Ver, 21. the i7th hap' er or St. J O Ei N. 3t SERMON XXXVII. JOHN XVII. it. That they all may be One, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they a f may be one in us : that the World may believe that thou haft fent me. HA VI NG proved the Point, I (hall examine, Why Chri(t (hould be fo earner( to have the World convinced, that he (Mould put this into his Prayer, that the World may believe that thou haft fent me. The Reafons are, partly in refpelt of HimCelf, partly in refpe& of the Ele &, partly in refpe& of the World. Fir,fi ; In refpe& of HimCelf. t. It is much for Chrir('s Honour, that even his Enemies (hould have Come e(teem of him, and Come conviftion of his Worth and Excellency. Praife and E(teem in the Mouth of an Enemy, is a double Honour, more than in the Mouth of a Friend. The Commendations of a Friend, may feem the Mittakes of Love,. and their valfte and efteem may proceed from Affe &ion rather than Judgment. Now it is for the Honour of God and Chri(t, that his Enemies fpeak well of him, and that they give an appro- bation to the Gofpel. Many fpaae highly of God, that never received him for their God ; Nebuchadnezzar was forced to confefs,. Dan. 2.47. Of a Truth it is, that your God is a God of Gods, and Lord of Kings. Dent. 3 2. 3 t. Their Rock is not as our Rock, even our Enemies themfelves being Judges.. HisEnemies fpeak well of him. The Church commendeth God, as they have caufe ; Who is like unto the Lord our God in all the World ? But now they might feem partial, and therefore God will extort praife from his Enemies; thofe that are apt to think of Chri(t as an Impor(or and Seducer, (hall fee the Reality of their Religion. It was an Honour to Chriftianity, that the People mag- nified the Apofiles, tho they had not a Heart to run all Hazards with them..iftis 5.13. 2. It is for the clearing of his Procefs at the laft Day. The Heathens being con- vinced by God's Works, are, avocirolvírm, without excufe, Rom. t. 20. God hath not left himfelf without a Witnefs, Af3s t4. ty. So thofe that live within the found of the Gofpel, tho they do not come under the Power and Dominion of the Chrir(ian Faith, yet they have fuch a .Convi&ion of it, as (hall tend to their Condemnation at the great Day. All thole whom the Lord arraigns at the lati day, they will all be fpeechlefs, and have nothing to fay for themfelves, Mat. 22.12. At the Day of judgment, our Mouths will be flopt, as being condemned in our own Confcience ; then the Books (hall be opened ; and one of the Books opened, is in the Malefa&or's keeping, the Sinner's Confcience, they are etwroxamkteerct. God's Providence is jufified by the Convi &ion of their own Hearts. Ie is a Que(tion which is the greater( torment, the Terriblenefs of the Sentence which (hall be par( upon Wicked Men, or the Righteouf- nefs of it ? You know the Apofle tells you, When the Lord Jefus fhall come in flames of Fire, to render l'engeance to the World, 2 Theff.i. 7, 8. there are two forts of Perlons he (hall meet with : Them that know not Gods that is, Heathens, which did not take up what they might know of God from the courfe of Nature, from the Knowledg of their Eye and Ear : and them that obey not the Gofpel, them that lived within the found of the Gofpel, and heard much of it; they were convinced they had fome kind of Knowledg and Belief of it, yet they would not let their Hearts be fubje &, and give up themfelves to it. It clears the Lord's Newel's, if Men continue ignorant and oppo- fite to the Grace of the Gofpel ï by this means they are left without excufe, therefore R r r r 2 that
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