Friends, Solomon saith, that "the desire of the slothful killeth him;" and if so, what will slothfulness itself do to those that entertain it? The proverb is, "He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame:" and this I dare be bold to say, no greater shame can befall a man, than to see that he hath fooled away his soul, and sinned away eternal life. And I am sure this is the next way to do it; namely, to be slothful; slothful, I say, in the work of salvation. The vineyard of the slothf

But before I go any farther, let me explain the Nature and Reasons of this Running. As to its NATURE, this running is called, 1. Fleeing . Observe, that this running, is not an ordinary, or any sort of running; but it is to be understood of the swiftest sort of running; and therefore in the 6th of the Hebrews, it is called a fleeing. "That we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." Mark, "Who have fled ." It is taken from that xxth of Jos

THE SECOND DIRECTION.—As thou shouldst get into the way, so thou shouldst also be much in studying and musing on the way . You know men that would be expert in any thing, are usually much in studying of that thing; and so likewise is it with those that quickly grow expert in any thing. This therefore thou shouldst do. Let thy study be much exercised about Christ, who is the way; what he is, what he hath done, and why he is what he is, and why he hath done what is done; as why he took upon him th

2. And do not let the thoughts of the rareness of the place make thee say in thy heart, 'This is too good for me;' for I tell thee, heaven is prepared for whosoever will accept of it, and they shall be entertained with hearty good welcome. Consider therefore, that as bad as thou have got thither. Thither, went scrubbed beggarly Lazarus, &c. Nay, it is prepared for the poor. "Hearken, my beloved brethren," saith James; that is, take notice of it, "Hath not God chosen the poor of this worl

THE THIRD USE.—In the next place, What then will become of them that some time since were running post-haste to heaven, (insomuch that they seemed to outstrip many,) but now are running as fast back again? Do you think those ever come thither? What! to run back again, back again to sin, to the world, to the devil, back again to the lusts of the flesh? Oh! "It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn" (to turn back again) "from th

[A] This book will be found in the volume of Bunyan's AWAKENING WORKS, published by this Society....