1. With respect to believers, ' That they may be made perfect,' &c.
2. With respect to the world, and their conviction, ' That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.'
First, With respect to believers, ' That they may be made perfect in one,' TereXeiQifjLevot et? ev. This oneness is either with God or with one another. Both are included in the mystical union ; we cannot be united to the head, but we must also be united to the members. The golden cherubims did so look to the ark and mercy-seat, that they did also look one towards another, Exod. xxv. 20. So in this union, as we respect God and Christ, so we must also look to our fellow-members : ' Let them be perfect in one ;' let them all centre in God, which is the creature's perfection.
Observe, our perfect happiness lieth in oneness, in being one with God through Christ. I shall evidence it to you in a few particulars.
1. Since the fall man's affections and thoughts are scattered : Eccles. vii. 29, 'God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.' When man lost his happiness, he sought out many inventions. A sinner is full of wanderings, as a wayfaring man that hath lost his direction turneth up and down, and knows not where to pitch ; or tlie needle in the compass, when it is jogged, shaketh and wavereth, and knoweth not where to rest, till it turneth to the pole again. There is a restlessness in our desires ; still we have new pro- jects, and know not where to pitch ; are not content with what we do possess ; this is not the pole where we rest. Qucerunt in vanitate crea- turarum quod amisserunt in uniLate Creatoris. A river, the further it runneth from the fountain, the more it is dispersed into several
70 ' SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XXXIX.
streams. Blindness maketh us grope and feel about for happiness, as the Sodomites did for Lot's door. We change objects, striving to meet with that in one thing which we cannot find in another, as bees fly and go from flower to flower ; we seek to patch up things as well as we can.
2. In all this chase and distraction of thoughts there is no content- ment in the vast world, nothing that can satiate the heart of man. Transitory things may divert the soul, but they cannot content it. After Solomon's survey, Eccles. i. 2, ' Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher ; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' He had made many ex- periments, but still found himself disappointed, and disappointment is the worst vexation.
3. This distraction continueth till we return to God again : 1 Peter ii. 25, ' Ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.' There is no safety but in the fold. God, who is the principle of our being, is the only object of our contentment. We began in a monad or unity, and there we end. God is the boundary of all things : Rom. xi. 36, ' For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things ; to whom be glory for ever, Amen.' In him, or nowhere, the soul findeth content. He is our first cause and our last end. There are some scrictures and rays of goodness in the creature, but they cannot satisfy, because there we have happiness by parcels ; it is dispersed. Nothing is dispersed in the creature but what is re-collected in the creator ; there is all in him, because all came out from him.
4. The great work of grace is to return us to God again, that we may pitch upon him as the chief object and centre of our rest : Jer. xxxii. 39, 'I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever.' It is the great blessing of the covenant ; this one heart is to pitch upon God as the chief object and centre of our rest, otherwise we are troubled with divers cares, fears, and desires. Thus grace worketh upon us. But the distance lieth not only on our part, but God's. Before God and the creature can be brought together, justice must be satisfied. Christ came to restore us to our primitive condition : 2 Cor. v. 19, ' God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.' The merit of Christ bringeth God to us, and the Spirit of Christ bringeth us to God. It is as necessary Christ should be united to us, as we to God.
5. Our happiness in God is completed by degrees. In this life, the foundation is laid : we are reconciled to him upon earth ; but the complete fruition we have in heaven ; there we are fully made perfect in one. Here there is weakness in our reconciliation : we do not cleave to him without distraction ; there are many goings a-whoring and wandering from God after our return to him. And here, on God's part, our punishment is continued in part. God helpeth us by means, at second and third hand. We need many creatures, and cannot be happy without them ; we need light, meat, clothes, house. Our life is patched up by supplies from the creature. But there ' God is all, and in all,' 1 Cor. xv. 28. We find in God whatever is necessary for us without means and outward helps. There ' God is all, and in all ;* he is our house, clothes, meat, ordinances. We have all immedi-