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shall be in when the events happen of which I am speaking, I cannot better describe than by comparing it to the condition of a woman in travail. During her labour she hath exquisite pain, because the birth approaches; but as soon as she is delivered, she forgets the anguish she was in, being filled with joy that she has brought one of the human species into the world. Just so you my disciples will be in the greatest distress during the time of my departure. But as I am to rise again from the dead, and to ascend into heaven, you will forget your sorrow and rejoice exceedingly; and from that time forth your joy shall be of such a kind, as that it shall not be in the power of men to rob you of it. 21. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22. And ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. One great source of your joy in the period I am speaking of will be, that your understanding shall be enlarged and enlightened, so that you shall have no need of my personal presence with you, nor any occasion to ask questions concerning intricate points, as you find yourselves obliged to do now. And if ever you stand in need of instruction, or assistance, or any other blessing, whether for the propagation of the gospel, or your own salvation, the Father will immediately supply you with it upon your asking it in my name. 23. On that day you shall ask me nothing (sus xx ENTnoare ader) verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. See on chap, xiv. 13. On this occasion, I must put you in mind that you have never yet prayed to God in my name. From this time forth I command you to put up all your petitions in my name, and you shall receive such gracious answers as will exceedingly increase your joy. 24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name, ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. Perhaps you do not yet understand me, because I have expressed myself in dark sayings; but you may comfort yourselves with this thought, that the time is at hand when I shall speak no more obscurely, but by the teaching of my Spirit I shall shew you, in plain language, the whole counsels of God, relating to the erection of his church and the salvation of men. 25. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs; the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. I repeat it to you again, that after my ascension you shall offer up all your addresses unto the Father through my mediation; by this I do not mean, that I will solicit the Father in your behalf, as if he was unwilling to bestow on you the blessings you stand in need of. No; the Father himself bears a warm love towards you, chiefly on this account, that ye are my apostles, have loved

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me, and have believed that I came from God. 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 out from God. 28. I came forth from the Father, and am come inta the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father: To conclude, the true and proper meaning of my discourse to you at this time, and particularly of the expression which appeared so obscure to you, is, that as I was commissioned by the Father, and came into the world to reveal his will to mankind, so, having finished that work, I now leave the world, and return to the Father from whom I came. 29. His disciples said unto him, 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: We acknowledge that now thou speakest in such a manner as we can understand thee; for what thou sayest is by no means dark, like the things which thou utteredst before. Moreover, by the things which thou hast now spoken to us, we clearly perceive that thou knowest the hearts of men; and that in conversing with men, thou hast no need that they should tell thee their thoughts by any question. In short, thy knowledge of our hearts fully convinces us that thou art come from God. It seems through the whole of this discourse Jesus had obviated the objections, and answered the questions which his apostles were going to propose, or would gladly have proposed to him. See ver. 19. 31. Jesus answered, Do ye now believe? 32. Behold the hour cometh, nay is now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his orun, and shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me: Are ye now at length fully persuaded that I am the promised Messiah? Be on your guard. Your faith in me is not so firm, but it may be sha ken. For the time is coming, nay is come already, when every one of you shall desert me, flying wherever you think to be in safety from the approaching danger; so that I shall be left singly to encounter mine enemies. Nevertheless, I am not alone, be cause the Father is with me continually. 33. These things I

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Ver. 26. Ye shall ask in my name, &c.] This is the fourth time our Lord enjoined his apostles to offer up their petitions in his name. See ver. 23, 24. and ch. xiii. 14. The frequency of the injunction shews the importance of the matter enjoined; for whether we understand Jesus as speaking of the things requisite to the conversion of the world, or of such things as are necessary to the salvation of in lividuals, it is evident that the great end of the mediation of Christ, is to impress mankind with a deep sense of their own sinfulness, which makes them unfit to approach the Divine presence directly; and of the merit and efficacy of Christ's death; whereby they have access to God. Wherefore, by the very form of our devotions, these great doctrines of our religion are continually inculcated upon us.

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: I have said these things to you concerning my departure out of the world, concerning the coming of the Holy Ghost, concerning my resurrection from the dead, concerning the Father's hearing your prayers, and concerning the great trial you are to be exposed to, in order that you may have consolation in the prospect of the benefits you are to receive, and not be terrified when the afflictions draw nigh which are to overtake you. The truth is, you shall have great tribulation in this present life, because the malice of men will every where pursue you; nevertheless be not discouraged; rather take heart, by reflecting how, through constancy and patience, I have overcome the malice of the world, and that I am able to make you overcome it in like manner also.

§ CXXXIII. Jesus prays with his disciples before his death. John xvii. 1,-26.

JESUS having thus finished his ministry, and given his disciples all the instructions he judged necessary, closed the whole with a solemn prayer to God, wherein he asked for himself, that he might be reinstated in his original glory with God; for his disciples, that they might be preserved in unity, and kept from evil; and for all believers, that they might be with him for ever in heaven. This has been called our Lord's intercessory prayer, because it is considered as a pattern of the intercession he is now making for his people in heaven. John xvii. 1. These words spake Jesus, and lift up his eyes to heaven, he put himself in the posture of prayer, and said, Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: The time of my sufferings is come; let me have such succours from thee as will enable me to bear them; let the circumstances of my trial, both in the Jewish and Gentile courts of judicature, be such as will plainly prove my innocence; and let my death be accompanied with such interpositions of thy power, as will remove the scandal of the cross, and demonstrate the rela tion I stand in to thee; particularly let me be raised from the dead, and taken up into heaven; finally, shed down upon my apostles such miraculous gifts as will qualify them for bearing witness to my miracles, my death, my resurrection, and my ascension. Thus glorifying thy Son, he also will glorify thee, by converting to the belief and practice of true religion, many who will celebrate thy praises eternally. For thou hast sent thy Son into the world, and given him power over all men in this respect, that he can bestow eternal life upon as many as thou hast given him; a consideration which he ever reflects upon with the highest joy. 2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3. And this is

life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent: Now what he enjoins as the means of eternal life, is, that men should acknowledge thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4. I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do: During my abode on earth, I have promoted thy glory, by bringing thy creatures, who were wandering in error and ignorance, to the knowledge of true religion, and by putting them in the way that leadeth to happiness. Thus have I finished the great work which thou gavest me to do on earth. 5. And now,

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O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory

• Ver. 3.

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The only true God.] αυτη δε εσιν ή αιώνιος ζων ἵνα γινωσκωσι σε τον μόνον αληθινον Θεον, και ἐν ἀπεσειλας Ιησεν Χρισον. This is the eternal life, that they should know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I teach that men should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, as the means of obtaining that eternal life which thou hast given me power to bestow. Or the meaning may be, Now this eternal life is bestowed by me on men, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent; importing, that the happiness of eternity will consist in the knowledge of God and Christ. It is justly observed by Grotius, that the Father is here styled the only true God, in exclusion of those deities which the ignorance and folly of the heathens had introduced. For as in the latter clause, our Lord undoubtedly spake of the Jews, when he mentioned it as the means of eternal life, that they should know Jesus Christ; so it is probable, that in the former he had the Gentiles in his eye, when he represented the knowledge of the true God as the road to felicity. If so, we cannot, from this passage, infer that Jesus is not truly or really God. For had this been the meaning of the words, would the evangelist have begun his gospel with so solemn a declaration of our Lord's divinity? Besides, in other passages of scripture, the word povos denotes a partial exclusion. For instance, Gen. xlii. 38. Jacob, speaking of Benjamin, says, His brother is dead, xai avtos povos xalaλeλeittai, and he only is left. He did not mean, that he was his only son absolutely, but his only son by Rachel. In like manner, Luke ix. 18. And it came to pass as he was alone praying, his disciples avere with him; where xara μovas is to be understood, in exclusion of the multitude, and not of the disciples who were now with him. So also, Luke ix. 36. Jesus is said to be left (poros) alone, notwithstanding the three disciples were with him. The meaning is, he was alone, in respect of Moses and Elias, who were now departed from him. And, to give no more instances, Jude, ver. 4. uses the word asos in this partial sense, where, speaking of some wicked men in his time, he says, they denied, tov povov deoπότην θεον, και κυριον αυτων Ιησεν Χριστον. For whether the first clause is understood of Christ, it cannot mean that he is our only Lord and God, in exclusion of the Father; or whether it is understood of the Father, it cannot be said that he is our only Lord in exclusion of Christ, who is expressly styled Δεσπότης.

+ Ver. 5. The glory which I had with thee before the world was.] The Socinians, who deny, not only our Lord's divinity, but his existence before he appeared in the world, are at a loss how to explain this passage in consistency with their opinion. They imagine, that as in the prophetical writings, things to come are spoken of as already existing, to denote the

which I had with thee before the world was: The work which thou gavest me to do on earth being now finished, I beg of thee, O Father, to exalt me to the state I was in before I came down upon earth. Let me enjoy that glory and dignity which I possessed with thee before the world existed. John xvii. 6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. In the Hebrew language, the name of any thing sig nifies the thing itself, Acts iii. 16. Our Lord's meaning is, I have explained thy nature and perfections, I have declared thy merciful designs towards the world, and I have fully taught thy will and worship unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; the persons who were chosen by thee, out of all mankind, to be my apostles. See John vi. 44. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word: my apostles belonged to thee, and thou gavest them to me. Nor was thy choice of them improper, for hitherto they have sincerely obeyed thy will, according to the discovery thereof which thou hast made to them. By the apostles belonging to God, some understand their being elected by God from eternity to everlasting life; others, their being pious and good men; others, their being sin. cere disciples of the former dispensation, which God had given by Moses. And it must be owned that this latter interpretation best preserves the propriety of the expression. By the Father's giving these men to Christ, many understand his pointing them out to him as fit to be his apostles; and that in answer to the prayers

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Divine decree concerning them, and the certainty of their happening; so Jesus is here said to possess glory with the Father before the foundation of the world, not because he then existed, but because that glory was appointed him in the Divine decree from eternity, and was certainly to be bestow/ ed upon him in the fulness of time, Withal, in confirmation of this obs servation, they cite Rev. xiii. 8. where Christ is called a lamb slain from the foundation of the world: and 2 Tim. i. 9. where the apostle, speaking of the favours conferred on Christians, says, "Hach saved us, and called us, according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." But here without laying the whole stress of the matter on the answer given by Whitby, namely, that these passages are mis-translated, I observe, that though, for the reasons mentioned, the sacred writers, when warmed with the grandeur of their subject, might in their discourses represent the great events which were to befal the church under the gospel-dispensation, as existing from eternity; yet no fire of imagination could authorise the figure in the present instance. For it were absurd to fancy that Jesus, in this his last solemn prayer with his disciples, gravely spake of himself as existing from eternity, and as enjoying with God blessings which were to be bestowed upon him only in time. Such figures, however proper they may be in prophecy, are not of the style of prayer; far less of our Lord's prayers, which are remarkable for their simplicity. Besides, it should be remembered, that this is not the only passage which speaks of Christ's pre-existence; for the evangelist John, chap. i. represents him as existing from eternity, and making all things. And chap. viii. 58. of the same gospel, Jesus himself tells us that he exist ed before Abraham. And the apostle Paul affirms, Phil. i 6. that before Jesus took the form of a servant, he was in the form of God.

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