-- CHAPTER IV: That our union with God the Father, and Christ, proved from John seventeen
height and top grace vouchsafed Christ, and the end of his predestination, so that of ours is of all the grace communicated to us.
CHAPTER IV
That our union with God the Father, and Christ, is the utmost end of our election, further proved in an interpretation of several passages of Christ's prayer, in the seventeenth chapter of John.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou have sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou haul given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.—JOHN 17:20–26.
The assertion was, that God, in and at his electing, did ordain the body of his elect to a super-creation union with himself, and communication of himself, as the highest and utmost end, he (as to what concerns us) chose us unto, above the law or dues of our creation; and so as the height and top of our salvation is consummated in that union, which is far above that law or dues which is by the law of our creation.
I repeat the assertion, because now I am to prove it, and every part of it, which I shall endeavour by these four or five following deductions
out of this prayer.
1. The subject of his prayer, his whole church.
The subject of this prayer, or persons prayed for, in this part of it, are his whole church of his elect, to the end of the world; and the aim of his prayer, or thing prayed for by him, in ver. 21, is, 'that they all'
(that is, all and every one of them) 'may be one.' He had prayed for himself to ver. 6; for his apostles then present, from thence to this
20th verse; but here, for his whole church, who, in the whole body of them, must needs be supposed infinitely more dear to him, than those eleven persons, his apostles, so small a parcel of the whole, who are a company which cannot be numbered, as Rev. 7:9, who now stood afore his view.
John and Jude wrote catholic epistles (as they are entitled). And this part of Christ's prayer we may style, Christ's catholic prayer.
2. Let us next take in the greatness of this person who prays, and all the circumstances he then stood in, when and whilst he was uttering of it; and think with yourselves, of what an infinite weight and concernment that prayer for that his whole church must be of. That he, the great Son of God, that had been glorified with God's own self afore the world was, the true high priest, bearing now all the tribes' names, that is, all the persons of his elect, and every one of them, on his heart,—all‚ ver. 21, and every one‚—and being within a small space, to go forth to be taken, and then to offer up himself a whole burnt-sacrifice for them, and every of them; and now by his prayer, pouring forth the bottom of his heart and soul-blood desires into the bosom of his Father for them; and this, chosen out as his last and solemn request, to be left upon record to all posterity for them; and this also the last part and conclusion of that prayer, when his heart was most enlarged (as towards the end of prayers ours use to be), himself rapt up into heaven, and filled with the sense of his own sooner approaching glory, when he breathes it forth almost at every word; when you find him also deeply affected with the joyous
thoughts of that glory and happiness which his whole church should have, in order unto, and through this union, effected by his mediation; and which should be the fruit and effect of that his own glory, and those his sufferings; and how, at the latter day, his glory, and his church's blessedness in their conjunction with God through him, should so gloriously appear, and be acknowledged even by all the rest of the world; and that his heart was full of all these contemplations and foresights, you may discern from every verse, especially 23 and 24.
Now, then, consider that he being thus, through his shortness of time, to single forth one boon or largess, to ask of his Father, who (he pleads) had loved him afore the foundation of the world; and as he urgeth also, had loved this his whole church, and every member of it, as he had loved him. And that to utter this request, as his dying request too, with his last breath, I say, If you look on him in these circumstances, you will all conclude that it must be some grand thing his heart was now big withal, and of all things else the choicest and most comprehensive of good, yea, and of universal concernment to them all. Sure you do, and would expect in this case, that it should be the utmost blessing which he could ask; or that he knew (who was his
Father's counsellor) to be the best his Father would bestow. And now what is it? It is union, union, our mystical union.
There are indeed some other things fall in, but I may assure you this, our union is the grand subject of the whole, the ocean all the other run into. And in that 21st verse, he at first plainly proposeth it, as the sum of his intended request, 'That they all may be one;' and spends the rest of his prayer either in explaining what union he meant, and indigitating over and over, in more particularising expressions thereabout, which are, for substance, this one and the same thing, even this, 'That they may be one, as I in thee, and thou in me,' &c., that they may be 'perfect in one;' and pressing his Father by those nearest endearments between himself and him, which he knew were the most taking effectual motives to grant it, as his eternal love to himself, and the same love to them, ver. 21, 23, 24. And he goes over
and over it again, and amplifies upon it, as one that knew not how to leave it, nor to get his heart off from it: so dear and precious a request it was to him (which is usual with us in petitions our hearts are in), yea, and ceaseth and leaves it, but because he was called off by another as great an occasion, for the very time appointed by his
Father for him to be taken by Judas and his crew was now come; read chap. 18. And he so longed to be baptized with that baptism, that he resolved to be at the place, designed aforehand to meet them, rather than come too late. And that he was mindful of the time, his words, chap. 14:31, 'Arise, let us go hence,' do shew. And so he was forced to break off, and yet then he makes it his last word, 'That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.'
3. But, thirdly, what union is this intended, or with whom?
Our commentators do generally (except some few) limit it unto that kind or species of union, which the catholic church hath and shall have for ever one with another, and among themselves, as gathered out of and separated from the world, into one body, to Christ as the head; and the oneness to be that of love and affection, to be of one mind and judgment, and to preserve concord and 'the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace,' according as it was at first exemplified in the primitive pattern, who were 'of one heart and of one soul,' Acts
4:32; and so fast joined and glued together, as the word is, Acts 5:13, that, as of 'of the rest' (that were of the world) 'durst no man join himself unto them.' And yet the people magnified them, 'and many were added to them.' All which agrees (say they) with Christ's speech, ver. 21. That this their being one, the rest of the world did tacitly acknowledge Christ to be the Messiah; and the sight of it brought divers to believe, as ver. 14.
But sure this is too narrow a vessel to contain the big words by which Christ expresseth this union here to his Father; but it is directly and immediately intended of that grand union of all unions whatever, even of our union with God and Christ themselves, which doth indeed by way of consequence draw on after it, this other union of
saints one with another among themselves, as the sunbeams being one in the sun, the nearer they become unto the sun, they be so much nearer unto one another, and among themselves, as being originally united unto the sun itself; yet still this is not the union primarily intended here.
And although the common current be for that other opinion, yet there are some commentators of great note, who cast their thoughts upon this last proposed opinion.
Tollet being convinced that those words of ver. 21, 'As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us,' do in the very sound of them reach higher than that inferior union of the saints one with another, yet thus far complieth with the common vogue, and compounds it, bidding the reader attend, that there is a twofold union of believers.
(1.) One among themselves, from the unity of faith and love, and that that is it (says he) Christ means in the former part of ver. 21, in those words, 'that they all may be one.' But, (2.) There is another, our union with God and Christ, and their indwelling in us, and we in them; and of that union (saith he) the following words are to be understood: 'As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also they be one in us.'
Joannes Bence* also, in his excellent (though short) manual, falls into the same; Brugensis comes off to the same, though later, yet at last. Those other issued with it upon the 21st verse; but Brugensis falls in at the 22d verse, upon those words, 'that they may be one, as we are one.' Not only (says he) that they may be one amongst themselves (for he had [prayed] for that already), says he; but that they be one with us: for that is it which follows, 'I in them, and thou in me; and so they may be perfectly one.' Which (though be carries to the sacramental eating Christ's body, &c.) yet concludes, the most perfect union that can he with God and Christ is here intended: and
for this cites the interpretation of Cyril of Alexandria, that most ancient and grave author; and truly I judge we might have discerned this higher up than either the 21st, 22d, or 23d verses; for I hope by the connection of ver. 10, 11 (in the latter part of which, ver. 11, the matter of union is first mentioned, 'that they may be one as we are'),
I hope, I say, afterwards to make it appear, that our union with God and Christ is there the eminent subject in the speech. Upon which verse, our own judicious Cartwright, upon ver. 11, where this union is first spoken of, propounds this question, What union it is that is meant? whether that thereby they are one among themselves, or that with Christ, and with God, or rather with all these? And answers,
Omninò cum omnibus; altogether, and upon all accounts, it is our union with all these. And that that of our union with himself, and his
Father, is chiefly intended by Christ, his reason shews, viz., that this part of Christ's prayer is but herein consonant unto that he had so much impressed upon them in his sermon to them immediately afore, in chap. 15. ver. 4, 5, 10: 'Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.' Which is all one, as to say, union with himself; and so, what he had so much urged upon them in his sermon to themselves, he now puts into a prayer to his Father for them.
And even those that are for that union of the saints amongst themselves, as the primary intendment, yet are forced to take in that latter union with God and Christ, as that which is the fundamental cause of the saints' union amongst themselves; as in whom, they being one first, do become one with one another.
And so the question will rest in this, whether the union of the saints, &c., be first and directly intended by Christ; and that of our union with God and Christ be but supposed as the cause thereof, though not expressly held forth in the words; or that, primarily and directly,
our immediate union with God and Christ be meant, and that other union be supposed, but as the consequent thereof; and so, but secondarily and implied, as that which doth and must necessarily follow upon that union first had with God and Christ, and so in the first place prayed for here by Christ.
Our Mr Hooker of N. E.* who hath wrote sermons upon these verses, from verse the 20th to the end (which are in print), he doth plainly and directly cast the interpretation solely upon the saints' immediate union with God and Christ, and says, that though the other follows thereupon, yet it is not here otherwise than secondarily intended; but that immediate union with God and Christ is alone the primary and direct intendment which Christ's prayer and petition falls upon.
He makes apology why he so dissents and diverts from the common opinion. I profess, upon the consideration of all, to make none for this dissent, but shall give my reasons instead thereof. And the reasons are, 1. That those words, 'As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us,' are a manifest explication of what manner of union he intended, when first he had said, 'that they all may be one.' In which first words he sums up first, in general, the pith of his petition; but then explains it by this, 'that they may be one in us;' and again indigitates it, ver. 23, 'I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one;' and so plainly terminates or issues upon the Father and the Son, and our being in them; and herein he speaks what union he meant, as plain as plain can be.
The other interpreters divert this, by making the intent of him in his mention of the Father's union in the Son, and the Son's in the Father, to be, to hold forth, by way of example, what the union of the saints amongst themselves should be; even after that manner of nearness of union, as that whereby the Father is in the Son, and è contra.
But this interpretation so applied to the saints, union among themselves doth destroy itself; and I infer from that very thing, that the union he intended is such as bears a similitude of that union, in respect of their being one in the other; and so form up a 2. Second reason, both negative and affirmative: (1.) Negatively, that the union of the saints among themselves is not such as that it may be said, that they are one in another. They may indeed be said to be one with another; and being members, they are said to be members of one another, Eph. 4:25; but they are never said to be members one in another: Peter is not in Paul, nor Paul in John. (2.) But affirmatively, our union with God the Father and the Son is such, as that multitudes of scriptures give testimony, that the Father is in us, and Christ in us, and we in Christ; and do use these very phrases to express our union with God the Father and the Son; as when it is said, 'God dwells in us, and we in God,' 1 John 4:15; and 'the church that is in God the Father:' 2 Thes. 1:1, 'Unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.' Yea, it is the phrase Christ useth in this very gospel of John, chap. 14:20, 'At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.' And there, to be sure, he intends not that union the saints have amongst themselves; but simply that which they have immediately in and with Christ, and that exemplified by what he hath with the Father; and here indeed in this union, the similitude of that which the Father and Son have together, ver. 11, or after the example of God the Father's being in the Son, and the Son in the Father, is found to hold. And I acknowledge it to be the archetypal example of this our union with the 'us‚' that is, the Father and Son; and so, 'that they may be one in us' must be rather meant of our immediate union with that 'us‚' in that manner the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father; for after the similitude thereof we are in them, and they in us.
And truly, this was a phrase or word so sweet in Christ's mouth, and so dear to his heart, as he will have it the very last word in this
prayer, 'and I in them;' as if he had said, take this in as the very punctum or point which this latter part of my prayer centres in.
3. In ver. 23, 'I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one;' that is, they being in me, and I being in them, this makes their union in us perfect. Now the union the saints have among themselves is not the perfection of their union; it is but a piece of it, and so incomplete; but, on the other hand, their being one in the Father and in Christ, and so in the us, is that which is the perfection and top of their union, which the other is not; and, therefore, this is mainly intended.
4. Lastly, ver. 22, 'And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.' Those words declare the very glory of the saints in heaven to be but a means to consummate and perfect (as his word is after, ver. 23) that union which was the intended and proposed subject of this his prayer; and, therefore, that union here intended must be a greater and higher thing than all the grace in this life; yea, and all the glory of the saints in heaven (abstract it from their union); for the end is better than the means (which is Mr Hooker's reason, and was long since also mine).
This all reason acknowledgeth; and, if so, then certainly the union of the saints among themselves, in being one in love, affection, concord, of one heart, not only as in the highest attainment they have reached to in this life, but not as it shall be in heaven, cannot be the full meaning of this that he saith, the glory I have given them, is for this end, 'that they may be one.' This lower union, as I may call it, is but a part and piece of that grace the saints in this life have, among the many other graces vouchsafed them. And alas, how imperfect is it! and in heaven also, is but a part of their glory. But this supreme union of the saints in the us here, is meant of Christ and God; their being in them, and they in them, as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, and this in the full accomplishment and perfection of it. This may deservedly be said to be greater than the whole of that grace and glory, simply considered, the saints shall have here and hereafter.
There are two things yet remaining that were put into the main doctrine or assertion, not hitherto spoken unto.
1. That this union with Christ and God was and is the very design of God's electing of us from everlasting; and this also to be proved out of this prayer of Christ in John 17, for that was it was also undertaken for, whilst I chose that Scripture forth, as a punctual proof of the whole.
2. The second is, that the union is such as is the highest (next to that of Christ's) the creature is capable of; a super-creation union, or above what Adam had by creation.
For the first of these, which, in order with the former, makes the particular. It may easily be discerned by multitudes of passages, how
Christ traversed with his Father, the Son who lay in his Father's bosom; he recounts transactions between himself and his Father, or concernments that reached so high for their original. This, in a cursory view, will appear by 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.' And by ver. 24, 'Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world;' which he enters as his plea for his saints beholding his own glory, which he had with the Father, ver. 5.
But more particularly, it appears from his pleading God's electing of us, whilst he seeks to obtain this union for us, as the highest thing could be asked; and therefore that union was included in that election as the design of it.
Now, that he pleads election in order to that union, is evident from his pleas, ver. 6, where it is he first enters upon our concernment: 'I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.' Thine, how? By election, whereby it is we first became his:
2 Tim. 2:19, 'The Lord knoweth them that are his.' When* he calls 'his people, when* he foreknew,' that is, chose, Rom. 11:2, as I
opened it; his‚ that is, his elect, 'my chosen,' as his own words often are, of them in the Old Testament; and in that he had manifested his name unto them, whilst yet ye had preached to others indifferently, he shews what it was that put the difference, even that these belonged to God: 'Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.'
That clause also, 'and thou gavest them me,' repeated so oft, both ver. 6, 9, 11, 12, 24, I confess, it is to be understood of God's giving them at effectual calling them, and in that sense was true of these apostles; but that is not all: there is a double giving; one at our calling, and another at and with election. And that giving to him was a distinct act from that of mere election, though done at election.
They were first the Father's by election, who singled forth the persons, and then gave them unto Christ upon his electing of them, and so these two are here joined; thou gavest them me, for they are thine: first, thine by election, then given to me, in the same sense that grace is said to be 'given in Christ before the world began,' 2
Tim. 1:9. In the same sense were these given to Christ afore the world began also, which is the import of that phrase, John 6:37, 39, 'All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me;' where the Father's giving is not their effectual calling, for that is besides noted out by coming to Christ. But it is an act of the Father's, preceding conversion, or their calling; for it is the cause of their coming; so the words manifestly shew, 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.' And when was it that act of giving was put forth afore calling?
Not at the instant of calling, but in some time before; for in ver. 39 he says, 'of all that thou hast given me,' as in the time past; and that was afore he came down from heaven, as his words shew: ver. 38, 39, for 'I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing.' That is, it was the instruction given him afore he came down, and he came down with that errand, he brought it with him, that of all the Father had given him afore he came from heaven, he should be sure not to cast off, nor lose any he had thus before given him; and if afore [he] came down, then from whence must that act commence, but from
everlasting? when it was that that grace was given in Christ, as 2 Tim.
1:9.
And truly, in ver. 24, that clause, 'those whom thou hast given me,' cannot well otherwise be understood. 'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.' For the glory given to Christ— hast given me—is apparently said to be from everlasting, at the reason and explication given of it shews, 'For thou lovedst me afore,'
&c. And therefore, if the giving me those thou hast given be suitably understood, then it is, that thou hast given me those from everlasting also; which is so to be interpreted, because he had said in the words just afore, thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me; and so, amongst other likenesses, from everlasting, as thou hast loved me.
Besides, there he prays for his whole church to come; and how is it that they had been given him? And that was not at calling, for many of them were yet uncalled, and therefore given, it must be, in God's everlasting decree. This argument the words of ver. 2 do manifest,
'As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.' This as many‚ are as many as he had amongst all flesh of mankind in all ages, and of all and every one of them many‚ he says they had been given him by his
Father, which was before they were, many of them, yea, most of them, born in all ages to come; for they are all that many whom he died for and prayed for accordingly; which is strengthened by ver.
20, 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word,' which is a-doing to the end of the world. Yet of all these he speaks in that second, that they had been given him; then when he prayed for [them] this prayer; yea, and long afore.
The second (or, in order, the fifth and last) additional assertion was, that this union was the highest the creature was capable of, next unto
Christ's, and a super-creation union, above the dues or rewards by
creation. This, though I mention, yet I need not much insist upon the proof. I might say, no more, but that this our union is brought in wholly by Christ, as the head of his church, and here pleaded for us upon his transcending interest, on the highest accounts that that interest will afford (which is wholly supernatural). And how high that will reach, our thoughts cannot rise up to apprehend. Sure I am, that look how far Christ the Lord from heaven exceeds the first Adam, a man on earth earthy; or that the elevation of a man, who is a 'quickening spirit,' super-excels the low and inferior state of a 'living soul;' and the unions with God, which each of these were the subjects of, and conveyers of the like with them proportionate to us (being compared together), will be found more or less excelling; so far will that union conveyed by Christ also excel, and the one be but natural, by creation dues, and the other supernatural, as the comparison of the two Adams, instituted by the apostle, 1 Cor. 15 teacheth us to make the estimate. But, because I confine myself to this prayer, that one passage in ver. 22 is over abundantly sufficient to prove this;
'And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.' This is Christ's glory in himself, by personal union, communicated to us by a participation from him, even as Christ's glory was from his Father's glory immediately, as his
Son by eternal generation, and to the man Jesus, or God-man, by personal union; this is a genealogy or descent from an higher fountain or rise than Adam's union was, and more fixed. But this branch will and may appear and rise up afore us, out of almost every thing I can speak about this union; and when I come to speak of the height of this union itself, it will every way be justified to the children of union, and unto that I shall refer it.
That it was a top union, super-creation, &c.
1. See Hooker of comparison with Adam; see Cartwright on either ver. 11 of John 17, or ver. 21 and 22.
2. It is God's glory given over Adam's head, as ver. 22, John 17. Adam never had the honour to have given that; it is proper to Christ, and
had it given afore the world.
3. It is the utmost he prayed for, and so a corollary from that head (that it is the great thing Christ prays for), it is argued, it was the greatest could be prayed for. See Cartwright's Harmony, third part, on John 17, page 321, 322.
Use. Learn, then, from Christ what thing of all other to pray for, and to make the most endeared object of our desires. There was an one thing of David's desires: Ps. 27:4, 'One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after.' And what was that? He speaks according to his elevation under the old testament: 'that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord.' And this indeed is near unto what Christ here under the new
(and David's is spoken in the type of his); and this of Christ's is, that God the Father may dwell in you, and that Christ, God the Son, may be in you, as the Father is in him, and make your hearts his temple, wherein he shews and utters all his glory; that you may be one with the us here; that Christ may dwell in you, and you in him; and thereby you will come to behold the beauty of the Lord indeed: 'that they may behold my glory,' saith Christ, ver. 24. It is to have
'fellowship with the Father, and with the Son,' as the apostle John speaks. Paul, that was a man that came nearest to Christ of any other
—'follow me as I follow Christ'—what was the great and first pursuit of his soul? In Philip. 3, where in some half a dozen verses he sets out the spiritual exercises and pursuances of his soul (I use to call them
Paul's ascertions*); and there the first and main great one is this, ver.
9, 'That I may win Christ, and he found in him;' that is, united to him; that is the grand point of his desires. You pray for redemption and forgiveness of sins, &c., and you do well, for ye have need on it; and to sinners, when they are heavy laden and burdened with their sins, it is that which is first objected and laid before them by the Spirit in the word; but yet let me tell you, there is a thing behind that is more remote and further off, and hidden to our thoughts at first, and that is, union with Christ and God, which in the utmost enjoyment of it will take place in the other world, when sin shall be
forgotten, and remembered no more; yea, and which is a blessing of blessings, that we might have been made perfect in, though we had never sinned; yea, which is beyond heaven and glory itself, abstractly considered as it is ours, which is beyond our beholding, the glory of Christ hi heaven; for it is that which is accomplished in us by that beholding. And, my brethren, a true genuine spiritual desire, carrying out the heart unto a union with God the Father and the Son, this proceeds from pure love, from a love to the things and persons themselves the soul would be united to; love is always joined with a desire of union; and so much the more purely that love is carried to desire an union with things lovely, so much greater is that love.
I add this: what though your hearts have not been so intensely and directly carried out to seek this for yourselves, as the top and crown object of your desires; yet be not discouraged; the apostles themselves had it not thus in their thoughts, when Christ prayed for this for them; their faith and their spirits had been little carried forth to, and exercised about, this union. 'Have I been so long time with you,' and 'believes thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?' John 14:9, 10. But 'in that day they should know,' namely, when the Holy Ghost came upon them, 'that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you,' ver. 20 of that 14th chapter. And here in this his prayer I observe, that he mentions them but so far as they had then gone; and, alas! it was but a little step; as 'they have known that thou hast sent me' and 'they believed in me,' ver. 8; and again, at last, ver.
25, 'These have known that thou hast sent me;' but they yet knew not their spiritual union with Christ, which therefore he prays for. And again, at the 26th verse, he saith, 'I have declared unto them thy name,' and that by an inward manifestation of many things I have taught them outwardly, concerning thy name, and love, and the way of salvation by me; but yet they were defective in great and many things therein still, and needed new declarations of new and further things unto them. And, therefore, he adds those words, 'and I will declare it;' ye know how short they were in knowledge. 'Ye believe in God, believe also in me;' 'hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name.' And therefore it may much rather be supposed that they
needed God's revealing to them, inwardly and sensibly, their union with him; and therefore he prays for it again in the very next words, and concludes therewith. They little dreamt at this time of his praying of this so high a mystery, the sense thereof was reserved till after his being glorified; our union is hid with God in Christ, as our life also is; and our growth in grace lieth in higher advances of spiritual knowledge, and impressions of heart affecting us, running along with accordingly upon what is still more and more spiritual.