Vet. 3. the 17thChapter of St. J O HN. 2)fe 2. To preis us, efpecially humble Sinners, you that walk in darknefs, to cote under thefe tweet Hopes. God hash laid Souls to Pledg in the Hand of Chriff ; Why fhould we be fcupulous ? Ail the Father's Aets are ratified::in time by Believe;s. He ordaineth; we confent ; he chufeth Chrift for Lord and King, They flia& appoint themfelver one Head, Hofea a. a t. So he hath given Souls to Chrift, fo fhould you. t. Commit your Souls to him by Faith : this anfwereth to Chrift's receiving the EleCt by way of Charge t Pet. 4. 19. Let them that fxffer according to the Will of God, commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well - doing, as unto a faithful Creator. A Man ventureth upon Duty, and trufleth God with his Soul. Pfalm 31. 5. Into thy Hands do ¡commit my Spirit. Paul knew Chrift was an able and trufty Friend, 2 Tim. 1.12. 1 ¿,now whom I have believed, and I am perfwaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him againfi that day. Committing the Soul to God, is a Notion offen ufed in the matter of Faith, and loth moll formally exprefs the nature of Trutt and Adherence. He is willing to receive your Souls, and he is able to make good the Trutt. Therefore in all Times of Diltrefs and. Danger, when all things are dark to us, upon the Warrant of the Gofpel, let us commit the Soul to Chrift, to be kept to Salvation. Refer your felves to his care for Pardon, Defence, Sup- port, and Glory. 2. Consecrate youritfelves to Chrift. Committing noteth Trutt ; Confecrating, Obedience.: You commit your felves to his Care, you reign and yield up your felves to his Dife ipline. Committing anfwereth the Charge, but Confecration the Grant. Rom. 12. I. I befeech you therefore, 'Brethren, by the Mercier of God, that you prefent your Bodies a living Sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reafonable Service. By full cotfent, a Man imbarketh with Chrift, and is refolved no longer to be at his own keeping and difpofal. Pfalm 119. 94. I am thine, fave me, for I have fought thy Precepts. I am thine : Lord, I would not be my own, unlefs I be thine. As thofe who being denied Protection by the 7&mans, offered up themfelves, and their whole Eflate, to them, Si nofira tueri non vultis, at vefira defendet!, ; quicquidpaffuri fumes, de- dititii vefiri patiantur, en. SERMON III. JOHN XVII.3. And this is Life Eternal, that they might know thee the only true god, and Jefus Chris f whom thou haft fent. Ere our Lord declareth the Way, Means, and Order, how he would give Eternal Life to the Eleft ; and fo it is added as an Amplifica- tion of the former Argument. The words muff be expounded by a Metonymy. Such kind of Predications are frequent in Scripture. John 3. 19. This is the Condemnation, &c. that is, the Caufe of it i Sometimes it lignifies the outward Means ; John 12. 50. His Com- mandment is Life Everlafiing ; that is, his Word is the moll: affured Means of it. Some- times, the principal Caufe, lefus Chrift is the true God, and Eternal Life, o John q. ao. that is, the Author of it. [This is Life Eternal.] Some underhand there words formally, as if they were a Defcription of Eternal Life, which confitleth in a light of God, But I fuppofe it ra- ther layeth down the Way, and Means; and theweth rather, what is the Beginning and s
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