Chapter IX
The potency of Christ s intercession demonstrated, in that he intercedes with
God, who is our Father. How God s heart is as much inclined to hear
Christ for us as Christ s is to intercede.
Secondly, Christ is an advocate for us with our Father. You may per haps think there is little in that, but Christ puts much upon it ; yea, so much, as if that God would however grant all that Christ himself means to
ask, whether Christ asked it or no. This you have expressly in John
xvi. 26, 27, At that day (says Christ) you shall ask in my name : and I
say not to you, that I will pray the Father for you
: for the Father himself loveth you. To open this place, where he says
* at that day. The day he means through this whole chapter, is that time when the Holy Ghost should be shed upon them ; for throughout his discourse he still speaks of the fruits of his ascension, and of giving the Comforter, which was done upon his ascending, and was the first fruits of his priestly office in heaven. Thus Peter informs us, Acts ii. 33, He being (says he) exalted by the
right hand of God, and having received (namely, by asking, Ask, and I
will give thee ) of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which you now see and hear. Now, of that time when he
shall be in heaven, he says, I say not that I will pray for you
: which is not meant that Christ prays not for us in heaven, but rather those very words are the highest intimation that he would and doth pray for us that can be. When men would most strongly intimate their purpose of a kind ness they mean to do for one, they use to say, I do not say that I love you, or that I will do this or that for you ; which is as much as to say, I will
surely do it, and do it to purpose ; but Christ s scope here is, as in the
highest manner to promise them that he would pray for them ; so withal, further to tell them for their more abundant assurance and security, that besides their having the benefit of his prayers, God himself so loves them of himself, that indeed that alone were enough to obtain anything at his
hands, which they shall but ask in his name ; so"! as he needs not pray for them, and yet he will too. But now in case that he himself pray for them, and they themselves in his name, and both unto a Father who of himself loveth them, and who hath purposed to grant all, before either he or they should ask ; what hope must there needs be then of a good suc cess ! This is both the meaning of this place, and a great truth to be considered on by us, to the purpose in hand. That it is the meaning of the
place, the manner of Christ s speech implies, I say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you. It is such a speech as Christ used upon a clean contrary occasion, John v. 45, Do not think
(says he) that I will accuse you to the Father : there is one who accuseth
you, even Moses, &c. He there threatens the obstinate and accursed Pharisees with condemnation. Never stand thinking that it is I (says he) who am your only enemy and accuser, that will procure your condemna
tion, and so prosecute the matter against you merely for my own interest ; no, I shall not need to do it ; though I should not accuse you, your own Moses in whom you trust, he is enough to condemn you, he will do your errand sufficiently, you would be sure to be damned by his words and say ings ; I shall not need to trouble myself to come in and enter my action
against you too, Moses and his law would follow the suit, and be enough
86 THE TKIUMPH OF FAITH [SECT. V.
to condemn you to hell. So as this speech doth not imply that Christ will not at all accuse them ; no, he means to bring in his action against them too ; for he after says, if he had not spoke to them, they had had no
sin, and therefore he meant to bring the greatest accusation of all. Now, in an opposite (though parallel) speech here, to comfort his disciples, he
says, I say not that I will pray for you, that God may save you, I who
yourselves shall see will die for you, I say not that I will pray for you, not
I. But though I speak this to insinuate in the highest manner that I will, for if I spend my blood for you, will I not spend my breath for you ? Yet the truth is, that the case so stands, that but for God s own ordination
I should not need to do it, for the Father himself loves you ; that is, the Father of his own motion and proper good will, taken up of himself to wards you, and not wrought in him by me, doth love you, and bears so much love to you, as he can deny you nothing, for he is your Father as
well as mine. How much more then shall you be saved when I shall
strike in too, and use all my interest in him for you ? Christ on purpose useth this speech, so to dash out of their hearts that conceit which harboureth in many of ours, who look upon God in the matter of salvation as one who is hardly entreated to come off to save sinners, and with whom
Christ, through the backwardness of his heart, hath so much ado ; and we are
apt to think that when he doth come off to pardon, he doth it only and merely at Christ s entreaty, and for his sake, having otherwise no innate motion in himself sufficient to incline his heart to it ; but that it is in this transac
tion by Christ with him, as a favourite procures a pardon for a traitor, whose person the king cares not for; only at his favourite s suit and
request he grants it, which else he would never have done. You are
deceived, says Christ, it is otherwise ; my Father s heart is as much to wards you, and for your salvation, as mine is ; himself, of himself, loveth
you. And the truth is, that God took up as vast a love unto us of himself
at first as ever he hath borne us since, and all that Christ doth for us is but the expression of that love which was taken up originally in God s own
heart. Thus we find that out of that love he gave Christ for us. So John
iii. 16, God so loved the world (of elect), that he gave his only begotten Son to die, &c. Yea, Christ s death was but a means to commend or set
forth that love of his unto us. So Bom. v. 8. It was God also that did himself give the persons unto Christ, and underhand set him on work to mediate for them. God was in Christ reconciling the world to him
self : he only used Christ as his instrument to bring it honourably about. All the blessings he means to give us he first purposed and intended in himself (so Eph. i. 3, 5, 9, 11, compared) out of the good pleasure of his
will, yet in Christ (as it is added there) as the means through which he would convey them ; yea, Christ adds not one drop of love to God s heart, only draws it out ; he broacheth it, and makes it flow forth, whose current had otherwise been stopped. The truth is, that God suborned Christ to
beg them on our behalf for an honourable way of carrying it, as also to make us prize this favour the more ; so as his heart is as ready to give all
to us, as Christ s is to ask, and this out of his pure love to us.
The intercession therefore of Christ must needs speed, when God s heart
is thus of itself prepared to us. In Isa. liii. 10 it is said, The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. If our salvation be in Christ s
hand, it is in a good hand ; but if it be the pleasure of the Lord too, it must needs prosper. It is said of our hearts and prayers, that he prepareth the heart, and heareth the prayer ; much more therefore, when his
CHAP. IX.] FROM CHRIST S INTERCESSION. 87
own heart is prepared to grant the suit, will he easily hear it. When one hath a mind to do a thing, then the least hint procures it of him. So a
father having a mind to spare his child, he will take any excuse, any one s
mediation, even of a servant, a stranger, or an enemy, rather than of none. Now, when Christ shall speak for us, and speak God s own heart, how
prevalent must those words need be ! David s soul, longing to go forth unto Absalom, 2 Sam. xiii. 39, whom notwithstanding, for the honour of
a father and a king s state policy, and to satisfy the world, he had banished
the court for his treason ; when Joab perceived it, that the king s heart was towards Absalom, chap. xiv. 1, and that the king only needed one to
speak a good word for him, he suborns a woman, a stranger (no matter whom, for it had been all one for speeding), with a made tale to come to the king ; and you know how easily it took and prevailed with him, and how glad the king s heart was of that occasion ; even so acceptable it was
to him, that Joab could not have done him a greater kindness, and that Joab knew well enough. Thus it is with God s heart towards us, Christ
assures us of it, and you may believe him in this case. For Christ might have took all the honour to himself, and made us beholden to himself alone
for all God s kindness to us ; but he deals plainly, and tells us that his Father is as ready as himself; and this he doth for his Father s honour and our comfort. And therefore it is that, John xvii., in that this prayer so often cited in this discourse, he pleads our election,
* Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, ver. 6. Thou cornmendedst them unto me, and badest me pray for them, and I do but commend the same to thee again. In the high priest s breastplate, when he went into the holy of holies, were
set twelve stones, on which were written the names of the twelve tribes : the mystery of which is this, Christ bears us and our names in his heart when he goes to God ; and moreover, we are God s jewels, precious in his own account and choice. So God calls them, Mai. iii. 17, Made precious to him out of his love. So Isa. xliii. 4. So that God loves us as jewels chosen by him, but much more when he beholds us set and presented unto him in the breastplate of Christ s heart and prayer.
To conclude, therefore; we have now made both ends of this text to meet, God s love and Christ s intercession. The apostle began with that, Who
shall accuse? It is God that justifies; and he being for us, who can be
against us ? The Father himself loves us, as he is our Father. And then he ends with this, Christ intercedes, namely, with our Father and his
Father, who then shall condemn ? Who or what can possibly con demn, all these things being for us, the least of which were alone enough to save us ?
Let us now look round about, and take a full view and prospect at once, of all those particulars that Christ hath done and doth for us, and their
several and joint influence which they have into our salvation.
1. In that Christ died, it assures us of a perfect price paid for, and a
right to eternal life thereby acquired.
2. In that he rose again as a common person, this assures us yet further that there is a formal, legal, and irrevocable act of justification of us passed and enrolled in that court of heaven between Christ and God ; and that in his being then justified, we were also justified in him, so that thereby our
justification is made past recalling.
3. Christ s ascension into heaven is a further act of his taking possession of heaven for us, he then formally entering upon that our right in our stead ; and so is a further confirmation of our salvation to us. But still we in our
88 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH [SECT. V.
own persons are not yet saved, this being but done to us as we are repre
sentatively in Christ as our head.
4. Therefore he sits at God s right hand, which imports his being armed and invested with all power in heaven and earth, to give and apply eternal
life to us.
5. And last of all there remains intercession, to finish and complete our
salvation ; to do the thing, even to save us. And as Christ s death and
resurrection were to procure our justification, so his sitting at God s right hand and intercession are to procure salvation ; and by faith we may see it
done, and behold our souls not only sitting in heaven, as in Christ a com mon person sitting there in our right, as an evidence that we shall come
thither ; but also through Christ s intercession begun, we may see ourselves
actually possessed of heaven. And there I will leave all you that are be
lievers by faith possessed of it, and solacing your souls in it, and do you fear condemnation if you can.