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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
design
bath
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
therefore
he 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
at
persecution,
which
sometimes rises
against
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
name
of God
in the midst
of
pre.-