When it

wast drinking and sporting thou wast not weary. comes to a matter of riches, or honour, or ease, or pleasure, to gratify thy worldliness, pride, laziness, and voluptuousness, then thou never sayest, It is too much! And is all too little for sin and the devil, and all too much for thy soul and God? Let conscience tell thee whether this be just.

Quest. 24. Is it not a foolish wickedness for that man to cry out against making haste to heaven, and going so fast in the ways of God, that hath loitered already till the evening of his days, and lost so much time as thou hast done?' If thou hadst begun as soon as thou hadst the use of reason, and remembered thy Creator in the days of thy youth, and never lost an hour of thy time since then till now, thou hadst done no more than what thy God, thy soul, and all right reason required of thee! For surely he that made thee, hath in wisdom proportioned thy time to thy work, and hath not given thee an hour too much. A long life is short enough to prepare for everlasting. And shall a loitering rebel that hath wasted so much of his little time, cry out, What needs so much ado?

Quest. 25. 'Is it not the graceless, miserable sort of men that cry out, What needs all this ado?' Certainly it is. For Scripture and reason, and experience tell us, that all that are godly, are of another mind. The more grace they have, the more they would have. The more they love God, the more they would love him. The more good they do, the more they would do. Do you not see how they labour after more grace? and hear how they complain that they are no better? O how it would glad them to be more holy and more heavenly! It is therefore the strangers and despisers of grace, that never knew by experience, the nature, and power, and sweetness of it, that say, 'It is more ado than needs.' And is it not a most unreasonable thing for a man that hath no saving grace and holiness at all, to cry out against excess of holiness? And for a man that is in the captivity of the devil, and ready suddenly to drop into hell if death do but strike the fatal blow before he be regenerate, to talk against doing too much for heaven? And for a man that never did God one hour's pleasing service (Heb. xi. 6.) to prate against serving God too much? O poor wretch! were thine eyes but opened, thou wouldst see that of any man in the town or country, this language ill beseemeth

thee. When God hath been so long offended, and thy soul is almost lost already, and death and hell is hard at hand, and may swallow thee up in endless desperation for aught thou knowest, before thou hast read this book to the end, or before thou see another year, or month, or day, is it time for such a one as thee to say, 'What needs so much ado?' One would think if there be any life in thee thou shouldst stir as for thy life; and if thou have a voice to cry, thou shouldst cry out to God both day and night in fervour of thy soul, even now while mercy may be had, lest time should overslip thee, and thou be shut up in the place of torment. If hell-fire will not make thee stir, what will? Should a weak Christian that is cast behindhand by his negligence but once speak against a diligent life, he were exceedingly to blame. But for thee that art yet in the gall of bitterness, and the misery of an unregenerate state, to speak against holy diligence for salvation, when thou art in such great and deep distress, and like a man that is drowning, or a house on fire, that must presently have help or perish; this is a madness that hath no name sufficient to express it by; which it is a wonder that a rational soul should be guilty of.

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Quest. 26. Art thou not afraid of some sudden vengeance from the Lord, for thus making thyself his open enemy, and contradicting him to his face? Mark his language; and then mark thine. Christ saith, "Enter in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and norrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it ;" Matt. vii. 13, 14. "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able;" Luke xiii. 24. "See then that ye walk circumspectly (or exactly), not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time;" Ephes. v. 15, 16. "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven;" Matt. v. 20. "Wherefore brethren, give all diligence to make your calling and election sure;" 2 Pet. i. 10." Work out your salvation with fear and trembling;" Phil. ii. 12. "Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and basting to the coming of the day of God;"

2 Pet. iii. 11, 12. "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear;" 1 Pet. iv. 18. "Lay not up for yourselves a treasure on earth, &c. but lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, &c. For where your treasure is there will your hearts be also;" Matt. vi. 19-21. "Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;" Matt. vi. 33. "Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth to everlasting life;" John vi. 27. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force;" Matt. xi. 12. "Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery, is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly: so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be castaway;" 1 Cor. ix. 24-27. "Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness; incline your ear, and come unto me; hear and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you," Isa. lv. 1-3. "Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;" Rom. xii. 11. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men; teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and sanctify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works ;" Tit. ii. 11-14. "Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully;" Jer. xlviii. 10. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest;" Eccles. ix. 10.

These and such like are the sayings of God, by which thou mayest easily understand his mind concerning the necessity of a serious, diligent, holy life. And shall a blind and wretched worm come after, and dare to contradict him, and unsay all this, and say, 'What needs so much ado?"

What! darest thou thus openly resist God to his face? What art thou? and what is thy word, that we should regard it before the word of God?

Quest. 27. Dost thou not know that by thy speaking against a diligent, holy life, thou gratifiest the devil, and openly servest him, and sayest the very things that he would have thee say?' What can more please him, and advance his kingdom, and suit his malicious ends, than to stop and cool men in the service of the Lord, and make them believe that holiness is but a needless thing? If the devil might have leave to walk visibly among men, and speak to them in their language, he would speak to them as thou dost, and say the same things, which he puts into thy mouth; and would do all that he could to keep men from a holy life. And darest thou thus openly play his part?

Quest. 28. Canst thou think (when eternal life is at the stake) that a man so weak in the midst of so many hindrances and enemies, hath cause to count his diligence unnecessary?' When satan, like a roaring lion, is seeking day and night to devour thee (1 Pet. v. 8.), when his malice, subtlety and diligence is so great, and so unwearied; when his instruments are so many, so subtle, and so powerful; when the world aboundeth round about thee with such dangerous enticing snares and baits; when thy traiterous flesh so near thee is thy most perilous enemy, incessantly drawing thee from God unto the creature; and when thou art so impotent to resist all these assaults; art thou then in a condition fit to cry out against the greatest diligence for thy soul? Should a man going up the steepest hill, when it is for his life, be afraid of going too fast? When thou hast done all thou canst, it is well for thee that ever thou wast born, if it suffice. If weaknesses and enemies cause such a difficulty that the righteous themselves are scarcely saved (that is, with much ado), is it then time for thee to ask, What needs so much ado.

Quest. 29. Dost thou not deal exceeding unthankfully and unequally with God? When he thinks not the sun and moon, and all the creatures too good to serve thee, nor all his mercies too great for thee; no, not the blood of his beloved Son, nor his Spirit, nor heaven itself if thou wilt accept them in his way; wilt thou think thy best too good for him? and thy most diligent service to be too much? When

If

thy all is next to nothing; and thy best doth not profit the Almighty, but thyself, and the gain will be thy own. a man should think it too much to put off his hat and thank thee, when thou hast given him a thousand pounds; or to go a mile for thee, when thou hast saved his life; thou wouldst say he were not a man, but a monster of ingratitude. But thy unthankfulness is ten thousandfold worse to God, who would deliver thee from everlasting torments, and give thee everlasting glory, and save thee from satan and all thy sins, if thou wilt but take his safe remedies; and thou churlishly refusest, as if all were not worth so much ado.

Quest. 30. Dost thou know what a life it is that thou accountest an unnecessary toil?' It is a life of the greatest safety, commodity, honour, and delight, (besides the justice and honesty of it) of any in the world; and indeed thou canst not choose any other but at thy peril, and to thy greatest loss and ruin, and to thy present and everlasting shame and sorrow. It is the sweetest and most pleasant life on earth, that thou ignorantly accountest such a tedious toil. The manifestation of this shall be my work in the second part of this discourse.

And now I dare affirm, that when the dreadful God shall shortly judge thee who hast read or heard these words, it will be found indelibly written upon thy conscience, that thou hadst here such reasons laid before thee, to prove the necessity of a serious, diligent, holy life, as all the wit in earth or hell is not able solidly to confute; and that an ungodly, sensual life is most unreasonable; and that, if after this, thou continue in an unsanctified, fleshly state, thou shalt justly perish as one that wilfully refused salvation, as in dispute of God, his mercies, and his messengers, and of the plainest, undeniable truth and reason: and that in refusing to be a SAINT, thou madest thyself in the greatest matters no better than a BRUTE, wilfully subjecting thy reason to thy sensuality, and judging thyself unmeet for everlasting happiness.

But here I know the self-deceiving hypocrite will object, That all this that I am proving so diligently is confest, and nothing to the point in question: which is not, Whether one thing be needful, and holiness be of necessity to salvation? For who denieth this? But the question is, Whe