Chapter VI
The primordial or foundation motives in the heart of God, that moved him to
affect , design, and decree so high an union of creatures with himself, as they are expressed in Christ s prayer, John xvii. The first m.otive was to mani
fest and declare Gods name, and to illustrate his grace and mercy to the
sons of men.
The Holy Spirit, who is the intercessor in us, and who searcheth the deep
things of God, doth offer, prompt, and suggest to us in our prayers those
very motives that are in God s heart, to grant the thing we desire of him, so
as it often comes to pass, that a poor creature is carried on to speak God s
126 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
very heart to himself, and then God cannot, nor doth not deny. But yet
therein the Spirit prays not immediately himself, but forms those prayers
in us, so as we are they that pray. But, Here is one, as great an intimate with God as the Spirit himself is, who
here prays himself personally unto God, and was of counsel with God from
everlasting ; and therefore, surely when he shall speak to God for anything,
and go about to move his Father thereto, he must needs utter the bottom of
what did move him from everlasting, and will move him now to bestow it.
He speaks the intimacies of things between his Father and himself, which
are privately known to them, with the Holy Spirit alone.
And truly, methinks when I read this prayer, and therein his pleadings
and memorials to his Father, I am admitted into the cabinet council of
heaven, and am made privy to what were and had been the bottom grounds
that swayed that great consultation from eternity unto that determination
which he prayeth to be accomplished.* Likewise, it became Christ, that as
the thing prayed for, our union, was the highest and utmost good that was
to be, or could be prayed for by him for us, so answerably, to bring forth
the deepest motive in God s heart to urge him withal to grant it; for he was
his Father s counsellor, and prays accordingly.
The inducements are many. I shall single forth two principal grand ones
of those which we find here in this prayer, which two do yet make three, the
latter being divided into two.
1. The manifestation of God s name, that is, of God himself, in his per
fections towards us, especially of his love and grace, in his doing of which God s manifestative glory, as it is made to us, doth consist.
2. The second is taken from the oneness in essence, and then the inti
macy and sweetness of communion that was and had been from everlasting between his Father and himself as persons, and so amongst the three per sons themselves, the us and the we spoken of, ver. 11 and 21.
There is a third, from the interest of Jesus Christ as God-man, and from
the love his Father bears him. his Son, as first setup to be personally united
to that man Jesus, and in him and through him, cast and diffused upon his
elect, as they be considered in him and for his sake, with difference from the
world. But this I shall refer unto another head, of Christ s election as he
is God-man, and his interest in our election.
Motive 1. To manifest and declare God s name.
I. This he mentions first and last of his prayer ; the first at the sixth verse
(where our interest begins to be mentioned), I have manifested thy name
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. There election is made the ground why he did declare God s name to them ; and therefore had been the motive in God s heart why he had by election given them unto
Christ : Thine they were, and thou gavest them me : the force of which
lieth in this, that because he had designed them by election to be his, he did
ordain that he should manifest his name to them, as that which had moved him to elect them. Then again, ver. 26, I have declared thy name, and
will declare it, which is at the conclusion of his prayer. We must first explain what is meant by God s name.
1. In general. God s name is God himself, and expresses what he is that is
* Bless the name
the only true God, as he had said, ver. 3. When it is said,
of the Lord, that is God himself. What is his name, or his Son s name, canst thou tell? as Prov. xxx. 4, and Ezek. xxxvi. 22 ; his name is put for
* Non ex nudo tantum fidei et charitatis sensu Christus orat, sed ingressus, ante oculos habet arcana patris judicia. Calv. on John xvii. v. 9.
CHAP. VI.] OF ELECTION. 127
his glory. Now that this was the great design of God, to have his name
declared by Christ in such a manner as never before, Ps. xxii. shews ; which, as in Christ s name, it prophesieth of his being crucified in the fore part, so
the effect and consequent of that being crucified is, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee, ver. 22, which is quoted also Heb. ii. 12. And this declaring of his name, and this
great congregation, is not to his saints only upon earth; it reacheth to hea
ven, and unto all that shall be there manifested. Ver. 26, when he saith,
I have declared what he had already done upon earth, and I will declare,
it was not only what he would do while they were upon earth, but in heaven
also, so as the declaring of God s name is the great design of God in this world to his saints, and to be perfected for ever in the world to come.
2. Christ came not only to open what God s name was, as it was more
frequently held forth afore in the world, as explaining the attributes of God, as they are set forth in the Psalms and elsewhere, not so much as to open the heart of God in the continuance of our salvation and the bottom founda
tions of them.
3. Especially, therefore, to lay open his grace, and love, and mercy to
mankind, that was the most eminent peculiar subject of Christ s declaring God s name ; so it is expressly said by Christ himself, ver. 26, I have
declared thy name, and will declare it ; that thy love may be in them. So
then, that part of his name especially is it Christ pretended, with which
accords that passage, Ps. cxxxviii. 2, I will praise thy name for thy lovingkindness, and for thy truth : for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. The true intimate meaning whereof is this, thou hast magnified that
part of thy word that speaks thy loving-kindness and truth above all thy name else that is in thy word ; and so refers unto that name proclaimed, Exod. xxxiv. 6, The Lord God gracious and merciful, abundant in good ness and truth.
II. To declare thy name, Father ! (who is the fountain of the Deity). This he saith in the 25th verse,
* Father, the world knoweth thee not : but
I have known thee, and I will declare thy name. Jesus Christ came in an
especial manner to open the heart of the Father to the world : John i. 18, he came out of the bosom of the Father, and he hath explained him ; he hath disintrinsecated him, laid open what is in him, in his thoughts, pur
poses, and ends of sending him into the world. The design of his preach
ing in his sermon in the Gospel of John, is to let open his Father s heart, and his own as the Son. And this is the knowledge which he boasts of as
- ver. 25, that was Christ s eminent skill and learning, and therefore I declare and teach it, ver. 26. Though all the treasures of wisdom besides were in him,
proper to himself, and magnifieth, Father, I have known thee,
yet he magnified this wisdom above all.
III. The declaring the Father was to declare also the other two persons, how they are in God, and that himself, the Son, proceeded from God the Father. The Father, as he is the fountain of the Deity, so he is set for the
three.
In a word, all in God is reduced to these two: 1, the perfection of the
divine nature of the Godhead itself ; and, 2, the three persons subsisting therein; and enjoying of those perfections, and the manifestation of these
persons, and of their joint counsels and offices about our salvation, are the
great subjects of Christ s preaching, especially in the Gospel of John. And
I am to shew .how these were the original inducements to him ; for God is
primordially moved with nothing out of himself. And therefore I have
singled forth these two out of the many other motives which Christ useth in
128 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
this prayer (as namely, tliat one I mentioned of his own interest as God-
man^ which yet I here leave out and refer to another place, because as he rSuch iUs a thing out of God himself, and set up by election, as we are.
These things first explaining what God s name is, I come secondly, to
shew how Swas a motive ; for which there are these demonstrations :
1 IUs the nature of perfection to manifest itself, and so it is in God ;
and to be brought unto union with God is the utmost perfection of the crea
ver 23,
ture -I in them, and thou in me, that they maybe made^^inan*,
td^o unto the uttermost that they were capable of. Now, it is the nature
of true perfection to manifest itself; our Saviour here expresseth it by he
word M this name, which accordingly holds forth the reason of the manifest tms uuuie, wui^u
, -j -
itself for it is a known rule, that it is the nature of true Pe^ion to
be manifetativum sui, to manifest itself; and so it is m God, and that
moved him. Not that by being known any perfection could be added to
himself, but that he might perfect others thereby, as our Saviour here that
they may be made perfect in one, praying for this union We see the
creatures desire to manifest their poor and low perfections, but hey because
they think themselves perfected by being known to others, which style God
himself indeed condescends to utter himself in, in the manifestation of his
perfection, as in that speech, his power is perfected in weakness 5
xii 9 but in a clean contrary sense the phrase there imports to be made
known or manifested ; that is, to be made known or manifested to be most
perfect and glorious, in and upon occasion of our weakness, for m any other
respect than of giving an occasion to discover itself, what perfection can
weakness give to power ? As for making any such manifestation, there was no
necessity or impulse on his part for himself to have done, for ms essence
bein* immense, it is comprehensive and big enough to have contained his
.ownblessedness within himself without flowing over. He is to himself a
perpetual spring of happiness, and also a sufficient cistern to receive and
hold and retain all the nowings and reflowings thereof within himself ; all
falls still back again into himself, which is from the infinite vastness of his
being, and therefore it is a mere act of his grace and will, which the bcnp-
tnre everywhere so celebrates and attributes this unto.
Besides, it was far from any necessity or addition to his perfection to have
them thus made known, for there were three persons that communicated m
these perfections, that knew, and loved, and delighted, as I have shewed
elsewhere, in each other s blessedness.
But then, secondly, these his perfections being crowned with goodness
and grace, his goodness moved his will unto this communication of himseJt;
and it is as known a maxim that goodness is sui communicativum : Ps. cxix.
68, Thou art good (in thy nature) and thou doest good, that follows ;
and the greatest goodness he can do us, is to make known his goodness. Thus God to Moses, Exod. xxxiii. 14, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee.
But it was not simply his goodness, but his grace, which is the top per
fection of his name; and this grace our God did value as his choicest riches:
his grace, his mercy, you have it up and down in Paul s epistles. And this,
as it is the excellency of his goodness, so still helped forward to make his
will to communicate all his goodness, for (mark it) grace and mercy are such
attributes as have not himself for their object, though for their subject ; and
^ Himself indeed
so if any needed a manifestation unto creatures, then these.
is the object of his own love (he loves himself), but himself is not the object
of his own grace, to be sure not of his own mercy. God is nowhere said
to be gracious or merciful to himself, nor is it meet to have it said of him ;
CHAP. VI.] OF ELECTION. 129
and therefore in this respect he is not said to be rich to himself, but, as Rom.
x. 12, he is rich to others, even to all that call upon him. God, in
deed, hath a glory arising from his own mercy and grace, but then it is but what is dispensed unto others ; the riches thereof are disposable no way but
to the use and benefit of creatures. Well then, says God with himself, These
riches lie by me, and I have no use of them, and yet I have them ; I will
therefore put them to use, and lay them out upon others, as rich men do their
riches, and lay them out upon some purchase. So God resolved that one
day somebody might be the better for them.
And lastly, to instance in no more particulars, take the result of that whole blessedness which arose from the enjoyment of his own perfections, namely, the sweetness, the contentment, he had in his own happiness ; it most strongly moved him to make creatures partakers of it. He would not be happy alone ; he would have others (as Christ expresseth his spirit, and his Father s also, John xvii. 23, 24) who might
* see his glory, and be glorified in seeing of
it. And this is made the original of this gospel of salvation, and of our
salvation itself. For what other doth the gospel hold forth than God s
blessed intentions, contrivements, and purposes for our salvation, for the glory of his name, which Christ came to preach and declare ? The motive there unto is intimated in one small word added, yet clearly enough, 1 Tim. i. 11, According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. It is a sure rule, wherever you find any special attribute of God singled forth in connection with some other thing that flows from him, it is still such as is peculiarly effective, or more properly the cause of that thing mentioned ; and so here, the blessed God (blessed in the enjoyment of his own glory) is here inserted to shew what had moved him thereby to make his creatures blessed, and therefore to con
trive the whole of this gospel of our salvation.
But it will be said, If this goodness and blessedness in himself were that which moved him, why then shewed he not this favour unto all ?
The answer is, That is not my part now to speak to ; the account thereof
belongs to another place. My present business hath been, that whether it should be to many or to all, to manifest himself was the motive. The second answer is, That it was not to many, because grace was the
great thing in his name he meant to shew, and was that which managed his
goodness, and had the prevalent sway and hand in this matter, as every where the Scripture ascribes it, then the glory of this grace will shew itself
in a free love, and so in a choice of the persons. Says grace, I am free and
* I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. So the words run in Moses : Exod. xxxiii. 19
will use a freedom, and not communicate them to all,
I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful ; and as Paul, Rom. iii. 18,
* There is no fear of God before their eyes. And was yet more free in this, and therefore he calls the elect vessels of mercy, singled out of mercy,
* on whom, and unknown,* he will make known the riches of his glory. He
compares them to smaller vessels, and himself to the sea that fills them ; and what is it ? A created glory out of himself ? No ; but that glory which
is in himself, which fills them in making them glorious, which is properly his own ; and thereupon if it be to be resolved and determined by the will
of God and the graciousness of his will as concerning what persons, or why not others, then and thereupon the apostle demands, Rom. ix. 22, 23,
4 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and make his power known, en dured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction : and that he 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 murmur- * Qu. unto whom ? ED. VOL. IX. I
OF ELECTION. [B OK
Betollfm apart is that which made him godly; and therefore do yon all
and sin not by murmuring at it; for God will enjoy his free-
standl awe,
dom, having mercy on whom he will.
CHAPTEB VII.
The oneness and intimacy of communion which the Father, and Son, and Holy
G^TLdand hare amongst themes, u as an original and pnmo^al
motive of God s ordaining us unto union and communion mth himself.
It is an ancient and renounced* saying of Nazianzen, Bonum unitatis a
Trimtate origin*** 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
AnTthXwhich 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
bv Christ of his and his Father s oneness so oft and so many ways m 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 ar
in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one mus ; 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
indications, 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 M
meant, which I intimated before was yet meant ; or that only their unioi
was the pattern or exemplar of ours, to which many interpreters do omy
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 c
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 m way ot
petition and supplication to obtain this union for us, I cannot but witl
consider them intended also as arguments and grounds to move him there
unto 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 on<
* as we are
in us. This word also hath more in it than what is in ver. 11,
one ; or than that it should barely be to signify, that by way of exemplar
or similitude on]y 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
c renowned ? ED.
* Qu.
CHAP. VIL] OF ELECTION. 131
in a foregoing discourse* traversed the Scriptures to demonstrate, beginning at Moses, Gen. i., 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 argu ment 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 accord
ing 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 held 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 God-man, 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 supercreation 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 there
unto, 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. iv. 3, he there enforceth his persuasive by the unity of the
* There is one God, the Father of all, and one Lord Jesus Christ. There is but one
three persons in their offices or relations towards us : ver. 5-7,
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. iv.), 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 doxo-
logies, and glory be to, &c., but only the Father and the Son), yet elsewhere
* Let us make man, I have shewed) he comes
(besides in that of Genesis,
in as one of this supreme its as a third person, and that as particularly as the Son and Father here : Isa. vi. 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 xii. 41. And who then
is this other person that says, Whom shall / send ? who ako is one of the us, but even the Holy Ghost, who (as Acts xiii. 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 xxviii. 25, And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, * Vide Of the Knowledge of God and Christ, book i. chap. ii.
132 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
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 MS
11 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 herein doth rightly oppose him, arguing from that parallel speech of
Christ s in chap. x. 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 inte
rests 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
: as for a prince to pray as a king for his subjects, and .as a man and
doing
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 ? espe
cially 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 one
ness, 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 assump
tion 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 inte
rest is the ground and original of another, we may very well understand both to be 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 un-
derived one comes to have its existence. And therefore his being one with
* Tenendum est quoties unum se cum Patre esse in hoc capite, pronunciat Christus, aermonem non haberi simpliciter de divina ejus essentia, sed unum vocari in persona
mediatoris, et quatenus caput nostrum. Calv. in John xvii. 21.
CHAP. "VII.] OF ELECTION. 133
* That they may be one, as we are one, &c.
God, as second person, is chiefly to be attended in the saying,
Look, then, as in the fore-cited place, John x. 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 funda mental 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 be 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 God-man, 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 -fellow
ship 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 God head ; the other upon their converses had between themselves, as persons
subsisting in that Godhead, glorifying, loving, and speaking to each other from everlasting.
134 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
The first of these I found upon John xvii. 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 foreexplanation rather), what it was he meant to com
prehend 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 pas
sages, 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 some
what 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 tho 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
* that they may be one as we are
in the world : Keep them in holiness,
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
1 &c. ;
words at the beginning of verse 10, All that are mine are thine,
whereas, indeed, there is the nearest alliance and affinity, yea, identity be
tween 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 no
thing that we have diviswn, 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
* 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
alone),
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 in tended and forelaid as a like ground and plea for this our union also, and
CHAP. VII. J OF ELECTION. 135
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 be 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 him
self ; and that it should be sure to be such a union, that is as like unto their own union as 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 ex
quisite 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 in
terposed 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
* 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
is the last petition, and final conclusion of all,
* that they may be one, as the particle ha, that, doth shew ; and
to an end ;
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 in
herit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son, Rev. xxi. 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 pre
* that (so) they may be one, according to the true tenor of Christ s meaning in those other
sently have had to succeed it, that last petition at the end,
words, yet our Lord, to make his prayer yet more full and comprehensive, he cho^e to fetch in and interweave this other, which he knew was the
136 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
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 can 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, 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 our
being one, do enjoy all these glories together (only we are one with an essen
tial 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, know
ing 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 en
joyment of all that is mutually God s or Christ s ; and also it discovering the very original motion, motus piirno })rimus, 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 mineJ 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 Godman, and so of them as simply they are persons in the Godhead, though not
CHAP. VII. J OF ELECTION. 137
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,
* as we are one ; and is all one in effect as to have said, Herein
ver. 11,
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
* I pray for all those thou hast
interpreters, that he having just afore said,
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 in
tending 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, 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 strengthen
ing 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 be 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
* All that the Father hath are mine, it is spoken of
place, John xvi. 15,
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
* Q.u. though on ? ED.
OF ELECTION. [BOOK H.
some further thing, and spreading and extending itself unto all ^.^what soever, thouo-h 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, -.-!,! 1 . A .. . -w-t 4-\\f\4c\\\ Tninrrc
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 coi
this were
in but upon this general account, whereupon all things else^are,
only a common interest, and so they would be his but as alHhings els
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 pro
priety 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 became mine by thy 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 till things
* It is certain that if we should limit this speech to the persons of the apostles, then Gerhard s argument would have place. Saith he, if you limit this to the persons of
the apostles, as that whereby Christ should make proof of that he had said just afore
(which they that do must make to be the coherence), They are thine, and then bring
this as his reason, and for for) all mine are thine, &c. Then, says he, you make
Christ to prove but idem per idem, the same thing by the same ; and it had been but as
if he had said, These are thine, for the persons of these are both mine and thine ; now
this must be admitted. And again, to have intended to say. These apostles are mine,
for all the persons that are mine are thine, and thine mine, and therefore these, this had been thwart to his scope and method, which was singularly to pray for, and
present his apostles as his chiefest and choicest elect, and pattern of God s election of
the rest ; so as if he had intended to note forth that they were his and his Father s
elect ones, then rather all the elect with them must come in as intended, for he says
all things, &c., as well as the apostles ; and so still it would fall out that the apostles
persons should come in, but because the whole body of the elect are God s, and his ; whereas Christ s method in this prayer and this place is, vice versa, clean otherwise,
for he mentions not the rest of his elect until ver 20, Neither pray 1 for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word : having intended
this foregoing part of his prayer especially for his apostles, for their particular com
fort, and all other the elect, but by consequence and inference from what the ap6stles were to him. So as the main and grand lot of the interpretation must still be ex tended unto things, All things that, are mine are thine.
CHAP. VII.] OF ELECTION. 139
else that are God s, in their several order and decree ; which ends the differ
ence, 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.
t all mine are thine, &c., reacheth unto and principally intends
(1.) That
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
* And now, Father, glorify thou me with
understand the words, ver. 5,
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 sal
vation 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
140 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
him, the fulness of the Deity; and so the sense is, all mine, that is, what
ever essential glory or perfection, whatever blessedness, &c., is in thee is in
me, for we are one and co-equal 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 be ex-
cepted), 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 relin-
quit, which are Austin s words upon it: He that saith all things, leaves no
thing excepted.
[2.] He says not, as in Mat. xi. 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 e contra.
[8.] That parallel place, John xvi. 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), nuvra,
all things, and adds, offct, 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
< 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 Christ s, for
all and the whole Godhead communicated to him in the fulness of it, for
essenticB communicatio facit omnia communia, the Godhead being communi cated 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 possessive ; 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. vi. 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 xvi. 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
CHAP. VII.] OF ELECTION. 141
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 rea son 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 per sons are in subsisting, and dependence each of other for their personal sub
sistence 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 sub
sistence, or his being God, is from the Father, who is the fountain of the
Deity, and his Son isj* 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
v. 19, 20, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of him
self, 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 my
self, saith he : but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doth the works, John xiv. 10, and chap. viii. 28. And what is the reason of this depend ence 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 there
fore 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 him
self ; 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 xv. 26, that there
fore 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,