im ſtical Expreſſions to this purpoſe, if we conſider what might lead | him thereto : For we muſt remember, Firſt, That he was a SpeQa- for of our Lord's Crucifixion, and then beheld, upon the piercing of his Side, the ſtreaming forth of the Water and Blood; which it ap- ears at that time made a very deep Impreffion upon his Mind, as his Vords about it in his writing his Goſpel import : There came out B:n1d and Water, and he that ſaw it, bare Record, and his Record »s tru? : and he knoweth that he ſaith true, that ye might believe, John 19. 34,35. That he there lays fo great a weight on it, imports that he apprehended fome great Myſtery, 1f not intended, yet very apt to be tignitied by it. And, 2. That he wasa Few, and ( as is probable) wrote this Epiſtle to Fews, among whom the ſo frequent Ablutions withi\/ater, as well as the ſhedding the”Blgod of Sacrifices were moſt known things, and intended to typifie { what they ought to have underitood, and he now intimates ) theſe very things, the Purityand Dying of the Meſſiah. -Not to infiſt upon what he had long ere now cccation to obſerve in the Chriſtian Church, Baptiſm, and the Supper of 047 Lord, repreſenting in effet feverally the ſame things Neither w.:s this way of Teaching unuſual, nor theſe Expreſſions leſs intelligi- ble, than our Lord's calling himſelf( as this Evangeliſt alſo records) a Shepherd, a Door, a Vine, &c. That the Spirit is ſaid to bear witneſs, ſee verſe 7, 8. = For there are three rhat bear record in heaven, the Father, the F Word, and the huly Ghoſt : and theſe threeare one 7. | 2 Having mentioned the Spirit's teſlifying in the cloſe of werſe 6. he returns to give us in order, in theſe two verſes, the whole Teſti-' mony of the Truth of Chriſtianity, which he reduces to tivo Terna- 1:es of Witneſſes, The Matter of their Teſtimony is the ſame with that ot their Faith, who are born of God, that Feſus s the Son of God, end the Meſſiah, as may be colle&Fed from what was ſaid before, verſe 1. and 5, and what 1s ſaid afterwards,. verſe 9, What they be- l1ere, 1s no other thing than what the/e teſtify. For the fir8 Three in Heaven, that 1s not ſaid to fignifie Heaven to be the p/1ce of their teſtifying : for though the ſame thing concerning Feſws be alſo no dou>t teſtified to the Glorious Inhabitants: of that World; yet that 1s not the Apoſtle's preſent Scope, but to ſhew what reaſon we hive, who inhabit this World, to belicve Jeſus to be Chriff, and the Son of G14, In Heaven therefore is to be referred to | Three, ] not to | bear record or witneſs } as if the Text were read, - which it may as well, There are Three in Heaven, why bear witneſs ; the Defign be- ing to repreſent their immediate teſtifring from thence unto us, or the Glorious, Heavenly, Majeſtick manner of their teſtifying. So tne Father teſtifyed of the Man Feſws by immediate Voice from Heaven, at his Baptiſm and Transfiguratiom, This is my Son, &c. The Eternal Word owned its Union with him, in that Glory with which it ſo eminently. cloathed his Humanity, and which viſibly ſhone through it in the holy Mount, whereof this Apoſtle was a SpeQator, and whereto he ſeems to refer in his Goſpel, chap. 1. 14. We beheld his Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father, 1. e. Such as ſufficiently teſtified him to be ſo, even the very Son of God. And the Holy Ghoſt teſtified, deſcending as a Dove in a viſible glo- rious Appearance upon him, at his Bapt ſm alſo. And theſe three are one, viz. not only agreeing Teſtimony, as verſe 8. but in Unity of Nature, an expreſs Teſtimony of the Triune Deity, by whatſoever careleſneſs or 1ll deſign left out of ſome Copies, but ſufficiently de- monſtrated by many moſt ancient ones, to belong to the Sacred Text : Of which L. Brug. Not. in Loc. with the other Criticks, and at large Dr. Hammond,
IFO HN
Chap. V.
Teſtimony on his own Soul ; if not, he gives God the Lie, as we do to any one whoſe Teſtimony we believe not. See John 3. 33- 11 And this is the record, that God gath given to. us eternal lite || : and * this life is in his Son. * Joh. 1.4. || His Teſtimony, that this is his Son and the Chriſt, imports fo much that eternal Life is in him, as the Source and Fountain of it : ſothat he gives it to us no other way than in and by him.
12 * He that hath the Son, hath lite; and he that
hath nor the Son of God. hath not lite ||. || And therefore that we partake this Life, or partake 1t not, as by Faith we are united with him, or not united.
13 || Theſe things have I written unto you rhat be- {| John 23, lieve on the name of the Son of God ; that ye may * * know q that ye haveeternal life, and that ye may be- lieve on the name of the Son of God,
9 That diſcerning their own Faith, they might be in no doubt concerning their Title to Eternal Life, and might be thereby encou- raged to perſevere in the ſame Faith.
14 And this is the confidence that we have|| in him, that * jf we ask any thing according to his will 7, he heareth us, + ;
7 Viz. According to his Will, not negatively, as it only doth not for- 5:4 our praying for, or enjoving ſuch, and ſuch things, but poſitive- ly, i. e. accorcing to his Will ſignified, 1. By bs Commands, 1. E- when the matter of our Pray##s is ſome ſpiritual good thing, which was before the matter of our Duty ; as when we pray for Grace to enable us to be, and to ad» what he requires us, as far as our preſent ſtate will ad- mit. 2.” By his Promiſes, which are more abſlute and particular, 1N reference to things of that Nature, Matth. 5.5. Luke 11.13. Inre- ference to things of an inferior Nature, of a conditional Tenor Or move general, the things promiſed coming under the common Notion of good things, not in themſelves only, but for ws, in preſent Circumſtances 3 which, whether they be or no, he reſerves to himſelf the liberty of determining, and doth only promiſe them, if they be ; and ſo we are only to pray for them ; for that is prayins, according to what ſignifi- cation he hath given us of his Will, in ſaci caſes. And fo we are al- ways ſure to be heard in the former Caſe, in the very particular kind, about which his Will is exprefly made kftown before-hand.
15 And it we know that he hears us, whatſoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we defired of him /.