(2.) Take in the advantage of external confirmation. By miracles Christ's testimony was made valuable to the apostles. You have not only authentic records, wherein these miracles are recorded, which as a history may be believed, but the testimony of the church, which hath experience of the truth and power of the gospel for many ages ; the lives of the godly, who are called God's witnesses, 1 Cor. xiv. 2G ; the providences of God in delivering his church, in their mira- culous preservations : Ps. Iviii. 11, ' Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.' Answers of prayer grounded on the word.
Upon all these grounds practise upon this truth, that Christ came out from God.
(3.) Choose out to yourselves faithful teachers, such as Christ was, delivering the word with authority and faithfulness to God and men ; such as do not seek their own things, fear no man's face, and come with the powerful evidence and demonstration of the Spirit. And indeed ministers should be careful to manifest themselves to the con- sciences of those with whom they deal, that they may have ' a testi- mony of Christ speaking in them,' 1 Cor. xv. 3, that he teacheth in and l)y them ; they should be assured of their doctrine, that Cln-ist brouglit it out of his Father's heart, not speaking by rote like parrots: 1 John i. 1, ' That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life ; ' that which our hearts have felt, that which we have not by rote, not by guess, but by experience : 1 Tim. vi. 13, ' Jesus Christ, witnessed be- fore Pontius Pilate a good confession.'
3. Observe Christ's gentleness in bearing with their tailings : * Now they have known.' It was ,a long time ere they could be gained to a
VeE. 7.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 223
sense of his diviae power, therefore he chargeth them with hardness of heart, ' Mark vi. 52, ' They considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their hearts were hardened.' So Mark viii. 17, ' Perceive ye not yet, neither understand ? Have ye your hearts yet hardened ? ' And now, in his intercession to his Father, he mentioneth not their hardness, nor the obstinacy of their prejudices, nor their present weakness, but their knowledge : ' Now they know ; ' they have been obstinate, but he covereth that, at least doth but imply it. How will- ing is Christ to spread a garment on our nakedness ! Past sins shall not hurt us when they do not please us. When a man turneth from grace to sin, then all his righteousness is forgotten : Ezek. xviii. 24, 'All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned.' So he that turneth from sin to grace, or from grace to grace : ver. 22, ' All his trangressions that he hath committed they shall not be men- tioned unto him ; ' it is all undone by repentance and reformation. How do men differ from Christ ! We upbraid men with past failings, when they are repented of. It is hard to put off the reproach of youtli ; when God maketh them vessels of mercy, they will not suffer them to be vessels of honour; Hi liomines invident mihi gratiam divinam. As the elder brother upbraideth the reformed prodigal : Luke xv. 30, ' As soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.' This is an envious disposition, and cross to God; you go about to take off the robes of honour which God hath put upon them, and to despoil them as the spouse was of her ornaments.
4. Observe what is the chief object of faith ; to believe the divine authority and commission of Christ, and that his power to dispense salvation to the creatures was given him from his Father. There is a world of comfort in this. The Father, being first in order of the persons, is to be looked upon as the offended party, and as the highest judge.
[1.] He is to be looked upon as the offended party. All sin is against God : Ps. li. 4, ' Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.' He had offended Uriah, abused Bathsheba ; the injury was against them, but the sin against God: ' against thee, thee only.' This may be referred to all the persons, but it chiefly con- cerneth the first person, to whom we direct our prayers, and who is the maker of the law. Christ, the second person, satisfied for the breach of it : ' It is against thee, thee only.' Now this is our comfort, that our guilt and sin was not cast on Christ's person without the Father, without his privity and consent ; nay, it is his own plot and de- sign ; it was the Father's counsel, rather than the creature's desire. So that we may quiet our consciences by that promise, Isa, xliii. 25, ' I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own name's sake.' God the Father would have you look to him as one that hath only to do in this matter. Sin is a grief to the Spirit, it is a crucifying of Christ ; but in the last result of it, it is an offence to God the Father, because it is a breach of his law. God is the fountain of the divinity ; yea, all that is done to the other persons redoundeth to the Father, as our Saviour reasoneth : ' He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.'