2. To confidence. We may boast of his name : Ps. cxviii. 10-12, ' All nations compassed me about : but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They compassed me about, yea, they compassed me about : but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They com- passed me about like bees ; they are quenched as the fire of thorns : for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.' Thrice it is, ' in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.' When we have such a keeper as is omnipotent, why should we fear? Though thou hast so many infirmities, allurements, discouragements, corrupt inclinations, thou standest not by thine own strength. Christ hath engaged God's name to keep thee : Ps. xvi. 8, ' I have set the Lord always before me ; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.' It is well that we have so good a. second: a chri.sti-nn is a soldier that may triumpii
VeR. 11.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 313
before the victory. It was a proverb, ' Let not him that putteth on his armour boast as he that putteth it off.'
3. To tliankfulness. Did we believe the power of corruption, we should be more thankful: 2 Cor. i. 21, 'Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anoinlcd us, is God.' He doth all, and being engaged wilh Christ, by virtue of your interest in him you shall stand. None should be proud of their standing in the state of grace ; God must have all the glory: 1 Peter iv. 11, 'If any man speak, let him_ speak as the oracles of God : if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability that God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.'
SEKMON XVIIL
And noio I am no more in the zvorld, hut these are in the loorld, and I come to thee. Holy Father, heep through thine oivn name those luhom thou hast given me, that they may he one, as ice are. — John XVII. 11.
Fourthly, We are now come to the fourth circumstance, the persons for whom he prayeth, ' Those which thou hast given me.' Some ancient copies read, o oed(OKa<i /xol, ' thy name which thou hast given me ; ' but I will not trouble you with that. Most read as we do, ou?, ' those which thou hast given me.' But who are they ? and what is meant by God's giving us to Christ ? and why is it mentioned here ? The phrase is often repeated, and used in many verses of this chapter.
I shall now explain it once for all.
1. Who are the persons that were given to Christ?
I answer — Generally the elect, particularly the apostles. The elect are and may be comprised within the expression ; for, ver. 9, it is put in contradistinction to the reprobate world, for whom Christ will not pray : ' I pray for them ; I pray not for the world, but for them that thou hast given me, for they are thine.' But in the principal scope of this verse, the disciples of that age are intended, and among them chiefly the apostles, who are e'/cXe/crwi^ eKkeKTorepoi, the elect of the elect ; for he doth principally pray for others afterward : ver. 20, ' Neither pray I for these alone, but for those which shall believe on me through their word.' But after that again, both the disciples and all others that belong to the purposes of God's grace are folded or bound together up in this one expression : ver. 24, ' Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.' All which showeth that this expression, ' those which are given to Christ,' is a character proper and peculiar to the elect, and so Christ meaneth it in this place. Nothing can be objected against this, but that in the verse next my text, ver. 12, ' Those that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition.' So that either we must take this giving in a larger sense, or allow that some of those given to Christ may be lost. I answer —
314 SERMONS uroN JOHN XVII. [Ser. XVIII.
I might take tlie word in a larger sense indeed, as it is sometimes nsed in scripture, for those given to Christ only by way of reward, though not by way of charge, as I shall distinguish ])y and by. Hypocrites, because of their external vocation, are said to be giv^en to Christ by way of ministry and service, but not by way of sjiecial charge. And it is notable what Christ saitli of Judas, John xiii. 18, ' I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen : but that the scripture might be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me ; ' where he slioweth plainly that one of them was not of the num- ber of the elect, and should not receive the privileges of his special charge ; though he was chosen to the calling of an apostle, yet not to eternal life, but only given by way of ministry and service. But this would seem to cross the constant use of the phrase in this chapter. I answer therefore by interpreting the phrase, el /xr/ 6 v'm rrj^i aTToXe/a?, ' but the son of perdition ; ' the words are not exceptive, but adversative, and must be thus construed, ' None of them which thou hast given me is lost, but the son of perdition is lost.' And mark it, ■we do not render it except the son of perdition, but hut 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 ; but when he had mentioned their keeping, he would adversatively put the losing of Judas. This phrase or manner of speech is often used in scripture. So Eev. xxi. 27, ' There shall in nowise enter into it any- thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie ; but they that are written in the Lamb's book of life,' el /mt) ; where the words are not exceptive, for then it would follow that some that work abomination were in the Lamb's book ; but adversative — They shall not enter, but others shall enter. So Mat. xii. 4, ' David entered into the house of God, and did eat the shew-bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests,' el [xr-j ; it is not exceptive, as if they were of David's company, but adversative — It was not lawful for them to eat, but it was lawful for the priests.