John 15

As our Saviour in the former Chapter had chiefly spent his discourse for the relief of his Disciples under their trouble for the want of his bodily presence; so he seemeth in this chiefly to bend his Discourse for the comfort of them under their disturbance, for fear they should, t gether with the want of the comfort they had in his bodily presence, want also his spiritual influences; to prevent which, he compareth himself to a Vine, then to the Branches; and shows by that similitude, the near Vnion they had with him, and the influence he would, and mu t have upon them, so long as they did abide with him. From the 18th Verse to the end, he comforts them by a variety of Arguments against that black storm of persecution which he had so often told them would arise after his departure from them, from the hatred of the World, of wicked men, both Jews and Gentiles, that were enemies to the Cross of Christ; as to which he comforts them by a variety of Arguments to the end of the Chapter, and continueth his Discourse of that nature also in the following Chapter.

I Am the true vine Christ had but newly come from his last Supper, wherein he had sanctified the fruit of the Vine, by setting it apart, as one of the Elements in that holy Sacrament, and told them, ver. 18. of the 22d Chapter of Luke, That he would no more drink of the fruit of the Vine, until the Kingdom of God should c me. This (as some suppose) gave occasion to this Parable, or Discourse about the Vine: Others think, that in his passage from the Guest-chamber to the Mount Olivet, he saw a Vine, which gave occasion to this discourse, it being with him very ordinary to graft spiritual Discourses upon sensible Objects occasionally occurring, as Chap. 4 he raised a Discourse of living water upon the sight of the water at Iacob's Well, and the womans discourse about it; and Chap. 8. he founded another discourse concerning the bread of life, upon the Loaves that were multiplied. Whatever the occasion was (of which we can affirm nothing certainly), certain it is, that the Notion of a V e, with respect to the Root and Body of it (for he calls his Disciples the Branches), excellently agreeth to Christ, whether in respect of his present low condition, and mean appearance to the World (as a Vine has less beauty than most Plants); or in respect of its exceeding fruitfulness; or as it is the Basis and Foundation of the Branches, in which they are, and thrive, and are fruitful, which seemeth here to be chiefly intended As all the Branches are united to the Vine, in it they live, bud, bear fruit. There are Three principal things which our Saviour teacheth us by this Similitude, 1. That we have no ability to do good but from Christ. 2. That believers have a true and real Vnion with the Lord Iesus, which while they uphold by faith and holiness, they shall not want his influence upon them, nor his Father's care over them, in purging them, that they may bring forth much fruit. 3. That if any prefessing him, prove unfruitful, God will take them away; they shall wither, be cast into the fire, and burned He calls himself the true Vine, to show them, that their fruit was not in themselves, but must be found in him; or that their fruit could not proceed from Moses, the Observance of the Ritual or Moral Law given them by him; but it must flow from their spiritual Union with him, and that influence of Grace which should flow from that Union. Or else true (as sometimes it does in Scripture) may signifie excellent. As he compareth himself to the true Vine, by which he signifieth to us, that he is the true root and support of our spiritual life and fruit; so he compareth his Father to the Husbandman, to let us know, that his people are not only under his, but under his Father's care, which he afterwards more particularly openeth. He also, ver. 2. compareth Believers, or Members of the Church, to Branches in a Vine., and my Father is the husbandman b.

Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, he taketh away And concerning his Father's care, he tells us, That as the good Vine-dresser cutteth off those branches in the Vine which bring forth no fruit; so his Father will take away such branches in him as bring forth no fruit. But here ariseth a Question, viz. Whether, or how any can be branches in Christ, and yet bring forth no fruit? Ans. Some say, there is no need of translating the words so, which may as well be translated, Every branch not bringing forth fruit in me. Indeed no true fruit can be brought forth but in Christ; but yet much that looks like fruit, much that men may call fruit, may be brought forth without any true spiritual Union with Christ. All acts of moral Discipline or any acts of formal Profession in Religion, may be brought forth without any true Root and Foundation in Christ; and God will in the end discover, and c t o f those who b ing forth no other fruit. But 2dly, Men may be said to be branches in him, by a Sacramental implantation, being baptized into him, Rom. 6.3. and are hereby Members of the Visible Church, and make a visible profession of adhering to him, with respect to their own good opinion and persuasion of themselves, tho they be not so in respect of any true, spiritual, and real implantation. But those who in the la sense, are not in him, bring forth no fruit unto perfection, and God will cut them off, either by withdrawing his restraining Grace, and giving them up to strong delusions to believe lies; or to a reprobate mind, and vile lusts and affections; or by taking away their gifts; or some way or other, so as they shall never have any eternal Communion with God in glory.: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit But if any man bringeth forth true spiritual fruit in Christ, him God the Father will purge by the of Christ's Blood yet further upon his Conscience, Heb 10.22. and by his holy Spirit working on im like to purge away his dross, and like water, to p g away his fi th; and by his Word, 1 Pet 1.22. by Faith. Acts 15.9. by Crosses, and Trials, Isaiah 1.25. and 7.9 that he may be more fruitful in works of Ho ness and Righteo sness..

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you e. Now that the Traitor is gone out from you, ye are all clean, not by any works which you do, much less upon the account of any legal and ceremonial rites and purifyings; but through my Word, you believing and obeying, Eph. 5 26. 1 Pet. 1.22. Our cleansing is in Holy Writ attributed sometimes to the Blood of Christ, sometimes to the Spirit, sometimes to the Word By the Blood of Christ we are made clean as to Iustification; washed; but yet we had need wash our feet, contracting soil every day in a sinf World, from which we are cleansed by the purifying Virtue of the Holy Spirit, working by, and together with the Word which purgeth us of our dross, and maketh us obedient to the Will of God.

Abide in me, and I in you This our abiding in Christ is expounded, ver. 7. by an abiding in his words, ver. 10. by abiding in his love, an abiding in his Spirit, 1 Iohn 2.27. a walking as Christ walked, 1 Iohn 2 6. ver. 10. an abiding in the light; nor sinning, 1 Iohn 3.6. The Exhortation is without doubt to an holiness of Life and Conversation, by which our Union and Communion with Christ is upheld and maintained, and which is in it self an abiding in the love of Christ: Nor is there a want of sufficient Reason for this Exhortation, tho our Vnion with Christ cannot be dissolved, nor our Communion with him wholly interrupted, because. (1). it must be upheld and maintained on our part by the exercises of Faith and Holiness. (2). The sense of it in our souls may be eclipsed, and wholly fail, Psal. 22.1. (3). We may fall away foully, tho neither totally (as Lutherans say), because the Seed of God abideth in the Believer; nor yet finally (as Papists say). We had need therefore of all Exhortations and Arguments imaginable, to persuade us to do what in us lieth, that we may abide in him.: As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self, except it abide in the vine: no more can ye, except ye abide in me We have a great encouragement to the use of all possib e endeavours to abide in the love of God, from the promise annexed, and I in you; that is, I will abide in you; do you strive, and I will help you to perfect; do you ight, and I will help you to overcome; I will continue to you such gradual influences of Grace, as shall be sufficient for you; Grace wherein, and whereby you shall stand, Rom. 5.2, You shall be kept by the power of God through faith to salvation.. But look, as it is with the Branch, it cannot bear fruit of it self; but if it be once separated from the influences of the Stock, it dies and withereth; so it will be with you; you can bring forth no fruit unless ye abide in me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches That is, I am as the Vine, you are as the Branches; without the continual influence of the Vine upon the branches, they bring forth no fruit; but that influence continuing, no Plant is more fruitful than a Vine is: So without the continual influence of my Spirit of Grace upon you, you will be altogether barren and unfruitful; but if you have that influence, you will not be fruitful only, but very fruitful:: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit k, for without me ye can do nothing or without my such continuing influence, you will not only be able to do little, but you will be able to do nothing that is truly and spiritually good and acceptable in the sight of God..

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered Our Lord yet pursueth the Metaphor of the Vine, the Branches, and the Husbandman: Look (says he), as it is with a Vine, when the time of pruning the Vine cometh, the Vine-dresser cutteth off the fruitless luxuriant branches, and throweth them by, which being done, their greenness presently abateth, and they wither, and after a time, some come and gather them up, and cast them into some fire, where they are burned: so it will be with you; if you do not bring forth fruit, God will take from you his common influences, which have for a while made you to look speciously, and your Profession, or your Parts and Gifts will wither and decay, and in the day of Judgment the Angels, Mat. 13 40, 41. shall gather you up, and God shall cast you i to Hell, where you shall perish as miserably, nay, infi tely more miserably than if you were burned with., and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned n.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you Here our Lord expounds what he meaneth by that abiding in him which he before mentioned by another phrase [and my words abide in you], my precepts and promises, so as you by faith embrace the promises, and by obedience live up to the precepts which I have given you: for without these, tho the words of Christ may come unto men in the preaching of the Gospel, their ears may receive the sound of them, yet the Word does not dwell and abide in the soul: but if the Word abides in the souls of men and women, then they may in prayer ask of God what they will, keeping to the conditions and limitations elsewhere required in holy Writ, according to God's Will, 1 Iohn 5.14. believing, Matth. 21.22. in the Name of Christ, Chap. 14.13, 14. for the honour and glory of God (to which end all our actions must be directed), and they shall be granted to us., ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you p:

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit q, so shall ye be my Disciples And tho men must be Christ's Disciples before they bring forth any fruit, yet their bringing forth much fruit is that which alone can evidence and make them appear to be the Disciples of Christ. And often in Scripture being signifieth appearing, as Iohn 8.31. Rom. 3.4.. Here are Two Arguments to press his Disciples abiding in him, that so they might bring forth much fruit. 1. Herein (says our Saviour) is my Father glorified. The glorifying of God is the great end of our lives, 1 Cor. 10.31. God is glorified by men and womens bringing forth much fruit, Matth. 5.16. the fruit unto holinese, Rom. 6.22. fruit in the product of the Plant, from the natural moisture that is in it, nourished and augmented by the fatness of the Earth in which it stands, and by the warmth of the Sun drawn out to the producing of such effects, according to the nature of the Plant. According to the different nature of Plants they bring forth various fruits, Matth. 7.16, 17, 18. Hence we read of the fruit of sin unto death, and the fruit of righteousness unto life. The first is every man's natural fruit, until he be ingrafted into Christ: being ingrafted into him, the soul having a new Nature given to it, being regenerated and renewed by the Holy Ghost, it no longer bringeth forth fruit from its old Principle, and according to its old nature, but from its new Principle, and according to its new nature; as the cultivated Earth that is plowed and harrowed, does not bring forth Weeds and ordinary Grass, according to its nature, but bringeth forth fruit according to the Seed that is cast into it, yet not without the influence of Heaven, both with respect to the dew of it, and the warmth which it has from the Sun; so the soul being regenerated, the fallow ground of it being plowed up, and the seed of righteousness being sown in it, it no more brings forth the weeds of lusts and corruptions, or only ordinary acts of humane nature, but it brings forth fruits according to its new nature, and the new seed of the Word now sown in it, and dwelling in it. And look, as it tendeth to the honour of the Husbandman, when the ground by him plowed and manured, brings forth much fruit; so it tendeth to the honour and glory of God, when t e souls renewed, manured, and influenced by him, bring forth much of the fruit of righteousness and holiness.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love What our Saviour before called an abiding in him, and his words abiding in us, and a bearing and bringing forth much fruit, he here calleth a ontinuing in his love, tho indeed this phrase also may be interpreted by a continuance in the favour of God and Christ, in that state of love into which God has put the souls of those who are his true Disciples: But I had rather interpret it of that love wherewith they loved Christ, than that wherewith Christ loved them. So the former words are an Argument to persuade perseverance, or a continuance in those acts of holiness by which men alone can show their true love to Jesus Christ, from Christs love to them which he there expresseth; As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; where the particle as, is only a note of comparison, but does not denote an equality; only signifieth truth and greatness; As truly and sincerely as the Father loveth me; Or I have loved you with a great love, bearing some proportion to the love wherewith my Father loveth me; the Fathers love to Christ is Eternal, Immutable, Constant, full, and perfect, Wise, and Iust, free in all these respects; Christ loveth his people as the Father loveth him: this ought to ingage them again to love him, and so to walk, as they may continue in that state of favour into which his goodness has advanced them..

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love Abiding in Christs love in this verse, may be interpreted as before, either actively; you shall continue your love to me according to what we had, Chap 14.15. Obedience to the commandments of Christ, being the only way to show and declare the truth of our love to Christ. Or else passively, you shall keep your selves in my favour, I will love you: Thus I abide in my Fathers love; I do not show love to my Father by my words and expressions only, nor by performance of some ceremonial ritual services, which he has required; but by fulfilling his whole Will and Counsel, by yeilding an Obedience to him in all things. I love you as my Father loveth me: and you must abide in my love, by the same ways and means that I abide in my Fathers love The Disciple is not above his Master, nor the Servant above his Lord., even as I have kept my Fathers commandments, and abide in his love n.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you The end of my pressing so much the duty of holiness upon you, under the notions of abiding in me, abiding in my love, in my words, bringing forth much fruit, &c. is, that I might have a continual cause to rejoice in you. Joy is nothing else but the satisfaction of the reasonable Soul in its union with an object which it loved and desired. Christ willing and desiring the perfection of his Disciples, according to the rational workings of human nature; is properly said to rejoice in the satisfaction of his will, in which sense joy and rejoicing, are often in Scripture attributed to God., and that your joy might be full Nor does Christ press them to this, that he might rejoice in them, but also that their joy might be full: That Ioy and Peace which attends and follows believing, Rom. 15.13. Called the peace of God. Colos. 3.15. A peace which passeth all understanding, Philip. 4.7. No man maketh Christ to rejoice over him, but he thereby also procureth unspeakable joy and peace to himself. As no man grieveth his Spirit, but also purchaseth grief and sadness to himself in the latter end..

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you This is that which our Lord called the new commandment, Chap. 13.34. (see the notes there.) He had before pressed the keeping of his words, continuing, and abiding in his wo ds, keeping his commandments, &c. Here he tells them what was his commandment: not his only commandment, but that which he laid a very great st ess upon; a commandment most necessary to be pressed, because so necessary to keep up and uphold his Church in the World; (love being the very ligament of that Society) and because there was a greater failure in obedience to this, than in some others, as may be learned from our Saviours correction of the Pharisees interpretation of that Law, Matth. 5. This he presseth to an higher degree, as he had loved them; not that it is possible that our love to our Brethren, can rise up in any proportion to that love wherewith Christ has loved us; but to mind us to eye him, to press forward toward this mark. As here again does not signifie equality, but a comparison; as truly and sincerely as I have loved you, and pressing after the highest degree of love..

Greater love has no man then this, that a man lay down his life for his friends The reason of this is, because Life is the greatest Earthly good to men under ordinary circumstances; Skin for skin and all a man has, for his life. Now it is impossible that a man should show a greater love to another, than by parting with the greatest good he is in possession of for his sake. Hence our Saviour proves, that he loved them with the greatest love, because he for their sake was about to part with, what in the common judgment of men is the greatest good. The greatness of the love of Christ to us, is from hence often commended to us in Scripture; and our mutual love to our Brethren is pressed upon this argument, Eph. 5.2. 1 Iohn 3.16. But how did Christ lay down his life for his friends? when the Scripture tells us, That the just died for the unjust, 1 Pet 3.18. and that while we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God by the Death of his Son, Rom. 5.10. Ans. Friends must not here be taken as a name of Relation, but only as it signifieth the objects of love; persons we have set our love upon, whither they mutually love us or no, as the World was the object of that love in God, which moved him to send his only begotten Son, Iohn 3.16. Tho they for whom Christ dyed, were enemies by their wicked works, yet by his death they were reconciled; but possibly the first answer is best, for by Christs Death they were only meritoriously reconciled, and after this enemies to God, till they received the word of reconciliation, and believed in Christ..

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you Our Lord presseth obedience to his commandments as a means, and indeed the only means by which we can declare our love to Christ, and also useth a new argument to press their obedience, from his assuming them into the state and dignity of his friends..

Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord does By his saying, I call you not servants, he does not discharge them of that duty and service which they owed to him; for in pressing them to obey his commandments, he declareth that duty they owed to him; he only shows that they were no ordinary servants, but taken into a state of dignity, favour, and familiarity, beyond that of servants, and that he had not treated them like servants, but like intimate familiar friends.: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you For look as ordinary masters in the World, communicate their counsels, and whole heart to their friends, especially in things which are of any concern, or may be of any advantage for them to know and understand: whereas they keep themselves at distance from servants, and they only know so much of their minds as is by them to be done in their masters service: so he had not only revealed to them their duty, what was to be by them done in his service, but had been more free, giving to them to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; as he told them, Matth. 13.11. as well telling them his Fathers counsels on the behalf of them, and whatsoever he might communicate to them, as his Fathers Will; what he would have them to do in obedience to his commandments..

Ye have not chosen me You have not chosen me to be your Lord, Master, Saviour,, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit for this end, to bring forth fruit amongst the Gentiles, turning many to Righteousness, and that they might bring forth the fruit of holiness, in obedience to the Gospel of Christ., and that your fruit should remain Yea, not only to bring forth fruit, but that they might persevere in bringing forth fruit;: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name, he may give it you and that thus doing, they might have a freedom of access to the Throne of Grace, and obtain whatsoever they should ask of the Father, in the Name, for the merits, and through the Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. See the notes on Chap. 14.13, 14.. but I have chosen and ordained you: so we have it in our translation: but the Greek is,, I have set you, or placed you in a station What choosing Christ here speaks of, is doubted amongst various Divines. Some think that our Saviour here speaks of his choice of them to the Apostleship, as Luke 6.13. Chap 6. ver. 70. those who thus understand it, understand it by going, and bringing forth fruit; the Apostles going out, Preaching, and Baptizing all Nations, bringing forth fruit amongst the Gentiles. But others understand it, of election to eternal Life, and the means necessary to it; for our Saviour brings this as an argument of his greatest love: Iudas was in the first sense chosen, yet not beloved with any such love; and this seemeth to be favoured by Chap. 13.18. I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen: and certain it is, Augustine, and others of the Ancients from hence proved the freedom of Election, and special Grace. Both senses may be united; for the Eleven (to whom Christ was now speaking) were chosen in both senses; they were chosen

These things I command you, that ye love one another This is but the repetition of the same precept we before had, unless we will understand it as a more special charge upon them, considered as Ministers of the Gospel; the mutual love of Ministers, being highly necessary for the good and peace of the Church of God, over which God has set them..

If the world hate you In this latter part of this Chapter, our Lord cometh to comfort those who were his true Disciples, against that third trouble, from the prospect they had of that hatred which the World would pour out, and execute upon them, assoon as he should be withdrawn from them. Hatred is rooted, and originated in the heart, and is properly a displeasure that the mind taketh at a person, which fermenting, and boiling in the mind, breeds an abhorrence of that person, anger, and malice, and a desire to do him mischief, and root him out, and then breaks out at the lips, by lying, slanders, calumnies, cursings, wishing of evil, &c. and is executed by the hands, doing to such persons all the harm and mischief, within the power of him that hateth: All this is to be understood under the general term Hate. By the World here, must be meant wicked men, in opposition to good men, who are often in Scripture called the World, because they are of the earth earthly; they relish and savour nothing but worldly things, and pursue nothing but worldly designs. Against this our Saviour comforts them, first by telling them, That this part of the World hated him before it hated them, which must needs be so, because they hated them as his Disciples, and for that very reason., ye know that it hated me before it hated you l.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world Men and Women may be in the World, yet not of the World. Of the World, here signifies carnal men, such as are like to the men of the World in their studies, designs, counsels, affections; as of the Devil, and of God signifies, Chap. 8.44, 47. If you had affections, lusts, and dispositions like them, and drave no other designs than they drive, you might expect that as it is of the nature of all men to love such as are like to them in manners and studies; so they would love you, take a delight in you, be kind to you, and do you all offices of love:, but I have chosen you out of the world but because you are not of such tempers, dispositions and inclinations, but that I having chosen you out of the World, have given you new hearts, new frames and dispositions, quite contrary to theirs; therefore the World disliking you, and seeing that your principles are quite opposite to theirs, abhor, and hate you, and will be ready to do you all that evil and mischief which is the product of a rooted hatred and malice in the heart: This is a second argument by which our Lord comforts them. It is drawn from the cause and root of that hatred, which they would meet with: it was not for their faults or sins, but because they were the objects of Christs love, which being also shed abroad in their hearts by the holy Ghost, produced again in them holy affections and dispositions, making them wholly unlike to men in the World., therefore the world hateth you o.

Remember the word that I said unto you The word that I said unto you, Chap. 13.16. to press you to humility, and a mutual serving of one another in love, and which I spake to you, Matth. 10.24. when I first sent you out, and I spake it then to you upon the very same account, that I now speak it., The servant is not greater then the lord: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also You that are my servants, cannot look to fare better with the World, than I that am your Master, you know they have hated me, you must expect they should persecute you: if there be any of them whose hearts God shall incline to keep my sayings, they will also keep your words, which are but my sayings explained to them, and further pressed upon them..

But all these things will they do unto you for my Names sake For my Names sake, here signifies no more than for my sake, as Matth. 10.22. for your Preaching, owning, and professing me and my Gospel:, because they know not him that sent me and this they would not do, if they had any true knowledge of faith in, or love for him that sent me: for knowing (as has been often said) in holy Writ, and particularly in this Gospel, signifieth not the bare comprehension of the object by our understanding, but such a comprehension of it, as is operative and efficacious, to the bringing forth of all such effects, as are proper to such a knowledge and comprehension. So as this text containeth two arguments more, to arm them against the hatred of the World: The first, from the honourableness of the cause, for Christs Names sake. The second from the ignorance and blindness of the persons..

If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin The had not had this particular sin, of not knowing him that sent me: Or they had not had such degrees of sin, as they now have; or they had had more to say in excuse, or for a cover for their sin. Ignorance of the Will of God will not excuse sinners wholly, but it will excuse them in part; and this last seemeth to be the sense of the words by the latter part of the Verse, because it is opposed to an having no cloak nor excuse for their sin. If Christ had not come in his Incarnation, in his Preaching the Gospel, &c. they could not have been guilty of that hatred, and malice which they showed against him, which was their greatest guilt; and the would have had this to say, Lord! we know not what Christ was, as Matth. 25.44. but now says our Saviour, they have no cloak, no colour, no pretence, I am come, I have revealed my Fathers mind and will to them, yet they will not receive me: no, tho I have done those works before them, which no man ever did, nor could do but by a Divine Power.: but now they have no cloak for their sin u.

He that hateth me, hateth my Father also This agreeth with what we had, Chap. 5.23. It is a common error of the World, that many in it would pretend to love God, while yet they are manifest haters of Christ and his Gospel: Now says our Saviour, This is impossible; whosoever hateth him who is sent, hateth also him that sent him. God the Father, and Christ are one, and no man can hate Christ, or be an enemy to Christ, but he must be an enemy to his Father: and as this is an aggravation of their sin, so it is a great argument of consolation to the Disciples of Christ, that those who should be their enemies, were such as were in reality Gods enemies..

If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin Our Saviour often appealeth to his works, both to own his Mission from God, and also to prove the Iews in excusable, in their not receiving and imbracing him: for which latter purpose he mentions them here, and says, that he had done such works as no man did, and by his own Power and Christ did some works, as we do not read, that eve man did; such as the multiplying of the loaves, the giving sight to those that were born blind, the healing of so many desperate diseases: And for such as he did, which God had also given men a power to do, he did them in a quite different manner from that in which men did them. Elisha raised the Shunamites child to life, but it was by Prayer Peter cured the lame man, Acts 3.6. but it was in the Name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth. We read indeed of Christs praying at the raising of Lazarus; but his ordinary way, was by his word of command, which was a quite different way than that used by those men, by whom miracles had been wrought Besides, it is manifest, that the generality of the Iews did not look upon Christ as one sent from God, tho many of them did; and admit that there had been nothing in the miracles wrought by Christ, more than Elijah, or Elisha, or the Prophets had done; yet it had been sufficient for to have convinced them, that he acted by a Divine Power, and must be sent and Authoriz'd by and from God to do what he did. Now says our Saviour, if I had not done before their faces, such works as no man could do but by a Power derived from God, and some such as God never authorized men to do; their sin had been nothing to what now it is:: but now have they both seen, and hated both me and my Father but now they have understood, that I am sent from my Father; and knowing this, yet going on in their most malicious designs against me, they both declare an hatred and malice against my Father who sent me, and me as sent by him..

But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law The particle [that] here again denoteth not the final cause, but only the consequent; and the Law here signifieth not strictly the Law of Moses, but the whole Scripture, (in which sense we have once and again met with the term) says our Saviour, This is no more than was Prophecied of me, by the Prophet David; or no more than was fulfilled in me, being first done to David as my Type, which also has the force of another Argument to uphold, and incourage his Disciples under their sufferings; that they were but the fulfilling of Prophecies, no more than was foretold in holy Writ., They hated me without a cause.

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father Concerning the Holy Ghost as a Comforter, we have spoken argely, Chap. 14.16, 26. as also his mission from the Father and the Son, and in what sense he is called the Spirit of truth: see the notes on those Verse., even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father What proceeding from the Father, is here meant, is questioned amongst Divines: some understand it only of his coming out from the Father, and being poured out upon the Disciples in the days of Pentecost: Others understand it of the holy Spirits Eternal proceeding. Those that Interpret it of the first, urge the use of the Greek word, here used to signifie Gods manifestation of himself, by some external sign, (as they say the Septuagint useth the same word.) They also urge the same use of a parallel word, Chap. 8.42. and 16.28. But the generality of the best Interpreters think, it is best understood of the Eternal procession of the holy Spirit. Because Christ here distinguisheth the Spirits proceeding from the Father, from his sending. 2. Having himself promised to send the Spirit, he seemeth further to describe him, as proceeding from the Father. 3. The word here used, is not any where used in the New Testament to signifie a Temporal mission, some will say, but does not the Spirit proceed from the Son? Ans. The Greek Church in latter ages has denied this, and this is the principal text they rest on; but those Churches that are more Orthodox have constantly affirmed it. 1. Because he here says he would send it. 2. Because he is often called the Spirit of Christ, Rom 8.9. Gal. 4.6.3. Because otherwise there were no personal relation between Christ and the Spirit. Our Saviour here having first said he would send him, here only nameth his proceeding from the Father; that they might not suspect his testimony, or think that he spake arrogantly., he shall testifie of me The Spirit he says should testifie of him, both by those gifts with which he was to fill the Apostles, and to the hearts of Gods people..

And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning He adds also, They should testifie, &c. The Apostles and their Successors by the Preaching of the Gospel; but particularly the Apostles, Acts 10.39. 1 Iohn 1.2, 3. being chosen witnesses, Acts 10.41. And they were competent witnesses, because they had been with Christ from the beginning of his publick Ministry. We shall find the Testimony of his Apostles, and of the Holy Ghost, both joined together, Acts 5.32..