Chapter VI (continued, part 2)
* All that my Father hath is mine. So as it is the account of the
142 or ELECTION. [BooK II.
order of their subsistence, as the foundation of this their order in working, which he aims at in saying, All that my Father hath is mine, as well as to shew he is God, and that therefore necessarily the Spirit must take of mine, since it is I that send him as well as my Father. This he had said afore, ver. 6 of that 16th chapter. And it is as if he had said, This I had not power to do, nor ought to have taken upon me to say or do, unless I were God with the Father, for the Holy Ghost is God ; and were I not God as well as the Father, and that the Spirit proceeded from me, I, as merely Mediator, could not have sent him.
If then this parallel speech in chap, xvi., ver. 15, imports that all things in the Godhead were his with the Father as a person that was God with him, why should we not, yea, how dare we but understand it of the same in this prayer also ? For the one comes in as a part of his doctrine in a ser mon just preceding afore his prayer, and this follows after in the prayer. This for the confirmation of this sense from John xvi. 15.
[4.] A fourth argument from the manner of this speech in John xvii. 10,
is, that Christ speaks in terms of equality with his Father, All mine are thine, and thine mine ; that is, mutually, and equally, and alike ; and therefore it is spoken of him as God, and a person in the Godhead. Yea, lo, he says not only all mine are thine, but he says vice versa on the other side, all thine are mine. It is after the manner of equals among men ; you may observe that when the same things are said of two equals, the manner is indifferently to place either first and then the other So here, mine thine, and thine mine ; no matter which first, so the same things be said. It is to shew they are equal. But if Christ only spake this as God-man, in and under that consideration solely, the Father being greater than he, he would not have ranged it with this equality, unless he had spoken as he is a person of the Trinity equal with the Father, and one God with the Father. There fore it is he speaks it as second person chiefly, especially if he had spoken as God-man, and had withal intended by the all things that are mine are thine the apostles persons only, as some have it. He would rather have said, All thine are mine. And why? Because he had said before, they were first the Father s, and thou gavest them me.
[5.J Toilet upon the place casts in this, that our Lord had spoken afore of the persons of the apostles, how they were thine, Father ; so in the 6fch verse, thine by election, which is signified in that speech, Thou gavest them me, and they were given to me as I am God-man. Therefore here in these words, says he, Christ ascends to urge a further and higher interest
in them, and in all things else, viz., as he is God, and coequal with the Father. And certainly that other particular interest, viz., that the persons of those apostles were both his and the Father s also, he had before so suffi ciently expressed both in ver. 6, and over and over again afterwards, within this small compass of the words that follow in ver. 11 and ver. 12, as it mav well be admitted that some greater thing, and more intensive, should in these words be intended.
This for the second branch, that by all things is not meant only all things extrmsecal or all of the persons of the elect, &c., but the divine essence itself, and the perfections thereof proper to God, and common to the three persons, that all these were his as well as the Father s.
m 8. Thirdly, This speech doth fully import, and is all one as to say (though in a larger compass of words), that his Father and he are two persons, oSe in essence; or (as he himself after in fewer words expresseth it), We. are one.
^ And mark it, brethren, that very thing it is that his prayer here doth issue m, That they may be one, as we are. For two persons to have all
CHAP. VII.] OF ELECTION. 143
the perfections of the divine nature equally and in common, All thine are
mine, and mine are thine, this is all one as to say, that these two persons are one. This is so clear, as I need not insist on it. And truly Calvin, who is against the interpretation of we are one to be meant of the oneness
of the persons, as in the divine nature of God, throughout this chapter, yet when he is upon this place, he, considering the weight and extension of this word all things, hath these words,* The unity of the Father and the Son
is such as they have nothing apart between them. Which is that very thing which I say, that their being one God is expressed by this, that all things are in a community theirs.
4. This issues all the former, that it is spoken as a motive or plea, that
* they (the elect) should be one, as we are. There is this aspect, this true and genuine connection between these two passages, though (as I
therefore
at first noted) there comes in a petition between for that which was to be
the means of their union ; yet these first words, All mine are thine, &c., do centre in this grand petition,
* That they be one, as we, or,
* Let them
be one. And the reasons of this their first connection and reference are
these : 1. So it is that that speech, All mine are thine/ &c., stands as a
parenthesis from the rest of the words, whether afore or after, and are to be
separate by an inclosure from the rest. And so Brugensis reads the words, and in his comment notes it to be such. It is a speech stands by itself
among the rest, and sent aforehand, a good way off, expecting a mate, a cor
respondent, it should yoke and clasp withal, and this is it, That therefore
they may be one, as we are. And the coherence of the words in the verses
afore these words, All mine are thine, &c., and of those that immediately follow them, you may observe that the other verses run on smoothly without
them, so as those words are a parenthesis, I pray for them which thou
hast given me, for they are thine, ver. 9, and I am glorified in them, ver.
10, and so on. And interpreters generally are so wholly intent upon this, that the persons of the apostles are only intended in his saying all mine
are thine, as they fill up the whole of Christ s meaning therewith ; which
also hath caused them to judge the oneness of the saints themselves to be
only meant in those words, that they may be one. But I hope I have
sufficiently proved it, that our oneness with God and with Christ is here to
be understood. 2. That they may be one is the centre of his prayer, which what is before determines and falls into, and therefore this passage of
all mine centres therein also. 3. The suitableness and correspondency,
yea, sameness of sense that is between these two passages, All things that
are mine are thine, and that which is last of all, as we are one, is such
as makes it undeniable. For if any should have studied never so much to
express what the Father and Son being one is, or what the unity of the
persons, in respect of their essences or Godhead, is, it could not be more
fully and adequately set out than by this, that it is a communion of all things in God between those persons ; and that saying of Christ which expresses this communion, All mine are thine, is the same with this other, As we
are one. So then, that our union with God should be expressed by our
being one in our measure and proportion, as the Father and the Son are
one, is the most significant way of expressing it that could be, so as we see
all to agree in a blessed harmony.
Now the force of the plea therein, wherewith he moves his Father, is, that they being one in the enjoyment of all these uncreated riches of the Godhead which are mutually theirs, as of that essential wisdom, power, * Tenenda est unitas Patris cum Filio, quae facit ut nihil in se divisum habeant. Calvin in loc.
144 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
omniscience, holiness, blessedness, glory, all, and being thus one in essence,
had agreed and conspired in love towards these (for all the acts of the God
head Fnternal are common to the three persons). And so it is as if he had
said I am concurring with thee, Father, as second person, in the choice
of these persons, and in the love of them, or in what degree of special love
soever there is, in respect of which they may be said to be thine, m the
same love and degree thereof, they are mine also as second person ; and oh,
therefore, bring those whom we have loved into a communication of all
those glories and riches with us ; let them have all things that are ours,
with a xa&us, an as, by way of similitude of what we have therein ; let us
not be happy alone, nor keep the communication of these things wholly
among ourselves, but let them have all, as far as mere creatures are capable
of ; which that it might be fully accomplished, according to my true intent
in my saying, All mine are thine, &c., and completing my prayer about this,
I enlarge itere I conclude, and end it with this further request, that thou
wouldst keep them in this life in holiness, that so they may perfectly attain
this blessedness, that all that is mine and thine may be theirs also, as hath
been designed by us for them ; which I reinforce in these words, to be
granted them, that they may be one as we are one, which is effected by
their having all in common between us, whereby we are one, communicated
unto them also, whereby it is they shall be made one with us also. And oh,
let them thus have all, though not with an essential sameness (that is im
possible), yet with a fruition ; let them have all the power, wisdom, grace,
love, blessedness, that is in thee and me ; let them have them all in the en
joyment to make them happy possessively, though not essentially ; (or, as
* one
* one in us, ver. 21, not
Christ afterwards differenceth it) let them be
with us, and as we ourselves are one with another, for as their union with
us is of a lower kind, so the communication of all these must be ; yet let
them have all as far as is communicable ; let all their interest be ours but
their sins, which let us separate from them, that so they may be entirely one in us, that they may be able, in the knowledge and sense of their one
ness with us, to say in their measure unto us, All ours is thine, God, and
all thine is ours, and may say the like to me the Son, I am heir of thee,
Father, for I am thy Son, and to inherit all things in thee, and let them be
heirs of God, and of all of God, with me, co-heirs with me, as Rom. viii. 17
hath it. And this plea of his, as second person, for us, shews the bottom counsel
of the heart of God among the Holy Three from everlasting, when that
blessed and Sacratissimus Consessus Trinitatis was held, that most sacred
sitting of the Trinity, as Gerhard speaks on John xvi. 14, 15, that Concilium
Trinitatis, as Rolloc on the same place, then it was this motion on our be
half was made amongst them, which the Son here expresseth ; and the
original ground of that motion was the communion the three persons do
hold in that one Godhead, therefore they designed to communicate the same
to those they loved and foreknew, and were then a-choosing unto an union
with them. And this the second or middle person, God s counsellor, An-
gelus magni Concilii (as the Septuagint renders it, Isa. ix. 6), he, knowing his Father s counsels, utters it here in John xvii., through the mouth of the man who was now become one person with him ; his part being now in a
way of prayer to move his Father, he reminds him of the original ground
thereof, and he doth it to his Father in a prayer, rather than in a sermon to them his apostles ; and he does it in this his last prayer, in which he layeth open the secrets of God. And higher than this we cannot go. And that
this is the true meaning of this connection, All thine are mine, and mine
CHAP. VII. J OF ELECTION. 145
are thine, with this, That they may be one, as we are, if ever I did sub mit any interpretation that ever I have given of any scripture in my whole
life, I do submit this.
We may see, then, the great stead the being of the Trinity stands us in. We see first the original motion made for our eternal blessedness to have [been] founded on this, that there are three persons that have the same Godhead, and all in it as one ; whereby they were moved to make the creatures one in them, and to communicate all in the Godhead, and all else that was theirs unto them, and for them for their good.
SECTION II.
The second sort or branch of the motive in the three persons. The mutual in tercourse and society which as persons they have, and had one with another; and the sweetness of that converse was an inducement to them to ordain crea tures to be taken up into the like communion with themselves. This 1found upon John xvii. 21.
That they all may be one] as thou, Father, art in me, and 1 in thee, that they
also may be one in us. JOHN XVII. 21.
Wherein, among other things, the intimate communion of the Father in and with the Son, and of the Son in and with the Father, is expressed by the Father s being in the Son, and the Son in the Father ; and that con verse is of the import of those terms of expression. And besides the per sonal indwelling of the Father in the Son, which divines call circumcession of the persons, those phrases do import all sorts of intimate acquaintance and knowledge of each other. We use to say, we know such a man as if we were within him. Now, the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and so are perfectly acquainted one with the other ; and therefore, accord
ingly, that which
> follows, that they also may be one in us, is as much as for him to have prayed, that they in like manner may partake of, and enjoy in, a like communion and intercourse in us and with us, as we are. And such a blessed intercourse between the Father and the Son, the 5th verse of this chapter shews to have been from everlasting
: the glory I had with thee afore the world was ; as also Christ had in his sermon, chap. xvi. 13, 14, towards the end of it, made mention of :
< Whatsoever the Spirit shall hear, that shall he speak
:_ he shall glorify me, and take of mine ; all the Father hath
is^mine. The Scriptures do present the three persons, not only as three witnesses to us, but as three blessed companions of a knot and society among themselves, enjoying fellowship and delights accordingly in them selves ; and indeed, if this had been wanting, there had not been an abun dant or a complete happiness, for much of sweetness lies in society (the sweet ness of a man s friend, is Solomon s character), which, if the divine nature had not afforded in having in it three persons really distinct, knowing, rejoicing in, glorying of, and speaking unto each other, there had not beena perfection of blessedness. But from forth of this society, an allsatiety did and doth arise ; the Son is presented as in the bosom of the Father : John
i. 18, No man hath seen God at any time : the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him ; and John x. 15, As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father. And the Son speaks not, but what he hears of the Father, as you find again and again in that Gospel of John ; nor doth the Spirit speak but what he hears of both : John VOL. IX.
146 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
xvi. 18-15, Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth ; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall
hear, that shall he speak, and will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine ; therefore said I, That he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
And this fellowship and communion mutual is, and was, matter of infinite
delight and pleasure in them, as Wisdom, i. e. the Son declares, Prov. viii.
30, in there uttering what had been between the Father and him afore the world : Then was I by him as one brought up with him ; and I was daily his
delight, rejoicing always before him; and this he says was before the world ; and then, when their delights thus lay in what by way of intercourse had
passed between him and his Father, as those words, rejoicing always afore him, signify; that he, as a companion, had been always in his sight, his pre sence, his company ; now conformable and like unto, and next to these
delights which had been between themselves, were their delights in the sons of men : ver. 81, Kejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and my de
lights were with the sons of men. The sons of men are sociable creatures,
intelligent and understanding, and much of their delights lie in mutual con verses. Now the delights of these divine persons with the sons of men afore the world was, lay much in thoughts taken up aforehand, of what a sweet
fellowship one day they should have in admitting them into an intimate con verse and acquaintance with themselves. The sons of men were their
delights, not as things that are incapable of converse are said to be, but which the correspondencies held among persons do aiford. You read in the
apostle John, 1 John i. 3, of a fellowship which we now have with the Father, and the Son, and they with us ; and as in ver. 7, that following clause ex pounds it, we have fellowship one with another ; that is, they with us, and we with them. And it was the thoughts of these mutual delights in our and their fellowship, one day to be had and enjoyed, when we should actu
ally exist, was a special objective matter of delight unto their thoughts so long afore ; they infinitely pleased themselves in the view and contemplation of this. Now when I say it was such, both to the Father as well as to the Son, my ground even in that place of the Proverbs is, chap. viii. ver. 30, 31, that although it be Wisdom, the Son, that only says, my delights were with the sons of men, yet that the Father s delights were in common with his in them, the words afore instruct us, I rejoiced in the habitable part of his earth (he loving the very ground they go on), wherein these sons of men should dwell. The insertion of his name, by* his Father s, shews us it was his Father interest as well as his own, yea, and his own for his Father s sake. And elsewhere his Father is said to have delighted in them, to choose them, Dent, x., which common interest this text expresseth, thine they were, and thou gavest them me ; and mine are thine, holds good even here.
And the mention thus first of these proper delights, peculiar to the per sons, and then of theirs in^us, and the thoughts of our fellowship with them to come, and the one in so near and immediate a conjunction to, and with the other, strongly insinuates that they affected this secondary fellowship with us creatures, from the delights of what originally they had among themselves, both as the exemplar of that to be had in time with us, and as the rise and inducing motive, that so they among themselves, and we together with them, might all rejoice together, which was the freeness and greatness of the grace Of it ; that though they had a perfection of delights in what was proper to * Qu. viz. ? ED.
CHAP. VII.] OF ELECTION. 147
themselves, yet they would have other company to delight in. It was the sweetness and delightfulness of their own proper consortium, which induced them to have more company, partakers of their joy, who might rejoice to
gether with them in their capacity and proportion, who might therefore bless and adore them for taking them up into it, and make, as Christ speaks, their
joy, if possible, more full ; they would not be happy alone. And that the three persons, both singly and joint, were prone and propense unto such a creature-fellowship, and admission of them unto their converse with themselves, the Scriptures and the reason of the thing doth shew.
For as you have fellowship with us, attributed to the Father and the
Son, in that of 1 John v. 3, and other places, so you have as express the communion and fellowship of the Spirit, distinct from that of theirs with us : 2 Cor. vi. ver. 13, 14, Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged. Be ye not equally yoked together with unbelievers ; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? and what communion hath light with darkness ?
And the reason of the thing, how it came to pass it should be so, may be fetched and drawn down from what was said in that head of the first princi
pal motive, viz. the manifesting and declaring the name of God ; whereby, as
I shewed, was principally meant the grace, love, and goodness in the
divine nature, all which are in common the perfections of each person alike, of one as well as the other : for all mine are thine, and thine mine, saith
Christ." As therefore the Godhead, or divine nature, is disposed to this union and creature communication to us, so they being the properties of the per sons subsisting in that nature, the persons themselves are inclined there
unto, both jointly and singly. There is love and infinite riches of grace in God the Father : Eph. ii. 7, That in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus. There is grace in God the Son ; a free heart to bestow the riches, the fulness of delights, that himself possessed
* For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich ; and
: 2 Cor. viii. 9,
there is the highest readings* and propenseness in the Holy Ghost unto
; The
creature communion also. You have all in one verse : 2 Cor. xiii. 4,
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of
the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. And as I then shewed that it is
the property, the nature of goodness, grace, and love, to communicate and manifest themselves to others, so we find the same said of the persons
singly, each of them having the same blessed property. Thus of manifesta
tion it is said : John xiv. 21, 22, He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself to him ; and ver. 23, My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Thus of the Father and Son. And there is the manifestation of the
Spirit also, 2 Cor. xii. ; and he is promised to dwell in us, and be with us
for ever, John xiv. 17, and is the revealer of God s and Christ s mind to us, and of the deep things of God, \ Cor. ii. 10-16 ; and all these dispensations in time have, for their spring and well-head, these original purposes and
transactions from everlasting.
They each singly, and jointly for one another, desired to have themselves made known to us, to the end to be glorified by us. The Spirit loves to
glorify the Son to us : John xvi. 14, He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. The Father to have his Son * Qu. readiness ? ED.
148 OF ELECTION. [BOOK II.
honoured as himself is : John v. 22, 23, For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son : that all men should honour
the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
* Father, glorify thy name,
says the Son of the Father ; John xii. 28, I have glorified it, and will
glorify it again, says the Father to the Son in answer thereunto. They love
to have their own personal in-beings, and communications among themselves, made known to us, as far as we are capable
: John xiv. 20, At that day ye
shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
The man Christ Jesus united to the second person speaks the sense of
that person, and his Father s also in this : John xvii. 21, 22, As thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. Which
is as if he had said, Thou, Father, knowest how blessed and delightful this oneness of ours together hath been unto us ; what infinite joy and happiness
it hath produced to us, and in us ; and it will be sweet to us to have fellows who also may be partakers of our joys, who may both be enjoyers of it
themselves, and also may understand what hath been among ourselves from
* Ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you ), and adore us
all eternity (according to those words of Christ s, John xiv. 20,
for it. You see also that this man, God s fellow, when he was taken up into that fellowship, he became of the same disposition, he desired not to be alone. And he had it from the disposition of the person he was united
to, the Son of God ; and so God gave him fellows thereupon, Ps. xiv. 7, and he being manifest in the flesh, expresseth and utters but what was in the heart of all the three. Thus this natural society of the three, and the
pleasure thereof, induced this acquired, and sought-out society, made up of creature converse with this God and three persons, to whom be all glory for ever.
I conclude with this, the divine nature, and the three persons are all, and the whole that are in God ; and, lo, you have all these graciously inclined unto this our union and communion with them, and then you have
all that is in God become motives, and inductives to it, and you can have no more.
I might add for the confirmation of this notion, that what was in the nature of God had influence upon his gracious will to move him to do the
like for us in many particular instances. Only what he should do for us, being matter of will in him, he might do it, or not do it as he pleased, and to whom, or whom not, as he pleased, because it was matter of will, yet something that was natural was the inducer of his will thereunto.
Use. Oh let us take heed lest we be left out of this royal society
! as by allusion to what is lower and lesser I may call it, lest our lot should
fall to be with the rest of the world, as in ver. 23 of this John xvii. Christ sets it forth ; lest that we only know, and that too late, that there have been a
^ company of men whom God hath loved, and taken up into union with
himself, to be ever with the Lord, when ourselves shall have that fatal sen tence pronounced against us by our Lord Christ, Depart from me, I know ye not. And it is that you are workers of iniquity that will cause this eternal separation. He therefore saith,
< Depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity ; and as the apostle saith, Let every one therefore that names the
Lord,^ depart from iniquity. The words of Christ concerning the world are these in the 23d verse, That the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me, which will be the effect upon all the world of wicked men at that great day, which is called the day of their
visitation, that they shall see unto what an infinite blessedness the saints
CHAP. VII.] OF ELECTION. 149
are raised up unto, through union with God and Christ, and what a glorious Christ he will appear to be, that even they all shall know that God hath
sent him, and that he is the Christ indeed, and has loved these his members, united to him, as God has loved him. But this conviction will be too late,
for it is to be joined with depart from me, and therefore seek unto God to
keep you in this world, to keap you pure from the evil of it, that the world
lieth in, that in the end this union may break forth in you, and upon you, unto your own glorious sense of it ; and so Christ s words run, Holy Father, keep them through thy own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we.
To sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the phraseology of the Old Testament, though Christ used it coming in the verge of it ; but to sit down with the us, the three, another manner of three than Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, to sit down with God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, and to have these to dwell in us, and we to dwell in them, this is Christ s
language, this is New Testament language. Oh to be bound up in that bundle
of life with the living God, and with Christ, that hath life in himself! Oh let
this be the whole of the strength of the aim of our souls, and be moved and
affected so with it, so as not to want a part and share in and with this good company
! They were sufficient company to themselves when they inhabited
eternity, and sufficient to make themselves happy one in another ; how much more are they sufficient to make us so, by taking us up into their
intimate converse ! Suppose (we will make but a supposition of it) that God had chosen but one soul besides that man Jesus, whom he took up into one person with his Son (for we mere creatures should not have been imme
diately united to God without a mediator of union, who was more than a
creature, and therefore his presence is necessary unto our happiness, as
ver. 24), upon this supposition, how infinitely blessed would that one soul have been in the sole and single society of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and with the man Jesus, made one person with the Son; he would not have needed to have had the company of Peter and Paul to have made that
c I in thee, and thou in me, would have made that
happiness perfect ; but
soul perfect in one. It is but an additional and adscititious happiness which
the saints have from their oneness one with another; but it is, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, is their happiness in solido, wherein the substance thereof consists. If of that single soul
Christ had said, Father, I will that this soul also whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, that it may behold my glory which thou hast given me, this soul would have been perfectly happy. Have you had
experience at any time, any of you I do not say you have not grace, if you have not had it of that in John xiv. 21,
* My Father will love him, and I
will love him, and will manifest myself to him, i. e. have you had the Father telling you he Joves you ? And then again, have you had the Son
saying to your poor souls, how he loves you, and manifesting himself, and
his heart unto you ? And have you had the Holy Ghost communicating himself in like manner ; and this vouchsafed here in this life, in some short
converses of each of these persons with your souls, which are but imperfect manifestations of them to us in this life ? Oh what sweetness will there one day be then in heaven, in the fulness of converse and manifestation of
these three persons, when it will be, if not all, yet the great discourse that
will be had and heard in heaven with your poor souls, by all the three per sons, bringing all the delights they have had in you from eternity down into
your hearts, and making discoveries of them to eternity.
150 OF ELECTION. [BOOK III.