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    hear my voice * and I know them , and they follow me ; and I give unto them eternal life , and they shall never perish , and no one shall snatch them out of my hand . My Father , who gave them to me 9 is grkater than AIX ; and no one is able to snatch them out of the hand of my Father * It is surely evident that Christ gives as the ground of his confidence , that his sheep should never perish , that his Father is greater than all . He feJt that he could give a positive assurance , for he knew that he was supported by the power of God himself . This is the natural and sufficient meaning of the words 5 and to suppose that he claims independent power , is arbitrary with respect to this passage , as it is directly opposed to others , ]—

    « 3 . This assurance of security is repeated , with a confirmatory declaration that the Omnipotence of the Almighty Father is pledged to the same object . "—[ As there can be nothing stronger than omnipotence , Christ ' s own omnipotence was abundantly sufficient , had he claimed or possessed this attribute . ]— " 4 . These two assurances are consolidated into the proposition , I and my Father are one . ' *

    Dr . S . here joins himself with those who take this expression as implying at least the co-equality and union of nature of Christ and the Father . He concedes , indeed , that in every other passage of the New Testament , where the expression " to be one" is used , ( there are two distinct passages , in one of which it occurs several times , ) union of affection , or of design and co-operation , is intended . He even grants that if we were to argue from the spurious passage , 1 Jobn v . 7 , we should interpret it of consent or

    union of testimony , but he thinks " that the grammatical sense of the phrase will not , of itself , determine the precise import ; and that the meaning must be ascertained in every instance , by our attention to the nature and circumstances of the given case . " The mode of expression in John xvii . 21 , &c , and all the circumstances of the case , are so very similar to those in the passage before us , that we can hardly help considering the one as a key to the other : That they all may be one as thou 9 Father , art in

    me and I in thee , that they also may be one tn us THAT THEY MAY be one as we are one : and the only other instance , 1 Cor . iii . 8 , He that planteth and he that watereth are one , is a case of exactly the same kind ; yet we have no objection to decide the question by attention merely to the nature and connexion of the words immediately under our consideration . Dr . S . goes on ,

    " What then is the kind of union which the nature and circumstances of the case point out ? It is a union for the bestowment of the most important blessings , for the averting of the greatest evils , for a sovereign and effectual preservation from spiritual danger and eternal ruin . These are the plain facts of the case . It is , therefore , a union of power . No one shall snatch them out of my hand—No one can snatch them out of my Father ' s hand—/ and the Father are one . The argumentative connexion of the clause requires also to be attended to , Jesus had affirmed the adequacy of his own

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    592 Dr . J . P . Smith ' s Scripture Testimony to the Messiah .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1831, page 592, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2601/page/16/