صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

His Father (The Law, S. Matt. xxii. 37-40,) so here, being ready to depart, He contracts the story of His own life (the Gospel) for the remembrance of His disciples, saying, I am come out from the Father, and come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. He "went out from the Father," when He was Incarnate; He " came into the world," at His Nativity: again, He left the world, when He was Crucified; and He went to the Father, when He Ascended. This is a brief of His life and death; and this epitome of His had the errand, it came on. For, it was so well conceived and understood by the disciples, and brought all so plainly to their remembrance, that whereas, at other times, He was wont to say, “These things have I spoken unto you in parables,” and they were wont to say, We know not what He saith," they now immediately on these words tell Him, Lo, now speakest Thou plainly, and speakest no parables. And I beseech Him, that it may be no parable to me; but that I may so understand and remember His "coming out from the Father," for love of me, that in love to Him, I may seek to leave the world, and follow Him to the Father. xiii. 3; Heb. xiii. 13, 14.-Wm. Austin.

V. 29. Our faith is fed by what is plain in Scripture, and tried by what is obscure. Jer. xv. 16; 2 S. Pet. iii. 16.-S. Augustine.

V. 31.-To believe, is not to acknowledge the Truth of Scripture and Articles of the Creed (as vulgarly we use knowledge); but to be affected with the goodness and excellency of them, as the most precious objects, which the whole world could present to our choice; to embrace

them, as the only desirable thing on the earth; and to be resolutely and uniformly inclined to express this affection of our's in our practice, whensoever there shall be any competition betwixt these and our dearest delights. xi. 26; Job xxiii. 12.-Dr. Hammond.

V. 32. Every man to his own. They forsook each other, as well as Christ. Oh, what an hour of temptation was this! Ps. lxix. 21.-Flavel.

V. 33.-Thorns grow every where, and from all things below; and to a soul, transplanted out of itself into the root of Jesse, peace grows everywhere, too, from Him, who is called "Our Peace;" and whom we still find the more to be so, the more entirely we live to Him, being dead to this world, and self, and all things beside Him. And seeing He hath jointly bequeathed these two (tribulation and peace) to His followers, were it not great folly to renounce such a bargain, and to let go that peace for fear of this trouble? The trouble is but in the world; but the peace is in Him, who weighs down thousands of worlds. iv. 13, 14; xiv. 27.-Abp. Leighton.

How would you cling to this world, if this world were beautiful, since you embrace it, when it is so deformed? How would you gather its flowers, since you withhold not your hand from its thorns ?-S. Augustine.

The history of the Gospel is chiefly the history of Christ's conquest over the spirit of the world. And the number of true Christians is only the number of those, who, following the Spirit of Christ, have lived contrary to the spirit of the world. 1 S. John iv. 17; ii. 15–17.— Wm. Law.

T

306

CHAPTER XVII.

VERSE 1.-This Chapter is an epitome of that Intercession, which Christ makes in heaven for His people; for, though the prayer here was in the time of His humiliation, yet the matter of it belongs to His state of Glory. Ps. lxix. 7-10.-E. Leigh.

This prayer was the perpetual and most gracious Legacy of Love to His Church. Heb. vii. 25, 26.Bonnell.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

:

V. 2. To as many, &c. In the original it is in the neuter gender, the better to express the universality of the proposition all, and every thing, that the Father gave Him, whatsoever kind of people they are, Jews or Gentiles, bond or free and not only all of them, but all; that is in every one, the whole man, soul and body, as He intimates also in saying (vi. 40), that “He will raise them up at the last day;" which must be understood of the body: and so "all, that the Father gave to Him, shall come to Him," wholly, entirely, without any exception, or reserve. 1 Thess. v. 23.-Bp. Beveridge.

V. 3.-"To God that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb" (Rev. vii. 10). Where is the Holy Ghost? Do the saints exclude Him too? God forbid. Non-expression is not exclusion. "The works of the Trinity, from without are undivided." The actions from within,

to beget, to be begotten, to proceed, distinguish the Father from the Son, the Son from the Holy Ghost, each Person from the other. But creation, preservation, redemption, salvation, all works emerging, that go out unto the creature, are common to all Three. Had the song been but thus, "Salvation to the Lamb;" that had been no excluding of the Father. So neither this ascribing of Salvation to two Persons, "God and the Lamb," shuts out the Holy Ghost. It pleaseth the Spirit to name sometimes God only; then, all Three are implied; sometimes, two of the Persons; then, the Third is understood; and sometimes to express all Three. It is all one for the Son is in the Father; He in Him: the Spirit in both; both in the Spirit. xv. 26; S. Matt. xi. 27; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; 1 S. John v. 7.-Dr. Richd. Clerke.

In many of the branches of learning, and in none more than in that of Religion, we seem to be busied in shaking the leaves of the tree of knowledge, and making a stir among them, instead of reposing beneath its shade, or gathering its fruit; which last are the satisfactions of other and better studies, such as bring the substance of Divine Truth, and its use, more nearly together. S. Luke x. 39; 2 Tim. iii. 7.-Davison.

V. 4. The leading feature in the character of Jesus Christ unquestionably was devotedness to the service of God. He lived only to "Do His will." It was His "Meat and Drink :" His daily, hourly, momentary occupation. From this, pleasure had no charms to seduce; pain no power to terrify Him. At the table, in the temple, on the mount, by the way-side, weary,

hungry, defamed, by night, by day, in every state and every place, weeping over the grave of Lazarus, riding triumphantly into Jerusalem, praying in the garden, hanging on the cross, Jesus was still the same-He "did the Will of the Father, who sent Him." Fancy can imagine nothing more sublime than the unity of that great purpose. S. Luke ii. 49.-J. Bowdler.

V. 5.-There was an order in the dispensation of Christ's offices: some were works of Ministry and service, in the office of obedience and suffering for His Church; others were works of power and Majesty, in the protection and exaltation of His Church; and those necessarily to precede these. Ps. viii. 5; Phil. ii. 5-10.—Bp. Reynolds.

:

This Personal Glory of Christ was distinct, but not separate, from that of the Father. It was distinct for Christ Himself had it: and yet not separate; for He had it with the Father, before the world was (i. 1, 2). Christ here spake of Himself, as the Second Person in the Trinity, "set up from everlasting," as Mediator. He now prayed, as Mediator and High Priest, that the glory of His Divine Person might be more clearly manifested, and that His human nature, to which He was now actually united, might enjoy all that glory, which from eternity was designed for it. Eph. ii. 6, 7.-Hurrion.

You have a great trust to commit to God, when you die; and God hath a great trust to commit to you, while you live. If you keep His truths, He will keep your souls. Rev. iii. 10; 1 Tim. -Flavel.

V. 7.-The Prophetical function consisteth in the pro

« السابقةمتابعة »