Use 2. It is a pledge of the Father's love to us ; and if God gave Christ, that was so dear to him, what can he withhold ? Eom. viii. 32, ' He that spared not his own Son, but gave him up to the death for us all, how will he not with him also freely give us all things?' He spared him not ; the Son of his love was forsaken and under wrath ; and will he then stick at anything ? God's love is like himself, in- finite ; it is not to be measured by the affection of a carnal parent. Yet he gave up Christ. Love goeth to the utmost ; had he a greater gift, he would have given it. How could he show us love more than in giving such a gift as Christ ? John xvi. 22, ' The Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God.' God hath a respect for those that believe in Christ, and receive him as the Son of God.
Use 3. It is an engagement to us to love the Lord Jesus : 1 Cor. xvi. 22, ' If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema maranatha.' Shall we undervalue Christ, who is so dear and precious with God ? Let us love him as God loved him.
1. God loved him so as to put all things into his hands: John iii 35, ' The Father loveth the Son, and hath put all things into his hand.' Let us own him in his person and office, and trust him with our souls. He is intrusted with a charge concerning the elect, in whose hands are your souls : 2 Tim. i. 12, ' I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day.'
2. God hath loved him, so as to maj^e him the great mediator to end all differences between God and man. God hath owned him from heaven : Mat. iii. 17, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Do you love him so as to make use of him in your communion with God ? Heb. vii. 25, ' Wherefore is he able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through him, seeing he
76 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XL.
ever liveth to make intercession for us.' Tliat is the sum of all religion.
3. God loveth him so as to glorify him in the eyes of the world : John V. 22, 23, ' The Father judgeth no man ; but hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father that hath sent him.' Do you honour him ? Phil. i. 21, kixol TO ^fjv Xpicrro?, ' To me to live is Christ,' should be every christian's motto. This is love, and not an empty profession. Christ will take notice of it, and report it in heaven ; it is an endearing argument when the Father's ends are complied with : John xvii. 10, ' And all thine are mine, and mine are thine, and I am glorified iii them.'
SERMON XL.
/ in them, and iJiou in me, that they may he made perfect in one ; and that the luorld may hioiv that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. — John XVII. 23.
I COME now to the second observation, that God loveth the saints as he loved Christ.
The expression is stupendous ; therefore divers interpreters have sought to mitigate it, and to bring it down to a commodious inter- pretation.
First, KaOoD^, as, is a note of causality as well as similitude. He loveth us because he loved Christ. Therefore it is said : Eph. i. 6, ' He hath made us accepted in the beloved.' The elect are made lovely, and fit to be accepted by God, only by Jesus Christ ; accepted both in our state and actions as we are reconciled to him ; and all that we do is taken in good part for Christ's sake, who was sent and intrusted by the Father to procure this favour for us, and did all which was necessary to obtain it. The ground of all that love God beareth to us is for Christ's sake. There is indeed an antecedent love showed in giving us to Christ, and Christ to us : John iii. 16, ' For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son — That whoso- ever believeth in him should not perish, bat have everlasting life.' The first cause of Christ's love to us was obedience to the Father ; the Son loved us, because the Feather required it ; though after- wards God loved us because Christ merited it. All consequent benefits are procured by the merit of Christ. The Father,- that is first in order of persons, is first in order of working, and can have no higher cause than his own will and purpose. And . besides, there is an obligation established to every person. . Absolute elective love is the Father's property and personal operation ; but then his eternal purpose is brought to pass in and through Jesus Christ. In the carriage of our salvation, Christ interposeth ; so we are chosen in him as head of the elect, Eph. i. 4, pardoned, justified, sanctified, glorified in and through him. All these benefits and fruits of God's love are procured by Christ's