Father that gave them me, is greater than All: And no Man is able to pluck them out of my Father's Hand. As thou haft given him Power over all Flesh, that he fhould give eternal Life to as many as thou hast 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 hast 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, those whom thou haft given me, that they may be one as we are.

Father, I will, that thofe whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me; for thou loveft me before the Foundation of the World, John 6. 39. chap. 10. 28. chap. 17. 1, 6, 9, 10, 24.

All thefe Sentences are of the fame Import with the Text; and the Alls and the Manies, thofe, they, &c. In thefe feveral Sayings of Chrift, 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 groundlefs 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 the Perfon 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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Salvation

Salvation of his People. True, his Acts, as to our Salvation, are diverfe from those 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 a Hand, a great Hand in our Salvation too: As Chrift faith, The Father himself loveth 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 Ranfom 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 and 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 and adored as one having a chief Hand in the Salvation of Sinners, we ought to give Thanks 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. 1. 12. As also we fee in the Text, the Father giveth the Sinner to Chrift to fave him.

Secondly, Chrift Jefus the Lord by this Word Father, would familiarize this Giver to us Naturally the Name of God is dreadful to us, efpecially when he is difcovered to us by thofe Names that declare his Juftice, Holiness, Power and Glory; but now this Word Father, is a familiar Word, it frighteth not the Sinner, but rather inclineth his Heart to love, and be pleased 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 Boldness to pray for, and afk great Things. I myself have often found, that when I can fay but this Word Fa

ther,

ther, it doth me more Good than when I call him by 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 Apostles afterwards. Indeed the Lord Jesus was he that first made this Name common among the Saints, and that taught them, both in their Discourses, 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 Exprefat fion; for by this one Name we are made to under'S. ftand, that all our Mercies are the Offspring of God, and that we also that are called, are his Children by Adoption.

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All that the Father (giveth.)

0 This Word (giveth) is out of Chrift's ordinary Dialect, and feemeth to intimate, at the first Sound, as if the Father's Gift to the Son, was not an Act that is past, but one that is prefent and continuing; when indeed this Gift was bestowed upon Christ, when the Covenant, the eternal Covenant was made between them, before all Worlds. Wherefore in those other Places, when this Gift is mentioned, it is ftill spoken of as of an Act that is paft: As All that he hath given me; to as many as thou haft given me: Thou gavest them me, and thefe which thou haft given me. Therefore of Neceffity this must be the first 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 least wife queftionable by erB. 6

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roneous and wicked Men.: For they may fay, That the Father gave not all thofe 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,

First, That though the Act of giving among Men doth admit of the Time paft, 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 an Act that is paft, Rom. 4. 17. As 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 shall be brought unto the King in Raiment of Needle-work; that is, in the Righteoufnefs of Chrift, for it is God imputeth that, to those that art faved, Pfal. 45. 14. 1 Cor. 1.

A Man giveth his Daugter to fuch a Man, first in Order to Marriage, and this refpects the Time past, and he giveth her again at the Day appointed in Marriage: And in this laft 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 Efpoufals.

Things that are given among Men, are oft-times beft at first, to wit, when they are new; and the Reafon is, becaufe all earthly Things wax old; but with Chrift it is not fo: This Gift of the Father is not old and deformed, and unpleafant 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 Jordan. What then should 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 Ghost, are one and the fame eternal God; yet as to their Perfonality, are diftin&t. 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 Senfe, in the fame Act of giving, and receiving. He that giveth, giveth, giveth not to himself, but to another; the Father giveth not to the Father, to wit, to himself; but the Son :

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