And now was it, that God the Son embraced the Call of the Father, and undertook the Office of Mediator:1 Then said I, Lo I come. No question, it was Truth from Everlasting: Th• Lord God opened mine Ear, and I was not Rebellious, neither turned away back. And, As the Father gave Me Commandment, even so I do. No sooner the Father called, but Christ accepts the Office to which He was designed by the Father:2 This is plain by those words, Him that God the Father sealed; sealed by Ordination, and sealed by Qualification, and sealed by way of Investiture; as Public Officers are invested in their Places by receiving their Commissions under Seal. And it must needs be so; because whatsoever the Father wills,3 the Son wills also: I and My Father are One, saith Christ: How One? Why, One in Will, and One in Power, and One in Nature. 1. One in Will: That appears in the words precedent, concerning Christ's Sheep;4 My Father gave them Me,— and I give unto them Eternal Life: They are both agreed to save Christ's Sheep; the Father is willing, and Christ is willing: Look how much the Will of the Father is in it; so much the Will of the Son is in it: For He and the Father are One. 2. One in Power: That appears likewise in the words precedent;5 These Sheep shall never perish, (saith Christ) neither shall any Man pluck them out of My Hand: My Father is Greater than All, and no Man is able to pluck them out of My Father's Hand. Here is first the Power of Christ, and all in Him engaged for the Salvation of His Sheep; that, if he have any Power in Him, and be able to do any thing, not one of them shall Perish: And he gives the Reason of the Prevalency of his Power, from his Father's Power, engaged as much as his own in this Business; they are alike fast in his Hands, and in his Father's Hands: For He and the Father are One. 3. One in Nature: And of this, I suppose, are the words more especially understood: The Father and Son are both of one Nature, of one Essence, of one Being: And this is not only an Argument that they did both agree, and were like to agree in that Great Transaction of saving Souls; but that they can never disagree: Two that essentially have Two Wills, though for the present agreeing in One; yet they may come to disagree, and will not the same Thing; but if essentially they have but One Will, it is impossible then but that they ever must agree.
And now was it, that God the Son embraced the Call of the Father, and undertook the Office of Mediatour:1 Then said I, Lo I come. No question, it was Truth from Everlasting: Th• Lord God opened mine Ear, and I was not Rebellious, neither turned away back. And, As the Father gave Me Commandment, even so I do. No sooner the Father called, but Christ accepts the Office to which He was designed by the Father:2 This is plain by those words, Him that God the Father sealed; sealed by Ordination, and sealed by Qualification, and sealed by way of Investiture; as Publick Officers are invested in their Places by receiving their Commissions under Seal. And it must needs be so; because whatsoever the Father wills,3 the Son wills also: I and My Father are One, saith Christ: How One? Why, One in Will, and One in Power, and One in Nature. 1. One in Will: That appears in the words precedent, concerning Christ's Sheep;4 My Father gave them Me,— and I give unto them Eternal Life: They are both agreed to save Christ's Sheep; the Father is willing, and Christ is willing: Look how much the Will of the Father is in it; so much the Will of the Son is in it: For He and the Father are One. 2. One in Power: That appears likewise in the words precedent;5 These Sheep shall never perish, (saith Christ) neither shall any Man pluck them out of My Hand: My Father is Greater than All, and no Man is able to pluck them out of My Father's Hand. Here is first the Power of Christ, and all in Him engaged for the Salvation of His Sheep; that, if he have any Power in Him, and be able to do any thing, not one of them shall Perish: And he gives the Reason of the Prevalency of his Power, from his Father's Power, engaged as much as his own in this Business; they are alike fast in his Hands, and in his Father's Hands: For He and the Father are One. 3. One in Nature: And of this, I suppose, are the words more especially understood: The Father and Son are both of one Nature, of one Essence, of one Being: And this is not only an Argument that they did both agree, and were like to agree in that Great Transaction of saving Souls; but that they can never disagree: Two that essentially have Two Wills, though for the present agreeing in One; yet they may come to disagree, and will not the same Thing; but if essentially they have but One Will, it is impossible then but that they ever must agree.
- 1Heb. 10.7. Isa. 50.5. John 14.31.
- 2John 6.27.
- 3John 10.30.
- 4Ver. 28.
- 5Ver. 28, 29.
