SERMON
XXXIV.
Neither pray 1 for these alone, but
for them also which shall believe on me through their word.—john XVII. 20.
here Christ enlargeth the object of his
prayers, which is propounded —(1.) Negatively;
(2.) Positively. [Pg. 16]
First, Negatively;
by which the restraint is taken off. Which showeth
1. Christ's love. He had a care of
us before we were yet in being, and able to apply these comforts to ourselves.
We were provided for before we were born, there is a stock of prayers laid up
in heaven. Christ, as God, foresaw that the gospel would prevail,
notwithstanding the world's hatred, and that many would yield up themselves to
the obedience of the faith; therefore to show that they have a room in his
heart, they have a name in his testament As parents provide for their
children's children yet unborn, so doth Christ remember future believers, as
well as those of the present age, and pleadeth their
cause with God, as if they were standing by, and actually hearing his prayers
for them. It was Esau's complaint,' Hast thou but one blessing, Ο my father?' when he came too late, and Jacob had
already carried away the blessing. We were not born too late, and out of due
time, to receive the blessing of Christ's prayers. Hath he no regard to us? are his thoughts wholly taken up with the believers of the
first and golden age of the church? Certainly not 'I pray
not for these only, but for them also which shall believe on me through their
word.' We, that now live hundreds of years after they are dead and gone, have
an interest in them. 'Increase and multiply,' was spoken to the first to the
kind of all the beasts; and to the end of the world all creatures do produce
and bring forth after their kind by virtue of this blessing. Christ doth not
only speak of the first of the kind; but, that we might be sure to be
comprised, he telleth us so in express words.
Certainly much of our comfort would be lost if we were not comprehended in
Christ's prayers, for his prayers show the extent of his purchase.
2. The honour that is put upon private believers; their names are
in Christ's testament; they are bound up in the same bundle of life with the
apostles. Here is a question, whether this passage relateth
to the foregoing requests, or else to these that follow? What part of the
prayer hath this passage respect to? Answer—I suppose to the whole; it looketh upward and downward. The middle part of the chapter
doth chiefly concern the apostles and disciples of that age; some things are
proper to them, yet there are many things in common that concern us and them
too. He had lately said,' I sanctify myself for their sakes;' he would not have
that restrained. In the latter part of the chapter all believers are more
especially concerned; yet some passages are intermingled that do also concern
the apostles: ver. 22, 'The glory which thou hast given me, I have given them;'
ver. 25, 'They have known that thou hast sent me; ver. 26, 'I have declared my
name to them, and will declare it' Thus you see we are partly concerned in all
the prayer. It is a great favour that he would make
mention of us to God. As David, when about to die, did not only pray for
Solomon his successor, but for all the people, so doth Christ not only pray for
the college of the apostles, to whom the government of the church was committed
upon his departure, but for all believers to the end of the world. He prayeth for the apostles, as intrusted
with a great work, and liable to great danger and hatred; but yet he doth not
neglect the church. [Pg. 17]
Secondly, Positively;
the persons for whom he prays. They are described by their faith, and their
faith is described by the object of it, 'That believe in me;' and by the ground
and warrant of it, 'Through their word.'
And so the
points will be two:
1. That
believers, and they only, are interested in Christ's prayers.
2. That, in
the sense and reckoning of the gospel, they are believers that are wrought upon
to believe in Christ through the word.
Doct. 1. That believers, and they only, are interested in
Christ's prayers.
Though Christ doth enlarge the
object of his prayers, yet he still keepeth within
the pale of the elect He saith, ver. 9,' I pray not for the world;' and now, \~peri\~ \~twn\~ \~pisteusontwn\~, 'for them that shall believe in me.' He doth not pray for all,
whether they believe or no, but only for those that shall believe. Now this
Christ doth, partly because his prayers and his merit are of equal extent: 'I
sanctify myself for their sakes;' and then,' I pray not for these only, but for
them that shall believe in me through their word;' Rom. viii. 33, 34, 'Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us;' 1 John ii. 1, 2, 'If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.' His
prayers on earth do but explain the virtue and extent of his sacrifice: he sueth out what he purchased, and his intercession in heaven
is but a representation of his merit; both are acts of the same office. Partly
because it is not for the honour of Christ that his
prayers should fall to the ground: John xi. 42, 'I know that thou nearest me
always.' Shall the Son of God's love plead in vain, and urge his merit, and not
succeed? Then farewell roe sure-ness and firmness of our comfort Now Christ's
prayers would fall to the ground if he should pray for them that shall never
believe.
use 1. It is much for the comfort of them
who do already believe. Ton may be sure you are one of those for whom Christ prayeth, whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free. Particulars
are under their general. How do we prove John or Thomas to be children of wrath
by nature? All were so. So Christ prayeth for all
those that shall believe, as much as if he had brought them forth, and set them
before God by head and poll. And if Christ prayed for thee, why is not thy joy
full? Why did he speak these things in the world? It is a copy of his
intercession. Christ would show, a little before his departure, what he doth
for us in heaven; he sueth out his purchase, and pleadeth our right in court It is
a sign we have a room in his heart, because we have a name in his prayers. And
what blessings doth he seek for?
Use 2. It is an engagement to others to believe. If he had commanded
some great thing, ought we not to have done it? This comfort cannot be made out
to you till you have actual faith; however it is with you in the purpose of
God, yet you cannot apply this comfort till [Pg. 18] you believe. If a man
should make his will, wherein rich legacies should be left to all that can
prove a claim, by being thus and thus qualified, would not every one put in for
a share? Believe, believe; this is the condition.
Use 3. It showeth the excellency
of faith. Those that have an interest in Christ's prayers are not described by
their love, their obedience, or any other grace (though these are necessary in
their place), but by their faith; and the godly are elsewhere called 'of the
household of faith.' Wherever our implantation into Christ,
or participation of the privileges of his death, or our spiritual communion in
the church is spoken of, the condition is faith. It is a grace that sendeth us out of ourselves, to look for all in another. It
is the mother of obedience. As all disobedience is by
unbelief, so all obedience is by faith. First he said,-'Ye shall not
die;' and then,' Ye shall be as gods.' First he seeketh
to weaken their faith in the word; they could not be proud and ambitious till
they did disbelieve. Therefore, above all things let us labour
after faith. Our hearts are taken up with the world, the honours
and pleasures of it; these cannot make us happy, but Christian privileges will;
all which are conveyed to us by faith.
But let us come to the second point
Doct. 2. That, in the reckoning and sense of the gospel,
they are believers that are wrought upon to believe in Christ through the word.
Hero is the object, Christ; the
ground, warrant, and instrumental cause, and that is the word. The warrant must
be distinguished from the object; the warrant is the word, and the proper
object of faith is Christ, as considered in his mediatory office. Sometimes the
act of faith is terminated on the person of Christ, and sometimes on the
promise, to show there is no closing with Christ without the promise, and no
closing with the promise without Christ; as in a contract there is not only a
receiving of the lease or conveyance, but a receiving of lands by virtue of
such a deed and conveyance. So there is a receiving of the word, and a
receiving of Christ through the word; the one maketh
way for the other, the promise for our affiance in
Christ Faith that assents to the promise doth also accept of Christ; there is
an act terminated on his person. Faith is not assensus
axiomati, a naked assent to the propositions of
the word, but a consent to take Christ, that we may
rely upon him, and obey him as an all-sufficient Saviour.
But now let us speak of these
distinctly.
First, Of the object, that is, to believe in Christ There is
believing of Christ, and believing in
Christ He doth not say, Those that believe me, but, Those that believe in
me through their word. Believing Christ implieth a
credulity and assent to the word; and believing in Christ, confidence and reliance.
Once more, believing in Christ is a notion distinct from believing in God: John
xiv. 1, 'To believe in God, believe also in me.' Since the incarnation, and
since Christ came to exercise the office of a mediator, there is a distinct
faith required in him, because there are distinct grounds of confidence;
because in him we see God in our nature, we have a claim by justice as well as
mercy, we have a mediator who partaketh of God's
nature and ours, and so is fit to go between God and us. [Pg. 19]
Briefly to
open this believing in Christ, it may be opened by the implicit or explicit
acts of it.
1. There is something implicit in
this confidence and reliance upon Christ, and that is a lively sense of our own
misery, and the wrath of God due for sin. All God's acts take date from the
nothingness and necessity of the creature, and from thence also do begin our
own addresses to God. God's acts begin thence, that he may be all in all; from
the creation to the resurrection God keepeth this
course, and then the dispensation ceaseth, for then
there is no more want, but fulness. Creation is out of nothing; providence interposeth when we are as good as nothing; at the
resurrection we are nothing but dust; God worketh on
the few relics of death and time. So in all moral matters, as well as natural,
it is one of his names,' He comforteth those that are
cast down.' When he came to convert Adam, he first terrified him: 'They heard
the voice of God in the garden, and were afraid,' Gen. iii.
10. He delivered Israel out of Egypt when their souls were full of anguish. We
are first exercised with the 'ministry of the condemnation,' before 'light and
immortality are brought to life in the gospel.' And still God keeps his
old course; men are first burdened and sensible of their load before he giveth them ease and refreshment in Christ. At the first
gospel sermon preached after the pouring forth of the Spirit, Acts ii. 37,
'They were pricked in their hearts.' Christ's commission was to Preach the gospel to the poor and broken-hearted and
bruised: Luke iv. 18,' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of eight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.' This is the roadway to
Christ. And all our addresses to God begin too thence. Man is careless: Mat
xxii. 5, \~amelhsantev\~, 'They made light of it;' and proud:
There are two things keep the
conscience quiet without Christ— peace and self, carnal security and
self-sufficiency,
[1.] It is
hard to wean men from the pleasures of sense, and to make them serious in the
matters of their peace; before Christ and they be brought together, they and themselves must be brought together. This God seeketh to do by outward afflictions,
that he may 'take them in their month,' as the ram was caught in the
briars. In afflictions men bethink themselves: 1 Kings viii.
47, 'If they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried
captives,' &c. It makes them to return upon themselves, how it is between
God and them. If affliction worketh not, he joineth the word; it is 'a glass wherein we see our natural
face.' James i. 21. God showeth them what loathsome [Pg. 20] creatures they are,
how liable to wrath. Or if not, by the power of his Spirit upon their
consciences; their reins may chasten them; they cannot wake in the night, or be
solitary in the day, but their hearts are upon them; so great a matter is it to
bring men to be serious.
[2.] Self. When the prodigal began
to be in want,' he joined himself to a man of that country.' Luke
xv. 15. We have slight promises and resolutions, and all to elude the
present conviction; long it is ere the proud heart of man is gained to take
Christ upon God's terms. Convinced men are brought m, saying,' What shall I do?' Acts ix. 6. Then
let God write down what articles he pleaseth, they
are willing to subscribe and yield to any terms; as softened pewter, let it be
never so bowed and battered, is receptive of any shape and form. This is the
implicit act, or that which is required in believing, that a man should be a
lost undone creature in himself, ready to do what God will have him.
2. The explicit acts, when a soul
thus humbled casts itself upon Christ for grace, mercy, and salvation. This may
be explained with respect to the two great ordinances, i.e., the word
and prayer, which are, as it were, a spiritual dialogue between God and the
soul In the word, God sneaketh to us; in prayer, we
speak to God. God offereth Christ to us in the word,
and we present him to God in prayer. So that the acts of faith are to accept of
Christ as offered, and then to make use of him in our communion with God; and
by this shall you know whether you do believe in him.
[1.] Accepting Christ in the word.
Faith is expressed by receiving him: John 1.12,' To as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his
name.' Receiving is a relative word, and presupposeth
God's offer. Art thou willing to take Christ upon these terms? Yes, saith the
soul, with all my heart; I accept him as a sanctifier, as a saviour,
and I can venture all in his hands. Then you answer God's question. How often
doth God lay forth the excellences of Christ, and none regard him? But a poor
hunger-bitten conscience prizeth him, receiveth him with all his heart, and entertaineth
him in the soul with all respect and reverence. This is to take Christ, to
accept him as Lord and Saviour upon God's offer. As
when Isaac was offered to Rebekah, 'Laban and Bethuel answered, saying, The
thing proceedeth from the Lord; we cannot speak unto
thee good or bad,' Gen xxiv. 50; they consented to take him, because they saw
God in it So they see God tendering Christ in the
word, and they are willing to take him upon his own conditions.
[2.] By
making use of him in prayer. The great use of Christ is that we may come to God
by him: Heb. vii. 25, 'Wherefore he is able to save unto the uttermost all that
come unto God by him.' We must make our approaches to God for supplies of
grace, in the confidence of his merit It is a great
fault in Christians that they do so little think of this act of faith. We are
busy about applying Christ to ourselves. The great use of Christ is in dealing
with God: Heb. x. 19,' Having therefore boldness, brethren, to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus.' Every prayer that yon make with any confidence
and liberty of spirit, it cost Christ his heart's blood. He knew [Pg. 21] that
guilt is shy of God's presence, as the malefactor trembleth
to come before the judge: Eph. iii. 12, 'In whom we
have boldness, and access. with confidence, through
the faith of him.' Surely the apostle speaketh de jure, not what is de facto. We have low and dark
thoughts, as if we had no such liberty purchased for us; \~parrhsian\~
\~ecomen\~, we may be free with God. It is the
fruit of Christ's purchase. Christ's name signifieth
much in heaven.
Use. Can you thus
believe in Christ, take him out of God's hand? No; I cannot apply Christ I
answer—Yet disclaim, when you cannot apply: Phil. iii.
9, 'And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is after the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is
of God through faith.' And apply yourselves to Christ when you cannot apply
Christ to you; that is, cast yourselves upon Christ. You have warrant enough
from the word. There is an adventure of faith when there is no persuasion of
interest: 2 Tim. i. 12,' I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day.' The venture is grounded on God's free offer of him to all
sorts. When we rest on him, because we know he is ours, that is another thing;
there is trust, that is a fruit of propriety: 1 John v. 13,' These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know
that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of
God.' But the adventure is grounded on the offer, as a child holds fast his
father in the dark; mariners cast anchor at midnight. And ripen faith more; all
faith draweth to particular application. The lowest
degree is a desire to lay hold on Christ as our Saviour;
this is the tendency and aim of the least faith, though we do not leap into
full assurance at first; as a man that climbeth up to
the top of the tree, first he catcheth hold of the
lowest boughs, and so by little and little he windeth
himself into the tree till he cometh to the top.
Secondly, The
next thing is the warrant or instrument,' Through their word.' It is not meant
only of those that heard the apostles in person. By 'their word' is meant the
scripture, which was not only preached by them at first, but written by them;
as Paul saith, Rom. ii. 16, 'In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men
by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel;' that is, which I have published and
delivered to the church in writing: John xv. 16,' Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that you should go
and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.' By their 'fruit' is
meant the public treasure of the church, the scriptures, and that remaineth in all ages until Christ come; as the Jews were
children of the prophets, that never heard them, Acts iii. 25. So were we converted
by their word.
Now I shall handle the necessity,
use, and power of the word to work faith.
1. The necessity of the word
preached; it is the ordinary means. It is a nice dispute whether God can work
without it God can enlighten the world without the sun. It is clear ordinarily
he doth not work without the word; we are bound, though the Spirit is free:
'How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? and
how shall they hear without a preacher?' Rom. x. 14.
It is the means to [Pg. 22] convey faith into the hearts of
the elect; it is as necessary to faith, as faith to prayer, and prayer to
salvation. It is a means under a promise. You see how necessary it is; they
that voluntarily neglect the means, put a scorn upon
God's institution. Men will say, I can read at home. Are yon wiser than he? Men
think that, of all other things, preaching might best be spared; and of all
offices, hearing is least necessary. The ear received the first temptation; sin
and misery broke in that way; so doth life and peace. The happiness of heaven
is expressed by seeing, the happiness in the church by hearing. This is our
great employment, to wait upon the word preached; next to Christ's word, it is
a great benefit to have the word written; next to the word written, the word
preached. Christ sent 'first apostles, then pastors and teachers.' God could
have converted Paul without Ananias, taught the
eunuch without Philip, instructed Cornelius without Peter. Do not hearken to
those that cry up an inward teaching, to exclude the outward teaching; as if
the external word were but an empty sound and noise, as the Libertines in
Calvin's time. Faith, confirmed by reading, is usually begotten by hearing.
2. The use of the word: it is our
warrant. What have we to show for our great hopes by Christ but the word? It is
our excitement, a means and instrument to show us God's heart and our own, our
natural face, and the worth of Christ, the key which God useth
and openeth our hearts by. Ministers are Christ's
spokesmen; if we will not open the ear, why should God open the heart?
3. The power of the word is
exceeding great. It is 'the power of God to salvation.' The first gospel sermon
that ever was preached, after the pouring forth of the Spirit, had great
success: Acts ii. 41, 'The same day there were added to the church about three
thousand souls.' It was a mighty thing that an angel should slay 185,000 in one
night in Sennacherib's host; but it is easier to kill so many than to convert
one soul. One angel, by his mere natural strength, could kill so many armed
men; but all the angels in heaven, if they should join all their forces
together, could not convert one soul. There were single miracles of curing one
blind or one lame; ay 1 but the apostle's word could work three thousand
miracles: 1 Cor. iii. 5, 'Who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the
Lord gave to every man?'
Why doth God use the word? I answer—Because it pleased him: 1 Cor. i. 21, 'It pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to
save them that believe.'
[1.] It is most suitable to man's
nature. Man is made of body and soul, and God will deal with him both ways, by
internal grace and external exhortations. Man is a reasonable creature; his
will is not brutish; God will not offer violence to the principles of human
nature. Man is not only weak, but wicked; there is hatred as well as impotency.
God will overcome both together, by sweet counsels, mixed with a mighty force;
he useth such a remedy as our disease requireth; the gospel is not only called 'the power of
God,' but' the wisdom of God,' 1 Cor. i. 24. There are excellent arguments which the heart of man
could not have found out
[2.] It is
agreeable to his own counsels to try the reprobate by an [Pg. 23] outward rule
and offer, wherein they have as much favour as the
elect; they shall One day know 'that a prophet hath been among them.' and bo be 'left without excuse,' Rom. i. 20. The rain falleth on rocks
as well as fields; the sun shineth to blind men as
well as those that can see.
[3.] It commendeth
his grace to the elect Their faith must be ascribed to grace When others have
the same means, the same voice and exhortations, it is the peculiar grace of
God that they come to understand and believe .Whence is it that the difference ariseth? that whereas wicked men
are by the word restrained and made civil (there being a use of wicked men in
the world, as of a hedge of thorns about a garden), they are by the same word
converted and brought home to God? It is from the grace of God.
Use. Examination. Is our faith thus wrought? Every
one should look how he cometh by his faith, by what means. True faith is begotten
and grounded upon the word; it is the ordinary means to work faith. The word
will be continued, and a ministry to preach it, as long as
there are any to be converted. The gospel alone revealeth
that which may satisfy our necessities; it giveth a
bottom for faith and particular application, as being the declaration of God's
will. It is the only means sanctified by Christ for that end: John xvii. 17, 'Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth;' James i. 18. 'Of his own will begat he
us, through the word of truth.' The condition of those is woful that want the gospel, or put
it from them: Acts xiii. 46, 'Seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves
unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.' If faith be of the
right make, the word will show thee once thou hadst
none, and that thou wert not able of thyself to believe. Beseech the Lord to
work it in thee.