212 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. IX.
thy will, 0 my God: yea, thy law is within my heart;' Ps. ii. 8, ' Ask of me, and I will give tlice the heathen for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession ;' Ps. ex. 1, ' The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.' The Father came to Christ, and did, as it were, say to him, Son, I am loath that all mankind should be lost, and left under condemnation ; there are some whom I have chosen to be vessels and receptacles of my mercy and goodness ; and because I am resolved that my justice shall be no loser, you must take a body and die for them, and afterward you must see that they be converted to grace, justified, sanctified, guided to glory, and that not one of them should miscarry ; for I will take an account of you at the last day. It is easy to prove all these things out of scripture. That there are a certain definite number, see 2 Tim. ii. 19, ' The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth those that are his.' There is no lottery nor uncertainty in the divine decrees ; the number is stated, sealed; none can add to it, or detract any one person that Christ received a command to lay down his life for : John X. 18, ' This commandment have I received of my Father ;' for them unly I lay down my life, viz., for my sheep. That Christ is to see them converted to grace : John vi. 37, ' All that the Father givetli me shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.' And without miscarrying, guided to glory : John x. 28, 29, ' I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all ; and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.' That Christ is to give an account of bodies and souls : John vi. 39, ' And this is the Father's will that hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.' Which accordingly he doth: Heb. ii. 13, * Behold, I and the children which Grod hath given me,'
[2.] What Christ undertook. The whole proposal of the Father : Ps. xl, 8, ' Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God.' Christ consented to all the articles of the eternal covenant ; not only to take a body to die, but to take a particular charge of all the elect ; as Judah interposed for Benjamin, so doth Christ for the souls committed to him : Gen. xliii. 9, ' I will be surety for him ; of my hand shaft thou require him: if I bring him not to thee, and set him safe in thy presence, let me bear the blame for ever.' So doth Christ say concerning all the per- sons that fall under his charge. If I do not see them converted, jus- tified, sanctified, conducted to glory, count me an unfaithful undertaker, and let me bear the blame for ever.
3. The ground of this charge, why the Father doth not save them by his own power, but committed them to the Son ? I answer —
[1.] Partly in majesty ; God would not pass out grace but by a mediator ; and therefore, when he was resolved that he would not lose the whole race of mankind, but repair his image in some of them, and had selected whom he pleased out of the mass, yet in majesty he would not immediately communicate grace to them but by Christ. There is a difference between man in innocency and man fallen. Man in inno- cency had immediate communion with God ; God was present with
VeR. 6.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 213
liis image : but now man fallen needetli a mediator ; our approaches to God are unhallowed, his presence to us is dreadful : 1 Cor. i. 30, ' Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.' The heathens were sensible of the necessity of intermediate powers (it is strange, you will say), or else what shall we make of that, 1 Cor. viii. 5,{j/ For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many) : but unto us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.'
[2.] Injustice. Though God were resolved to show mercy to the fallen creature, yet he would carry on his act of grace in such a way that justice might be satisfied for sin : Eom. iii. 25, 26, ' Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness ; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.' Therefore, for satisfaction of his justice, he sent his Son into the world, that, taking our nature on him, he might therein suffer for our offences, and mediate a peace between God and fallen man ; and that not by bare entreaty, but by satisfaction ; therefore we are given to Christ. I confess it is hard to say that God by any necessity of nature required this satisfaction ; the exercise of his justice is free, and falleth under no laws ; but it was most convenient to preserve a due sense and apprehension of the Godhead.