted, with the additional honour of having made atonement for sin, and having opened the way to save a race of rebels from eternal death. The lowest condition on earth is frequently connected with the highest honours of heaven. Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks to him that is humble and of a contrite spirit.

(i) "with the glory" Jn 1:1,2, Php 2:6, He 1:3,10

Have manifested thy name. The word name here includes the attributes or character of God. Jesus had made known his character, his law, his will, his plan of mercy--or, in other words, he had revealed GOD to them. The word name is often used to designate the person, Jn 15:21, Mt 10:22, Rom 2:24, 1Timm 6:1.

Which thou gavest me. God gave them to him in his purpose. He gave them by his providence. He so ordered affairs that they heard him preach and saw his miracles; and he gave them by disposing them to follow him when he called them.

Thine they were. All men are God's by creation and by preservation, and he has a right to do with them as seemeth good in his sight. These men he chose to designate to be the apostles of the Saviour; and he committed them to him to be taught, and then commissioned them to carry his gospel, though amid persecutions, to the ends of the world. God has a right to the services of all; and he has a right to appoint us to any labour, however humble, or hazardous, or wearisome, where we may promote his glory and honour his name.

(k) "manifested" Ps 22:22, Jn 17:26 (l) "the men which thou gavest" Rom 8:30, Jn 17:2,9,11 (m) "they have kept thy word" Heb 3:6

They have known. They have been taught that and have believed it.

Hast given me. This refers, doubtless, to the doctrine of Christ, Jn 17:8. They are assured that all my instructions are of God.

The words. The doctrines. Christ often represented himself as instructed and sent to teach certain great truths to men. Those he taught, and no others. Jn 5:30.

(n) "the words thou givest me" Jn 6:68, 14:10

I pray for them. In view of their dangers and trials, he sought the protection and blessing of God on them. His prayer was always answered.

Not for the world. The term world here, as elsewhere, refers to wicked, rebellious, vicious men. The meaning of this expression here seems to be this: Jesus is praying for his disciples. As a reason why God should bless them, he says that they were not of the world; that they had been taken out of the world; that they belonged unto God. The petition was not offered for wicked, perverse, rebellious men, but for those who were the friends of God and were disposed to receive his favours. This passage, then, settles nothing about the question whether Christ prayed for sinners. He then prayed for his disciples, who were not those who hated him and disregarded his favours. He afterward extended the prayer for all who should become Christians, Jn 17:20. When on the cross he prayed for his crucifiers and murderers, Lk 23:34.

For they are thine. This is urged as a reason why God should protect and guide them. His honour was concerned in keeping them; and we may always fill our mouths with such arguments when we come before God, and plead that his honour will be advanced by keeping us from evil, and granting us all needful grace.

I am glorified in them. I am honoured by their preaching and lives. The sense of this passage is, "Those who are my disciples are thine. That which promotes my honour will also promote thine. I pray, therefore, that they may have needful grace to honour my gospel, and to proclaim it among men."

(o) "I pray not for the world" 1Jn 5:19

I am no more in the world. I have finished my work among men, and am about to leave the world. See Jn 17:4.

These are in the world. They will be among wicked men and malignant foes. They will be subject to trials and persecutions. They will need the same protection which I could give them if I were with them.

Keep. Preserve, defend, sustain them in trials, and save them from apostasy.

Through thine own name. Our translators seem to have understood this expression as meaning "keep by thy power," but this probably is not its meaning. It is literally "keep in thy name." And if the term name be taken to denote God himself and his perfections (Jn 17:6), it means "keep in the knowledge of thyself. Preserve them in obedience to thee and to thy cause. Suffer them not to fall away from thee and to become apostates."

That they may be one. That they may be united.

As we are. This refers not to a union of nature, but of feeling, plan, purpose. Any other union between Christians is impossible; but a union of affection is what the Saviour sought, and this he desired might be so strong as to be an illustration of the unchanging love between the Father and the Son. See Jn 17:21-23.

(r) "keep through" 1Pet 1:5, Jude 1:24 (s) "thine own name" Prov 18:10

While I was with them in the world. While I was engaged with them among other men--surrounded by the people and the temptations of the world. Jesus had now finished his work among the men of the world, and was performing his last offices with his disciples.

I kept them. By my example, instructions, and miracles. I preserved them from apostasy.

In thy name. In the knowledge and worship of thee. Jn 17:6-11.

Those that thou gavest me, &c. The word "gavest" is evidently used by the Saviour to denote not only to give to him to be his real followers, but also as apostles, It is here used, probably, in the sense of giving as apostles. God had so ordered it by his providence that they had been given to him to be his apostles and followers; but the terms "thou gavest me" do not of necessity prove that they were true believers. Of Judas Jesus knew that he was a deceiver and a devil, Jn 6:70: "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" Judas is there represented as having been chosen by the Saviour to the apostleship, and this is equivalent to saying that he was given to him for this work; yet at the same time he knew his character, and understood that he had never been renewed. None of them. None of those chosen to the apostolic office.

But the son of perdition. Mt 1:1. The term son was given by the Hebrews to those who possessed the character described by the word or name following. Thus, sons of Belial-those who possessed his character; children of wisdom -those who were wise, Mt 11:19. Thus Judas is called a son of perdition because he had the character of a destroyer. He was a traitor and a murderer. And this shows that he who knew the heart regarded his character as that of a wicked man--one whose appropriate name was that of a son of perdition.

That the scripture, &c. Jn 13:18. Comp. Ps 41:9.

(t) "that the scripture might be fulfilled" Ps 109:8, Acts 1:20

My joy fulfilled, &c. Jn 15:11. The expression "my joy" here probably refers to the joy of the apostles respecting the Saviour--the joy which would result from his resurrection, ascension, and intercession in heaven.

I have given them &c. See Jn 17:18.

The world hath hated them. Jn 15:18-21.

That thou shouldest take them out of the world. Though they were going into trials and persecutions, yet Jesus did not pray that they might be removed soon from them. It was better that they should endure them, and thus spread abroad the knowledge of his name. It would be easy for God to remove his people at once to heaven, but it is better for them to remain, and show the power of religion in supporting the soul in the midst of trial, and to spread his gospel among men.

Shouldest keep them, from the evil. This may mean either from the evil one--that is, the devil, or from evil in general--that is, from apostasy, from sinking in temptation. Preserve them from that evil, or give them such grace that they may endure all trials and be sustained amid them. Mt 16:13. It matters little how long we are in this world if we are kept in this manner.

(v) "that thou shouldest" Gal 1:4

Sanctify them. This word means to render pure, or to cleanse from sins, 1Thes 5:20, 1Cor 6:11. Sanctification in the heart of a Christian is progressive. It consists in his becoming more like God and less attached to the world; in his getting the ascendancy over evil thoughts, and passions, and impure desires; and in his becoming more and more weaned from earthly objects, and attached to those things which are unseen and eternal. The word also means to consecrate, to set apart to a holy office or purpose. See Jn 17:19; also Jn 10:36. When Jesus prayed here that God would sanctify them, he probably included both these ideas, that they might be made personally more holy, and might be truly consecrated to God as the ministers of his religion. Ministers of the gospel will be really devoted to the service of God just in proportion as they are personally pure.

Through thy truth. Truth is a representation of things as they are. The Saviour prayed that through those just views of God and of themselves they might be made holy. To see things as they are is to see God to be infinitely lovely and pure; his commands to be reasonable and just; heaven to be holy and desirable; his service to be easy, and religion pleasant, and sin odious; to see that life is short, that death is near; that the pride, pomp, pleasures, wealth, and honours of this world are of little value, and that it is of infinite importance to be prepared to enter on the eternal state of being. He that sees all this, or that looks on things as they are, will desire to be holy. He will make it his great object to live near to God and to glorify his name. In the sanctification of the soul God makes use of all truth, or of everything fitted to make a representation of things as they are to the mind. His Word states that and no more; his Spirit and his providence do it. The earth and the heavens, the seasons, the sunshine and the rain, are all fitted to teach us his goodness and power, and lead us to him. His daily mercies tend to the same end, and afflictions have the same design. Our own sickness teaches us that we are soon to die. The death of a friend teaches us the instability of all earthly comforts, and the necessity of seeking better joys. All these things are fitted to make just representations to the mind, and thus to sanctify the soul. As the Christian is constantly amid these objects, so he should be constantly growing in grace, and daily and hourly gaining new and deeper impressions of the great truths of religion.

Thy word is truth. All that thou hast spoken--that is, all that is contained in the Bible. All the commands and promises of God; his representations of his own character and that of man; his account of the mission and death of his Son; of the grave, the resurrection, judgment, and eternity, all tend to represent things as they are, and are thus fitted to sanctify the soul. We have here also the testimony of the Saviour that the revelation which God has given is true. All that God has spoken is true, and the Christian should rejoice and the sinner should tremble. See Ps 19:7-14.

(w) "Sanctify" Acts 15:9, Eph 5:26, 2Thes 2:13 (x) "thy word is truth" Ps 119:151

I sanctify myself. I consecrate myself exclusively to the service of God. The word sanctify does not refer here to personal sanctification, for he had no sin, but to setting himself apart entirely to the work of redemption.

That they also, &c.

1st. That they might have an example of the proper manner of labouring in the ministry, and might learn of me how to discharge its duties. Ministers will understand their work best when they most faithfully study the example of their great model, the Son of God.

2nd. That they might be made pure by the effect of my sanctifying myself--that is, that they might be made pure by the shedding of that blood which cleanses from all sin. By this only can men be made holy; and it was because the Saviour so sanctified himself, or set himself to this work so unreservedly as to shed his own blood, that any soul can be made pure and fit for the kingdom of God.

(y) "And for their sakes" 1Cor 1:2,30 (1) "sanctified", or "truly sanctified"

Neither pray I for these alone, &c. Not for the apostles only, but for all who shall be converted under the preaching of the gospel. They will all need similar grace and be exposed to similar trials. It is a matter of unspeakable joy that each Christian, however humble or unknown to men--however poor, unlearned, or despised, can reflect that he was remembered in prayer by him whom God heareth always. We value the prayers of pious friends. How much more should we value this petition of the Son of God! To that single prayer we who are Christians owe infinitely more real benefits than the world can ever bestow; and in the midst of any trials we may remember that the Son of God prayed for us, and that the prayer was assuredly heard, and will be answered in reference to all who truly believe.

All may be one. May be united as brethren. Christians are all redeemed by the same blood, and are going to the same heaven. They have the same wants, the same enemies, the same joys. Though they are divided into different denominations, yet they will meet at last in the same abodes of glory. Hence they should feel that they belong to the same family, and are children of the same God and Father. There are no ties so tender as those which bind us in the gospel. There is no friendship so pure and enduring as that which results from having the same attachment to the Lord Jesus. Hence Christians, in the New Testament, are represented as being indissolubly united--parts of the same body, and members of the same family, Acts 4:32-35. 1Cor 12:4-31, Eph 2:20-22, Rom 12:5. On the ground of this union they are exhorted to love one another, to bear one another's burdens, and to study the things that make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another, Eph 4:3, Rom 12:5-16.

As thou, Father, art in me. See Jn 14:10 This does not affirm that the union between Christians should be in all respects like that between the Father and the Son, but only in the points in which they are capable of being compared. It is not the union of nature which is referred to, but the union of plan, of counsel, of purpose--seeking the same objects, and manifesting attachment to the same things, and a desire to promote the same ends.

That they also may be one in us. To be in God and in Christ is to be united to God and Christ. The expression is common in the New Testament. The phrase here used denotes a union among all Christians founded on and resulting from a union to the same God and Saviour.

That the world may believe, &c. That the world, so full of animosities and fightings, may see the power of Christian principle in overcoming the sources of contention and producing love, and may thus see that a religion that could produce this must be from heaven. Jn 13:34. This was done. Such was the attachment of the early Christians to each other, that a heathen was constrained to say, "See how these Christians love one another!"

And the glory, &c. The honour which thou hast conferred on me by admitting me to union with thee, the same honour I have conferred on them by admitting them to like union with me.

May be one, even as we are one. Not in nature, or in the mode of existence-for this was not the subject of discourse, and would be impossible--but in feeling, in principle, in purpose. Evincing, as the Father and the Son had always done, the same great aim and plan; not pursuing different interests, or counteracting each other's purposes, or forming parties, but seeking the same ends by the same means. This is the union between the Father and the Son. Always, in the creation, preservation, and redemption of the world, the Father and the Son have sought the same object, and this is to be the model on which Christians should act.

(a) "And the glory which thou gavest" 2Cor 3:15

May be made perfect in one. That their union may be complete. That there may be no jars, discords, or contentions. A machine is perfect or complete when it has all its parts and is in good order--when there is no portion of it wanting. So the union of Christians, for which the Saviour prayed, would be complete or perfect if there were no controversies, no envyings, no contentions, and no heart-burnings and jealousies. It is worthy of remark here how entirely the union of his people occupied the mind of Jesus as he drew near to death. He saw the danger of strifes and contentions in the church. He knew the imperfections of even the best of men. He saw how prone they would be to passion and ambition; how ready to mistake love of sect or party for zeal for pure religion; how selfish and worldly men in the church might divide his followers, and produce unholy feeling and contention; and he saw, also, how much this would do to dishonour religion. Hence he took occasion, when he was about to die, to impress the importance of union on his disciples. By solemn admonition, and by most tender and affecting appeals to God in supplication, he showed his sense of the value of this union. He used the most sublime and impressive illustration; he adverted to the eternal union between the Father and himself; he reminded them of his love, and of the effect that their union would have on the world, to fix it more deeply in their hearts. The effect has shown the infinite wisdom of the Saviour. The contentions and strifes of Christians have shown his knowledge in foreseeing it. The effect of all this on religion has shown that he understood the value of union. Christians have contended long enough. It is time that they should hear the parting admonitions of their Redeemer, and go unitedly against their common foe. The world still lies in wickedness; and the friends of Jesus, bound by the cords of eternal love, should advance together against the common enemy, and spread the triumphs of the gospel around the globe. All that is needful now, under the blessing of God, to convince the world that God sent the Lord Jesus, is that very union among all Christians for which he prayed; and when that union of feeling, and purpose, and action shall take place, the task of sending the gospel to all nations will be soon accomplished, and the morning of the millennial glory will dawn upon the world.

I will. This expression, though it commonly denotes command, is here only expressive of desire. It is used in prayer, and it was not the custom of the Saviour to use language of command when addressing God. It is often used to express strong and earnest desire, or a pressing and importunate wish, such as we are exceedingly anxious should not be denied, Mk 6:25, 10:35; Mt 12:38, 15:28.

Where I am. In heaven. The Son of God was still in the bosom of the Father, Jn 1:18. Jn 7:34. Probably the expression here means where I shall be.

My glory. My honour and dignity when exalted to the right hand of God. The word "behold" implies more than simply seeing; it means also to participate, to enjoy. Jn 3:3, Mt 5:8.

Thou lovedst me, &c. This is another of the numerous passages which prove that the Lord Jesus existed before the creation of the world. It is not possible to explain it on any other supposition.

(b) "be with me where I am" 1Thes 4:17

Hath not known thee. Jn 17:3.

Thy name. Jn 17:6.

And will declare it. After my resurrection, and by the influence of the Holy Spirit, Lk 24:45, Acts 1:3.

I in them. By my doctrines and the influences of my Spirit. That my religion may show its power, and produce its proper fruits in their minds, Gal 4:19. The discourse in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters is the most tender and sublime that was ever pronounced in our world. No composition can be found anywhere so fitted to sustain the soul in trial or to support it in death. This sublime and beautiful discourse is appropriately closed by a solemn and most affecting prayer--a prayer at once expressive of the profoundest reverence for God and the tenderest love for men--simple, grave, tender, sublime, and full of consolation. It is the model for our prayers, and with like reverence, faith, and love we should come before God. This prayer for the church will yet be fully answered; and he who loves the church and the world cannot but cast his eyes onward to that time when all believers shall be one; when contentions, bigotry, strife, and anger shall cease; and when, in perpetual union and love, Christians shall show forth the power and purity of that holy gospel with which the Saviour came to bless mankind. Soon may that happy day arise!

Our blessed Saviour having ended his consolatory and valedictory sermon, contained in the three foregoing chapters; in this chapter we have recorded his last prayer, with and for his disciples, before he left the world; which is a copy left upon earth, of what he doth now intercede for as an advocate in heaven. "It is good (saith one) to compare scripture with scripture, but not to prefer scripture before scripture; all scripture being written by inspiration of God:" but if any part of scripture be magnified above another, this chapter claims the pre-eminence; it contains the breathings out of Christ's soul for his church and children, before his departure; not for his disciples only, but for the succeeding church to the end of the world.

In the verse before us, observe, 1. These words spake Jesus; that is, after he had finished his excellent sermon, he closes the exercises with a most fervent and affectionate prayer; teaching his ministers, by his example, to add solemn prayer and supplication to all their instructions and exhortations: if every creature of God be to be sanctified by prayer, much more the word of God, which works not as a natural agent, but as a moral instrument in God's hand. Now as God sets the word on work, so is it prayer that sets God on work.

Observe, 2. As the order of Christ's prayer, so the gesture in which he prayed: He lifted up his eyes to heaven: as an indication of his soul being lifted up to God in heaven; to signify his reverence of God, whose throne is in heaven; and to denote his confidence in God, and raised expectation of aid and help from God, and not from any creature.

Learn, that the gestures which we use in prayer, should be such as may express our reverence of God, and denote our affiance and trust in him:

Observe, 3. The person prayed to, God, under the appellation of a Father: it intimates a sweet relation; it is a word of endearing affection, and implies great reverence towards God, and great confidence and trust in him.

Learn, it is very sweet and comfortable in prayer, when we can come and call God Father.

Observe, 4. The mercy prayed, for; The hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify thee. The hour is come; that is, "The hour of my sufferings, and thy satisfaction; the hour of my victory, and of thy glory; the hour, the sad hour, determined in thy decree and purpose." No calamity can touch us till God's hour is come; and when the sad hour is come, the best remedy is prayer, and the only person to fly unto for succour is our heavenly Father.

Father, the hour is come, the doleful hour of my death and passion; glorify thy Son, glorify him at his death, by manifesting him to have been the Son of God; glorify him in his death, by accepting it as the death of thy Son for the sins of the world: glorify him after his death, by a speedy resurrection from the grave, and triumphant exaltation at thy right hand.

Here note, how the glory of the Father and the Son are inseparably linked together; it was the Father's design to glorify the Son, and it was the Son's desire to have glory from the Father, for this end, that he might bring glory to the Father: Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.

Observe here, 1. The dignity which Christ was invested with, power over all flesh: that is, authority to judge and sentence all mankind.

Observe, 2. How Christ came to be invested with this power; it was given him by his Father: Thou hast given him power over all flesh. Hence the Socinians would infer, that he was not God, because he received all from God; but the text speaks not of his divine power as God, but of his power as Mediator.

And the note is, that all mankind is under the power and authority of Jesus Christ as Mediator: he has a legislative power, or a power to give laws to all mankind; and a judiciary power, or a power to execute the laws that he hath given.

Observe, 3. The end for which Christ was invested with this power: That he might give eternal life to as many as God hath given him.

Here note, 1. That all believers, that is, all sincere and serious Christians, are given by God the Father unto Christ; they are given to him as his charge, to redeem, sanctify, and save; and as his reward, Isa 53:10.

2. All that are given to Christ, have life from him; a life of justification and sanctification on earth, and a life of glory in heaven.

3. The life which Christ gives to them that are given him, is eternal life.

4. That this eternal life is a free gift from Christ unto his people; though they do not work for wages, yet they shall not work for nothing: I give unto them eternal life.

That is, "This is the true way and means to obtain eternal life, namely by the true knowledge of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ the Mediator, who was commissioned and sent by his Father to accomplish the work of redmption for a lost world."

Here observe, Christ calls God the Father the only true God; not in opposition to the Son and Holy Ghost, who, being one in essence with the Father, are truly and really God, as well as the Father; but in opposition to idols and false gods. There is a great difference betwixt these two propositions: the Father is the only true God, and the Father only is true God. Christ saith the former: This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God. The Socinians say the latter: this is life eternal to know only thee to be the true God, and that neither Jesus Christ nor the Spirit are God, but the Father only.

But how comes eternal life to depend as well upon the knowledge of Jesus Christ, as of God the Father, if Jesus Christ, be only man, and not truly and really God? For this our Saviour affirms, This is life eternal, to know thee and Jesus Christ.

Whence learn, 1. That the beginning, increase, and perfection of eternal life, lieth in holy knowledge.

2. That no knowledge is sufficient to eternal life, but the knowledge of God, and Jesus Christ, who is also God; for who can think that the knowledge of a mere creature should be accounted equally necessary to salvation with the knowledge of the great and mighty God?

Surely, if our happiness consists equally in the knowledge of God and Christ, then God and Christ are of the same nature, equal in power and glory. The comprehensive sense of the word seems to be this, "That the knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ the Mediator, is the life of grace, and the necessary way to the life of glory."

Learn hence, that the whole life of Christ, while here on earth, was a glorifying of his Father; he glorified his Father by the doctrine which he preached; he glorified his Father by the miracles which he wrought; he glorified his Father by the unspotted purity and innocency of his life, and by his unparalleled sufferings at his death.

That is, I am now about to finish it: he speaks of what he was resolved to do as already done.

Here note, 1. That it is work that glorifies God.

2. That every man has his work, his proper work, assigned him by God.

3. This work must be finished here upon earth.

4. That, when we have done our proportion of work, we may expect our proportion of wages.

5. That it is a blessed thing at the hour of death to be able to say in sincerity and uprightness, that we have glorified God in the world, and have finished the work which he appointed us to do; Father, I have glorified thee on earth; and have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

From the connection of this with the former verse learn, 1. That whoever expects to be glorified of God in heaven, must glorify him first here upon earth.

2. That, after we have glorified him, we may expect to be glorified with him and by him. I have glorified thee, and now, O Father, glorify thou me; it follows, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Here note, 1. That Christ as God, had an essential glory with God the Father before the world was: he had this glory not in the purpose and decree of God only, as the Socinians would have it; for he doth not say, "Glorify me with the glory which thou didst purpose and prepare for me before the world was:" but "which I had and enjoyed with thee before the world was:" by which words our Lord plainly asserts his own existence and being from eternity, and prays for a re-exaltation to that glory which he enjoyed with his Father before his incarnation.

Note, 2. That Christ, as Mediator, did so far humble himself, that he needed to pray for his Father to bestow upon him the glory which he wanted; namely, the glory of his ascension and exaltation: Now, O Father, Glorify me with thine own self.

As if Christ had said, "Father, glorify me, embrace and honour me as thy Son, who have been, in the eyes of the world, handled disgracefully as a servant." It is an actual glory that Christ speaks of, not in decree and purpose only, for that believers had as well as he; but this was a glory when no creature was in being.

By the name of God, we are here to understand his nature, his property, and attributes, his designs and counsels for the salvation of mankind. Christ, as the prophet of his church, made all these known unto his people.

Learn hence, that Jesus Christ has made a full and complete discovery of his Father's mind and will unto his people: I have manifested thy name unto them which thou gavest me; thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

Learn, 1. That all believers are given unto Christ, as his purchase, and as his charge: they are given him as his subjects, as his children; as the wife of his bosom, as the members of his body.

Learn, 2. That none are given to Christ but those that were first the Father's: Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.

Learn, 3. That all those that are given unto Christ, do keep his word; they keep it in their understandings, they hide it in their hearts, they feel the force of it in their souls, they express the power of it in their lives: They have kept thy word.

Observe here, 1. The faithfulness of Christ in revealing the whole will of his Father to his disciples.

2. The proficiency of his disciples in the school of Christ: They knew all the things which Christ had told them; namely, that whatsoever he had, was given him of the Father, and that he had these things from him to be a mediator.

Learn hence, that Christ hath approved himself a faithful prophet to his church; a faithful messenger from his Father to his people, in that he hath added nothing to his message, nor taken nothing from it.

2. That it is our duty to know and believe on Christ, as the only messenger and mediator sent of God: Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

As if Christ had said, "The message by thee my Father committed to me, I have communicated to them my disciples, and they have received it, and will communicate it from thee to the world; being sufficiently assured that my coming and preaching was all by commission from thee."

Hence learn, 1. That the doctrine of the gospel, which was revealed by Christ, was received from the Father.

2. That faith is a receiving of the word of Christ, and of Christ in and by the word. Receiving is a relative term, and presupposes an offer. God offers on his part, and we receive on our part, the whole word with the whole heart. That the ministers of the gospel are to preach that, and only that, which they have out of the word of God: I have given them the word which thou gavest me.

That is, "I now offer up a prayer particularly, 1. For my apostles, designed for so great a work as the preaching of the everlasting gospel to the obstinate Jews and obdurate Gentiles.

2. I intercede also for all believers at this time, for their perseverance in the faith, and constancy in persecution, but I do not now intercede for the wicked and impenitent world, they not being capable (whilst such) of these mercies and blessings;" though at other times we find him praying for the world, yea, for his very crucifiers: Father, forgive them, &c.

Nay, in this very prayer, at the 20th verse, he prays for the world; that is, for the Gentile world; all those that, by the preaching of the apostles and their successors, should be brought to believe on him to the end of the world.

Learn hence, 1. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the great and gracious intercessor.

2. That all believers, all the children of God in general, are under the fruit and benefit of Christ's intercession.

3. That as all the members of Christ in general, so the ministers and ambassadors of Christ in special, have a particular interest in Christ's intercession: and great are the advantages of his intercession for them.

1. From the person interceding, Christ: consider the dignity of his person, God-man: the dearness of his person, God's son.

2. From the manner of his intercession: not by way of entreaty, but meritorious claim.

3. From the sublimity of his office: our intercessor is near to God, even at his right hand.

4. From the fruits of his intercession: it procures the acceptance and justification of our persons, the hearing and answering of our prayers, the pardon and forgiveness of our sins, our preservation in grace, and our hopes of eternal glory.

We may understand this two ways;

1. Of all persons; all my friends, all my disciples, are thine as well as mine.

Thence learn, that the Father and the Son have a like share and property in all believers.

2. The words in the original, being of the neuter gender, signify, all thy things are mine, and all my things are thine.

Christ and his Father are one, and they agree in one; they have the same essence and nature, the same attributes and will; Christ hath all things that the Father hath, willeth all things that the Father willeth, and doeth all things that the Father doeth; he is therefore really and essentially God. It followeth, And I am glorified in them: that is, I am made glorious by their owning and receiving me, by their believing in me, and accepting of me for their Lord and Saviour.

Thence note, that the Lord Jesus Christ is eminently glorified in and by all those that believe in him, and belong unto him.

Here observe, 1. Our Saviour's present condition: I am no more in the world: that is, I shall continue on earth but a small time longer, and then ascend to my Father in heaven.

Learn thence, that Jesus Christ, as he is man, he is gone out of this lower world into the immediate presence of his Father; he had been abased before, he must be exalted now; he had no more work to do on earth, but much to do in heaven, therefore he left this earth to go to heaven.

Observe, 2. Our Saviour's prayer to his Father for his apostles, before he left the world: Holy Father, keep them; that is, preserve them by thy divine power and goodness, for the glory of thy holy name.

Here note, 1. The title and appellation given to God, Holy Father.

Thence learn, that when we go to God in pryaer, especially for grace and sanctification, we must look upon him as an holy Father, as essentially and originally holy, as infinitely and independently holy.

Note, 2. The supplication requested of God: Keep through thy name those whom thou hast given me.

Thence learn, that the perseverance of the saints in a state of grace, is the sweet effect and fruit of Christ's prayer: Christ has begged it, and it cannot be denied; there being such an harmony and sweet consent betwixt the will of the Father the will of the Son.

Three things concur to the believer's perseverance.

On the Father's part there is everlasting love, and all sufficient power.

On the Son's part, there is everlasting merit, and constant intercession.

On the Spirit's part, there is a perpetual inhabitation, and continued influence.

Observe, 3. The end of Christ's supplication on behalf of his people: That they may be one, as we are one.

Here note, 1. That the heart of Christ is exceedingly set upon the unity and oneness of his members. The believers' union with Christ their head, and one with another, has some resemblance to that unity that is betwixt the Father and the Son. For it is an holy and Spiritual union, a close and intimate union, an indissoluble and inseparable union.

Observe, here, 1. That those which shall be saved, are given unto Christ, and committed to his care and trust.

2. That none of those that are given unto Christ, as his charge, and committed to his care and trust, shall be finally lost: Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost: it follows, but the Son of perdition.

A person may be said to be the son of perdition two ways; actively and passively.

Actively, he is so who makes it his work and business to destroy others.

Passively, he is a son of perdition, who for his wickedness in destroying others, is destroyed himself.

Judas was a son of perdition in both these senses; his heart was maliciously set upon destroying Christ, and willfully set upon his own destruction: his coveteousness and hypocrisy prompted him to betray our Saviour, his despair provoked him to destroy himself.

In these words our Saviour declares the great reason why he did at this time so publicly and solemnly pray for his disciples; it was to fill them with joy and comfort, that their joy might not be diminished by Christ's departure, but rather increased by the coming of the Comforter: That they may have my joy fulfilled in them: that is, the joy which they take in me, and the joy which they have from me.

There is a double care which Christ takes of his people; namely, a care of their graces, and a care of their joy and comfort; how solicitious was he to leave his disciples joyful before he departed from them! He delights to see his people cheerful; and he knows of what great use spiritual joy is in the Christian's course, both to enable us for doing, and to fit us for suffering.

Learn hence, 1. That Christ is the author and orignal of the joy of his people: My joy.

2. That it is Christ's will and desire, that his people might be full of holy joy: That my joy may be fulfilled in them.

3. That the great end of Christ's prayer and intercession was, and is, that his peoples' heart may be full of joy: These things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them thy word, partly by external revelation, and partly by internal illumination; and for thy word's sake the world hates them, as also because they are not of the world.

Learn, 1. That Christians, especially ministers to whom Christ has given his word, must expect the world's hatred. Few of the prophets or apostles died a natural death: as their calling is eminent, so must their sufferings be exemplary. The best ministers, and the best men, are usually most hated. There is an antipathy against the power of godliness; or a cruel, causeless, implacable, and irreconcilable hatred against the saints, because of their strictness in religion, and contrariety to the world.

2. That it is to the honour of believers that they are like unto Christ, in being the object of the world's hatred: The world hates them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.

This Christ adds both for information and consolation; for information, that they should look for such hatred, misery, and trouble, as they saw him grapple with; and for consolation, to think that the world can never hate us so bad as it hated Christ.

Here observe, 1. That the wisdom of Christ sees fit to continue his children and people in the world, notwithstanding all the perils and dangers of the world. He has work for them, and they are of use to him, for a time, in the world; till their work be done, Christ's love will not, and the world's malice cannot, remove them from hence. Yet Christ prays that his Father would keep them from the evil; that is, from the sins, temptations, and snares of this wicked world.

Thence note, that a spiritual victory over evil is to be preferred before a total exemption from evil; it is a far greater mercy to be kept from sin in our afflictions, than from the afflictions themselves.

Learn farther, how necessary divine aid is to our preservation and success, even in the holiest and best of enterprizes, and how necessary it is to seek it by fervent prayer.

Note, also, that such as sincerely devote themselves to Christ's service, are sure of his aid and protection whilst so employed.

Sanctify them, not initially, for so they were sanctified already, but progressively: let them increase more and more in grace and holiness.

Learn hence, 1. That such as are already sanctified, must labour and ought to endeavour after further measures and higher degrees of santification: that the most holy may yet be more holy.

2. The word of God is the great instrument in God's hand for his people's santification.

3. That the word of God is the truth of God; Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. The word of God is a divine truth, an eternal truth, an infallible truth, an holy truth.

Observe here, 1. Christ's mission; the Father sent him into the world.

Christ's sending implies the designation of his person, his qualification for the work, his authority and commission.

Learn hence, that Christ did not of himself undertake the office of a Mediator, but was sent; that is, authorized and commissioned of God so to do; Thou hast sent me into the world.

Observe, 2. As Christ's mission, so the apostles' mission: As thou hast sent me, so have I sent them.

Learn thence, that none may, or ought, to undertake the office of the ministry, without an authoritative sending from Christ himself; not immediately and extraordinarily by voice or vision, but immediately by the officers of the church. And such as are so sent, are sent by Christ himself; and if so, it is the people's duty to reverence their persons, to respect their office, to receive their message: As thou hast sent me, so have I sent them.

The word sanctify here, is not to be taken for the cleansing, purifying, or making holy, that which before was unclean; but Christ's sanctifying himself imports,

1. His separation of setting himself apart to be a sacrifice for sin.

2. His consecration or dedication of himself to this holy use and service.

Hence learn, that Jesus Christ did dedicate and solemnly set himself apart to the great work and office of a Mediator.

Learn, 2. That the great end for which Christ did thus sanctify himself, was, that he might sanctify his members; therefore did he consecrate and set himself apart for us, that we should be consecrated to, and wholly set apart for, him.

Hitherto our Saviour had been praying for himself and his apostles; now he prays for all persons, both Jews and Gentiles, that should believe on him, throughout the world, by the preaching of the gospel.

Hence learn, 1. That all believers have a special interest in Christ's prayer.

2. That in the sense of the gospel they are believers who are wrought upon to believe in Christ through the word.

3. That such is Christ's care of, and love to his own, that they were remembered by him in his prayer, even before they had a being: I pray not for these alone, but for all that shall believe in me.

The special mercy, and particular blessing which Christ prays for on behalf of believers, is a close and intimate union betwixt the Father, himself, and them, and also betwixt one another; such an union as doth in some sort resemble that union which is betwixt God and Christ; not an unity of essence and nature, but of wills and affections.

Hence note, 1. That the mystical union betwixt Christ and his members carrieth some resemblance with that union which is betwixt the Father and the Son.

2. That the union amongst the ministers and members of Jesus Christ, is of so great importance, necessity, and consequence, that he did in their behalf principally and chiefly pray for it. An unity of love and affection, of faith and profession, an unity of practice and conversation, are mercies which Christ earnestly prayed for, and has dearly paid for; and nothing is more desired by him now in heaven than that his disciples should be one among themselves here on earth: Father, may they be one, as we are one: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Here Christ intimates one special advantage that would redound to the world by this desirable union betwixt the ministers and members of Christ; it will, if not convert, yet at least convince the world, that I and my doctrine came from God.

Thence note, that union amongst Christ's disciples is one special mean to enlarge the kingdom of Christ, and to cause the world to have better thoughts of him and his doctrine: By their being one, as we are one, the world will believe that thou hast sent me.

Here observe, 1. Christ's communication of that glory to believers, which he had received of the Father; that is, not his essential glory, but his mediatorial glory: The glory which thou gavest me. Now Christ hath no glory given him as God, but much glory bestowed upon him as Mediator.

Observe, 2. The end of this communication,why he gave his disciples that glory which the Father had given him; namely, that they might be one.

Learn, 1. That God the Father had bestowed much glory on Christ his Son, as he is Man, and Mediator of the church.

2. That the same glory for kind and substance, though not for measure and degree, which Christ as Mediator has received from the Father, is communicated to true believers.

3. That the great end of this communication was, and is, to oblige and enable his people to maintain a very strict union among themselves; The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one.

4. That unity amongst believers is part of that glory which Christ as Mediator hath obtained for them.

Observe here, 1. That as the Father is in Christ, so is Christ, in believers, and they in him: the Father is in Christ in respect of his divine nature, essence, and attributes; and Christ is in believers, by the inhabitation of his Holy Spirit.

Observe, 2. That the believers' happiness consisteth in their oneness, in being one with God through Christ, and one amongst themselves: That they may be made perfect in one.

Observe, 3. That God the Father loveth Christ his Son: Thou lovest them, as thou hast loved me.

God loveth Christ, first, as God; so he is Primum Amabile, the first object of his love, as representing his attributes exactly.

Secondly, as Mediator, Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life for my sheep. Joh 10:17.

Observe, 4. That God the Father loves believers, even as he loved Christ himself; that is, he loves them upon the same grounds that he loved him; namely, for their nearness, and for their likeness to him.

1. For their nearness and relation to him; he loveth Christ as his Son, believers as his children, Behold what manner of love the Father bestoweth upon us, that we should be called the sons of God! 1John 3:1.

2. The properties of the Father's love towards Christ and believers are the same: doth he love Christ with a tender love, with an unchangeable love, with an everlasting love? so doth he love believers also.

Observe, 5. That Christ would have the world know, that God the Father loveth the children of men, as well as himself; Christ is not ambitious to engross all our love unto himself, but would have the world take notice of the good-will of his Father, as well as of himself, to lost mankind; of the Father's loving himself, as well as of his own love in coming: That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Our Saviour had prayed for his disciples' sanctification before, here he prays for their glorification:

1. That they may be where he is; now Christ is with them in his ordinances, in his word, and at his table; ere long they shall be with him as his friends, as his spouse, as his companions, in his kingdom.

2. That they may be with him where he is; that is more than the former; a blind man may be where the sun is, but not with the sun, because he doth not enjoy the light and benefit of it. To be with Christ where he is, imports union and communion with him.

3. That being with him where he is, they may behold his glory; that is, to see it, and everlastingly to possess and enjoy it.

Learn, 1. That all those that are given to Christ as his charge, and as his reward, shall certainly come to heaven to him; Father, I will that they be with me; because I have merited that they should be with me; I will that they behold my glory, because I have purchased it at so dear a rate.

Learn, 2. That the work and employment of the saints in heaven chiefly consist in seeing and enjoying Christ's glory; for it will be a possessive sight; the language of every look will be, "This happiness is mine, this glory is mine."

3. That the top and height of the saints' happiness in heaven consists in this, that they shall be with Christ; Father, I will that they may be with me, to behold my glory.

Observe here, 1. The appellation given to God: O righteous Father. This is the sixth time that Christ in this prayer has called God, Father, it being so sweet a relation, and producing all love, delight, joy, and confidence in God, by him that practically reproves it.

But observe, that at verse 11, Joh 17:11, when Christ prayed for his people's sanctification, he said, Holy Father, making use of that attribute which is the cause of all holiness in the creature; but now praying for their glorification, he says, O Righteous Father; righteous in making good thy promises both to me and them.

Observe, 2. What it is that our Saviour affirms concerning the wicked and unbelieving world, that they have not known God; The world hath not known thee; not as if the world hath not known him at all, but not known him aright; the unbelieving and unsanctified part of the world having no saving knowledge of God, not living answerably to what they know to be their duty.

Observe, 3. What Christ affirms concerning himself: But I have known thee, and these have known thee. Intimating thus much unto us, that Jesus Christ knows God immediately, and all others know him by the means of Christ; Christ is the original and fontal cause of all the saving knowledge that believers have of God. There is not the least ray of saving illumniation that doth not descend from Christ and the Spirit of Chirst: I have known thee, and these have known that thou didst send me.

That is, "I have made known unto them thy nature, attributes, counsels, will and commands, and I will continue the manifestation of the same unto the end.

Learn thence, that the saving knowledge of God was not attainable by natural abilities, but cometh to us by the special revelation of Jesus Christ: I have declared unto them thy name.

Learn, 2. That they that have the name of God, his nature, and will, savingly declared to them, do not stand in need of any farther declarations and discoveries of God's nature and will to be made unto them: I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it.

That is, "That the love which is originally in thyself, as the fountain of all grace, may be communicated and dispensed from thee to them, and become inherent in them."

Learn hence, that it is not enough for the people of God that they are beloved of him, and that his love is towards them; but they must endeavour to have it in them; that is, experience it in the effects of it, and in the sense and feeling of it in their own souls.

The safety of a Christian lies in this, that God loves him; but the joy, the comfort, and happiness of a Christ, consists in the knowledge, in the sensible apprehension and feeling, of his love; therefore Christ closeth his prayer for his members, with this affectionate and comprehensive petition: Let the love wherewith thou hast loved me, be in them, and I in them.