But how doth Christ pray, ' Glorify me,' when he saitli elsewhere, John viii. 5, ' I seek not my own glory ' ?
I answer — Christ speaketh there of himself in the judgment of his adversaries, who thought him a mere man, and showeth that he came not as an impostor, to seek himself. God would well enough provide for his glory and esteem. There he disclaimeth all particular private aims, affections, and attempts ; here he sueth out his right according to his Father's promise.
Observe hence —
1. Christ saith, ' The hour is come ;' and then, ' Father, glorify me.' The true remedy of tribulation is to look to the succeeding glory, and to counterbalance future dangers with present hopes. In this prayer Christ reviveth the grounds of confidence. One is, ' Father, glorify
122 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. I.
me.' This was comfort against that sad hour ; and so it must he our course ' not to look to things which are seen, but to things that are not seen,' 2 Cor. iv. 17, to defeat sense by faith. When the mind is in heaven, it is fortified against the pains which the body feeleth on earth. Strong affections give us a kind of dedolency ; a man will ven- ture a knock that is in reach of a crown, 1 Tim. iv. 8. It is the folly of christians to let fancy work altogether upon present discourage- ments. Faith should be fixed in the contemplation of future hopes. It is a sad hour, but there is glory in the issue and close.
2. Observe again, first, Christ had his hour ; then he saith, ' Glorify me.' Luke xxiv. 26, ' Ought not Christ to sufier, and then to enter into his glory?' Shame, sorrow, and death is the roadway to glory, joy, and life ; the captain of our salvation was thus made perfect, Heb. ii. 10 ; and all the followers of the Lamb are brought in by that method. It is the folly of some that think to be in heaven before they have done anything for God's glory upon earth. You would invert the method and stated course of heaven. None is crowned except ho strive lawfully, 2 Tim. ii. 5, 6: and ver. 11, 12, ' It is a faithful saying ; for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him ; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.' It hath the seal of a constant dispensation, it is a faithful saying. All the promises run, ' To him that overcometh.' We must have communion with Christ in all estates : Eom. viii. 17, ' If so be that ye suffer with him, that ye may be also glorified together.' It is a necessary condition : ' We are heirs, if so be that we suffer with him,' &c. We are too delicate ; we would have our path strewed with roses, and do not like this dis- cipline. Abel signifies mourning, and Stephen a crown, they were the first martyrs of either testament. If you want afflictions, you want one of the necessary waymarks to heaven.
3. ' Glorify me.' Christ seeketh not the empty things of this world, but to be glorified with the Father. We want some spiritual ambition, and are too low and grovelling in our desires and hopes : ' If you be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God,' Col. iii, 1. It is no treason to aspire to the heavenly kingdom : Mat. vi. 33, ' Seek first the kingdom of God, and tlie righteousness thereof ; ' and to seek a place on Christ's own throne. Neither is it any culpable self-seeking to seek self in God : J ohn v. 44, ' How can ye believe, that receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God alone ? ' John xii. 43. They ' loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.' Here we may seek our own honour and glory without a crime. Oh ! behold the liberality and indulgence of grace! God hath set no stint to our spiritual desires ; we may seek not only grace, but glory.
4. Christ himself prayeth to be glorified ; it noteth the truth of his abasement. He is tlie Lord of glory, 1 Cor. ii. 8, and had a natural and eternal right : ' He thought it no robbery to be equal with God ; ' and yet Christ himself is now upon his knees. If he had said, Let them be glorified, that had been much, that he would open his mouth to plead for sinners ; but he saith, ' Glorify me,' or ' Glorify thy Son ; ' which is a strange condescension, that he that had the key of David should now be knocking at the Father's gate, and receive his own
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lieaven by gift and entreaty. He might take, without robbery, glory as his due ; yet, as our mediator, he is to ask. When he took our nature, he brought himself under the engagement of our duty.
5. Christ asketh what he knew would be given. So John viii. 50, ' I seek not my own glory ; there is one that seeketh and judgeth.' The Father was zealous for the Son's glory ; there was an oracle from heaven to assure him of it : John xii. 28, ' Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again ; ' meaning, by strengthening him in the work of redemption. And yet now again, ' Glorify thy Son, that he may glorify thee.' Observe, providence doth not take away prayers. We are to ask, though our heavenly Father knoweth we have need of these things, and we know God will give them to us : John xvi. 26, 27, ' At that day ye shall ask in my name ; I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you ; for the Father himself loveth you.' The meaning is, though there be need of my great instance, and I need not tell you I will make intercession ; I pass by that now ; I only tell you of that free access you have to God, and his great affection to you ; yet still you must ask. Assurance is a ground of the more earnest request. When Daniel understood by books the number of the years, then he was most earnest in prayer ; and when Elijah heard the sound of the rain, he prayed. Prayer is to help on providences that are already in motion.