in that sense there are many given to him that shall never come unto him; yea, many are given unto him, that he will cast out. I shall therefore first show you the truth of this, and then in what sense the gift in the text must be taken.

That all that are "given" to Christ, if you take the gift of the Father to him in the largest sense, cannot be intended in the text, is evident from three things.

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1. Because then, all the men, yea, all the things in the world, must be saved. "All things," said he, livered unto me of my Father." Matt. xi. 27. think, no rational man in the world will conclude. fore the gift intended in the text, must be restrained to some —to a gift that is given by way of speciality by the Father to the Son.

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2. Because the Father hath 'given' some, yea, many to him, to be dashed in pieces by him. "Ask of me," said the Father to him, "and I shall give thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." But what must be done with them? Must he save them all? No, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Psalm ii. This method he useth not with them that he saveth by his grace, but with those that himself and saints shall rule over in justice and severity, (Rev. ii. 26, 27); yet as you see, "they are given to him." Therefore the gift intended in the text, must be restrained to some that are given for another purpose-to a gift that is given by way of speciality by the Father to the Son.

In the 18th Psalm, he saith plainly, that some are given to him that he might destroy them: "Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. e." Ver. 40. These therefore cannot be of the number of those that are said to be given in the text; for those,

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even 'all of them, shall come to him, and he will in no wise cast them out.'

3. Because some are "given" to Christ, that he by them might bring about some event for his high and deep designs in the world. Thus Judas was given to Christ, namely, that by him, even as was determined before, he might bring about his death, and so the salvation of his elect by his blood. "Those," said he, "that thou gavest me, have I kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled." John xvii. 12. Let us then grant that Judas was given to Christ, but not as others are given to him, nor as those made mention of in the text; for then he should not have failed to have been so received by Christ, and kept to eternal life. Indeed he was given to Christ; but he was given to him that he by him might bring about his own death, as was before determined; and that in the overthrow of him that did it. Yea, he must bring about instrument that betrayed

his dying for us in the loss of the him, that he might even fulfil the scripture in his destruction, as well as in the salvation of the rest. "And none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled."

The gift therefore in the text, must not be taken in the largest sense, but even as the connected words will bear us out in, for such a gift as he accepteth, and promiseth effectual means of eternal salvation. "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Mark, 'They shall come that are in special given to me; and they shall by no means be rejected.' This is the substance of the text.

Those, therefore, intended as the gift in the text, are those that are given by covenant to the Son; those that in other places are called the "elect," the "chosen," the "sheep," and the "children of the promise." These be they that the Father hath given to Christ to keep them; those that Christ

hath promised eternal life to; those to whom he hath given his word; and that he will have in his kingdom to behold his glory. "This is the will of the Father that hath sent me, that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My 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 hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has 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 them which 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 hast given me, that they may be one as we are." 'Father, I will, that they also 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 lovedst me before the foundation of the world." John vi. 39; x. 28, 29; xvii. 2, 6, 9, 10, 11, 24. All these sentences are of the same import with the text; and the alls and the many, those, they, &c., in these several sayings of Christ, are the same with all the given' in the text: "All that the Father giveth." So that (as I said before) the word, 'all' as also other words, must not be taken in such sort as our foolish fancies or groundless opinions will prompt us to; but do admit of an enlargement or a restriction, according to the true meaning and intent of the context. We must therefore diligently consult the meaning of the text, by comparing it with the other sayings of God; so shall 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, Christ describeth the person giving; by which we may learn

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several useful things. And first, That the Lord God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is concerned with the Son in the salvation of his people. True, his acts, as to our salvation, are diverse from those of the Son; he was not capable of doing such things for us, as did the Son; he died not, he spilt not blood for our redemption, as the Son; but yet he hath a hand, a great hand in our salvation too. As Christ saith, "The Father himself loveth you," and his love is manifest in choosing us, in giving us to his Son; yea, and in giving his Son also 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, and made way for his grace to come to us through the sides and the heart-blood of his well beloved Son. Col. i. 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 hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." 1 John iv. 14; Col. i. 12. As also we see in the text, the "Father giveth" the sinner to Christ to save him.

Secondly, Christ Jesus the Lord, by this word, Father, would familiarize this giver to us. Naturally the name of God is dreadful to us, especially when he is discovered to us by those names that declare his justice, 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 Christ also, when he would have us to pray with godly boldness, puts this word, Father into our mouths, saying, "when ye pray, say, 'Our Father which art in heaven;' concluding that by the familiarity that by such a word is intimated, the children of God may take more boldness to pray for, and ask great things. I myself have often found, that when I can say but this word, 'Father,' 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 this relative title, was rare among the saints in Old Testament times. Seldom do you

find him called by this name, no, sometimes not in three or four books. But now in New Testament times, he is called by no name so often as this, both by the Lord Jesus 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 their writings, so much to use it; it being more pleasing to God, and discovering more plainly our interest in God, than any other expression. For by this one name we are made to understand that all our mercies are the offspring of God, and that we also that are called, are his children by adoption.

"All that the Father giveth." This word, giveth, in the present tense, is out of Christ's ordinary dialect; and seemeth 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 present 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, where this gift is mentioned, it is still spoken of as of an act that is past: "all that he hath given me;" "to as many as thou hast given me;" "thou gavest them me," "and these which thou hast given me.' "" Therefore of necessity this must be the first and the chief sense of the text; I mean of this word, "giveth." Otherwise 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 most certainly comprised), will be shaken, or at least held questionable by erroneous and wicked men: for they may say, that the Father gave not all those to Christ that shall be saved, before the world was made; for that this act of giving is an act of continuation.