by Thomas Manton
in ePub, .mobi & .pdf formats
These words spake Jesus, and lift up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.—JOHN 17:1.
I SHALL, in the following exercises, open to you Christ's solemn prayer recorded in this chapter—a subject worthy of our reverence and serious meditations. The Holy Ghost seemeth to put a mark of respect upon this prayer above other prayers which Christ conceived in the days of his flesh. Elsewhere the scripture telleth us that Christ prayed; but the form is not expressed, or else only brief hints are delivered, but this is expressed at large. This was, as it were, his dying blaze. Natural motion is swifter and stronger in the end; so was Christ's love hottest and strongest in the close of his life; and here you have the eruption and flame of it. He would now open to us the bottom of his heart, and give us a copy of his continual intercession. This prayer is a standing monument of Christ's affection to the church; it did not pass away with the external sound, or as soon as Christ ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of the Father; it retaineth a perpetual efficacy; the virtue remaineth, though the words be over. As the word of creation hath retained its vigour these five or six thousand years: 'Increase and multiply, and let the earth bring forth after its kind;' so the voice of this turtle is ever heard, and Christ's prayers retain their vigour and force, as if but newly spoken.
In this prayer he mentions all blessings and privileges necessary for the church. He prayeth for himself, for the apostles, for all believers. He beginneth with his own glorification, as the foundation; and goeth on to seek the welfare of the apostles, as the means; and then the comfort of believers, as the fruit of his administrations in the world. Christ's merit, the apostles' word, the believers' comfort, are three things of the highest consideration in religion. I shall open these in the order and method in which they are laid down.
In the first verse we have:—
1. The preface to the whole prayer, these things said Jesus, &c.
2. Christ's free request, glorify thy Son; which is backed with reasons taken from—
[1.] His special relation, Father, and thy Son.
[2.] His present necessity, the hour is come.
[3.] The aim of his request, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
I shall go over the phrases as they are offered in the order of the words.
'These things spake Jesus;' that is, when he had spoken these things. This clause serveth—
1. To show the order of the history; his prayer followed his farewell sermon.
2. The suitableness of his prayers to the sermon. The points there enforced are here commended to God in prayer. It were easy to suit the requests to the consolations and instructions of that sermon.
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Table of Contents
SERMON I. "These words spake Jesus, and lift up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee," ver. 1
SERMON II. "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him," ver. 2
SERMON III. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," ver. 3
SERMON IV. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," ver. 3
SERMON V. "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do," ver. 4
SERMON VI. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was," ver. 5
SERMON VII. "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word," ver. 6
SERMON VIII. "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word," ver. 6
SERMON IX. "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word," ver. 6
SERMON X. "Now they have known that all things, whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee," ver. 7
SERMON XI. "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me," ver. 8
SERMON XII. "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine," ver. 9
SERMON XIII. "And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them," ver. 10
SERMON XIV. "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are," ver. 11
SERMON XV. "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are," ver. 11
SERMON XVI. "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are," ver. 11
SERMON XVII. "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are," ver. 11
SERMON XVIII. "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are," ver. 11
SERMON XIX. "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may he one, as we are," ver. 11
SERMON XX. "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled," ver. 12
SERMON XXI. "And now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves," ver. 13
SERMON XXII. "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," ver. 14
SERMON XXIII. "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," ver. 14
SERMON XXIV. "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil," ver. 15
SERMON XXV. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," ver. 16
SERMON XXVI. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth," ver. 17
SERMON XXVII. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth," ver. 17
SERMON XXVIII. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth," ver. 17
SERMON XXIX. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth," ver. 17
SERMON XXX. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world," ver. 18
SERMON XXXI. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world," ver. 18
SERMON XXXII. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world," ver. 18
SERMON XXXIII. "And for their sakes I sanctify myself," ver. 19
SERMON XXXIV. "Neither pray I for these alone," ver. 20
SERMON XXXV. "That they all may be one," ver. 21
SERMON XXXVI. "That they all may be one," ver. 21
SERMON XXXVII. "That they all may be one," ver. 21
SERMON XXXVIII. "And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them," ver. 22
SERMON XXXIX. "I in them, and thou in me," ver. 23
SERMON XL. "I in them, and thou in me," ver. 23
SERMON XLI. "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am," ver. 24
SERMON XLII. "Father, I will," ver. 24
SERMON XLIII. "O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee," ver. 25
SERMON XLIV. "And I have declared unto them thy name," ver. 26
SERMON XLV. "And I have declared," ver. 26