NEGLECT OF CHRIST, THE KILLING SIN. NOTE:GEORGE WHITEFIELD IS A LITTLE UNCLEAR IN THIS MESSAGE WHAT HAPPENS TO INFANTS IN WOMB OR OUTSIDE, BUT IT IS VERY CLEAR TO US AS JOHN Q. PUNLIC OF AMERICA: ALL PARENTS CAN HAVE HOPE THAT THEIR BABY WENT TO HEAVEN SINCE NONE OF US KNOW WHETHER OUR BABY IS ONE OF THE ELECT, BUT WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT EVERY BABY THAT IS OF THE ELECT WILL INDEED BE SAVED FOR JESUS’ FATHER ‘S WILL IS , THAT JESUS IS TO LOSE NONE THAT WERE GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS FATHER BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD FROM CONCEPTION TO WHATEVER AGE THEY MIGHT LIVE TO BE, EVEN A DEATHBED CONVERSION LIKE THE THIEF ON THE CROSS AN IN THE WOMB CONVERSION LIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST. IT IS THAT SIMPLE!!! EXCERPTS FROM GEORGE WHITEFIELDS’S SERMON. “And ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.” John v. 40. “THE great apostle of the Gentiles, after he had set before the Hebrews the great cloud of witnesses of Old Testament believers, exhorts them to look higher, even to Jesus, the common Saviour, and that not transiently, but earnestly and constantly, in his mediatorial character of humiliation, as enduring unheard-of, unparalleled contradiction of sinners against himself; “Lest (says he) ye be weary, and faint in your minds.” If we had not such an example set before us, and brought to us by the Holy Ghost in a suffering hour, we should never hold out to the end. This was not the contradiction of the openly profane and scandalous, those that were without, so much as from those that were within the pale of the church, even those to whom were committed the lively oracles of God, who had not only the very Bible in their own hands, but were set apart to explain it to others. That the words of our text were spoken to them, appears from the preceding verse, in which he bids them “Search the scriptures;” as a person digs for a mine, or searches from some hidden treasure. The word Bible, or book, which I have in my hand, is well applied to the holy scriptures, because it is the book of God, written by him, that is, by his order, and by those who were inspired by him for that end; and yet, of all writings in the world, these are most neglected! God has condescended to become an author, and yet people will not read his writings. There are very few that ever gave this book of God, the grand charter of salvation, one fair reading through: though we profess to have assented to the truth of scripture, as our Lord said , “In them we think we have eternal life,” yet most read them as they would a proclamation, a romance, a play, or novels, that help only to bring them to the devil, but choose not to read God’s book, which is to be our guide to glory ; “they are they (says Christ) which testify of me.” Lord God, convert and change our hearts When I talk of loving the world, I mean an inordinate love. I may live in the world, and not live upon it. My heart may be towards God: the love of the world is to be renounced, and therefore they will not come to Jesus Christ, they think, till they are going out of the world. If you are one of those who hate Christ, why, you are the man that will not come to him. Why, say you, does anybody hate Christ? Pray hold your tongue, for fear of discovering your ignorance. O, say you, God forbid I should hate him. But, my dear soul, learn from this time forward, that every one of us by nature hates Jesus Christ: we sent this message to him; we will not have this man to reign over us; we hate him because he is despised, we hate him because of the appearance of the people that are his followers, we hate him because of the narrowness of the way we are to pass in to him, because we must part with our lusts; we hate him because we must be nonconformists. I hate that rag of the whore of Babylon, O that form of prayer, O all that stuff, I thank God I was born a Dissenter. 1 love to be a Puritan. I do not love rites and ceremonies, no, not in the church; and yet…