dear to your selves than to make light of your own happiness or misery Why Sirs do you not care whether you be saved or damned Is Self-love lost Are you turned your own Enemies As he that slighteth his Meat doth slight his life so if you slight Christ whatsoever you may think you will find it was your own Salvation that you slighted Hear what he saith Prov. 1. 36. All they that hate me love Death 6. Your sin is greater in that you profess to believe the Gospel which you make so light of For a professed Infidel to do it that believes not that ever Christ died or rose again or doth not believe that there is a Heaven or Hell this were no such marvel but for you that make it your Creed and your very Religion and call your selves Christians and have been baptized into this Faith and seemed to stand to it this is the wonder and hath no excuse What! believe that you shall live in endless Joy or Torment and yet make no more of it to escape Torment and obtain that Joy What! believe that God will shortly judge you and yet make no more preparation for it Either say plainly I am no Christian I do not believe these wonderful things I will believe nothing but what I see or else let your hearts be affected with your Belief and live as you say you do believe What do you think when you repeat the Creed and mention Christ's Judgment and everlasting Life 7. What are these things you set so much by as to prefer them before Christ and the saving of your Souls Have you found a better friend a greater and surer happiness than this Good Lord What dung is it that men make so much of while they set so light by everlasting Glory What Toyes are they that they are daily taken up with while matters of life and death are neglected Why Sirs If you had every one a Kingdom in your hopes what were it in comparison of the everlasting Kingdom I cannot but look upon all the Glory and Dignity of this World Lands and Lordships Crowns and Kingdoms even as on some brainsick beggarly Fellow that borroweth fine Cloaths and plays the part of a King or a Lord for an hour on a stage and then comes down and the sport is ended and they are beggers again Were it not for God's interest in the Authority of Magistrates or for the service they might do him I should judge no better of them For as to their own Glory it is but a smoak what matter is it whether you live poor or rich unless it were a greater matter to dye rich than it is You know well enough that Death levels all What matter is it at Judgment whether you be to answer for the life of a rich man or a poor man Is Dives then any better than Lazarus Oh that men knew what a poor deceiving shadow they grasp at while they let go the everlasting Substance The strongest and richest and most voluptuous Sinners do but lay in fuel for their sorrows while they think they are gathering together a treasure Alas they are asleep and dream that they are happy but when they awake what a change will they find Their Crown is made of Thorns their pleasure hath such a sting as will stick in the heart through all Eternity except unfeigned Repentance do prevent it Oh how sadly will these wretches be convinced ere long what a foolish bargain they made in selling Christ and their Salvation for these Trifles Let your Farms and Merchandize then save you if they can and do that for you that Christ would have done Cry then to thy Baal to save thee Oh what thoughts have Drunkards and Adulterers c. of Christ that will not part with the basest lust for him For a piece of bread saith Solomon such men do transgress Prov. 28. 21. 8. To set so light by Christ and Salvation is a certain mark that thou hast no part in them and if thou so continue that Christ will set as light by thee Those that honour him he will honour and those that despise him shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2. 30. Thou wilt feel one day that thou canst not live without him Thou wilt confess then thy need of him and then thou mayst go look for a Saviour where thou wilt for he will be no Saviour for thee hereafter that wouldst not value him and submit to him here Then who will prove the loser by thy contempt Oh what a thing will it be for a poor miserable Soul to cry to Christ for help in the day of extremity and to hear so sad an Answer as this Thou didst set light by me and my Law in the day of thy Prosperity and I will now set as light by thee in thy Adversity Read Prov. 1. 24. to the end Thou that as Esau didst sell thy Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage shalt then find no place for repentance though thou seek it with tears Heb. 12. 17. Do you think that Christ shed his blood to save them that continue to make light of it and to save them that value a Cup of Drink or a Lust before his Salvation I tell you Sirs though you set light by Christ and Salvation God doth not so He will not give them on such Terms as these He valueth the Blood of his Son and the everlasting Glory and he will make you value them if ever you have them Nay this will be thy condemnation and leaveth no remedy All the World cannot save him that sets light by Christ Heb. 2. 3. Luke 14 24. None of them shall taste of his Supper Mat. 10. 37. Nor can you blame him to deny you what you made light of your selves Can you find fault if you miss of the Salvation which you slighted 9 The time is near when Christ and Salvation will not be made light of as now they are When God hath shaken those careless Souls out of their Bodies and you must answer for all your sins in your own Name O then what what would you give for a Saviour when a thousand Bills shall be brought in against you and none to relieve you then you will consider Oh Christ would now have stood between me and the wrath of God had I not despised him he would have answered all When you see the World hath left you and your companions in sin have deceived themselves and you and all your merry days are gone then what would you give for that Christ and Salvation that now you account not worth your labour Do you think when you see the Judgment set and you are doomed to everlasting Perdition for your Wickedness that you should then make as light of Christ as now Why will you not judge now as you know you shall judge then Will he then be worth ten thousand Worlds and is he not now worth your highest Estimation and dearest Affection 10. God will not only
have considered and often considered what is the mater that so many Thousands should perish when God hath done so much for their Salvation and I find this that is mentioned in my Text is the cause It is one of the wonders of the World that when God hath so loved the World as to send his Son and Christ hath made a satisfaction by his death sufficient for them all and offereth the benefits of it so freely to them even without mony or price that yet the most of the World should perish yea the most of those that are thus called by his Word Why here is the reason when Christ hath done all this men make light of it God hath shewed that he is not unwilling and Christ hath shewed that he is not unwilling that men should be restored to God's favour and be saved but men are actually unwilling themselves God takes not pleasure in the death of sinners but rather that they return and live Ezek. 33. 11. But men take such pleasure in sin that they will dye before they will return The Lord Jesus was content to be their Physitian and hath provided them a sufficient plaister of his own blood but if men make light of it and will not apply it what wonder if they perish after all This Scripture giveth us the reason of their perdition This sad experience tells us the most of the World is guilty of It is a most lamentable thing to see how most men do spend their care their time their pains for known vanities while God and Glory are cast aside That he who is all should seem to them as nothing and that which is nothing should seem to them as good as all that God should set mankind in such a race where heaven or hell is their certain end and that they should set down and loyter or run after the childish Toyes of the World and so much forget the Prize that they should run for Were it but possible for one of us to see the whole of this business as the all seeing God doth to see at one view both heaven and hell which men are so near and see what most men in the World are minding and what they are doing every day it would be the saddest sight that could be imagined Oh how should we marvail at their madness and lament their self-delusion Oh poor distracted World what is it that you run after and what is it that you neglect If God had never told them what they were sent into the World to do or whether they were going or what was before them in another World then they had been excusable but he hath told them over and over till they were weary of it Had he left it doubtful there had been some excuse but it is his sealed word and they profess to believe it and would take it ill of us if we should question whether they do believe it or not Beloved I come not to accuse any of you particularly of this crime but seeing it is the commonest cause of mens Destruction I suppose you will judge it the fittest matter for our enquiry and deserving our greatest care for the cure To which end I shall 1. Endeavour the Conviction of the guilty 2. Shall give them such considerations as may tend to humble and reform them 3. I shall conclude with such direction as may help them that are willing to escape the destroying Power of Sin And for the first consider 1. It is the case of most sinners to think themselves freest from those sins that they are most enslaved to and one reason why we cannot reform them is because we cannot convince them of their guilt It is the nature of sin so far to blind and befool the sinner that he knoweth not what he doth but thinketh he is free from it when it reigneth in him on when he is committing it It bringeth men to be so much unacquainted with themselves that they know not what they think or what they mean and intend nor what they love or hate much less what they are habituated and disposed to They are alive to sin and dead to all the Reason Consideration and Resolution that should recover them as if it were only by their sinning that we must know they are alive May I hope that you that hear me to day are but willing to know the Truth of your case and then I shall be encouraged to proceed to an enquiry God will judge impartially why should not we do so Let me therefore by these following Questions try whether none of you are slighters of Christ and your own Salvation And follow me I beseech you by putting them close to your own hearts and faithfully answering them 1. Things that men highly value will be remembred they will be matter of their freest and sweetest thoughts this is a known case Do not those then make light of Christ and Salvation that think of them so seldom and coldly in comparison of other things Follow thy own heart man and observe what it daily runneth out after and then judge whether it make not light of Christ We cannot perswade men to one hours sober consideration what they should do for an interest in Christ or in thankfulness for his love and yet they will not believe that they make light of him 2. Things that we highly value will be matter of our Discourse The judgment and heart will command the tongue Freely and delightfully will our speech run after them This also is a known case Do not those then make light of Christ and Salvation that shun the mention of his name unless it be in a vain or sinful use Those that love not the company where Christ and Salvation is much talked of but think it troublesome precise Discourse That had rather hear some merry Jests or idle Tales or talk of their Riches or Business in the World When you may follow them from morning to night and scarce have a savory word of Christ but perhaps some slight and weary mention of him sometimes judge whether these make not light of Christ and Salvation How seriously do they talk of the World Psal 144. 8 11. and speak vanity but how heartlesly do they make mention of Christ and Salvation 3. The things that we highly value we would secure the possession of and therefore would take any convenient Course to have all doubts and fears about them well resolved Do not those men then make light of Christ and Salvation that have lived twenty or thirty Years in uncertainty whether they have any part in these or not and yet never seek out for the right resolution of their doubts Are all that hear me this day certain they shall be saved Oh that they were Oh had you not made light of Salvation you could not so easily bear such doubtings of it you could not rest till you had made it sure or done your best to make it sure Have you no body
deny thee that Salvation thou madest light of but he will take from thee all that which thou didst value before it He that most highly esteems Christ shall have him and the creatures so far as they are good here and him without the Creature hereafter because the Creature is not useful and he that sets more by the Creature than by Christ shall have some of the Creature without Christ here and neither Christ nor it hereafter So much of these considerations which may shew the true face of this hainous sin What think you now friends of this business Do you not see by this time what a case that Soul is in that maketh light of Christ and Salvation What need then is there that you should take heed lest this should prove your own case The Lord knows it is too common a case Whoever is found guilty at the last of this sin it were better for that man he had never been born It were better for him he had been a Turk or Indian that never had heard the Name of a Saviour and that never had Salvation offered to him For such men have no Cloak for their sin John 15. 22. Besides all the rest of their sins they have this killing sin to answer for which will undo them And this will aggravate their misery That Christ whom they set light by must be their Judge and for this sin will he judge them Oh that such would now consider how they will answer that Question that Christ puts to their Predecessors Mat. 23. 33. How will ye escape the Damnation of Hell or Heb. 2 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Can you escape without a Christ or will a despised Christ save you then If he be accursed that set light by Father or Mother Deut. 27. 16. What then is he that sets light by Christ It was the hainous sin of the Jews that among them were found such as set light by Father and Mother Ezek. 22. 7. But among us men slight the Father of Spirits In the Name of God Brethren I beseech you to consider how you will then bear his Anger which you now make light of You that cannot make light of a little sickness or want or of natural Death no not of a Tooth-ach but groan as if you were undone how will you then make light of the Fury of the Lord which will burn against the Contemners of his Grace Doth it not behove you beforehand to think of these things Hitherto I have been convincing you of the evil of the sin and the danger that followeth I come now to know your Resolution for the time to come What say you Do you mean to set as light by Christ and Salvation as hitherto you have done and to be the same men after all this I hope not Oh let not your Ministers that would fain save you be brought in as Witnesses against you to condemn you At least I beseech you put not this upon me Why Sirs If the Lord shall say to us at Judgment Did you never tell these men what Christ did for their Souls and what need they had of him and how nearly it did concern them to look to their Salvation that they made light of it we must needs say the Truth Yea Lord we told them of it as plainly as we could we would have gone on our knees to them if we had thought it would have prevailed we did intreat them as earnestly as we could to consider these things They heard of these things every day but alass we could never got them to their hearts they gave us the hearing but they made light of all that we could say to them Oh sad will it prove on your side if you sorce us to such an Answer as this But if the Lord do move the hearts of any of you and you resolve to make light of Christ no more Or if any of you say we do not make light of him let me tell you here in the conclusion what you must do or else you shall be judged as slighters of Christ and Salvation And first I will tell you what will not serve the turn 1. You may have a notional knowledge of Christ and the necessity of his blood and of the excellency of Salvation and yet perish as neglecters of him This is too common among profest Christians You may say all that other men do of him What Gospel passages had Balaam Jesus I know and Paul I know the very Devils could say who believe and tremble Jam. 2. 2. You may weep at the History of his Passion when you read how he was used by the Jews and yet make light of him and perish for so doing 3. You may come desirously to his word and ordinances Herod heard gladly so do many that yet must perish as neglecters of Salvation 4. You may in a sit of fear have strong desires after a Christ to ease you and to save you from God's wrath as Saul had of David to play before him and yet you may perish for making light of Christ 5. You may obey him in many things so far as will not ruine you in the World and escape much of the Pollutions of the World by his knowledge and yet neglect him 6. You may suffer and lose much for him so far as leaveth you an earthly Felicity as Ananias the young man Some parcels of their pleasures and prosits many will part with in hope of Salvation that shall perish everlastingly for valuing it no more 7. You may be esteemed by others a man zealous for Christ and loved and admired upon that account and yet be one that shall perish for making light of him 8. You may verily think your selves that you set more by Christ and Salvation than any thing and yet be mistaken and be judged as Contemners of him Christ justisieth not all that justisie themselves 9. You may be zealous Preachers of Christ and Salvation and reprove others for this neglect and lament the sin of the World in like expressions as I have done this day and yet if you or I have no better evidence to prove our hearty esteem of Christ and Salvation we are undone for all this You hear Brethren what will not serve the turn Will you now hear what persons you must be if you would not be condemned as slighters of Christ O search whether it be thus with your Souls or no. 1. Your esteem of Christ and Salvation must be greater than your esteem of all the Honors Profits or Pleasures of this World or else you slight him No less will be accounted sincere or accepted to your Salvation Think not this hard when there is no comparison in the matters esteemed To esteem the greatest Glory on Earth before Christ and Everlasting Glory is a greater Folly and Wrong to Christ than to esteem a Dog before your Prince would be folly in you and a wrong to him Scripture is plain in