Use 2. Let us consecrate and give up ourselves to Christ. Walk as his : 1 Cor, iii. 23, ' Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's ! ' Look for all from him, by dependence on him ; be whatever you are to him, to his glory. You are given up to him, you are not at your own dis- pose ; neither tongue, nor heart, nor estate is thine ; God gave it, and if thou art a christian, thou hast given up thyself to him.
SERMON IX.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the loorld : thine they ivere, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy ivord. — John XVII. 6.
Secondly, They are committed to him by way of charge.
In opening this I shall inquire — ■
1. Who are the persons that are thus given to Christ?
I answer — The elect, and no other. They are given to him out of the world, a selected company ; as in the text, ' Those whom thou hast given me ;' such as shall surely and infallibly be brought to grace, and conducted to glory : John vi. 37, ' All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me ;' and ver. 39, 40, ' This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose notliing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believetli on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.' And can the Father's will be disa[)pointed ? (I wonder what can men object against so plain a scripture !) And when they are come
Ver. 6.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 211
they cannot miscarry : ' This is the will of him that sent me, that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing ;' not a leg, not a piece of an ear. Christ hath received a special charge.
But you will say, It is said, John xvii. 12, ' Those which thou hast given me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdi- tion.' So it seemeth some may be lost which are given to Christ.
[1.] I answer — The word given is there used indefinitely, for those given to Christ by way of reward, as well as those given to him by way of charge. Hypocrites, because of their external vocation, are said to be given to Christ by way of ministry and service, but not by way of special charge. That is notable which Christ saith, John xiii. 18, * I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen : but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth with me hath lift up his heel against me.' Where he showeth plainly that one of them was not of the number of the elect, and should not receive the privileges of his especial charge ; though he was chosen to the calling of an apostle, yet not to eternal life. Christ knoweth the number of the heirs of salvation, and who only are given him by way of ministry and service of the church.
[2.] I may answer by interpreting the phrase el /u,i) 6 vm Tr)<i u7roXeta<i. The words are not exceptive, but adversative ; none of them is lost, but the son of perdition is lost ; the words are not rendered ' except the son of perdition,' but, ' but the son of perdition ; ' it is not nisi, but sed. There is no exception made of Judas, as if he had been given to Christ, and afterward had fallen away. It is not nemo nisijilhis perditio7iis, but when he had mentioned their keeping, he would adversatively put the losing of Judas. This phrase or man- ner of speech is often used in scripture ; so Kev. xxi. 27, ' And there shall in nowise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie ; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life ;' el firj, where the words are not exceptive ; for then it would follow that some which work abomination should enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but adversative, these shall not enter, but others shall enter. So Mat. xii. 4, ' It was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those which were with him, but only for the priests;' el yu.?), it is not exceptive, as if the priests were of David's com- pany.
2. What was this charge ? It will be opened by considering what the Father proposed concerning the elect, and what the Son imder- took.
[1.] What the Father proposed. The words of Heaven are cipp'qra p/]/j,aTa, ' unutterable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter, 2 Cor. xii. 4. Those secret ways of discourse and communication between the Father and the Son are to be adored with reverence and deep silence, were it not that the Spirit of God hath put them into such forms as are suitable to those transactions and intercourses which are between man and man. It is usual in scripture to put the passages between God and Christ into speeches : Ps. xl. 6-8, ' Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire ; mine ears hast thou opened : burnt- offering and siu-oflering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come ; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do