-- CHAPTER VII: The oneness and intimacy of communion which the Trinity the motive of God's ordainin
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore-appointed unto glory?' This hath still bred a murmuring at God in all ages, even in David's, who takes men up for it: Ps. 4:3, 'Know the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself;' and God's setting him apart is that which made him godly; and therefore do you all stand in awe, and sin not by murmuring at it; for God will enjoy his freedom, having mercy on whom he will.
CHAPTER VII
The oneness and intimacy of communion which the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost had and have amongst, themselves, was an original and primordial motive of God's ordaining us unto union and communion with himself.
It is an ancient and renounced* saying of Nazianzen, Bonum unitatis a Trinitate originem ducit, that this good blessing of unity draws and derives its rise and original from the Trinity; that three persons subsisting, and being one in the Godhead, was the foundation and original inducement for the union of a creature with God, or of persons of an intelligent nature, who only were capable of it.
And that which hath induced me to take this as a motive, and not as a bare exemplar and sampler of it, is the inculcation and reiterated mention by Christ of his and his Father's oneness so oft and so many ways in this short prayer. You find it first in ver. 11, 'that they be one, as we are;' and again, ver. 21, 'that they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us;' and ver. 22, 'That they may be one, as we are one;' and then again, ver.
23, 'I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.'
These so many repeated indigitations, with so much urgency in this last short prayer, I know not how to understand them to be only explanations of what kind of union he meant, which I intimated before was yet meant; or that only their union was the pattern or exemplar of ours, to which many interpreters do only carry it. Nor it
is only to shew the order and descent of our union; as that, first, the Father is in Christ, which union of them is the supreme rank of union, and then, Christ in us is a lower and inferior. All these, I confess, are intended, and as such intended, and are high instructions and doctrinal truths to be observed by us concerning this union, from this his so praying about it. But he uttering them to his Father prayer-wise, or in way of petition and supplication to obtain this union for us, I cannot but withal consider them intended also as arguments and grounds to move him thereunto as well as any other. And the rest of the passages are generally so understood. And there is one word in ver. 21, 'That they also may be one in us.' This word also hath more in it than what is in ver. 11, 'as we are one;' or than that it should barely be to signify, that by way of exemplar or similitude only they should be one; but it further speaks an inducement to move his Father to grant it, because he and his Father were one; that therefore also let them be 'one in us.' Which is as if he had said, Thou knowest what an entire intimacy of union hath been between us, 'Thou in me, and I in thee,' and how sweet it hath been unto us; I enjoy it, and thou art and hast been intimately delighted in it. Farther (says he), be moved to let these also have the like participation of it in us, and with us.
That each of the persons in the Trinity do speak one of and to the other in this language of us and we, and withal that their being one in essence or in the Godhead, though persons distinct therein, is signified thereby, I have in a foregoing discourse* traversed the Scriptures to demonstrate, beginning at Moses, Gen. 1, 'Let us make man,' and carried it on throughout unto this very speech of Christ's in this prayer, and found that alone, with other such Scriptures as fall in with it to illustrate it, to be a full and rich argument of the Trinity of the persons, and their being one God, so as I sought no other proof. And I did single out and premise that sole proof, because the pursuit of that truth under the style of us did happily aforehand make way for, and especially give light unto, this I am now to prosecute upon this foundation: 'As we are one.'
At the first making of man there was such a consultation of the persons held, and God the Father says to the other two, 'Let us make man according to our image.' Wherein yet man's union with God was then no way expressed or signified by the union which those three persons had in the Godhead, either as the motive unto it, or as the pattern of it. Nor was that communion they hold made any motive or inducement to make man, but all that is said is, that he should be made 'according to their image.' Whereby whether the image of the divine perfections in holiness and righteousness, or of Christ as Godman, predestinated afore all worlds, be meant, is not material here, but only that a consent and consultation of the persons was held to make him such. But here we see that when this super-creation union, whereby the elect were to be made one with Christ, and so with God his Father, and by consequence with the Holy Ghost indwelling in us also, comes to be spoken of, our Lord doth, as in the person of the second person (which he was) as well as of man, pray to his Father to vouchsafe a like union unto that of their own between themselves, and, as a motive thereunto, induceth the oneness themselves had,
'That they may be one in us, as we are one.'
And look as when the apostle would move the saints to be one among themselves, endeavouring to 'keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,' as Eph. 4:3, he there enforceth his persuasive by the unity of the three persons in their offices or relations towards us: ver. 5–7,
'There is one God, the Father of all, and one Lord Jesus Christ.' There is but one that hath dominion over you all, and there is but one
Spirit, which, as the soul in the body, enliveneth, informs all and every member. In like manner when Christ, in prayer to his Father, would move him to admit and entertain us into that oneness with the three persons themselves, he urgeth it upon the union and fellowship those persons have among themselves; and it is not their having agreed to take several relations or offices to us, and for our salvation, which he specifies and denotates them by (as in that other in Eph. 4), but simply their oneness and communion one with another.
And although the third person, the Spirit, is not here in this prayer specified (as neither is he in usual blessings of wishing grace, &c., or doxologies, and glory be to, &c., but only the Father and the Son), yet elsewhere (besides in that of Genesis, 'Let us make man,' I have shewed) he comes in as one of this supreme us as a third person, and that as particularly as the Son and Father here: Isa. 6:8, 'I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?'
The second person, the Son, had appeared in glory, ver. 1, compared with John 12:41. And who then is this other person that says, 'Whom shall I send?' who also is one of the us, but even the Holy Ghost, who (as Acts 13:2) sends out his ministers as a distinct single person of himself; and that it was the Holy Ghost, will be evident, if we also compare Acts 28:25, 'And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers.' The apostle applying that speech in Isaiah expressly unto the Holy Ghost's having uttered and said it. So then, as there in Isaiah, there are but two persons, the Son and the Spirit, who are in express mentioned, and yet in that us all three are intended, so here in the we and us which Christ speaks in the language of, unto his Father, the Spirit is also involved and intended.
Yet I find Calvin to caution against this interpretation, which the ancient fathers against Arius did so much and so oft betake themselves unto as a strong bulwark and fortress, maintaining and defending the deity of the second person in oneness with the Father, as we are one; they also withal observing that oneness of the persons in the divine essence to be the pattern or exemplar of our union. But Calvin, although he takes notice of this argument of the ancients, yet runs counter, and affirms,* that whenever in this chapter Christ speaks of his being one with the Father, he speaks not simply of the divine essence (or his being one with the Father in respect of that essence), but speaks it only as he is God-man and mediator. But Gerard heroin doth rightly oppose him, arguing from that parallel speech of Christ's in chap. 10 ver. 30, 'I and my Father are one,' which being taken with Christ's own interpretation of it, ver. 38, 'The
Father is in me, and I in the Father,' both which are just the same speeches that Christ useth of his union and the Father's here; now, there, says he, we must understand it of the oneness he had with his
Father as God, and so as simply considered a person that was God; and that was it the Jews quarrelled his speech for, that 'he being a man, made himself God,' ver. 33.
But I shall compound this difference, and yield unto Calvin thus far, that Christ herein prays, both as he is mediator and man, and also in the name and interest of himself, as second person, as in many other passages he speaks; and there is no absurdity in comprehending both, whilst both interests conduce, and are pleadable to obtain the same thing. May not any one, who hath two interests or personal conditions, whereupon to pray for one individual, use arguments from both? There is no contradiction in so doing: as for a prince to pray as a king for his subjects, and as a man and a Christian, upon a common account, and to urge motives from either. And if two such pleas may agreeably and suitably meet in and under one expression that will comprehend both, who shall except against this? especially when the one of them is the foundation of the other. The truth is,
Christ hath a double oneness with his Father; the first and original oneness, as he is second person, one God with his Father; and this is the sovereign, essential, and supreme rank of onenesses which is proper to the Trinity; it is the oneness of the 'first three' simply and alone considered amongst themselves. But, secondly, there being an admission and assumption of the man Jesus (who spake this) into a personal union with the Son of God, the second person, he thereby is become free of the us, or of the company of the persons, and one with them: in respect of which union, the man Jesus might and doth say, as on our behalf, 'Let them be one with us, as I am with thee, O
Father;' and this union is a lower union than the first, and the first is the original and the ground of this: and when one interest is the ground and original of another, we may very well understand both to he comprehended in such a speech, but yet especially that which is the original one; for it is in the virtue of that, that the secondary underived one comes to have its existence. And therefore his being
one with God, as second person, is chiefly to be attended in the saying, 'That they may be one, as we are one,' &c.
Look, then, as in the fore-cited place, John 10:30, he says, 'I and my Father are one,' he there speaks both as second person, and that in that respect he is one in power, will, &c., with God his Father (for in respect of equal power it is he speaks it, as the former speeches in ver. 28 and 29 do shew): the same holds true in all other essential attributes of the Godhead, that as such, he is one with the Father in them (which is the primary and fundamental oneness), and yet withal we must take in the man Jesus, who being one person with that second person (who was thus one God with his Father), that he also in a true sense speaks it, as appears by his own explanation of that former speech: 'Say ye, Thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God: and so one in essence with God?' And then, ver. 37 and 38, 'If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not: but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him,' which he speaks as God-man, as well as second person; for he refers himself as to the evidence of this, that he was in the Father, and the Father in him
(which is all one, and to he one with God, as ver. 30) unto the works put forth visibly in him, as he was a man visible afore them, whom they heard to utter it: 'Believe me for the works' sake, that the Father is in me, and I in him;' and so that I am the Son of God, and therefore as man one with the Son of God, who is one God with the Father. In like manner, when here in prayer he says, 'My Father and I are one,' this speech is to be understood as comprehending both these unions, both as Son of God, as second person, and also Godman, through union with that person.
Thus much in answer to Calvin's caution, and for a general introduction unto this second motive, from the three persons.
SECTION I
The second motive in God's heart, drawn from the union and communion of the Three Persons in the Trinity, branched into two particulars: the first is, that their union in essence, or their common enjoyment of one and the same Godhead, did move them to make creatures partakers of such an enjoyment, as far as they could possibly be capable of it.
This motive, drawn from the Trinity, divides itself into two branches, which in themselves are distinct, and apart to be considered:
1. Their oneness in essence; or that the Father, and Son, and Spirit, have, in their common and blessed enjoyment, one and the same
Godhead, and all the perfections thereof; and how this did move them to make creatures partakers of the same enjoyment, as far as creatures possibly are capable of.
2. The second is, their mutual intercourse and society, as persons, one with another, and the sweetness of that converse those three persons had among themselves; that also was an inducement to take up creature-fellowship and communion into a participation of that sweet society.
These are different notions and considerations; the first being founded upon the oneness of the three persons in an one enjoyment of that one Godhead; the other upon their converses had between themselves, as persons subsisting in that Godhead, glorifying, loving, and speaking to each other from everlasting.
The first of these I found upon John 17 ver. 10 and 11: 'And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.'
In which words the grand and final petition, and in which all the rest of the words do centre, is that short clause at the close of ver. 11, 'that they may be one, even as we are one.' But he had permitted as a
foundation thereunto (or for a fore-explanation rather), what it was he meant to comprehend in the last words of that petition, 'as we are one.' And the words he premits that do fore-explain his clause, are the first words of ver. 10, 'All things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine.' And these two passages, which are the first and last in those two verses, are to be brought together, and more closely connected, as holding the nearest intimacy, as will appear. But yet there is the interposition of another petition before this last grand one, that coming between keeps them two passages a long while asunder, and from closing each with other, until he should finish that other petition; and that intervening request is, 'Holy Father, keep them which thou hast given me through thine own name.' And to insinuate that to keep them in holiness, is that which he means, he accordingly compellates or calls upon his Father under the title or attribute of Holy Father; thereby suiting the attribute to the thing prayed for, as that which was to be the cause proper of the thing prayed for as the effect, and the fittest motive thereunto, which is frequently done in Scripture prayers. Now, this somewhat long petition, with these adjacents, coming between those two, first, verse
10, and last passages, verse 11, mentioned; the last of them (which I call the grand petition), 'that they may be one, as we are one,' at the first appearance seems wholly, and only to join, or connect with, or belong to, that long intervening petition, whereunto he prefixeth this motive also, 'And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.' The petition is to keep them in holiness; and that whilst they are in the world: 'Keep them' in holiness, 'that they may be one as we are one.' And it is true, these do relate and connect thus together; but they do not solely, or only refer thus together; as if that they may be one, &c., were cut off from, and had nothing at all to do with, those other so distant words at the beginning of verse 10, 'All that are mine are thine,' &c.; whereas, indeed, there is the nearest alliance and affinity, yea, identity between the very last words, 'as we are one,' with those first words,
'All mine are thine, and thine are mine,' Both of them are perfectly one and the same in sense and substance, and a plain explanation the one of the other; for, for Christ to say to his Father, 'All mine are
thine, and thine are mine,' is all one as to say, 'we are one.' For the first signifies that there is nothing that we have divisum, apart, as Calvin's word is, and must therefore be one: so perfectly doth this express their unity. When, therefore, Christ shall, in the close of this grand petition, make this as his great ground and foundation to obtain this like union on our parts, both with himself and his Father, and urge and plead 'as we are one,' which imports both that because we are one, as also after the similitude of our being one, let them be so; and when we do find that declaration that went before (and indeed stands alone), 'All mine are thine, and thine mine,' to be the most exquisite (though in larger words) description or periphrasis to set out what and wherein the unity of these two persons we doth consist, then certainly that speech, 'All mine are thine,' must most rationally be conceived by us to have been intended and forelaid as a like ground and plea for this our union also, and withal explanatory of it. And being one and the same in substance and effect of sense, it must be accounted that Christ doth, both at the beginning of this part of his prayer, and again in the close, enforce this for us; with a double repeated strength. In the first, that seeing we are so much one, that all things the one of us have, the other hath; and thou having designed an oneness for them with us, let them attain a participation of the same; that all things that are thus ours, may he theirs also together with us. And then again, that in the close he should reiterate, 'that they may be one as we are,' this drives the nail home to the head a second time, and at last. And herein we may discern our Lord his vehement zeal and desires for us, to have this our union granted and accomplished with his Father and himself; and that it should be sure to be such a union, that is as like unto their own union us was possible, in the participation of all things which themselves have in common between them. And this, he shews, he desires above all things else which his soul did, or indeed could desire for them, which argues the depth of his love and dear affection to us. And indeed, there is nothing is, or can be, above this; and you see how express he is, to set out what he meaneth by that oneness he prays for, and wherein it consisteth, in so exquisite a deciphering of it; namely, verse 10, that it was a participation of all things with God
and Christ, which themselves have one with another; no less, than that all that is God's might be theirs; than which, there is not a more comprehensive and greater blessedness (as to the matter of it) to be conceived or imagined.
You may now also easily discern the reason, why he brought in that interposed petition, that they might be kept in holiness whilst they were in this world, afore he would conclude with that final grand petition, 'that (so) they may be one,' &c., which yet was his general aim and centre, wherein all lines afore in verse 10 and 11 do meet. It was an advantage that the bringing in of that was delayed to the last.
Here are two things differing, that are the several subjects of these two several petitions: the first, is the accomplishment of a perfect union of us with Christ and God, to be attained in the life to come; for it is the perfection of our union which Christ's heart and eye was intent upon in this prayer, as appears by verse 24. And this is the last petition, and final conclusion of all, 'that they may be one.' The second is for the means, in order to the attainment thereof, that they may be 'kept in holiness,' and this throughout the rest of their time in this life. And this is in the intervening petition subordinate to the last, as a means to an end; 'that they may be one,' as the particle ἵνα, that, doth shew; and this being kept he prays for, as that which in this world was to be done for them so expressly; 'these are in the world, and now keep them,' &c. And therefore the oneness, in order to the attainment of which he intends this, their being kept, &c., is principally that union at the end with him in the other world; which also this falls in to confirm, it is, that all things of God's and Christ's do become theirs; and so makes them as entirely one with God and Christ, as mere creatures can be: it is 'he that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son,' Rev.
21:7.
And they do but narrow it, who understand it only of our oneness one with another; and who limit it yet further, unto that which ought to be in this life, which I have spoken to elsewhere. Now, then, although that first passage at the beginning of verse 10, 'All mine are
thine.' &c., might presently have had to succeed it, that last petition at the end, 'that (so) they may be one,' according to the true tenor of Christ's meaning in those other words, yet our Lord, to make his prayer yet more full and comprehensive, he chose to fetch in and interweave this other, which he knew was the necessary means for the attainment of complete union, and suspends that conclusive one, that they may be one, which was the end and aim of all, until that was finished; and then doth at once bring in what was his aim, and the elixir of that his premised speech, 'All mine is thine,' &c. Take both the description also of what that oneness was he prayed for; take it also as it imported the most bottom ground, and strongest motive to obtain it at his Father's hands; that seeing we are both so happy, as that all things are mutually one another's, let them all be theirs also, according to thine own intendment; and then you will see which was the end why he would have them kept in holiness without fail throughout this life. And indeed it is the great end, the greatest we con arrive at, and the end of all the words; into which as into the common sea, or receptacle of all, those remoter words, 'all mine,' &c., do with the fuller stream pour forth, and empty themselves most of all.
In fine to sum up all (for I would be understood), it is as if Christ had said, O Father, seeing that all things whatsoever in the Godhead, or any way belonging to the Godhead, being in common mine as thine, and thine as mine; and in that community, that unity and communion of us both consists, and is that whereby we as two persons are one, communicating in all these; yea, and that withal these apostles, whom I now pray this for, are in a more special and endeared manner both thine and mine, and endeared to us by our mutual-like propriety and interest in them for each other's sake; my great request is, that these may be also one as we are, that is, by their oneness with us, let them partake of, and communicate in, all the good things and blessedness that we do, even of the divine nature, and of what belongs to us, in their capacity, with us: even as we by out being one, do enjoy all these glories together (only we are one with an essential oneness and communication, which these can never
be); but let these be one with us, in a fruition of all of ours for their good and happiness, as far as creatures are capable of it, for their eternal blessedness.
There being not a greater truth which concerneth our salvation, or that makes for our comfort; and it being so full to that which we have pursued, and which hath been the main design of our election, wherein Christ, knowing what God's heart is, doth pray at this rate, viz., our union with God; and this text also more clearly expounding, and laying open wherein the quintessence of our union with God consists, viz. in a possession and enjoyment of all that is mutually
God's or Christ's; and also it discovering the very original motion, motus primo primus, the first firstly motion of all other, and is the very corner stone and original both of our election and salvation amongst the persons: I shall therefore insist yet more largely, and speak to what may be further supplied to what hath been said, to confirm more fully the truth of this interpretation and connection.
There are four things incumbent on me to explain, in order to demonstrate this to have been the true and natural scope.
1. What should be the extent of the 'All mine are thine, and thine are mine;' that is, what that all should be, and what it reacheth to; and whether it be to be limited to the persons of the apostles, of whom he had said afore, 'they are thine,' in the words afore; and in the words after, 'I am glorified in them.' Thus some, especially the Socinians, would have it, so to cut off the argument from thence that Christ is
God, because all things the Father hath are his.
2. Since that speech of his is spoken of his Father, and of himself; and himself therein considered as the second person, as well as that he is God-man, and so of them as simply they are persons in the Godhead, though not on* Christ's part, as he is God-man, is also intended, and to be taken in; now it is to be queried whether the intent of this all things, &c., reach unto the perfections of the divine
nature itself, for so I do include both the one consideration of them as well as the other.
3. That this speech, 'All mine,' &c., doth most expressively set forth, yea, is all one in substance with what he closeth this part of his prayer with, ver. 11, 'as we are one;' and is all one in effect as to have said, Herein consists our oneness, that all mine is thine, and thine mine, according to the similitude of which, let them be one with us also.
4. How putting thus all these things together, there should be a motive plea, and an argument arise up in it, that God the Father, and God the Son (as two persons), being one in the enjoyment of the divine nature, and all things belonging to them, that therefore he should have ordained, and accordingly should be moved now to grant, that these his elect should be one as they are, and admit them unto this communication of all things also, and wherein that motive should lie.
These four things are punctual to the point in hand, and must all four necessarily concur to the demonstration of it.
1. As to the first, there is some appearance, and that entertained by many interpreters, that he having just afore said, 'I pray for all those thou hast given me, for they are thine;' and after, in the next words that follow in the same ver. 10, 'I am glorified in them' (and in both these meaning and intending the persons of his apostles); that therefore in these words that come between his sole, or at least primary, intent, should be only to plead that all the persons that are mine through thy gift, ver. 6, are thine, and thine are mine; and that therefore we, O Father, being, both my mutual interest and consent, engaged to these persons, as ours alike, therefore save, keep them, and make them one with us, as it follows, ver. 12. And thus unto the persons of the apostles, whom he prays for, do some interpreters wholly and strictly limit the words, and the Socinians especially; the all here being to be limited (say they) unto the subject he was
speaking of, which were the persons of the apostles. And by this their limitation of it, they utterly exclude and cut off all or anything else belonging to the Godhead in common, as no way here intended.
But I would and do take in all, both the persons of the apostles and all things else: the persons, as the subject prayed for, involving and strengthening his motive; for in that they were mutually and alike his
Father's and his, and for one another's sakes; and then all things I take in, as the things for which he prayed for them to he made partakers of, with the Father and the Son, and also as the ground of the petition. And thus compounded both senses will stand, and be involved.
You must know that the word 'All mine,' &c., is in the neuter gender, and so notes forth properly things, not persons only. And in that parallel place, John 16:15, 'All that the Father hath are mine,' it is spoken of things, and it is so translated there, 'All things the Father hath are mine,' and accordingly, it must here be understood that all things universally that are mine are thine. We may also observe that these words, 'All mine are thine, and all thine are mine,' are in their station a parenthesis, which Brugensis hath observed, and reads as such, and so stand out apart from the words. And as concerning the apostles' persons, the sense runs currently on afore, and after, without these words. And it is apparent, they are a maxim superadded by the way, that submit themselves, not as if they had nothing at all to do with what is immediately said round about them, but yet as uttering some further thing, and spreading and extending itself unto all things whatsoever, though upon occasion of having said of the apostles to his Father, 'They are thine;' and so thence they do include the persons of the apostles, or elect. It must he founded upon this, as a general maxim, that all things whatever that are mine are thine, and therefore it is that these persons I pray for are both mine and thine; and it is as if he had said, no wonder that they are mine, and thine, for, lo! all things whatever that are mine are thine, even to the Godhead itself; and upon that account it is this speech relates to and involves the persons.
But it may be objected that if the apostles their being his, should come in but upon this general account, whereupon all things else are, this were only a common interest, and so they would he his but as all things else were. Whereas he intends, and in the reality of the thing it is so, that these apostles were his, and the Father's, upon a special property, as chosen out of all things else. This may some object, and that therefore we must either limit the speech to the apostles' persons, or if we would interpret it of all things whatever, as well as of them, we must leave the apostles out, because their special interest cannot be intended by the common one. I will not detain the reader here with disputes about this question, but have cast it into the margin.* But the solution of all these difficulties will be easy, by supposing (which is rationally to be supposed) that there is tacitly implied, and to be supplied, this further maxim to be added unto that fore-mentioned, that look as in their several ranks, or kinds, or degrees, any or every thing amongst the all things, are owned to be mine, or thine; and as our propriety in them is more or less, and so in our value they are dearer, or less dear to us; according to this measure these apostles and the elect, being thine and mine, in a special lot and degree, are therefore infinitely dearer to us than all creatures besides. Now of these he had said to his Father, they were thine by special propriety of choice and election out of all; and they become mine by the gift: 'They are mine, and thou gavest them me;' and that therefore look in what endeared respect they were thine, they are mine in the same also. And this rule supposed (which those former words give warrant for) fetcheth in the persons of the apostles as God's, and his own choicest elect, and with them the persons of all the elect else, saints, small and great; and will also admit an extension of the speech unto all things else that are God's, in their several order and degree; which ends the difference, and comprehendeth all we aim at in this point.
This for the first head, what these all in general should be, not only the persons of the apostles, or the elect (though included in the all), but all things whatsoever.
2. The second contains two things in it.
(1.) That 'all mine are thine,' &c., reacheth unto and principally intends the perfections of the Godhead itself; all those divine glories are mine and thine, and thine are mine.
(2.) That this speech is spoken by Christ in the persons of himself and his Father, considered as they are two persons in the Trinity, enjoying the same Godhead, and not only as he is God-man (and I am for both); and unto this sense many interpreters of weight do carry it.
There hath been a question raised by some, whether any sentence in this prayer be uttered by Christ under the notion or consideration of his being the second person in the Godhead essentially considered, and so to speak anything simply as that person; or that rather (as they assert it) all that which he speaks of himself in this prayer should not be understood of himself as he is man, personally united unto God, and so that in that sense only it is that he as God-man, head of his church, should speak this here, 'That they may be one, as we are one.' And one general argument they have is this, that otherwise the second person, as such, should pray; unto which (ere we go any further) there is this easy answer, that the man Jesus prays, yet as the mouth that urgeth the interest of the second person
(to whom he was united) as such, which is for his honour as he is God, and not a lowering of him; it is the man that prays, but it is the name of the second person he is united unto which he prays in.
Indeed, for the second person, simply as such, to have prayed for anything belonging to him properly as such, as some would understand the words, ver. 5, 'And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was,' this indeed had been below him; but that his interest, as he is God, should be urged on our behalf, this is no more improper than for us to plead what is in the name of God the Father, as God,
'The Lord God, gracious,' &c.
For the second, the ancient fathers, in their disputes against Arius, who held Christ not to have been God, or a second person co-equal with his Father, partaking of the same divine essence or Godhead with his Father, had a great recourse unto the passages of this prayer, and particularly to this, 'All mine are thine,' ver. 10; and 'as we are one,' ver. 11, 21; 'Thou in me,' ver. 22, 23; that therefore he was one God with the Father in essence, though they were distinct as persons in that one Godhead; one, as God, though as persons distinct, which is argued from his saying we and us. Thus also our divines, in their opposition against the Socinians, who deny Christ to be God, or a second person in the Godhead, make use of this place.
Now, by all things he means all things that are God's, whether they be essentially his (that is, all attributes of the Godhead), as also all that belong unto God by his dominion over all as he is God, such as his works ad extra (that is, which exist and are wrought out of himself, as the world, the salvation of men, &c.), which are by possession God's. These, or whatever else that are God's as God, he intends here to be his, as well as they are his Father's.
But above all, the essential perfections of the Godhead, which are (as Brugensis on the words expresseth them) all those uncreated, infinite riches and glories of the Deity whatsoever; for the Father communicates all and the whole of himself unto the Son, giving him, by his eternal generation of him, the fulness of the Deity; and so the sense is, all mine, that is, whatever essential glory or perfection, whatever blessedness, &c., is in thee is in me, for we are one and coequal in respect of essence, and of all the same divine perfections of the Godhead; though as persons, and in our relation as such, we are distinct (personal properties being necessarily here to he excepted), for he says, 'We are one,' and so supposeth two persons distinct, whiles yet he saith that they are one, or but in all things else they are one. Now this, all of us that believe the Trinity do hold; but that which is to be proved is, that the intent of this speech is eminently to include these in this place, for which observe,
[1.] First, He says universally, 'all things;' et qui dicit omnia, nihil relinquit, which are Austin's words upon it: He that saith all things, leaves nothing excepted.
[2.] He says not, as in Mat. 11:27, 'All things are delivered to me of my Father,' but speaks in a language indifferently appropriating all to himself and his Father: 'All things are mine' as well as the Father's; all things that are mine are thine, et è contra.
[3.] That parallel place, John 16:15, 'All things that the Father hath are mine,' doth confirm the like to be the intent here; and this here, compared with that speech there, confirms the same to be the intent there; he there says, not in an indefinite way, 'what the Father hath is mine,' but puts a double universality upon it (as Gerhard hath observed on the place), πάντα, all things, and adds, ὅσα, whatever,
'all things whatsoever;' which doubled emphasis is left out of our translation. If he meant not to have said that he had the essence, the nature of God, the perfections of the Godhead, how should he say,
'All things whatever which my Father hath,' and yet be understood that there is an infinity of things or perfections which his Father hath as God (as eternity, immensity, &c.), which Christ should not have intended whilst he said 'all things whatsoever'? Who shall limit this universally universal, and except the essentials of the Godhead, when
Christ (whom we all acknowledge God) doth not except them? We say the Father hath omnipotency, the Father hath eternity, immensity, &c.; and these are all Christ's, for 'whatsoever the Father hath are mine.' Surely these should not be excluded here; not by us, who all believe that he is God, and hath all and the whole Godhead communicated to him in the fulness of it, for essentiæ communicatio facit omnia communia, the Godhead being communicated by the Father, all things of the Godhead, or that can be attributed thereunto, are communicated to all three, only the distinction of persons excepted. Nor is it an objection worth much considering that he saith, 'All that the Father hath are mine,' and therefore that he should mean by that word hath the things only which the Father possesseth as external to him; as the things which concern our
salvation, and the like, the world, and the fulness of it, as a man is said to have his goods possessivè; but the Father is said to have his own essence, and the perfections of it, as well as the works of his hands. The phrase is used of what he is essentially; as, 'Who only hath immortality,' &c., 1 Tim. 6:16, which is an essential attribute; or as a man is said to have a soul in him, noting the substantial being of him.
But moreover that which confirms this to be his scope is this, let it be further observed in that place, John 16:15, that plainly he declares at once both that he is God as well as his Father; as also that he is the second person in order next unto his Father in the divine nature, and in order afore the Spirit; and both these you must suppose intended, or he had not given a sufficient reason or account of that which follows. And you may observe by the words that immediately follow in verse 15, 'Therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you,' his professed intent to be to render a full and sufficient reason why he had in the words of the 14th verse immediately afore this 15th verse said, 'He' (the Spirit, namely) 'shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it to you.' And farther they are an account of what he had also said in verse 13, 'He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,' from me and my Father, 'that shall he speak.' Now, if he had not been truly
God, and second person in the Godhead, he had not held out a full and sufficient reason why the Holy Spirit should not speak of himself, but must have all that he speaks and shews from him ere he can shew them to us; but being second person, he could truly say,
Though the Spirit is God, and the third person of the three, yet I am, in order of subsistence, afore him; and I am God likewise with the Father, and the second next person to the Father, and therefore he is to receive all from me.
Now for the first, that he is God, and one God with the Father, that he signifies and expresseth by this, that all things his Father hath are his, which is what I have argued to the same purpose. And that he is the second person of the Godhead in order also, he declares by the
same words also, all whatever the Father hath are mine. Take them as they are a reason that the Spirit must receive all from him first,
&c., for they are mine, and mine all in order first; and so of necessity the Spirit must have all from me as well as from the Father. And otherwise, his account had been weakened by this, that the Spirit else might have had all from the Father without him; for this is an assured rule, that look in what order the persons are in subsisting, and dependence each of other for their personal subsistence in the Godhead, in the same order they do depend upon each other for their operations also as they do for their subsistence. The Son's subsistence, or his being God, is from the Father, who is the fountain of the Deity, and his Son is 'very God of very God;' and thereupon his operations, as the Son, do depend upon what his Father first doth, and that he doth nothing but what he sees the Father do, and the Father shews it him: John 5:19, 20, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doth.'
And as elsewhere, 'I speak not of myself,' saith he: 'but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doth the works,' John 14:10, and chap. 8:28.
And what is the reason of this dependence in doing and speaking, but his being God, of and from the Father? Whereby it is (as the words have it) that 'all that the Father hath is mine.' Now look, as his person hath all in order first from the Father; and therefore it is he cannot speak anything of himself, nor do anything of himself, but only what the Father sheweth him, as you heard himself speak of himself; in like manner, and upon the same ground, the Spirit must have all from him too, as he hath from the Father. It is not sufficient that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, as he is said to do, John
15:26, that therefore he should have all wholly from the Father, and shew it to you, and pass by the Son of God. No, saith Christ; he must have it from me too; because the order of our subsisting in the Godhead is, that all the Father hath is mine first in order of nature; for my generation by the Father, as his Son, is first, ere the Holy
Ghost's procession, for he is the third person; and then, all that the Father hath being communicated to me, thence it is that the Spirit
proceeds from both. For even that power to breathe forth the Spirit, together with the Father, is one of those things intended when he saith, 'All that my Father hath is mine.' So as it is the account of the order of their subsistence, as the foundation of this their order in working, which he aims at in saying, All that my Father hath is mine, as well as to shew he is God, and that therefore necessarily the Spirit must take of mine, since it is I that send him as well as my Father.
This he had said afore, ver. 6 of that 16th chapter. And it is as if he had said, This I had not power to do, nor ought to have taken upon me to say or do, unless I were God with the Father, for the Holy
Ghost is God; and were I not God as well as the Father, and that the Spirit proceeded from me, I, as merely Mediator, could not have sent him.
If then this parallel speech in chap. 16, ver. 15, imports that all things in the Godhead were his with the Father as a person that was God with him, why should we not, yea, how dare we but understand it of the same in this player also? For the one comes in as a part of his doctrine in a sermon just preceding afore his prayer, and this follows after in the prayer. This for the confirmation of this sense from John
16:15.
[4.] A fourth argument from the manner of this speech in John 17:10, is, that Christ speaks in terms of equality with his Father, 'All mine are thine, and thine mine;' that is, mutually, and equally, and alike; and therefore it is spoken of him as God, and a person in the Godhead. Yea, lo, he says not only 'all mine are thine,' but he says vice versâ on the other side, 'all thine are mine.' It is after the manner of equals among men; you may observe that when the same things are said of two equals, the manner is indifferently to place either first and then the other. So here, mine thine, and thine mine; no matter which first, so the same things be said. It is to shew they are equal.
But if Christ only spake this as God-man, in and under that consideration solely, the Father being greater than he, he would not have ranged it with this equality, unless he had spoken as he is a person of the Trinity equal with the Father, and one God with the
Father. Therefore it is he speaks it as second person chiefly, especially if he had spoken as God-man, and had withal intended by the all things that are mine are thine the apostles' persons only, as some have it. He would rather have said, 'All thine are mine.' And why? Because he had said before, they were first the Father's, 'and thou gavest them me.'
[5.] Tollet upon the place casts in this, that our Lord had spoken afore of the persons of the apostles, how they were thine, O Father; so in the 6th verse, thine by election, which is signified in that speech, 'Thou gavest them me,' and they were given to me as I am
God-man. Therefore here in those words, says he, Christ ascends to urge a further and higher interest in them, and in all things else, viz., as he is God, and coequal with the Father. And certainly that other particular interest, viz., that the persons of those apostles were both his and the Father's also, he had before so sufficiently expressed both in ver. 6, and over and over again afterwards, within this small compass of the words that follow in ver. 11 and ver. 12, as it may well be admitted that some greater thing, and more intensive, should in these words be intended.
This for the second branch, that by all things is not meant only all things extrinsecal, or all of the persons of the elect, &c., but the divine essence itself, and the perfections thereof proper to God, and common to the three persons, that all these were his as well as the Father's.
3. Thirdly, This speech doth fully import, and is all one as to say (though in a larger compass of words), that his Father and he are two persons, one in essence; or (as be himself after in fewer words expresseth it), 'We are one.' And mark it, brethren, that very thing it is that his prayer here doth issue in, 'That they may he one, as we are.' For two persons to have all the perfections of the divine nature equally and in common, 'All thine are mine, and mine are thine,' this is all one as to say, that these two persons are one. This is so clear, as I need not insist on it. And truly Calvin, who is against the
interpretation of 'we are one' to be meant of the oneness of the persons, as in the divine nature of God, throughout this chapter, yet when he is upon this place, he, considering the weight and extension of this word 'all things,' hath those words,* The unity of the Father and the Son is such as they have nothing apart between them. Which is that very thing which I say, that their being one God is expressed by this, that all things are in a community theirs.
4. This issues all the former, that it is spoken as a motive or plea, that therefore 'they (the elect) should be one, as we are.' There is this aspect, this true and genuine connection between these two passages, though (as I at first noted) there comes in a petition between for that which was to be the means of their union; yet these first words, 'All mine are thine,' &c., do centre in this grand petition,
'That they be one, as we,' or, 'Let them be one.' And the reasons of this their first connection and reference are these:—1. So it is that that speech, 'All mine are thine,' &c., stands as a parenthesis from the rest of the words, whether afore or after, and are to be separate by an inclosure from the rest. And so Brugensis reads the words, and in his comment notes it to be such. It is a speech stands by itself among the rest, and sent aforehand, a good way off, expecting a mate, a correspondent, it should yoke and clasp withal, and this is it,
'That therefore they may be one, as we are.' And the coherence of the words in the verses afore these words, 'All mine are thine,' &c., and of those that immediately follow them, you may observe that the other verses run on smoothly without them, so as those words are a parenthesis, 'I pray for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine,' ver. 9, and 'I am glorified in them,' ver. 10, and so on. And interpreters generally are so wholly intent upon this, that the persons of the apostles are only intended in his saying 'all mine are thine,' as they fill up the whole of Christ's meaning therewith; which also hath caused them to judge the oneness of the saints themselves to be only meant in these words, 'that they may be one.' But I hope I have sufficiently proved it, that our oneness with God and with Christ is here to be understood. 2. 'That they may be one' is the centre of his prayer, which what is before determines and falls into, and therefore
this passage of 'all mine' centres therein also. 3. The suitableness and correspondency, yea, sameness of sense that is between these two passages, 'All things that are mine are thine,' and that which is last of all, 'as we are one,' is such as makes it undeniable. For if any should have studied never so much to express what the Father and Son being one is, or what the unity of the persons, in respect of their essences or Godhead, is, it could not be more fully and adequately set out than by this, that it is a communion of all things in God between those persons; and that saving of Christ which expresses this communion, 'All mine are thine,' is the same with this other, 'As we are one.' So then, that our union with God should be expressed by our being one in our measure and proportion, as the Father and the Son are one, is the most significant way of expressing it that could be, so as we see all to agree in a blessed harmony.
Now the force of the plea therein, wherewith he moves his Father, is, that they being one in the enjoyment of all these uncreated riches of the Godhead which are mutually theirs, as of that essential wisdom, power, omniscience, holiness, blessedness, glory, all, and being thus one in essence, had agreed and conspired in love towards these (for all the acts of the Godhead internal are common to the three persons). And so it is as if he had said, I am concurring with thee, O
Father, as second person, in the choice of these persons, and in the love of them, or in what degree of special love soever there is, in respect of which they may be said to be thine, in the same love and degree thereof, they are mine also as second person; and oh, therefore, bring those whom we have loved into a communication of all those glories and riches with us; let them have all things that are ours, with a καθὼς, an as, by way of similitude of what we have therein; let us not be happy alone, nor keep the communication of these things wholly among ourselves, but let them have all, as far as mere creatures are capable of; which that it might be fully accomplished, according to my true intent in my saying, All mine are thine, &c., and completing my prayer about this, I enlarge it ere I conclude, and end it with this further request, that thou wouldst keep them in this life in holiness, that so they may perfectly attain this
blessedness, that all that is mine and thine may be theirs also, as hath been designed by us for them; which I reinforce in these words, to be granted them, 'that they may be one as we are one,' which is effected by their having all in common between us, whereby we are one, communicated unto them also, whereby it is they shall be made one with us also. And oh, let them thus have all, though not with an essential sameness (that is impossible), yet with a fruition; let them have all the power, wisdom, grace, love, blessedness, that is in thee and me; let them have them all in the enjoyment to make them happy possessively, though not essentially; (or, as Christ afterwards differenceth it) let them be 'one in us,' ver. 21, not 'one with us,' and as we ourselves are one with another, for as their union with us is of a lower kind, so the communication of all these must be; yet let them have all as far as is communicable; let all their interest be ours but their sins, which let us separate from them, that so they may be entirely one in us, that they may be able, in the knowledge and sense of their oneness with us, to say in their measure unto us, All ours is thine, O God, and all thine is ours, and may say the like to me the Son, I am heir of thee, O Father, for I am thy Son, and to inherit all things in thee, and let them be heirs of God, and of all of God, with me, co-heirs with me, as Rom. 8:17 hath it.
And this plea of his, as second person, for us, shews the bottom counsel of the heart of God among the Holy Three from everlasting, when that blessed and Sacratissimus Consessus Trinitatis was held, that most sacred sitting of the Trinity, as Gerhard speaks on John
16:14, 15, that Concilium Trinitatis, as Rolloc on the same place, then it was this motion on our behalf was made amongst them, which the Son here expresseth; and the original ground of that motion was the communion the three persons do hold in that one Godhead, therefore they designed to communicate the same to those they loved and foreknew, and were then a-choosing unto an union with them.
And this the second or middle person, God's counsellor, Angelus magni Concilii (as the Septuagint renders it, Isa. 9:6), he, knowing his Father's counsels, utters it here in John 17, through the mouth of the man who was now become one person with him; his part being
now in a way of prayer to move his Father, he reminds him of the original ground thereof, and he doth it to his Father in a prayer, rather than in a sermon to them his apostles; and he does it in this his last prayer, in which he layeth open the secrets of God. And higher than this we cannot go. And that this is the true meaning of this connection, 'All thine are mine, and mine are thine,' with this,
'That they may be one, as we are,' if ever I did submit any interpretation that ever I have given of any scripture in my whole life, I do submit this.
We may see, then, the great stead the being of the Trinity stands us in. We see first the original motion made for our eternal blessedness to have [been] founded on this, that there are three persons that have the same Godhead, and all in it as one; whereby they were moved to make the creatures one in them, and to communicate all in the Godhead, and all else that was theirs unto them, and for them for their good.
SECTION II
The second sort or branch of the motive in the three persons.—The mutual intercourse and society which as persons they have, and had one with another; and the sweetness of that converse was an inducement to them to ordain creatures to be taken up into the like communion with themselves.—This I found upon John 17:21.
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may he one in us.—JOHN 17:21.
Wherein, among other things, the intimate communion of the Father in and with the Son, and of the Son in and with the Father, is expressed by the Father's being in the Son, and the Son in the Father; and that converse is of the import of those terms of expression. And besides the personal indwelling of the Father in the Son, which divines call circumcession of the persons, those phrases
do import all sorts of intimate acquaintance and knowledge of each other. We use to say, we know such a man as if we were within him.
Now, the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and so are perfectly acquainted one with the other; and therefore, accordingly, that which follows, that 'they also may be one in us,' is as much as for him to have prayed, that they in like manner may partake of, and enjoy in, a like communion and intercourse in us and with us, as we are. And such a blessed intercourse between the Father and the Son, the 5th verse of this chapter shews to have been from everlasting:
'the glory I had with thee afore the world was;' as also Christ had in his sermon, chap. 16:13, 14, towards the end of it, made mention of:
'Whatsoever the Spirit shall hear, that shall he speak: he shall glorify me, and take of mine; all the Father hath is mine.' The Scriptures do present the three persons, not only as three witnesses to us, but as three blessed companions of a knot and society among themselves, enjoying fellowship and delights accordingly in themselves; and indeed, if this had been wanting, there had not been an abundant or a complete happiness, for much of sweetness lies in society (the 'sweetness of a man's friend,' is Solomon's character), which, if the divine nature had not afforded in having in it three persons really distinct, knowing, rejoicing in, glorying of, and speaking unto each other, there had not been a perfection of blessedness. But from forth of this society, an all-satiety did and doth arise; the Son is presented as in the bosom of the Father: John 1:18, 'No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him;' and John 10:15, 'As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father.' And the Son speaks not, but what he hears of the Father, as you find again and again in that Gospel of John; nor doth the Spirit speak but what he hears of both: John
14:13–15, 'Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and will shew you things to come.
He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I,
That he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.'
And this fellowship and communion mutual is, and was, matter of infinite delight and pleasure in them, as Wisdom, i. e. the Son declares, Prov. 8:30, in there uttering what had been between the Father and him afore the world: 'Then was I by him as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;' and this he says was before the world; and then, when their delights thus lay in what by way of intercourse had passed between him and his Father, as those words, 'rejoicing always afore him,' signify; that he, as a companion, had been always in his sight, his presence, his company; now conformable and like unto, and next to these delights which had been between themselves, were their delights in the sons of men: ver. 31, 'Rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and my delights were with the sons of men.' The sons of men are sociable creatures, intelligent and understanding, and much of their delights lie in mutual converses. Now the delights of these divine persons with the sons of men afore the world was, lay much in thoughts taken up aforehand, of what a sweet fellowship one day they should have in admitting them into an intimate converse and acquaintance with themselves. The sons of men were their delights, not as things that are incapable of converse are said to be, but which the correspondencies held among persons do afford. You read in the apostle John, 1 John 1:3, of a fellowship which we now have with the Father, and the Son, and they with us; and as in ver. 7, that following clause expounds it, we 'have fellowship one with another;' that is, they with us, and we with them. And it was the thoughts of these mutual delights in our and their fellowship, one day to be had and enjoyed, when we should actually exist, was a special objective matter of delight unto their thoughts so long afore; they infinitely pleased themselves in the view and contemplation of this. Now when
I say it was such, both to the Father as well as to the Son, my ground even in that place of the Proverbs is, chap. 8 ver. 30, 31, that although it be Wisdom, the Son, that only says, 'my delights were with the sons of men,' yet that the Father's delights were in common with his in them, the words afore instruct us, 'I rejoiced in the habitable part of his earth' (he loving the very ground they go on), wherein these sons of men should dwell. The insertion of his name,
by* his Father's, shews us it was his Father' interest as well as his own, yea, and his own for his Father's sake. And elsewhere his Father is said to have delighted in them, to choose them, Deut. 10, which common interest this text expresseth, 'thine they were, and thou gavest them me;' and 'mine are thine,' holds good even here.
And the mention thus first of these proper delights, peculiar to the persons, and then of theirs in us, and the thoughts of our fellowship with them to come, and the one in so near and immediate a conjunction to, and with the other, strongly insinuates that they affected this secondary fellowship with us creatures, from the delights of what originally they had among themselves, both as the exemplar of that to be had in time with us, and as the rise and inducing motive, that so they among themselves, and we together with them, might all rejoice together, which was the freeness and greatness of the grace of it; that though they had a perfection of delights in what was proper to themselves, yet they would have other company to delight in. It was the sweetness and delightfulness of their own proper consortium, which induced them to have more company, partakers of their joy, who might rejoice together with them in their capacity and proportion, who might therefore bless and adore them for taking them up into it, and make, as Christ speaks, their joy, if possible, more full; they would not be happy alone.
And that the three persons, both singly and joint, were prone and propense unto such a creature-fellowship, and admission of them unto their converse with themselves, the Scriptures and the reason of the thing doth shew.
For as you have 'fellowship with us,' attributed to the Father and the Son, in that of 1 John 5:3, and other places, so you have as express the communion and fellowship of the Spirit, distinct from that of theirs with us: 2 Cor. 6 ver. 13, 14, 'Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged. Be ye not equally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?'
And the reason of the thing, how it came to pass it should be so, may be fetched and drawn down from what was said in that head of the first principal motive, viz. the manifesting and declaring the name of God; whereby, as I shewed, was principally meant the grace, love, and goodness in the divine nature, all which are in common the perfections of each person alike, of one as well as the other: 'for all mine are thine, and thine mine,' saith Christ. As therefore the Godhead, or divine nature, is disposed to this union and creature communication to us, so they being the properties of the persons subsisting in that nature, the persons themselves are inclined thereunto, both jointly and singly. There is love and infinite riches of grace in God the Father: Eph. 2:7, 'That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus.' There is grace in God the Son; a free heart to bestow the riches, the fulness of delights, that himself possessed: 2
Cor. 8:9, 'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich;' and there is the highest readings* and propenseness in the Holy Ghost unto creature communion also. You have all in one verse: 2 Cor. 13:4, 'The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.' And as I then shewed that it is the property, the nature of goodness, grace, and love, to communicate and manifest themselves to others, so we find the same said of the persons singly, each of them having the same blessed property. Thus of manifestation it is said: John 14:21, 22, 'He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself to him;' and ver. 23, 'My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.' Thus of the Father and Son. And there is the manifestation of the Spirit also, 2 Cor. 12; and he is promised to 'dwell in us,' and 'be with us for ever,' John 14:17, and is the revealer of God's and Christ's mind to us, and of the deep things of God, 1 Cor. 2:10–16; and all these dispensations in time have, for
their spring and well-head, these original purposes and transactions from everlasting.
They each singly, and jointly for one another, desired to have themselves made known to us, to the end to be glorified by us. The Spirit loves to glorify the Son to us: John 16:14, 'He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.' The Father to have his Son honoured as himself is: John 5:22, 23, 'For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto 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 which hath sent him.' 'Father, glorify thy name,' says the Son of the Father; John 12:28, 'I have glorified it, and will glorify it again,' says the Father to the Son in answer thereunto. They love to have their own personal in-beings, and communications among themselves, made known to us, as far as we are capable: John 14:20, 'At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and yon in me, and I in you.'
The man Christ Jesus united to the second person speaks the sense of that person, and his Father's also in this: John 17:21, 22, 'As thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.'
Which is as if he had said, Thou, Father, knowest how blessed and delightful this oneness of ours together hath been unto us; what infinite joy and happiness it hath produced to us, and in us; and it will be sweet to us to have fellows who also may be partakers of our joys, who may both be enjoyers of it themselves, and also may understand what hath been among ourselves from all eternity
(according to those words of Christ's, John 14:20, 'Ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you'), and adore us for it.
You see also that this man, God's fellow, when he was taken up into that fellowship, he became of the same disposition, he desired not to be alone. And he had it from the disposition of the person he was united to, the Son of God; and so God gave him fellows thereupon,
Ps. 45:7, and he being manifest in the flesh, expresseth and utters but what was in the heart of all the three. Thus this natural society of the three, and the pleasure thereof, induced this acquired, and
sought-out society, made up of creature converse with this God and three persons, 'to whom be all glory for ever.'
I conclude with this, the divine nature, and the three persons are all, and the whole that are in God; and, lo, you have all these graciously inclined unto this our union and communion with them, and then you have all that is in God become motives, and inductives to it, and you can have no more.
I might add for the confirmation of this notion, that what was in the nature of God had influence upon his gracious will to move him to do the like for us in many particular instances. Only what he should do for us, being matter of will in him, he might do it, or not do it as he pleased, and to whom, or whom not, as he pleased, because it was matter of will, yet something that was natural was the inducer of his will thereunto.
Use. Oh let us take heed lest we be left out of this 'royal society!' as by allusion to what is lower and lesser I may call if, lest our lot should fall to be with the rest of the world, as in ver. 23 of this John 17.
Christ sets it forth; lest that we only know, and that too late, that there have been a company of men whom God hath loved, and taken up into union with himself, to be ever with the Lord, when ourselves shall have that fatal sentence pronounced against us by our Lord
Christ, 'Depart from me, I know ye not.' And it is that you are workers of iniquity that will cause this eternal separation. He therefore saith, 'Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity;' and as the apostle saith, 'Let every one therefore that names the Lord, depart from iniquity.' The words of Christ concerning the world are these in the 23d verse, 'That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me,' which will be the effect upon all the world of wicked men at that great day, which is called the day of their visitation, that they shall see unto what an infinite blessedness the saints are raised up unto, through union with God and Christ, and what a glorious Christ he will appear to be, that even they all shall know that God hath sent him, and that he is the Christ
indeed, and has loved these his members, united to him, as God has loved him. But this conviction will be too late, for it is to be joined with 'depart from me,' and therefore seek unto God to keep you in this world, to keep you pure from the evil of it, that the world lieth in, that in the end this union may break forth in you, and upon you, unto your own glorious sense of it; and so Christ's words run, 'Holy
Father, keep them through thy own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we.'
To sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the phraseology of the Old Testament, though Christ used it coming in the verge of it; but to sit down with the us, the three, another manner of three than
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to sit down with God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, and to have these to dwell in us, and we to dwell in them, this is Christ's language, this is New
Testament language. Oh to be bound up in that bundle of life with the living God, and with Christ, that hath life in himself! Oh let this be the whole of the strength of the aim of our souls, and be moved and affected so with it, so as not to want a part and shave in and with this good company! They were sufficient company to themselves when they inhabited eternity, and sufficient to make themselves happy one in another; how much more are they sufficient to make us so, by taking us up into their intimate converse! Suppose (we will make but a supposition of it) that God had chosen but one soul besides that man Jesus, whom he took up into one person with his
Son (for we mere creatures should not have been immediately united to God without a mediator of union, who was more than a creature, and therefore his presence is necessary unto our happiness, as ver.
24), upon this supposition, how infinitely blessed would that one soul have been in the sole and single society of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and with the man Jesus, made one person with the Son; he would not have needed to have had the company of Peter and Paul to have made that happiness perfect; but 'I in thee, and thou in me,' would have made that soul perfect in one. It is but an additional and adscititious happiness which the saints have from their oneness one with another; but it is, 'I in them, and thou in me,