3 SERMONS upon Serm.4i. them that believe. Now it is for their Conviltion, or Converfion, then for their Con- fufion 5 thefe are thole whole Lives we judged Madnefs, and Ways Folly. 3. Why Chrift was foearne(t that the World Ihould know this. (r.) To reftrain their Wig. 1 Cor. 2. 5. Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord.of Glory. If God loveth Believers, it fhould (top the Violence and Malice of theWorld again(t them g they are the Beloved Ones of God, whom they malign, and againft whom their Heart rifeth. (2.) It (tirreth them up to.come out of their wicked Condition, that is, out of a hate of Nature. Pfal. 7. xi. God is angry with -the Wicked every day. (3.) To put in for a (hare in this Bleffed Elate, that they may be force of thofe whom he loveth as he loved Chrift. Vfe 1. Caution tothe.Cainal World ; do not hate thole whom God thus loveth. To you they are accurfed, but God counteth them precious. Ifa. 43.4. Since tboú waft precious in my fight, thou haft been honourable, and I have loved thee. To you they are the Scurf and Off - fcouring 5 a Cor. 4. 13. We are made as the filth of World, and the O fcouring of all things to this day. But to God they are Jewels : Mal. 3. 17. They fliall be mine, faith the Lord, in the day when .1 make up my Jewels. Vfe 2. Advice to the Children of God, to promote the Convi&íon and Converfi- on of the Carnal. t Pet. 2. 12. Having your Converfátion honeft amongll the Gentiles 5 that whereas they fpeak againfI you as evil Doers, they may by your good Works which they (hall behold, glorify God in the Day of V(ltation. Herein you imitate your Matter, and your own Safety lieth in ir. SERMON XLI JOHN XVII. 24- Father, I will that they alfa whom thou haft given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my Glory which thou haft given me : for thou lovedit me before the Foundation of the World. E have hitherto teen Chrill's Prayers for the Happinefs of his Church in the preterit World 3 now he prayeth for their Hap- pinefs in the World to come. His Love looketh beyond the Grave, and outlafteth the Life that now is; he cannot be con- tented with any thing on this fide a Bleffed Eternity : Glory, as well as Grace, is the Fruit of his Purchafe, and therefore it is the Matter of his Prayers. Every Verle is tweet, but. this ( hould not be read with- out tome ravifhment and leaping of Heart. One faith, he would not for all the World that this Scripture ( hould have been left out of the Bible : Certainly we Ihould have wanted a great Evidence and Demonftration of Chrift's Affeçtion. Every word is emphatical. Let us view it a little. Here is a Compellation, a Requeft, and the Reafon of that Requeft. The Com- pellation, Father. In the Requeft there is the Manner, how it is made, I will. The Perlons for whom it is made, that they whom then haft given me. The Matter of the Requeft, in Pretence and Vifion, be with me where I am, that they may behold my Glory. Or the Matter is Everlafting Happinefs, which is defcribed by the Place of Enjotment, . and our Work when we corné thither. Now the Reafonof all is, the Father's eternal Love to Chrift, and in Chrift to us, for thou haft loved me before the Foundation of the World. Firft 5
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