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

That not all, but some only of Mankind are given by God the Father to Christ, ¹to be a Mediator for them; Though Christ have a sufficiency and fullness in him to obtain Salvation for all, yet some only are given to him intentionally by Gods Decree to be their actual Saviour and Mediator, To as many (saith the Text, as the Father hath given him; This place doth batter to the ground that pleasing opinion of Universal Redemption, for by that not some but all are given to Christ by the Father, and if so, then all must be saved, for mark that place, Joh. 10.28, 29, speaking of his Sheep, They shall not perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, for my Father which gave them me is greater then all: We need not a clearer place for these two things, 1. That there are but some that the Father hath given Christ. 2. All those that are given they are sure to have eternal life, because none is greater then the Father, So that those two dangerous doctrines, Universal Redemption, and the total and final apostasy of the true Saints are evidently confuted by that place. This is so clear that we need not matter their many distinctions to obscure the truth. That there are some whom the Father hath thus committed to Christ to be their Mediator, appeareth by this expression, used at other times; The forementioned place, Joh. 6.37, 39. is considerable; The occasion of that expression was from the unbelief of the Capernaites, who though they had seen Christs wonders yet believed not, but it was no wonder, for saith he, All that is given me of my Father shall come unto me; If you had been thus given to me you would believe; Now because it's invisible and altogether a secret, known only to God, who they are that are given to Christ, he showeth a sure and certain fruit of this, They will in time come to him, i. e. believe in him and receive him, so that we may invert the Saying, all that do truly believe in Christ they are given unto him of the Father, and for their encouragement he saith, He will in no wise cast them out, a Metaphor from the Master that takes a Scholar though dull and weak, yet he will forbear and not cast him out, and lest it should be thought that though it be well with them, thus for the present, yet for the future they may be undone, he addeth v. 39.

That not all, but some only of Mankinde are given by God the Father to Christ,