CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

JOH. 17.1. Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, &c.

JOH. 17.1. Father, the hour is come, glorifie thy Sonne, &c.

THE next Argument in order that is in this full and pithy prayer of Christ, is from the time and seasonableness of the mercy he prayed for, The hour is now come, God is to help now or never; If this opportunity be neglected, all other help will come too late; The word hour hath several significations and applications in the Scripture, sometimes ⟨p. 19⟩it's taken properly for that measure of time we call an hour; Thus we have the first, the second, and third hour; The learned dispute about the distribution of a day into hours amongst the Jews and the Romans, but I pass it. 2. Hour is used for a short but indefinite time, Joh. 4. you did for a season (for an hour in the Greek) rejoice in his light, 3. It's used for those things that are to be done in that hour or time, it doth not only signify the mensura but the res mensurata, Mar. 14.35. Christ prayed that hour may pass from him, viz. those afflictions and that bitter suffering to be in such a time. 4. Which is a very frequent and the most common use, it signifieth any particular set time, that is, a fit occasion for the doing or suffering any thing; The peculiar time God hath appointed either for doing or suffering by his people is called the hour, and concerning Christ we read of these hours attributed to him; First, There was a peculiar time when he was to begin his Miracles, he lived some years privately ere he manifested himself, though when twelve years old he argued with the Doctors, but as the Tradition is, it was about thirty years of his age ere he undertook a public Ministry, and did miracles; For as for those Miracles in Popish Legends attributed to him while a child, they are nothing but impudent lies: The first Miracle he ever wrought was at Cana in Galilee,