Whatever the words of Jesus were in themselves, they were proverbs to the disciples, before the event, and for want of spiritual understanding. What has been said from the beginning of the fourteenth chapter, is plain as to the words; but all is mysterious, till the Holy Spirit opens it to the heart.

26. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:

27. For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.

What can be plainer than this; that the one way to the love of the Father, is to believe in, and love Christ? And yet it is a dark saying to all who have not faith, and love.

28. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.

29. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.

30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

Jesus had already told them, that they loved him, and believed that he came out from God. Though their belief of him was imperfect, and partly in a wrong sense, nevertheless they did believe. The root of the matter was in them, and they could bear witness to his knowledge in their hearts, and believe in him for it. But let us remember that they were not to rest here in this low degree of faith.

31. Jesus answered them,

Do ye
now believe?

Some put the words without an interrogation: "Ye do now believe indeed." He seems, in what follows, to tell them that their faith as yet was but weak, and would soon be tried to purpose.

32. Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall

be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

He is with every one of us, every moment; and it is the great design of Christ's religion, to make the thoughts of his presence, and the hope of being with him for ever, the support and comfort of our lives.

33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Hath Christ spoken these words effectually to us? Is it so indeed? And are we come to this point with Christ, that as there is no peace but in him, so we will seek it nowhere else? "In the world ye shall have tribulation;" that is, the servants of Christ, from the opposition of the world; every man, more or less; and the more he loves and courts the world, the more trouble and disappointment he will meet from it.

"But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." That in his strength, and after his example, we might overcome it too, and get above the fear which it inspires. Whatever the world does to us, it cannot deprive us of our interest in him. O Christian, thou mayest be of good

cheer.

SECTION LXVIII.

Chap. xvii. ver. 1-5.

CHRIST PRAYETH TO HIS FATHER TO GLORIFY HIM.

1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

The blessed Jesus having finished his instructions to the

apostles, and knowing what must give weight and efficacy to them, crowns the whole with solemn prayer; thereby teaching ministers especially, how to enforce their preaching and endeavours, and all to look up to him, for a blessing on his word. O Christian, open thy desires to thy heavenly Father, in imitation of so great an example, with the same confidence of being heard; and let the filial trust, and divine simplicity, so remarkable in this prayer, be the model of all thine. Look well to the purity of thy intentions, and spiritual hunger, know thy wants, and then speak thy heart.

"These words spake Jesus," with a heart full of the deepest concern for the establishment of the apostles, and the salvation of mankind through them. God be praised that we, if we are Christians, are comprised in this sweet prayer; and may God deliver us from the curse of willing against it.

"Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." The recovery of mankind from the lowest depth of sin and misery, to the height of holiness and happiness, is the glory of the Father, and the Son. The next words explain this.

2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh,

To change its nature, and earthly, vicious bent; to govern, sanctify, and bless us, and to crown us with immortal glory.

2. That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

Let us take notice of the expression. We are not given to Christ for salvation, if we do not yield to the Father's drawing, so as to give ourselves to him.

3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Here is your proof. What is uppermost in our hearts? What do you make your happiness? What do you live

for, the world or eternity? If for the last, you will bless God with all your souls for the infallible direction here given for the attainment of it.

"That they might know thee the only true God."

1st. As he has revealed himself, as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; not only as our Creator and Preserver, but as our Redeemer and Sanctifier; as our reconciled Father, and just judge. 2ndly. With effect; by living to him according to this knowledge.

"And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," to be the Mediator between God and man, and put us in the way to eternal life, by expiating our sins, and purging our natures. God has sent him to call us to holiness, to instruct us in it, to set us a perfect example of it, and to work it in us.

4. I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

It was a hard work he had to do for us; it is a still harder work which he has to do in us. Do you ask what this is? It is to get our hearts changed, and filled with the love of God. And God grant we may be enabled to say for ourselves, at the hour of death, as he did, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."

5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

"Before the world was," is the scripture expression for eternity. This is said to teach us what Christ is in himself, "very God of very God," notwithstanding his humiliation; and we are the basest of creatures, if he is the less our God for it.

VOL. II.

L L

SECTION LXIX.

Chap. xvii. ver. 6-16.

CHRIST PRAYS FOR THE APOSTLES.

6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

Christ set forth the name of his Father to the apostles, that they might be instruments of manifesting it to the world: "his name," in all the grace and power of it, speaking peace to the conscience, and turning the heart to God. “They have kept thy word:" knowing certainly that they would, he speaks of it as already done.

7. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

And not they only have known. O happy man! whosoever thou art, who knowest this by thy own faith and conversion.

8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

Have we surely, and effectually believed this? Life, or death, is in the answer.

9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

"For them," first, and principally; and in this part of the prayer for them only, because so very much would depend upon their faith, and fidelity. Though they were given to Christ by God, and belonged to God, they still needed his earnest prayers; as all do need, both his and their own, in their very best estate, and the better they are, the more they know the need of prayer.

10. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.