294 SERMONS upon Serm.34. with his Stripes are we healed. We have no Reafon to defpair of the Cure, that Holy Spirit who fanetified our Head, who ¡clad no Sin, by preventing Sin in his Conception, and anointed him to his Office, is able to inlighten, convert, fan&ify us alto. 4. Praife him for fo much Grace as you have received, that he hath inclined your Hearts to his Bleffed Self r Pet. r. 3. Bleffed be the God and Father of our Lord lefirs Chriff, which according to his abundant Mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope, by the Refurreelion of ,fefus Chrift from the dead ; at leallkhat he made you ferious. g. Dedicate your felves to God, to walk before him in all newObedience. Rom. 12.1. I befeech you therefore, Brethren, by the Mercies of God, that ye prefent your Bo- dies a living Sacrifice, hoy, acceptable to God, which is your reafonable Service. SERMON XXXIV JOHN XVII.2o. Neither pray I for there alone, but for them a fo which (hall believe on me through their Word. E R E Chrift inlargeth the Obje& of his Prayers, which is pro- pounded: Firlt, Negatively. Secondly, Pofitively. ills Negatively ; by whiéh the Reftraint is taken off. Which lheweth ; r. Chrift's Love; He had a care of us before we were yet in being, and able to ap- ply thefe Comforts to our felves. We were provided for before we were born, there is a flock of Prayers laid up in Heaven. Chrift, as God, forefaw that the Gofpel would prevail, notwithftanding the World's hatred, and that many would yield up themfelves to the Obedience of the Faith ; therefore to (hew, that they have a room in his Heart, they have a Name in his Teftament. As Parents provided for their Chil- drens Children yet unborn ; fo doth Chrift remember future Believers, as well as thofe of the prefent Age, and pleadeth their Cauf with God, as if they were ftand- ing by, and a &wally hearing his Prayers for them. It was Efau's complaint, Haft thou but one Bleng, 0 my Father? when he came too late, and Jaaob had already carried away the Blefftng. We were not born too late, and out of due time, to receive the Sidling with Chrift's Prayers : Hath he regard to us ? are his Thoughts wholly taken up the Believers of the firft and Golden Age of the Church ? Certainly, No. I pray not for theft only, but for them alfa which (hall believe on me through their Word. We that now live hundreds of Years after they are dead and gone, have an Intereft in them. Increafe and multiply, was fpoken to the firft of the Kind of all the Beafts, and to the end of the World all Creatures do produce and bring forth after their Kind by virtue.of this Blefiing. Chrift doth not only fpeak of the firft of the Kind, but that we might be lure to be comprized, he telleth us fo in exprefs words. Certainly much of our Comfort would be loft, if we were not comprehended in Chrift's Prayers ; for his Prayers Chow the Extent of his Purchafe. 2. The Honour that is put upon private Believers, their Names are in Chrift's Te- ftament ; they are bound up in the fame Bundle of Life with the Apoftles. Here is a Que(tion, Whether this Paffage relateth to the foregoing Requefts, or elfe to theft that follow? What part of the Prayer hath this Paffage refpe& to? Anfwer; I fuppofe to the whole, it looketh upward and downward. The middle part of the Chapter doth chiefly concern the Apoftles and Difciples of that Age ; tome Things are proper to them,
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