The Works of W Chillingworth

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SERMON IV. Let him deny himself.?Luke Sx. 23. Good reason there is, that, according to that excess of value and weight, wherewith heavenly and spiritual things do surmount and preponderate earthly and transitory; so likewise the desire and prosecution of them should be much more conten- tiously active and...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SERMON IV. Let him deny himself.?Luke Sx. 23. Good reason there is, that, according to that excess of value and weight, wherewith heavenly and spiritual things do surmount and preponderate earthly and transitory; so likewise the desire and prosecution of them should be much more conten- tiously active and earnest, than that of the other: yet, if men were but in any proportion so circumspect and careful in businesses, that concern their eternal welfare, as even the most foolish worldlings are about riches, honour, and such trifles, as are not worthy to take up the mind even of a natural man; we should not have the glorious profession of Christianity so carelessly and sleepily undertaken, so irresolutely and fearfully, nay', cowardly maintained; I might add, so treacherously pretended, and betrayed to the encompassing of base and unworthy ends, as now it is. 2. To what may we more justly impute this negligent, wretchless behaviour of Christians, than to an extreme incogitancy, and want of consideration in us, upon what terms it is, that we have entered into league with God, and to what considerable strict conditions we have, in our first initiation at our baptism-, so solemnly submitted and engaged ourselves; without a serious resolute performance whereof, we have promised by no means to expect any reward at all from God, but to remain strangers, utterly excluded from the least hope of enjoying any fruit of those manyglorious promises, which it hath pleased our gracious God so liberally to offer and reach out unto Ms, in our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ ? 3. It was no good sign, when the precious seed of the word was received into the stony ground with such a sudden joy: hearers, resembled by that ground, give good heed to the glorious and comfortable promises, which ...