(1,) Look to the distinction. How many steps of election may we walk up ? That we were not toads and serpents, but men, the same nothing was as pliable ; not men only, but christians, within the pale of the church ; not christians at large, but born there, where the mists and fogs of popery were dispelled ; nor Protestants at large, but called to a stricter profession ; still in every degree multitudes were cut off. That I was not a christian, but a minister, an officer in the church : 1 Tim. i. 12, ' He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.' Plato gave thanks for three things — that he was a man, not a woman ; a Grecian, not a barbarian ; not an ordinary Greek, but a philosopher. A christian may much more give thanks.
(2.) To the reason of this distinction : John xiv. 22, rt je^yovev,
198 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. VII.
* How is it that tliou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world ? ' Luke i. 43, ' And whence is this to me, that the motlier of my Lord should come unto me ? ' When you have searched all you can, you must rest in Christ's reason : Mat. xi. 26, ' Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.' God's supremacy over all things in heaven and in earth maketh him free to choose or refuse whom he pleaseth. It is not because you were better disposed than others; many of a better temper were passed by : God raised up a habitation to the Spirit out of crabbed knotty pieces. A man in a wood leaveth the crooked timber for fuel. The young man that went away sad was of such a sweet natural temper, that it is said, Christ loved him.
Secondly, Let us now come to the reasons why he prayeth for them.
First, What he did : ' I have manifested thy name to them ; ' in which Christ intimateth his own faithfulness and their future useful- ness. His own faithfulness ; for this was one way of Christ's glorifying his Father on earth, by communicating the tenor of the christian doctrine to the disciples ; so that some of them by the light received were to be special instruments of converting the world. 'Ecpavepcoaa, ' I have manifested ; ' by outward teaching, and inward illumination. Outward teaching was necessary ; the mystery of the gospel was but sparingly revealed by former prophets ; but Christ, who was in the bosom of the Father, knew the depth and bottom of it' John i. 18,
* No man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him ; ' and accordingly he revealed it to the disciples. And besides, by an inward light he gave them to understand it ; for Christ preached publicly, but all did not understand him, but those to whom ' it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,' Mat. xiii. 11. So much is intimated in the word icjiavipcoaa. And herein Christ fulfilled that prophecy, Ps. xxii. 22, ' I will declare thy name unto my brethren.' The dis- ciples of Christ, especially the apostles, are adopted into the privileges of co-heirs with Christ, and therefore to them he declared his Father's name, than which there could not be a greater privilege. Now by the name of God, some understand one thing, some another, according to the different acceptations of the word 7iame. Largely, and more generally, we may understand, whatever is necessary to be known and believed to salvation concerning God's will and essence ; that is his name ; all by which the Father might be known, as men are known and distinguished by their names. The meaning is, that he had made known to them the whole doctrine concerning God's will and essence, teaching them that in one essence of God there are three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; that the Father begot the Son, his substantial image, by'eternal generation, and sent him in time, that he might take a true human nature on him, that so he might become a mediator between God and us, by whom alone we have access to God, that we may obtain grace and life eternal. Now this he manifested in his doctrine, in the course of his life, and by the light of the Spirit, freeing them from all prejudices, contracted by their own darkness, or the obscure doctrine that was then taught in the church.
1. Observe Christ's faithfulness to his own charge. He opened all the mysteries of God's name, that is, of the true religion to them.
VeR. 6.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 199
We that are ministers, and you that are masters of families, should learn of him. It is our duty to teach the flock committed to our charge : Acts xx. 20, ' I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, teaching you publicly, and from house to house.' We are to draw out all the truths necessary to salvation. It is not enough that ministers live honestly and unblamably, that they are hospitable and kind, but they must teach the people to read Grod's name. If you hire a man to prune the vineyard and he diggeth in the field, to fight in the battle and he watcheth the stuff, it is not the work you set him about. So to you that are masters of families; the apostles were Christ's own family ; God expecteth it from you : Gen. xviii. 19, ' I know him, that he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.' Do not disappoint the Lord ; he reckoneth upon it ; your family should be a little flock, a little church. Families are the fountains of church and commonwealth. Oh ! how sweet will it be when we come to die, if we could say, as Christ, we concerning our flock, you concerning your families, ' I have manifested thy name to them that thou gavest me out of the world ; thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.'