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

First, That the Original and Fountain of all the good and happiness Gods People partake of is from the Father. ¹This primary and first Root was so far from being merited by Christ, that Christ himself is a fruit thereof; God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that he that believeth in him should have eternal life, Joh. 3.16. Howsoever therefore Christ be the meritorious cause of all the fruits of Election, conversion, justification and salvation, yet of Election it self, or that will of God to bestow eternal life on some, and for this purpose to send his Son, this is only from the Father: The impulsive cause was the only good pleasure and counsel of God, yet this love you must know was not a Law of reconciliation or amor amicitiae, for so God is reconciled with us only in Christ, but benevolentiae or beneficentiae, a will to do good, and for that end to ordain efficacious means thereunto; so then if we go to the Spring and root out of all those glorious privileges Believers partake of, it will be found the mere good-will and pleasure of God, and certainly this should greatly enlarge us in thankfulness, that when we could not have any thoughts concerning our selves, when we could not so much as desire, yea, when we lay in the womb of nothing, that God had a gracious purpose to us, ⟨p. 54⟩yea, before the world was made, Gods thoughts were upon thee; The Apostle doth often mention this.

First, That the Original and Fountain of all the good and happinesse Gods People partake of is from the Father. ¹This primary and first Root was so farre from being merited by Christ, that Christ himself is a fruit thereof; God so loved the world that he gave his only Sonne, that he that beleeveth in him should have eternal life, Joh. 3.16. Howsoever therefore Christ be the meritorious cause of all the fruits of Election, conversion, justification and salvation, yet of Election it self, or that will of God to bestow eternall life on some, and for this purpose to send his Son, this is only from the Father: The impulsive cause was the only good pleasure and counsell of God, yet this love you must know was not a Law of reconciliation or amor amicitiae, for so God is reconciled with us only in Christ, but benevolentiae or beneficentiae, a will to doe good, and for that end to ordain efficacious means thereunto; so then if we go to the Spring and root out of all those glorious priviledges Beleevers partake of, it will be found the meer good-will and pleasure of God, and certainly this should greatly enlarge us in thankfulnesse, that when we could not have any thoughts concerning our selves, when we could not so much as desire, yea, when we lay in the womb of nothing, that God had a gracious purpose to us,