All this might in our language be expressed thus. 'O dear Father, keep them from all false doctrine, that they might persevere in thy holy word and in the pure Gospel, whereby they are sanctified, and might not depart from it, nor fall into an outside sanctity. For unless thou preserve them, all is over with their salvation.' For the iniquity of the devil is great, and the specious show and offence of false doctrine is greater than can be overcome by the powers of our reason. And as Christ himself testifies, the elect themselves scarcely escape being seduced by it and precipitated to destruction.

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By this prayer, we miserable men are also to be supported; for otherwise, no one could stand against such crafty, insidious, and captious sects and spirits, which, from the beginning of the world unto this day, have continually risen up, have drawn so great a multitude and so many powerful persons over to their opi nions, and have joined to themselves, (dreadful to relate!) in addition to many poor simple creatures who would willingly be brought into the right way and live a holy life, all the most learned and the most ingenious who might have been a help to all others. But how horrible is it to behold and to think of, when one reflects upon the unspeakable multitude, who departed from the Gospel and lost the Word, immediately after the time of the Apostle Paul and the rest of the apostles, when the Word flourished every where, and prevailed throughout Asia and Greece; where, now, not one letter of the Gospel is to be found, and where the whole of the sacred doctrine is destroyed by that cruel and terrible blasphemy of the Turks and Mahometans. The same also took place under the Pope; and we see the same state of things begun in Germany, where so many new sects, so many errors and seductions, are daily rising up. Nay, even among us how very few are there who have and hold the pure knowledge of the Gospel? Wherefore, it is most necessary, that, even now, if we could, we should pray every moment with Christ. Holy Father, we entreat thee to grant us, and enable us, to persevere firmly in thy Word, and that the devil may

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not oppress and overwhelm us with that singular and angel-like show of sanctity.'

Behold, this is to abide and to be kept in his name, -to hold the Word purely and sincerely in our hearts. For the name or the praise and honour of God is, his being preached and known, as giving us the pardon of our sins, and saving us freely, through Christ only. He that remains in this doctrine or faith, he is of God. He may lay claim to God and the Father, and from him take his denomination-as being holy as he is holy. For as God is, so is his name and his Word. And as his name is holy, so also are we by it sanctified, but not by our life or works. And hence, he who loses or disregards the Word, is no longer a saint, how innocently soever his life may be passed, and how great a show of sanctity soever it may have.

Whom thou hast given me.

That is, as we have before observed, who have my Word: which he continually repeats and cannot forget; and that, to the unspeakable consolation of all who wil lingly and desirously hear his Word and receive it: so that, he only is to be our Master, our Teacher, and our Head, and yet we are to remain his disciples, that we may know that it is God himself who has thus led us to hear Christ, and that our salvation is not put into our own hands, but into the hand of God; out of which, no one can pluck it. Therefore, what he would say is this,

Since thou hast given them unto me for this end, that they might become my disciples, and be called to true holiness; grant, O Father, that they may be 'preserved therein, and be defiled by no one, nor be led aside and corrupted by any error.

That they may be one as we are.

It is terrible to relate how cruelly and basely sects have handled and perverted this text: the whole of which is intended to show, how wisely and clearly Christ saw, that all those who should begin to hear his Word, would come into all straits and perils, which

might tend to pluck them away from the Word. For wherever the devil perceives disciples coming to Christ, he immediately, in unspeakable ways, rages and foams, and lets loose the reins to all his wrath, and resists and opposes them with all his powers; nor does he ever cease from opposing them, until he has drawn them from Christ over to his own side. And therefore, Christ asks, that, the Father would defend them and keep them through his own name, that they be not scattered and torn one from the other, but that they might undividedly remain" one."

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Moreover these words, "that they may be one,' &c. is by the Arians who deny the divinity of Christ perverted and corrupted to establish their lies. For from Christ's saying that Christians ought to be "one" even as he and the Father are "one," they will only collect, that he has not the same nature and essence as the Father: saying, that we cannot have the same nature and essence with each other, and that every one of us has his nature, that is, body and soul peculiar to himself: and that, therefore, by these words "that they may be one," is signified, That we may agree together in the same mind and sentiments.' Just as we are accustomed to speak of two persons who are of the same feelings, will, and mind. Thus, these most memorable words, are made to serve the sect and the lies of the Arians; against faith, and contrary to the sentiments of the Evangelist John, who here so firmly asserts this article.

But Christ does not say That they may be of the same will and understanding' as they falsely imagine. Although that also is true, that all Christians are of the same faith, love, understanding, and feelings, as having the same Christ, spirit, and faith; though there is a difference as to the external office and work of each. But in this place he does not speak of the harmony of minds and wills; but orders his words thus, "That they may be one;" that they may be one thing; and so one thing, as I and the Father are one. So that the words are to be understood as speaking of essence; and they have a much wider signification than as referring to one

mind and sentiment only. Moreover, what the meaning of "one" is, or, one thing, we are not to see, or to feel out with our hands, but to believe. But it is nothing more or less than what Paul describes 1 Cor. x. and xii. and in other places where he says that Christians are one body." And as a body is, and is called, one thing, so all Christians are said to be one body; not on account, indeed, of their being of the same will and mind, but much rather on account of their being of the

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same essence.

And again, there is a much greater union between the members of the body, than between thy thoughts and those of another person. For his thoughts are in his own body, and thy thought in thine; nor can I say that my thoughts and thine are the same thing, in the same way as all the members are equally one thing, that is, one body; for, when any one member is away from the body, it is no longer one with the body, nor of the same essence with it, but the body is considered a body of itself. But as long as all the members remain together, they are said to be one body, nor is there any difference or distinction of essence between them. So, if the foot be cut off from the body, it is no longer one with the body, but a part that is cast away: but if it remain in the body, then I am compelled to say that it is one body, &c.

In the same way is Christ here to be understoodthat Christians ought to be so intimately united, as to be altogether one thing, and to remain one undivided body, even as he and the Father are "one." Between these there is not only the same mind and will, but their whole indivisible essence is the same. For if Christ be separated from the Father, one God can no longer exist, but a divided, separate, and distinct essence. Though the union of the divine nature, is much greater than that of the members in one body: and it is impossible for us to comprehend it.

In the same manner also would Christ here speak -My Christians ought to be one flock; that is, one whole undivided body. Though there is here an union

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different from that of nature; namely, a spiritual union. Yet it is called being "one," because, therein the one cannot exist without the other, and if one part be taken away, it can be no longer called one thing, or 66 one.".

It is thus that the term "one" is to be understood; and not as the Arians have basely perverted it, as though it signified nothing more than concord and similiarity in the same manner as when I see two men alike in person I say their appearance is one and the same; or, as I would say of two coats, the cloth is one and the same. For here it is most plainly expressed" that they may be one," one thing: in which way neither the Greek nor the Latin language ever speaks when expressing à sameness or concord. But in the modern mode of expression this term one is not so clear, but has an ambiguous signification; and therefore, we Germans are obliged to interpret it as one thing, or one body.-All these observations I have made, that we may not suffer this text to be perverted or weakened by such figments of reason and crude philosophy; for it contains the greatest and strongest consolation for Christians who believe in Christ, and trust in his Word with a steady confidence: namely, that we are all members of one body, and one flesh and blood. In which state, there is this prerogative, that whatever falls on one of the members, falls on the whole body; which does not take place in that sameness or concord. For although many may be of the same mind and will, yet, the circumstances of the one, do not so much interest the other, in the same manner as the members of the body mutually feel for each other.

From this union it is called Christianity, and a communion of the saints, (not a mere sameness,) in which all the saints or Christians are one multitude, and "body," and "lump." The Christian therefore has this confidence, he is certain, that, when the devil opposes and attacks him, it is not he alone that is attacked, a finger only, but the whole body at the same time; that is, all Christians throughout the whole world, and so