Chapter VI
The exposition of some other passages in John xvii., that God, having first
predestinated Christ to be God-man, this moved him to elect us, to complete his glory. The first motive was, that as he was to be an head, there might not be wanting to him a perfect body to participate with him in the enjoy ment of
rhis blessedness. How tlie marriage of Adam in paradise was a
type of the relation between Christ and the elect his spouse, designed before the consideration of the fall. The second motive was, that a glory addi
tional to Christ s personal glory, might accrue to him as God-man, from their being elected. The third motive was drawn from the interest and part which Christ, predestinated God-man, had, together with his Father, in
electing them; John xvii. 22, And the glory which tlwu gavest me, I have
given them] that they may be one, even as we are one? The meaning of the words explained by answers to some queries. What that glory is which
the Father had given to Christ. What that glory is which Christ there
upon assigns as his own gift to us. When wan the time of giving this glory to him. and to us. The fourth motive is, what Christ represents to Jiis
Father, viz., the glory which the accomplishment of this design will bring to himself and to his Father, when the union and glory of the saints shall
thereby be perfected at the last day of the world.
Having thus opened the fifth verse, which sets out the glory of Christ
as God-man, given him in his election by the Father ; which was and is the
proper interest of his person, as he was chosen to be God-man, simply con
sidered ; I come next unto those special motives built thereon, made on our behalf, and as those which moved God, or which God had an eye unto
in his choice or election of us ; with a respect unto Christ as first ordained
for himself.
Calvin well observes concerning Christ s praying in this chapter, that he
being entered into the very inwards of heaven, had afore his eyes the secret and hidden counsels of God, and prays at the rate thereof, and urgeth his Father therewith ; and as I understand it (submitting it), he utters in the
passages I have selected, the very order of God s counsels about us, and the motives drawn from his own and his Son s interest, as it stood in God s
electing ; first, of Christ, then of us. The passages are in ver. 6, I have manifested thy name to the men thou gavest me out of the world : thine they were, and tlwu gavest them me.
Verse 10, And I am glorified in them. Verse 22,
* And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them.
CHAP. VI.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHEIST. 501
Verse 24, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me may be where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. And my general method in opening each of these, as to this my purpose, shall be this.
First, To explain the words of each of these verses in their order.
Secondly, To shew wherein the force of the motives drawn from Christ s
interest in our election, contained in those several passages, doth lie ; whereby he moved his Father, that according to his own eternal purposes made in Christ concerning us, in his choice of us, he would grant that union
(which is the end of our election) ordained for us.
Unto the first I premise, and desire this still to be remembered and carried
along, that all those passages, and the motives therein contained, do in a more especial manner refer unto, and depend on that personal glory of
Christ, spoken of upon that fifth verse (which hath been opened), first laid and supposed as the head and foundation of them all ; as the top-link whereon these succeeding passages I have singled out, do, as so many links
of a golden chain, hang, and in an orderly way depend ; namely, that upon the glory of the personal union of Christ, God-man, first ordained by God
(which therefore in the fifth verse, Christ in praying for himself had forelaid) ; and from which (as first supposed) these principal motives, made on our
behalf for our union and glory, receive their strength and enforcement, as or
dained us in the election of us, with a relation to and for the interest of Christ.
And perhaps, that in the very opening and explanation of the words of each of these passages, there will appear couched, this very point of Christ s
having been first ordained as God-man. And I shall for the present con
tent myself with those ; or at least it will be seen how fairly they comply with the notion thereof (and herein I profess a modesty). However, the
opening the words, each in that plain sense and genuine meaning of them
(as it presents itself in that dim light I have about them), will serve unto
the discovery, wherein the force of them, as they are motives, should lie.
Verse 6, Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. Here in order, next unto the personal glory ordained to Christ in God s decrees, is his mention
of an election of other persons of mankind (Christ instancing in the apostles for the rest) to be followers, companions, consorts of his ; that Christ might not be alone, nor partaker of his glory wholly and only to himself ; when
the Father gave unto the second person, as he was considered God-man, and as he sustained the personage of God-man, and whom he commended unto him to be his, and this from everlasting. When one hath a son that
is marriageable, he thinks of a wife, a companion for him ; and thus the Father did for his Son, and chose the persons whom, and gave them him.
1. Thine; thine by thy election of them for me out of the rest of the
* The foundation
world. With which that in 2 Tim. ii. 19 corresponds,
of the Lord, that is laid in election, remains sure ; the Lord knows who
* his
are his. They were his by his foreknowledge of them ; Rom. xi. 2,
people whom he foreknew. Thine first, without me when considered as God-man, though as second person he concurred in the choice of them, as
also the Holy Spirit. Only the Father, being the first person, proposed them to the other two, as persons with him simply considered ; and there
fore, the Father here in Christ s address bears the honour of it; Thine, and thou gavest them me.
2. They were, which is spoken in distinction from what is again repeated in ver. 9,
* Them whor^ thou hast given me ; for they are thine. He
urgeth there, that at present they are thine ; here, in the time past they
502 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
were thine. This time past notes out from everlasting ; for then first it was that he chose them for his. And in this prayer, ver. 23, Thou lovedst them, as thou lovedst me. And among other as or liknesses, the point of time when God thus loved them, as he did him, is one (though him in order
first) ; which he specifies, ver. 24, Thou lovedst me from the foundation of the world ; and so as me, from everlasting, so them.
3. And thou gavest them me. This some would limit unto their having been called ; and so, this act to have been that in time, when the Father
gives those to Christ to apprehend and own, and whom he draws to Christ by calling. But the great and first giving of them to Christ, is an everlast
ing act, as well as choosing of them ; and indeed, a distinct act from elec
tion itself (considered as barely election), though at election, and concurrent with it. Thus in John vi. 37,
* All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. Coming to Christ there is vocation, and that speech shews that there is a foregoing act of giving to Christ by God the Father, which is the
* shall come to me. And if afore calling, I ask, when that act of giving them should first commence ? Sure, God that loved both them, to make them his own, and him so from everlasting, would not defer giving of them to him until after so long a space, as from eternity unto their vocation is ; but, having his Son then extant and present with him, and privy to all his intentions, and the commending and bestowing them upon him being so great a gift, next
cause of their coming ; and their coming, posterior to it
to that of his own personal glory, he surely did it from the first, and as soon as the thing was capable to be done, and this was from everlasting, in those transactions between the Father and the Son, there being nothing to hinder it then, no more than afterwards.
And indeed, this their being given to him being twice repeated in this
* I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
ver. 6, First,
gavest me out of the world : then secondly, again, thine they were, and thou gavest them me ; if we allow the first to import vocation in time, we may well put the second unto election afore all time. And this latter to be the account given by Christ, and an ascension unto the original cause, why they were given him at and by vocation ; ver. 12, Thine they were (long afore in thy everlasting love and election of them), and thou gavest them me ; and from everlasting also, which he after expresseth, ver. 23, Thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me ; and me thou lovedst afore the foundation of the world, ver. 24. Where also their being given to Christ
is joined with Christ s election. Gavest them me ; for what end and purpose ? To be his, in his relation to them, as they were the Father s in his :
* They are thine ; and mine are thine, and thine are mine. And his relation to them, and theirs to him, we find in Scripture to be as members to a head, fellow-members, of spouse unto a husband, and brethren to an elder
brother, of the same nature with them ; of father, and they his children ; in and by those relations they are his.
Gavest them me. If this giving them to be his was from everlasting, the
question then will come, under what consideration the me comes under,
1 Given them me. Whether when they were given to him, and as second
person, simply considered, or as constituted God-man also. I said at first, a father seeks and gives a spouse to his son when marriageable. The second
person, simply considered, is not in potentid maxima of marriage with us, but in a remote capacity ; unless you suppose him set up God-man, he bears no relation to us. The wife is bone of his bone, who is the husband, which
signified Christ and his church.
CHAP. VI.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 503
And if it be said, that we were given unto him, but with this as an after-
proposal, that he might become man for us, and then to marry us for our sakes onty, that, I say, is not signified at all by being given to him, but
the contrary rather. For, in that sense it would rather have been said, that he was given to them, as both in the Old Testament, and when incar
nate, To us a Son is born, to us a Son is given, which we all acknow
ledge. And in the New, God gave his Son for us. But when a thing is
said to be given as a gift to another (as here we to Christ), it imports the favour shewn to him to whom it is given, and therefore this giving these
persons (which was the first giving that passed), signifies they were given to him for his sake, as a singular gift and favour to him. It remains there
fore, that they were given as meet companions, children, spouses unto him,
already ordained, and set up as God-man, to be an everlasting father, and
by like reason, an everlasting husband to them, (they are both of the same nature in God s decree, and his own undertaking). And being thus quali fied and fitted to own them as such, it was therefore that he took them to be his, under these relations, as being now, and by this ordination of God s, become a meet husband, father, head, unto them. And to what end were
they then given him, but that they should be owned by him, and received
by him, to be his under those relations, as well as they were the Father s in
his relation ?
And truly, this is no other than what was prefigured and fore -signified, at and by the very first creation of man, when the execution of God s pur poses did first begin ; and therein his everlasting purposes about Christ and
his church were to be veiled under the type and shadow of the first man Adam, both in his formation and marriage, which was, as soon as there was
any such subject capable to bear the type of Christ and of his church. His
first formation God himself declared to have been according to his own
image, which, as I anciently understood it, was according to the original pattern of human nature, first set up in Christ s ordination to be man, as, in the idea of God s eternal decrees, he was the first born of every creature. And then, as for his marriage with Eve his wife, formed out of him, those
divines that stand for Christ s having been primarily ordained, use to
allege it for one proof thereof,- that that speech of his, Bone of my bone, &c. ; and
* for this cause a man shall cleave to his wife, Gen. ii. 23, 24,
* Robertus Bodius, late Professor successively in three universities, setting forth the parallels of that mystery of Christ, and of that first marriage of Adam. Sobrie, nee extra Scripturse cancellas evagando
: Primum, ut Deus non bonum judicavit Adamum, quern in generis humani principem, principiumque condiderat, solum permanere, et adjutorii sibi convenientis expertem. Ita etiam noluit Christum Jesum,
quern vitsd et salutis ag^yov, quern electorum omnium caput et columen, ab seterno statuerat, solum permanere et citra ecclesiam, s~a.se illius gloriso et beati-
tatis consortem. Quinimo sicut Adamus ipse, licet in se perfectus, tamen absque hac vitse suss socia et compare se quodammodo mancum adhuc sentit et imperfectum ; sic etiam Jesus Christus, etsi gloria, dignitate, majestate, et omnium in 8umma perfectione coronatur ; tanta ecclesiam suarn charitate dignatur, ut hanc sibi in corpus et complementum adsciscat ; et absque hujus consortio, se quodammodo mancum et imperfectum existimet. Ne magis illam suain gloriam et beatitatem solus in seternum obtinere velit et possidere, quam caput aliquod sine corpore et membris sibi subjectis perpetuo remanere. Thus he, in Eph. c. 5, p. 835, columna secunda. And again, p. 833, Sicut nou aliunde quam ex ipso Adamo facta est uxor, ipsique in adjumentum tradita : ita non aliunde quam ex ipso Christo initium
sumpsit ecclesia ; quippe qui consilio ac destinatione divina primus omnium portus
est, et fundamentum illud Return ac prastiosum, cui totum ecclesife pedincium superstrueretur. Moses hoc fortasse respiciens emphatica ilia JEdificandi voce utitur, &c.
504 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
was intended by God (though Adam understood it not, as Caiaphas did not
his prophecy), of our Christ and his church ; and so of that intended union of Christ and his church ; though in execution brought about after the fall,
yet in intention, first decreed without the consideration had of the fall, it
being uttered by him in his pure and innocent condition afore he fell. But
this now I insist not on largely to explain, having done it elsewhere. That which I here allege it for is, that look as Adam (his type herein) was first, that thus Christ was first, in God s intention, absolutely ordained to be God-man. And that therefore, because he should not be alone, God had
given and predestinated his church to be a spouse to him ; and from ever
lasting brought her, and presented her (as who was to be made out of him) as a gift, infinitely more valuable than all the world besides, which God had made for him. And God put her into Christ s heart and bosom, and then
Christ took her as given him by his Father to be his, and to cleave to her
alone for ever, and to communicate his own glory unto her, in her designed proportion. And that Adam and his marriage was in this very thing thus the type of Christ and his church, in their union and conjunction, the ap
plication of the apostle of Adam s speech thereunto manifestly shews, in
* For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. And how Adam was alone and first made, the story in Genesis tells you ; and the
Eph. v. 30, 31,
apostle elsewhere, 1 Cor. xi. 8, For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man.
Verse 10. And I am glorified in them. It is from his own interest in us, as he is God-man, he pleads ; and his plea is, that besides his single personal
glory ordained him (ver. 5), and his interest in us then, by the Father s
having given us to him (ver. 6), there was designed therewith a glory that should accrue out of them to him, besides that which was personally his due ; God s end in giving them to him being, that Christ might be glorified in them, and their union with God effected by him, which union is that he
centres in, in the conclusion of the llth verse, that they may be one, as we are one ; which in plain words is, that in giving them me, Father, thou aimedst at, and didst ordain withal, a glory to me in them, and them
for my glory. And those words, and I am glorified in them, have in
their coherence this import in them, that not thou only, Father, art
glorified in them, but I also, I as well as thou. I have a joint-stock of
glory by thy decree running along with thine, in them, and to be had out
of them, even as thou hast. He had said just afore,
* All mine are thine, and thine are mine ; all things (as I opened it), as well as all persons. All
things are in common, his as well as his Father s ; and so the persons of
these were his, in that highest proportion of interest and propriety, as well
as his Father s ; and a glory to accrue therefore from these, according to
that proportion, is my due also, as well as the Father s ; and is as if he had
said, I, Father, have, according to thine own decree, accepted them for mine ; now therefore perform that design of thine, which, together with thy
gift of them, thou ordainedst them unto, and them to me, which was and
is my glory. Yea, and therein lay the greatness and excellency of the gift of them (as to me), that my glory was to be a sovereign end of them, to
gether with thine. And this the parallel of the former type will also
warrant. Of the woman it is said, she is the glory of the man, 1 Cor.
xi. 7. And to be his glory in this respect among others, that he had so
noble a creature as the woman on purpose made for him ; even as of us it
CHAP. VI. J AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 505
is said, We are the glory of Christ, 2 Cor. viii. 23. But more expressly in ver. 9 of chap, xi.,*
* Neither was the man created for the woman, but
the woman for the man ; there is the type. Now that Christ is the man, the husband and head of his church, and she the spouse, Eph. v. 23 informs
us, For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of
the church, and he is the Saviour of the body.
It is undeniable, but that Christ s speech, John v. 23 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 carries this
with it, that by God s ordinance, the Son hath a joint-stock with his Father,
in the dispensation of all things ; and so of the glory that shall arise from
thence. And that it was spoken of him considered as God-man, or of the Son of God personally united unto that man Jesus, the coherence of that
speech in ver. 22 afore, and ver. 27 after, do manifestly shew. For in
ver. 22, he, declaring what sovereign honour it was which he shared in, he
* The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son. And then, in
says,
ver. 27, he farther explains himself, how it is to be understood of him ; The Father hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he
is the Son of man, and therefore as such considered, is that spoken of him,
ver. 23. And accordingly the Lamb (which is Christ God-man) hath a
joint tribute and revenue of glory given him with the Father, Kev. v. 12, 13,
* Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and
such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
Yea, I say further, that this glory of his, being a sovereign paramount end (though under his Father), becomes a right and just due to him as God-man, when constituted so to be ; and that the saints and all creatures
should, in their several ways and proportions, serve unto his glory as well
as to the Father s. For, by the same ground that other royalties, which
are so divine and godlike, become an undeniable due to him, as that, because his person is the only begotten Son of God, that therefore he
should have a divine personal glory, answerable to the fulness of the God
head, dwelling bodily or personally in him, as John i. 18 shews, so this 01
a supreme endship, in like manner with the Father ; the latter must be no more denied him than the other.
They object, The glory of Christ, as God-man, is but a creature. I reply, 1. The very glory of God which is given him by us creatures, and ariseth
out of all creatures (which we term his manifestative, not essential, glory),
is but a creature in itself; and yet, because the terminus, or person it
belongs or redounds unto, is God, therefore we say of it, that it is the
glory of God ; in that respect it is so supreme, as it may not be given unto
another, that is, not to creatures.
2. Christ s glory, as God-man, is but a creature, yet it redounds to the
glory of him, that is, God, who is one person with a creature, and thereupon
shining in that creature. And it is a divine glory, and you are to esteem and adore it as the glory of the only begotten Son of God. You may see
this in a parallel case to it. Take Christ s obedience and sufferings, and
they are but creatures materially considered ; yet in relation to the person that is the subject of them, whose they are (though performed but in the * Of 1 Cor. Ed.
506 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHEK, [BOOK III.
* righteous ness of God ; so here, the glory that appertains and belongs to this person is a glory belonging unto God, and is not to be levelled with the glory of
human nature), and they are said to be the blood of God, and
endship, belonging unto any the most glorious creatures, or all creatures.
You will again say, this glory of Christ as God-man was given him (as in
this prayer he acknowledged) by an act of voluntary predestination, as
well as ours, and what is to us voluntarily given, might in the first rearing of it up and ordination, be disposed of as arbitrarily, and so for other ends ;
as, namely, for us and our salvation.
I answer, 1st, it was a mere arbitrary act in God to ordain his Son to be God-man, and he might have chosen whether he would predestinate him or not to such a glory. It is true also, it was purely voluntary in
God, whether he would have ordained any others with him, or any other
thing besides him ; and if any other persons with him, whether to have made him their head, only preserving them from sinning, or withal a re deemer from sin upon the fall. But still, if he would so ordain him, it must be an ordination worthy of him that is his Son ; and let that be what
soever God pleaseth, yet still, that whatever must be ordained unto his
glory as well as to the Father s, he must be the sovereign end of all, as well
as his Father ; this falls to him as his right. Heb. i. 2, it is said, he was
the appointed heir of all things, which must be meant of him as God-man ;
and, for him to be God-man, depended upon appointment ; yet being ap
* being made so much
pointed, he is said to have it by inheritance, ver. 4,
better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they ; and so by a natural right, because he is a Son, for so it
follows, ver. 5, For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee ? So as indeed, in the appointing him to be God-man, he necessarily constituted him the heir of all things, which he should otherwise, or besides him, predestinate. For it was the
natural right of the person so ordained, and could not be denied him ; nor the glory of it in the execution be suspended, but with his own consent, and that suspension but for a time.
And, 2dly, furthermore, God knew what he did, whilst he was predesti nating of him, and foresaw that this right must be the natural concomi tant of his being God-man. And God, in his single knowledge of vision (as we call it), had the draught and model of all, in his divine understanding and view, ere ever his will did set his fiat, or purpose, to anything that was decreed. And among others of his infinitely vast designs, he had the in
tuition of Christ as God-man, as one great One, yea, and of all other so
eminent, as that, if his will would decree him at all, this high endship (I have spoken of) of all things was to be his right, and a necessary concurrent and consequent of such his being predestinated. And therefore, certainly, the divine counsel of his will did, from the first, cast and contrive all things else he did or should decree, in such a manner as to be for his Christ and his glory ; as well as God did contrive all should be for his own glory, as he is God ; and both with one and the same act from the first. So that,
let men say what they in their vanity imagine of Christ as God-man, his
being decreed afore the decree of the fall or after, they must all yet ac
knowledge this for a fixed centre and conclusion, that God aforehand, fore
seeing him and all things in the ideas of his simple intelligence, did form
all for him as their supreme end ; then whenever his will decreed him, if indeed we could suppose that the idea of Christ, God-man, had been out of
his eye, and the view of his foreknowledge or simple intelligence, we might
CHAP. VLJ AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 507
then have only supposed many things or all things might have been ordained, and Christ not as yet ordained, and Christ himself to have been decreed for
them, and not them for him at first. But it could not be so here in Christ s
case. For, seeing God foresaw that whenever he was decreed, it is he must be decreed the end of them all, and heir of them all, therefore he was first
thought of and decreed ; for so the end necessarily is to be. If therefore, when he is to be predestinated, he is to be predestinated this end of all
things, then it must be that he is first predestinated.
Yea, we say further, that when our all-wise, great, and sovereign God
did set himself to ordain anything at all, he did contrive and frame his ordi
nation about them, such as might tend to Christ s glory and his own ; and had the like respect and eye unto the concernments of his Christ, as Godman, in his, as he had to his own concernments, as God.
The third particular motive is drawn from Christ s interest, having been
first set up as God-man in God s election. John xvii. 22, And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them : that they may be one, even as we are one.
First, For the exposition, then, wherein the force ofthe plea lies. Here he further pleads that they were not only ordained for the glory of
him, as in ver. 10, but that he himself being ordained God-man in predes
tination, he had as God-man joined with the Father as the free donor and
ordainer of them unto that glory and perfect union, as well as his Father.
Or, if you will, in our familiar language, our glory was a deed of gift, and his hand was to that deed of gift, which was to make over glory unto us, as
well as his Father s. Our glory was his free deed of gift, as it was the Father s. And, therefore, he must needs be deeply interested to claim it
for us of his Father, and hath from thence an undeniable plea to move him
to grant it ; and so the story and series of election designs of Christ and us, begun at the 5th verse, runs fairly into the 22d verse. In this order,
1. God the Father, in predestination, gave him that personal glory of being God-man, which the second person condescending to take on him, he bore it afore his Father as God-man, afore the world was, this ver. 5 ;
then, 2, his Father did withal give him his elect to be his, ver. 6, &c. ; and, 3, did also ordain and subordinate them for Christ s glory, as the end
of them, as well as his own, ver. 10. And now, 4, in this 22d verse, God
having given him that high and sovereign glory, singly for himself alone, and given it absolutely, without terms and conditions, to him (as the nature
of a gift, especially of that gift, to such a person, required), he thus set up and constituted in this glory of God-man, he was not only the requisite means, or medium to convey a glory to us, but he was by the privilege and
prerogative hereof empowered to convey it by way of gift, and to make a deed of gift of the like glory and union to us. And so, as unless in that manner he did make it over to us, and set his hand to it, and signed it, as a concurrent giver of it with his Father, we had never had it. And I,
says he, gave unto those my Father had given me, out of love to my Father, who had loved both them and me, portions forth, to each of them, out of that glory he had given me. And I did give it as freely to them, as my Father had freely given mine unto me, to the end that I and they may be one, and live for ever together, ver. 24, that so their glory and union with me and my Father may be perfected, by their beholding that personal glory so peculiarly proper to me, given me by my Father. Every tittle of
this may be evinced fro^ the aspect and correspondency this 22d verse holds with ver. 5, together with the immediate connection of the following
508 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
23d and 24th verses. And, indeed, these 22d, 23d, and 24th verses do continue the sum of all the former put together, as the conclusion of his
prayer for the whole church, the rest being for the apostles.
This being the sum, I shall open and prove the particulars therein con
tained, either by answers to certain queries, or several plain and simple assertions, and both founded upon the words.
I. Query. First, What is meant here by that glory which the Father had
given to Christ ?
Answer. First, negatively. 1. It is not that essential glory abstractly considered as his second per son, without the supposed union of the manhood, in that manner as hath been explained. I will not only urge for this, that it is said to be a gift given him ; for his essential glory of the second person abstractly considered was by natural generation communicated to him ; but a gift is what is
merely out of will and goodwill bestowed. But this argument for it would be alone sufficient, that he plainly speaks this speech of himself as a mediator or head of union to us, as ver. 22, 23 shew. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one : I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one ; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them, as thou hast loved me. Now he, as the second person simply con
sidered, is not the means of union of us with the Father, but it is,the divine nature united to the human nature (as the loadstone set in the steel), which has the virtue of drawing us into union with himself and his Father; which he therefore prayeth for upon it for us ; having said first, the glory which thou hast given me, as that glory which he gave unto us, upon the glory given to him. And so he is considered here in this speech as medium
unionis ; Thou in me, and I in them, that they may be made perfect in one.
2. It is not meant here of the glory of his mediation, his mediatory glory, as we call it ; that also is proper to himself, and incommunicable to us ; and of it cannot be said, that the glory God gave him, he hath given us. We are not constituted by him redeemers of, or mediators for, or heads of union to other saints, as he is to us : then we should be givers of glory one
to another. And then all saints (and of all saints he speaks here) should
all be heads and mediators ; and so there should be no body. Secondly, affirmatively. It is eminently and singularly meant of the glory we have been speaking of; namely, of his being God-man, in one person, and the glory that flows from thence, as it is and was designed to shine
forth in him in heaven, as the immediate consequent of that union. And
this was a gift indeed, a gift to purpose, greater than all gifts, as all divines
acknowledge the grace and glory in his personal union to have been.
I know that many interpreters extend it unto all whatever, that is any where or in other respects said to be the glory of Christ ; as that his work
ing miracles, which is called his glory, John ii. 11, This beginning of
miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory ; and
his disciples believed on him ; his giving to him his Spirit, which was to him without measure. So in giving grace and holiness, which is called*
glory, 2 Cor. iii. 18, But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And many such like ; by which they go about to shew the scope of Christ s petition to be, that he would give them the like glory, in these particulars, which his Father had given him ; and so indeed, that all the glory the Father had given him, in all the par-
CHAP. VI.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHEIST. 509
ticulars of it, he doth give sprinklings thereof to us. But this extended
interpretation (though in respect of the things themselves it be a truth), yet as applied to this place, produceth from this suggestion, that he should
speak of that glory which in this life is possessed by us, and given us in
order unto eternal life ; of which more anon. And, doting upon this to be
Christ s main and sole scope, that to make the saints one among themselves
is the intendment of the next words, that they may be one in us ; whereas
it is the high and ultimate union which is perfected betwixt us, and Christ, and God, as I have shewn. And whereas in the words after it is the
ultimate glory in heaven, and the perfection of us by that union, that is
intended. And therefore answerably, the glory given Christ here is his
prime and ultimate glory, which was his personal union with the Son of
God, that is, the gift that is intended. Gerard, after he had enumerated
all such particular glories forementioned given to Christ, whereof some he
admits, yet at last, when he had considered all, and attentively viewed the
scope of the words, pitcheth upon this, that the glory of the Son of God, who is God united to man in one person, and the glory that flows there
from, is the glory here intended ; and that as the fountain of our union, and*
* also doth interpret it ; and he
so of our utmost glory. And so Brugensis
tells the genealogy of it thus : The Son of God, the second person, being one by essence with the Father, to him he united the man Jesus by personal union ; and of him as such I interpret that of the 5th of John, ver. 26,
( For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have
life in himself. And that person, as now become God-man, when united
to us, we thereby become partakers of his divine nature ; and so to have
the divine nature to dwell in us first : as he by his union hath the divine nature of the Godhead to dwell in him.
And others do in effect run upon the same interpreting, that the gloiy given him was to be his Son ; and the glory given us by him is to be sons unto God with him ; and we believing on his name, he gives us power by charter or grant
* to be the sons of God, John i. 12. Also our sonship is derived by our union or marriage with him, as being the natural Son of God ; and his marriage of us is his taking us to be his. And so the glory of sonship which we have is by free gift ; for it was free for him to many, and it was to be done by his consent. And it was by the personal union
that God bestowed on the man Jesus the glory of being his Son ; That
holy thing, saith he, shall be called the Son of God, Luke i. 85. And
his being the Son of God is the highest glory of Christ ; and more than all, even the foundation of all. Thus, if we consider him as second person
* Haoc beatissima unio inter Patrem et Filium, itemque inter divinam et humanam naturam in Christo, origo est et fons spirituals illius unitatis quam Christus (hoc
loco) credentibus precatur : (And we must consider that our union is the thing prayed
for) quia per Christum, propter Christum, in Christo fiuut filii Dei et divine natunc participes, 2 Pet. i. 4. And again, more largely upon the same place, he sets
it forth thus : Quia Christus secundum humanam naturam est unum nobiscum, secuudum divinam naturam unum cum Patre, et quia assumptse naturae humante
per unionem personalem datum est esse unum hypostaticum cuni Filio Dei, qui cum Patre est unum per essentise unitatem ; inde nobis hoec felicitas contingit, ut per Christum Deo uniti etiam Deo uniri possumus
: atque ed respicit Christus quando dicit gloriam illam unitatis quam credentibus dedit, se a Patre prius accepisse
: ut enim Pater dedit Filio per aeternam generationem ut haberet vitam in seipso, Johan.
v. 26, ita quoquo per seternam illam generationem dedit Filio esse unum per essentise unitatem cum Patre : juxta humanam naturam dedit esse unum personale cum divina
natura, quam Xoyog communem habuit cum Patre.
510 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
simply, he is the Son of God by natural generation
: if we consider him as man, he is the Son of God by personal union unto the second person. If we consider ourselves, it is by adoption, by marriage with him who is the natural Son, that we become sons unto God.
And besides what the weight of these things, reipsd, or in the thing
itself, have in them ; let us but look about us, what glory it is he speaks of
before and after in this his prayer. We find it thrice spoken of : first, in
ver. 5 ; secondly, in this 22d ver. ; thirdly, in ver. 24. And let us view the aspect and correspondency which these three verses have and hold one with another ; and let us commensurately expound each of them.
1. Let any one attentively read the 5th verse, And now, Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
* And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, even as we are,
before the world was. Then this 22d verse,
one. Surely the glory which he said, I had with thee before the world
was, there is the same which, and upon occasion of which, he utters, the
glory which thou gavest me, here, and refers to it. Now I have shewn, that the glory of his person, as he is God-man, is meant the glory of which the second person then existing took upon him, God having predestinated him thereunto, and wore it afore his Father. He took on him that person, and correspondently the connection of ver. 22 and ver. 5 is filled up thus : Thou having given me that glory of the personal union, and predestinated me to it as proper and peculiar to my person, I being constituted such by thee, do freely concur with thee to give the like union and glory pro suo modulo (as Brugensis s word is), to be imparted to them.
2. Let us then look backward, and compare this 22d verse with ver. 24, that follows. There, saith he, that they may behold the glory which thou
hast given me. This certainly is the same glory that is meant here, ver. 22. For he goeth on to prosecute the same argument, speaks ad idem ; and
there shews the way how that glory should be actually communicated to
them, and they have it in possession ; which glory here in the 22d verse, he saith, he had given them by way of right and donation. And the way to possess it, according to the intent of his giving, is set out to be by their
beholding his glory, in ver. 24. Now what glory of his is that ? It is the
glory of his person, that of God dwelling in human nature, the beams whereof break forth there ; and that is his substantial or personal glory, as he
is God-man. And that is it which his disciples saw, John i. 18, as of the
person of him who was the only-begotten Son of God ; it was the immediate
breaking forth and emanation of the hypostatical union. And so when he
wrought miracles, which is called his glory, John ii. 11, This beginning of
miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and
his disciples believed on him ; his miracles were the immediate demon
stration that he was the Son of God, dwelling in the human nature per
sonally, as himself argues, throughout that Gospel, against the Jews.
3. Again, the same glory in the 5th verse and in the 24th verse is meant. For of that in the 5th verse he saith, it was the glory he had
before the world was ; and in this 24th verse correspondently, the glory which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of
the world. Which again he adds, as the foundation of the gift of that
glory which he means, even his love before the world was. So then, it is,
the same glory in all three places ; which is his personal glory, as he is God-
man, and his union unto that one person, and the immediate consequence
thereof, and to be manifested in his very person.
CHAP. VI.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 511
II. Query. What that glory is which is given us thereupon ? Ans. It is the participation of our sonship-union with him, in our degree and proportion, which we have from him, and the glory that flows from him by reason of this, as it shall in the perfection of it break forth in heaven in us.
This is the glory which Christ hath given us. We know that our sonship and adoption is called glory, Rom. ix. 4, and Rom. viii. 23. Christ s glory, being the glory of the only-begotten Son of God, gave us power to be sons. John i. 12, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Compared with
ver. 18, No man hath seen God at anytime; the only-begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. And if sons, then
heirs, co-heirs of glory with Christ. And it is the utmost glory which breaks forth in heaven in Christ, from his personal union, and in us, from our sonship and union with Christ, that is there meant ; arid the reason is, because it is that glory wherein, and whereby our union is said to be made
perfect ; John xvii. 23, I in them, and thou in me ; that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me ; which explains this ver. 22,
* And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one. And therefore, as Gerard observes the words,
* that they may be perfect in one is not taken, rsXixug, as noting the end or the effect of that glory given us, as whereby, as the means, we come to be
perfect in one ; but it is taken, sidixug, as explaining wherein that glory
lay, namely, in a perfection of union ; but we may take it in both. Now our
relative union with Christ is in this life as perfect as ever, and we are sons as much as ever ; and the man Jesus was as perfectly united to the Son of God while he was on earth, as he ever shall be, but the perfection of it, he saith, is in the other world. And therefore the glory which he intends
is, as it breaks forth in the full enjoyment and manifestation of it in the other world, founded upon his personal union with the Son of God on his
part, and our glory upon our union with him on our part. And therefore
it is that our Saviour Christ calls it glory, both on his part and ours, rather than sonship. The same may he urged out of John xvii. 24, Father, I
will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am ; that
they may behold my glory which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. And our Cartwright thus pitcheth the connection and order of ver. 22 with what follows ; that whereas he had in the former part of the chapter prayed for sanctification and preservation afore for us, as the means to bring us to glory, now, saith he, he frames his prayer for our glorification,* which Christ founded upon this ground, The glory thou hast given me I have given them. And therefore they pitch short who interpret this glory of grace as the means to glory here
after, or the beholding of the glory of Christ in this life ; 2 Cor. iii. 18, for here it is the very glory itself which grace is to bring us to, which God s and Christ s heart in their several degrees were so intent upon in the pri mary intention thereof, even the glory of that sonship, both of Christ and us that should be in the other world ; and was first given, both to him and us as being intent io finis, the intendment of what should be the ultimate end of us and Christ. And with that view of it, it is that Christ prays here. And let any man give a more suitable, harmonious, congruous, genuine interpretation than this. For what is more suitable, or indeed can be, than that our glory, both of sonship and possession, should be founded upon
* Nunc pro glorificatione petitionem instituit.
512 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
our union with Christ ; and that Christ should found both our union and
glory on his personal union with the Son of God, and the glory that thence
follows, and is due to him ? What more genuine, what more consonant, what more suitable can be thought of, to fill up the meaning of these words ?
Obj. This interpretation will strengthen the hands of those that hold the
saints have the same personal union with the Son of God, the second per
* The glory thou hast given me
son, that the man Jesus hath ; for he saith,
I have given them. .. Ans. 1. Our Saviour on purpose hath interwoven a difference between
our union and his, our glory and his, whereby to prevent this very objec tion ; for our union and oneness with God and Christ is declared to be but
secondary and derivative ; and his not of the same order or rank with ours, I in them, and thou in me, as it immediately follows. Ours is a collateral
line, far off removed, of an inferior house ; but Christ s union with the Father is in a direct line ; for his divine nature is the same with the Father s, by which they are one God ; and his human nature is one by an immediate
personal union, whereas ours is afar off removed. Our union with God is
but by our union with Christ ; it is a copyhold of this Lord of glory. It is a
certain rule, that what is derivative of an original, never riseth to be the
original. It is Christ s glory here, so that it is he who gives us our glory. And this is the glory, and top of his glory, that he hath glory so in himself,
as he is the Lord of it to bestow it. This is far otherwise in our case ; and
Christ notes it out in that speech of his, the Father hath given the Son to have life in himself. That is his prerogative, he hath it independently, he
hath it in himself; whereas of us (he saith), Ye live in me; and that he
is our life ; we have it not in ourselves.
2. Of their glory he saith, It is but by a beholding his, and in that manner
* Father, I will that they also whom thou
it is conveyed to them ; ver. 24,
hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me ; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world. And how infinitely distant then must it be accounted from what is
the glory of his person ? Ours is but by beholding his ; it is but as the
shine of the sun upon the stars, which though it be called a glory by the
apostle, the stars differ in glory, 1 Cor. xv. 41, yet it is not that glory as it is subjective in the sun, but susceptive in them, that they are such
bodies as that the light of the sun can be reflected from them, and thereby leave and cause a glory to appear in them.
3. This agrees with the main scope here, which is not to shew it is iden
tically the same glory, but that it is derived from his, and he is the
bestower of it, and he is the Lord of it. I have given it them, saith
Brugensis, that is, pro illorwn modo et modulo, according to their capacity and measure.
III. Query. Unto what time, or date, the giving of this glory should
be referred; either concerning that of Christ s, when it was that the
Father gave this glory to him his Son ; as also the time which Christ means when he saith, I have given it them. This in general we are sure
of, that both are spoken of in the time past.
Ans. 1. For the Father s giving this glory to his Son, it was from
everlasting given, as Christ intends it, even that in predestination. For
this first corresponds with ver. 5, as I have opened ; and, secondly, with
ver. 24, The glory which thou gavest me, for thou lovedst me from the
foundation of the world.
CHAP. VI.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 513
2. If the question be of the time of Christ s giving us this glory, we must take this along, that giving it here is not his giving it, only as he is
the second person simply considered. That act of his, as such, is included
in his Father s ; but we must interpret it of him, considered as God-man
also, as hath been opened. For it is a gift to us that flows from that per sonal union of his to us, and is founded upon it, and so supposed it first. So the query will proceed anew, whether it is to be understood of him, taken as man, after his actual union with the Son of God, made at
his conception, or of him as God-man, the second person considered, as bearing that personage, and undertaking it afore God, as hath been
explained.
For the first ; If it be meant of him as God-man, after he was united
actually, &c. Then,
1. It is certain his consent, as such, was to the glory of every name or
person of us whom God means to bring to glory. The man Christ knew
* But he that
his sheep by name, for he calls them by name, John x. 2, 3,
entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth ; and the sheep hear his voice : and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And it is the man that speaks it, ver. 16. He means not only the Jews that were godly, and then converted, whereof many he saw, as man, with his bodily eyes, but the sheep that were among the Gentiles, scattered in all places, and in all ages ; these in like manner he then calls by name, and saith, that he must gather them, as being not
yet called, nor many of them extant in being. And therefore that book, or copy of this deed of gift, which his Father presented him, for him to
put their names into it, it is called The Lamb s book of life. And we
* I have given it them, even all whom his Father had given him ; for he prays for the whole flock. And yet speaks it now as in time past, I have given it them. It was fit that God should shew him, both whom he was to die fdr, and whose sins he did
see, that even here, before he is crucified, he saith,
bear. And so his deed of gift was concurrent with his Father s, as to the
persons and things given.
2. Understand it of him, as now he is actually man, it is said to be a
gift of his, and a gift of his such as his Father s gift to him had been, so
: and why? Because
that he was free in it, as his Father also was in his gift
* the Lord of glory, as he is sometimes called, James ii. 1 ; and this is spoken of him even when he was crucified, in that
that Jesus Christ was
* Which none of the princes of this world knew : for had they known it, the} would not have crucified the Lqrd of glory. And therefore had power to dispose of it as freely as any lord hath of what he owns. And
1 Cor. ii. 8,
his Father, in setting him up as God-man, as he gave him to have life in
himself, John v. 26, so a free power in himself to quicken whom he would
as freely as his Father, as it is in ver. 21 of the same chapter
: For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. And perhaps, therefore it is he speaks here in the next words in the manner, as nowhere else, and in no point else but of
* Father, I will that those which thou hast given me be with me where I am, to behold my glory ; for he, out of the freedom and domi nion of his will, did give it them as well as his Father.
this ;
There is a question started by the Jesuits,* Whether Christ, as man, was a mere executor of his Father s will ? That slur they would put upon our doctrine of God s absolute limited decrees, as in the case of Christ, * Vide Lessium de Pradostinatione Christi. VOL IV. K k
514 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III
whether he were not an arbitrary designer of whatever he doth himself also ? which they hold to maintain the dominion of free-will, according to their
tenet. But though they think they have us in a noose in this point, we
easily solve it by saying, that though he as man, and as God-man, doth not any thing, or act, nor to whom, but those whom his Father s will
is tojhave him to do, yet that therein he concurs with his Father as freely as the Father himself; and therefore it is his free gift as well as his Father s. To go no further to confirm this answer than that of John v. 21,
1 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. And this he speaks of himself, as he is
* And hath given him autho
the Son of man, as it is expressed, ver. 27,
rity to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. And yet be
* Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do : for what
professeth to do nothing of himself without the Father ; ver. 19,
soever things he doth, these also doth the Son likewise. He indeed did
not first name the persons, but his Father named them to him, and gave them to him ; yet whom his Father did give to him, he gives this glory to ; and it is a free concurrent act with his Father, both to consent to the name and the gift, as free as his Father was, out of a special love. Let us there
fore honour Christ so far as to say, that his hand, his vote, his suffrage went unto and was requisite to all these things as well as his Father s.
Yea, and therefore, those apostles, of whom, in ver. 6 of this 17th chapter, he saith,
* Thou gavest them me out of the world, are yet said to be chosen
by him as well as by his Father. The apostles were, by the choice and
will of God and Christ, Gal. i. 1, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither
by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from
the dead. And though some may say, that, as apostles indeed, in respect of their office, they were chosen by Christ, as man, as well as by the Father ; and so indeed that speech of his in the 16th of John is to be understood : yea, but in John xv. 19, Christ is said to have chosen them in respect of salvation, If you were of the world, the world would
love his own : but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. You must know that Judas was gone out when Christ spake these words, and his eleven elect
disciples were left alone with him. Christ had given him his doom and
sentence, John xv. 6, If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a
branch, and is withered ; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. But I Jiave you now only alone with me, whom I speak these things to ; who are to be, and shall be eternally saved, ver. 3, Now
you are clean, &c. You are not of this world ; ver. 19, And I have
chose you out of the world. And yet some of these were called savingly before he saw them by face ; for some of them were John s disciples, con
verted first by him. But, however, Jesus Christ had chosen them first ; that is, the man Jesus had done it, and then the end and issue of elec
tion, you know, is glory ; and so giving them glory, is here to be under
stood, as to the time that I have given is referred to, after the man Jesus was united.
But, secondly, what if we put the query, upon the person of him as God-
inan, whilst he bore that personage before his Father, in the sense that
formerly we have spoken of ? What should hinder us to ascend to ever
lasting, as the time whereof this is intended you have I chosen here
was given by him ; as he being second person, did bear and sustain the
CHAP. VI.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 515
glory of that gift of being God-man all along from his predestination thereunto ? And so, as his Father s gift was from everlasting to him, why not Christ s concurrence from thence also ? What should stay his hand from doing it under that consideration ? What ! should he stay till he was of age and capacity to give, and so arrive at the time when he, as
man, was actually united ? This we may be certain of, that what the man
did, when actually united, concur to, that the second person did afore from
everlasting, and did it then in the man s name ; yea, and undertook he
ehould concur to it when he was united. The man s actual concurrence was but a confirmation of that act which the second person in his name
afore had done. I shewed you, in opening the 6th verse, upon these
words, those which thou hast given me, that the gift of his Father to
him, as it was first from everlasting, so it was not only to him as second
person, singly considered, but as marriageable, and constituted their hus band ; which can be understood in no other way than that the second
person bore the personage of God-man before his Father, as in opening the 5th verse I have shewed.
Obj. But you will say, There is this that hindered, still the man existed not actii ; how then can it be said that he, as God-man, did this act ?
Am. Yet he was before God-man really and dejure, God-man contracted; as I have shewn in the instance of a new elect to an office, before he enters
actually upon it, he hath the title and honour accordingly. And if he had
the glory of it afore his Father, then why might he not as then do such acts
in the name of his being God-man, as a general doth before he goeth into
the field ? I would ask this question, before he came into the flesh, he
appeared to the fathers, and was with the people of God in the wilderness, and appeared as captain of the hosts of Israel were these acts done then
merely as second person, and in the name of the second person simply as such ? You would say, that these acts were done as bearing the personage of God-man, in the name of the person that was to come. And therefore
Christ saith, Abraham saw my day, for he appeared to him, as also to
Jacob, and, as some think, in the likeness too that he was to take. These ware acts meet for that season, and virtually the acts of him as God-man. And so at the creation, when all things were made by him, as the Word, as John interprets it, chap. i. 1. I would only add this, if he took that
personage in his acting and appearances to the fathers, and the church, then why might he not, bearing that personage afore God his Father, act with his Father as such, and concur in all acts with his Father that were proper in that season, if I may call it so, from everlasting, and
therefore concur in choosing of us as such, in giving glory to us, when his Father had predestinated him to that of his, and he undertook it? I would
say, that all along from everlasting he acted as such in that capacity, to
gether with his Father. I would urge but this, in Isa. ix. 6, one of his names is the everlasting Father, that is, a Father from everlasting; and to whom it is of being so to us that it is spoken, and therefore he must be said to have borne that relation of a Father to us from that time. It is not his concurring as second person merely with his Father, for that is in cluded in his Father s act, with whom he did concur as such ; and then
the second person should be called Father in his personal propriety, as he
is the Son, as well as the first person of the Trinity, to whom yet the style of Father among the persons is only proper. No ; in the Trinity, take them
as mere persons considered, there is but one Father; therefore that title must be given him in God s decrees upon, and come under, some other con
516 THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, [BOOK III.
sideration annexed to him, over and above his being second person. And what other can that be than this, of his being considered as God-man in his undertaking and sustaining it, and as acting accordingly ? Father
relates to children, and this we find in Heb. ii. 13, where Christ is brought
in as a proof that he is man of the same nature with us ; that as a Father
ae saith, Lo, I and the children that thou hast given me. God the Father s relation to us, as a Father, is not so founded, nor is the relation
in the second person, simply considered, so to be confounded with that of the Father s. Paul tells us, in that second of the Hebrews, that Christ is a
father as he is considered man ; and he argueth it from that relation. And Isaiah tells us, Isa. ix. 6, he was this from everlasting, which could not be
by his having actually assumed the same nature ; and yet Christ s father hood to us is, because he is supposed of the same nature, as Heb. ii. 14 hath it,
* Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part in the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Why, then, he must be the everlasting Father representatively, and by bearing that
personage of Godman, and undertaking, afore his Father, that relation, and so as considered by his Father as God-man from everlasting ; and for him to give us glory as such, and act accordingly with his Father, was but
to act according to what a personage he was aforehand ; and among other
things he must act as such, in concurring with his Father to give us glory, as hath been said.
And so the issue of all comes to this, which explains the text, that God
having in his decree first settled an estate in him, in the glory of that per sonal union proper to him alone ; then his Father gave us to him as so
constituted, and he agreed, and concurred in his decree and suffrage, as such ; and so is said to have given us, in and at the same instant, that
glory that was ordained by the Father, and by him as God-man.
4. Motive. He represents to his Father the glory (which had been fore ordained by him in his decrees) that would accrue to himself and his Fattier
in the accomplishment of this design, when the union and glory of the
.saints should thereby be perfected, as at the latter day it will, and then
appear before all the world ; and this to have been the great contrivement
of God in our election we all know. And it is not only the glory he will have in the saints themselves at that day, when they shall appear with him in glory, of which the 2 Thess. i. 10 speaks, When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, be cause our testimony among you was believed, in that day. But what a
glory this is will appear before the rest of the world of mankind, who shall
all be present at that day, and see the issue of God s decrees, unto the
amazing astonishment of unbelievers. And this I take to be the meaning of the latter part of ver. 23,
* that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. The world there I take
to be the rest of mankind, who shall have no part in that union. And
the time intended wherein they shall know this, is that at the latter day ; for it is. when the saints union is made perfect in one, as in the words
before.
Then it is that they shall know, by the saints union with me, and by them thus perfected, which shall be made conspicuous to all the world, that thou hast sent me, and hast loved me ; and hast loved them indeed, as thou hast loved me, when they shall see that I appear in thy glory (as at that day I shall), and that therefore I am one with thee, whereas before
CHAP. VII.] AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. 517
they who would not believe, nor embrace me for their Christ, and come in
for a share of this union with me, but refused me, or unworthily fell short
in seeking me, and would never apprehend that I was such a glorious Messiah as then I shall appear to be, but undervalued and despised me ; but when they shall see that I also was able to bring about such a union of my church and body together with me and thee, and not lose one of them thou hast given me, and therewith to have filled them with such a
glory as they shall appear in, by which it will be as conspicuous and
visible, that they are one with us ; they will then know, with wonderment, that thou indeed hast sent me, of whom they had, the most of them, by hearsay at least, heard, for the sound thereof went forth to all the world ; and that those whom they hated and despised together with me, whom
they persecuted, and would have driven out of the world, that those are thus so nearly united to me and thee, as it will appear, thou hast loved
them, as thou hast loved me ; lovedst me as their head of union to them, and for that nearer union which I have with thee, hast loved them as my body, and for my sake. All which, when the world hath once seen and known, then I shall further fulfil what I pray for in the 24th verse, even take them into thy kingdom, where they shall ever be with me, the Lord, and behold my glory, and adore thy love, both to me and them : Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. And the appearing and
apprehension of this, to and by the wicked world, will be a new and great, though a more secondary glory, which will arise unto his Father by that union then perfected, which he prays for to be his own.