The fourth (and last) volume of discourses, or sermons, on several scriptures

Secondly, ¹Christ expects and requires that those that have Grace should put forth the utmost Strength and Power thereof, in labouring after that Salvation that he hath purchased for them: He hath merited Salvation for them, but it is to be obtained by them through their own Labour and Industry. Is not that which Christ hath already done, sufficient for them? Is it not enough that he hath reconciled them to God by the Blood of the Covenant, that he hath made their Peace and procured their Pardon for them; But must Christ Repent, and Believe, and Obey for them? This is not to make him a Saviour, but a Drudge. He hath done what was meet and fit for a Mediator to do; He now requires of us what is meet for Sinners to do; namely, to Believe, to Repent, to be Converted and to Obey: He now bids you Wash and be Clean, and what would you have more? Would you have the great Prophet ⟨p. 54⟩come and strike off your Leprosy, and you only mark the Cure, and do nothing thereunto? Or is it indeed enough that Salvation and Happiness is purchased, that the way to Heaven is made passable, that the Bolts and Bars of the new Jerusalem by Christ are broken off? Alas, what of all this! thou mayest still be as far from Heaven and Glory as ever, if thou dost not walk in the way that leads to it: Still thou art as far from entering into Heaven as ever, if, thou dost not strive at the entrance into the strait Gate. It is therefore in vain that Christ died, it is in vain that thou art Justified, it is in vain that thou art Adopted, it is in vain that Heaven is prepared for thee: Christ may keep Heaven and Glory, and his Crowns and Robes for ever to himself, unless as he hath purchased these great things for his People, so also he hath purchased to himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works: A People who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Immortality, and by that way obtain it. Thus we see Christs doing all for us is no excuse for our doing nothing: He hath indeed done all for us that belongs to him as a Mediator meriting ⟨p. 55⟩and procuring Grace and Salvation; but he never intended to do all for us, as to the conveying of them to us, and making of them ours. No, that is still to be done by us. And therefore tho Christ's Works alone were meritorious, yet by the actings of Faith we must apply his Merit, and by the acting of Obedience confirm them to our selves.