The duty of self-denial briefly opened and urged. By Thomas Watson, minister of the…

7. A Christian must deny his ease, Prov. 1.23. Ease slays the simple. The Flesh is full of sloth and effeminacy, 'tis loath to take pains for Heaven. Prov. 19.24, A slothful man, hides his hand in his bosom^*. He is loath to pluck it out▪ though it be to lay hold on a Crown. Weeds and vermin grow in untilled ground, and all vices grow in an idle untilled heart. How can they expect, to ⟨p. 26⟩reap an harvest of Glory, who never sowed any seed? Is Satan so busy in his Diocese, 1 Pet. 5.8. and are Christians idle? Are they Like the Lilies which toil not, neither do they spin? O deny your ease^*. Seneca, an Heathen devoted himself to labour, and spent part of the Night in study^*. Hannibal forced his way over the Alps and craggy Rocks. We must force our way to paradise. Let us shake off sloth, as Paul did the Viper. Never think to be brought to Heaven as the passengers in a ship are brought to their port sleeping. 1 Chron. 22.16. Arise and be doing. God puts no difference between the slothful servant and the wicked^*. Mat. 25.26. Those people in Hetruria, who like Drones entered into the Hive, and consumed the honey, were expelled from others, and condemned to exile. Such as idle away the ⟨p. 27⟩day of grace, and fold their hands to sleep, when they should be working out Salvation, God will condemn to a perpetual exile in Hell.