A LITTLE before, in this chapter, you may read that the Lord Jesus walked on the sea to go to Capernaum, having sent his disciples before in a ship; but the wind was contrary, by which means the ship was hindered in her passage. Now about the fourth watch of the night Jesus came walking on the sea and overtook them; at the sight of whom they were afraid.

Note. When providences are black and terrible to God's people the Lord Jesus shows himself to them in a wonderful manner; the which sometimes they can as little bear as they can the things that were terrible to them. They were afraid of the wind and water; they were also afraid of their Lord and Saviour when he appeared to them in that state.

But he said, "Be not afraid, it is I."

Note. That the end of the appearing of the Lord Jesus unto his people (though the manner of his appearance be never so terrible) is to allay their fears and perplexities.

Then they received him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither it went.

Note. When Christ is absent from his people they go on but slowly and with great difficulty, but when he joineth himself unto them, oh how fast they steer their course! how soon are they at their journey's end!

The people now among whom he last preached, when they saw that both Jesus was gone and his disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him, they, wonder

ing, asked him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? But the Lord Jesus, slighting their compliment, answered, "Verily, verily, ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled."

Note. A people may follow Christ far for base ends, as these went after him beyond sea for loaves. A man's belly will carry him a great way in religion; yea, a man's belly will make him venture far for Christ.

Note again. They are not feigning compliments, but gracious intentions, that crown the work in the eyes of Christ; or thus, it is not the toil and business of professors, but their love to him, that makes him approve of them.

Note again. When men shall look for friendly entertainment at Christ's hand, if their hearts be rotten, even then will they meet with a check and rebuke. "Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did cat of the loaves and were filled."

Yet observe again. He doth not refuse to give, even to these, good counsel: he bids them to labour for the meat that endureth to eternal life. Oh how willingly would Jesus have even those professors, that come to him with pretences only, come to him sincerely, that they may be saved:

The text, you will find, is after much more discourse with and about this people, and it is uttered by the Lord Jesus as the conclusion of the whole, and intimateth that since they were professors in pretence only, and therefore such as his soul could not delight in as such,

that he would content himself with a remnant that his Father had bestowed upon him. As who should say, "I am not like to be honoured in that salvation; but the Father has bestowed upon me a people, and they shall come to me in truth, and in them will I be satisfied." The text before may be called Christ's repose; in the fulfilling thereof he resteth himself content after much labour and many sermons spent, as it were, in vain. As he saith by the prophet, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain." Isa. xlix. 4.

But as there he saith, "My judgment is with the Lord, and my work with God," so in the text he saith, "Ali that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out." By these words, therefore, the Lord Jesus comforteth himself under the consideration of the dissimulation of some of his followers. He also thus betook himself to rest under the consideration of the little effect that his ministry had in Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida: "I thank thee, O Father," said he, "Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Matt. xi. 25; Luke x. 21.

The text, in general, consists of two parts, and hath special respect to the Father and the Son, as also their joint management of the salvation of the people. "All that the Father givet me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out."

The first part of the text, as is evident, respected the Father and his gift; the other part the Son and his reception of that gift.

First. For the gift of the Father, there is this to be considered, to wit:

The gift itself; and that is the gift of certain persons to the Son. The Father giveth, and that gift shall come: "And him that cometh." The gift then is of persons; the Father giveth persons to Jesus Christ.

Secondly. Next you have the Son's reception of this gift, and that showeth itself in these particulars:

1. In his hearty acknowledgment of it to be a gift: "The Father givet me."

2. In his taking notice, after a solemn manner, of all and every part of the gift: "All that the Father giveth me."

3. In his resolution to bring them to himself: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."

4. And in his determining that not any thing shall make him dislike them in their coming: "And him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out."

These things might be spoken to at large, as they are in this method presented to view, but I shall choose to speak to the words— 1. By way of explication. 2. By way of observation.

First, By way of explication: "All that the Father giveth me." This word all is often used in Scripture, and is to be taken more largely or more strictly even as the truth or argument for the sake of which it is made use of will bear. Wherefore, that we may better understand the mind of Christ in the use of it here, we must consider that it is limited and restrained only to those that shall be savedto wit, to those that shall come to Christ, even to those whom he will "in nowise cast out." Thus also the phrase "all Israel" is sometimes to be taken, though sometimes it is taken for the whole family of Jacob. And, so "all Israel shall be saved." Rom. xi. By "all Israel" here he intendeth not all of Israel, in the largest sense, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, "neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called—that is, they who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for their seed." Rom. ix. 6, 7, 8.

This word all, therefore, must be limited and enlarged as the truth and argument for the sake of which it is used will bear, else we shall abuse Scriptures, and readers, and ourselves, and all. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth," said Christ, "will draw all men after me." John xii. 32. Can any one imagine that by all in this place he should mean all and every individual man in the world, and not rather that all that is consonant to the scope of the place? And if by being "lifted up from the earth" he means, as he should seem, his being taken up into heaven, and if by "drawing all men after him" he meant a drawing them into the place of glory, then must he mean by all men those, and only those, that shall in truth be eternally saved from the wrath to come: "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." Rom. xi. 32. Here again you have all and all-two alls; but yet a greater disparity between the all made mention of in the first place, and that all made

mention of in the second. Those intended in this text are the Jews, even all of them, by the first all that you find in the words. The second all doth also intend the same people, but yet only so many of them as God will have mercy upon. "He hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon al." The all also in the text is likewise to be limited to the saved, and them only.

But again: The word giveth, or hath given, must be restrained, after the same manner, to the same limited number: "all that the Father giveth me." Not all that are given, if you take the gift of the Father to the Son in the largest sense, for in that sense there are many given to him that shall never come unto him; yea, many were 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.

First, 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

1. Because then all the men, yea, all the things in the world, must be saved. "All things," said he, "are delivered unto me by the Father." Matt. xi. 27. This, I think, no rational man in the world will conclude. Therefore the gift intended in the text must be restrained to some--to a gift that is given by way of specialty by the Father to the Son.

2. It must not be taken for all that in any sense are given by the Father to him, 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 will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost 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." Ps. ii. This method he useth not with them that he saveth by his grace, but 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, to a gift that is given by way of specialty by the Father to the Son.

In Psalm xi. 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." Ver. 40. These therefore cannot be of

the number of those that are said to be given in the text; for those, even all of them, shall come to him, and "he will in nowise cast out.".

3. Some are given to Christ, that he by them might bring about some of his high anddeep designs in the world. Thus Judas was given to Christ-to wit, that by him, even as he was determined before, he might bring about his death, and so the salvation of his elect by his blood. Yea, and Judas must so manage this business as that he must lcas himself for ever in bringing it to pass. Therefore the Lord Jesus, even in his losing of Judas, applies himself to the judgment of his Father if he had not in that thing done that which was right, even in suffering of Judas so to bring about his Master's death as that he might by so doing bring about his own eternal damnation also.

"Those," said he, "that thou gavest me have I kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the Scriptures 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 to lose him in the way that I have mentioned before; he was given to Christ, 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 his dying for us in the loss of the instrument that betrayed 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 words will bear-to wit, for such a gift as he accepteth, and promiseth to be an effectual means of eternal salvation too. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out." Mark! They shall come that are in special given unto me, and they shall by no means be rejected; for 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, &c.

These be they that the Father hath given to Christ to keep them, those that Christ hath promised eternal life unto, those to whom he hath given his word, and that he will have with him in his kingdom to behold his glory.

66 "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 man 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 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 hast 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 hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." John ii. 39; x. 28; xvii. 1, 6, 9, 10, 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 text. 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 several useful things: 1. 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 to our salvation are diverse from those of the Son; he was not capable of doing that or those 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 of us, in giving of us to his Son, yea, and in giving his Son also to be a ransom for us. Hence he is called "the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort." For 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 es 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 sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." Col. i. 12; 1 John iv. 14. As also we see in the text, the Father giveth the sinner to save him.

2. 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, Our Father, which art in heaven;" concluding thereby 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 if I called 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 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 in their writings, so much to use it, it being more pleasing to 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