The Christians labour and reward, or, A sermon, part of which was preached at…

Thirdly, Formalists and slothful Christians; and how many are these? who will not be Atheists to live without all Religion, but resolve not to be Zealots. They are more then key-cold, but are afraid to be too hot in their work; they are not idle, but cannot be persuaded to be diligent; they love such a temper in Religion for their Souls, as they do a Climate for their Bodies to live in; it must be a very temperate one; ⟨p. 39⟩afraid to exceed only in Piety and Holiness, in which alone there can be no excess. Oh what a delusion is this! he that will choose another temper for his Religion, than God hath commanded, had need provide another Heaven for himself, than God hath prepared; for that is given to the zealous Labourer, not the lazy Loiterer. The violent are they which take this Kingdom by force; a man may be sure of Hell with a little pains, but Heaven will certainly be lost without our labour and diligence: and the reason is, because every man is born in a state of sin and damnation, and so needs no more than to fit still in that state, to bring inevitable destruction upon him; to Hell he will come soon enough, though he gallop not so fast as others in riot and excess. But, alas, we are born afar off from God and Heaven; much labour is required to get into the way that leads to life Eternal; and when we are in it, many a weary step to take, abundance of work to dispatch; sins to mortify, ⟨p. 40⟩temptations to resist, afflictions to endure, impaired Graces to repair, weak to strengthen, and to persevere in all this labour, till death it self takes us off. This we must do, or else (as Saint Paul said of their abiding in the Ship) we cannot be saved. It is with the Christians Spiritual Life, (in this respect) as with his natural; his body hath within it self, that which is sufficient to cause the death of it, but not to maintain its life. This provision is without; as a man, he will dye, though he make no use of knife or halter to dispatch himself: not taking food, or not using physic will do it alone: Thus the Christian hath enough within him to procure his Spiritual death, and consequently his Eternal; but not to maintain his Spiritual life. The provision for this is out of himself, his sufficiency is of God, 2 Cor. 3.5.

Thirdly, Formalists and slothful Christians; and how many are these? who will not be Atheists to live without all Religion, but resolve not to be Zealots. They are more then key-cold, but are afraid to be too hot in their work; they are not idle, but cannot be perswaded to be diligent; they love such a temper in Religion for their Souls, as they do a Climate for their Bodies to live in; it must be a very temperate one;