necessary to look back a little, to see how they are brought in. Our great Lord and Master Jesus Christ here saith, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh ver. 6. unto the Father but by Me:" whereby He plainly distinguisheth Himself from the Father, asserting Himself to be the way, the only way whereby a man can go unto the Father. But then He afterward saith, " If ye had known ver. 7. Me, ye should have known My Father also;" and, "he ver. 9. that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." "Believe Me, ver. 11. that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me." Whereby He gives us also to understand, as plainly as words can do it, that though He be a distinct person from the Father, yet He is in the Father, and the Father in Him; so as that whosoever knoweth or seeth the Son, knoweth and seeth the Father also: and by consequence, that He and the Father are one, according to what He Himself elsewhere saith, "I and the Father are one," vousy, we are one John 10.30. thing,' one Jehovah; though they be two distinct persons, they are one and the same God.

By this we may apprehend something of the great mystery, how we go unto the Father by His Son Christ. The infinite and eternal God, we know, is infinitely above us mortal and finite creatures" dwelling in that light which no man 1 Tim. 6. 16. can approach unto." But He, in the person of the Son, having taken "upon Him the form of a servant, and being Phil. 2. 7. made in the likeness of men," of the same form or nature that all mankind is of; we by faith, first lay hold upon Him as He is man, of the same nature with us; and by Him, as He is God also, of the same nature with the Father, we get up to God, or as He Himself here words it, "by Him we come unto the Father:" and if we do that, we shall certainly be saved; for, as His Apostle tells us, "He is able to save Heb. 7. 25. them to the uttermost, that come unto God by Him." For by this means we, through Him, receive from God Himself power to do the works of God, and whatsoever we can desire that is necessary to our obtaining eternal Salvation by Him: and therefore having revealed these great truths to us, he adds, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, ver. 12. the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father." Because

XXXI.

SERM. He went unto the Father to appear in the presence of God, and to make intercession for them; therefore all that believe on Him, shall by Him, and His almighty power, do as great, and in some sense greater works than He did in His state of humiliation upon earth, where He exerted no more of His power than what was necessary at that time, and expedient for the state He was then in.

ver. 13.

And for the same reason, even because He went unto the Father, He therefore adds also, " And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." As if He had said, When I am gone from you to the Father, do not mistrust My care and concern for you, but whatsoever ye want, do but ask it in My Name, and I will do it, for the glory of God the Father, that He may be glorified by Me when I am with Him in Heaven, as He hath been, and still is, while I am with you upon earth. And then He repeats the same thing almost in the same words again, saying, " If ye shall ask any thing in My Name, I will do it."

He saith the same thing over again, that we may take the more notice of it. He knew how apt mankind was, and still would be, to make use of other names besides His in their prayers to God; as we see many at this day pray in the name of the Blessed Virgin and other Saints, which they suppose to be in Heaven, desiring and expecting to be heard by their mediation or intercession for them. To prevent which, as much as it was possible, our Lord tells us over and over again, that what we ask in His Name, He will do it; but not that He will do what we ask in any other name. There is not one word in the Gospel, or in all the Scriptures, that can be wrested to such a sense: and therefore they who pray in any other name, cannot possibly pray in faith; for they have not the Word of God to build their faith upon for it. But that what we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, He will do it, we have His own word; and that too, not only once, but again, that we might have strong consolation, and be the more fully assured of it.

Neither doth He repeat it only here, but in another place again, (John xv. 16.) and again, saying with an high asseverJohn 16. 23. ation, to confirm our faith as much as possible in it; "Verily,

verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you." It is true, He here saith, "That the Father will give it;" but in my text, "That He Himself will do it:" but the promise is still the same, not only in that the thing itself is promised to be done, and it is no matter whether it be by the one or the other; but chiefly because, whether the Father or the Son do it, it is one and the same God that doth it: "And what one doth, the other doth also;" when He saith, "That He will do it," He doth not thereby exclude the Father; and when He saith, "That the Father will give it," He doth not thereby exclude Himself. But in one place He mentions the one, in another place the other, to shew that both do it alike; and that we are equally beholden both to the Father and to the Son for it. But in my text He seems to name Himself particularly, saying, "I will do it ;" to teach us, that we should direct our prayers to Him also, as the same God with the Father; to trust on Him for the doing what we pray for; and to believe that it is He that doth it; or, which is the same, the Father, in and through Him, and for His sake only.

I thought good to premise thus much concerning the words in general, the better to prepare you for the resolution of whatsoever may seem doubtful in them. Now there are but two things which any one can pretend to be so: First, what it is to ask any thing in the name of Jesus Christ. And then, in what sense He here saith, that if we thus ask any thing in His name, He will do it.

10.

As for the first, the name of Jesus of Christ, howsoever it is slighted by wicked men on earth, it is of great request and esteem with God in Heaven, far above all other names: for "God hath given Him a name which is above every name; Phil. 2. 9, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." "The Angels in Heaven worship Him." The Devils in Heb. 1. 6. Hell dread His name, and dare not but come out of persons they have possessed, at the faithful mention of it. St. Paul had no sooner said to one of them, "I command thee, in the Acts 16. 18; name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her," but he imme- Mark 9.38; diately came out. By this also St. Peter cured the lame man; he only said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Naza- Acts 3. 6, 3.

Matt. 7.22;

Luke 10. 17.

XXXI.

Col. 3. 17.

SERM. reth, rise up and walk; and the man presently rose up and walked." Yea, of so great power and efficacy is this great and most glorious Name, that we must do every thing in it, as ever we desire it should be well done: "Whatsoever ye do," saith the Apostle, " in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus; giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." Especially in our addresses to Almighty God, we must make mention of His Name only, asking what we want of Him for the sake of Jesus Christ, and upon His account only; believing, that though we be unworthy of any mercy in ourselves, yet for His sake God will grant us all the good things we pray for. This is properly to pray in the Name of Jesus Christ. But for the clearer explication of it, I shall search into the bottom of it, and lay it as open as I can, in these few propositions.

1. God sheweth no mercy, that we read of, to any of His creatures that offend Him, without having propitiation or satisfaction made Him for their offences. This appears plainly from the apostate Angels, who are His creatures as well as men; and yet there being no propitiation made for 2 Pet. 2. 4. their sins, He hath "cast them all down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment," without any hopes of mercy.

4. 10.

2. Jesus Christ having assumed our nature, and died in it, and so being a propitiation for the sins of mankind, God is pleased to be propitious or merciful unto men in Him, and upon the account of what He hath suffered for their sins. This is implied in the very notion of propitiation, and . 1 John 2. 2; the Greek word naouds, used by the Apostle to that purpose. And the same Apostle in his Gospel tells us, that "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." The original word is vero, it existed,' it was brought as it were into being by Him; so that without Him there would have been no grace or mercy in the world: but by Jesus Christ not only mercy came, but together with that truth also. For,

ch. 1. 17.

3. Almighty God being thus become gracious and merciful to mankind in Jesus Christ, in Him He hath been pleased to enter into covenant with us, and to promise us all sorts of blessings, or all things that are really good for

us.

22. 18.

"In thee," saith He to Abraham, "and in thy seed," [Gal.3.16.] that is, in Christ, "shall all the families, or nations, of the Gen. 12. 3; earth be blessed." And accordingly, as St. Paul saith, "He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly Eph. 1. 3. places, (or things) in Christ." "For it was in Christ that Gal. 3. 17. the covenant was established and confirmed." And "all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen;" 2 Cor. 1. 20. that is, in Him they are all truth; every one of them being in Him a certain and infallible truth, that cannot but hold good, "to the glory of God by us," saith the Apostle forasmuch as the glory of His truth most clearly shineth forth in the promises which He hath made to mankind; which promises being made only in Christ, it is by Him only that the truth of God appears in the world. So that, as the Evangelist saith, "Not only grace or mercy, but truth also came by Jesus Christ:" but first grace, and then truth; grace in making, and truth in fulfilling the promises which are made to us.

4. Hence God's faithful people in all ages had respect to Christ, and to the promises made in Him, whensoever they asked any mercy or blessing from God. This they plainly shewed, by offering up their prayers and supplications, together with such sacrifices as typified and represented the death of Christ, that great propitiatory sacrifice, whereby He, the Lamb of God, took away the sins of the world. As Samuel offered a lamb for a whole burnt-offering to the Lord; "And he cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the 1 Sam. 7. 9. Lord heard him." God Himself commanded Job's three friends to take a burnt-offering, and go to His servant Job Job 42. 8. and offer it up, and he should pray for them. See also 1 Sam. xiii. 12; Ezra vi. 10; Baruch i. 10, 11; 1 Mac. xii. 11. And it is very observable, that their daily public prayers were always made at the time of the morning and evening sacrifice; when the Priest, by God's own appointment, took a censer full of burning coals from off the altar whereon the sacrifices were offered, and carrying it to the altar of incense, he there put the sweet incense upon the coals, which by its rising up towards Heaven, and the sweetness of its scent, typified Christ's ascension into Heaven, and the intercession He there makes, as the sacrifices ty