tis CHRISTIAN DILIGENCE, [SERVI. Vl1I. succeed in it; Prov. xxi. 17. " He that lbveth plea- sure shall be a poor roan," And as they can never grow rich in temporal things who are carried away from their business by every diver- sion, so neither can a christian grow rich in grace, who frequently interrupts his duty to indulge mirth and carnal delights. We must be stedfast and .constant in our Christian race, and not turn aside from the path of duty to gather this and the other flower of sensual pleasure, if we would finish our course with joy, and so run as to oh= tain the prize. 6. Another thing implied in true diligence, " is firm- ness . and, resolution in our labour, in opposition to all the difficulties which attend our work." We suppose every valuable ánd excellent designbath some difficulties more or less always attending it; some hardship which must be endured, some obstacles and impediments which must be broken through ; but if we are frighted at every shadow of difficulty we shall never fulfil our ser- vice nor perfect our design. This Solomon bath often observed : " The sluggard cries, it is cold, and will not go early to plough, and thereforehe shall beg, in harvest, and have nothing." He complains " there is a lion' in the way, there is a lion 'in that street," where the path of duty lies ; therefore he sits down in sloth, and keeps himself safe and idle at home." " The way of the slug- gard is as a hedge of thorns," he imagines every step he takes- in the path of diligence and industry bath such troubles attending it, such thorns and briars, as he calls them, that he cannot break through, and therefore he refuses to labour. See Prov. xx. 4. and xxvi. 13. and xv. 19. And is not this matter the same, in spiritual things ? How many are there who cry out of the ways of religion as painful and hard ? They are frighted at the duties of repentance, self-denial, and mortification of sin, at cut- ting off right-hands, and plucking out right-eyes they are offended atpersecution, which sometimes risesagainst strict godliness; the frowns of the world terrify their hearts, they dare not be singular in the profession of faith, or the practice of virtue: They are 'ashamed -of the worship and the nameof God in the midst of pre.-
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