(4.) It is unchangeable ; as to Christ, so to us ; from eternity it began, to eternity it continueth : it began before the world was, and will continue when the world shall be no more : Ps. ciii. 17, ' The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children.' It is man's weakness to change purposes ; we have good purposes, but they are suddenly blasted ; but God's eternal purpose, tliat shall stand. We are mutable, and frequently change, out of the levity of our nature or the ignorance of futurity ; therefore upon new events we easily change our minds ; but God, that seeth all things at once, cannot be deceived ; the first reasons of God's love to man are without man, and so eternal. Among the persons of the Godhead, the Son loveth because the Father required it ; the Father, because the Son merited it ; and the Holy Ghost, because of the purpose of the Father ; and the purchase of the Son abideth in our hearts, to preserve us unto God's use, and to keep afoot his interest in us.
VeR. 23.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 81
Thirdly, There are the like fruits and effects of it. I shall instance in some which are like his love to Christ.
1. Communication of secrets. All things are in common amongst those that love one another. Said Delilah to Sampson, Judges xvi. 15, ' How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me ? iliou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.' Now Jesus Christ knoweth all the secrets of God: John i. 18, ' No man hath seen God at any time ; the only- begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' Christ, lying in the Father's bosom, knoweth his nature and his will. So it is with the saints : John xiv. 21, ' He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and he tliat loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.' As God manifested himself to Christ, so Christ will to us. Christ hath treated us as friends : John xv. 15, ' Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth ; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.' The know- ledge of God's ways is a special fruit of his love.
2. Spiritual gifts. God's love to Christ was a bounteous love : John iii. 34, 35, ' God giveth not the Spirit by measure to him : the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands.' God's love was showed to Christ in qualifying the human nature with such ex- cellent gifts of grace. As to us, God's love is not barren ; as a fruit of God's love, Christ received all things needful for us. You will perhaps say, as they replied to God when he said, ' I have loved you, Wherein hast thou loved us?' Mai. i. 2, because he hath not made you great, rich, and honourable. If he hath given us such a proof of his love as he gave to Christ, namely, such a measure of his Spirit as is fit for us, we have no reason to murmur or complain. The Spirit of illumination is better than all the glory of the world : Prov. iii. 32, ' The froward is an abomination to the Lord ; but his secret is with the righteous.' The Spirit of regeneration, to convert the heart to God and heaven : 1 Cor. ii. 12, ' Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given us of God.' The Spirit of consolation, to evidence God's love to us, and our right to glory : 2 Cor. i. 22, ' Who hath sealed us, and given the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts ; ' 2 Cor. v. 5, ' Now he tliat hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.' As the end of his love to Christ's human nature was to bring it to heaven, so the end of God's love to us is to sanctify us, and so to make way for glory.
3. Sustentation, and gracious protection during our work and service. This was his love to Christ : Isa. xlii. 1, ' Behold my servant whom I uphold ; ' ' I am not alone, my Father is with me,' John viii. 16. His enemies could not touch him till his time came: John xi. 9, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day ? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the hght of this world.' As long as the time of exercising his function here lasted, there was such a provi- dence about him as did secure him from all danger ; and till that time was past, and the providence withdrawn, he was safe ; and when that