Take Up the Cross

While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
— Hebrews 3:15

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
— Isaiah 11:10

Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
— Hebrews 11:25

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
— Hebrews 10:25

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
— Hebrews 3:9-11

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
— Hebrews 4:1

Reprehending the General Neglect of the Saints’ Rest, And Exciting to Diligence in Seeking it, by Richard Baxter. The following contains an excerpt from Chapter Five of his work, “The Saints’ Everlasting Rest”.

There remaineth, therefore, a rest for the people of God. — HEBREWS 4:9

CHAP. V

The second Use, reprehending the general Neglect of this Rest, and exciting to Diligence in seeking it.

SECT. I. I come now to the second use which I shall raise from this doctrine of rest. If there be so certain and glorious rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking after it in the world? One would think that a man that did but once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and did believe what he heareth to be true, should be transported with the vehemency of his desires after it, and should almost forget to eat or drink, and should mind and care for nothing else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to get assurance and possession of this treasure! And yet people who hear it daily, and profess to believe it undoubted, as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or care, or labour for it, and as much forget and disregard it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word that they hear. And as a man that comes into America, and sees the natives regard more a piece of glass, or an old knife, than a piece of gold, may think, Surely these people never heard of the worth of gold, or else they would not exchange it for toys; so a man that looked only upon the lives of most men, and did not hear their contrary confessions, would think either these men never heard of heaven, or else they never heard of its excellency and glory: when, alas! they hear of it till they are weary of hearing; and it is offered to them so commonly, that they are tired with the tidings, and cry out as the Israelites, “Our soul is dried away, because there is nothing but this manna before our eyes.” (Numb. 11:6.) And as the Indians, who live among the golden mines, do little regard it, but are weary of the daily toil of getting it, when other nations will compass the world, and venture their lives, and sail through storms and waves to get it: so we that live where the Gospel groweth, where heaven is urged upon us at our doors, and the manna falls upon our tents, do little regard it, and wish these mines of gold were further from us, that we might not be put upon the toil of getting it, when some that want it, would be glad of it upon harder terms. Surely, though the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting, be the last article in their creed, it is not the least, nor therefore put last, that it should be last in their desires and endeavours.

Sect. II. I shall apply this reproof more particularly yet to four several sorts of men. First, To the carnal, worldly-minded man, who is so taken up in seeking the things below, that he hath neither heart nor time to seek this rest.

May I not well say to these men, as Paul to the Galatians, in another case, “Foolish sinners! who hath bewitched you?” It is not for nothing that divines use to call the world a witch; for, as in witchcraft men’s lives, senses, goods, or cattle, are destroyed by a strange, secret, unseen power of the devil, of which a man can give no natura! reason; so here, men will destroy their own souls in a way quite against their own knowledge; and as witches will make a man dance naked, or do the most unseemly, unreasonable actions; so the world doth bewitch men into brute beasts, and draw them some degrees beyond madness. Would not any man wonder, that is in his right wit, and hath but the spiritual use of reason, to see what riding and running, what scrambling and catching, there is for a thing of nought, while eternal rest lies by neglected! What contriving and caring, what fighting and bloodshed, to get a step higher in the world than their brethren, while they neglect the kingly dignity of the saints! What insatiable pursuit of fleshly pleasures, whilst they look upon the praises of God, which is the joy of angels, as a tiring burden! What unwearied diligence is there in raising their posterity, in enlarging their possessions, in gathering a little silver or gold; yea, perhaps for a poor living from hand to mouth, while, in the meantime, their judgment is drawing near; and yet how it shall go with them then, or how they shall live eternally, did never put them to the trouble of one hour’s sober consideration. What rising early, and sitting up late, and labouring and caring, year after year, to maintain themselves and their children in credit till they die; but what shall follow after, that they never think on, as if it were only their work to provide for their bodies, and only God’s work to provide for their souls; whereas, God hath promised more to provide for their bodies, without their care, than for their souls, though indeed they must painfully serve his providence for both; and yet these men cry to us, ‘May not a man be saved without so much ado?’ And may we not say, with more reason to them, ‘May not a man have a little air on earth, a little credit or wealth, without so much ado?’ or, at least, ‘May not a man have enough to bring him to his grave without so much ado?’ How early do they rouse up their servants to their labour! ‘Up, come away to work, we have this to do, and that to do;’ but how seldom do they call them, ‘Up, you have your souls to look to, you have everlasting life to provide for; up to prayer, to the reading of the Scripture.’ Alas, how rare is this language! what a gadding up and down the world is here, like a company of ants upon a hillock, taking incessant pains to gather a treasure, which death, as the next passenger that comes by, will spurn abroad, as if it were such an excellent thing to die in the midst of wealth and honours! or, as if it would be such a comfort to a man at death, or in another world, to think that he was a lord, or a knight, or a gentleman, or a rich man on earth! For my part, whatever these men may profess or say to the contrary, I cannot but strongly suspect that, in heart, they are flat pagans, and do not believe that there is an eternal glory or misery, nor what the Scripture speaks of the way of obtaining it; or, at least, that they do but a little believe it, by the halves, and therefore think to make sure of earth, lest there be no such thing as heaven to be had; and to hold fast that which they have in hand, lest if they let go that, in hope of better in another world, they should play the fools, and lose all. I fear, though the christian faith be in their mouths, lest that this be the faith which is next their hearts; or else the lust of their senses doth overcome and suspend their reason, and prevail with their wills against the last practical conclusion of

their understanding. What is the excellency of this earth, that it hath so many suitors and admirers: what hath this world done for its lovers and friends, that it is so eagerly followed, and painfully sought after, while Christ and heaven stand by, and few regard them; or, what will the world do for them for the time to come? The common entrance into it, is through anguish and sorrow. The passage through it, is with continual care, and labour, and grief. The passage out of it, is with the greatest sharpness and sadness of all. What, then, doth cause men so much to follow and affect it? O sinful, unreasonable, bewitched men! will mirth and pleasure stick close to you; will gold and worldly glory prove fast friends to you in the time of your greatest need; will they hear your cries in the day of your calamity? If a man should say to you at the hour of your death, as Elias did to Baal’s priests, “Cry aloud,” &c. Oh, riches, or honour, now help us! will they either answer, or relieve you; will they go along with you to another world, and bribe the Judge, and bring you off clear; or purchase you a room among the blessed? Why then did so rich a man want a drop of water for his tongue; or are the sweet morsels of present delight and honour, of more worth than the eternal rest: and will they recompense the loss of that enduring treasure; can there be the least hope of any of these: why, what then is the matter; is it only a room for our dead bodies, that we are so much beholden to the world for? why, this is the last and longest courtesy that we shall receive from it. But we shall have this, whether we serve it or not; and even that homely, dusty dwelling, it will not afford us always neither: it shall possess our dust, but till the great resurrection day. Why, how then doth the world deserve so well at men’s hands, that they should part with Christ and their salvation to be its followers? Ah, vile, deceitful world! how oft have we heard thy most faithful servants at last complaining, ‘Oh, the world hath deceived me, and undone me! it flattered me in my prosperity, but now it turns me off at death in my necessity! Ah, if I had as faithfully served Christ, as I have served it, he would not thus have cast me off, nor have left me thus comfortless and hopeless in the depth of misery! Thus do the dearest friends and favourites of the world complain at last of its deceit, or rather of their own self-deluding folly, and yet succeeding sinners will take no warning. So this is the first sort of neglecters of heaven which fall under this reproof.

Sect. III. 2. The second sort here to be reproved are, the profane, ungodly, presumptuous multitude, who will not be persuaded to be at so much pains for salvation as to perform the common, outward duties of religion: yea, though they are convinced that these duties are commanded by God, and see it before their eyes in the Scripture, yet will they not be brought to the constant practice of them. If they have the Gospel preached in the town where they dwell, it may be they will give the hearing to it one part of the day, and stay at home the other; or if the master come to the congregation, yet part of his family must stay at home. If they want the plain and powerful preaching of the Gospel, how few are they in a whole town that will either be at cost or pains to procure a minister, or travel a mile or two to hear abroad, though they will go many miles to the market for provisions for their bodies! The Queen of the South shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and condemn them; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon doth, by his messengers, preach to them. The king of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with them, and shall condemn them, for he repented at the preaching of Jonas; but when Jesus Christ sendeth his ambassadors to these men, they will scarcely go to hear them. (Matt. 12:41, 42.) And though they know that the Scripture is the very law of God, by which they must live, and by which they must be acquit or condemned in judgment; and that it is the property of every blessed man to delight in this law, and to meditate in it day and night; (Psal. 1:2;) yet will they not be at the pains to read a chapter once in a day, nor to acquaint their families with this doctrine of salvation. But if they carry a Bible to church, and let it lie by them all the week, this is the most use they make of it: and though they are commanded to pray without ceasing; (1 Thes. 5:17;) and to pray always, and not to wax faint; (Luke 18:1–3, &c.;) to continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; (Col. 4:2;) yet will they not be brought to pray constantly with their families, or in secret. Though Daniel would rather be cast to the lions than he would forbear for a while praying openly in his house, where his enemies might hear him three times a day; yet these men will rather venture to be an eternal prey to that roaring lion that seeks to devour them, than they will be at the pains thus to seek their safety. You may hear, in their houses, two oaths for one prayer; or if they do any thing this way, it is usually but a running over a few formal words which they have got on their tongue’s end, as if they came on purpose to make a jest of prayer, and to mock God and their own souls. If they be in distress, or want any thing for their bodies, they want no words to make known their mind; but to a physician when they are sick, to a griping landlord when they are oppressed, to a wealthy friend when they are in want, they can lay open their case in sad complaints, and have words at will to press home their requests; yea, every beggar at their door can crave relief, and make it their daily practice; and hold on with importunity, and take no denial: necessity filleth their mouths with words, and teacheth them the most natural, prevailing rhetoric. These beggars will rise up in judgment against them, and condemn them. Doubtless, if they felt but the misery and necessities of their souls, they would be as forward to beg relief of God, and as frequent, as fervent, as importunate, and as constant, till they were past their straits; but, alas! he that only reads in a book that he is miserable, and what his soul stands in need of, but never felt himself miserable, nor felt particularly his several wants, no wonder if he must also fetch his prayer from his book only, or, at furthest, from the strength of his invention or memory. Solomon’s request to God was, that what prayer or supplication soever should be made by any man, or by all the people, when every man shall know his own sore, and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands before God, that God would then hear and forgive, &c. (2 Chron. 6:29, 30.) If these men did thus know and feel every one the sore and the grief of his own soul, we should neither need so much to urge them to prayer, nor to teach them how to perform it, and what to say: whereas now they do invite God to be backward in giving, by their backwardness in asking, and to be weary of relieving them by their own being weary of begging, and to be seldom and short in his favours as they are in their prayers, and to give them but common and outward favours, as they put up but common and outside requests. Yea, their cold and heartless prayers do invite God to a flat denial: for among men it is taken for granted, that he who asks but slightly and seldom, cares not much for what he asks. Do not these men judge themselves unworthy of heaven, who think it not worth their more constant and earnest requests? If it be not worth asking for, it is worth nothing; and yet if one should go from house to house, through town and parish, and inquire at every house as you go, whether they do morning and evening call their family together, and earnestly and reverently seek the Lord in prayer, how few would you find that constantly and conscionably practise this duty? If every door were marked where they do not thus call upon the name of God, that his wrath might be poured out upon that family, our towns would be as places overthrown by the plague, the people being dead within, and the mark of judgment on the door without. I fear, where one house would escape, there are ten would be marked out for death; and then they might teach their doors to pray, ‘Lord, have mercy upon us!’ because the people would not pray themselves. But especially if you could see what men do in their secret chambers, how few should you find in a whole town that spend one quarter of an hour, morning and night, in earnest supplication to God for their souls! Oh! how little do these men set by this eternal rest! Thus do they slothfully neglect all endeavours for their own welfare, except some public duty in the congregations, which custom or credit doth engage them to. Persuade them to read good books, and they will not be at so much pains. Persuade them to learn the grounds of religion in some catechism, and they think it a toilsome slavery, fitter for schoolboys, or little children, than for them. Persuade them to sanctify the Lord’s-day in holy exercise, and to spend it wholly in hearing the word, and repeating it with their families, and prayer and meditation, &c.; and to forbear all their worldly thoughts and speeches; and what a tedious life do they take this to be! and how long may you preach to them before they will be brought to it, as if they thought that heaven were not worth all this ado! Christ hath been pleading with England these fourscore years and more, by the word of his Gospel, for his worship and his sabbaths, and yet the inhabitants are not persuaded; nay, he hath been pleading, these six years, by threatenings, and fire, and sword, and yet can prevail but with very few. And though these bloody arguments have been spread abroad, and brought home to people from parish to parish, almost as far as the word hath gone, so that there is scarce a parish in many counties where blood hath not been shed, and the bodies of the slain have not been left, yet multitudes in England are no more persuaded than they were the first day of their warning; and they have not heard the voice of the rod, which hath cried up and down their streets: ‘Yet, O England, will ye not sanctify my sabbaths, nor call upon my name, nor regard my word, nor turn from your worldliness and wickedness!’ God hath given them a lash and a reproof, a wound and warning; he hath, as it were, stood in their blood, and with the sword in his hand, and among the heaps of the slain hath he pleaded with the living, and said, ‘What say you? Will you yet worship me, and fear me, and take me for your Lord?’ And yet they will not: alas! yet to this day, England will not! Let me here write it, and leave it upon record, that God may be justified, and England may be ashamed; and posterity may know, if God do spare us, how ill we deserved it; or, if he yet destroy us, how wilfully we procured it. And if they that pass by shall ask, ‘Why has God done thus to a flourishing and prosperous land?’ you may give them this true though doleful answer, ‘They would not hear, they would not regard.’ He smote them down, he wounded them, he hewed them as wood, and then he beseeched the remainder to consider and return, but they never would do it. They were weary of his ways; they polluted his sabbaths; they cast his word and worship out of their families; they would not be at the pains to learn and obey his will; nay, they abhorred his ministers, and servants, and holy paths, and all this to the last breath. When he had slain five thousand, or eight thousand at a fight, the rest did no more reform, than if they had never heard of it. Nay, such a spirit of slumber has fallen upon them, that if God should proceed, and kill them all save one man, and ask that one man, ‘Wilt thou yet seek me with all thy heart?’ he would rather slight it. Lord, have mercy upon us! What is done with men’s understanding and sense? Have they renounced reason as well as faith? Are they dead naturally as well as spiritually? Can they not hear nor feel, though they cannot believe? That sad judgment is fallen upon them, mentioned in Isaiah. 42:24, 25, “Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel” (England) “to the robbers? Did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient to his laws. Therefore, he hath poured upon them the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle, and it hath set them on fire round about, yet they knew it not; it burnt them, yet they laid it not to heart.” Yea, this much more let us leave upon record against England: they have been so far from reforming, and taking up the worship of God with delight, after all this, that multitudes have contrarily abhorred it at the very heart; and to root out the sincere worshippers, and worship of God, is their continued endeavour: and still, they that succeed them do the like. Lord, how hast thou deserved so much ill at these men’s hands! What harm hath praying, and reading, and preaching painfully, and sanctifying the sabbath, and fearing to offend, done to England? Have they suffered for these, or for their enmity to these? What evil do these wretches discern in the everlasting kingdom, that they do not only refuse to labour for it, but do detest and resist the holy way that leads to it? It is well for them that they live in Gospel times, when the patience of God doth wait on sinners; and not in those severe days, when fire from heaven destroyed the captains and their companies, that were commanded by the king, to bring but one prophet before him; or, when the lions destroyed forty-two children, for calling a prophet of God “bald- head:” or rather, it had been better for these men to have lived in those times, that though their temporal judgments had been greater, yet their eternal plagues might have been the less. Yet this much more let me leave upon record to the shame of many, that all this is not merely through idleness, because they will not be at the pains to serve God, but it is out of a bitter enmity to his word and ways; for they will be at more pains than this in any way that is evil, or in any worship truly so called, of man’s devising. They are as zealous for these, as if eternal life consisted in them: and where God forbids them, there they are as forward as if they could never do enough; and where God commands them, they are as backward to it, yea, as much against it, as if they were the commands of the devil himself. The Lord grant that this hardened, wilful, malicious people, fall not under that heavy doom, “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither, and slay them before me.” (Luke 19:27.)

Sect. IV. The third sort that fall under this reproof, are those self- cozening, formal, lazy professors of religion, who will be brought to any outward duty, and take up the easier part of Christianity, but to the inward work, and more difficult part, they will never be persuaded. They will preach, or hear, or read, or talk of heaven, or pray customarily and constantly in their families, and take part with the persons and causes that are good, and desire to be esteemed among the godly, but you can never bring them to the more spiritual and difficult duties, as to be constant and fervent in secret prayer, to be conscionable in the duty of self-examination, to be constant in that excellent duty of meditation, to be heavenly-minded, to watch constantly over his heart, words, and ways, to deny his bodily senses their delights, to mortify the flesh, and not make provision for it, to fulfil its lusts, to love and heartily forgive an enemy, to prefer his brethren heartily before himself, and to think meanly of his own gifts and worth, and to take it well of others that think so too, and to love them that have low thoughts of him, as well as those that have high, to bear easily the injuries, or undervaluing words of others against him, to lay all that he hath at the feet of Christ, and to prefer his service and favour before all; to prepare to die, and willingly to leave all, to come to Christ, &c. The outside hypocrites will never be persuaded to any of these. Above all other, two notable sorts there are of these hypocrites. First, The superficial, opinionative hypocrite. Secondly, The worldly hypocrite. First, The former entertaineth the doctrine of the Gospel with joy, (Matt. 13:29,) but it is only into the surface of his soul, he never gives the seed any depth of earth. He changeth his opinion, and he thereupon engageth for religion as the right way, and sides with it as a party in a faction, but it never melted and new-moulded his heart, nor set up Christ there in full power and authority; but as his religion lies most in his opinion, so he usually runs from opinion to opinion, and is carried up and down with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive; and as a child is tossed to and fro: (Eph. 4:14:) for as his religion is but opinion, so is his study, and conference, and chief business all about opinion. He is usually an ignorant, proud, bold, irreverent inquirer and babbler about controversies, rather than an humble embracer of the known truth, with love and subjection; you may conjecture by his bold and forward tongue, and groundless conceitedness in his own opinions, and slighting of the judgments and persons of others, and seldom talking of the great things of Christ with seriousness and humility, that his religion dwelleth in the brain, and not in his heart; where the wind of temptation assaults him, he easily yieldeth, and it carrieth him away as a feather, because his heart is empty, and not balanced and established with Christ and grace. If the temptation of the times do assault men’s understandings, and the sign be in the head, though the little religion that he hath lies there, yet a hundred to one but he turneth heretic, or catcheth the vertigo of some lesser errors, according to the nature and strength of the seducement. If the wind do better serve for a vicious conversation, a hundred to one but he turns a purveyor for the flesh, and then he can be a tippler, and yet religious, a gamester, a wanton, a neglecter of duties, and yet religious. If this man’s judgment lead him in the ceremonious way, then doth he employ his chiefest zeal for ceremonies, as if his religion lay in them. If his judgment be against ceremonies,a then his strongest zeal is employed against them, studying, talking, disputing against them, censuring the users of them, and perhaps fall into a contrary extreme, placing his chief religion in anabaptism, church combinations, and forms of polity, &c. For not having his soul taken up with the essentials of Christianity, he hath only the mint and cummin, the smaller matters of the law, to lay out his zeal upon. You shall never hear in private conference any humble and hearty bewailings of his soul’s imperfections, or any heart-bleeding acknowledgments of his unkindnesses to Christ, of any pantings and longings after him, from this man, but that he is of such a judgment, or such a religion, or party, or society, or a member of such a church. Hence doth he gather his greatest comforts; but the inward and spiritual labours of a Christian, he will not be brought to.

Secondly: The like may be said of the worldly hypocrite, who choketh the doctrine of the Gospel with the thorns of worldly cares and desires. His judgment is convinced that he must be religious, or he cannot be saved; and therefore he reads, and hears, and prays, and forsakes his former company and courses; but because his belief of the gospel doctrine is but wavering and shallow, he resolves to keep his hold of present things, lest the promise of rest should fail him; and yet to be religious, that so he may have heaven, when he can keep the world no longer, thinking it wisdom to have two strings to his bow, lest one should break. This man’s judgment may say, ‘God is the chief Good,’ but his heart and affections never said so, but look upon God as a kind of strange and disproportionate happiness, to be tolerated rather than the flames of hell, but not desired before the felicity on earth. In a word, the world hath more of his affections than God, and therefore is his god, and his covetousness idolatry. This he might easily know and feel if he would judge impartially, and were but faithful to himself. And though this man do not gad after opinions and novelties in his religion, as the former, yet will he set his sails to the wind of worldly advantage, and be of that opinion which will best serve his turn. And as a man whose spirits are seized on by some pestilential malignity, is feeble and faint and heartless in all that he does; so this man’s spirits being possessed by the plague of this malignant worldly disposition, oh, how faint is he in secret prayer! oh, how superficial in examination and meditation! how feeble in heart-watchings, and humbling, mortifying endeavours! how nothing at all in loving and walking with God, rejoicing in him, or desiring after him! So that both these, and many other sorts of lazyc hypocrites there are, who, though they will trudge on with you in the easy outside of religion, yet will never be at the pains of inward and spiritual duties.

Sect. V. 4. And even the godly themselves deserve this reproof, for being too lazy seekers of their everlasting rest. Alas! what a disproportion is there betwixt our light and our heat; our professions and prosecution! Who makes that haste, as if it were for heaven? How still we stand! How idly we work! How we talk, and jest, and trifle away our time! How deceitfully we do the work of God! How we hear, as if we heard not; and pray as if we prayed not; and confer, and examine, and meditate, and reprove sin, as if we did it not; and use the ordinances, as if we used them not; and enjoy Christ, as if we enjoyed him not: as if we had learned to use the things of heaven as the apostle teacheth us to use the world! (1 Cor. 7:29–31.) Who would think, that stood by us and heard us pray in private or public, that we were praying for no less than everlasting glory? Should heaven be sought no more earnestly than thus? Methinks we are none of us all in good sadness for our souls. We do but dally with the work of God, and play with Christ; as children, we play with our meat when we should eat it, and we play with our clothes, and look upon them, when we should put them on, and wear them; we hang upon ordinances from day to day, but we stir not ourselves to seek the Lord. I see a great many very constant in hearing and praying, and give us some hopes that their hearts are honest, but they do not hear and pray as if it were for their lives. Oh, what a frozen stupidity hath benumbed us! The judgment of Pharaoh is amongst us; we are turned into stones and rocks, that can neither feel nor stir. The plague of Lot’s wife is upon us, as if we were changed into lifeless and immoveable pillars: we are dying, and we know it, and yet we stir not; we are at the door of eternal happiness or misery, and yet we perceive it not; death knocks, and we hear it not; Christ calls and knocks, and we hear not: God cries to us, “To-day if you will hear my voice, harden not your hearts. Work while it is day, for the night cometh when none shall work.” Now ply your business, now labour for your lives, now lay out all your strength and time, now do it, now or never; and yet we stir no more than if we were half asleep. What haste doth death and judgment make! How fast do they come on! They are almost at us, and yet what little haste make we! What haste makes the sword to devour, from one part of the land to another!

What haste doth plague and famine make! and all because we will not make haste. The spur of God is in our side; we bleed, we groan, and yet we do not mend our pace: the rod is on our backs, it speaks to the quick: our lashes are heard through the christian world, and yet we stir no faster than before. Lord, what a senseless, sottish, earthly, hellish thing is a hard heart! That we will not go roundly and cheerfully toward heaven without all this ado; no, nor with it neither. Where is the man that is serious in his Christianity? Methinks men do everywhere make but a trifle of their eternal state. They look after it but a little upon the by; they do not make it the task and business of their lives. To be plain with you, I think nothing undoes men so much as complimenting and jesting in religion. Oh, if I were not sick myself of the same disease, with what tears should I mix this ink; and with what groans should I express these sad complaints; and with what heart’s grief should I mourn over this universal deadness!

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