Discourses on various important subjects, nearly concerning the great affair of the soul's eternal…

4 Pressing into the Kingdom of God denotes •n Engagedness and Earnestness, that is directly about that Business of getting into the Kingdom of God Persons may be in very great Exercise and Distress of Mind, and that about the Condition of their Souls; their Thoughts and Cares may be greatly engaged and taken up about Things of a spiritual Nature, and yet not be pressing into the Kingdom of God, nor towards it; because the Exercise of their Minds is not directly about the Work of seeking Salvation, in a diligent Attendance on the Means that God hath appointed in order to it; but something else that is beside their Business; it may be about God's Decrees, and secret Purposes, prying into them, searching for Signs whereby they may determine, or at least conjecture, what they be, before God makes them known by the Accomplishment of them; and distressing their Minds with •ears that they be not elected, or that they have committed the unpardonable Sin, or that their Day is past, and that God has given them up to judicial and final Hardness, and never intends to show them Mercy, and therefore that 'tis in vain for them to seek Salvation; or entangling themselves about the Doctrine of original Sin, and other mysterious Doctrines of Religion, that are above their Comprehension. Many Persons that seem to be in great Distress about a future eternal State, get much into a Way of perplexing themselves with such Things as these. When it is so, let them be never so much concerned and engaged in their Minds they can't be said to be pressing towards the Kingdom of God; because their Exercise is not in their Work, but rather in that which tends to hinder them in their Work: If they are violent, they are only working violently to entangle themselves, and lay Blocks in their ⟨p. 138⟩own Way: Their Pressure is not forwards: Instead of getting along, they do but loose their Time, and worse than merely loose it; instead of fighting with the Giants that stand in the Way to keep them out of Canaan, they spend away their Time and Strength in conflicting with Shadows, that appear by the Way side.

4 Pressing into the Kingdom of God denotes •n Engagedness and Earnestness, that is directly about that Business of getting into the Kingdom of God Persons may be in very great Exercise and Distress of Mind, and that about the Condition of their Souls; their Thoughts and Cares may be greatly engaged and taken up about Things of a spiritual Nature, and yet not be pressing into the Kingdom of God, nor towards it; because the Exercise of their Minds is not directly about the Work of seeking Salvation, in a diligent Attendance on the Means that God hath appointed in order to it; but something else that is beside their Business; it may be about God's Decrees, and secret Purposes, prying into them, searching for Signs whereby they may determine, or at least conjecture, what they be, before God makes them known by the Accomplishment of them; and distressing their Minds with ears that they be not elected, or that they have committed the unpardonable Sin, or that their Day is past, and that God has given them up to judicial and final Hardness, and never intends to shew them Mercy, and therefore that 'tis in vain for them to seek Salvation; or intangling themselves about the Doctrine of original Sin, and other mysterious Doctrines of Religion, that are above their Comprehension. Many Persons that seem to be in great Distress about a future eternal State, get much into a Way of perplexing themselves with such Things as these. When it is so, let them be never so much concerned and engaged in their Minds they can't be said to be pressing towards the Kingdom of God; because their Exercise is not in their Work, but rather in that which tends to hinder them in their Work: If they are violent, they are only working violently to intangle themselves, and lay Blocks in their