Christ's certain and sudden appearance to judgment

2. Come forth all ye slothful and uprofitable persons. Had not ye Talents committed to you for my use and service, and what have you done with them? did you bury them in the earth? or lay them up in a napkin? what could you lie down and slumber, when you had so much work to do? could you trifle away so many hours, when time was so precious? could you sleep in the day, in the day of grace? sleep in the Harvest, which was so rich and plentiful, where you lived? could you stand idle all the day long in the market-place? were you born for nothing, that ye lived so unprofitably, and were good for nothing? would not religion have found you employment sufficient, if you had followed its direction? Did the difficulties of duties discourage you, and therefore you would let them alone, though they were so necessary? had the command of God no force with you? would not your own good and happiness move you at all to diligence? did fear of men, and suffering damage in the world, keep you off from zealous profession, and a strict course of life; and should not the fear of God, and danger of Hell, have kept you more from sin, and stirred you up unto the most difficult hazardous duty? was there a Lion in the way to Heaven? and were there no Lions in the way to Hell? did not some sin ••st you p•ins and labour? did you find no difficulty i• the service of the devil, and your own lusts? and was not holiness more worth your pains to get? would not I have proved a better master, had you been diligent ⟨p. 90⟩in my service? could you be diligent in your callings, to get a livelihood for your selves and families? and neglect the life and salvation of your precious souls? would not my work have brought wages with it? was there not sweetness mingled with the difficulty? and would not the fruits have been sweet? would not a Crown and Kingdom, a weight of glory, and eternal pleasures, move you to undergo some difficulty? was there so much difficulty in obedience to my commands (which were not grievous to a spiritual heart) and is there not more difficulty in suffering what you m•st unavoidably suffer for your neglect? if my yoke were painful to an unaccustomed neck could not I have fitted your neck to it, and made it easy? if my burden were heavy to a weak back, could not, would not I have put under my shoulder, and helped you to have born it?