. Ver. i i . the 17th Chapter of St. JOHN. ì 6 t he Grace of God which was with me : Therefore whether it were .1 or they, fo we preach, and fo ye believed. We have no cauce to (tumble, and take offence at the Doarine delivered by the Apoftles ; tho God used lèveral lnftruments of different Gifts, and Opportunities of Service, yet all were coadu &ed by an Infallible Spirit: So we preached all of us, &c. So for Unity and Concord in the Church : EpheC 4. 3, 4, 5 Endeavouring to /jeep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace. There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one Hope of your Calling. One Lord, one Faith, one Baptifm, &c. (2.) Let them be one in Heart, and with joint coulent carry on this great Charge that is committed to them. So did the Apoftles, by unanimous confent, divide their Labours for the Edification of the World, and kept a Fellowfhip among themfelves Gal. 2. 9. They gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of Fellowfhip, that we fhould go onto the Heathen, and they to the Circumc fon ; with filch Concord and Agreement was this great Work managed between them : For all this did Chrift pray. And this fuiteth with the Patern in the Text, As we are One. As between the Father and the Son there was a mutual Agreement in -the carrying on the Work of Redemption ; fo between the Apoftles, in carrying on the Doarine of Redemption. II. In what manner doth Chrift pray for it ? Here fome take this only as a new Peti- tion different from the former; he had prayed for Prefervation, now for Unity. But there is a caufal Particle, ïva, and therefore force connexion : I'm may be taken fpecifi- cativè, keep them, by making them one the Safety of the Church dependeth much upon the Unity of it. Or terminativè, keep them, that they may be one. I had intended, becaufe of the neceffity of the Matter, to have fpoken of the Union of the Church with Chrift, and then with one another. But becaufe he chiefly prayeth for the Apoftles, (tho others are not excluded ) and becaufe the Union of the Church, as one Body, animated with the fame Spirit, will fall under difcuffìon, in Kr': 21, and 23. I lhall adjourn it to that place. Only now I (hall Obferve ; t. ObC How much Chryl's Heart is fit open the unity and Onenefr of his Mem- bers. Here he prayeth for the Apoftles ; in Verf. 2 t. he prayeth the fame for all Be, lievers. Upon this Occafion let us fee, how much it was in the Aim of Chrift. i. Therefore was he Incarnate. He united the Divine and Humane Nature in his own Perfon, that he might unite us to God by himfelf, and with one another. God and Man had never been one in Covenant, if they had not firft been one in Perlon. The Hypoftatical Union, maketh way for the Myflical. It was the main End of Chrift's coming into the World, Ephef t. to. That in the fulntfi of Time, be might ga- ther together in one all things in Chrift. The Angels, and blaled Spirits, and the Saints in all Nations, have Communion with us in Chrift under the fame Head. He would gather the Ele &, rational Creatures, into a Body, one withGod in Chrift, Saints and Angels. As all the Heads of a Difeourfe are fummed up in the conclufion, fo Chrift would draw all into one Body. He took a Natural Body, that he might have a Myth- cal Body. Chrift would not only leave us the Relation of Friends and Brethren, but Fellow - Members. He would gather together all into one; not only into one Family, but into one Body. Brothers that have blued from the fame Womb, that have been nurfed with the fame Milk, have been divided in. Interefts and Affe &ions, and de- faced all feelings of Nature ; Cain and Abel, Jacob and Efau, are fad Inflances. But this Mifchief is not found in Members of the fame Body ; there is no Conteftation and Difagreement. Who would ufa one Hand, to cut off another ? Or divide thofe parts, which preferve the mutual Correfpondence and Welfare of all ? Again, Brothers, if they do not hurt one another, they do not care for one another, each liveth to him - felf a dift(na Life apart, and ftudieth his own Advantage. But it is not fo in the Body, each Member liveth in the Whole, and the Whole in all the Members; and they all exercife their leverai Fun &ions for the Common Good. t Cor. 12.25. The Members fbould have the fame care one of another. We are not Friends, and Brethren, but Mem- bers. 2. No one thing is fo much inculcated in his Sermons. John 15. t 7. Thefe things I command you, that ye love one another. Will you take a Charge from a dying Mary ? This was the great Charge that Chrift left at hiliDeath ; it was a Legacy, as well as a Precept. Speeches of dying Men are wont to be received with muchVeneration and X x x Reverence,
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