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

JOH. 17.21. That they all may be one as thou (Father) art in me, &c.

IN these words we have the nature and quality of the godly mans Union declared. 1. That it is an holy and godly Unity, they are one in Christ, not in the devil or sin as wicked men are. 2. It's not a bodily Union and visible, but spiritual and invisible, because it's an Unity in the Father and the Son. 3. It's not absolutely and adequately equal to the Union between the Father and Son, for our Saviour doth plainly separate and make a difference, he said not before, As thou Father art in us and we in thee, but in me, and I in thee, distinguishing himself thereby in a transcendent way from the creature, so neither in this place doth he say, That they may be one with us (though that also is true in a mystical sense, Christ the Head and the Church his body, being one in that respect) because that might imply Unity of nature and essence, but one in us: Now for all believers to be one in the Father and the Son, may admit of a twofold Exposition: 1. The Preposition [Greek or Hebrew] may be as much as [Greek or Hebrew] per, for so it's often used, and then the sense would be, That they may be one by us, that is, by thy grace, for it's not nature but grace that makes this Unity; Thus Eph. 5.8. we are said to be light in the Lord, that is by the Lord; But this seemeth not so genuine, therefore the 2d Interpretation is more received, which makes the expression to be declarative of that terminus in which all the godly are united, The Centre in which all the lines meet, The Head in which all the members, The Root in which all the branches, The Spring in which all the streams are conjoined, and he saith in us, for though we are proximely and immediately united unto Christ our head, yet thereby we also are united to the Father.

IN these words we have the nature and quality of the godly mans Union declared. 1. That it is an holy and godly Ʋnity, they are one in Christ, not in the devil or sin as wicked men are. 2. It's not a bodily Union and visible, but spiritual and invisible, because it's an Unity in the Father and the Son. 3. It's not absolutely and adequately equall to the Union between the Father and Son, for our Saviour doth plainly separate and make a difference, he said not before, As thou Father art in us and we in thee, but in me, and I in thee, distinguishing himself thereby in a transcendent way from the creature, so neither in this place doth he say, That they may be one with us (though that also is true in a mystical sence, Christ the Head and the Church his body, being one in that respect) because that might imply Unity of nature and essence, but one in us: Now for all believers to be one in the Father and the Son, may admit of a twofold Exposition: 1. The Preposition may be as much as per, for so it's often used, and then the sence would be, That they may be one by us, that is, by thy grace, for it's not nature but grace that makes this Unity; Thus