316 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVIT. [SeR. XVIII.
1. They are given to him by way of charge. What his charge was will he opened by considering what the Father proposed concerning the elect, and how the Son undertook it.
[1.] What the Father proposed. The words of heaven are app-qra. p-q/xara, 2 Cor. xii. 4, ' Words which it is not lawful for a man to utter.' 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 suit- able to the transactions and intercourse which pass between man and man. It is usual in scripture to put the passages which concern God and Christ into speeches : Ps. xl. G-8, ' Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened : burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then I said, Lo, I come : in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy Avill, 0 my God ; yea, thy law is within my heart ;' Ps, ii. 8, ' Ask of me, and I Avill give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost 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 afterwards you must see that they be converted to grace, justified, sanctified, guided to glory, and that not one of them doth miscarry ; for I will take an account from you of them. It were easy to prove all these things out of scripture, to wit, that there are a certain definite number whom God chooseth to be vessels of mercy : 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 and sealed, none can add to it, nor detract or take away any one person. And that Christ received a command to lay down his life for them, and for them only : John x. 15, ' I lay down my life for my sheep ; ' and ver. 18, ' This commandment have I received of my Father.' The description is a limitation ; it is for his sheep. God would have none of Christ's blood to run waste. That he is to do this, that the honour of justice may be salved, and so mercy have the freer course : Kom. iii. 2.5, 26, ' Whom God hath set forth to be a pro- pitiation 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, his righteousness; that he may be just, and the jus- tifier of him which believeth in Jesus.' The Son was not only to use entreaty, but to make satisfaction ; not that God by any necessity of nature required it; the exercise of justice is free, and falleth under no laws ; but it was most convenient to preserve a due sense and appre- hension of the Godhead. That Christ was to see them converted, it was the express will of God : John vi. 38, 39, ' For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 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 them up again at the last day ;' and by conversion, to be possessed of all the privileges of the
VeR. 11.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVTT. 317
gospel ; and without miscarrying to be guided unto glory : John x. 28, 29, ' I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father that gave them me is greater than all ; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.' They are one, and act by joint power and joint consent. And after all this, he is to give an account of bodies and souls : John vi. 39, ' That of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise them up again at the last day.' Which accordingly he doth when he presents the kingdom to the Father, and appeareth before him with all his little ones, as a prey snatclied out of the teeth of lions : Heb. ii. 13, ' Behold, I and the children which God hath given me.'
[2.] What Christ undertook ; the whole proposal of the Father was accepted : Ps. xl. 7, 8, ' Lo, I come ; in the volume of the book it is wTitten of me, I delight to do thy will, 0 my God ; yea, thy law is within my heart.' Christ consented to all the articles of the treaty and eternal covenant, not only to take a body to die, but to take a par- ticular charge of all the elect. As Judah interposed for Benjamin, so doth Christ for ail the souls committed to him : Gen. xliii. 9, ' I will be surety for him, of my hand shalt 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 persons that fall under his charge. If I do not see them converted, justified, sanctified, saved, count me an unfaithful undertaker, and let me bear the blame for ever.