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Father that gave them me, is greater than All: And no Man is able to pluck them from out of my Father'sHand. As thou haft given him Power over all Flesh, that he fhould give eternal Life to as many as thou haft given him. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy Word, I pray for them, I pray not for the World, but for those that thou haft given me ; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

Keep through thine own Name, thofe whom thou haft given me, that they may be one as we are. Father, I will,that those whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my Glory which thou haft given me; for thou lovedft me before the Foundation of the World. John 6. 39. chap. 10. 28. chap. 17. 1, 6, 9, 10, 24.

All these Sentences are of the fame Import with the Text; and the Alls & the Manies, thofe, they, &c. In thefe feveral Sayings of Christ, are the fame with all the given in the Text. All that the Father giveth.

So that (as I faid before) the Word All, as alfo other Words, muft not be taken in fuch Sort as our foolish Fancies or groundless Opinions will prompt us to, but do admit of an Enlargement or a Reftriction, according to the true Meaning and Intent of the Text. We must therefore diligently confult the Meaning of the Text, by comparing it with other the Sayings of God; fo fhall we be better able to find out the Mind of the Lord, in the Word which he has given us to know it by.

All that the (Father) giveth.

By this Word (Father) Chrift defcribeth thePerfon giving; by which we may learn feveral useful Things: 1. That the Lord God, and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, is concerned with the Son in the

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Salvati

Salvation of his People. True, his Acts, as to our Salvation, are diverfe from thofe of the Son, he was not capable of doing that, or thofe Things for us, as did the Son; he died not, he spilt not Blood for our Redemption, as the Son; but yet hath aHand, a great Hand in our Salvation too: AsChrift faith, The Father himself loweth you, and his Love is manifeft in chufing of us, in giving of us to his Son; yea, and in giving his Son alfo to be a Ransom for us. Hence he is called, The Father of Mercies, and the God of all Comfort. For here even the Father hath himself found out & made Way for his Grace to come to us through the Sides, and the Heartblood of his well-beloved Son, Col. 1. 12. The Father therefore is to be remembered & adored as one having a chief Hand in the Salvation of Sinners, we ought to giveThanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light; for the Father fent the Son to be the Saviour of the World, 1 John 4. 14. Col. I. As also we fee in the Text, The Father giveth the Sinner to Chrift to fave him.

12.

Secondly, Chrift Jefus the Lord by this WordFather, would familiarize this Giver to us. Naturally the Name of God is dreadful to us, especially when he is difcovered to us by thofe Names that declare his Juftice, Holinefs, Power and Glory; but now this Word Father, is a familiar Word, it frighteth not the Sinner, but rather inclineth his Heart to love, & be pleafed with the Remembrance of him. Hence Chrift alfo when he would have us to pray with godly Boldness, puts this Word Father into our Mouths, faying, when ye pray, fay, Our Father which art in Heaven; concluding thereby, that by the Familiarity that by fuch a Word is intimated, the Children of God may take more Boldnefs to pray for, and afk great Things. I myself have often found, that when I can fay but this WordFa

ther,

ther, it doth me more Good than when I call him bý any other Scripture-name; it is worth your noting, that to call God by his relative Title, was rare among the Saints in old Teftament-times; feldom do you find him called by this Name, no, fometimes, not in three or four Books; but now in new Teftament-times, he is called by no Name so often as this, both by the Lord Jefus himself, and by the Apoftles afterwards. Indeed the Lord Jefus was he that firft made this Name common among the Saints, and that taught them, both in their Difcourfes, their Prayers, and in their Writings, fo much to use it; it being more pleafing to, and difcovering more plainly our Intereft in God, than any other Expreffion; for by this one Name we are made to understand, that all our Mercies are the Offspring of God, and that we alfo that are called, are his Children by Adoption.

All that the Father (giveth.)

This Word (giveth) is out of Chrift's ordinary Dialect, and feemeth to intimate, at the firft Sound, as if the Father's Gift to the Son, was not an A& that is past, but one that is present and continuing; when indeed this Gift was bestowed upon Chrift, when the Covenant, the eternal Covenant was made between them, before all Worlds. Wherefore in thofe other Places, when this Gift is mentioned, it is ftill fpoken of as of an Act that is paft: As all that he hath given me; to as many as thou hast given me: Thou gavest them me, and these which thou haft given me. Therefore of Neceffity this must be the firft and chief Senfe of the Text. I mean of this Word (giveth) otherwife the Doctrine of Election, and of the eternal Covenant which was made between the Father and the Son (in which Covenant this Gift of the Father is moft certainly comprized) will be fhaken, or at leaft wife queftionable by er

roneous and wicked Men: For they may say, That the Father gave not all those to Chrift that shall be faved, before the World was made; for that this Act of giving is an Act of Continuation.

But again, this Word (giveth) is not to be rejected; for it hath its proper Ufe, and may fignify:

to us,

Firft, That though the A&t of giving among Men doth admit of the Time past, or the Time to come, and is to be spoken of with Reference to fuch Time; yet with God it is not fo. Things paft, or Things to come, are always prefent with God, and with his Son Jefus Chrift: He calleth Things that are not (that is, to us) as though they were. And again, Known unto God are all his Works from the Foundation of the World. All Things to God are prefent, and fo the Gift of the Father to the Son, although to us, as is manifeft by the Word, it is anA&t that is paft, Rom. 4. 17. Acts 15. 10.

Secondly, Chrift may exprefs himself thus, to fhew, that the Father hath not only given him this Portion in the Lump, before the World'was; but that thofe he had fo given, he will give him again; that is, will bring them to him at the Time of their Converfion; for the Father bringeth them to Chrift, John 6. 44.

As it is faid, She fhall be brought unto the King in Raiment of Needle-work; that is, in theRighteoufnefs of Chrift, for it is God imputeth that, to those that are faved, Pfal. 45, 14. 1 Cor. 1.

A Man giveth his Daughter to fuch a Man, first in order to Marriage, and this refpects the Time paft, and he giveth her again at the Day appointed in Marriage: And in this last Senfe, perhaps,, the Text may have a Meaning; that is, that all that the Father hath (before the World was) given to Jefus Chrift, he giveth them again to him, in the Day of their Espousals.

Things

Things that are given among Men, are oft times Beft at first, to wit, when they are new; and the Reafon is, because all earthly Things wax old; but with Chrift it is not fo: This Gift of the Father is not old and deformed, and unpleasant in his Eyes; and therefore to him it is always new. When the Lord fpake of giving the Land of Canaan to the Ifraelites, he faith not, that he had given, or would give it to them, but thus: The Lord thy God giveth thee this good Land. Deut. 9. 6. Not but that he had given it to them, while they were in the Loins of their Fathers, hundreds of Years before. Yet he faith now, he giveth it to them; as if they were now alfo in the very Act of taking Poffeffion, when as yet they were on the other Side of Jordan. What then fhould be the Meaning? Why, I take it to be this: That the Land should be to them always as new; as new as if they were taking Poffeffion thereof but now. And fo is the Gift of the Father mentioned in the Text to the Son; it is always new, as if it were always new..

All that the Father giveth (Me)..

In thefe Words, you find Mention made of two Perfons, the Father, and the Son; the Father giving, and the Son receiving, or accepting of this Gift. This then in the first Place, clearly demonftrateth, that the Father and the Son, though they, with the Holy Ghoft, are one and the fame eternal God; yet as to their Perfonality, are diftinct.. The Father is one, the Son is one, the holy Spirit is one. But because there is in this Text mention made but of two of the three, therefore a Word about these two. The Giver and Receiver cannot be the fame Perfon in a proper Sense, in the fame A&t of giving, and receiving. He that giveth, giveth not unto himself, but to another; the Father giveth not to the Father, to wit, to himfelf; but the Son :

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